Many people believe that you must be in the gym for at least an hour to see any kind of benefit from working out. Let me break down the average person’s hour in a traditional gym. Most people will typically work out two muscle groups in that one hour. Each muscle group will be worked with three different exercises, three sets of each exercise, and ten repetitions in each set. Those ten repetitions will take the average person about ten seconds to complete. If you do the math that is only 90 seconds per muscle group that your muscles are actually being activated. With two muscle groups per day that is only three minutes of actual muscle activation. The rest of that hour is spent resting too much or just simply wasting time. Rest less and activate the muscles more to burn the calories for the results you are looking for. Find a more efficient means of exercise such as our ROM machine which keeps your muscles activated for an entire four minutes.

You can workout as much and as hard as you want, but if you are not feeding your body for what you are asking it to do than you won’t see the results you want to see. In today’s world of injected hormones, preservatives, and over processed food it is hard to find healthy choice. In our all natural, all raw juice bar, “Juice in the Raw” you don’t have to look very far. Our organic and all natural smoothies will give you the energy you need to perform your workout as well as the nutrition to aid your body in recovery which is where the real results happen.

Its hard to go into a gym these days and not notice that most people are only focusing on one aspect of fitness. You see the “Meat heads” who only want to lift big weight and scream. You see the girls that are to afraid to “bulk up” so all they do is hour and hours of Cardio and then some crunches because they want those great abs. You see the Yoga enthusiasts that can touch their foreheads to there knees but wouldn’t dream of venturing out of the Group Exercise room to investigate the rest of the gym. While resistance training, cardiovascular exercise, Core strength and flexibility training are all great why not try working on all of these instead of just one to help achieve total fitness.

While exercise is very important, it is just as important that you recover properly from that exercise. Recovery is an often overlooked part of fitness training. We can help our body recover through stretching, nutrition and rest among other things. At Club Motivate our Reflex machine helps you recover by promoting proper draining of your lymphatic system as well as promoting good circulation to help expel waste and oxygenate the muscles.

Bad stress has a negative impact on your body. In this day and age stress is at an all time high. The more stressed out you are the less effective your body is going to be at performing its functions properly. The Reflex machine at Club Motivate has a de-stressing effect by promoting the production of the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine.

For more information about Club Motivate, call 619-550-1240.

Your body repairs itself all night long while you sleep. It awakens, internally ravenous to replenish the energy it burned up during the repair cycle. Not feeding it creates a metabolic slow down and hampers your gains. Eating five to seven small meals and healthy snacks during the day is the key to kicking your metabolism into high gear to shed pounds and lean up. Breakfast is the starting point.

All too often we burn the candle on all ends. People that get the recommended eight hours of sleep give their body more time to repair and prepare for the day ahead. The more you train, the more rest you need to adequately recover from bouts of exercise, and the accompanying daily life stress we all face. Power naps of 15 to 30 minutes can be a big adder to the overall rest quotient. Got sleep?

Change the channel on any thoughts of negativity. Drop “I can’t” from your thought life and lips. You are the executive in charge of your fitness, and your thought life is where it begins. If you think you can, you will. If you think you can’t, you won’t. When faced with negative thoughts, speak mental words of encouragement: “I am strong, I am able, I am courageous, I am well equipped to take on this challenge. I CAN.”

Those last reps, where you feel yourself losing the ability to perform, need to be pushed through. It’s in those reps to failure that the body is made keenly aware that it has to adapt to the physical stressor you are placing on it. Through that adaptation, the body changes right before your eyes. If not challenged, the body merely remains in a state compatible to deal with the current physical stressor you place on it. You must challenge your thresholds. Stuck in a rut? Change your routine then. Do it backwards, more rest between sets, less rest between sets, heavier weight, lighter weight, split up the routines to multiple days – you name it, but keep the body guessing and work it to failure.

“I never knew I needed a trainer … until I had one.” The accountability to push through, stay on course, eat healthier and have quicker gains through programmed sessions can jump start, or take any fitness level to the next peak. Knowing that a qualified accountability partner is waiting for your session to begin, helps keep you alive and on fire to force the body to adapt to the way you want it to look and feel, in the least amount of time. Proper form, technique, motivation and intensity are the keys to making your time in the gym the most efficient and effective as possible. Want sustainable results?

For more information on Fitness Together, visit www.ftmissionhills.com .

You must get 35 grams of fiber a day if you want to be successful. Fiber is a weight-loss wonder, because it boosts the hormones that signal the body to feel full. Fiber-rich foods are generally lower in fat, calories and added sugars. If you sabotage your weight loss efforts because of uncontrollable cravings then eat 35 grams of fiber a day and you will forget what a craving even feels like.

Join the club. I don’t know anyone who has that kind if free time. Every article you read about losing weight will tell you eating six small meals a day is the best way to lose weight. I completely disagree. Take a look at your day, and realistically see how many times you can eat a meal or a snack. If it turns out to be three – that’s fine. The less you disrupt your day the easier it will be for you to stay on course.

This is a mantra I drill into my clients so they can see the major damage just one bad meal can do. So beware! That burger and fries might take you five hours of jogging to burn.

Commercials show elite athletes with eight-pack abs guzzling sports drinks before, during and after their workouts, right? So why shouldn’t you drink them, too? I will tell you why: you don’t sweat and move enough. The second reason is your goal is weight loss, not to be able to get that last yard on third down with two minutes to go in the game. You want a calorie deficit. Lastly, you don’t work out long enough to warrant one. These drinks are perfect formulations of electrolytes and sugar to replenish the body after a long, strenuous workout. There is too much sugar in these sports drinks and you will sabotage your weight loss if you drink them. Drink water!

The most common way to sabotage your nutrition plan when you are really focused is eating too little in the first half of the day. When we are finally ready to focus our energy on losing weight (usually Monday morning) we tend to eat so little throughout the day that we set ourselves up to overeat and make poor food choices when we finally relax in the evening. Focus on getting decent sized meals of whole, nutritious food in the first half of the day and you will be more prepared to deal with cravings at night.

For more information on Brian White Fitness, visit www.youshouldbedoingit.com .

Managing your nutrition consumption is one of the five most important segments to finally attain your six pack abs. Some basic rules apply to each individual, such as; avoid consuming fats, foods with high sodium, bad source of carbohydrates and sugars, alcohol, sodas… etc. However, there are some exceptions for each individual depending on their lifestyle and their exercise regime. For example, if you exercise five times a week, your body needs to be fueled with more nutrition than the person who exercises two times a week.

Carbohydrates give our bodies the energy we need. If you do more physical work than an average person you should eat more carbohydrates to keep your energy level up. This speeds up your metabolism so you will burn fat faster and healthier. Consume your carbohydrates while you are active during the day, instead of at night before bed. Focus on time-released complex carbohydrates such as; brown rice, potatoes, wholegrain wheat bread, corn, yam, oatmeal…etc. Additionally, you should manage proteins and minerals properly so you will maintain muscle mass and still look lean. Focus on white meat as it is a much leaner meat with a lower caloric value and high in protein.

Cut back sugar consumption. Eating sugar is not conducive to achieving six pack abs! However, if you are sugar lover and have difficulty cutting it from your diet, eat one serving of fruit with breakfast and one following your workout (strength training or cardio).

Focus on eating lots of greens such as asparagus and broccoli because they are high in fiber. And remember to drink lots of water. These components will help you digest faster and become leaner in a shorter amount of time.

Try to eat smaller portions but eat more frequently. People make this common mistake when individualizing their nutrition intake results start to get minimized! A lot of people try eating the least amount of food possible which is detrimental to your health and will not maximize your potential results. You need to eat a good amount of clean food to support your body and still be healthy.

Pick the right combination of abdominal muscle exercises and combine it with stretches between your sets. Do not repeat one or two exercise over and over. Performing just five hundred sit ups alone will not get you the most desirable six pack abs. It is waste of time and waste of energy.

People have a limited amount of energy in the gym so we should train smart and save energy for other necessary exercises. Additionally, combinations and the order of the abdominal exercises are very important to maximize your results. You should use several different combinations of exercises and styles working your upper abs (upper rectus abdominis), lower abs (lower rectus abdominis), and side abs (obliques). Finish this up with necessary mid-section stretches. Turning your upper body while holding a wooden stick on the back of your neck for a few minutes will help take inches off your waist, and will tighten up your obliques/side abs. Trust me it will!

One last tip about exercising: do not only train your abs. If you want to have a great looking six pack, you need to train your back, chest and your shoulders as well. This will help the skin on your stomach will tighten up. It will make your abdominal muscles look better and more defined.

In this case your goal is to achieve amazing six pack abs, so you should focus on using cardio machines that work the entire body. Use elliptical, step master, and treadmill combinations. In between, remember to complete some mid-section stretches and turns.

A sample cardio program specifically to bring your six pack abs is to use an elliptical, step master and treadmill for 20 minutes each. Again, while you are switching machines, turn your upper body while by holding the wooden stick on the back of your neck. Do this for two minutes and perform mid-section stretches. To complete this workout it will take about 70 minutes. Do this four to six times a week. You will see your abs becoming leaner much faster than just using one cardio machine.

Stretches and massages are an important part of any fitness routine. You should stretch your full body at least two times a day. It takes only a couple minutes and is well worth your time. On top of that you should focus on some specific mid-section stretches for another couple of minutes. If see that you are developing lose skin, you can use a skin roll method to tighten it.

Stretches and massages increase joint range of motion and muscle suppleness, and minimize risk of injury. Most importantly it helps you to achieve six pack abs by tightening up the skin.

Stretches and massages make good athletes better, period!

Being patient and being focused is the last step to your success. You must be mentally strong. There will be times that you want to quit or take a break. At that moment you should be mentally strong, believe in yourself and keep it up. Do not forget good things take time. Results will arrive slowly but surely. Stay strong and be healthy!

For more information about Ozzy Fitness, visit www.ozzyfitness.com.