Hello everybody- I hope you are all having a great November.  One more week and the real holiday season begins!  Today’s entry is going to be about how to get the MOST out of the cardio you have been doing, which is so important right now with all the potential holiday pitfalls ahead.  Remember to lose weight and define muscles, it is vital to burn more calories than you consume as we have discussed in many blog entries previously.  Cardio is one way to burn calories and strengthen our heart, lungs and muscles at the same time.  There are many different types of cardio to do at the Rush:

·        Incline Treadmills

·        Recumbent Bicycles

·        Upright Bicycles

·        Step Mills

·        Jacob’s Ladders

·        Quad Mills

·        Elliptical Machines

·        Upper Body Cycling

·        Rowing Machines

·        Group Cycling Classes

·        Water Classes

·        Group Exercise Classes

Now the Rush has all of these (and more) variations for a few reasons:

·        To avoid becoming bored (we want to make sure that you never get bored and are always excited to try something new!)

·        To prevent hitting a plateau (after you challenge your body with a workout, it is built to overcome the challenge ((by getting in better shape)), which means you have to constantly challenge your body to different levels if you want keep seeing results)

·        To provide plenty of variations for all people that may have restrictions or limitations (we have something for EVERYBODY, so NO EXCUSES!)

When working, how many of you would rather get paid your OVER-TIME rate instead of your minimum wage rate??  The obvious answer is OVER-TIME, so let’s discuss how to make that happen when doing your cardio.  When working out, you have two different times to reap the benefits of calorie expenditure:

1.      By doing the workout itself

2.      Your recovery after your workout

Have you ever seen the people that have been on the treadmill for the last five years and not making any more changes to their body?  Those people are probably only experiencing #1 above and not #2.  If you can work out at a higher intensity (after you have built enough of a base, not on your first day), you can increase the calories that you utilize AFTER your workout (as it takes calories to bring your body back to a steady state).  Think of the difference between walking and running around the block.  After walking around the block, it probably doesn’t take very long for you to feel like yourself again and you probably barely worked up a sweat.  If you run (and run as hard as you can, not as hard as you can’t), when you finish you will probably be out of breath for a bit and you will probably notice that you have worked up a sweat that won’t go away even if you have showered and changed into dry clothes.  Scientifically, they refer to the calories that you burn after working out as EPOC (Excess Post-Oxygen Consumption from exercise) which I think of as your “after-burn.”  Research shows that you will have a longer after-burn by doing exercise at a higher intensity.  This can even double the calories that you spent doing the workout itself!

There is a large misconception in the industry that deals with staying in your aerobic zone (approximately 50-60% of max heart rate) to burn the most fat.  The confusion comes from this “zone” being called the “fat burning zone” which in actuality is an intensity that you burn the highest amount of fat for the calories that you are expending.  The only problem is; by working at a lower intensity you are not burning as many TOTAL calories.  Believe it or not, when you are sleeping at night, you are in your largest fat burning zone, but is fat flying off of your body while you are sleeping?? Of course not, because you are burning so few calories… The key is to burn as many calories as you can, which means work out as hard as you can (and use a variety of modes to keep the body from adapting) to maximize your results!  Remember, when you are in a caloric deficit, you WILL lose weight!

If you have any questions about which cardio is for you and how intense you should be doing it, PLEASE don’t hesitate to let any of our Fitness Coaches know and we would be happy to answer all your questions.  Thanks again for reading and if you have any questions or topics you would like me to write about, just drop me an email at: rob@therush247.com.

Have a great rest of your November and Happy Thanksgiving,

Hello everybody-

Guess what time of the year it is??  Holiday season!! What happens at holiday season besides seeing family and watching football?? Lots and lots of social events that usually center around food!!  Now being a big fan of food myself, I fully understand how hard it is to stay regimented especially with all the opportunities to truly blow it.  The average person gains between 3-7 pounds in the next two months, so in tonight’s entry, let’s discuss some ways to combat the holiday weight gain.  First of all, to lose weight, our bodies must be in an energy deficit, which means we either have to take in less calories than we expend, burn more calories than we consume or do a combination of both (the one we most recommend as it is easier than the other two).  The following are some helpful hints to remember this holiday season:

·        Make sure to keep coming to The Rush at least three times per week and participate in cardiorespiratory exercise and strength training to keep your energy expenditure as high as possible.  One of our most popular exercise programs comes from our Group eXercise department.  If you haven’t already tried a class, we have many different ones to choose from including; Group Strength, Boot Camps, Yoga, Pilates, Group Cycling and Water (and many more).  All of these classes come with your membership and all you have to do is show up and be ready to have some fun.  We have had members before worry about not having the best coordination or be able to move to music, and trust me (from experience) if this is you, we have many classes that you can just jump into and not worry about a thing.  Browse our website and you can download a class schedule from your choice club (Burn More Calories).

·        When you come to The Rush, work or anywhere else including the grocery store, park as far away in the parking lot as you can.  It is all about energy and you need to use it.  We do often times laugh at the folks that go to a health club and drive around the parking lot 20 times until a spot in the front opens up… (Burn More Calories).

·        While at work, many people may have environments where they communicate with another co-worker in the same building by either phone, text or email.  If something doesn’t need to be documented (email), get up off of the chair and walk to your co-worker to share the information that you needed to.  Every bit helps, and many of you would probably agree that once you sit down in the morning, except for lunch and maybe a bathroom break, you probably stay glued to your seat for the whole day.  Get up and use more energy! (Burn More Calories).

·        Many times in our daily activities we are faced with a choice: take the elevator/escalator OR climb the stairs.   What do we see?  There will be a line for the elevator/escalator and maybe one person climbing the stairs.  Take the stairs and probably even beat the people on the escalator to the next level! (Burn More Calories).

·        After eating a meal, especially a holiday meal with family, most people “retire” to the living room and end up taking a nap.  They now have the “double-whammy,” they over-ate and now are not going to burn any calories.  Make a pact with a friend/family member that after eating you will walk around the block and burn some of that food off as well as combat the sleepiness. (Burn More Calories).

·        With the holidays so near, many people are going to the grocery store with their holiday dinners on their mind and a great rule of thumb is: never go grocery shopping hungry!  Everything will look good to eat and if you have it in the house, you will eat it (all of it…in one sitting).  Set yourself up for success by only bringing home what you need and can carefully plan out.  If you don’t the “pantry and refrigerator demons” will be calling and you will find yourself eating just for the sake of eating and not even being hungry. (Consume Less Calories).

·        When sitting down for a meal, drink at least two glasses of water first.  This can help to curb your appetite and help you to control yourself with the turkey and mashed potatoes… (Consume Less Calories).

·        “Finish what is on your plate!”  This is what I was taught when I was younger, so we are naturally programmed to eat everything that is in front  of us.  So this holiday, make a deal with the family and friends that you will all put “normal” servings on your plate (normal for a human, not a bear) and save seconds for the next day… (Consume Less Calories).

Those are at least a start to help you out this holiday season.  As always, thank you for visiting our website and feel free to send any questions or comments to me at rob@therush247.com.  Keep working out, have fun and have a safe holiday.

Sincerely,

Hello everybody!  In our last entry, we discussed how posture can affect your workouts and by following the five checkpoints this will help to keep you in the best alignment when exercising.  In today’s entry we will discuss a very popular method of flexibility referred to as foam rolling.  If you have ever seen our members or our Fitness Coaches rolling on these one foot “floaties” that look like they belong in a swimming pool, they are doing this for good reason: to help release muscular knots that prevent ideal movement that will cause compensation and decrease your workout results!

When you workout or experience some type of trauma to your tissues (sitting at a desk for hours upon hours, moving the same way over and over, stubbing your toe as examples) your body goes through a process where it tries to protect the affected area.  Without boring you with all the crazy science, just imagine that your muscles will spasm within the injured area and then your body will try to “tie down” the injured area by releasing very stiff proteins in a very random fashion that would resemble a “knot” (also referred to as an adhesion which then turns into scar tissue) to immobilize the area.  I have often compared this process to when somebody breaks their arm and then the doctor puts the arm into a cast to keep it from moving while it heals.  Now after the healing period, the doctor takes off the cast, but in the case of our muscles and tissues, we need to “remove the cast” by gently rolling on these foam rollers to help “untie” the knots. 

All you need to do to foam roll an area is simply roll very slowly over the muscle group that you are targeting (about one inch per second).  When you roll this slow over an area, it will help to break up the knot that has formed.  Now just as important, when you find a tender area (think of grading tenderness on a comfort scale from 1-10; 1 being very comfortable, 10 being very UNcomfortable) you want to hold pressure on that area for 20-30 seconds without moving and breathe normally.  Again, without going through the crazy science, by applying pressure to the tender area (it's actually in spasm) for the 20-30 second duration, this will relax the spasm and help to restore the muscle's length (very similar to trigger point massage).  If you spend 5-8 minutes before your workout begins doing this to your calves, thighs and back muscles, you will feel like you have a brand new body for your workout!

Hello everybody- we at The Rush hope you had a great September and are gearing up for a little colder weather here in October…

In our last entry we discussed the importance of core training and activating your deep abdominal muscles by pulling your belly button inward when lifting things.  Another HUGE factor in preventing lower back pain (and enhancing your workouts) is having ideal posture throughout the day.  Our bodies are incredible adaptable machines that are built to overcome daily challenges and environments.  If you think about our workouts, when we work out doing cardiovascular exercise, our cardiorespiratory system (heart, lungs and circulatory system) becomes more efficient (gets in better shape) because of the challenge we placed on it by doing the activity.  When we do strength training, our muscles have to adapt and become stronger (or bigger, or faster, or better endurance based upon how we work out) due to the challenge of the weights that we are stressing the body with.  These are many of the reasons that we work out for the great health benefits!  Now on the flip side, our body also adapts to things that we don’t necessarily want: for today’s topic: seated or repetitive posture.

Have you ever noticed on either yourself or anybody else who sits at a desk throughout a day either at a computer or answering the telephone that they seem to become ONE with their chair and desk?  By “ONE” I am referring to when they stand up, their body still looks as though they are sitting down?  If you are spending hours a day in the seated position, then most likely, you will have adaptive shortening occurring in many of the key areas of your body.  Specifically: your ankles (calves) from the type of shoe that you may be wearing (any type of heel), hips (hip flexors) from the seated position, shoulders (chest and back muscles that round your shoulders and turn them inward as if you were typing on a keyboard) and the back of the neck (cervical extensors, resulting from a forward head position).   

Now picture in your body there are many “tug-of-wars” (muscles that are pulling on either sides of a joint) that are occurring at all these specific areas, and ideally for your muscles to be in their “best” position there wouldn’t be one side dominating over the other, they would both be equal length.  Research has also found that muscles that are placed in overly shortened positions for prolonged periods of time result in an increased amount of tone, making those muscles “hyperactive” in general.  This results in a decrease in tone on the opposite muscle(s) which makes them “underactive.”  Now, with certain muscles having altered lengths which directly affect their strength, this will force the body into further improper movement patterns (such as letting your knees come together when squatting down)  and put an increased amount of distress on the joints of your body (which then affect your tendons and ligaments; the ACL for example in the knee).  I often use an analogy of the “faulty shopping cart” at the grocery store to compare to your body.  If you get “that” cart that has the wheel that will not roll straight ahead, then you are always exerting more energy trying to keep the cart from crashing into the displays within the aisles instead of just rolling straight through.  Your body acts the same way, if you have an imbalance in an area of the body, there are other parts of the body that have to compensate for that specific area.  For your body to move as efficiently as possible and reduce the chances of more wear and tear on your joints, then we want all “wheels rolling the same direction.” The following are some very simple and basic alignment guidelines that we maintain while exercising (and moving):

5 Checkpoints

1)      Feet: Hip width apart, always straight ahead

2)      Knees: Always straight ahead, in line with the feet

3)      Hips: Neutral (arch your back as far as you can, then tuck your hips under as far as you can and find the middle point), pull the belly button in and tense the glute area

4)      Shoulders: Down (don’t shrug upwards) and Back (don’t round your shoulders)

5)      Head: Neutral (pull your chin inwards as if trying to show people a “double-chin”) and keep your face in the same direction as your chest (don’t look down or up)

There is much more technical information about why these checkpoints are the way they are (please email me if you would like to more in-depth info) but we have found by maintaining these points while exercising, our clients have reduced their chances of injury and enhanced their workouts!  There are some people that may never follow these and see great results and never injure themselves, but we look at that as taking a risk and if we know that something is better for you, than we always want to stay on the cutting edge of workout information and get the best results!

Have a great start to your October, get in the club at least 3 times per week and don’t let the cold weather and extra layers become an excuse to let that body that you have spent hours getting ready for the summer go!  Please let me know if there is anything you need or if you have any questions that you would like answered about fitness and take care!

Thank you from The Rush family,

Rob Rettmann