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Eat Right, Live Strong

Eat Right, Live Strong

Published by on April 10, 2024 | Leave a response

The goal of Team Worx in Alexandria, VA, is to help you live strong. That takes a program of regular exercise. It also requires adequate hydration, quality sleep, and learning to eat right. We can help you master two with an exercise program that transforms your body and nutrition coaching that speeds the process. Eating right means giving your body the macro and micronutrients it needs to feel and be your best.

Eat more healthy options and avoid unhealthy ones.

When you eat unhealthy food, like food high in added sugar or fat, it triggers the release of dopamine and opioids in the brain. These feel-good hormones have the addictive nature of opioids. The more sugar and fat you eat, the more you want. Like any addiction, it takes an increasing amount to trigger the pleasure hormones. Food with added sugar causes weight gain and affects your heart and kidneys. It damages collagen and causes wrinkles. If the food has high fructose corn syrup, a highly processed sweetener, it affects your ghrelin—hunger hormone—and leptin—your satiety hormone. It creates an empty pit of hunger you can never fill.

Choosing highly processed foods introduces chemicals and unnaturally high sodium levels into the body.

If you read food labels, you’ll notice highly processed food often has ingredients that sound like a chemistry experiment. If you can’t pronounce the additives, don’t eat the food. Not all processing is unhealthy. Washing produce makes it processed. The food that doesn’t resemble anything found in nature causes problems. Consider Cheetos, one of my guilty pleasures. There’s nothing natural about them. They’re high in fat and sodium. They contain maltodextrin. The FDA doesn’t require the manufacturer to label it sugar, yet the glycemic index is twice as high as table sugar even though the label shows zero grams of sugar. It’s no wonder it’s hard to stop eating them.

Stay focused on eating more whole foods.

Fill your plate with a colorful salad, baked salmon, fresh steamed broccoli, and a potato mash made with steamed carrots, cauliflowers, and potatoes. It’s delicious and far healthier than eating a burger and fries. This meal is a rainbow of colors from vegetables. Phytonutrients in vegetables give them their color, so the more colors you include, the wider the variety of nutrients. Choosing meals like this can help you get fit faster.

  • Including high-fiber food in your diet helps keep blood glucose levels even. It feeds the beneficial microbes in your digestive system to keep you healthier and helps keep you regular.
  • Live strong by hydrating regularly. Drinking water frequently helps. Avoid soft drinks. Studies show a link between diet soft drinks and belly fat. If you don’t like plain water, try infused water.
  • Include all types of exercise in your workout. Your body needs flexibility, strength, cardio, and balance training. Flexibility training and balance training are often overlooked but can prevent injury.
  • Exercising regularly also plays a vital role in another healthy lifestyle change. It helps you sleep better. Adequate sleep is necessary for heart health. When you sleep, your brain reorganizes information, and your body heals injuries.

For more information, contact us today at Team Worx Fitness

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Benefits Of A High Protein Diet

Benefits Of A High Protein Diet

Published by on March 25, 2024 | Leave a response

Some people reap huge benefits when they switch to a high protein diet. It’s especially true if the protein is replacing simple carbs like sugar. The average American often has enough protein to sustain them but might do better by increasing protein. A high protein diet is based on the calories from each macronutrient. Traditional diets get 50% of calories from carbs, 20% from protein, and 30% from fat. Increasing the calories from protein to more than 25% is considered high protein.

High protein diets fill you and help you lose weight.

Protein is one of the most filling macronutrients. It takes longer to digest, so you feel full longer. It also increases your metabolism for a while because of the calories used to digest it. Protein also reduces the production of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, and increases hormones that make you feel full One study showed that when protein intake was doubled, from 15% to 30%, obese women being studied at almost 450 fewer calories. Protein also helps increase muscle mass. Muscle mass requires more calories to maintain. The more muscle mass you have, the easier it is to lose weight.

Contrary to popular belief, eating more protein is good for the bones and digestion.

Studies show that people who eat more protein have a reduced risk of osteoporosis. While earlier beliefs stressed the danger of a high protein diet on bones because of increased acid load, that’s been proven untrue. Both plant and animal proteins benefit bone health and can lower the risk of osteoporosis and fractures. It can lower cravings for late-night snacks that can lead to acid reflux.

Scientific evidence is constantly changing.

At one time scientists thought that eating more protein would raise blood pressure. The opposite is true. In reality, eating more protein may lower blood pressure. In over 40 studies reviewed, it lowered the systolic blood pressure by 1.76 mm Hg and the lower number, diastolic blood pressure, by 1.15 mm Hg. Some studies indicated that it lowered bad cholesterol and triglycerides.

  • If you have a pre-existing kidney disease, a high protein diet isn’t healthy. For people with healthy kidneys, it won’t do kidney damage.
  • As you age, you lose muscle mass. It’s a condition known as sarcopenia. That can lead to bone thinning. Staying physically active and eating more protein can reduce and even reverse the condition.
  • Increasing protein in your diet can help you heal faster after an injury. When consumed after a workout, it helps boost recovery. It contains the building blocks for muscles to get the process started.
  • While increasing protein does provide many benefits, not everyone should increase the protein in their diet. Always check with your healthcare professional first before starting a new diet or program of exercise.

For more information, contact us today at Team Worx Fitness

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How To Incorporate Fitness Into Your Family Routine

How To Incorporate Fitness Into Your Family Routine

Published by on March 10, 2024 | Leave a response

People in Alexandria, VA, are realizing that eating healthier and being active makes life healthier. Most wish they would have started earlier. It helps maintain a healthy weight and provides more than just physical benefits. It also offers mental benefits. Children who are active and eat healthier meals do better in school. It’s time to share a life of good health with your family. You don’t have to force the kids to eat bean sprouts and do calisthenics at the crack of dawn, you can add fun activities. You can slowly change how you cook to increase nutrition. The changes you make today affect your family’s health tomorrow.

Change your family’s diet slowly.

Start by changing how you cook if you fry everything or eat at fast food restaurants regularly. The change doesn’t have to be drastic. If your kids love fried chicken, switch to roasted chicken like you find prepared in the grocery made at home in the air fryer. Find ways to substitute ingredients to maintain the taste but add nutrients while you reduce the calories. You can use meal planning where you cook everything for the week in one day. During the week, just heat and serve.

Make being active fun.

You don’t have to do jumping jacks to exercise and get benefits. Buy hula hoops for everyone and have contests. Go for walks or bike rides. You can build their minds and bodies by taking trips to nature preserves or museums. Museums are large and you walk a lot as you see all the exhibits. If you have the space, start a family vegetable and herb garden. You can even do patio gardening. You’ll be surprised how much fun eating vegetables can be when you grow them yourself.

Plan gifts around an active lifestyle.

Family time should be active time and the gifts you give should reflect that. Instead of the latest video game, give the whole family rollerblades or bikes. Find a sport or activity your kids enjoy and plan gifts around that. Gifts don’t have to be sports equipment. They can be a family vacation to a large amusement park. If you’ve ever spent a day walking these parks or standing in line, you already know how active and wearing a trip can be. You’ll boost everyone’s activity level and make memories at the same time.

  • Start sitting at the table for supper at least one day a week. Don’t allow electronic devices. Eating together, sitting down, and socializing cause everyone to eat slower and make meals more enjoyable.
  • When the weather is foul, find ways to exercise in the house. Turn on the music and dance. It doesn’t have to be fancy to be fun.
  • Have healthy snacks ready in the refrigerator. Vegetables and dip, yogurt with fruit and nuts, and fruit, like melon, cut in bite size pieces are examples.
  • Get the kids to help make meals. Food always tastes better when you help prepare it. Have them make salads with vegetables you prepared if they’re young and give them more difficult tasks as they get older.

For more information, contact us today at Team Worx Fitness

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Mistakes That Can Add Pounds

Mistakes That Can Add Pounds

Published by on February 25, 2024 | Leave a response

When you’re first starting a weight loss program, you’re going to make some mistakes. Some of these can just slow you down a bit, while others are more serious. They can add pounds. Gaining weight when you’re trying to lose is the ultimate in frustration. Not only does it shred your confidence, but it also destroys your motivation and commitment. One of the biggest misconceptions is that it doesn’t matter how you lose weight, just lose it. That opens the door to fad diets that can block your progress in the long run.

If the goal is weight loss, why does it matter how you did it?

Sure, you want to lose weight but doing it with a starvation diet or fad diet that limits you to one or two foods isn’t the right way. You might lose weight, but you have to return to normal eating at some time. When you do, you often gain that weight back and often a little extra. That puts you even further behind than you were when you started. Instead of starving yourself or eating a radical fad diet, focus on eating healthy foods. Cutting out food with added sugar and highly processed food and eating healthy can continue throughout your life so you never have to diet again.

You’re being tricked into believing some foods are diet foods.

Granola bars, energy bars, low-fat yogurt, and many other foods that people buy, thinking they’ll help with weight loss, can pack on the pounds. Fat-free foods can be particularly deceptive. Fat-free foods can cause weight gain. When companies take out fat, it loses some of its flavor and consistency. To make it palatable, they add sugar. Healthy fat helps balance your hormones, stops cravings, and even burns body fat.

People often don’t realize it takes both a healthy diet and regular exercise to lose weight.

If you’re exercising to lose weight but eating junk, you’ll fail. You can’t out-exercise an unhealthy diet. Eating healthy and not exercising isn’t recommended either. You might lose weight if you don’t exercise, but it will be fat and muscle tissue. Muscle tissue requires more calories to maintain, so the more you have, the higher your metabolism is. Shedding muscle tissue makes further weight loss and keeping pounds off harder.

  • Doing constant cardio can also make weight loss harder. Cardio burns tons of calories, but those calories come from both fat and muscle tissue. Do cardio, but also strength training to build muscles.
  • Don’t starve yourself. You can’t do it for long, but that’s not the biggest problem. When you eat too few calories, your body goes into starvation mode, which slows your metabolism for survival.
  • Get adequate sleep. Lack of sleep can cause you to overeat. When you don’t get enough sleep, your body produces more ghrelin—the hunger hormone, and less leptin—the satiety hormone.
  • Drink more water and monitor what you drink. Staying hydrated is vital. Sipping on water throughout the day can diminish your appetite. Drinking soft drinks and fancy coffee can add calories you may miss. Watch out for diet soft drinks. A new study shows they may add inches to your middle.

For more information, contact us today at Team Worx Fitness

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Boost Your Confidence With Exercise

Boost Your Confidence With Exercise

Published by on February 10, 2024 | Leave a response

People come to Team Worx in Alexandria, VA, hoping to lose weight and get fitter, but end up getting so much more. You can see the change as they get fitter. They develop a self-assurance the longer they stick with a program of exercise. It gives them a boost of confidence that’s hard to ignore. It shows in how they walk, stand, and talk. Part of that confidence comes from sticking with and achieving a goal.

Exercise makes you more energetic and powerful.

You’ll have more energy to deal with problems that occur in life. That energy can help you overcome many obstacles in your way. That gives one more confidence boost. You’ll also feel more powerful. If you’re always tired, it can make you feel weak and helpless. The opposite is true when you’re fit. Feeling strong physically can help you feel strong emotionally. It also boosts your cognitive thinking so you’re stronger mentally, adding to your confidence.

Your posture improves, so you look more confident.

If you’ve ever heard the saying, “Fake it until you can make it,” you know that walking tall and acting confidently can give you the confidence you need. When you workout, it improves your posture, making you look self-assured. People treat you with more respect because they sense that air of confidence. That treatment is internalized and gives you that extra boost.

You’ll burn off stress and look fabulous.

Stress can take you down if you let it. Exercise helps burn off stress hormones. You’ll sleep better at night and function better during the day. Exercising boosts the happy hormones that make you feel safe and secure, putting a smile on your face. Now add to that the fact that you look far better, you can see how working out regularly can improve your mood and confidence. Nothing makes you feel more confident than knowing you look great.

  • The longer you stick with a fitness program, the more you’ll feel like you can accomplish anything. That’s especially true if you’ve tried to get fit before and failed. It gives you a new sense of accomplishment.
  • You’ll be more productive. That can earn the respect of friends and colleagues. Knowing others respect you and turn to you for help boosts your confidence.
  • You’ll feel healthier when you workout regularly. Feeling good can make the difference between a day gone bad and one where you come out victorious. Adding more wins to your day boosts your confidence.
  • Achieving your fitness goal gives you the boost of confidence to tackle other difficult goals. Winning is the ultimate confidence builder. Even your self-talk will improve.

For more information, contact us today at Team Worx Fitness

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Most Effective Resistance Band Workouts For Strength And Tone

Most Effective Resistance Band Workouts For Strength And Tone

Published by on January 25, 2024 | Leave a response

You’ll have all the equipment you need when you go to the gym, but what about those times you can’t make it? It happens. You can do a variety of bodyweight exercises to build strength and tone your muscles. You can also use resistance bands to add variety to your workouts. Resistance bands are excellent at-home equipment. They’re inexpensive and small enough to store easily. You can add them to traditional exercises, making it easier to incorporate them into your workout.

Use resistance bands to build upper body strength.

Toning your upper body with resistance bands is easier than you think. Start by holding an end in each hand at shoulder-width. Gather the band so there’s no slack between your arms. Raise your hands above your head to do an overhead pull with your palms facing out. Pull outward, attempting to create a T with your arms until you can’t pull any further because the tension is too demanding. Try the same exercise, but instead, hold your palms facing inward. You can also start the pull with your arms outstretched in front, or the resistance band behind your back.

Adding resistance bands to a squat makes it even more challenging.

People who add hold weights when they do squats do so to make it more challenging. You can use resistance bands in the same manner. Choose the appropriate color for your fitness level. Hold one end of the band in each hand with the middle on the floor. and in the middle of the band is on the floor. It should have no slack when your forearms are at waist level. Now bend your elbow and lift your forearm to your ears. You’ll feel the tension. Start your squat in this position. The bands make all the muscles work harder.

Modify the clamshell exercise with resistance bands.

Some resistance bands are like long strips of flat or ropelike rubber. Others resemble large rubber bands that form a complete circle. Place the rubber band-style resistance band around your thighs just above your knees. Lay on one side with your knees bent and head resting on that side’s forearm and hand. Place the opposite hand on the hip that’s in the air. Press the upper thigh outward by squeezing our thigh and glute muscles. Hold the clamshell open, then slowly close it back to the starting position. Do several reps and repeat on the opposite side.

  • Use a longer resistance band and do curls. In a seated position, hold both ends in one hand and loop the band under the foot on the same side. There should be no slack. Do a curl.
  • Use a rubber band style band. Put it around your ankles. Then raise your leg to one side, hold it, and lower it back to the starting position. Do a set and do the other leg. You can also lift one leg forward or backward.
  • Do a high plank with resistance bands around your wrist. Raise one hand until the resistance stops you, then slowly lower it back to the ground and raise the other hand.
  • Glute bridges are even more difficult if you have a resistance band around your thighs. Bring your body up to a bridge by tightening your glutes and pushing your thighs outward. Hold the position then lower your body.

For more information, contact us today at Team Worx Fitness

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The Best Ways To Overcome Gym Anxiety This Year

The Best Ways To Overcome Gym Anxiety This Year

Published by on January 10, 2024 | Leave a response

Not everyone at Team Worx in Alexandria, VA, had gym anxiety. Those with anxiety overcame the problem and started on the road to good health and fitness. There are as many ways to defeat anxiety as there are reasons it exists. Some people are perfectionists, so facing something new can be intimidating since they know they won’t be able to do it perfectly. Hiring a personal trainer and doing one-to-one training can ease your mind. The trainer will show you the proper form first, so there’s no need to worry.

Get all your information first.

Are you worried you won’t know what to do or where to go? Before you start, ask questions. Before you sign up, ask a lot of questions. Ask for a tour of the facility and learn where everything is and the typical workout session. Check out the gym’s site online. The more information you have, the more comfortable you’ll feel on your first day.

Start slowly and work your way to a more strenuous routine.

Everyone is a beginner at some time in their life. Some people start exercise programs very young, so they don’t remember how scary it was. If you’ve never exercised before and worry you’ll look foolish or won’t be able to keep up with others, know that it will be true. Doesn’t that make you feel more anxious? Not if you realize there are always fitter people, regardless of how good you are. Most people are too focused on how to get fit or too self-conscious about what others think, to worry about you. If someone is focusing on you, aren’t they procrastinating and scared too?

Workout with a friend.

Going to a gym alone can be intimidating if you’re a beginner. However, if you go with a friend who is also a beginner, it’s more fun and less scary. If you go with a friend who already works out at that gym, they can guide you through the process and ease your fears. Joining a beginner’s group fitness class can also help ease your anxiety. Everyone in the class will be a beginner, just like you. It eases you into exercise until you feel comfortable working out alone.

  • Going to the gym after an injury or illness can be intimidating. Talk to your healthcare professional first to get an okay. Use a personal trainer to modify your workout to match your fitness level.
  • Find a time when the gym is less crowded. Ask the staff for help using the machines. If you have problems changing in front of others in the locker room, it’s also a time that it’s less likely to happen.
  • Don’t force yourself to stay for an entire session. Do as many as you comfortably can on the first day and build on that, increasing how long you stay each time.
  • Overcome the worry that you’re too out of shape. It’s why you’re going to the gym. Set a starting date and increase your activity daily to prepare for the gym.

For more information, contact us today at Team Worx Fitness

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How To Get Bigger And Stronger

How To Get Bigger And Stronger

Published by on December 25, 2023 | Leave a response

People come to Team Worx in Alexandria, VA, for many different reasons. Some come to lower blood pressure, lose weight, or build endurance. Others want to get bigger muscles or want to become stronger. Some want both. Building larger muscles doesn’t necessarily make you stronger. That requires a different type of exercise. You have to build opposing muscle groups to get the best results. You can start by lifting something heavy. While most new mothers don’t develop bulky muscles, they develop the strength to lift the baby and as the baby grows increase that lifting ability.

You use different workouts to build big muscles than you do to build strong muscles.

When you first start training, you’ll build both muscles and strength. Most bodybuilders workout to achieve larger muscle size—hypertrophy. While they’ll gain some strength initially, it won’t be as much as powerlifters, who focus only on strength. What’s the difference between the two? It’s not the type of exercise you do but how you do it. When you build muscle tissue, as bodybuilders do, you do more reps and less weight or resistance.

Build your biceps with lifting and curling exercises.

According to ACE—American College on Exercise—building biceps requires exercises that involve curling weights toward your shoulders or lifting weights. Use a weight you can lift for 12-15 repetitions before your form deteriorates. Do one set of each of these exercises two or three days a week, ensuring you have 48 to 72 hours of rest between sessions to allow muscles to recover. As you get stronger, don’t increase the reps, but increase the sets.

Several exercises can build your lower body strength.

You don’t need weights to build or define your thighs and glutes. Squats and lunges can do the job. These traditional calisthenics build leg and back muscles. Hold weights to build more strength. Curls are excellent for strengthening upper arms. So are push-ups and planks. The two also build core strength and improve balance and mobility. Crunches and bridges can build midsection core muscles.

  • Focus on form when doing all types of exercise, especially strength-building exercises. Don’t forget to do warm-up and cool-down exercises.
  • Women have to work harder to build bulky body muscles. It takes a special diet and a specially designed workout routine. Don’t worry. Strength-building exercises won’t turn you into the Hulk without extra effort.
  • Eat a small snack or meal after your workout. It should contain carbohydrates and protein. Eat it as soon after the workout as possible to boost recovery and provide adequate protein to build muscle tissue.
  • Slowly increase the weight you lift as you get stronger. Don’t go too fast, or it will affect your form. The trainers at Team Worx will help you find the right weight and time to make the change.

For more information, contact us today at Team Worx Fitness

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How To Stay In Shape With A Busy Lifestyle

How To Stay In Shape With A Busy Lifestyle

Published by on December 10, 2023 | Leave a response

You might think you can’t workout because you have a busy lifestyle, but the truth is, if you want to stay in shape, you have to make the time. Schedule your workout at the same time each day. Consider the gym a way to avoid many doctor’s appointments. Being fit diminishes your potential for serious illness. It increases strength, boosts your immune system, and helps prevent pain from existing conditions. It can prevent obesity, which leads to heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

Your diet plays a vital role in your fitness.

It takes no extra effort to eat healthy since you have to eat. You can make it even easier with meal planning. You plan your meals one day a week, shop for ingredients the next, and cook on the third day. Cooking all in one day saves time. You can use the oven for several dishes, divide the meals into individual serving sizes, and use the excess meat and vegetables for several meals. Then heat it and serve during the week.

Workout early or after work.

If you have a hectic day, workout before it starts. Get up before the kids and do your workout. It prevents emergencies or unexpected intrusions into your schedule. You’ll be ready to take a shower right after the workout and begin your day. If your day ends when you walk out the door at the office and you seldom work past your regular hours, working out after your workday ends is perfect. If neither works for you, break up your workout into shorter sessions of 10-15 minutes each.

Workout smarter and with more intensity.

A shorter workout provides more benefits if you use HIIT—high intensity interval training. It’s not a specific workout but a way of doing any exercise. You alternate between high intensity and recovery rate for a minute or two each. Studies show that HIIT workouts offer the same benefits in a half hour as steady-state workouts provide in an hour. Other types of training that get more done in less time include kettlebell training, circuit training, and full-body workouts.

  • You don’t have to go to the gym to get exercise. Alternate your days at the gym with active recreation. Ride bikes with the kids, go for a walk or go dancing. Include your family in your fitness regimen and make it fun.
  • Get plenty of sleep. You may think you should stay up to finish a project, but you won’t be working as efficiently. Lack of sleep also increases the hunger hormone and diminishes the satiety hormone, so you eat more.
  • If you stop for a drink with friends after work, suggest you all go to the gym instead. You’ll burn off stress hormones, just like liquor does, but you’ll lose weight not gain it and feel better in the morning.
  • Staying hydrated is vital to staying fit. Always carry a bottle of water with you and sip on it throughout the day. It’s the perfect pick-me-up that increases your energy better than coffee does.

For more information, contact us today at Team Worx Fitness

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