Is It Safe To Workout While Pregnant?
Clients often ask, “Is it safe to workout while pregnant?” Most know that I’ve had three babies, so they feel that I’m an expert in that area, particularly compared to most male trainers. The answer is yes, but with qualifications. It actually depends on when you started working, the type of exercise you do, what month of pregnancy and the intensity of the workout. It’s one reason I tell women that they always should check with their doctor first. With that being said, exercise during pregnancy can actually make delivery easier.
In some situations, unguided exercise or exercise in general need to be avoided.
While I’m a huge fan of exercise during pregnancy, since it offers so many benefits, there are some conditions and situations where it could be dangerous or only done after consulting your doctor. If you have a preexisting condition like diabetes, asthma or heart disease, always check with your health care professional before starting any program of exercise. Spotting, a weak cervix, low placenta or anyone with a history of miscarriages or premature births should be very careful and stick strictly to the recommendations of your medical expert, no matter how easy the exercise program is.
If you’ve never exercised before getting pregnant, take it easy.
If you led an active life before getting pregnant, most physicians agree that continuing exercise should be okay, depending on the type of exercise you did. For those that lived a sedentary lifestyle, stick with simpler exercises, like walking. They should be low impact, such as riding a stationary bike or using a step machine. Swimming is an excellent exercise if you’re pregnant and never exercised before pregnancy.
Even if you were active before you became pregnant, you should still follow some rules.
Doing high impact exercises, those that involve contact or falling should be avoided. These include exercises that involve jumping, hopping, bouncing or skipping. The jarring movements and movements that shock the body, or participating in basketball, skiing or volleyball, where you have contact or shock to the body should be off your list during pregnancy. Some exercises you might not consider potentially dangerous, but are, are those that put pressure on the abdomen, leg lifts, full sit-ups, deep knee bends and toe touching fall in that category.
- Form is extremely important, especially the further along you are. If you’re stretching, don’t hold your breath or bounce. Twisting at the waist and doing HIIT workouts should be avoided.
- There’s a lot of benefit that working out brings. It can help you have a safer, quicker delivery. You can use light weights for exercise, just don’t do lifting laying on your back.
- The kneeling and standing pelvic tilt are both great exercises for back pain. Squats help with delivery, just as kegels will. If you did aerobic exercises before pregnancy, don’t quit as long as they’re safe. You need to have good cardio workouts to make delivery easier.
- The temperature of the room or area where you exercise is important. Avoid working out in the heat. It’s always best to error on the side of caution, since you’re protecting more than your own health, you’re protecting the health of the baby, too.
For more information, contact us today at The Worx Fitness
How To Stay Fit As You Get Older
At The Worx in Alexandria, VA, I work with people of all ages. I see how discouraging it can be older and see how fast the younger people make fitness gains. It’s not only harder to get fit as you get older, it’s also harder to stay fit as you get older, too. Hormone levels drop and make it more difficult to build muscles. It’s also harder to maintain gains than it is for younger people. Sarcopenia—age-related muscle loss—is the reason for that. Your body changes as you age. Not only are hormone levels lower, processing protein for fuel is more inefficient. Nerve cells die and inflammation can cause changes.
There’s hope on the horizon, don’t get discouraged.
Do you want to reverse the signs of aging, then it’s time to start working out and get back into shape. Strength-training helps. Whether you use bands, bodyweight workouts or weights, it can help build muscle mass and reverse some of the signs of aging. You can maintain muscle mass and even build it. That can improve your quality of life.
If you want great results faster, HIIT—high intensity training—can help.
Keeping your heart healthy is important as you age. You can do that with cardio workouts and the best way can be HIIT training. It improves your body faster and can be done with any type of workout. It’s simple, just adjust the intensity of the workout continuously. Exercise at top intensity for a few seconds and then slow it down to moderate output or recovery intensity. Continue to alternate between high intensity and recovery throughout the workout.
Don’t forget that excess weight increases your risk of serious diseases.
If you’re older and weigh too much, you could be setting yourself up for a serious disease, such as diabetes, heart problems and high blood pressure. If you already have those problems, exercising, a healthy diet and losing weight can help. It’s never too late to start to shed those unwanted extra pounds. You’ll probably find that as you lose weight, all those joint pains will improve too.
- Don’t discount walking as part of your exercise regimen. A brisk walk improves muscle mass and bone strength. You can even modify a walk and make it a HIIT workout. Just adjust your speed throughout.
- Flexibility training is particularly important as you age, so is balance training. Both help you avoid injury and keep you self-sufficient.
- Staying fit is good for both the mind and the body. Mental issues, such as depression, dementia and Alzheimer’s are helped with regular exercise. It even boosts cognitive functioning.
- You’ll get more out of life when you workout. Just enjoying the social part of coming to the gym and being with people can improve your mental attitude. You’ll also be fit enough to keep up with the whole family and enjoy more family fun.
For more information, contact us today at The Worx
Different Ways To Use Green Tea For Health
Put down that soft drink and start drinking green tea for health. It’s true, green tea has huge health benefits. First, drinking green tea is associated with weight loss. That should make it popular with hundreds of people immediately. Studies show that just drinking one cup a day can provide healthy changes and other studies show you have to drink at least five cups a day or more. If you drink it without added sweeteners, it’s a no-calorie drink that not only quenches your thirst, but boosts your energy too. While green tea is a great drink, don’t forget to drink water as well.
How does green tea help you lose weight?
Green tea contains caffeine and that can increase your metabolism. Because of other components and less caffeine, it won’t cause jitters like coffee does. It can improve your weight loss and performance in the gym, too. The catechins in green tea—epigallocatechin gallate—EGCG—helps break down body fat, particularly in the abdominal area. EGCG is responsible for slowing the enzyme that inhibits the production of norepinephrine, a belly fat burner.
Protect your brain with green tea.
Studies show that the antioxidants in green tea not only helps improve short memory function, it protects the brain. It protects the neurons that produce dopamine, which makes Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease risk lower. Those same antioxidants that protect the brain, also protect the heart and can also help prevent insulin resistance, which is the precursor to diabetes.
Lower your risk for serious conditions with green tea.
Drinking several cups of green tea throughout the day can lower your risk for oral, prostate, stomach, breast and pancreatic cancer. Several studies showed that people who drank between three and five cups a day reduced their risks. It can also lower the risk for developing type 2 diabetes by as much as 33%, but it takes approximately six cups a day to do it.
- If you want better oral health and less dental carries, drink green tea. It reduces the risk of gum disease, cavities and oral infections. It also makes your breath smell fresher.
- You’ll save a lot of calories just by switching to unsweetened green tea over soft drinks and juice. If you have water weight and want a quick fix, drink several cups of green tea. It acts as a diuretic.
- A study following 40,500+ people found that the group that drank at least five cups of green tea, lived longer. Men who drank more had a 12% lower chance of dying in an 11-year period and women had a 23% lower chance of dying in that same time.
- You can lower your risk of heart disease by drinking more green tea. Studies showed that it reduced heart disease by 31 percent for women and 22 percent for men.
For more information, contact us today at The Worx
Pelvic Floor Exercises For Women
Whether it’s improving your sex life by reducing pain during sex and improving the quality of the sex or helping to prevent leakage from the badder or bowel, pelvic floor exercises for women are important. Pelvic floor exercises strengthen the muscles that support the bowel and bladder, they also help when you’re pregnant by providing support for the baby and aiding during labor and delivery. When you have strong pelvic floor muscles, you won’t worry as much about wetting your pants when you sneeze or cough, which can occur after pregnancy or later in life.
You need to identify your pelvic floor muscles and can easily do it.
When you urinate, it takes muscles to try to stop the flow of urine once you start. Try it the next time you go to the toilet. Notice the muscles you’re using and work on those. The Kegel exercise is one pelvic floor exercise you can do any time, anywhere. It’s simply contracting and relaxing the same muscles you use when you stopped your urine. Nobody will know while you’re doing it, but it can build strength in those muscles and help prevent urine leakage. Start with ten to fifteen squeezes and don’t forget to breathe as you’re holding them tight. Work your way up to more.
Try a clamshell exercise.
While the Kegel is a great exercise for the pelvic floor, but it’s also good for core muscles, the bottom and hips. Lie on your side with your head resting on the hand of the lower arm. Your knees should be bent at a 45-degree angle and the arm on top should be at your side to steady your frame. Keeping your feet together, raise your knee like a clam shell opening. You need to pull in your abdominal muscles to keep your spine and your pelvis stable.
Squats can help the pelvic floor.
The type of squat makes a difference on whether it builds the pelvic floor exercises. Shallower and narrow squats are far better than ones that you go down deeper that don’t work the pelvic muscles. Stand with your feet at hip-width, keeping your feet flat on the floor. Lean forward slightly and keep your back straight as you bend your knees, lowering yourself toward the ground. As you return to standing position, focus on tightening the pelvic floor muscles. Do a set of ten, rest and do another set.
- You can do pelvic floor exercises if you’re pregnant and even before you get pregnant. It makes delivery easier and can prevent incontinence after delivery.
- Pelvic floor exercises can help prevent back pain from standing prolonged periods. They help posture and prevent developing pelvic organ prolapse.
- A strong pelvic floor not only helps prevent leakage, it can mean a flatter stomach. As the pelvic floor weakens it causes your organs to droop, pushing against the spine and stomach, causing the stomach to develop a pooch.
- The focus should always be on technique and not on how many you can do. Many of these exercises are ones we do a The Worx. We’ll help you with technique because doing them right is important.
For more information, contact us today at The Worx
The Best Recipes For Meal Prep On A Budget
One of the best ways to ensure you eat healthier is to do meal prep. I often have clients at The Worx in Alexandria, VA, ask for tips and recipes for meal prep on a budget. I have some favorites that my family loves and some big aids that are generalized to help you no matter what your food preferences. It can start by using some tried and true options, like beans and rice or making soup. You can save money by planning your meals around the sales at groceries and shopping on one day, after you ate, so you don’t buy anything else. When you do food prep, make double. You can use one for the week and freeze the other servings for later.
Opt for several meals to use all the food.
If a roasted chicken is on the menu, use the bones to make bone broth. Use leftover veggies and celery tops for soups. Create several meals from a piece of meat or other animal protein. You can make a slow cooker beef roast with an inexpensive cut of meat for one meal and combine it with a salad, vegetable and brown rice. Use the extra cut of meat to make a shredded beef salad or mix it with beans, low sodium salsa, onions and a can of diced tomatoes and chilies for a heart healthy burrito. Fill a burrito or whole wheat taco shell and garnish with chopped tomatoes, lettuce, onions and jalapenos.
Go meatless once a week.
If you’ve never heard of a meatless Monday, it’s time to start thinking about doing it yourself to save money. Animal protein adds a substantial amount to the grocery bill. You can get a complete protein from vegetarian sources by combining ingredients, such as nuts and seeds with whole grain bread. It’s a simple recipe, just think peanut butter on whole wheat toast. To add the sugary component, don’t use jelly, use sliced and lightly blended fruit, like grapes or apples. Beans and brown rice is another favorite dish that’s easy to make. Make your rice, add beans and a can of diced tomatoes and season to taste.
If you want a yummy one pan meal, try roast chicken and Italian vegetables.
A third cup of balsamic vinegar and half cup of Italian dressing make a great marinade for 1 ½ pounds of chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces. Put 1/3 cup of the marinade in a plastic bag with the chicken pieces and marinate it in the refrigerator for a few hours. Mix broccoli, carrots and tomatoes with 3 tablespoons olive oil, garlic powder and some dried Italian seasoning. You can use the leftover veggies you have on hand, or fresh ones. Place in a pan and put in a 400 degree preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove, turn and brush mixture with half the remaining vinegar mixture. Bake another 15 minutes and drizzle with the last of the marinade. Serve over rice.
- Plan for leftovers. Leftover veggies, rice and protein source, whether vegetarian or animal, can be combined to a make a power bowl that’s delicious. Just pile them together and microwave.
- Create a salad everyone will love that has a wide mix of vegetables and topped with left over meat. Leftover grilled veggies also enhance the flavor. If you’re using marinated or seasoned meat or veggies, you may not need any dressing for flavor.
- If you’re making extra to freeze, you can make meal prep easier by freezing on a tray and then putting them in a plastic bag. It helps prevent the food from sticking together and makes taking a specific amount out easier. It’s especially helpful if you plan to use them in other recipes later.
- Plan around the seasonal produce and freeze some for later, making sure you freeze it on a tray first so it separates easily. When you use in-season fruits and vegetables, your budget will go even further.
For more information, contact us today at The Worx
Workouts That Are Safe In Pregnancy
There wasn’t ever a question in pioneer days whether a woman would do physical labor when pregnant. Life dictated that she would. Later, in the early 20th century, women in America who could afford it workouts that are safe in pregnancy often took to bed and rested through the pregnancy, while people in other nations, such as China, actually delivered babies in the fields when they worked. Today, we have a completely different mindset and realize that staying active and doing workouts that are safe in pregnancy can help deal with back problems, make delivery easier, increase energy levels and prevent constipation and bloating. It also lowers the risk of gestational diabetes.
If you already workout, during the first trimester, you can continue your workout.
If you don’t workout, adopting a more active lifestyle is still an option in the first trimester. Always consult your primary care professional before you do, especially if you’re at risk for any serious complications. No matter what the workout, don’t do it if you’re exhausted or nauseous. If you’re just starting out, take it slowly by increasing the amount you walk or ride a bike each week. Make the transition slow and gradual, avoiding strenuous moves that put pressure on the back, twist the abdomen or place your feet above your head. Focus on exercises that strengthen the pelvic floor, such as pelvic tilts, which helps make childbirth easier.
Add caution during the second trimester.
That flat tummy you were so proud of has started to disappear and you should avoid some exercises, or modify ones you already do. For instance, switch from uphill running to flat ground running and use a treadmill with a side bar for stability. It may be time to error on the side of caution and switch to a stationary bike, rather than riding on the road where you could face a potential fall. Avoid hot yoga, but other types are okay, just as aquatic aerobics or swimming is safe. Get help from a personal trainer if you’re working out in the gym.
Your center of gravity has changed in the third trimester.
If your doctor just suggested you get exercise, don’t go gung-ho and expect to workout like an Olympian. Stick with things like swimming, prenatal yoga, and some type of calisthenics such as wall push-ups, lunges and similar low impact exercises. If you opt for using weights, use lighter weights. Pelvic floor exercises are also excellent at this time, since they prepare the body for labor, birth and postpartum.
- Practice kegel exercises during pregnancy. Not only do they help prepare your body for birthing, they can prevent bladder leakage that can occur when pregnant.
- Increasing your physical exertion for just 20 minutes a day can dramatically reduce the risk of complications during delivery and actually improve the health of the baby.
- If you find it difficult to get a full half hour straight to exercise, you can break it up to three ten minute sessions. Take the stairs, walk to lunch, park further from the store and walk more are added ways to increase exercise daily.
- At the TeamWorx Fitness, we can help you with a program designed specifically for your needs that includes both a workout routine and healthy eating. You and your baby will benefit from a program of working out and healthy eating.
For more information, contact us today at The Worx
Benefits Of Organic Food
Are you torn between paying extra money for organic foods and focusing more on eating healthier. I get a lot of questions from my clients in Alexandria, VA, whether choosing organic food is really that important. The answer is yes and no. I know, that’s not the answer most people want but it’s the right answer. Some organic food doesn’t come with any particular benefits, while other food that’s organic does. You can find out which is which by following the Dirty Dozen List and the Clean Fifteen.
The Dirty Dozen is a list based on data collected by the EWG— Environmental Working Group.
The EWG is a non-profit organization that focuses on health and the environment. They do everything from testing cosmetics to studying GMOs and the effects of pesticides on food. The purchase samples of fruits and vegetables across the country and test them for pesticides each year. Then they identify those that have contaminants and pesticides even after washing. The top 12 and sometimes 13 make up the Dirty Dozen and the bottom 15 that show the least contamination are the Clean 15.
When you shop, you can choose non-organic from the Clean 15 list.
Go organic for the Dozen and opt for cheaper non-organic choices when purchasing fruits and vegetables on the Clean 15 list. For another consecutive year, strawberries, kale, and spinach are at the top of the Dirty Dozen list, containing the highest amount of pesticides even after they’re washed. Apples, grapes, peaches, cherries, pears, tomatoes, celery and potatoes are also on the list. Even hummus has now been questioned depending on the source of the chickpeas are from.
What’s on the Clean 15 list?
Food that didn’t test high in pesticides, regardless of how it’s grown include avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, onions, papaya, frozen sweet peas, eggplants, asparagus, cauliflower, cantaloupe, mushrooms, broccoli, cabbage, honeydew melon and kiwi. You’ll notice many of those foods have their own protection from insecticides, like a thick skin, or like onions, actually deter pests.
- Don’t forget to check your animal products for organic foods, which is really important. Seafood from the wild rather than farmed, grass fed beef without hormones or antibiotics and free range eggs and poultry are good choices that have other health benefits, too.
- Whether organic food is higher in nutrition or not is still up for debate. Some research shows it might be more nutritious. The reason may be the actual fertilizer, such as compost, that’s used, rather than the conventional fertilizer of chemicals.
- If you’re worried about GMO food, be careful. Some of the fruits and vegetables on the list of the Clean 15 may be GMO food if you don’t buy organic. Some summer squash, papaya and sweet corn can come from GMO seeds.
- Grass-fed beef has a higher amount of antioxidants, vitamins and conjugated linoleic acid that improves immunity and is anti-inflammatory. It contains a lower potential for antibiotic resistant bacteria. Eggs from free range chickens also contain more antioxidants, flavonoids and omega-3.
For more information, contact us today at The Worx
Is Cardio Making You Fat?
What’s the best type of exercise to help you lose weight? Some people say cardio is the best because it burns tons of calories, but new schools of thought contradict that, saying cardio is really making you fat. Which one is right? Which one is right? There are valid reasons to suspect that cardio alone isn’t the best route to take if you’re trying to shed those extra pounds, but at the same time you can also use cardio in ways to boost your weight loss endeavor.
Your body becomes more efficient the more you do cardiovascular exercises.
The human body was built for becoming more efficient. The harder your labors are, the more muscle you build. The more you run or do aerobic type of activities, the more efficient it becomes at conserving calories and using oxygen and lung capacity more efficiently. While that’s great for survival, it’s not great for weight loss, at least the calorie conserving part. It means the more you do of a specific activity, the less fuel you’ll need to do it. You may have burned hundreds of calories from running five miles initially, but that amount is cut substantially the more you do it. You need more variety since your body adapts.
You can stress your body with too much cardio.
This is a bit confusing, since exercise is supposed to be healthy and burn off hormones of stress, like cortisol. The problem is, rigorous cardio also causes the body to stress, releasing even more cortisol. If you don’t have a problem with stress, daily runs or other cardio won’t be a problem. However, anyone already under stress with high cortisol levels actually enters a “fat trap.” The more intense the cardio, the more potential for weight gain. It increases insulin levels and can boost your cravings for sugar.
You’ll be burning calories, but the source of those calories doesn’t matter.
When you burn calories, it can come from either fat tissue or muscle tissue. Aerobic exercise—cardio—doesn’t differentiate which one. It burns lean muscle mass for calories and fat tissue. It also can make it harder to build muscle tissue. Strength training tends to burn more fat tissue and build muscle tissue. That’s important since the more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn. Muscle tissue requires more calories than fat tissue does.
- There are several studies that show that people who run often eat more calories. In fact, most people eat about 100 calories more than they burn, so they gain weight by adding cardio.
- How fast you run makes a difference. If you run at top speed or run at a slow jog, almost walk, it is beneficial. It’s using a constant middle of the road pace that adds weight.
- While cardio isn’t the best for weight loss in the long run, it does take off weight initially for the sedentary. It can get you ready for other cardio workouts that involve strength building like kettlebells or high intensity interval strength training.
- Including all types of training in your workout is not only good for weight loss, it’s imperative for good health. That’s why we focus on a balanced workout at the Worx by Maia to help you lose weight more efficiently.
For more information, contact us today at The WorX by Maia
Are You Overweight Because Of Hormone Imbalance?
At the Worx in Alexandria, VA, I help a lot of overweight women with a hormone imbalance shed their extra pounds. Hormones do affect your weight loss efforts. Of course, it’s not the same for everyone, sometimes the weight gain comes from a sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits. Hormonal imbalances are difficult to dealt with, particularly for women going through menopause, where there are changes daily and people going through stressful times.
If you’re in menopause or perimenopause, expect hormonal problems.
Whether it’s hot flashes, weight gain or other symptoms of menopause, they all come from reducing estrogen and progesterone levels. Higher estrogen levels cause you to gain weight, so you probably wouldn’t expect that during perimenopause or menopause, but it happens. Since both progesterone and estrogen levels are dropping, sometimes the progesterone level drops faster, making estrogen more dominant. Higher levels of estrogen, called estrogen dominance, can cause weight gain, no matter what your age, even when you’re not at any stage of menopause.
Estrogen dominance can be one cause of weight gain, but there are others.
Three other types of hormones affect your weight. The balance between ghrelin and leptin—the hunger/satiety hormones, insulin and cortisol. Not only do these hormones affect your weight gain, but where that weight settles on your body. For instance, cortisol, a stress hormone, puts fat on your abdomen, often called belly fat. It’s called visceral fat and is the most dangerous type of fat and most difficult to eliminate. The ghrelin/leptin balance tells your body when you’re hungry and when your full. Too much ghrelin and you’ll be hungry all the time. Insulin regulates blood sugar. If it isn’t functioning properly weight gain is easier and you have a problem losing weight.
It may sound depressing, but there are ways to regulate these hormones.
When you participate in physical activity, you’re giving yourself a head start on regulating hormones. Physical activity not only helps regulate insulin levels and reduce insulin sensitivity, it can burn off the hormones of stress and improve testosterone levels. If you worry about testosterone being a male sex hormone, even women need it for building muscle and shedding fat. Sometimes, just worrying about losing weight can be stressful enough it causes high cortisol levels that causes weight gain around the middle. In fact, cortisol may be the biggest block to weight loss, so controlling stress is imperative.
- Strength-building exercises and HIIT—high intensity interval training are far better for regulating hormones than chronic aerobic exercises like running. Don’t forget meditative types of exercises like tai chi.
- Getting adequate sleep is extremely important to regulating hormone levels. Even one night without adequate sleep can make hormones go out balance.
- Eat healthier. Consume less red meat and avoid caffeine and sugar. Healthy fat is important for your diet, so add an avocado or two. If you choose to supplement, take a vitamin D3, B complex, magnesium and add bone broth for extra collagen and nutrients.
- Address gut health issues and your microbiome. If your digestive system isn’t functioning correctly, it affects your entire body.
For more information, contact us today at The WorX by Maia
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