Excel La Jolla

After waking up from a nights sleep your body is ready to fuel up for the long and busy day ahead. Are you getting what you need to get the most out of the next 24 hours? This decade has seen a significant decline in the proportion of Americans who eat breakfast; aka the most important meal of the day.

The reason behind this meals significant entitlement is that it reduces your hunger later on in the day in order to avoid overeating later. When you skip breakfast and you find yourself feeling ravenous later in the day you are more likely to reach for a quick fix, which is typically not the healthiest choice. A healthy breakfast refuels your body and replenishes glycogen stores that supply blood sugar to give you the physical and mental energy to get through your day.

Since time is always a crunch finding a shake that is simple and gives you all the nutrients you need is essential. The triple GMP certified Metagenics provides us with this the option guaranteed to supplement you with the energy to blast through your day. Starting the day off with UltraMeal Plus360 and a scoop of the Phytoganix will give you all you need and more. The addition of the Phytoganix provides an extra sweet flavor, antioxidants from every supergreen and fruit in the book, and super herbs that have been used all over the world for centuries for energy and overall vitality. Start your day off with this delicious and healthy treat guaranteed to rev up your metabolism and get you through whatever the morning has in store for you.

What’s Your Ideal Body Weight ? from Trevor isaacs.

So, I’m sure you’ve seen those weighted things that look like tea kettles in the gym. And, I’m sure you wondered to yourself what these things are. Well, they are called kettlebells, and can be a great way of exercising smaller muscle groups that you may not get to in a traditional resistance training workout using free weights.

Kettlebell workouts incorporate ballistic and swinging movements to build muscular strength and endurance in the lower back, legs, and shoulders. These exercises can be more provide more life-like movements than free weight exercises such as a chest press or back fly. When performed with correct form and posture, these workouts can enhance your strength training routine.

The beach can be a great place to get your cardio workout in. It’s a soft surface to prevent against joint injuries and it can be very peaceful to exercise while looking out at the ocean. You will see a greater benefit from running on the harder sand by the water versus the soft sand that you like to lay out on.

This workout can be done with shoes on or in bare feet, depending on your preference. In order to ensure a nice path along the sand, it is best to do these workouts during low tide. First, draw lines in the sand every 10-15 yards and create about 4-5 of these lines with your feet, which will run perpendicular to the water. This gives you your “field” to exercise on. Now, what you do is up to you! You can do sprints of different lengths, break up the yardage to perform sprints, backpedals, side shuffles, and long jumps. The intensity of this workout is also up to you. This set-up provides an ideal platform for a high intensity workout, but can also be modified to a low or moderate level. When doing a high intensity workout, allow yourself at least a minute to rest in between each set that you perform. This allows you maximal muscle recovery to ensure maximal force production in each set.

How intense should your exercise sessions be? Well, everyone can tolerate different levels of fitness intensity, so how do you know what’s right for you?

One common, easy method is the “talk test.” During the talk test method, you will exercise at an intensity that allows you to maintain a conversation with someone next to you. More aerobically fit individuals will be able to maintain a conversation at a higher exercise intensity.

A second method subjectively looks at your ratings of how you perceive your own exertion to be, or Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE). This is a scale that ranges from 6 to 20, with 6 being an indication of very light exertion, and 20 being an indication of very intense exertion. Most people should exercise at a moderate intensity, or at an RPE between 16 and 20.

A third, more objective measure for exercise intensity is Target Heart Rate. All you need to know is your age-predicted maximal heart rate, your resting heart rate, and your intended exercise intensity, that we’ll assume is a moderate intensity between 40% and 60% of your maximal heart rate…so here it is!

Maximal Heart Rate = 220 – Your Current Age

Resting Heart Rate = Take your heart rate using your radial artery (near your wrist) for 60 seconds

Intensity = Moderate, or 40-60% of maximal heart rate

Target Heart Rate or THR = (Max HR-Rest HR) x (Intensity %) + Rest HR This will allow you to calculate the your target heart rates based on your desired exercise intensity For more information on interval training and personal training at Excel Sport & Therapy in La Jolla, CA 92037, give us a call at 858-459-3310 or stop by.

Running on a treadmill can become boring, and watching the time makes a long run feel even longer. Interval training can help you increase your enjoyment of cardio workouts, as well increase your athletic performance. Interval training involves changing the tempo of your cardio workout frequently to prevent your body from settling in to a constant rhythm. These types of workouts can be done on a treadmill, elliptical, or outside on the beach.

During an interval training workout, you can walk, jog, run, and even sprint, but for no longer than about 40 seconds at any time. Here’s an example of part of an interval workout on the treadmill:

Walk @ 3.0 mph, 0% grade for 30 sec.

Jog @ 5.0 mph, 1% grade for 30 sec.

Walk @ 3.0 mph at 1% grade for 40 sec.

Run @ 6 mph at 2% grade for 35 sec.

Sprint @ 8 mph at 4% grade for 30 sec.

Interval training has shown to increase cardiovascular fitness levels because of an increased exercising heart rate, as well as an increased ability to supply oxygen to the muscles. So what if you are a distance runner and you need to exercise for longer periods of time?

Well, the increased heart rate and increased supply of oxygen to working muscles that you see with interval training will help delay fatigue during a distance event. This will translate into a better finishing time in that half or full marathon that you have been training for!

Interval training can also increase caloric expenditure during a workout and boost your metabolism after a workout. Increase caloric expenditure + increased metabolism = INCREASED FAT LOSS!!!

Everyone leads a hectic life, so who has time to exercise, right? Exercise should be a fun, enjoyable activity that fits into every schedule. The most common reasons why people say they can’t exercise is… They don’t have enough time! No matter how busy you are, there’s always time to fit in a little physical activity. Some solutions to this problem…walk during your lunch break, set aside 30 minutes after dinner to unwind from a busy day with some activity, or even wake up a little earlier than normal to get a quick workout in. You will be surprised as to how much more energy you have throughout the day!

Don’t become bored with you exercise routine! Exercise needs to be fun or there’s no way you will want to continue any type of program. It’s important to keep your brain guessing as to what type of exercise you are going to do. It’s easy to overcome this obstacle by incorporating medicine balls, Bosu balls, plyometrics, and interval training into you routine.

These simple steps will help you enjoy your workout and push you to keep coming back for more!

We all know that stretching should always be incorporated in our daily life and feel the guilt when admitting to our trainers and our healthcare professionals that we skip it from time to time or ALL the time. The benefits of incorporating flexibility training into daily life include and are not limited to:

• Increased blood flow to the muscles; increasing necessary oxygen supplies to the muscles and carrying away waste products
• Improvement in posture and total body awareness
• Reduced muscle tension and stress relief
• Improvement in range of motion in joints
• Increased energy levels due to increased circulation

There are many different techniques being used in the industry today, but the one I would like to discuss today is the Meridian Flexibility System also known as Resistance Flexibility and Strength Training (RFST). This system contains elements of Western Physical Therapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and psychology. Bob Cooley discovered while attempting to rehabilitate himself from a tragic pedestrian automobile accident, that a total reshaping of his body, personality ways of being, and perspective occurred through a totally new scientific discovery he made about flexibility. His groundbreaking flexibility discovery: the necessity to contract and resist while stretching produces immediate, cumulative, and permanent increases in flexibility and strength. This ‘resistance stretching’ eliminates traumatized accumulated dense fascia surrounding the muscle. Removing this fascia results in totally reshaping posture, immediate performance upgrades, and significant improvements in physiological health.

At the 1993 Chinese National Games, nine Chinese women runners broke nine world records. In the 10,000 meter race, the previous record was broken by 42 seconds, an unbelievable time. The new 1500 meter record holder had been 73rd at the same distance the year before. Journalists and other athletes around the world took notice and accused the team of using steroids, even though the runners all passed steroid tests and there were no other indications of steroid use, such as acne or highly defined muscles. A press conference was held where Ma Jun Ren, the team coach, enraged by these accusations, held up a box of Chinese herbs he credited with his team’s performance. It was derived from cordyceps, a traditional Chinese herb used for generations as a lung Qi tonic.

Cordyceps (C. sinensis) is also a very safe and gentle tonic. It is a very unusual herb, as it’s a moth larva which has been infected with a fungus and then dried. In Traditional Chinese Medicine it is considered to be a lung tonic and has a long history of use in asthma treatment due to its effects of improving “the breath” and decreasing inflammation. Cordyceps has been shown to enhance the immune system, relax spasms of the heart, bronchi and intestines, improve sexual function, and invigorate energy levels while keeping one relaxed.

Finally, Ginseng (Panax Ginseng) is a fundamental herb for improving energy levels in general and for sports performance in particular; it is one of the best known herbs in TCM. It has been shown to have many positive effects for the athlete, including: shortens the latency period of and strengthens conditioned reflexes, speeds transmission of nerve impulses, promotes relaxation while restoring alertness, dilates coronary arteries and sustains proper cardiac rhythm, increases synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids, helps maintain adequate blood sugar levels, and supports adrenal, spleen, thyroid and thymus function. I could go on as this herb has been extensively studied. In my practice, I prefer to use high quality preparations of panax ginseng for relatively short periods of time to avoid overuse of this powerful and important herb.

Drinking lemon water has recently been discussed in many health and fitness fields for its aid in weight loss. Lemon water can act as blood sugar stabilizer that keeps metabolism up and weight loss moving along. Drinking lemon water first thing in the morning can stimulate the body’s natural cleansing and detoxifying properties.

Just a few benefits of lemons include: • Antibacterial properties • Helps with digestion, heartburn and bloating • Can cleanse and revitalize the liver and kidneys • Contains calcium, magnesium, and potassium (commonly deficient in the American diet) • Cleanses the skin • Relieves cold and flu symptoms in warm water

It is especially helpful to replace a drink that contains a lot of calories such as artificial fruit juices with lemon water that has no or very little calories. This will not only decrease excess intake of sugar and preservatives, but it will increase total water intake. Another great thing about lemon water is that it is alkalizing despite being perceived as acidic. Western diet tends to be high in sugar, wheat products, and processed food. These all affect the body’s pH balance and can leave the body acidic. Our immune system works optimally at a middle pH level and can not combat viruses at an overly acidic level. With all the evidence pieced together it does not seem like a bad idea to squeeze half a lemon in your glass of water in the morning or when you are having a sweet craving later on in the day. Increase your water intake and protect you body’s defense system with lemons.