What Really Happens to Your Body While You Sleep

To reach peak physical condition, you’ve got to commit to a disciplined workout schedule and a healthy, balanced diet. All that gym time and meal planning need a firm foundation built upon adequate sleep. On average, most adults need a full seven to nine hours every night for the body to function at its best. It’s while you sleep that your body gets to work repairing and rejuvenating itself for another day.

Muscle Recovery

Sleep is far more complex than many people realize. You go through five or six 60 to 90-minute sleep cycles throughout the night. During each of those sleep cycles, the body moves in and out of five sleep stages.

Muscle recovery doesn’t start until the body begins to release human growth hormone (GH) during stage III sleep, the first deep sleep stage. When GH enters the scene, it triggers the growth and repair of muscle tissue. Inadequate sleep alters the release of GH, which either shortens the amount of time GH is in the body or reduces the overall amount released. Either way, your muscle recovery slows down.

A Good Brain Cleansing

Throughout a typical day, toxic proteins build up in the brain. At night, while you sleep, your brain cells shrink slightly to create enough space for spinal fluid to flush out toxins. The brain also gets to work strengthening and pruning connections made during the day. Building those you use most and eliminating those you don’t.

A cleansed, pruned brain thinks and acts quickly. It also prevents a slow down in reflexes and response times that follow sleep deprivation.

Sleep Regulates and Stabilizes

Adequate sleep regulates appetite and metabolism too. Without it, hunger hormone levels rise while satiety hormone levels fall. At the same time, the reward center of the brain gets bigger “hits” from foods high in fat and sugar, which leads to intense food cravings.

Appetite isn’t the only way sleep regulates. It also keeps emotions in check. A sleep-deprived brain becomes oversensitive to any kind of negative stimulation as the emotional processing center gets overactive and the logic center slows down.

How to Build Better Sleep Habits

Here’s what it comes down to—sleep helps you build a strong body while maintaining physical and emotional balance.

If you’re chronically sleep deprived, there are ways to improve both the quality and quantity with habit changes. To start, make sure your bed and bedroom support healthy sleep. A mattress and a supportive bed frame that are adequate for your weight and preferred sleep style are absolutely necessary. The room should also be cool, dark, and quiet to prevent disruptions. After that, it’s all about your daily (and nightly) habits.

During the Day:

  • Spend plenty of time outside. Natural light contributes to the appropriate timing of the sleep-wake cycle.

  • Regularly space and time your meals. Try to eat each meal around the same time each day to help your body establish a predictable routine.

  • Establish and follow an exercise regimen. Exercise improves your physical, mental, and emotional health. Plus, it wears your body out so you’re more tired at night.

At Night:

  • Eat an early, light dinner. We don’t recommend heavy, fried foods at any time but especially not before bed. Stomach upset and indigestion can keep you awake.

  • Follow a bedtime routine. Your body loves predictability. A routine can help trigger the release of sleep hormones while giving you a chance to unwind after a stressful day.

  • Go to bed on time. Establish a bedtime and keep it on weekdays and weekends. After a short time, your brain will anticipate your bedtime and start releasing sleep hormones accordingly.

Conclusion

You might be unconscious but your body works hard while you sleep. To achieve your fitness goals, adequate sleep can’t be an afterthought. As you make it a priority, you’ll have the energy and stamina to push your physical limits.

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Strength Training For Your Heart

Taylors Gym Personal Training

New research published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise shows that even if you do no actual “cardio,” pumping iron will strengthen your most important muscle, your heart, and protect you from having a cardiovascular event like a heart attack or stroke.

After crunching the data, the researchers found that even a little bit of strength training went a long way for preventing heart disease. They found that as little as one session a week, or less than an hour of pumping iron, cut the participants’ risks of heart disease and dying from a cardiovascular event by 40 to 70 percent, even if they didn’t get the recommended amount of aerobic exercise every week.

Strength training was also linked to a lower body mass index (BMI), which is also associated with better heart health.

There are a number of ways to get a strength training workout at Pivotal Fitness:

  • Our Taylors gym is now offering over 25% off personal training sessions. Get a jump on your 2019 fitness goals and get started today!
  • We offer a number of strength training based group fitness classes in our Taylors health club
  • Our strength training area is a 9,000 square foot space that features selectorized Hammer Strength plate-loaded equipment and variable resistance machines set up in circuits, allowing you to effortlessly proceed from one piece of equipment to the next. Bands, cables, ropes, balls, mats, kettlebells, light dumbbells, medicine balls, and bosu balls all offer the potential to train better and smarter.

Get started on a strength training regimen today at our Taylors fitness center. Your heart and your family will thank you!

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Pivotal Performance Strength, Speed & Agility Camp

Sign up for our Pivotal Performance Sports Camps Today!

Pivotal Performance, powered by The XtraInch, has specially designed training programs for student athletes of all ages and skill level. This 8 week training program is only available for the first 60 kids that sign up so don’t wait!

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Pivotal Performance Camp

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Pivotal Fitness Welcomes Swing Doctorz

Pivotal Fitness Welcomes Swing Doctorz

Whether you’re a seasoned golfer looking to shave off a few strokes or a rookie holding the club for the first time, JT Threlkheld can help.  He has 7+ years experience on the PGA tour as a certified PGA trainer working with such notable golfers as Scott Piercy, Camillo Villegas and Tiger Woods.

How can JT help?

  • Using state-of-the-art video imaging technology, he is able correct postural problems and alignment issues creating consistent ball-striking, club head speed, and launch angles.
  • In our golf simulator, you and JT will create consistency in club distances to insure you hit the proper club every time.
  • After your body and swing analysis, you and JT will then focus on increasing your balance and strength.
  • You’ll focus on creating flexibility and power for longer shots and build stamina so that your swing on the 18th hole is just as strong as your swing on hole #1.

Contact us today to set up an appointment with JT.

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High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

Join the Pivotal Fitness Taylors gym on Thursdays at 9:30 AM for a High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) class.

The Science Behind Interval Training:

HIIT taxes and maximizes both aerobic and anaerobic fitness while cardio addresses aerobic only.

  • Aerobic respiration requires O2 to generate energy.
  • Anaerobic respiration does not require O2 to generate energy.

HIIT affects muscle tissue at a cellular level, actually changing mitochondrial activity in the muscles themselves by alternating short periods of intense anaerobic exercise with less intense recovery periods. Studies show that 27 minutes of HIIT 3x/week produces the same anaerobic and aerobic improvement as 60 minutes of cardio 5x/week. These short, intense workouts provide improved athletic capacity and condition as well as improved glucose metabolism.

In addition to increased fat burning and more muscle preserved, HIIT stimulates production of your human growth hormone (HGH) by up to 450 percent during the 24 hours after you finish your workout. This is great news since HGH is not only responsible for increased caloric burn but also slows down the aging process, making you younger both inside and out!

Join us this Thursday at our Pivotal Fitness Taylors gym at 9:30 AM and start experiencing the effects of high intensity interval training for yourself!

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Back To School

Now that the kids are back to school it’s time to focus on you at Pivotal Fitness, your local Taylors gym. Begin your new lifestyle with our 30 Day Fitness Challenge.

To participate:

Find a non-member teammate
Register at Pivotal Fitness Ladies Desk between August 22nd through the 30th
Set the appointment for your initial assessment

This fitness program includes:

Fun atmosphere
Supportive environment
Food education
Before & after analysis of personal improvements
Complete access to Pivotal Fitness Taylors gym and childcare
Weekly and monthly prizes

To sign up call Raquel at 864-292-8873.

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Why It’s Okay to Pig Out on Thanksgiving

It’s okay to indulge, even overindulge, once good ol’ Turkey Day comes ‘round. Cheat meals – even full-on cheat days – are good for the body and even more satisfying to the brain.

Restricting, psychologically speaking, just isn’t going to work in the long-term. Eventually, no matter your willpower, you will cave to temptation. You’ll scoop away at that pint of ice cream. You’ll feast on that fried chicken. You’ll pop open that bag of potato chips. Whatever the temptation, it’ll reel you in eventually. It’s okay. In fact, it’s even better than okay. It can be good for you, if done properly.

Food, even the junk, can be enjoyed without damaging your physique or putting a dent in your health and wellness goals at the Greenville sports club. Really? Yes. Really. It’s simple. The trick is scheduling these indulgences into your Greenville gym plan, either at one cheat meal or cheat day per week.

According to health guru, Tim Ferriss, there are two reasons why you should most definitely “cheat” on your Greenville athletic club routine.

  1. If you don’t allow for indulgences, you’ll go mental. The mind naturally wants what it can’t have. When you do allow for a cheat day/meal once per week, it’s easier to keep temptation at bay because eventually, you know you’ll be able to have whatever it is that you want. It promotes peace of mind, focus and healthy eating for the rest of the week.
  2. Your body actually benefits from a weekly cheat day/meal. Without it, your body will enter starvation mode. NOT GOOD. “Cheating” on your Greenville health center routine keeps you out of this state and actually supports fat loss.

Yeah, it might sound too good to be true, but it’s truly not. Sure, there are some caveats. To get the best experience from your Turkey Day cheating, read up on the important dos and don’ts in this post: The Ultimate Guide to the 4 Hour Body Cheat Day (www.slowcarbfoodie.com).

Cut your brain and body a break this holiday season, and schedule Turkey Day as a guilt-free cheat day. Get it out of your system so you can eat well (and have zero desire for those leftovers) and optimize your Greenville health club training.

Looking for an easy-does-it workout this holiday season? Greenville yoga is where it’s at, offering a great counter to the stress of the season. Contact us for the Yoga Greenville class schedule.

 

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Standard or Sumo Deadlift?

Not so sure which deadlift to incorporate into your Greenville health center weight training routine?

The answer to whether you select the sumo deadlift or conventional deadlift is: it all depends.

Both are good. Both emphasize your backside. But often, one works better for your particular body composition. It all depends on your level of flexibility, as well as your torso and limb length.

For those of average to short height, the standard deadlift generally works better.

For the long torso and/or long-limbed folk, the sumo is often better.

If you’re of the long-limbed, long torso category, the sumo lowers your center of balance and shortens the range of motion by widening your stance. This makes it more suitable because you don’t have to worry about your knees getting in the way on the way up as they are out to the side, which lends more efficiency to the movement.

Also, if you have lower back issues (or a tight lower back), the traditional deadlift, which requires you bend over more, may cause some lower back flare-ups. If that’s the case, the sumo is probably your best bet, as it’s more upright and easier to keep your spine long.

To really determine which one you should go with, try experimenting with both variations.

Be sure you practice your deadlift – sumo or standard – with good form. If you aren’t sure, seek the guidance of a Greenville gym trainer to learn how to execute proper technique before incorporating the movement into your Greenville sports club routine. There are so many benefits to this movement, including planting more muscle on your whole body, but without good technique you won’t get all of the benefits deadlifts have to offer. Plus, you will be more likely to suffer an injury.

Be smart! Be safe!

Have questions regarding the Greenville health club personal training service? Call (864) 292-8875 or email info@greenvillegym.com.

 

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The Big Benefits of Bench Press

Think the bench press is best reserved for bodybuilders?

Think again.

There are reasons why the movement is so trendy in the bodybuilding world. And these reasons extend to the casual lifter, as well.

Here are three reasons why you should consider incorporating the bench press into your Greenville health club weight lifting regimen:

  • Muscle building. The bench press targets the upper-body with a special focus on the pectoralis major muscles of the chest. Though predominantly a chest-building exercise, the movement also engages and works the deltoids, triceps, biceps, rhomboids, rotator cuff, serratus anterior and abdominals. As such, the bench press is a compound workout, meaning that almost all the muscles of your body are involved. If performed correctly and consistently, this movement is bound to boost the muscle definition and strength of your chest area and upper-body as a whole, with the added bonus of fat loss. If you’re short on time and need your upper-body workout fix, bench press is what you want to do.
  • Bone health. As research has suggested again and again, weight training does wonders for your bones, increasing your bone density while also, decreasing your odds of developing osteoarthritis. If nothing else, bench press to keep your bones happy and healthy!
  • Pushing power. When it comes to making you stronger for pushing exercises, the bench press is where it’s at! The movement hits the upper-body hard, which will increase your pushing power for other pushing exercises including standard push-ups, overhead press, handstands, handstand push-ups, bridge push-ups, or dips. For anything that requires a good push, the bench press is the best exercise to boost your power.

To really absorb the benefits of bench press, be sure you practice with proper form. If unsure, seek the guidance of a Greenville gym trainer and learn how to execute proper technique before integrating the movement into your Greenville athletic club routine.

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Shed the Sugar: Greenville’s Halloween Detox Solutions

Go too hard on all the Halloween-themed candies and cocktails over the weekend? No regrets! But when you’re ready to toss out the leftover goodies and see the sugar binge come to a bittersweet end, consider Greenville gym your place to detoxify your body and get back on track.

To kick-start your metabolism — and sweat out all of the toxic stuff — sign up for a Greenville health club group class to shed those post-sugar-binge blues.

To treat yourself, here’s 3 sweat-inducing and system-cleansing solutions to promote your post-Halloween detox:

  1. Want a more easy-does-it detox? Take a Greenville yoga class. It’s not only good for system, but good for the soul. A more heating practice will deliver the best detoxifying results. Really work those twists deep when they come around to squeeze out lingering toxins.
  2. Cardio enthusiast? Try the Greenville health center “spin” on indoor cycling. This cardio session will most definitely deliver a full-body workout, complete with an adequate sweat.
  3. Don’t really feel like “working out”? Ditch the workout and hit the dance floor! Try a Greenville athletic club Zumba class. Cha cha it out in this fun atmosphere set to hypnotic Latin, hip hop, and international beats. Combine fast and slow rhythms for an effective, easy-to-follow dance-like aerobic workout sure to deliver a sweat whilst keeping a smile on your face.

But here’s what you probably don’t want to hear: exercise, while important, only takes you so far. It isn’t enough. Remember to clean up your eating this week to counter the candy consequences. Toss out leftover temptations and incorporate more of these 3 L’s into your diet: lean meats (protein!), legumes (because you still need carbs!) and lettuces (more greens, always!). Also, drink plenty of water.

Happy, healthy detoxing!

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