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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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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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Simple Tips for Lifters with Lower Back Concerns

Do you want to get into a weight lifting program at the Greenville sports club, but hesitate because you are concerned that you might be susceptible to lower back flare ups?

It’s a valid concern.

To better ensure that your lower back stays safe, here’s five simple tips to put into practice if/when you start a weight lifting program at the Greenville Gym:

  1. Substitute the traditional deadlift with a sumo deadlift. The wider the stance, the less intense on the lower back.
  2. Elevate your heels. This puts more emphasis on your knees, taking the stress off of your hips and lower back. Either invest in weight lifting shoes or lift your heels on weights.
  3. Invoke the mantra: slow and steady. More times than not, it’s adding on too much weight too quickly that leads to lower back pain or injury. Be smart: add weight on very slowly and steadily over time. Use an app like Strong Lifts to strategically guide and monitor your progress.
  4. Do abdominal work to support your posture. A strong core helps to support and stabilize the spine, especially the lower back, during any lift. Practice planks on plank on planks…to really fortify your abdominal strength. To boost your core strength even more, test out a Greenville yoga class. Vinyasa always delivers a hefty serving of core.
  5. Practice lightweight good mornings. Lightly weighted good mornings will help to strengthen your lumbar spine to help fix any underlying weaknesses that may be contributing to the lower back pain.

Do you have any additional tips and tricks for keeping the lower back safe and sound for a lifting session? Please share/comment below!

For more weight lifting tips and tricks, consider signing up for the expertise of a Greenville health club personal trainer. In fact, if new to the Greenville athletic club, you are gifted a free initial personal training session so you can test it out.

For more information on personal training and more, contact the Greenville gym.

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5 Fitness Travel Tips

On your way out? Feeling a little bit anxious about leaving your Greenville Gym routine? Worry not. Here’s 5 travel tips to keep your waistline happy.

  1. Hydrate. Thirst often inaccurately manifests as hunger. If you’ve been eating enough (or too much) and hunger is still creeping in, think water. Proper hydration also helps to fight travel-related fatigue.
  2. Skip the 3 S’s: snacks, soda, and sugar. When you’re on the go, it can be tough to eat well. We know that. To keep things healthy say no to soda (even diet, because yuck), snacks (the sugar-dense ones), and sugar (the processed stuff found in your favorite candy bar). If you are thirsty, drink water. If you are hungry and need a snack, opt for a low-carb, high-protein snack, such as nuts. If you want something sugary, opt for natural fruits or dry fruits.
  3. Stand up and stretch. Sitting for long periods of time does you no good. Your posture is compromised. Lower back pain can start up. Plus, it can create restlessness, followed by anxiety. If you find yourself sitting around, get up and walk around a little bit to keep your muscles supple and your mind at ease. Do some light stretching. If standing and moving around isn’t an option, you can still do seated or chair exercises to loosen up and get the blood flowing. If flying for long periods of time, get up and walk the length of the plane every hour or two.
  4. Yoga. Missing out on your Greenville yoga routine? No problem. Try yoga online. There are plenty of online yoga resources out there featuring travel-friendly options and practice quickies for when you’re running short on time.
  5. Pick protein. Because it keeps the pounds off. Period. Choose snacks that are high in protein, but low in carbs (nuts, hard-boiled eggs, beef jerky, etc.). Choose meal options that are protein-packed (lean meats, eggs, beans, and greens). But don’t forget, you do need carbs for energy! Just try to keep you carb choices clean. Legumes, low glycemic fruits, and vegetables, are your best options.

When you are away, don’t undo all that hard work you’ve put in at the Greenville athletic club. Don’t be obsessive about it, but don’t be too loose about it either. Keep moving. Keep eating well. Keep as close to routine as possible, but also leave room for flexibility (and dessert…because YOLO!).

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3 Quick Routines to Train Your Core

Got core?

If you’re seeking exercises to both strengthen and sculpt your abs, consider yoga your core-boosting solution.

That means skip the old school sit-ups and step away from the ab machine.

Step on to the yoga mat, instead. You (and your midsection) won’t be disappointed. Yoga delivers a complete core workout, effectively targeting all layers of the abs: the rectus abdominis, the obliques (internal and external), and the transversus abdominis (the deepest layer of ab muscle).

Here’s 3 powerful core exercises you can do pre or post-workout at the Greenville athletic club or even, mix into your regular workouts or HIIT routines. Bonus: All exercises also promote greater upper body strength, so you can show off some toned triceps to match that tight tummy.

  1. Core Sequence Using Plank Pose: Plank pose is the Holy Grail of core exercises. Incorporate this plank routine into your Greenville health club workout, do it post-run or cardio session, or add it into the middle of your yoga practice. Whenever, wherever.
  2. Core Strengthening Series: Strengthen your abdominus rectus (the six pack abs) in this core sequence. This sequence is best if practiced after your Greenville sports club workout. Sprinkle it into your cool down routine.
  3. 5 Yoga-Inspired Core Exercises: Challenge your abs from all directions. Two of the exercises in this free online yoga video use weights, but they can be done with or without them. We suggest you accept the challenge and grab a pair of light hand weights.

All yoga is beneficial for the core. To enhance your core intelligence, support and strength even more, we suggest you try out a Greenville yoga class. Choose a more vigorous style, such as Vinyasa, to really get an adequate fix of abdominal work. Visit the Greenville gym website to learn more about our yoga class schedule and styles.

 

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Yoga for a Better Back Squat

Aiming to better your squat?

When your squat is more sturdy, you can lift more while maintaining solid technique, helping to keep your body strong and injury-free. There’s one yoga pose in particular that works magic on your back squat. You should definitely incorporate this pose into your Greenville Gym training routine to optimize your squat form and depth. That pose, in the yin yoga tradition, is called Dragonfly.

Dragonfly is a quick and simple inner thigh opener that actively opens up the inner thighs (adductor muscles of the hips). Tightness in this area often contributes to a wonky squat, as the knees knock it (internal rotation), instead of being directly over the ankles (external rotation). By incorporating this simple yoga pose into your Greenville athletic club routine, whether it’s done dynamically before your Greenville health club workout or passively post-workout, you should definitely, overtime, experience greater range of motion in your squat.

For guidance, here’s a free online yoga video offering some tips for practicing Dragonfly, as it’s called in yin yoga, whether you’re at the Greenville health center, or at home in front of the TV. Learn ways to find your edge (that sweet spot where you can sustain a hold without too much stress) and melt into the pose with a series of flowing movements. If you are practicing the pose passively, consider holding it for 5-10 minutes to really open up. Also, remember to keep your feet flexed, toes pointing up, to keep the femur bone externally rotating for proper ankle to knee alignment.

Also, to deepen your back squat, or improve on its form, consider checking out a Greenville yoga class, where you’ll definitely work on inner thigh flexibility and hip mobility. Visit the Greenville Gym website to learn more and find a class that fits your schedule!

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Weight Lifting for Yoga

It’s always the other way around, right?

Yoga for weight lifting…

Yoga for CrossFit…

Yoga for this and that…

But what helps yoga?

Many would argue that yoga is a complete, full-body, strength-building workout. Just do yoga, they say, and you’ll be covered. No need to lift heavy things…you’ll mess up your back. No need to run…that’s bad for you anyways. No need to do pull-ups…you’ll mess up your shoulders. Just yoga. Work with your body weight. That’s enough. Get your cardio via Power Yoga or Vinyasa flow. That’s enough.

This mentality, in my opinion, kind of makes yoga sound stuck up, as it puts yoga above the rest. No doubt about it, yoga is an amazing physical journey! And also, it does take it a step further with all that mind and spirit stuff, which may or may not be of interest.

But to say that yoga is a complete workout is a bit inaccurate. Let me give one quick example. Can you think of any pulling movements in yoga? Think hard. Let me save you some time going through the asana archives and tell you: there’s not one pulling movement in yoga. As such, the lats and biceps are straight chillin’. It doesn’t matter how many yoga pushups you do. It doesn’t matter if you can walk on your hands. There’s some strength-building limitations of yoga. If you’re a yogi and only a yogi, go try a pull-up or a chin-up. You’ll see what I mean.

Oh and let’s consider strength. How do you build strength? Well, there’s 3 ways to boost your bulk.

First, you can increase time under tension. So in yoga, this would mean holding the pose longer. Okay, you can do that. But there’s going to be a point where holding that plank seems like a waste of time. Time under tension isn’t the optimal way to build strength. Let’s just put it that way.

Second, you can increase the load. In yoga, all you have to work with is your body weight. So, here again, yoga is limited in its strength-building abilities. You’ll reach a plateau.

Third, you can train your muscles by increasing the range of motion (ROM) under tension. You might be thinking that yoga increases range of motion. That is true. Yoga is good for flexibility. But again, it’s limited as a strength builder because you’re only working with your body weight. You have to continue adding additional weight on top of your body weight for more strength.

So, what’s the strength-building solution if you’re a yogi? If strength is truly your goal, I say incorporate some basic weight lifting into your Greenville gym routine: squats, dead lifts, overhead presses, bench press, and barbell rows. You’ll, for sure, see increased leg, glute and upper strength, all of which will support a stronger yoga practice. Upper body strength will upgrade your inversions and arm balances. More leg strength will upgrade your backbends. Weighted squats will increase your hip mobility for deep hip openers. And so on…

Want to start weightlifting at the Greenville health club? Enter our state of the art gym facility! Greenville athletic club has all the strength-building bells and whistles you could possibly need to start a weight lifting program, including trained experts to help you along the way. But if yoga is still your bottom line…we do offer lots of Greenville yoga classes to choose from, too! To each is own. You do you.

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Top 3 Fitness Inspirations

If I had to pick the top health and fitness inspirations, these three would be it. They’ve all put in years, if not decades, of work. They’ve tested. They’ve re-tested. And finally, they’ve developed mastery of not only their craft, but their teachings and delivery of information.

  • Tim Ferriss. Fast track your weight loss with the slow carb diet. No, this isn’t some atkins diet knock off. This is a healthy diet for those who really need to shed excess pounds or for those who aren’t too jazzed on putting in a lot of time at the Greenville athletic club, but still want to maintain a sculpted, lean physique. In his book, the 4 Hour Body, you’ll learn a lot more about how to effectively manage your efforts to maximize your gym results. If you are a serious athlete or lifter, slow carb probably isn’t an optimal diet plan for you. Tim gets into that in the book. He also presents lots of great exercises and therapeutics that you can perform at the Greenville health club.
  • Krissy Mae Cagney. If you want access to many FREE HIIT and metabolic circuit workouts, head over to Krissy Mae Cagney’s Facebook, where she posts new workouts several times per week and other valuable health and wellness information and inspiration. She’s no nonsense and knows a tank load when it comes to dieting and working out. She also offers multiple training/nutrition plans on her website. Check them out if you need more structure in your Greenville sports club routine. Greenville Gym has all of the tools you’ll need to follow through with these programs.
  • Kino MacGregor. This one’s for all the yogis or potential yogis out there. No one knows yoga like Kino. To build more strength, core intelligence, and confidence in super difficult postures, Kino is your girl. Not a yoga fanatic? That’s no problem. Kino instructs to all levels. The bulk of her teachings are on her YouTube channel. You can also find full-length classes with her on YogaVibes.com. If you’re interested in starting a yoga practice, check out our Greenville yoga options!
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Simple IT Band Yoga Exercises

If you’ve struggled with tight, troublesome IT bands, these yoga-inspired exercises are for you.

In this free yoga demo, running coach and yoga teacher Sage Rountree explains what your IT band actually is, discusses its function, and introduces a two-pronged approach both to alleviate achy IT bands and to strengthen your glutes to prevent future pain. These beginner-friendly yoga exercises can be performed before or after any Greenville gym workout.

Here’s what you’re in for:

First, you’ll learn a quick movement to build your glute strength to improve the communication between your lower leg and hip so your IT band doesn’t have to work so hard to keep you in line. It’s also a great exercise to cultivate more balance! Then, learn a forward folding pose to release all of the muscles that play a role in IT Band Syndrome, especially in the outer hip region where the IT band crosses. This exercise may also provide a bonus hamstring and calf stretch. These exercises, when combined, are especially helpful for runners and athletes in the prevention and/or healing of chronic IT band tightness.

Click here for the video.

Moral of the story: Just stretching your IT band isn’t going to cut it. To effectively deal with IT band issues, you have to BOTH strengthen the places that are weak and release the places that are tight.

So, make sure to mix in a combo of IT band stretches and strengtheners to best support your knee and hip health so you can rock your Greenville athletic club activities pain-free.

To give your IT bands even more love, check out a Greenville Yoga class!

 

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6 Gym Tips for Beginners

If it’s your first time stepping foot into a gym, these beginner fitness tips are for you.

  1. Warm Up: Try a beginner yoga sequence to build heat and prep your body for the workout ahead. This step-by-step sequence will fit the bill for a beginner yogi.
  2. Hydrate: If you’re not hydrating, you’re doing yourself and your Greenville gym workouts a huge disservice. Drink up!
  3. Consult an Expert: Before you dive in, consult a Greenville health club personal trainer. If you’re trying to shed pounds and are new to the exercise scene, you need a plan that you can actually commit to. Book a session with one of our personal trainers to devise a well-balanced, reasonable workout and nutritional plan to maximize your time and efforts at the Greenville sports club.
  4. Leave Your Ego at the Door: You don’t have to prove anything here at the Greenville athletic club. We don’t care how hard you run or how heavy you lift, as long as you’re giving it your all. Follow this mantra: train hard, stay humble. The moment your ego starts creeping in, is the moment you start making stupid moves that could make you look silly or worse, jeopardize your safety.
  5. Wind Down: Don’t forget to seal your workouts with a cool down! This is crucial for countering the physical stress you’ve put on your body and to reset mentally. To stretch it out and calm the mind, try this 11-minute yoga sequence. To wind down even more, consider a gentle Greenville yoga class.
  6. Recover: A good workout just isn’t complete without a proper cool down. What you do immediately post-workout affects how your body reacts and responds to all that hard work. Be sure to rehydrate, stretch it out, and consume a high-protein, high carb snack. Also, follow up all that hard work with clean, balanced eating. Working out only gets you so far. You must complement all of that effort with proper nutrition!
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