Drake Fitness – Birmingham, AL – Altadena Square » We can get you there.

Here are some things to know before we get started:

DISEASES AND CONDITIONS THAT PUT YOUR HEART AT RISK – According to the CDC these include arrhythmia, heart failure and peripheral artery disease (PAD).  High cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, tobacco use and secondhand smoke.  (For a full list of diseases, conditions, risk factors and other health information, visit the American Heart Association).

THE GOOD NEWS is we have the ability to not only prevent these Diseases and Conditions but also to reverse them.  Who knew that our body was so incredible?  A healthy diet and lifestyle are the best weapons you have to fight heart disease.  It is as simple as that.  Good daily food choices and a less sedentary lifestyle are the 2 best places to start. 

As Americans we have the abundant choices of whatever food we want.  There is no need to go without something you crave, because reality is it is probably right across the street from where you are in a fast food restaurant.  That has caused us to make poor choices to the things we put in our body.  It doesn’t mean we are doomed or that we should blame Heart Disease on our favorite fast food chains, but we do need to stop and take notice of what we are putting in our bodies and what it might be doing to our heart.  Listed below are some recommendations on how to lower your risk of Heart Disease related conditions.      

As you make daily food choices, base your eating pattern on these recommendations:

   * Choose lean meats and poultry without skin and prepare them without added saturated and trans fat.

    * Select fat-free, 1% fat, and low-fat dairy products.

    * Cut back on foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils to reduce trans fat in your diet.

    * Cut back on foods high in dietary cholesterol. Aim to eat less than 300 mg of cholesterol each day.

    * Cut back on beverages and foods with added sugars.

    * Choose and prepare foods with little or no salt. Aim to eat less than 2,300 mg of sodium per day. All persons who have hypertension, all middle-aged and older adults, and all African-Americans should consume no more than 1,500 mg of sodium per day.

    * If you drink alcohol, drink in moderation. That means no more than one drink per day if you’re a woman and two drinks per day if you’re a man.

    * Keep an eye on your portion sizes.

Physical activity in your daily life is an important step to preventing heart disease as well.  On average the CDC recommends that adults should be getting 2.5 hours of moderate intensity aerobic activity (i.e. brisk walking) and  muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest,  shoulders, and arms).  Back in the old days when most people worked on the farm, this physical activity was easy to accomplish.  But in our times, our lives are more sedentary with the amount of time we spend at our desk and on our computers.  All it takes though are some simple readjustments and in no time you are meeting and exceeding the recommended amount of physical activity in a week. 

DRAKE FITNESS is here to help you with the pursuit of a Healthy Heart.  Our DRAKE FITNESS trainers and staff are ready to help you get started or to help adjust your plan to reach that goal.  By joining DRAKE FITNESS you have access to our on-site Nutritionist who can help you evaluate your food choices and set a realistic plan for your lifestyle to help you combat conditions that cause Heart Disease.  Also your DRAKE FITNESS trainer will set a personalized regimen to get you active and healthy.  We have the tools to help you avoid being a Heart Disease statistic.  All it takes is the first step into the door and a passionate commitment to your Heart.  Take the first step, we will be there to help you the rest of the way. 

    Since 1963, February has been declared American Heart Health Month.  Heart Disease is the number one cause of death in America.  According to the CDC, every 25 seconds, an American will have a coronary event.  But more devastating is that one American every minute will die from one.  This is staggering and as Americans we know the causes and lifestyle addictions that we have that cause Heart Disease and yet for some reason are still not motivated to do anything to prevent it.  So as I type these words, I am being convicted to live the best life I can and that means taking care of myself.  Truth is…..It isn’t that hard.  It just takes some simple readjustments to our everyday schedule.  We do that anyways to make sure we are at home to watch our favorite TV shows (did anyone watch LOST the other night).  Why can’t we do it for our heart? 

In the midst of the holiday season, it is really easy to start adding on a few inches around the waist without ever realizing it with feast after feast. Healthful eating goes to the wayside as pies and eggnog seduce us. Then as we are carrying the Christmas tree to the curb and we accidentally trip over our gut, we begin to panic and begin frantically looking for the miracle drug/food/diet to deflate our spare tire. Why not start countering that weight gain now? It seems impossible to burn as many calories as we need to, especially with the hustle and bustle that goes hand in hand with this time of year. This simple answer to this dilemma is resistance training.

When people think of exercise, the first thing that comes to mind is cardio. My first years of being in a gym were formed by a man my friends and I affectionately called “backwards elliptical man”(or “BEM” for short). This guy came in around 3 o’clock every day, dressed in several layers of sweats and took his Reader’s Digest and stepped onto “his” elliptical. This guy would get after it, seriously. There would be a small river of sweat flowing from his machine as he pedaled backwards for what seemed like days. I would do my sprints next to him on a treadmill, always encouraged by his tenacity on the elliptical and thinking if I really wanted to get in shape, I was going to have to devout hours of my time to the treadmill every day.

One morning, during a week off from school, I decided to be adventurous and head to the gym at 6am. Upon sitting on a bench and surveying the early birds, one person caught my eye in particular, it was “BEM“. This time however, something was different about “BEM“. He was still sweating profusely, but this time he was doing curls, had a tank top on and looked like a Spartan from 300. I was perplexed and had to ask him bashfully, “I thought you only did cardio?” He laughed and said, “That stuff wouldn’t get me anywhere if I didn’t do the weights to go along with it.”

The bike, the treadmill, the elliptical, the stairmaster, all of these things are great tools for helping you stay in good health and lose weight. These things alone rarely get you where you want to be before you give up. Without weight training included in your weekly exercise program, cardio will sometimes seem ineffective, just because it doesn’t show results quickly. During weight training, you not only burn tons of calories, but you are also replacing your fat weight with muscle weight. This lean muscle mass not only helps increase aesthetics and athletic performance, but it also allows you to burn more calories in every day life. The fact that you are training your muscles to burn calories for you is a great thing!

And for all the ladies, don’t think that just because you are adding lean muscle mass that you are going to “bulk up.” The really great thing about weight training is that it can be tailored to any need and goal. Women’s bodies do not naturally have the hormones that promote them to bulk up from lifting weights. So combined with a natural predisposition and the expertise of your trainer, you can get the same calorie burning benefits without deepening your voice and adding 10 inches to your biceps.

And so, in a “Real Men of Genius” fashion, we salute you, Mr. Backwards Elliptical Man, for your superior understanding of the most efficient way to burn off that extra serving of turkey, and helping us realize the importance of weightlifting in every person’s weight loss routine!

Breakfast: The Basics

In the world of fitness and health, fad workout plans and exciting new “amazing diets” come and go everyday. As health professionals dedicated to our work (your wellness), we promise to never promote (or discredit for that matter) something of this sort without researching reliable resources and coming to sensible conclusions. The typical fitness facility will sell you something to get you to come back for more. We want you to find your purpose.

When I had to decide what my first article published into the digital fitness world should focus on, I decided to write on my first love…Food. Nutrition is an overwhelming ocean if you don’t dip your feet in first, so let’s start off with a basic understanding of your first meal, Breakfast.

As the name implies, the time between your last meal at night and your morning meal is typically the longest you will have to go without food during the day. During this time usually used for rest and sleep, your body enters into a state of fasting, where you conserve nutrients. We all know what this physiological mechanism feels like in real life. Your blood sugar is way too low, you get shaky, and the simplest tasks can become terribly difficult. The easy way to fix these problems is to give your body the fuel it is requesting and eat some breakfast. Breakfast is perhaps the most misunderstood meal of the day. For one reason or another, people find a way to neglect this meal, which many scholars will argue as the most important meal of the day. Let’s take a look at these misconceptions regarding breakfast.

1. If I skip breakfast, it will help me lose weight. – Let me begin my rebuttal to this point by simply quoting a portion of a great sports nutrition book by Nancy Clark. “A survey of almost 3,000 dieters who have lost more than 30 pounds and have kept it off for at least a year reports that 78 percent of the dieters ate breakfast every day, and 88 percent ate breakfast five or more days a week. Only 4 percent reported never eating breakfast. The breakfast eaters also reported being slightly more active during the day. This study suggests that breakfast is indeed an important part of a successful weight loss program (Wyatt et al. 2002).”
It makes sense, less calories in, more calories out, more weight loss. The only problem is that skipping breakfast accomplishes none of these. People who don’t eat breakfast also tend to gorge themselves later in the day because of their hunger, and very few people gorge themselves on healthy, low-calorie foods. Also, you aren’t going to be able to have nearly as hard of a workout, you will tend to be sluggish, and will not be able to burn nearly as many calories as planned if you miss your morning fuel-up.

2. I am never hungry that early in the morning.- There is usually one main reason you aren’t hungry when you wake up: you have eaten too much the night before. Cut back on late night snacks, or try bumping your dinner up an hour or two.

3. I am too busy to eat breakfast.- There are plenty of easy alternatives to 5 course breakfast. In a lazy-driven, convenient America, there are several byproducts that are useful for those of us who aren’t lazy but are just busy. Just a few suggestions for those of us who might have to eat on the go, and can’t sit down to pancakes every morning: toast with peanut butter (it takes what, like 30 seconds for a piece of bread to toast?), instant oatmeal mixed with lowfat or nonfat milk (comes in so many flavors, you will find one you like), a shake/smoothie (a favorite for me and my wife has been frozen fruit, yogurt, a little milk, a spoonful of peanut butter, and some carnation instant breakfast), granola/low-sugar added cereals (Kashi makes some great tasting stuff, but look at the labels of some off-brand cereals because Kashi can become expensive), whole-grain granola bars and a couple pieces of fruit (one man made to eat on the go, the other one God made to-go)

Would you try to start the Indy 500 with no gas? Why then would you try to work out without giving your body fuel? The moral of the story is, find a way to eat breakfast, especially if you work out in the mornings. You will have more energy, be able to work out harder, and hey, you might even be happier with some food in your system.

Written by: Chris Davis

Chris is a trainer at Drake Fitness that has brought a wealth of knowledge to our team. Chris is available for any questions you may have about this article or anything else that you need to know. Call Chris today to set up two FREE personal training sessions.