Fitness Tip of the Day: Saturday's Stretch and Flexibility -- Benefits of Yoga -- Relaxation and Stress Relief

Today's post comes from Dr. Melissa West of Namaste Yoga.  It is the second video of the Benefits of Yoga series.

In this video, the benefits of relaxation and stress relief that yoga provides will be discussed.

Stress is all around us.  Yoga is a good way to help reduce some of that stress.

From her description of the class on youtube:

"When our stress levels (sympathetic nervous system) outweighs our ability to rest and repair (parasympathetic nervous system) we experience as stress imbalance. This attacks our enteric system and we experience all kinds of digestive problems, immune disorders, food intolerances, toxicity in our bodies, joint inflammation, foggy brain, improper muscles contraction and firing, chronic symptoms, fatigue, chronic inflammatory issues such as sinusitis, arthritis, colitis etc., anxiety and depression, sleep issues, constipation, and weight gain.

Yoga allows us to access our parasympathetic nervous system and restore your body's sensitive balance. Through yoga you can bring your body back into equilibrium. As I have explained above, true relaxation involves more than just resting, but balancing and restoring your energy. Yoga excels in rejuvenating relaxation. Through yoga asana and pranayama (breath practice) you are able to release tension, stress, blockages in your body and experience deep relaxation and restoration of your energy."

Going along with yesterday's post, yoga can help you sleep better; also from her description:

"Stress can be reduced when you sleep, but the problem is the average person is not sleeping well (which is why we have an entire yoga for insomnia series on our membership site). Ideally we should be getting 8 hours of sleep a night and experiencing 90 minutes of R.E.M. Today the average R.E.M. is between 25-40 minutes, which is 1/3 to 1/2 of what it should be. This accelerates the aging process, puts your body in an acidic state and leads to more pain. Healing and cellular repair are not happening because we are not tapping into our parasympathetic nervous system (our restore regulator)."

Fitness Tip of the Day: Friday's Facts and Findings -- Sleep and It's Impact on Weight Loss

I love to sleep.  I am one of those people that needs at least 8 hours of sleep to really function.  Some days it happens and some days it doesn't.

What most people don't know is that sleep does a whole lot more than rejuvenate us.  I found an article on WebMD entitled, "Can't Shed Those Pounds?  A lack of zzzs can affect your ability to lose weight."

From the article:

"Studies published in TheJournal of the American Medical Association and The Lancet suggest that sleep loss may increase hunger and affect the body's metabolism, which may make it more difficult to maintain or lose weight."

it goes on to say:

"Sleep loss appears to do two things:

1. Makes you feel hungry even if you are full. Sleep loss has been shown to affect the secretion of cortisol, a hormone that regulates appetite. As a result, individuals who lose sleep may continue to feel hungry despite adequate food intake.
   
2. Increases fat storage. Sleep loss may interfere with the body's ability to metabolize carbohydrates, which leads to high levels of blood sugar. Excess blood sugar promotes the overproduction of insulin, which can lead to the storage of body fat and insulin resistance, a critical step into the development of diabetes."

Being overweight can cause sleep problems like sleep apnea, or the inability to get comfortable--back problems, losing weight can help improve sleep--it's a bit of a catch-22.  How do you improve your sleep while you are trying to lose weight?

Here are some tips from the same article:

"Specialists recommend that people who vow to lose weight should adjust their sleep habits as well as their eating habits. The following are useful tips to help shape up.

• Don't go to bed feeling hungry, but don't eat a big meal right before bedtime.
• Exercise regularly, but no sooner than three hours before bedtime.
• Avoid caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol in the late afternoon and evening.
• If you have trouble sleeping at night, don't nap during the day.
• Establish relaxing pre-sleep rituals, such as a warm bath or a few minutes of reading.
• Create a pleasant sleep environment. Make it as dark and quiet as possible.
• If you can't sleep, don't stay in bed fretting. After 30 minutes, go to another room and involve yourself in a relaxing activity until you feel sleepy.

If you have trouble sleeping for more than a few weeks, or if sleep problems interfere with daily functioning, speak with your doctor."

Here's a link to the entire article:  Can't Shed Those Pounds?

Here's a link to another article featured on Shape Magazine's website:  Why Sleep is the Most Important Thing To a Better Body

and Weight Loss isn't the only reason to get enough sleep.  Here's an article I found from the Harvard Medical School website:  Importance of Sleep: Six Reasons Not to Skimp

Fitness Tip of the Day: Thursday's Total Body/Cardio -- Quick and Easy Fat-Blasting Bootcamp

Today's workout comes from Kathy Prohoroff on YouTube.  It is a total body fat blasting workout.

Each exercise is performed for 1 minute. The amount of rest in between varies.

You will need a set of dumbbells and a stability ball.  If you don't have these, she provides other options.

A warm up is not included.  Please do that on your own.  She does stretch at the end.

Remember to modify if needed.  

Fitness Tip of the Day: Wednesday's Wild/Warrior Workout -- Berserker HIIT Workout

Today's workout is from FitnessBlender and is called "Berserker HIIT Workout."

It is an intense interval workout that consists of 4 groups of 1 minute of some form of jumping jack, 30 seconds of a body weight exercise, and 30 seconds of active recovery (lightly jogging in place) doing each group 2x.

If you have knee, hip or back problems and can't jump, do modified jacks by either doing heel jacks or squats with the jumping jack arms.

You can modify the Mountain Climbers by performing them on something elevated a stair, sturdy chair or coffee table.  Same modification can be made for the Lizard Hop.

To modify the Star Jumps, do a squat pushing your arms up as explosively as you can.

No warm up or cool down is included, please do these on your own.  You can follow the videos on the lower right side bar.

Fitness Tip of the Day: Tuesday's Trunk and Core -- Melt Your Muffin Top/Stop Weighing Yourself!

Today's workout comes from RealFitTV.  It is a core workout called "Melt Your Muffin Top."

Keep in mind that you CANNOT spot reduce!  When you burn fat, it comes off everywhere--you have no control as to where it coming from.

You can, however, do spot toning exercises that focus on a specific muscle group.  It's important to focus also on opposing muscles--so if you are working your abs, you need to work your back as well, the same with chest and upper back, biceps and triceps, etc.

Even more important in reducing belly fat is your diet--cut out the high calorie junk!!!

This workout combines fat burning cardio and core focused muscle toning in an interval format.  You will do a cardio drill for 30 seconds followed by a toning exercise for 60 seconds.

A jump rope warm up is included--you can do it without a jump rope--just jump in place,  If it is too intense, march or jog with high knees.  She does include a stretch at the end.

Here's another video I found regarding weighing yourself that I totally agree with and she explains it really well.  It's called "Stop Weighing Yourself!  F*%# The Scale.

Fitness Tip of the Day: Monday's Muscle Work -- Booty Booster

More from the 30 Day Butt Lift.  The first video features one exercise geared toward lifting the droopy booty.

The second video features strength training exercises geared to the lower body.  You can do the workout with or without weights.

No warm up is provided, please do one first and then finish with a lower body stretch.

Fitness Tip of the Day: Sunday's Recipe Share -- Tomatoes!!!

There's nothing quite like freshly picked tomatoes off the vine--cherry, grape, roma, beefsteak--it doesn't matter.  Thankfully tomatoes love my garden and grow fairly easily for me.

I do have my favorite recipes for their use, but I thought I'd research my favorite place--Cooking Light for something different and found 80, count 'em 80 recipes for fresh tomatoes!!!  While all of these recipes do use fresh tomatoes, they are not necessarily the star of the dish, but that's okay, because sometimes you need yummy ways to use up your overabundance of tomatoes besides making salsa and sauce.

Here's a few I think I'll try:

Baked Tomatoes with Quinoa, Corn and Green Chiles

I've always made the standard stuffed tomatoes using soft bread crumbs.  I like the idea of adding the grains and corn with a little of heat from the peppers--which I also have in my garden.  I may try it with brown rice, just because that's what I have in my pantry.  I haven't tried quinoa yet--this may be a good way to start.

Baked Feta with Romesco and Olive Tapenade

This sounds so good to me!  What could be better?  Tomatoes, cheese and olives?  YUM!!!  This would be great served on some crusty bread. I'm definitely making this one.

Fried Green Tomato BLTs

I wish I liked fried green tomatoes.  At the end of Summer every year without fail I end up having a whole bunch of green tomatoes that have absolutely no chance of ripening.  I bring them inside to ripen, but they just aren't the same.  I've made several attempts at preparing fried green tomatoes--just not a fan, but maybe adding some bacon with help!!!! Bacon makes everything better lol

Tomato Tart

Lastly, I included a tart recipe.  It is very similar to one of my go to recipes.  It makes a great light summer entree with a side salad or can be served as an appetizer.  It's great served warm or at room temperature.