Achieving Your Fitness Goals With These Helpful Tips

untitled Achieving Your Fitness Goals With These Helpful TipsWithout the proper motivation, many gym members are unable to achieve their fitness goals. Some members just don’t know how. Fortunately, there are so many ways to make working out more fun. Read these tips, and you’ll be on your way to attaining your fitness goals.

Tips for Achieving Your Fitness Goals

Use your mp3 player to design a motivational workout soundtrack. It has been proven that the sounds of music extend your workouts because you aren’t thinking about how tired your body is. Make playlists that pump you up and keep you going. Your body will be naturally inclined to move to the sound of the music. This is a wonderful way to keep a steady pace throughout your workout.

Having a few of your friends to workout with you can help you stay in shape. When you exercise with a buddy, encourage each other often, but be careful not to indulge in excessive idle chatter. You will be absolutely amazed at how much easier and interesting working out is when you do it with friends.

If you are looking for a workout on days you can’t make it to your favorite gym, you should try a workout video game. They are great for the family to use and provide many benefits. If you are enjoying yourself, you won’t remember that you are exercising. Focusing on the game distracts you from the workout, so you may do even more exercise than you realize!

Go shopping for exercise clothes. Find outfits that flatter your current body type. Stay away from buying things you wish to fit in someday or that are uncomfortable. When selecting your outfit, be imaginative. There are a lot of different styles of workout clothing, so you can get something that reflects who you are. If you are happy with what you are wearing, you will have a greater sense of confidence about your exercise regimen.

Variety is the key to keeping you interested and motivated when it comes to exercise programs. This is the reason why it’s imperative that you switch up the work outs you do. Instead of only walking on the treadmill, try using an incline or jogging instead. Keeping your regimen varied helps you maintain a high level of enthusiasm and commitment.

Reward Yourself for Achieving  Your Fitness Goals

Give yourself something you truly love once you achieve a fitness milestone. This will keep your motivation high. Choosing something special like a new top will be a great way to reward yourself for sticking to your fitness plan. Make the things you earn easy to get and something that makes you happy. By giving yourself small rewards along the way, you will help yourself remain motivated in your quest for optimum fitness.

If you make your workouts fun, you are more likely to stick to them. There are actually many things a gym member can do make their workout fun instead of dreading it. This article contains the advice you need to develop a fun exercise routine and enable you to achieve your fitness goals!

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Four Ways to Gain Control of Your Appetite

In this article we will be going over some of the most basic, yet relatively unknown ways to control your appetite. Most people are unable to shed unwanted fat, or do not see favorable results from working out because they cannot control their appetite or have poor eating habits. Don’t be fooled by advertising that says you can take a pill and control the urge to eat, because that is simply untrue. Our appetite is controlled by both physical and mental factors that we are able to take control, if we chose to. The American lifestyle is normally three huge meals daily. However, to control your cravings you ahould actually be eating five smaller meals daily!

1. Destroy the Temptation
If you find yourself coming home from the store with that box of cookies you knew you should have left on the grocery shelf, but just could not resist, you can still win. Take the box of cookies, crush them up, and throw them straight in the trash! If you can do this without eating the cookies, you are proving to yourself that mentally you can crush that temptation to binge on those foods that you know you should not be eating. Not only that, but if you take this step, you won’t be eating any of those darn cookies. By the way, try to do a kitchen cupboard makeover-toss out all your pre-packaged foods, anything with a shelf life usually qualifies.

2. Indulge Intelligently
No one is perfect, and we should not have to completely cut out the foods that we really enjoy. So it is OK to let yourself cheat every once in a while, using moderation. The best way to do this is to pick your favorite cheat meals once or twice a week. If you’re a big chocolate lover, try half of that candy bar you love for desert with your lunch instead of eating the whole bar like you usually would several times a week. Cutting down on foods you know are not good for you will tremendously decrease your calorie intake on a weekly basis, allowing you to lose those extra pounds much faster.

3. Magic of Protein and Fiber
Foods rich in fiber absorb much more water and are able to expand in the stomach giving you a much fuller feeling, while foods high in protein take much longer to digest. This combination will leave you feeling much fuller for a longer period of time without having to eat too much or anything unhealthy. It is best to make sure you are eating lean protein sources such as, chicken breast, salmon, egg whites, etc.

4. Eat Five Smaller Meals a Day
Try eating five smaller meals daily or about every three hours. Eating more frequently is reported to increase the production of body heat required to digest food intake which increases your metabolism. Also, more frequent meals prevent hunger pains between meals and avoid sudden increases in blood sugar. Of course more meals daily does not mean increasing your normal daily caloric intake! You will need to simply divide your current total caloric allowance by five, consuming smaller meals throughout the day, and you should see that your weight declining!

We suggest that you try the above proven four tips to see if they help you control your appetite so you can achieve your weight management goal.

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The Evolution of the Modern Day Fitness Boot Camp

 The Evolution of the Modern Day Fitness Boot Camp
The earliest “boot camp” originated in the United States military as a physical training camp to prepare new inductees for battle in the shortest time possible. Military boot camps are early morning, long grueling outdoor workouts held in all weather conditions. The military boot camps are led by boisterous drill sergeants, using intimidating tactics to whip the new recruits into fighting shape in just nine weeks.

In the late 1990′s, the first fitness boot camp was conceived in California where outdoor boot camps could be held virtually year round. Until recently, boot camps were primarily a west coast phenomena. Only several years ago, enterprising fitness centers started the first indoor boot camps. Bringing boot camp indoors overcame the major objection of attending outdoor boot camps in inclement weather, and the modern day indoor boot camp was born!

The modern day fitness boot camp will also enable participants to achieve excellent results fast, but without the threatening commands of a drill sergeant. Instead, talented fitness center boot camp trainers use a combination of patience, instruction, motivation and encouragement to get Campers to perform at an incredibly high level! Read the rest of The Evolution of the Modern Day Fitness Boot Camp

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Why Do I Need A Personal Trainer?

 Why Do I Need A Personal Trainer?There have been numerous studies over the years that have demonstrated the many benefits of personal training. One such study compared the results of two groups of participants–one using a Personal Trainer and another working out unsupervised. Both groups were using the same training routines. After 12 weeks, while both groups increased strength, the Personal Trainer led participants significantly decreased body fat and increased muscle mass. Researchers concluded that the success of the supervised group was due to the motivation and guidance provided by the Personal Trainer.

Members that finally decide to join a fitness center are excited for the best of reasons to improve their health, fitness and to shed excess fat. Members are often stressed and lack energy to accomplish even daily activities which exercising will certainly remedy. Upon joining, members are hopeful and eagerly anticipate reaching their goals.

However, unless the member is knowledgeable and sufficiently motivated to consistently work out on his/her own, even in the best member service centric fitness centers that offer multiple consultations with a Personal Trainer as part of the basic membership; isn’t sufficient to get members the results they want to achieve. Typically, after about eight weeks, if the member doesn’t attain the results desired, the disappointed member stops working out. Solution–consider Personal Training!

Achieve Your Fitness Goal in the Fastest Time Possible!

A properly designed fitness program continuously adjusts your exercise routine (weight/exercise/rest period) in order to force your body to adapt to the progressively increasing stress, making you stronger, increasing your energy and improving your fitness level. Your exercise program while important is just a single element in an effective Personal Training Solution which integrates nutrition, monitoring results, behavior modification, and goal setting, along with physical training to design a balanced total fitness solution that will get you results in the fastest time possible.

Learn Proper Technique and Form so You Train Effectively & Safely!

Working with a Personal Trainer is an absolute must, if you haven’t ever step foot in a fitness center before. Even if you are experienced, a good Personal Trainer will ensure that you are performing your workout safely and correctly. Many members that “learn” on their own usually develop bad habits, poor form or, worse, injuring themselves. Even Tiger Woods has a coach! Read the rest of Why Do I Need A Personal Trainer?

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Best for Weight Loss — Cardio or Strength Training?

 Best for Weight Loss    Cardio or Strength Training?Cardio enthusiasts often mistakenly believe that duration training using cardiovascular equipment is the ideal solution for weight loss, at the expense of doing very little strength training. You frequently see these same members that have been visiting their fitness centers regularly for many months, getting on the treadmill or elliptical almost daily, and yet they look exactly the same as they did when they first joined!

Difference between Cardio and Strength Training for Weight Loss

At The Gym, we don’t want the above to be you! So let’s discuss the difference between cardiovascular and strength training for weight loss. To be perfectly clear, our Members should be including both cardio and strength training in their training regimen.  Strength training can be intimidating for New Members, but without weight bearing exercise, you’re severely limiting your weight loss potential. Unless your cardio consists of a High Intensity Interval Training program, your caloric burn essentially comes to a screeching halt after you complete your cardio workout. However, weight training is easily the fastest metabolism booster since your body continues to burn additional calories for up to 48 hours, even after completing your strength workout!

Read the rest of Best for Weight Loss — Cardio or Strength Training?

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Welcome to our New Site!

Welcome to the new The Gym at Elkins Park website!

We will be writing about a variety of informative topics to help you achieve your health, weight management, and fitness goals. Be sure to check back often and let us know if there’s a specific topic you’d like for us to include. To get you started, we have made three posts that we believe you will find interesting:

Enjoy!

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