All posts by NTrainers

Home Gym Workout Needs

August 16, 2020

The Missing Ingredient in Your Home Workout

If you are anything like me, you are tired of quarantine, tired of home workouts, tired of not
having a proper gym. It has been five months and counting, and no one knows when our gyms will finally be open….
The situation sucks, but part of the game is learning to adapt. You’ve adapted to not having a gym and have probably found your groove. But merely adapting isn’t enough, how do we thrive in the current situation?
One of the most important, yet least talked about ways to improve our “fitness-life”, is to make it more enjoyable.
If you have yet to take this opportunity, to add more creativity and fun to your workouts, You are totally missing out.
You’re going to be investing your time doing some form of exercise for the better part of your life (hopefully!), why not make it fun?!
Look, I’ve heard them all before; “you get hardened by the iron”, “if you’re not a little scared before you workout, then you’re not going hard enough”, heard ’em all. I stand corrected, what’s the crime in having fun when working out? What’s the rush? If you’re going to be exercising for the long haul, what does it matter if you PR’d, yesterday or six months from now? if your goal is to build a killer body, get strong, maintain your health for 5,10, 20 years, then heed my advice; A little less intensity and a little more fun and creativity combined with consistency will do you wonders.
So here are a couple of ideas as well as some resources to make your workouts more fun and enjoyable;
1.Try a new skill When was the last time you’ve actually tried a learning a new skill? As adults, we don’t really do
that…but honestly, what’s stopping us? Go learn to box, go swimming, learn to use indian clubs or kettlebells, something. Right now is the perfect time to try a new form of exercise. It really doesn’t matter which one, but adding another skill can do you wonders, and it’s fun/challenging.
When you develop a new skill your brain and your body, both get challenged .
The amazing thing is that once you’ve become proficient in a new skill, you will often become better at your old skills as well! Yes, laying off the weights and swinging some kbs for a while will make you a better lifter.
2.Workout with a partner Years ago, I was training at a local chain gym. Anyone who’s spent enough time at a gym knows
that there are the “regulars”; the members that come at the same time and the same day to workout. Well at this particular gym, there was a group of three “regulars”, who’d workout together. Six thirty would hit, and they’d be there, like clockwork.
They’d set up their station, with all the equipment they needed and got down to business. But what stood out to me, is that they were having so much fun! Their workouts were fun.
They were not deadlifting double their bodyweight, or super concentrated about their squat form…no, they had two or three medicine balls and a couple pairs of dumbbells. And yet, always managed to get a good workout and a smile on their faces. It is also worth mentioning that all
three were in amazing shape. But most important, they were having fun! So much so that they got me wanting to join. And somehow everyone else at the gym gravitated toward them. So find a partner or two, keep the vibe positive and crush it.
3.Change the tempo/routine Now is the perfect time to change up your routine/tempo, and experiment with new workout schemes…. changing the tempo can do wonders to the way you feel about your workouts. If you’re used to lifting heavy, maybe it’s time to try some circuit workouts or a bodyweight workout with high reps and less/shorter breaks. And if all you’ve ever done is high intensity/light weight, maybe it’s time to test your strength and put up some weight…either way, changing the tempo/workout scheme will spice up your routine and will be so much more engaging.  Turn the way you train upside down, the challenge will throw off any staleness off your workout and get you back in the game.
4.Make a game out of it At what point did we, as humans stop seeing exercise and play as one in the same?
Adolescence? Maybe. The point is, that as kids we don’t really have to exercise per say, we just play, and that’s all the exercise that we need. Kids are generally happy when they play…so why
not make our workouts more playful?
Here are a couple of ideas;
–On your next back/pull day, get a partner(or pull a weight) and play tug of war with them(in a plank, kneeling, bearwalk), you can add it as a finisher to your workout, or make it a part of a
total body workout. Play with the angles, positions, intensity/load.
–Swing some kettlebells. There’s something about the swinging/motion of a kb that just calms me down and puts me at ease. If you haven’t yet, I urge you to play around with kettlebells.
*Tip: water jugs, filled with sand are a decent substitute, if you don’t have any kb’s laying around.
-Incorporate some animal movements.
They can be plenty hard and challenging, but are alsofun. Try doing some crab walks, or play crab walk footsies with a partner to get your triceps, shoulders and abs on fire. Bearwalk for improving your core or duckwalks/frog jumps as a
finisher to your leg workout.
-Anything with a medicine ball, whether it’s an overhead/chest toss or slam, or a game with a partner, think of a way to couple it with traditional exercise.(medicine ball reactive training is best
coupled with another similar traditional exercise)
-Add unique challenges to your workout, like pushups going up/down stairs, lunging up a hill, push/pull weight from one side of the room to another. Better yet, get a partner, and make it a
competition.
5.Change the scenery If you’ve set up a comfortable spot for yourself during quarantine where you workout, you might
be reluctant to workout somewhere else. But a change of scenery can reignite your workout in a major way. Go to the park and do your workout there for a bit.
For more fun exercise ideas, feel free to reach out to me.
Trainer/Nutrition-Coach

Your Gym’s Reopening

July 14, 2020

Getting Back To The Gym

It’s finally here. We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. That’s right, soon, the gyms are going to be open.
But perhaps a more pertinent question to ask ourselves, is not when will gyms open.
Rather; “What will I do once they open?”.
The answer depends on you, and what you’ve done during quarantine. Nevertheless it is crucial to approach our return to the gym with a healthy dose of caution.If we haste our return, it is likely that injuries, plateaus and a general bad time will ensue…
If you had a solid workout routine during quarantine, then it isn’t as much a concern. Still there are a couple of important factors to pay attention to…
It is likely that you’ve utilized a high rep scheme during your time away from the gym, to compensate for the lack of heavy weights. I commend you for that. Now aim for the same effect when getting back in the weightroom. Keep the weight light, and the reps high. Challenge yourself by increasing the rep count rather than weight. Give it a few weeks and you’ll likely be good to get back to whatever program you wish. In fact, you will probably come out better, and realize that you now have better control on all of your lifts!
If you have been inactive throughout quarantine, then the story is a little different…
I would suggest taking a couple of weeks to just get back into exercising… it can be anything from getting on a bike, to doing calisthenics (but no running). Rebuild the habit of fitness. In fact, I would recommend you to do that for 30 days. That’s right, dedicate the next month to getting back in your groove, it doesn’t matter as much what you do, as long as you do something… What you should absolutely NOT do, is load up the same weight that you had pre-quarantine, within the first ten minutes of entering the gym… I would urge you to stay away from the free weights, until you feel like you’re back in the groove. How can you tell when you’re finally back in the groove?
Here are a couple of tell tales/movements that you should own before you are ready to step back in the weightroom;

Pushups

Inverted rows

Reverse lunges

Bodyweight/air squats

Plank

If any of these exercises cause you pain/discomfort or if you are struggling with them…you are not ready to hit the weights. Own those movements, for double digit reps, without discomfort and then progress to the weightroom.
Regardless of the position you are currently in, there are some necessary ground rules to keep if you plan on getting back to the gym and staying there for the long haul…
Drop the ego; You aren’t going to outlift anybody anytime soon(or at least you shouldn’t). Takeit nice and easy.
Stretch/Roll after every workout; You will be sore! Do not let tightness/stiffness accumulate inyour body, address it before it becomes an issue.
Properly warm up; Again, your body will need some time getting used to the “new old”stimulus. For some it might be faster, others longer. Listen to your body. If you need a 20min warmup, so be it. This isn’t the time to power through.Whatever you do, get a proper warmup!
Do not start with running; Look, i get it. Some of you like to warm up by running. Find anotherway to warm up, at least until you get back into resistance training. Running carries a high risk, and if you’re deconditioned, the stakes are raised even higher. The high likelihood of rolling an ankle, spraining a knee or a million other possibilities is not a good look.
Go easy on the volume; I would cringe if I saw one of my clients at the gym everyday, on thefirst week of reopening. 3-4 times a week would do you just fine for now. If you feel inclined to get back to your 6-day split routine in a month, be my guest. Now is not the time. Give your body enough time to recover.
Your appetite will grow; Unless you’ve been active during quarantine, chances are that yourbody demanded less calories. Understand that you will be hungry as you start hitting the gym, eat accordingly…
Have fun; If you previously had the notion that exercising equals torment, now is the time tochange that mindset… start anew, find a way to make it fun.
If you are looking to make a smooth transition back to the gym, and want to maximize your time and effort, reach out to me.
Personal trainer/Nutrition coach

Life-Changing Opportunities

phillip tomlinson personal trainer nyc Stairway To Heaven

The below is another excerpt from Phillip’s book Rocket Fuel (available on Amazon)
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN an opportunity that spells pure delight and inspires the kind of excitement that awakens a kaleidoscope of butterflies within?
I have. And I can tell you firsthand this was one of those life-changing opportunities.
I was one guy among dozens of morning commuters who regularly exited the train at New York City’s at East 64th Street on the 6 Lexington Avenue subway line.
When you get off at this stop, if you so desire, you could be on your way to heaven… Well, heaven on earth. But first, every traveler faces one very steep escalator and then another, each seemingly on its way to the skies instead of merely to street level.
On either side of those two escalators are two sets of stairs that, needless to say, when it comes to going up, are rarely traveled.
Actually, they are so steep that just gazing up those stairs is enough to make you nauseous.
So, they are hardly ever navigated, except when it came to this one guy among the dozens of other commuters, because-that’s right! You guessed it! He never takes the escalators. Yes, I never took the escalators.
Instead, I staked my claim to those pieces of real estate no one else cared for. That was how those two stairways became mine, at least for the time it would take me to sprint up one and then the other without skipping a beat. By the time I reached street level, my heart was seemingly about to beat out my chest, and I had been firing on all cylinders up the stairway to heaven.
I embraced adversity as a friend, which not only rewarded me mightily but had me wanting a lot more. It wasn’t long before that “more” had me awash in a kind of elation that left me momentarily emotional.
Suddenly, I was really walking on air.
I had the same feeling one day, as I looked up from the foot of the very impressive Kyoto Station “Daikaidan” Grand Stairway in Japan. My eyes were moist. In a painful way, I was left with this serious reminder: Never take things for granted!
 
Simply put, I felt lucky that day. I recalled how I had struggled to use that walker with my feet dragging behind me. But, as the Kyoto Station “Daikaidan” Grand Stairway beckoned, those butterflies in my stomach set off a thumping excitement, which fired me up enough to run up that stairway three times in rapid succession.
Yes, this was sweetness, indeed! Because, before I staked my claim to those Lexington Avenue staircases or shed a tear at the bottom of Kyoto Station “Daikaidan” Grand Stairway, I had been that baby again, learning to walk. And I couldn’t even make it up two rungs of stairs.
I had to take true baby steps after I had major double-hip surgery to repair those arthritic hips. Yet, with exhilaration, I soon found how two rungs became a full flight of stairs.
Eventually, I could take an incredible eighteen flights at a full sprint, and then, well, there I was, with pulse-pounding excitement, at the foot of the Grand Stairway, a spot where, since 1998, teams of runners dashed up its 171 steps, over seventy meters, in an annual spring event.
For me, climbing the Grand Stairway was a triumph of massive proportions. But my rehabilitation, in mind and body, was to continue, after I was blessed in spectacular fashion on one unforgettable, fateful day in October.
Ready to climb? Contact Phillip today!

Physical Change For The Better

Changing Ourselves In A Changing World

Each day has been a step in a new direction for us as a people.
Our way of life has definitely seen some changes during this pandemic.
While some of these changes have been hard to contend with, they have been worth it for our joint safety. Little by little the world is slowly but surely coming back to the way we used to see it. We still have a long way to go but we are making necessary progress.
What we are experiencing with the world is the same we experience when chasing a goal.
We start off as one thing, typically a version of ourselves that we want to change for deep and personal reasons, or that we have to change for our sustainable livelihood. Next, we go through a series of events that develop our changes from the inside and outside.
All of this is to see the conclusion of our efforts and to reap the rewards of accomplishing the goal at hand. We are responsible and accountable for the world not only getting back to normal, but to being better than we ever were beforehand.
As clients depend on trainers, trainers depend on their clients just as much. We are all on a team with the singular goal of getting our lives back on track in the only world we know. This is a strong team that is on a marathon of change and we will see the finish line!
Ready to anchor yourself with fitness? Contact Luis today!

A Triumphant Feeling

June 9, 2020

Hitting Gold &  Then Some

The below is an excerpt from Phillip’s book Rocket Fuel (available on Amazon)
IT HAS HAD far-reaching effects. But it was, after all, just a thought!
But was it really just that?
Well, it inspired a smile. And that inspired a feeling of hope. Then hope turned to “yes, you can.” And “yes, you can” inspired a feeling of triumph.” That feeling of triumph planted a knowing seed that I could overcome. And that knowing feeling caused my blood to pulsate.
As that pulsating blood pumped to a drumming crescendo, it caused something to rise up inside of me.
So, yes, maybe I should have stood in the middle of my hospital bed and waved my fists around like a kid who’d reached another milestone, but, after all, my first walk to nowhere had just begun its slow transformation to somewhere. The ripple effect led to a place I could never have imagined.
It was like a pebble dropped in a pond, causing a ripple that travels way beyond where it started and reverberates across a great distance and span of time.
As I write this, I remain aware that that ripple is ongoing because, once set in motion, its ability to transform is beyond incredible.
When the thought of a baby climbing on all fours up the stairs of a brownstone entered my mind and moved me to action, I could never have foreseen how far that inspirational thought would take me. I certainly could never have imagined this book would be part of the equation.
That equation involved a change of perspective in ways I could not foresee or anticipate.
For one, it fueled my rehabilitation from the get-go.
And as that fire burned within to get started, I was sure of this: I would not be limiting myself to just being able to get back on my feet so I could take walks and maybe go hiking.
No, siree!
Not after being able to effortlessly propel myself through the air, making one full revolution before striking a heavy bag with a kick! The sky would always continue to be the limit for me.
I was determined to get back to anything and everything I’d done before.
And I did!
Reclaiming lost ability
So much so that the amazing Dr. Edwin Su, who headed the bionic-like nuts-and-bolts effort that put me back together at New York’s Hospital For Special Surgery, acknowledged his part in the ripple effect, when, after my last follow-up visit a year later, he said, “I feel like I see you every day. I use your pictures in my lectures.”
The thing is, those lectures often reach dozens of overseas medical personnel via closed-circuit television.
That pebble in the pond continues to be instructional on how a ripple in life can have far- reaching effects. For one, it opened my eyes in a special way after my children made their dramatic entry. Yes, with their birth alone, I struck gold.
But then there was the “and then some.” You see, while their entry made me an immensely appreciative parent, at the same time it offered a great vantage point from my capacity as a fitness coach.
It set in motion a unique vision and perspective, born of the fact that I could now harness amazingly valuable information as I watched my children’s physical development.
Ready to reach for gold? Contact Phillip today!

Fitness & Exercise Through The Pandemic

May 25, 2020

Anchoring with Fitness & Exercise

By Luis Ayala, personal trainer

These are definitely some crazy times that we are living in now.  Some people are working from home and even learning from home.
For others they have lost track of what day it is, yeah there is obviously a calendar and a clock but the feel of a “new day” has seem to have lost its spark. I won’t lie there have been moments where I myself have felt the exact same way and it’s in those moments where I look to my anchors. 
Now I am not talking about a ship anchor directly, but I am talking about a life anchor that can be good for everyone and anyone. For me that has been fitness/exercise and its not just about the surface gains of looking good in the mirror.
Fitness and exercise keep me grounded and balanced. If I am feeling stressed out, then I know I must get my body moving. Every single time I perform a rep or a set its not just a physical challenge but a mental challenge. I am challenging myself to be better than my stress, fears, doubts, etc and when I complete that challenge yes, I am exhausted, but I feel triumphant because I didn’t give up or give in.
If I can overcome a workout then I can overcome anything I put my mind to even amid a pandemic. This is me being hopeful in the purest expression possible and I do my best to share that hope with others.
I have a best friend of twenty years that I am in competition with to see who can transform their body by the middle of the summer. We may be going for different transformations, but that doesn’t matter because it’s not about bragging rights. Our competition is about keeping each other accountable, sparking the fires of ambition, and having an overall great time even though we are in two different states.
On the other side of my life I have a girlfriend of almost 10 years, childhood sweethearts yes, and we talk about plans about starting a life together, creating businesses to help our communities, and traveling the world to our hearts desire. To some people we may seem crazy, but we don’t care because we are happy and hopeful.
This is the point I want to drive to you all.  During times like this hope is powerful and there truly is strength in numbers.
Please take my advice to plan for the future, partake in ideas with friends and loved ones, and above all else keep hope alive!
Ready to anchor yourself with fitness? Contact Luis today!

Pandemic Shutdown Nutrition

May 24, 2020

Lisa snow personal trainerNutrition During The Shutdown

Eating well can be a challenge at the best of times, but even more so now, with long lines at grocery stores, wildly varying work schedules, and constant stress from the news.  Caregiving and health professionals have an even more difficult time caring for themselves, as they may feel they must always care for others first.  Here are a few things we can do right now:

Plan simple meals.

  While nutritionists usually advise people to eat the healthiest foods, made from scratch, sometimes stress-free is more important than flawless ingredients.  Food brands are also getting smarter and realizing that people want to eat healthy at home.  Check out Amy’s Kitchen frozen dinners and canned chili (https://amys.com/), Pacific (https://www.pacificfoods.com/) and Imagine (https://www.imaginefoods.com/) boxed soups, and Daiya frozen pizzas (https://daiyafoods.com/).  Are they as low calorie as your homemade steamed broccoli?  Nope.  But are they better than the sugar, oil, and preservative-laden packaged foods most other people are eating?  Absolutely.  They have no artificial sweeteners, no high fructose corn syrup, no hydrogenated oil, nor other scary, fake-food ingredients.

Eat plants by hiding them.

Even if you normally love fruit and vegetables, getting your partner, kids, or your stressed-out self to eat them can be tough.  Almonds hide in plain sight in almondmilk yogurt, perfect for a morning with no time to cook.  Burger lovers can get the protein without the cholesterol in Beyond Meat burgers.  What vegetables could possibly be hiding in a veggie burger that looks, smells, and tastes just like beef?  Potatoes and peas.  Have kids who just refuse to eat whole fruit?  Pop frozen bananas, fresh strawberries, dried dates, and a dash of coconut milk into the blender for an ice-cream-like smoothie.  (And if the person who just won’t eat fresh fruit isn’t your kids, but you, well…it’s quarantine.  No one’s going to know.)

Takeout isn’t always bad for us.

  Now with money so tight, many of us can’t eat out as much as we used to.  Be we might still be able to sneak in some healthy takeout.  Chains like https://www.diginn.com/ (rice bowls with seasonal veggies and proteins), https://www.choptsalad.com/ (custom salads and grain bowls), and https://order.bareburger.com/ (organic traditional meat burgers and veggie burgers) offer healthier twists on familiar favorites.  And our local, mom & pop restaurants need our support more than ever!  After the shutdown, I don’t want the only things left standing to be greasy fast food joints.  Now that we’re walking less and burning less calories, we may be leery of rich restaurant food.  But we can still look for entrees featuring brown rice, whole wheat pasta, proteins, and roasted vegetables.

Shop healthy online.

While grocery stores have shortages and long lines, some online retailers are thriving.  Most have free or low-cost shipping.
For no-cooking-needed basics like nuts, dried, fruit, and trail mix, plus affordable bulk foods like rice and beans, head to https://foodtolive.com/
For yummy nut butters, healthier cookies, and more, check out https://bluemountainorganics.com/
For the one day when you do have time to cook from scratch, but want your kitchen to smell as good as a restaurant, pick up some fresh-ground spices at https://www.worldspice.com/
Amazon isn’t just for books anymore; they also have a massive grocery department.
Passionate about donating to charities, especially during times of crisis, but now only have money for groceries?  Every purchase you make on Amazon can go to an organization you care about.  Visit https://smile.amazon.com/ and pick a nonprofit you want to support.
Just keep saying it to yourself: “perfect is the enemy of good.”  And right now, good is looking great.
ACE & NSCA Certified Personal Trainer
President
On the Mend Customized Fitness and Massage

2019 Best of Manhattan for Personal Training

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Neighborhood Trainers Receives 2019 Best of Manhattan Award

Manhattan Award Program Honors the Achievement

MANHATTAN October 21, 2019 — Neighborhood Trainers has been selected for the 2019 Best of Manhattan Award in the Personal Trainers category by the Manhattan Award Program.

Each year, the Manhattan Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Manhattan area a great place to live, work and play.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2019 Manhattan Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Manhattan Award Program and data provided by third parties.

About Manhattan Award Program

The Manhattan Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Manhattan area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

The Manhattan Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community’s contributions to the U.S. economy.

SOURCE: Manhattan Award Program

CONTACT:
Manhattan Award Program
Email: PublicRelations@online-choice-contact.com
URL: http://www.online-choice-contact.com

Quarantine Workouts

April 23, 2020

As we have heard many times up until now, it is a great idea to have a daily routine to help us through these seemingly long days of social distancing and quarantine.
Absolutely!
Make your bed, keep your space organized and clean, get ready and start each day with
positivity, and stay active. Some days are sure to be easier than others. However, on those
more difficult days, stress and anxiety can take its toll.
Currently, there is constant worry about how we’re going to make ends meet. How do
we fight boredom and cabin fever? How do we continue to stay motivated and get in the
workouts that we feel we deserve? That is an extreme amount of stress that we are putting on our Central Nervous System (CNS), which in turn can have a negative effect on how our immune system and other parts of our bodies fight off COVID-19 and other bugs.
One of the best ways to combat stress and anxiety is to MOVE!!! Breaking up that
negative energy wherever it is living in your body can add amazing benefits to more than just your physical health. But what do we do when those ways of moving start to become dull and maintaining motivation is an uphill battle within itself?
WE SWITCH IT UP!
Here are 5 ways to get creative with your workouts during quarantine:

1. Give yourself a weekly/biweekly goal
Create a deadline for any short-term fitness goal. Now is the time to finally nail that perfect
push up. Why not run a little further than we did yesterday or beat last weeks’ personal
record (PR). What about that yoga pose/poses that you’ve been struggling with for the past
6 months and haven’t had the time to really put in the practice you need? The point is to
push yourself. Finding empowerment in these accomplishments no matter how great or
small are fantastic for building self-confidence and of course, relieving anxiety and stress.

2. Workout with Friends and Family!
Wait…what? You know we can’t be near our friends and loved ones right now, right?
Duhhhh guys! But that doesn’t mean you can’t see your friends and family.
Set up a video call with your best buds, dad or Aunt Marsha and have a sweat sesh
together. Each person can be responsible for creating a 10-15minute circuit, giving each of
you a chance to spend some time together while kicking each other’s butts with fitness!
3. Find a new way to move
Creatures of habit, humans are! As much as we love our fitness routines, sometimes it is
necessary to mix things up. Not only does keeping the body guessing create more
opportunity for success in our specific fitness goals. It also stimulates the brain, breaking us
out of the usual exercises that we are prone to gravitate towards. Finding a new way to
move, whether it be taking a dance class online, learning martial arts, or juggling while
hopping up and down on one leg and playing the harmonica. You are essentially challenging
yourself and setting yourself up for more success in more ways than you think.
4. Change of Scenery
Yes, we are cooped up in our homes during this quarantine. Sometimes for more than one
day at a time before we need to venture out and take on the grocery store or get some
sunlight. When working out at home, whether you live in an apartment, a house, or a tree,
sometimes our designated sweat areas can become stale and uninviting. So, change the
scenery! See what happens when you move your workout space to somewhere else in your
residence. Do you have rooftop access in your apartment building? Hey, I wonder how I can
use the hallway for todays’ workout? Or kill two birds with one stone and crush some calf
raises while cooking dinner tonight. Utilizing more spaces while moving your body can really
open up the door to creativity and even give you a different perspective on a certain area.
5. Be Still
Yep, you read it correctly. Just be still. Let’s face it, our brains are on stimulation overload.
Whether, you’re on your phone, watching tv or sending emails, your Central Nervous
System (CNS) is constantly in the fight or flight phase. Therefore, creating an abundance of
the stress hormone, cortisol which is released into body and a direct cause of fat
accumulation. Restorative yoga is a practice that uses poses and props to get you in the
most comfortable positions possible. Allowing you to accomplish deep relaxation while
quieting the mind and, you guessed it! Slowing down the production of cortisol and
reducing your chances of holding on to fat. So, take care of your mental health and CNS
while laying like lettuce.
Give these tips a try and see how they help your levels of anxiety and stress. These are
challenging times, but we can make the most of it by simply taking care of ourselves and
each other.
Looking for more?  Contact Brittni today!

Adopt A Healthy Lifestyle

shaked rosenthal perThere’s never been a better time to adopt a healthy lifestyleshaked

By Shaked Rosenthal, personal trainer

We are going through some difficult times.
Some of us have been “furloughed”, others are working from home.
Our lives have been disrupted.
 It’s surreal. At a moments notice, the world came to a crawling pace.
I’d imagine that tempers are running high in your household. You are anxious. Can’t wait to return to your usual routine.
But let me ask you this; How satisfied were you actually with your old routine?
Do you recall what you’ve promised yourself at the start of the year? What about last year? Did you have something urgent that you wanted to achieve? Maybe you’ve conquered it, maybe you haven’t. Most of us can’t say that we have.
Time constraints, urgent projects and exhaustion from overworking all disappeared in the blink of an eye.
How often do we have a chance to gather our thoughts, take a break from the world, and then regroup? Well we just did!
By all accounts it’ll be a few more months before we return to normalcy.
When we do return to our jobs. What kind of life do we want to lead?
It takes roughly 21 days to build a new habit. Now is the time to cultivate new habits.
Not tomorrow, not yesterday. Today. Now. For the sake of your future. Do this for yourself!
Now is the time to start a new exercise regimen, become better at cooking, eat healthier, get more sleep, and be more present. Now is the time to develop long-lasting, healthy lifestyle habits.
Don’t get me wrong; by no means do I think this is an easy task. But it is a necessary one. And if we approach it methodically and systematically, then we are all the more likely to keep those habits, when this is all over.
So what can we do?
Improve our nutrition
One of the most meaningful ways to improve our nutrition is learning how to cook and making a habit of it. Restaurants and fast food joints don’t always have your health on their agenda. Furthermore, you have no way of knowing what’s healthy and what isn’t, when you eat out. On the other hand, when you cook at home, you have complete control over what goes into your mouth.
Many online classes teach cooking. From basic skills, all the way to becoming a full-fledged badass in the kitchen. In light of the current situation, a lot of them are offering free classes. Enroll in one!
Another important aspect that will help you take charge of your health, is to educate yourself on what it means to eat healthy. Most of us intuitively know what’s good and less good for us. But the devil is in the details. You might be surprised to know that it’s the little things that will often throw you off your game (pastries come to mind). A few resources I use to help my clients are:
Choosemyplate.com
Blog.myfitnesspal.com
Develop an exercise regimen
That’s a tough one, I know. But there are ways to set you on the right foot.
Nevertheless, the important thing is to get started! Even if it’s just 5 or 10 minutes a day. Start with something, anything. Get moving
An extremely useful tool is setting process-oriented goals. Your original goals are commendable and ambitious. But they can be intimidating at first. But what if you set a process-oriented goal, such as working out 8 times in the coming month.
 Would you be more likely to do it? So when embarking on a new fitness regimen, set both a process-oriented goal and a results-oriented goal. Focus on the process-oriented goal. Become successful by working out consistently. Success breeds confidence. You will see that in no time you will have also achieved your result-oriented goal.
Cultivate healthy habits
Walking is deemed the healthiest exercise that you can do. Considering that it doesn’t take much effort. It’s a bargain. The same goes for taking the stairs, doing yoga and doing fun activities, such as hiking. Ultimately, it is what we do the majority of the time that will affect our health and well-being the most
 If you are at a lower risk of getting sick, then it would be wise to get outside for a short walk every day. Maintain social distancing, do not linger or gather in groups, put your facemask on. Take all the necessary precautions, but try to take a short walk every day.
I can tell you from first-hand experience, what a difference it makes. If you can adopt this habit and maintain it for years to come, you will see great changes in your life.
These are but a few ways, to get you started in the right direction. They are not exhaustive. And if you already had something else planned, that’s Great! Follow through with it!
But remember to be patient; Rome wasn’t built in a day. Focus on following your plan for roughly a month, then once it becomes automatic, afford yourself some leeway. Let those new shiny habits become an element of your life, not your whole life.
Personal Trainer/Nutrition Coach