cardio

Lift Your Way to Stronger Bones

Posted on June 25, 2019June 4, 2019 by LetlerFit

Can you exercise your way to stronger bones….OH YES! Despite what your grandma told you, picking up those weights is what’s going to keep those bones strong and healthy more so than aerobic exercise as research shows that resistance training has a positive effect on bone density.

Learn more about the best online fitness program which includes comprehensive programs focused on shifting towards healthier eating habits, staying fit, and building a better booty. You’ll also find a variety of fitness apparel to help get you that extra motivation to take your goals to another level. Contact me today to learn more about the best fitness programs available to get your body in gear.

Exercise Myth vs Truth

Posted on June 18, 2019June 4, 2019 by LetlerFit

Myth: Men respond better to strength training because they get stronger faster when compared to women

Truth: under proper programming, women see increases in their strength at the same rate or faster. ⠀

Lifting Weights with Hypertension

Posted on June 11, 2019June 4, 2019 by LetlerFit

Do you have hypertension and lift weights? Then this post is VERY important. ⠀
If you have high blood pressure you should avoid heavy resistance training (try and keep it no higher than 80-85% of your 1RM) as heavy resistance training on its own increases your blood pressure. So pairing your own high blood pressure with the effects of heavy weight training could lead to negative vascular events such as stroke or heart attack. You also want to avoid the valsalva maneuver as holding your breath while lifting can also increase your blood pressure. One exercise you should consider throwing out of your programming completely if you’re hypertensive is the leg press because it utilizes the activity of a lot of large muscles (lower body) under heavy loading and yields no functional purpose. Therefore risk outweighs benefits. ⠀

Exercise and Asthma

Posted on June 4, 2019June 4, 2019 by LetlerFit

Struggle with asthma? Did you know that most people who have asthma avoid exercise because of being scared of having an attack or making the asthma worse? I am here to tell you that exercising with asthma is totally safe (assuming you have your “puffer” with you at all times in case of an episode!) and encouraged! Regular aerobic exercise between 60-80% of HRR has been shown to decrease incidents of asthma attack.⠀
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It is important to make sure you are going to a gym with great air circulation (aka some A/C), avoiding cold, dry air, or non-air circulating environment. It is also important to spend extra time warming up and cooling down. It is also important to understand that high intensity exercise and long duration/continuous activity trigger more asthmatic events than moderate intensity and “stop and go” exercise.

Exercising Your Way to a Longer Life

Posted on January 9, 2019 by LetlerFit

Did you know that science has been able to link mortality rate and lifespan with levels of cardiorespiratory fitness? And that people who are physically active for longer periods of times with greater intensity are potentially adding to their lifespan and better quality of life to those years? If that’s not motivation to get moving, not sure what is! Think about all those moments you won’t miss out on because you chose to prioritize your fitness.⠀

Exercise and Disease Management

Posted on January 8, 2019January 8, 2019 by LetlerFit

Ever wonder what risk factors are actually connected to diseases? Well let’s take a look at obesity, physical inactivity, and low cardiovascular efficiency as they are 3 risk factors that can be avoided through exercise.⠀
-Obesity is linked to heart disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis, arteriosclerosis, stroke, and diabetes⠀
-Physical inactivity is linked to all of the above except for stroke.⠀
-Low cardiovascular efficiency is linked to heart disease, hypertension, and stroke⠀

Get Moving in 2019!

Putting Movement First

Posted on November 15, 2018 by LetlerFit

When I talk about putting movement proficiency first, i mean being able to successfully execute the kinetic chain of an exercise. Did you know any of the following issues can put a damper on your movement execution:⠀
-excess or insufficient motor unit activation (typical offender for performing a movement incorrectly)⠀
-Inefficient fiber recruitment (typically leads to lost force output)⠀
-Lack of motor unit synchronicity (typically leads to a reduction in force output or speed)⠀
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The good news is, this is all trainable.⠀
Want to improve your firing rate? Utilize both heavy and fast exercises to activate fast-twitch fibers⠀
Want to have better recruitment? Utilize activities that make the most of time-under-tension⠀
Want to improve synchronicity? Utilize rehearsal rills that replicate patterns and speed during specific plays or for life⠀
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Let me help you move better! LetlerFit@gmail.com⠀
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Biagioli, Brian Dominick. Advanced Concepts of Personal Training. National Council on Strength and Fitness, 2012.⠀

Obesity Beyond “Looks”

Posted on October 30, 2018October 30, 2018 by LetlerFit

Obesity leads to ⠀
-Systemic inflammation⠀
-Insulin Resistance⠀
-Disturbances in the secretion and function of adipokines⠀
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Not only does it create the aforementioned issues, but it puts you at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes (when your body struggles to utilize glucose and produce insulin, and/or it’s inability to act in response to insulin production). Did you know that 90% of all diabetes cases are type 2? Did you also know that this is potentially avoidable with lifestyle modifications?⠀
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Risk factors for developing diabetes include:⠀
-Certain Medication⠀
-Race⠀
-Hypertension⠀
-Stress⠀
-Age⠀
-Pregnancy⠀
-Family history (genetics) ⠀
-High Cholesterol⠀
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For every 500 kcal of energy expenditure per week that comes from exercise, the risk for type 2 diabetes is reduced by 6%.⠀
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Exercise also helps increase ones insulin sensitivity by improving carbohydrate metabolism and glucose tolerance from enhanced cellular uptake.

I challenge you to stop looking at obesity as someone who is “fat” and needs to lose weight to be “skinny” because that’s NOT the issue. The issue is HEALTH.⠀

Breaking Down Your Muscle Fibers

Posted on October 25, 2018 by LetlerFit

Every time I hear someone say an exercise targets fast or slow twitch fibers and have zero idea what they’re talking about, drives me crazy. While science is currently investigating I believe the last number I was told was 16 fiber types, the general teaching consensus is 3. Type 1, Type 2a, and type 2x. Fast and slow twitch in the science community btw is slowly starting to fade away because they realized thats not the best way of describing our muscle fibers. But for now, I put them into the blog explanation below:⠀
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Your type 1 fibers are known as the slow twitch muscle fibers because they have the slowest firing rate, least amount of force production, and smallest circumference. They are however most resistant to fatigue and have the greatest aerobic efficiency of the other fibers.⠀
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Your type 2a fibers are known as your fast twitch oxidative fibers because they have a fast firing rate, produce moderate force, and have a moderate circumference. As opposed to the type 1 fibers, your type 2 fibers fatigue rapidly because of the high force production and they aid in extended work at lower force output.⠀
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Lastly, your type 2x fibers are known as the fast twitch glycolytic fibers and have the fastest firing rate of the 3 muscle fibers, the greatest force production, and largest circumference. They fatigue the fastest, but have the greatest creatine phosphate efficiency.⠀
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Biagioli, Brian Dominick. Advanced Concepts of Personal Training. National Council on Strength and Fitness, 2012.⠀

Cardio beyond “leaning out”

Posted on October 16, 2018 by LetlerFit

People do cardio ALL of the time, but not everyone realizes what is happening within when you do cardio the RIGHT way. What we know as cardio is also known as aerobic exercise. ⠀
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Aerobic exercise increases the capillary density within muscle fibers and increases type 1 fiber efficiency. Aerobic exercise can also improve ones ability to buffer lactate and increases oxidative enzyme activity. ⠀
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In regards to your cardiopulmonary adaptations cardio stimulates an increase in stroke volume, cardiac output, and VO2 max as well as improved cardiac conduction and metabolic efficiency. Cardio should hypertrophy the left ventricle and reduce systolic blood pressure, which reduces myocardial stress and cardiopulmonary energy sparing. ⠀
Research has also shown cardiovascular exercise to increase life span and boost immune health.⠀
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Biagioli, Brian D.Advanced Concepts of Strength & Fitness; Conditioning. National Council on Strength & Fitness, 2015.⠀