sleep deprivation

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.⠀

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 and Injury

Posted on October 11, 2018 by LetlerFit

If you’re new to exercise, I always say better too little than too much to start. As starting with too much leaves new exercisers more prone to muscle strains, muscle tears, and/or bone fractures.⠀
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And if you’ve been exercising for quite some time and find yourself constantly with aches and pains resulting from your exercise. The problem is YOUR TRAINING….it’s poorly programmed…sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But you are not a badass for getting hurt all of the time and pushing through it.

Are you ready to move better and stop getting injured? DM me now!⠀

7 Pieces of Common Fitness Advice that are Completely Wrong

Posted on November 28, 2017 by LetlerFit

I did another one of these posts a while back, but today I wanted to bring you a different set of Fitness Myths:

Fasted Cardio is Highly Effective: Numerous studies on this matter are inconclusive on whether or not the benefits to fasted cardio outweigh the risk of glycogen depletion, light headedness, catabolism etc. Eating the correct nutrients before your workout is what give you energy, contributes to fat loss, and makes for a more effective workout. Fasted cardio makes you think you’re working harder but its because your rate of perceived exertion is increased due to your body running on fumes.
Anyone can excel at whatever sport they want: Actually we are all born with specific muscle fibers. Elite sprinters probably won’t be seen winning a marathon…different fiber type composition. Baseball pitchers probably won’t be seen winning gold as an olympic lifter. Get your feet wet in a variety of sports and your body can tell you, which sports it was best meant to play, but not everyone is physically capable of becoming an olympian and don’t beat yourself up over it!
Push through injuries: The common walk it off mentality is AWFUL. Sharp shooting pain is how our body signals us something is not right and unless you’re fighting in a career altering match or running in the finals at the olympics, injuries are not something you should just “walk off.”
Avoid Cardio to Make Gains: While excessive cardio is not good for the gains, we should all be doing some form of cardiovascular as the immunological, improved performance, increased recovery, and sooo many other benefits.
Go 100% Every Single Day: Our body NEEDS rest, for some it’s in the form of active rest, but it is considered rest nonetheless….if we expect our body to perform at 100 everyday there is no time for your muscles to repair and grow. Not allowing for proper recovery also increases stress levels in our body which can lead to gut inflammation and illness.
Squats Are Bad For your Knees: Bad form is bad for your knees. Squats are an incredibly effective compound exercise, I use them often for even my elderly clients.
Ab Exercises are What Give you Abs: Did you know some people with 6 packs don’t do a single crunch, russian twist, or sit up? Shocking I know. While those exercises may contribute to enhancing a reduced waistline brought on by clean diet…they are not necessary. A heavy squat, properly lunge paired with a medicine ball rotation, even a bent over row are highly effective exercises for your abs. Genetics and diet go a longer way in improving the appearance of your abdomen.

Eat Pretty: A Book Review

Posted on November 17, 2017November 17, 2017 by LetlerFit

I just got done reading this book by Jolene Hart, entitled Eat Pretty. I definitely give this one an A in the category of educating those who have no formal education in nutrition.

We are always taught that choosing healthy foods leads to weight loss and overall a more “attractive” physique. Some people are lucky enough to get taught that good nutrition helps prevent or control diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, etc. Very few people are actually taught how the foods we eat affect our complexion.

This book does an excellent job at classifying the foods that give acne, skin rashes, and more as beauty betrayers, while those those that promote a healthy complexion are deemed beauty foods. The other great job the other did was classifying the foods by season, because as most of us know, not all foods are available year round.

The other also dedicated a section to non-nutritional factors that may affect our weight and complexion like stress, sleep, water, and hormone function. Factors many people tend to look.

My favorite part about this book is how the author goes into how she perceives balance, which to me is the most important. So many books stress restriction and don’t that they miss the overall point of a balanced lifestyle.

If you are interested in learning what foods and how they contribute to our radiant skin, I definitely recommend you Buy the book here, you won’t regret it!

6 Habits That Destroy Your Otherwise Healthy Lifestyle

Posted on October 23, 2017 by LetlerFit

Creating a healthy lifestyle is all about habit. Just like good habits, there are also bad habits. Some of them are killing your healthy lifestyle journey, and you may not even realize it.

Lack of Sleep: Sometimes, life requires you to lose sleep, and that’s ok. The problem is not a few nights of lack of sleep, the problem becomes too many nights without adequate sleep. Sleep is so crucial. I know we all know how awful it feels after consistent sleep deprivation. What many people may not know is that lack of sleep triggers an increase of cortisol hormone to be released in our bodies, which may cause us to bloat and have difficulty losing weight. Without Sleep our bodies cannot properly repair the muscles we just worked out.
Restriction: Leading a restrictive diet, leads to binges and constant yo-yoing and that’s not what we want. I’ve said time and time again it’s about establishing a balance of consuming more health foods than junk foods.
No Exercise or No clean foods: Sometimes eating clean is the easiest part of the nutrition and fitness equation. For others exercise is the easy part! But they go hand in hand! Not exercising or not eating clean but doing the other is only half of it and yields not so great results.
Alcohol: Going ham on the drinks during the weekend, EVERY weekend, is KILLER to your healthy lifestyle.
Not reading nutrition labels: Never go by the front of the packaging, read the label and pay attention to the ingredients!
Not Meal Prepping: Buying “healthy” foods from restaurants is no where near as good as prepping and cooking your own foods where YOU control everything. Sometimes the cleaner options are still loaded with hidden salt or sugar.

Sleep Deprivation and Exercise Performance

Posted on July 16, 2015 by LetlerFit

We all sleep, we all lose sleep when things get crazy, and we all feel out of whack when we do start to lose sleep. Some of us are athletes and are demanded to train at a certain level day in and day out. Sometimes balancing our training and personal life gets so hectic that we sacrifice sleep in order to fit everything into our boys schedules, but what happens to our athletic performance when we lose sleep?

Studies have showed that a lack of sleep in an athletes body has lead to an inability to properly metabolize glucose as well as an increase in cortisol levels. An increase in cortisol levels comes from our body’s increase in stress levels that are induced by sleep deprivation that sometimes we don’t notice. It can lead to an impaired memory, age-related insulin resistance, and an inability for your body to recover it’s muscles. Lack of sleep also decreases the levels of human growth hormone.

So what does the aforementioned actually mean for an athlete?

1. Glucose and Glycogen (stored glucose) are your muscles source of energy. For an endurance athlete being able to utilize the glucose in your muscles and liver is extra important. Not only does sleep deprivation decrease glycogen stores but it also decreases utilization, which greatly .

2. Raised cortisol levels mess with muscle tissue and repair, which is needed to full recover from a gruesome training day.

Recap: Many athletes think diet is the most important factor in recovery and taking your training to the next level. In reality, diet and sleep go hand in hand if you want to recover and be able to train harder the next day.

athlete being able to store glucose and utilize it 100% in your muscles and liver is extra important.