Importance Of Staying Fit In College

Importance Of Staying Fit In College

College students have a lot going against them when it comes to staying healthy. There’s the stress of coursework and packed schedules. And there’s that new-found independence, which can take some unhealthy forms.

Between going to class, studying for exams, making big decisions and maintaining relationships, college students can quickly abandon critical things such as physical health and fitness.

Challenges Of Staying Fit On Campus

• The biggest challenge for students is trying to make their health a priority in the midst of a busy academic and social schedule.

• Competing priorities tend to create a big challenge for college students when it comes to staying fit. Students tell us that between classes, studying, socializing and extra-curricular commitments they are overbooked.

• Being bound to campus dining services by meal plans or convenience, students encounter all kinds of obstacles to balanced eating. Poor variety of fruits and veggies, the high cost of fresh food in comparison to processed snacks make it even more difficult to make good choices.

Tips For Staying Fit On Campus

1. Stock your mini-fridge like a boss. If you have access to a fridge in your dorm room or a communal one on your floor, keep it stocked with staples like hummus and carrots, low-fat cheese, vegetable sticks, and whole-grain wraps.

2. Keep sugary and processed food out of your dorm room. That way, you won't be inclined to clear your candy stores when you get super stressed.

3. Set a fitness goal and stick to it.  A lot of students think that they don't have time to exercise, but in fact, they don't have time not to exercise considering its potent effects on the brain.

4. Walk everywhere. Yeah, there's shuttle service between your dorm and your farthest class, but a 20-minute walk to campus and 20-minute walk home is 40 minutes of exercise.

5. Wear your workout clothes to class. This way, you can go straight to the gym after class without packing a bag.

6. Get a fitness tracker you love. Paying for books and bedspreads and the college itself is enough to leave you strapped for cash. But people who pay attention to how much they walk often end up competing against themselves and going all out to reach their daily goals.

7. Plan your class schedule around your ideal workout routine. If you prefer to work out in the morning, opt for classes that start late enough for you to work out on your way to class.

8. Have a workout buddy. There are many benefits to working out with others. Having a workout buddy or small group that plans to meet at the gym on certain days will help you to stay on track. If you have the accountability as well as someone banking on you being at the gym, you are far more likely to actually get there and get the work done. Find someone with similar workout goals and interests and start planning to go together.

9. Watching Your Diet. Try to pack your lunch choosing healthy foods to eliminate the fast food stops and be certain to carry around a water bottle to drink as much water as you can throughout the day for proper hydration.

The Takeaway

Building a healthy relationship with exercise for personal wellness is important for every individual, especially college students. In a dynamic world filled with stress, newfound independence, and negative media-induced body image ideals, it is important for students to build healthy habits now to jumpstart a lifetime of wellness.

Getting good grades, focusing in class and balancing a busy schedule may be easier if you maintain a healthy lifestyle. By making small changes in your diet and activity level, you can reap big benefits for your overall health.

For more information on fitness or to claim a free session, contact us!

Food Suggestions For Before And After The Gym

Food Suggestions For Before And After The Gym

Ready to sweat? Not so fast! Here, the best foods to eat before and after a workout, so you can fuel up the right way. Munch on these for your best sweat session yet. While some gym-goers prefer not to eat before a workout and simply opt to consume pre-workout supplements, many individuals feel that a pre-workout meal is necessary to jumpstart their grueling training sessions.

Before: Whole Wheat Toast with Sliced Banana and Cinnamon

When it comes to gearing up for a workout, carbs are your gym BFF. The key is to have a mixed bag of complex and simple ones so that the release of energy during your workout is slow and steady throughout your routine. Whole-wheat toast with fruit gives you both types of carbs with the bonus of being super easy to digest. Complex carbs will keep your motor humming, while the fruit adds an extra kick of energy. For those training for a race, bananas are perfect in raising potassium levels, which drop when you sweat a lot. For an added bonus, add a dash of cinnamon. The spice has been linked to stabilizing blood sugar and improving brain function.

After: Grilled Chicken and Mixed Vegetables

Your body is in recovery mode, so you need a nutrient dense dish. The lean protein and carbohydrates in chicken will fill you up without feeling overly bloated. Add some veggies in olive oil to keep your ticker in tip-top shape.

Before: Greek Yogurt and Trail Mix

Getting ready for a long run? Eat some yogurt first. It's easy on your stomach and when paired with trail mix can give you the little rev your body needs. Just make sure to choose a mix that is mostly nut and dried fruit based with as little fillers as possible. (Yes, sadly we're talking about those little chocolates!) The healthy sugars from dried fruit provide that quick energy boost while seeds and nuts will keep insulin levels from dropping mid-workout. Just remember, a little bit goes a long way. Seeds and nuts are high in fat, which means they take longer to digest. Too many and you could start feeling sluggish and slow as you sweat.

After: Veggie Omelet with Avocado

You already know eggs are a great source of protein and help aid in muscle recovery and growth. Switch it up from the usual scramble and make a veggie-packed omelet. Garnish with a few slices of avocado for fiber and monosaturated fats (the good kind!). Similar to olive oil, avocados can help your body better absorb fat-soluble nutrients that your veggies have like vitamins A, D, E and K. These vitamins are stocked with antioxidants, the best boost for your body, inside and out.

Before: Smoothies

Need a snack on-the-go on your way to the gym? Stick with a smoothie. Not only are they time-friendly, building your own blend has a bunch of exercise benefits. For a foolproof formula, use your favorite sliced fruit, a cup of Greek yogurt and some granola for a thicker consistency. If you're picking one up, check the label to make sure it's made from whey or milk-based proteins. And no need to go overboard — 10 to 20 grams of protein before exercising is plenty.

After: Salmon with Sweet Potato

Aside from the usual protein perks, salmon has bioactive peptides, small protein molecules that play a role in inflammation reduction, helping to regulate insulin levels and give you joint support. Sweet potatoes pack in those complex carbs as well as help to restore glycogen levels, which get depleted after a workout.

Before: Oatmeal with Fresh Fruit

Oatmeal is the workout buddy you never have to nag to exercise. It sticks with you throughout your workout by gradually releasing sugar into your bloodstream. Adding fruit to your bowl will help increase the fluid content of your pre-workout snack, keeping you hydrated.

After: Whole Wheat Tuna Fish, Hummus and Spinach Sandwich

If you're a lunchtime exerciser, this is the sandwich for you. Tuna is low in calories but high in protein and carbs. Hummus is a better-for-you spread over mayo or mustard, while also being high in fiber. And last but certainly not least, spinach is a produce powerhouse, handling everything from curbing your appetite to boosting your complexion and lowering blood pressure and inflammation.

The Takeaway:

Clearly, research supports the notion that diet is as important to your mass-gaining goals as the training itself. While the workout provides the stimulus, how, what, and when you feed your body is crucial to your overall progress. You can maximize your gains by paying particular attention to what you consume, especially right before and immediately after your training.

Contact us for your free session!

Tips For Maintaining A Healthy Weight

Tips For Maintaining A Healthy Weight

Whether you are already at your target weight or making efforts to be at your target weight, maintaining that weight will at some point be a factor.  Let's talk about some ways to maintain that current or future success!

The following tips are some of the common characteristics among people who have successfully lost weight and maintained that loss over time.

Watching What You Eat

• Keep a healthy and realistic eating plan.
• Be consistent.
• Plan ahead for special occasions, holidays and vacations. Vacations, holidays, and stressful life situations happen, and no one eats according to plan all the time. That's OK. The trick is to get back on course as soon as possible. Make it a learning experience, not a failure.
• Stay hydrated! Drinking water regularly may promote fullness and increase your metabolism, both important factors in weight maintenance.

Be Active

• Exercise is highly beneficial for keeping the pounds off once they’re gone!  Exercise works great in coordination with continuing diet plans.
• At the minimum, general recommendations include performing aerobic exercise at least three times a week for at least 20 minutes per session.
• The available evidence indicates that exercise is an important component of weight loss and perhaps the best predictor of weight maintenance.

Stay Focused

• Monitor your diet and activity. Keeping a food and physical activity journal can help you track your progress and spot trends. Self-monitoring involves tracking where you are now and charting your short- and long-term progress. In addition to writing down specific behaviors, who was with you, where you were, and what kind of mood you were in when you ate off plan or skipped a workout can help you identify the triggers that send you off plan.
• Be Aware Of Your Tendencies. For example, you might notice that your weight creeps up during periods when you have to travel, work overtime, or when stressed or emotional. Recognizing this tendency can be a signal to try something different.  Pack your own healthy food for the plane and making time to use your hotel's exercise facility when you are traveling. Avoid emotional triggers and be prepared with healthy flavorful options when the cravings arrive.
• Monitor your weight. Check your weight regularly. When managing your weight loss, it's a good idea to keep track of your weight so you can plan accordingly and adjust your diet and exercise plan as necessary. If you have gained a few pounds, get back on track quickly. In other words, you need to know how to take action promptly if you see those numbers starting to climb,  that can means trimming back on portion sizes or skipping dessert more often.
• Get support from family, friends, and others. People who have successfully lost weight and kept it off often rely on support from others to help them stay on course and get through any difficult times. Sometimes having a friend or partner who is also losing weight or maintaining a weight loss can help you stay motivated.

Maintaining Healthy Weight Management Takeaway

It is likely that you will encounter a setback or two after losing weight. You can overcome setbacks by planning ahead and getting back on track right away. Maintaining weight loss can be easier when you are consistent with your new healthy habits, rather than going back to your old lifestyle. Through your journey, you will realize that controlling your weight involves much more than what you eat. Exercise, mental health, monitoring, and support also play a role.

To find great new ways to stay fit, to maintain your weight, or schedule a free personal assessment please visit us.

Old News is Good News: Remember When it was Cold in Lancaster and Everyone Made Work-Out Resolutions?

Two years ago Wayne Mutata was interviewed by Fine Living Lancaster about the effectiveness of New Year’s resolutions.

From the article:

“Many of us make ambitious New Years resolutions to work out five times a week or to cut out sugar completely from our diets, but does that really work? Once February hits, how likely are you to have kept your fabulous resolution?

“Fitness shouldn’t just be a quick fix,” Wayne explains.”

He went on to explain the iTrain philosophy, as well as to describe the clients he wanted to help.

Neither has changed in the past two years. Wayne is still working with everyone from stay-at-home moms to students to older adults.  But, no matter the age or fitness stage, one thing holds true: training at iTrain means not going it alone, and being part of a Lion’s Pride that does fitness in Lancaster proud.

For the full article click here:

https://fllmag.com/fitness-isnt-just-for-new-year/

“Old News is Good News: That Time Wayne was in Men’s Health”

Two years ago iTrain Studio founder, Wayne Mutata, decided to see what would happen if he entered “The Ultimate Men’s Health Guy” contest, sponsored by Men’s Health.

Spoiler alert: he didn’t win.  But, he did make it to the finals and the editors at Men’s Health decided to feature him in the online magazine.

Which is how iTrain, Wayne, and Lancaster, Penn. wound up featured on the national stage of health, wellness, physical fitness and fun. 

From the article:

“So Mutata booked a one-way ticket to the United States. Upon arriving, he quickly found work at a retirement community in Lancaster, Pennsylvania—a rural farming town. 

While that may seem like an unlikely landing spot for a fitness-driven émigré, Mutata says working with seniors taught him a lot about how the human body works. He later got a job at a performance and conditioning center.” 

The description of Lancaster as “a rural farming town” may not be entirely accurate, but the article itself is pretty darn good.

Read the full article below.

http://www.menshealth.com/guy-wisdom/wayne-mutata-ultimate-mens-health-guy