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A new year is here again and it seems like it’s going to be an active year for sports. So you better get ready to reach your fitness goals. Here are the Eagle Ridge Fitness trends to watch out for this 2016.

Running marathons

Running, both as a sport and a hobby, really took off in the past couple of years. And in 2016, it’s expected to continue its rise, particularly long distance running. People, it seems, are looking for more challenges. So expect running a marathon to trend in 2016. Whether it’s a 5k, 10k or even an Ironman-type marathon, it’s going to be a busy year for running shoes. If you’re new to running, try Nike shoes. Nike has a wide selection of running shoes, which also include minimalist shoes.

Yoga

As everyday life seems to be getting more stressful, most people turn to fitness to relieve them of the stress. And Yoga is a great way to do that. Yoga, which has many forms like Bikram and Ashtanga, combines challenging poses with meditation and controlled breathing to help people be fit—physically, mentally and emotionally. Yoga helps your body to be more flexible. So besides being a good fitness routine itself, it’s a great compliment to a sport or workout. If you’re experiencing a fitness plateau, Yoga can help you get out of the funk. Just remember to get your own Yoga mat, available at online shops, so you’ll be more comfortable during each session.

Walking, especially for older adults

Even older adults are becoming more conscious of their health. And since they have little time because of their busy schedules at work and at home, expected them to choose walking as a sport. Walking, though low-impact, provides a lot of fitness benefits if done regularly. It’s also convenient since you can do it almost anywhere. Also, if you plan to walk at home, search for a good treadmill at a reputable online shop. Don’t forget a good pair of running shoes as well.

Sports wearable and outdoor gadgets

Although it’s not technically an exercise or sport, wearables are expected to really trend this year. Wearable are devices which you can wear, similar to a watch or a clip, so it can track your progress. Typically, wearables monitor how many steps you’ve taken, your heart and pulse rate. However, other features like sleep monitoring, GPS tracking and smartphone capabilities have also surfaced, making wearables a must for health buffs.

Another device expected to trend are sports action cameras. With more people looking for ways to record their fitness activities without holding a camera in their hands, the need for mounted recorders are expected to increase.

For wearables, be sure to check out what Fitbit has to offer, while GoPro has a good selection of mounted recorders for your adventurous side.

As these trends take flight in 2016, remember to check out your favorite online shop, Sports Corner, for apparel and equipment and most importantly, your professional fitness trainers at Eagle Ridge Training. You should get the right stuff in order to fully enjoy what sports trends the New Year has to offer.

Eat smart.

There is a lot you can do to improve what and how you eat, but some of it takes training and knowledge most people do not have. Some common sense with your eating plan will go a long way. It is very important to eat “real” food (not canned or packaged), plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, protein, and even some carbs, but stay away from things with sugar. Teach yourself to start looking at labels.

Eat small amounts.
Eating small meals and snacks several times a day is very important to keep your metabolism burning strong. This also keeps you from getting too hungry and ultimately binge eating. One way to sabotage a healthy lifestyle change is to deny yourself food. It is very important to eat regular small meals and healthy snacks.

Team up.
Get together with a friend who has much the same goals as you. Take a walk with them every day. Meet them for a healthy lunch. In fact, why not get a group together? That way, if one person is not available, maybe someone else will be. Moreover, the social interaction is good for you. People who go on “diets” tend to start avoiding people. That way if they “fall off the wagon”, they feel like they are not accountable to anyone.

Think healthy.
Stop using the word “diet”. That word causes images of eating only salads and starving yourself to lose just a few pounds. Instead, try telling yourself you want to get healthy. It shouldn’t take too much to convince yourself to do that.

Get rest.
When the body is tired, chemical changes occur and certain substances are released in the body that cause weight gain or slow weight loss. It is easier to get involved in activities when you are rested.

Have fun.
You need to enjoy life. If you lose weight and feel healthy, you will want to enjoy life because you feel good about yourself. When you go out of your way to enjoy life, you will probably be more active, and this will contribute to your overall well-being.

Drink water.
Many times we interpret the body’s signals as hunger when they are actually thirst. Keeping the body properly hydrated helps it to flush out toxins and perform a myriad of functions more efficiently.

Don’t quit.
Many people are disheartened when they lose only 1 or 2 pounds a week on average. Unfortunately, many are looking for the quick fix. When you look at the long-term of 1 or 2 pounds of weight loss a week. That is 52-104 pounds in a year and 104-208 pounds in two years! Think about how you felt about your body one or two years ago. Is it the same as today? Had you made the commitment back then to get serious about living a healthy lifestyle, you would be much healthier today.

Be happy with your results. If you are living in a healthy manner, you will lose weight. Of course, how much weight you lose depends on many factors – what kinds of food you are putting in your body and the amount of Eagle Ridge  Fitness exercise you are doing to burn calories. If you are walking 20 minutes a day and not losing what you think you should be losing, change to walking 30 minutes a day or a 15 minute walk twice a day. Adapt and move on.

However, do not expect to be the man or woman you were in school or college. You might never fit into your old prom dress or military uniform again. Just get up, have some fun and do what you can. Reward yourself for your accomplishments and forgive yourself for the setbacks. I refuse to call them failures. There is no failure until you give up completely

Easy Way To Gain Weight And Muscle

At Coquitlam fitness training, learning the best way to gain muscle isn’t rocket science, but it does take hard work. The best way to gain muscle fast is to stress it, overload it. As the muscle becomes stronger, improvement can be realized only by increasing the overload over time. This progressive increase in resistance is the fastest way to gain muscle. As this resistance is increased, the muscle works harder, and muscle growth occurs.

The increase in resistance is important because muscles grow only as much as they need to handle the demands placed upon them. If you don’t increase the resistance progressively, the muscles will adapt to the load efficiently and stop growing. The formula is simple, increase the weight and increase the muscle. All of this, of course, assumes that you are eating properly and providing your muscles with the nutrients that they required to grow in response to the exercises.

Three of Coquitlam’s fitness proven steps for increasing the resistance placed upon the muscles being exercised are:

1. Use the same amount of weight, but increase the number of repetitions each time.
   2. Perform the same number of repetitions, but increase the weight each time.
   3. Perform the same number of repetitions and use the same amount of weight, but shorten the rest periods between sets.

Most body builders find the first two steps given above to be the most effective way to increase muscle building resistance: more weight and more repetitions.

One of the simplest ways to effectively increase the amount of weight that you can lift is to compensate for the added resistance by decreasing the number of reps that you perform. Keep increasing the weight until it’s heavy enough to cause you to reach muscle failure in about 4 to 8 reps. As use begin to increase the weight, continue to do the same number of reps, but go easy. The first few sets should be done as warm-ups for the heavy sets. Add maximum weight for the last two sets, which are the ones that will actually build muscle.

You now understand that the best way to gain muscle mass and tone is to overload the muscle during your workouts. Reaching muscle failure with heavy weights and fewer reps is the goal. The more weight that you use, along with hard work, increases muscle mass. Overloading your muscles during exercise will enable you to gain muscle almost indefinitely. Because this method of exercise is quite intense, be sure to complement it with proper diet and plenty of rest.

Simply entering weights is not the best way to gain muscle or enough to consistently build muscle over time. To get stronger, you need to increase the resistance on your muscles by increasing weight, reducing reps, or a combination of both. This process is gradual. Focus upon constant improvement and slow growth. You’ll find that muscle growth will occur at a rate that you would have not otherwise thought possible.

Having spent many years doing and teaching many different workouts involving weights, cardiovascular machines, and calisthenics, Coquitlam fitness determined that the best way to build mass and boost metabolism is by doing pushups. Lots of pushups! After less than three months training, I was able to complete a one-thousand pushup routine in exactly 80 minutes.

Calisthenics, like pull-ups and pushups, are commonly avoided because they can be extremely painful. Because strength training exercises are typically anaerobic, with few exceptions, the body produces a high amount of lactic acid, thus causing a burning sensation in the muscles. Coupled with physical and mental exhaustion, an abundance of lactic acid can persuade even the hardest of athletes to give it a rest. Remember that your body will prevail, as long as you maintain your mental strength.

To begin, I would recommend a routine consisting of no more than 100-200 pushups, spread out over an entire day. Break them down into even sets, of say 20 pushups per set. Whenever you feel confident in yourself, drop to the floor and pound out a quick set. If 20 pushups are too many when you begin, then do more sets consisting of fewer repetitions per set. Do not concern yourself with the amount of time it takes to complete the first few workouts, just make sure you drink a lot of water and eat a lot of high protein food throughout the day. The day following your first pushup workout, your chest, stomach, shoulders and legs will be sore. It will become apparent just how many muscle groups are worked when doing pushups. Take 2-3 days rest.

The secret to building the endurance strength necessary to do extremely large numbers of repetitions is to strategize with your own body. The workouts need to be strategically spaced apart and sometimes stacked together to maximize results.

If your body responds quickly and you start to build considerable muscle mass in a short period of time, which I’m sure you will, the next thing to do is increase the number of repetitions per set and decrease the amount of time between sets. I would recommend a goal of 25-30 reps per set, beginning one set every 2 minutes. If done gradually, the workout compression can be very smooth and your 400-pushup routine can be completed in 32 minutes. It sounds very difficult, but it is achievable.

Now that you have the required Coquitlam fitness tools; timing your sets, timing your workouts and adding reps, you can pull the strings and make the workout work for you. If you have any difficulty in any particular aspect that prevents further gains, use the other techniques to manipulate your body into cooperating. For example, if you cannot add more reps to your sets, do more sets, or if you cannot do more sets, do two larger workouts spaced apart from one another.

Two important things to remember when doing mass building exercises such as pushups are; drink lots of water and eat lots of high protein food throughout the day. When doing my one-thousand pushup routine, I drink at least one full gallon of water daily to avoid dehydration and joint fatigue. Good luck!

Stretching is important for everyone, from the conditioned athlete to the fitness warrior. Stretching makes the muscles, ligaments and tendons more flexible and elastic-like. Rather than tearing or breaking when under strain, a flexible muscle is more likely to stretch when exercising. Flexibility prevents injuries especially to the back, Achilles tendon, ankles, knees, shoulders and other joints of the body.

It is never advisable to stretch a cold muscle, it is best to warm up first by walking slowly for 5-10 minutes, stationary cycling for 5 minutes or jogging slowly for 5 minutes before stretching. Stretching is joint specific — you have to target each muscle group and joint separately. Stretch gently and do not bounce or jerk the stretch and stay just short of the pain zone while stretching. After participating in a physical exercise activity, stretch again.

All stretching exercise are specifically designed to increase flexibility of muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints. The stretching exercises presented within this section focus on the neck, back, upper extremities, and lower extremities.

Prior to beginning any exercise program, including the fitness activities lashed out by the Coquitlam Fitness Trainer, individuals should seek medical evaluation and clearance to engage in an activity. Not all exercise programs are suitable for everyone, and some programs may result in injury. Activities should be carried out at a pace that is comfortable for the user. Users should discontinue participation in any exercise activity that causes pain or discomfort. In such event, medical consultation should be immediately obtained.

An individuals’ fitness depends on a number of components, and flexibility is only one of them. That’s why, at Coquitlam Fitness Training, we have proposed some basic rules to remember:

• It is always best to consult with your physician before starting an exercise program.
• When ready, begin the exercise program very slowly. It is important to perfect the technique to ensure maximum results and to minimize injury.
• Warm up before doing any vigorous exercise. Never stretch a “cold” muscle.
• Do not over stretch. Only stretch as much as is comfortable. Overstretching or “Bouncing” a stretch can weaken joints, tendons or muscles.
• Perform the strengthening exercise 2-3 times a week and stretches 3-5 times each week. If a particular muscle group is tight, stretches may be performed daily. The aerobic conditioning program should be performed 3-5 times a week.
• Gradually increase the number and intensity of these exercises.
• You may experience some minor discomfort with any new exercise program. However, the discomfort should not linger after the exercise.
• Be patient. It may take several weeks before you start seeing results.
• Note: Any neck exercise or position that causes increased or prolonged discomfort in the arms or any lower back exercises that cause increased discomfort in the legs should be stopped immediately.
• The exercises within this guide are intended to be performed by a person who has no active injury or on-going disability.