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Why do you use cool down exercises? They help get your body back to normal and prevent pooling of blood in the extremities, while getting your heart rate down. It doesn’t matter what type of exercise you do, whether it’s just slowing down to a walk to reduce the stress on the heart and muscles or doing stretches to increase range of motion while the muscles are warm, they all help to provide a safe way to end your workout. You’ll get your blood pressure back to normal, lower your potential for injury and prevent blood pooling that can cause dizziness.

You don’t have to make it fancy, sometimes just slowing down is all that’s necessary.

If you’re running, just changing your pace to a light jog or walking the last three to five minutes is all it takes. You can also do that after any tough workout, walk around the gym, stretching as you do. It’s all about getting the body back to normal. In fact, you can combine an upper body stretch with a walk. Just interlace your hands, pushing your arms upward with palms pointed up to the ceiling. Stretch back as far as you can go. Cross the right arm over the left arm, put palms together, interlace fingers and stretch as you raise your hands.

Stretch out your body and get more range of motion.

Before you worked out, you may not have been able to sit with legs straight ahead and lean forward and touch your toes. That warming of the muscles now allow you to do that, so take advantage of it as you cool down. With your legs at a right angle to the body, lift your arms. At the hips, bend your body to fold forward. Put your hands on your legs, reaching toward the feet or even grabbing the feel and pull your body forward, holding the position for a minute.

Whether you’re standing up or laying down, pulling your knees to your chest can be a cool down.

If you’re running, slow down to a walk, pulling one knee to your chest by clasping your fingers around the shin. Hold for a few seconds and then pull the other knee close. You can do this laying down on your back. Lift one leg toward your chest, grasping it with the your hand at the shin and pulling it close. The other leg can be bent or held straight, based on your flexibility. Hold the knee to the chest for a minute, then lower it and do the other side.

• Runners will recognize the standing quadriceps stretch if they use cool down exercises. Bring your right leg up behind your body, touching your body as you’re bending at the knee. Grab it with your hands and pull until that knee lines up with the other one. Hold and reverse sides.
• Something as simple as touching your toes can be a cool down. Lead forward at the hips, and let your head move toward the floor. If you have to bend your knees slightly, it’s not a problem. Try to touch the floor.
• Get a good shoulder stretch after a tough workout. Put your left hand behind your neck on your spine. Take the right hand and gently press on the left elbow to push it further down the spine or reach around with the right hand to pull it further down the spine. Then reverse sides.
• Just shake it off. Shake your right arm first, then the left, then both at the same time. Then do the same thing with the legs. Shake your head, booty and entire body. Do each part for at least 15 seconds. It can be a fun way to end a workout.

For more information, contact us today at Next Level Fitness

In our gym in Irvine, CA we offer high intensity interval training—HIIT to transform your body. It’s not a specific workout, but a technique you can use with any type of workout. It’s an exercise method where you vary the intensity from 100% effort where the heart rate is high, for a short time, then alternating to a recovery rate that’s less intense for the same amount of time or more. You then switch back to high intensity and repeat the cycle, continuing to bounce between the two until you complete all sets. The recovery phase increases the oxygen you burn, creating a situation known as afterburn.

How afterburn works for weight loss.

Afterburn is another name for EPOC—Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption. When you’re in the high intensity portion of the workout, you burn a huge amount of calories, far more than you would with a steady state workout. During the recovery period you also burn additional calories to recover. By switching between high and moderate intensity, it maximizes the calories burned.

You’ll increase your metabolism when you use HIIT to workout.

Not only will you get exceptional calorie burning, HIIT increases your metabolism for as long as 58 hours. The body burns extra calories when it’s repairing muscle tissue, get the body back to normal oxygen levels and removing the lactic acid that’s built up from a strenuous workout. You’ll keep a higher metabolism after the workout for up to two days, even if you’re not exercising that day.

HIIT saves time and you can use it with any type of workout.

Whether you’re walking or lifting weights, you can maximize the benefits by adjusting your intensity. Speed walk for a few minutes and then go back to a comfortable pace for the same amount of time. Repeat throughout your walk. You’ll build your endurance faster while burning more calories. Do the same with other workouts, such as lifting weights or doing calisthenics. You’ll get the results you want faster with this simple technique.

One big benefit of HIIT is that it’s easy to adjust to your fitness level. If you need to extend the recovery period, you can. There’s no rule about the amount of time at high intensity or how much at recovery. It can be longer or shorter at high intensity and the same time or longer for recovery.

If you’re building up strength to help relieve joint problems, use low impact exercises, such as swimming. You can still modify the intensity levels.

Because of the high amount of calories burned and benefits derived, a HIIT workout doesn’t require that you workout as long as you would a steady-state workout.

At Next Level Fitness we can help you design a HIIT workout that gets you to your goal faster. In fact, we make it even easier with a special of two private sessions for only $20 to help you get expert advice on a customized workout.

Most people start a diet when they want to lose weight, but a diet isn’t necessary. All you have to do is start a program of clean eating and at Next Level Fitness in Irvine, CA, we can help you do it. What is clean eating? Clean eating is a way to tailor your diet with whole food, before it became a processed package of chemicals. Many of the foods you find on the shelves of groceries today have had all the nutrients processed out of them and remain nothing more than empty calories filled with preservatives and other chemicals. Clean eating focuses on minimal processing and food that is nutritious.

Opt for food without added sugar.

It’s tough to do, since some form of added sugar seems to be in about everything. Don’t fall for that hype about natural sugar. Fat took the hit for sugar when it came to clogging arteries due to a study in the 1960s. Salt may part of the problem for high blood pressure, but sugar definitely plays a role, too. Whether it’s table sugar, fructose, honey or maple syrup, added sugar has no place in clean living and can lead to diabetes, cancer, accelerating aging, high blood pressure and a slew of other health issues.

Limit the amount of processed food and eat organic when possible.

Whether the food is GMO or filled with pesticides, it isn’t organic. If you can afford it, opt for whole food that is organic, whether frozen or fresh. You can’t eliminate all processing. Potatoes and meat aren’t necessarily healthy or tasty without some processing, such as cooking. Steaming vegetables and grilling or roasting meat isn’t the problem. It’s the processed meat and high carb processed food that isn’t. Stick with whole grains if you choose bread. Skip desert and luncheon meat.

Use healthier oils and the ones right for each situation.

Avoid margarine and most vegetable oils, choosing to get the fat you require from healthier options, such as avocados, fatty fish and nuts. Olive oil is great in many situations, but not when used for high heat. Olive oil has a low smoking point and that smoke is toxic. Avocado oil has a higher smoke point than olive oil, but for high heat, opt for peanut or sesame oil with the highest smoke point. Trans fats are banned in the US, since 2018, yet some food still contains it. Non-dairy coffee creamer, some peanut butter, frozen pizza, cookies and granola bars are a few, but as long as they contain less than a gram, which could mean as much as a half gram, they get a pass. Consider using butter from grass fed cows for a healthy spread.

• Include more vegetables in your diet. Even some canned fruit and vegetables can be added. If you choose beans that aren’t low sodium, rinse them before cooking. Opt for fruit in their own sugar.
• Say no to refined grains. Skip that white bread and read the label carefully when buying to ensure it doesn’t contain processed flour. Opt for sprouted, sour dough, 100% whole wheat, oat, flax or 100% sprouted rye.
• What you drink is also important. Snub those soft drinks and opt for water instead. It not only is good for your body, it can be helpful to your budget, too, especially if your home drinking water is delicious. Create infused water if you want more flavor.
• Stick with free range and pasture fed meat, eggs and milk products. Select hormone and antibiotic-free animal products.

For more information, contact us today at Next Level Fitness!

We live in unusual times. Being quarantined might be the opportunity you’ve always wanted. In fact, even if you didn’t want an opportunity to get and stay fit during quarantine, there’s nothing else to do, so why not? Why not experiment with healthy dishes and start on a daily fitness routine. If you want the wild life, why not settle on wildlife viewing instead and go for hikes and walks in the park. Most people say that they’d get fit if they only had the time, now is the time. Even if you’re working from home, your day is cut shorter by lack of commuting and your work clothes are now workout clothes, so there’s no wasted time trying to decide what to wear.

You don’t have to have a gym, you can do bodyweight exercises.

Bodyweight exercises require no equipment, except the one you have with you at all times, your body. The good news is that it only gets stronger the more you use it and instead of wearing out. Push-ups, pull-ups, lunges and squats are just a few of the bodyweight exercises that build muscle and strength. Stretches and other types of calisthenics are great flexibility workouts.

Get your heart pumping with a HIIT—high intensity interval training—workout.

Whether you go for a walk or do calisthenics, how you do it makes a big difference in its effectiveness. HIIT workouts involve going at top intensity for a few minutes and then spending equal time or longer at a slower recovery rate. The high intensity section should boost your heart rate to 70 to 90% of maximum rate with the recovery level lowering it back to 60 to 65%. HIIT workouts get your heart in shape quicker, improves your breathing and lung function and burns tons of calories. It helps stabilize your blood pressure and level your blood sugar.

Start eating healthier and learn to cook healthier.

What a great time to opt for healthier eating. You have time at home to babysit the beef roast as it or hang around while the sprouted bread rises. Eating healthier can become an adventure that turns to an avocation or hobby. You’ll be amazed at how good healthy food tastes, especially when you made it yourself. You may even start a program of meal prep and plan meals and make them for the whole week, with some left to freeze for later, when you’re busy.

• Just walking can improve your fitness and even your mood. Fresh air and sunshine are necessary to keep you healthy and a walk in the park or other natural setting can bring a sense of calm.
• You can use common everyday objects to replace exercise equipment. Soup cans and detergent bottles filled with sand or water can replace weights. A broomstick can be used alone or double as a barbell with a weight added to each end, like a backpack. A milk jug can double as a kettlebell.
• If you want to have more variety and use inexpensive equipment, try resistance bands or a stability ball. Doorway pull-up bars can also be $20 or less. Use the real stair for a stair stepper machine.
• Create a schedule and stick with it. Not only will you get more done, you’ll be more likely to stick with a program of exercise. If you’re working at home, schedule a five-minute break every hour to get up and move, whether it’s doing jumping jacks or just walking around.

For more information, contact us today at Next Level Fitness!

The easiest way to fight any disease is to avoid getting it. That means building up the immune system and helping your body to be at its best. At Next Level Fitness in Irvine, CA, we help clients tone their body and eat healthier to improve their potential to stay healthy this summer. Not only can lifestyle changes boost the immune system, it can improve the body’s functioning to prevent serious conditions and lower the risk of injury. Even a health condition already exists, lifestyle changes can help control it better and even improve the quality of life.

You are what you eat.

That may be an old adage, but it’s still very true. What you eat makes a huge difference in how your body functions, your body composition and weight, plus how healthy you are. There are many processed foods on the market that contain man-made ingredients the body was never created to digest. Other food contain a high calorie count, but don’t provide the nutrients you need to keep your body functioning properly. The leading cause of preventable death is obesity. It can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, kidney disease and even certain types of cancer.

Get regular exercise.

Getting the right type and amount of exercise is extremely important to your overall health and well being. You need a program designed to work all parts of the body that includes all types of fitness, strength, flexibility, endurance and balance. It is amazing how the body adapts and becomes stronger the more you work out. Exercise helps stimulate changes that protect you right down to the cellular level. For instance, exercise boosts the body’s creation of antioxidants that protects the cells and lengthens telomeres that prevent the chromosomes. Regular exercise lowers the risk of osteoporosis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and keeps you feeling your best.

Stick to a regular schedule of sleep.

Good sleep hygiene has more benefits than just keeping you alert and focused during the day. It helps improve heart health, prevents some types of cancer, reduces stress and inflammation and can even help you control your weight. Studies show that lack of sleep can stimulate the production of ghrelin, the hormone that makes you feel hungry. It also suppresses the production of the hormone leptin that tells your brain when your body has had enough to eat. When you’re tired, you’re also more apt to go for sugary treats to boost your energy level, as well.

• Get adequate sunshine. Getting out in the sun can boost your immune system in several ways. It reduces stress, increases the creation of vitamin D, improves sleep and your mood. You can get too much of a good thing, so apply protection to avoid overexposure.
• Hydrate often. The heat of the summer helps remind you to drink more water, but get into the habit of doing it all year. Lack of hydration can lead to serious conditions. Dehydration can even mimic dementia in seniors.
• Enjoy Mother Nature, but do it safely. Going to parks and green areas renews the soul. It can help lower blood pressure, reduce stress, improve mental health and even improve memory.
• You can get too much of a good thing. Getting outside is important, but on extremely hot days, can overwhelm you quickly and cause heat stroke or heat exhaustion. Early morning or evening are the best time to go outside on hot days.

For more information, contact us today at Next Level Fitness