Fitness & Wellness

Best Exercises For A Stronger Core

Best Exercises For A Stronger Core

With all the time people spend at the beach in Irvine, CA, looking good in a swimsuit is a top priority for many. You need a stronger core to accomplish that. Using the right exercises can help. Strong core muscles do more than help you look great in a swimsuit. They affect your entire body. They improve posture, prevent back pain, aid digestion, and prevent headaches. Core muscles include the muscles of the pelvis, hips, back, and abs. They’re involved in every movement you make and keep you balanced and steady.

Planks build core strength.

If you’ve never done a plank, think of the up position for a push-up. Instead of lowering your body, you hold it. You can do a plank with your body weight on your toes and hands with your body straight. It’s called a high or straight-arm plank. You can also do it with the weight on your forearms and toes. That’s a low or forearm plank. You’ll work other muscles with a side, reverse, or bear plank. All of them strengthen your core.

Use a stability ball or kettlebells to diversify your core muscle workout.

Since core muscles help stabilize your body, doing exercises that make them work builds their strength. You can do stability ball side planks, push-ups, or a stability ball fallout. Start on your knees with your body upright and forearms on top of the ball to do the fallout. Slowly roll the ball outward, keeping your body straight as it goes further. Using kettlebells can improve core muscles. The center of gravity constantly changes due to the kettlebell’s shape. It forces your body to compensate continuously to remain stable.

A bridge is similar to the plank since it’s a move-and-hold exercise.

Lay on your back with your feet flat on the floor and knees bent. Now, lift your bottom off the floor until your body forms a straight line from your knees to the top of your head. Squeeze your core muscles, especially the abs, and hold them tight for as long as possible. Then, slowly lower your body back to the floor.

  • Walking can build core muscles if you focus on your posture. Pull your stomach in and shoulders back. Walking on uneven ground, such as in the woods, works core muscles even more.
  • Some old favorites, like V sit-ups, build core strength. To do a V sit-up, lay flat with your arms above your head. Lift your upper body and legs simultaneously to form a V and hold.
  • Riding a bike or doing bicycle crunches can build core muscles. You use your core muscles when you pedal. Mimicking the riding action with bicycle crunches does an even better job. Mountain climbers also use similar muscles.
  • Our trainers can help you with a personalized program so you reach your goals faster. Always check with your healthcare professional first before starting any exercise program.

For more information, contact us today at Next Level Fitness


Healthy Eating Hacks

Healthy Eating Hacks

Make your meals more nutritious by using these healthy eating hacks. You can create new dishes in the kitchen, choose healthier menu options when eating out, or have healthier options ready when you want a snack. Instead of junk food, buy a melon. You can choose watermelon or cantaloupe. Peel it, cut it into bite-size pieces, and store it for quick snacks or a healthy dessert. Wash grapes and have them ready or freeze them for a cooling snack on a hot summer day.

Using vegetable options for pasta is a healthier option.

Use spiralized noodles or bake spaghetti squash for a delicious alternative to spaghetti or noodles. Instead of spaghetti sauce that’s high in sugar, choose canned spiced tomatoes like basil and herbed or chili-ready tomatoes. Always check the label for ingredients and total sodium content. Boil down the tomatoes and label on the spaghetti topped with grated cheese or add refried beans to a mix of chopped tomatoes and chopped tomatoes with chilis for a spicy sauce.

Create meals ahead and store them in the freezer in individual serving sizes.

Meal planning is one way to save money, ensure there’s no waste, and save money on takeout food on those days you don’t have time to cook. You can pack each meal component in individual or family-sized freezer bags. When ready, assemble your meal from your freezer selections on a glass microwaveable bowl or plate. Cover it with a white paper towel, parchment paper, or a domed microwaveable cover that doesn’t allow the plastic to touch the food as it heats. Recent studies show that bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalate, two chemicals in plastic, can leach into food warmed in plastic.

Add more vegetables to each dish.

You can increase nutrition by adding more vegetables to every dish. If you’re making mac ‘n cheese, add peas, broccoli, or other colorful veggie. When making mashed potatoes, boil three parts of skins-on potatoes with one part cauliflower. Make veggie-based lasagna with eggplant or stretch your budget with meat, tomato, and rice cauliflower stuffed peppers. If you’re making a roast, roast vegetables with it. Make sauces that include extra herbs and spices.

  • When eating in a restaurant, choose baked or grilled instead of fried ones. Order double sides of vegetables and eat those first. You can eat half the main dish and take the other half home.
  • What you drink plays a vital role in your health. Choose water, plain coffee, or tea instead of soft drinks. If you have the option, plain water or green tea are the best.
  • If you’re using garlic in a dish and want all the benefits of allicin, the healthy sulfate compound, chop it and allow it to stand for 10 to 15 minutes before cooking. Heat decreases the activity of the enzymes that release it.
  • Make the food on your plate as colorful as possible to ensure you get all nutrients from vegetables and fruit. Each color brings new health benefits. Use canned or frozen veggies to save time and money. Frozen ones may be fresher and more nutritious.

For more information, contact us today at Next Level Fitness


How To Exercise With Reduced Mobility

How To Exercise With Reduced Mobility

Reduced mobility can be severe, where you’re bedridden, or painful, but not as debilitating, such as a sprained ankle. If you work with a physical therapist, they’ll provide the exercises for the injured area, but you’re responsible for the rest of your body. You can do many exercises to maintain your present fitness level or even improve it. Always check with your healthcare professional before starting or continuing any fitness program.

If you’re bedridden, move what you can move.

Move your body as much as possible. If you can still move your upper body, move it. Raise your hands above your head and do bed jumping jacks without standing or jumping. It will look like making snow angels in the bed but with a clap at the top of raising your hands. Stretch your muscles. Raise your legs, lifting each leg slightly off the bed, and hold. Bring your knees toward your chest and do a bicycle. Move your muscles until you feel a stretch. It should make you feel better. If it hurts, stop and try a different stretch.

If you’re injured, work the area that’s not.

Work your lower body if your upper body is injured and vice versa. Injuries may include sprains, strains, or broken bones. That usually happens on one side. That means 3/4th of your body is healthy enough to exercise. If you’re chairbound, doing curls and other upper body exercises with small weights or homemade weights like soup cans builds and maintains strength. You can even do reverse push-ups while seated. Place your hands on the seat of your chair and attempt to lift your bottom off the seat.

Move what you can and keep your exercise appropriate for your condition.

Don’t try to overdo it. Don’t push yourself and baby the injured area until it heals. Even then, take it slow. If you’re working with a physical therapist, ask for guidance and check to ensure an exercise won’t exacerbate the injury if you’re unsure. Stretching is excellent, especially if you’re physically limited. It keeps you flexible and helps you feel better by limiting the pain of stiff muscles. Arm circles, overhead lateral reach, cross-body shoulder stretch, and wrist flexors are a few upper-body stretches. Lower body stretches include couch, calf, and half-kneeling hip flexor stretches.

  • If you’ve injured an arm or leg, exercise the other side. Studies show it helps maintain muscle strength in the injured and uninjured areas. It boosts circulation to speed healing.
  • Get a mobile pull-up bar that’s just above your head when seated. You can pull your body out of your chair, improving upper body strength and providing more mobility.
  • Focus on isolation exercises to limit the potential of exacerbating the injury. If you can’t do squats, do leg extensions. You can still train heavy when you choose the right type of exercise.
  • Do what you can to keep moving. If you’re in bed, do flutter kicks. If you’re chairbound, lift weights and do single-leg lifts if possible. Isometric exercises are static contractions. They help lower blood pressure and build muscle strength.

For more information, contact us today at Next Level Fitness


Use Your Playlist For Motivation If You’re Struggling To Workout

There’s no perfect playlist to help boost motivation. It’s all personalized and depends on your preference and the type of workout you’re doing. If you’re pushing hard to conquer an intense workout, your choice of music will be different than a playlist to calm your mind when you do yoga or meditation. If you love old-school rock or gangster rap, there are plenty of songs ready to push you through to the finish. Studies show that music can get you pumped, so get your best playlist put together, put on your gym clothes, and go to the gym or for a run.

It’s more than the music, it’s the words.

You can become the Rocky within you when you workout to The Eye of the Tiger or push through that intense HIIT workout when listening to Can’t Be Touched. Classics like What a Feeling from Flashdance or I Will Survive can get you through a run. The pace of the song and the emotional impact of the lyrics make a difference. It helps if you know the words and can sing along. It takes your mind off minor aches and pains. It even improves power when listening to a soundtrack when exercising, but you won’t notice the difference.

Several studies show the benefits of using a playlist when working out.

Music can be a tool that gets you more involved. One study followed people doing HIIT—high intensity interval training—workouts and doing the same workouts without music. When they listed, they felt less exhausted by 7%. The same study was used with people doing endurance exercises. They experienced the same thing, but the rate of exhaustion they felt was reduced by 11%.

There are thousands of songs from which to choose.

One study followed all the potential songs you could use at the gym. They found the 50 that most people added to their gym workout list. All are intense, with a fast, strong beat and a message that confirms success. You can pick from the many playlists already prepared or choose your own. It’s more effective when you make your own. Choose a song with a tempo to match your workout, one that moves you emotionally, and one you like.

  • You don’t want the same playlist for every type of workout. If you’re doing flexibility exercises, don’t choose one with a fast beat that’s intense. Instead, choose one with less staccato that’s flowing and smooth.
  • Check your feelings when you listen to the song. Is the song emotionally powerful? Do you feel uplifted? If you’re doing strength training, you can even use a song that exudes Hulk-like and angry emotions.
  • Before you add a song to your playlist, look up the words if you don’t know them and just like the best. Ensure those words have the emotional impact you want to succeed at the gym.
  • Create several playlists and use a different one for flexibility training than you would for lifting. If you’re creating one for running, use upbeat tunes that match your pace.

For more information, contact us today at Next Level Fitness


Fun Ways To Improve Your Fitness

Fun Ways To Improve Your Fitness

Fitness is a serious endeavor. That doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. You can improve your fitness and love every minute. It won’t feel like exercise when you’re having fun and focusing on the moment. There are many fun activities in Irvine, CA, which are fun to do. They improve your endurance, strength, and flexibility to supplement your traditional workout program. Some people use these activities to start their exercise program, while others start an exercise program to have the energy and strength to do the activities they love.

Get in tune with Mother Nature and boost your endurance.

Going for a hike is a favorite pastime of many people. You can spend the whole day in the woods or just an hour enjoying the sun, cool green surroundings, and the uneven path that challenges you but isn’t overwhelming. You can walk alone, but if you do, tell a friend or relative where you’re going or let them track your phone. You can take the whole family and have a picnic along the trail. It’s the perfect place to clear your head or enjoy friends and family.

Dance your way to fitness.

You can take a dance class, spend the evening dancing, or turn on your favorite song and dance until you’re exhausted. There are all types of dancing. Ballet, jazzercise, Zumba, ballroom dancing, or your personal dance style, what you do when the music is loud and you’re alone. You can do it alone or have fun with the family by getting everyone involved. You can spend more time with the kids, have fun, and exercise by making dance a game, like doing the elephant dance with the kids or creating lip syncing dance motions to the song.

Take up something new or renew past passions that keep you moving.

If you’ve always wanted to rock climb, now’s a great time to start. It builds body strength and agility. Maybe you enjoyed basketball as a kid, find a group you can join. White water rafting, swimming, or tennis can keep you moving. Golf may seem slow and less active, but if you walk the course and carry your bags it can be grueling.

  • Get hula hoops for the whole family and have hula hoop contests. You can even challenge a neighboring family or the neighborhood for the right to be the reigning hula hoop champs.
  • Get a bike or rent one. You can often find inexpensive bikes at pawn shops. If you’re not comfortable riding, for fear you’ll fall, consider a three-wheeler.
  • Workout at a playground or in the park. Go when you don’t have to share the playground equipment with children, like early in the morning. Modify the exercises to fit the available equipment, like using monkey bars for chin-ups.
  • Join a water aerobics class or swim as an alternative to your gym workout. Working out in water burns more calories and provides less impact on the joints. Always check with your healthcare professional before starting any program.

For more information, contact us today at Next Level Fitness


Best Workout When You're Short On Time

Best Workout When You’re Short On Time

Scheduling your workout at the same time each day as you would any appointment helps build a habit and is the best way to keep you motivated. It’s hard to break a habit. Sometimes, life gets in the way and you can’t do a full workout. Here are some ways to squeeze in your exercise program and stick with the program by modifying your workout and getting it done faster. Sometimes, just saving a few minutes during the day makes a big difference.

Divide your workout into sessions.

If you can’t manage a full workout, break it into sessions. Can you do 15 minutes at three different times during the day? It doesn’t matter whether you exercise all at once, do a 25-minute session and a 20-minute session, or do three 15-minute sessions throughout the day, you’ll still get the benefit of doing 45 minutes. You don’t have to change a thing. You only need to break your workout into several sections.

Save time with circuit training or HIIT—high intensity interval training.

HIIT workouts get more done in less time. HIIT workouts don’t include specific exercises but are a way of doing any exercise. You push to peak performance for a few minutes, modify your effort to a recovery pace, and then back to peak intensity. Modifying your intensity can show the same improvements in fitness in less than half the time as a steady-state workout. You can use it with cardio workouts or strength training. You can also modify circuit training by cutting the resting time between stations. It speeds up the workout and accomplishes more in less time.

A full-body workout and compound exercises speed up your routine.

Exercises using kettlebells provide a full-body workout. They also offer flexibility, strength, balance, and cardio simultaneously. That’s a real time-saver. It burns as many calories in a short period as other exercises do in a much longer time. It can shorten your session without cutting benefits. Doing compound exercises also boosts the efficiency of your workout. They work several muscle groups and joints at one time.

  • Use your daily activities as part of your workout. If you walk to lunch, make it a HIIT workout, or pick up your speed and swing your arms vigorously. Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
  • Create a short circuit of exercises, and when you have time to spare, do as many circuits as possible. They can include squats, lunges, push-ups, jumping jacks, and other calisthenics you can do anywhere.
  • If you’re going to have a packed day, get up earlier and exercise as soon as you rise. When it’s early, it’s quiet and less demanding, so you’ll get more done and start your day right.
  • Include weights and make each exercise more difficult to maximize the benefits. If you’re doing jumping jacks, do it by holding dumbbells or wearing ankle and wrist weights.

For more information, contact us today at Next Level Fitness


How To Workout In Your Garden

How To Workout In Your Garden

Whether you workout in the gym, walk regularly, or expend energy gardening, you’re staying active and getting exercise. When you garden, you get a full-body workout. You can also grow beautiful flowers, delicious fruits and vegetables, or fragrant herbs. All of these things add to your mental and physical well-being. You can make your workout as easy or hard as you wish, based on your fitness level. You don’t need much space, garden in containers, and add to your fitness program.

Build strength no matter how you garden.

Are you doing container gardening or going full dirt mode with a large plot of land? Either way, you have things to lift and digging to do. The larger and more “earthy” the garden, the more you’ll work your arms, back, and legs. Whether you turn the soil with a shovel or carry the soil in a bag to fill a pot, you use your muscles. That builds strength. Are you just growing a small garden of flowers around your front porch? Don’t forget the bags of mulch to load in the cart at the store, put in and remove it from your vehicle, and finally put it around your plants.

Get a cardio workout!

Your ambition and speed determine the amount of cardio you get. If you’re raking leaves or trimming plants, are you moving fast, taking breaks infrequently, or going slower and stopping more often? How long can you shovel before you quit? Are you breathing hard? It boosts your endurance. If you use a push mower, whether it’s motorized or not, you’ll get cardio. A manual push mower will provide the most.

Work on functional fitness.

Gardening helps keep you flexible. You’ll bend to weed, shovel, plant, and transplant your garden bounty. If you love doing squats or touching your toes, you’ll find gardening invigorating. Bending, twisting, and squatting are all part of the effort. Weeds don’t care if you didn’t create a comfortable bed for them, they crowd in everywhere, normally in spots that aren’t easy to reach. All of the various twists and turns build your flexibility.

  • You’ll improve your balance, whether turning the soil or gardening in containers. You’ll improve your core strength and balance when reaching for all the plants while sitting in a squat or bent position.
  • You’ll probably sweat as much when you garden as in the gym. It keeps you active. Modify your effort based on your fitness level. Don’t try to overdo it at first. Start slowly and increase your activity.
  • Take a minute or two to remove your shoes and walk in the grass barefoot. It’s called grounding. It’s a technique to calm your body and mind you can’t do in a gym.
  • Warm your muscles before you start gardening. It is a workout, so take a few minutes to warm your muscles to prevent pulling a muscle or becoming too sore to move the next day.

For more information, contact us today at Next Level Fitness


Why Diet Is Just As Important As Fitness

Why Diet Is Just As Important As Fitness

People are frequently surprised that Next Level Fitness in Irvine, CA, offers nutritional meal planning besides personalized workouts. They shouldn’t be. Diet is as important as fitness to be your best self. If weight loss or muscle building are your goals, getting adequate nutrition and eating healthy, low-calorie foods is 80% of the challenge. You can’t out-exercise a bad diet. It’s also true that you can’t build muscles just by lifting a spoon. Exercise also plays a vital role in weight loss.

Building muscles and losing weight efforts improve when you eat healthy and exercise.

Weight gain or loss boils down to calorie surplus or calorie deficit. If you want to lose a pound, you need to eat 3500 calories than you burn. You can do it in three ways. You can maintain your calorie intake and exercise to boost the calories you expend, reduce your calorie intake, or increase your exercise time and the number of calories you burn as you reduce the calories you consume. If you do both, you’ll lose weight faster. Exercise builds muscle tissue, but you also need building blocks for muscle. A healthy diet provides that.

A healthy lifestyle improves your longevity.

A healthy lifestyle can extend your life. Adequate sleep, a nutritious diet, and regular exercise are good ways to start your program. Exercise keeps you looking and feeling younger. It affects the body on a cellular level by creating longer telomeres. Telomeres are at the end of chromosomes and prevent them from unraveling, protecting them from damage or death. Exercise also increases the body’s stem cells, which replace damaged cells.

What you eat makes a difference. ‘

Your body is a complex machine. Just getting up in the morning requires thousands of messages sent to various parts. Hormones and enzymes help transport these messages. The body needs the proper nutrients to create the enzymes or hormones. Gut microbes produce some of them. They play a vital role in your body’s health. The diversity and number of microbes determine digestive health, immunity, metabolism, and mood. A well-balanced microbiome largely depends on diet, although fitness does play a role. Fiber feeds beneficial microbes. Sugar feeds harmful ones. Sugar also causes inflammation, while a diet containing certain fruits and vegetables can reduce inflammation.

  • A diet high in sugar causes blood glucose levels to spike. Insulin opens cells to uptake blood glucose, so it increases insulin. That leads to inflammation, obesity, and insulin resistance, a precursor of type 2 diabetes.
  • A healthy diet contains antioxidants that prevent oxidation, which causes cell damage and death. Phytochemicals that give plants their color provide those antioxidants. Each color has different benefits. It’s why your plate should contain a variety of colors.
  • You don’t have to diet or go on a strict exercise program to get benefits. Cutting out highly processed food or food with added sugar and increasing your activity is beneficial.
  • You don’t need a full half-hour to an hour straight to exercise. You can break it up into ten to fifteen-minute sections. Instead of exercising a half-hour all at once, break it into ten-minute sessions you do when time is available.

For more information, contact us today at Next Level Fitness


How Sugar Increases Anxiety

How Sugar Increases Anxiety

Your diet plays a big role in your mental health. Too much omega-6 compared to your intake of omega-3 can lead to more aggressive behavior. Too much sugar leads to hyperactivity, but it also can cause depression and anxiety. With sugar, it becomes a vicious cycle. You get a sugar high from eating it, which drops quickly to a low when you need another hit. Eventually, like many drugs, it takes more and more sugar hits to get the same high. Studies show that eating a diet higher in sugar can lead to depression or anxiety. One study shows consuming sugar is the cause of the problem, not the result.

Sugar is in everything!

If you’ve noticed people seem heavier than they were just a few decades earlier, your observation is correct. Americans are heavier than several decades ago. Part of it is consuming more calories, but that’s not the entire story. Part of the problem is the change in the gut microbiome—which includes the virus, bacteria, fungi, and other microbes in the intestines. The populations of these microbes change for many reasons: medication like antibiotics, environmental factors, and diet. A diet high in sugary junk food dramatically affects them.

The microbes do more than help digest food.

The microbes digest food that the body can’t. They eat soluble fiber and change it into a gel that helps keep you regular. They help release nutrients for your body that affect your brain. They also produce a substance that sends signals to the brain, controlling your appetite and affecting your mood. Too much sugar diminishes the beneficial microbes that can improve your mood while increasing the ones that negatively affect health. Junk food is high in sugar but low in fiber, both of which can cause an imbalance and increase both anxiety and depression.

What goes up must come down.

Eating sugar spikes your energy. It’s called a spike because it rises rapidly and descends as quickly. When blood sugar drops suddenly, it causes the body to alert the brain there’s a problem. Epinephrine, a stress hormone, does that. It tells the liver to release more glucose. That stress releases adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline can cause your heart to race and give you sweaty palms. That’s starting to sound like a panic attack from an anxiety issue. The process completes when cortisol, another fight-or-flight hormone, is released. It can also lead to anxiety.

  • There’s a brain-gut connection. The gut bacteria help create neurotransmitters, like serotonin, and reduce inflammation. Serotonin can help you feel less stressed, anxious, or depressed.
  • If you’re eating junk food and foods high in sugar, you’re missing whole foods in your diet and the nutrients they contain. Foods containing omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins D, B6, B12, and probiotics help fight anxiety.
  • Sugar causes inflammation. Inflammation can increase the risk of heart disease, cancer, and arthritis. It can put you at risk for mental health issues like anxiety and depression.
  • Withdrawal from a high-sugar diet can be difficult. Take it slowly. Include plenty of fresh fruit in your diet to replace the food with added sugar, like cookies, cakes, and candy.

For more information, contact us today at Next Level Fitness


Ever Tried Dance As Exercise?

Ever Tried Dance As Exercise?

Exercising doesn’t have to be boring or even done in the gym. You can get exercise doing things you love. Whether you play basketball, do nature walks, or dance, if you love it and it gets you moving, do it. It can be an option for those days away from the gym or another way to increase your activity level. Dancing is perfect for improving flexibility, balance, and strength. Most people don’t realize how long they’ve danced once they get into the music, so it’s exceptional for boosting your endurance.

Check out the cardio workout you’ll get.

Like any exercise, the more intense the dancing, the more benefits you’ll reap. Fast dancing will provide more cardio benefits than slow dancing. Dance gets your heart pumping and works many muscles on various planes. That workout includes large muscle groups, which maximizes the nitric oxide that relaxes the arteries and lowers blood pressure. The nitric oxide also smooths the interior artery walls to reduce the potential for plaque build-up and blood clots. It helps send oxygen and nutrient-rich blood throughout the body.

You’ll get a full-body workout that includes strength building.

The style of dancing you do determines how much strength-building occurs. All types of dance provide some. If you’re doing social dance, it includes some strength-building, while pose-and-hold dance styles, like ballet or the slow, deliberate movements of a waltz, can provide more. Small studies have shown most dance builds leg muscles, while some also build upper body strength. Dance works your core muscles and upper and lower body. It works muscles on various planes.

Flexibility can prevent injury.

Dancing increases flexibility and balance. The more you do it, the more graceful and flexible you become. It also improves balance, which is particularly important the older you are. It helps reduce the potential for life-altering falls. It boosts functional fitness as well as some traditional workouts. Best of all, when you dance, especially freeform dancing, you automatically modify it to your fitness level and needs.

  • If you’re taking a dance class or learning a new move, it builds new neural pathways. Dancing improves mental abilities and memory. It helps slow mental ageing.
  • You won’t notice how long you’ve been working out if you’re having fun. If you dance because you enjoy it, like any pastime, time seems to fly by while you’re doing it. You may even exercise longer than you would otherwise.
  • Dancing can be a social activity or one done in private. You can join dance groups and add to your social life, which is also good for your health, or turn up the volume when you’re alone and boogie down.
  • You don’t need special equipment to dance. If you have a computer, cell phone, or TV that links to the internet, you can play your favorite songs or go old school with a tape, record player, or radio.

For more information, contact us today at Next Level Fitness