Fitness & Wellness

Dumb Mistakes You Might Be Making At The Gym

Dumb Mistakes You Might Be Making At The Gym

You learn from your mistakes, but nobody wants to make them when they first start at a new gym. It’s hard enough feeling self-conscious being the new person and pretty intimidating. Most people are focused on their workout and don’t notice, but not all errors are inconsequential. Some mistakes can affect how quickly you reach your goal or if you increase the potential for injury. Here are common mistakes and ways to correct them.

You push too hard and fail to learn the correct form.

There’s nothing wrong with pushing yourself unless your form is incorrect or your body isn’t ready for the beating. When you first start exercising in the gym, take it easy and focus on form. If your form is incorrect, you won’t get the best results. It can even cause injury. If you push too hard when you first begin or do intense workouts daily, you’ll also damage your body. You should only do intense workouts one or two days a week to give your body a chance to recover.

Are you spending the time necessary to warm up or cool down?

You need warm-up and cool-down exercises. Warm-up exercises mimic the type of workout you’ll do. They improve circulation, so you warm the muscles you’ll use. They increase your heart rate slowly, so it’s not as stressful. Warm-up exercises minimize injuries. Cool-down exercises help prevent blood from pooling in the extremities, which can cause fainting and light-headedness. Your muscles are loose and pliable, so it’s also a good time to do stretching that increases your range of motion.

Are you maximizing the time you spend in the gym?

Some people spend hours in the gym and don’t get as much done as people who spend 30 to 40 minutes. They spend too much time talking, hanging around the water fountain, and resting longer between exercises and sets. Have a list of exercises you’ll do. Include the number of reps and sets. Track your workout as you move quickly from one set to the next and one exercise to the next. Tracking your workout keeps you on pace to cut the time you spend, keeps your heart rate elevated, and burns more calories.

  • Do you eat a pre-workout or post-workout snack? A 100 to 200-calorie snack containing protein and carbohydrates can improve your workout and jump-start recovery.
  • You need cardio, but too much can tear down muscle tissue and compromise your ability to lose weight. Cardio doesn’t discriminate where it gets calories, so it takes it from fat and muscle tissue. Do all types of exercise: strength, balance, flexibility, and endurance.
  • Change your workout frequently. Your body becomes efficient at a workout and burns fewer calories. Work your muscles on all planes and ensure you do all muscle groups.
  • Outside the gym, make sure you get adequate sleep. Your body requires sleep to produce enough HGH, IGF, and testosterone that’s necessary to build muscles. It also repairs microtears in the muscles and keeps the hunger/satiety hormones balanced.

For more information, contact us today at Rising Fitness Gym


Herbs And Spices For Weight Loss

Herbs And Spices For Weight Loss

People often complain that diet food tastes too plain and is like eating cardboard. It doesn’t have to be. You can add herbs and spices that will make your food taste delicious and almost decadent. That’s just one way herbs and spices help with weight loss. They are nutrient-dense and often contain phytochemicals that boost your metabolism or improve your potential to lose weight in other ways.

Nothing smells more like the holidays than cinnamon does.

Cinnamon has a multitude of health benefits. One of which is balancing blood sugar levels. It helps by curbing cravings and keeping you feeling fuller. Preventing an excess flow of insulin can also help prevent insulin resistance. Insulin resistance can cause the body to convert excess sugar into fat because the cells don’t open in response to the insulin to uptake the sugar. Insulin resistance can lead to obesity, diabetes, and difficulty losing weight.

If you like it hot, adding cayenne pepper to your diet could boost your weight loss.

Cayenne pepper contains capsaicin, which causes it to heat your insides. The more a pepper has, the hotter it is. It’s in all types of peppers. Green bell peppers even have it, just not very much. It stimulates the nervous system to increase your body temperature by raising your metabolism and burning more calories. It also makes you feel full quicker, so you won’t eat as much.

Turmeric is an anti-inflammatory that helps with weight loss.

Turmeric creates a golden yellow color for your food. It contains curcumin, which is an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. It helps reduce the risk of heart attack and improve brain function by boosting the brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Recent studies show curcumin also helps reduce belly fat and weight loss by suppressing the growth of fat tissue. Make sure you add black pepper to improve how well the turmeric works.

  • Fennel seeds—saunfs—reduce fat storage by improving the body’s ability to absorb other nutrients. The bulb and seeds contain fiber to make you feel full. Consuming the saunfs also boosts metabolism, so you burn more calories.
  • Carvacrol in oregano is a phytochemical that improves weight loss efforts. It suppresses the gene that causes the body to create new fat cells. It also prevents inflammation that can lead to obesity.
  • The most dangerous and difficult to lose is belly—visceral—fat. Black cardamon has been shown to reduce that fat. Some animal studies show it can reduce total body fat. It helps control blood sugar and appetite.
  • Garlic not only keeps vampires away, but it also burns fat. It boosts your metabolism, causes your body to break down fat, and reduces your appetite. It has a wealth of other health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure.

For more information, contact us today at Rising Fitness Gym


Start Some Healthy Habits

Start Some Healthy Habits

Your future all depends on the habits you develop today. It doesn’t matter what life area you talk about, whether it’s attaining good health, accumulating wealth, or having a good relationship. Make this year the time you develop healthy habits that can make a difference in the quality of your life. Developing habits takes consistency. You have to do something every day for it to make it part of your life. It’s like brushing your teeth. You do it automatically.

Turn bad habits into good ones.

If you drink soft drinks several times a day, switching to water can improve how you feel and even how much you weigh. Just drinking two 12-ounce cans of cola a day, you’ll add 270 calories to your daily intake. That’s 98,550 calories in a year. Considering you would lose a pound if you have a deficit of 3500 calories, switching to water could cause you to lose 28 pounds in a year with no other changes. You’d also be reducing the amount of added sugar and other toxins that cause inflammation. It is a double win for your health.

Make an effort to move more.

Scheduling a half hour to an hour of exercise every day is the ideal way to do it. Schedule it at the same time every day so it becomes a habit. You can also make it a habit to move more. If you’re shopping, park further from the store. If you have a choice, take the stairs instead of the elevator. Set an alarm on your phone to get up and move around for a few minutes every hour if you have a sedentary job. Much of your effort to get fit can be wiped away by sitting for extended periods.

Change your eating habits.

If you want to lose weight, eat slower and chew your food thoroughly. Pay attention to the texture and taste so you thoroughly enjoy each bite. It’s called mindful eating. It slows food consumption and gives your stomach a chance to signal to your brain that it’s full. It also aids digestion since much of it occurs in your mouth, so the rest of the digestive tract doesn’t have to work so hard.

  • Plan your meals and cook ahead. Spend a day planning meals, another day shopping, and one of the days you have at home cooking the week’s food. Store it in the freezer or refrigerator, and during the week, just heat and serve it.
  • Get adequate sleep by creating a sleep schedule. Turn off all electronic devices and sleep in a cool, dark room. Your body heals itself when you sleep, and your brain reorganizes. If you lack sleep, it causes a hormonal, and your body produces more ghrelin, the hunger hormone.
  • Get more fresh air and sunshine. Walking outdoors is a good habit to start. You don’t have to spend much time outside to get the benefit of vitamin D from the sun. Do safe sunning based on your skin tone.
  • Socialize. Laugh more. Develop an attitude of gratitude and count your blessings daily. Studies show people who are optimistic and social live longer. They’re also happier.

For more information, contact us today at Rising Fitness Gym


Find Your Endurance

Find Your Endurance

People in Houston, TX, realize that to get everything accomplished, they need to move fast and hustle. That can play havoc on your breathing and test your endurance. There are four types of fitness: strength, flexibility, balance, and endurance. Endurance has to do with your cardiovascular strength. It’s the ability of the heart and lungs to provide oxygen for the body. All types of exercise are excellent but for improving your cardiovascular strength, some are better than others.

Move more and move faster.

Sitting all day won’t help you get fitter. You need to move more. If you don’t do anything, start taking walks. Walk as fast as possible and get your heart pumping. You can alternate between a recovery pace and an intense pace. It’s a technique called high intensity interval training—HIIT. It will build your endurance faster than doing any exercise at a steady pace. HIIT workouts are particularly beneficial for building cardiovascular strength.

You need muscular endurance, too.

If you wear out after lifting a milk jug, it’s time to add some strength training to your program. Muscular endurance requires strength. You build that strength by regularly lifting heavier items. If you’re completely out of shape, start slowly. Use lightweight dumbbells to start or empty water bottles for weights if you don’t have traditional dumbbells. As you get stronger, fill the bottles fuller, so they weigh more. Focus on form initially. Improper form can cause injury or diminish the benefits.

Start every workout with warm-up exercises.

Warm-up exercises increase your circulation and prepare the muscles to work harder. They should use the same muscles you’re about to use as your primary exercise. If you’re going to run, walk around, or do hamstring stretches and other exercises that work the lower body. After the workout, do a few stretches. The muscles are warmed and loose, making it the perfect time to increase your range of motion. Even if you don’t stretch, cool-down exercises are vital. It prevents the blood from pooling in your extremities, which can cause fainting.

  • Include explosive movements in your workout. Frog squat jumps, squat thrusts, and burpees are good endurance tests. Use the stairs as an exercise tool. See how many times you can run up and down them.
  • Go dancing. If you’re out of shape, you’ll still get a workout slow dancing, but as you get fitter, add in the fast songs, too. If dancing in public isn’t your thing, turn on the music at home and dance.
  • Do planks while you’re watching TV. When you get up for a snack, lunge walk your way to the kitchen, or do a combination of lunge walking and squats.
  • Do full-body workouts. Kettlebell workouts are one example. Compound exercises are also beneficial for endurance. They work several muscles, tendons, joints, and ligaments at once.

For more information, contact us today at Rising Fitness Gym


Nutrient-Rich Foods To Kickstart Your Year

Nutrient-Rich Foods To Kickstart Your Year

When grocery shopping in Houston, TX, you want to get the healthiest foods that don’t break your budget. Finding nutrient-rich foods isn’t difficult. Just go to the produce section for most of it. That’s where you’ll find food that’s lower in calories but packed with nutrients. There are other types of foods besides fruits and vegetables that are also power-packed. They contain quality proteins and healthy fats.

Look for colorful fruits and veggies.

Choosing vegetables in a rainbow of colors can help you get all the nutrients and phytochemicals possible. The colors of many vegetables come from phytonutrients that provide antioxidants and many other benefits for the body. For example, the anthocyanin that gives blueberries its color also provides cancer protection, lowers blood pressure, and protects the brain and the heart. Swiss Chard contains betalains that slow aging and protect cells. Go for the green. Leafy greens like kale are high in vitamins A, K, and C. Eating kale also can lower blood pressure.

You need quality protein and fat.

You’ll get quality protein and healthy fat when you eat fatty fish. Your body requires protein to build muscle tissue. It also requires healthy fat. Fatty fish provide both. It is high in omega-3 fatty acids that improve heart, eye, and brain health. It reduces inflammation and benefits people with metabolic syndrome. Another quality protein comes from eggs from pastured, free-range chickens. They’re allowed to eat their natural diet and have 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids, 7 times more beta-carotene, and 3 times more vitamin E. Like all eggs, they’re low in calories and contain 6 g protein, 147 mg choline, vitamins D, A, B, riboflavin, and selenium.

Don’t forget the cruciferous vegetables.

Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts are members of the cruciferous family. Crucifers, like broccoli, are good sources of glucosinolate, which has a byproduct called sulforaphane. Sulforaphane reduces the potential of developing cancer and fights inflammation, which can cause heart disease. It’s high in vitamins C and K, folate, manganese, and potassium. Brussels sprouts contain kaempferol, which protects the cells from oxidative damage.

  • Eat red beets to lower your blood pressure and relax blood vessels. Nitrates in red beets convert to nitric acid that relaxes vessels and allows them to widen, making it easier for the heart to pump blood through them and lowering blood pressure.
  • Organ meat such as liver or heart add additional vitamins and minerals. People often refer to the liver as Mother Nature’s multivitamin. They contain alpha-lipoic acid that protects the cell’s mitochondria.
  • Add spices and herbs to your dishes. Garlic and other alliums contain allicin. It lowers blood pressure and helps maintain blood sugar levels. Turmeric is a potent anti-inflammatory. Oregano is anti-bacterial. It also fights inflammation, fungus, parasites, and viruses.
  • Sweet potatoes, without the brown sugar or marshmallows, are a healthy choice. It contains vitamins B6 and C, potassium, and magnesium. It can aid in controlling cholesterol and blood sugar.

For more information, contact us today at Rising Fitness Gym


How To Add An Inch To Your Biceps Fast

How To Add An Inch To Your Biceps Fast

Nothing is better than flexing and watching your biceps grow to an impressive size. Who doesn’t want big guns? You can add an inch to your biceps relatively You can add an inch to your biceps relatively quickly by following the right diet and using the best type of exercise. It takes consistency and lifting lighter weights but doing more repetitions to build more muscle.

Start in the kitchen.

Eating healthy is a must if you want powerful arms. You need the right building materials to get impressive biceps. Increase your calories slightly by 250 to 500 calories. That increase should come from protein. It’s necessary for healing the micro-tears that heal by forming scar tissue that builds the muscles. Before you exercise, eat a snack that contains protein and carbohydrates. The protein helps boost recovery. The carbs provide the energy to improve your workout. Do the same immediately following your workout, or eat a meal that’s high in protein.

You can use weights, bodyweight exercises, or resistance bands.

You build muscle when you challenge it with resistance. For bodyweight exercises and weights, the resistance is gravity. If you’re using resistance bands, the bands provide the resistance. Resistance bands allow you to work the bicep in ways you can’t with other types of exercise. Push-ups, dumbbell curls, and barbell rows all do the job. If you’re doing push-ups, you can adjust the width of your hands to closer together or further apart to maximize the way you work the muscles. When you put them closer together, it works the biceps harder. You can also move your hands so your fingers point toward your toes in reverse position. That also is another dynamite bicep builder.

Keep the weights lighter and do more reps.

If you want to build strength, lift heavier weights and do fewer repetitions. To get maximum growth, do more repetitions and lighter weights. Lift a lot lower than your one-rep maximum weight when you’re doing them. Chin-ups build biceps. Alternate the distance between hands and grips. Do an underhand grip, spacing your hands six to eight inches apart for maximum growth.

  • Develop a workout plan that works your biceps once every 48 to 72 hours to give your biceps a chance to recover. Recovery is when the magic takes place. Don’t overtrain, or you could end up losing muscle.
  • Don’t do isolation exercises exclusively. Do compound exercises, kettlebells, or other exercises that maximize your exercise time. Shorten rest periods between sets. Track your results, including reps, sets, and bicep measurements.
  • Always focus on form. Use the bar without weights to learn the form. Have a friend or trainer watch you to ensure you have the proper form. Using poor form can cause injury that sets you back for months.
  • Use a personal trainer or workout buddy for safety. They can check your form and be a spotter. Always check with your healthcare professional before starting any exercise program.

For more information, contact us today at Rising Fitness Gym


The Most Important Factors In Building Muscle

The Most Important Factors In Building Muscle

When you’re armed with knowledge of the latest scientific studies and years of experience, building muscle is easier, but it still takes hard work. Before you lift a barbell or do your first squat, you must decide your goal and why you want to build muscles. Do you want to get stronger, or is bulk and size your goal? Is weight loss part of your plan? Do you need to gain weight or only tone your body? Every goal requires a different approach and different nutrition and workout plans.

Make your diet match your goal.

Whether you want to lose weight and build muscles, build big muscles, or get stronger, you need the basics. Good nutrition is part of the basics. It includes quality macronutrients, protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Quality protein, like salmon or other fatty fish, also provides healthy fat to aid in the absorption of vitamins A, D, K, and E, the creation of hormones, and the formation of cell membranes. The amount of protein necessary will depend on factors like your weight loss goals, body weight, activity level, and age. Eat clean and choose whole foods.

Maximize your training time.

Vary your workout using bodyweight, weights, and other strength-building exercises like battle ropes. Do compound exercises that work several muscle groups at once. Start slowly, especially if you’ve been inactive for a while. Do bodyweight exercises first and build to weighted ones. Always focus on form when starting anything new. If you’re working with weights, find your one repetition maximum, the most weight you can lift without affecting your form. A personal trainer can help you do this.

Give your body a chance to rest.

More is not always better. If you’re doing intense strength-building, give the muscles you worked 48 to 72 hours for recovery. Exercising to build muscle tissue causes microscopic tears in the muscle. During the recovery period, your muscles heal and get bigger and stronger. If you overwork the muscles, they don’t have time to heal. You may lose muscle tissue.

  • Eat a snack containing protein and carbs 30 minutes before working out and as soon as possible after. If you’re eating a full meal, eat 1-3 hours before exercising, depending on the size and digestibility of the food and the intensity of your training.
  • Get adequate sleep. Your body repairs the tissues when you sleep. It’s when the magic takes place. Lack of sleep can interfere with muscle building. It diminishes leptin–the satiety hormone—and increases ghrelin–the hunger hormone, so you eat more.
  • Include circuit training. Circuit training builds both muscle and endurance. This high-energy workout maximizes the benefits of your workout time. Include flexibility, balance, and endurance exercises in your strength training program.
  • Always check with your healthcare professional before starting any fitness program or dietary change. We can help you develop a fitness program and learn the nutrition to reach your goal.

For more information, contact us today at Rising Fitness Gym


What Fasting Can Do For You

What Fasting Can Do For You

Whether you’re trying to lose weight or are searching for other health benefits, fasting may be right for you. There are various types of fasting. Your goal, physical health, and preference will determine the one you use. You can do water fasts, 5:2 fasts, intermittent fasts, and many other variations. A 5:2 fast is where you eat normally for five days and abstain from food or eat a severely calorie-restricted diet for two days. You can do intermittent fasting in several ways, too. One of the most popular methods is to eat during an eight-hour window and fast the other sixteen hours.

Heath benefits of fasting have been known for a while.

Fasting has been part of religious practices for thousands of years. Ancient Greeks used water fasts to improve their health and for spiritual reasons. Many studies were done in the 1900s that found fasting could help with many conditions. Early help for epilepsy was fasting. The scientists realized those with the condition couldn’t do it long. That led to low-carbohydrate diets. Animal studies showed fasting helped keep the animals more youthful. Another review in 2021 identified that fasting could delay disease and increase longevity.

You can reduce inflammation with fasting.

Inflammation can be beneficial. It helps prevent infections and fights off microbial invaders. That’s acute inflammation. Long-standing inflammation called chronic inflammation isn’t. Studies indicate that chronic inflammation can lead to heart disease, Alzheimer’s, cancer, and other serious problems. It helped reduce inflammatory markers. In animal studies, it was beneficial for MS—multiple sclerosis.

It can be beneficial for heart health and blood sugar control.

One study on alternate-day fasting found it lowered cholesterol levels. It can help with weight loss and improve blood pressure. Alternate-day fasting can also improve other cholesterol markers by lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and reducing triglycerides. All those things can help heart health. Many studies have indicated that fasting can help control blood sugar. A 2023 study found that fasting three days a week reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes. It improved insulin sensitivity.

  • Intermittent fasting can help lower risk factors leading to metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome includes five symptoms: a large waistline—belly fat, high blood pressure, high blood triglycerides, high blood sugar, and low HDL (good) cholesterol.
  • Studies show intermittent fasting may increase the amount of fat the body burns. It may do that by increasing human growth hormone. It may beneficially change genes controlling longevity.
  • Fasts can help flush toxins from the body and improve your digestive system. It helps the digestive system by improving the gut microbiome and gives your digestive system a rest.
  • Animal studies on fasting show it may improve brain functioning and provide protection from Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Always check with your healthcare professional before you fast.

For more information, contact us today at Rising Fitness Gym


Why Is It Important To Have A Regular Exercise Schedule?

Why Is It Important To Have A Regular Exercise Schedule?

People in Houston, TX often put exercise on their schedule to ensure they do it daily. Not only is it easier when it’s considered an appointment but doing it at the same time daily also makes it a habit. It helps ensure the potential for success and consistency. You won’t lose weight if you only eat donuts and one salad occasionally. The same is true for getting fit. You have to be consistent to see the changes you desire. It often takes weeks to see changes, but you’ll feel the difference quicker than that.

Schedule the gym as you would any other important appointment.

One reason that working with personal trainers works so well is that they hold you accountable. You know someone is waiting for you and will miss you if you skip your workout. Since it’s an appointment, you won’t schedule anything else. If it’s not on your calendar, something will always get in the way of exercise, making you more likely to skip it.

Scheduling a workout increases your commitment.

It mentally makes your workout more important. It becomes a habit similar to brushing your teeth before you leave the house in the morning. It makes it automatic. You won’t have to think about it or whether you want to go or not. It will feel strange when you don’t exercise once it becomes a habit. Habits are hard to break, whether they’re beneficial or harmful.

Scheduling your workout puts more structure in your life.

Life has enough surprises. You don’t need more. If you have a regular base schedule that includes your daily needs, like exercising, it gives your day more structure. When you aren’t in the gym, plan for activities that get you moving. They could include a walk in the park with the kids or bike rides. It might be a special class, like Zumba, to keep it interesting.

  • Working out at the same time each day can make it more social. You’ll often be with the same group in the gym. The longer you stick with the schedule, the more apt you are to make new friends.
  • Just because you schedule your workout at a consistent time, it doesn’t mean you have to do the same set of exercises each day. Varying your workout is necessary to work all muscles and improve all types of fitness.
  • If you don’t use a personal trainer, get a workout buddy to hold you accountable. Exercising with a friend makes it more fun, too.
  • Always check with your healthcare professional before starting any exercise program. Whether you exercise with a personal trainer or want to join a fitness class, Rising Fitness has a program for you.

For more information, contact us today at Rising Fitness Gym


How To Stay Fit On A Budget

How To Stay Fit On A Budget

It’s hard to stay fit when prices rise and cause your budget to stretch to its maximum. It can be done. It starts by finding ways to do it. If you already belong to Rising Fitness and pay directly, you can save money by having your membership directly taken from your checking account. Group sessions are also good ways to save money. Finding menus that are healthy and can feed the whole family for less is another important way to save.

Choose more vegetables.

One thing that can drain the pocketbook is the price of fresh fruits and vegetables. You don’t have to buy fresh ones to get the benefits. Frozen vegetables and fruit are not only as good as fresh. They may even be better. The produce is picked at its ripest. It’s then cleaned and frozen on-site. Fresh produce in the grocery store is often picked early. It takes days to transport it to the store. Canned vegetables and fruit without added sugar aren’t far behind fresh in benefits.

Meal planning and inexpensive protein sources can keep grocery spending low.

When you plan meals for the week, you can include the food on sale. Meal planning uses the same ingredients for several dishes. If you bake a chicken, you can use it for baked chicken breasts one day, chicken salad another, and chicken soup on the third. You shop on the second day and cook all the meals for the week on the third. Pack the meals for the week. There are no leftovers that you eventually toss. Many of the meals can be meatless to save even more money.

If you’re short on money, use free forms of exercise.

You can exercise at home using bodyweight exercises. Make sure you start by doing them in front of a mirror so you can check your form. Your workout should include all types of exercise: strength-building, cardiovascular, balance, and flexibility. Track your workout so you can check the progress you’re making. You can also walk, hike, bike, or run to supplement your program.

  • At Rising Fitness, we provide a wide range of beneficial services, but we keep the frills down to help save you money.
  • People often forget the recovery phase of their fitness program. Make sure you get adequate sleep by creating a sleep schedule. It helps reset your circadian rhythm. Keep it even on weekends.
  • Include what you drink in your fitness program. Carry a bottle of water with you, especially when you work out. Sip on it throughout the session. Eliminate soft drinks, including diet drinks, from your diet.
  • We can help you with a customized nutrition plan and a fitness training program. Staying fit is the best way to save money. You’ll save on Dr. visits and medication.

For more information, contact us today at Rising Fitness Gym