Fitness & Wellness

If you’ve wondered how often to workout a week, you might be asking the wrong question or have missing information, like what types of workouts should you do and should they be varied. While it’s true that working out at least three days a week is a great start, you can actually do more and get good results, but not if you’re doing the same type of exercise every day.

You need all types of training.

If you’re only doing cardio, you’re not doing yourself a favor. You need a variety of training to achieve fitness in all areas, strength, balance, flexibility and endurance, also known as cardio. You need balance when you workout. If you do strength training every day, you’ll actually be doing your body a disservice. Your body needs at least 48 hours to recover, since strength training causes micro tears in the muscles. If you don’t have that time for your body to heal, it can cause muscle loss and set you back, rather than aid you in achieving your goals.

Start slower and add to your workout.

If you haven’t worked out for a while, you shouldn’t start by planning to work out at high intensity for an hour a day. It’s better to start slowly and work up toward a tougher workout. The reason is simple. Those initial workouts prepare your body and get it ready for tougher ones. If you do too much initially, you’ll either end up sore, which can lead to skipping the next workout, or injured, which leads to skipping the next month of workouts. Starting with a half-hour three days a week and building up to an hour, can help boost your chances for success.

Supplementing your workout can be quite beneficial.

If you’re working hard in the gym or online three days a week doing flexibility training and strength training, with a touch of cardio, there’s nothing wrong with going for a walk on those days off or doing yoga. Those types of workouts help you stretch your muscle groups and participate in active recovery. They’re easy on the body, but increase circulation to boost the healing of muscle tissue.

• At The Worx, we can provide a program of healthy eating and exercise designed specifically for you. You won’t overwork your body, but will get in the right amount of exercise to see the transformation faster.
• The longer you participate in a fitness program, the more days a week you can exercise, as long as it’s not all strength training. For the average person who isn’t a bodybuilder, strength training should never be done two days in a row.
• No matter what your workout program, the key to success is consistency. Even the best program created by a personal trainer won’t work if you don’t do it on a consistent basis.
• If you’re unsure where to begin, at The Worx, we offer two weeks of free at home training. You’ll get zoom workouts, meal plans and so much more, which takes the confusion out of how many days a week to train.

For more information, contact us today at Team Worx Fitness!

Eggs are an inexpensive source of protein and chock-full of nutrients. Go to any restaurant in Houston, TX, and you’ll find a variety of egg dishes on the menu. They’re nutrient-dense and low-calorie. You can eat them at every meal. Unfortunately, eggs suffer from bad PR and inaccurate science. There are myths about the dangers of eating too many eggs and how they negatively affect your health. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Are eggs bad for your cholesterol?

Eggs are high in cholesterol, but that doesn’t affect the cholesterol levels nearly as much as saturated and trans fats, often found in snack foods and sweets. One reason for the link to high cholesterol may be the foods usually eaten with eggs, such as sausage, ham, or bacon, and how you cook eggs. One factor often overlooked about low cholesterol diets is that the body manufactures it. If you cut cholesterol from food, your body makes more.

Studies about the effects of eggs often have polar conclusions.

Early studies linked egg consumption with an increased risk of diabetes. New studies show that’s not true. Eating up to 12 eggs a week had no effect. One Chinese study found eating one egg a day reduced the risk of heart attack and stroke. One problem with the study is that the diet was a traditional Chinese diet, not a Western diet. Other studies found that if cholesterol increased from eating eggs, the increase was good cholesterol that improved health. Eggs contain omega-3 fatty acids that decrease the risk of heart disease and many antioxidants that fight inflammation.

Eating raw eggs helps you build muscle faster than eating cooked eggs.

Raw eggs have 36% more vitamin D, 33% more DHA, 20% more zinc, 20% more biotin, and 23% more choline, but it has a downside. Raw eggs contain avidin that blocks the absorption of biotin. The biotin in raw eggs isn’t as bioavailable as in cooked eggs, even though there’s more. It’s also harder to absorb the protein in raw eggs since cooking breaks down the protein and makes it more available. The protein in cooked eggs is 91% bioavailability. In raw eggs, it’s only 50%. You also face the risk of bacterial infection from salmonella.

People often eat only egg whites, believing the yolks are fattening. The yolks contain fat that extends satiety when you eat them, so you stay full longer.

There are many labels for eggs. Caged, cage-free, free-range, and pastured are four types. Cage-free chickens still live inside. Free-range have a small area outside to use. Pastured hens wander and eat bugs and plants. They are more nutritious than the other eggs.

Another myth is that all eggs require refrigeration. Eggs have a natural protective coating. Washing the eggs and preparing them for sale removes the coating. Only then do you have to refrigerate them.

Even though eggs are far healthier and contain less risk than most people believe, if your healthcare professional suggests you don’t eat eggs, discuss it with your healthcare professional and follow their suggestions.