National Women’s Health Week is an effort to raise awareness about manageable steps women can take to improve their health. The focus is on improving women's health and the importance of incorporating simple preventive and positive health behaviors into everyday life.

Women are the caregivers: for spouses, children and parents, and they often forget to focus on themselves. However, research has proven that when women take care of themselves, the health of the entire family improves.

Maintaining regular health checkups is one of 5 health habits that can improve women’s health. The others are physical activity, a healthy diet, not smoking and engaging in safe behavior.

For regular health appointments, a bone density scan is very important. Having healthy bones is important at any age, but as we age our bones get thinner. Healthy eating habits, regular cardio exercise and a strength training routine are imperative to healthy bones. Osteoporosis is a concern for women, as women are four times more likely to develop this disease than men. To limit the risks of Osteoporosis, women should definitely engage in weight-bearing exercises. Eating healthy and possibly taking calcium supplements also aids in prevention.

As the warmer weather approaches, many of you are wondering how to lose that winter weight. Losing weight isn't easy but if you know how much activity it takes to lose 1 lb, that information can start you down the path to lose the last 5lbs or even 10lbs. There’s a simple formula: burning more calories + eating fewer calories = weight loss. However, sometimes, it doesn’t seem so simple.

So how is it done? How much can you eat, and how much do you have to exercise? For every pound you want to lose, you need to eliminate, (not cut out altogether, just use up) 3,500 calories through eating less and working out; an even better plan would be a combination of the two. The good news though, is that your body burns energy every day just by running the systems it needs to stay alive, however, how many calories burned varies in each person. So really, cutting a few hundred calories through diet and exercise will be enough to put you in your summer clothes, bathing suit or smaller size.

If you think you are doing this, and you are not losing weight, you may be underestimating the number of calories you eat in a day. Start tracking your meals and calculate your calories burned working out using a pedometer or other fitness calorie tracking tool.

So what does this all mean? The recommendation is to cut your daily caloric intake to 1,500 calories per day--no less, since eating too little can throw off your metabolism and cause other problems. In order to lose sizes faster, increase your activity. You will burn more energy, in turn burning more calories. And, remember your weight training, muscle burns more calories than fat when at rest. Answer is Fitness is running a Fitcamp to help you lose your winter pounds. Call us for details.

While you are under a weight reducing diet, there are certain times of the day that are better for eating because the energy provided by food is better used by your body. The times of the day when is better to eat are not tied to specific hours, but to the kind of activities that you have. This means that for example it is not important that you always eat breakfast at exactly 7AM, but you should always eat breakfast in the morning.

The first time to eat during the day is in the morning. This is especially true if your workout routine is in the morning as well. About 30 mins before you workout is the best time to eat a good breakfast. It is important to eat a good breakfast, one that stops the urges of eating for several hours. The breakfast you eat should be balanced, because when you wake up all the nutrients in the blood are already depleted.

After working out is another good moment to eat. This is so because after you eat your metabolism is still accelerated, which makes it easier for your body to use the energy that comes with your food. This makes it less likely for your food to get deposited as fat in your body.

This is the same reason why it is recommended to eat a light dinner. Since while you sleep your body burns less calories, if you have a heavy dinner all the extra energy will get deposited as fat. A good advice is to eat your dinner at least three hours before going to sleep and to eat a light dinner. In that way you will give your body time to burn some calories while awake.

Staying on a fitness plan while eating healthy will not only help you lose weight but turn it into lean muscle. If it proves to be too difficult try doing group exercises such as the ones we offer  or use a personal trainer. Be sure to contact us should you have any questions regarding fitness and being healthy and we'll be happy to help.

Training your abs is a easy task. However its best to know which exercise is best and that there is a distinct difference between our abs and our core. Our "abs", or what we refer to as our abs is actually one muscle- our rectus abdominus muscle. It is one small part of the whole area between our rib cage and our pelvis that we know as our "core". For now let’s talk about that six-pack, or your abs. This may be the area of the body where most people make mistakes in training. So we will go through a few basic ground rules for training our abs:

• More is not better! Your rectus abdominus is made up of fast twitch muscle fibers. That means that it responds best to low reps such as 8-10 at a time. Your best bet is to do 3 or 4 sets of 8-12 crunches for your 6 pack. That's it. You can train your deeper core muscles after these surface ones are tired but that’s a whole discussion in itself.
• Abdominal training should always come LAST. Some people think that you should train your abs first while they are "fresh" in order to get the best results. It’s o.k. if that’s the only thing you are training that day, but if you are doing another body part- do that first. Your abs provide structural support for other exercises. If you tire them out, you will not be able to perform your best and may hurt yourself in the process.
• Remember diet is the key. No matter what you are doing in the gym, the only way to really get definition in your middle is by watching what you put in your mouth. Eating smaller meals often throughout the day will help turn your keg into a 6 pack!

Keeping your mind focused and making sure you stay consistent with your workout routine is the best way to get results fast. If you feel as though its a bit harder to get motivated then check out our excellent group exercise programs. They provide a lot of support and fun activities to get you into the spirit of working out. Contact us today to find out how you can join our gym and get started on being more healthy.

Basically there seems to be two types of people when it comes to eating after a workout. The ones that don't eat anything and the ones that eat right away. The 'Non-Eaters' will eat later in the day but will treat themselves to sweets/alcohol/chips because they feel this is ok since they already exercised. The ones that eat right away finish their workout and simultaneously consume a protein bar (or small meal) and a post-workout shake within 5-15 minutes after their workout is over. Although better than not eating at all, this consumption  can have more of a positive effect on their workouts if the timing is altered.

For the first thirty minutes after a workout your body is still ready to exercise ... your muscles have been innervated, they are ready to be pushed, and are not ready to begin the repairing phase just yet. However, thirty minutes after workout is over your muscles relax and begin to repair themselves. This is when one would want to consume protein, because protein aids in the muscle rebuilding process. So, if you consume your post-workout protein beverage 30 min to 1 hour after your workout, you will be helping your muscles rebuild during their peak rebuilding process while maximizing the benefits of the protein you're consuming.

Phase 2 consumption should 2-3 hours after workout concluded.  Here you should eat a regular meal (with high quality protein in it) to continue aiding in the muscle rebuilding process. Do not 'treat' yourself to sweets or alcohol or junk food because your muscles still need protein at this point.  High quality carbs fond in vegetables and fruits should be part of this meal as well. Remember 'You Are What You Eat'? That is especially true on the days when you exercise. If you control your consumption and the timing of it after a workout, your results will come faster than you expect.