When most people think of weight loss, they think of combining exercise to burn calories with eating fewer calories. Eating at a caloric deficit can support weight loss, but research shows that if you cut too many calories it can sabotage your weight loss goals. It’s important to find a balance between too few and…
Even if you haven’t tried High-Intensity Interval Training (HITT) workouts yourself, you’ve probably heard of them. This type of exercise cycles through bursts of intense activity followed by short rest periods. An entire HIIT workout typically takes about 10 to 30 minutes. HIIT has a variety of benefits. Shorter workouts make it easy to fit…
Let’s be honest, most of the time when we say we’re too tired to work out it’s just because we’d much rather stay in bed or lounge on the couch. Often, low motivation is just something you have to power through. However, there are times when you really are too exhausted for a workout. Also,…
March is Women’s History Month here in the U.S., so that seems like a good time to focus on women’s exercise needs. Historically, most medical research was conducted on men and if you read any exercise tips or studies about the best ways to exercise, those tips will apply to men. Not all of those…
There are lots of different reasons that people work out and build muscles. For me, I want to easily carry my groceries, work in my garden, and scoop my baby daughter off the floor. Those types of everyday movements are the focus of functional strength training. Functional strength training turns the types of moments you…
Where do you like to go when you’re not at home or at work? The term “third place” refers to a location other than the home (“first place”) or work location (“second place”) where people can gather and spend time. Libraries, parks, churches, and restaurants are all examples. More and more often now in the…
What’s hot in fitness is always changing. While none of us can predict the future, experts can look at new technology and emerging movements in fitness and predict what could be the hottest trends coming up in the new year. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recently published its 2025 ACSM Worldwide Fitness Trends….
Whether or not you set New Year’s resolutions, having a goal is important if you plan to work out and stay fit. You need something to aim for that will help keep you motivated and let you track the progress you’re making. Then, the challenge is to stick with your goals. 1) Be Specific You…
Losing fat and gaining muscle are two of the main reasons why many people start exercising. What if you want to do both at the same time? This is called body recomposition. Basically, you’re trying to change the “composition” of your body in terms of how much fat and muscle you have. It can be…
Often when you’re exercising, you’ll read or hear about people doing upper-body workouts (or “arm day”) and lower-body workouts (a.k.a. “leg day). Workouts where you split upper and lower body workouts between different days let you focus on one set of muscles while the others rest. Today, we’ll focus on lower-body workouts (we covered upper-body…
