Why Your Sweet-tooth May be Harmful to Your Health

Why is Sugar the culprit you may ask? Not only does sugary sweets and drinks cost you a lot of calories without creating that full-feeling, which may lead to weight-gain, but sugar may be your enemy as far as overall health is concerned.

* Sugar negatively effects your immune system. After having a sugar craving and eating those oh-so dangerous Girl Scout cookies, your favorite soda or a candy bar, your immune system is temporarily bogged down and is unable to respond to challenges. This can last up to a few hours, so if you are constantly reaching into the cookie jar, you might want to think again if you do not want your immune system to be struggling to keep up with your bod.


* Sugar promotes inflammation. Inflammation is an immune response, and not always a bad thing; however, consuming sugar in excess may lead to unnecessary inflammation that will endorse aging as well as disease.

* Sugar weighs down the release of the human growth hormone. The human growth hormone (HGH) is a peptide hormone that stimulates growth, reproduction, and cell generation in humans and animals. Our bodies make it naturally and if you want to slow down the aging process, you will want as much naturally produced HGH as your body is willing to make! Avoiding foods that are high in sugar will keep you looking young (of course accompanied with a great workout routine and meal plan!)

* Sugar raises insulin levels. After indulging in sugars, your blood sugar will go up, this will result in your insulin levels spiking which will make your pancreas produce a bunch of insulin to help clear out all the sugar from the cells in your blood. As the blood sugar goes down, your insulin levels will go down to normal again. If you do this far too many times and over-work your pancreas by flooding your body with sugary treats, eventually your pancreas will shut down and you will become an insulin dependent diabetic.  I'm just saying it can happen.

I highly suggest reading all of your nutrition labels prior to purchasing food at the store. It is extremely important to be aware of everything you are putting into your body. The cleaner the better! Eating foods in their natural form (unprocessed, no chemicals or additives, preservatives, etc) is going to be much better to achieve success as far as your fitness goals are concerned. You will also feel more energized and balanced throughout the day with of those 'crashing' feelings.

Water.... Our Body's Need for H2O

I understand that water may be super boring to drink compared to some sugary-high-caloric tasty beverage one may find at the grocery store. (I was looking at a regular fruit punch flavored Powerade the other day with 2 servings in the bottle it had 32 GRAMS of SUGAR per serving = 64 GRAMS/ 5 TABLESPOONS of sugar if one were to consume the whole beverage in one serving.) When eagerly attempting to be healthy, or if you are trying to lose weight, this will become a problem...

Water is vital to the body because our bodies are 70% water. We need to replenish and maintain our balance of bodily fluids. So, if you are killing it in the gym and have a serious sweat going, you my friend will need to drink even more water to keep your body hydrated.

Water also can aid in calorie control. If you are properly hydrated and keep drinking water, your body will feel more full and lessen your desire to snack between meals or eat something that may not be on your meal plan. Also, substituting water for those high calorie drinks will also aid in cutting back on some calories.

Water also helps energize your muscles. Therefore, if you are dehydrated and slacking in the water department, you will feel weak. Cells that do not maintain their balance in electrolytes tend to shrivel, and will lead to muscle fatigue. This will definitely become a problem when you are hitting the gym!

Water will also keep your skin beautiful. Our skin is the largest organ of our body. Why wouldn't we want it to look beautiful and take care of it?! Drinking more water will approve the appearance of our skin. Dehydration will cause skin to appear more wrinkled and dry.

Water aids your kidneys in transporting waste out of the body. Our kidneys help cleanse our body of waste and toxins through urine as long as it has the fluids to help them out!

Typically someone should drink 3-4 Liters of water a day. If you think that you drink plenty of water, but aren't aware of how much you are taking in.... count! I have a half gallon water bottle that I carry around with me all day, and I make sure to fill it up twice!

*If you get bored of drinking water, you can always mix it up! I like to squeeze some fresh limes into my water jug, throw in some mint leaves, some thinly sliced cucumbers and have myself a tasty refreshing glass of h2O.

Perfecting Posture

Someone may ask why it is important to get a trainer, have guidance and assistance during exercise, etc.... I will let you know that the reasons are ENDLESS. There are only benefits in finding someone help you hit your fitness goals, and hold you accountable for doing it.

Another reason is, making sure you have the correct form and teaching proper posture etiquette to assist in developing healthy habits to keep your bod in alignment. Did you know that the majority of back related injuries occur from people working out with incorrect form? How scary is that when you think of it, and how easy could all these injuries have been prevented? Prior to becoming a trainer, I was also unaware of all the exercises and stretches someone could do to strengthen their body and keep their back nice and straight. In the past, I refused to do shoulder exercises because I didn't want my shoulders to get bulky or look like the Hulk. Little did  I know that in strengthening the shoulders, it would assist me in keeping them straight, and not rounded, so that I may walk around with my shoulders back and full of confidence. Another key to obtaining great posture is working on muscle imbalances and strengthening core and stabilizing muscles to keep your bod lined up.

If you are already familiar with the gym, it's equipment, and set in your current workout routine, chances are you have reached a plateau where you are no longer getting results but just maintaining what you have. I would suggest at this point that you spice up your routine, get a trainer who can show you a new way of doing things, and try something new. NEWS FLASH: exercise science is growing on the daily, learn a new (proper) way to do things and you might surprise yourself. I was speaking to a member at the fitness facility I work at, and it was sad to say he was convinced that you can't teach an old dog new tricks.... to me I interpreted that he was satisfied with no longer achieving results, didn't have any fitness goals, and wasn't interested in doing things correctly.

If you are unaware of how your form should look, I highly advise finding someone who does who can assist you in it. Form and posture are crucial in avoiding injuries!

Why R&R Will do You Good

Typically someone might think R&R stands for some rest and relaxation, but we are going to mix it up and suggest some REST and RECOVERY for your bod. In beginning a new workout routine and begin getting those great results, endorphin rushes, more energy, sleeping better at night, and are just on the all time pink cloud of working out, you may tend to think "I want to do this EVERY SINGLE day". This feeling is not a bad one at all, and it is typically why we keep showing up at the gym day after day. However, too few rest days can tend to lead to over-training syndrome which is an extreme condition. To avoid over-training, we need to make sure to allow our bodies time to rest allowing our muscles to repair, rebuild, and to strengthen. In creating a workout schedule it is also important to set aside days where you may actively rest. For example, clean the house, walk the dog, play with your kids, etc. Staying mobile but not taking on too much strenuous exercise.

In the recovery process, your body is adapting to the stress of exercise and resistance training. It also helps the body to replenish energy stores and repair damaged tissues. Neglecting to allow your body to recover can cause someone to be taken out of there day to day routine for awhile.

Catching a full nights rest is also extremely important for keeping your body in balance. Generally if you have one or two nights of poor or little sleep, it won't have a high impact on your performance, but if you are consistently getting very little or inadequate sleep it can cause subtle changes in hormone levels. These hormones are typically the ones linked to stress, muscle recovery, and mood. Some research has shown that sleep deprivation can lead to increased amounts of cortisol (stress hormones), decreased activity of the human growth hormone - which is active during tissue repair, and decreased glycogen synthesis (which is how the body uses stored energy).

The Success Story of Thomas Phillips

We write our success stories to let everyone know how they got to their desired goal and to help influence others into hitting their goals as well. Here is the success story of Thomas Phillips in his own words:

So to start my story, I will state that my name is Thomas Phillips and my occupation is Combat Controller Trainee for the US Air Force. To be qualified for this job you have to pass a physical endurance and strength test called the PAST TEST.  This test you have to swim underwater 25 meters twice, swim 500 meters nonstop under a time limit, run a mile and a half under a time limit, then finish the test by doing a certain number of pull ups, sit ups, and push ups.  Before I met Ashley Ryan passing that test was just a goal and the 500 meter swim felt like it was unattainable because I knew very little about swimming.  So I purchased some pool sessions with Ashley and I have well exceed the standards in PAST test especially the swim.  She is an exceptional trainer because she identified the problems I had with swimming by watching me swim and then she coached me to assist in correcting them. She also addressed any issues I felt necessary to swim faster and with more ease when I was in the pool.  Ashley gave me exercises to do keep my posture and technique at its best, which helps me swim a lot faster and not be as tired by the end of my 500 meter swim. Lastly, everybody in life pushes themselves to their goals, but sometimes they hit a point where they stop trying so hard. When I was training with Ashley she would not let me give up and talk me out of my negativity. When we were working together, I would often get discouraged because I felt like I wasn't doing it correctly, but I would catch my breathe and she was there telling me to do it again keep pushing - she would not let me give up. 

THOMAS PHILLIPS