Exercise Relieves Stress During Holidays

The holidays bring on extra stress so use exercise to relieve your stress. A certain amount of stress and tension helps you take on challenges and perform better. Too much stress (left unchecked) over a prolonged period is not good for you and it causes health problems and affects your metabolism. Also, some people respond to stress better than others. One person might crumble under the same workload that causes another person to thrive.

Your body's normal state (homeostasis) is changed by stress. The hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, are secreted in response to a stressful situation. The "fight or flight" response to stress is intended to give you the energy to take on or run away from a particular situation. Stressful situations that go on for months or years signals to your body that the normal state includes excessive amounts of adrenaline and cortisol.

As it relates to metabolism, adrenaline makes your fat cells more efficient at turning fat into energy and speeds up your metabolism. On the other hand, cortisol increases the amount of glucose in your blood and creates more energy.

During the holiday months, this excess adrenaline and cortisol builds up in your body. Unused excess energy will be stored as fat.

Chronic stress, extra stress brought on by the holidays or stress with no end in sight has major health implications. Adrenaline will continue to be secreted but your body and your fat cells will build up a tolerance to it.

This means that your fat cells won't be converted to energy and cortisol will continue to increase glucose in your blood. This means the fat gain and weight gain begins to happen if left unchecked.

Life continally has stressful situations and life sometimes brings unavoidable stress, like during holidays. Regular exercise helps you to deal with stress and bring your body back to the true normal state (or as close as possible).

Exercise consistently during the holidays and take care of yourself!

Get My Fitness Hut's 7-Day Weight Loss And Fat Loss e-Course! The e-Course is FREE and you get a FREE MEAL PLAN! Use the course while you travel this holiday season!

"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!

Weight Loss Helped By Exercise, Rest And Recovery

Exercise, rest and recovery are all important for weight loss and fat loss! If you don't allow your body to rest and recover, it will affect your metabolism, weight loss and fat loss efforts! Do no more than 3 weight training workouts in a week and take a break from exercise 1-2 days a week. You don't want to end up injured because of over-training.

And, a healthy meal plan goes without saying. You will gain weight if you maintain a caloric surplus (eat more calories than you burn).

Oh yeah, most people need 7-8 hours of sleep a night! Your metabolism will be "out of wack" if you don't sleep enough.

Here are some training tips:

This might sound elementary but..... warm-up properly to avoid injuries.... walking for 2 minutes is not a good warm-up. A good dynamic warm-up prepares your body best for intense workouts. A sample dynamic warm-up could be a 5-10 minute jog, prisoner squats, lunges, etc. Static stretches would be done after your workout.

Don't underestimate the benefits of full body massages. The benefits include improved flexibility, tension release, relieving of swelling, alleviation of fatigue and prevention of injuries.

Along the same lines, self myofascial release with foam rolls (SMFR) is a type of self massage that you can do every day and prevent various muscle injuries, strains and tears.

Protect your feet....its amazing how many injuries (like shin splints and plantar fasciitis) can be avoided by wearing quality footwear (interpreted: don't wear cheap athletic shoes). If you have flat feet or high arches you definitely need the right footwear.

Avoid various tendonitis injuries (pain, swelling) caused by over-training and wear and tear. Rest and recovery is important. R.I.C.E.R. (REST, ICE, COMPRESSION, ELEVATION, REFERRAL FOR MEDICAL ASSISTANCE) should be followed immediately after a muscle or tendon injury.

Train to lessen the risk of a knee anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury....it is the most common injury affecting the knee joint. Do this by having adequate hamstring strength and practicing proper landing, jumping techniques.

Strengthen and stretch your shoulder muscles to avoid rotator cuff, shoulder and elbow injuries.

Strengthen and stabilize your core to prevent injuries such as low back pain, oblique strains/pulls, neck pain, ruptured disks and various other muscle and ligament strains.

Lessen the risk of a torn or injured Achilles tendon (the largest tendon in the body). It takes a full year to recover from a torn Achilles tendon. Stretch and stabilize the tendon with one-legged exercises, calf/peroneal stretches and Achilles tendon stretch.

If you want weight loss, fat loss and a healthy body, take care of yourself! Good workouts and healthy nutrition are just part of the equation!

Train hard and smart!

Get My Fitness Hut's 7-Day Weight Loss And Fat Loss e-Course! The e-Course is FREE and you get a FREE MEAL PLAN! Use the course while you travel this holiday season!

"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!

BOSU Ball Exercises Do Not Activate More Core Muscles

BOSU ball exercises DO NOT activate more core muscles! You can do your squats, deadlifts and shoulders presses on stable ground.

Researchers from Eastern Illinois University found that doing squats, deadlifts and shoulders presses on BOSU balls was not more effective for core muscle activation. Doing these exercises on stable ground activated more core muscles.



There are tons of fitness gadgets on the market. In general, you can save your money. Do your exercises with free weights or use bodyweight workouts and you will get maximum muscle activation. Limit machine exercises unless you are a beginner or you are in rehabilitation. Machines stabilize your body for you and don't allow you to move your body naturally (functionally). You get faster, lasting fat loss results when you do exercises that force your body to stabilize itself.

Do as many compound strength exercises like squats, deadlifts, rows and shoulder presses standing up as possible. These types of exercises work major muscle groups and many times are full-body strength exercises. This helps you workout with more intensity and burn more calories. You will also build more muscle and speed up your metabolism.

Have a great workout today!

Get My Fitness Hut's 7-Day Weight Loss And Fat Loss e-Course! The e-Course is FREE and you get a FREE MEAL PLAN! Use the course while you travel this holiday season!

"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!