FITness FANatic

Today at Crossfit my coach told me I was not allowed to leave the gym until I stretched. I didn't think anything about it, its something I have heard all my life from gym teachers to volleyball coaches. But it got me to thinking, what is the reason we stretch after exercising.  We have been told that stretching after working out prevents soreness and injury. After reading some recent articles, the clinical research shows that there is no evidence that stretching prevents muscle soreness or injury or enhance sports performance. "According to American College of Sports Medicine, Stretching before or after exercise does not reduce delayed onset muscle soreness or reduce injury in healthy adults." We know now that stretching is not going to help reduce soreness or prevent injury but its not completely useless. While you are weightlifting or running you contract your muscles so much that overtime they become a little shorter and can cause some stiffness. For exampl...

I have the fitbit charge 2 and I love it, but the band broke on it and now I am contemplating weather I should upgrade to a newer better fitbit or just spend $15 and get another band for it. So I did some looking around as to what 2018 has to offer for fitness trackers. If you are like me, you don't just do one type of activity. You like to run, as well as do crossfit or hit the gym and then on the weekends you like to play a game of pick up ball or go for a long hike. So I am looking for something that tracks all sorts of activities. Since I am a runner, I do want something that is pretty good for running and tracks my miles accurately, so I would like something with a GPS. Currently I have to use the nike + app for anything running related. Also I want something that is going to track all of my other activities from lifting weights to doing yoga or going for casual walk. After doing a little research I found some great tracking watches for specific activities, for ex...

The answer is yes, it is completely safe to eat Paleo while pregnant and is actually one of the healthiest ways to eat while pregnant. You will still get all of the nutrients needed for a healthy pregnancy and will keep you healthier and more energized. One of the biggest benefits of the paleo diet for pregnant women is the increase of red meat consumption, which lowers iron deficiency, a common problem among pregnancies. But one thing to remember when adding more protein to your diet is to watch the amount you get from seafood, just because we don't want pregnant women consuming too much mercury. Besides limiting the seafood, any type of meat is safe to eat, it is actually recommended to add in more fattier cuts of meat for pregnant women. Although the paleo diet is known for its protein rich portions, it is recommended for pregnant women to only make it about 20% of your calories and increase the amount of carbs eaten. Pregnant women should consume 6-10 servings of ...

If you have read the rules of the paleo diet and you are an athlete and your thoughts were like mine, don't worry, it is actually very beneficial. I know your thinking that you have different nutritional needs as an athlete and that this doesn't sound like something you could follow, but it is doable. You are actually allowed to do some modifications to the paleo diet to cater to your specific needs. Endurance Athletes The most important thing for an athlete is to eat enough food. I know that sounds weird, but you need to make sure you are getting enough energy to fuel your sport. Also for an endurance athletes, you are going to want to eat more fat and carbs. Paleo diet is very high in protein, but and hour before and and up to an hour after your workouts, add some more carbs for recovery. Power Athletes  As mentioned above, it is very important that you are eating enough food to fuel your sport. For Power athletes, you are going to want to make sure to con...

The Paleo diet is commonly referred to as the "caveman" diet. The idea behind it, is that you only eat food that you can hunt or gather. Over time we have introduced genetically modified and processed foods into our diet and our bodies are not equipped to digest these types of foods, not to mention they have no nutritional value. These foods are loaded with toxins and are the leading causes of the biggest diseases affecting millions in the US including obesity, diabetes, heart disease and digestive disorders. The rules to the Paleo diet can be a little confusing and full of loop holes so I will break it down to the most simple rules and then will elaborate on them later. The things that you are allowed to consume are meat, fruits, vegetables, seafood, nuts/seeds, and healthy fats. The things you must avoid are dairy, grains, processed food/sugars, legumes and alcohol. Everything you can eat Meat : You can eat any type of protein you want, but if you want to f...

Exercising doesn't always have to mean heading to the gym or going for a run. If fact, reaching your daily exercise goals don't all have to be done at the same time. You can split it up in shorter duration's throughout the day, which is great during Winter and the holidays when finding time is even harder. So here are a few quick and easy ways to burn a few extra calories this holiday in and outside the house, and some that you didn't even know you were already doing. One of the reasons it's hard for people to find time to exercise is because they may be hosting people over for the holidays and need to skip the gym to get some stuff done around the house. This is actually fine, as I mentioned before you don't always have to go to the gym to get a workout, there are plenty of way to be active around the house. This is a great time to do some housework done such as  vacuuming ,  dusting , and  laundry . All of these mundane chores burn calories,  as well as c...