Athletes Have Off-Seasons, Do You?

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Athletes have off-seasons, do you?

The off-season allows the body time to recover. No athlete would ever try to compete and perform at a high level year-round, because this would wear done their body.

While athletes’ have off-seasons, the regular exerciser never does. Instead he or she goes to the gym 3-4 times per week, pushes hard, and expects to see results without ever slowing doing. They then wonder why joints get achy, strength decreases, and body fat occasionally increases.

The body is tired. It has been pushed hard for months on end. Not to mention that this pace has continued through a stressful life event or two, and more weekend hangovers than proud to admit.

Occasionally taking a week or two off from exercise is good for the body. It allows the muscles to get fully rested and recovered and come back stronger. This is especially true when strength plateaus are hit or weight loss stalls. Give the body some time to rest and those plateaus can be then be broken through.

If you have been working out consistently for six months or more you could probably benefit from a week off. Then continue to take a recovery week once every 16-20 weeks. During this week still eat well, maybe get a message, take a few walks, but skip your regular workouts.

Recovery is part of training, but it is the most often neglected part.

If you’d like more information about fitness coaching click here:

https://pittsburghnorthfitness.leadpages.co/21-day-shape-up-challenge/

Recipe of the Week – Asian Noodle Jar

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Prep this recipe in a mason and have lunch pre-made for the next day.

Ingredients:

For the salad:

  • 4 ounces soba noodles
  • 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup shelled edamame, cooked
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and shredded
  • 4 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup crunchy rice noodles

For the Spicy Peanut Dressing:

  • 2 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 4 teaspoons sambal oelek
  • 4 teaspoons rice vinegar
  • 4 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon black sesame seeds

Directions:

  1. In large pot of boiling water, cook noodles according to package instructions. Rinse under cold water and drain.
  2. Meanwhile, make Spicy Peanut Dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, sambal oelek, rice vinegar and soy sauce. While whisking, slowly drizzle in oil until all oil is incorporated. Stir in sesame seeds.
  3. Divide Spicy Peanut Dressing equally among 4 pint-sized mason jars. Divide soba noodles over dressing. Layer remaining ingredients, ending with rice noodles. Top with lids and refrigerate up to 5 days. To serve, pour onto plate or bowl, stir and enjoy.

Recipe Source: http://foxeslovelemons.com/asian-noodle-salad-jars/

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https://pittsburghnorthfitness.leadpages.co/21-day-shape-up-challenge/

A Member’s Story…Angie D.

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Move It, Or Lose It

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Move to keep moving.

The only reason people lose the ability to move and do things like getting up and down from the floor is because at some point that movement stopped happening in life.

When a movement is no longer performed, deconditioning and poor ability to move in that pattern happens.

This then leads to pain in the movement, which further leads to a fear of moving because movement hurts, or once on the floor there may not be the strength to get back up.

And finally the fear of movement leads to a lack of any movement and overall decreased health.

We get our clients up and down from the floor, teach them to regain and restore their ability to squat, to hinge and swing a kettlebell, to crawl, to carry a heavy sandbag, and get moving well again.

Movement is life and life is movement.

If you’d like more information about fitness coaching click here:

https://pittsburghnorthfitness.leadpages.co/21-day-shape-up-challenge/

Say “No” To Franken-Foods

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Fat free, sugar free, low sodium, reduced calorie, gluten free, low carb; Are these really better?

Taste comes from three places: sweet (sugar), salt, or fat. Remove our reduce one an another has to be added or increased to make up for taste. Or worse, something fake gets added.

Eat real food and stay away from all the Franken-Foods and their deceiving labeling that makes them sound like better options.

If you’d like more information about fitness coaching click here:

https://pittsburghnorthfitness.leadpages.co/21-day-shape-up-challenge/

What 80/20 Really Looks Like

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You may not be eating as well as you think.

Sure Monday through Friday you may do well. But, then Friday night hits. You go out for dinner and order the grilled salmon with steamed veggies and skip the bread. But, you have dessert and a bottle of wine.

Or maybe on Saturday you feel that it would be nice to make your kids a big breakfast of pancakes and bacon. You tell yourself it’s okay because “it’s for the kids” and you’ll only have a little.

Then there is that stressful day that just needs unwound with a few drinks or a bowl of ice cream.

These are the small things that by themselves are perfectly fine, but added up can wreck your progress. To get results in the gym it takes eating clean 80% of the time. For most, it ends up only being 60-70% clean.

So what does 80% look like? Or better yet, what does the 20% look like?

To stay at 80% or above means you can have roughly 3-4 cheats per week. Every alcoholic drink that is a cheat. Every dessert that’s a cheat. Every piece of chocolate or candy another cheat. Fried and processed foods, a cheat again. Chips and salsa, you get the point.

Eating clean is the missing link to getting results. And many times what we think is clean eating isn’t clean enough.

If you’d like more information about fitness coaching click here:

https://pittsburghnorthfitness.leadpages.co/21-day-shape-up-challenge/

Start Your Morning With A Bang

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Alarm. Coffee. A few minutes scrolling your news feed. Shower. Breakfast. Kids out the door. And finally yourself out the door. It has already been a busy day and you have not even started work yet.

Give yourself 10-minutes every morning dedicated to exercise. Best of all you don’t even have to add this to your routine. Just replace “scrolling the news feed” with a simple bodyweight routine.

Here is one that will only take 10-minutes:

  • Front Plank 30 seconds
  • Mountain Climbers – 5 each
  • Bodyweight Squat – 10 reps
  • Push Ups – 10 reps
  • Reverse Lunge – 5 reps each
    • Repeat 3x

Done every morning you will find that over time you begin to feel better and have more energy. And eventually may even want to add more.

To make exercise consistent, exercise needs to become a part of your routine.

If you’d like more information about fitness coaching click here:

https://pittsburghnorthfitness.leadpages.co/21-day-shape-up-challenge/

Recipe of the Week – Cacio e Pepe Inverno

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Give this recipe a try for dinner this week after a workout to help your body refuel and recover.

Ingredients:
8 oz. dry spaghetti
1/2 cup freshly grated Percorino Romano, divided
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
4 cups chopped roasted vegetables (carrots, brussel sprouts, leeks) warmed
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1/2 lb. cooked shrimp

Directions:

1. Cook spaghetti according to package directions until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking water.

2. Remove drained pasta from heat and sprinkle with half the cheese and all the black pepper. Pour in 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water and toss.

3. Add vegetables, half the remaining cheese, and enough reserved pasta water to make a smooth sauce. To serve, divide among 4 bowls and sprinkle with more black pepper and remaining cheese. Add shrimp on top.

Recipe source: Men’s Health, January 2017 issue

If you want more information about fitness coaching click here:
https://pittsburghnorthfitness.leadpages.co/21-day-shape-up-challenge/

Movement Is Life

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Denver Neck and Shoulder Pain Treatment

The body was made to thrive on movement.

Daily movement is essential for life, yet the modern lifestyle promotes being sedentary. A typical day results in an hour commute to work, eight to ten hours at a desk in front of a computer, an evening filled with running kids to activities, and then crashing down on the couch or in bed at ten in the evening to unwind with a book or TV before going to bed. Outside of walking the dog the entire day is spent sitting.

But, the body was meant to move. It is this lack of movement that causes aches and pains, poor posture, and a host health of issues. It’s also why weekend warriors get hurt skiing, playing pick up basketball, or doing yard work. The body has been sedentary all week and then it’s pushed to be physical, but isn’t prepared to handle the physicality of those activities, so it gets injured.

Finding ways to move more each day can prevent this. Go to the gym two or three days a week and do some strength training, get up from the desk every hour and do a short two minute body-weight routine, take a ten minute walk a few times through out the day, join a gym that is near the kids places of activity and go there in evening rather than sitting in the car or watching them practice, find as many ways as possible to be more active.

Movement is life.

If you want more information about fitness coaching click here:
https://pittsburghnorthfitness.leadpages.co/21-day-shape-up-challenge/

A Member’s Story…

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PNF Member Leslie M.’s story.

If you want more information about fitness coaching click here:
https://pittsburghnorthfitness.leadpages.co/21-day-shape-up-challenge/