We all know that we need to drink lots of water, especially now that the temperature & humidity are rising. But do you know why it is so important? We are going to give you a little insight as to why we are told over & over to keep ourselves hydrated and even how to spot signs of dehydration.

Water is essential for good health and your body depends on it to survive. Our bodies are made up mostly of water and every single cell, tissue, muscle, and organ in our body needs water to function properly! You lose water constantly each day through sweating, urinating, and even breathing. And of course you are going to lose water even faster when the temperature rises and when you work out hard. We need to make sure that we are replacing the water steadily throughout the day. 

But just how much water should you drink? The most common recomendation is to drink 8 - 8oz glasses a day. This is a pretty good goal to shoot for but everyone is different. If the weather is hot & humid or if you exercise regularly you are going to need more water than that. Just know that by the time you feel thirsty, your body is already 10% dehydrated; so make it a habit to sip water throughout the day.

There are other things you can consume to help keep your hydration levels safe:

- Sports drinks: These can be great if you are doing a long distance workout or if you have been exercising heavily for more than an hour. Sports drinks can help to provide carbohydrates for energy and can also replace electrolytes lost in sweat. Just be careful because these tend to be high in calories and sugar.

- Food: Foods such as watermelon, cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, and soup broths are all made of mostly water. By consuming these they can help to keep you hydrated and full. Also, popsicles are a great way to keep yourself cool and help hydrate in the hot summer days. Have fun and make some homemade onws to help cut down on the sugar.

- Add Flavor: If you get tired of drinking plain old water, buy some flavors or mix-ins to add to it. Calorie free Crystal Light or MIO are both great choices and they help to make water delicious and easy to drink! Also adding fresh fruit like lemons, limes, or berries makes water super tasty & you can have fun by mixing up flavor combonations!

Now it is easy to KNOW that you need to drink more water, but what are some ways that can help to make sure you do so? Here are a couple of tips:

- Plan ahead: If you know you will be going somewhere that you may not be able to have access to water, pack it! Planning ahead helps you to avoid any problems with not being able to have water.

- Drink before you eat: A lot of the time when you feel hungry, you are actually thirsty. That is why when you snack, sometimes you don't feel any better afterwards. If you feel hungry then drink a glass of water. And drink a glass of water before every meal to help you stay a little more full.

- Schedule it: Making a water schedule is a great way to make sure you drink enough. A couple ways you can do this are to drink a glass of water at the top of every hour or you could label a water bottle or gallon jug with times. That way you make sure you are drinking enough each hour to keep yourself hydrated!

- Jug it: If all else fails, buy a gallon of water at the grocery store and carry it all around with you. It is much harder to forget about drinking water when there is a big ol' jug of it right there in front of you. People will also be impressed, take it from us!

 

Spotting dehydration is very important to know how to do. Make sure you remember these symptoms so that you can help someone or yourself if you ever get dehydrated!

- Little or no urine or very dark urine

- Dry mouth

- Fatigue or unusual sleepiness

- Extreme thirst

- Headache

- Confusion

- Feeling dizzy or lightheaded

- No tears when crying

 

If you notice any of these symptoms be sure to have you or whomever is experiencing them to get fluids in them right away. But, don't wait until symptoms appear as dehydration can sometimes be hard to identify, especially in ourselves as we age. Actively prevent this by staying sufficiently hydrated!

 

http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/prevention-wellness/food-nutrition/nutrients/hydration-why-its-so-important.html

 

The mercury is rising and we all want to spend more time outside! Going for a run along the river, hiking all the amazing trails, riding your bike on the loop, or swimming laps in the pool. All of these are great ways to exercise outdoors, but beware; there are many mistakes that people make in this kind of heat! Take our advice and pay attention to these do's and don'ts of summer fitness to keep yourself healthy & safe!

 

DO - cool down before you warm up

 Did you know that if you lower your core body temperature before you workout, it can help you to delay fatique. One of the best ways to do this is to sip on an icy slushie before your workout. An easy way to do this is to blend your preworkout with some ice and water or use a mix such as zero calorie crystal light energy packets. Your body has to use more energy to cool the temperatur of the ice and water and therefore is unable to store it and heat your core temperature; keeping you cooler longer!

DONT - run in cotton socks

Cotton socks are the worst choice for hot workouts. When they are 100% cotton they soak up and hold more moisture than other materials. Also, cotton is more likely to lose its shape and fit which can cause friction and lead to blisters or heat rash. It is safer to go with a nylon sock or special moisture wicking material. 

DO - get outside

Getting outside and enjoying the fresh air for as little as 5 minutes has been proven time and time again to help boost your mood. And recently its been shown that the effects seem to be even greater when near water. So take out your bike or go for a walk on your lunch along the loop trail. You will feel better and more productive afterwards!

DONT - forget the sunscreen

I know that we all want that coveted glowing tan for summer time, but that is no reason to skip the sunscreen. Exposure to the harmful rays can increase aging and cause serious skin cancer. Even if you are in the water, shade, or its cloudy, lather up! You should be using at least SPF 15 or higher. Apply it 30 minutes before you head outside for your workout and be sure to reapply often! Gotta keep that skin young and healthy!

DO - avoid the midday heat

The suns rays are strongest between 10am - 4pm during the summertime, so going on a challenging midday run may not be your best bet. This heat means that you are at a higher risk for UV damage as well as more likely to get cramps, dehydrations, or heat exhaustion. So save that 5 mile run for the morning or evening when it is likely to be much cooler outside. 

DONT - break a sweat in black

I know that black may slim your waist and thighs, but it can also lead you to faster fatigue and heat exhaustion. Dark tight clothing can trap heat against your body which can cause you to overheat much faster and make cooling down much harder. Your best bet is to wear light colored looser clothing. The more air that hits your body the less your body has to work to keep you cool! 

DO - stay super hydrated

Did you know that by the time you actually feel thirsty, you are already 10% dehydrated! The biggest thing is to make sure you are trying to drink at the very least 8 glasses of 8 oz of water (the 8x8 rule...pretty easy to remember). If you spend a lot of time working out or in the sun you should try to drink even more. Keeping your body properly hydrated in the heat of summer is vital. A good goal to aim for? Drink 8 oz of water about 1.5 - 2 hours before your workout and another 8oz about 30 minutes before your workout. Then make the best effort possible to stay hydrated throughout your exercise routine as well. This will help to ensure that your muscles are hydrated and your body is staying cool!

 

The heat can be dangerous, but only if you don't take precautions! Be safe & have fun this summer (: and don't forget to take advantage of the beautiful place that we live in!!!

What exactly is HIIT?  I’ve heard of Tabata too, sounds similar, what gives?  

 

 

HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training.  This type of training isn’t NEW, but it has gained a lot of mainstream popularity in the past 7-8 years.  In a nutshell, HIIT is, as the name indicates, an exercise strategy that alternates short periods of intense anaerobic exercise with less-intense recovery periods. HIIT is considered to be much more effective than normal cardio because the intensity is higher and you are able to increase both your aerobic and anaerobic endurance while burning more fat than ever before. This type of workout session generally last from 4-30 minutes total. These short, intense workouts have been shown to improve cardiovascular endurance, improved athletic capacity and improved glucose metabolism.

 

Within HIIT style of training, there are a few specific methods such as Peter Coe regimen, Tabata regimen, Gibala regimen and Timmons regimen.  All were developed for the same basic principle, but to clear up confusion, here is what they are all about:

 

Peter Coe regimen:

Peter Coe was a coach during the 1970s and administered interval training while coaching his son Sebastian Coe.  His method often included sessions repeating cycles of a 200m sprint with 30 seconds rest between.  This training was inspired by a German professor Woldemar Gerschler and a Swedish physiologist Per-Olof Astrand.

 

Tabata regimen:

Tabata is probably the most recognized name in HIIT training. Izumi Tabata developed this method based off a study conducted in 1996, that initially involved Olympic speedskaters. This method is a bit more specific and involves 20 seconds of intense effort followed by 10 seconds recovery, repeated for 4 minutes (8 times through).  Originally, athletes would only train 4 days per week, plus another day of steady state training and obtainied gains similar to those who trained solely steady state 5 days a week (at 70% VO2 Max).  At the conclusion of the study, the steady state group increased their VO2 Max, but the Tabata group had started at a lower average and made more overall gains and was the only group in increase their anaerobic capacity.

 

 

Gibala regimen:

In 2009 Martin Gibala and his team at McMasters University conduct a study on students involving a 3 minute warm-up followed by 60 sec of intense exercise followed by 75 sec of rest repeated for 8-12 cycles.  This method was repeated 3 days a week and obtained similar results to those who did steady state training 5 days a week.

 

Timmons regimen:

Timmons, a professor of systems biology at the University of Loughborough, is also a proponent of short burst exercise.  In the system he administers on an exercise bike, subjects complete 3 cycles of 2 minutes easy pedaling followed by 20 second burst at maximal effort.  This program was completed 3 days a week for 3 minutes of exercise each day.

 

As you can see, there are many variations on HIIT.  I would argue that no one is better than another. There is one common thread in that each one is best when performed at least 3 days a week.  That’s right, it takes doing the work consistently and pushing yourself to the absolute limit.  Just like with any training regime, to see results, you have to do the work.

-----

Here is a sample HIIT workout you can do at home:

 

Perform each exercise for 50 seconds, resting 10 seconds before moving on to the next.

 

Complete 2 rounds, taking 3 min rest between rounds

1. Jump lunges

2. Squats

3. Tricep dips

4. Burpees

5. Russian twists

6. Plank-ups

7. High knees

8. Side plank knee to elbow touch left side

9. Side plank knee to elbow touch right side

10. Dips

11. Bicycle crunches

12. Plank jacks

 

----

Make sure to check out our available HIIT classes at www.GGofWV.com

 

We all know that summer brings pool parties, tanning in the sunshine, lots of outdoor fun, and of course...barbeques! There is no reason to dread the calories that can come along with a fun BBQ gettogether as long as you know what to do!! Take it from us & then go enjoy that grill!!

FOOD:

* One of the biggest things people dont realize, is that burning your food can increase the amount of HCA's (cancer causing chemicals) that are in the food. One way to help reduce this by up to 70%? Addin a marinade that is full of spices!! Many spices help to inhibit the production of HCA's in our food. Plus, marinated meat just tastes good!!

* When you are browsing the meat department looking for your prime choice for the BBQ, stick with healthy lean meats: chicken, lean beef, grass-fed steaks, seafood. Now there are several ways to prepare the meat. No, you dont just have to slap it on the grill and call it good (although that works deliciously as well). One of the easiest ideas for a BBQ is skewers! Cut the meat up into small chunks and skewer it. This is also a great way to make a smaller amount of food go a long way!

* A no brainer here...VEGGIES!!! Fresh produce in the summer is a given, but how can you incorporate into your BBQ? One of the tastiest ways is to grill those veggies right along with your meats; you can even add the veggies to the skewers and you have yourself some shishkabobs! Grilled corn, asparagus, tomatoes, peppers, onions, squash, carrots...the list is endless! Add some of these to your BBQ and you will be full of nutrients!

* No barbeque is complete without some delicious snacks & sides. The usually tend to be something like potato salad, pasta salad, jello salad, macaroni salad, taco salad, etc. But more times than not, these are not made healthy at all. So all you need to know is how to make some healthy versions! Make something like a fresh fruit salad, maybe a watermelon & feta salad, or a caprese salad. Yum! Snacks are just as easy, just think outside the box. Wanting chips? Make some kale chips or sweet potato chips/fries. Or make some really simple finger food like celery with peanut butter or some avacado dip or homemade hummus with veggies!

* So, you want to know how to drink healthy. Most barbeques are bound to be filled with beer and yummy cocktails. You CAN still enjoy some drinks while you are BBQ'ing, just make sure you show up with a plan. Some simple tips? Make sure you drink a glass or bottle of water in between each drink. Let yourself have one drink every hour (not ten). Also, make sure you are filling up on healthy foods while you are drinking, then you wont need to sweat the bad stuff!

Barbeques are almost inevitable this time of year! So go enjoy them or host a few healthy how-downs of your own! Happy summer & healthy BBQ'ing for the win!!!