Archive for the 'Fitness Fun' Category

Make Your Workout a Priority

Published on March 6, 2013 in Fitness Fun. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

When life starts getting crazy, it’s usually your workout that gets pushed aside. However, going to the gym is one thing that should permanently be on your weekly schedule. Here are some ways for you to make sure working out doesn’t suffer during a time crunch:

Set a specific time- and commit: It’s easy to forget to workout. You have a crazy day and then you’re tired and ready for sleep. Set specific times each week for going to the gym or health club. Use alarms, post-it notes or other reminder method to help you commit to working out. By prioritizing your workout high on your “to do list” you’ll fit other commitments around your gym time instead of letting it fill up with last minute emergencies.

Get a workout buddy: Whether it’s a spouse, friend or someone you meet at the gym, having a workout buddy is a great way for them to help you make time for exercise. It’s easier to keep a Stair Climber than a friend waiting at the gym! Your workout buddy can motivate you and help push you out the door.

Use a Variety of Equipment: using a variety of equipment is essential for even development, coordination and continued progress, but it also makes working out interesting and fun. Additionally, muscle confusion, which results from using different equipment, is equally important to avoid plateaus.

Find a convenient gym: The best of intentions can be sidetracked by traffic, bad road conditions or just a long drive to the gym. Find a gym that’s close to your home, school and/or work so that getting there will be one less excuse. Future Fitness has seven convenient locations in Mt. Laurel, two in Cherry Hill, Turnersville, Berlin, Mullica Hill and Medford.

It’s a great stress reliever: Working out is good for mind as well as your body. The fitness center is a great place to reduce stress. Some people take out their stress actively with free weights, the treadmill or a Spinning class. Others like to release tension with Yoga or Pilates classes. Either way, you can leave you stress at the gym.

Exercise should not feel like a chore or something done infrequently. Review your priorities and set aside time each week to improve your physical and mental health at the same time. Sign up for a FREE 2 week pass!

Can’t Reach Your Fitness Goals? Try a Fitness Calendar

Published on February 20, 2013 in Fitness Fun. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Personal TrainingResolving to shape up and build a better body in 2013 was the first step. Actually exercising and eating right is what gets you results. If you are having trouble reaching health and fitness goals, then creating a fitness calendar may be just the thing you need!

A fitness calendar can help you define your fitness goals, plan your workouts according to your schedule, and help you to fit exercise into your daily routine. Editors note: After reading this blog post, if you think a fitness calendar is not enough to help you achieve fitness goals then it may be time to look in to a personal trainer. It’s more affordable than you think and a personal traininer gets results. Visit our Personal Training section to learn more.

Fitness Calendar Steps:

1. How do you currently plan your time? Whether you use a calendar on your computer or smart phone or purchase a calendar or planner that you use specifically for fitness, decide where and how you want to schedule your workouts. You may also want to create a separate chart to track things like nutrition, body weight, and inches lost so that you can regularly track your success.

2. Come up with a summarized exercise plan. Make sure that you include a variety of workout options including cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and exercise programs such as yoga, swimming or stretching that can help you improve your flexibility.

3. Block out days on your calendar. Consider your personal workout preferences. Do you like working out in the morning? Or does a time later in the day better fit your daily routine? Commit yourself to doing your pre-planned workouts each day.

4. Be sure to vary your workouts. A good fitness plan should include a balance of stretching, toning, and aerobic activities. Be sure to schedule at least two days of resistance training and three days of cardio exercise. If you need help creating a workout plan, consult with a Future Fitness personal trainer for advice.

5. Goals and tracking. Whether it’s losing weight, increasing reps, or extending the duration of each workout, create a monthly goal for yourself and note it at the end of each month.

6. Reward yourself! Praising yourself will help make your goals more attainable and ensure that you stick with your new fitness plan. Plan a special day out after meeting your goals, buy yourself a new pair of jeans – choose something that will motivate you to push yourself to finish.

If you think a fitness calendar is not enough to help you achieve fitness goals then it may be time to look in to a personal trainer. It’s more affordable than you think and a personal traininer gets results. Visit our Personal Training section to learn more.

Make Working Out a Reason to Party with Zumba Fitness

Published on August 20, 2012 in Fit News, Fitness Fun, Future Fitness Programs & Classes and Healthy Steps for Fitness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

A great exercise program that’s more like a party than work seems too good to be true. But those who’ve discovered the Zumba Fitness® phenomenon enjoy numerous health and fitness benefits – while thoroughly enjoying themselves in the process!

Developed by Alberto “Beto” Perez in the mid-‘90s, this Latin-inspired dance-fitness program blends Latin and world-music beats, choreographed to allow people of any fitness level or dance experience to get a beneficial workout they’ll love. The Zumba program has grown to become the world’s largest – and most successful – dance-fitness program, with weekly classes held in more 110,000 locations across more than 125 countries.

Although it may initially look like a typical aerobics class, Zumba has a distinctly party vibe, from the coin-bangled hip skirts to the Latin and hip-hop dance club music and the high-energy instructors who lead the festivities.

This fun and effective program uses interval training that combines fast and slow rhythms for an effective aerobic workout, while at the same time targeting your legs, abs, glutes and arms. The dance moves aid in strengthening the core muscles of the abdomen, while also strengthening pelvic muscles – which helps prevent back pain.

As with any cardiovascular workout, the benefits of Zumba can include calorie burn, increased aerobic threshold, more stamina, increased bone density, improved balance and muscle tone, less body fat, and lower blood pressure.

As a fat-buster, Zumba is choreographed to provide alternating intervals of low and high intensity levels in both the pace of music and type of movements. This helps you burn more calories in each workout – typically 400 to 600 per hour, depending on individual physical factors. Fitness moves are also incorporated in Zumba classes, so you could find yourself moving from a fast merengue beat to a slow set of push-ups on the wall.  To promote flexibility and reduce muscle strain, warm-ups and cool-downs are a regular part of the Zumba program.

But Zumba’s fun factor is what keeps people coming back week after week. The lively music and upbeat mood encourage participants to forget their inhibitions and get caught up in the moment. Zumba’s inclusive spirit is another big appeal, with specialty sessions geared toward baby boomers, and Aqua Zumba for those who favor a low-impact workout with a pool-party atmosphere.

The best way to find out what Zumba is all about is to experience it for yourself. Sign up today for a free Zumba class at your favorite Future Fitness location. In this case, what seems too good to be true really IS true!

 

Do More Than Spin Your Wheels – 10 Ways That Spinning Makes You Fit

Published on March 16, 2012 in Fitness Fun and Future Fitness Programs & Classes. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Spinning has become a fitness phenomenon, and with excellent reason! Those who incorporate spinning into their workout routine report such impressive results as burning as much as 500 calories per half-hour spent on the spinning cycle, as well as toned legs and improved cardiovascular health. Here are 10 ways in which taking a spinning class can help you reach your fitness goals – although there are doubtlessly many more:

  1. Burn those calories! As already mentioned, a 30-minute workout on a spinning cycle can burn as many as 500 calories. Longer workouts – from 50 to 60 minutes duration, for example – can burn from 800 to 1,000 calories.
  2. Cardiovascular health. Spinning is basically an anaerobic exercise, pulling energy from your reserves and building up your muscular endurance. But spinning also provides aerobic benefits. Spinning classes include both endurance and cardiovascular training during the session, because you will need to break your steady pace and speed up to increase your heart rate at several points throughout.
  3. Progress at your own pace. You can control the amount of resistance on the bike, allowing you to begin spinning at minimal resistance, and increasing it as you gain muscle strength. Being able to complete a spinning class – especially at the beginning – encourages you to stay with it and gradually challenge yourself by adding more resistance.
  4. Your workout seems to go faster. Spinning supports the adage that time flies when you’re having fun.
  5. Low impact – high benefits. Because spinning doesn’t put pressure on the knees or feet, it’s an ideal cardio workout for those who can’t use a treadmill or elliptical.
  6. Toned-up legs. Well-toned legs improve your physical appearance. Three spinning workouts a week will produce noticeable results as the large muscle groups in your legs become stronger and better defined.
  7. You eventually won’t “hit the wall” so soon. Spinning helps build physical endurance, enabling you to work out longer. You’ll have more energy as your body operates more efficiently.
  8. Work those abs! Spinning involves more than the legs, as your upper body rhythm also involves the central abdominal muscles, and the muscles along the side of your abs.
  9. It’s a group effort. Joining a spinning class will encourage you to do your best, as you’ll be working out with those who have a common goal.
  10. Improve your outlook. The dedication you bring to spinning and the rewards you gain with an improved level of fitness help to give you increased confidence and a feeling of being more in control of your life!

Let’s Get Physical – Our Top 10 Fitness-Inspired Halloween Costumes

Published on October 21, 2011 in Fitness Fun. 0 Comments

Give your Halloween costume the workout it deserves! Check out Future Fitness Centers’ suggestions for fun, easy, and inexpensive fitness-inspired costumes. Best of all, most of these outfits require very little work, other than gathering a few workout essentials that most fitness fanatics already own. If they aren’t already in your closet, try a thrift store.

  1. Jack LaLanne. Do, don’t stew! Step into a navy blue, zip-front one-piece jumpsuit, grab a glass of freshly squeezed  carrot juice and be Jack LaLanne, the “Godfather of Fitness.” Regarded as our nation’s “first fitness superhero,” he is considered to be one of the first to open a modern health spa and is known for fitness “lalanneisms”  such as “10 minutes on the lips equals a lifetime on the hips.”
  2. Arnold Schwarznegger. Be a movie star, a body builder a politician, and Austrian – all at the same time! Get pumped and make fake muscles with pantyhose or nude-covered material. Add some shorts, a tank top, and a wide, weightlifting belt and – just like that – your Ahhhnold!
  3. Bruce Lee.  Punch when you have to punch, kick when you have to kick – and if you want to be a badass, dress up like martial arts master, Bruce Lee. Everyone will be Kung-Fu fighting when you don an old school Adidas track suit and start roundhouse kicking over everyone’s head. Or, go for another one of Bruce’s signature looks – a baggy black pair of pants, white socks, black shoes, and no shirt.
  4. Chuck Norris. What’s the secret to this guy’s tough look? Denim, denim, and more denim. Rip off the sleeves and tuck your favorite denim shirt into your jeans. Add to it a gun holster, a jean jacket, and a sneer – no one will mess with you ever again.
  5. Rocky Balboa. Prefer to keep things comfy? Nothing could be warmer or cozier than suiting up like a Rocky in training. Suit up in a classic grey sweat suit, tuck a towel into the neck of it, add to it a black skull-cap and a black eye – then start singing your own rendition of The Eye of the Tiger.
  6. Richard Simmons. Party off the pounds! Though pulling off exercise guru Richard Simmon’s quirky, wacky persona is a difficult task, his signature, unmistakable look is relatively simple. Simply grab a curly brown wig and a pair of shiny, tiny short shorts and start Sweatin’ to the Oldies.
  7. Olivia Newton John. Remember Let’s Get Physical? We can’t forget! Bring the 80’s back to life with a bubblegum pink and red workout ensemble topped off with a cut-off t-shirt and leg warmers. And don’t forget the thick, braided headband! Olivia was able to even make a mullet look cute.
  8. Jane Fonda. It’s time to feel the burn! What does it take to emulate this favorite ‘80s aerobics instructor? Poufy hair, a high cut leotard, lamé, spandex, and tights – the shinier, tinier and tackier, the better! And don’t forget the leg warmers!
  9. Suzanne Somers. A bouncy blond wig, a shiny high cut leotard and a Thighmaster is all you need to pull off Suzanne Somers’ unmistakable look. Introduced in the 1990’s, the Thighmaster is a fitness tool that was designed to shape and tone the upper and lower body.
  10. Jillian Michaels. Are you the biggest fan of The Biggest Loser? It doesn’t take much to pull off TV’s toughest personal trainer, Jillian Michaels. Simply put on a black tank top, a pair of tight jeans and your angriest glare – then hit the town barking orders such as “Get back on the treadmill and RUN!”  Tough love never looked so good.