A Rate Increase Is Coming -
Buy Now and Save
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I
have not had a rate increase in five or six years. I can't even
remember when it was. But I need to make the change. The change will
begin on June 1st. However until that time, you may purchase as many
sessions as you wish at the old rates. Even if you are an existing
client with several sessions remaining on your last package, you may
purchase more sessions at your current rate as long as you do so
prior to June 1st.
The
new rates are listed below:
1 session
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$70
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Quick Start (3 sessions plus Fitness Profile)
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$150
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10 sessions
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$480
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20 sessions
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$820
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45 sessions
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$1710
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So
you don't have to do the math, that's a $3 per session rate increase.
All sessions are about an hour long. But remember, you can stock up
now and save!
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If you are looking for an exercise that will help you both mentally
and physically, here's a suggestion - dancing. According to a 21 year
study of senior citizens, dancing is about the best thing you can do
to ward off dementia. The study was undertaken by the Albert Einstein
College of Medicine in New York City and the results were published
in the New England
Journal of Medicine.
The study determined that dancing reduces the risk of dementia more
than bicycling, swimming, playing golf, reading, and doing crossword
puzzles. As a matter of fact, the results were not
even close. Bicycling, swimming, and playing golf all had a zero
percent effect in reducing the chance of getting dementia. Reading
and working crossword puzzles did much better, reducing the risk by
35 and 47 percent respectively. But dancing far outperformed them all
with a 76 percent risk reduction. Dancing, it seems, creates new
neural paths in our brains because it requires dynamic and rapid fire
decision making.
But dancing also has other benefits. It reduces stress and depression
and increases our energy. And like other exercises, dancing improves
our flexibility, strength, balance, and endurance, as well as
strengthening bones and boosting our cardiovascular health.
So to stay young, vibrant, and mentally sharp well into your old age,
take up dancing.
It is important to vary your strength training routines periodically.
Our muscles get used to being worked the same way, so it's necessary
to change our workouts from time to time. We can do this by doing
different exercises for specific body parts. For instance, if you've
been doing lunges for a while, it might be time to do squats instead.
Another way to add variety is do more advanced sets one day a week.
There are several options. A few examples are super sets, slow sets,
pyramids, negative sets, and drop sets. I can't cover all these in
this newsletter, but let's briefly discuss pyramid sets
today.
To do pyramids, you begin with a light weight and high reps and add
weight and decrease the reps until you get to a weight you can only
perform one or two reps. Then you reverse the order and begin
dropping the weight and increasing the reps until you get back to the
weight you started with. For instance, if you are doing biceps curls,
you might begin with 12 pound dumbbells and do 20 reps, then go to 15
pounds and do 15 reps, and continue to increase the weight until you
can only do a couple of reps. Then reverse the order until you get
back to 12 pound dumbbells.
Don't do any of the advanced sets every workout. They are most
effective when used as an alternative workout about once a week.
Since there are lots of options, mix them up for best results.
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One of the more frequently asked questions I get is: How much protein
do I need on a daily basis? There is no perfect answer to this
question. It depends on several factors such as how much you weigh
and how much you are exercising.
Protein helps to repair and build muscles when taken in conjunction
with a weight lifting workout program. Protein without exercise will
not build muscle.
If you are fairly sedentary, you need less than one gram of protein
per kilogram of body weight per day, about .8 grams to be more exact.
If you are doing strength and resistance workouts, i.e. weight
lifting, you need between 1.2 and 1.8 grams of protein per kg of body
weight every day. You can get by on slightly less if all you are
doing is aerobic exercise, but if some strength and resistance
exercise is not part of your program, it should be.
To determine how much you weigh in kilograms, divide your weight in
pounds by 2.2. For instance, if you weigh 150 pounds, that's
approximately 68 kg (150 divided by 2.2). If you are sedentary, you
need about 55 grams of protein a day (68 X 0.8), but if you are
working out, including strength training, you need between 81 and 122
grams of protein daily, depending on the intensity of your workouts.
(68 X 1.2 to 68 X 1.8)
Protein sources are meat, fish, dairy, eggs, peanut butter, and
legumes, including soybeans and all related soybean products. Even
with a balanced diet, it still may be difficult to get all the
protein you need. Therefore, you may want to consider supplementing
your diet with a good protein bar or protein drink occasionally. You
should also try to eat at least a little protein about 30 to 45
minutes before a strength and resistance workout and some more
protein within an hour to 90 minutes after a workout. One word of
caution though: Don't eat too much protein, because that puts stress
on your kidneys.
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If I could give you only one piece of advice to improve your health
and add to your longevity, it would be to exercise moderation in
everything you do. A long-term on-going study recently published in the Journal of the American
College of Cardiology, supports the concept of moderation
with running.
The study followed 1100 healthy runners between the ages of 20 and 86
for up to 12 years. The results were not what you might expect. The
study found that high-mileage, hard-charging runners don't live any
longer than channel surfing couch potatoes. On the other hand,
joggers who log one to 2½ hours a week at an easy 11 or 12 minute per
mile pace, do live longer on average than both sedentary individuals
and extreme runners.
Runners who hit paces faster than about 8 minutes a mile for more
than four hours a week suffered mortality rates that were the same as
their sedentary counterparts. The researchers speculate that
long-term strenuous endurance workouts may actually harm the heart
and large arteries. These conclusions correspond to other studies I
have seen that show a dramatic increase in atrial fibrillation in
competitive runners.
As a personal trainer, I believe running is an excellent exercise,
but here, as with everything else in life, moderation seems to be the
key.
Daily life is ripe with opportunities to burn calories, but most
people don't take advantage of them. Dr. James Levine at the Mayo
Clinic has coined the acronym NEAT for non-exercise activity
thermogenesis to describe these incidental calories burned throughout
the day.
According to Dr. Levine, daily energy expenditure for adults of
similar size can vary by as much as 2000 calories a day, based in
part on how much incidental movement occurs. Fidgeters, of which I
might be the posterboy, can expend up to 350 additional calories a
day over their non-fidgeting friends. Sure we drive our friends crazy,
but, hey, 350 calories a day is 127,750 over the course of a year.
That's about 37 pounds a year we use up that you don't. So stop
telling me to be still. Here are some other facts you may find
noteworthy:
- A chair-bound office worker may burn 300
NEAT calories during the course of a day, whereas a cashier
will use up approximately 1400.
- Obese individuals sit for about 2.5 more
hours a day than their lean sedentary counterparts. In other
words, just getting up and walking around is beneficial.
- A desk-bound man takes about 5000 steps a
day compared to about 18,000 steps for an Amish man.
Are
you orthorexic? That's a new term for people who are obsessed with
eating healthy. There's nothing wrong with eating healthy foods, but
when it's all you think about, well, you've got a problem.
Answer the following questions. The more 'yes' answers you have, the
more likely you are to being orthorexic:
1. Do you wish
that occasionally you could just eat and not worry about food
quality?
2. Do you wish
you could spend less time on food and more on living?
3. Are you
unable to eat a meal prepared by someone else without feeling guilty?
4. Are you
constantly looking for ways foods are unhealthy for you?
5. Does life take a back seat to following the perfect diet?
6. Do you feel
self-loathing when you stray from your diet?
7. Do you feel
in control only when you stick to your diet?
8. Are you a
food snob and wonder how others can eat the way they eat?
If those questions define you, you're orthorexic. Stop it, will you?
You're driving yourself and everybody else crazy.
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What is the best time of the day to workout? This is one of the most
frequently asked questions I get. The answer is simple: Whatever
works best for you is the best time. Whether you workout in the
morning, at lunchtime, or in the evening is a matter of personal
preference.
That said, there are some advantages to the morning. If you like to
exercise outside, it's cooler in the morning. Research shows that
people who exercise early tend to stick with their routines better
than evening exercisers. That's primarily because work and social schedules
don't get in the way as often.
If achieving high performance is important to you, you might want to
go with evening workouts. Flexibility, strength, endurance, and the
ability to handle pain are all highest in the evenings. Another advantage
is you tend to sleep better following evening workouts. Just make
sure you exercise at least 2 hours before going to bed.
For some people, lunchtime is the optimum time. Working out during
lunch usually means you won't eat as much for lunch. It also
energizes you for the remainder of the afternoon. To paraphrase Nike,
it doesn't matter so much when you do it, just do it.
A quote from Noureen DeWulf: "Yoga is the most boring exercise. It's
for people who are too lazy to get on the elliptical. Bikram, where
they heat up the room to match India's climate, is especially stupid.
People in India are not skinny because they are doing yoga in
105-degree rooms; they're skinny because there's no food."
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Please
Support The Loyal Advertisers That Make This Newsletter Possible
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Rep
& Run
803-550-1734
www.reprun.com
Are you looking
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the website at www.reprun.com.
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Discount
Tire of Irmo
7948
Broad River Road
Irmo,
SC 29063
Phone: 749-1633
When you need
automotive service, go to
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Harbison Recreation Center
106 Hillpine Road
Columbia, SC 29212
Phone: 781-2281
The Harbison Rec
Center offers more facilities for less money than anywhere else in
town These are just some of the features: a new weight room with
all new machines, free weights, treadmills, ellipticals, and
stationary bikes; a 25 meter junior Olympic size indoor heated
swimming pool; sauna; whirlpool; racquet ball and tennis courts; a
basketball gym; and miles of traffic-free trails for walking or
jogging. There are classes for seniors as well as summer camp and
after school programs for kids. Also newly remodeled locker rooms and
an all-purpose room for large gatherings. All for only $315 a year
for singles or $600 a year for families Check out their website: http://www.harbisonhoa.com/rec.
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Wolf's Fitness Center
5432 August Road
Lexington, SC 29072
Phone: 356-6400
Wolf's is a total
fitness facility offering some great amenities. There's a huge weight room
featuring free weights and machines. There is a cardio area with
treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes, stair steppers, and the
cardio theater. Other
amenities include an indoor walking/running track, sauna, child care
facilities with an attendant, tanning beds, clean locker rooms and
showers, and sports supplements. Prices are very
reasonable and there are no
enrollment fees ever. Wolf's also offers a full slate
of fitness classes including kickboxing and pilates, as well as spinning classes.
Check out their website, www.wolfsfitness.com
for rates and specials.
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