Human beings can be creatures of habit. We learn one way to do something and then continue to do the same thing for years on end. With certain things that may be a good thing, but not when it comes to working out. Your body will adapt to anything. That includes working out, dieting, cardio, etc. There is a saying that I love that sums up working out and dieting perfectly, “If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always got”.
If you want to keep making progress you have to keep your body guessing. It gets tired of doing the same thing day in and day out. It adapts to it, and then you just end up spinning your wheels. You need to change things up so your body doesn’t know what’s going on, and then your training gains will begin to take off again. You have to throw your body a curve ball!
There are many ways to keep your body guessing. You can totally revamp your workout program if that’s what you want to do. Change exercises, change what muscle groups you do on certain days, or even change the order in which you do them. You can even change the number of reps you use. Whatever it is you have been doing, start doing something completely different. Keep your body guessing!! You can do high-reps, low-reps, drop sets, super-sets, rest-pause, negative, change the rep tempo, etc. You may not be familiar with some of these terms, but you can have either a trainer or one of our staff help you.
The main thing you need to keep in mind is to not do the same exact thing day in and day out for weeks or months on end. If you want your body to change, and adapt to a new stimulus, then you are going to have to try new things to keep it guessing. Otherwise your body will just remain the same because it is “bored” with your current routine.
Blue Springs Fitness is promoting a twelve week program to help anyone reach their fitness goals. We are calling it Super Charge because when people work together and encourage one another, fun and success follows. Running for twelve consecutive Tuesday evenings the program begins March 25 at 9:00 PM. Participants can attend a full evening of classes including 5:30 Cycle, 6:30 Body Sculpt, 7:30 Core Yoga Express and 8:00 Zumba. Participants will come together at 9:00 for a half hour support group meeting with fitness professional AnnMarie Cotto. Nutritional information and free on-line fitness tracking will be available.
In addition to teaching Zumba, AnnMarie Cotto may be a familiar face because she was selected to be in a Zumba informercial. She lost weight through fitness classes especially her favorite, Zumba. She is very suited from her professional training and experience to help you reach your fitness goals. She is knowledgeable , sympathetic , and motivating.
Participants are encouraged to work with Scott Hamblen and his crew of professional trainers to reach their specific goals. Blue Springs Fitness owner, Kurt Mueller, is offering a one year free membership to the participant who makes the most progress toward their fitness goals as judged by a four member panel. Unlike other contests, dramatic weight loss is not the only way to win. Goals can also include putting on muscle, running faster, or even improving your golf game. Some members will compete as teams including mothers and daughters. Teenage participants may also attend the Wednesday 3:15 pm Teens on Weights class
This is not the first contest Blue Springs Fitness has offered. The Holiday Fitness Challenge ran from Thanksgiving to Valentines Day and had forty-eight member participants plus their invited guests. Cheryl Sellick won a six month free membership, She had perfect attendence in five classes, brought friends and tried new classes. In addition, all participants were entered in a raffle for a $100 Mary Kay package.
Owner Kurt Mueller enjoys offering these contests and special events to help members get the most out of their memberships and to encourage non-members to try all that we have to offer. Fees for the program are $45 for members and $60 for non-members. You may register by e-mailing fitness coordinator Pam Davenport at Pam@bluespringsfitness.net or calling her at (816)785-4525 or by dropping by the gym. Questions can also be directed to AnnMarie at (816) 554-9383.
If this particular program does not work for you , remember group classes are available six days a week, and the personal training staff is always available to help you.
The biggest misconception that I see in the gym business is that women think free weights are just for men. For any female that wants to lose weight or sculpt her physique, free weights should most definately be included in their program.
Without getting too in depth, women don’t have high enough levels of the male hormone testosterone to become “muscle bound”. Most women are afraid that they will become too muscular and become masculine looking if they train with free weights. This is just not true, as it is physiologically impossible for a woman to build massive amounts of muscle naturally.
Added muscle is a good thing for men, women, young, and old. As stated above, there are limited amounts of muscle a person can gain naturally given age, gender, genetics, and other factors. But if we can get a person to increase their lean muscle tissue they will in turn increase their metabolic rate. What this means is that even at rest a person who carries more muscle will burn more calories than those with less. Muscle is an “active” tissue, which means that muscle requires energy (calories) in order to sustain intself. Whereas “inactive” tissue, such as fat, does not require energy to sustain itself.
So my advice to all women is to at least include some basic free weight exercises into your routine. Increasing lean muscle will allow you to burn more calories while your sitting at your desk, watching TV, and even sleeping.
