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.

Blue Springs Fitness has recently hired a new aerobics instructor in order to help us create what we believe will be the best group fitness program in the area!  Over the last 2 years of ownership of the club I have been able to make a lot of improvements to the facility itself, and even though this will be a continued effort, I felt it was important to find somebody with years of experience in the group fitness industry to help me create a better program.

Blue Springs Fitness wants to make sure that we remain to be a full-service, multi-dimensional club.  Pam’s main responsibility is to manage the entire group fitness department at Blue Springs Fitness.  She will do everything from creating the class schedule, to researching industry trends and exciting new programs, as well as teaching her own classes and being here to listen to what our group fitness enthusiasts would like to see in our program.

Pam has many years of experience in the industry, which was a very important factor in finding the right person for this position.  She has earned her B.A. from Stanford University, and later went on to complete her Masters Degree at Kansas University.  As for Pam’s certifications, she has her Personal Training Certification through A.C.E., and her Group Exercise Certification through A.F.F.A.  Her qualifications speak for themselves, and her outgoing personality makes Pam a perfect fit in the Blue Springs Fitness family.

So whether you are currently a member of Blue Springs Fitness, or thinking of starting a new chapter in your life, we would love for you to come by and meet Pam, and see what exciting changes are happening within our Group Fitness Program.  All of our instructors have many years of experience, and will start you out at the pace you are comfortable with.  Group Fitness is a good addition to anyones training program, and everyone is welcome to any of our classes regardless of age, beginner, or advanced.  We have people from 13 years old up to 80 years old that attend our classes!!!!

When it comes to protein requirements, there can be a lot of conflicting information out there.  Some would like people to believe that a diet high in protein will wreak havoc on your kidneys and liver, but this is just not the case.  When studies are done on healthy individuals, especially those who lead an active lifestyle, there is not one shred of evidence that a high protein diet will harm either your kidneys or your liver. 

There is a diet theory that is referred to as the “Caveman Diet”.  Essentially this diet follows the basic premise that Dr. Atkins brought to the forefront.  The idea of the “Caveman Diet” is simply this.  Millions of years ago human beings did not have a diet consisting of baked potatoes, breads, pastas, cereals, or any other starchy carbs as we know them today.  The only nutrients they had to survive on were animals meats and berries!!!  That’s it!  So the theory says, if we ate only animal meats and berries since the beginning of time, and that’s how the human body adapted, then why wouldn’t it work for us??

There is some validity to the Caveman Diet.  Essentially there are three main Macro nutrients, and they are Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fats.  Out of the three there are only two that we truly need for survival.  Believe it or not, you can go the rest of your life without eating a single gram of Carbohydrate and survive.  Even though it is a Macro nutrient we do not need Carbohydrates for survival.  However, we do have to ingest Proteins and Fats!!!  Your body is able to create blood sugars by using Proteins in a process called gluconeogensis.  Gluconeogensis is a rather inefficient way to make blood sugar, but all it really means is your protein requirements will have to increase.

So where am I going with this?  I want people to understand that high protein diets are not harmful to us, and in fact may be healthier.  As far as we know our bodies were created to survive on high protein.  Since the Atkins revolution there have been many studies on high protein diets and it’s effect on cholesterol, triglyceride levels, liver/kidney damage, and fat loss.  Most of the studies reveal that these diets have a POSITIVE impact on all the above with little or no impact on the kidneys are liver.  That being said, when one attempts such a diet, saturated fats need to be kept to a minimum, and replaced with healthy fats such as Omega-3, -6, -9.

Now don’t go home and throw out all the carbs in your pantry just yet.  I’m not trying to convey that Carbohydrates are evil.  I don’t think that at all.  As a matter of fact I think the RIGHT TYPES of carbs are part of a well balanced nutritional plan.  What I do want to convey is that I believe that most people don’t take in nearly enough protein (or healthy fats for that matter), and ingest entirely way too many carbs.

When I create a diet plan for somebody, I start everybody out with at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.  Regardless of gender, goals, activity levels, etc.  This is a bare minimum in my opinion.  Now when it comes to weight loss or weight gain I will alter that persons Fat and Carb intake depending on their goals, metabolism, and body type.  In fact when I coach bodybuilders I will start them out at 1.5 grams of protein per pound, and may possibly increase that to 2 grams of protein per pound.  Obviously a bodybuilders protein requirements will far exceed your casual gym goer, so this is a unique situation.

We would like to invite all members and non-members to attend our Open House and Health Fair that will be taking place on Saturday Oct. 13th from 10:00am - 2:00pm.  This is a collaboration between Blue Springs Fitness, Ultimate Fitness Personal Training, and Studio 7 Hair Design.

Food will be provided by Zarda’s BBQ free of charge.  We will also be doing blood pressure testing, body fat testing, and providing workout and nutrition information for those who are interested.

So please come by, and tell all of your neighbors and friends to come by and join the fun.

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.

Regardless of a persons goals, nutrition will be the deciding factor of how successful a person is in reaching their goals.  Whether your goal is to gain muscle, lose fat, participate in a triathalon, or just increase your quality of life, nutrition is going to be the cornerstone to achieving the results you desire.

Even though nutrition can seem like a scary, complicated subject, it really is nothing to be intimidated by.  There is a lot of conflicting information floating around out there, but in the end it all comes down to balance.  Fad diets come and go by people who use marketing to get rich off uninformed consumers.  There is no such thing as a perfect diet out there.  It doesn’t exist.  And despite what people may think, there are really no hard and set rules when it comes to nutrition.  Genetically we are all different, and we all respond to foods in our own way.

The best advice I can give is to do what works for you.  This will require some experimenting, but in the end this has to be something that fits into your current lifestyle, something you will be able to stick to, and most importantly something your body will respond to.  I will get more in depth on this subject in the future, but for now balance is key. 

We all know to cut the junk out, and eat food that is as fresh as possible.  This will require some time, and planning, but the results will speak for themselves.  Eat small, frequent meals throughout the day.  I like to see people eat 6-7 meals a day, but if they can only get 5, I will take it.  Our bodies are more efficient when we eat this way.  Get a good balance of protein, complex carbs, fruits, and veggies.  It’s all about food choices and how we make them.

This is just the basis, so stay tuned for more detailed info. in the future.

Welcome to the new Blue Springs Fitness website.  We are currently tinkering with a lot of cool stuff on the site, so check back often.  The site is being built and run by one of our very own members, so we’ll be trying out a lot of new things, and experimenting with the capabilities of the site.

This blog will be updated regularly with fitness tips, and you can subscribe to it automatically using the RSS button on the right panel. The new blog will contain everything from training advice and advances in nutrition, to news about Blue Springs Fitness and it’s members.  There will be a little bit of everything. Feel free to leave comments here, drop us an email, or come by the gym for a visit. We are very excited about this new way to communicate with our members, and potential members, via the web.