Top 7 Reasons Cardio is a key component of your fitness program

I hate treadmills. There is nothing worse than running and going nowhere...in my opinion :) For years, I would go to the gym and ignore the boring cardio machines, opting to only lift weights. I was missing out on so many benefits of doing cardio, but I didn’t want to be bored!! High Intensity Interval Training was the answer for me. The treadmill wasn’t so horrible if I was sprinting as fast as I could for 30 seconds then taking a break for a bit. Challenging myself like that was the only way I could stomach the treadmill. After a while though, that too became mundane. Boot Camp training was the answer for me. Doing a variety of cardio drills alleviates boredom completely and not only will your heart benefit, you might have to shop for new clothes in a smaller size!

If you are one that doesn’t have time for long drawn out bouts of cardio I have good news! You can get the same results from short bursts of activity…if done correctly!

Here are some of the top benefits of high intensity cardio exercise;

Cardio exercise improves blood circulation

Cardiovascular activity like running helps to increase the density of your capillary network. Capillaries are tiny blood vessels that cover your entire body delivering oxygenated blood and nutrients to where they are needed and taking away toxins and other waste products from cells. By increasing the density of your capillary network you create an environment where greater oxygen delivery is possible and waste disposal is made more efficient.

Cardio exercise lowers blood pressure

Cardiovascular conditioning like running can help lower blood pressure. While the scientific reasons for this are unclear, it has been observed as a common by-product of those who exercise regularly, particularly if blood pressure was high to begin with. In fact many doctors will recommend patients commit to a period of cardiovascular activity if they discover they have high blood pressure! One of our fit chicks Dee recently got a great dr. report and was able to discontinue her blood pressure meds due to her fitness training at Texas Fit Chicks bootcamp!

Cardio exercise enhances blood flow

Greater blood flow means you can circulate greater levels of oxygen around the body and produce energy more efficiently. Enhanced blood flow will also help remove waste products and toxins more effectively.

Cardio exercise increases stroke volume

Stroke Volume refers to the volume of blood the heart pumps per beat. Cardio exercise can cause a substantial increase in stroke volume both at rest and when exercising.

Increased stroke volume is likely caused by;

• A decreased heart rate allowing for more blood to enter the ventricles between beats

• A greater volume of blood in circulation leading to more blood returning to the heart

• An increase in the size of the left ventricle chamber

• An increase in the strength of the hearts contractions due to thicker ventricle walls

Cardio exercise lowers resting heart rate

Many people experience a substantial lowering of resting heart rate after improving their conditioning through cardio exercise. This is likely to be caused by an increase in stroke volume and improved oxygen delivery. The result is the heart has to beat fewer times per minute to deliver the same amount of oxygen. A resting heart of 70bpm or lower is excellent.

Cardio exercise increases energy expenditure

Cardio exercise is fantastic means of increasing your weekly energy expenditure. For those of you fit chicks looking to burn fat this is good news. Increasing your energy expenditure makes it more likely that you will create the required energy deficit for fat loss to occur. Remember if your body has an energy surplus then there is no need for the body to dig into its own energy reserves (fat) to make up the short fall.

High intensity cardio like our bootcamp hill sprints will also help trigger the release of potent fat burning hormones such as HGH thereby helping to accelerate fat loss results. Low intensity cardio will not

Cardio exercise can help improve sports performance

For those of you that play sports, enhancing your conditioning will only help your performance. More often than not it is the player or team who is able to maintain their intensity for longer that will come out on top in an athletic setting.

At Texas Fit Chicks bootcamp, we incorporate Tabata training during our workout. This high intensity training protocal will give you greater benefits than steady state training. Our bodies also never have the opportunity to plateau when you participate in our boot camps, since every single workout is different.Our clients see the benefits of working out in as little as 4 weeks with us. Join us and start this Monday to make sure your workout will get you the results you want to see. We take the guesswork out of losing weight and getting healthy! 

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We offer our womens' only fitness program in: Mesquite, McKinney, Allen, Plano, Frisco, Anna, Prosper, Keller, Wylie, Richardson, Dallas, The Colony, Lancaster, Celina, Rockwall, Carrollton, College Station & Houston

7 Tips to Lose Weight + How to Speed Up Your Metabolism

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Weight loss is a topic of vital importance for everyone that is truly interested in their health. Although many of us make weight loss our new year's resolution, it is a topic that must be dealt with year round. I've put together 7 simple steps to lose weight, plus details on how to speed up your metabolism. 

• When starting a weight loss journey, especially a significant one, clients that set multiple small goals instead of focusing on the main goal are much more successful.  It is much more daunting to think about losing 50 pounds in 6 months than it is to focus on losing 10 pounds in one month. By choosing the smaller goal, in 6 months you will have lost 60 pounds instead of 50.

• Reducing your stress level is essential when on a weight loss or fitness plan. Depression can cause you to eat more, eat unhealthy foods and reduce exercise. When you are stressed out it is hard to find motivation to exercise, so reducing stress can lead to being more active.

• Increasing the taste and zest in your food can help you feel full and make dieting a great deal more pleasurable. By choosing spicy food and other flavor-packed cuisines, you entertain your taste buds and add to the overall level of satisfaction you take in eating. Meals no longer have to be bland, self-denying experiences.

• As soon as you start to see some progress with your weight loss goals, reward yourself with a little shopping trip. You don't have to spend a lot of money. Just buying a new pair of pants or a new shirt will go a long way toward motivating you to continue. Soon you will see even more changes!

• To help achieve more noticeable weight loss, watch the amount of sodium that you eat each day. Eating too much sodium can cause you to retain water which will lead to pounds on the scale. If you do not see your weight go down, you may become discouraged and give up your diet. Knowing that muscle weighs more than fat is important because the scale isn’t always the best indicator of improved fitness. I always go by how my clothes fit versus the number.

• You should always try to find diets and eating plans that emphasize long term lifestyle change. Using methods of weight loss that have you losing weight much too quickly will only lead to you gaining back all of the weight you lost just as fast as you lost it. This becomes a vicious cycle for too many women. Are you one that's tried every diet? I am! Before becoming a trainer, I did the Cabbage Soup diet, South Beach, Atkins, Detox Diet....and the list goes on. Inevitably I'd lose and then gain back everything I'd lost plus another 5 or so pounds! Those are not long term fixes, and once you're 'off' the restrictive plan, you make up for lost time and gain more weight back than you lost. 

• Weight loss is all about consistency. Don't wake up one morning, think you are going to go to the gym or start boot camp one day, and be skinny the next day. Weight loss is about waking up every morning with the motivation and determination to keep on going, to keep changing your unhealthy habits into healthy habits, until you reach your target weight.

Every one of us has an idea about what we would look like if we were our ideal selves. For many of us losing weight is a vital step toward achieving that vision. By applying the tips from this article you will help ensure that you reach and maintain your ideal self. Weight lifting is a critical piece of any good weight loss program. Research has shown that weightlifting boosts metabolism. For a lot of people trying to speed up their metabolism, the first thing they think is to engage in an aerobic or cardio-exercise program. However, by merely focusing on cardiovascular activities, you may actually miss another piece of the fitness puzzle. Few people realize that when it comes to speeding up metabolism, good old-fashioned weight lifting is one of the effective methods, if not the best way to boost metabolism.

A number of studies have shown that athletes exhibit higher RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) than non-athletes. RMR is the number of calories we burn to maintain our vital body processes in a resting state. It is usually determined by measuring a body’s oxygen utilization (which is closely tied to calorie burning) while one is lying down or sitting quietly in the early morning before breakfast or after a full night’s sleep. RMR typically accounts for about 65 to 75 percent of the total daily calorie expenditure.

When you lift weights, you’re not actually building muscle, you are breaking it down. The physical exertion involved in weightlifting causes the metabolism to speed up. After the muscle is broken down, the body compensates by building more muscle to try and keep the muscle from breaking down again. It takes a large amount of energy from calories to rebuild new and bigger muscles (happens while you sleep), So lifting weights burns calories and speeds up metabolism not only during the weight lifting workout but also while the body builds bigger and stronger muscles.

A weight lifting routine must be done correctly and at regular intervals to get the maximum effect. Going to the gym once a week will not bring the kind of results I am talking about. It will take some time and dedication to build new muscle mass but the end result will be worth it with a better body and a sped up metabolism. Texas Fit Chicks boot camp trainers teach women HOW to lift and at intervals that work. Our program is proven to get results, and we are so confident in it that it’s 100% guaranteed.

For taking the time to read this article, I would love to extend the offer of a free class with Texas Fit Chicks if you've never experienced a TFC workout, to see if our program might be right for you. Feel free to visit our website (www.texasfitchicks.com) to see which location works best for you. Reach out to the trainer in your area and let her know you’d like to try a free class. She will sign register you for the trial and get you all of the information you will need.

Committed to your success,
Melody Chandler, CPT
Owner/Texas Fit Chicks Boot Camp
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20 Tips to get Great Abs

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Anyone can attain a flat stomach if they know the rules that govern getting it. Yes there are flat stomach rules. Follow these rules and you will slowly but surely get the flat stomach that you may be yearning for.

Belly Blast Rule 1 – Follow the Belly Blast Rules
Doing something that is contrary to the flat stomach rules could result in your body holding to your belly fat tighter than ever. Belly fat is the last bastion of fat storage in the body and the body will fight tooth and nail before releasing it. If you ever try to go in battle against your body, you will surely lose. Work with your body rather than against it.

Belly Blast Rule 2 – Be Patient
Everyone wants a flat stomach fast. Advertisements on how you could get a flat stomach quickly, are all over the internet. When it comes to weight loss or getting a flat stomach, slow is fast and fast is slow. This follows the law of the farm where everything has a gestation period. Just like pregnancy takes 9 months, attaining a flat stomach too will take time. Give yourself the next 21 days with our belly blasting program to see results!

Belly Blast Rule 3 – You Are Going to Have to Work For It
There is no magical pill or equipment that can give you flat abs. You are going to have to pay for it. Payment would be in the form of sweat. If there was a quick fix or magical diet, Oprah would have found it by now. So stop looking for shortcuts. These rules are the shortcuts.

Belly Blast Rule 4 – Stop Dieting
Dieting is war against your body. Your body will win any dieting war. It will even go to the extent of causing you to regain all the weight that you have lost, once the diet is over. For this reason, any unhealthy or fad diets must be avoided.

Belly Blast Rule 5 – Stop Doing Spot Training
100 crunches or even a thousand crunches will not get you great abs. You need to start exercising your big muscles so that it can help to remove the layers of fat on your body. In bootcamp, we focus on the entire core, which is more functional than 1000 crunches.

Belly Blast Rule 6 – Start Doing 3 hours of Weight Resistance Exercises
Exercises that work the big muscles such as squats, lunges, push ups are excellent for removing the layers of body fat. Weight resistance training exercises are the most effective known for burning fat and boosting your metabolism.

Belly Blast Rule 7 – Do Interval Training Instead of Steady State Cardio
Interval training is far superior than conventional cardio training. Try doing 2 sessions of this in a week. Be cautious of the strain on the body from interval training and start gradually. This takes priority over steady state cardio. So you should find time for this first.

Belly Blast Rule 8 – Do Cardio Exercises Once Completing 3 hours of Weight Training a Week
If you are able to spare more than 3 hours of exercise time, you could do conventional cardio exercises such as jogging, cycling or swimming. This should only be done if you cannot handle the stress of interval training. Interval training is far superior to shed belly fat.

Belly Blast Rule 9 – Remove or Absolutely Minimize Sugar and Simple Carbohydrates
Desserts, sweetened drinks, any sweet food or white flour should be avoided.

Belly Blast Rule 10 – Avoid Sweetened and Calorie Filled Drinks
Sweetened drinks pack lost of calories. Avoid drink that have lots of milk in it such as lattes. These too have lots of calories even though being low-fat. The calories come from the simple carbohydrates in the milk.

Belly Blast Rule 11 – Avoid or Reduce Milk to a Minimum
Lactose in milk spikes insulin. It would be wise to stay away from milk until you have achieved your flat stomach goal. You should be able to get enough protein from your meals. If you need more protein, it could be obtained from protein shakes.

Belly Blast Rule 12 – Understand Food Combination That You Should Avoid
Fat, sugar and alcohol taken in combination is detrimental to your flat stomach goals. Here is a detailed explanation of meal combination to avoid.

Belly Blast Rule 13 – Breakfast is Compulsory
Research has shown that people who skip breakfast store more abdominal fat. Skipping breakfast is a cardinal sin and should be avoided at all cost if you really want a flat stomach.

Belly Blast Rule 14 – Have 3 Small Main Meals and 2 Snacks
You should be eating every 3 or 4 hours to rev up your metabolism. Do not take this opportunity to overeat. Your main meals should be small servings. Eat nuts or fruits for snacks.

Belly Blast Rule 15 – Have 6 to 8 Hours Sleep at Night
Lack of sleep results in elevated levels of cortisol which promotes abdominal fat storage. A lot of people exercise and eat healthy but compromise on sleep. They have an extremely tough time losing belly fat.

Belly Blast Rule 16 – Strengthen Your Core Muscles

Belly Blast Rule 17 – Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol halts fat burning and increases appetite. Abstain from alcohol until your flat stomach goals are achieved. Read the earlier article for detailed information on alcohol’s effect on weight loss.

Belly blast Rule 18 – Be Aware of the Weekend Binge
An earlier article showed how a lot of people are disciplined on the weekdays but blow their diet on the weekends. Over consumption of food and drink causes a setback to a lot of people.

Belly Blast Rule 19 – The Flat Belly Diet Should Consist of Food With Low Calorie Density
Food with high calorie density have lots of calories in a small portion of food. These mainly include food with a combination of fat and sugar. One could easily overeat without realizing the overload of calories.

Great Abs Rule 20 – You Do Not Need to Finish Everything On Your Plate

Eat until you are 80% full. Do not eat until the food on the table or the food on the plate finishes.

Ready for your 21 Day Belly Blast Meal Plan? Find it here: 21 Day Belly Blast Meal Plan $29

Why does Interval Training work?

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Boot Camp Fat Loss - Why Interval Training Works

What is it About Boot Camp Fat Loss and Interval Training that Works So Well?

If you are interested in knowing more about boot camp fat loss, then you have come to the right place. This is not the type of training meant for those that are afraid to sweat. We like to say that at Texas Fit Chicks bootcamp we don't sweat...we glisten. Losing weight with interval training like the type that is featured in our boot camp is much more productive than many other types of programs for fat loss out there.

For many people that want to lose weight it is not about how, but instead about the results. Women want to be able to see in the mirror that they are losing weight or at least step on a scale and see that they are lighter. This means that you need more than just a workout that makes you feel the soreness that you only feel when you know you worked hard. You also need a method of working out that is going to prove to you that you can lose weight and you can see it disappearing.

You do not need to have any fancy equipment to use boot camp fat loss exercises and the best fat burning exercises are the ones you can do with your own body. Texas Fit Chicks keeps it interesting with body weight movements that you can do without any equipment to get the results you are after. We also incorporate the use of medicine balls, resistance bands and Kettlebells from time to time.

Making Sure you Use Boot Camp Fat Loss Properly

 Boot camp fat loss workouts have become very popular across the United States and for good reason.  The reason behind the popularity is all in the results. The results that women are seeing from the different boot camp fat loss programs are visible and they change your body. Texas Fit Chicks is unique in our approach. Unlike other bootcamps in the area, we never yell, demean or embarass you into pushing yourself. Our atmosphere is to inspire you to challenge yourself. We know how to motivate without a megaphone.
When you participate in our boot camp programs you'll find out very quickly that you are going to use all of your muscles instead of just isolating a few of them each day. When you perform exercises that engage all of your muscles, you will burn more fat than you will ifyou just isolate one group of muscles. If you were to compare doing crunches to doing an exercise like a jump squat you are going to find that the jump squat burns about 10 times as many calories. This is because it engages more of the muscles groups than a crunch does.

If you become a client of Texas Fit Chicks boot camp fat loss program, it will help you to lose the weight you are trying to shed much faster than most other routines out there. We also hold you accountable! We use interval type of training to help you get your heart rate up, find your target zone, and engage as many muscle groups as possible in each exercise.

The best part about losing weight is that you gain confidence, energy, and so much more. This is a life changing experience that many have already gone through, and you can be our next FIT Chick! Once you find and complete the first of your Texas Fit Chicks boot camp fat loss program, you will be hooked on the results and you will want to do it again and again.

We offer locations in McKinney, Plano, Allen, Prosper and Frisco with times as early as 5am and as late as 8pm M-F. Our bootcamps are for women only and we've helped hundreds of chicks become TExas Fit Chicks since 2009. What are you waiting for? Get in with us for under $200 and change your life.

http://www.texasfitchicks.com/
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