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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62 Healthy Snacks of your Texas Fit Chick Trainers

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We've put together a list of favorite snacks from our Texas Fit Chick Trainers to share with you! December is a month full of treats and temptations....try to snack often on these healthy treats, to keep your willpower muscle strong! 

Our University Park trainer Anna resommends...

apple slices topped with all natural peanut butter

 cucumber slices with hummus

Sandy, our trainer in Wylie loves...

3 oz of lunch meat (rolled up) and an apple

 carrots/celery with roasted red pepper hummus

 pumpkin oatmeal bars (homemade)

post workout turtle bars (oat or coconut flour, quinoa, sesame seeds, chia seeds, almonds (any nut) & lentils w/honey)

 PB2 on brown rice crackers

 celery or fruit

Our Allen trainer Elizabeth:

  Celery with almond butter

 i also put 1lb of organic chicken tenders in my toaster oven to bake for about 10 minutes...then save them in the fridge and snack on those when hungry and serve to the kids as snacks or part of lunch

Here are the favorites from our Prosper trainer Shonnery...

Carrots and Hummus
String Cheese
3 egg whites & 1 whole egg w/Chipotle Laughing Cow wedge
Green Fuji Apple with PB2
Shakeology

Trina, our Anna trainer snacks on:

Tomato slices and a cup of low fat cottage cheese

Apple and a few almonds 

Apple and about a tablespoon of peanut or almond butter

Hard boiled egg and an apple

a fresh fruit mix of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries with either a cup of Greek yogurt or cottage cheese.

Shakeology

Plano trainer Danyelle loves

veggies & hummus 
Celery & fresh ground peanut or almond butter
Nuts

Frisco trainer Michelle:

Homemade hummus, blueberries & yogurt, peanut butter

Mesquite trainer Lindsey enjoys...

Greek yogurt and fresh pineapple
String cheese and almonds
Greek yogurt ranch with carrots
Diced avocado and tomatoes
Green smoothie
Apple with a little bit of peanut butter

Plano trainer, Titia

 One small gala apple with 1 teaspoon Justin's Maple Almond Butter

 I added a tsp of Justin’s Maple Almond Butter to my plain Greek yogurt with one drop of liquid Stevia...heaven!

The Colony trainer, Tabitha recommends...

Fage Greek yogurt sweetened with Stevia and berries.

Pita chips and/or veggies with hummus

Frisco trainer, Aimee loves

Apple and pb, Shakeology, raw almonds, hard boiled eggs  and grapefruit

Allen trainer Michelle enjoys

1/2 grapefruit 1/2 cup lf cottage cheese
1/2 chopped chicken Brest with 1 tsp pesto and 1/2 tomato
Spinach with 1/4 cup sliced apple sprinkle almonds olive oil lemon juice

McKinney trainer LeighAnnes' favorites are
12 - 15 almonds 
3 egg whites + one whole egg with tumeric and hot sauce
1 tbs almond butter on Ezekiel toast
Whey protein shake 
Plain Greek yogurt mixed with puréed fruit made at home

Shakeology

Braes Heights trainer, Karen enjoys

Fage non-fat greek yogurt with fresh berries, honey and ground flax seeds

College Station trainer Melody loves...

Shakeology

Quest Protein Bar

Almonds with string cheese

Apple

Greek Yogurt with frozen blueberries and stevia

Carrollton trainer Wendy likes:
apple slices or banana with 1-2 tsp of peanut or almond butter fresh salsa and 6 whole grain tortilla chips; 1/3 C greek yogurt with honey and banana slices; half a slice of whole grain toast with a teaspoon of Nutella

Keller trainer Vivian:

1 Tbsp of peanut butter with 15 baby carrots and a small box of raisins

Let us know if you find your favorite new snack here...or add your favorite healthy snack to the comment box below!

Texas Fit Chicks Boot Camp - helping women discover their inner FIT CHICK in a supportive and fun environment! Start your journey any Monday. Serving chicks from mcKinney, Dallas, Frisco, Plano, Allen, Prosper, Houston, Spring, College Station, Richardson, Anna, Wylie, Mesquite, Keller, The Colony and Carrollton Texas