is excited to open its 8th location in NEWTON!
Pre-register at 6899A King George Blvd, Surrey.
Call 778-564-1601.
Your Guide to Mastering the Stairmaster
You—and your legs—know the ins and outs of treadmill and elliptical machines. But there’s another way to tap into heart-pumping cardio at the gym: the StairMaster. If you’ve felt intimidated by it in the past, fear no more.
1. Maintain Your Posture
To put strain on the right parts of your body—the glutes and hamstrings instead of your back—slow down and get your posture right. When you’re hunched over, you’re putting strain on your back and turning down your glutes. It’s OK to hinge forward at the hips—a move that’ll engage the glutes even more—as long as your spine is straight.
2. Don’t Hold On
You know the move: a fellow gym goer is climbing up the cascading stairs, gripping the sides of the machine for dear life. If you’re feeling off-balance, lightly grasping the sides will help you get steady. But don’t rely on them to hold you up. That reduces the load of your body on the stairs and weakens your workout. Ultimately, you want to build your abilities to not hold on at all.
3. Do Two at a Time
Once you’re ready to take your stair-climbing workout to the next level, try skipping a step. By taking big, giant steps, you’ll target the glutes and the upper thighs, where the mass of muscle is – the more muscles you get involved, the more calories you burn. Start slowly and focus on methodically climbing up while keeping your balance.
4. Switch It Up
Going forward targets your glutes and hamstrings, but if you’re looking to work your quads, turn around and climb backward. Or, try crossover steps, where your body is turned to the right or left as you step up. This move will hit your abductors, stabilizers, and gluteus medius.
5. Add Weights
Feeling confident, steady, and comfortable? Grab a pair of dumbbells before you head over to the machine. As you step up, add a biceps curl, overhead press, or side raises. Multitasking like this works even more muscle groups and elevates your heart rate.
6. Practice Intervals
It’s no secret that we’re fans of interval training. You can take those benefits to the stairs too. For the ideal workout, shoot for 20 to 30 minutes on the machine. Start with a 10-minute warm-up to activate your heart and your muscles. Then, launch into 10 to 15 minutes of intervals. Start with a 1:1 ratio of high intensity to recovery—say 1 minute on, 1 minute off—followed by a 5- to 10-minute cool down.
7. Monitor Your Heart Rate
After you’ve added the Stairmaster to your weekly cardio routine, begin taking note of how your body is reacting. Using a heart rate monitor, measure the time it takes for your heart rate to return to resting levels post-workout. As your body becomes more conditioned, that recovery time will become shorter and shorter. It’s all about getting your heart rate lower and your recovery time shorter.
Surprisingly Low-Carb Foods
While the National Institute of Medicine says you should eat 130 grams of carbs per day, most adults eat upwards of 200 grams. Thankfully, eating low-carb foods doesn’t mean committing to a life of meat and protein shakes. These foods are shockingly low in carbs and generously high in flavor, so you can stick to your low-carb diet without feeling deprived.
Greek Yogurt
Benefits: Greek yogurt is high in protein.
Carbs per serving: 6 grams per container
Cottage Cheese
Benefits: A cup of cottage cheese has 25 grams of protein.
Carbs per serving: 4 grams per 1/2 cup
Eggs
Benefits: Eggs are high in protein with limitless options for cooking.
Carbs per serving: 0.6 grams per egg
Gruyère Cheese
Benefits: Gruyère is extremely low in carbs and calories with 8 grams of protein.
Carbs per serving: 0.1 gram per ounce
Salmon
Benefits: Salmon has heart-healthy omega-3s.
Carbs per serving: 0
Cauliflower
Benefits: Cauliflower can be used for rice, bread, and potatoes.
Carbs per serving: 5 grams per cup
Mushrooms
Benefits: Mushrooms are heart-healthy and may help lower cholesterol.
Carbs per serving: 3 grams per cup
Zucchini
Benefits: Zucchini is a great substitute for pasta when cut or spiralized into “zoodles.”
Carbs per serving: 3.5 grams per cup
Spaghetti Squash
Benefits: Spaghetti squash contributes to healthy vision and eye health.
Carbs per serving: 7 grams per cup
Eggplant
Benefits: Eggplant is a great source of fibre, copper, and vitamin B.
Carbs per serving: 5 grams per cup
For more, visit: http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/weight-loss/plans/low-carb/low-carb-foods/?page=1
Wondrous Ways Running Improves Your Health
1. Better Knees
Think running wears out your knees? Think again. One recent study found that it may actually help prevent knee osteoarthritis, a condition that affects roughly 9.2 million adults; another discovered that road warriors were up to 18 percent less likely than walkers to develop the condition, in part because running may increase the thickness of knee cartilage.
2. Less Stress
When it comes to the mood-boosting effects of running, science suggests you can get more than just an endorphin high. According to a lab study in The Journal of Neuroscience, running may reduce anxiety by triggering neurons that mute your response to stress.
3. Lower Breast Cancer Risk
A 2013 study of more than 70,000 women revealed that those who walked at least seven hours per week were 14 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than their more sedentary counterparts. The most active women, who worked out vigorously (running or swimming) for at least six hours a week, slashed their risk by 25 percent.
4. Sharper Mind
Good news: You don’t have to slog away for a long time to reap impressive benefits. One small study found that people who engaged in light activity — like walking on a treadmill for an hour — three times a week saw gains in memory after just three months, suggesting that short-term fitness may slow age-related cognitive decline.
5. Longer Life
In a 2014 study of more than 55,000 people, those who ran daily — even for just five to ten minutes — lived, on average, three years longer than those who didn’t run. Worth noting: Runners who logged longer workouts didn’t significantly decrease their risk of death from heart disease more than those who ran less. Who doesn’t have five minutes? Get going!
Healthy Transformations
Ingredients:
• 1 Tbl sherry
• 1 Tbl soy sauce, lite
• 1 ½ tsp garlic
• tsp Stevia (optional)
• ½ tsp ginger
• 1 ½ oz skinless chicken breast
• 6 cups spinach, raw
• 1 cup bell pepper
• 1 ½ Tbls cornstarch
• ½ cup scallions
• ½ cup rice, brown cooked
• 1 ½ tsp oil, high oleic safflower
Spices:
•¼ tsp salt, lite
• ¼ tsp black pepper
PREPARATION:
While preparing stir-fry, cook rice as directed on package. Cut chicken into pieces and set in a shallow dish. Mix soy sauce, corn starch, sherry, stevia, and salt in small bowl. Stir marinade into chicken. Cover and let stand 10 minutes. Rinse spinach and pat dry until completely dry.
Heat oil in wok. Add spinach leaves (oil will sputter) and cook until oil stops sputtering and leaves are deep green and crisp, about 3 minutes. Transfer to serving plate using slotted spoon. Add ginger and garlic to wok and stir-fry until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add chicken with marinade and stir-fry 5 minutes. Add bell peppers, then green onions and ground pepper and stir-fry until chicken is cooked through, about 2 minutes. Transfer chicken to platter with spinach. Enjoy with rice!
Per serving: 325 calories, 20g protein, 9g total fat, 41g carbohydrates.
Source: Healthy Transformations Recipes
