Warning: Cancel Your Gym Membership Today

By Nate Anglin

Sometimes you're just fed up with what the franchise gym has to offer. You keep trying but every time you go it adds more stress. This isn't because your unmotivated or lazy, its because most franchise gyms lack what you really need.

It's happened to be me on countless occasions and it happens to the best of us.

Yet you continue to walk through those doors, disgusted by what you see. Not because it's a bad place but because it's just BLAH.

Your franchise gym stresses you out, but why?

As business professionals, we have a large deficit with our time. Time is precious to use. We rather be taking time nurturing our passions, spending extra time with the family, or even working. Yes, I said it, but some of us really love that. But what if a free gym membership was actually possible and results driven?

Here are 4 reasons why you need to cancel your gym membership:

1: Commute: You have to commute 15-30 minutes to get to the stinking gym. Not to mention your commute back home.

2: Waiting: You only have time to get to the gym at peak hours so you have to wait countless minutes waiting for machines. Do you know what this does to your intensity level? It ruins it completely.

3. Talking: A lot of people think that the gym is happy hour, or a social gathering. They stand around, chat and keep you waiting. Its even worse when they try to come up and talk to you in the middle of a set.

4. Financial: Gym memberships are getting cheaper, I'll admit, but think about this. The gas to get there, your opportunity costs and what your time is worth may be costing more than you think.

• Your time: $50 an hour (random example)
• Gas to / from the gym: $8
• Total: $58 per gym trip, excluding time spent at the gym and your membership cost

Franchise gym memberships not only take away more of your time but they also cost much more than you think.

If you feel you have no other choice because there's no smaller gyms around you, you're dead wrong.

Or maybe you think you can't workout at home because you don't have the right equipment. Again..dead wrong.

Free gym membership

First you need to cancel your franchise gym membership. I'll wait while you call...

Okay, now that you're back, lets get started. Working out at home can be the best workouts you've ever had - Tweet This. Especially since they're stress free and in the comfort of your own home. Better yet, it saves you A LOT of time than going to the franchise gym. And the best part is, is your home is a free gym membership.

To get started you only need 3 pieces of equipment.

1. Pull up bar - Make sure you get the ones that hang in the doorway. No hardware is needed.

2. Bowflex SelectTech Dumbbells - Standard dumbbells can cost $1 per pound. So if you buy an 80 pound dumbbell you're going to spend $80ea. With the Bowflex SelectTech 1090 you get 850 pounds per dumbbell (not total weight, but for each dumbbell set configuration) for $274.50 per dumbbell. Thats $.32 per pound. A 68% savings.

Alternates: You can also opt for the smaller Bowflex SelectTech 552 dumbbells that can adjust up to 52.5 pounds per dumbbell, or you can use resistance bands.

The Bowflex SelectTech dumbbells may seem expensive but after you save money not going to the franchise gym your ROI can be as low as 6 months and you'll have more time to spare.

3. Stability ball -This will add variation to your workouts. I even use it as my office chair.

Buying guide:

• Purchase a 45 centimeter stability ball if you are under 5 feet tall.
• Purchase a 55 centimeter stability ball if you are between 5 feet to 5 feet 7 inches tall.
• Purchase a 65 centimeter stability ball if you are between 5 feet 8 inches tall to 6 feet 2.
• Purchase a 75 centimeter stability ball if you are over 6 feet 3 inches tall.

For now, this is all the equipment you need to get started. For goodness sake, you just quit the gym. Give yourself a break and gradually learn this so you can be great at it.

You can workout in your room, kitchen, but I prefer the garage.

Enjoy a mixture of exercises using these 3 pieces of equipment. Focus on 30 minute high intensity workouts. And don't forget to walk more throughout the day. You'll soon begin noticing that your new "garage gym" is one of the best decisions you've made and the best part is, you're not going to sacrifice results.

Also, if you focus on walking more throughout the day you'll be MUCH better off.

Make (and Keep!) Smart Fitness Resolutions

By Kim Farmer

The best fitness resolution that will work for you this year is one that you will do consistently. The bottom line is that the number one way to make the fitness gains you want is to be honest with yourself when thinking about frequency, intensity, the types of training you will undertake, and the fitness goals you are hoping to achieve. There are many reasons that people have not been able to adhere to an exercise program, read on to see if they sound familiar:

Not getting results? One of the most common reasons people find it hard to stick to their fitness-related resolutions is because they aren't seeing the results they want even though they are sticking to their program 110%. You may make a goal to "lose weight" but often times this goal can be a misnomer. Skeletal muscle tissue is more dense than fatty tissue, so as a person exercises, they may gain muscle mass while losing fat mass resulting in either slower weight loss, or even weight gain in some cases. Instead of making resolutions based off of simple weight, make your goals based off of values like decreasing body fat percentage, clothing sizes, or create an exercise benchmark like completing a half marathon or improving a competitive score.

Unrealistic timing. Another reason people might not shed the pounds as quickly as they would like (and often times quit their program early) is because scientific research shows it can take as much as six weeks for your body to start making adaptations to your exercise program at the cellular level. It is at this point where dramatic changes in your metabolism, blood flow, and exercise capacity take place and fitness gains will begin to take place, so stick with your program for 6-8 weeks before making any major alterations to your program. Your body needs time to adapt to your new habit of maintaining a physically active lifestyle. Additionally, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and other organizations recommend a weight loss rate of two pounds per week for individuals that are not under medically supervised weight-loss programs.

Adjust Your Schedule! One of the main reasons you may find it difficult to adopt a physically active lifestyle is because you have a hard time fitting it into your schedule of other daily activities. Avoid this is by making physical activity as important of a commitment as a shift at work, dropping the kids off at practice or going grocery shopping. You may find it easier to wake up an hour earlier and exercise before heading off to work. By making it the first item on your daily to-do list, not only do you boost your energy higher than a double shot of espresso, but you no longer have to worry about having enough energy to work out at the end of a long day. When it comes to which time of day is ideal, the scientific research is currently inconclusive, so go with what works best for you. Pick a time and stick to it.

Take Small Steps. Lastly, do not take on more than you can handle. Make small steps and gradually build your program. Not only will it be easier to comply with your program, but you'll be less likely to injure yourself. Remember that exercise does not follow an all-or-nothing principal. Even the smallest of workouts is better than nothing, so don't give up an entire week's worth of training because of one bad day.

You must have complete buy-in from yourself with your fitness program. If you're not giving it an honest effort, reassess and try to find the reasoning behind your lack of dedication. Usually one of the three main reasons listed above is halting your progress, so try to apply the principles given. If you think you need help, speak with a fitness professional and try to rework your program in a way that will better serve your needs and abilities. And remember that some exercise is always better than none so if your schedule is full, start with 15 minutes of consistent physical activity and work your way up. Plan, progress and repeat!

Thanks for reading! Happy New Year!

What Makes For Effective FireFighting Training

By Daniel Dumas

In the fire service we spend untold hours washing our trucks. We go check every compartment everyday make sure all of our tools are ready to go at a moments notice. We spend hours going over policies and procedures. We train on the newest EMS practices. We learn new technologies that help us do our jobs better. We will pre plan emergencies that have a very slim chance of ever happening like a plan crashing into a school. All of these are important but it's amazing that we don't spend 1% of our time and money on training physical fitness. We have a huge line item on our budget for equipment repair and purchasing but just attempt get a $2,000 treadmill! It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars when we get hurt with workmanship comp payments and overtime coverage and insurance payments but we won't spend an hour a day on injury prevention. This has to change and I think it should start today.

We need special focused training. We are professional athletes and we need to act like it. Our fitness needs to relate to the work we do. It needs to involve things like breathing control so we don't run out of air. It needs to focus on core strength to help guard against the sprains and strains. We need to operate at extreme levels for 20-30 min intervals. We have a few challenges that regular athletes don't have to deal with. We can't get prepared for a specific event at a specific time. We have to be ready for the unknown. We also can't just bulk up like a body builder because we need flexibility to crawl and to push through tight places. We also can't train like someone who is preparing to run a marathon because pure cardio is not enough. We have to have the muscular strength to do hard work like overhaul or picking up a victim and we have to do all this while wearing an extra 50 pounds and being super heated with all of our senses on overdrive due to the huge amount of adrenaline that dumped into our bodies.

So what does a training plan look like?

1. It's preformed with little to no equipment.

2. It is a full body work out that hits all the key areas such as arms,back,legs,core

and flexibility.

3. It is east to implement with a large number of participants.

4. It is sets up goals and has a plan for steady progression.

5. It is scalable

6. It is fun and variable so the participants don't get bored.

If you can find a program that can meet all of these requirements you will have gone a long way towards improving the lives of your fellow fighters. This is not an easy change for most departments but it is something that has to happen. 50% of all firefighter fatalities are caused by sudden cardiac arrest due to work load stress. You can chose to do nothing and there is a chance nothing bad will happen or you can chose to be practice and save the life of one of your brothers or sisters.

This is just a brief over view of what effective firefighter training looks like for a more comprehensive look check out RedlineActual. So until then I am Danny Dumas, Stay Safe and Be Actual.

A Strength Exercise That Will Improve Your Balance

By Michael D Kett

Poor lower extremity strength is the number one reason that people fall. A sedentary individual loses about 40% of their muscle mass and 30% of their strength by age 70. Unfortunately, the lower extremities are more affected than the upper extremities.

One of the most practical and functional lower extremity strength tests is the Chair Rise Test. Do not perform this test if it increases knee or hip pain.

• Place a chair against a wall. Sit on the edge of the chair and cross your arms.

• Time yourself as you stand up and sit down 5 times as quickly as you can. If you can't complete the 5 repetitions from a standard chair, put a cushion on the chair seat and determine if that chair height will allow you to complete the 5 repetitions for time. This raised chair height will be your baseline but when you retest, try and use a chair without the extra cushion.

• The norm for 5 sit to stands from a normal 18"chair is 11.4 sec (60 to 69 years), 12.6 sec. (70 to 79 years), and 14.8 sec. (80 to 89 years).

The technique used to perform strength exercises is very important and determines how much strength improvement an individual will achieve. The key to improving the strength of a muscle is to work to muscular fatigue and not to a specific predetermined number of repetitions. 3 sets of 10 or 3 sets of 15 are not necessarily specific to your strengthening needs. In fact, research shows that there is not a huge difference in the strength results between 1, 2, or 3 sets of exercise.

More muscle tension (i.e. muscle strength) is developed with a slow contraction speed. If you have ever been to a fitness center and watched people strength training, you would have seen them doing their strength exercises too quickly 99% of the time.

Try to work at a speed of 2 seconds while the muscle is shortening and 4 seconds while the muscle is lengthening. I have people count bananas: 2 bananas/4 bananas. For example, while doing an elbow curl you would bend the elbow for a 2 count and then lower the weight straightening the elbow for a 4 count. So in a nutshell, if you work to fatigue at a slow speed of contraction, you only have to do one set each of exercise. Quality NOT quantity.

Take 2 seconds (bananas) to stand from the chair and 4 seconds (bananas) to sit back into the chair. Lying on your back and raising your leg straight is a good initial exercise but it won't help improve your balance and function like the chair rise exercise will. You need to be on your feet for optimal strength and balance improvement.

To strengthen your legs, especially your quadriceps, this is an excellent progression to follow:

• Step 1: first you determine the chair height that will allow you to perform 15-25 repetitions. If you can't do 15 repetitions, your chair seat is too low and if you can perform more than 25 repetitions, the chair seat is too high. As previously mentioned, you should work to fatigue. Fatigue is not when your muscles get sore or start to shake. Fatigue is when you can't rise from the chair or you can't sit down without "plopping" into the chair. Of course, if you have knee or hip joint pain, you need to stop and alter the exercise (see below).

• Step 2: gradually lower the chair height until you can sit to stand at least 15 times from a regular chair height (18"). Once you can do more than 25 sit to stands from a regular chair height you can hold onto a small weight (5-10#) in each hand as you gradually work up to 25 repetitions.

I need to address those individuals who can't stand up from a chair seat of any height 15 times without using their arms for assistance. This is the progression for that individual:

• Step 1: use your arms to assist in standing from the seated position but DO NOT use your arms to sit back down. If you can't sit back down without using your arms and you "plop" into the chair, you need to raise the seat height (with cushions, pillows) until you can sit without "plopping."

• Step 2: use this seat height and do as many repetitions to fatigue as possible (remember fatigue is when you can't stand up or sit without "plopping"). You should be able to do at least 15 repetitions. If you can do more than 25 repetitions, then lower the chair seat. Your goal is to find the seat height that allows you to do 15 repetitions but not 25 repetitions before you "plop."

• Step 3: when you have continued to lower the seat height a significant amount and can perform at least 15 repetitions, slightly raise the seat height and try to sit and stand without using the arms at all (both standing and sitting). Do as many repetitions as you can and lower the seat height when you can do more than 25 repetitions.

• Step 4: continue to progressively lower the chair height until you get to a normal chair height.

Yes, this is hard work. But if you follow these guidelines, you will begin to notice improved functional ability within 2-3 weeks.

If you have knee pain when doing the chair rise exercise you may want to:

• Make sure you are sitting at the front edge of the chair.
• Spread your knees wide apart, at least shoulder width apart.
• When you sit back into the chair, concentrate on sitting your butt back into the chair and not bending forward so your knees go past the tips of your toes.
• If one knee is painful, slide that foot slightly forward of the other foot when you do the exercise.
• Only work at a chair height that doesn't give you knee pain.
• If none of these options significantly decrease your knee pain, stop doing this exercise and see a physician. Formal physical therapy may be indicated.

Of course, there are other muscles that need to be strengthened to improve your balance such as 2 key hip muscles, your calves, and your shins. These will be discussed in another article.

Physical Therapist Michael Kett has developed an effective program that will improve your balance and lower extremity strength. Create your own individualized balance and strength exercise program based on your specific deficits by visiting http://www.steadiersteps.com