Total Gym

Total Gym Weekly Workout – Shoulder & Squat Cardio Blast

Healthy posts from “Fytness Fanatik” Amanda Lynn Hare!

Total Gym Inside blog contributor Amanda Lynn Hare has been a Total Gym user since 1998. Amanda Lynn is here to share her enthusiasm for healthy, fit and fun living.

Today, Amanda Lynn demos her favorite Total Gym Shoulder & Squat Combinations for a fast, effective strength & cardio blast!

Perform 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps of the following exercises:

* Squats with Shoulder Shrugs

* Squats with Shadow Boxing

* Calf Squats with Parallel Arm Flex

* Calf Squats with Shadow Boxing

* Singe Leg Calf Squats with Parallel Arm Flex

Tara’s Friday Bite – Juicing: Healthy or Hype?

Although juicing has been around for ages, it has gained in popularity over the past year as an “elixir of health.” As with everything, this is part truth and part trend.

Here are the facts so you can determine if juicing is right for you:

The concept behind juicing is that you can quickly and easily get the vitamins and minerals from a ton of fruits and vegetables in one nutrient-dense package! You also remove the fiber so, in theory, the nutrients are absorbed more quickly. Not to mention the juices can taste amazing and you can sneak in some veggies that you would normally turn up your nose at!

The downside to juicing is it’s fairly time consuming to both juice and clean up, and it can create a lot of waste with the leftover skins and pulp. Some people do a great job of turning this “waste” into compost or using it for baking. But I find that, for the average person, these two factors are usually the reason that their juicer ends up in the cabinet collecting dust.

The removal of fiber can speed up the nutrient absorbance but it can also speed up the absorbance of sugar. What you may feel is a rush of energy and then a crash, similar to having a sugary drink but with a lot more vitamins & minerals. This can be dangerous if you are diabetic or have any blood sugar sensitivity. For this reason, I prefer blending my fruits & vegetables in a high-power blender like a Vita-mix. Although they can be much more pricy than a juicer, you will get all of the nutrients as well as the fiber. Alternatively, you can add psyllium husk or another fiber supplement to your juice to lessen the impact of the sugar.

My recommendation is if you want to try juicing is to ask around and see if anyone has a juicer you can borrow. You’d be surprised how many people will have one hiding in their basement. Try it out for a few weeks and see how it goes! Pay attention to how you feel and again, consider adding fiber to your juices to slow the sugar absorption and keep you full a bit longer. As with everything, you are the best judge of how things impact you so if you love it and feel great go out and buy your own.

Happy juicing!

Tara Coleman www.taracoleman.com

Tara Coleman is a Clinical Nutritionist and Salada Tea Spokesperson living in San Diego, CA. She blogs twice a month with “Tara’s Friday Bite.” Leave your comments with ideas for future topics or email Tara directly at tara@taracoleman.com. 

Total Gym on TV! Higher Grades & Exercise

Total Gym was on San Diego 6 News yesterday with Total Gym Inside blog contributor Dr. Michael Mantell to talk about how exercise can lead to better grades.

Did you know that the ratio of children defined as “seriously overweight” has gone up to 1 in 3, tripling since the 1970s? That’s a frightening statistic!

Watch how kids are using Total Gym to shape up AND improve their school performance. A double whammy for parents!

Total Gym … Kid Tested, Lives Improved!

Total Gym + U.S. Navy = Winning Combination

Hooyah Navy!

Total Gym’s Bonnie Lee (aka GRAVITY Bonnie) shared this photo of 15 Navy Base instructors in San Diego going through a one-hour training at our biggest Total Gym PowerTower installation ever!!

Fitness Psych – Total Gym Can Improve School Performance

Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.

The January issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine reported an interesting and illuminating piece of research that has caught the attention of many of us concerned about the lack of exercise among America’s school age children.

Get this …

The ratio of children defined as “seriously overweight” has gone up to 1 in 3, tripling since the 1970s.

Children between the ages of 10-13, who are already obese, are likely to have a 70% chance of obesity persisting into their adult years.

It’s time to pay attention!

We can either ignore these hard facts OR curb childhood obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, emotional disturbance, immunity issues, poor self-esteem and, according to the newest research, poor grades in school—but we can’t do both. 

Exercise could benefit children’s academic performance through increased blood and oxygen flow to the brain. It can also lower their stress levels, improve their mood and increase growth factors that support synaptic plasticity—just like exercise does for adults. In fact, like adults, children benefit from an hour each day of vigorous activity to derive maximal health and school-related benefits.

Allowing children to sit for long periods of time and overuse digital toys, in addition to parents focusing too much on competitive team sports and “winning,” coupled with negative comments about children’s activities, according to the American Council on Exercise, will be harmful to the physical well-being of our nation’s youth. And, according to the latest research, promotes poor academic performance.

“…we [have] found strong evidence of a significant positive relationship between physical activity and academic performance. The findings of one high-quality intervention study and one high-quality observational study suggest that being more physically active is positively related to improved academic performance in children, ages 6-18.” – this according to the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine report.

Here’s where the Total Gym becomes a true family exercise center.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends age-appropriate exercises that your child enjoys, including cardiovascular, strength training and bone strengthening activities. These can all be safely and easily accomplished on the very same equipment moms and dads enjoy at home or at the gym—the Total Gym!

Specific Total Gym full body exercises are available for youngsters here.

Like adults, children can safely work to their comfort level on squats, calf raises, front pullovers, lying triceps extensions, chest presses, bicep curls, push ups, pull ups and many more exercises.

Committing to provide your children with aerobic activity, muscle and bone strengthening activity, while helping to promote academic performance, is a true “win.” Of course, parental supervision is always required when children are enjoying the Total Gym.

Explain to your children the value of exercise to their health and yours. Be sure your children see you enjoying the Total Gym and create a “buddy system” approach to exercise. You can also encourage your children to bring a friend, with that child’s parental permission, to create a group activity. Make it fun … perhaps even establish a family “fitness night” each week complete with healthy nutrition and rewards.

The best exercises for children are the ones they will do. Making it playful on the Total Gym makes it very inviting for children and motivates youngsters to continue to meet their fitness needs.

Follow Dr. Mantell on Twitter @FitnessPsych

Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D., earned his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania after completing his M.S. degree in clinical psychology at Hahnemnann Medical College where he wrote his thesis on the psychological aspects of obesity. He coaches world-class athletes and fitness enthusaists for performance enhancement. He is Senior Consultant for Behavioral Sciences for ACE, on the faculty of the Equinox Fitness Training Institute, a national Community Ambassador for Experience Life Magazine’s health initiative and for FitFluentials, appears weekly on San Diego’s CW channel 6, is a consultant to Les Mills International, writes for IHRSA, is a member of the Sports Medicine Team at the Sporting Club of San Diego and the La Jolla Sports Club specializing in fitness psychology, writes the “San Diego Fitness Psychology” column and “San Diego Life Coach Examiner.” He is also a writer and consultant to the Total Gym company. Dr. Mantell has written two best-selling books and appears regularly on radio and TV.

Total Gym Weekly Workout – New Year Smart Start

Happy New Year Total Gym’ers! We hope you are off to a FANTASTIC 2012!

What good habits are you planning to adopt this year? Inspire us by leaving a Comment below.

Here’s your New Year Smart Start workout to get the year started right!

This is an efficient exercise sequence maximizing the inverted prone position on Total Gym. Need a Press Bar for your Total Gym Sport, GTS or PowerTower? Click here. Total Gym XLS owners, click here to purchase the Press Up Bars.

Pushup; Overhead Press; Prone Jackknife

Cheers to a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Total Gym Weekly Workout – The Plank

Did you over do it during the holiday weekend? Never fear – the Plank is here!

While you begin to de-Christmas your diet, check out ALL the ways you can work your core with Total Gym Plank exercises. GRAVITY Master Trainer Michael Steel demos how to add an extra upper body challenge while you’re at it!

Plank