Happy Halloween: The Buzz Killington Edition

On this day you shall rejoice and party. You shall consume treats of various sizes and shapes, tastes and textures. I want you to enjoy, to cheat on everything you have been working so hard on. I want you to eat as much filth as you possibly can, recklessly and excessively. Pig out until your belt rips off, until your stomach aches and your head breaks out with beads of sweat. I want you to eat that candy. I'm BEGGING you to eat that candy...but first, check out what is in it. (Scarier than ghosts)

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS: Big surprise. You actually thought that Jolly Rancher was a rectangular blueberry? Not too likely. Culprits such as aspartame and sucralose trick the body and actually still promote obesity. Not to mention aspartame's 167 possible side-effects that you are rolling the dice on every time you put it in your mouth. Be very suspect of anything in a wrapper, box, or has a neon color. 

ARTIFICIAL COLORS: These lovely colors that glow and make your food look like a solid rainbow are linked to asthma, allergies and cancer. Even though common sense could tell you this, studies show that even the colorings in food lead to an increase in hyperactivity. If you are concerned with your child's fake disorder "ADHD", give them exercise and stop feeding them garbage. 

SODIUM BENZOATE: You most likely have read this on your food label and thought nothing of it. Well, in fact it is a preservative that prevents molding on your food. This allows for a longer shelf life of food in the stores while it waits for you to purchase it. Some products have both sodium benzoate AND ascorbic acid (vitamin C) which forms the chemical benzene. The FDA is actually on the ball with this one and officially labels benzene as a cancer causing substance. 

BUTYLATED HYDROXYANISOLE (BHA) and BUTYLATED HYDROXYTOLUENE (BHT): What the heck did I just write? I can barely pronounce it, let alone type it out accurately. These two gems are used to make sure your candy and food that contain fat do not become rancid. BHA is yeast defoaming and BHT preserves food, flavor and color. Some studies show that there are people unable to metabolize these two substances which leads to health complications and increased cancer rates. BHT is banned in England. 

I'm not on the bandwagon of "everything in moderation". It is just one night out of the year, but you know that you and your little ones eat the food collected and purchased for this night for weeks and weeks to come. Poor parenting choices lead to bad habits that form to affect the longevity of our children's lives. If you are going to enjoy your Halloween, do so in severe moderation, and leave the treats for one night, and one night only. 

High or Low Reps?

With Intensity X3 P90X fitness classes, you have the option of manipulating resistance in order to achieve your specific training goal. This ability allows the customization of the program and in essence allow Muscle Confusion to take its course. Variety is what challenges the muscles and demands they adapt to the stress placed upon them. Development such as growth, endurance and overall performance results with consistent training. How does the weight truly effect your muscle progress? How do you know what weight to use to properly "bring it"? Keep reading, and let your mind grow...

Perhaps the most important principle to look at here is that of failure. When training to failure, you are maximizing the muscle's output for that specific amount of resistance (the weight, band, etc used). The quantity of the repetitions that are used to reach this failure point is important and is the factor we need to look at in combination with your weight selection. If you are using a weight that only allows you to obtain 8-12 repetitions, you are performing more of a strength set that will lead to more increases in the SIZE of the muscle fiber. The technical name for this is hypertrophy. Think of each muscle fiber as a straw. Keeping your failure range to 8-12 will increase the area of that straw making the "hole" larger. Increasing the size of each muscle fiber in an entire muscle will make it look larger overall and lead you to buying bigger shirts :)

Flip the coin and select a weight that you are able to perform 20 repetitions, and not a single rep more. This higher range is more of an endurance effect, increasing elements in the muscle tissue such as mitochondrial density (an organelle in the cells that helps utilize oxygen). A better training style for endurance athletes and those looking for less bulk, high repetitions increases blood flow to muscles, demanding construction of more capillaries to handle the increased fluid volume. 

So which is better?

NEITHER!

Both styles of training have their place in P90X, and should be a vital part of your regimen. Here at Intensity X3 we utilize both methods of training to fully develop the muscles and give our team members a well-rounded physique, ready for whatever comes their way. Focusing only on one style of training limits the body's progress, leads to training plateaus, and could even result in injury and/or involution (decreased performance). P90X is specifically designed to utilize these styles of exercise to maximize your potential, limit your injury risk, and avoid "deadly" plateaus that waste your time and inhibit your progress. So get to it, mix it up, and bring your best to the weights... They are waiting for you!

Hidden Sugar: A Sweet Masquerade

Sneaky sneaky sneaky sugar! How did you get in there!?! You should have warned me that you would be in my food. You said you would be on the nutrition label, and I looked, but I didn't see your name. Where were you hiding? You would have fooled me completely but it definitely tasted sweet... so I looked again. Still didn't see your name! Where are you? Did you change your name? Why did you do that? Don't you want me to know that you are there? Or are you purposely trying to hide to trick me?

This could be an awkward but familiar conversation to have inside your head when you are looking at nutrition labels. We know that added sugar is generally not good for us, so we have made a better habit of watching out for it when we are making our purchases. Sometimes, the labels are misleading, listing sugar with other names to soften the blow to the consumer. Lets check out all the alias's that sugar uses to find its way into your food without your knowledge.

Sucrose, Evaporated Cane Juice, Agave Nectar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Blackstrap Molasses, Fruit, Juice Concentrate, 100% Fruit Juice, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, just some of the names that sugar hides behind on your food label. So how does this affect you?

Added sugar can lead to a number of ailments and illnesses not limited to type II diabetes, high blood pressure, increased LDL cholesterol, and even risk of Alzheimer's disease. Keeping tabs on where it is finding its way onto your plate and into your mouth will limit your risk of falling into the sugar trap. Avoiding such problems may be easier than you think. You just have to CHANGE the way you think.

Next time you are at the supermarket, try purchasing foods WITHOUT nutrition labels on them. This will limit your selections more to fresh fruit and vegetables, and less to those with added chemicals, sugars and colorings. If you do purchase a product in a container or box, look to see if you understand what the label says and what the ingredients really are. If you can't pronounce or comprehend an ingredient, it's a good sign that it should not be in your food. It is truly hard to avoid every bump in the road, but making smarter decisions begins with educating yourself. Take this first step, give it a try.

Hot Yoga in the House

We sure do love us some yoga, but what's with this heat? Yoga is an ancient art that has found popularity world wide, and even more so as a front-runner for popularity in almost every gym. The benefits of yoga, namely flexibility, balance, and restoration, help people recover from daily stress, find physical and mental balance in their lives, and repair from weight training programs. Hot yoga is a current trend of class where the temperature of the room is elevated, increasing sweat production and making it easier for the body to move into the postures. Here are some of the things you can look forward to when taking a hot yoga class.

HEAT: Turn it up!! It won't be overbearing, but can take some getting used to. The room temperature is elevated, significantly hotter than room temperature. Actual temperature varies depending on the class and/or instructor, but you can expect a nice, toasty atmosphere upon entering class. 

SWEAT: What happens when your body is in a hot room? You sweat! This is a normal reaction in order to keep the body at normal temperatures internally. The good thing about sweat is that it is cleansing to the pores, which hydrates the skin and eliminates microscopic junk that settles on it throughout the day. 

FLEXIBILITY: Although you can improve your flexibility with a regular yoga class, it is a fact of life that heat increases the elasticity of objects, your soft tissue (muscles, tendons, ligaments) is no different. With an increase in heat, you will be able to sink into postures in a more effective and perhaps less painful manner. 

WEIGHT LOSS: Excess water weight can be a bane on your figure and health. Often times, especially with a poor diet the body holds onto excess water, creating a bloating effect under the skin. The release of toxins and water during a hot yoga class is a great way to rid yourself of the extra H20.

VARIETY: No true fitness goal can be achieved by only focusing on one form of training. Hot yoga is a great addition to any fitness program to teach the body to move under different circumstances. This new stress gives the body an opportunity to develop and grow in a new way, which is always beneficial. The art and spirituality of the practice does not change, only the surroundings, which can only help you take your physical prowess to the next level. 

Are You REALLY Doing P90X?

P90X is an intense, 7 day per week program involving a rotation of resistance workouts with cardiovascular, flexibility and neuromuscular conditioning days. It is not so much a workout as it is a lifestyle commitment, relying on the individual to make the necessary sacrifices to see the program through. Each day is designed specifically to target certain aspects of fitness conditioning to optimally stimulate the body with and increase in muscle size, accelerated fat mobilization (loss) and improved cardiovascular health and performance. Someone looking at the overall program may ask themselves, "Which workout is the most important?" The true answer is ALL of them, but lets look at the groupings and break down the benefits of each.

RESISTANCE: Workouts that include Chest and Back, Back and Biceps, Shoulders and Arms, to name a few. Designed to stimulate hypertrophy (muscle growth) of the muscle fibers which as a result, increases fat metabolism, and protein synthesis (muscle creation), thus getting you that "tone" and definition you are looking for. The strength gained from these workouts will help your daily activities by giving your body the ability to create more force needed for lifting, carrying, and pushing objects.

CARDIO: Cardio X, Plyo X, and Kenpo X are all components of the cardiovascular aspect of P90X. Our program here at Intensity X3 utilizes INSANITY for the cardio component, but the goals are the same. Increase capillary density in the muscle tissue which helps deliver oxygen and eliminate waste. This improves heart health, helps reduce risk of heart disease by lowering blood cholesterol, blood pressure and resting and exercise heart rates.

FLEXIBILITY and MOBILITY: Yoga X. Yoga X. Yoga X. Our yoga program here at Intensity X3 builds upon the principles set up with P90X Yoga X and takes it to the next level. Varied classes allow for members to improve flexibility, range of motion in the joints and heal faster between workouts. Very likely the most important workout we offer, Yoga X delivers on all levels of your fitness and is an ESSENTIAL aspect of your training.