Nielsen Fitness - Personal Training Toronto

Written by Lars:Click to read profile

Generally speaking there are two ways to increase your rate of progress when working to improve muscle mass and muscle tone in the gym. You can increase the effectiveness of your training or you can increase your rate of tissue recovery after each workout.

Today I am going to address recovery. The faster your body can repair muscle, after its been agitated through the workout process, the more rapidly you will see positive results in your muscle development.

One way to speed up your recovery after a workout is to take an alternating hot / cold shower.

The pattern should be as follows:
Cold / Hot / Cold / Hot / Cold (3 cold, 2 hot)

Let your body soak in each cold segment for 30 seconds and each hot segment for 2 minutes.

This process will help in decreasing muscle tension from post workout stress. It also increases blood flow around the muscle, which facilitates a faster rate of recovery.

Remember, faster recovery means more rapid progress toward the body you want. Try this tip for 2 weeks and experience the results for yourself.

Most of us are aware of the virtues and importance of water when it comes to maintaining a healthy and fit body. It is an essential ingredient to a successful workout, and should be consumed throughout the day to help flush toxins from the body, assist with digestion and fend off dehydration.

Today I want you to take a minute to think about where your water comes from, and how the choices you make when it comes to water affect our planet.

Many people buy and drink bottled water because we have all been led to believe it’s cleaner and safer than tap water. But this couldn’t be further from the truth – and our love of bottled water is causing serious harm to the Earth. As this article states, “bottled water is no safer than tap water. The explosive growth in sales is having an impact on the environment through depletion of local water resources, use of fossil fuels, and increased waste.”

This article is well worth a read, especially today. In honour of Earth Day, I want to suggest that you ditch the bottled water habit, get yourself a non-toxic refillable container (stainless steel is best) and an inexpensive home water filtration system (like a Brita filter). You’ll be doing yourself – and the planet – a favour.

Today, it was announced that a number of Canadian companies have taken hard plastic water bottles off their shelves in reaction to news that a chemical agent found in these bottles is soon to be designated a toxic agent by the federal government.

Canadians use products containing this chemical everyday – from water and baby bottles to dental fillings. As a first step to protect yourselves from this harmful chemical, I suggest you throw out all hard plastic “Nalgene-type” water bottles – including the clear hard plastic Nielsen Fitness bottles given to clients in summer 2007.

How can you tell if one of your bottles contains bisphenol A? Almost always, products containing this chemical will be marked (usually on the bottom) with a triangle surrounding the number 7. If any number other than 7 is in the triangle – such as the number 4 which appears on our current white Nielsen Fitness bottles – you should have nothing to worry about. However, if a product is unmarked or if you have any doubt, err on the side of caution and get rid of it!

I came across the following article today which asked the question ‘Is organic food worth the money?’ The question caught my attention because recently my fiancée and I decided to begin buying organic wherever possible – especially meat, eggs and dairy.

This lifestyle change was the result of my fiancée reading the book Skinny Bitch, by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, which strongly advocates veganism and draws attention to the health – and in some cases, ethical – implications of eating factory farmed meat, dairy, and eggs, and chemically-doused produce.

Now, with little difficulty, the majority of the meat, dairy, eggs and fruits and vegetables we’re buying are organic. We find the flavour and quality of the food to be better, and we are resting better at night knowing we aren’t ingesting growth hormones, antibiotics and chemicals.

From a price-point perspective we’ve discovered that it is far more cost effective to buy from the speciality or organic section at our local Loblaws Superstore instead of at exclusively organic grocery stores (like Whole Foods). We have been amazed at the selection and to find that in many cases, organic is only marginally more expensive than ‘regular’ - if at all. In fact, last weekend, we bought organic oranges at a better price-point than regular ones!

The author of ‘Is Organic Food Worth the Money?’ spoke to three of Canada’s top chefs to get their take on whether organic is worth it. The verdict: sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t. They unanimously agreed that organic is most important for meat, dairy and eggs, and least important for cereals and other grain-based foods.

I think there’s still some mystery out there about what ‘organic’ really means. I know more than a few people who think it’s a marketing gimmick to appeal to the wealthy. The truth is, organic food is simply food the way nature intended. I personally think it’s a shame that we’ve gotten to the point where this is the exception rather than the rule.

I’m not going to tell you to eat organic but I am going to suggest you give it some thought and do some research. At the very least you’ll be in a position to make an informed decision about what you want in your body.