Mission SlimPossible Week 3 Knowledge Bombs!!!!

Team Mission SlimPossible Blog Blast #3

Now with us entering Week 3 of the challenge, we are all becoming acclimated with the intensity of the workouts and if you are dieting..how tough it can be.  We encourage you to continue to be the strong person you know you are and be conscious that you are building a healthier life for yourself and your family. 

Shauna’s Warming Things UP!

I have been a part of MANY gyms and to many times I will see people walk into the gym and go right on a machine or pick up a weight and start working out.  Because they did not warm up their body, their muscles are still ‘tight’ and are more apt to getting hurt.  A warm up is the act of preparing for an athletic event or workout by exercising or practicing for a short time beforehand. Warming up helps reduce your risk of injury and the aches and pains that come with exercise. The physiological reason to warm up is to assist your circulatory system in pumping oxygen-rich blood to your working muscles. The idea is to increase circulation throughout the body in a gradual manner. A proper warm up safely prepares the body for the increased demands of exercise. Cold muscles do not absorb shock or impact as well, and are more susceptible to injury.

Here are so key points in why warming up is SO important!

• Increased movement of blood through your tissues, making the muscles more pliable.
• Increased delivery of oxygen and nutrients to your muscles. This prevents you from getting out of breath early or too easily.
• Prepares your muscles for stretching
• Prepares your heart for an increase in activity, preventing a rapid increase in blood pressure
• Prepares you mentally for the upcoming exercise
• Primes your nerve-to-muscle pathways to be ready for exercise
• Improved coordination and reaction times

When stretching in a warm up, it is wise to hold each stretch for about 20 seconds. At Samson Strength and Conditioning, before bootcamps, we will run for about 3-4 minutes and do a variety of stretches together, standing.  I always have the Samsonites stretch on the blue mat before we go on our run.  We will do walking leg swings, lunges, quad stretches, shoulder stretches, squats and jumping jacks to get the heart rate up.  Then its WORKOUT TIME!

Justin’s Sports Drink Facts!

There are a vast number of sports drinks on the market these days that claim all sorts of benefits for improved performance and hydration. Famous athletes are seen in the advertising of these companies. So it begs the question, should you ditch the water and grab one?

Not so fast!

Remember the number one motive of these companies is to make a profit, and furthermore, most of these sports drinks are owned by Soda giants like Pepsi and Coca Cola. Nothing rehydrates better than water, it is perfect and can’t be duplicated. Obviously, it is the main ingredient in these sports drinks. The benefits supposedly come in the form of electrolytes, but unless you are seriously deficient in your diet, you probably do not benefit from those.

Public health advocates in some states have been pushing for a ban on the sale of sports drinks and flavored waters in schools, warning that drinks such as Gatorade and PowerAde contain as much as two-thirds the sugar of sodas, and more than three times the sodium. A report from the University of California at Berkeley warns that students who drink one 20-ounce sports drink every day for a year may gain about 13 pounds. This is no surprise to some nutritionists, who note that when you look at the ingredients, it's water, high-fructose corn syrup, and salt.

According to Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, "For years we've been programmed to believe that sports drinks are healthy and you need to replenish those electrolytes after you go out and walk your dog. They don't want any official sanctioning of the idea that sports drinks are associated with obesity.