During pregnancy, it’s normal and natural for weight-gain to occur. Once the delivery date arrives, many women are extremely eager to get rid of the extra baby weight and often partake in fads and bad habits in order to see faster results. However, when working towards your fitness goals after pregnancy, it’s important to make sure you are doing it in a way that’s healthy for both your body and mind. Continue reading “Post-Pregnancy Fitness: Don’t Go Backwards in Life”
Category: Women’s Fitness
Finding the Right Personal Trainer for You
Deciding to hire a personal trainer is a great route for women who are beginning to work out regularly but may not know how to reach their fitness goals. However, it is extremely important that you find the personal trainer that will be best for your body, motivations, and specific goals. Continue reading “Finding the Right Personal Trainer for You”
Beat the Heat: How to Stay Safe When Exercising Outside
With the heat of the summer on, exercising outside can be dangerous. From overheating to dehydration, knowing how to stay safe when exercising outside is something all women should know, athlete or not. Don’t ignore these basic rules.
Wear Sunscreen
Even if you are exercising on a cloudy day, you can still get burned. Choose a sunscreen that provides 50 SPF protection and reapply regularly. Avoid spray on sunscreen and sunscreens that claim to be over 50 SPF. Not only are aerosols bad for the environment, but anything over 50 SPF doesn’t work.
Stay Hydrated
Before, during and after exercising outdoors, it is very important to drink plenty of water. Staying hydrated will keep your muscles and cardiovascular system functioning as they should, as well as allowing you to sweat.
Sweating may seem gross, but it is essential to maintain your body temperature. When you sweat, you lose a lot of:
- Water
- Electrolytes
- Potassium
When you lose these three components, you are losing necessary nutrients and minerals. If you have cramping, that is usually a sign that you need potassium in your diet. You can replenish electrolytes with a sports drink like Gatorade. Never drink soft drinks when exercising. Soft drinks contain sugar and caffeine, both of which will dehydrate you even more. Balance sports drinks with water.
Check the Humidity
Even though sweating cools you down, it cannot do so on a humid day. That is why you should not only check the temperature outside before you exercise, but also the humidity. Humidity will make a hot day seem even more unbearable because the sweat will not be evaporating off of your body as it should. If you have to exercise outside on a humid day, take precautions and regularly find cool places to rest.
Listen to Your Body
While you need to push yourself to get stronger or faster, watch out for any warning signs that you’re pushing yourself too hard. If you begin to experience these symptoms, stop exercising and take a break:
- Dizziness
- Shortness of breath
- Nausea
- Cramping
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The Many Benefits of Exercising While Pregnant
Exercise is beneficial for everyone. But for pregnant women, exercising is an important part of staying healthy that’s beneficial for them and their baby. By remaining active during your pregnancy, you can rest assured that you are taking advantage of the many benefits that come along with exercising:
Improve Health for Both Mom & Baby
By exercising while pregnant, you will not only be improving your health but your baby’s. Exercising prepares your body for the labor process and may reduce the need for pain medications. It also helps reduce the chances of:
- Back pain
- Gestational diabetes
- Needing a C-section
You also potentially improve your baby’s:
- Heart
- Memory
- Weight
How you take care of yourself during pregnancy also affects your baby not only in-utero but throughout its entire life. According to research, children of mothers who exercised during pregnancy had better memories and higher scores on intelligence and language tests. Mothers who exercised and ate healthy during their pregnancies also tended to have babies with healthier birth weight.
Exercising Helps Boost Your Immune System
Pregnant or not, exercising will help boost your immune system and fight off harmful germs and viruses. A healthy immune system is especially important when you are pregnant.
When pregnant, women’s immune systems tend to overreact when faced with invaders like the flu. In addition to exercise, it’s very important to stay up-to-date on your immunizations. Not only are you protecting your own health, but the health of your baby.
Exercising Reduces Stress
Exercising while pregnant is a great way to reduce stress, both mentally and physically. Keep your body in shape and your body will feel less of the negative physical effects of pregnancy. It’s also a great way to unwind and boost your mood.
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Fitness Dos And Don’ts For Looking Great In Your Wedding Dress
Wedding season is right around the corner. Women whose wedding is coming up often try to lose weight or tone up to look great in their wedding dress. While it’s okay to want to look good on your big day, going to extreme measures will do you more harm than good.
Don’t Lose a Lot of Weight
Once your dress is fitted, don’t lose a lot of weight at the last minute. Not only will your dress not fit correctly, but you won’t have time to get it altered. Continue reading “Fitness Dos And Don’ts For Looking Great In Your Wedding Dress”
Why You Should Think Twice Before Starting a Cleanse
Many people believe that cleanses are a good way to keep your body healthy or to lose weight in a short amount of time. However, there could be potential dangers when starting a new cleanse. Cleanses, by themselves, can present many unwanted issues.
Lack of Nutrition
While it seems detoxing with fruit juices or fruit-infused waters would be a healthy solution that is by far not the case. Continue reading “Why You Should Think Twice Before Starting a Cleanse”
A Guide to Safe Exercise While Pregnant
If you’re pregnant and want to exercise, you’ve probably wondered if it’s safe. On top of that, you may have been bombarded with advice from well-meaning family and friends on what you should and shouldn’t do.
While it may seem rude, your doctor’s advice is the one that matters above friends or family. Hiring a trainer who specializes in pregnancy can help you exercise safely and motivate you to stay healthy. Before continuing or beginning an exercise regimen when pregnant with or without a trainer, get your doctor’s okay. Continue reading “A Guide to Safe Exercise While Pregnant”
What is the Best Workout for Your Body Type?
Not all women are the same, especially when it comes to body type. There are many different body types among women, and each one may require a different form of exercise to provide the best results. In general, women’s body types can include:
- Pear
- Apple
- Straight
- Hourglass
Figuring out what your individual body type is will help you determine the best workout for you. Remember to always consult with your doctor before starting an exercise routine, and know how to keep yourself safe when exercising.
Pear
What Does It Look Like?
Women who are pear-shaped tend to be heavier in their thighs, butt, and hips, making them appear lighter on the top and heavier on the bottom. Celebrities such as Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez are considered to be pear-shaped.
What’s the Best Workout for Me?
If your body type is leaning towards more pear-shaped, focus on:
Apple
What Does It Look Like?
The apple body shape means you are rounder in the center and have a thicker waist when compared to your hips and shoulders. Celebrities like Drew Barrymore and Lindsay Lohan would be considered apple-shaped.
What’s the Best Workout for Me?
The best workout for your apple-shaped body would focus on:
- Core-centric sculpting
- HIIT (high-intensity interval training) cardio
Straight
What Does It Look Like?
If you have a thin, straight silhouette and lack curves, you would be considered to have a straight body type. Celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Cameron Diazvrock this figure.
What’s the Best Workout for Me?
For ladies with a straighter figure, the following workout is best:
Hourglass
What Does It Look Like?
The hourglass figure tends to be curvier on both the top and bottom halves of the body with a tiny waist in the middle. Well-known Celebrities such as Scarlett Johansson and Sofia Vergara have the hourglass shape.
What’s the Best Workout for Me?
When exercising, curvier women should make sure to incorporate:
To make directing your workouts to fit your body type even easier, try investing in home gym equipment. Get the exact piece (or pieces) you need to make sure you are getting the most out of each and every workout you complete.
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What Does a Fit Body Really Look Like?
With the media constantly barraging women with images of the “perfect” body, it can be difficult to know what being fit actually means. Contrary to popular belief, being skinny and sculpted doesn’t equal being fit.
Being fit is a lot more than just looking sexy at the gym or in a bathing suit. You can look amazing and still be unhealthy. Being fit means that you have a body that is healthy and can endure the daily physical strains you put on it, like running a distance or picking up that big bag of mulch. Continue reading “What Does a Fit Body Really Look Like?”