NIFS Healthy Living Blog

After the New Year, springtime is another time that motivates us to make a fresh start. When the weather finally starts to warm up and the breeze is blowing, we want to throw open the windows and let the rebirth all around us revitalize our homes and our spirits.

Because it’s only natural to clean out the old during this time of the year, it’s also a great time to come to terms with your excuses for not getting fit and healthy. Excuses pile up just like the clutter that people accumulate in their houses, but it’s time to come clean.

What Is Your Excuse for Not Putting Your Health First?

Maybe it’s one of these?

I don’t have time to exercise.

This is probably the most common excuse that we hear. You are too busy. You have work all day or all night; you have to take the kids to school, pick them up from school, and take them to sporting events; dinner needs to be cooked; who’s going to go to the grocery store; and so on.

Seriously though?

One of those excuses, if not all of them, is something even fitness professionals deal with on a regular basis. However, if you do not exercise, you will almost certainly begin experiencing the illness and disease that come from an inactive lifestyle. When the symptoms start to present themselves, you will have to schedule a doctor’s appointment, drive to the appointment, wait to be seen, schedule possible additional tests at the hospital, and wait for your prescriptions to be filled at the pharmacy. With chronic illness, this scenarios will be played out month after month after month, into a vicious cycle. And that, my friends, can take even more time than exercising.

There’s no doubt we find time in our busy lives to attend to our medical issues. Will you make time for them? Well, of course! It’s easy to make sure to adjust your schedule and your life to accommodate illnesses. So why not just adjust your schedule now to accommodate the prevention of these illnesses through exercise and lifestyle change?

The truth of the matter is that if you do not make time for exercise, you will have to make time for illness. And let’s be honest, exercising takes a lot less time out of your life than sickness. Do the math: there are 24 hours in a day = 8 hours of work and 8 hours of sleep, and there are still 8 hours left. You can do a great deal in 8 hours.

I don’t like to exercise.

Do you like feeling tired? Do you like having no energy? Do you like being overweight or not healthy? Do you like visiting the doctor? Or undergoing medical tests to figure out what is wrong? You will feel tired, be overweight or unhealthy, visit the doctor more often, and undergo medical tests if you continue to let your lifestyle decline by not exercising.

I don’t have any energy to exercise.

The more unfit you are, the less energy you have. When you don’t have much energy, the last thing you can imagine yourself doing is exercising. Until you become more active, you will not have the energy you are longing for. As you begin exercising, you will start to see a difference in your energy levels. Until you start moving, you won’t start feeling better.

It’s just not the right time to start working out, I will start when…

• I get some better clothes.
• Summer vacation starts.
• The kids are back in school.
• The house is organized.
• My work schedule calms down.
• I have more time.
• Life calms down.
• The kids get older.
• The weather changes.
• Someday… just not today!

The list can go on and on, but in all honestly, it will never be the right time to start a new routine. Start now and make it right!

You just have to start!

Make the Decision to Stop the Excuses

Making the decision to stop hiding behind your excuses is something only you can do. But by making a clean sweep and tossing out those excuses, you are setting yourself up for a better and healthier lifestyle. The fit and healthy people around you choose to give up the excuses and just do it. I’m not saying it’s easy for them, that it’s easy for me as a fitness professional, or that it will be easy for you. But what it does mean is that you will love the feeling of having energy, feeling strong and healthy, going to fewer doctor’s visits, not to mention feeling motivated and empowered to continue to push and get it done.

You Can Do This!

This blog was written by Ashley Duncan, Weight Loss Coordinator. To find out more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

Fitness is a great tool to use to train the mind. Yes, often people work out for physical health, but exercise is also getting a lot of hype from psychologists. Many studies are proving that exercise and movement increase brain function, memory, and thinking skills. Not just that; the motivation, positivity, and strength learned and gained from an exercise session can all be used in daily life situations. 

I began doing yoga and running in 2009 as a way to de-stress when my mother was ill with cancer. At the time, I never knew that the real-world challenges I was going through would turn into my passion and lead me to my full-time career. I can honestly say that the motivational lesson of learning through sweat sessions helped me overcome daily life challenges and inspired to me share that with others.

From Yoga to Real Life

Yoga taught me to breathe. Breathing is a necessary human function, but one of the hardest things to do in a challenging situation. Learning breathing and mindfulness on my yoga mat taught me how to take it into my daily life. If I’m facing a challenge, it probably means I need to slow down, breathe, and evaluate what needs to be done.

Running taught me that there are days you are tired, sore, and don’t want to do something, but showing up and doing it will always feel better. My mom’s motivation to wake up every day on her weakest, saddest, and scariest days helped inspire me along my fitness journey to be fearless and “Just Do It™.”

As I began doing yoga and running, I fell so in love and developed such a deep passion for these things that I wanted to continue to learn about them. I got my 200 Hour yoga certification in 2014. I never knew that it would turn into a full-time career in NYC where I was inspiring packed rooms and training celebrities. That sounds great and glamorous, and honestly it was, but again yoga really just taught me to breathe and open my mind. I realized that going to New York was running away from dealing with my past. I was ready to face it again. New York is a stressful environment. I was keeping up just fine, but was pushing out family because I was “too busy training Victoria’s Secret models,” although I knew the real reason was fear and not fully living out what I was learning.

Letting go of ego is another lesson I learned on my yoga mat, and I knew that I could find balance between family and doing what I loved if I took some deep breaths, tuned in, and followed my head and heart at the same time. After three years in the Big Apple, I decided to live out my fitness and move back home to build my family bond and let go of anything from my past that challenged me, just as I had been doing for years in the gym.

From Running Away to Running Home

Along with my personal training success came my “glory days” of running. I was a runner because I loved how it felt. I had no clue I would one weekend wake up and call a friend asking whether I could run a marathon in her city the following weekend, and then show up and actually complete it. Well I did. And I don’t remember much about that race except a few things—the times I was challenged the most. My first challenge came at mile 6, my first hill. I remember that thing looking like a mountain. The second thing I remember was turning to my family in my time of need. At mile 13.1, I called my dad, crying:

“What am I doing? Should I just run a half marathon today?”

He responded with, “Just take a deep breath.” Well, at that moment my heart might have felt like it was going to burst out of my chest, and my mind was in a negative state underestimating my strength, but that connection and reminder to take a deep breath and tune in to my ultimate goal helped me complete 26.2 miles that day, and with the biggest smile on my face. I now coach others in running, and in the challenging times I bring out some of the lessons I learned to teach and inspire them, letting them know that I get it and understand because I’ve been in that headspace too. But I also remind them that this is no challenge you can’t overcome if you just take a deep breath and tune in. I also like reminding people that if 30-second fitness challenges or hills are the hardest struggles in their day, week, or life, they are pretty lucky!

At-Home Exercise Your Mind

So, here’s your chance to exercise your mind:

• What has challenged you in the gym?
• What did you do about it?
• What words of encouragement helped you overcome it?
• What was the feeling of overcoming challenge?

Now take that into your daily life. What is challenging you, and can you breathe and stay positive through that situation?

“JUST DO IT ™” —Gary Gilmore

Just Do It is a trademark of shoe company Nike.

This blog was written by Brittany Ignas, BS in Kinesiology, 200 Hour Yoga Alliance Certified, Stott Pilates Certified, and Fitness Coordinator. To find out more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

“You've got this!” "Keep it up!” “So strong!”

Ever come to your fitness class and hear those positive, motivating words? How do you feel in that moment? 

Motivation and positivity have been proven to help lead healthier, happier lives. We often come into a gym and feel strong, motivated, and positive in that moment; but are you taking what you learn into your daily life? Here are some tips and examples of leading a happier life not just during your gym time, but out of the gym!

Be mindful about positive thoughts.

When you hear words that make you smile and feel happy, are you listening to them, or are you letting them come in one ear and go out the other? When we mindfully hold onto positive thoughts and let go of the negative, we lead a more positive life. Can you replace three hurtful or negative thoughts with three new, positive thoughts? Try it! It's like spring cleaning for your brain!

Surround yourself with positive people.

It has been studied and seen that you are who you hang out with. During your daily life, are you surrounded by negative or stressful people? Can you engage in more activities with people who make you feel amazing and happy? Maybe that's replacing an hour of sitting on the couch watching negative news stations or judgmental reality television shows with a yoga class that encourages you to breathe and relax. List people, places, or things that often make you feel down or negative, and make a list of people and activities to engage in that make you feel good and positive. Simply replace the negative activity with the positive one. Most importantly, be honest and fearless.

Are you being negative?

Just as you'd want to be around positive people, don't you think others want to as well? If you are always talking about being stressed or tired, evaluate what in your personal life is making you stressed and tired. What do you need to do to turn into a positive, full-of-energy person? Finding balance in life is a challenge, but it’s possible if you dedicate time to making little changes. Set your mind on your goals and follow through.

Just do it.

What's holding you back? Studies show that changing habits can be challenging, but is not impossible. It takes a little work. Try to adopt a new positive habit each week. Your options are endless. Maybe that's giving your coworkers a high-five, writing down an inspirational motivational quote every morning as a reminder of your goal, starting your day in a workout class that promotes positivity, volunteering and helping others, or so much more. DO YOU—just do it! Letting go of others’ judgments and figuring out what makes you feel best and happiest and doing those things will lead to a happier life.

This blog was written by Brittany Ignas, BS in Kinesiology, 200 Hour Yoga Alliance Certified, Stott Pilates Certified, and Fitness Coordinator. To find out more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

Think about the most recognized duos of all time: Batman and Robin. Mario and Luigi. Buzz and Woody. Stability and Mobility. Wait, what? Yes, like superhero teams, stability and mobility work together to achieve a balanced, harmonious environment for functional movement.

It’s All Connected

First, I want to bring to your attention a concept that has been around for some time; however, we often forget the important role it plays in day-to-day performance. Let’s reflect on anatomy and the structure of the human body. I challenge you to think of it in terms of one continuous structure in which each joint affects the joints above or below it. This concept is commonly referred to as the kinetic chain. It boils down to stable joints being stable when they should be and mobile joints being mobile when they’re meant to be. In terms of starting or stopping movement, stability and mobility are quite often complementary in nature.

Being Flexible and Mobile

In case you missed it, let’s review the details from my preceding blog. Flexibility is primarily genetic, but can be improved slowly over time. It refers to the greatest length a muscle can achieve. This is often known as a joint’s range of motion (ROM).

Mobility is the ability to synchronize one’s coordination and overall strength to move around a joint under load—as, for example, when doing the front squat.

Now that we are adding stability to the equation, it enhances movement and helps it make sense. Stability is the ability to provide firmness and strength to certain joints, often with help from the surrounding connective tissue.

The Kinetic Chain in Action

The following illustration at www.acefitness.org depicts the six common links involved in the kinetic chain, along with their assigned level of stability. Each link or joint plays an important role in human movement and overall function.

Therefore, a joint’s health and function are ultimately determined by its structure and the continuous tradeoff between being stable or mobile. When there is more of one, there is always less of the other.

Why This Relationship Is Important: Injury Prevention

Why should you care? Well, when a joint is less stable, that means it is more mobile. More mobility means more motion at that joint; it can also mean more wear and tear, which can lead to more injury at that joint, including arthritis. Also, a less stable joint has to rely on surrounding muscle and tissue to provide the required stability, which can lead to injury in certain joints that are already highly susceptible.

So the next logical question is, how do I train to improve stability? We’ll explore that question in my next blog.

This blog was written by Cara Hartman, NIFS Health Fitness Instructor. To find out more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

Of course everyone knows that swimming is good for you. But what are the real benefits gained by jumping into the water?

Swimming Burns Tons of Calories

How many, you ask? Well, here are some hard numbers:

Calories burned in 1 hour for a 155-lb. person:

• Lap swimming, slow: 493 calories
• Lap swimming, fast: 704 calories
• We Water jogging: 563 calories
• Treading water, moderate: 281 calories
• Treading water, fast: 704 calories

Swimming Works All Muscle Groups

Swimming uses all major muscle groups. Remember, working big muscles burns big calories! This means you are strengthening your arms, legs, shoulders, and glutes, and it gives you a good core workout at the same time.

Swimming Is Low Impact on Your Body

Because you are suspended in the water, your joints don’t take the pounding they would on the ground or treadmill, plus the movement helps increase your range of motion. More range of motion means more muscle worked through that range, and yes, more calories burned!

Swimming Is a Refreshing Workout Any Time of the Year

The water in the competition pool at the Natatorium is kept between 75 and 79 degrees, the back pool is kept at 85 to 88 degrees, and the diving well for aqua fitness classes is kept at 85 to 88 degrees.

In short, there are few exercises that can give you the workout swimming can. If you have not found a love for kettlebells, weight machines, or treadmills, take the plunge and see what swimming can do for you. You may find a whole new workout routine you enjoy and look forward to.

For additional health benefits read this article on Active.com, 9 Good Reasons Why You Should Get in the Pool.

Swim Drills Anyone Can Do

To get you started, here are some great swim drills you can try in the pool.

• Stroke improvement drills (with pull buoy): The buoy is held above your knees and you work your arms and upper torso. You can also place the buoy at your ankles to feel your core and inner thighs work harder.
• Kick drills (with or workout fins): Work on the leg/hip action while holding a kickboard. It may be slow without fins, but you get great singular-leg and cardiovascular work.
• Side stroke: Lying on your side, down arm extended. Works your legs and core. Make sure you switch sides to get balanced work.
• Intervals, fast length down the pool: Give yourself proper rest time to go fast on the successive intervals. As you improve, add to the number of intervals or go-down-and-back sprints.

If you are interested in lap swimming as part of your training, access to the IU Natatorium lap pool is now part of your NIFS membership! Click here for more info.

Also check out Aqua Bootcamp for A HIGH INTENSITY water fitness workout that gives you the CARDIO boost of the pool and the benefits of RESISTANCE training in the gym. If you are interested check in at the Natatorium desk before class or contact Kris Simpson at ksimpson@nifs.org or 317.274.3432 ext.211

This blog was written by Kris Simpson BS, ACSM-PT, HFS, personal trainer at NIFS. To read more about Kris and NIFS bloggers click here.

When you hear the word stretch, you might think immediately about flexibility (or perhaps your lack thereof). Flexibility was always the term used for enhancing limited movement, until the word mobility arrived and took the fitness industry by storm.

As a NIFS Health Fitness Instructor for five years now, I’ve spent plenty of time in and around the fitness center using these terms. Whether I’m speaking to a client regarding their goals or sharing instructions on warm-up drills, these two words often get used interchangeably; however, they are not identical.

An Exercise Example to Illustrate the Difference

Generally speaking, flexibility can simply be defined as the greatest length a muscle can achieve during a range of motion (ROM), passively or actively. Mobility also requires achieving a certain ROM, but it also requires coordination and core strength to move around the joint under load.

Let’s examine a front squat to help make this clear. A flexible person may reach the deep squat position, enabled by the flexibility in ankles, knees, and hips, but then lack the mobility (coordination and core strength) needed to correctly complete the exercise by standing up. Similarly, without flexibility, that person wouldn’t even begin to reach the range of motion needed for the deep position required for the front squat, so mobility isn’t even a factor without the proper flexibility.

The Affects of Age

When it comes to flexibility and mobility, age is definitely not on our side. As we age, we lose the elasticity in our muscles, and the tendons and ligaments tighten, making flexibility hard work. It’s not until someone suffers from poor movement patterns resulting in limited functional movement that causes injuries for someone to start trying to combat the effects of aging. (You can learn more about your own condition by having a Functional Movement Screening at NIFS.)

Movement vs. Static Hold

Lastly, when looking to improve and enhance these two concepts, mobility requires movement, whether we are testing for it or training to improve it. On the other hand, flexibility is done more often with a static hold. It’s safe to say that you could have excellent flexibility (the length of muscles required for a deep squat) but very poor mobility because you do not possess the ability to stand up out of a deep squat position under load.

Let me share with you a few helpful movements to further differentiate between these two concepts:

Be sure to stay tuned for part 2 of this series as I discuss the important addition of stability to your movement patterns.

This blog was written by Cara Hartman, NIFS Health Fitness Instructor. To find out more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

V02 Assessment: A Wealth of Fitness Information for Training

Fitness trends come and go, but heart-rate training is something that has been around for a long time; and due to its validity, I have a feeling it will not be leaving anytime soon. In fact, some places base their entire programming around your heart rate. And knowing your heart-rate training zone is actually a very useful tool for anyone—from the marathon runner to the three-times-a-week boot camp attendee!

Maybe you have felt totally spent after a workout, or on the flip side, you have been at the gym for an hour and don’t feel very productive. Knowing your heart rate training zones can help you to train both harder as well as smarter. So become more efficient in your training by increasing your work capacity and decreasing the time it takes to do it.

Benefits of Knowing Your Training Zones

Take a look at the top 3 benefits of knowing your training zones:

• Maximize performance. Train in your zones that are based on real numbers.
• Know how to recover. Recovery is one important element to exercise that many miss. A V02 test will give you your recovery time in order to be efficient in things like intervals and rest.
• Train harder and smarter. If someone told you that you could become more fit in less time, wouldn’t you jump onto that boat? Knowing your zones allows you to be more efficient in your training

What Does This Assessment Show Me?

In other words, how efficiently does your body utilize oxygen and get it to the working muscles?

• Four different training zones (low-fat burning, moderate-endurance, high-cardio training, and peak-cardio training zones).
• V02 Max (your personal cardiovascular fitness level based on your age and gender).
• Recovery (both heart rate zone as well as time it takes you to recover from peak performance).
• Aerobic threshold (the window in which your body stops using oxygen efficiently and begins to rely on another energy system for the duration of the exercise—typically won’t last long).
• Anaerobic threshold (the point at which lactic acid builds up in the body faster than it can be removed; the point at which you do not have enough oxygen to sustain exercise for long periods of time).
• Total calories burned (the V02 gives you the total amount of calories you burn during each training zone if you sustained that pace for the entire workout).

With all this being said, I would tell anyone from the regular everyday exerciser to the most elite athlete that getting a V02 assessment is something that is beneficial for your training. The cost is $100 for NIFS members and $115 for guests.

To schedule your V02 assessment, contact the NIFS track desk at 317-274-3432 ext. 262, or fitness@nifs.org.

This blog was written by Amanda Bireline, Fitness Center Manager. To read more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

In our current state of fitness, many folks are continually looking for the next best exercise, program, or intense challenge. My challenge to you is to return to the basics, perfect those, and then explore the possibility of increasing the difficulty or completing some monster challenge. Gray Cook says it best: “Don’t add strength to dysfunction; move well and then often.” Translation: stop jumping right to something you are not prepared for just because you viewed it on “insta.” I challenge you not to focus on and post epic exercise fails, but to post a video of someone performing a stellar squat, a pristine pull-up, or the proper push-up.

A Full-Body Exercise

The push-up is easily the most versatile and effective exercise in the vast movement library in fitness and health. Challenging spinal and core stability, upper- and lower-body endurance, and strength, the push-up, done correctly is truly a full-body exercise. A great push-up starts with a strong trunk, so start there by improving your planks and hip bridges to strengthen the entire system.

Push-up Checklist

Next, consult the following checklist to perform your best push-ups, and learn some variations to both assist and challenge yourself.

1. Spine 1: Neutral spine with no sagging or hunching in the low back.
2. Spine 2 (top of press): Push away from the ground and hollow out.
3. Head: Don’t sag or extend—look at the ground.
4. Chin: Pull the chin toward the spine (double chin).
5. Hands 1: Just outside shoulder width.
6. Hands 2: Dial hands counterclockwise, splay the hands, and grip the ground.
7. Elbows: 45-degree angle creating an “arrow” position.
8. Arms (top of press): Push-up to straight-arm position.
9. Butt: Push belt buckle to the ground while maintaining spinal alignment throughout motion.
10. Quads: Send the back of your knees to the sky.
11. Feet: Press equally through the floor.

This blog was written by Tony Maloney, ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist and Health Fitness Instructor. To find out more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

Some people in this world are really good at staying committed to something they have started, but there are many others who struggle with meeting a goal or expectation that they have set for themselves, then actually following through with it to completion. It can be a challenge to hit those markers if you cannot seem to stay committed to something, which in turn leads to discouragement, a sense of failure, and feeling defeated.

The 5 Goal-Setting Tips

If you find yourself needing to restart your fitness plan all the time, take a few minutes to read these 5 tips that will help you to achieve what you want.

• Track your stuff. A handful of things are lumped into this category when I say your “stuff”: food, workouts, weight, body fat, measurements, and the list goes on. Tracking fitness—where you started and what you are doing—will allow you to see progress over time and keep you committed to what you originally started.
• Write down your goal. After you have your goal(s) written down, post it someplace that you can be reminded of it constantly, such as on the fridge, on the mirror, in the car, or at work. Find a place that it will stare you in the face and not allow you to bury it in the “someday” fitness bucket list file.
• Establish some accountability. This looks different for each individual. Maybe it’s an actual accountability partner who is invested in your goals, or maybe it’s being accountable to yourself through writing stuff down, keeping a fitness journal, or using a fitness tracker to push yourself. Whatever it is that will keep you accountable in the times that you are struggling to get done what you need to do, be sure to find that and begin implementing it right away to see yourself succeed.
• Join a fitness challenge. Many gyms or even wearables have fitness challenges throughout the year that you can take part in. Be sure to find one and sign up for it right away. These challenges are typically built to get you into the gym a certain number of times per week or keep you on an exercise schedule. Don’t be afraid to fail; sign up for one and keep yourself going!
• Make it a habit. One of the best ways to ensure that you meet your personal fitness goals or expectations is to make them healthy habits. When something is a habit in your life, it’s not forgotten or pushed off to the side. Make exercise a habit in your life so that it won’t be compromised when your schedule gets hectic or your responsibilities increase.

If you have been struggling to meet your fitness goals, following these simple steps will get you back on track, and staying on track, in no time. Find out what works best for you and make it a habit.

This blog was written by Amanda Bireline. To read about the other NIFS bloggers, click here.