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Archive for the ‘Maximize Your Workout’ Category
Benefits of Exercising with Friends
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012
Exercising in a group environment offers benefits beyond those you get from working out individually. It provides you extra motivation, commitment and sociability that all contribute to you exercising at your full potential. Did you know that referring a friend to your LA Boxing gym can earn you rewards at participating locations? We offer a free month at LA Boxing, a free personal training session and discounts on memberships and merchandise.
MOTIVATION
Those who exercise individually may stop a workout short when it gets too difficult. The other people you exercise with provide an excellent source for motivation to make sure this doesn’t happen. With an intense workout like boxing, your workout partners will support and push you to continue when you need it the most. As you and your exercise partner are both working out, you might begin to compete in the workout, putting in more of an effort to keep up with or surpass your friend.
COMMITMENT
It is often easier to skip a day of exercising when you are only relying on yourself to get yourself to the gym. When you are working out with friends, you are both dependent on each other to go to the gym. This adds a sense of accountability now that your exercise partners expect you to show up during the scheduled workout. This commitment and accountability will maximize your workout each time you visit the gym.
SOCIAL INTERACTION
Another major benefit commonly overlooked when having an exercise partner is the social experience it brings. Some individuals may work in an environment with limited amount of social interaction and time for proper exercise. By exercising with friend, both of these needs can be met simultaneously. Exercising with a friend provides social benefits that makes the exercise more interesting than working out individually.
“Razor” Rob McCullough shows LA Boxing members tips on The LA Boxing Workout
Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
Former WEC Lightweight Champion Razor Rob McCullough details how to properly wrap your hands in the MMA style. It is important that your hands are wrapped properly to avoid injury to your hand or wrist.
Are Multivitamins Good for us?
Friday, December 2nd, 2011
The effectiveness and safety of multivitamins have come into question on many occasions – so how do we know if they are good for us?
Over the past few years, consumer health organizations have done many studies on multivitamin labels and containments. In a test of 21 vitamins by ConsumerLab.com, just 10 met the stated claims on their labels or satisfied other quality standards.
Avoid the vitamins singled out by ConsumerLab.com, and stick with mainstream names such as Centrum Silver and One-A-Day Women’s, which were found to be free of impurities and accurately labeled. Also, check vitamin bottles for the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP), NSF International (NSF), or ConsumerLab.com (CL) seals. The USP and NSF are nonprofit groups that verify whether companies offer contamination-free products and use good manufacturing practices.
Vitamins are vital nutrients your body needs to function properly and help supplement your diet. If your diet is rich in fruit, vegetables, fiber and lean protein, you may not need to take a multivitamin and would be better off supplementing only the vitamins you don’t get through your diet such as vitamin D or anti inflammatory like fish oil pills.
Keep in mind – taking a multivitamin every day does not give you a “free pass” to eat a poor diet filled with processed, junk foods. And as always, it’s important to balance your diet with regular exercise. To get in the best shape of your life – try the LA Boxing workout and click here to find the gym nearest to you.
Calling Baton Rouge
Wednesday, August 10th, 2011
LA Boxing Baton Rouge Instructor, Andrew Sall, and member, Ashley, demonstrate fundamental mixed martial arts techniques often used throughout basic classes. Sall utilizes a 1, 2, 3, 2 combo with slips and a duck. He finishes the series with sprawl drills and a jab/cross burnout.
The 10-Count: Holly Mosier Talks Stress and Boxing in Lake Forest
Friday, January 21st, 2011
1. So.. who is Holly Mosier?
(With ease) I’m an Author, Healthy Lifestyle Expert, Boxing Gym Owner, Lawyer, Wife and Mother.
Holly Mosier is an owner of LA Boxing Lake Forest and author of the upcoming book, Stress Less, Weigh Less
2. How did you come to own your own LA Boxing gym?
It started when I hit my 40s. I had been a lifetime fitness enthusiast, but all of a sudden nothing I was doing was keeping me from gaining an additional two pounds every year. I was determined to find a more effective means. As a medical malpractice attorney, I was well equipped to research the countless fitness methodologies available. In doing so, all signs pointed to interval training as the king. It consistently provided better results. Furthermore, boxing emerged as the premier form of interval training. My husband and I then put that research to the test at a local gym near our house. We were convinced after a noticeable difference in definition after just six weeks. Sadly, that gym ended its boxing program after three months, and we needed a new place to train. We explored a number of programs and found LA Boxing to be the best by far. We immediately signed ourselves up, along with our 19 year-old son and 22 year-old daughter. Boxing class quickly became a fitness lifestyle for the whole family. We saw such great results and wanted to be able to share our experience with our local community. That’s how we came to purchase our own LA Boxing franchise in Lake Forest. I was 48 at the time.
3. Do you want us to publish that?
(Laughing) Of course. It’s important to me that middle-age women feel comfortable training like I do. I’ll be 50 in March.
4. Is it hard to get women in the gym?
For women especially, boxing gyms can seem scary. I don’t think there is any way to avoid that trepidation. We just aren’t programmed to punch. It isn’t in our DNA as it seems to be for guys. What surprises people about LA Boxing are how amenable it is for a woman of any age. The environment is welcoming, comfortable and inviting. We have a strong membership of women at our club in Lake Forest because we make it clear that we want you here, we’re ready for you and there are plenty of others in the exact same position.
5. What if you don’t know how to box?
Well, man or woman, LA Boxing knows you probably don’t have a clue when you first walk through the door. Our trainers are all professional and amateur fighters who know how to work with inexperience. They are expecting to have to train you on correct punching form and combinations. As a new member, they do a remarkable job of giving you the personal attention you need without making you feel like you’re being singled out.
6. How does boxing fit into your weekly regimen?
I box two to three days every week, cardio on the other days and practice yoga twice a week. I always wear my heart rate monitor during workouts so I know that I burn an average of 320 calories during a boxing workout. I burn only 130 calories during a pretty intense exercise class at a traditional gym. That’s a big difference. The boxing provides an unparalleled workout but it is important to engage in a variety of activities, especially in your 30s, 40s, and beyond to prevent repetitive stress injuries.
7. That’s less than 200 calories a day.
Between my boxing workouts, yoga and days I just do cardio; I burn about 300 calories during exercise each day. That may sound like a small number, but you have to take into account my small size. Plus, if you eat 100 calories a day more than you burn, you’ll gain 10 pounds over the course of a year. So the increase in the number of calories I burn in the LA Boxing classes has made a big impact. It keeps my weight down and fitness level high.
8. In my face. Well let’s get into your new book before we run out of questions. What is Stress Less, Weigh Less all about?
Stress Less, Weigh Less is about the forgotten, and possibly the most important factor in healthy living – how stress impacts the body and what can we do to ameliorate it. We generally speak of fitness as a function of exercise and nutrition, but for either to be truly effective, we need to control stress. Excess stress hormones trigger a physiological need for high-sugar, high-fat and high-sodium foods. Submitting to these cravings offers a quick dump of “feel good” hormones that spike blood sugar. This pattern repeats itself until it perpetually reoccurs. My book walks you through 12 tools for reducing stress and reaching your goals.
9. What kind of tools?
It all starts with this foundational step: Opt out as a lifestyle. You can’t do everything so make conscious decisions to focus on the things that bring you to your goals. Ask yourself: What is most meaningful to me? Then, pick and choose accordingly. Build time buffers into your day. Your life becomes so much more joyful when you eliminate over-scheduling and you have more energy. Now it’s easy to show up for a boxing class. Address the stress first. We have crazy, busy lives, and that’s okay, but we need a calm foundation to function effectively.
10. Will you share your personal favorite?
Focused breathing. It is the most effective tool I’ve found.
Here’s how it works: Breathe in through the nose to a count of four. Draw the breath all the way down to the belly. Exhale through the nose to a count of four. Just observe the breath. Within six or seven breaths you’ll begin to calm. Remember, the quality of your thoughts match the quality of your breaths. I’m sure you’ve heard someone say “it took my breath away” and it is absolutely true.
Start by implementing three sets of six focused breaths in your daily life. Build them into your normal habits like brushing your teeth or waiting at a stoplight. Let the phone ring until you’ve completed at least one four-count breath and then answer it. I’ve even done a couple during this interview.
Well that’s it for this week’s 10-Count. Make sure to check out Holly Mosier’s upcoming release of Stress Less, Weigh Less, out in bookstores June 1st, 2011.
The new HollyMosier.com will be launching mid-February with more tips from the book. In the meantime, hit up Holly in the comments section below, she’ll be checking in regularly to answer your questions.
KNOWING YOUR MASSAGES
Thursday, January 13th, 2011
A massage is one of the requisite services offered in a typical vacation or day spa. It’s relaxing, relieves your body of stress and muscle pain, and will definitely put you on a sound, uninterrupted sleep. A spa’s menu of services usually contains a wide selection of massages, from simple ones to those with fancy and foreign-sounding names. If you’re not really spa-savvy, it’s easy to get lost in the cacophony of terms and massage jargons. Of course, your therapist will usually explain these things to you and will help you determine the appropriate massage that will suit your needs. It still doesn’t hurt though to know the basics of massages.
The various types of massages can be classified into two categories: those designed for relaxation and those intended for pain management or for medical purposes. These are not mutually exclusive classifications however and an overlap sometimes occurs.
One of the most popular relaxation therapies is the Swedish massage. It was named after, you guessed it, a Swedish doctor named Per Henrik Ling who developed the technique during the 18th century. The massage employs firm, gentle pressure to improve blood circulation and relieve muscle pain and tension. Muscles are rubbed in the direction of blood flow returning to the heart. The massage is usually performed using the following techniques: long gliding strokes, kneading of muscles, circular movements to create friction, oscillatory movements to create vibration, staccato tapping, and finally, bending and stretching.
Another common massage technique is the shiatsu which means finger pressure. Traditionally based on the Chinese meridian system, the massage works within the theory of energy circulation in the body and on the concept that there are particular pressure points that can be pressed to reverse the imbalances in the natural energy flow. Fingers and palms are used to apply localized pressure on these points. This is then followed by stretching exercises. During the session, the clients are taught to coordinate their breathing with the massage in order to maximize the benefits of the treatment.
A more physically engaging technique is the Thai massage. It is believed to have been developed 2500 years ago by an Indian physician. It later reached Thailand and was gradually influenced by Chinese medicine. It then became a traditional part of Thai medicine and was usually performed by monks. Thai massage involves a combination of yoga and acupressure. Therapists use their hands, knees, legs, and feet to apply pressure and move your body into various yoga-like stretching movements.
For a more eclectic massage experience, you may want to try the polarity massage. A curious amalgamation of modern science and ancient methods, polarity therapy combines various therapies and treatments to achieve holistic wellness. The treatment is typically divided into four parts: bodywork, diet, exercise, and meditation.
Other massages are focused on specific parts of the body such as the head, neck, shoulders, arms, and back. The cranial sacral massage, for instance, is a gentle technique concentrated on the head and neck. The scalp massage also focuses on the head and is said to prevent hair loss as well as help facilitate the growth of healthy hair.
There is also a specially designed massage for pregnant women. This helps relieve cramps, tension, fatigue, and stiffness as well as reduce depression and anxiety attacks. Pre-natal techniques will have mothers in a semi-reclining position with several turns from side to side. There are body and wedge pillows as well as extra padding to ensure that the mom is comfortable and the baby is safe.
For pain management massages, the more common techniques are the neuromuscular therapy (NMT) and the sports massage or deep tissue massage. The NMT, performed by a trained specialist, deals with the soft tissues such as muscles, tendons, and connective tissues to restore balance in the central nervous system. The sports massage, on the other hand, can be availed of in a spa. As the name implies, it concentrates on the muscle groups most used in sports activities. The massage is a good warm-up before a workout and a suitable relaxation therapy afterwards.
Weekly Links Round-up: Jan. 3-7
Friday, January 7th, 2011
Every week we gather a list of articles related to health, fitness, MMA, boxing and kickboxing for our readers as a one-stop shop for helpful tips and tricks when it comes to working out. Enjoy!
Unexpected Foods Which Aid in Weight Loss:
http://www.lifemojo.com/lifestyle/unexpected-foods-which-aid-in-weight-loss-79260391
How To Keep Your Fitness Resolutions:
http://www.examiner.com/fitness-in-ft-myers/how-to-keep-your-fitness-resolutions
Brandon Vera Released From UFC:
http://www.bjpenn.com/profiles/blogs/report-brandon-vera-released?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+bjpenndotcom+(BJPENN.COM+NEWS+BLOGS)
