FITNESS FUEL: Great Out of The Gate

There's no need to sacrifice your health for comfort food, especially at a time when optimal health is more top of mind than ever. It's important to know that what you eat is not only about sustenance, it's also about how you fuel what you do in your training sessions. And that's because proper nutrition is critical for kick-starting the process of recovery, repair, and growth.

Now, when it comes to getting in some power-packed, nutrient-rich foods throughout the day, conventional wisdom still holds true: DON'T SKIP BREAKFAST! And the reason is simple: right out of the gate in the A.M your body is in a sensitive state and very receptive to receiving nutrients. That's due to the fact your glycogen stores are low because you've been fasting all night – so, you need to "break the fast." On that note, you can use healthy grains to up your gains with our nutritionally optimized Quinoa Oatmeal Breakfast recipe. When it comes to supercharged energy it's a behemoth!

What This Means for You

Incidentally, just how depleted your stores are depends largely on your lifestyle and how intense your fitness regimen is. It's at this time your body will be primed to soak up whatever you provide, hence the importance of paying attention to well-planned get-up-and-go nutrition. There's no way around it – to be at your best for family AND work AND training, plus anything else life throws at you these days, fuel-up early so you can be great out of the gate.

The Age Versus Training Intensity Conundrum 

We're all aware that developing a strong, healthy, fit physique can be achieved through a combination of key factors: balanced nutrition, various training principles and versatile exercise options. And whether in a good groove already or just starting out, just how we organize our workouts depends on another factor too -- our age.

There comes a point when we become aware that fitness has more relevance in sustaining a healthy lifestyle for the future than we once cared about. And it's often somewhere in the late 30-40s when busy schedules, kids and other life obligations begin to take their toll on our bodies. Now combine that with the demands of our current fitness regimen. Feeling a little burnt out? Most are. Sometimes fitness goals can compete with an aging body. Our egos forcing us to keep pushing the same way we did in our prime. Or for beginners, it's all about training like we did in high school -- heavy weights and all-out cardio that takes us days to recover from. However, training hard isn't always training smart, and the truth is we could be doing more damage than good.

Perhaps it's time to re-tool your workouts to limit stress on your body. Wait, I know what you're thinking; do more Yoga and stretch, right? Not exactly. When bones and joints are hindering your progress, there are great fitness solutions we've tested that allow you to keep that high-intensity workout you're accustom to while eliminating the damage constant impact can cause during most typical training outings.

A popular tool that comes to mind is the super cool, XM Fitness Ski Trainer -- Extreme Monkey's answer to non-impact upper body and core strength and conditioning. By Utilizing both the double pole and a classic alternating arm technique, just like you are actually skiing, it combines the results of multiple pieces of equipment into one space-conscious unit. Training with no impact equipment is the safest and surest way to preserving your range of motion, flexibility, strength, spur weight loss, speed up rehab recovery, and fulfilling an active lifestyle. The XM Fitness Air Skier definitely has you covered to keep your users moving forward.

No-Impact, No Setbacks!

For an aging body, training without impact can actually have the biggest impact. Plus, if your users have joint and bone issues or are recovering from an injury, there are a variety of all-in-one, no-impact options in addition to the XM Fitness Ski Trainer. They too can help eliminate the damage constant impact can cause during typical training sessions, and they can all be found at the Treadmill Factory (one our personal faves).

Design Your Corporate Space RIGHT!

If you're a company owner or manager you may like the saying, "If you build it, they will come." We say yes, but if you build your space RIGHT they will STAY! The more versatile options you have in your training space, the more it opens you up to a larger client base that are better able to have their fitness needs met.