Give Stress The Ol' One-Two Punch With Exercise!

Exercise and stress: 

Get moving to manage stress

Exercise in almost any form can act as a stress reliever. Being active can boost your feel-good endorphins and distract you from daily worries.

By Mayo Clinic Staff

You know that exercise does your body good, but you're too busy and stressed to fit it into your routine. Hold on a second — there's good news when it comes to exercise and stress.

Virtually any form of exercise, from aerobics to yoga, can act as a stress reliever. If you're not an athlete or even if you're out of shape, you can still make a little exercise go a long way toward stress management. Discover the connection between exercise and stress relief — and why exercise should be part of your stress management plan.

Exercise and stress relief

Exercise increases your overall health and your sense of well-being, which puts more pep in your step every day. But exercise also has some direct stress-busting benefits.

• It pumps up your endorphins. Physical activity helps bump up the production of your brain's feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins. Although this function is often referred to as a runner's high, a rousing game of tennis or a nature hike also can contribute to this same feeling.
• It's meditation in motion. After a fast-paced game of racquetball or several laps in the pool, you'll often find that you've forgotten the day's irritations and concentrated only on your body's movements.
  As you begin to regularly shed your daily tensions through movement and physical activity, you may find that this focus on a single task, and the resulting energy and optimism, can help you remain calm and clear in everything you do.
• It improves your mood. Regular exercise can increase self-confidence, it can relax you, and it can lower the symptoms associated with mild depression and anxiety. Exercise can also improve your sleep, which is often disrupted by stress, depression and anxiety. All of these exercise benefits can ease your stress levels and give you a sense of command over your body and your life.  

The mental benefits of aerobic exercise have a neurochemical basis. Exercise reduces levels of the body's stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. It also stimulates the production of endorphins, chemicals in the brain that are the body's natural painkillers and mood elevators.

So... ARE YOU READY to KNOCK OUT THAT STRESS?? 

THERE'S NO TIME LIKE NOW...START TODAY! 

FIND SOMETHING THAT YOU LIKE TO DO.. 

ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE A BEGINNER...

AND TAKE IT FROM THERE.... 

YOU...CAN...DO...THIS!!

The BRICK Workout... WHAT Is It and WHY Is It Good For You?

What is a BRICK workout and WHY should we do them?  (Scroll down for answers to some questions that I have received)

Actually, the brick workout refers to the stacking of two disciplines during the same workout, one after the other with minimal to no interruption in between. As you switch modes of exercise, your body needs to effectively and efficiently prepare for the next demand while recovering from the previous exercise demand. Your heart rate increases significantly as your body tries to shift the blood flow from the muscles of the first exercise to the demands of the muscles of the next. Brick workouts help your body handle the aerobic, anaerobic, and muscular demands of an effective training routine.

The key to this type of workout is the short time in between the 2 exercises.  In the gym, the BRICK workout makes time pass by quickly as you move from one exercise to another.  At Crank It Up: Cycle Row Strength, the pattern is usually cycle-row-cycle, but sometimes it's cycle-strength/TRX-cycle.  We offer the BRICK workout 5 days a week at 8:30am and in the early mornings at 5:45am M/W.

www.crankitup.fit

Q:  Is the BRICK workout too intense?  

A:  Not at all!  You do them at your pace!!

Q:  Is the BRICK just for extreme triathletes?   

A:  Not at all! Anyone can layer their workout!

Q: Sounds like the BRICK is just for the "very fit".  

A:  FALSE!!  Anyone can layer their workout! You give what effort you can and, I promise, you will receive results!

8195 Wardlow Rd, Long Beach, CA 90808 562-242-7377

www.crankitup.fit

Are you ready to Crank It Up? Join us at our NEW STUDIO!!  CRANK IT UP: CYCLE-ROW-STRENGTH

is now open for business!!

Join us in a TOTAL BODY, NON IMPACT, HIGH ENERGY workout. 

We feature unique equipment that is going ROCK YOUR BODY!!

• RealRyder indoor cycles, the only bikes that tilt and lean as you get an amazing cardio, lower body, upper body and core workout!
• LifeCore r100 rowers have 2 types of resistance for an ultimate kick butt workout! 
• TRX, a body weight, suspension system of training. 

Come see what all the excitement is about!

First class is free!!  We hold free "intro" classes  (Sundays at 11am) to get you comfortable with our unique equipment.  Call for a reservation! 562-343-7377

www.crankitup.fit

HOPE and HELP FOR BEATRICE!!

Our beautiful sister in fitness, friendship and love has been diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian and stomach cancer.

Beatrice has given her life to keeping all of us healthy through fitness, faith and prayer.  Now, PLEASE, let's give to her!!  She is unable to work and still needs to pay her rent and bills, not to mention the medical bills that will follow.  ANYTHING that YOU can do help pay these bills will be a blessing.  She has blessed us all for so very long with all of her heart and sould.  I am proud to call her my sister and I want to do what I can to help her.  I know you feel the same way!

All money raised will go DIRECTLY to Beatrice.  God bless you, Sweet Bea!!

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE:

https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/tf4b/hope-and-help-for-beatrice?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fb_feed&utm_campaign=php_fundraiser_minidash-smurfs&og_action=hug&fb_ref=Default&t=3

HOME OF THE 3 POINT SYSTEM OF FITNESS:

*CYCLING -- USING THE REALRYDER INDOOR CYCLE 

*ROWING -- LIFECORE r100 ROWERS

*STRENGTH -- TRX + WEIGHTS

What is it all about?  

For all the  info, please click on my website:  www.crankitup.fit

I am opening my own studio, soft opening date is coming VERY soon!! But for now, come on down, visit us and give us your opinion!! Right now, it's free:  it's going to help us be the best we can and, even better, I get to see you!  All I ask is that you fill out an online survey.

Come on down to 8195 Wardlow Rd., even though we are not technically opened, I would love for you to share in this experience.  We have a Grand Opening scheduled for September 26th with festivities, classes, goody bags, tasters and more!!  The American Diabetes Association will be there for the red ribbon ceremony and I hope you will be there, too!

Come on down, check us out!! 

8195 Wardlow Rd., Long Beach, 90808

phone: 949-422-4242

email: crankitup.fit@gmail.com

100 PUSH UP CHALLENGE!! WHAT? 100? WHAT IF I CAN'T DO EVEN ONE? FOLLOW THESE STEPS... AND YOU WILL!!! FROM 1 WILL COME 100!!

One Hundred Push Up Challenge!!

I LOVE PUSH UPS!!  I love using my own body weight as resistance....the push up perfectly utilizes your own weight!  The push up, as an exercise as a whole, engages so many muscles... your core, shoulders, arms, chest, even glutes!!  (I look at a push up as a plank with arm movement and I love doing planks!)

• Here is website that breaks it down into a 6 week training program for those who are just starting out on the "push up" journey.http://www.hundredpushups.com/

• Some of you may already be able to do 100.  I am thinking that I will start with 50, 25 in the morning and 25 in the evening, then work my way up. 

*****BUT WHAT IF YOU HATE PUSHUPS.... NEVER HAVE DONE ONE... OR ARE STRESSED ABOUT PERFECT FORM?*****

• Here is a link to different styles of push ups that you might want to try. 
• http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/how-to-pushup?cm_mmc=Facebook-_-WomensHealth-_-Content-Fitness-_-Few+exercises+are+more+effective+than+the+pushup.+Think+its+too+tough%3F+Read+on

• I know that it is a women's magazine, but the push up styles shown are universal.

• ARE THOSE TOO MILD FOR YOU???? HERE ARE SOME "INTERMEDIATE" PUSH UP EXERCISES FOR YOU TO TAKE ON!! But, truth be told, they are TOUGH!!!

"FUN"DRAISING WITH J & B FIT CAMP! APRIL 19th! CELEBRATE MY 50th BDAY BY COMING AND DONATING!

This Sunday... April 19th, Beatrice Rene'e Mays-Walton and I will be putting the FUN in FUNDRAISER when we host a VERY SPECIAL EDITION OF and RE-CREATION of J & B's Outdoor Fitness Camps at Discovery Well Park!!
9:30am... $10 per person... 100% OF MONEY RAISED GOES TO THE AMERICAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION!! 
YES!! THERE WILL BE BABYSITTING WITH Halley!! $5... and she is donating ALL OF THE MONEY TO THE ADA AS WELL!!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!! Let's MOVE!! This is OBESITY PREVENTION FOR YOU AND FINANCIAL HELP TO HELP OTHERS!!! LET'S DO THIS!! INVITES WILL BE GOING OUT SOON!!
PS- It's going to be my 50th birthday on that day and the ONLY way I want to celebrate is to RAISE MONEY FOR THIS CHARITY.. THE CHARITY OF MY CHOICE: AMERICAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION!! ALL LEVELS WELCOMED AND COMPLETELY ACCOMMODATED!!!!!