Lynbrook | New Hyde Park | NY

Exercise

Member Spotlight: Mike!

After the death of a close friend at a much too young age, I decided it was time for me to get back into shape and take care of myself. I had gone from a very active lifestyle to “couch potato.” After getting my doctor’s approval, I decided it was time to join a gym. After years of driving past Peak Performance, with those weight management signs in the window, I decided to stop in and see what it was all about.

 
mike m
My initial consultation with Paul was very informative. He said if I followed the program, I would not only lose weight, but get stronger and feel better, too! My Exercise Physiologist, Louise, has been excellent. She is very knowledgeable and an excellent motivator. She developed an exercise program that took my bad back into consideration while still making me work hard to see results. In the past five months, I have lost weight, gained muscle, and actually feel much better. I am no longer a “couch potato,” but a gym regular.

The entire Peak Performance Exercise Physiology staff has been fabulous. They are friendly and willing to help you on an exercise machine or answer your questions.

To Louise and the entire staff:
Thank you for a job well done!!!

What’s The Perfect Workout Shoe for You? Find Your Sole Mate.

Shoes come in a variety of types and sizes, but are you wearing the right shoe geared towards your type of workout?

Walking Shoes: Walking shoes tend to be heavier and stiffer than running shoes; therefore when you are choosing a walking shoe, you want a shoe that has enough support, cushion, and flexibility. It is also important to look at the traction aspect of the shoe if you are planning on hiking. A good walking shoe for women is the New Balance WW1765 and for men is the New Balance MW 759.

Running shoes: When you are looking for the runnin g shoe you want to make sure that you have a perfect amount of cushion. Running shoes are made to handle the shock of two times your body weight. Therefore when picking a running shoe, you want to make sure it has great cushioning in both the heel and forefoot. Other important aspects of a running shoe you should look for are flexibility, stability control, traction on roads or trails, and breath-ability. It’s important to take a look at your foot before you buy a shoe. Our feet are all different, but can be divided into three categories: low, high and medium arches. These different arches will make a difference in the type of shoe you should buy. A good example for a person with low arches would be the Asics Gel Kayano 222. A good buy for an individual with high arches is the Asics Gel- Kinsei 6 and one for medium arches is ASICS 2000.

Cross-training: A cross-training shoe might be for you if you occasionally participate in a variety of exercises from tennis to basketball to some weight-lifting. Cross training shoes are not used to running miles, but more for individuals who participate in different athletic activities. A good cross-trainer should have a firm heel, good support, and should be light weight. An example of a popular cross-trainer is the Puma Tazon.

Specialty: Specialty shoes are used for specific activities. There are specific sneakers, cleats for individuals who participate in weight-lifting, cycling, tennis, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, baseball, etc. Just make sure when you are picking out one of these shoes that you are purchasing the correct shoe/cleat for that specific sport.

Lifestyle: Lifestyle shoes might look cool and trendy however they are not meant for exercise. Do not try wearing Vans or Nike Janoskis to the gym or to participate in a sport because you are putting yourself at risk for injury.

Trying to find the right shoe for your desired exercise routine is important so take the time to weigh out your options in order to make those feet happy! Remember, your foot size can change or swell throughout the day, be consistent with the time that you are shopping; your feet tend to be larger throughout the day.

 

By Sally Leahy

 

Why is a Warm Up So Important?

We always ask our clients to arrive at least 5-10 minutes early in order to warm up prior to exercise. The importance of a warm up should be appreciated and included as part of your workout regimen.

A warm up period allows your heart rate and breathing rate to gradually increase and prepare your body for exercise. By slowly increasing the intensity of the workload, the body is prepared for efficient and safe functioning of the heart, lungs, blood vessels, and muscles during more vigorous exercise to follow.

A good warm up can reduce the muscle or joint soreness experienced during the beginning of a workout. Think of this as “loosening up your muscles.” Your body’s joints will loosen and blood flow to the working muscles will increase.

As a part of a warm up, stretching may be added in after walking, biking, or other dynamic movements. Dynamic movements activate our muscles and move joints through a greater range of motion. Static movements will stretch the muscles without a change in the range of motion of a joint- think of holding a hamstring stretch. As mentioned before, you want to complete dynamic movements prior to static stretching. It may even be best to save the static stretches for your cool down.

So why should I warm up?

  • Increase heart rate
  • Increase blood flow
  • Increase body temperature
  • Decrease muscle viscosity
  • Mentally prepare you for a workout
  • Improve performance
  • Reduce the risk of injury
  • Increase the satisfaction from a workout!

 

By Louise Mills-Strasser

 

So you got a FitBit… now what?!

Okay, so you got a FitBit for Christmas/Hanukkah/your birthday… now what?!
We have noticed that many of our clients received these activity trackers as a gift this holiday season. However when it comes to using your new wrist accessory, there might be a little confusion about what it can do. We put together some simple tips to help you get started. This way we can finish 2015 strong and start 2016 right on track in order to achieve our goals! All of the links on this page will take you to FitBit’s website.

What can your FitBit do?!

• Track your daily activity (how much are you moving around?)
• Record your exercise (regimented exercise like biking, walking, or pilates)
• Log your food (did you eat too much, too little or just the right amount today?)
• Record your weight (log your weight to see progress over time)
• Monitor your sleep (did you get 8 hour or toss and turn?)

How do I set myself up?
Start here! From this page you can download the program for your computer or on your phone or tablet via an app. The setup page will guide you step by step to get started using your FitBit.

Simple setup directions for setting dominant wrist, goals, calls, and silent alarms are here! But, if you have additional questions about setting up your tracker, refer to this link!

All of your daily stats are displayed in your dashboard. You can find this by logging into your account on FitBit’s website or opening the app on your phone or tablet.

Goals! Everyone has goals whether we want to become more active, lose weight, eat more vegetables, or run a faster mile. Everyone is different! You can customize your FitBit to help you achieve your goals. Maybe 10,000 steps a day is a breeze because of your commute- try shooting for 12,000. Maybe climbing 10 flights of stairs seems too tall- start at 5 flights and work your way up. Set your goal for a certain number of: Steps/Day, Very active minutes, Floors climbed, or Calories burned.

Track Activity/Exercise
While your FitBit will automatically track your steps throughout the day, you can log exercise manually or record it by starting the timer.
For more information on using the Exercise Mode, click here! Or if you forgot to wear your tracker, you still get credit for your exercise! Use this link to learn how to manually track exercise.

Log Food
Nutrition and exercise go hand in hand when it comes to being healthy. Help keep yourself on top of that New Year’s Resolution by logging your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. FitBit gives you a simple layout for monitoring your nutrition:
• An estimate of your daily calorie consumption (logging the foods you eat and quantity)
• A readout of the number of calories you have burned and eaten so far in the day (all those steps expended calories and your breakfast, lunch & dinner fuel your body)
• A real-time comparison of the calories you’ve consumed in your diet versus those you’ve burned through activity (calories in v. calories out)
• Feedback about whether you are under, within, or above your plan’s recommendation (based on your personal goal to lose, gain, or maintain your current weight)
You can manually enter the foods you eat, search the database to find a product, or scan an item’s bar code to add the nutritional information.

For more information about tracking calories and setting a weight goal, use this link. To learn how to scan the bar code of an item (i.e. a cereal box or yogurt container), use this link!

Challenge your friends!
Our favorite part of exercising is doing it with a friend. Having a workout partner (virtual or walking next to you) can provide that extra push to keep going. You can add friends by syncing contacts from your cell phone, linking your FitBit to Facebook, or adding them by email address. Adding friends gives you a little more motivation whether it’s cheering each other on or challenging one another in a daily step challenge! Your Exercise Physiologists, Pam & Louise, are using their FitBits- ask to be their friend! (They’ll give you a tough challenge 🙂 )

For even more information about getting the most out of your new fitness tracker, check out this article published by Time.

UPDATE! We started a FitBit group for our Peak members to join! It’s called Peak Performance Fit(ness)Bit. Login to your FitBit account then use the following link to find us https://www.fitbit.com/group/22PKJ3

 

By Louise Mills-Strasser

Maximizing the Leg Press

One strength training exercise that is frequently done incorrectly is the leg press. Here are a few mistakes and how to fix them to maximize your efforts!

1. One common mistake is bringing the feet too close together (pictured bottom left). The feet should be shoulder-width apart in order to relieve less stress from your knees. With your feet shoulder-width apart you should push the weight through your heels, do not push through your toes. This will ensure you are not putting any more strain on the knee joint.

2. Do not allow your knees to hyperextend! (Pictured top left). When you lock out your knees completely on the leg press you are putting pressure on the ligaments in your knees and leaving them vulnerable. We want to keep the muscles in our legs engaged throughout the whole exercise. Instead, keep a soft bend in the knees as you extend your legs.

3. Place your feet at the proper height. Ideally your legs should be parallel to the ground (pictured right). If you place your feet too high on the foot pad you end up shifting attention to your glutes instead. However placing your knees too low on the leg press will cause extra stress on your knees because the weight shifts to your toes.

Overall in order to get the most out of the leg press exercise make sure that your feet are at the proper height, shoulder-width apart and maintain a soft bend in your knees when you straighten your legs. Happy exercising!

 

7 Tips for Staying in Shape this Holiday Season

The holiday season is upon us! From Thanksgiving through the New Year is when people often put on a few pounds. The holidays pop up, you lose track of your routine between the shopping and parties. Then January rolls around and it’s time to start exercising- but this doesn’t have to be you! By staying on track with your exercise routine and watching your portion of pumpkin pie, you can keep up with your goals! We put together some tips to help you stay in shape this holiday season.

1. Act Like a Kid – Step out of your comfort zone! If there’s snow on the ground, get some cardio in with a little snowball fight with your family. If you’re feeling adventurous, find a local ice skating rink and take your loved ones out for a skate.

2. HIIT Workouts– If you are strapped for time during this holiday season, try a High Intensity Interval Workout. This circuit uses a 2:1 work to recovery ratio, which means you’ll be pushing yourself hard for a full 2 minutes before taking a 1-minute active recovery break. It only takes 10-20 minutes of your day!

3. Set a Goal– Set a specific, tangible goal that you can achieve during the holidays. There’s a huge chunk of time from now until New Years Day. That’s plenty of time to learn correct squat form or do a pushup/ abdominal challenge!

4. Mall Rat– As it gets colder don’t, give up your daily walking routine because of the weather! Local malls are a perfect place to get your steps in and stay on top of your goals.

5. Holiday Runs– Start a new tradition and participate in a Holiday Fun Run/Walk with your family. Get everyone in a healthy groove for the New Year!

6. Plan– Plan Ahead. If you are invited to a holiday party, offer to make or bring a healthy side dish. If you are hosting the party, you have more control over the menu so make wise, choices when planning.

7. Portion Control– Thanksgiving is once a year. With that said, it is okay to have turkey, potatoes, and a slice of pie, as long as you’re watching the portions; moderation is the key this holiday season!

 

 

By Sally Leahy