Cybex Fitness Blog

Getting started on a plan improve your physical health and overall lifestyle can be a difficult thing to do in the earliest stages. Even if you consider yourself a fairly active person, taking your fitness goals to the next level requires time, dedication, energy and, most importantly, a plan for success. These combined elements can help you start down a path toward not only trimming down fat and losing those extra pounds, but building stronger, healthier muscles as well.

Eating Healthy on a Budget?
Don’t Go Against the Grain!

Getting weight loss results with mobile apps

Mobile applications available on smartphones and tablets are revolutionizing the ways in which people approach health and exercise, allowing individuals to track their efforts to get in shape, perform a calorie burn and obtain long-term fitness goals. Best of all, they're delivering what folks crave the most: results.

Part III: Significance

Introduction
With an understanding of the definitions related to the core as well as tests currently utilized to measure core function, now it is possible to attempt to determine what aspects of core function hold any significance toward injury prevention or functional outcomes. Are we mystified by the core, or is there evidence to suggest that it is truly critical to function?

This three part series is an evidence-based discussion related to the core, core strength and stability, and functional outcomes.  This series is outlined in the following way: Part I attempts to define the core, as well as core strength, stability, and endurance; Part II discusses the current tests utilized to quantify these metrics, as well as their limitations; Part III discusses the current body of evidence in an attempt to define a link between the core and athletic performance.

Red Foods Fight Heart Disease

The red color in fruits and vegetables come from phytonutrients, such as lycopene, ellagic acid, quercetin, and hesperidin. These nutrients have been found to reduce the risk of prostate cancer, lower blood pressure, reduce tumor growth, lower LDL ("bad" cholesterol), scavenge harmful free-radicals, and support joint tissue. Red fruits and vegetables also boast significant levels of two powerful antioxidants, vitamins A and C, which may aid in preventing heart disease. Cherries, both tart and sweet, contain a significant amount of melatonin, an antioxidant that helps regulate the body’s natural sleep patterns and prevent memory loss. Red tart cherries have also been found to contain anthocyanins, a phytochemical that helps decrease inflammation, as well as lower cancer and diabetes risk.

Cranberries are packed with vitamin C. The berry is well known to help ward away urinary infections and now comes even morereason to drink up – cranberry juice can increase levels of (good) HDL cholesterol. In addition to cranberry juice, dried cranberries are a great addition to a healthy trail mix or atop plain yogurt.

Raspberries are another nutrition powerhouse: regular consumption of raspberries is beneficial in fighting inflammation, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, allergies and age-related macular degeneration. Their antioxidant property is one of the highest among fruits. They are also excellent sources of vitamin C and manganese and have a significant amount of fiber compared to other fruits.

Red bell pepper is a crunchy vegetable packed with vitamin A. It is also an excellent source of vitamin B6, an essential nutrient for normal brain development and function, and helps the body make the hormones serotonin and norepinephrine (influencing mood) and melatonin. Red peppers contain over 10 times the Vitamin C of green bell peppers.

Strawberries are another excellent source of vitamin C and manganese. Manganese is important in a variety of metabolic functions in the body- including: protection from free radicals, keeping bones strong, promoting optimal thyroid function, regulating blood sugar. This heart-shaped fruit is also high in fiber, iodine, potassium, folate, vitamin K, and magnesium .

Tomatoes are loaded with lycopene. Lycopene is a red pigment that has antioxidant properties and may in fact, be powerful anti-carcinogenic, as well as a good source of nutrition for eye and prostate health. Ironically, heating tomatoes, (tomato sauce, ketchup, and canned tomatoes) actually increases the levels of lycopene. The tomato is botanically part of the fruit family, Solanacea, but U.S. government agencies have quirkily given it vegetable status, thus continuing the seesaw definition of fruit/vegetable that has confused many of us.

Watermelon is also a good source of lycopene, plus folic acid and vitamins B1 and B6. A cup of watermelon also contains 176 mg of potassium, which aids in optimal muscle and nerve function, lowers risk of blood pressure and more.

What’s On My Plate?

Supplement Your Cybex Workouts With Yoga

As Indians have known for over 600 years, yoga is not necessarily a “four-letter word.”  What originated as Hatha yoga (a series of asanas, or poses) has evolved into dozens of varieties.  Chances are, there is a variety of yoga that would suit your needs and complement your workouts and/or enable you to relieve stress and soreness on your off days. Of course, consult your doctor before beginning a yoga regimen, especially if you choose a strenuous variety of yoga to practice.

Much of the hype surrounding the recent barefoot running trend emanated from a study out of Harvard by Dan Lieberman and colleagues (2010).  In that study, the authors investigated a group of barefoot runners, the Kalenjin of Kenya, and analyzed how their feet hit the ground when they ran.  They found that barefoot runners were mainly forefoot strikers (they hit the ground near the ball of their foot), compared to those who have been running in shoes their entire lives, and were mostly rearfoot strikers (they hit the ground with their heels first).  The authors also observed that heel striking resulted in a more rapid increase of reaction forces at the foot.  From this, the researchers suggested that perhaps all humans ran with a forefoot style before shoes, and that this was a mechanism to possibly prevent injury.  Many have taken the results of this study to suggest that everyone should be running barefoot, or at least, with a midfoot (striking the ground the instep or ‘middle’ of the foot) or forefoot strike pattern.

Preventing young people from going to extremes at the gym

High fructose consumption linked to overeating