Sleep is essential for good studying, exercising, and relaxing.

Don’t think of it as Monday… It’s as simple as that…

Quality Over Quantity

When it comes to strength and conditioning training you want to think about quality vs quantity. Lengthy training sessions are often the result of excess rest between sets or a lack of intensity. More training and more reps at a less intensity does not necessarily mean more growth or faster results. You need to train with intensity in mind. When you train with more intensity and less reps, you can often achieve more, in less time. With that said, below are just a few ways you can get more intensity & results out of some popular exercises.

1. Push Ups – There is nothing worse than watching a guy do a set of 50 push-ups and his chest barely goes near the floor and his elbows are fully bent! Instead of doing 50 “bunnies” as we refer to the fake push-up, just do a good set of 20-25 and thru consistency; over time those numbers will increase. A perfect push up means your head is up, back is straight and you perform a full range of motion touching your chest to the floor. Even if you can only do five perfect pushups, that is fine. Start there and work your way up each week.
2. Crunches – When it comes to crunches, I suggest to try to touch your knees and elbows every time at a slow and controlled pace bringing your chin to the ceiling (not your chest). Some people believe that doing more crunches at a faster pace is better because they did “more.” However, that is not the case. By slowing down each crunch, you are isolating your muscles, making them work harder.                      
   Tip: When you perform ab exercises during your workout, your posture may be just as important as the actual exercises that you complete. If you slouch your body while exercising, your abs will not receive the proper isolation, and you may not see the results that you want. When exercising, ensure that you maintain a neutral spine and engage your abs by pulling your belly button to your spine.
3. Pull-ups – Get your chin over the bar – then your chest to the bar. One of the most common errors while performing pull-ups is cheating the range of motion by not going low or high enough on each rep. If you’re using a less efficient technique or if you’re neglecting one or two of the main components that go into a correct pull-up you are at risk for injury while putting a limit on your performance from the start.

Reducing Sugar intake

• Toss the table sugar (white and brown), syrup, honey and molasses. Cut back on the amount of sugar added to things you eat or drink regularly like cereal, pancakes, coffee or tea. Try cutting the usual amount of sugar you add by half and wean down from there.
• Swap out the soda. Buy sugar-free or low-calorie beverages. Water is always the best choice!
• Eat fresh, frozen, dried or canned fruits. Choose fruit canned in water or natural juice. Avoid fruit canned in syrup, especially heavy syrup. Drain and rinse in a colander to remove excess syrup or juice.
• Compare food labels and choose products with the lowest amounts of added sugars. Dairy and fruit products will contain some natural sugars. Added sugars can be identified in the ingredients list.
• Add fruit. Instead of adding sugar to cereal or oatmeal, try fresh fruit (bananas, cherries or strawberries) or dried fruit (raisins, cranberries or apricots).
• Cut the serving back. When baking cookies, brownies or cakes, cut the sugar called for in your recipe by one-third to one-half. Often you won’t notice the difference.
• Try extracts. Instead of adding sugar in recipes, use extracts like almond, vanilla, orange or lemon.
• Replace it completely. Enhance foods with spices instead of sugar. Try ginger, allspice, cinnamon or nutmeg.
• Substitute. Switch out sugar with unsweetened applesauce in recipes (use equal amounts).
• Try non-nutritive sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose or saccharin in moderation. Non-nutritive sweeteners may be a way to satisfy your sweet tooth without adding more calories to your diet. The FDA has determined that non-nutritive sweeteners are safe.

Motivational Monday

You Can Only Be Limited By Yourself.