Strength training has a lot of benefits. Yet there are myths that surround resistance training. JJ Virgin, a health and fitness expert, recently shared some of these myths and the truth behind them.

Myth 1: You Can’t Gain Muscle After a Certain Age
Reality: Older adults can build strength and muscle through resistance training, regardless of age or experience.

One study on older women (ages 64-76) found that traditional and pyramidal training methods effectively increased muscle growth and strength. (Pyramidal training starts with lighter weights and progressively increases the load with each set.)

Key benefits for older women include improvements in muscle mass, balance, and bone density, reduced fall risk, and a better quality of life.

Myth 2: You Need to Spend Hours at the Gym to See Results
Reality: Just two to four 20-30 minute sessions per week can significantly improve muscle strength, endurance, and overall fitness.

This time-efficient approach fits easily into busy schedu...

What you eat after your workout is as critical as your pre-workout nutrition. The food you take after a workout plays a significant role in muscle repair, growth and overall recovery. Health expert JJ Virgin shares what you need to take and why it’s important to do so.

After your workout, you’ll want to combine carbohydrates with protein. This pairing helps support muscle repair and growth. It optimizes recovery by replenishing the glycogen stores that your body uses during exercise.

Studies indicate that the synergistic effect of carbohydrates and protein is more efficient at restoring muscle glycogen than carbohydrates alone. This combination aids in muscle repair and can improve performance in workouts, even up to 60 hours after the initial exercise session.

Combining carbohydrates and protein also enhances muscle protein synthesis during and after your workout, optimizing muscle repair and growth. Moreover, it contributes to the broader context of whole-body protein synthesis,...

What you eat before and after a workout will affect your performance and recovery. According to fitness expert JJ Virgin, eating the right balance of nutrients before a workout can provide you with the energy and strength necessary to perform at your best. After exercising, your focus should shift to recovery, which involves repairing muscle tissues, replenishing energy stores, and reducing inflammation. Here are her tips on what you need to know about the food you should eat before working out.

• Eating the right foods before working out boosts your exercise effectiveness. The right pre-workout fuel impacts your performance, how your body builds muscle and burns fat, and your overall health goals.
• Carbohydrates are essential for energy before resistance training. Choose slow-releasing, low-glycemic carbs like berries or sweet potatoes to keep blood-sugar levels steady, ensuring consistent power and performance.
• Research indicates that a mix of carbohydrates and protein better rep...

With summer just being around the corner, it’s time to head outdoors and enjoy the sunshine! In fact, exercising outdoors provides more benefits than working out indoors. Here’s an article from the American Council on Exercise that talks about the benefits of green exercise.

Studies have found that green exercise—or exercise performed in natural environments—can yield benefits beyond those seen with performing the same exercise indoors. You likely know that regular exercise provides countless health benefits, including the prevention and management of hypertension, obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, not to mention the stress relief and mental health benefits that moving regularly can provide. But did you know that you can boost those benefits simply by taking your movement outdoors? 

Here are the findings from five key studies on the benefits of outdoor exercise:

• Compared to exercise alone, green exercise was found to be more impactful in terms of improving bot...

Whether you’re a newbie or veteran at exercising, you’ll need to watch out for exercise mistakes that impact your workout’s effectiveness. Health expert JJ Virgin shares the top five to look out for and what to do about it.

1. Overdoing Cardio and Neglecting Strength Training
Like acid-washed jeans and bleached hair, the cardio-obsessed 80s have faded away. Yet even today, I see folks trudging on the treadmill, usually thumbing through a magazine or catching up on Real Housewives on that little TV screen. I want to gently guide these folks into the weight room. Strength training does so many things, including boosting metabolism, increasing bone density, and steadying blood-sugar levels.

As you get older, muscle becomes critical: once you turn 30, muscle mass begins to decrease about 3-8% every decade. After 60, that loss becomes even higher. During prolonged periods of cardio, your body may start breaking down muscle tissue for energy. Some types, including running or cycling, can ...

We all know that exercise has many benefits. However, there is one benefit that is truly fascinating and that is how exercise profoundly impacts our brain and nervous system. Neuroscience news has recently featured an article about this and we’re eager to share it with you! Here are our takeaways from the article:

1. Exercise helps create new neurons.
Exercise stimulates neurogenesis which basically means the creation of new neurons in the brain. This happens primarily in the hippocampus. It influences memory and learning while increasing key mood-regulating neurotransmitters. It also enhances brain plasticity, essential for recovery from injury and aging, and improves cognitive functions such as attention and memory.

2. Exercise improves memory and brain function.
Regular aerobic exercise can increase the size of the hippocampus and preserve vital brain matter, therefore improving spatial memory and cognitive function. But wait, what does spatial memory mean? Spatial memory allows ...

“I’m too old to exercise!”

“I’ll hurt myself.”

“I don’t move like I used to.”

These are some common excuses that older individuals say about exercise. Are these statements true though to the point that a person, as they get older, can no longer become more active? Is it really too late to start?

Dr. Beth Templin holds a Clinical Doctorate in Physical Therapy and is a board-certified specialist in geriatric physical therapy. Here’s what she has to say:

“Myth 1: I’m too old to start exercising.
This is completely false. Age does not play a role in your ability to exercise. Research on healthy aging shows that exercise for aging adults is not only safe but beneficial. People can safely begin to exercise in their 70s, 80s, and beyond. It’s never too late to get started, and it does not matter if you’ve never exercised before.

No matter what your current age or fitness level, your body benefits from exercise. In fact, exercise is such an important part of healthy aging that the Worl...

Imagine your world in motion. Everything is moving in the right direction. Your work, your relationships, your health, your wellbeing and your life. All of your hopes and dreams are moving forward in a positive, exciting and meaningful way. 

What would a world like this look like? What would a world like this feel like? 

For many, this world of being “on the move”, is not a reality. In fact it’s just the opposite. Most of us find ourselves or those we live with, work with or associate with stuck, trapped and imprisoned like birds locked in a cage, unable to fly. This silent majority, for years, has longed for the day and the key to break free and unlock their dreams and potential, wondering when they will discover the solution to break out and spread their wings and finally fly.  

Well, that time….IS NOW! 

There is a key to unlock our immobile, inactive and unrealized hopes and potential and get our lives and those we care about “on the move”. 

In fact, the key just happens to b...

You probably have never heard of him before, but chances are, you’ve seen an example of what he did for a living. His name was Eric Brenn and in the 1950’s and 60’s he was the best in the business. He was so good at what he did, he made it on national television and inspired a generation of performers. It was February, 1969 when Brenn made his national debut on the famous Ed Sullivan Show. He appeared on stage in a snazzy black suit and bow tie with a stack of dinner plates in his arms along with a number of long sticks.

Then with a coy smile and a wave of his hand, loud circus music began to play as he carefully set one plate on top of a wooden stick and spun it with the flick of his finger.  He repeated this with two, three, four and five plates, all now, mounted on top of sticks on a dinner table, all spinning in rhythmic unison. The audience was thrilled! Brenn, the consummate showman, smiled from ear to ear, bowed to the camera and studio audience taking in their thunderous app...

We all know that we need to exercise, but did you know you can also improve your health – and your waistline – just by adding a little more movement to your day? Americans sit for an average of 13 hours a day, and experts say sitting for more than eight hours a day is so bad for you, it can even negate the positive effects of regular exercise!

Take steps to combat that. Literally. Experts recommend we take an average of 10,000 steps per day to maintain good health. Unfortunately, the average American takes only 1,000 to 3,000 per day, a difference that contributes to heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

So, step it up! These tips will help you get moving:

Take the stairs. Whether you skip up one flight or trek up eight, taking the stairs instead of the elevator you will help you burn calories, increase your energy and help clear out the cobwebs. And by using your own power to move between floors, taking the stairs is also an easy way to go green!

Give up Your Parking Spot. Have a p...