HYDRATE! Before It’s Too Late…
We are always reminding our bootcampers to bring a mat, weights and water. Most of you remember to bring water with you and I’m sure you take sips in between intervals. But are we adequately hydrated? Probably not. If you are feeling thirsty, you are past the point of being hydrated. We should never get to a point where we feel parched or thirsty. When it comes to getting the most out of your body and performance, you need to make sure that you have enough water in your body to assist your organs and muscles in working properly. One of the elements that we lose during sweating is electrolytes. These help our body maintain cell balance. And we need electrolytes to have the energy for fitness training.
It takes the body TWO HOURS for anything you drink to have an effect on your hydration level. This means that throughout the day you need to be drinking. As soon as you wake up in the morning, grab that bottle of water and sip, sip, sip. Since we wake up right before a bootcamp workout and most likely don’t have two hours to allow the water to hydrate our system, we may never be fully hydrated before the 6am workout. However, sipping water before, during and after will help immensely. Keep a bottle with you at all times. I keep one next to my bed, in the car and in my bag. That way, I can keep grabbing it wherever I am. It also is good to remember that sometimes we’re not hungry, we’re thirsty! So before you go for a snack, think of having a glass or two of water. If you are still hungry after the water, then eat something.
Good hydration can also aid our body in other ways. It can improve skin tone, help with digestion and help flush out toxins and other impurities in the body. Sometimes if you feel tired, hydration is all you need, not that cup of coffee! Yes, caffeine gives us a boost and it does have a lot of good properties such as anti-oxidents. But it can be dehydrating and so you must drink a glass of water before or after that cup of coffee to keep hydrated.
Always bring that bottle of water with you to workout! And if you don’t like the taste of plain water, there are plenty of supplements you can add to aid the taste of the water. There are powdered flavors you can add for a change of taste. Personally, plain luke warm water does the trick for me. And even when I’m not thirsty I drink up! So cheers and have a glass of water—you will feel great!!!
-Liz Samuel
I just finished an hour bike ride with my 7-year-old daughter and she said, “mom I love spending time with you, can we do this again?” And so we did. In fact on non-bootcamp days she’s a drill Sargent! She gives me early morning wake up calls so we can ride together. I think it’s great that she’s so motivated and I have a little coach too.
So what does this mean? Good news. Not only is exercise great for keeping your heart healthy and weight lower, scientists now see how much being fit changes your ability to incinerate fat, moderate blood sugar and otherwise function well. I was reading the latest article in the NY Times magazine, “A Workout for Your Bloodstream,” this weekend and it peaked my interest. Yet another reason to come to bootcamp and get our bodies moving on a regular basis!
Use this scale below to help you control your eating habits and learn dining strategies.
Yep, summer season is here and the gardens are open to us. Salads are the way to go to stay slim throughout the summer, right? Well, not always. You would be surprised to find out how many calories you could be consuming when fixing up your favorite flavors in those ‘Big Salads’.
Ladies here are some questions to assess whether Bootcamp is for your guy;
A Question from a Facebook fan; Alison, Hoboken, NJ.