19 Reasons To Start Running
You can probably come up with countless reasons for why you just can't run. You don't have enough time or enough energy or the right neighborhood or the right sports bra. You don't have the body or sturdy enough joints or the desire to compete in a race. You're just not crazy enough to be a runner. To all of those reasons and more, we say: How do you know until you've tried? The beauty of running is that just about everyone can play -- and succeed -- in a sport that has the power to change lives. Here are just a few convincing reasons to start running. Let us know if you agree. 1. Because you can do it anywhere. We think it's safe to say that the more accessible your fitness routine is, the more you'll stick with it. Traveling for work? You can still go for a run! On vacation? You can still go for a run! Snow, sleet, rain, hail? Yep, you can still go for a run. 2. To make new friends. You don't have to toe the starting line to meet some friendly competition. Try a group run organized by a local running club or running store, or look for a Meetup group of like-minded runners near you. 3. To spend some time alone. Then again, if the running buddy thing isn't your scene, you might as well lace up for some "me time" and escape everything for a while. 4. To accomplish a goal. We don't have to tell you that it feels darn good to set a goal and then crush it. If you've always wanted to run -- whether your goal is to finish a marathon or just a loop around the block -- now's the time to lace up and check it off the list. 5. Because you might live longer. While, there's solid evidence that a moderate running routine will add years to your life, even if you're only logging a few minutes each day. 6. To burn calories. While we don't recommend exercising for the sole purpose of losing weight -- there are just so many other benefits! -- there's no denying that running is a big calorie burner. Your individual burn will vary depending on your sex, weight, level of activity and how far and fast you run, but you can expect to burn about 50 percent more calories per mile than you would walking the same distance. 7. For the smiles. A whole host of feel-good chemicals are released in the brain when we exercise that essentially act like drugs. It's called the Runner's High for a reason! 8. To remember. Learning a new language isn't the only way to keep an aging brain sharp. Research suggests that staying physically active is even more important in preventing cognitive decline. 9. Because you'll sleep better. Regular exercisers reported significantly better shut-eye than couch potatoes in a 2013 survey from the National Sleep Foundation. But the survey's most promising finding was that a little bit goes a long way: Adding just 10 minutes of physical activity helped non-exercisers report better sleep. 10. To feel more energized. You might think that a run would drain you after a long day, but physical activity actually serves to reenergize, perhaps even better than a quick nap. 11. For your heart. The American Heart Association recommends 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity -- a.k.a. running -- three or four times a week to help lower blood pressure and cholesterol naturally. 12. To relax. Those same feel-good chemicals released in the brain that lift your spirits can also help alleviate stress, even though exercise is technically a stressor on the body. 13. Because you might reduce your cancer risk. According to the National Cancer Institute, there is strong evidence that physically active people have lower risks of colon and breast cancer. Emerging research suggests exercise confers some protection against endometrial, lung and prostate cancers, too. 14. Because you'll get to spend more time outside. And a little extra time in nature in turn can keep you calm, happy and energized. 15. To see more of new places. There's nothing wrong with a casual stroll through your new neighborhood or the city you're vacationing in, but you could see a whole lot more at a faster pace! 16. Because you'll (probably) get to buy new shoes. If you haven't run in a while (or ever before), you'll probably need some new sneaks. They're about the only essential gear for running -- aside from the right sports bra for the ladies -- and who doesn't love shoe shopping? 17. To protect your bones. Weight-bearing exercise like running is key to building strong and healthy bones and slowing bone loss. (And no, running won't cause arthritis.) 18. To stay sniffle-free. You just might breeze through cold and flu season thanks to your new running routine. Moderate amounts of exercise seem to bolster the immune system's ability to ward off viruses. 19. To make a difference. When you're ready, try a race for charity. When the training miles get tough, remember the cause you signed up to run for -- and the people your running can benefit. Article: Huffington postprotein shake v takeaway shake
Which one would you go for?
Grilla Says Protein all day long!
Burn Bullets a New Fatburner For The Massses
Hi Guys, Dino here I thought I would do a quick blog to inform you of Grilla Fitness beginning to launch our own range of supplements. As summer has just passed and winter is looming, if you want to look good for next summer you need to start prepping and thinking about your diets, training plans and supplement plans now. As looking good for the summer was at the forefront of our minds, we decided the best place to start would be to start with a fat burning thermo formula. That is where 'Burn Bullets' were born. We asked have developed with the help of industry leading experts a formula that will hope will be very effective. The brief was to create something that would help suppress apatite, give energy, burn calories, help the body to metabolise fat for energy production, increase focus, be effective as a pre training booster and over all help people get ripped! Now we hope that all of these elements will be evident to our customers...however proof is in the pudding (maybe a poor choice of pun given the content of this blog). So to test the effectiveness of this product I will be using myself as a test subject. I will be writing blogs, doing video reviews and giving updates on my progress throughout the duration of the Burn Bullets use. To be as transparent as possible, I will be undergoing a body fat analysis at the begging of the process and at weekly intervals. I will also be keeping a note of my diet, and my training along with any other supplements I am taking during that time. The product itself will be available to buy next week, so if you want to get in now while stocks last, check back next week and click on the 'Burn Bullets' Banner. That's it for now but I will let you know as soon as I have started the test.5:2 Diet what is it??
All we seem to be hearing lately is the new fad, the 5:2 diet. We were quite intrigued to find out what the theory and principle is behind this weight loss technique.
After a bit of research we were able to identify these simple points , you diet for 2 days of the week (not consecutive) that limits the calorie intake for 2 days, then eating normally for 5 days. This type of diet is called ‘intermittent fasting’. The idea itself sounds like a pretty easy way of living if it gets you the results you want, although we are trying to imagine what the hunger prangs must be like on the 'dieting days.' As massive food lovers we can't help but think that we wouldn't be able to maintain this way of living for any substantial duration. You also need to take in to account the energy requirements for a person who trains in some shape or form 6 times a week. We can't help but think how this would disrupt training patterns, causing the individual to scale back on training on certain days due to lack of energy from lack of food
Lets look more closely at the numbers. The two days of fasting require keeping your intake below a set line of calories: 500 for women, 600 for men. The normal average intake of calories (at least in North American or European countries) is 2000. This means scaling back the calories by about 1/4 on the two fasting days. To give an example, a hard boiled egg would be 77 calories, one can of Coke is 150 calories, and a medium banana is 105 calories. The obvious part of getting on this diet is to plan your meals to ensure you stay below the daily calorie count.
So potentially you would be required to train as you normally would on the equivalent of around 4 boiled eggs and a banana. This to me sounds pretty unrealistic...unless you look to boost your energy levels using a pre-work out formula such as the ones sold on this site.
As a conclusion we would say that this diet would suit someone that does not train or does not train very often as appose to the avid gym goer. We personally cant see why a well controlled diet along with regular training is not as effective or more effective than the 5:2 Diet. That said we would be really interested to hear from any of you who have tried this diet, maybe some before and after pics from a spectrum or 'trainers' and 'non-trainers.'
Shut up and SQUAT
No matter how many times your gym buddies tell you 'you need to train legs to grow, burn calories and to tone' you just don't want to do it. We have all been guilty of this, putting off the 'leg days' for any other body part to work on that we can think of. I wonder why this is? Personally I didn't train legs as much because in my mind it was more important have a well built upper body. If this is also your mind set, you are in big trouble when the sun comes out (and it does sometimes in England), or more commonly we go on holiday and have to put our speedos on or the ladies their bikinis. There is nothing worse than having a great upper body and stick thin legs, or be fantastically toned from the waist up and a horror show legs wise. As is more common with the girls now days, having well defined bums and legs are more and more important than being super thin. You wont get there without training your legs and training them till they burn.
So for men and women, looking to burn fat, get toned and bulk up training legs is vital to any training routine.
The benefits of training legs
1. You will burn bundles and bundles of calories
2. It helps release growth hormone helping the rest of the body grow better when its time to train those parts
3. You will look in more proportion
4. Lots of leg workouts exercises will involve core stability, so you will be training your core strength
5. You will feel exhausted but fantastic after a great let work out
6. You will look great on a beach ;)
GRILLA SAYS 'SHUT UP AND SQUAT'
30 Minute home work out no excuses!
So I am fed up with people telling me that they would like to lose weight but do not have time, or do not have a gym membership. These are not good enough excuses. I have therefore put together a very simple home workout routine that can be completed in around 30 minutes. In some cases I can understand that in today's climate, gym memberships are not financially viable. However time is not a fair excuse. I train 6 times a week after working a 60 hour week, if you want to you will find the time. I ask these same people, how much TV do you watch each night, usually the answer is 2-3 hours. If this is the case, why not substitute 30 mins of this time for your health. In fact, you can even keep an eye on the TV whilst you do this simple routine. All you need is a stopwatch your own body weight and some motivation to get it done!
This routine, will blast up to 350 calories in around 30 minutes, and you’ll build core strength while you’re at it. If you do this routine just three times a week to drop some weight for the summer you will be burning an easy 750 cals in 1.5 hours a week. If you want to burn an additional 200 cals a day then a 30-45 min brisk walk is all that is needed.
Star Jumps 2 mins
Mountain Climbers 2 mins
Standing squat 2 mins
side to side jumps 2 mins
Plank 2mins
on the spot sprint 2 mins
crunches x 30-50
Jump bringing knees to chest 2 mins
Jumping jacks 2 mins
Repeat twice
Now this is such a simple routine but if you stick to it you will be surprised what a difference it will make in a short time. If you cant manage it straight away, take small breaks between but ideally for the effectiveness try and run through the whole routine. As you get better increase the intensity or even the length of time at each stage. The most important thing is to stop making excuses and GET IT DONE, no one but you can make yourself do it, and make the body changes you long for!
Will protein powder bulk me up?
This idea has to be the most common misconception and one of the most common question asked by the gym/training newcomer. In fact I have lost count of the amount of times a person has walked in to my nutrition shop and stated...'I don't want to take protein I don't want to get massive' Its here where I try to educate them.
I think the belief comes from the link between body builders requiring a high intake of protein to achieve their huge size but less commonly a link is made with a person trying to stay toned or even lose weight.
To explain further, protein and protein powders in the nutrition industry are beneficial in several ways. The benefits are entirely dependant on the other ingredients and nutritional make up of that particular powder. So, powders (like Reflex instant whey) with Low Carbohydrates/fats/and calories but very high in protein tend to be for the person that wishes to stay toned with good quality lean muscle. Powders (like Kinetica Oat gain) that are high in calories/carbohydrates/fats with protein will be commonly used for someone that wants to gain more size or for an individual that finds it very hard to put on weight. The carbohydrates tend to be derived from simple sugars such as maltodextrin and complex carbs such as ground down oats. Then you have weight loss powders (like Reflex Diet protein), which incorporates fat burning ingredients like green tea, CLA and L-carnitine, which can be used as a meal replacement.
As you can see the misconception is not true. However in terms of weight training or with any type of physical activity, if you want to keep your muscles in tact then it is vital that you keep your protein intake high regardless of your individual goals. The danger if you do not- especially with weight training- is that your body will become 'catabolic' which basically means your body will eat in to the muscles because there is not enough protein to keep them fed. Obviously this is not ideal and will ultimately detract from what you are trying to achieve so I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep your intake high.
Furthermore, what makes protein powders such a useful addition to the sports person’s cupboard is the ease in which you can derive such a high protein content from such a small serving size. So when you are not hungry enough to eat a chicken breast or steak, then it is a lot easier to drink down a shake. Also the protein content your body gets from typically one serving of protein powder is the equivalent of eating two chicken breasts, four eggs or a 200g steak. So if you are eating just to get your daily in take of protein, then a protein powder will be a much more cost effective, hassle free way of doing it. As a ballpark figure, commonly suggested is that you will need around 1-1.5g of protein per day for each pound of body weight.
So our advice is, decide what your goal is, choose a protein powder to suit your goal (we can help you do this, drop us an email at info@grillafitness.com), and keep the protein going in!
GRILLA SAYS DONT BE SCARED TO GET YOUR PROTEIN IN!
Welcome to the all new Grilla Fitness blogs
Hi and welcome to Grilla Fitness blogs
Here we will be sharing information on anything fitness related which we hope you will find interesting, helpful, informative, funny or thought provoking. We will be uploading content on a regular basis so please keep coming back to read up on the latest additions to our blog archive, where we will aim to keep it current and relevant.
Jointly the Grilla team have amassed a significant number of years of experience within the fitness sector. Our experience has been gained in our nutrition shops, gyms, and also personal results throughout our gym training years identifying things we may have struggled with, found useful and interesting or discovering what has personally worked for us. So we feel that this is a great foundation to give you some interesting reads, as we know what are the most common questions and problems encountered.
We would love to hear what you think of our blogs, maybe some of you would like to provide feedback on the content, telling us what you want to see more/less of or maybe even suggestions on new content. Also feel free to ask us a question because chances are if your asking it then someone else will be thinking the same question. We will blog in response to any questions you may send us. If you do want to send us something then ask at info@grillafitness.com with 'blog question' in the title. We hope you will find this both interesting and helpful, and thanks for visiting us and being part of the Grilla Fitness community Signed Grilla Fitness Team