It is December. It is holiday time. The amount of stress increases exponentially. More people get sick with the cold or flu and their time decreases because of the demand of parties and social events. Instead of taking to over the counter pills or doctor prescriptions, what if you just moved? How can movement help in making you feel better?

Over the last 30 years, as Americans, we have been obsessed with medicine. From antibiotics to steroids and everything in between, we medicate our selves and quite honestly and quite simply we OVER medicate ourselves. We don’t move as much as our ancestors did, we get sicker more often, we carry more body fat and our stress levels seem like nuclear time bombs just waiting to go off. True, we live longer but in my opinion we don’t live as quality of lives as generations before us. We live on prescription and over the counter medications. And they are killing us.

I am not a doctor, I am not what you would call a “health professional.” I am person who specializes in fitness and movement and have watched first hand how movement can better people in the following areas; physically, emotionally, psychologically, and even sexually (get your mind out of the gutter, I have not witnessed that first hand but people have told me and I take their word for it, dammit.)

Lets define movement for a second. Movement defined as “the act of moving your body or a part of your body.” Now I will had a phrase to the end, “in a fashion that increases blood flow to the body’s tissues, decreases harmful inflammation and increases feel good hormones the body.” That is how we will define movement, anything where you move. Like weight training, walking, going up stairs, running (oh god), sport activities, playing with your kids etc. You get the point…MOVE!

So, can I ask you a question? Has anyone ever been to a doctor for something and instead of prescribing medication that doctor told you to “start moving?” That is not a shot at the medical professionals but I would dare to say that movement (as defined above) could treat and prevent many of the diseases that kill us. From diabetes to heart disease to certain cancers, movement has scientifically shown to decrease the death rate and improve a person’s well being.

You people who are reading this are smart. You are educated. You know what is important overall but what about during bouts of constant stress and anxiety or when you have a cold or infection. How does movement work then?

Activities to Consider When Sick

Walking
Swimming
Biking
Light weight training
Yoga
Light jog

Activities to Avoid

Heavy weight training
CrossFit style workouts or High Intensity Interval Training
Sprinting or running long distances
Exercise in extreme temperatures

How Exercise Affects Your Immune System
(One time exercise)

Brief Vigorous Exercise- no immune suppressing effect
Moderate Intensity Exercise 45-60 minutes- can boost your immune system
Prolonged Vigorous Exercise over 120 minutes- can decrease immune function causing you to get sicker

Long term moderate intensity resistance Training– stimulates innate immunity (natural immunity; white blood cells, mucous, stomach acid)
Chronic moderate exercise– strengthens adaptive immunity (acquired immunity; acquired white blood cells, vaccinations if any).

Textbook Guidelines to Exercises While Sick
(From Precision Nutrition)

To close this out here are a few tips

To Keep From Getting Sick

Eat organic food
Eat green vegetables
Drink a ton of water
Don’t eat crap
Lift weights
Move

The battle of body fat can be a slobber knocker. The amount of misinformation is appalling. The amount of self proclaimed “fitness professionals” is even worse. This leads to a lot of information out there and hardly an ounce of it is credible. Thousands of diets, workout plans, calorie counting etc., are common ideas thrown around the world for people who are trying to lose weight or more importantly, body fat. Have you ever wondered why big tasks broken down to simple strategies, performed daily in the exact way, often leads to success? Somewhat like the assembly line that lead to more efficiency in car building and other industries. No? Well I have and I know the secret to losing weight and fat and I will share here. And surprise surprise, its not rocket science and it sure as hell isn’t a secret and everyone could do it, if they wanted it bad enough. Got your attention? Good…here we go:
Weight Loss vs Fat Loss
Are they the same? No. If you are continually weighing yourself, you are wasting your time. Weight loss does not equate to an effective, healthy program. So what you lost 5lbs, its pretty easy, just drink a lot of water and call it a day. Worry more about your composition, what your body is composed of not he actual number it says on a scale. Its literally irrelevant. Point being, focus on fat loss and throw your damn scale away…nobody cares! To go deeper, check this article I wrote about stopping the process of weighing yourself http://eepurl.com/bcqeDv
Alcohol
Stop drinking it. Stop drinking it. Stop drinking it. I cannot stress this enough. If you want to change your physique, you have to at least cut back, if not take it out completely. I promise you, you will thank me someday. It is making you fatter, consume more calories, and when you drink too much you act weird in public. Drink water instead. Simple enough. For more on this check out this article I wrote about alcohol and working out http://eepurl.com/2aaSz
Weights over Cardio
For the love of God, stop running. Please stop it. It tears your body down, makes you completely inefficient at burning fat and you run your muscles off. Push a sled, do some farmers walks, or get on the rower or bike but stop running. Lift. Weights. Please! For more on this topic click this link http://eepurl.com/bglMZP
Sleep
Quite possibly your best fat burner. Those who get less sleep, tend to have higher body fat percentages. Moral of the story…sleep more.
Nutrients and Calories
You’re not fat because you are consuming too many calories, you are fat because the calories you do consume are not nutritious and have no value…period. McDonalds has no nutritional value whatsoever. Your body looks at it as foreign and doesn’t know what to do with it. Lean proteins and fruits and veggies, it knows how to process and how to use the energy. Look at your labels, if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it. In fact reduce the amount of foods you eat that have labels. It will come off easier that way. I go into more detail on this article http://eepurl.com/bwPvun
To effectively lose body fat, you need a plan, you need strategies and you need to be consistent. At Aspire Fitness we offer specific nutritional plans for a variety of preferences and lifestyles. Each program is consistently designed for the client and their needs and wants. Check out one of our nutrition clients and their 2 month check up:
3 lbs 3% bodyfat 1 inch off chest 1 inch off shoulders  2 1/2 inches off arms 2 inches off waist 1 inch of thighs 2 inches off hips  Total of 9 1/2 inches lost in roughly 2 months of work.

She worked out with weights, got plenty of sleep and ate a balanced nutritional plan. With our custom nutritional plans we can specifically work with you on portion control, focus on macronutrients and get results.