Drum Hill Fitness

Best Fitness Drum Hill Club will be offering a 3-hour Boot Camp to raise money for MDA's Augie's Quest which is a non-profit research initiative dedicated to finding a cure for ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).

For more information, click here to download flyer, or contact Best Fitness Drum Hill Club.

Group boxing class is starting back up Saturday mornings at 11am in April. Ask Ryan or stop at the front desk for more details.

...By Travis Webb

One of the most important areas of your body is the core. Over time the fitness community has changed their focus of ab workouts to core workouts. This is mainly due to our growing understanding in how the core works. As our knowledge has grown we have also developed equipment to activate and utilize the core more efficiently such as the stability ball.

Your core wraps around your torso and includes a variety of muscles in your hips. One of the ideas behind sitting on a unstable surface, like a stability ball, is more muscles will be recruited to stabilize as you move. If your form is correct you can help stabilize your core in this fashion. Some of the benefits include reduced lower back pain, improved balance, increases in strength throughout the body, improved coordination and decreased susceptibility to injury.

You can use a stability ball in sit ups, pushups, squats as well as hundreds of other exercises ranging from beginner to expert. I’m frequently asked what size stability ball should be used and the answer is in how tall you are and what exercise you are looking to do. The size and density of a stability ball can vary from large to small and high density to low density. I’ve found a method to be standing next to the stability ball, if it is as high as your knee you are good to go!

By... Travis Webb

Each new year there is a huge boost in goal setting and the drive to become more physically fit. Gyms become packed with members trying to achieve a multitude of goals. Some include losing weight, gaining muscle, strengthening a damaged area or just overall health. While goal setting it is very important to think outside the box and come up with a variety of goals to stay driven.

Here are a couple ideas you can add to your goal list. Some can be small such as doing pushups or holding a plank for a certain amount of time. Other harder goals could be doing a full pull up or running a certain distance. You could even pick a mud race like the warrior dash, rugged maniac, Spartan sprint or even the tough mudder. Mud races are a GREAT way to experience something brand new and succeed through a challenge!

The most successful members and clients are those who focus on what drives them. To make life more interesting come up with your own motivation and continue to evolve. You could be very surprised with how far you can go and how much you achieve if you continue to challenge yourself forward. My goal for 2012 is to run all four mud races, maybe I’ll see you there!

...By Travis Webb

Each Fitness Facility has their own machines, but what can they be used for? I’ve heard from countless members along with none members ask Fitness Professionals for machine based work-out programs. Each person having their own reasons for their request but the unified thought process was machines were a good place to start. The good thing is machines can be a good place to start and they can be used for a variety of reasons.

Each machine has illustrations that show you how to work the machine and which muscle group should be worked. There are positive and negative aspects to the simplicity of these illustrations. The positive is it’s relatively easy to look at the illustration and figure out what to do. Another positive is machines are good for preparing your body for more complex exercises. The negative aspect are not knowing how many repetitions, sets, and rest periods you should be using per machine. If you’ve ever wondered whether or not an exercise is being done correctly its always best to consult a professional.

To solve the problem of repetitions, sets, rest periods and even weight used there are a couple pointers to follow. First of all it’s better to use the machine at the lowest weight so your body can learn the range of motion. There is no point in using heavy weight first, you could injure yourself. To figure out the rest of the details you should first know what goals you’re trying to achieve. In most cases, but not all, using lighter weight with higher repetitions such as 3 sets of 12 repetitions, will help with weight reduction. In most cases, but not all, using heavier weight for 3 sets of 4-8 repetitions, will help in gaining muscle. No matter what, if you start lifting weights you will gain muscle in some degree.

Now that you have an idea of the details you can refer to a professional to guide you through each machine. Everyone has their favorite machines but that doesn’t mean you should only do parts of your body. Include as much diversity in your workouts as possible and you will reach your goals faster. Remember! Machines are a good place to start but there are always more complex exercises that will get you better results from your body. Look forward to changing workouts and your new body is all yours.