5 Benefits of Exercise That Are Not Related To Weight Loss

 

People struggle with a lack of motivation every day, even when it comes to simple tasks. Sometimes, it is very difficult to find time to do things that would benefit your health and improve the quality of your life.
Let’s assume that you’re overweight, or underweight. You have no energy to live your life normally, you are fatigued and feel like there’s no hope for improvement. Maybe you already have an eating disorder, and it’s weighing down on your mental health, so you decide to change your life and start exercising. Let’s say that you are a beginner and you want to research the benefits of exercise, decide if you want to make the first move of organizing your day, and finding the time to exercise. You google, you look through pictures, hashtags, and motivational posts, and they have one thing in common, they glorify weight loss.

You already know that you need to lose weight, and it being one of the top reasons to exercise depresses you, so you just give up and make no changes. It is even worse if you are underweight! Why would you want to lose more weight? You just want to have hope, to feel stronger, and healthier. So, how are you supposed to find encouragement, and motivation to start exercising, when it only reminds you of your weight?
Leading a healthy, balanced life, that implements regular exercise, has many benefits besides weight loss. Your worth is not measured by the scale, and being thin does not guarantee that you will finally be satisfied, happy, nor healthy. Here are the top 5 benefits of exercising, according to our coach Sofiia, that will actually motivate you to get moving every day, and change your life for the better.

1. Improved brain function

Regular physical activity does not just improve the health of your body. In no way can we deny that it helps you build muscle, and help build bone density, but your physical body is not the only thing affected by exercise. Regular movement and exercise also help with brain health and function. Your cognitive health will improve immensely, as it will help you problem solve, learn, focus, balance, and even remember.

2. Endorphin release

Daily movement, whether it is exercising, dancing, or running, helps your brain release endorphins. Endorphins are a natural mood booster, your body releases them to help with stress, anxiety, tension, and pain. Being concentrated on your body’s movements, might make you forget the day’s frustrations, and improve your overall mood.

3. Reduced risk of chronic illness

There are a lot of types of exercise and physical activity. Each and every o

ne of them is important and can help you live a longer, healthier life. Exercise may not only help with the symptoms of chronic illnesses but also reduce the likelihood of getting one. . Raise your heart rate with aerobic exercise such as cardio, improve your muscle strength with strength training, and work on your flexibility with yoga and stretching for joint and bone health. Implementing all of these types of physical activity during your lifetime will help you prevent or fight illnesses such as dementia, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, asthma, and even cancer.

4. Improved mental health

We’ve already mentioned how exercise can help your mental health, but let us note the most important part. Exercise can have a positive impact on your struggle with depression, anxiety and ADHD, the most common mental illnesses of this modern age. Your outlook on life can change as you will get a sense of accomplishing something beneficial, something productive that will get you out of bed in the morning.

5. Better sleep

Sleeping disorders are more and more common among teenagers and young adults. These disorders can follow well into your adult life and have a negative toll on your health. Research proves that even 30 minutes of daily exercise may affect your daily sleep, and help you sleep better. In adults, It can reduce sleep onset – the time it takes to fall asleep, and the need for sleep medications.

Conclusion

Exercising regularly, whether you choose aerobic exercise, strength training, yoga or running, can immensely improve your overall health, mental health, and brain health. If you haven’t begun your fitness journey, consider doing so and read the benefits mentioned above as a reminder. Your weight cannot determine how healthy you are, and focusing on the number of the scale going down won’t help you be the best version of yourself.

If you need help with starting your fitness journey and looking to educate yourself on the important aspects of fitness, the FitSof Push Start 4-week beginner program is your beginner’s guide through the instructed exercise, workout schedule, nutrition, and tips for consistency. Go to our shop and purchase the program to take the first step on your fitness journey.

Stop Starting Over – Your Fitness Journey isn’t Linear

 

Starting your fitness journey can be difficult. The new road you’re walking on can be rocky and filled with obstacles. Lack of motivation, as well as lack of reasons to continue the fitness journey might be stopping you and giving you doubts about where you’re at: whether you think what you’re doing isn’t enough, or it is becoming too much for you to keep up with.

The idea people have about fitness, how it works, and how it influences their lives is mostly false. Fitness isn’t linear, your journey doesn’t start and stop at some ending point. Achieving some goal, such as weight loss or muscle gain doesn’t put an end to the journey you invested your time, money and effort in. After you spend some months, or a year, exercising and doing your best with this new lifestyle you try to keep up with, you might face some situations that you might think are “obstacles” and are holding you back. Those obstacles might be everyday things, such as celebrations, holidays, hanging out with your friends, and even your own birthday. You find yourself craving some more food than usual, and you might want a sip of alcohol. Meanwhile, you observe everyone not restricting themselves as you are, and it’s making you anxious. This is where you should put a stop to your toxic thought process, relax and enjoy yourself, eat delicious food, have a drink and spend time with your loved ones.

How you think, and what you need to understand

 

Moreover, you don’t think positively, you think you’ve made a horrible mistake, and all you worked for the whole week is for nothing, right? Your day is ruined, you get depressed thinking that you overstepped, ate too much and ruined your calorie deficit, you definitely didn’t get the right amount of protein for that day etc. Then you make a decision, you say “maybe I’m not ready to dedicate myself to this lifestyle, I lack discipline, I will never be good enough, so I will stop and continue when I’m ready”. The next day, you eat less and you train harder, to burn the extra calories you consumed. Perhaps, you even starve yourself and do a juice cleanse, to detoxify your body from eating a piece of cake and drinking a cocktail.  Does this sound like you? It does sound ridiculous when you observe thoughts like this, so alter them, change this way of thinking. This thought process will get you stuck in a loop, a never-ending cycle of starting your fitness journey, and putting a stop to it. Meanwhile, you will let your health suffer again, you’ll slowly lose the reasons that kept you on the right path to a better you, and you won’t start again until you look in the mirror and notice something that bothers you.

How to break the cycle

 

As a beginner and a person that just started diving into the world of fitness, you have to understand that fitness isn’t linear. You don’t have to invest 100% of your time, money, will and strength for your fitness plan to work out. It’s important to reevaluate, think about your strengths and weaknesses and accept them, put your basic needs and your mental health first. It’s okay to eat more when you feel like it: start practicing intuitive eating to feel your best, and eat nutritious meals to keep you full for longer.
When you feel like you’ve overstepped, or made a mistake, alter your thought process and practice positive thinking, think about why you reacted that way and if it really does bother you, think about ways to avoid it next time. While having a plan with a solid and attainable goal in mind is great, you should always prepare for unexpected celebratory meals, outing with your friends and dinner parties. These normal social activities should not give you anxiety and fear of the food you’re going to consume. If they do, consider consulting your doctor and getting an opinion on whether you need professional help.

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Conclusion

 

Fitness is a complex concept that involves the likes of nutrition, dieting, exercise, and if needed, taking the right kind of supplementation to help with keeping up with everything mentioned above.  It will not take you only a few months, or even a year to understand how everything works, and how to even start aiming and/or working for your set “goals”. Be patient with yourself and learn, try and fail, but do not give up. If you find yourself getting stuck on a toxic thought process, reevaluate your thoughts and change them. If a break is what you need desperately, take it. If you need to recover physically and mentally, then take your time. However, stop thinking that eating one bag of chips will ruin your whole year of hard work and dedication, because it is simply not true. Work on your mindset and remember:

“The only person you should try to be better than, is the person you were yesterday”.

Are abs made in the kitchen?

 

One of both women and men’s biggest insecurities is their belly fat. Almost everyone you know has probably complained to you at some point about looking “fat” while pointing to their belly. How much fat you store around the stomach depends on many factors such as genetics, your age and sex, or having diseases such as diabetes. However, most of the time, it comes down to your mental and physical health, your diet and the food you consume, and the way they affect your body.

Cortisol – the stress hormone is one of the leading causes of weight and fat gain in both men and women, but why? “Cortisol is released when you’re under stress. This sends your body into fight-or-flight mode, temporarily pausing regular bodily functions and slowing your metabolism”. Not does it only slow down your metabolism, but it also leads to craving sweet and salty food, which ultimately increases your calorie intake.

Now that we’ve mentioned some factors that might cause and influence your belly fat, lets answer your question. Are abs made in the kitchen? – well the answer is not that simple. In order to have visible abs, a sculpted stomach and a thin waistline, you must have lower body fat.

How is lower body fat percentage achieved?

 

A healthy body fat percentage for women is between 25-31%, and for men this range is around 18-24%%. If you are overweight and have a high fat percentage, it may be time to consider adopting a healthier lifestyle.

some tips you can follow:

Eat in a calorie deficit

If you need to lose weight when opting for better overall health. Try being in a calorie deficit until you reach a healthy weight, then maintain that weight. This does not mean that you should follow a restricting diet. You can implement the food you enjoy in your diet, you only need to stick to the calorie deficit.

Learn about Macronutrients (Macros) and count them.

Macros are nutrients including carbs, proteins and fats. Increase your protein intake, eat fiber-rich food and vegetables, and include more slow-digesting carbs in your diet.

Avoid liquid calories, including alcohol.

Liquid calories count as any other source of calories! They can add on to the calories you already consume, and produce abdominal fat, while also producing acid reflux and causing bloating.

Start resistance training and try HIIT workouts!

Research shows that HIIT can increase your metabolism and reduce both subcutaneous fat and belly fat better than other types of exercise, including moderate-intensity training and aerobic exercise. Resistance training can also help you build muscle and lose fat at the same time, while increasing your metabolism.

Maintain a sleeping schedule, and get a good nights’ sleep!

Prioritizing rest and sleep will help you with both your mental and physical health. When you don’t get enough sleep, you have less energy to get your daily movement and exercise. Meanwhile, your body releases cortisol and conserves energy (body fat) while increasing your cravings.

Does exercising play a role in this?

 

The simple answer is, yes, but not as big of a role as you might think. Your diet is the most important component in your fitness journey. It is responsible for 80% of your progress and the way you look; the rest of the 20% is your daily movement, exercise or training. Imagine that you spend three hours in the gym every morning, then come home and eat cereal, eat take out for dinner, have snacks like chocolates and chips all day and finish the day off with a big bowl of pasta. Do you think that will give you the results you want? The answer is no, even if the results you want are weight gain. If your body doesn’t get the macros, the nutrients it needs daily, your fitness goals cannot be achieved. Healthy weight gain or weight loss is the way, stick to the tips given above and fuel your body properly.

There are no specific exercises that will target your abdominal muscles and cause fat loss in the midsection. Spot reduction is a myth: targeting specific areas of your body, and only losing fat/weight in that particular spot is impossible. What you can do is combine your healthy nutrition and diet, together with your fitness exercising plan, be patient, consistent and stop starting over.
Abs are made in the kitchen, and no matter how hard you exercise, lift weights, or run, you can’t outwork your bad diet.

5 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Began My Fitness Journey

 

Everyone starts somewhere. Whether it’s a new hobby or a lifestyle change, the beginnings are always tough. At first, when you start your fitness journey, it may be exciting to try new things, and see how far you can go. You will be excited to finally take those extra steps to better yourself, you’ll buy equipment and workout clothes, maybe try a protein shake; but then things start to change. You go to the gym and you start feeling lost. Everyone around you seems to know what they’re doing, except you. You may be at home and struggling to finish a fifteen-minute YouTube workout, wondering if you can find motivation to continue on this journey.

During this period of uncertainty and doubt, the best thing you can do for yourself is educating yourself, yes, you read that right! Watch videos, listen to podcasts, read articles, blogs, books, anything that will provide you with the information you need. Lack of knowledge and information about your new lifestyle choices, may lead you to quit without even really starting. Nobody starts working out and immediately knows how to hold proper form, or knows a number of exercises that target each muscle group. Everything you aspire to become, is learned through trial and error, which brings us to the first point:

1. Everyone was a beginner at some point

 

Education about fitness is crucial, in every form or way that you want to consume it, but it’s not the only thing you need at the beginning of your journey. Even with all the information provided on the internet, some people still might need a little push. Asking for help from enthusiasts or professionals is totally okay! Most of the people in the fitness world, will be glad to lend you a hand, motivate you or educate you. Don’t let your insecurities hold you back. Being shy, insecure or anxious is normal, even in the world of fitness. As you continue showing up to the gym, your Yoga or Pilates class, these insecurities will slowly fade away. You will eventually realize that nobody is staring at you, and everybody is invested in their progress, this we can promise.

2. Restricting food and dieting won’t help you lose weight.

 

There are thousands of diets out there, most of women have tried a number of them, but do they actually work? Usually, diets give you only short-term results, which can backfire if you’re not careful. The National Eating Disorders Association reports that 35% of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting and that 20-25% of those individuals develop eating disorders. If you want to lose weight in a healthy matter, and maintain that weight, you need a lifestyle change, not a diet. Remember that food is fuel; you need fuel for your brain, heart and muscles to function properly. Read our blog post on the classic debate whether abs are made in the kitchen and read our tips for advice on fat loss.

3. Stick to a workout program or routine

 

We recommend sticking to a routine for the best results. Even in the first month, when you’ve just started, its important to have some routine to practice. Presumably, you wont be able to write one for yourself as you are starting your journey, but there are always routines that you can download, or watch on the internet. These ready-made routines will help you learn as you exercise. Sticking to a routine for weeks or a few months will teach you about proper form, and most importantly discipline. Your confidence will only increase when you notice that you get better and stronger each week. Don’t be afraid to try routines, and even challenges if you’re feeling extra motivated! Extra tip for the ladies – don’t be afraid to add weight to your workouts! They will not make you look bulky or less feminine, just look at our coach Sof!

4. Feeling sore isn’t always a good thing

 

Muscle soreness is normal, for the most part. At the beginning, when you first start exercising, or when trying a new routine, your muscles may be more sore than usual, but be aware. Being sore all the time, accompanied by fatigue, might be a sign that you are overdoing it! Prioritize rest for muscle repair and your health in general. Overexercising might spike your cortisol, disbalance your hormones and lead to serious injuries. Consider stretching before and after exercising in order to avoid muscle soreness and injuries.

5. Motivation is learned

 

This is the most important point that we saved for last. No one you know is driven by any kind of motivation. The key to reaching your fitness goals is consistency, effort and discipline. All of these factors combine together and drive your motivation. Each one of these things need to be learned and practiced every day, in order for you to get what you want. So, even on your bad days, show up and do your routine. You can cut the routine short, or do it slower, anything that will help you complete it. Once you finish your exercise for the day you will feel so much better, your energy will skyrocket, your brain will be awake, and your sense of accomplishment will be fulfilled. Never give up the chance to become a better version of yourself!

Don’t forget to check out FitSof’s Push Start beginner program, where we implement tips like these, along with the 4-week exercise routines, and a guide on nutrition!

 

Is HIIT a hit?

HIIT has been around for quite a while and there is quite a debate over its benefits, whether it is indeed a good form of the exercise, and how often we should do it. Let’s get into the details, so you can find out if HIIT is a good match for you.

What is HIIT, and how is it done?

Let’s start with clarifying some basics.  HIIT is short for high-intensity interval training. This type of training incorporates several rounds that alternate between several minutes of high intensity movements to significantly increase to at least 80% of one’s maximum heart rate.  Followed by short periods of lower intensity movements. This means that you perform an exercise for a set period of time – 40-45 seconds, followed by short period of rest – 15-20 seconds. While your workout you push your body to the limits, which can be difficult and challenging for most people. But the benefits do outweigh your struggles and the perks for your cardiovascular (your heart) and muscular systems are incredible. The most popular type of this routine is done is by using bodyweight exercise only, but it can also include other equipment, such as: dumbbells or kettlebells, jump rope or sliders. It works multiple major muscle groups and parts of your body. These compound exercises are the reason you can burn more calories and fat, as you work more muscle groups at once.

What are the benefits of HIIT?

1. 1. A healthier heart

While we work on getting stronger, our heart gets stronger as well, but why?
According to Dr. Amanda Bonikowske, HIIT increases your peak oxygen consumption (VO2). VO2 is a measurement of the amount of oxygen your heart can pump throughout your body, and an increased peak of it is associated with a healthier heart. A better heart health can extend your life expectancy, so consider implementing HIIT workouts in your everyday exercise routines.

1. 2. It is flexible and adjustable

This type of routine can be anywhere from 15-20 minutes to 45-60 minutes. Meaning that you can adjust it to your (presumably) busy lifestyle. If you’ve got some time on your hands and want to blow off some steam, a longer HIIT session is what you need. You can also modify these HIIT routines according to your fitness level. Short 20 minute sessions without any equipment would be a perfect start for a beginner. However, using the gym to your advantage is also an option! HIIT can also be done by using cardio equipment, such as stationary bikes or treadmill.

1. 3. Can be done anywhere

There are no limits when it comes to HIIT. If you enjoy working out in the gym, you can do your HIIT routine in the CrossFit section, or anywhere for that matter. HIIT rarely takes up any space, you do most of the exercises in the same spot.  This means that it is perfect for home workouts, small apartments and crowded gyms. Your yard, or a local park can also be a perfect spot for a combination of some sunshine, fresh air and HIIT!

1. 1. 4. You burn fat after your workout!

Not only do you get super sweaty and burn a lot of calories during your workout, but you also burn them after! Due to the intensity of the workout, HIIT can elevate your metabolism for hours after exercise. This results in burning additional calories even after you have finished exercising. Your metabolism needs time to recover after an intense workout because it uses up most of your oxygen. This is called oxygen debt or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). Oxygen consumption results in energy consumption, which is why you burn calories after intense exercise such as HIIT.

1. 5. Stress relief

A study which compared the benefits on mental health from both MIT ( Moderate-Intensity Training) and HIIT during the Covid 19 pandemic, has proven that HIIT reduces anxiety, depression and stress.  The participants were divided into two groups and monitored, one of them was preforming HIIT exercise, and the other MIT exercise. Moreover, the improvements obtained in the HIIT group seem to be greater than those of the MIT group in depression.

Notes and Tips on implementing HIIT in your routine.

• • Don’t overdo it!

Keep your workouts on a time limit, and try to avoid doing more than 90 minutes of HIIT per week.
Slowly start implementing it in your routine, by taking 20 minutes of your time each day, two to three times a week. Too much high intensity training puts stress on your body, and can lower your metabolic rate.

• • Avoid training close to bed time!

Elevating your heart rate before going to sleep is not ideal. Avoid exercise at night and too close to bed time, it can badly affect your ability to fall asleep, and your sleep quality.

• • Warm up before you exercise!

One of the most important steps to take before any kind of exercise, especially one that is high in intensity. Make sure to have a good warm up routine, in order to avoid injures and get your body ready for some vigorous exercise.  Don’t forget to also use a cool down routine, to slowly lower your heart rate.

 

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Summer is approaching. Everyone is working on their goals, and elevating their fitness game. “Strong girl summer” is becoming a thing, and everyone is working on building muscle. If looking toned and tan this summer is a part of your goals, let us help you achieve them, here is what you need to know.

How do muscles grow?

 

Muscle size increases when a person continually challenges the muscles to deal with higher levels of resistance or weight. This process is known as muscle hypertrophy.

Muscle hypertrophy occurs when the fibers of the muscles sustain damage or injury. The body repairs damaged fibers by fusing them, which increases the mass and size of the muscles.

Now that you know the basics, it’s time to dig deeper. A lot of factors impact your muscle growth, some you might know of, but if you don’t, now is the time you learn! We will start with one of the most important ones:

How your biological sex, and age influence your muscle growth

 

You may have already heard that it’s harder for women to gain muscle, and that they do so much slower than men, and that is true. Unfortunately, testosterone is key to building muscle and burning fat, a hormone that men have more of. However, there are some good news. According to a study, in the long run, despite the physiological and hormonal differences between sexes, women demonstrated the same relative strength gains compared to men.  Just because women gain muscle slowly, it doesn’t mean that we can’t gain it at all, or gain less than men!

Age is also a big factor when it comes to muscle building and muscle growth. As we age, so do our bodies, experiencing sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is the involuntary loss of muscle mass, strength, and function. Muscle mass decreases approximately 3–8% per decade after the age of 30 and this rate of decline is even higher after the age of 60. But this shouldn’t discourage you: leading a healthy lifestyle and daily exercise has many benefits which can help you age gracefully.

There are many other factors that may influence and affect your muscle gain and growth. However, we decided to highlight what we think are the most helpful ones, which will lead the way to achieving your fitness goals:

3 Important Factors for Muscle Building

 

Lift heavier

Using the same weights constantly, and not increasing the weight will get you nowhere. The only way to muscle growth is muscle hypertrophy, and for this, we recommend progressive overload! 
Progressive overload is a way of training that involves challenging your body, and slowly increasing the intensity of your training, in our case that would be increasing the weight of the equipment you are using. There is no need to rush, take this slowly, find what you are comfortable with and grow slowly but surely!

Give your muscles some rest

Rest is key in order to prevent muscle fatigue and injuries, but also essential for muscle growth. Exercising and lifting weight “tears” your muscle tissue, but when you rest, your cells repair those tears and help your tissue grow. It’s also important to note that working the same muscle groups every day is putting too much stress on them, it won’t help them grow! Make a plan, organize your trainings, and make sure to have rest days in order to achieve the best results possible.

Fuel properly

Eating well and eating enough food is the key for muscle growth. A restrictive diet, or a calorie deficit may impact your growth badly, if you aren’t eating enough protein. If your goal is muscle and mass growth, you should try a calorie surplus instead. Beware of not fueling your body properly if you train daily. Intense daily training and exercise, can actually have the opposite effect and you can lose muscle tissue, if you aren’t eating enough protein. If you struggle with counting your macros and protein intake, use an online protein calculator, or a calorie counting app to your advantage!

 

Make sure to read more of our blogs on related themes such as physical health and nutrition, for more tips and advice for your fitness journey!

Fitness Then and Now: 5 Positive Developments

 

 

Fitness has developed and modernized through the years, but different forms of physical exercise have been around forever. We’ve went from only stretching to Hula Hoops and weird fitness devices in the 50’s and 60’s, to Jazzercise, Aerobics and Bodybuilding in the 70’s and 80’s. Also, we slowly made a shift of our exercise environment from working out in groups and outdoors, to homely, individual workouts.

However, we have also progressed with our understanding of nutrition. It was a slow, but much needed progress from the restrictive diets in the 20th century, but also the toxic diet culture from the 90’s and 2000’s. The toxic dieting and diet culture as a whole, made people battle with their body image, confidence and societal beauty standards. Unfortunately, this lead to a lot of unhappy people and development of a lot of eating disorders. But, times have changed and so have we, we have learned from our mistakes and now we know better. Let’s look throughout some positive changes that Fitness world has gone through.

 

The Fitness Mindset has changed

 

Along with the body positivity movement, came along inclusion, and acceptance of each body type, but also a desire for change and improvement. People started attacking the toxic diet culture and ignoring society’s beauty standards, by trying to be healthier and happier. The mindset “nothing taste as good as skinny feels”, low calorie diets, and ignoring whole food groups is no longer a thing in the 2020’s. A new generation of women and men are focusing on balanced nutrition, aiming for stronger bodies, healthy habits and watching out for their mental health.

More women in certain Fitness fields.

 

In the past, women were mostly included in sports and fitness practices that were considered more “feminine”. Sports like gymnastics, forms of exercise such as Aerobics, Pilates, and dancing-influenced exercise such as Jazzercise and Zumba. Bodybuilding is something that women rarely did in the 20th century, because they were discouraged from it. Nowadays, more and more women participate in strength training, weightlifting and bodybuilding, with it becoming trendy amongst teenagers and young women on social media. Women are now certain that weightlifting won’t make them look masculine, and the positive impact it can have on their health, so, it’s no wonder that most women spend their time in the gym now.

 Variety

 

Nowadays, there is something for everyone! People can enjoy a variety of physical exercises, training and movement. Pilates is growing in popularity again, strength training and weightlifting at the gym are at an all time high, and yoga is still highly popular, but those are not the only options anymore. HIIT, Hot Yoga, Water Aerobics, Circuit Training, Cardio Fusion, and Barre are only a small percent of what the fitness world offers now. You are able to explore, find the most enjoyable way to move your body and thrive!

 

 

Growing knowledge and understanding

 

As we already mentioned, the progress of Fitness has been undeniable, and we are continuing to learn and improve. There are more ways to move your body and exercise, but we have also invented new exercises and movements. You can see varieties of the same exercise, targeting the exact muscles you need it to, and with internet connection its accessible to anyone! Information is flooding on social media, and you can see fitness tips on ways to train and to improve, basically anywhere. You can also find online research articles, and fact-check everything if you want to!

 Equipment

 

Lastly, there are all sorts of equipment you can use, according to what type of fitness you practice and what your needs are. There are many types of mats, weights, activewear for any type of home workouts if you enjoy Pilates, Yoga or Aerobics. There are also affordable options to invest in a home gym, and get equipment such as a treadmill, a barbell, a smart bike and similar things you can find at the gym. Again, there is something for everyone.

We hope that these five developments in Fitness helped you see the positive side of the Fitness world!
There are a lot of improvements and progress to be made, but let’s focus and cherish what we have achieved so far.

Cellulite is a problem all women face. It’s a concern, and a reason for insecurity for a lot of women. But have you wondered – can skinny women have it? how about men? what is it? and the most frequently asked question – can I make it disappear? Well, we have good and bad news – you can’t make it disappear, but you can reduce it!

What is cellulite

 

Cellulite is structural changes in the subcutaneous layer, leading to impaired microcirculation and lymphatic outflow. Put simply, these are pits and irregularities that spoil the aesthetic appearance of the skin. The fact of the matter is, 90% of women have cellulite, no matter if they’re overweight, fit, or skinny, everyone can have it. However, some women have thicker skin, and cellulite is not as visible on their skin. On the other hand, when it comes to men, only about 10% of them have cellulite.

It’s a common misconception that losing weight can help you get rid of cellulite, but sadly, that isn’t true, here are three things that can actually help you reduce or improve the appearance of cellulite:

 

 Nutrition and hydration

 

Hydration and proper nutrition can help minimize and fight cellulite cellulite. Drink plenty of water, exercise daily, or be active daily in any way you enjoy.  Try to avoid sugary drinks, fast food, and smoking. In fact, both skipping meals, and overeating, won’t help you with cellulite, so, try improving your relationship with food!
Some of the best foods to eat for fighting cellulite are: watermelon, flaxseeds, nuts and bell peppers  Try practicing a healthy lifestyle, and eating balanced meals for the best results.

Exercise and active life

 

Exercise is sadly not a miraculous solution for getting rid of cellulite. Training and exercise alone, will not help your cellulite disappear, but staying active and exercising, in combination of proper nutrition, is the key to minimize it! Building and Firming the muscle underneath the cellulite will help smooth the skin’s appearance, and make your cellulite less visible. Losing a bit of fat might help too, but this affects every person and each body differently. When it comes to exercise,  what you need to do is focus on strength training and exercises that target the hamstrings, quads, buttocks and hips. Try to train your lower body multiple times a week, and use progressive overload to challenge your muscles! Don’t forget to stay as active as possible, take long walks, run, or do anything else that will keep you outside!

Targeted massage

 

Cellulite massage involves deep tissue massage, lymphatic drainage, and myofascial release techniques to help break up the fat deposits and smooth out the skin. The massage therapist uses firm pressure and long strokes to manipulate the skin and underlying tissues. Simply put, they stretch the skin tissues, redistribute fat cells, improve circulation and lymphatic drainage as well, which reduce the appearance of cellulite. A few massages will not get rid of your cellulite permanently. Repeated treatments and massages are necessary to reduce cellulite. You can use foam rollers, handheld massagers, and try Endermologie massage at home, or you can visit a massage therapist.

Cellulite is a manageable problem, but even if you can’t reduce it, slowly learn to accept it! Cellulite is normal and every woman has it, it doesn’t make you ugly, unwanted or less attractive.