Combat Kickboxing is an open strike, cardio workout that expands on the limitations of traditional kickboxing. Conditioning exercises will be used as a warm-up to get the blood and oxygen flowing in preparation for partner work. We will use a range of techniques, also learning how to strike effectively with the knees, round kicks, push kicks and how to work from a clinch position (some combinations will be in close quarters). Elbow and blocking techniques are taught, but not used in a sparring situation. Be prepared to work hard, sweat and have a lot of fun!

We would like to invite you (contact us to join!) to join our newest CPT and fitness instructor Amanda as she teach us how to kick it!

Combat Kickboxing will be offered:
Tuesdays and Thursdays
8:00am for a 60 min. class
5 classes for $100 or sign up for 6 weeks ($300) and get 1 week free! Hurry because this class will fill up and these offers are first come first serve! Contact us to sign up!

That’s right, Life Fitness Academy is now distributing SueroViv, a new sports drink from Beyond Organic. SueroViv is the highest quality post-workout drink that we know of and can wholeheartedly recommend it.

SueroViv means “whey of life” and is taking us back to the original probiotic water–whey. Whey contains a wide variety of whole food nutrients and cofactors that are rich in probiotics, enzymes, calcium, potassium, phosphorous, sodium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, and 7 B-vitamins.

Many people consume whey protein that is overly processed, laden with other toxic ingredients, and from poor sources. The whey in SueroViv is a whole food from the highest quality dairy from GreenFed cows. This extremely high quality whole food is then cultured with good bacteria and sweetened with organic honey and organic fruit juice, then enhanced with organic essential oils.

Coconut water is also an excellent choice for a post workout drink, but there are several reasons why SueroViv is even better than coconut water. 1) Being a cultured whole food, SueroViv is a great source of probiotics which can help digestion and boost the immune system–something that coconut water does not contain 2) Sueroviv contains organic essential oils which are powerful health promoting oils that are found in plants 3) Contains just as much potassium and multiple times more calcium than coconut water, kombucha, or other sports drinks 4) Contains more antioxidants and enzymes than coconut water–Sueroviv is a living cultured whey beverage!

With its combination of electrolyte minerals in natural form (potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium), probiotics, antioxidants, enzymes, organic essential oils, vitamins A, C, and B-Complex, SueroViv is the best post-workout, fitness, and sports drink we have seen and we are happy to be able to offer it at Life Fitness Academy.

You can order from our store online or you can come into the gym and get some! As always, let us know any questions you may have!

Flavors include Citrus, Raspberry Lemonade, and Orange Cinnamon.

**SueroViv is also a great beverage to use for a cleanse or fast!

Right now you can pre-order our newest hoodie: Nutrition Is Key.

You can pre-order below ($30) or contact us! Let us know in the notes when you checkout what size you would like.

Life Fitness Academy puts a premium on digestive health. Ensuring the health of your gut is one of the best things you can do for your overall health–it is the cornerstone of your body’s health. If you have frequent stomach problems, bowels problems, or conditions like Crohns, colitis, or IBS, then this is the workshop for you. This workshop will help provide you with a foundation for dealing with and recovering from digestive health issues, as well as giving you direction for further learning.

Come join Life Fitness Academy for our next workshop–Digestive Health Workshop. Join us on Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 12:00pm. The workshop costs $20 and will be at the gym (1200 Villa Place, suite 406, Nashville, TN 37211). Contact us to RSVP

I’m going to make a bold statement straight away. You can lose weight and never count a calorie. This seems like health-nut blasphemy, I know. Counting calories can make you into an insane person. In some cases it simply doesn’t make sense. Eating natural, whole, nutrient-rich foods is the best way to a healthy, active and slimmer lifestyle.

The general principal behind weight loss is a simple one: you have to burn more than you consume. This totally works- its only logical, but it could be completely unhealthy. Take anorexia for example. It works, too, but is obviously not the way to go about things. This is my main problem with only counting calories. You could fill an entire day of “100 calorie packs” of cookies, crackers, etc, and never consume any real nutrients you need. So you could essentially be filling your belly with calories,but not supplying your body any of the things it needs to run properly. What is good about those diet foods anyway? You can justify all you want and say they taste “pretty good for 50 calories” or whatever, but we all know most of it tastes like cardboard. I realize I recommend some less-than-scrumptious foods, but there is a reason for eating them. Maybe you don’t want to eat that pile of roasted vegetables, but you know they contain tons of vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein (yes, some veggies have protein ie: leafy greens). I happen to enjoy a big mess of veggies. Most low calorie processed foods don’t care about anything except keeping that calorie number low, not what nutrients (or anti-nutrients) they contain. Bottom line is they don’t DO anything for you.

Counting calories is very imprecise, unless you carry your kitchen scales around with you everywhere. There are many sites to look up calorie count, but you may not know what they used to measure the count. Calories are different in raw chicken and cooked chicken. Your pasta sauce may have olive oil in it, while the website you check measured a pasta sauce without oil and will result in totally different calorie numbers and fat grams. There are simply too many variables in life to make counting every calorie realistic. Restaurants do not make every single dish exactly the same with exactly the same amount of ingredients, so how do you know that meal is only 550 calories? You can’t.

But guess what. Vegetables and fruits are naturally low in calories! On Weight Watchers, they allow you to eat as many fresh fruits and vegetables as you want. They usually don’t even factor into their point system- they’re freebies, if you will. Doesn’t it make sense to eat a majority of foods that are low in calories and high in nutrients? Your body is fueled by what it needs, without being weighed down by what it doesn’t need. I’ve talked before about the importance of good fats, and that’s where many of your calories will come from. Again, it’s illogical, to me at least, to compare an avocado and some Snackwells cookies based on calories. You know how good avocado is for you, but it is probably higher in calories than those cookies because it is high in fat.

Get your priorities straight. Eat what you need to live your best life. Think about when you eat a bad meal. It makes you tired and want to lay around which is clearly not conducive to weight loss or an active lifestyle. When you have proper fuel, you will be properly energized for whatever your day may have in store for you. Read the ingredients on everything. If the list of ingredients is longer than your arm and looks like another language, PUT IT DOWN. Know that you are eating real food and not fillers and preservatives.

By: Ashley Dance

Sound familiar? If you think the new year is the best time to get into some fitness you may be right. If you ask us we will say the best time is now! But we are a little biased. Or is it because we know that the longer you wait the harder it could be. Consider this, breaking habits, good or bad, takes at least 30 days for most people. Add to that the fact that we will have to approach one habit at a time in order to NOT overwhelm you. We are now possibly talking about a six month commitment! Seems daunting right? Well without help it can be–the good thing is that you have us! We make this stuff simple, and accessible.

The hardest part about our job is forcing you to be disciplined. Sure it seems like that would be easy–being here whenever you need us as early as 5:00am till 9:00 at night. And that’s for the people that actually show up! Plus being energetic and informative with every client during our work and that takes a lot of discipline. Do we still have a lot to learn? Yes! We continue in our education for you, because we want you to have the best understanding of what we want you to do. We only have one hour to give you the best workout possible and motivate you to not fail with food when you are not here. Sometimes it’s a wonder it works at all…

If you want a new you, remember these keys to success.

1. Discipline
2. Research
3. Commitment
4. Willingness to surrender your pride
5. Honesty

We will give the foundations of nutrition and slowly feed you more information as we feel you are understanding it. I want you to succeed! That means in 3-6 months you just need me to give you the best work out I can while you teach others all that you’ve learned from us.

By: Terry Barga

We frequently get the question of how to work fitness in when you have a desk job. The desk job can pose some challenges especially to the back, neck, and wrist areas. In the video below, Terry shows some simple isometric and tension exercises you can do to increase strength, circulation, and help fight some of the problems of being sedentary most of the day. Taking walks and standing up frequently are other great ways to mix it up while at the office.

Let us know any ideas you have or ways that you incorporate working out at your desk!

Since weight loss, working out or “getting healthy” are the most common New Year’s Resolutions, I feel the need to have a rant. Obviously I, and all of us here at Life Fitness Academy, think that health is super important—I made a career out of it because it consumes my thoughts most of the time. Which brings me to my first point: If you are serious about getting healthy, you need help.

We have time to think about workouts and food and recipes ALL DAY LONG. You have a job and families and friends to also think about. A trainer can give you direction, help you make a plan, set goals or just kick your butt when you need it. Trainers will save you valuable time ruling out things that don’t work. You don’t want beach season to come around and realize that “switching one thing a day for a Yoplait Light” isn’t cutting it. Nutrition is beyond crucial to whole health and weight loss or gain. Lucky for you all, we are obsessed with food and will talk all day about the benefits of certain foods and how to best prepare them, saving you hours scouring the internet for “healthy recipes.” If nothing else, a trainer will keep you accountable. Which is point number two: Don’t quit.

Unfortunately, there isn’t one easy, fast miracle weight loss solution. It is simple, though. You have to train hard and eat better. The other unfortunate thing is that it takes time. You aren’t going to healthily, safely, and permanently lose weight in a matter of weeks. On numerous occasions clients have commented on my legs and how they want their legs to look like that. Well they didn’t happen overnight. You might forget that I was a competitive gymnast my entire young life. I was in that kind of gym four days a week for three hours a day until I was 16. Then I ran track for nine years, a couple of those years overlapping. I’m not encouraging that kind of craziness for the normal population, don’t worry. What I’m saying is that for your best body, you need to give yourself time.

Don’t stress about losing three pounds exactly every single week or whatever. Don’t even bother with a scale for a few weeks–or months even. The first weeks feel the worst and you don’t need any negativity slowing you down. Instead pay attention to how your clothes are fitting and how you feel. With exercise and the right food you won’t be worn out, you will be more energized! It’s not only that energetic people are trainers; the lifestyle leads you in that direction naturally. Which brings me to my last point: don’t get bored.

So many people who resolve to get healthy think they have to go and jog on the treadmill for an hour, then stair climber for half an hour and then fart around on the bike for two hours. Kill me now. You don’t need to waste that much time on your fitness. A trainer will help you find the most effective way to use your free time to reach optimum fitness. Whether it’s a 30 minute lunch break workout with me, and I suggest a 2 mile run the next day after work, or an intense hour long boxing class with Russ or whatever insanity Terry has cooked up for you, make it work with your life. I know you’re busy and have tons going on, but in the grand scheme of things, what’s a couple of hours a week to focus on your body? Your body is what keeps you running around to all that other stuff you have to do, ya know.

Make 2012 your healthiest year yet! Ask for help, give yourself some time, don’t give up and make it fun! Reward yourself when you reach goals. When you accomplish something, take a day off and relax, get a massage, buy some smaller pants–anything! Your couch and Taco Bell won’t miss you, I promise. Get in the gym now so you can rock that bikini or speedo (yikes! just kidding!) this summer!

By: Ashley Dance

Headaches are annoying and they can be terribly incapacitating… or annoying. We wanted to go over some natural herbs that can help with headache and migraine relief. With herbs it is important to go slow and see how the body will react. Small amounts should be taken to start and as always check with your doctor, especially if you are on any medication. Many times, prescription medication can actually be the cause of headaches as the body is thrown out of balance or the body is trying to remove the foreign medication and detoxify. Ideally one would be off of all medication.

Some natural remedies are:

1. Massage
Massage helps circulation and eases tension. Try massaging the muscles of the back, feet, and head. Massage near, and around pressure points. Massage the area on the sides of your nose (all the way up and down) and the area behind your ears.

2. Magnesium
Magnesium can help reduce migraines by helping to relax the blood vessels and prevent the compression characteristic of migraines. Foods high in magnesium include, black beans, quinoa, halibut, pumpkin and squash seeds, spinach, and okra.

3. White Willow Bark
Willow bark is the whole plant from which aspirin was derived. It is tolerated much better in its natural form and rarely has any side effects. It also works to reduce inflammation. Like most painkillers it is important to not become dependent upon it.

4. Feverfew
One of the best and most popular remedies for headaches, feverfew is a short perennial plant used to prevent migraines. Typically the dried leaves of the plant are used, but sometimes the flowers and other parts are used as well. Look for capsule or liquid extract forms. Sometimes people are allergic to feverfew and as always start with a small controlled dose or supplement.

5. Butterbur
Butterbur is a plant in the daisy family and has shown effectiveness in treating seasonal allergies. It is especially helpful if your headache is allergy related. For other uses it is best in combination with feverfew or another headache relieving herb.

6. Cramp Bark
Cramp bark works well for muscle tension headaches as well as muscle pain relief. It is most commonly used to treat menstrual cramps, but it is also effective for other muscle pain and muscle spasms. Cramp bark is excellent in that it has little to no side effects and it may improve your overall health, so it is suited for short and long term use.

Some other herbs to consider:
Peppermint – has a cooling effect and can ease inflammation

Cayenne – the capsaiciin can raise the pain threshhold

Vervain – can help with pain, headaches, asthma, and ulcers with no known side effects.

Peony – can relax muscles and relieve spasms and cramps

Some products that have a nice combination of some of the above mentioned herbs:

MigreLief – contains feverfew, magnesium, and riboflavin

Now Foods Butterbur with Feverfew – contains both butterbur and feverfew

Now Foods White Willow Bark

We hope this gives you some help and insight into natural headache relief!

In our effort to keep fitness interesting–as well as get you the best results in town, we are introducing a new class: Better Bodies Workshop! This is a cross between a nutrition/weight loss workshop and “boot camp” style fitness. Bringing the 2 together will ensure the best results you can get anywhere, hands down.

We are going to take our fitness up a notch while delivering solid, reliable nutrition education. Better Bodies Workshop will work side by side with our already in progress boot camps with one day a week dedicated to nutrition. In addition, we will be adding new class times for everyone. Better Bodies Workshop will track your results once a week as well as give you homework based upon your nutrition education.

Better Bodies Workshop will begin on January 9, 2012, with new times for boot camp that will fit your schedule… dare I say better! Let us know if you would like more information or if you would like to sign up before the new year and receive the end of the year discount that includes a discount smoothie card! It will be a renewable six week commitment and is geared to be at least three days a week.

Times are:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 8:00am
OR
Tuesday, Thursday at 7:00am and Saturday at 8:00am

Price: $15/class
Term: 6 weeks, 3 times per week