There’s a reason why we tout the 45 minute workout at Team Afterburn, where you burn the most amount of calories in the least amount of time. We live in a busy world with buys lives! High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) helps us maintain the ability to work out, effectively, while not having to adjust our daily routines. Whether it’s before work, during your lunch break, or even during that small window the kids are at practice, Team Afterburn offers the ability to get in an incredibly effective, efficient working through the benefits of HIIT. Research has shown that HIIT training has shown the same results as other cardio and metabolic workouts in as little as 25% of the time invested.
If you still aren’t quite sure what HIIT is, check out a prior blog we did on how it works: HIIT: What is it and is it effective?
You’ll Melt Away Fat
Of course during an intense HIIT workout you will burn a crazy amount of calories, but it’s the Afterburn Effect (EPOC effect) that really makes this an amazing workout! When you ask your body to work so hard during that workout, it will go into recovery mode for up to 24 hours after the workout, meaning you continue to burn calories at an elevated level after you leave the gym, which is a unique benefit of HIIT workouts!
Your Heart Will Get Stronger
For most people, getting into that red zone (90% of max heart rate and above) is no fun. It’s difficult and means we are pushing ourselves to the limit. However, max training means max results. Studies have shown that those who do continued HIIT workouts for as little as 6-8 weeks see an improvement of up to double their anaerobic capacity (running, biking, etc).
Heavy Equipment Not Required
We love using weights to help supplement the heart rate spike and to add an extra element, but they certainly aren’t required for an effective HIIT workout! Members will often get intimidated by the large weights and think that the gym is not for them because they aren’t ready for weights like that. That’s ok, you don’t have to! High knee sprints, fast feet with touchdown/box jump, and jump lunges all work as a fantastic way to get that heart racing..
Getting Lean, Not Weak
There’s a reason why we alternate between cardio and weight days at Team Afterburn. Studies have shown that a combination of both resistance training and HIIT workouts allows us to maintain our hard earned muscle while losing most of our weight from fat storage!
Increased Metabolism
HIIT workouts can encourage the production of human growth hormone in our bodies by over 400% during that Afterburn Effect! HGH not only causes us to burn more calories, but it also helps us maintain that nice, young look and feel!
You Can Do It Anywhere
While we certainly hope you do your HIIT workouts with us at Team Afterburn where you get the benefit of accountability, certified trainers, and of course a group of friends, we do realize that life doesn’t always allow for a trip to the gym. You can always do your favorite exercises like burpees, jump squats, and all of the other great non-equipment workouts from the comforts of….well, anywhere!
It’s Challenging
HIIT workouts require you to dig deep and bring out a side of you that is not only rewarding physically, but mentally. You will need to give it your all the entire time you are working out, resisting that desire to slow down or even quit. Ultimately, that leads to some pretty awesome mental rewards!
If you’d like to know more about what we do at Team Afterburn and the benefit of HIIT workouts, or if you are still looking for a little more info, check us out online at www.teamafterburn.com and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamafterburn!
If you look back to our activities throughout our life, they typically always involved friends. When we were kids we played outside with friends, when we were teenagers we hung out with our friends on weekends and at school, and even into adulthood we spent time with our group of friends. As older adults we still crave the same thing, but our social events tend to become fewer and further between. Make going to the gym a social event! Spending time with people you enjoy while in the gym can not only lift your spirits, but also make your workout that much more effective, which is why group fitness classes are a fantastic way to reach your goals.
When you work out on your own, you miss out on a lot of elements of group fitness classes, such as making new friends, gaining accountability, and also being part of a workout that has already been designed in a safe, effective manner!
People tend to get very bored in the gym, which is why boredom is one of the leading causes of people quitting before they reach their goals. When you walk into Team Afterburn and see familiar faces and can enjoy your time in the studio during the group fitness classes, every day is new and exciting and you don’t get that bored feeling! You find ways to challenge and push each other during group fitness classes and can even laugh and joke about life outside the gym. Effective workouts are just as much mental as they are physical!
People also often fall short of their goal due to time constraints. When you work out alone you are trying to figure out the best routine and which station to go to next and sometimes even have to wait for a station to open up. In group fitness classes, the entire class is already pre-determined and you just need to show up, enjoy the group, and get in a great workout!
If boredom, lack of time, not knowing exactly what you are doing, or a number of other reasons are excuses you have given for not reaching your health and fitness goals, give group fitness classes a try at Team Afterburn! Check out our 6-week, no commitment trial package for just $75 at http://www.teamafterburn.com/6-weeks-trial-membership/ and get started today!
Summer is just around the corner and everyone is surely looking for the best summer body workout! Well, it should come as no surprise to anyone that it all starts with you and your hard work, determination, and overall motivation and commitment to success! However, Team Afterburn has developed a rapid, 6-week summer transformation program that is designed to get you the quickest results in the least amount of time possible! This truly is the best summer body workout!
At Team Afterburn one of the core philosophies we work around is that we understand what it’s like to have a busy life, have responsibilities, and that all of these things typically make our health and fitness and easy thing to take off the table. Keeping that as one of our focuses has allowed us to design a program that takes the burden off of you and simply requires you to show up!
Based on the principles of high intensity interval training (HIIT), our rapid summer transformation program will have you burning calories at an extremely elevated level, while working to tone your muscles at the same time, combining for the best summer body workout! Here’s the real kicker that pushes Team Afterburn’s program over the top: we don’t just stop there! We also work on your diet and provide you with meal plans and assistance in what you should and shouldn’t be eating! We also provide biweekly reassessments to measure your progress and ensure you are on the right track for the summer body!
The temperatures are heating up with each and every passing day, so it’s time now to find that best summer body workout! Check out our program at https://www.teamafterburn.com/rapid-summer-transformation-program/?et_fb=1 and read our numerous member reviews and success stories and get started today!
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New May Workout Additions!
At Team Afterburn, we are constantly striving to keep the routines fun and fresh by adding new exercises each month! Some of them will be altogether new to our members, while a few will be twists on some of our old favorites! Adding new exercises allows us to add to our extensive library of workout options which means not only do we keep things unique and fresh, but we are able to maximize our workout potential instead of getting caught up in the same thing month in and month out! Let’s take a look at the newest addition for May:
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April Workout Game Plan
For the month of April our muscle group pairings will be shoulders/chest and back/legs. By switching up the muscle group pairings from month to month, we allow ourselves to avoid complacency and plateauing, hence why the first week of each month leaves us so sore! We also place an emphasis on conditioning ourselves to utilize the same amount of weight under longer periods of tension, which will result in quicker we will see our overall ability to increase weight from month to month! Last month we increased the amount of time spent on each muscle group to 2 consecutive stations per group for two of our resistance workouts during the month. This month, we will go back to one muscle group at a time in hopes that the additional time under tension from the previous month will allow us to go heavier this month!
New April Workout Additions!
At Team Afterburn, we are constantly striving to keep the routines fun and fresh by adding new exercises each month! Some of them will be altogether new to our members, while a few will be twists on some of our old favorites! Adding new exercises allows us to add to our extensive library of workout options which means not only do we keep things unique and fresh, but we are able to maximize our workout potential instead of getting caught up in the same thing month in and month out! Let’s take a look at the newest addition for April:
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Thanks for joining us for part two of our two-part mini-series on common injuries in the gym and ways to prevent them. On Tuesday we discussed those common injuries and today we will dive in to how we can prevent them with the proper routine at your local gym, Team Afterburn
Your 5-Step Injury Prevention Plan
Injuries don’t have to slow you from meeting your fitness goals. The following 5 steps will dramatically reduce your chance of injury and if you do find yourself injured, but have been following these 5 steps, your recovery will be quick and efficient.
Step 1: Stretch
What is more boring than stretching? You want to exercise, not sit around touching your toes—right? Even though it isn’t exciting, stretching is the best way to increase muscle elasticity and durability. Tight muscles are big contributors to strains—remember? Take the time to stretch everyday before and after your workout to stave off injury.
Step 2: Warm Up
Preparing for your workout should not begin and end with putting on your gym clothes. Your muscles need to be coaxed into motion by way of a 10-15 minute warm up in order to prepare them for injury-free use. Cold muscles are less elastic and are therefore more prone to tears.
Step 3: Proper Gear
For most fitness enthusiasts proper gear has everything to do with their shoes. Don’t be fooled—not just any shoe will do. Find shoes that offer support and traction for your exercise of choice, and make sure that they aren’t too tight or too loose. If you are prone to ankle injuries then try a pair of high-tops for extra support.
Step 4: Lifestyle
Stop for a moment and think about your car—if you don’t maintain it with regular tune ups, oil changes and quality fuel then you can’t expect it to perform well on the road. The same applies to your body. Getting healthy amounts of sleep, eating well balanced meals and staying hydrated will all contribute to your performance during exercise. The healthier your lifestyle is the less likely you are to suffer an injury.
Step 5: Condition
This may seem like the most obvious step to injury prevention, but unfortunately it is the most overlooked. People who keep their bodies in top condition by exercising regularly and maintaining a healthy lifestyle are the least likely to injure themselves. When you head to the local gym and your exercise programs are started and stopped sporadically your muscles are most likely to become injured.
Of course being conditioned also has another great benefit that everyone enjoys – you get to look and feel great! And who doesn’t what that, right?
The ultimate injury prevention plan is to work with us here at Team Afterburn, your local gym! Together we will explore proper technique and will craft a plan for your unique fitness goals.
Don’t wait, check our testimonials out online at www.teamafterburn.com/testimonials or like us on facebook at www.facebook.com/teamafterburn. Better yet, come by the studio, schedule an assessment, and take a class!
Can you relate to this scenario? After putting it off for too long, you commit to get fit—only to find yourself injured the minute you set those fitness goals.
All of a sudden your fitness goals go back on the shelf and you are left to deal with the pain. Whether your injury occurs right off the bat or after years of regular workouts the result is always the same. It is discouraging, painful and downright depressing.
And since studies suggest that up to 38% of all exercisers suffer from an injury each year, it is a subject worth exploring. Today we begin a two-part series beginning with common injuries we experience in the gym, followed up by ways in which we prevent them from happening.
Top 3 Workout Injuries
The following three ailments occur commonly among active people. Let’s explore the cause of each and then detail your very own injury prevention plan—because let’s face it, you simply don’t have time to spend nursing and injury (and losing all that progress you had made).
1. Strain / Pulled Muscle: occurs when a tendon (connects muscle to bone) or muscle is stretched or torn. If you suffer from a strain you will feel pain and swelling in the muscle belly, or loss of function if the strain occurred in a tendon. Many strains occur as the result of an improper warm-up and insufficient stretching.
2. Sprain: occurs when a ligament (connects bone to bone) is stretched or torn. While this can happen to any ligament in your body, the most common placements of sprains are in the ankle, wrist and knee. Often this injury will happen suddenly as the ligament is stretched beyond its normal limit, usually during a fall or other acute trauma.
3. Low Back Pain: it is said that 80% of the population will experience back pain at some point in their lives—and the list of causes is as diverse as the sufferers themselves. Here are the main reasons for workout related back pain:
Now that we’ve got you conjuring up memories of painful experiences, come back Thursday and we’ll tell you all about the best preventative measures to ensure we are doing our best to keep these injuries from happening again, slowing down our fitness goals, and more importantly keeping us in the gym!
Until then, check our testimonials out online at www.teamafterburn.com/testimonials or like us on facebook at www.facebook.com/teamafterburn. Better yet, come by the studio, schedule an assessment, and take a class!
Today we give you the final installment of a three-part series on some of the biggest and sometimes most overlooked reasons to make gym training a bigger priority! Today we take a look at reasons 15-21:
We appreciate you spending the past week following along in this three-part series and we hope you’ve gotten more than enough reasons to make that choice to better your life through gym training! Take it to the next level, though, and come by the studio and sit down with us to discuss your goals and get started on gym training with us! In the meantime, check out the kind of results our members see on a regular basis at www.teamafterburn.com/testimonials or like us on facebook at www.facebook.com/teamafterburn.
Today we begin part two of our three-part series on some of the biggest and sometimes most overlooked reasons to make your health and fitness a bigger priority and find a gym! Today we take a look at reasons 8-14:
Check back on Friday for the final part of this blog series and get seven more great reasons to make that choice to better your health and fitness and find a gym! In the meantime, in your search to find a gym, take a look at the results our members see on a regular basis at www.teamafterburn.com/testimonals, like us on facebook at www.facebook.com/teamafterburn, or better yet, come to the studio and check out a class and sit down to discuss your health and fitness goals!
Whether we want to believe it or not, the holidays are right around the corner, which often means eating too much and missing workouts. Improving our health & fitness at a cardio gym now is the key to avoiding that downfall!
Instead of stating next year even worse off than we are now, let’s focus (that’s right, focus) on getting our game plan ready for the big challenge ahead!
Rather than overwhelming ourselves by thinking about 2017 already, let’s just take it 30 days at a time. If we prepare ourselves over the next 30 days, then you could ride out the holiday months fitter than ever and more likely to eat healthier, indulge less and stick with your workout schedule.
Take a look at these 5 tips to make a regular part of your health & fitness routine over the next 30 days (and beyond):
1) Go Bread Free: Going bread-free for 30 days is such a simple way to accelerate fat loss. Just think of all the extra carbs and calories that you’ll be saving yourself from. And it’s not so bad, once you get used to it. Wrap sandwiches and burgers in lettuce or on top of a pile of greens.
2) Work Out 5x’s Each Week: Take the next 30 days to really focus your efforts in the gym. Train as if you were preparing yourself for an athletic event, with the mindset that each and every workout is important in seeing you through your goal. Make a log of each time that you exercise, noting the duration, intensity and activity.
3) Go Sugar Free: Sugar is the biggest thing holding you back when it comes to dropping fat and getting lean. And not just refined sugar. I’m talking about all sugars. Take the next 30 days to cut out all sweeteners and limit your intake of sweet fruits. This will be hard at first, especially if you have a sweet tooth, but the rapid change in you body is fantastic incentive to keep going.
4) Focus on Protein and Veggies: Enough about all the things you can’t eat, let’s talk about what you can eat. Your meals should be a variety of protein and veggies. For protein stick with organic, hormone-free meat that has been roasted, baked or grilled. For veggies, avoid starchy veggies like potatoes, and instead stick with an assortment of colorful, fiber-filled veggies.
5) Commit to be Fit: The quickest way to get your body into tip-top shape is to join one of my fitness programs. I’m here to get you into the best shape of your life, with my proven, effective system. Make the commitment now, and together we can make the body of your dreams a reality.
Remember, the next 30 days is going to come and go regardless of our fitness agenda. So why not make the most of our health & fitness during that time anyway then? If the task sounds difficult, that’s what we are here for at Team Afterburn! Visit us online at www.teamafterburn.com, like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamafterburn or better yet, come down to the studio and talk with us to get started on your journey to a better lifestyle!