The Return Your Body Needs

Split these exercises into three movement types to ensure you are working the whole body.

Push Day:

Activating the muscle contraction as you push the weight away from you.

Pull Day:

Activating the contraction while you pull the weight towards you.

Hip-Hinge Day:

This is the most functionally important but the most skipped day at the gym. It includes exercises like squats, kettlebell swings, and deadlifts.

If you are new to strength training, go slow, start low, and don’t be too proud to ask for help. There are so many resources at your fingertips to help you create a plan, keep it fun, and prevent injury. The only failure is not starting!!!

by Dr. Adam Rushford

As we embark on the New Year, many of us will venture into the intimidating and scary world of exercise. A combination of not knowing what you don’t know and focusing on all the wrong reasons to exercise leads many down a path of boredom, plateau, and that poor return on investment... Cardio.

We hop onto the bike or treadmill because it is easy to figure out, hard to look bad at, and think of it as the king of calorie burning and, therefore, weight loss. If you want to lose

weight, change your relationship with food.

The main goals of exercise should be to take your joints through a full range of motion, build or maintain muscle mass (which in turn will boost your metabolism), and improve the health of your brain. My number one reason for exercise is improved brain health. Improved brain health is due to the feel-good chemicals released during exercise combined with the increased circulation, metabolism, and stimulation believed to help fight against early-onset dementia, depression, anxiety, and a slew of other brain dysfunctions.

The best return on your investment of time and energy in the gym that achieves these top three goals and many more while allowing for creativity and variation in your routine to overcome boredom and plateau is strength training. When the average person hears this, the first image that pops into their head is the Hans and Frans type that “picks things up and puts them down.” Strength training can be iron, body weight, band, kettlebells, and balls. It can be yoga, Pilates, barre, high intensity, or low. It can be high reps, low reps, fast pace, and even get your heart rate up and burn massive calories as cardio does.