http://revivalizeyourself.com/ Revivalize - Blog RSS Feed 2.0 en-us Thu, 16 Apr 2026 08:50:18 GMT Thu, 16 Apr 2026 08:50:18 GMT http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/10574/5-Stretches-to-Retire-From-Your-Regimen blog Stretching is something we all do, sometimes even unconsciously. If you are like most people, when you were in middle school gym the class always started with a stretch routine. Your gym coach would probably make you do some jumping jacks, touch your toes, stretch your shoulders, and do a few other things. Now whether you stretch to achieve an athletic goal or simply because you feel you have to, we will tackle 5 common stretches in your routine that you should replace. When used effectively, stretching can be good for mobility, strength gains, and injury prevention. However, that is only true if you do the correct stretches, with proper form, and at the right time. For example, static stretching is often interpreted as a warm up which it is not. Think of stretching a cold muscle that is not warmed up like pulling a cold brittle rubber band. It weakens it rather than making it more flexible. On top of that, overstretching can also throw off our mind muscle connection by temporarily lengthening certain muscles. This is why, contrary to what most people believe, stretching before a workout does nothing to lower the risk of injury [1]. And stretching an injured muscle to relax it will actually more likely aggravate it more. You will almost certainly be better off using ice, heat, and physical therapy to heal muscle injuries. Finally, stretching muscles that are already overstretched and underactive (like stretching the glutes after a day of sitting) can make muscle imbalances go from bad to worse. This literally does the opposite of what stretching is supposed to do, and some of these stretches below will do just that. So without further of do here are 5 stretches you should stop doing along with better alternatives! 1. Across the Shoulder Stretch Ask yourself this, what are you doing? This stretch literally already does what a day of sitting does. It contracts the muscles in the front part of our shoulder causing our posture to round forward just like what happens with a day of sitting. Alternative: Cactus Stretch Opt instead for a stretch that externally rotates our shoulders, such as the cactus pose. It is an especially helpful stretch to do in between long periods of sitting to undo slouching.   2. Touching your Toes It is always a surprise how almost most people even some trainers don't seem to know how to most safely and effectively stretch their hamstrings. Sure, reaching for your toes like we've been told to do our entire lives does stretch the hamstrings but it also puts your lumbar spine at a very compromising position. This makes the back most often the limiting factor of the stretch rather than the hamstrings. Alternative: Hip Hinge Stretch To stretch our hamstring while simultaneously protecting our lumbar spine, we need to keep our spine in an anterior tilt when performing a hamstring stretch. A Hip Hinge Stretch does just that. Simply dig in with your forward heal and hinge forward as much as you can while maintaining a flat back. You can also make this stretch even more effective by turning it into an active stretch. Simply alternate which heal goes first and continue walking forward. 3. Standing Quad Stretch While this stretch will not necessarily cause a whole lot of damage, it quite frankly doesn't do anything either. First off, unless you are an athlete most of us typically are not dealing with tight quads so it really does not make sense to stretch a muscle that isn't tight. What is tight from sitting most of the day are our hip flexors. Those are the muscles we should be getting more mobility out of. Only the rectus femoris muscle is part of both the Quadriceps and the hip flexor groups of muscles and standing quad stretches don't reach it or any of the other hip flexor muscles very effectively. On top of that, if you have trouble with balance, keeping that balance becomes the limiting factor of the stretch rather than range of motion. There are much better ways of staying flexible in our lower body. Alternatives: Foam Rolling (For stiff quads) Pigeons and Kneeling Lunges (To Stretch our Hip Flexors) If you do have stiff quads that are substantially hurting your mobility, your best bet is to perform some foam rolling to help loosen up some of those deeper quadriceps muscles. If you are a sedentary person with tight hip flexors you would be best served with stretches targeting hip flexor mobility such as pigeon stretches and kneeling lunges to name a couple. Just be sure to keep your spine in a neutral position when performing those stretches. 4. Tricep Stretch We all have done this stretch at some point in our lives and likely commonly see others doing it as well. Quite honestly though, it really doesn't do anything. There is really no reason to stretch our triceps like that, it does not accomplish anything as far as our overall flexibility and mobility goes. Alternatives: Tricep Strength Training The best way to build mobility and prevent injury in your arms is to perform strength workouts. When utilizing proper technique and range of motion, strength training is what will alleviate stiff arms since your muscles are constantly contracting and relaxing to move a weight. For this purpose, workouts such as tricep extensions that target the triceps directly, or push workouts such as a dumbbell press that require tricep assistance will be your best bet to maintain a strong and mobile upper body. 5. Windshield Wipers  Saving the best or shall we say worst for last is windshield wipers. This active stretch creates a lot of lumbar rotation which is something we want to avoid if we want to lower our risk of injury. We want our lumbar spine to be stable, not mobile and it is the job of your core to keep it that way. Sure we need our core for sit-ups, leg raises, and various other ab workouts. However, the primary functions of the core are support, stability and deceleration of any twisting in the lumbar spine. When we do windshield wipers we twist our lumbar spine in a way it is not normally designed to move, and normally a strong core is what protects it from doing so. Alternatives: Thoracic Stretch with a Stick While we want to maintain a stable lower back and strong core, when it comes to our upper back we want an increased amount of mobility. A mobile thoracic spine is key to preventing upper cross syndrome, the infamous upper back hump that we try to avoid. For that reason we should use a stretch like this one to directly target thoracic mobility while keeping the lower back a fairly neutral position. Leo Gabriel, Revivalize Inc. Sources: [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24100287/   Fri, 18 Nov 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/10574/5-Stretches-to-Retire-From-Your-Regimen http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/10068/The-Best-Sugar-Substitutes blog We get it; there are thousands of articles and videos out there talking about how bad sugar is for us. Too much sugar leads to obesity, diabetes, increases our risk for heart disease, nearly all types of cancer, and all in all just makes us feel more terrible. But let's face it, most of us have at least some degree of a sweet tooth and are always looking for alternative ways to satisfy it outside of conventional sugar and corn syrup products we are sold so much of. Are some sweeteners healthier than others? Are they healthier at all compared to regular sugar? Let's start with natural sugar based sweeteners such as Honey, Maple Syrup, and Fruits. Honey and maple syrup are going to have similar effects on our glucose levels as sugar does. However, they do at least contain small amounts of antioxidants as well as minerals such as manganese, zinc, and copper. It's also important to note that we are using raw honey and natural maple syrup made from the sap of maple trees as our comparison to pure sugar. Most maple syrup you buy in stores is just corn syrup with artificial maple flavor. Basically these sugar alternatives are just sugar with a tad of added nutritional value. Compared to sugar and refined corn syrup they are much more like the lesser of two evils than a health food. With fruit on the other hand, we also get a food that has vitamins and antioxidants but also water and fiber that can hydrate us and slow the release of the sugar within the fruit. You are less likely to overeat because it does provide more of a satiety factor. But because of their high fructose levels splurging on fruits will have similar effects to consuming too much added sugar. Those effects include insulin resistance, fatty liver, and other issues [1]. While the fiber and nutrients can add a satiety factor which prevents overeating, fructose is at the end of the day still fructose. Our cells cannot use it so whenever we consume it, it needs to be metabolized and converted to glucose by our liver. With the exception of fattening fruits like avocados and olives, most fruits derive 80 percent or more of their calories from sugar, most commonly fructose, rather than protein or healthy fat. Don't believe it? Just look at the nutrition facts of bananas, apples, or any other common fruit and compare the sugar content to the protein and healthy fat content. But didn't our skinny cavemen ancestors eat fruits such as wild berries? They certainly did. However, don't expect to find those berries in bulk on your next grocery store visit. Those berries had much less sugar and much more fiber and nutrients. Most people today would consider them way to sour and bitter for their taste. Years of commercial farming to make food easier to grow and fit our sweet tooth has led to higher levels of "natural" sugar in our fruits. We crave fructose because it helps us store fat, an essential feature for pre-historic humans, but not something we need in our modern more sedentary lifestyles. We need fats and proteins to survive; we would literally die without them! However, sugar and carbs in any form are not essential. To be healthier and lower our risk of chronic disease it is important that we lower our sugar intake, not just get it from more natural means. So if natural sugars are not an easy fix to eating too much sugar, what is? The main sweeteners on the market used to be the artificial sweeteners created in labs like Sweet-n-Low and Splenda. Nowadays the more common so called "healthier" sugar substitutes we see are monkfruit, stevia, and sugar alcohols like erythritol. Sure they might seem like an easy fix because they don't have calories, but artificial sweeteners will still cause weight gain because the sweet taste still triggers our body to release insulin, a hormone we use to control our blood sugar levels For those of you who don't fully understand insulin, here is why it is important. Our body produces 2 major hormones to control our blood sugar levels; insulin which tells our body to pull sugar out of the blood and glucagon which triggers our body to release stored sugar into our blood to keep sugar levels balanced. When we eat, our blood glucose levels rise and our body produces insulin which kicks off a chain reaction pathway that tells our body to start pulling sugar out of our bloodstream and store it in the liver and muscle. If our sugar stores in the liver and muscle get to full the excess calories become body fat. When we haven't eaten recently, our body produces glucagon which tells our sugar stores to release sugar into our blood, preventing low blood sugar. As we mentioned, the sweetness of these artificial sugars tricks our body into thinking we are eating sugar. Since artificial sugar doesn't have calories, our blood sugar levels aren't rising, yet our body is producing insulin anyway. This means we have sugar pulled out of the blood and possibly converted to fat, leading to lower than normal blood sugar. This low blood sugar makes us even hungrier because our body craves foods, especially starchy foods to overcome the sudden drop in blood sugar. Weight loss comes down to calories in and calories out. Eating artificial sugar can mess with us so much such the added hunger leads to us consuming more calories total from other sources than we would have consumed by just eating regular sugar.  If weight loss is your goal, artificial sugar might even be worse for you than regular sugar because it makes you consume more calories overall. If getting a more balanced diet is your goal, than it could be a slightly better solution to regular sugar and corn syrup. If you make up for the extra hunger caused by artificial sugar by eating foods high in protein, vitamins, and essential fat it will most likely give you a better nutrient profile than sugar would. But lets face it, when our blood sugar falls like that we crave sugars and starch more than we crave protein and fat. Sugar is the definition of "empty calories" and has no nutritional value, overeating on other foods could give you something at least when it comes to vitamins and minerals. One thing is for certain, sugar both in its processed and artificial forms is not a nutrient dense food and not something you should be building your diet around.  If you do want to include some non-sugar sweeteners into your diet, aim for something more natural but be cautious of what you are actually consuming. Most chemical sweeteners are classified as "safe for use" by the FDA but realistically should be avoided because they aren't real foods and the studies on them still to this day are mostly inconsistent and inconclusive at best [2]. Why risk putting them into your body if they have no nutritional value and there are better quality alternatives on the market? What are some of those alternatives? Stevia and Monkfuit are probably going to be your best bet. But keep in mind that pure stevia extract is nearly 200 times sweeter than sugar so realistically manufacturers need to combine those sweeteners with something else, most commonly sugar alcohols such as erythritol or other additives such as inulin fiber. So the stevia or monkfruit that you buy on store shelves is actually mostly erythritol or another base with a touch of stevia or monkfruit added for extra sweetness. Just check the first ingredient on most of these labels, I can promise it won't be stevia or monkfruit extract, that ingredient is usually a distant second despite what the label on the front of the package might make you think.  If we want to know how these sweeteners affect our health, we should really be asking how does inulin fiber, erythritol, or whatever else the base is affect our health? The answer to that in a nut shell is that it varies. Erythritol can be better for dental health by not providing fuel for the cavity causing bacteria, hence why sugarless gum often uses it for flavoring. Inulin is a prebiotic fiber although it probably has a much more positive effect when obtained from whole foods like artichokes rather than when it is processed with stevia or monkfruit. Both inulin and sugar alcohols have been shown to cause minor bloating and indigestion especially when consumed in large amounts. Long story short, artificial sweeteners aren't health foods and not something you can consume large amounts of without any side effects. At the end of the day it is best to limit sugar and sugar substitutes as much as possible. They don't have nutritional value and will not satiate you. Consuming either of these will make you hungrier more often rather than give you the steady strength and energy of good wholesome food. You would do yourself way more good by incorporating and enjoying whole foods into your diet rather than searching for the perfect alternative to sweets and simple carbs. Leo Gabriel, Revivalize Inc. Sources [1] https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/abundance-of-fructose-not-good-for-the-liver-heart [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3198517/   Wed, 28 Sep 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/10068/The-Best-Sugar-Substitutes http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/9969/The-7-Best-Weightlifting-Exercises blog In the previous article we discussed how we can begin strength training literally just by using the weight of our own body. Performing exercises like pushups, pull-ups, and squats can help us hit almost every muscle. However, they can be sometimes tough to overload. That is one of the major advantages that we have when we have access to the gym. To continue building strength, we don't need to constantly come up with variations for different exercises; we just need to continue adding weight, forcing our muscles to adapt. But simply picking a few exercises and gradually adding weight is not enough and can even hurt us by building muscle imbalances. When we go to the weight room we typically aren't there for more than an hour, so it's important we know which exercises are going to get us the most bang for our buck. At the end of the day which workouts are "Best" is subjective so our criteria for evaluating exercises have to do with their effectiveness for building total body strength and functional movement. And these exercises are going to need to be exercises targeting multiple muscle groups so we can get a total body workout in without spending hours at the gym. When multiple muscle groups are engaged this also makes the exercise safer long term by not creating or worsening muscle imbalances. When we refer to the 7 "Best" exercises it certainly does not mean that they are the only ones you should do, but rather the ones you should utilize as a measuring point and foundation of your strength training routine. So without further ado let's go through these 7 exercises one by one. Exercise #1: The Deadlift Imagine how much easier life would be if you could correctly pickup and put down heavy objects without injuring your back? The deadlift trains us to do just that, pick up dead weight off of the ground with proper form. Many of us associate lifting heavy objects with injury when in reality, it is actually one of the safest physical activities out there, provided you use proper form. And what proper form involves is using your legs and glutes to lift rather than your lower back. The deadlift works our hamstrings, glutes, quads, back, and traps. Once you get the form down and begin adding on weight to the bar, there is practically no exercise that gets loaded heavier than the deadlift. This means adding on a lot more muscle mass, in a shorter period of time. On top of making us stronger, this gain in muscle mass turns us into metabolic fat burning machines. The deadlift is all around a fantastic exercise with its only minor setbacks being that it doesn't work a large range of motion and is a posterior (hamstring and glute) dominant exercise. To maximize its effectiveness we need to combine it with some quad dominant exercises to balance out our leg strength. Exercise #2: The Squat Barbell Squats have been coveted as the king of lower body exercises and for good reason. This exercise works just about every muscle in our lower body.  As long as you squat with your legs at least parallel to the ground you are not only building strength but mobility as well. Even the dead lift, as great of an exercise as it may be cannot make that claim, it doesn't work the anywhere near the full range of motion of any joint. So why else is it so important for us to squat deeper? Although it is a compound movement, it is still a movement lead primarily by the quads. Only at those deeper stages do our glutes, inner thighs, and core engage to keep us stable. Learn to squat and dead lift even lighter weights with proper form, and everything you do on a daily basis becomes easier. Climbing several flights of stairs, lifting heavy things around your home, going for a hike, and anything else involving physical activity barely breaks a sweat. Exercise #3: The Reverse Lunge The Reverse Lunge gives us a taste of unilateral leg training and balance that we don't get from just doing squats and deadlifts. While also, quad dominant it still hits just about every lower body muscle and puts even more emphasis on core strength by introducing a balance component. It can be done with dumbbells or a barbell once the increase in leg strength can no longer keep up with grip strength. These 3 lower body exercises alone are all you need to build strong, injury resistant legs. Exercise #4: The Bench Press Just like with lower body strength, building upper body strength quickly and efficiently means relying on compound lifts. The bench press is a fantastic place to start when it comes to building upper body strength. It works our Chest, Front Shoulder, Triceps and even our core. Like with any exercise, what is most important is proper form. This means having our forearms relatively perpendicular to the bar and moving the weight in a diagonal path down to our chest and bringing it back over our neck. This prevents unnecessary strain on our shoulders. Exercise #5: The Overhead Press The overhead press is another great push exercise. This time we are engaging our entire shoulder not just the front deltoid, which already gets plenty of work from our other push exercises. To perform it correctly, our grip will typically be narrower than the bench press. Once in a good starting position, lift the bar from your chest. Once you have pressed it overhead, bring your head under the bar and use your traps to stabilize the bar. Even though the main muscles worked are in the upper body, our glutes and core still must engage to keep ourselves stable. When our glutes and core are not engaged it causes a loss of balance and the back to arch excessively, which is one of the first signs you are performing the lift incorrectly.  The shoulder is a commonly injured joint and from a functionality perspective the overhead press helps build strength in our shoulder which protects it from injury. The additional upper body strength and mobility helps us with moving and stacking heavy objects, or working on something overhead. By doing these compound push exercises, we can do those and other things with a much lower risk of pain and injury. Exercise #6: The Row Now we are transitioning from pushing to pulling, and to do so we need to engage our back muscles. The two main muscles we need to work in our back are our latissimus dorsi (or lats) and trapezius (traps). The Barbell Row will work both of those muscles. To perform the exercise, simply deadlift the weight off of the ground, drop into a quarter squat, and row. Adjust the back position as needed so long as it stays flat. The more we lean forward and flare out our elbows, the more emphasis we will put on working our upper back muscles more so than the lats. This exercise can be performed overhand or underhand. When done underhand, we engage our biceps more, when using the standard overhand grip it's our traps that fire more. For both variations, our prime mover muscle will still be the lats. Adding this exercise into our routine will help us build functional strength throughout our entire upper body. Exercise #7: The Farmers Carry To wrap it all up, we should never overlook our grip strength and stability. If you are like most people the ability to more easily pick up and carry heavy objects would make our lives substantially easier. This is an exercise you can do as part of your upper body, lower body, or total body workout. It can literally be fit in almost anywhere. The forearms are small muscles that fatigue and recover fast and benefit from shorter and more frequent workouts. However, if you think the farmers carry works just the forearms, you are greatly misled. The farmers carry engages our glutes, core, traps, calves, and several other muscles, making it another total body compound movement. If you want to build stamina, endurance, balance, and total body strength adding some sets of farmers carries to the end of your workout will do you a lot of good. Honorable Mentions: Pull/Chin Ups, Dips, Barbell Hip Thrusts While these workouts didn't make our top 7 we still wanted to give them their moment of fame. The pull/chin up and dip in particular can be grouped more into the bodyweight exercises category we discussed in previous articles. Once you can easily do 8 or more of those, you can try adding weight to them as well. Pull Ups can add a little more work to our traps. Chin ups will strengthen the Biceps more than even a curl would. Adding in dips into our routine helps us get a little bit more of a total upper body workout in by targeting the lower chest and triceps more than the Bench Press does. When it comes to lower body work, the barbell hip thrust does not train functional movement or engage as many muscle groups as some of these other exercises. However, it does a phenomenal job targeting our posterior chain leg muscles without putting as much strain on our backs as say a deadlift would. This makes it a fantastic exercise to include if you are someone who suffers from back pain. When it comes to direct glute training, barbell hip thrusts are pretty tough to beat. To wrap it up, these are the workouts we build around in order to become more efficient lifters, gaining more strength and more mobility in a shorter amount of time. These exercises might seem intimidating on the surface but contrary to what you may have been told they are safer than even jogging, provided we perform them with proper form. Just because the guy or girl next to you is bench pressing 200 pounds does not mean you need to right away. With all of these workouts start light, even if it is just a training bar, and work your way up. That's exactly how each and every one of the athletes you see at the gym got started. An expert at anything was once a beginner. Keep that in mind when you first attempt these exercises. Remember that you don't need to start with a lot of weight; in fact you shouldn't add a lot of weights until you have the mobility and form to do so. Once you master the form though, the sky is the limit and with good effort you will be surprised how much weight will be added to the bar just in your first few months of training. If you need help with building mobility or proper form, check out our Revivalize Total Health 1 program. We go through a step by step process of how to perform these exercises and so many others. We can help you get your strength training routine in order, and become the best version of yourself! Until next time, stay strong and stay healthy my friends. Leo Gabriel, Revivalize Inc.   Tue, 30 Aug 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/9969/The-7-Best-Weightlifting-Exercises http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/9938/The-Only-7-Bodyweight-Exercises-You-Need-to-Start-Building-Strength blog Bodyweight strength training, sometimes called Calisthenics is a fantastic way to begin strength training. It's useful for beginners who want to strength train without immediately joining a gym and even advanced lifters looking for ways to add variety to their workout routines.  Don't have access to the gym? Not comfortable diving into the weights just yet? Here are 7 workouts you can do at home or at a park nearby with no special equipment. What is also great about most of these exercises is that they have variations that make them easier or harder, thus making our strength training progression easier.  Given that we are all disproportionately stronger in the lower body than in the upper body, upper body work is where we will begin our calisthenics work.  Exercise #1: The Pushup If you master pushups, you will have mastered the most fundamental lower body push workout. Pushups work our shoulders, chest, triceps, and core, hitting more than half the muscles in our upper body. What makes pushups also ideal is the ability to progress and regress as needed based on your strength level. Once you have reached the progression of doing incline and handstand pushups you can add dips into the equation in order to incorporate additional lower chest and triceps work. As the progression shows we start and end with wall pushups, just with our body rotated 180 degrees! Once you become more advanced you can add single arm training with a one arm pushup as well. Progression: Wall & Bench Pushups to Handstand and Single Arm Pushups Exercise #2: Pull Ups and Chin Ups Can't do either of them? An assisted chin/pull up machine will do the trick, just decrease the weight as you get stronger. Again though, we are assuming no access to standard gym equipment meaning some bands and a pull up bar are all we have. To make it easier we can use multiple bands or perform variations of the exercises either having the band come down to the bottom of our foot or our knees. As the bands gets thinner, we get closer to doing full pull ups and building phenomenal back, bicep, and trap strength. Pushup Variations hit the Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps. Chin Ups and Pull Ups Hit the Back, Biceps, and Traps. You might not realize this, but both are also solid core workouts. Combine the two and you hit just about every muscle in your upper body. Progression: Multiple Bands around the Feet –> One Band around the Foot –> Band around Knee –> Lighter Band –> Full Pull ups –> Weighted Pull ups Exercise #3: Inverted Row Once again, this exercise is going to require us to use creativity. In an ideal world we would train inverted rows using a barbell mounted on a squat rack, gradually lowering the bar to make the exercise more difficult just like we do below. The lower the bar the harder the exercise gets. However, to perform this exercise without equipment using just our bodyweight we would need a set of parallel bars, a table, or a sturdy stick between two sturdy chairs. To progress on Inverted Rows, start by performing them with the feet planted firmly on the ground and then when comfortable advancing to a position where the feet are straight, and eventually elevated. This back exercise hits mostly the same muscles as pull-ups hit. The main difference is that it targets more of the upper back, giving us more variety in our back workouts. Progression: Feet on the Floor -> Ankles on the Floor -> Feet Elevated Row Exercise #4: Bodyweight Squats Legs are an area where bodyweight movements meet there biggest obstacle. Even the most enthusiastic Calisthenics athletes will tell you that it's pretty tough to beat a Barbell Squat or Deadlift when it comes to building very strong legs. So to build strength with our legs the workout of choice will be the bodyweight squat consisting of single leg variations. To get started, do chair or box squats. For those of us who do not have correct squat form this exercise teaches us to squat properly and safely by focusing on getting our butt back more so than bending the knees. The major issue we face with progressing from regular to single leg squats is there being no middle ground. So if you do choose to build muscle this route, it's important you introduce weight into your body weight squats before making a full transition to single leg squats. This could mean carrying heavy objects ranging from just a couple pounds to something heavier such as a 40+ pound water jug. Otherwise going from both legs to single leg squats would be like going from 50 pound dumbbells to 100's without stopping at 60, 75, or 90 in between. Suddenly the weight on each leg has basically doubled and a balance component has been introduced. So as a result our body compensates. Sure there are variations but most of them will likely come at the expense of poor form and a smaller of range of motion. To begin building lower body strength, progress by doing bodyweight squats, adding weight and then moving on to more advanced single leg squats like in the progression below. Progression: Box Squats –> Bodyweight Squats –> Bodyweight Squats with Weight –> Single Leg Box and/or Band Squats –> Single Leg Squats –> Full Pistol Squats Exercise #5: Fire Hydrants Ok I get it, this workout and the ones that follow are coming off as a bit of a surprise. I mean come on, nobody lights up the internet by doing fire hydrants or other corrective exercises! However, especially if you are just beginning, it is crucial you do not ignore these mobility and small muscle exercises. That is where the foundation for our bigger more complex exercises is built. Not doing your corrective exercises means limiting your muscle growth potential and a higher risk of injury. And corrective exercises targeting small muscles like the hips are easier to overload without adding a ton of weight. So why do we choose this exercise out of all the possibilities we can choose? The reason for it is that it combines hip mobility with hip strength by utilizing a much larger range of motion. The sedentary lifestyle that most of us are living, leads to very weak and immobile hips.  This exercise is meant to keep the hips open and engaged, undoing a lot of the damage done by hours of sitting. Should you want to make it harder, add more height to the hydrants as well as pulses. To add weight you can put on ankle weights, or hold a small weight behind your knee. Exercise #6: Swimmers Just like Fire hydrants target hip mobility and strength, swimmers do just that for our shoulders. Using a large range of motion, and targeting several small often under activated muscles in our upper back, swimmers are important for complementing the lat, bicep, and trap heavy training we get from pull ups, chin ups, and rows. The shoulder is a ball and socket joint so moving it through that larger range of motion helps it to stay mobile. This is also especially important if we live a sedentary lifestyle. As our day goes by gravity naturally causes our shoulder to round, internally rotating. This exercise mobilizes and strengthens those back shoulder muscles, helping your posture remain in its correct upright position.                    Exercise #7: Plank Variations Ultimately, no set of workouts can really be complete without working our core. Small muscles such as forearms, calves, and rotator cuff muscles fatigue faster but also recover much faster. This comes as a surprise to many people, but the abs are actually also are very small muscles. This means that they benefit from consistent short and intense training. And your core is way more than just those six pack muscles we aspire to show off. Our core has more muscles intertwined and connected to that famous 6-pack muscle group. So why are planks the exercise of choice? Planks are a great way to work your abs because they force your abs to do what they are meant to do most which is keep you stable. Yes your abs are responsible for moving your mid-section but their primary roles are stability and deceleration. Leg raises and crunches on the other hand work hip flexion. Hip flexion is something that we already do a lot of by sitting.  I will be the first to admit that I have sort of a love/hate relationship with this exercise. While Planks are one of the best if not the best core exercises, they start to have a diminishing rate of return as they become easier. So if you can hold a plank for 3+ minutes it means you need to find a more difficult variation of a plank that still challenges you. This could mean taking an arm or leg off the ground, using an unstable surface, or performing another variation of the exercise that is more intense such as in the progression below. Unlike the other exercises that we have discussed planks are timed not performed for a certain amount of repetitions. Progression: Static & Side Plank –>Plank with Unstable Surface –> Dynamic Planks such as Mountain Climbers and Twisting Pistons (Do each one for at least 1 minute before going to the next progression) To summarize, you don't need fancy gym equipment to start building up your functional strength. The main advantages you get from a gym are weights that help you progress with smaller steps and a larger variety of muscle building workouts. We will touch base on some of the best workouts you can do with weights in the next article. Meanwhile, some bands, a pull up bar, and a floor are all you need to get started with strength training. Leo Gabriel, Revivalize Inc.   Wed, 17 Aug 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/9938/The-Only-7-Bodyweight-Exercises-You-Need-to-Start-Building-Strength http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/9732/Getting-Started-With-Intermittent-Fasting blog Intermittent Fasting has been quickly gaining popularity as a method of losing weight and obtaining various health benefits. One of the most common rookie mistakes we see done by those who first embark on a weight loss journey is losing not jut fat but muscle mass too when putting themselves in a caloric deficit without combining it with other muscle preserving means such as strength training, and getting enough protein in the diet. Intermittent fasting has been one of those methods shown to ease with weight loss, specifically fat loss while maintaining lean muscle mass. It also has been shown to reduce visceral fat and lower our risk of heart disease, and various types of cancers specifically colorectal cancer, and lower our risk of diabetes by controlling energy spikes. Fasting gives us all of those benefits based on two main reasons. The first is giving our digestive system a break helping it repair itself. The gut microbes that aide us in digestion are able to regroup. When we aren't constantly snacking we have a better sense of satiety. Another reason has to do with converting our body from a typical carbohydrate burner to a fat burner. Fats are a much slower source of energy that does not give us the dreaded sugar crashes that sweets and pastries do.  When we fast our body burns through its reserve fuel and must start relying more on the stored fats. So with all these benefits that intermittent fasting provides us, where do we begin? To start, try experimenting with 2 different fasting methods. The first being the 16/8 fasting method and the second being the 5/2 method. The 16/8 involves eating within an 8 hour window each day almost every day of the week. The 5/2 method means eating anything you want for 5 days a week but limiting calories on the other two days substantially (typically under 600). The 16/8 is usually the more practical option since it is much easier to track time than count every calorie. Given that it is easier to fast with no food than with a little food, we would typically only consume 2-3 meals during that eating window. That said if you find the 5/2 strategy more sustainable for your lifestyle it would be advised that you consume those 600 calories or so in no more than 1-2 meals since constant snacking will spike your insulin levels making you crave more food more often. This makes the fast much more difficult and thus more difficult to maintain in the long term.   As we discussed before, eating nothing is usually easier than eating a little so once you have a system like that down you can start incorporating longer fasts. This includes adding in a 20/4 eating window or a 23/1 one meal a day window into your routine. Fasting much longer than that especially on a consistent basis will have very diminishing if not negative returns especially when it comes to building muscle. Now the next question you probably have in mind is, "Is this normal for us to do?" The answer to that is absolutely YES! Unlike our modern eating habits, early humans did not eat multiple meals a day and often had to spread out their meals, sometimes even for several days. Our body is naturally designed to store energy and control its release.  We don't need to constantly eat to keep our energy levels up. In fact doing so can have the opposite effect by preventing our body from performing its natural means of blood sugar control. This is what leads to diseases such as diabetes since our body loses its ability to properly use insulin and glucagon, the two hormones that control blood sugar levels. The difficult part will almost always be the first few days or weeks of the routine. Those first few days we will have more hunger, lower energy levels, and perhaps even a crabby mood. Some might call it "Getting Hangry!" This is not a sign that the changes are bad, but rather the other way around. Your body is experiencing withdrawal symptoms after relying on constant snacking throughout the day to maintain your energy levels. Now it must relearn how to properly tap your reserve fuel and fat sources for energy. After those first few days though you will gradually begin to see your energy levels rise and your mood improve. Worried about losing muscle? Worry not! When we fast our bodies do not revert to burning our muscle as a temporary fuel source. Rather, we go into a preservation and protection mode by conducting an increased amount of autophagy, the process in which old unusable cell parts are consumed and recycled by the body. When autophagy is inhibited due to high levels of insulin, muscle loss increases, but when autophagy is working in full swing, we maintain muscle mass. So by missing out on intermittent fasting, you are missing out on promoting one of your body's natural forms of repairing itself. Getting started can be difficult. However, but once you develop a consistent routine, fasting becomes a lifestyle of more time, more energy, and more fat loss. That said intermittent fasting has been shown to have potential adverse effects on some parts of the population including youth, pregnant or breastfeeding women, and individuals with eating disorders. If you fall into one of those categories or have another medical condition that could make fasting harder, proceed with caution and perhaps work with a nutritionist. For the vast majority of us though, we will solve a lot more health problems than we will create by fasting. Not to mention have more time and less stress having to plan fewer meals. So if you want to lose some fat, or just feel better and have more energy try intermittent fasting! You will be happy you did! Leo Gabriel, Revivalize Inc. Sources: [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21410865/ [2] https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/intermittent-fasting-what-is-it-and-how-does-it-work [3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7603932/ [4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19945408/#:~:text=Thus%2C%20autophagy%20flux%20is%20important, of%20abnormal%20mitochondria%20and%20inclusions.   Mon, 20 Jun 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/9732/Getting-Started-With-Intermittent-Fasting http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/9621/This-Common-Morning-Routine-can-Crush-Your-Energy-Levels blog Breakfast, we eat it almost every day without a second thought. It has become a kin to brushing our teeth, combing our hair, or commuting to work.  It's just a part of our schedule. Almost all of us are told that we have to eat breakfast every day in order to feel our best and be on top of our game. Afterall, it's the healthy thing to do! Our mothers and fathers told us it's the "most important meal of the day!" We are often told that it boosts our metabolism, helps us lose weight, and can help lower our cholesterol. But where do all these myths come from? A lot of the studies that show these benefits are often loaded with conflicts of interest and misleading data. To begin, a lot of studies done in the 1990's and early 2000's were funded and conducted by companies with a vested interest in selling your breakfast products whether that be cereal, granola bars, oatmeal, or other things. Most of these studies completely ignored the fact that correlation does not always equal causation. They mentioned nothing about how those who eat breakfast are more likely to have a more organized day in other aspects of health such as sleep and exercise schedule. Also many who do skip breakfast are doing so out of guilt of binge eating unhealthy foods. In other words many of those who skipped breakfast and other meals did so out of guilt about a previous meal more so than skipping it as an organized meal plan. Those who skipped breakfast were also more likely to engage in smoking and excessive drinking. These are just some of the noted examples, but in research you can hardly ever account for every single factor. As a justification for needing to eat breakfast, we are told it boosts our metabolism and prevents us from overeating later. However, your metabolism does not change based on when you eat. Our muscle mass, your daily activity level are what affects our metabolism most of all. Weight loss can be summed up as calories in, calories out. Want to lose weight, consume less than you burn. If you specifically want to lose more fat while maintaining your muscles mass, that is where a strength training routine, and getting enough protein and healthy fat plays a crucial role. Want to lower your cholesterol, blood pressure, or improve your health in general, be sure to do all the things above and eat nutrient dense foods. Whatever time of day it may be, if you want to live healthier getting your nutrients and exercise in is what matters most. A bowl of cornflakes or a granola bar in the morning won't help you with any of that. Skipping breakfast or other meals throughout the day can actually have substantial health benefits. Intermittent Fasting is one of the most effective ways to up our energy levels, lower our body fat percentage, and provide a slew of other overall health benefits. How does it burn fat and make our energy levels rise you may wonder? It does so by teaching our body to burn ketones (fat energy) as a fuel source rather than need to constantly rely on sugar and starch. It is for that reason that eating food containing a lot of processed carbs and sugar gives as that pre lunch and 2:30 crash we so often feel. The quick energy from our lousy breakfasts and lunches is used up and our body reacts by craving more sugar for more quick energy. As a result we have little control over our appetite. This hurts us not just physically buy psychologically as well. This is why another benefit to intermittent fasting is the time that we save. When you fast you have more time on your hands, and you also have fewer meals that you need to plan out. It is far easier to plan and keep track of 1 or 2 balanced meals a day than 6.  By forcing ourselves to always eat breakfast no matter how unhealthy the food may be, we are denying ourselves many of these great benefits. But these breakfast myths go above and beyond just a little bit of biased research. What really made breakfast "The Most Important Meal of the Day!" was really good marketing. You still see it today! A marketing message to the tone of "be sure to eat breakfast before your big day" is probably a message you have seen and heard all too often, repeated in different tones. Everything from shaming parents who let their kids skip breakfast, to using skipping breakfast as a scapegoat for why you are having problems in life is on the table. We get it engrained into our head that having our kids skip a meal once in a while is child abuse and something they will never recover from. And we are often told that the one thing holding you back from getting that promotion or making it to that dream school is a good healthy breakfast, specifically the sugar loaded high glycemic breakfast we are pitched in the commercials. Seeing the current obesity epidemic among both adults and children shows that if anything we need to be teaching ourselves and our kids control over portions and meal timing. Calories in, calories out are what makes us gain weight. Having enough nutrition in our diet is what helps us grow and develop. This isn't to say that eating any breakfast is a bad thing. Eating a quick unhealthy meal at any time of day is not going to be good for your energy levels and quality of life. If you do eat breakfast, do so because you are hungry and like with any meal satiate your hunger with healthy food not a quick snack. Look for healthy fats and proteins like eggs, avocadoes, unsweetened yogurt, and nuts. Fruits, oats, and anything with sugar especially can be undercover energy crash foods. Their glycemic index is high meaning that they are more likely to give you a quick rush of energy, which is something you would need for a workout more than a steady release of energy to keep you satiated for your other day to day tasks. If you still are craving something sweet try something with more nutrition and antioxidants in the morning like dark chocolate. While chocolates with 40% or even less cocoa solids are still often marketed as dark chocolate, ideally aim for something that is at least 70% cocoa to get the most benefits. However, the darker the better. A 90% cocoa Dark Chocolate Bar for example will have 3 times less sugar than one that is 70% cacao! So if eating breakfast works for you, enjoy a wholesome nutritious breakfast, and include it in your daily meal planning. If it helps you with your fitness and life goals, don't stop! For your own peace of mind though don't eat something for the sake of eating something, because eating a nutritionless breakfast will always do you more harm than good especially long term. When it comes to the emphasis of how important breakfast is, guilt tripping, misleading statistics, and a successful marketing campaign are all that is behind it.  A balanced breakfast is not a bad thing, but don't force yourself to do it for health reasons, it has nothing to do with it. Leo Gabriel, Revivalize Inc. Sources: [1] https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l42 [2] https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.001474 [3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7809455/   Mon, 30 May 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/9621/This-Common-Morning-Routine-can-Crush-Your-Energy-Levels http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/9450/Nose-vs--Mouth-Breathing--It-Matters- blog Are you someone that suffers from sleep apnea, snoring, lack of energy, or poor posture and/or facial structure? If so, you might have one simple problem, and that is improper breathing! Your body's most important resource is oxygen. Just a few minutes without oxygen and you would die! But even when we are getting enough to survive that does not necessarily mean we are getting enough to thrive!  A low blood oxygen level leads to high blood pressure, fatigue and poorer recovery during sleep. When we aren't getting enough oxygen, many of our organs suffer and can permanently weaken or die out as a result. That includes our skin, which when getting poor oxygen supply will age faster. When we breathe with our mouths instead of our nose these oxygen intake problems only worsen. Humans are naturally nose breathers. Our nose is our body's natural filter, keeping germs and dirt out of our lungs. That is why mouth breathers are also more likely to have bad breath and get sick more often. To maintain adequate oxygen intake it's important for us to have clear nasal passages. However, that is not always the case with many of us and as a result our bodies compensate in various ways to make us into mouth breathers. Some features that those of us who primarily breathe through our mouths develop are droopy tired eyes, an undeveloped jaw line, and a crooked "nerd neck". When we don't have an adequately developed jaw it also leads to crooked teeth and dental problems, particularly in kids and young adults whose jaws and faces are still developing. Those infamous impacted wisdom teeth that we often end up needed extracted are just one example of a jaw that has not developed properly to comfortably fit all of our teeth. The good news is that so much of this is preventable and in many cases reversible with good diet and proper breathing! The picture above is an example of poor facial development during childhood as a result of mouth breathing. Sleep is our body's natural form of recovery. You may have heard before that when we workout, our fitness is not actually improved by the workout itself but during the recovery. If you do not have adequate recovery after a workout, you will do yourself more damage than good. That is why it is so crucial that we get enough sleep based on our own personal needs. However, quality of sleep is just as important if not more important than total hours. And nothing jeopardizes sleep quality more than difficulty breathing. Sleep-apnea and snoring are signs that our body is having difficulty passing air into our lungs. When we can't pass oxygen into our lungs while we are sleeping, not enough will get to our organs. Needless to say this can cause a lot of issues in our body. That is why it is so important to learn to breathe through your nose! Making sure that we get enough oxygen whether awake or asleep is the best antidote to fighting the fatigue that results from what is truly an oxygen deprived body.  Nose Breather: Mouth Breather: So how can you relearn how to breathe through your nose? There are several things you can do for that. Examples of some include tongue exercises or simply engaging in taking deep breaths through your nose. Another tip is to perform moderately intense physical activity while only breathing through your nose. If you are used to nose breathing while exercising, doing so at rest becomes much easier! Another major factor to consider is stress. When you are less stressed you have better control over your breathing and thus are more likely to be a nose breather. That is why meditation and yoga can be so successful in this department. Not only do they provide you with mobility and a stress reducing workout, but they also help you focus on properly breathing! There are many options available; you just have to find one that works for you! One final thing that can cause clogged nasal passages is allergens and poor air quality. While maintaining a cleaner environment can provide temporary relief for a stuffy nose, its long term effects can do more harm than good. When our environment is to clean our body no longer learns to coexist with dirt and germs which can often make our allergies worse and even weaken our immune system. But regardless of how dirty or clean the air around you may be, learning to nose breathe is crucial. Remember, our nose has a filter as a first line of immune defense, our mouth does not. Poor posture, facial structure, and sleep quality do not have to be a permanent matter in life. Learning to breathe through your nose can reverse much of the damage done by excessive mouth breathing and substantially improve the quality of your everyday life! With the help of a few breathing techniques you can look better, feel better, and be a more confident individual!   Sat, 16 Apr 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/9450/Nose-vs--Mouth-Breathing--It-Matters- http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/8660/How-to-Squat-Like-a-Champ- blog If you are anything like me, probably one of the most intimidating exercises you saw when you first set foot in the gym was the barbell squat. Time and time again we see individuals loading several plates onto the bar, dropping down and powering out of it like it's just another day of the week. It's easy to get intimidated by this exercise especially when some of us struggle to even perform a proper bodyweight squat. The good news is that the hardest part of becoming good at squats is getting started in the first place, and overcoming that mental barrier. First of all ask yourself why you want to get good at the squat? Whenever there is a "Why?" behind your goal you are way more likely to accomplish it! So let's start with the basic reasons of why you should do squats. The squat is the king of all compound movements, working nearly every muscle in your legs as well as works your core and back. It does so while also building mobility by working a greater range of motion than say the dead lift. That's the basics, but what does that mean for our daily life? If we utilize the proper range of motion it prevents and lowers joint pain. Every simple task from climbing a set of stairs to doing household chores becomes easier! On top of that squats build our bodies largest muscles and therefore more quickly increase our overall muscle mass. The more muscle we have on our frame the higher our metabolism is. A higher metabolism means we burn more calories literally in our sleep! These and whatever other reasons you have for wanting to become good at squats are important to keep in mind as you go through the process. That is what gets us through the struggles and tough sets! Mastering squats or adopting any exercise routine is as much a mental game as it is a physical game. So how do we get on the right track and go from a squat novice to squatting heavy like a champ? When I say squat heavy, what that means is purely subjective! Squatting heavy means pushing yourself to lift the most weight you can with proper form for 2-8 repetitions. For some people that means a 400+ pound squat, for others it may just be the bar. Either way it is ok! Everyone starts somewhere! While some often start by learning body weight squats, it could actually be more difficult for those with balance and stability issues. When you squat with weight over the center point of your foot you are taking a lot of that balance component out. Therefore do not hesitate to start by squatting a 45 pound bar, or even a smaller 15 pound training bar. Think about squats like sitting in and out of a chair. Rather than focusing on bending your knees focus on getting your hips back. To get an idea of what that feels like, start out by doing box or bench squats with a box or bench to serve as a guide for your hips. Another tip to keep in mind is to brace for each squat almost like bracing for a punch. Fill your lungs with air and engage the core as much as possible. The more we use our breath, and our core the easier it will be to keep good form throughout the motion. Once you master the box or bench squat start working on improvising your range of motion, even if it is with a light weight. Now here is where there seems to be a lot of debate. You hear advices ranging from "squat ass to the grass" to saying you don't really even need to go more than a quarter of the way down. Well starting with the later, doing short quarter squats can build muscle in the quads but it can actually decrease our mobility and functional movement by creating stiffness. Whether you are doing shallow or deep squats, the position in the squat with the most stress on our knees is the quarter point. Quarter squats also do little in engaging our glutes and the abductor and adductor muscles in our legs. Therefore if you are looking to build functional movement and work multiple muscle groups it is important to learn to squat with your legs at least parallel to the ground.  Going further than that can start to have diminishing and in some cases negative returns depending on our body anatomy. For those of us with deeper hip pockets, and/or poor hip and ankle mobility squatting to low can cause something famously known as the "butt-wink". This occurs when our spine is no longer able to remain in a neutral position and therefore our body compensates with a posterior pelvic tilt. When that tilt becomes too excessive it starts to put a lot more pressure on our lower back. When that happens, our glutes and abs are less engaged and injuries occur! So when learning to squat start by mastering parallel squats like you are sitting in a chair. Then with practice if you are able to start going lower, by all means do so. Once you have the form and range of motion down it is time to start adding more weight to the bar and build muscle like a champ! As long as the form is solid and you are pushing yourself with every set, every squat that you do is going to have countless benefits. So don't let intimidation or lack of understanding be the reason you miss out on this life changing exercise!  All of us humans have the natural ability to squat within us; we just need to find it within ourselves. Squats literally change lives, so start changing yours today! Leo Gabriel, Revivalize Inc. Sources: [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8604366/ [2] https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/metabolism/art-20046508 [3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31230110/   Sat, 12 Mar 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/8660/How-to-Squat-Like-a-Champ- http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/8585/These-5-Habits-Will-Instantly-Transform-Your-Life- blog Want to change your life in as little as just a couple of weeks? It doesn't have to be difficult! It all comes down to replacing our unhealthy habits with healthy ones. I guarantee if you do these 5 things even for just a couple of weeks you will feel a dramatic positive change in your body, your mood, and your life as a whole. Your energy levels will rise, your relationships will improve, and your work/school life will get just a little easier. And this will only motivate you to keep taking things even further. Want to take control of your body and your mood start with these tips. 1. Eat at Least 3 Servings of Bitter Vegetables, 3 Servings of Protein, and 3 Servings of Healthy Fats Every Day. We are what we eat and we are not the best versions of ourselves when our nutrition is not right. When we don't get enough vegetables our body lacks countless nutrients it needs to correctly conduct its natural processes. When eating your veggies, keep it simple and remember bitter is usually better. Bitter greens are low glycemic foods rich in potassium and magnesium which helps our body feel full longer and have fewer cravings. Protein is an essential macronutrient; without protein we could not survive. It is the building block not just for our muscles but all of our body's cells. Healthy fat is often something most of us miss. Fat gives us a slower burning source of fuel that much like potassium will keep us from having those dreadful sugar crashes and cravings for simple carbs. There are lots of great healthy fats out there with the best being nutrient dense fats containing monounsaturated fat and omega-3's. Olive oil, avocados, eggs, and seafood are all great places to start!  Wherever possible try to avoid trans and Omega-6 fats commonly found in baked goods and vegetable oil. Get your nutrients, have more energy, lose weight, feel better! 2. Lift Weights 3 Times a Week Whether it's walking up a set of stairs, going for a walk, or even doing simple house hold chores, all these activities are much easier when we are stronger. If you push yourself to build lean muscle mass in the gym you will have more energy for the other important things in your life. Finally, more muscle means a higher metabolism and a higher metabolism helps us keep the extra pounds off even when we aren't exercising. Mixing in some cardio work on top of it every now and then will give us the additional endorphins we need to lower our stress levels. After all cortisol is a natural enemy of muscle building. 3. Carry Around a Water Bottle With You. Make sure you are staying hydrated, especially if the weather is hot. Not having proper hydration can leave us feeling fatigued, making us reach for that noontime candy bar for a quick boost of energy. Not being hydrated can also misguide our feeling of satiety, causing us to overeat. You don't need to constantly drink just to drink rather make sure that you aren't mistaking other issues of low energy with just simple dehydration and when you are thirsty be sure to take time to drink some water. It seems so simple but so many of us admittedly get so caught up in our day to day lives that we don't even bother getting a drinking of water. 4. Regardless of the Weather, Spend at Least 15 Minutes Outside Each Day. Not only does the sun give us vitamin D even on a cloudy day, but going outside and hearing sounds of nature gives our brain and our body a chance to de-stress and calm down. Similarly to exercise, lowering stress and cortisol is both good for our mental health and for getting in shape. Going for a quick walk or even just sitting outside helps us slow our day down just a little bit and reflect on our priorities. Give it a try, you'll be happy you did! 5. Prioritize Sleep so You Don't Even Need an Alarm Clock. Our muscle gains and overall physiological development does not happen when we workout but rather during the recovery process. When we workout we actually cause damage to our muscles. If we are working out intensely enough, when we recover our muscles grow to adapt to the new stressors. To get an adequate amount of recovery between workouts, we need to make sure we get our nutrients and keep stress levels down. But probably most importantly of all we need to make sure that we get enough sleep. How much you might need varies person to person. If you find yourself waking up without an alarm clock and staying alert all day without needing a nap or multiple cups of coffee, that's typically a sign you are getting the right amount. Another positive sign of having a good consistent training regimen is waking up at relatively similar times of day regardless whether it is a weekend or weekday. Consistent sleep just like a consistent workout and nutrition regimen is important for getting and staying healthy. We as a society always look for a quick solution for our problems. Rather than cleaning up our daily regimen we pop pills, reach for a cup of coffee, and take shots on the weekends to forget about the weekdays. However, none of those things give us the long term benefits of more energy, a higher metabolism, and an overall better mood. Just a few small changes are all you need to start turning your life around. Stop making excuses and instead start making these changes today and watch yourself become the best version of yourself every single day! You will wish you had done it sooner! Whether it's help with exercise, nutrition, sleep, or lifestyle we here at Revivalize have the programs to help guide you through the complicated world of health and wellness. Stay healthy my friends, go out there and take your life back! Leo Gabriel, Revivalize Inc.   Sat, 26 Feb 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/8585/These-5-Habits-Will-Instantly-Transform-Your-Life- http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/8401/What-Type-of-Milk-Should-You-Drink- blog If you are like most Americans you probably grew up being told to drink a lot of milk. For breakfast, lunch, and before bed we were told to drink more milk. "It's good for you; it supports your bones and teeth!" we were always told. Because of all the marketed health benefits of milk, many of us have carried this beverage over to our adult lives, at least indirectly whether it's in our food or part of our morning coffee. Let's begin with the elephant in the room! While it can be a good source of Protein, Fat, Calcium, as well as Vitamin A, B & D drinking milk is not actually essential. In fact, Two-Thirds of the world is to some degree lactose intolerant! Why is milk and dairy considered essential and even placed in the once famous food pyramid? One word says it all, MARKETING. The dairy industry has long pushed dairy as essential to a healthy diet including during the famous 2000's "Got Milk?" campaign. The lobbying and marketing in fact has been so strong that the dairy industry has become one of America's most heavily subsidized industries. Meanwhile, most farmers growing vegetables receive no subsidies making plant based products more expensive. The belief that dairy is essential for our diets is based on one thing, MARKETING The most commonly touted nutrient in milk is calcium. Yes calcium is important in a balanced diet, but getting more of it is useless and possibly harmful if your body doesn't know what to do with it. You need enough Fat Soluble Vitamins including Vitamins A, D, and K2 in order for your body to be able to properly place the calcium where it needs to be. Otherwise, excess calcium can result in tartar build up, heart valve calcification, and painful kidney stones. And ultimately you don't need dairy to get calcium and fat soluble vitamins. There are countless other sources of obtaining these nutrients through nuts, vegetables, and meats. If you want to continue including dairy in your diet the next question you might have is, "what type should I drink?" Is skim or reduced fat milk better for you than whole milk? First off ask yourself this, what does reduced fat mean? It quite literally means what it says; it does not mean reduced protein or reduced calcium. While some of the fat soluble vitamins are lost when removing milk fat, most reduced fat dairy products have them synthetically added back in. Also regardless of what the fat content is, all regular milk has lactose which as mentioned before is a type of natural sugar found in milk that most people around the world can't even properly digest. So regular milk will have protein, fat, and a little bit of sugar. One major macronutrient it doesn't have is fiber. So look elsewhere for that need! Full Fat dairy products particularly grass fed dairy products will have more vitamin D and K2 but not nearly as much as you need. You're talking about the difference between none and a miniscule amount. To get the sometimes elusive Vitamin K2 you're better off eating Ghee, Duck fat, Natto, or other more K2 dense sources. Almond or other nut milk can almost be considered super skim...if it's unsweetened. It has all of the calcium and vitamin A if not more than milk but not nearly as much protein, fat, and calories in general. If you opt for nut mil, be sure to get an unsweetened version because these beverages can be loaded with sugar! So which type of milk is better??? The answer is that no version of milk is necessarily better or worse than another. It all depends on what you are trying to get. If you want more fat and calories in your diet drink whole milk, heck drink half and half if you want!  If you are looking for a source of protein without much added fat go for skim or reduced fat milk. If you want to watch the calories in general, the unsweetened almond, cashew, and macadamia nut milk is probably your best bet. If you are trying to cut sugar anywhere you can, go with lactose free dairy milk and/or unsweetened nut milk. Milk can be a good source of protein, fat, and calcium but not as much as many other more nutrient rich foods. Also, the calcium in it is overrated when it comes to tooth and bone health. Milk alone will not build stronger bones and teeth; you need a strength training regimen and a good balanced diet to do that. Leo Gabriel, Revivalize Inc. Sources: [1] https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/lactose-intolerance/definition-facts#:~:text=Experts%20estimate%20that%20about%2068,world's%20population%20has%20lactose%20malabsorption. [2] https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/american-dairy-farmers-depend-on-government-subsidies-1015126442 [3] https://www.drstevenlin.com/the-dental-diet/   Fri, 28 Jan 2022 06:00:00 GMT http://revivalizeyourself.com/blog/8401/What-Type-of-Milk-Should-You-Drink-