![]() To most people in the fitness industry or those who are looking to shape up, crunches and other abdominal muscle workouts are the last thing they'd want to do and guess what they don't. "one of the main perception is that it's difficult. We tend to want to avoid doing things that require too much effort, especially as we get older, everything is harder for us, according to most top physical therapist who specializes in geriatrics. Skipping abdominal strengthens, can have a big effect on your mobility and independence and this not for the better. What are the abdominals? The abdominal muscles (often called the abs) include not just the visible "six-pack" or rectus abdominis muscles in the front of your abdomen, but also the obliques in the front and side of your abdomen and the transverse abdominis across your lower abdomen. "The transverse abdominis is the inner muscle underneath the outer abdominal layers. It provides stability around the spine. The abs are part of your core, the collection of muscles that act as your foundation. In addition to your abs, your core includes the muscles along your spine, near your shoulder blades, in your hips and buttocks, and in your pelvis. Skipping abs workouts Working all your core muscles helps you to stay strong and active. "We need that strong core or base so that the arms and legs can perform well. What if you don't mind doing shoulder, hip, and back muscle exercises, but can't stand the ab workout? You're putting your entire core in jeopardy. "If your core isn't stable and strong, you increase the risk for injury and falls when you lift something or walk. A weak core also makes it hard to turn, bend, and get dressed. Some Abs work out you can do without stress Abdominal exercises don't have to include crunches, and you don't have to do a long ab workout. You may find it more palatable to sprinkle ab exercises throughout the day. Shorter bouts of exercise can still contribute to better health and function. The key is to make each ab exercise count by activating" the muscles. Can't think of ways to fit abdominal exercises into your schedule? Our personal trainers are more than happy enough to do you a bespoke program that can fit within your daily schedules and here is a few things you can do by yourself. Watch TV from the floor. You probably did this when you were a kid. Try it now, and maybe you'll be more likely to do an ab exercise, like modified push-ups (leaning on your forearms instead of your hands). Or try lying on your back with your knees bent. Then activate the abdominal muscles by drawing in your belly button toward the spine. Use phone time. Stand with your back flat against the wall while chatting on the phone. Activate your abs. Draw in your belly button again, and push yourself against the wall. Take a break from work. Whether you're in the kitchen or at the office, you can do a modified push-up against a desk or counter. Don't just stand there. Sneak in an exercise while you stand in line at the bank or grocery checkout. "Do a single-leg stand and slightly lift your leg off the floor while activating your core muscles," Brown suggests. Keep your chest high and your shoulder blades down and back. March in place. Next time you're brushing your teeth, march in place. Make it intentional. Draw in the abdominals and keep your hips level, so they're not swivelling. You can even activate the abdominal muscles while you're walking. Just be very intentional about it. Think about posture and muscle activation with each step. The more often you activate your abs, the stronger they'll become, making ab workouts a lot less daunting.
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![]() If you're struggling to lose fat, you probably feel like the odds are stacked against you. You're not necessarily wrong, it is the naked truth The thing is that, there is so much great-tasting food, and it's abundant and in your face all the time. To me it's kind of a miracle that people aren't even heavier than they are. In addition to an abundance of food, most people today also have a far more sedentary lifestyle than past generations. Even active people who exercise a lot aren't expending the calories their ancestors did. So, while losing weight is simple in theory reduce your calorie intake — it's not easy in practice. "If you put people into a locked metabolic ward and feed them only 60% of their usual caloric intake, they will lose weight. But for free-living people that's really hard. But as hard as it is to shed pounds, the bigger challenge may await if you are successful. "It is relatively more difficult to maintain the loss. This is particularly true for women after menopause. "When people get older, it becomes difficult to dissipate the energy from foods. They need to modify their eating habits — to follow healthier patterns. It's challenging to change any habits, including eating habits. People today view food as far more than just sustenance. Eating is a source of gratification; it's a social activity; it's a reward. This is why many diets work in the short term but fail later on. "Many diets are a radical shift from what people normally eat, and this is not sustainable. But don't throw your hands up and resign yourself to keeping those extra pounds yet. There are strategies that can help you chip away at excess weight. Tranquillity 360 Fitness have some simple tips that you can use to get the scale moving in the right direction and keep it there. Don't diet; improve your diet. The trick is simple don't just focus on your eating solely and fat loss; focus on overall health. Follow a diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats. "Even today, after all the data that we have, people still think that eating fat makes them fat, and they try to find low-fat products, that has been very well debunked. Eating fat doesn't make you fat. There are good studies that show eating healthy fats helps people control their weight better than diets than exclude them." Over all, choosing a sustainable diet or get a dietitian to help you focused on health and not just weight can help you make lasting improvements. "Adopt a healthy diet, and eat just a little bit less. Exercise regularly. This has been said a million times, but it can't be emphasized enough: boosting your activity level can help you lose fat and keep it off. "For most people, long-term fat control is hard without some physical activity, but they are plenty of ways to get that in with the rise of online personal trainer and home based exercise. Your metabolism slows with age, which means you burn fewer calories to keep basic body functions going. At the same time, bone and muscle mass decline and fat mass increases. This insidious pattern happens naturally as you get older unless you take steps to avoid it. I'm a strong advocate of not just aerobic activity but also weight training and calisthenics, muscle building can not only bring up your body's metabolic rate, but also bring its own distinct health benefits that are often not as well appreciated as those associated with aerobic activity. Try a variety of strategies. Different diets work for different people. Sometimes finding the right strategy takes trial and error. One approach that holds promise for many is mindful eating taking the time to stop and really focus on and enjoy your food. "The scientific evidence to my eye is meagre, but I like the concept," s. We've all had that experience of eating a bowl of something and not even remembering having eaten it." Another simple trick is to put your fork down between bites instead of holding it in your hands. Pick it up when you are going to take the next bite. Persevere. Losing fat is really hard to do, and many people fail many times before they succeed. Don't give up. Each day, commit to eating a little bit less and get stuck into a good workout program. If you go off track, recommit the following day and keep at it over time. ![]() Arm, shoulder, and chest strength are crucial to maintaining independence and warding off injury. When your upper-body strength dwindles, you risk more than the loss of power to open a car door or lift a bag of groceries. "It's not just a strength problem; it may also be a length problem. Shorter muscles reduce your range of motion. And if you do any reaching activities without adequate range of motion or muscle strength, like hanging curtains or putting dishes in an upper cabinet, you can get a small tear in a muscle or rotator cuff or tendinitis in the shoulder. The oomph in the upper body A number of major muscles and muscle groups enable us to use our arms and shoulders throughout the day.
Why do muscles change? It has been proven that from around age 32-35, we start losing muscle mass at a rate of 1% to 2% per year. After age 60, muscle loss accelerates to 3% per year. This deterioration is called sarcopenia. Your muscle cells shrink, and you also lose some of the speed at which the motor neurons fire messages from the brain to the muscle. So you become slower, and you lose muscle mass, bulk, and power. If you're less active when you're older, then maybe because of energy or arthritis pain — you face a "use it or lose it" problem: that sedentary lifestyle and disuse of the muscles can also cause them to shrink or tighten. Repetitions: 8–12 for strength, 6–10 for power Sets: 1–3 Tempo: 3–1–3 for strength, 1–1–3 for power Overhead/Shoulder Press Rest: 30–90 seconds between sets Starting position: Stand tall with your feet about shoulder-width apart, your chest lifted, and shoulders back and down. Hold a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder height with your palms facing forward and elbows pointing out to the sides. Movement: Slowly raise the weights straight up until your arms are fully extended. Hold. Slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position. Tips and techniques: Keep your abs tight. Keep your spine neutral and your shoulders down and back Don't pull your elbows back in starting position Resistance Band Upright Row Repetitions: 8–12 for strength, 6–10 for power Sets: 1–3 Tempo: 3–1–3 for strength, 1–1–3 for power Rest: 30–90 seconds between sets Starting position: Place the band under both feet. Grasp each end of the band with your palms up. Then flip your hands over so your palms are facing you and the ends of the band hang inside your hands toward each other. Stand tall with your arms extending down in front of you. Movement: Bend your elbows out to the sides and pull the band to chest height. Hold. Slowly extend your arms and return to the starting position, resisting the pull of the band. Tips and techniques: Don't arch your back, and keep your abs tight. Keep your shoulders down and back, away from your ears. Keep your wrists straight, in line with your arms. Get your power back The great news is that you can improve muscle size and strength. Tranquillity 360 Fitness recommends working with a physical therapist to get back on track. The therapist can evaluate the strength and length of your muscles and the range of motion of your joints, and then design a program to fit your particular needs. A program typically involves gentle stretching to keep muscles supple, plus strengthening exercises like triceps curls, with low amounts of weight (just a few pounds) and a high number of repetitions. That's because you don't need to bulk up; you need to condition your muscles and increase their stability and endurance. Just remember that once physical therapy is over, it will be up to you to keep your muscles strong, either by going to a gym or maintaining your own home workout two or three times per week. We've given you a few easy upper-body boosters below. For more workout ideas, get in contact with any of our personal trainers here at Tranquillity 360 Fitness ![]() Have you ever woken up most morning and just feel like you can’t get out of bed and thinking to yourself I don’t have the energy to push through the today? Often time this is the feelings that we all gets, but what if I tell you that you can supercharge and make your day productivity with no effort? Ok am joking but seriously with little efforts. We all know that sometimes it can feel that there are only so many hours in the day. Well, that we can’t change. However, Tranquillity 360 Fitness can help you to give your day the best possible start so that you are ready to face anything. Tranquillity 360 personal trainer Malachi, want to share with you some simple tips that can supercharge your day and leads you up to a productive day. Meditation Meditation is no new discipline; it has been around for literally thousands of years. It has however recently had somewhat of a resurgence, In essence, in you use a mantra too free your mind from conscious thought, promoting a state of relaxed awareness. Its benefits boast clarity of thought, creativity and a calmness that can help you approach any task. Always tried to do at least 8 minutes’ meditation in the morning the first thing as you wake up. In the morning as you awake your brain and your mind is at their sharpest point. Get on the Moving As little as 20 minutes of exercise in the morning has been proven to energise people for an entire day, it as helps to reduce stress and anxiety and give a better night sleep at the end of the day. Think of it as a way of physically waking up all areas and muscles in your body, so that are ready face the day ahead. Although a full workout in the gym is great, a 20-minute home workout, jog or bike ride, or even taking walk with dog are amazing ways to kick off the day with exercise. Feed Your Mind Reading newspapers in the morning or watching the news is a great way to catch up on current affairs, however, with so much negativity in the media, this may not be the best way to set your day up for success, you don’t want to hear first thing in the morning all the problems of the world remember the brain and the mind is at its sharpest in the mornings. How about trying to get through a couple of chapters of a good book, whether it’s a love novel, an educational book or a simple motivational book. Listening to a podcast or even watching an inspiring YouTube video, can feed your mind with a boost of motivation that can carry on throughout the day. There are so much good speakers on youtube these days that can get you going, a mean you have people such as Les Brown, Eric Thomas Manly P Hall, Earl Nightingale and host of others to choose from. The best thing about Youtube you can listen to these while you are getting ready for work or school. Fuelling Your Body It as being proven that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Fuelling your body early on in the day with a balance new nutrition, can delivered a ship load of vitamins and minerals can fuel your day into success, and keeping you focussed on what matters. Tranquillity 360 Fitness Meal Replacement is one way of getting all your nutrients in one serving, as we all know the food we are eating today is not meeting our daily intake of nutrients, so a scientific approach is one of the best way to meets your intake. The Thing with Tranquillity 360 Meal Replacement, you can add it to your whet-ta-bix , porridge or even put a scope in your blend with just water and a hand full of greens and blitz away, in your shaker bottle and off you go to work. This will get you ready and fuelled up to face the day ahead. Super Charge Shake Ingredients
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