Try this super effective workout with the MostFit Resistance Loop.
By MostFit and AGF Wellness Founder Andrew Gavigan
With the rising cost of healthcare, increasing hours at work, decreasing hours of R&R, and a seemingly ever expanding population, it might not seem like our cumulative state of health, as a people, has much hope. But Workplace Wellness initiatives are becoming more popular and are one of the biggest tools we have available to make a dent in our lackluster fitness levels. There are two fairly simple steps to keep in mind when implementing any new wellness initiatives in a workplace:
Two of the top reasons people claim for neglecting exercise is lack of time, and high cost. Some of us are busier than others with work, family, kids, or any number of obligations. Fitness classes, trainers, and gym memberships might not match everyones budgets. Despite how important fitness is, a majority of us don't take any time to focus on our health.
This is where a workplace wellness program can make the most impact. The more readily accessible a workout is; the closer a piece of fruit is; the more reasons I have to get up out of my chair, the more likely I will be to get a significant amount of exercise and make better nutritional choices. Providing a fitness class, lead by a fitness instructor, on site will save an employee :30 minutes of travel to fitness facility, which alone helps eliminate one of the most often used excuses for not exercising' "i don't have enough time". Keeping fitness equipment and accessories on site will also increase participation. Intentionally planning meetings across the office forces people out of their desks for at least a short while. Supply fresh fruit delivery and not only will employees make better food choices but they will reduce trips to the store for snacks. Decrease barriers and people will immediately gain a much higher rate of wellness success.
If you are implementing a wellness program at your workplace you have to remember, you can't just 'set it and forget it'. Creating accessible initiatives will increase healthy behaviors, but in order to get the most out of a wellness program, it has to be excepted but the staff and promoted by the company. A fitness class won't help anyone if meetings are booked at the same time, or if employees are bashed for leaving their desks to attend. Creating a culture of wellness, via contests, employee ambassadors, fitness and nutrition tracking, healthier snack options, and executive support will increase a company's ROI significantly. After all, like any business venture, a wellness program should yield positive results.
Creating a wellness culture might look different depending on the type of business that implements it but there are always great options. Choosing a small handful of "ambassadors' or 'poster children' is one of the least expensive and most effective tools. Every company should be able to find at least one member of staff who enjoys and is passionate about health and fitness. Generally these people are excited to share their ideas about wellness and will help create programs and campaigns that will benefit the rest of the employees. In return for a year of that employees service the company can simply offer a free gym membership and a coupon to a sports massage.
Impacting people where they spend a majority of their time and energy, a place where they have a number of colleagues, peers, and friends, is the best way to influence healthy behaviors. Employers are more often making the investment in a wellness program in order to gain the many benefits of a healthy workforce. Research has shown that for every $1.00 an employer invests in a wellness program they can see a return of up to $3.27* in saved health care fees, increased productivity, and employee longevity.
Contact AGFWellness for help implementing a wellness program at your company
*Baicker, Katherine, David Cutler and Zirui Song “Workplace Wellness Programs Can Generate Savings” Health Affairs vol. 29 (2010): 304-311
MostFit™ SYN Rings add a new type of intensity to your workout! SYN Rings allow the user to suspend weight plates from an Olympic weightlifting bar creating instability, forcing the user to engage more core and stability muscles, and increase overall strength. They allow the weight plates to move in all directions, including forward, back, side-to-side, up-and-down, and in circular motions.
Stability weight training with the MostFit™ SYN Rings promotes core stabilization, explosive muscle engagement, and athletic development, helping people to improve their overall fitness!
Easily attaches to a standard Olympic weightlifting bar
Promotes explosive muscle engagement
Lightweight, compact and portable
Core Hammer Mobility Workout and Rotational Strength
-MostFit™ Core Hammer - http://goo.gl/rrNlTm
With the MostFit™ Core Hammer you no longer need a bulky tire and sledgehammer for this style of workout. The Core Hammer can be used in Group Exercise classes, Small Group training, and Personal Training. In this video MostFit Founder Andrew Gavigan is demonstrating some simple mobility exercises and rotational and anti-rotational strength movements. The unique unilateral challenge provided by the MostFit Core Hammer helps to force the user to stabilize through the core muscles and counter balance through opposite side and atagonistic muscle groups. The exercises demonstrated in this video stretch and engage the abdominal muscles, the lats, the triceps, the obliques and other transverse plane muscles, as well as the hamstrings and glutes
MostFit™ Strives to provide unique, effective, efficient and affordable fitness products to help you be the MostFit™ You Can Be.
Consult a physician before performing this or any exercise program. You as the user are responsible independently for use of any fitness programs or equipment and assume the risks of any resulting injury.
I started this company 3 years ago with the help of my life partner Erin and the support of all of our friends and family (which we still have and need). The first product we were able to produce was a simple, affordable Suspension Strap, something that I, as a trainer and corporate wellness provider, wanted for my own business and my own workouts. The truth is, I created the product before I even had the slightest thought about developing a business and a brand.
Fast forward 3 years and we now have 2 more featured products; the MostFit SYN Rings and the MostFit Core Hammer. Both of these products are unique, exciting, and cater to fitness professionals, athletes and their coaches, and the new and growing "garage gym" culture in the fitness industry. Despite the great feedback, all of the support, and the awesome community that we became a part of, we have decided to permanently discontinue the Suspension Strap as soon as we are sold out of our remaining inventory. As of right now we have only a few hundred units left so we expect to be sold out before the holidays are over.
I know there will be some questions from our community and we want you all to be a part of MostFit so let me explain. There are a few reasons why we are making this change:
- Suspension Straps are what the industry would call a 'me too' product. Most of you are well aware of the many competitors in suspension exercise, all with fantastic products that have different things to offer. We know that the MostFit Strap has unique aspects but after the focus of our other featured products became a little different (strength and conditioning, fitness professionals instead of hotel and living room workouts,) we considered giving up the Strap.
- With the crowded market in mind, we also had to consider available funds and various budgets. Regardless of what industry you work in, or if you run a small business like we do, you can understand that finances are complicated. As we get closer to selling out of a HUGE inventory stock of our Straps we had to make a decision about investing a large amount of money into more Suspension Straps or into our main objectives as previously mentioned.
We don't want MostFit to be a "Me Too" company. We plan to continue providing classic/standard accessories like our Tubes, Loops, and Bands among other things but our featured portable fitness products will always stand on their own. There are a plethora of other nuances involved in our decision and I would be happy to answer any questions any of you might have. You can contact me directly at andrew@most-fit.com.
So I very much thank all of you for the support we've experienced since we thought about starting this company. We will continue to produce efficient, accessible and affordable fitness products as well as programming and support (our programming for the MostFit Core Hammer for fitness professionals launches in January 2016). The MostFit Suspension Strap will be on sale for only $15 starting Tuesday Nov 24, until we are sold out (we expect for about 2 weeks). We will also be starting our Holiday Kickoff Sale on the 24th so come back and check out all the great deals.
Thanks again,
Andrew Gavigan
Liv360 talks to MostFit founder, Andrew Gavigan...
MostFit is all about making fitness efficient and accessible for everyone. We asked the founder, Andrew Gavigan, a few questions about the brand, and how you can use simple products to make your workouts more effective and dynamic.
“I’ve been a fitness trainer for over a decade now and throughout my career I’ve always had different ideas about how to make certain tools more accessible to my clients and myself. So I finally took action a few years ago and now we have a line of some of the standards, as well as our unique SYN Rings and Core Hammer which I use just about everyday with my clients.”
“Our current goal is to provide products that make a work out simpler or more convenient to achieve, so that fitness professionals and exercise enthusiasts can have more access to more tools. We want to provide these products to the fitness community while also promoting health, strength, happiness and positive body image.”
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“Any type of exercise is great exercise. High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT, is a fun, efficient, and generally effective way of exercising. By exercising with short or medium bursts of very hard, intense exercises you are creating a very active metabolic rate within a relatively short amount of time. This allows you to either get on with your day or gives you more time to stretch or practice your sport etc,.”
Shop MostFit Core Hammer
“Sledgehammer training is no secret, it’s a great core and cardio workout and can be used in a wide variety of ways to achieve any fitness goal not to mention a major stress reliever. However, with the MostFit Core Hammer you now can use the Core Hammer just about anywhere without the need for a cumbersome tire or striking service. We also provide a number of great exercises including striking and non-striking movements. We will be releasing or Certification and programming in the beginning of 2016.”
“The MostFit Core Hammer is one of my favorites of course, followed closely by the classic products the MostFit offers; Resistance Tubes, Resistance Bands, and Resistance Loops. I think, however, that the absolute most important part of a home workout is support from your family, friends, and neighbors. Be allies to each other and the path to fitness success will be smooth.”
Shop MostFit Resistance Tubes and Resistance Bands
Tis the season for holiday parties, office treats, and overindulgence. According to a study by PubMed, 195 subjects were studied and weighed pre-holiday (September through mid-November), holiday (mid-November through mid-January), and post-holiday (mid-January through late February), and the results showed that subjects had a significant weight gain during the holiday period, versus pre-holiday and post-holiday. The study also showed that the weight gain was not reduced during the months thereafter, resulting in more weight gain the following holiday season, which can lead to the common increase of body weight that occurs during adulthood.
Don't fret. You can still enjoy the holiday season with some balance and moderation.
1. Exercise: You don't have to commit to a 1 hour workout, but do a little something throughout the day. Jumping rope for 10 minutes, doing some push-ups and dips, going for a brisk walk, dancing like no one is watching, Googling a short workout, or visiting Most-Fit.com to see a variety of workouts that you can do at home, at the park, or in the office, will give you ideas to stay busy. Doing a little something throughout the day will keep your energy level up while burning calories. Not only that, exercise is a mood enhancer, which reduces stress and can lead to better decision-making choices throughout the day. When our bodies get stressed and tired, or when the holiday blues kick in, we are often drawn to comfort foods such as something sweet, caffeinated, salty, or processed. Combat those cravings by staying active.
2. Practice Yoga: Yoga not only keeps the body and mind strong and flexible, it is a mindfulness practice that shifts one out of sympathetic mode/fight or flight, and in to parasympathetic mode, which is the rest and digest mode of our nervous system. The top benefits of doing yoga include increased strength, flexibility, focus, concentration, and reduced stress. It's a win win. Not flexible? No worries. Flexibility is only one tiny aspect of yoga. You can practice yoga while eating, being aware of chewing your food, tasting it, not having other distractions. You can also practice yoga by taking a deep breath in, pausing at the top of the inhale: exhaling, pausing at the bottom of the exhale.
Want to try yoga, but don't know where to start? Check out Yogaglo.com and stream a meditation, a flow sequence, or any other practice your heart desires. You can find a 5-minute sequence to a 90-minute sequence.
3. Drink Lots of Water: Dehydration is often confused for hunger and water helps to control calories! By drinking 8-10 glasses of water throughout the day, your body will experience less dips, like the one most of us get around 4 o'clock, where we are looking for something sweet or caffeinated. Being hydrated also prevents overeating. Take a 32-ounce bottle everywhere you go so you can monitor how much you are drinking. Fill it up twice a day and you're right on track. Water also helps digestion and elimination. Read more benefits of drinking water from Web Md here.
4. Don't Go to a Party Starving: Going to a party starving is like going grocery shopping when you are starving. You buy everything in sight and want to eat it ALL. Skipping meals only sets you up for a binge later because you are famished. Chances are your blood sugar has dropped, your stomach is growling, you might be dehydrated, so you are more susceptible to eating anything and everything. Make sure you eat protein throughout the day and before the party so you don't over-indulge on tiny little treats that are full of saturated fat, salt, sugar and empty calories.
5. Watch your Alcohol Consumption: Sure it's time to enjoy the festivities and have a glass of wine or champagne to celebrate, but alcoholic beverages are full of sugar and empty calories. Alcohol is also classified as a depressant because it slows down the central nervous system. The average beer or glass of wine has approximately 120 calories in it. Multiply that by 4 and that's the equivalent of a hearty meal with low nutritional values.
Spread your drinks out and prevent dehydration by drinking a glass of water or club soda for every alcoholic drink you have. Please be responsible. Don't drink and drive.
Other links on ways to prevent holiday weight gain:
http://greatist.com/health/ways-to-avoid-holiday-weight-gain
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=978&page=2