You need balance and variety in every part of your life, health and fitness included. Synergy is the theory that everything works together in the body and you need to better each aspect of your body for the best results.
Nothing in excess. Neglecting aspects of your health is also not wise. Whether it's in fitness centers, health food stores, grocery stores, supplement stores, or pharmacies, people are looking for that ONE thing they need to reach their fitness goal. Whether that goal is to lose 25 pounds or to become a superior athlete, there is no "one stop shop." Sure, you can lose weight by only doing cardio or drastically cutting your food intake, but that's not the best solution and certainly not a long term solution. If you are not balancing your workouts with resistance exercise, cardio, flexibility, proper nutrition, and sufficient rest, you are selling yourself short.
If you focus on only one area, eventually your weaknesses will be exposed. Doing the same thing every day, week in and week out will only cause problems. Your body adapts quickly; soon, your workouts become less effective. Additionally, you greatly increase your chances of overuse injuries or overtraining.
Think of your body as one unit: Everything works together. That's synergy. Many men seem to neglect working the legs and many women tend to neglect the upper body. Remember, synergy. Working the legs will help build other areas. Putting stress on the large leg muscles releases hormones and increases blood flow to help other muscles grow as well.
You can't target fat loss in one area. If your goal is for a certain area, you can focus there, but your body will take fat from throughout the body. The industry for years has pushed cardio, cardio, cardio for fat loss. You do burn fat from cardio, but if you don't supplement that with some type of resistance exercise, you will eventually slow your metabolism, which makes it harder, year after year, to lose weight. For your best health, for the best YOU, you need synergy.
n Rich Hess is executive director and fitness trainer at the Middlecreek Area Community Center. You can reach Rich at richmacc@live.com, or the MACC at maccrec.org.
Sports
You need synergy for weight loss
- Sports
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Panthers, Shore to settle AAA crown
One game. Milton played 19 times (once canceled by rain) and won 15, making the postseason for the first time since 2007, and its season comes down to one, winner-take-all game.
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Prolific offense carries Milton to final
A smile creased the corners of Jordon Bordner's mouth and soon his pearly whites gleamed through. If he thought about the question before, the Milton junior played coy for a reporter.
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Three Braves heading to Lyco
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Weather washes out schedule
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District 4 playoffs washed out
The thunderstorm that blew through the Valley on Tuesday afternoon has pushed back the entire District 4 softball and baseball schedule.
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Adames emerges for Black Panthers
Chace Phillips had a moment of pause, looking down at Reynaldo Adames prone at his feet. Milton's senior leadoff hitter had made a hard, head-first slide into third base and didn't immediately get up.
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Bottom of order sparks Ironmen
Trevor Leitzel was probably joshing when he explained how he came to go 3-for-3 in Danville's district quarterfinal win Friday at Wyalusing Valley.
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Lauer steps down
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Shots from the Hip: Fireside blogging
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H.S. softball: A great team by any other name
For the longest time, Warrior Run softball history could be summed up with one name: Laura Harris.
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Panthers, Shore to settle AAA crown
