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Exercise of the Month: Squat with Overhead Press

Here's an excellent variation on a staple exercise that you can incorporate into your workout routine - the squat with overhead press. This full-body exercise not only burns a lot of calories, but it's a great workout for the muscles in your lower body, upper back and core. Here's how to do it:

You know exercise is important. In fact, exercise is crucial to develop good health and wellness. But what kind of exercise is best? No one perfect exercise exists. Instead, the best way to exercise is to incorporate several different kinds of exercise into your workout routine – four kinds to be exact.

The four core elements of exercise are aerobic exercise, strength training, developing core muscles and interval training.

Summer in Sarasota means lazy days outside enjoying our beautiful bay and beaches. It's about everything water-related - boating, jet skiing, paddle boarding, kayaking, sailing and just plain swimming.

The summer months also mark a time when many of us head outdoors to exercise, playing tennis and golf and walking along the beach or the Ringling Bridge.

Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, also known as natural hormone therapy, is a form of alternative medicine that’s gaining popularity.

Many people consider it a good way to treat several diseases, as well as a way to alleviate menopause symptoms and reduce osteoporosis risk.

Here’s some quick advice: If you haven’t incorporated high-intensity strength training into your exercise routine, you should. The benefits are endless.

There’s even some research out now to suggest that high-intensity strength training could fight cancer.

Bodyweight exercises are gaining momentum in the fitness world due to the effectiveness and simplicity of getting in shape using your own body weight. Planks are a wonderful strength-training exercise for the whole body. In fact, planks are one of the most effective exercises you can perform because they only require a small time investment and they engage multiple muscle groups, allowing you to quickly achieve substantial results.  

Planks are great for core conditioning but they also work your glutes and hamstrings. Plus, planks support proper posture and improve balance.   

As you get older, it’s easy to stop moving as much as you did when you were younger. But if you want to stay healthy and strong, it’s important to stay active and keep your muscles in shape.

It’s crucial for more mature individuals to keep up regular movement because the effects of long periods of inactivity are very damaging to the body.

BMI and body fat percentage are weight-loss terms thrown around with little explanation, so if you're confused about what they mean or which you should pay more attention to, you're not alone. Here's a brief primer to help.

BMI stands for Body Mass Index. It's a simple measure of the weight of a person scaled according to their height. You can use Body fat percentage to determine your BMI, or follow these steps:

Acupuncture by Hsin-Hsin Hu is now available at BeFitSRQ

BeFitSRQ is excited to announce that we will now be offering acupuncture by Hsin-Hsin Hu, Acupuncture Physician and Doctor of Oriental Medicine. Dr. Hu is an experienced, Florida-licensed Acupuncture Physician and received dual diplomas in both Acupuncture and Chinese Herbalogy. She received Chinese medical training from East West College of Natural Medicine and is an apitherapist, certified by the American Apitherapy Society in the Charles Mraz tradition. Dr. Hu owns Metta Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine in Sarasota and serves on the faculty of East West College of Natural Medicine, where she manages the school pharmacy and teaches Chinese Herbology. Dr. Hu is available by appointment. Please call 941.587.6311 to book your appointment today.

BloqUV a Sun Protective Apparel Lineis now available at BeFitSRQ BloqUV is a leader in sun protective apparel. The company, based in Miami, produces apparel that's unique in design, fit and sun protection technology.   BloqUV  products block  98 percent of the sun's harmful UV rays . And their fabrics  guarantee a minimum Ultraviolet Protection Factor of 50. With the growing number of skin cancer and melanoma cases, it's crucial to protect your skin from long periods of sun exposure.  If you're in the sun longer than 15 minutes, your skin is already being bombarded by harmful rays. BloqUV offers the latest in UV sun protection with fashionable flare.  So before you step out into the sun, shop the BloqUV collection at the Studio. Women's Crop Top* available in 26 colors*to be worn over your clothing Women's 24/7 Top available in 26 colorsWomen's Capri or Legging with Skirtavailable in black or whiteMen's Long Sleeve Jet Tee available in 16 colors Springtime Cardio Now that you're decked out in BloqUV sun protective apparel, it's time to get your heart rate up. Spring in Sarasota is the perfect time to focus on cardio, from beach walks to running the Ringling Bridge to hitting the treadmill at BeFitSRQ.   Need some extra motivation? Here are some fun exercise facts to get you going:  Walking in sand requires 2.1 to 2.7 times more energythan walking on hard surfaces. (So break out those flip flops!) Walking on a sandy beach is so relaxing that it leads most people to walk further distances than they normally would. Treadmills let you control your speed. Walking with no incline at 3 miles per hour will burn around 320 calories for a 150-pound person. Walking at a speed of 4.5 miles per hour can burn 440 calories in that same amount of time.  Treadmills let you walk on an incline. If you walk 2.9 to 3.5 miles per hour on a treadmill with an incline of 1 to 5 percent, a 160-pound person burns around 475 calories. If you increase the incline to 6 to 15 percent at the same speed, you can burn 715 calories.