A new expansive analysis of existing studies showed that exercise is 1.5 times more effective at reducing symptoms of depression, psychological stress, and anxiety than medication or counseling.
Obesity Is A Brain Disease
In a recent “60 minutes” episode, hosted by Leslie Stahl, Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity doctor at Mass General Hospital and associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, stated that obesity is a brain disease.
Can Strength Training Reverse Aging? Studies Say “Yes”
Aging is a natural part of the human life cycle. Factors like food, environment, and healthy or unhealthy habits all play a role in whether you age gracefully, or not. However, there is another key component that can help to reverse this process.
One Year Later
As I look back over the past year I realize that while there has been a strong focus on mask wearing, social distancing, and getting vaccinated, we have not received any information or health education on how to stay healthy and fit.
SB Downtown Business Spotlight Interview
I was honored to be a part of the Downtown Business Spotlight’s Virtual Interview Series along with Adrienne Smith, the owner of Power of Your Om, and Robin Elander, the executive director of SB Downtown Organization.
Exercise Is Essential
As a fitness professional, I believe COVID-19 is a serious threat and our response, as an industry, is a necessary step to help stop the spread, save lives, and eventually lead us back to normalcy.
5 Tips For Better Sleep
When it comes to your health, getting the right amount and quality of sleep is essential. Here are a few suggestions/hacks to help boost your sleep quality.
Become Stronger, Healthier, and More Resilient
We are living in uncertain times. But, what if we could turn all this negativity into something positive? What if we could use this pandemic as a growth experience to teach us how to become stronger, healthier and more resilient for the future?
Groundbreaking Research on Probiotics
Emerging research reveals a new category of probiotics creates major improvements in gut health, “spore-based organisms.”
The Super Nutrient Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin known as the “sunshine” vitamin because the body manufactures it after exposure to sunshine. Surprisingly, up to seventy-five percent of Americans are deficient due to indoor lifestyles and a lack of nutrient-dense foods.
Paleo and Osteoporosis
Breaking a bone due to osteoporosis is very common and happens to one in two women and one in four men in the United States. Unfortunately, most people only realize they have the condition once a bone fractures and it is too late.
5 Reason Why You Should Train with Kettlebells
Most everyone is familiar with the kettlebell by now, but if you are not, it looks like a cannonball with a handle, and it is one of the best pieces of fitness equipment ever developed!
Are You Fat Adapted?
The human body requires energy to function which is provided by proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Since carbohydrates are the most readily available, most people are sugar burners; they rely on carbohydrates and sugars to keep the brain and body running.
BDNF: 5 Ways to Train Your Brain
With the number of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s expected to triple by the year 2050, it’s no surprise that research connecting exercise to brain health has taken off over the past few years.
What’s The Difference Between Paleo and Keto?
Paleo and Keto are two buzz words associated with rapid fat loss and healthier lifestyles. Both diets have overlapping foods and benefits, but what are the differences?
Your Microbiome and Circadian Rhythm
You knew that gut microbes could affect your digestion, your weight and even your immune system. But did you know that that gut flora can also affect your circadian rhythm?
Are You Ready To “Go Keto”?
As you may know, the ketogenic diet (keto for short) has become extremely popular over the past year or so. When you understand the benefits it makes perfect sense. “Going keto” can be refreshing; you’re leaner, you’re not hungry, you have a steady flow of energy, and your brain works better!
The 7 Health Benefits of Infrared Saunas
In case you haven’t heard, infrared saunas are a recent hot topic in the health and fitness community (no pun intended). Infrared saunas can aid in detoxification, weight loss, relaxation, pain relief and even keep your skin looking healthy and young!
7 Reasons To Start Strength Training
We all know that exercise is good for us. Unfortunately, many make the mistake of focusing on cardiovascular exercise to the exclusion of strength training, while, the truth is that, nearly everyone will benefit more from strength training. Here are 7 reasons to start strength training today!
5 Health Benefits of Probiotics
If you have heard anything about probiotics, you probably know how important these live bacteria are for gut health. But it turns out that these microbes affect more than just digestion. Probiotics can influence our immune system, our metabolism, and even how we think and feel!
5 Reasons To Start Intermittent Fasting
Humans have been practicing intermittent fasting (IF) for hundreds of thousands of years. So it makes perfect sense that IF may benefit us in our modern lives as well.
What Our Ancestors Can Teach Us About Fitness
Let’s go back to forty thousand years ago, back to when there were small communities rather than cities and hunting and gathering rather than farming and agriculture, let’s go back to when humanity was just beginning.
Looking For Stability?
We’ve all seen those videos with people hugging a stability ball to their cores and running at their friends, colliding and bouncing back so hard they flip over. We’ve all seen friends and family lie back on one and immediately flip off. At face value, the stability ball can seem to be anything but stable.
Living Paleo in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara is often described as a slice of paradise. From its sandy shores to the palm trees that line its streets, those who visit our beautiful home believe we live in a place of eternal summer. But to Santa Barbara natives, we know that’s not true.
4 Benefits from the Kettlebell Windmill
I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t born with a kettlebell in hand. I had to learn how to use them like everyone else – and it was a challenge.
Amp Up Your Santa Barbara Summer with the Keto Diet!
In the summer, Santa Barbara comes to life. And with longer days and warmer nights, there is no better time to take advantage of everything our beautiful city has to offer.
My Primal Body
Growing up on the East Coast with two brothers was never easy, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I didn’t know it then, and I wouldn’t realize it for a long time, but those were the moments that shaped me into the person I am today.
Your Microbiome and You
The amazing thing about science? It evolves.
For example, we’ve known for years that diet influences our health, but scientists have been uncertain to what extent and how.
Fat Loss: The Two Factors You Need To Know Now
As a personal trainer, I have encountered many clients of all shapes and sizes, looking for one thing: fat loss. One particular client here at Fitness Transform, came to me when she found she could no longer deny what her lifestyle was doing to her body.
What’s Your Excuse?
Excuses are easy. Following through on a fitness goal is difficult. With that said, being able to recognize what is holding you back, what your excuse is for avoiding exercise, is the only way you can begin to make the changes necessary for success.
Survey: What is preventing you from achieving your fitness goals?
Here at Fitness Transform, our goal is to help everyone achieve their fitness dreams! To do so, we need to know what’s holding you back. What is preventing you from achieving your fitness goals today?
Do You Have the True Ancestral Gene?
As a society, we are intrigued with knowing our origins – who our ancestors were and what they did. But what about our own genetics? What can our own genes tell us about our bodies, health, and lives? Though more to the point, what can we learn from our ancestors that can help us to lead healthier and longer existences?
Energize Your Workouts
We’ve all sat there in biology class, wondering how knowing about mitochondria or the process of photosynthesis will help us in the real world. After all, we were planning on becoming police officers or lawyers or teachers – and maybe we did become those things one day, but the truth is, those lectures were still important.
How You Can Have More Balance In Your Life
Balance is in everything. And without it, life gets a little bumpy.
But in all seriousness, we physically rely on balance everyday. From running, hiking, skating, rollerblading, surfing, to even walking, we are constantly depending on our ability to balance to help us perform these activities.
5 Steps to Fitness Success
1. The time is now!
There is no time like the present. If you’ve been thinking about making a life change, been wanting to get back to feeling healthy, strong, and confident in your body, then why wait? The best way to achieve fitness success is to begin.
Make Your Next Workout a HIIT with High Intensity Interval Training
As with most of my Primal Body Program, the secret to fat loss isn’t really a secret at all. In fact, we’ve had the knowledge for a while now. People just haven’t been widely practicing it; they haven’t been using it correctly.
It’s Time To Rock and Roll: How Foam Rollers Can Help You
Before Elaine came to Fitness Transform, she had led an active life, one filled with some of her favorite activities like hiking, swimming, and running. She had always considered herself to be in reasonable shape.
On the Fast Track to Fitness: How Intermittent Fasting Improves Fitness
As someone who trains regularly, working out in my studio on weekdays and running bleachers on the weekends, I find that implementing intermittent fasting to be incredibly beneficial and natural to how I live.
Bye Bye Omega 6, Hello Omega 3
In my business, I encounter a lot people looking for relief from pain caused by inflammation – people suffering from conditions like arthritis who are at the end of their ropes, desperate and fed up, ready to take drastic measures like surgery. To these people, I say: don’t lose hope.
Gaining Energy and Losing Weight with Fitness Transform, by Keith Hamm (Published in the SB Independent)
About halfway into a 28-day fitness and nutrition program headed up by Mikki Reilly at Fitness Transform, I experienced a sustained upswing in energy as I went about my typical weekend.