It's my intention to assist you in achieving optimal health. In order to be successful you need to find out your weight, bmi, waist to hip ratio and risk factors to heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension. Also work on keeping your mental, spiritual and social health in order. Please seek a professional if you are in need of a mental health evaluation.

In order to start you on your journey, I am going to address the 5 components of physical fitness.

Cardiovascular

The ability of the heart to deliver oxygenated blood to working muscles during substantial physical activity such as running.

For those of you that are new to this, start out by doing something you do every day...walking...it’s simple to get the 30-45 minutes of Cardio 5 days a week as recommended by the American Heart Association, just walk around your neighborhood or on a treadmill. As you get used to the activity, increase your speed to 3.5 mph so you can see the results. Using a pedometer or phone app such as Nike+ you can keep track of your speed, number of steps per day (the American Heart Association also recommends 10,000 steps per day) and mileage.

If u got this Cardio thang down try interval training (alternating between fast and slow or lower to higher resistance) to really get your metabolism going and torch calories.

Treadmill, Stairmill, Elliptical, Rowing, traditional and Water Aerobics and ZUMBA, are all Cardio. If you don't have a gym membership just Walk/Run, Comcast also offers FIT TV so you do have many options!

Remember along with the positive impact it will have on your heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol, & attitude; your Cardio is going to burn that flab. So get moving!

Muscular Strength-amount of force a muscle can exert against heavy resistance as in weight lifting and pushups.

Muscular Endurance - ability of a muscle to repeat a movement many times or hold a position for an extended time, such as with your crunches and planks.

Just about every woman that I have told to lift weights, rebutted with, "I don't wanna get buff". My answer, "Nobody gets buff by accident. The women with body builder physiques that you encounter spend hundreds of hours and lift hundreds of pounds of weight to get there!"

Resistance Training will:

1. Tone your body, giving you the shape that you want. Tight high booty, flat abs, defined biceps, triceps, and shapely legs! Cardio will not do that!

2. As the muscles rebuild, you will continue to burn calories for hours after your workout is complete! Cardio will not do that!

3. Building strong muscles around your bones will assist you in not contracting/or fighting Osteoporosis! Cardio will not do that!

4. Will work with Cardio to strengthen your heart (your most important muscle) and your blood vessels!

Of course there are many other reasons to lift, but are these not enough?!

If you have never participated in a resistance training program, you can always start off by using your body weight. As you progress and become more comfortable; you can add weight, movement and other variations as progressions.

WOW = Woman on Weights, is PHYTGURL's signature resistance training program that provides you with the education you need to build and maintain a resistance training regime.

Flexibility-The ability of a joint to move through its full range of motion from flexed to extended-stretching.

Staying limber is important to:

1. Assist in the prevention of injuries.

2. Keep vessals patent so oxygenated blood can move freely through your body.

3. Provides heightened strength due to stronger joints and ligaments assisting the muscles.

4. Give you longer strides when performing cardio, so you'll be faster.

5. Give you great posture which makes you stand taller and look leaner.

6. Do I have to say what it does for the bedroom action?! (Smiles)

This is a component that most of us skip due to time (I'm guilty). Trust me you can get benefits from just 3 minutes pre & post workout. You want to do dynamic stretching before your workout, thus getting your body ready to move by simulating the movements of your workout. If you will be jogging you want to do something like alternating high knee stretches. You perform these without holding but keeping movements constant and fluid or very long stride walking...the key is to keep moving. Post workout you want to get your body ready to stop by doing static stretching. This is the traditional stretch and hold movements that you see everyone doing. Most gyms that I've visited have a stretch cage and guide available to stretch individual muscles. Just ask an employee to point you in the right direction. Trust that Flexibility training is just as important as the other Components of Fitness. Don't get caught off guard with that cramp in the bed 2night...stretch today!

Body Composition- The amount of fat compared to lean muscle mass.

Your Body Composition will be enhanced by your progress with the aforementioned components.  As you lift weights you will burn off fat and gain muscle.

You will want to remember that:

1. Fat does not turn into muscle they are two totally separate things.  You burn fat and build muscle. (Yes, I just said that but I want to drill that into your head lol)

2. Cardio will burn the fat and Resistance training will build and tone muscles.

3. Muscle is more dense than fat.  As you gain muscle and tone you may stay the same weight or even gain a couple of pounds, but please believe your body will be tighter and your dress size will be reduced!

4. Although you can have body composition goals; you cannot spot reduce.  Meaning you can't just work on your abdominal muscles and no other part of your body.  For instance, you may believe you are doing exercises that are only for your tummy but at the very least the opposing muscle (your back) will also see results. Even though you may be happy with your overall body composition but want to work on a problem area, your entire body will be positively affected by training.

Now that you are aware of the 5 components of Fitness

Let's get moving and find your Phyt! 

(Feel free to leave comments or questions