Whether you’re a strength-training competitor or a weekend warrior, you’ll be adding pull exercises to your program sooner or later. The conventional deadlift and the Romanian deadlift are two premium pulling options. But how do you choose between them?

In today’s blog, we’ll discuss what deadlifts are, the differences and similarities between conventional and Romanian deadlifts, and the advantages of doing both at our Thornton gym.

After you’ve been consistently working out at the gym for a few months and watching your diet, you’ll notice some changes in your body.

If you’ve lowered your calories and increased your cardiovascular exercise, for example, your weight might go down a few pounds. Or, if you’ve increased the protein in your diet and started a strength training program, you might notice your muscles looking bigger and more defined.

Those changes you’re seeing have to do with the amount of muscle and fat tissue in your body, which make up a large part of your body composition.

Gaining muscle and losing fat can be a complicated topic and there are quite a few misconceptions about it. In this blog, we’ll discuss the differences between fat and muscle and answer some commonly asked questions that we hear from members of our Thornton gym.

We’ve all heard that walking is good for us. A regular program of brisk walking can help us maintain a healthy weight, strengthen bones and muscles, and improve balance and coordination.

According to a new study, a specific type of walking – Nordic walking – can be beneficial for people with coronary artery disease, the most common type of heart disease in the United States. The study results suggest that people with coronary artery disease saw improved heart function after committing to a three-month Nordic walking program.

That’s great news for all of us at AFAC gym, where we hold regular Nordic Walking Classes every Saturday morning at 9 a.m. Read this blog to learn more about the study and how to join the Nordic Walking Classes at our Thornton gym.

When people who are trying to lose weight see all the exercise options available at the gym, they can feel overwhelmed. They might ask themselves, “What exercises are best for me? Do I have to use all this equipment? Which workouts will help me lose weight?”

You might be surprised to learn that one of the simplest exercises ever — walking — can be very beneficial in your goal to lose weight. Not only can walking aid in weight loss, but it also provides many other health perks.

Read on to discover how walking can help you lose weight and learn 10 tips to maximize your walking workouts at our Thornton gym.

People who give 110% at the gym are to be admired. And yet, while it’s necessary to push your limits at the gym to reach most fitness goals, did you know that there’s such a thing as too much training?

It’s called overtraining, and it can actually hinder your progress and even lead to a decline in your performance. Ironically, overtraining can prevent you from seizing the gains you’re working so hard to achieve.

In today’s blog, we’ll discuss what overtraining is, the symptoms of overtraining, and how to recover from overtraining if you’re experiencing it at our Thornton gym.

Whether you’re trying to increase muscle mass in your chest or boost your upper body strength, the bench press is one of the most popular exercises used to achieve both. Many people assume the bench press is best performed with a barbell, but the dumbbell bench press is a solid alternative with unique benefits.

In this blog, we’ll explain the differences between the barbell and dumbbell bench press and how to complete these workouts at our Thornton gym.

As someone who wants to stay fit, you’ve probably weighed yourself countless times. After working hard at the gym and eating a healthy diet, it feels great to see those numbers on the scale go down!

While body weight is one measurement of your overall health, it’s not the end-all, be-all assessment of your fitness level. You should also focus on your body composition to identify where your weight is coming from.

A body composition test will not only tell you what your body fat percentage is, but it can also help you fine-tune your exercise and nutritional program to lose fat and gain muscle. It can also identify certain health risks you might be facing.

But what exactly is body composition and how do you measure it? There are various methods available — including the InBody 770 Body Composition Analyzer at AFAC gym. We are the only facility in the Thornton, Colorado, area with an InBody 770. This easy-to-use device gives you a comprehensive analysis of your entire body in minutes. Read this blog to learn more about what body composition is, why it’s important, and how to use the InBody 770 at our Thornton gym!

As a gym member, you’ve probably met people following all kinds of diet plans to improve their health and exercise performance. And, while most diet plans focus on what you eat, there is one currently popular diet that puts the spotlight on when you eat — intermittent fasting.

Intermittent fasting (IF) is an eating plan that puts you on a regular schedule of fasting and eating. There are several intermittent fasting schedules available so you can pick the one that works best for you. Research has shown that IF can be a successful way to manage your weight and prevent, or even reverse, some diseases.

In today’s blog, we’ll discuss what intermittent fasting is, its benefits, some of the most common IF schedules you can follow, and how intermittent fasting can be a part of your fitness goals at AFAC’s Thornton, CO, gym.

One of the main reasons why people join a gym is to remain healthy and strong as they age. Aging well is all about forming habits that are good for you, like exercising regularly at the gym, eating a healthy diet, getting enough sleep, and seeing your doctor. This healthy lifestyle should be a lifelong pursuit, but after the age of 50, it’s more important than ever to maintain healthy habits, which can help you stay independent and active for as long as possible. After all, you not only want to add years to your life, but also add life to your years!

Not sure where to start? Read this blog to learn about fitness habits you should follow at AFAC’s Thornton, CO, gym — habits that can unlock the secrets of healthy living after 50.

When you think of working out at a gym, exercises like lifting a barbell or running on a treadmill might come to mind. But there are many other alternative workout methods, some of them as simple as exercise balls.

That’s right, the balls you threw and kicked on the playground as a kid have grown up to become very effective workout tools that can help you build strength, stability, and cardiovascular conditioning.

Two of the most common exercise balls are slam balls and medicine balls. While neither one is better than the other, they each have their own uses depending on what kind of exercises you want to perform at AFAC’s Thornton, CO, gym. Read this blog to learn about the difference between slam balls and medicine balls, the benefits of each, and some exercises you can try.

If there’s any exercise that humans have evolved to do, it’s walking. Walking is the most fundamental, basic form of human physical activity, and it doesn’t require any special skills or equipment. For these reasons and more, walking is touted as one of the best workout options for people of all ages and fitness levels.

Walking is so important that many of us have become laser focused on our “step counts” and we even wear pedometers to keep track of every step we take.

You might have heard that walking 10,000 steps per day is the gold standard. And, even though it’s a wonderful goal that’s easy to remember, 10,000 is actually an arbitrary number that isn’t right for everyone. Some of us might be able to walk more than 10,000 steps per day with ease, while others may feel daunted by that number and never even try because it seems unattainable.

Research has shown that increasing your step count can provide life-saving health benefits, even if you can’t reach that magic 10,000-step number. In this blog, we’ll discuss why walking is important, what research says about step counts, and ways you can increase your step counts at AFAC’s Thornton, CO, gym.

Whether you’re working out at the gym, at home, or on-the-go, you want to make every minute count. Exercise takes time and effort, and you don’t want your hard work to go to waste.

That’s why EMOM workouts could be your new best friend. EMOM is short for “every minute on the minute” and it’s a form of interval training. During EMOM workouts, you complete a predetermined number of repetitions (reps) of an exercise in less than 60 seconds. Whatever time is left in those 60 seconds is set aside for you to rest before going on to the next set.

If EMOM workouts sound like something you’d love to do, read this blog to learn more about what EMOM workouts are, the benefits of this type of exercise routine, and some examples you can try at AFAC’s Thornton, CO, gym.

Sometimes, no matter how many workouts you try, how clean you eat, and how much time you spend at the gym, you’ll notice that certain muscles won’t grow as much as the others. You might be happy with most of the gains you’ve made, but there almost always seems to be at least one body part lagging behind.

This could be caused by several factors, some of which you can’t control like genetics. But that doesn’t mean you should give up. There are several techniques and methods you can apply to your workout routine at AFAC’s Thornton, CO, gym that will lift your weaker body parts to their full potential.

Athletes and gym members alike have been using ice packs and ice baths for decades to reduce inflammation and pain, both before and after workouts.

While these types of cold therapy work to a certain extent, they’ve never been fun. Holding an ice pack for hours is boring — and submerging your body into an ice bath is downright excruciating.

Thanks to whole-body cryotherapy chambers like the one at AFAC gym, it’s possible to reap all the benefits of cold therapy in about 3 minutes with no downtime!

The cryotherapy chamber at AFAC gym is so fast and convenient that it can be used pre- or post-exercise. Because of this, our members often ask the question, “Is it better to do cryotherapy before or after my workout at the gym?”

The answer is, it depends! Read on to learn the benefits of getting cryotherapy before or after your workouts at AFAC’s Thornton, CO, gym.

During the 1980s, a fitness fad called “aerobics” hit the country by storm in the form of Jazzercise, step aerobics, and workout videos. In every gym, people proudly wore their neon leotards, legwarmers, and headbands as they sweated to the oldies and top-40 hits.

While some of these fashion trends faded over time, Americans kept their love of aerobic exercise because it’s an incredibly effective way to increase cardiovascular fitness, maintain weight, prevent disease, and feel energized.

The lesser-known cousin of aerobic exercise is “anaerobic” exercise. Even if you’ve heard about both aerobic and anaerobic workouts, you might not know exactly what they are or how they help you reach your fitness goals.

In this blog, we’ll define aerobic and anaerobic exercise, what their benefits are, and examples of these exercises you can do at AFAC’s Thornton, CO, gym.

If you’re looking for a strength-training workout that helps you maximize calorie burn at the gym, you need to give kettlebells a try.

Since kettlebell workouts are compound exercises that target several muscle groups simultaneously, they amplify the calorie-burning process, allowing you to shed fat and get toned at the same time.

In this blog, we’ll show you the best kettlebell exercises for torching calories at AFAC’s Thornton, CO, gym.

Congratulations! You worked so hard to lose weight, and you’ve finally reached your weight loss goal.

You should be proud of yourself, because losing weight is one of the hardest missions to accomplish, and only a fraction of people who try are successful.

Now that you’ve arrived at this incredible milestone, you’re probably focused on keeping the weight off. That is a feat in itself, as studies show that maintaining weight loss can be even more difficult than losing weight in the first place! Not to worry, though, the team at AFAC’s Thornton gym is here to help you with exercises and other tips to maintain the results you’ve worked so hard to achieve.

The name sounds like a friendly way to start the day instead of a weightlifting move, but “good mornings” are a beast of an exercise that can help you build iron-clad hamstrings, glutes, abs, and back muscles.

As great as good mornings are, however, there is one downside — if done improperly or too quickly, they do come with a risk of back injury.

Read this blog to learn about what good mornings are, their benefits, and how to do them at our Thornton gym.

As much as we all love working out at the gym, we also love using our time efficiently and getting the most “bang for our buck” when exercising.

One way to make your workouts as efficient as possible is by doing compound exercises, which not only save you time at the gym, but also improve your coordination, calorie burn, and strength.

In this blog, we’ll explain what compound exercises are, their benefits, and the best compound exercises to add to your workouts at our Thornton gym.

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