When you look in the mirror to judge your progress at the gym, which muscles do you focus on? If you’re like most people, you probably look at your forward-facing muscles like your abs, chest, biceps, and quads. And that makes sense because they’re the muscles you see first.

While those muscles are important, don’t forget the muscles in the back! The secret to maximum strength and a balanced physique is to pay attention to the muscles on the other side of your body, too, including your trapezoids.

What are the trapezoid muscles, and what exercises can you do to build them? In today’s blog, the team at AFAC’s gym in Thornton, Colorado, provides answers to these questions and more.

Have you been going on daily walks for years but always dreamed of running? Or were you a runner long ago and wish you could get back into it?

Either way, you’re probably full of questions. As a beginner, you might wonder, how far should you run and how often? Should you do anything special to avoid injuries?

In this blog, your friends at AFAC’s gym in Thornton, Colorado, provide some guidance on how to turn your regular walk into a run you’ll feel great about!

Picture it … You arrive at the gym feeling excited about the great workout you have planned. Today, you’re going all-out with cardio and weightlifting on the same day!

This is a marvelous goal, but you might wonder, which comes first, cardio or weights? Does it even matter?

Some health experts say yes, it does matter, but which you should do first can depend on a few factors. In this blog, we’ll discuss those factors so that you’ll walk into AFAC’s gym in Thornton, Colorado, with the information you need to make the best decision for your fitness goals.

Your triceps make up about two-thirds of your upper arms, so if you want bigger arms, building your triceps is a must.

When it comes to developing the tris, every weightlifter has a different approach. Two of the most common triceps lifts you’ll hear about are skull crushers and lying triceps extensions. Some of your gym buddies might even tell you these two lifts are identical.

Are they right? In this blog, we’ll discuss the triceps muscles, the similarities and differences between lying triceps extensions and skull crushers, how to do each exercise, and the advantages of adding these lifts to your repertoire at AFAC’s gym in Thornton, Colorado.

Two of the most common goals at the gym are to lose fat and gain muscle. On the surface, these might sound like separate, mutually exclusive goals, but they don’t have to be.

With careful planning, hard work, and patience, it is possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. The process is called body recomposition, or “recomping.”

There are lots of opinions on this topic and it can be confusing for those who are just starting their fitness journey. In today’s blog, we’ll discuss what it takes to achieve body recomposition at AFAC’s Thornton gym.

We’ve all heard the strength training rule that you should wait at least 48 hours in between training sessions for the same muscle groups, which will give your muscles time to recover and grow.

If you’re in a full-body strength program, this could be spread across three sessions per week. For example, working out all your muscle groups on alternate days like Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

This is a good rule to follow in a perfect world. But what if you don’t live in a perfect world? Maybe you’re working 12-hour shifts Sunday through Thursday, leaving only Friday and Saturday open for your gym time. Or maybe most of your week is dedicated to child care and you can only go to the gym on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings.

Whatever the case may be, sometimes a hectic schedule forces you to strength train on consecutive days. Does that mean you still can’t train the same muscle groups two or more days in a row? Is that a waste of time?

Conventional wisdom would say yes, but many trainers have questioned the 48-hour rest rule, and there are several studies to back them up. Read this blog to learn more about the advantages of working out the same muscles multiple days in a row at our Thornton gym.

For general fitness, you’ve probably heard that you should get 10,000 steps per day.

While 10,000 is an easy number to remember and an admirable goal, it doesn’t appear to come from a scientific study. Instead, it was likely popularized by a Japanese pedometer that was sold around the time of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. This pedometer was called Manpo-kei, which means “10,000 steps meter” in Japanese. It was more of a marketing slogan than anything else, but it caught on with the Japanese public at the time.

Even though it has a questionable past, is 10,000 truly the magic number? In today’s blog, we’ll attempt to answer this question. We’ll also discuss ideas on how to increase your daily steps and the benefits of getting as many steps as possible at our Thornton gym.

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.