April is National Move More Month! Created by the American Heart Association, National Move More Month encourages people to improve their health by being more physically active.

The following statistics from the American Heart Association help explain why physical activity is so important:

• Almost half of U.S. adults are not active enough to maintain good health.
• About one-third of U.S. adults don’t participate in physical activity in their free time at all.
• Getting the recommended amounts of physical activity is linked to a long list of benefits like stronger bones and muscles, a lower risk of disease, a lower risk of depression, improved mental health, and improved cognitive function.

What is the “recommended amount of physical activity,” you might ask? The American Heart Association says we should all get at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity, 75 minutes of vigorous activity, or a combination of those, each week.

Thankfully for members of Adventure Fitness Athletic Club, our local gym in Thornton, CO is full of opportunities to celebrate National Move More Month in April and all year long. Read on to learn more about the many ways you can move more at our local gym, and why physical activity is important.

Ways to move more at our local gym

Adventure Fitness Athletic Club sets itself apart from other local gyms in Thornton by providing the most diverse range of workout opportunities in the area. We strive to furnish our gym with the best mix of equipment, classes, and personal trainers so that our members are able to keep their workouts fun, interesting, and effective. We’re also open to new ideas and constantly looking for ways to improve our offerings. Our goal is to remain the best local gym in the region.

If you’d like to commemorate National Move More Month at AFAC, here are a few of the many ways you can do so. To sign up for any of our classes, click here.

• Indoor rock climbing — The Cave at AFAC and our auto belay climbing wall provide members with the perfect space to practice and maintain their rock climbing skills.
• Nordic Walking — During warmer months, AFAC owner Susan Schaffner, who is a Certified American Nordic Walking Association Personal Instructor, holds regular Nordic walking classes. All members are welcome to join these classes, even if you’ve never tried this fun fitness adventure before. Nordic walking is a lot like normal walking, except you walk while holding specially designed ski poles in your hands which enhances the intensity of the exercise.
• Hack squats and leg presses — Get your legs moving more than ever before by using the many strength training machines at AFAC, including our state-of-the-art hack squat and leg press machines.
• Spin and More classes — Enjoy a variety of cardiovascular and strength-training exercises both on and off the spin bikes at our Spin and More classes.
• Rowing machines — Rowing machines are believed to be one of the most effective exercise tools available because they combine cardiovascular workouts with strength training. Working out on a rowing machine engages 86% of the muscles in your body.
• Elliptical and treadmill machines — If your goal is to move more, nothing beats the simplicity and effectiveness of ellipticals and treadmills.
• Kettlebells — Along with dumbbells, kettlebells are excellent tools for fitness training because they allow for a full range of movement and can be incorporated into a wide array of exercises.
• Trap bars — Deadlifting barbells is an iconic exercise at any local gym, and AFAC has trap bars for those who prefer to lift with less stress on their spines.
• Power Plate — AFAC has Power Plates throughout the gym for our members to use and we also hold Power Plate classes each week. Power Plates are machines with a large, flat surface that vibrates. When you work out on a Power Plate, your muscles are forced to engage more which increases the intensity of your exercise session.
• Battle ropes — These weighted, thick ropes provide excellent training for your arms, shoulders, back, core, abs, and glutes.
• Resistance bands — AFAC has a diverse selection of resistance bands at our local gym to help members exercise every muscle group in a joint-friendly way.
• Pickleball — This easy-to-learn, low-impact game is a perfectly entertaining combination of ping-pong, tennis, and badminton.
• TRX classes — TRX, or Total Resistance Exercise, helps you use your own bodyweight to develop your flexibility, strength, core muscles, and balance. AFAC holds regular TRX and CrossCore classes for our members.
• Yoga — This popular class leads our members through a collection of poses, breathing exercises, and meditation techniques. Yoga is great for increasing your flexibility, strength, balance, cardiovascular health, and much more.
• Cardio kickboxing classes — Burn some calories and learn the fundamentals of kickboxing and boxing during our cardio kickboxing classes.
• Fit Soldiers 2.0 classes — Yes, boot camp classes can be a blast, especially when they’re held at AFAC! Get ready for 45 minutes of pushups, squats, lunges, obstacle courses, and more during our Fit Soldiers 2.0 classes.

Why is it important to keep moving?

Moving your body in a way that makes you burn calories and work your muscles—also known as exercising—has been proven to provide many physical and mental health benefits. Regular exercise can even give you a longer life! Below are 12 amazing exercise benefits you can look forward to during National Move More Month and beyond.

Exercise can:

1. Make you happier—Exercise increases feelings of happiness and wellbeing in several ways. It improves mood and reduces feelings of anxiety, stress, and depression. It’s believed that exercise heightens the brain’s sensitivity to serotonin and norepinephrine and boosts the production of endorphins, all of which are known to relieve depression, reduce pain, and increase positive feelings. And more good news: it doesn’t seem to matter how intense a workout is, as exercise of any intensity level can provide these happiness benefits.
2. Help you lose weight — This is a fairly easy association to understand. Exercise helps you burn more calories which, in turn, helps you lose weight and maintain that weight loss. While exercise alone might not be the only factor involved in weight loss, when you combine exercise with a calorie-controlled diet, you’ll have a good chance of success. Exercise also helps you maintain muscle mass as you lose weight, which is essential for keeping your body strong, functional, and toned.
3. Help you maintain strong bones and muscles — Exercise, especially high-impact exercise like running, has been shown to build bone density when you’re younger and prevent osteoporosis as you get older. Weightlifting, when accompanied by proper protein intake, stimulates muscle growth. As you age, regular exercise can help you reduce the natural muscle loss that is common in older individuals.
4. Increase your energy — If you often feel fatigued or tired, exercise can boost your energy. It can also help people with conditions that cause chronic fatigue (like chronic fatigue syndrome, cancer, and autoimmune disorders) feel more energized. When you exercise, your body produces more mitochondria, which are the parts of cells responsible for turning food into energy that cells can use. The more you exercise, the more mitochondria your body makes to give you the energy you need to keep exercising. So, while it may seem counterintuitive that using energy to exercise actually gives you more energy, it’s true. Studies have shown that inactive, fatigued people increased their energy levels by 20% and decreased their fatigue by 65% by engaging in regular, low-intensity exercise.
5. Reduce pain — Long ago, it was assumed that lots of rest would relieve chronic pain, but more recent studies show that regular exercise can help people control low back pain and fibromyalgia pain. Exercise also helped study participants reduce all types of chronic pain and improve their quality of life.
6. Reduce your risk of disease — Did you know that lack of exercise is a main cause of chronic disease? A lack of regular exercise, even for a short time, increases your risk of heart disease and diabetes. On the other hand, regular exercise decreases blood pressure, decreases blood fat levels, improves insulin sensitivity, and improves heart and lung function — all indicators that prevent chronic and even deadly diseases. Exercise can also reduce your risk of colon, uterine, breast, and lung cancer.
7. Improve skin health — If you want your skin to glow, keep up that workout schedule. Regular moderate exercise can increase your body’s production of antioxidants which help protect all cells, including those in your skin. Exercise also stimulates blood flow to the skin and reduces the signs of aging.
8. Improve your brain’s health and memory — Since exercise increases your heart rate, it improves blood and oxygen flow to the brain, keeping it healthy. Exercise also stimulates the production of hormones that increase brain cell growth. In addition, exercise promotes the growth of the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain that assists in memory and learning. Exercise also reduces changes in the brain that occur due to schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease.
9. Improve sleep quality — It makes sense that regular exercise would tire you out and help you sleep better, and studies have shown this to be true. Exercise helps you fall asleep faster, get better quality sleep, get deeper sleep, and feel more refreshed when you wake up. One study found that getting the recommended amount of exercise — 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise per week — can improve sleep quality by 65%. And it doesn’t matter what type of exercise you do. Both aerobic exercise and strength training equally help people’s sleep quality. Just try to exercise at least 1-2 hours before going to bed because exercise can temporarily energize you before it helps you rest.
10. Improve your sex life — Getting regular exercise can improve your sex life by strengthening your cardiovascular system, improving your circulation and flexibility, and toning your muscles. Many studies in both men and women have shown that exercise improves desire, function, pleasure, and performance, as well as decreases the risk of sexual dysfunction.
11. Reduce your risk of falls — Research has shown that regular balance training, weight training, and moderate aerobic activity can reduce your risk of falling, especially as you get older.
12. Increase your lifespan — Since exercise reduces your risk of getting serious, deadly conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer, it’s only logical that you’d have a better chance of living longer. In addition, research has shown that the telomeres, the end caps on chromosomes that get shorter as we age, are longer in people who exercise regularly when compared to people who are sedentary. In one study, this equated to a surprising 9-year difference in cell aging between active and inactive individuals. Another study found that active 70-year-old men and women had the same heart capacity, lung capacity, and muscle strength as people who were 30 years younger. Finally, exercise is a natural anti-inflammatory, so it lessens the tissue inflammation that’s associated with aging.

Get Moving at the Best Local Gym in Thornton

At Adventure Fitness Athletic Club, we’re ready to make National Move More Month the best ever for our local gym members and community. Our personal trainers and staff are always ready to assist you with any questions you have about our fitness equipment, classes, and recovery tools like our cryotherapy chamber and hydro massage bed. For more information about AFAC and how to join our gym, visit us or contact Susan at 720-849-0245 or susan@adventurefitness.club.

To read more articles from Adventure Fitness Athletic Club, check out our Adventure Corner blogs by clicking here.