Now that a new year is upon us, many people have resolved to lose weight. Often, it’s a specific amount they want to lose like 10, 20, 50, or more pounds. Or sometimes there’s a certain number they’d like to see when they step on the scale.

Whether you dream of weighing 120 or 250 pounds, focusing on the scale can prevent you from appreciating other positive health changes that are just as important.

How do you learn to celebrate non-scale victories that can keep you motivated and lift your spirits at our gym in Thornton, Colorado? Read on to learn more.

‘Twas the week after Christmas and all through the gym,

The members were moving to try and stay slim.

The dumbbells were stacked by the mirrors with care,

Ready for gym members to lift them from there.

The treadmills were filled, folks had left their warm beds,

Because visions of fitness danced in their heads.

The holiday season brings us many stories, songs, and images of St. Nick with his jolly face, snow-white beard, and signature red suit. In addition to his twinkling eyes and nose like a cherry, we can’t forget Santa’s ample round belly. It shakes when he laughs like a bowlful of jelly!

There’s no doubt that Santa Claus looks adorable on Christmas cards, but in real life, having a large gut like his can be bad for your health.

If you want to look and feel your very best, it’s important to melt your Santa belly. But that’s tough after a holiday season filled with tasty treats and beverages. Thankfully, AFAC is here with some post-holiday tips to help you burn calories and build a strong core at our gym in Thornton, Colorado.

Do you want bigger biceps? Then you need to do preacher curls at the gym.

Preacher curls are not meant to replace standard biceps curls, but they are an exercise that hits your biceps in a different way. For maximum gains, you should include both variations in your curling routine.

Keep reading this blog to find out what preacher curls are, their benefits, and how to perform preacher curls at our gym in Thornton, Colorado.

What are your favorite lower-body exercises at the gym? Squats? Hip-thrusts? Deadlifts? Leg presses?

All of these are solid choices, but many personal trainers point to lunges as the most beneficial workout you can add to your leg day.

Continue reading this blog to learn about the benefits of lunges, the muscles they target, and a few variations you can try at our gym in Thornton, Colorado.

There are many reasons why AFAC gym members work with our personal trainers. Some need a program to support their weight loss goals, while others are hoping to build muscle. Our newer members often want to learn how to use our gym’s many equipment options. Regardless of the reason, there’s no doubt a personal trainer can be a great addition to your fitness program.

Occasionally, however, people hesitate to invest in a personal trainer at the gym. They might worry about cost or scheduling constraints. They may even be a little shy about working with a pro.

Whether you’ve just started on your fitness journey or have been grinding at the gym for a while and would like to see better results, the certified personal trainers at AFAC gym are a fantastic option. In this blog, we’ll introduce you to our team of personal trainers and list all the benefits you can enjoy while working with them at our gym in Thornton, Colorado. Make sure to ask us about our Christmas special!

Who doesn’t want a strong set of abs? Or a nice, flat, washboard stomach? Six-pack abs are all the rage these days. And, even though abs are mostly made in the kitchen, that doesn’t stop people from searching for the best ab exercises to do at the gym.

With this in mind, a study investigated the most common ab exercises and ranked them from best to worst. In this blog, we’ll dive into this study’s findings and reveal what could be the most effective abdominal exercises you can do at AFAC’s gym in Thornton, Colorado.

Have you ever walked into a gym and felt lost or out of place? Like you just didn’t belong there, didn’t know what to do, or even where to begin?

This is a common feeling in many gyms. But at AFAC’s gym in Thornton, Colorado, we strive to be different. To be a place where members feel like they belong and are welcome. Where the coaches encourage you and teach you how to build a healthy body, in spite of that awkward feeling.

If you’d like to be part of a gym where you’ll meet people who were just like you at one time and will encourage you on your fitness journey, read this blog and you’ll find out what makes AFAC gym better than other gyms!

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.