Fitness & Lifestyle
Monkey Bar Gym Bellevue’s highest priority is to provide quality health and fitness care, with a focus on individual attention and service. Being “Fit” is more than just a 60-minute workout everyday. Taking charge of your lifestyle, making necessary changes with an overall commitment to excellence in regards to your body is what drives Monkey Bar Gym Bellevue’s Fitness principles. Simply speaking, this is about lifestyle change that will help you live longer and healthier, increasing productivity in every aspect of your life. The latest studies show that exercise can slow the aging process. Exercise increases the body’s amount of telomerase, enzymes that repair and lengthen telomeres, the DNA-complexes at the end of chromosomes that directly affect how quickly cells age. Diet and exercise in combination prevents a significant loss of the body’s muscle and slow telomere aging. Nothing can stop this however, it’s only it’s rate of decline we can slow.
Mental clarity is a valued part of growing old gracefully. At Monkey Bar Gym Bellevue, we are dedicated to keeping the mind healthy through exercise, nutrition, supplements and a healthy environment, which include mindful breathing, such as the Yoga class we run every Thursday night from 6-7pm. Specifically, the brain loves physical activity. Staying physically active can stave off the onset of age-related neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s says Athur Kramer PH.D., a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of Illinois.
Delving into exercise at an early age myself, playing numerous competitive sports before the age of ten gave me the realization of the importance of daily exercise. I believe there is a connection between physical training and mental happiness that should be an integral part of everyone’s lives if possible. Exercise needs to become a habit. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. Our character, basically is a composite of our habits. “Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.” the maxim goes.
There are five components of physical fitness:
- muscular strength
- muscular endurance
- cardiorespiratory endurance
- flexibility
- body composition
At Monkey Bar Gym Bellevue, we address all of these five components in our programming. Whether you work in the group setting, or with a one on one trainer, our programs are based on sound, periodized training schematics that have been proven to work. Research is constantly reinforcing the fact that your overall fitness (which includes improved cardiorespiratory endurance, also known as “fitness”, which basically means your heart and lungs are more efficient at pumping blood and transporting oxygen) will directly improve brain health as well. Most of the population needs General Fitness(aka, health related fitness) which is a comprehensive blend of strength, cardiovascular, body composition and flexibility in combination with their programming, which is what we strive to address and improve at Monkey Bar Gym Bellevue.
Frequency of Aerobic and resistance training. Moderate intensity aerobic exercise done at least 5 days a week, or vigorous intensity aerobic exercise done at least 3 days a week, or a combination of 3-5 days of moderate and vigorous should be prescribed for most healthy adults to attain and keep health and fitness benefits.
Time: Moderate-intensity exercise performed for at least 30 minutes a day on 5 days of the week, totaling 150 minutes should be a bare minimum. At Monkey Bar Gym Bellevue, we have found that 3-5 days a week, of our 60 minute classes, where 3 classes in strength, and 2 HIIT(High Intensity Interval Training) classes seem to get people the quickest, and best results overall across the demographics.
Individual training goals are related to different peoples recovery adaptation variabilities that can vary from person to person. Giving a one size fits all routine, until you get to know the athlete/individual undertaking the exercise program can be futile to guess at, but not hard to determine after a few months of training. Underpinning the argument is the fact that there is no “best” program. Routines must adapt and be progressive, so actually, the best program is the one that is always changing and adapting to the individual’s needs and wants, which we address from member to member. One study showed that using a personal trainer to control the progression of intensity resulted in greater strength gains than allowing the average trainee to make such decisions.
- Lifestyle restructuring principles
- Live life consistently, with regard to exercise and nutrition
- Take initiative and help yourself with our tutelage
- Manage change and get results from your fitness routine
If you expect people to develop, you have to give them responsibility; you have to empower them to change. The Lifestyle restructuring we present will guide you on your way to maximize your physical abilities no matter where you’re starting from. Monkey Bar Gym Bellevue’s principles will help you achieve goals you probably thought were unattainable, stretching your abilities through proven scientific-based methods so you can get in the best shape of your life, with enhanced energy and mental clarity.