SWFL IMA Health and Nutrition

Protein intake is an important step to a successful health plan, second only to the quality of the workout itself. Without enough protein, your muscles will struggle to return your muscles to a state of optimum performance. The easiest way to ensure your body recovers properly with adequate protein is to buy a bag or other container of protein powder, mix a single serving of it with some water and chug it down. Easy, right? Yes, that was quite easy and will work for most circumstances. Further down the line, you could notice that your normal protein shake isn't quite having the same effect it once did. Adding different ingredients to your protein shake can make that diference you're looking for. This article will delve into some of the more beneficial and popular additions you can include in your all-important post workout shake. Jumping blindly into a list of ingredients to include seems to be a rather structureless way to go about explaining the many options you have for bet...

     Taking care of your joints shouldn't be a practice you begin when you have become aged, as popular opinion would have you believe. In this case, proper joint care should begin right now, especially if you are physically active. If you are young, your joints might not feel much pain as you perform physical activity. This is a good thing, yet you should consider the fact that with each torque of your joints, every hour you spend standing at your job, and every heavy object you decide to move, your joints are sustaining damage. You might wake up the next morning with minor discomfort and think nothing of it and for the most part, your day will go unhindered. It is important to keep in mind that with each day that passes, that discomfort will only grow. With every passing year, you will be burdened with an ever-increasing burden upon your body that will lead to greater fatigue at the end of the day, more hours spent in bed dealing with that pain, and soon enough, yo...

     One barrier to a good workout is one of how much activity one can put out in any given day. Even if your diet is full of food that will support your physical recovery and boost your energy levels, some days will seem as if the burden you are placing on yourself increases each day. This feeling can be expressed as a restless feeling when you should normally be calm, brain fog that follows you wherever you go, or sometimes it's a dull pain in an over-trained muscle group. However this strain plays out, you have an exercise plan that can't be broken at any cost. Cue your stimulating beverage of choice, are you a coffee connoisseur? A latte legend? If you spend any time in your local supplement/vitamin store, then you've surely been introduced to pre-workout drinks and powders. If this is you, consider yourself a Spartan standing on the cutting edge of scientific research. Long story short, you need a pickup.      What you will gain from this po...

     After long workouts multiple days out of the week, your body will start to become fatigued. Ensuring you do not become faully fatigued, or otherwise injured while in this state, is an important consideration in light of the time you will have to spend away from attaining your physical goals. Whether your recovery time is weeks or days, understanding how to distance yourself from fatigue will result in more and better workouts, an objective factor for success in any goal.       Muscle fibers can and will recover properly, given they receive a good combination and rest and nutrient intake. Chief among these nutrients, protein, the building blocks of muscle. Comprised of many amino acids, the intake of protein after an intensive workout will undoubtedly lead to faster, more complete recovery. Whether you drink a protein shake or eat a protein-rich meal immediately after your workout will put your muscles into recovery mode, so be prepared to take res...

     Happy 2022, readers. Don't let 2022 become "2020 2: The Sequel," keep your health optimal to give your immune system a fighting chance against the new variants of Covid-19, which will soon become something like a seasonal flu should the less-severe symptoms and lower hospitalization rates that came from Omicron become a trend for future strains of the virus.      That's all you'll hear from me about Covid, I think we're through the worst of it and life can go back to normal. For the martially-motivated among us, let's turn our focus to something decidedly martial since all three of my prvious postings have been on nutrition. Most people visiting are likely hearing the term "Internal Arts" for the first time ever and are probably wondering what the difference between an internal martial art form and any other martial art form. The difference between internal and external martial art forms is the approach the practitioner uses for power genera...

Now that we have discussed two major categories of nutrition, macro nutrients and micro nutrients, you might be lost as to how one can get enough in their diet without spending a lot of money on expensive health food, health supplements, and organic food which is supposedly a lot healthier than non-organic. Perhaps the idea of taking multiple health supplements turns you off completely; trust me, I get this. If you are a person like I just described, then there is plenty good news for you in this post.  After many years of taking supplements and shelling out cash for expensive protein powders, I have developed a plan to get these vital nutrients from regular food. Out of your three macro nutrients, protein is arguably the most difficult to come by at a reasonable price. Specific amino acids, the building blocks of protein, can be beneficial in higher quantities. Knowing which foods contain those amino acids in large quantities can make a big difference in your recovery. Simply by e...

 A common analogy I use when discussing micro vs. macro nutrients is a car. In order to get anywhere, not only does the fuel tank have to be filled, but the internal components also need to be in a functional state or else that fuel won't take you as far as it potentially is able to. Where I am going with this is simple, macro nutrients are the fuel for your car, while micro nutrients are the internal components, such as the fuel line, spark plugs, water pump, etc. More concisely, micro nutrients are what keeps those internal components in proper working order. In my previous post, I discussed macro nutrients and their three sources: protein, carbohydrates, and lipids (fats). In stark contrast to the three sources for macro nutrients, the number of micro nutrients is vast and many in number.  The first broad category of micro nutrients is vitamins. Vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K comprise this sub-category of micro nutrients. Each of these vitamins have multiple forms and sub-ca...