Beat Your Worst Cramps, Tips from Tony Tiamiyu

Summer is right around the corner which means that for many of you, you'll be out and about and trying to get more exercise in. For some of you, you might be worried about pollen. Well, it's pretty much pats pollen season in ATL. You might be worried about the heat; just get outside in the morning or the evenings when the sun isn't beating down. Or you might be worried about cramps, which is just another excuse for some of you! Don't worry, there are ways around cramps too! Pay attention.

Don't start fresh - Warming up your muscles and your body is a very important step to avoid cramps. If you start your workouts by going hard without  a warmup, you'll shock your muscles. Take it easy for about five minutes, slow jogging, jumping jacks, small easy aerobics.

Keep hydrated - Also a great idea if you're doing any kind of exercising...water is essential to carry nutrients throughout your cells. It seems only right that it will maximize the functions of your muscles and help avoid cramps.

Keep full of electrolytes - Not enough electrolytes can lead to muscle cramps. This combined with the step above will make sure your body has everything it needs to function properly. In longer workouts (25min+) drink a low-cal or zero-cal sports drink mixed with or alongside water.

Stretch & Cooldown - By slowly relaxing your muscles, you will reduce the chance of once again shocking those muscles. Take your time to slow down your heart rate, decrease your big motions, and hold stretches. Never pulse a stretch, and always hold for at least 15 full seconds.

Craving more health and fitness tips? Click here!

Tony Tiamiyu
Instant Fitness
Top Trainers in Atlanta, GA
(404) 941-iFIT(4348)

Build Bigger Back Muscles with Instant Fitness

Building your back muscles is important to your health. It will prevent you from getting back injuries in the gym, at work, and as you get older. You’ll be able to hold better posture, and, let’s face it, a buff body looks better when all parts are ripped!

Men are usually more focused on their back, but women need to focus on it too. Although they may not go as hard on this area, they still need to build muscle to help the overall fitness of their bodies.

Three main areas to focus on:

Lats, Traps, and middle/lower back

For Latissimus dorsi, there are two workouts you can do:

Lat pulldowns, and pull-ups

For bigger traps:

Power cleans, overhead shrugs, barbell shoulder shrugs, farmer’s walk

Middle-Lower back:

Any form of a row, back extensions

Remember, any exercise that works all of these muscles at the same time is great, too!

For more information about your health and Instant Fitness, click here!

Tony T

Instant Fitness, Atlanta's #1 Personal Trainers

(404) 941-4348

Healthy Recipes by Instant Fitness

Smoothies are a great way to get fruits and veggies into your diet in a fun and tasty way.
They can be a great meal replacement or side dish. Try them as a dessert and even freeze them in popsicles for a great summer treat!


Here are a few recipes to get you started:

Banana Berry
1/2 banana
1/2c frozen mixed berries
1/2c water or skim milk
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
ice

Protein shake
Banana Berry shake + 1-2 scoop(s) protein depending on your requirements*

Tropical Kale Smoothie
1/2c frozen mango
and/or frozen pineapple
1/2c water
lime juice
fresh mint
1c fresh organic kale

*Underweight men trying to build muscle should do 2 scoops. Women, stick to one scoop (~25g protein). Talk to your trainer or nutritionist to get specifics

Cherry Vanilla
1/2 banana
1/2c frozen cherries
1/2c Light vanilla soy milk
1/2c ice





Some things to keep in mind: Yes, smoothies can be a good meal replacement, especially when trying to lose weight. But you need to be cautious of how many calories you're throwing into the blender. For instance, one medium banana is about 100 calories, 1/2 berries is about 40, milk-- 45, so on and so forth. Adding one scoop of protein will double the calories of  the Bananaberry shake, but will make it a complete meal. If you're trying to gain weight, add foods like natural peanut butter and oatmeal to your shakes.

The takeaway: Sneaking fruits and veggies into your diet is a whole lot easier with smoothies. Stick to serving sizes of fruit, but definitely get creative and have fun with your food!

Tony Tiamiyu
Instant Fitness Personal Training
(404)941-4348

Instant Fitness shows you how to get LEANER without getting BUFF

Ladies! Listen up! You can get lean and toned without getting bulky and buff!

To do so is simple. 

For weights: You should be able to do 30 reps but the last ten and last 5 reps of each set should be difficult. Difficult to where you’re pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Do 2 sets of 30 reps

For your workouts: Don't be afraid to work the whole body! You aren't maxing out your muscles, so they can recover faster than those who want to look like 50 cent. Hit all the points: hamstrings, quads, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, and abs (upper, lower, and obliques).

For cardio: Yes, cardio. If you want to get leaner, you'll need to kickstart fat burning. Start off your workout with cardio, and mix it in between muscle groups. You can do jumping jacks, mountain climbers, sprints, jogging, jump rope, line jumps, fast step ups, etc.  Start workout with 3-5 minutes cardio warm-up and mix one minute intervals between your muscle groups. If your heart rate isn't getting up there, do 3 minutes between muscle groups.

Keeping these three things in mind will definitely get you on your way to a leaner body. If you want more information, or want to learn more about your health, schedule a free fitness assessment and we'll show you exactly how it's done!

-Tony T

Atlanta Personal Trainer

Instant Fitness

(404) 941-iFIT(4348)

Ask Instant Fitness: How do I control my portion sizes?

So you've been wondering why you haven't been able to lose weight despite your best efforts to get to the gym and watch your intake. What's the problem? Oftentimes, it's the portion sizes you're consuming. So let's talk about it.

To get used to the recommended portion sizes, first, take just one or two weeks and measure everything you eat. This way, you'll get a good idea of how much to portion out, and how many calories you're consuming per portion size. You probably wont have to measure much after this.

Second, check the nutritional information on the back of packaged food. Hopefully you aren't eating too much processed food, but if you are, make sure you know the calories per serving size.

Secondly, you can reference serving sizes to other objects to help you remember. Here's a great sheet to print out and put on your fridge. There's also a wallet-size version so you can have it on you all the time!


-Tony Tiamiyu
Instant Fitness
Atlanta's Best Personal Training
(404) 941-iFIT(4348)

LOW-CALORIE (but delicious) SNACKS HERE! From Instant Fitness via Greatist.com

Image courtesy of Greatist.com

Everyone always craves something around the mid afternoon. It’s easy to give in to those cravings, but if you have a few more healthy options, you won’t go off the deep end.

I stumbled upon this list of low-cal snacks. Check it out!

http://www.greatist.com/health/88-unexpected-snacks-under-100-calories/

For more ways to cut calories and eat healthier, click here!

-Tony T

Instant Fitness

Atlanta’s Best Weight-loss Professionals

(404)941-iFIT(4348)

Tony Tiamiyu Tells You How to Burn Calories, ANYWHERE!

Burn calories ANYWHERE!

Here’s a quick routine that will get your heart pumping anywhere. All you need it a little space, maybe a mat, maybe some comfortable shoes and clothes...and a positive attitude.


10 pushups or knee push-ups
15-20 jumping jacks
1 Plank, 60 seconds
10 squats feet close together
10 squats feet far apart
15-20 jumping jacks
10 crunches followed immediately by 15-20 jumping jacks
1 Plank, 60 seconds
10 deadlifts to press (just use an imaginary weight)
15-20 jumping jacks

This workout can get harder by changing the jumping jacks to different kinds of jumps, jump lunges, jump squats, mountain climbers, etc.

The key to this workout is consistency. Don’t rest longer than 20 seconds between sets, you’ll build more muscle and burn more calories!

For more tips on weight loss, eating healthy, and getting fit, click here!

Tony Tiamiyu

Instant Fitness

Atlanta’s Best Weight-loss Professionals

(404) 941-iFIT(4348)