Two ways to use pre-tax income to pay for needed care not covered by medical insurance

First, do you have an HSA? A Health Savings Account (HSA) is a tax-advantaged savings account that you can use to pay for a wide variety of health expenses. It’s a great way to save for both day-to-day and future medical costs. There are few requirements to open this type of account. The most important of these are, belonging to a high deductible medical plan. The rules have changed for HSA’s. No more restrictions, any $$ left at the end of the year rolls over, so it is also a savings and investment tool. This year as a single woman I can invest $4775 which earns interest, can be put in CD’s etc. This can be invested over the year, not in one chunk.  I opened mine at Bellco.  Find out how.

So how can an HSA help pay for uninsured care, like massage or other types of bodywork? Get a prescription for the uninsured care you need from your Primary Care Physician or Specialist. Example: Weekly massage for 6 months to help ongoing back and neck pain.

Pay for the service directly from HSA or ( This is the second way ), pay cash/cc/check. Get a receipt either way and put into a file with the prescription. Because of the prescription, it will be paid with pre-tax dollars, thus lowering taxable income at the end of the year.

Don’t forget, toothpaste, toothbrushes, cough syrup, cold remedies, etc., most healthcare purchases at the local drugstore are also considered medical expenses, pay from HSA or cash. Make sure to keep all receipts to add up at the end of the year. Please check with your accountant or tax person to see what pre-tax expenses to track.

Do not let money get in the way of your care. Most health practitioners will try to work with you as much as possible, payment plans, etc. Here’s to our health!

Nancy Huckeby-Gonzalez, LMT
Motion Fitness and Massage
Motionfitnessdenver.com
nancy@motionfitnessdenver.com
949-521-3389 cell
Specializing in Lymph Drainage Massage (LDM)
Cranial Sacral Therapy (CST)

Eat More, Weigh Less

Weight loss is more about eating right, not eating less.  The truth is most diets don’t allow you to eat enough so your body responds by going into starvation mode.  In short it stimulates the body to store fat because it isn’t sure when your next meal is coming. This is even worse when you add a high intensity workout on top of your already starving state.  When your body is in starvation mode and you try to workout a) you will have little or no energy to perform the workout and b) your body will be further convinced that it needs to store extra fat in case you need to do this same level of work again.  Remember our bodies have all kinds of safeguards to keep us alive.  If it thinks there is no food available and high levels of work that need to be done it will store as much energy (fat) as possible to make sure you have the energy when you need it.

A better idea is to eat frequent small meals or at the very least nutritious snacks between your meals.  The timing of your meals is almost as important as what they consist of.  You should start your day with breakfast within 1 hour of waking.  This sends a message to your body that it is no longer sleeping and needs to be ready for a higher level of activity.  During sleep your metabolism slows down because your body doesn’t have to provide energy for nearly as many functions as it does during the daytime hours.  So, if you wake up, drag yourself out of bed, to the car, and into work without eating breakfast your body never gets the message to increase your metabolic rate.  Eating breakfast and working out in the morning are great ways to jump start your metabolism for the day.

As you progress through the day eating a nutritious meal or snack every few hours your body will never feel hungry and therefore will stay out of starvation or fat storing mode. Benefits of eating frequent small nutritious meals include:

–          Steady metabolic rate throughout the day

–          Steady blood sugar rates throughout the day

–          Maintaining fat burning mode throughout the day

–          Easier to avoid convenience and emotional eating because              you have planned ahead

–          Steady energy levels throughout the day

–          Plenty of energy available to dominate your workouts

Eat more, weigh less.  By eating more frequent small meals your body stays in fat burning mode all day and utilizes the energy at hand instead of storing it as fat.  The key is to keep the meals small and nutritious.

—  Jessica Rose

Squats, 4 technique errors you never knew you were making

Squats are a foundational exercise that many high intensity exercises are built on.  You have probably been hearing for years that you should keep your back straight and keep your knees from moving out over your toes.  Keeping your back straight protects your low back from taking on the load and exposing it to potential danger.  Bones are made to provide structure so during a squat it is in your best interest to allow your tibia (low leg bone) to provide the support if you shift your weight too far forward the entire load is now resting on your knee joint rather than the bone and again exposing you to potential danger.

Now let’s look at the mistakes you didn’t know you were making…

1)      Too much bend in the hips

The mistake:  This usually happens with a straight back and weight on the heels but the chest comes down and almost touches the knees.  This position even though the back is straight still adds extra strain on the low back especially when a load is added.

Proper technique: Chest should be high with eyes up.  The angle of the back should match the angle of the lower leg.

2)      Toes pointed outward

The mistake: This often happens only on one side and usually points to an over active or tight glute medius on that side.  Pay attention next time you squat to see if one foot is turning slightly outward.

Proper Technique:  Both toes should be pointed forward

3)      Hips not moving at the same time

The mistake:  One hip moves up slightly before the other.  This usually suggests that one glute as stronger than the other.  The stronger glute starts firing first and takes on more of the work load allowing the already weaker side to do less work and further adding to the problem.  Have someone watch you or look in the mirror to see if your hips are moving at the same time.

Proper technique: Both hips should be moving in unison

4)      Weight on your toes

The mistake:  Weight is often shifted forward onto the toes instead of the heels.  The heels come up off the ground and the knees come forward over the toes. This puts a great deal of force on the knee and can weaken the joint over time.

Proper technique:  Push your hips back to shift your weight onto your heels.  You should be able to wiggle your toes but not lift them off the floor. You should not be balancing on your heels.

Exercising with proper technique not only keeps you from pain and injury but also gives you much better results from your exercise sessions.  Join us for Booty Bootcamp this June to perfect your squat and lunge technique.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burn extra calories up to 48 hours after you workout!

EPOC is one of the biggest trends in fitness today.  In a nut shell EPOC is an after burn created when we workout at high aerobic intensity levels.  This type of workout causes our bodies to burn extra calories after the workout for up to 2 full days!   This after burn is an added benefit to burning lots of calories during the workout due to the nature of the exercises performed.   Workouts that lead to EPOC are aerobic so expect to get your heart rate up but due to the extreme intensity levels the cardio bursts are usually paired with rest intervals using either low intensity or strength exercises to allow the heart and breathing rates to recover before their next high intensity bout.  Based on what research is showing this training style won’t be going anywhere soon so let’s take a deeper look.

What is EPOC? Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption is a measurable increase in the amount of oxygen needed by the body after participation in a strenuous activity. The body continues to use excess oxygen after the workout for as long as it takes to erase the oxygen debt created by the activity.  In recovery, oxygen (EPOC) is used in an effort to restore the body to a resting state and adapt it to the exercise just performed.  The demands on the body during this time include balancing hormones, removing lactate, replenishing fuel sources, and repairing cells among other more technical tasks. 

There is research (Laforgia and Kaminsky ) showing a greater EPOC response from intermittent high intensity (80-90%MHR) bursts as compared to steady state bouts at 70% MHR.  What does this mean?  30 minutes of high intensity interval training has a greater EPOC response than going for a 30 min run.  This, of course, is only true if the high intensity bursts are at 80-90%MHR.  The key is pushing yourself to the heights of you aerobic ability and then giving yourself adequate rest time so you can do it again and again.  Rest can take many forms.  I might be a water break, a stretch, low intensity cardio, or low intensity strength exercises. 

It generally takes anywhere from 15 minutes to 48 hours for the body to fully recover back to a resting state after exercise.  Studies have shown (Borsheim and Bahr) that the magnitude and duration of EPOC is greatly dependent on the intensity and duration of exercise.  The higher the intensity of aerobic exercise the greater the EPOC and the greater the caloric expenditure after exercise.  Maintaining high intensity exercise for a long duration is difficult.  EPOC can be achieved during short exercise durations but the longer the duration the longer the EPOC lasts. It boils down to how much oxygen debt you create and how long it will take for your body to return to a balanced state. 

 

Sources:

Borsheim, E. and Bahr, R. 2003. Effect of exercise intensity, duration and mode on post-exercise oxygen consumption. Sports Medicine, 33(14) 1037-1060.

Kaminsky, L.A., Padjen, S. and LaHam-Saeger, J. 1990. Effect of split exercise sessions on excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 24(2), 95-

Laforgia, J., Withers, R.T., Shipp, N.J., and Gore, C.J. 1997. Comparison of exercise expenditure elevations after submaximal and supramaximal running. Journal of Applied Physiology, 82(2), 661-666.

The truth about the “Fat Burning Zone”

 

I heard my body burns more fat at low intensity levels (50-60% of MHR- max heart rate) is this true?

This is a great question that I hear from clients and students on a regular basis.  As exercisers we are further confused by the fact that cardio machines at many gyms still have a chart that shows the fat burning zone as a low intensity level, usually just above a walking pace, and a performance zone as the higher intensity levels. Of course we would all like to believe that the best exercise for fat burning is an easy walk or light cardio. This would make the road to fat loss much easier!

The truth is, yes, your body does burn a higher percentage of fat as a fuel source when exercising at lower intensity levels. However, once you begin moving quickly or increasing your intensity, you suddenly present your body with a fuel dilemma. Fat cannot provide energy as quickly as carbohydrates so when the body needs to move quickly, or needs to move a heavy object, it needs immediate energy, and that’s where carbohydrates come in. They may not provide as much energy, but they certainly provide it much faster than fat.

So as you progress from standing still, to walking, to jogging, to an all-out sprint, your body begins to tap into carbohydrates more and more, while reducing its use of fat as a fuel. Of course, during this entire progression, you’re burning more overall calories too. So while the percentage of fat used as a fuel is decreasing, the total fat calories you burn might still be increasing.

For example, if you burn 200 calories per hour while walking and burn 60% fat, then you burn 120 fat calories per hour. But if you burn 600 calories per hour during interval training and only burn 40% fat during that time, you still burn 240 calories of fat per hour, twice as much as when you were walking.

So to answer our initial question, “Does my body burn more fat at low intensity levels?” The answer is yes and no your body does burns a higher percentage of fat at lower intensity levels but a higher overall amount of fat at higher intensity levels.  So unless you have 2-3 hours of free time to spend walking everyday it may be best to ramp up your workouts and burn the same amount of fat in a shorter high intensity workout.

This type of high intensity workout also has many other benefits including increased aerobic capacity, increased anaerobic threshold, EPOC (extended calorie burn for 24-36 hours after the workout) and increased muscular strength to name a few. Stay tuned for next week’s post for more information on these benefits.

Jessica Rose