What does it take to hold a plank for 4 hours, 30 minutes, and 11 seconds? DonnaJean Wilde, grandmother to 12 and new world record holder for longest plank performed by a woman, knows EXACTLY what it takes. At 58 years old, she beat the previous record holder, Dana Glowacka, who held her plank for 4 hours, 19 min., and 56 seconds (which is also super impressive, we see you, Dana!) on April 9th, 2024.  Wilde’s planking journey didn’t start how you might expect. Twelve years ago, she broke her wrist and was forced to wear a cast. Instead of letting that halt her fitness journey, she began to try exercises she could do with her cast on, and forearm planks were one of them. She told People magazine that she realized she could read while he was performing a plank, and she just fell in love with them. So,...Read more

Doctors recommend 7-9 hours of sleep each night for adults and 7-8 hours for older adults. Sleep is important for your physical and mental health; without proper sleep, your mind and body begin to suffer. Sleep is a regenerative period for your body, essential to any fitness journey. Here are a few reasons why sleep is so important: Your body repairs muscle tissue while you sleep. This is probably the most obvious reason that sleep is an important part of any exercise routine. During deep sleep, your body releases hormones that repair damage in your body. While these growth hormones are obviously responsible for repairing injury, they are also responsible for repairing the damage to your muscles when you exercise. Because muscle growth depends on your muscles breaking down slightly and then the subsequent repair of that muscle tissue if you want to make gains in the gym, a good...Read more

Is half of your diet made of pre-digested foods? And yes, you read that right. Think of it like this- you are a baby bird, and your mother is graciously regurgitating food for you to eat. Doesn’t sound appealing, does it? Well, that’s what ultra-processed food is, and as you might imagine, it’s not good for your body. When companies manufacture ultra-processed foods, they break down ingredients on a molecular level called “slurries” and then add emulsifiers that act like glue to bond that slurry with other added ingredients like food dye, sugar, and flavorings. Then, they can be shaped into whatever food manufacturers would like, and then they make it taste delicious.  Your digestive system usually breaks down food for you, but since this “food” has already been broken down into its most basic parts, it doesn’t move through the digestive system as nature intended. You don’t get full...Read more

Oh boy, we are already in the third month of the year. And, no, we can’t believe it’s March already, either! By now, most people who set New Year’s resolutions have long forgotten about them. In fact, about 80% of people stop trying to reach their goals before the end of January. Your gut reaction might be to shame yourself or feel guilty for not “trying hard enough,” but honestly, that’s a useless feeling. Instead, let’s focus on the power of self-love and positive self-talk and how that ties into making smarter goals! According to Psychology Today, many people have a running inner dialogue throughout the day. Generally, it combines conscious thoughts and unconscious beliefs and biases. For some people, it’s naturally positive. For others, it’s naturally self-critical and pessimistic. Negative self-talk results in lower confidence, rumination, and can limit personal growth. Unfortunately, human nature tends to lean us towards...Read more

You read the headline “New Weightloss Supplement Burns Fat Faster” on the cover of a popular magazine while waiting in line at the checkout at your local grocery store. You see your favorite TikToker post, “Do These Three Exercises to Burn Belly Fat.” You flip over to Facebook and see your friend has shared an article titled “The Secrets to Gaining Muscle Fast.” You may wonder, can I trust this? Surely, based on the publication’s popularity, social media influencer, or website, this has to be rooted in scientific research, right? Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. But there are some ways to decipher scientific research from attention-grabbing headlines. Here are a few ways that you can tell if it’s fact or fiction: Check your sources. Peer-reviewed scholarly articles are a great source of trusted information. We get most of our blog post ideas from peer-reviewed articles, scientific journals, and experts...Read more