Written by, Coach Vanessa Panella

How much sleep do I need?

About 7-8 hours. No this isn’t a myth. This is true, and has been proven to be true over and over and over...well you get the idea. And teenagers are actually hard wired to need more sleep and fall asleep later in the night. They typically need anywhere from 9-10 hours of sleep, and their hormone cycle has set them up to not release melatonin until later in the night than adults.

What’s so Great About Sleep?

Sleep has 3 main cognitive benefits:

Improved Memory

Getting the recommended hours of sleep has shown to improve basically everything that has to do with the brain. You probably think of memory as remembering important dates and events or simply remembering to grab your keys when you head out the door. All of those things are true. So, can getting enough sleep help someone who can never remember where they put their phone down last...Yes.

Sleep is essentially the “save” button on all our...

Probing Your Probiotics

Written by, Coach Crystal Salaz

Jacob: This is My Story

Written By, Coach Vanesa Suazo

Doesn’t it seem like there’s always the new latest trend for the best diet that will help you lose those unwanted pounds in record time? New research showing that “this diet” is the one that will give you the results you want. Then there’s always all this conflicting information on whether to eat high or low carb; whether to eat plant based or carnivore ; whether calories matter or they don’t. We’re left conflicted, not really knowing what to do and jumping from one plan to the other, never really getting the results we want. The question is, what actually works? The answer is there isn’t one single diet plan that works, they can all work, it all depends on our lifestyles and what we’re trying to achieve. Oftentimes, I think we fail in reaching our goals, because we don’t posses the skills needed to get there - we’re lacking a good foundation. I believe any nutrition program can work for...

Written By, Randi Fehser

There are many values of reading. One might say I am biased since I am an English major and all but there are so many perks to reading. In William G. Brozo’s article, Writing to Learn in the Disciplines, he mentions, “For most teachers and scholars, reading is considered the fundamental skill, the prior skill, the formative skill…” Reading allows us to build skills for many different areas in our lives. It helps us improve our job skills, our communication skills, helps our brains stay active, and to always be learning. 

When I was in high school and in my first two years of college, I did not know I wanted to be a high school English teacher yet. I was a liberal study major at first to be an elementary teacher, but realized I wanted to teach the older kids. When I was thinking on changing my major to English Education, one question from other teachers and other professors was if I read. I did not, I always used...

Hard75

If you are any bit involved in the health and fitness industry whether as a client, coach or any measure of a fitness professional, you have probably at one point or another heard of the “Hard 75 Challenge”. 

If not, let me explain. 

The Hard 75 Challenge was a concept created by a man named Andy Frisella. He put together this challenge that is meant to go for a full 75 days. No stops. No rest. All in with no cheating. 

The Hard 75 Challenge Rules: 

1. 2 Workouts a day; 45’ inside, 45’ outside 
2. Follow a nutrition/ diet plan/ meal plan. 
3. No alcohol. 
4. No cheat meals. 
5. Read 10 physical pages a day (no audiobooks!) 
6. 1 progress picture a day. 
7. 1 gallon of water a day. 
8. Finally, there are no cheat days or cheat meals!

This sounds borderline psychotic and practically impossible to most. And that is exactly what I needed. Where I was at in my life, I knew I was about to endure a lot of change. I was about...