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Vertex Fitness On the NBC The 10! Show
Jan. 26, 2010 *
Vertex Fitness Personal Training Studio on The 10! Show
Thanks for checking out Vertex Fitness's segment on the NBC 10 The 10! Show. Watch Dwayne and Kelly, the Owner and Assistant Manager of Vertex Fitness, demonstrate simple exercises you can do without equipment to strengthen your body without equipment. These workouts are easy to learn and allow you and a friend to work out together and have fun while becoming fit!
Exercise and Fibromyalgia
Aug. 30, 2010
Fibromyalgia is a debilitating condition affecting between 1 and 3% of the general population. The syndrome is characterized by widespread muscle aches and pains, stiffness, fatigue and muscle spasms. Many people with fibromyalgia report difficulty doing everyday activities such as carrying  objects, walking and working with their arms. Pain, fatigue, helplessness, psychological distress and difficulty coping with stresses plague many people with the condition. No one knows what causes fibromyalgia, but it is thought to be a combination of increased sensitivity to pain and environmental and psychological factors. Can Exercise Help?
Common sense suggests that individuals with fibromyalgia shouldn’t exercise. And many people limit physical activity out of fear that it will make their symptoms worse. But in reality...
Exercise And Menopause
Aug. 24, 2010
There was a time when the word was never spoken, not even between a mother and daughter. Menopause, still referred to as “the change” in some circles, is now no longer a taboo subject. Menopause is a natural transition in a woman’s life. And nowadays most women can expect to live one-third to one-half of their lives past menopause; these can be among the most satisfying years of life. The emergence of menopause as a hot health topic is likely the result of newer research that has shown that exercise plays a key role in easing the transition into menopause, enhancing a woman’s health, happiness and productivity.  What is menopause?
The medical definition of menopause is cessation of menses for 12 months. Menopause occurs when the ovaries stop making the hormones estrogen and progesterone. While the average age of menopause onset is about 51, some women may enter menopause as early as their 30s or as late as their 60s. Symptoms of menopause include: hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, insomnia, headache, lethargy/fatigue, irritability, anxiety, depression, a racing heart or skipped beats, and joint pain.
Attitude Quote
Aug. 05, 2010
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.” -Charles Swindoll
Will Toning Shoes Really Give You A Better Body?
Aug. 05, 2010
 “Burn more calories, tone muscles, improve posture, reduce joint stress.” —Well, who wouldn’t want all that?
“Train muscles your trainers never knew you had.” —Sign me up.
“It’s the shoe proven to work your hamstrings and calves up to 11 percent harder. And tones your butt up to 28 percent more than regular sneakers just by walking.” —A better body without putting in any extra effort? That sounds good.
Or maybe too good to be true? All of the above are publicized claims marketing the latest toning shoes from Skechers Shape-Ups, MBT (Masai Barefoot Technology) and Reebok EasyTone. The shoes, each of which uses uniquely shaped rounded soles and extra cushioning to alter the wearer’s normal walking gait, are currently all the rage in footwear. A quick Web search reveals many blogs touting the shoes and NFL great Joe Montana has even been hired as a pitchman for one of the brands.
With all this buzz about toning shoes, it was time to put their claims to the test. So we enlisted a team of exercise scientists from the Exercise and Health Program at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, to study each of the shoes.
Alcohol Eats Away at Muscle Mass
Jul. 28, 2010
If increasing muscle mass is one of your goals, then think twice before you go out for a night of heavy drinking. Consuming alcohol in large quantities has a direct effect on your metabolism, causing fat to be stored instead of being utilized as an energy source. Alcohol contains seven “empty” calories per gram, meaning that these calories don’t provide you with any of the essential nutrients you need to build that muscle mass you desire.  Effects of Excessive Alcohol Consumption on Your Body:
• Muscles—Reduces blood flow to the muscles, causing weakness and deterioration
• Hormones—Reduces testosterone in your blood and increases conversion of testosterone to estrogen, causing increased fat depositing and fluid retention
• Liver—Creates imbalances that can cause hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), fatty liver and hyperlipidemia (build-up of fats in the bloodstream)
• Brain—Cuts off the supply of oxygen to the brain, resulting in a “blackout” caused by a lack of oxygen supply to the brain that can kill tens of thousands of brain cells
Summer Skin
Jul. 27, 2010
Every sunscreen has a sun protection factor, or SPF, which is a measure of its strength or effectiveness. Each of us needs a different SPF, depending on whether, and to what degree, our skin burns or tans. A tan is the direct result of melanin, a brown pigment found in the epidermis that is produced when skin is exposed to sunlight. 
Melanin protects the skin by absorbing, reflecting and scattering ultraviolet radiation before it penetrates the dermis, or underlying skin. However, armor that it is, melanin can’t prevent all the negative effects of the sun, and is often representative of damage. That’s why we need to use sunscreens. To determine what SPF your skin requires, you must know how long it takes your skin to burn when unprotected and exposed to sunlight. As a rule of thumb, anyone whose skin burns, whether or not it turns into a tan, should use an SPF of 15. Check with your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking antibiotics, antidepressants or antidiuretics. Some of these medications increase your skin’s sensitivity to sunlight and may decrease the time it takes your skin to burn.
Exercise and Asthma
Jul. 16, 2010
Asthma is an increasingly common lung disease in the U.S. People who have asthma have inflamed and highly irritable airways. When the airways are exposed to irritants, they narrow, making breathing more difficult. Signs of asthma include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and difficulty breathing, especially at night and early in the morning. Common irritants include tobacco smoke, air pollution, viral infection and allergens like dust mites and cat dander. Vigorous exercise also can act like an irritant by triggering airway spasm and narrowing. This is referred to as exercise-induced asthma.
The ABCs of Exercise-induced Asthma
About five to 10 minutes into a strenuous soccer game you start to cough and feel short of breath. You tell yourself that you’re out of shape and recommit to your resolution to participate in vigorous cardiovascular exercise at least three days per week. But then, the next time and the time after that the same feelings of difficulty breathing set in. You finally go visit your doctor, who tells you that you have asthma. But this only happens with exercise, you say.
Diet Myths Debunked
Jul. 15, 2010
In a society that is becoming increasingly health conscious, more and more information is constantly coming out on how to lose weight, how to get fit, how to eat, sleep, breathe—everything under the sun that will help you get healthy! It’s a wonder that before this information was available people were able to survive—let alone live healthy lives!
The fact is, people did survive, and were—and are—still healthy without all the weird, scientifically suspect practices that people get tricked into. Nutrition is one of those fields that is inundated with quacks who will try to sell you the latest secret to weight loss. A basic myth-spotting motto: If it sounds too good to be true—it is.
Don’t Be Tricked
Here are some common diet myths that people futily follow in hopes of losing a few pounds.
Eating late at night will cause you to gain weight Eating late at night, or at any particular time of day, will not cause you to put on more weight than what is normal for what you ate and the activity you did. Weight gain occurs when you consume more calories than you expend, whether that occurs in the middle of the day, the morning or at night. However, in reality, people who eat a lot of food late at night tend to consume more calorie-dense foods and thus eat more calories—which can cause weight gain.
Kids and Hope: A Giving Opportunity
Jul. 14, 2010
Here is Your Opportunity to Help Make a Difference TODAY!
embarks on a 300 Miles in 30 days Journey to raise vital funds for homeless children in our area.
Sean Guiney, founder, KIDS AND HOPE FOUNDATION at www.kidsandhope.org. A community volunteer for more than 20 years, Sean Guiney is fulfilling his mission to raise funds and awareness for local homeless children and their families. To date, Sean has supplied individuals in need with food, clothing, school supplies and proper shelter, while educating the community about the growing homelessness in America. Kids and Hope has contributed to kids and parents in Lakewood, NJ; Freehold, NJ; Toms River, NJ; and Norristown, PA; amongst others.
Strength Training for Kids: A Guide for Parents and Teachers
Jul. 14, 2010
Many parents and physical education teachers have traditionally shied away from strength training with their children or students. However, there is sufficient research to suggest that strength training is a suitable—and safe—option for most youth.
There are a number of common myths about youth strength training that continue to cause concern among parents and educators. Two of the most common misconceptions are that strength training may stunt the growth of children and that children should not lift weights until they are 12 years old. There is simply no evidence to support either of these statements. In fact, all of the major fitness and medical organizations in the U.S. recommend strength training for youth, assuming that basic guidelines are adhered to and that appropriate leadership is present. And about the question of age, children can begin to train with weights as soon as they are able to accept and follow directions—usually around the age of seven or eight.
How Women Build Muscle
Jul. 13, 2010
There are more myths and misconceptions about strength training than any other area of fitness. While research continues to uncover more and more reasons why working out with weights is good for you, many women continue to avoid resistance training for fear of developing muscles of Herculean proportions.
Other women have tried it and been less than thrilled with the results. “Don’t worry,” people say. “Women can’t build muscle like men. They don’t have enough testosterone.” This is, in fact, only partly true.
Many women, believing they wouldn’t build muscle, hit the gym with a vengeance and then wondered why, after several weeks of resistance training, their clothes didn’t fit and they had gained muscle weight.
The truth is, not everyone responds to training in quite the same way. While testosterone plays an important role in muscle development, the answer to why some men and women increase in muscle size and others don’t lies within our DNA.
We are predisposed to respond to exercise in a particular way, in large part because of our genetics. Our genetic makeup determines what types of muscle fibers we have and where they are distributed. It determines our ratio of testosterone to estrogen and where we store body fat. And it also determines our body type.
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