NIFS Healthy Living Blog

What’s your motivation for working out? Eat healthy? What’s your motivation to get enough sleep or practice de-stressing with yoga or foam rolling? What’s your motive to get your friends and family to go on a walk or to the gym with you?

What’s YOUR Motivation?

In a matter of minutes you can change your mindset. In a matter of minutes, you can be inspired to want to live a healthy lifestyle and to prevent disease and illness. But it involves commitment and no excuses.

“I have cancer.” Those are the three tragic words that no one wants to hear. But I’ve heard my mom tell me this three times. These words changed my mind in three seconds. They are the three words that motivate me to motivate you.

Did You Know?

Some statistics about illness in America:

• Approximately 38.4% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes (based on 2013–2015 data from https://www.cancer.gov).
• Did you know that about 1.5 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes each year?
• Did you know that about 735,000 Americans die from a heart attack each year?
• Did you know that about 32.3% of males and 35.5% of female adults are obese in America?

These statistics are not meant to scare you; they are meant to bring awareness. And these are the conclusions of just a few of the studies relating to health issues in the US.

Did you know... you have the power, through your choices, to not become one of these statistics?

Where to Begin

Mapping out goals to create healthier habits for different areas of your life can be a great first step in preventing deadly diseases. So what are some things that doctors recommend you do on a daily and weekly basis to help prevent becoming one of these statistics?

1. Movement is Medicine: A study showed that Americans are sitting an average of 13 hours a day and sleeping an average of 8, which means they are sedentary 21 out of the 24 hours of the day. This is a leading factor for disease in America. Get up and incorporate movement into your day to get your heart beating and blood flowing. Incorporating movement for blood flow helps carry oxygen and nutrients to cells and organs for nourishment. If cells are not activated, it can lead to their mutations, which leads to cancer or other diseases.
2. Proper fuel: The average American eats way too much added sugar and processed foods because they are convenient. But as important as nourishment is to the cells, you want to nourish them properly with fuel. What we put into our bodies effects what nourishment and vitamins our bodies receive. Eating fruits, vegetables, healthy carbs, and lean meats gives you key nutrients to fuel properly. Eating in a caloric range that is appropriate for the body and practicing portion control is just as important. One way to figure out what your body needs is to get a BodPod or RMR assessment test to find the range best for your body’s needs. In addition to food, our bodies need water to flush out toxins constantly and properly hydrate the control systems. Drink lots of water every day.
3. Relaxation: Stress is arguably one of the leading causes of disease. When someone is stressed, it often leads to the other healthy habits going out the window. Learning to clear the mind and de-stress can be so beneficial in the long run. There are many ways to do this, but a few cheap methods that you can incorporate daily are meditation, yoga/stretching, and foam rolling. Releasing built-up toxins in the body can aid in natural detoxification and preventing cell and organ mutations.

There are many other methods of prevention to incorporate into your lifestyle, but these are the three key factors. Make it a goal to start incorporating these and then slowly add more disease and cancer-prevention modalities. 

This blog was written by Brittany Ignas, BS in Kinesiology, 200 Hour Yoga Alliance Certified, Stott Pilates Certified, and Fitness Coordinator. To find out more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

Where did this year go? Whether it was the best year of your life, or you’re looking forward to a fresh start in the new year, you may likely have some health and fitness goals at the top of your list of resolutions. How do you make sure they aren’t just a pipe dream? Let’s find out!

Set (the Right Type of) Goals

Goals should be an obvious part of any resolution, but setting the right types of goals isn’t always so clear. To ensure that your goals are fulfilled, they need to be SMART:

• Specific: You must have a specific attribute for improvement in mind.
• Measurable: There must be some way to measure your progress.
• Achievable: Setting realistic goals is crucial to motivate short-term success.
• Relevant: Goals need to be relevant to what you want, not what you think other people want.
• Time-sensitive: You must have a timeline for your goals in order to measure success.

There are many alternatives to this acronym, but following these simple guidelines will force you to consider goals that are actually meaningful to you. Your aspirations should be just that—yours. Otherwise, the motivation to succeed becomes increasingly external, which leads to only skin-deep rewards. Successfully achieved internally motivated goals are much more rewarding in the long run.

Get a Starting Point

A huge mistake that is easy to make when goal-setting is not knowing where you’re starting. Without an accurate baseline value, you have no reference point for comparison to where you end. Don’t wait until you “get in shape” to test yourself. As painful as it can be, testing yourself at your “worst” will only make your accomplishments that much more rewarding.

We offer access to a wide variety of assessments to our members here at NIFS, and we take pride in providing feedback on your progress throughout your fitness journey. Whether you’re looking to track your body composition (body fat percentage), cardiorespiratory fitness level, movement quality, or even just your measurements, we encourage all of our members to take advantage of the complimentary assessments that we offer. After all, you can’t get where you’re going if you don’t know where you’re starting.

Retest!

After you’ve set your bulletproof SMART goals and established exactly where your starting point is, it’s time to get to work. Once you’ve reached your pre-established timeline for your goals, however, it’s time to retest! Just the same as establishing a baseline, it is absolutely vital to retest your initial measurements. Ideally your testing will be completed under similar conditions as your baseline tests, preferably at a similar time of the day with a similar state of digestion.

What is most important, though, is simply that you retest the same attributes you tested initially. There is nothing wrong with testing something new, but make sure that you’re at least measuring a value that has already been measured. Otherwise, you’ll have no feedback as to whether you were successful in achieving your goals. There truly is no more rewarding feeling than seeing black-and-white proof that you have improved from where you started. It just might be the motivation you need to stick to it in the long run.

As I said earlier, we take pride in assisting you in the goal-setting process from start to finish. You shouldn’t have to take on any goal, but especially a health-minded one, all on your own. Let us be part of your guidance toward being the best you possible in the New Year—and beyond!

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The BOD POD^® is the gold standard in body composition tracking and NIFS has it. This device accurately measures the percentage of body fat and lean body mass, enabling you to track your body composition more effectively over time.

This blog was written by David Schoch, CSCS, FMS, and Healthy Lifestyle Coordinator. To find out more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

You either love them or you hate them… group workouts! In a world where technology is seemingly taking over the human connection and interaction, working out with a group can offer the opportunity to meet real friends instead of virtual ones online.

Whether you join a small group or just get a group of your friends to work out together, here are a few reasons why more is merrier for working toward your fitness goals.

Motivation

Group workouts give you motivation that you might not get by doing a solo workout. Unless you’re that rare person who can jump out of bed at the sound of an alarm and hit the ground running, odds are motivation will go away as quick as you pressing the snooze button. We all battle the everyday ups and downs of life, but once you get together with your group, the energy levels go up and worries go out the door. You will find that you are motivated by the people around you and that’ll make the workout much more fun and enjoyable.

Accountability

Remember when you were a high schooler and your parents would wake you up in the mornings? How nice of them to hold us accountable. A workout group can do the same thing for your health and fitness goals. There’s something about knowing you won’t be the only one getting your butt kicked that day. Not only will you have your group members to help hold you accountable, you will have a coach who is checking in on you. The effectiveness of a team member can influence the whole team. Therefore, don’t let your coach and classmates down by not showing up.

Support System

One day a month, all the members of the Ramp Up to Weight Loss program come together for a group workout followed by a post-workout snack. Not only do they get a chance to meet one another, work out, breathe hard, and sweat; but they also get a chance to see that they aren’t in this alone. They see that they have the support of all the other members who might be in a situation similar to theirs. Having a support system can give you a new sense of hope and encouragement because you know you aren’t in this alone.

Fun

Some people like working out by themselves while others need a group around them. Being part of a group workout can really make exercising fun and enjoyable. You’ll benefit from the energy and hard work you can feel being created by you and the people in your group. The motivation you receive and the people you surround yourself with will make exercise fun, not a chore you feel you have to do.

Mental Health

Group workouts offer you the advantage of getting to meet people who have similar interests to yours. You will feel part of something by being surrounded by likeminded people. You might be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and make new friends; group workouts give you that opportunity to stay within your comfort zone while making new friends.

Although group workouts might not be for everybody, you should try it at least once. You might find that a group atmosphere is exactly what you need to push you past your health and fitness goals. There are so many ways here at NIFS to get involved with a community of supporters: Small Group Training, Group Fitness classes, the Ramp Up to Weight Loss Program, and many of the other programs we provide throughout the year.

“When we try to exercise alone, we can feel isolated and uninspired; together we can achieve our fitness goals.”

This blog was written by Ashley Duncan, Weight Loss Coordinator. To find out more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

“You've got this!” "Keep it up!” “So strong!”

Ever come to your fitness class and hear those positive, motivating words? How do you feel in that moment? 

Motivation and positivity have been proven to help lead healthier, happier lives. We often come into a gym and feel strong, motivated, and positive in that moment; but are you taking what you learn into your daily life? Here are some tips and examples of leading a happier life not just during your gym time, but out of the gym!

Be mindful about positive thoughts.

When you hear words that make you smile and feel happy, are you listening to them, or are you letting them come in one ear and go out the other? When we mindfully hold onto positive thoughts and let go of the negative, we lead a more positive life. Can you replace three hurtful or negative thoughts with three new, positive thoughts? Try it! It's like spring cleaning for your brain!

Surround yourself with positive people.

It has been studied and seen that you are who you hang out with. During your daily life, are you surrounded by negative or stressful people? Can you engage in more activities with people who make you feel amazing and happy? Maybe that's replacing an hour of sitting on the couch watching negative news stations or judgmental reality television shows with a yoga class that encourages you to breathe and relax. List people, places, or things that often make you feel down or negative, and make a list of people and activities to engage in that make you feel good and positive. Simply replace the negative activity with the positive one. Most importantly, be honest and fearless.

Are you being negative?

Just as you'd want to be around positive people, don't you think others want to as well? If you are always talking about being stressed or tired, evaluate what in your personal life is making you stressed and tired. What do you need to do to turn into a positive, full-of-energy person? Finding balance in life is a challenge, but it’s possible if you dedicate time to making little changes. Set your mind on your goals and follow through.

Just do it.

What's holding you back? Studies show that changing habits can be challenging, but is not impossible. It takes a little work. Try to adopt a new positive habit each week. Your options are endless. Maybe that's giving your coworkers a high-five, writing down an inspirational motivational quote every morning as a reminder of your goal, starting your day in a workout class that promotes positivity, volunteering and helping others, or so much more. DO YOU—just do it! Letting go of others’ judgments and figuring out what makes you feel best and happiest and doing those things will lead to a happier life.

This blog was written by Brittany Ignas, BS in Kinesiology, 200 Hour Yoga Alliance Certified, Stott Pilates Certified, and Fitness Coordinator. To find out more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

Can you really win by cheating? Well, the obvious answer is no. Morally, we know that cheaters aren’t supposed to win. If that is the case, why do we cheat ourselves through self-destructive behavior, known as cheat days, throughout the week?

After a long, hard week of work, with the addition of a strict training protocol and nutrition plan, sometimes we feel we need to take a day off, or even just a meal where there are no rules or responsibilities holding us down. These are called “cheat days” or “cheat meals.” They can be as simple as staying up late and having drinks with friends, or going to an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet on a Sunday afternoon. Are cheat days bad for you, or are they a good way to bridge the gap between unrealistic ideals and natural human behavior? This blog will look more closely at this question.

Indulging Often Defeats the Purpose

This day, for starters, is meant to be a built-in rewards program and motivation for those who have done well throughout the week (or weeks) leading up to the act of cheating. There are a few rules, though. Cheating multiple times per week (or everyday, for that matter) is no longer cheating; it is considered your normal routine. This probably means there are other issues that you might need to resolve.

For the cheat day to work, an established routine of exercise and nutrition has to be in place already. Several days of flawless nutrition coupled with workout plans help you earn that day, experience, or meal you want. This can be done at a maximum of once per week. We tend to devalue the indulgence after a few weeks, and it becomes less of an all-out binge and more of a planned day or meal (we want to feel good after a meal and not like garbage). In this case, the plan works and makes perfect sense.

Why We Need to Take a Break Sometimes

There’re only so many broccoli florets you can eat before you go mad, and only so many burpees you can do before your body gives out completely. Spicing up your life with cheat days eventually has restorative properties that help both mentally and physically. From socializing with friends to taking time to relax to giving yourself a pat on the back, it can help each of us differently and at the same time bring us all together by humanizing wellness and fitness.

Remember, though: you can’t cheat everyday or every other day. Consistency is your ticket to a splurge. Further, it doesn’t have to be about food. You can always reward yourself by going on vacations, buying yourself an outfit, or going to the spa.

Get Goal-Setting Help

NIFS can help. NIFS staffers are here to help you set realistic, measurable goals. Set up a time to meet and talk about goals, testing (before and after), and personal training.

This blog was written by Thomas Livengood, Health Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer. To read more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

Greetings! With spring right around the corner, it would seem appropriate to check in on some of your personal goals or resolutions you might have made over the last few months. How are you doing? I would imagine some are doing better than others, but you still have time to make significant change from here on out.

What keeps us from continuing our programs or “falling off the wagon?” Do the results not come fast enough? Do you not have the drive to finish the tough workout after a long day? Do you feel like you are all alone at the gym? If you are second-guessing yourself after those questions, you might need a reboot at the gym, a refocus on yourself. But also think about how group training can benefit your wellness both physically and mentally.

Small Group Training: All the Benefits of a Personal Trainer at a Lower Price

Work Out with Your Friends!

When you participate, you immediately will notice that there are others just like you (same goals, struggles, likes, and dislikes). Completing workouts becomes more doable with the backing of others. You get to know these people and they become your second family and support system at the gym. After a long, hard day at work, going to the gym might not seem appealing until you remember that all your friends are there!

Customized Workouts That Make Use of the Whole Gym

Finally, your group trainer will have the workouts ready for you when you get to the gym. Forget about coming to the gym and doing the elliptical for 30 minutes and calling it a day. Your workouts will enable you to experience your fitness center fully, so that you get the most out of your time, effort, and money. Expanding your own personal exercise library can have its benefits, too, especially when you are on your own and want to get creative with your routine.

Ultimately, we want you to succeed with your fitness goals. Being able to utilize group training is an asset at your doorstep; all you have to do is open the door! NIFS Small Group Training can be purchased at the NIFS Service Desk. Before you take that step, contact the NIFS Track Desk to set up a strategy session and fitness testing (both complementary with your membership) to ensure that your goals and health are in line with group training. Now is your time! Take control of your fitness and see the change.

In part 2 of this blog, you’ll see how NIFS training can help you with the huge goal of doing a triathlon.

This blog was written by Thomas Livengood, Health Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer. To read more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

When it comes to working out, the first weeks are usually great. You are excited to get to the gym, and you love the feeling of exercising. Once the “honeymoon” stage of your new workout routine is over, it gets more challenging to get to the gym: your bed is just too comfy in the morning, or you have extra work at the office that prevents you from going in the evening.

Reasons to Find Someone to Exercise With

It’s easy to cancel your gym session with yourself. That’s why it’s important to find a workout buddy. Here are five reasons why everyone needs to go find a workout buddy.

1. Accountability: When someone is counting on you to meet them at the gym, it’s a lot harder to skip. Having the accountability of a buddy always keeps you going. On days when it’s hard to get out of bed early in the morning, you don’t want to skip because you know your partner is waiting on you.
2. Fun: If you aren’t someone who loves exercise, maybe a workout buddy is just what you need to keep you coming into the gym. Having someone with you who can make you laugh will make exercise more enjoyable. Going through an intense workout alone is never as fun as having someone right next to you working hard and making you laugh.
3. Variety: When you have to come up with your own exercises all the time, they can start to get a little repetitive. If you and your buddy take turns picking the workout, it will change things up. You both might enjoy different types of exercise, so the variety will keep each workout from getting boring.
4. Motivation: When you exercise alone, there is no one beside you cheering you on between sets. It’s encouraging to have someone with you saying “You can do it” in the middle of your set; sometimes that’s just what you need to hear to finish out strong.
5. Competition: If you are someone who thrives on a little healthy competition, you definitely need a workout buddy. You will always be competing with your workout buddy. If they move up in weight, you don’t want them to drop the weight back down for you, so you push yourself to go up. If you are running, you push yourself to go longer so that you don’t make your buddy stop.

How to Find a Fitness Friend

Having someone to work out with makes a big difference in the quality and frequency of your exercise. Ask a friend to join you, check out these apps, sign up for group fitness training, or try these other ways of finding a gym partner.

This blog was written by Kaci Lierman, Health Fitness Instructor. To read more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

For many adults, memories of physical education class are usually one of two greatly different experiences. For me, physical education was the highlight of my day and was never a burden or stressor in my life. For others, gym class was a constant struggle invoking fear and hatred for exercise, and making us despise anything that could make us sweaty.

As we age and move into adulthood and later life, people sometimes wish for the vigor of being a young person, but the memories of a poor PE experience can stay with us and influence our decisions when it comes to everything from taking the stairs to getting a membership at a health club. This blog will help you see whether you have some underlying issues that you dealt with that have impacted your attitude negatively, and how children today are hopefully learning from our experiences.

PE Trauma #1: Associating Exercise with Punishment

Bottom line: exercise is work, and normally work is not fun (don’t kid yourself; there has to be at least one other place on earth that you’d rather be than work). For a physical educator, creating an atmosphere that gets maximum effort and positive attitude from all students can be difficult. A good teacher will make sure all students are safe and working toward their potential. Problems arise when a teacher creates a negative vibe for their students. An example of this is the classic using exercise for punishment routine. For example: Tony did not turn in this assignment; therefore, Tony is assigned 100 push-ups, or a mile run, or whatever punishment would help Tony remember his assignment. Tony would remember, alright. He was never late to turn in his assignment, but he would forever link exercise to punishment in his mind.

Fast-forward twenty years. Tony now hasn’t exercised seriously since high school because of his thought that exercise is punishment. Tony is in trouble. To reiterate, exercise is work and can’t be used as punishment, or else it will be impossible to find the motivation to exercise voluntarily.

PE Trauma #2: Teaching Exclusion Instead of Fun Lifetime Sports

Some activities in gym class challenged our mettle. There were winners and losers. Some people lost more than others (which you can argue is good or bad). The problem arises when games incorporate exclusion, such as dodgeball, which forced you out of the game, banished to the bench or sidelines to work on your sitting skills. This is definitely not productive or fun. Further, while many skills learned in PE could be used in day-to-day life, it would have been nice to have focused on games, sports, and skills that could be done for the rest of your life. Let’s face it: not many people play the games or use the skills they learned in physical education class.

When we apply our current knowledge and experience to this topic, it becomes apparent that there should be some change to the system. For schools that are fortunate enough to have physical education, providing students with exercises that promote lifetime activities and exercises that they can enjoy and get maximum benefit is ideal. We may not expect everyone to love every activity, but there has to be something that gives the students a spark to continue to move and to move often. Exercise is work, but it can’t feel like going to work (especially for an 8-year-old)—or even worse, going to the principal’s office.

Overcoming Traumatic PE Experiences

Finding the courage to overcome the fears associated with a traumatic physical education experience can be difficult. The first steps are the hardest. Realize that others with similar experiences are going through the same anguish as you are. Having a good support network of family, friends, and trusting fitness professionals is a great start. Understanding that there are obstacles and limits for everyone will help you as you tear down walls that are keeping you from reaching your fitness goals.

As a start on your path, write down some of your goals for your health and wellness. Also, answer the question, “Why are these goals important to me?” There is no wrong answer, and you can be as confidential or as open as you like about your goals. From your goals and assessments, your trainer can better program workouts tailored to you.

NIFS Can Help!

For more information regarding strategy sessions and assessments, contact a NIFS fitness professional. We are here to help you and make exercise FUN again (even if it is for the first time!).

This blog was written by Thomas Livengood, Health Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer. To read more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

It’s that time of year when millions of people around the world start looking for that next “best” thing to give them the body they have always dreamed of. Aggressive physical challenges, cleanses, elaborate diets that usually involve the removal of a food source (and result in you craving it even more); people will take some drastic steps to help erase the past year of poor nutrition and lifestyle decisions.

Unfortunately, the successes of these different “new year, new you” initiatives are short-lived, and many people will be looking again for another fix a year from now. Why is this so? I can list many reasons why weight-loss challenges don’t work and do not provide long-term, sustainable results. In a previous post I explained why mindset is crucial to fitness success, so it truly starts there. But what are some other reasons why New Year challenges don’t deliver? Most are…

• Too much
• Too fast
• Too easy to quit

Many contests or challenges demand that you take too much out of your diet or exercise way too much. They also usually want to see these changes made and results achieved too fast. Lastly, many fail to provide ample accountability, encouragement, and motivation, making it too easy to quit. So does this mean that all contests, challenges, or programs are doomed to fail? Not if they are done right!

Slim It to Win It is one of NIFS’ longest-running programs, and has been helping so many people for just shy of a decade. We here at NIFS are super proud of the life-changing results that SITWI has been able to provide hundreds of individuals here in the Indianapolis area. So how do we do it?

Not Too Much

NIFS coaches focus on small behavioral changes piled onto one another during an 8–10-week period. We don’t want anyone changing too much too fast; that is proven to be an unsuccessful practice. Focusing on one or maybe two changes at a time is a proven method that we teach our teams. Slow and steady wins the race, and we want to provide our people with the tools to continue building a healthy lifestyle long after they have completed the program.

Too much exercise, especially from the get-go (and with those who might have been less than active leading up to the program), is another mistake our coaches do not make. With two training sessions a week to start, with supplemental workouts provided, our teams get the right dose of exercise at the right time.

Not Too Fast

Once again we focus on sustainable changes and results over the course of eight weeks and beyond. The journey is not over on March 11; it’s really just beginning. NIFS coaches work toward the individual’s specific goals over many weeks—not pushing to see drastic changes in a very short amount of time. It’s just not safe, and it just doesn’t last!

When the focus is more on speed, retention of critical lifestyle practices and education will suffer, leading to the “cramming effect.” Do you remember cramming for that chemistry exam in high school? If you are anything like me and most people, you probably didn’t retain a great deal of that information. We want our team members to keep the life-changing information so they can continue to use these best practices to maintain their success.

Not Too Easy to Quit

Positive accountability truly is a key ingredient in a successful lifestyle-change process. A strong support group will provide the needed accountability and motivation to keep at it, even when you want to hang it up and return to old behaviors that got you in the situation you are in. During SITWI, you have a whole team cheering you on and providing support, because everybody is going through a similar battle.

A group of motivated, like-minded individuals can be unstoppable in the pursuit of its goals. Not only will you be relying on your team to pick you up at times, they are going to need you right back. And speaking from experience, there is no better feeling than when you make a difference in someone’s life, or help them see their true capabilities. You can be that to someone!

The idea of a New Year, starting over, or making some improvements can be very exciting. This excitement can lead to creating real change or a repeat of the past, keeping you in the cycle of thinking it will be better next year. Remember, mindset matters most, but a strong call to make changes followed by taking action to create that change are the next best steps. Let Slim It to Win It help you take action.

This blog was written by Tony Maloney, ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist and Fitness Center Manager. To find out more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

For years, people have been setting goals and logging their workouts to help them stay on track with their health and fitness aspirations. Back in the good old days, people would bring their workout notebook and pen to the gym and write down the exercises they completed, the weather, the lift of the day, tracking personal bests, etc. Tracking workouts has never been easier with the growth in technology and wearables in the fitness industry.

6 Advantages of Using a Fitness App

While some may still enjoy the old-school notebook method, allow me to share the benefits of using an app, like the NIFS app, to help you do the very same thing.

• Automatic synching: Wearables directly sync with apps, so you don’t have to do anything manually. Whatever the app may be, you can usually sync your Fitbit, Garmin, or other wearable device directly to it. Then when you are in range, your workouts will automatically upload into your phone and onto the app. This makes for very simple tracking of your workouts—in fact, it’s effortless!
• Personal accountability: No matter how committed you are to your fitness, everyone needs some personal accountability to themselves and their plan/goals. Having an app allows you to set goals and keep yourself on track to meet them in a realistic amount of time.
• Progress: It’s no secret that as you keep yourself on track and set smaller achievable goals, you will see progress. Utilizing an app will allow you to tangibly see those progress gains as you log your new personal best.
• Motivation: There’s nothing more motivating for the exercise logger than to write down your new heaviest lift, fastest mile, highest caloric burn, or longest workout. Logging workouts in an app and being able to look back on how far you have come and what goals you have met will keep you motivated and on track.
• Free: We cannot forget to mention that there is no cost for an app like ours at NIFS! No purchasing an app, notebooks, or losing a box of pens a week at the gym! Simply download the app and you are ready to roll!
• Easy: With a feature like X-capture, all you have to do is snap a photo of the console of the machine you are on or the workout you just completed on paper, and within 24 hours it will be logged into your workouts. And if you forgot to add in your workout when you were at the gym, you can always go back and add it after.

Try the NIFS App

Maybe you have found your favorite app to log your workouts, whatever that may be; using a phone makes it so much easier than logging it into a notebook. If you haven’t taken time, download the NIFS app and enjoy many benefits aside from the ones that are listed above. Some of those include: using your phone to scan in at the desk, monthly challenges with great prizes, setting goals, logging workouts, utilizing deals and finding out extra things that may be going on at NIFS, and receive push notifications for important updates!

Download the NIFS app now at the app store or Google Play!

This blog was written by Amanda Bireline, Fitness Center Manager. To find out more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.