The best valentine's gift you can give someone trying to become healthier

Valentines is about letting the special people in your life know that you care about them.

It’s a day for chocolates, flowers, cards, and appreciation.

Chocolates get eaten and flowers will wilt away... but there is something that you can give your sweetheart to show them how much you care and support them that is surprisingly easier than you think and doesn’t cost a cent. 

That thing…

is your support. 

We polled a number of our members attempting to adopt healthier exercise and nutrition habits and be their best selves.

The number one thing they wished for? 

Support from their other half. 

“To have support and encouragement and be told I’m doing a good job” 

“I wish my husband participated with me so we could get in shape together” 

“I wish they wouldn’t open chips around me when they know I am trying not to eat them lol” 

“I wish they would notice the hard work I put in and the changes I’ve made”

Fortunately, it’s not complicated.

To some, support is being there with words of encouragement and cheering them on in their journey.

Let your significant other know that you notice the effort that they are putting in, compliment them on their discipline and dedication, encourage them to get up and hit the gym instead of hitting snooze, notice the changes they’ve made and generally support them using kind and encouraging words (even if words ‘aren’t your thing’…. do your best and remember that it’s not about you - it’s about supporting your partner and they might just be dying for some support and affirmation).

To others, support is most appreciated by small acts of service or helping them to make healthier habits and choices.

Offer to watch the kids, cook a meal, or do other tasks and that help your sweetheart have time to focus on their health or hit the gym. This might also mean offering to pick up groceries, having a coffee or healthy smoothie ready for them when they walk in the door from the gym, or any other task you can think of that lets them know that you support them and want them to be successful with their goals.

For many, quality time and making healthier choices together would trump flowers, cards, and chocolates any day.

Going through a transition to adopting a healthy lifestyle is challenging as it is and even more challenging when you are going it alone or have a partner who isn’t willing to encourage you or get on board themselves. Many of our members at Encompass exercise as couples; strengthening their bodies, improving their health, sharing time together, and most importantly encouraging, supporting, and holding each other accountable. Plus, studies have proven that couples who exercise together have better results - and, it’s no surprise that it’s easier to eat healthier when you’re both on the same page. 

Joining your partner on their journey by choosing healthier food choices, or joining them at the gym isn’t just meaningful to them - it’s beneficial for you! Put your excuses and fears aside and support your partner as you help them change their life and improve yours.

For those that really love receiving gifts, they may be most excited by receiving a gift that shows them that you care and support them.

Purchase them a gift card for a gym membership, a massage to relax and relieve sore muscles, or new exercise gear or wearable technology like a whoop, fitbit, or wireless headphones to get them even more motivated to continue their health journey and validate your support of it as well. Plus, they will think of you each time they use their gift!

If you are familiar with love languages and know your partner's Love Language use the above suggestions to show your partner how much you care about them. If you aren’t familiar with Love Languages (a life changer in relationships) take the free quiz here to better understand how your partner best receives love and feels valued.

Though they won’t often ask for it, your support of their healthier lifestyle is greatly appreciated and goes a long way. It can be hard travelling a road alone - it’s much easier when you have someone with you for the journey, or at least know you have someone cheering for you. 

Not sure where to begin to support your partner?

Ask! 

The simple phrase and question

“Hey good looking, you’ve been working really hard. How can I better support you with your health and fitness?”

will speak volumes and get you much further than cards, chocolates, or flowers. 

Even better - follow up with it. Continue to support them. Offer to join them at the gym or “try” out a partner workout - you might be surprised at how strong they are, how great they look when they are sweating, and how much you enjoy it too! For bonus points, don’t complain when they try a new healthy recipe or ask them to cook multiple meals (becoming healthier is hard enough as it is for them - cook your own damn unhealthy meals), don’t eat the chips and ice cream right in front of them, and stop encouraging them to go out for wings or stay home and sit on the couch when they are debating on whether or not they should go to the gym.

A healthy wife (or husband) is one of the greatest gifts you can have - let them know it!

Stretching: When and How Should You Stretch?

Have you ever wondered, why, how, and when you should stretch? Alex Galeth, Instructor at Encompass Fitness gives you all the info you need to know. 

Before we start talking about stretching we must understand the meaning of flexibility in the body and how it works.

Each individual is born with a certain amount of flexibility. This ‘flexibility’, or lack of it can be conditioned with movement in the joints, tendons, ligaments and muscles. Surprisingly however, the amount of flexibility that we are born with is our natural ability, and we shouldn’t always necessarily work to change our flexibility unless it is causing joint pain, or restrictions to strength or movement.

To better understand our anatomy; ligaments connect bone to bone in a joint and give stability to the skeleton. Flexibility is not always as simple as reaching for the toes, and trying to reach further.

There should be a close relationship between the muscles and tendons to the muscle fibres. To stretch without breaking, we have a  control system of tension within the tendons which measures changes of tension in every moment, and helps to prevent injury (which is why you may not be able to reach your toes). 

When exercising, the muscles are warmed up which allows the muscle fibres to stretch a little more. For this reason, warmup plays a very important role. We can participate in two different types of stretching; active stretching; which promotes heating, such as before exercises, and static stretching; which we do to improve flexibility, often following exercise, or on it’s own.

Practical Application

Many competitive athletes spend most of their time training to improve strength and endurance, but very few pay attention to flexibility. Due to the passiveness of stretching, it is often overlooked. However, if we understand that the fibres are longer and better contract when they are flexible, perhaps athletes, and we ourselves would invest more time in stretching to further improve athletic performance.

Does Stretching Actually Help Reduce Injury?

Scientifically, there is controversy amongst researchers and doctors regarding stretching as a tool to reduce injuries, and unfortunately there is insufficient information to support this claim.

In a study presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Traumatology in 2011 MD. Daniel Pereles presented his findings after evaluating 2,729 recreational and elite runners, all which ran at least 10 miles per week. Participants were randomly divided into two groups: one group participated in stretching and the other group did not.

Runners in the stretching group were instructed to perform a leg routine for 3-5 minutes before starting to run. To the surprise of many, the study revealed, the simple act of stretching did not affect the injury rate. Pereles defined injury as any complication preventing running for at least a week.  The main factors that may promote an injury include previous chronic injury, the burden of continuous mileage, and the weight of the runner.

This leads us to ask, if there is no direct relationship between stretching and reducing the risk of injury, why stretch?

It is a common question amongst athletes but the major benefit has to do with the skill that develops; an increase in range of motion around a joint, which further improves performance.

For example: many athletes have limited flexibility or tight hamstrings which prevents the athlete from improving their stride.  Our muscles work in pairs to produce a movement; some are stretched while others contract, and if one has a limited ability to stretch it will reduce the range of motion. If we continue training with restricted movement for a period of time an imbalance is created as the strongest muscles is required to do more than the opposing muscle, and ends up injuring itself unless we do something to correct this imbalance of force and motion.

It is the responsibility of the coaches and trainers to make their athletes understand the difference between stretching and warm-up. Preheating the muscles prior to exercise has physiological benefits by increasing the heart rate, body temperature, blood flow and lubrication in the joints. Dynamic stretches and joint mobility are recommended as a warm up. Static stretching, or prolonged stretches, help to increase flexibility and provide other benefits, but have no direct relationship with reducing the risk of injury.

Increased flexibility has its benefits, depending on the sport and physical activity demands. The desired outcome or goal of stretching plays an imperative role in chosing the type of stretching to be completed. Choosing the correct method of stretching is important as we alter the tension produced in the muscles and tendons. If the appropriate stretches are not completed we could end up with injury; the opposite of our intended desire.

While we can also use stretching techniques to promote relaxation, muscle elongation, and improved flexibility, such as yoga and pilates, we should be conscious about the timing of such practices.

Stretching to improve flexibility must be done following sports, or after a proper warm stimulating the central nervous system, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints to achieve the proper muscle elongation and support the goal of the stretches.

[Alex Galeth, Trainer and Stretch Instructor]

Note: For this reason, at Encompass Fitness, we begin each session with a dynamic warm-up to stimulate blood flow, and prepare the body for movement, and follow each session with static stretching to promote recovery, and muscle elongation. We also offer yoga, and stretch classes at the end of the day to encourage efficient timing and promote proper participation in a healthy stretch program. [Brady Johnson, Founder, Encompass Fitness]