The Chicago Journal

Four Benefits to Cycling

Claire Peterson Claire Peterson on July 25, 2022

Over time, the road has seen more people trade their cars for bicycles, and while the environment can appreciate the switch, the body has also gained a couple of benefits. Cycling has become a bigger trend in recent years, and it comes as no surprise as exercise provides a lot of healthy benefits. 

While the physical aspect has been the main takeaway for interested bikers, cycling also presents mental health benefits. It can broaden one’s social circle, meeting new people on the road and at stops.

Cycling is beginner-friendly

With most exercises, it takes some time before you get the gist, but with cycling, it’s straightforward. Beginners can start riding at a low intensity and switch to high intensity when they want to feel the air. 

Cycling helps shed weight

While running has been most typically connected to losing weight, cycling can do the same. Riding at a high intensity has been one of the (not so) secret ways to get rid of the weight taking a toll on your confidence. In addition, it can help lower body fat, especially when switching the intensity of the sprint.

Cycling increases brain power

Sitting around the house can open the door to many negative feelings, and exercises are among the remedies to counter them. However, nothing beats the feeling of stepping out into the fresh air. Once on the road, your focus turns to the road and surroundings, leaving little to no room for the depression and anxiety to catch up.

Cycling prevents health concerns

Regular exercise prevents health concerns, and cycling is no exception. Research has suggested that regular cycling can manage and even prevent type 2 diabetes. It also lowers the mortality rates for people who have it by 24%. If cycling becomes a habit for at least five years, the mortality rate can decrease by 35%.

Cycling improves balance

When cycling, you have no choice but to keep the bike upright, leading to balance improvement. As we grow older and become more inactive, we lose some of our balance. Cycling can prevent that problem and often improve it as a result.

While the prospect of cycling is exhilarating, it’s important to remember to stay aware of your surroundings and wear the proper gear. In addition, you have to follow the traffic laws and stay cautious in intersections and busy areas. Commuters will also need to bring a change of clothes, especially if the office is some distance away.

ZURUIKE Uses a Three-Step Program to Promote Fitness and Healthy Living

Claire Peterson Claire Peterson on January 28, 2021

Physical transformational change is only possible with the perfect combination of a positive attitude, the appropriate fitness program, and the right guidance. To ensure that clients get the most out of their physical fitness journey, ZURUIKE developed a three-step program designed to get rid of physical roadblocks that get in the way of every person’s desire to stay fit and healthy. Its proactive, preventive, and alternative health care program effectively guides clients toward a better version of themselves. 

The three-step program, founded by Luis Galvan, is called AVATAR. It combines the many benefits of clinical sports massage, a nutrition plan, and fitness training. Known to improve blood flow, range of motion, and flush out toxins from the body, the clinical sports massage focuses on removing adhesive tissue and hitting trigger points. This step works well together with the right nutritional plan, which involves maintaining a diet that promotes the regeneration of new cells and tissue growth. Finally, the fitness training completes the program by allowing clients to achieve enhanced strength and improve speed, agility, and endurance. 

Among the three steps, the clinical sports massage is the unconventional offering in the industry today, but it has impressive long-term benefits. ZURUIKE uses techniques that include structural realignment, trigger point therapy, fascial stretch, and postural repatterning exercises that are commonly used to decrease pain and discomfort, reduce soreness, increase flexibility, and reduce the risk of injury. Additionally, the method is also known to result in fat loss and promote lean muscle gain. Clients who have experienced the clinical sports massage have experienced increased and newfound energy afterward. 

Clients who opt to avail of the AVATAR program will pay a monthly fee that includes four clinical sports massages, four personal training sessions, a month-long nutrition plan, and a workout regimen good for 30 days. Clients are highly encouraged to avail of the three-month package to optimize the program’s effects on the body. 

“Our goal is to educate and empower people to live their best lives, pain, and discomfort-free while keeping them healthy in the world of COVID-19. We want to put healthcare into peoples’ hands, giving them the motivation to get healthy, to save money on health insurance long-term. If clients were proactive about their health, the disease would drop significantly. Our company provides a fun way of accomplishing this,” explains Galvan, the ZURUIKE owner. 

ZURUIKE is also known to be the first private smart gym. Clients can book a schedule so they can have the gym and its smart equipment all to themselves. They will have access to a Peloton, tempo studio gym, Ergatta Rower, and Nordictrack CST. This unique offer makes the company distinct from its numerous competitors in the industry. 

Confident that the three-step program is doing a lot of good for people, Luis Galvan is looking forward to seeing ZURUIKE grow significantly. In a few years, he sees his company opening five franchises in different key cities and continuing to help people live better lives. His program is most importantly about giving people motivation and finding a new zest for life. By assisting them to achieve these, Galvan cannot be any happier to have made a lasting difference in people’s lives. Learn more about ZURUIKE by visiting its website. Check out its Facebook page for updates.

ShredLikeHarrell Provides Health and Fitness Training with Credibility and Structure

danielruiz danielruiz on September 25, 2020

ShredLikeHarrell is a unique fitness company that combines passion, credibility, and service. The company, built around its founder’s life and example, expresses a powerful message of positive transformation.

For ShredLikeHarrell founder Joshua Antonio Harrell, the present moment is the best time to commit. He designed his 30-day challenge and other fitness programs to be transformative for anyone who signs up. His wealth of experiences within and beyond the fitness world equips him with the versatility to train a wide range of clients. He trains people who want to be shredded, those who are looking to shed some unwanted weight, and those who are working hard to bulk up. Regardless of his clients’ individual fitness goals, Harrell’s approach is the same: to help them reach their maximum potential.

As a military veteran, Joshua brings to ShredLikeHarrell the discipline and structure necessary to coach lifestyle changes. His prior military service also contributed to his service-oriented approach to training. His health and fitness programs are enriching opportunities for individuals to help each other grow and develop. Harrell couples the structure and discipline fostered in ShredLikeHarrell with topnotch communication skills. With this unique set of characteristics, the company provides an all-around athletic experience. 

Joshua Harrell encourages people to get information from credible sources, especially when it pertains to health and well-being. People will benefit from the security that goes with credibility. However, the increasing saturation of trainers, programs, and fitness centers in the industry can mislead people on where to go for quality information. Recognizing his unique position in the fitness world and the contribution he could make, he decided to start his own brand. It is obvious that a significant part of Harrell’s credibility as a trainer is his undeniable passion for fitness. To augment that, Harrell is also in college to further develop his education and increase his knowledge. Presently, he is majoring in sports psychology through kinesiology.

The weight of his credibility as a source for quality information on health and fitness goes beyond his passion and formal education. The ShredLikeHarrell trainer is a member of Team Evogen Elite, a key group of athletes pushing the boundaries of the mind and body. He is also certified by The International Sports Sciences Association.

At the age of 26 years, Harrell has various accolades under his name. He is an IFBB first place trophy holder and an F45 Rowland Heights group fitness instructor. He has also secured a precision nutrition certificate for his company.

In the future, ShredLikeHarrell will continue to help a growing number of people believe and achieve. With Joshua Harrell’s help, they will learn to believe in themselves and their ability to apply quality information from credible sources. The fitness company will also help them achieve their desired fitness results and lead healthier lives.

Joshua Harrell hopes to pay it forward by empowering other trainers. With his knowledge, he pursues a higher vision for fitness training. The health and fitness programs in ShredLikeHarrell help individuals attain freedom: the freedom to feel their best, look their best, and become the best version of themselves.

Learn more by visiting ShredLikeHarrell’s website.

Health Program Happi Health Emphasizes on a Holistic Approach

Jason Robinson Jason Robinson on July 21, 2020

With the global health crisis taking over our everyday lives, people started looking out for their health more than they have been their whole lives. Moreover, many companies and organizations began to release campaigns, programs, and initiatives, all geared toward increasing health awareness and establishing safety measures to combat the virus. An emerging company that stands out from the crowd is Happi Health.

Dr. Staci Whitman founded Happi Health with the vision to promote holistic care to as many families and parents as possible. She is a Board-Certified Pediatric Dentist based in Portland, Oregon, and is a health coach, with a certificate in Health and Lifestyle Coaching from the Institute of Integrative Health. Doctor Staci has always been passionate about empowering people over their well-being through education. Throughout her years of studying and experience, she has come to believe that diet is indeed the key to overall health. 

Dr. Staci shares on  her website how she was able to realize she needed to start something like Happi Health.

“After losing my father to poor lifestyle choices and a decade later suddenly losing my mother to cancer, I became committed to a paradigm shift where I focused on root causes and avoiding disease through lifestyle, mindfulness, and daily choices,” she shares. “I have always gravitated toward alternative and holistic means to address my own personal health concerns and to create a preventative lifestyle.” 

Her journey towards holistic care was inspired by her naturopathic doctor, who encouraged her to change her mindset from a traditionally trained and practicing dentist, where the model is very surgical in nature (often band-aiding underlying issues), to one that takes a whole-body and functional approach to helping patients. For Dr. Staci, by understanding the root causes of disease, patients can manage issues functionally first, allowing the innate desire for our bodies to thrive to shine through.

One of the biggest motivators for the health coach to keep doing what she does was the positive feedback, love, and support she received when she transitioned into a functional, holistic pediatric dental practice. Her office was getting numerous calls from parents and patients outside of Portland, and even from other countries. These families were flying in for appointments, and this made Dr. Staci realize that there were people all over the world like her who had the same thirst for knowledge on how to lead a better, healthier lifestyle.

Through her company Happi Health, she offers a holistic and functional approach to her patients, where she applies a combination of her dental knowledge with her health coaching background. She guides parents, children, and communities toward a better lifestyle offering one-on-one hygiene instruction, meal planning and nutritional guidance, parenting strategies and philosophies, cavity prevention and reversal strategies, and other lifestyle tips.

As a dentist, Dr. Staci believes that the mouth cannot be overlooked when aiming to optimize wellness. As a parent of two young girls herself, the health coach can relate to other parents, most especially with their daily struggles and challenges. To connect with Happi Health, visit their website, and check out Doctor Staci’s Instagram.