Strive to live have an overall healthier, more productive day? Make sure your mornings get off to a great start! How you spend the first few hours after waking up can determine how you spend the rest of the day. There are many benefits to starting your day with exercise that other times of day just can’t provide.

4 Morning Fitness Tips

1. Drink 8 oz of water upon waking up. As soon as we wake up our bodies can be dehydrated overnight. Replenish what was lost and kickstart your digestive system. Spice it up by adding a little lemon to your water.
2. Eat a healthy breakfast. What you put in your body to start the day can make all the difference in the choices throughout the day.
3. Stretch. Keep your muscles flexible to prevent injury.
4. Do at least 20 minutes of activity. Whether you are comfortable with a work out from home, outside for a run or to the gym, get active first thing in the morning!

Benefits Of Exercising In The Morning

1. Great source of energy. If you feel like a zombie in the morning, exercise can help to create the energy used to tackle the rest of your day.
2. Helps to kickstart your metabolism. Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumptions (EPOC) is used in the fitness industry.  It means that your body burns more calories after your workout, even when you’re sitting at a desk or driving in your car.
3. Improved physical and mental clarity. Exercise and fitness are known to help with not only the physical aspect but also the mental.
4. Promotes better sleep. No doubt your body will be in need of rest at the end of the day. Say goodbye to sleepless nights or having a hard time falling asleep.

At USTA, we promote not only a healthy body but a healthy mind as well. Our massage therapy and aesthetic programs incorporate just that!

How many of us wake up in the morning and head straight for our cup of coffee? It may not be the coffee itself, but the extra milk or sugar added to it that can cause breakouts. Whether it is a latte, cappuccino or just with a little milk, your morning routine may be causing your pores to clog! The coffee market is a 48 Billion dollar industry so needless to say many of us have the same coffee crave. Studies have shown that too much dairy consumption can lead to breakouts. Dairy causes your skin to produce excess sebum (a fancy word for oil) which leads to more clogged pores and pimples.

Dairy is also known for sticking the dead skin cells together inside your pores so they can’t exit naturally, leading to clogged pores and therefore causing more breakouts.

So what can you do to control the latte breakouts?

There are a few ways to kick the dairy habit. One obvious way is to eliminate it completely. Instead of adding milk or cream into your coffee, drink it black. Another way is to be mindful of how much diary you consume during the day. If your latte is a must, substitute the milk or cream with an alternative. Substitute cows milk for an almond, cashew or coconut milk instead.

Breakouts are never fun especially when they are caused by foods and beverages that you love! In our core aesthetics and massage therapy programs, we cover the importance of nutrition and balance. We also teach food and water tracking so that if your skin wreaks havoc with a certain food or beverage, you will be able to pin point it to eliminate it from your diet. Learn more about our programs and how you can get started. Aesthetics and massage classes are starting soon!

You know it feels like Spring when the air gets warmer, the days get longer and the trees and flowers start to bud. We all spring clean our homes this time of year, why not spring clean your mind? The seasons create change and renewal, and a thorough spring cleaning can be more than just an opportunity to dust the shelves. Think of the activity of spring cleaning. It is a way to de-clutter our homes, wipe away the dirt and grime of winter and open the windows to allow the fresh breeze to circulate. We want to give you more insight into doing this in your mind, so that you can fill it with the things that really matter. In this article, we are going to share a few “cleaning of the mind” tips to keep moving forward to better mind health!

Ways to spring clean your mind

–Take a mental note. Maybe it is more than just your email inbox piling up! Write down the things that are taking up mental space in your mind, then address it.

–Meditate. When you meditate, you clear away the information overload that sometimes builds up during the day. During meditation, you focus your attention and eliminate the stream of jumbled thoughts that may be crowding your mind and causing stress. Our meditation room is FREE for all students who wish to use it.

–Make time for fun. With all the hustle and bustle of our every day life, spend time doing things that bring joy. Maybe it is dinner with friends or sitting and reading a good book. Take 15 minutes a day to focus on those activities that bring happiness.

–Remember you are good enough! Sometimes it just takes another person to remind you that you are good enough.

At our massage therapy and aesthetics school we believe in having overall health from the inside out. Classes starting soon! Apply online TODAY!

Spring and summer time is the perfect time to get fresh berries from a farmer’s market and add to your daily smoothie. Below are some easy to make, yet nutritious smoothies to add to your recipe list. So grab your ingredients, throw them in a blender and blend away!

• The Classic Strawberry Banana

1 cup fresh strawberries
1 fresh ripe banana
1 cup almond or coconut milk (vanilla flavored optional)
1/4 tsp chia seeds
1 cup ice cubes

• Blueberry Acai

1 1/2 cups vanilla soy milk
1 1/2 frozen bananas
1 cup frozen wild blueberries
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 acai frozen smoothie pak OR 1 cup acai juice
*if you use the juice, remove 1/2 cup of the soy milk
3/4 cup ice

• Pineapple Mango Green Goodness

1 cup almond milk (or milk of your choice)
1/2 banana, frozen
1 cup chopped mango
1/2 cup chopped fresh pineapple
2 cups fresh spinach or kale
1/2 cup of ice

• Avocado Pineapple Smoothie 

½ avocado, peeled and pitted
1 cup your choice of milk, or more if needed
⅓ cup pineapple, frozen or fresh
2 teaspoons honey
Pinch of pink himalayan salt
1/4 cup ice cubes

• Spring Detox Smoothie

1 cup green tea, chilled
1 cup loosely packed cilantro
1 cup loosely packed organic baby kale
1 cup cucumber
1 cup pineapples
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
½ avocado

• Dreamsicle Smoothie

1 navel orange, peeled
¼ c milk or fat-free yogurt
2 Tbsp frozen orange juice or frozen orange juice ice cube
¼ tsp vanilla extract
4 ice cubes

• Beet and Berry Smoothie

1 cup milk of choice or coconut water
1 frozen banana
1 small beet, washed, peeled, and diced
1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
optional add-in: 1 tablespoon chia seeds

Nutrition is a part of all of our programs at USTA. We cover juicing and food & water tracking.
We believe that being healthy starts from the inside out, Mind, Body and Soul. Learn more about our massage therapy and aesthetics training programs on our website.

Receiving a high quality massage therapy education is not only beneficial for a brand new massage therapist, but also the clientele. With two massage clinics and eleven private treatment stations, USTA is Chicagoland’s leading choice for massage therapy training.

Our 650 hour State licensed massage therapy school curriculum will take students through human body systems with a balanced focus on muscular structure and function, anatomy, Massage Therapy School Chicago multiple massage modalities as well as career planning, client retention and preparation to sit and pass the MBLEx Exam. At USTA, our 9 month day or 11 month evening massage therapy programs offer a balanced study of anatomy, physiology, pathology, kinesiology, Eastern energies, Western techniques and professional development. Curriculum includes trigger point therapy, neuromuscular techniques, polarity therapy, swedish massage techniques, and pregnancy massage.

What is included in our massage therapy program.

• Tuition includes the initial massage therapy licensing fee for Illinois
• Free massage table
• Self marketing and business education
• Aromatherapy education
• Internships available
• Financial Aid
• Instructors with knowledge of classic and contemporary techniques
• Day and evening classes available
• Fitness, Yoga and Meditation rooms

Classes included in our massage therapy curriculum

MIND

• Anatomy
• Contraindications
• CPR Certification
• Client Documentation
• Massage Ethics
• Kinesiology
• Medical Terminology
• Pathology
• Physiology
• Nutrition & Juicing
• And more!

BODY

• Aryurvedia
• Body Mechanics
• Chair Massage
• Clinical Massage
• Cupping
• Deep Tissue
• Hot Stone
• Hydrotherapy
• Lymph Drainage
• Elderly Massage
• Disability Massage
• Pregnancy & Prenatal
• Reflexology
• Spa Body Treatments
• Swedish Massage
• Sports Massage

SPIRIT

• Aromatherapy
• Craniosacral Therapy
• Meditation 4. Polarity Therapy
• Reiki
• Yoga

Choose between our 9 month day schedule or our 11 month evening schedule. Are you ready to start a career in massage therapy? Join the growing network of professional therapists and technicians who all started their education at Universal Spa Training Academy. Contact us by calling 630-968-6800 or apply online on our website here. We look forward to working with you!