Living a healthy lifestyle extends past your time at the gym.

Hi, I’m Mike Luque. I’m very glad you’ve taken the time to take a look at my site. Since 1998 I’ve focused my life on helping people improve their bodies, and therefore their lives. This site is an extension of the training I’ve been doing, the information I’ve learned and the happiness I feel from having a career that really helps other people. I’m happy to have this forum to share my passion with you. I hope you find plenty of valuable advice (and recipes) here that help you live the life you want.

General rule #1: Whenever you want to make lasting positive changes in your life, over complication can derail the best intentions.

Creating your healthy lifestyle is a change you want to last. Keep it simple. Just keep the 5 Keys in mind. http://t.co/kyFAAWEKKB

— Mike Luque (@HealthLifeTrain) January 6, 2014

Over these many years, I’ve really found that there are 5 Keys to a Healthy Lifestyle and that’s what this site is all about. So what are those keys??

You’ve got to fuel your body. Always use premium.

There is definitely such a thing as “too much of a good thing”. That is a great description for the way we think about food in the United States. So much food, so many option. And unfortunately, so much waste. When confronted with the time pressures of standard, professional way of life, healthy eating can sometimes be put aside. But if you want really enjoy life, a big part of your healthy lifestyle will definitely be how you choose your food. Putting just a few simple rules in place will help you ensure that your food choices are going to support your healthy way of life. My three favorite terms to keep in mind are whole food, slow food and organic food.

And of course it’s always good to have your healthy food taste good.

So now you’ve got your whole, organic foods. What do you do with them? You want to eat nutritious foods, you want them to taste great and you don’t want to, nor can you, spend hours in the kitchen. So a couple of quick healthy recipes will help you see how easily you can maintain a healthy diet. Buy your ingredients in bulk and cook in bulk. Dust off your crock pot!

Movement is life. Plain and simple.

Notice the word “trainer” in this site’s name? That’s me! I’ve been a professional fitness instructor/personal trainer since 1999. Physical fitness my career, my life and my passion. Here’s another topic with a tremendous number of options, some of them good, some of them useless and some of them ridiculous. We’ll talk about a couple of the best choices, including kettlebells, yoga, core strength, aerobic exercise and my favorite, GYROTONIC®.

Taking in oxygen is also life. A pretty important part!

What does every single person do every single day without giving it any thought? We breathe. To have the most optimal health, you want to make breathing more than an automatic, passive activity. Breathing exercises increase lung capacity, decrease stress, improve performance and focus our minds. I’ve had a passion for breathing exercises ever since learning several during my GYROTONIC® foundation training back in 1999. We’ll take a look at the basics of breathing, go through basic and advanced breathing exercises, and learn how to integrate proper breathing habits into your workouts.

A healthy body is incomplete without a healthy mind.

As I said earlier, with our modern, high pressure and information packed culture, a healthy lifestyle can be tough to maintain. We all need to take some time for ourselves, not only to focus on the body but to focus on our minds. Meditating and mindfulness are important components of healthy living. The meditation techniques we’ll discuss are, again, easy. There’s nothing extreme, but nothing that’s uselessly “soft and fluffy” either. Just good, practical and beneficial methods to calm your mind, focus your thoughts and allow you to perform at your highest level.

So let’s explore how to live a Healthy Lifestyle with the first key!

Pull out a notepad and let’s begin…