Another Reason to Exercise Outdoors, Or By a Big Window…

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I’ve long advocated getting outside to do your workout whenever you possibly can. It can definitely be a challenge for those of us that don’t live in such temperate climates, like me for example. The weather doesn’t exactly agree about 75% of the year around here with that goal, so I’m often finding other ways to exercise, or exercising outside (usually jogging) when it’s a little too chilly to still be doing so.

There are many reasons I’ve cited personally that getting outside to exercise really agrees with me. Among them are getting fresh air, seeing greenery and getting sunshine as well as smelling the scents and seeing the beautiful scenery that nature has to offer, which is in and of itself invigorating and rejuvenating to the body and the brain.

Now I’m reading that there is another very good reason to get outdoors to do your workout if you possibly can.  A new study has shown that seeing the color green can actually make you work out harder.  Yep, just the simplicity of seeing that glorious color that nature is often painted with has a positive effect on how great your workout can be!

How can researchers determine this? Well, they did a study where participants were asked to get on a stationary bike while watching various simulated scenes on a monitor in front of them. They showed various outdoor nature-like scenes with one caveat.

They would switch up the color filters on the nature scenes for each study segment in order to see how the various filtered colors affected the study participants in their mood and perceived sense of well being. Both of these have an important impact on how well we work out and how positive the impact of our workout is because they give us that mental and physical boost that we need and crave from our workouts.

As they say, there is a huge mind-body connection and most people look for not only a physical sense of energy and strength from working out, but they also look for that extra mental and emotional boost as well.  I actually feel like my workouts are more about keeping my emotions in check the older I get, so it goes to show that working out has shifting priorities for most people as they get older.

In the end, the study participants who saw the natural scenery with the green filter were the ones who reported the least negative emotional feelings and felt less fatigued than the participants who viewed the screens with other colors like red filters and black and white filters.

This is the first study that tells us that it may not just be the sounds and scents of getting outdoors that helps boost our mood and therefore our workout’s effects, but it may in large part actually have a lot to do with something a whole lot more simplistic (and easily controlled) the color green. Perhaps this might lead to some interesting displays one can buy when working out that help boost mood. More to come on this interesting discovery….

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Fat Cavitation a Good Way to Target Trouble Spots?

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My husband and I were fed up with a few of our trouble areas that just wouldn’t seem to melt away like the other areas of concern when we would be working out and dieting.  For me those areas are my upper arm fat and my saddle bags, which I’ve always struggled with pretty much since I hit puberty and got a woman’s figure.

I even noticed a little bit of a waddle creeping up on me, which is that fat that gathers underneath your chin, so I wanted a way that we could potentially get rid of fat in targeted trouble areas in our own home.  After a lot of reading, I decided to buy us a home fat cavitation device.

What is Fat Cavitation?

Fat cavitation is the use of ultrasound technology to liquify and break up fat cells so that they “dump” the contents of the fat cell out. They don’t get rid of the fat cell, but they essentially shrink it by use of these ultrasonic waves which help break them up and turn them into an irregular shape. It’s essentially the same thing that happens when you lose weight – your fat cells don’t go away, they’re still there, but you shrink them down.

We got our device for under $400 and I’m pretty happy with it. It’s too early to give a full review, but I’ve used it about 5 times and my husband has done it on his chin and neck area about 3 times.

I’ve noticed some shrinking, but I know that it takes at least 12 sessions to really see the difference.  I’m combining mine with cellulite massage with my new Bliss cellulite suction machine as well and am seeing some great results at least in the reduction of cellulite on my thighs from combining the two.

More to come as we experiment with this cool treatment….

 

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Is “Prancercise” Effective?

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You’ve likely seen the uber-viral video that’s made the rounds. It’s even made the front page of many top news outlets at this point!  How did I first see it?  My husband actually sent me a text with a link to the video on Youtube about a week ago, so maybe I was actually one of the first few million to view it.

It’s called Prancercise, and it’s a new type of workout (at least to those of us that never saw the video) where the woman who invented it somewhat copies the gait and moves of a horse to get the cardio and muscle workout that might be what keeps her in such great shape.  She shot the video in the late eighties, which explains the outfit she’s wearing, which are the typical “Miam Vice” colors that were popular then, and the cuts of the clothes were much tighter.

The woman looks to be probably in her fifties or sixties now, and fair to say that she’s in pretty good shape herself and appears to be pretty slim so let’s talk about the actual benefits Prancercise might offer you.

And let’s talk about whether it’s worth looking a bit silly doing the moves you have to make when you do this workout because you know that’s what most people would be concerned with!

Actually, you wouldn’t get a bad, low impact workout with Prancercise from what I can tell. The moves are slightly swishy, almost like tai chi but only you’re moving forward the whole time very gently, and moving all limbs simultaneously which gives you a great compound workout.

Compound moves mean that you are using limbs on the upper body and the lower body at the same time which means you are burning more calories and giving yourself a more efficient workout in the same amount of time instead of burning less calories and straining the body less with just one part of the body moving.

I would say Prancercise is a combination of the slower moving arts like Tai Chi and jazzercise because they are rhythmic movements that seem to be able to go with music. It almost looks like you’d be remiss to not have some sort of music playing while doing the horse-like moves.

I’m assuming she got her inspiration from a horse’s gait and playful moves. If you’ve seen the way a horse moves when it plays or is showing off, then a lot of the moves she does in Prancercise mimic the elegance and playfulness that a horse does when it makes similar movements.

All in all, heck give it a try!  Of course it will be a fad, and the video is getting hits because it looks kind of silly but this is a perfect workout for those getting up in age who want something a bit more intense than a walk but not the same impact as a jog.

 

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Building up Lungs for Running Not Always Easy

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I’ve been attempting to run for short spurts while my husband and I have been taking our nightly walks after dinner. It’s not going so well. I’m not sure if it’s because we did just eat a meal (although I do try to keep the meal small since I know we’ll be walking), or if I truly lost that much lung capacity during my winter hiatus from running outdoors.

It’s hard for me to even make it an eighth of a mile without pooping out. And it’s not because of my muscles, but rather because my lungs don’t seem to have the capacity they used to when I ran outdoors a lot.

Let me add a disclaimer in here before I continue. I do have asthma, and have had asthma since I was about eleven years old. However, even in my adolescence when I joined track and would run long distances without stopping, I had conquered my asthma by eating healthy (I firmly believe that a healthy diet helps conquer asthma as well as daily exercise to build up the lungs).

So I feel like my asthma is really just a small hurdle when it comes to running. I always thought of running as more of a mental discipline rather than a true endurance challenge, because once you really get into it, you realize that much of it is in your head and you can control your breathing much more effectively than you think you can.

In other words, many of your limitations physically are in your head and I still do believe in that, so I try really hard not to put up obstacles for myself when it comes to physically challenging myself. So my husband and I have been doing these after-dinner walks now for about two weeks in a row without stopping.

They are usually about two to three miles and are a great way to make sure we get outdoors, enjoy the fresh spring air, and that we are just relegated to being couch potatoes for the rest of the evening like we are much of the time after we’re exhausted and done with work for the day. It does help to keep our metabolisms going and it also helps to stave off that couch potato syndrome that often sets in when we’re home from work in the evening.

However, this time I’m having a more challenging time on the jogging parts of the trip. It just seems like my lungs quit on me too early and it’s frustrating. I’m trying to take it with a grain of salt but in truth it’s bothering me and I’m not sure why it’s taking a lot longer to build them up. Usually in just a couple days I’m already improving my time jogging and my reaction to the jogging, my heart rate going up less and my lungs able to take it on much better.

I suppose it’s just a phase, or it may truly be because I’m eating a bit too much and still digesting while I’m running. This might be true, because they say that it takes the body a lot of energy to digest foods. If I’m making my body compete with the various processes going on internally between digesting and running, then it could simply be because the digesting is winning out since it started first, and my lungs are secondary. Your body is pretty smart, and maybe mine is telling me to stop running after I’ve eaten.

Here’s my plan of action. I’m going to start getting up more during my day at work and taking brisk walks and also doing things like hindu squats in the bathroom stalls to give my lungs a quick pick me up and get the blood flowing and my heart pumping faster throughout various intervals of my desk job day. I’m hoping that will help to more quickly condition my lungs and prep me for running longer than my measly 1/8 mile without feeling like I’m going to pass out for once!

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Two Things Other Than Exercise That Are GREAT for Your Heart

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There are a few things other than exercising, and of course eating the right diet, that can really help you live a long and heart-healthy life these days.  Of course exercise is still on the forefront along with eating a diet that agrees with your body and keeps your waistline trim, but there are a few other habits that will really help your ticker stay strong.

You’re familiar with the link we always make between our hearts and our emotions.  Often times, we say someone has a “big heart” or they have a kind or soft heart.  Well, we know logically that our hearts really are not our brains and responsible for our actual behaviors, but it seems that the heart gets so much attention because it truly is our lifeblood. Without our hearts, we would not be alive.

So it’s funny that the two life habits I’m about to review actually have a lot to do with your brain activity and emotions, because after all the two are related even if science cannot find the exact causal effects other than the biological outcomes that some of the behaviors lead to.

The first is to be kind to people.  A recent study found that being kind and compassionate toward others and also by taking part in a compassionate awareness exercise where one meditates on being compassionate toward someone other than themselves, increased the flow of positive hormones and chemicals in the body.  This lead to a better, more relaxed and less anxious existence which is linked to better heart health and a much longer life span.

So basically, being kind has its health benefits. It’s not just the way you feel about yourself when you’re kind (most people tend to feel a tremendous sense of self worth and pride when they are kind, and mostly people with high self esteem exhibit kind behavior which is no surprise because these people tend to be more self aware).

Another lifestyle habit that can really help your heart health is owning a pet.  It has been a scientifically known fact for a while now that owning a pet seems to result in lower blood pressure and lower stress hormone levels circulating in the body.

In fact, studies have shown that the mere act of making eye contact with your beloved pet (I know this is what happens when I get “love eyes” from either of my cats), or petting them actually lowers your blood pressure on the spot and has anxiety-easing powers.

If that’s not evidence enough that owning a pet can help you live a happier and healthier life, then I don’t know what is. Strictly from an anecdotal stance, I can tell you that most of the older people I’ve known seem to really “live” for their pets.

Owning an animal that relies on you for its care and shows unconditional love in return can really give a sense of purpose to your life, especially when you begin to get in your very advanced years and start losing a lot of friends and love ones simply because so much time has passed and people all have different life spans.

So there you have it. You still do need exercise of some sort on a daily basis – don’t think these two life choices are going to let you get away without those two necessities. However, these two very pleasant parts of life actually don’t just add a level of pleasure to your life, they may actually extend it!

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“Period Piece” Movies and Programs Show a Softer, Less Toned Woman

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I have to give kudos to those period piece types of movies and television shows when they cast women, or when they probably tell their actresses that they should really let their bodies look a certain way for the sake of realism. I just watched new episode of Game of Thrones, an HBO show that I’m absolutely obsessed with.

If you don’t know the show, it’s your typical HBO fare with quite a bit of nudity and adult themes. It’s superbly acted and the sets and costumes are amazing, making you feel exactly like you’ve gone back in time hundreds of years even though it is really a totally make believe fantasy world to begin with, not of this earth as we know it.

One thing I really love about the series is its authenticity and rawness. This can be seen in the thoughtful placement of not so white teeth, blackened faces and things that would be characteristic of that period and the amenities and lifestyles that abounded then.

This includes a different kind of femininity than we are accustomed to today. The women back then typically were not cut and toned like they are today. They were more lithe, perhaps a bit softer and less muscular, especially women of royal descent or of higher class because they didn’t really have to work for a living in a physical way unless they so chose to.

Something about the series’ portrayal of a softer, more feminine and perhaps a bit “pudgier” by today’s standards (although not pudgy really), makes me long for the days when women were not held to the hardbody standards they are today.

While it is true that this may be a healthier body type, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they were cardiovascularly fit from constant walks in the garden and the simple fact that there were not as many ways to get around back then so you had to do it the old fashioned way.

A few of the scenes in the show depict women who are much softer and less muscular, yet still very feminine. It’s very refreshing compared to the hyper-toned and skinny women we see on screen today with big fake boobs and other surgical enhancements.

I imagine they tell their actresses to lay off the working out, and perhaps if they need a waifish look, to just reduce their diet a bit but stop working out as well instead of the ridiculous standards of having to work out AND eat nothing that so many actresses seem relegated to these days.

Believe me, I still believe in working out. I still like when my body looks more muscular and sculpted. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. But I’m also a product of my generation and my society, which has placed a high value on physical fitness. Sometimes that feminine side of me just loves to see the softer curves of yesteryear, when Buns of Steel wasn’t even dreamt up yet and the fitness craze hadn’t yet invaded both the feminine and masculine world.

 

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Why Exercise is So Important for Asthmatics

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I have asthma, and have had asthma since I was a small child. I started to get asthma attacks when I was about 8 years old give or take a year, and it really hit me like a ton of bricks because I had never experienced the sensation of “suffocating” as I had before I had my first attack after a long romp in a field full of pollen and physical activity.

I’m still convinced that my sugary and starchy diet probably had something to do with its onset since all I was interested in as a kid was sweets and carbs – and not the good kind. The problem is, there’s only so much influence a parent can influence over a child when they’re young in what they eat since half the time they’re so picky parents are just thankful when they want to eat anything that’s not a sugar bomb.

I remember as a child that I used to think physical activity would trigger my asthma. While it is true that it could be a catalyst, it was really the lack of exercise and then the short bursts of activity that my lungs simply hadn’t built up the capacity to that caused them. That and emotional distress were the two biggest factors.

The thing is, you have to do a lot of physical activity in order to build your lung capacity up. If you’re a couch potato most of the time, of course you’re going to get an asthma attack if you finally move and exert a lot of energy. Your lungs cannot handle it because you haven’t conditioned them to take in oxygen and put it out correctly.

You get a lot of cardiovascular conditioning and lung conditioning without even knowing it when you are active. This builds up your tolerance for activity and makes your lungs more resistant to asthma attacks, which are essentially when the bronchial tubes constrict when the lungs are over stressed.

Those that get regular physical activity in their daily routine are much more likely to hold asthma attacks at bay. I’m the perfect example of this. I notice that when I’m not as active, it’s easier for me to get asthma even though thank goodness I’ve mostly outgrown it as I’ve gotten older.

The reasons for this, in my case at least, are twofold. Asthma, for me, is a very emotional condition. If I’m upset, scared, anxious or frightened, I actually will get an asthma attack simply from these types of emotions. Even excitement will sometimes do it!

These emotions are typically coupled with cortisol and other negative stress hormones which elevate things like heart rate and blood pressure. When I exercise regularly, it’s like a natural antidote to these negative hormone surges in my body. Since the exercise quells the hormones, it also in turn helps me to not react by having an asthma flare up.

Also as we talked about before, working out builds up the lung tissue and makes the bronchial tubes more powerful and resilient. Since the integrity of the lungs is strong, the likelihood of malfunction via an asthma attack is dramatically decreased, making you less likely to suffer these attacks.

 

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Walking After Dinner Helps Burn Off Calories

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Now that the weather has turned a little milder here in Northeast Ohio, my husband and I find ourselves both being naturally more motivated to get rid of the extra “winter padding” we put on (and then some, carried over from last year!)

The warmer weather really does spur some sort of longing to be thinner, more lithe and active – stronger if you will. I just have this real desire and totally unshakable ambition to tone up, slim down and become healthy again.  In order to do this I really have to make sure I’m not only eating the right things (I’ve been vegan for about two weeks now and it’s really agreeing with me), but I also have to make sure I’m getting up and moving as much as possible.

One of the challenging times for my husband and I is after we get off work.  We’re so tired from the day of sitting in the office chair all day, which sounds counterintuitive, but ask anyone who has a desk job.  We really don’t feel like doing much but wolfing down our dinner, jumping in the shower and calling it a night after watching a TV show or two.

However, we’ve been dedicating ourselves to walking every night after dinner lately. It really does feel good to get out and stretch your legs after dinner. I think you just get so stuck in the rut of lounging when you get home from work that you forget that there are still several hours left in the evening where you can actually be a live human being and be active instead of being a couch-zombie and vegging out all the time.

In the winter, it certainly is easy to fall back into the habit of doing this because your only choice is to really jump on a treadmill or some other piece of boring indoor equipment. When you get outdoors and see the sights and smell the smells, it spurs conversations and thoughts that enliven your mood and make you talk to eachother, so it’s actually good for your marriage too!

We’ve noticed that this helps us not feel like slugs for the rest of the night and seems to re-awaken our minds. We’ve also been noticing that it seems to be helping us lose that winter padding a little faster.

I’ve noticed that it seems to be helping me re-tone and shape my legs and butt faster as well, which makes sense because when you walk outside for at least a half hour, you’re being exposed to all kinds of inclines and declines that make your legs, butt and thighs work much harder than they would if you were simply on a treadmill or some other piece of equipment that is stationary and offer little in the way of differentiation to get your muscles working hard.

All in all, I’d highly recommend getting out and walking for a while after dinner. It really helps to spur your metabolism instead of letting it stagnate after dinner, and helps with your state of mind immensely.

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Can Fitness Apps Help You Stay Trim?

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For some people, the mere idea of accountability, even if it is only to an electronic device rather than to a group of people such as Weight Watcher’s, is enough to keep them in check. And that’s great. I wish I could say that something like this would keep me in check but I really need much more of a swift kick in the pants in order to get myself motivated to lose weight or keep myself fit by working out regularly.

All of these various Smart Phone apps that are available now can really help people get on board with their dieting and exercise habits and start healthier habits. There are a number of reasons for this. The first is that many of these apps make people feel accountable.

For example, if you have to enter in everything you eat, and you see how many calories and fat grams that item is, or you see that it’s going to put you in the red as far as you daily entered calorie allowances, then you’re less likely to eat that item.

Either that, or some people may just cheat and not enter it because they don’t want to see the number on the screen. However, the idea is that you and only you sees it, but you still see it, in plain text, that you are now getting outside the boundaries of where you need to be in order to meet your weight goals.

This accountability can be tremendously motivating for a lot of people, and I see why. It’s a lot like the mentality behind Weight Watcher’s. Many people say that this program and others like it really help them to feel accountable and to want to please not only themselves, but also their fellow weigh ins at the time.

Not only that, but programs like this also offer a very flexible plan for eating. Some of them will just allow you to eat what you want, as long as it falls in to a certain maximum of calories allowed, but you still have to enter it so it can be tallied for your daily allowance.

They also can allow you to see how eating more of one item is preferable to eating a tiny portion of another. Some calculate on points systems based on the nutrition of the food item. For example, you can eat two apples or one single, small scoop of that ice cream. Which is going to be more apt to fill you up?

They help you realize the importance of caloric density and can really emphasize that making the right food choices can really make an impact on the bottom line of how much actual food you can take in. It’s like, would you rather be starving after one half a chocolate bar, or would you rather eat something with tons of fiber and bulk, but the same calories, that can keep you full for at least an hour or two if not more?

These tools are like having a little nutritionist in your pocket for quick references. They can really come in handy when it comes to getting the information you need very quickly in order to be empowered to make the right decisions.

 

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The Importance of Good Running Shoes 101

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I learned firsthand the importance of having a good, and newer, or new-ish pair of running shoes this past weekend. I’ve been putting off buying a new pair of running shoes because we’re really trying to watch the money that exits our household lately on things that are not 100% necessary in the arena of needs vs. wants.

While I consider tennis shoes a big one, and a necessary thing since I do like to work out and I consider it a vital part of my health and well being strategy, it also is not an absolute necessity because technically I have a pair that still works – it just doesn’t work very well.

My beloved Adidas running shoes were discontinued. They were the original Supernova Glides, not the newer ones which in my opinion absolutely pale in comparison to the old ones which made me feel like I was running on little mini cushions that would provide not only support but also add a little natural “spring” to my step.

My feet NEVER got sore or hurt in those shoes. I never got shin splints. And I never felt like I had injured or torn any of the muscles in my legs or feet after running (even longer distances than I was used to) in them. They were absolutely the most phenomenal running shoe I had ever owned.

But as with anything else that awesome, my Adidas’ wore out. I’ve had them for several years now and worn them very well. As you know, you’re really supposed to get a new pair of running shoes about once a year, especially if you use them a lot.

So that’s why this whole issue came to the forefront for me lately. My sister was in town. She’s quite the fitness buff, and is also an avid runner and walker. We went for a run/walk at a local metro park by where I live and boy oy boy let me tell you did it ever hit me how important it is to have a good pair of shoes at all times.

We ended up going a little farther than anticipated (at least for me). It was a total 6 miles. My shoes held up fine for the first three miles of the walk/run. However, they really started to break down and let my feet down on support during the second leg of our walk.

They not only didn’t support my feet and my arches, which are in desperate need of support since I have very low natural arches in my feet, but they also started to really rub in a lot of areas since they protective and cushy materials that had been so supportive and protective all those years was really beginning to wear out on them.

My middle toe really took the brunt of it. It got all squished in between my other toes, and was very sore at the end of the run. I ended up having a few blisters on my toes, and it was pretty hard for me to even run toward the end because my feet were just really worn from all the jostling and pressure put on them.

Even the next day was a bit brutal with all the walking around I had to do. I felt like my feet and lower legs had really been through the wringer, they were just raw and ready to quit. This really opened my eyes to how important support is in a shoe and how much they really break down over time, no matter how high quality they start off.

 

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