Exercise helps us in so many countless and precious ways that it’s difficult to say in what cases would exercise NOT be recommended. In fact, there is not one thing I can think of that would prompt a doctor to persuade or recommend anyone to not exercise. Some form of exercise, no matter what your situation, is always recommended, and it’s no exception for those that are getting up there in years, to help prevent and slow the formation of alzheimers, the disease where your memory begins to slip away little by little.

Many have described alzheimers, whether early onset of typically set on in the later years, as a living hell because there are moments of complete clarity and then moments of clouded memories and then finally, complete confusion. Alzheimers can happen to the best, most powerful and intelligent men and women, and once it is set in motion there is little that can currently be medically done to stop it or even slow it significantly. However, that best friend of ours, exercise may have benefits beyond anything anyone thought when it comes to alzheimers disease.

When the brain is affected by alzheimers you see, it begins to atrophy (shrink), which results in key memory mechanisms being compromised and then finally the ultimate, which is complete and total loss of all your most precious and treasured memories. Imagine, being a family member to someone that has this, it’s not easy, and it’s a reason that there is major research being poured into the prevention and treatment of the mental disease.

Tests so far on patients with early term alzheimers disease actually showed less brain atrophy than their counterparts also in the study and also with alzheimers in early stages, who were not physically fit - as in did not exercise, or did not exercise regularly enough to make them physically fit by today’s standards. Since the rate of brain shrinkage is double in alzheimers patients what it is in people with normal, undiseased brains, that means that the reduction in shrinkage from exercise is significant - more than significant actually!

It is important to note however, that the fit subjects did not perform better on mental tests than the non-fit ones, so there is still some work to be done on exactly how exercise works to help possibly slow alzheimers. Nonetheless the fact that it shows so far to help prevent the shrinkage of the brain matter that comes with the disease is very exciting and may lead to several new studies and developments in the world of alzheimers and brain research. It’s a significant finding!

Running can be an excellent way to burn calories and melt the fat right off, especially for those high intensity long distance runners. Rarely do you find a person who is heavy or overweight who is a regular habitual runner. However, there are some of us that find that running bulks up our legs, me included, and have opted for workouts that don’t tend to bulk up the quads and the calves, but rather create that longer look we want, especially if you’re short like me and don’t want to look bulky.

I prefer working out on an elliptical machine any day over working out on a treadmill, and that is because my quads do tend to bulk up from running. Not only that, but I beleive that running makes your muscles and joints more prone to injury because it is a very high impact activity that only seasoned people are immune to injuries from.

Now, if you take your time stretching every time of course this lowers your risk for injury, but I think back to my highschool days of shin splints from running (perhaps through my own fault of not wearing good shoes or perhaps not warming up and stretching enough), and think that I’d much rather do something more low impact that still burns as many calories.

If you’re looking for reviews on good elipticals see our elliptical machine reviews page. You’ll find reviews of my favorite brand of exercise equipment like Horizon and Reebok, and others that rank high in the “gym quality” category, which is what you want instead of something that is not sturdy or smooth and will actually hurt you if you don’t be careful.

Pilates is a newer practice that women are falling in love with for it’s notoriety as a long, lean muscle builder. Women who want a “dancer’s body” are flocking to studios that teach pilates, and it’s become an overnight sensation, although admittedly years ago now, in Hollywood where the body is everything and people are obsessed with staying lean and mean.

So, what is this machine that can help you do pilates? I thought that you could do pilates on your own, on the floor, and the exercises were very simple and could be done anywhere, without any machinery or accessories? Well, that is true, but as with everything else, there was a machine made to help you through the exercises, the pilates machine. Let’s talk about what it is and what it does.

What does a pilates machine look like? Well, it looks like (to me), sort of a rowing machine. It is long and flat, and looks like it could be stowed away fairly easily, although not all of them, I’m sure, are foldable or stowable. It has bands coming off of it, almost like a bowflex machine (which, by the way, is noted for creating that same long and lean look in mean and women), which I assume are used as a form of light resistance, just as you would be doing if just doing pilates on the floor by yourself, accept this is a more guided and precise way to make sure your movements are correct.

A good pilates machine will be quiet and have smooth rolling tracks, for a smooth, friction free workout that results in smooth muscle tone and long and lean muscles. Some pilates machines come with rebounders, which is like a small trampoline for a nice light little cardio workout before you begin the muscle workout on the machine. It’s best to get a book or DVD on what exercises to perform and how specifically to perform them on the pilates machine, so you’re not doing them incorreclty, but these often will come with the better models of the machine.

A friend of mine recently started working out with a personal trainer and brought up that since she informed her trainer that she really only wants to get long, lean muscle, and not bulk up, especially not through her legs or thighs, her trainer suggested that they work more on repetition of the exercises she gave to her and not on the actual weight being used.

This means that the weight being used, if any, would be minimal, and there would instead be more repeats of the exercise performed rather than more weight added. I know that this is definitely true when working on the arms, since women typically do not want to bulk up on their arms, but want instead a nice definition and to get rid of that “lunch lady arm” syndrome.

I remember being told by a personal trainer that I should use very light weights on my arms, and perhaps only build up to five pounds on each arm at the most if I wanted to maintain a sleek and muscled look, almost sinewy, without bulking up more like a man would bulk up in the arms. I did follow that advice one time and I did end up building up a nice definition in my arms and shoulders, without bulking up and getting too puffed out looking, which was definitely not my goal since my flabby arms and triceps were always one of my major concerns.

She did also say that diet played a big part in that, and that if you want to maintain that long, lean look you have to focus on eating only lean proteins and limiting your bad carbs because they played a role in water retention, which takes away from that lean look and the muscles showing through the skin. If you want to get long and lean, I’d suggest starting off with very light weights, say maybe one pound on each arm, and just doing a done of repetitions, say maybe twenty on each arms instead of ten, then working your way up, slowly, to the five pound weights.

When I saw this headline, it actually made perfect sense to me. There is gathering research, which the government is keen on continuing, and which I am in this case, willing to support (I usually think government spending is wasteful, but this would be worth it), that exercise can help prevent addiction to addictive substances such as alcohol and cigarettes.

When I think of how I feel after a work out, I would actually compare it to the “high” I would achieve as a smoker, or after having the occasional drink, which I still do - I no longer smoke by the way, but I do remember how good it tasted and felt to smoke a cigarette back in the day. If you think about it, if you have something to replace that feeling of a near euphoria that you know you can achieve, does it not make it easier to pass on the “quick fix” pick me ups?

It makes sense to me but I’m sure it doesn’t to everyone else, nor does it work for everyone else because Lord knows there are plenty of people who are addicted to things that work out. The thing is, that working out has been shown to affect areas of the brain that affect the mood, and this is the very reason why most people get addicted to things, because of that temporary “feel good” rush it gives them.

Also, working out has shown to improve areas such as academic achievement and motivation, which are all in the same brain area function as the exact same thing that gets taken over when we get addicted to substances, so working out may actually prevent addiction in this way too. Additional research shows that teens who smoke were shown to be much more likely to be sendentary than their non smoking counterparts, which further points to the fact that moving and exercising helps protect us from addiction.

Another interesting point brought up by those heading the study is that exercise and movement is an innate pleasure inducer in children - children actually want to move around all the time and don’t like sitting still, so part of their studies wants to see why, as adults, we lose this innate sense of pleasure from moving and view it instead as a chore. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you had that same sense of joy from exercise back that you had as a kid? I doubt the couch potato thing would be such a problem then.

I have discovered a new show that I love, and have DVR’d so that I can do it any time I want called Namaste Yoga, on the Fit network (I think it’s actually called Fit TV). The practices they do are very flowing and actually pretty quick, but I can keep up even though I’m nowhere near perfect with my yoga.

I will say that for a beginner, Namaste yoga is probably not good since you do have to constantly be changing positions and sometimes need to know what position they are talking about since you can’t see the TV in some of the positions and can only hear the calming, soothing voice of the narrator directing you what to do.

And that’s another reason I lvoe Namaste Yoga on Fit TV, the voice of the narrator is extremely calming. The girls who they show doing the practices are very peaceful and serene looking, and watching them alone can help lower your heart rate, especially since their graceful moves are set against peaceful backdrops that are reminiscent of a professional yoga studio or something one might find in a paradise like Bali or Hawaii.

The only complaint I have about Namaste yoga is of course that it has commercials. Although I fast forward through them, it kind of breaks my rhythm, and it’s hard to get back in the practice after they come back from a break. You will break a sweat however, doing their practices, which are all choreographed by someone who obviously has a great love for yoga and intermingling different positions while also making the movements seems liquid and easy, giving a soothing feel to the series.

Viagra is the butt of many jokes. It is the epitome of the male enhancement market and the erectile dysfunction drug crop, since it was the first high profile male sexual enhancement drug offered and generated much buzz when first introduced to market. It’s also been the subject of a lot of controversy, some saying it can have potentially dangerous side effects, especially if those not carefully screened prior to taking it are popping the little blue pills, since pre existing health conditions such as heart problems are a deadly conjunction with many of these male enhancement drugs since the increase the pumping of the blood, which can overload the heart in some patients who may already have poorly performing hearts.

Well, it seems that Viagra has not only made a name for itself in the sexual and even recreational drug category, but also now it is reportedly being used by some athletes as a performance enhancing drug to help them perform better in their respective sport.

The drug, who’s generic name is sildenafil, may generate a better stamina in athletes, as it does in men who are looking to increase sexual stamina, when taken, and for this reason it has gained somewhat of a popular following among athletes to enhance their performance and increase the time they can participate in a sport, and at what rate they can participate. However, experts are (of course) divided on whether Viagra actually delivers any sort of better performance, at least on the track or court, or wherever it is these respective athletes are performing or competing.

Some say that it does make you perform better as an athlete because it pumps out more blood, and this means more oxygen in the blood stream. Oxygen in the blood is what energizes you and gives you that endurance, and not having that oxygen in the blood supply is what makes people feel winded very quickly. Ever take the stairs and get winder very quickly? That’s not good. It means your blood does not have enough oxygen, or that your lungs do not have a good capacity to take on oxygen, either of which should be checked out.

Elliptical machines are a funny thing. I’ve been on several of them, including my own which I love, the Horizon elliptical machine make, and they all vary in their usability. What I mean is that they vary in how hard they are to use, which means they are probably adjusted to different resistences to some degree, but it also has to do with how high quality of a machine you are working out with as well.

For instance, I went away this past weekend and found that the elliptical I used at another person’s house didn’t quite suit my needs, but not because the resistence was off or it was really difficult to use, but because it had a bracket that my shin bumped every time I came down with my right leg. Had I used that before I bought it, I would have looked for another model. This was one of the best brands of ellipticals (see reviews), it’s just that for me personally it didn’t work out as well as the Horizon does for me.

We paid around eight hundred dollars for our Horizon model elliptical, and I’ve given it rave reviews because it’s lived up to the high quality that one would expect from this brand, including the Horizon treadmills. In fact, I like it better than the ones I use at our fully equipped gym at my place of work, and that’s saying a lot because they have top notch brand names that are of gym quality at my workout facility at work.

The other thing you may want to be mindful of is the leg room. This one I used at a friend’s house seemed to make my knees go at almost a ninety degree angle, and the way I work out, I like for my legs to get more of a real skiing type of experience where the strides are long and drawn out, not like I’m riding a recumbent bike, because I think the two should be different experiences, and the one, the recumbent bike in my opinion, is more of a machine that might work out the quads, while the elliptical should lengthen the quads, almost like pilates does.

We’ve all been there. Even us die hard exercisers who make sure we get a workout out in at least 5 days a week, or we start to feel as if something is amiss from our lives, or our stress levels immediately go out of control. We travel and take a week’s vacation, maybe longer, maybe shorter, and we completely stop working out.

Now this is fine if we’re being active and hiking through the jungle or climbing steep mountains, or maybe jet skiing or doing some other sort of rigorous, fun outdoorsy sport that definitely counts as exercise, but what about if you’re just chilling out, enjoying the beach and piling in the sugary margaritas or other naughty alcoholic drinks, and also eating fattening, naughty foods?

Well, it’s really important to continue working out in some fashion when we travel. This is especially true because not working out, combined with the other things we tend to do that are bad for us while on vacation, will inevitably result in us feeling cranky and tired and thus not enjoying our vacation as much as we should.

Not only that, but a lot of people report that when they go on vacation they tend to get “irregular”, meaning that they get constipated, and this often is from the fact that you are not moving around enough to loosen everything up enough, and thus everything is not moving right along as it normally does, and you’ve also most likely changed your eating habits temporarily, as most of us tend to do while we’re on vacation. And usually for the worse.

We have a routine that we are in when we are at home. Maybe we make sure we have fresh fruits and veggies around while we’re at home, but this tends to be out of our control when on vacation, and we are faced with choices that stop us up and are not lending themselves to high energy, or a good mood to boot.

Working out, maybe takign a workout DVD or some small exercise equipment you can use in your hotel room, will help energize you for the day to come and help you enjoy your vacation to the fullest. You are also less likely to get sick, get headaches and all the other fun things that come with not working out sometimes. The only time I can honestly say that I exercised like I should have and also ate healthy foods somewhat was when I took a vacation to Costa Rica with my sister.

Because the best food there is beans and rice, we ate that heavily and did not eat a whole lot of meat. If we ate protein, it was fish, which is a lean, energizing protein. We also ate a lot of fresh fruits, which helped energize us for out physically strenuous activities. Heck, strenuous sometimes there meant just walking a mile because the heat and humidity was so intense it was like walking in a sauna. I think it’s the only vacation where I actually lost a few pounds instead of gaining.

We all know that exercise, and more importantly regular exercise that is done on a normal basis, is good for our health and mental health on so many levels that it makes it almost a moot point when trying to weight the pros and cons. Well, I guess you could say the only con is that it takes time out of your schedule, because there really are no other cons, unless you are really sick, which is the only time experts recommend you do not work out, or you have some sort of serious injuries.

A huge reason to exercise is that it can have dramatic results on the levels of cortisol in your blood stream. Cortisol is a natural hormone that occurs in the body, and it’s fine to be in the body when it is at normal levels, but the problem is that cortisol, dubbed the “stress hormone”, skyrockets during times of extreme duress or mental stress, and this has been linked to many problems, including as a contributor to weight gain and obesity, so it’s a very detrimental hormone to us in quantities that surpass what’s considered “normal”.

Right now, as I sit typing this article, I can feel the levels of cortisol are higher in me, because I have not been able to work out for the past few days. It’s almost a sort of tightness in the chest that occurs when your stress levels are high, and that’s a really bad sign, since the chest area is where the heart is and we all know that stress, and lots of it is a sign that there may be heart trouble down the way. Many medical experts believe that high stress is linked very solidly to heart attacks and even strokes, and that the control of cortisol is a key component to managing heart problems and preventing cardiac arrest.

One of my favorite exercise regimens to prevent high cortisol levels is yoga. Especially a variety called Ashtanga, where you move very quickly but also very fluidly. It gets the heart rate up and gets some of that bottled stress out, but it also has a very calming effect on the body and the mind at the same time. I especially love doing yoga and then getting in the infrared sauna, since it is like being at a spa and getting a massage, but also an incredibly invigorating workout at the same time. That is one of my ultimate cortisol busters.