My boyfriend recently got a pedometer from the health program where he works, and boy, you really start to realize it if you move too little on certain days. It really hits you that, yes, you barely moved today or were a couch potato, when you have a little tool you can check at the end of the day as proof of your immobility. It is really mostly a wake up call that if you are not moving around and walking enough, you are really in for a hard, long road when it comes to your health over the years.

Walking is still so vital to our well being. Walking is what were were meant to do. We, as humans, were not meant to be sedentary beings. That is why we started walking upright in the first place - we were meant to primarily be active throughout the whole day, and the reason for the explosion in obesity and disease if often linked to the fact that we have lost sight of our natural inclination to get up and MOVE throughout the day.

It really hit home with me that I feel so much more invigorated after I move all day than I do if all I did was sit in my desk chair at my office all day. My boyfriend and I recently stayed at a hotel in Columbus Ohio and there was a skywalk where you had to walk a couple blocks to your hotel. For people who are used to mostly walking on our Horizon treadmills, walking out in the cold can be a challenge!

At first, as is human nature, we scoffed at the fact that we had to walk so far just for free parking to save a few bucks all the days we stayed there, but then I found that after a primarily sedentary weekend, I actually looked forward to our walks to the car. The fact that it was brisk and chilly in the tunnels made it even more invigorating. Sometimes when the air is chilly it really wakes you up a little, makes you feel a bit more alive for lack of a better description.

Walking is what keeps us in shape - it’s what keeps us, well, walking for many more years to come in this world. Usually people that have a hard time getting around earlier in life rather than later were not active enough in their youth, and they are paying for it when they are elderly even more so than they would if they had normally active lives. It doesn’t ever pay to be a couch potato, so we all must commit to walking more, every day, for this new year. Deal??

Most women would rather not get on a Horizon treadmill or elliptical machine too soon after they give birth to their children, and about 6-8 weeks after giving birth, this is the right choice for women, according to most doctors.

Most physicians recommend that new moms do not resume any type of vigorous physical activity for about 6-8 weeks after they have a new baby, and that is really only for women who were used to exercising vigorously before getting pregnant and during the first few months of pregnancy.

Doctors advise against women who have never exercised vigorously to start exercising very hard right after having a baby (the six to eight weeks still applies though), because putting too much stress with no muscle memory or endurance memory in the muscles and the body can really put a lot of stress on the bones and muscles, which are a tad more fragile after moms give birth.

As far as moderate activity though, most doctors give the green light for women to participate in moderate aerobic and muscle toning activity during pregnancy and shortly after pregnancy. There are even some yoga DVD’s that are geared toward women who have recently given birth, both during and after pregnancy, and some are geared to gently stretch the muscles, while some are more for getting your body back into fighting shape after the baby arrives.

It’s important to not just stop all physical activity during pregnancy, especially if you are a woman who is used to being active. The body will get too used to this, and it will just help in the unlucky part of pregnancy, which is packing on more weight that can often be difficult to shed after the baby is born. However, some women who have high risk pregnancies have no choice but to take it easy.

It’s important to ask your doctor about your individual situation, and what he or she is comfortable with recommending to you with your personal acitivity levels and what type of home exercise equipment would be ok to use, and at what levels you can use it at safely. No one wants to get out of the habit of getting physical activity in, and it may even contribute to post partem depression if you stop all activity and are used to moving around a lot.

In a surprising twist, and what is counter to what you’d think, apparently Americans are saying that they are more active than ever, but their weight is not tipping the scale in the downward direction as you would think would correlate to the increase in activity in traditionally more sedentary Americans.

According to new statistics, men and women both answered surveys asking about their physical activity levels, and both answered that their physical activity was on what was considered an active level, which went up several percentage points between the two from years past.

Researchers admit that the results could be slightly skewed so far because they have not had time to “catch up” or that people may be exercising more, and more aware of their physical activity, but they are not chaning other important factors that result in increased weight such as decreasing fat and calories in their diets every day.

In another related story, it is reported that Americans wearing pedometers tend to move around a lot more than people who do not wear a pedometer. My boyfriend actually just got a pedometer, and he says that he is now more aware of moving around more, and he has about 10,000 steps a day now compared to the first day he wore it, which happened to be on a football Sunday when he barely moved his butt off the couch, and only had about 3,000 steps.

He said that wearing the pedometer makes you aware of the times when you are being too sedentary, and it makes you more motivated to keep things moving, including your circulation, by moving your legs, going up and down stairs and just plain getting up and walking around a little bit. Every little bit helps, we now just need to get the diet aspect lined up with increased activity, and we’ll be golden!

Two problems that exist on a global basis and a national basis can be addresed at the same time. Global warming is a problem of great concern to all of the world. In America, obesity is at epidemic proportions and is a major threat to our nation’ s health.

We can address both of these problems by choosing to walk or bicycle ride to our destinations instead of driving our cars. This sounds like a small measure, but if all Americans walked or rode a bike instead of taking their cars for half an hour a day, carbon dioxide emissions would be cut by 64 million tons.

For our school age children, suggesting they walk to school rather than riding the bus or in a car would help to fight childhood obesity. The additive effect on global warming and carbon diocide emissions, again, would be signifigant. The health benefits of walking or bike riding in favor of car travel would be many. Less smog would enable easier breathing and less respiratory problems.

Walking for one half an hour per day could equal losing up to 13 pounds in a year. Another suggestion to tackle both the obesity and the global warming problem is to reduce heavy meat consumption. A diet high in fruits, vegetables and grains and lower in meats is better for our waistlines and also better for the environment.

When the feed and methane released from fertilizer is all calculated, the meat sector of global economies accounts for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions. Most Americans eat greater than one and a half times the recommended meat consumption per day. If we cut our meat consumption, our weight would be under better control and we would be doing our part to combat global warming at the same time.

I probably shouldn’t be posting this, seeing how this is a fitness blog, and we should talk about how bad excess baggage (fat and weight) is bad for the health, but secretly I think when I read this I rejoiced, because it always seems I have an extra 5-10 pounds I’m trying to shake, and this new research sort of makes me feel like maybe I’m not supposed to, and this is my true, healthy, God given weight.

In this age when super skinny still seems to be “in” in many circles, especially the Hollywood scene which is unfortunately highly revered by our modern society, it seems that any extra pudge is shunned, and women especially are constantly trying to trim the fat away, to the point of having really no excess body fat. In fact, new research is showing that a LITTLE extra pudge may help you survive some serious illnesses.

That’a little though, we’re talking maybe a max of 15 pounds, anyone who is obese does not gain the benefits we are talking about. Obesity still is a major cause of many illnesses and in fact, also increases the risk of mortality for many common diseases as well, so obesity is out of the picture here.

Very interesting is that slightly overweight people vs. normal or underweight people had a significantly lower mortality rate for diseases such as pneumonia, infection and other diseases that seemed to be lung related such as emphysema.

This is so funny, because it’s kind of like many of our mothers told us, that a little extra weight wouldn’t hurt us, and if we ever got really sick, we may need those fat reserves to help us stay alive! If you think about it, it does make sense though. Survival in general may depend on a little extra junk in the trunk if you know what I mean. If you were stranded somewhere and only weighed a hundred pounds, chances are you’d starve a lot faster than someone with a few extra pounds to burn off!

I’ve been experiencing both neck and upper back pain now for years, thanks to two car accidents I was involved in where I got whiplash both times. I always wanted to work out though, because usually working out and doing yoga would help immensely with keeping my muscles strong and stretched, as well as keeping stiffness at bay. You see, keeping muscles flexible and warm is very important, especially if you want to avoid common neck and back injuries, including upper and lower back.

As I said, I usually experienced a relief from working out after a whole day of sitting at my computer chair at work, but the other day and a few other times, I did notice that working out actually made it worse. Turns out, I was doing some of my exercises incorrectly and this most likely was the culprit of my tense, tightened up muscles that was causing such stiffness and limited range of motion.

I had to seek the help of a doctor, who wrote me a prescription for a light muscle relaxer and told me to take that three times a day until I could get in to see a licensed medical massotherapist. I did see the massage therapist, and boy let me tell you, I didn’t believe that a massage could manipulate problem areas and make them “smooth out” so well, but indeed I’m a believer now!

She also gave me a great tip for working out that would help save my back and neck. I’ll try to explain it as best I can, but it goes like this. She said that many times people don’t keep their shoulders stable when they work out with weights on their arms, and this creates instability that leads to neck and upper back strain.

She said to try to imagine your arms firmly in their sockets, with little leeway for moving around, and really focus the movement where it should be, on the arms, and not on the shoulders. She also said to try to keep your neck extended and spine as much as possible (imagine a string pulling your head to the ceiling, and this will help prevent neck and upper back strain and injuries while working out.

That’s right! I’ve been hearing more and more about stripper lessons and stripper classes, and then of course there is the Strip tease video series of workouts from none other than the “sexy” Carmen Electra. Although I’m not so sure that Carmen is really sexy or not, it seems a little too forced at times, I did get a lot out of her workouts, of which I only did two of the DVD’s in her series. However, I did find that those sexy, lithe moves on stage are a lot harder to perform than a lot of us women probably think!

Many strip tease exercise classes offer stripping motions and moves that really work the belly, buttocks, arms and legs, all while enjoying yourself and perhaps living out one of your fantasies of working the stage at the same time! Many of these classes come equipped with a stripper pole even! Ha, I’m reminded of a famous rant by comedian Chris Rock who says as long as you keep your little girl off the pole, you’re doing a good job. Guess that was before strip tease as an exercise form!

Many times to add to the excitement of a stripper exercise class, women will be encouraged to wear “sexier” workout gear - in other words, you should probably leave the baggy old sweats and big t shirt at home for this class, ’cause you wanna work it! I still prefer my big baggies, but then again I was never one to strut my stuff, even when I did think I looked fabulous!

We all have personality types that we are genetically and environmentally predisposed to. These personality types can be divided into agressive, moderate and easygoing. Our personality traits will effect how we approach all aspects in life including an exercise program.

The aggressive personality is always driving themselves, usually a workaholic and often gets impatient or nervous. The moderate personality is well balanced between work and rest. Easygoing personality types are more passive and laid back.

When embarking on an exercise routine, the aggressive type A personality will have to consciously avoid pushing themselves past the point of pain when exercising. Once you experience pain during a workout, the muscles will tense up and more pain will follow. If you are engaged in an activity such as yoga, you must deliberately remind yourself not to push too hard and to slowly, deeply breathe.

For a moderate personality type, you can strive to improve in your exercise routine. A moderate personality individual will recognize days when they are more energetic and ambitious and can push themselves harder at these times.

An easygoing passive personality type will need to push themselves to get started on an exercise routine. A yoga program would be well suited for the easygoing type. The extensions of yoga are slower and at a more relaxed pace. Yoga is a gentle means of getting exercise.

Whatever your personality type, take it into consideration when starting and selecting a workout. If you are the aggressive type, take care not to injure yourself or tear muscles and tendons. A workout should be for health improvement and not be taken to excess too soon.

Yep, and what I mean by “workstation” is exactly as it sounds. People may now be able to get a workout in on a treadmill-type device that can be set up in their workstations (ie cubes) while they work, and actually walk instead of sit or stand all day. Wow. This could potentially be one of the coolest pieces of news I’ve heard in a while regarding the American way of sedentary lifestyles and ever expanding waistlines!

The actual workstation is all one piece, or at least it appears so by the pictures I’ve seen. It is made of stainless steel or some type of metal, and it just acts as a user interface that is almost like your console on the treadmill. So, you’re standing and working as you’re walking. Wonder if you can still concentrate while walking?

I think I would be able to, because I do read while walking and doing the elliptical right now when I’m at the gym. I do notice it’s a little harder to focus on what you’re actually reading, but I’m sure that if I was doing more of a leisurely gait it would work better, since I tend to really push it on the elliptical. Turns out, the workstation treadmill only has a max speed of three and half miles per hour, while traditional treadmills can go up to ten miles per hour, so they understand that people won’t be running while focusing on work.

I also wondered how this new treadmill workstation would work when you actually want to sit down. I guess you can just grab a chair and lower your workstation piece when that is the case. These new unites don’t come cheap though. They’ll cost about four thousand bucks a pop, and they’ll go on sale mid November. Hmm. Wonder if I can talk my employer into buying these babies?