This is a goofy thought, but I’m feeling like this at the moment, so figured I’d share some of my twisted reasoning and thoughts with you. Lucky you, right?! Anyways, I haven’t been able to work out for about 3 weeks now, and I’m really beginning to lose my mind over it, because I’m a person who really NEEDS to move around and exert myself, or I start to get a little stir crazy. It’s just how I’ve always been.

The one thing that really drives me nuts is, even though I’ve been really trying to still do my sit ups and crunches for my abs, I feel like I have “jelly belly”. I can actually feel the fat, or loosened, slack skin, whatever you want to call it, fold over my pants. It’s really the worst feeling ever, and definitely doesn’t make you feel like you’ve got a strong core, or that you’re strong at all for that matter.

I’m seeing my doctor next Thursday, and if he doesn’t give me clearance to start working out, I think I might take serious issue with that! I mean, sure, I’m getting a lot done around the house since I’m not spending time on the treadmill or the elliptical, but other than that, this not working out thing is really for the birds. I truly don’t understand how some people go their whole lives without seeing the inside of a gym. I’d have lost my mind a long time ago if it weren’t for my workouts!

Yep, that’s right, we “unfit Americans” are working out more, and it may be helping us slim those notoriously larger and thicker waistlines that we are known for here in the US in the near future, although it is supposedly not making a dent yet. The surge in fitness education and health education to make Americans aware that obesity and lack of exercise is literally killing us off is probably partly to credit.

For women in this new survey, they rose about four percentage points in the percentage of women who responded to the survey who regularly exercise, which is excellent. It brought women closer to 50% of women who regularly exercise, and that’s great, although of course we’d like to see numbers closer to 100%, it’s definitely progress. And who can blame more women for working out?

It makes you feel like you can take on the world, eases stress and anxiety, and makes you forget about your problems so it also works as a natural antidepressant which is excellent for women who are statistically more prone to depression due to hormonal differences from men (at least this is the thought).

Not only did the woman’s percentages rise, but men’s also rose about two percentage points, bringing them actually to 50%, beating out women by a few percentage points (come on ladies!), which is good news in the field of heart disease, prostate cancer and other deaths and diseases related partially to not getting any exercise and poor diet.

Experts are saying that the improved exercise numbers are not yet impacting the bottom line for Americans, which is less disease, less obesity and less deaths associated with lack of exercise, but they also say that these same Americans who are increasing their physical activities may be lacking in the nutrition department and still eating high fat, high salt, and high sugar foods, which in essence nullifies working out in some ways (don’t get me wrong, working out is still better than not working out, no matter what the diet is).

We’re getting there, little by little!

Just wanted to take this opportunity, on Christmas Day, to wish everyone a Happy Holiday and remind everyone to count their blessings and appreciate family, friends and their health on this special day. Remember, life is short, so enjoy each and every holiday you get to spend with your loved ones and cherish the fact that you have life, love and happiness on this day. Whatever you celebrate, a happy holiday to you.

Here’s to another year of great fitness news, new exercise equipment reviews, elliptical machine reviews, and additional fitness regimen updates and news on the latest fitness fads!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!

I couldn’t believe when I read about this strong correlation between sitting a lot and gaining weight. I mean, logically, one knows that being active and having a fitness routine is a great way to guarantee you will not become obese or at least will havea healthy heart and lungs, as well as a healthy outlook on life and mental fitness, but there is new research being done that shows that simply standing up more than sitting can help turn your fat burning enzymes back on.

You see, they studied lab rats even and found that when they were idle for long periods of time, their fat burning enzymes actually shut down, but the simply act of standing up actually made them turn back on. This means that standing and not even moving then, logically, would mean that you are giving your body a better shot at burning fat more efficiently. Wonder if this means a recumbent bike is still as useful as we thought, since essentially you are “sitting down” although admittedly not in a conventional way, because you are in motion.

It is not known why this correlation even is a fact at this point, and it is really in its preliminary stages of research, but logic would tell us that we as a human race were not meant to sit for long periods of time as we do today thanks to computers and televisions, and that in itself may be contributing to the obesity epidemic, but it is still very interesting that it’s not actually getting up and moving around that may be the problem, it’s simply the act of standing up on our two feet that may be shooting us in the foot - no pun intended.

We all enjoy talking about the latest celebrity gossip over dinner, lunch, the water cooler at work, and a bevy of other places where this stuff seems to feed our desire for dirt of overpaid, pampered celebs -at least that’s how many of us view them, whether that’s the reality in every case or not. The same is true of the recent media blitz on some bikini photos of the notoriously voluptuous Jennifer Love Hewitt, lovingly referred to by her fans as “Love”.

Hewitt was photographed frolicking in the water on a beach in a darkly colored bikini, and she didn’t look like what everyone obviously thinks celebrities should look like, stick figures with nary an ounce of fat on their bodies, a tanned and taut body, and no gut. Well, Jen was modeling a bit of a more shapely figure, a little bit of a but and extra around the belly area, and the media just had a hey day with it.

I’m not even a fan of Ms. Hewitt’s movie or TV work, but I had to come to her defense on this one, because although she did infer that she’s a size two in her retort to the media hale storm (and I don’t think by looking at the pics that she is a size two), I do feel bad for her because I understand that as a woman, our bodies seem to be cosntantly changing.

I know I myself have a fluctuating weight many times. I can fluctuate between the same five and ten pounds for a couple months at a time, and it never feels good when I’m on the up side, I can’t even imagine adding to that with the media in my face taking pictures. That is what celebs signed up for though, so I guess it’s to be expected!

You know what makes me really cringe? When I see someone at the gym, or at home (my significant other is guilty of this in spades), just jump right into an intense cardio or muscle workout without even doing any stretching at all, or doing very little stretching. You can have the best low impact treadmills by Horizon, and best reviewed elliptical machines in the world, and if you don’t stretch, you can still be prone to injury!

Any fitness enthusiast of professional will tell you that not warming up and stretching prior to working out is a recipe for multiple injuries. Think about it. Is it good for your car to just take off as soon as you start it in really cold weather? Notice how it kind of bumps along when you do this, lags, and has a very hard time getting into extreme activity (driving at full speed), versus when it is pre-warmed and ready to go?

Well, jumping into an exericse routine, whether it’s a cardio or muscle toning (weights) workout, is akin to running your car soon after it starts when the engine and moving parts are all but frozen. Forcing your body into immediate action before warming up the muscles, and getting them stretched out and ready to work is just like that.

Warming up and stretching is the best way to limber-up your muscles and get them stretched out and nimble. When you do not warm up and stretch, you are forcing jerky actions, and putting a lot of strain on them right away, without giving them any time to get flexible and bendable.

This is why so many people get injuries while attempting certain workouts without adequately warming up their bodies. I’ve seen this in action many times. My signifcant other is extremely succeptible to injuries and pulling muscles because he refuses to adequately stretch his muscles both before and after working out.

Not only that, when I was a novice at fitness, I would not adequately warm up, and many times would end up pulling and straining muscles in my feet, legs, calves and other pieces parts due to the sudden strain placed on them.

I remember one of the first “rules” of working out, at least if it was a cardio-targeted workout meaning you want to get your heart rate up and condition the lungs and begin to burn calories off, is that you have to keep your heart rate up for at least 20 to 30 minutes if you even wanted to begin to get the benefits of calorie consumption in a cardio workout.

So, apparently it is true that in order to get the benefits of calorie burning, you have to make sure your heart rate is at it’s “target” for at least the 20 to 30 minutes, and obviously, the longer the better.

There is a point where your body starts to heat up, and the metabolism speeds up during the exertion, but for some reason it only occurs after you are working for so many minutes.

The longer you go, the more calories you burn, and the more you speed up your metabolism.
To get to your target heart rate, you may want to enlist the help of a professional.

If you go to a gym and workout, ask any one of the fitness specialists there about it and they should be able to help you figure out what this target is for you personally. This way, your workouts can be tailored, time wise and endurance wise to what is going to best for you individual body and your personal fitness goals.

Ugh, I really hate this feeling. I’m currently laid up on doctor’s orders, and cannot go to the gym or barely even be on my feet that long, so I’m forbidden to get any real exercise for the next week to two weeks. I’m sure you can relate. Many times when we have minor or major surgeries, we are ordered to either stay still as much as we can, so as not to undo some delicate procedure that was performed by a surgeon or doctor, or to not aggravate a condition.

When you are used to moving and working out, this can be akin to a death sentence! What I’ve been trying to do is focus on my work more and get caught up on my reading. Oh, I’m also trying really hard to stay away from snacking too much so that eating too much won’t compound the fact that I’m not burning off the excess as much as I should be.

You may be in a position though where you can ask your doctor what sort of light activity you can do, so that you are not stuck having your muscles sit there and atrophy while your body heals itself. He or she may suggest some sort of slow walking, or maybe just spot conditioning, like maybe sit ups would be ok, but leg lifts would not.

You do want to be careful not to aggravate the surgery site, so it’s important to get your physician’s take on what is excessive and what is considered ok and safe to do when you’re recovering from major or minor surgeries or traumas. If you get lucky, maybe the doc will ok slow walking on the treadmill! That would be great for me at this point!

It has long been suspected that exercise is one of the biggest variables in keeping people mentally alert and “sharp” into their older age. I know for my 84 year old grandma, keeping active has been one of the keys to her continued mental sharpness and sense of well being. Even though she doesn’t “work out” per se, she is always up and around doing things, moving, going out with her friends, and running her home dog grooming business.

There is never really a dull moment for her, and hence her mind has stayed mentally sharp and focused. It’s those that do not keep busy and active that tend to start to lose this mental sharpness earlier, for lack of physical and mental stimulation.

Even take me for example. I’m a 33 year old woman, and at work, before I go to the gym for the day, which is typically early afternoon, I typically experience a mental fog at about noon. Once I go to the gym and workout, my mind and body are rejuvenated and revitalized and I feel mentally ready for new challenges and to think critically, which is important on the job.

Exercise not only helps deliver enorphins to the brain, which are a stimulation of sorts, as well as a mood elevator, but it keeps the brain active by coorinating the muscle movements and endurance necessary to complete a workout. Think of your brain as sort of a muscle - it’s a “use it or lose it” scenario, same as mentally exercising your brain, you must also physically exercise the body that supports the brain for long term mental sharpness.

I’ll admit, I’ve gotten very behind in offering some of the most important home exercise equipment reviews that I wanted to when I first started this online fitness info magazine, but I’m trying to catch up and make good on some of those reviews now, so readers can get a better idea of what they’re looking for, especially if they choose to buy online.

Buying exercise equipment online can often be beneficial because many times you can get free shipping, and before you buy, you can often read reviews from other customers who have purchased the exact same piece of equipment, and see what their experience has been thus far with it so you know what you’re in store for, and what you want to spend your hard earned money on.

So, in keeping with my promise, very soon to come are recumbent bike reviews. What is a recumbent bike? Well, it’s the bikes where you kind of lean back in your seat a bit, and you can set the resistance to your liking. They’re actually fairly comfortable, and they’re not like the traditional “spinning” exercise bikes, because you can’t really stand up in them.

I like the fact that the recumbent bikes don’t seem to build up the quadricep muscles too much, which can be an area of concern for other women as well. So, read our new recumbent bike reviews when they are available if you’re in the market for one, and save yourself some time and a headache.