Well, it looks like Nintendo may have another spin off hit for their super hit gaming system, the Wii. When this gaming system first came out, people scoffed at the idea that game playing based around real time movement on the part of the participant would catch on. Boy were they wrong! The thing about the Wii system is that it’s fun for all ages. You don’t have to practically have a doctorate in gaming to play it and have fun, and yeah, actually do kind of good.

Plus, parents love that it gets their kids, and even them, off the couch and gets them up and moving since you have to be up and moving your limbs for most of the games. The proof of the system’s popularity shows in the fact that it sells out nearly as soon as the stores stock their shelves with the systems, and they even go for significantly more than their retail value on many online auciton sites, especially at the peak of their popularity, when people couldn’t buy enough of them for holiday presents.

It looks like the Wii system by Nintendo has come up with another add-on winner for their system in the Wii Fit. The Wii Fit system comes with a balane board, which is desigend to read everything from your weight and BMI, to measuring how you’re doing at balancing and coordinating certain moves, which is great for focusing on balance, and helps people young and old to focus on their balance, which helps posture.

We actually got one of the free DVD’s for the Wii Fit, just to check out what it can do and see if it was something we might be interested in purchasing, even though we have yet to even buy the Wii system to begin with at this point. It’s a very interesting and fun gaming system and it’s sure to be a sensation already, with stores already filling preorders for the product before it even hits shelves, selling out it’s first couple of shipments already!

The Wii Fit DVD showed how you can do a variety of exercises and fun games that include fitness and moving with it. It includes yoga, balance games, coordination games, boxing, running in a virtual park, aerobics including step aerobics where you use your fit pad to determine how you’re doing, and stabilization moves and muscle workouts with “personal trainers” of the virtual sort of course to help you determine whether you’re doing your moves right.

The yoga feature even tells you if you’re doing a yoga posture right or not, since you use your balance board and it can tell what you’re doing by reading how your body weight is balancing. All in all, the Wii Fit is sure to be a sensation, there’s no doubt in my mind. I have to admit after seeing the DVD, I really wanted one for myself!

In the Beijing Olympics which are coming fairly soon, a double amputee has petitioned and won his appeal to compete in the Olympic competition for sprinting. The man, who is from south Africa, had to have his legs both amputated below the knee at a young age since he was born without crucial bones in his legs that would make it impossible for him to walk correctly unless they were amputated just below the knee, where most patients can walk, and run, with the help of the best advanced prothetic legs on the market today.

The 21 year old may be making a landmark debut, since there was ban on allowing non able bodied contestants in the internation Olympics for a long time. It’s great to see such a young guy going for what he wants and what he truly believes in. Pictures of the man, named Oscar, show a very muscular and athletic looking man, normal by all standard, except that he has prosthetic/mechanical legs below the knee.

He has beat one of the obstacles so far, simply by being allowed to qualify, now all he has to do to complete in the single sprint contests in the Olympics, is to beat or match a qualifying time set by the board that all contestants must meet to be considered to compete for their respective countries as individuals for the sprints. If his gumption and ambition has proven anything so far, I’m thinking this bright and talented young man may just be competing as an individual in our next olympics.

Also, if he by some chance does not qualify with a time that falls into the allowable category for sprints, then he can definitely be part of a relay team without having to beat any times, but that all depends on if the relay team for his country gets picked too. He is very excited that he has even overcome this first obstacle to competing in this ultimate test of physical fitness, and says this is a great step toward equality for those who are physically disabled.

It is increasingly important to get Americans off their couches and moving, along with another obvious need, to get Americans educated in how to eat right and get the right foods in your diet for weight management and organ fitness and health. Well, in another attempt to help get Americans up and moving, there is a new government sponsored fitness test called the President’s fitness test, which is sponsored by fitness advisors to the president.

You can get the fitness test, and if passed, you get a special certification of completion signed (stamped, we’re sure) by the President himself. What? Not money, no free stuff, just a lousy certificate? We kid, of course, but at least the government is showing it has the American public in mind rather than spending all their money on weapons of war and overspending on construction projects and other useless things.

The president’s fitness test will have three separate categories for passing and testing, which include an aerobic category of fitness, a muscular fitness category, and finally a flexibility section, for those of you who love yoga and stretching. All of these are important, and although you may not think the flexibility part is all that important, think again.

If we stay flexible well into our later years, this means that we have less likelihood of muscle pain, arthritis, and other degenerative muscle and joint problems, and may even mean less broken bones since stretching and flexibility makes you more limber all over. In addition to the physical tests the fitness test gives, it also gives you a BMI measurement, telling you what your muscle to fat ratio is, which helps determine your overall fitness and health level and determines what you need to do to get the ratio to an ideal span.

Hopefully this new government sponsored program will add to the deluge of messages being sent now, and that is that Americans need to start taking their own health into their hands and making a difference by working out consistently and getting this vital component to good health in their regimen.

There is almost no better butt toner than taking the steps any time you can. Whether you’re at work and work a couple floors up, like I do, or you’re running errands of any sort of out and about at a place that happens to have stairs and elevators both, you should always opt to take the stairs.

You may think that just taking the stairs every conceivable time you can would not have a huge impact on the size and tone of your rear end, but cumulative effects of exercise do end up having a huge (no punt intended) impact on our rear ends, our cardio fitness, and our energy levels and ability to process oxygen through our lungs.

This further helps with the oxygenation of the blood, which provides energy and adds to the stamina we already have. Before you know it, if you’re taking the stairs every day that you can, and at every opportunity, you will be improving your cardiovascular health and endurance, and helping to sculpt, lift and firm that butt of yours, as well as even possibly helping with some cellulite issues, since taking the stairs increases blood flow, which theoretically should help with cellulite reduction.

I get into work early, so another side benefit I’ve found to taking the steps over the elevator is that it wakes me up and gets me ready for the day. I feel invigorated by taking those couple flights of stairs, whereas if I don’t and I take the elevator, I’m still groggy and tired when I get up to my desk. Taking the steps is a great way to start the day on a good note, get the circulation going to the brain, and help to condition that butt!

I just gardened again yesterday. And no, we’re not talking the leisurely, occasional weed picking and planting some small flowers sort of gardening, but a major overhaul of a very overfilled, weeded flowerbed in our front yard that has Japanese maples and a variety of other small trees in it which spread their leaves everywhere, making it necessary to clean the bed once every few weeks.

On top of that, I had to pull out whole sections of very strongly rooted weeds and bulbed flowers and plants that had spread beyond control and needed to be thinned out. When it was all said and done, I had pruned, pulled and tugged about 12 large plants, and had three very large piles of throw away stuff to prove it. I was wiped out, but most of all I was concerned about my back, which is sensitive to begin with, and definitely can get thrown off by vigorous gardening and all that bending, stooping and pulling, which your back isn’t used to.

So, I’ve learned that to protect my back, I don’t bend over from the top down any more, instead I really try to use my leg strength to help me bend far enough down to be able to get leverage to pull certain weeds and plants out. I also make sure that if I crouch, I’m doing it so that my back isn’t bent in any uncomfortable way.

I also went out and treated myself to new ergonomically designed shovels, rakes, and trowels so that I didn’t have to awkwardly handle any of this type of equipment, which was designed so that a smaller person such as myself wouldn’t have to grip the handle way up high but instead in my center core where my power is, instead of using my back. You can find a lot of this ergonomically designed gardening stuff at Target, and probably Home Depot and Lowes would carry similar items as well.

There are a lot of people, like myself, who are naturally blessed with great circulation. Some people, like my boyfriend for example, have really great circulation, and they can walk around in the wintertime indoors in shorts and a tshirt, while I’m struggling to stop shivering in a sweatshirt and sweat pants and socks.

When people generally stay pretty warm all the time, it usually means that either they have some extra weight on them, or that they have exceptional circulation, which means their blood circulates through their body very efficiently. It circulates to their arms, legs, and their extremities, so they rarely experience cold hands or feet, and they even stay pretty warm during periods of inactivity.

For me, part of the reason I work out in the first place is to improve my circulation. Half the time I wonder what my circulation would be like if I didn’t like exercising, if I was a couch potato who moved around minimally and sat like a bump on a log all the time.

out, the movement of it and the fact that cario workouts get your heart rate up, are excellent for people with bad circulation, and for people with good circulation, but they provide that additional benefit to those of us with poor circulation because it gets our blood pumping into areas of the body that need it more and are less prone to get the blood flow they need, such as the fingers, toes and feet, and for me, even my nose gets cold a lot.

Increasing circulation is one of the reasons I also use our new infrared sauna, because everytime I get in I know it’s making my heart pump more blood to all areas of my body, increasing my heart rate, and yes, warming my extremities from the comfy dry heat. Exercise and saunas alike are thought to decrease the likelihood of circulation related complications, like heart disease, heart attacks and possibly even strokes because they keep the blood moving and prevent disastrous clots from forming.

I just love working out because I feel so exhilerated afterwards, and my whole body feels warmed up and ready to go, as opposed to stiff and cold, like I feel on those days when I just don’t want to get off the couch and start moving. It’s a self perpetuating feeling on those days, and I know that once I get moving I’ll kick the coldness and the stiffness away.

When I go to the gym at the workplace, which I’m constantly thanking my lucky stars to have, otherwise my eleven hour days 4 days a week may end up driving me crazy without a nice little workout in the middle of the day to help me through, I sometimes will split my time between the recumbent exercise bike and the elliptical machines there, just so that I can get a little reading time in without the jostling and movement of the elliptical.

The elliptical is ok to read on, but even though your head movement is limited on it, your head does still move, so your head is bobbing up and down as you’re reading, and the light also tends to shine in different places depending on where your head is at that particular second on an elliptical or a treadmill, so it can be kind of hard to read in the areas where the glare is at those times.

Recumbent bikes (see recumbent reviews for the best bikes) are great machines to work out on, as I do believe that they help to tone the buttocks a lot because of the downward movement of the back of the legs and the buttocks muscles, however, I do think that they have to be split between that and a standup workout machine, because of the fact that you are, after all, still sitting in the end, even if your butt is getting a bit of a workout from the strain of pushing down.

If you want to do some heavy reading, the recumbent bike is way better than other cardio exercise machines though, because you are at a steady stance, and you can read in depth without being jerked around because of the movement of the pedals or of your own feet. That’s my opinion, and actually I just brought it up because a friend of mine asked me the other day how in the world I could read on an elliptical, to which I responded, well I do read on it, but it’s not as easy or user friendly as it is when you’re on the recumbent bike!

I just had the most “luxurious” workout ever, I think. I did a yoga DVD with Suzanne Deason called Fat Burning Yoga, which is about a 45 minute long exercise, and then afterwards, after already being sufficiently taxed physically, yet oddly relaxed at the same time, I hopped in our new far infrared sauna for some dry heat therapy to soothe my already stretched out, worked muscles.

Let’s just say I ended up taking about a 15 minute nap in the sauna, because I had already heated it to an ideal temperature for me, which happens to be about 113 degrees, and the dry heat and the wood that houses the sauna smelled so good, and so natural as I stepped into it. It’s almost like as soon as I step into the dry heat enveloping me, I immediately relax and let my stresses drift away, which is not an easy thing for my Virgo-perfectionist personality and type, believe me.

I guess that infrared saunas are good for after workouts of any sort where there is muscle work, because they help prevent too much lactic acid from pooling around the muscles, which is what causes muscle soreness after you’ve done a hardcore workout or anything that your body is not used to doing on a daily basis.

Because with yoga and other forms of muscle stretching and burning like tai chi and pilates, where you are not physically doing intense cardio, and yet your muscles are doing so much work that you are burning calories anyways, it’s easy to keep pushing the boundaries, because you can get deeper and deeper into the poses as you go, and sometimes you go further than you realize and you feel it the next day.

Since we’ve had the sauna (see the infrared sauna reviews) though, as long as I use it after my workouts, no matter what type of workout it is, I rarely experience serious muscle soreness to where it hurts if I move a certain way. It has also helped my back and neck problems immensely, and I don’t need to see a massage therapist as often, which is good because it saves me money and time.

If you’re a distance runner, running clothes and shoes are of utmost importance for comfort and even to avoid injury. Running shoes are the shock absorber for your feet so selecting the correct kind of shoe is paramount.

When selecting a running shoe, keep in mind what kind of characteristics your feet have. If you have a high arch, you will need a running shoe with a soft heel that is shock absorbing. People with high arches have feet that tend to roll outward. Your running shoes should have neutral cushioning in addition to the soft heel.

Individuals with a flat arch have feet that tend to roll inward. When selecting running shoes, look for a pair with motion control and a medial midsole. This will help to keep your feet stable while running. Those who have a normal arch will still have feet that tend to roll inward, but only slightly. For this kind of foot shape, select a pair of running shoes that have stability and pronation control.

The proper fit of your running shoes is equally important. Your shoes should not rub, slip or roll too much. Running apparel is also a key to comfort and endurance during a race. Keep in mind, you want to avoid chafing during a long distance race. Sweatpants, t-shirts and sweatshirts will inevitably start to rub and chafe at some point during a marathon run. Cotton, although it seems soft, will start to irritate on a long distance run.

Often, when starting a race in cooler temperatures, one is tempted to wear long trackpants and a jacket. Remember, especially for a marathon, you’ll heat up considerably once you start running. The best type of running outfit for long distances is a pair of spandex- type tight shorts and a tight shirt. This will keep you from having underarm and thigh irritation and chafing as the race goes on.

I know, weird title for a post, right? But if you’ve read up on bowel irregularities such as IBS, or Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and other issues with the bowels not moving frequently enough, you may have come across one of the theories that is connected to constipation in people, and that is that people who are too sedentary, or in other words who do not move around enough, are often more prone to constipation. It makes sense if you think about it, because if you sit all day, you are not really “getting things moving” as they say.

I remember a couple of times in my life where I was bedrested for a while due to a surgery or some other factor out of my control, and it always seemed that I would be constipated and have bowel movements that were not “easy” to pass because they were not adequately moved around so they could pass through easily.

There are also other theories that you are not stimulating enough water through the bowels, since bowel movements rely on water to soak into the fecal matter from the bowel walls, and that inactivity also only aggravates this condition. Sitting for long periods of time or older people who are put on bedrest and are only allowed minimal movement are often prescribed laxatives and/or other medicines that help to loosen stool to help it move throught he bowel and digestive tract more freely to produce pain free bowel movements.

Maintaining healthy bowel habits is just another reason for working out and staying in shape - heck, just getting up and moving around a lot will do a world of good for the health of your colon and intestines, as well as for other parts of the digestive tract, all of which benefit from regular activity.