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.

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?

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.

Well, we all know exercise is one of the best ways we can ensure minimal health problems, a longer life, a slimmer waistline and therefor lower BMI, and many, many other great attributes, but yet another one is in the process of being proven as to another reason why everyone should be working out. There is new evidence that regular exercise may help those with substance abuse problems to kick the habit, drinking or taking some other form of addictive drugs), or never start in the first place.

They say that one of the reasons for the increasing and worsening obesity problem here in the US is the fact that we can control our environmental temperature so easily and readilly these days. Now, on hot days when our body normally would be subjected to temperatures in the nineties and above, and our bodies would have to work double time to pump out sweat and keep our bodies cool, we have air conditioning to keep us nice and comfy, and keep our bodies not working too hard.

We just took a very long walk last night, since it was a hot summer night (yes, we are already getting those blistering hot days here in Ohio, you just never know what you’re gonna get!), and it ended up being a lot later than we wanted when we were finishing up the last leg of our walk, around 9:30.

Well, this is not as exciting as I thought when I read the headline that the FDA had pushed through new inhalers for asthma patients, since I happen to have asthma myself. I thought when I read it that they were coming out with something that was less heart rate increasing than the currently most popularly prescribed asthma inhaler medication called Albuterol, which is what I happen to be on.

The more I use the balance ball that I recently purchased, and the one at the gym I (thankfully) have access to at my job, it is really growing on me as a way to trim and slim many of my problem areas. Not only is it great for the abs, which is what I primarily use it for, but I find that many of the exercises I use the balance ball for that are geared for my abs are also working my inner and outer thighs at various times.

I’m not exaclty how widespread this problem is, but I have virtually flat feet. This means that I have a very weak, and almost nonexistent arch in my foot. This can lead to a lot of soreness in the back and spinal alignment problems if it’s not taken care of properly, and also can present problems in balance when working out.

We need to get more exercise in this country than we currently do. Most of us think of joining a gym and rigorous workouts with jogging or weights. The fact is that it does not have to be that complex or expensive to become more fit. The simple act of walking for about 30 minutes per day can make a remarkable difference in your health.

Walking is enjoyable and can be done anytime of year. If you can’t afford to join a fitness club with an indoor track, you can join a walking group that walks regularly at your local indoor malls. The buddy system works well to keep you motivated instead of relying on an indoor treadmill.