I work with a lot of fitness nuts where I work in a corporate law office. Many of my coworkers are pretty good about getting to the gym, and many of them also happen to be good runners. Some of them even run marathons regularly, which is beyond me, since I don’t have the long winded lung capacity to do that, of course unless I trained more (anyone can gain the lung capacity to do it, it’s just a matter of consistently training for it months in advance).

What interesting is that, since I live in Northeast ohio, many people still will jog outside throughout the winter time, but they obviously can only do that when there isn’t a blizzard outside, icy trails or sidewalks, or some other weather related roadblock to effectively running and jogging outside. After all, jogging and running is better done outside. Who wants to run on a treadmill when they can go outside, where the sights are much more intriguing, and they don’t feel like the proverbial “hamster on a wheel” going nowhere on a treadmill?

The thing about Ohio is that we do get a few short indian summers throughout the winter that allow those outdoor fitness fanatics to get outside and get their exercise on. It’s December (the end of December for that matter) right now, and we’ve already had a few days of spring like weather. It’s hilarious too because you can tell that we don’t get much of that throughout the winter since people will start wearing shorts at the slightest sign of warming.

One word of advice about getting your fitness routine done outside, is that you really need to make sure your warmups are adequate, even more so than when you workout indoors. Your muscles are subject to more injury and cramping when it’s cold outside, so it’s critical that you perform stretching and warming up exercises.

Hello everyone. I wanted to wish everyone on my fitness minded reader list a very Merry Christmas. This has been one heck of a year. We are seeing unprecedented economic turmoil, and it’s hard to focus on the holidays, but I urge you to put aside all your worries about material things and financial well being and enjoy your relatives, your friends, your spouse, your children, and your health and well being. Merry Christmas everyone from Fitness News Magazine : )

Wow. I can’t believe that here we are, looking forward to the new year, which is (gulp) 2009! Did you ever think you’d see years this advanced? I know as a kid even the year 2000 seemed unfathomable, as it does I’m sure for any kids who have spent the majority of their life in a different millenium. It’s definitely interesting to put things in perspective and see how your outlooks have matured.

Now that we are faced with a new millenium, many of us are finding ourselves preaparing for the goals we want to set for ourselves for the new year. Goals like, what do I want my fitness routine to consist of? How often do I want to commit to working out every week – will it be 4 days, 3, or even maybe five if I want to get ambitious? Let’s face it, most of us find it hard to find time to work out and make it mean something, not just “going through the motions”.

One thing is for sure, you certainly have your workouts to choose from. The millenium has not been short on innovations in fitness. You have all types of yoga, which is great for those that like lower key, non high impact and relaxation types of exercise and fitness. You also have the offsprings of yoga such as tai chi, pilates, and a few other low impact yet effective types of workouts that address the whole body and mind, not just getting those fabulous abs or pecs.

My goals so far is to first, lose about ten or fifteen pounds that I’ve been meaning to lose for a while. I don’t need to look like a supermodel, but I have to admit, I look and feel a lot better when I am ten pounds lighter, so there will be a diet involved in 2009. I also know that I need to commit to going to the gym every day I’m at work if I can, which is four days a week since I’m lucky enough to work 4 ten hour shifts a week. Other than that, I really don’t have any new goals. I want to be realistic and know that I have a life, but I also want to make sure that I’m getting the right types of workouts in as well as the right time frames so that I’m using my time effectively.

It occurred to me that back when I was a smoker, I didn’t really have that bad of a time keeping up with my workouts, considering I have asthma and should not smoke in the first place, and that smoking impairs the lungs and makes it much harder for us to process oxygen when we are doing any sort of vigorous activity.

However, I also have to consider that I was of a young college age when my body could take more of a beating, and I also worked out religiously, practically every day to stay in shape, so it may not have affected my lungs as much since I was in the best shape of my life during those years also. Now, if, God forbid, I were to pick up the habit again, my lungs would surely not take it too well and I’d be bending over in exhaustion when I worked out.

Also, the longer you smoke, the worse off your lungs are, and you start to have much more difficulty breathing in the out and getting oxygen you need ot continue to work out vigorously. Your body also doesn’t have the same ability to repair itself as you age, so you may be inflicting more damage to your lungs that is not as easily reversed.

Bottom line, you shouldn’t smoke, but we all know that very well at this point because the surgeon general and every other doctor out there tells us it’s the truth and has been the truth for years. If you do smoke and you are also an active person, just know that it may impact your workout at some point, and your lung capacity could be severely damaged from it if you continue to carry on with this dangerous habit.

Think of how much more oxygen your body will get if you don’t smoke, of how much more effective your workouts will be, if you could kick the habit for good! I probably don’t need to tell you, but you will also garner many more benefits than just a better and more effective workout if you stop smoking.

There are a ton of new, neat little exercise and fitness gadgets and fitness equipment and accessory ideas out there for those of you that want to get something for the holidays fot the fitness enthusiast on your shopping list, and one of them is this neat and innovative new product that may just catch on like wildfire amongst those that love to do yoga. They’re called “Yoga Paws”, and there these little glove like contraptions that go on both feet and both hands.

The idea is that they replace you carrying around your yoga mat. The cool thing is that they are small enough for you to fold up and put in your purse, so they don’t take up much room, and they are of a “sticky” non slip substance so they perform the same utility as a yoga mat, only you don’t stand on a yoga mat, instead you are “wearing” your yoga mat on your hands and your feet, which are the two body parts that you use when you do your yoga poses, and you won’t slip on a carpet or a hardwood or other smooth surfaced floor in these neat little contraptions.

They are around forty bucks, which isn’t bad when you consider what some other pieces of exercise equipment cost, like a treadmill or an elliptical machine, and they are portable, so someone that likes to do yoga could very easily carry them on their person without much fuss when they are going to a yoga class or are taking a video with them to do (like you can do in most gyms these days, most have DVD players and tv sets).

I have to admit, I’m kind of attached to the idea of my yoga mat though. I might be one of those people it would be hard to coax to try this one, although I’m sure if someone got me them as a gift, I’d certainly use them. What’s that saying? Sometimes you can teach an old dog new tricks? Or is it the other way around?

Water workouts are some of the best, most calorie burning and relaxing, seemingly stress free forms of exercise you can get. You burn an extraordinary amount of calories when you swim or do any type of water related exercise that is somewhat vigorous and constant, and the best part is, you do it without even noticing that you are burning the immense of amount of energy that you are – that is, until you get out and a half hour later you’re ravenously hungry!

The best thing about working out in the water is that you do not feel any impact, so it’s great for those who have arthritis of any joint or bone problems, because you are literally almost weightless in the water and you’re joints and bones do not feel any of the impact, and yet you may be working out vigorously, still gaining the benefits of working out, just without all that joint and bone stress.

Another benefit to working out under water is that you don’t realize how much your body is constantly trying to correct itself and stay afloat, and this part alone makes you burn more calories than if you were on land. Think about it – you are swiming against something the whole time, even when you feel as though your slow, strong and long glides through the water are virtually effortless, you are actually using a vast amount of muscle.

Several muscle groups are worked at once when we swim, and because we feel weightless, we just aren’t as aware of it as we would be if we were, say, running or walking fast. Because we are using so many muscle groups simultaneously, and the exercise is so low impact, that’s how swimmers quickly get those sleek, elegantly muscled bodies, ala Michael Phelps.

It’s seems somewhat counterintuitive, but during times of economic downturn, public and private gyms tend to see more people using their gym memberships. Even now, reportedly, which is smack in the middle of the holiday season, gyms are reporting that they are seeing increases in the amount of patronage, which is usually the opposite of what is expected since people usually avoid the gym around this time, and it picks back up as everyone’s new years resolution after the first of the new year.

There are some theories on why, but one of the real reasons is that when the unemployment rate picks up, people tend to use the time they had to work out and get fit again. They may also try to cut back on the foods they’re eating, making for a healthier, leaner body to help them get through workouts more easily.

Also, some people may long to feel healthy and connected in some way again, since they are worried about money and finances. They also use the gym more or work out more to blow off steam, since stress levels tend to exponentially increase during times of heavy layoffs and economic downturn. It seems that having the time to think about their health more really turns people more on to fitness.

I know for me personally, worrying about money and my job has helped to turn me to the gym, and it may have even decreased my appetite for food…..I’m sure this sort of thing applies to more people than me. Make this time of economic worry a time where you can regroup and get in touch with your body and soul again, make it a period of inner peace and tranquility, and take the focus off material items, instead focus on your body.

Wanna give someone a gift that gives and gives for years to come? Buy them a high quality elliptical machine like a, or a treadmill such as a Horizon treadmill or a Proform treadmill, two of my all time favorite brands in home exercise equipment because they’re sturdy, they last forever, and they make it feel like you’re working out in a professional gym because they give the same workout feel and results. Not only that, but around the holidays, especially this holida and possibly next if the economy doesn’t pull itself together, you will be finding some of the best deals- deals of a lifetime on these awesome pieces of workout equipment.

I’ve had my Horizon elliptical for a few years now and couldn’t be happier with it. It’s required no maintenance whatsoever, and I feel like I get the exact same workout as I did when I was working out on a piece of gym equipment that probably costs thousands more. I can guarantee that, like last Chirstmas and the Christmas before, ellipticals will be big sellers.

People love them because they offer a great, intense workout, without any roughness on the joints like some other types of equipment can give, and they also have a reputation for giving ladies the longer, leaner muscles that they want instead of bulking them up because they don’t jolt the muscles and target just one area when they are working out the leg and thigh muscles.

It also strikes me that when I do go to the gym, there are eight elliptical machines, that’s right eight, and you ALWAYS have to fight to get on one, even if the rest of the machines in the gym are empty, this proves that people really like them once they use them and prefer them to add what they need to their workout without adding extra stress to the joints and working out all the wrong parts that they want to get smaller, not bigger.

My personal reason for liking the elliptical machine best out of all the cardio equipment I’ve used is that I have worked up to a point where a half hour is the perfect amount of exercise on one, and I’ve noticed that it’s helped to sculpt down my thighs – my biggest problem area – the quickest out of the treadmill, the recumbent bike and other similar contraptions.

It’s not even officially the holidays, and people are already finding that it’s harder and harder to get to the gym. Heck, even at the gym I workout at, at my place of employment, is pretty much cleared out for the whole month of November and December, and then of course follows with a surge of the New Year’s Resolution people in mid January, already tapering off by early march.

So, why do we find it so hard to get to the gym or to fit a workout in to our daily routine, whether it’s at a gym or not, when the holidays hit? Well, many of us feel that there is just too much else going on, or that we’re eating horrendously anyways, so why not take a break from our fitness routine because it won’t make much of a difference anyways, or other self defeating, spiralling out of control thought patterns like that.

If you find that your routinely just cannot muster up that desire to go to the gym and do a full hour workout or 45 minutes or whatever it happens to be that you do habitually, why not fit in little mini workouts throughout the day? I myself will do some situps, pushups, some of my own yoga type moves, lunges and some leg lift type exercises for fifteen minutes many times when I just don’t feel that a whole get-changed, sweat type of routine is in order, and I figure that it’s better than nothing, plus these little mini workouts give me extra bursts of energy that help me to keep going throughout the day, whereas if I’m just a lump on a log, it’s hard to get motivated to do much of anything.

I think you know what I mean if you’ve ever been stuck in a no working out routine. Try taking the stairs whenever you can instead of elevators or escalators. Heck, even make you shopping trips a little workout by speed walking through the mall or through the strip mall to make it to your next destination.

Try parking far away so that you have to walk a longer distance to get to the store – this stuff all adds up, especially if you’re doing it out in the cold, where your body tends to burn more calories because it is trying to also keep the body warm.

You can sort of tell by looking at the incoming president and his leading lady, Michelle Obama, and of course I’m referring to her thin but fit husband, president-elect Barack Obama, that they are fit people. They have that healthy look to them, and if you’ve noticed Michelle Obama’s trimmed arms, you know that she probably has some sort of fitness routine that she sticks to in order to get those, since upper arm fat is one of the areas where women tend to accumulate their fat deposits.

Barack doesn’t look too shabby either. While we’ve never really had a seriously overweight president, it does seem that our presidents past and current have tried to keep a trim waistline, so as not to set a bad example for their nation, but also so as to not worry people that they may succumb to some of the diseases that people tend to get when they are overweight.

Apparently, Barack visits the gym almost daily, and Michelle also has an early morning routine for getting into shape. I’m glad that we feel like we know this incoming president and the first lady a little better than we usually know our presidents, since they seem to have a healthy lifestyle, but not so much so that it seems daunting. They are a healthy example of what couples can achieve together if they both put fitness as one of their priorities.

Even with the busy schedules they inevitably have and have had for quite some time on the campaign trail, they still found time to fit in their fitness routines, which is almost essential since it helps to bust stress and anxiety (inevitably caused by such a high stress job and campaign), but they also help to set a great example to our nation’s children of what successful people tend to have in their lives.