My mom and I recently visited my sister in Berkeley California, and found quickly that it was much easier to just walk everywhere. Not only was it a common practice with the residents in the community because they do have a relatively compact downtown, but a lot of people don’t have weight problems there and just generally look a lot healthier and thinner than the rest of the population, at least more healthy than people in my hometown state of Ohio. So you have to come to the conclusion that a lot of it is because of the way the community is set up.

Of course a lot of it too happens because of the diets that tend to be popular in the whole state of California, more particularly in certain regions of California, are vegan diets and diets that are principally based on lots of vegetables, since veggies grow so abundantly in the temperate state. I quickly found out how easy it was to eat a great vegan meal without missing dairy of animal protein at all. The food their is so tasty and spiced well that you really don’t miss your meat, cheese and dairy at all. That, combined with a more active lifestyle and walking more makes for a healthy bunch of people.

Although I ate quite generously in California, I don’t think I actually put on any weight, and I attribute that to the miles of walking we did every day just to venture out into the town and also just to get out to get to our meals. We also walked a lot when we stayed for a few days in Santa Cruz, which is a city that consists of a boardwalk and lots of fair rides right on the ocean. We walked all day, and periodically would sit down for a meal or to run back to the hotel to clean up, but other than that, we were up and about.

There really is something to be said for being vertical. It just agrees with your body. And the sleep I got every night was great, it was like my body was adequately worn out every night so that sleep came naturally and very quickly, whereas when I’m not too active all day, I may have a restless night of sleep or find that sleep is hard to come by. All in all, I think walking rather than driving anywhere would benefit anyone’s health, and in more than one way. It’s a shame that not all cities are set up for a reasonable walk to work.

If you follow trends in fitness and exercise, then you know that one of the focal points right now is to achieve the most calorie burning potential in the shortest period of time, and oh yeah, also to get that accomplished with minimum impact to your joints and your body.  Well, that’s quite a tall order, and one of the reasons I decided to review the Cardio Cruiser Plus by Body by Jake is because this exercise machine actually happens to satisfy both of those requirements, and it’s so reasonable that you can fit it into your budget a lot easier than buying a huge piece of gym equipment from a retailer.

The shipping on this product also happens to be free right now, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity since so many of us are watching our money right now, to contribute to the future health and wellness (and of course fitness) of America, so let’s get on with the review of the Cardio Cruiser Plus machine.  This machine is a very unique blend between two of the most popular and effective workout machines today.

Those two machines also happen to be my two favorites, which are the recumbent bike, where you lay back and pedal, and you also happen to be drenched in sweat when you’re done, telling you that although comfy in your position, yes you have torched several hundred calories, and the elliptical machine, which glides gently and doesn’t cause any bumpiness or jolting like other machines can.

Hence, these two machines have become staples at any gym, and you may even find it hard to find one to get on at the gym because everyone else scrambles for these ones too. Well, what if you could get a blend between those two machines for dirt cheap, and use it in your own home, where you don’t have to share the equipment with other eager gym patrons?

The Cardio Cruiser Plus allows you to do all that, in the comfort of your own home, which is why it was chosen as one of our latest product reviews in the world of fitness and self improvement – the healthy and ergonomically correct way, my friends!  Hopefully you enjoy this review, and hey, maybe you’ll even end up with one of your own in your home so you can get that svelte, toned look without bulking up that everyone wants.

I decided to review this product that is a great addition to anyone’s diet if they are trying to build lean, strong and healthy muscle tone.  This product has been the best value I’ve found for those daily, delicious protein shakes that almost feel like you’re being naughty because they taste good, but really you’re adding nothing but lean muscle building nutrients into your body. The product is a protein powder called Muscle Advance, and I feel it is the best value in protein powder because not only is it lean, high quality whey protein, which is one of the best proteins you can use to build muscle, but it has tons of other vitamins and natural ingredients that are good for the body.

It’s essentially like getting a multivitamin, muscle builder, fat blaster, and digestive aid all in one.  They decided to do something really cool with Muscle Advance protein powder, in that they even added digestive enzymes to it, to help you more efficiently digest the foods that are going in your body, so that they waste is less likely to convert into fat, which means more lean muscle mass for you instead of fat storage.  The ingredients, which also happen to include collagen, all work synergistically to help your body provide the protein and cell building blocks quickly for muscle, and to help destroy the processes that create fat storage.

Obviously, you still also want to consume a muscle building diet and one that has little fat in it, but taking a good powder shaker supplement like this helps you to get the results you want in less tme, and this one also helps fuel your energy by the addition of vital energy producing vitamins like B6 and B12.  Users of the Muscle Advance muscle building product reveal that they have more energy, and they also find it easier to build and maintain their muscle mass.

It’s also the best value I’ve found, hands down.  I just about swoon when I go into a chain or independent nutrition store and see what they are charging for these types of powders.  Half the time they don’t even have anything in them other than protein, and this one has that and then some and still rivals the cost of the bare minimum protein powders used in muscle gain. They offer specific formulas for muscle gain and weight gain, so you have a choice between the two depending on what your specific goals are for your body.

I just got back from visiting my sister in Berkely, California. Not only did I have a great time, but I walked everywhere, which I’m not used to doing here in Ohio, where everything is pretty much a car ride away, so I use my car quite a bit, so that was a great workout in itself. Although you would get used to it if you lived there, my feet were aching for a while after I first arrived. I bet the first few days we walked about five miles a day. You know what else goes along with that, sore, contracted muscles. So when my sister suggested some hot yoga, I definitely was excited to try it out.

I’d already done Bikram yoga with her in California on one of my visits, and this one was a little different. Instead of having the temperature turned up as high as it gets in bikram, this one was just turned up into the eighties, so it made you sweat more, but it also wasn’t making you pour sweat allover the place like Bikram.

This workout was much more challenging than the Bikram I had done before, mostly due to the instructor and her challenging routine that pushed your body to stretch to lengths you weren’t sure it could, so there were some moves that I had to sit out on, which is unusual for me, but then again, I’m not a professional yogi, and I don’t practice regularly enough, so it was to be expected.

I honestly thought that it would be one of those yoga classes where I was like “that was it?” but I couldn’t have been more wrong. When the workout was over, I felt a calm sense of strength, and my muscles that had been shortened and constricted from walking were now all mellowed out and totally stretched back to their normal shape and length. She really got the backs of my legs better than any other yoga instructor I’ve had, and I also felt a lot of work in my hips, which I’m not very strong in.

She worked out the abs and core really well, but that was mostly at the end. I think that a big part of the reason I made it through this tough practice with minimum next-day soreness was the fact that the room was hot, which allowed my muscles to bend and stretch more freely without injury of hyperextension. It was at a great place called Yoga to the People, a donation based yoga studio that’s expanding greatly in the bay area due to the awesome concept of donation based participation.

Reading about these findings about music, volume, and the success of your workouts and what you can do or how far you can push yourself, particularly when it comes to weight training, was no surprise to me since I find that it’s totally true for my workouts. What the findings were about when people workout to music was that when one of their favorite songs comes on, and they turn up the volume a bit, they were suddenly able to push themselves further, particularly with weight training, as in they could handle more weight than they maybe usually could.

Not only did the study participants perform a lot better in their workouts when their favorite music was blaring, but they also felt happier. It’s no shock that our favorite music can have this profound effect on us. Music can move you in ways that nothing else can, it can make you happy sad, motivated, or whatever else is in it’s mixed bag of surprises. Music actually acts as somewhat of a distraction when you are doing exercises or weight lifting that are otherwise painful or uncomfortable, and it acts as an accelerant for your adrenaline, which also makes most exercises less strenuous and easier to blow right through.

It’s actually not just applicable to weight work though, it’s also applicable to aerobic activity, since cyclist on a recumbent bike were also tested and it was found that they could power right through the strenuous parts of a physical stress test better when the volume to music they liked was pumped up a bit. So, the lesson here is to load your ipod with tons of tunes that you absolutely love, that you know will get you moving, and make sure the volume is up a little when the good ones come on for the best, most intense workout you can get. Not too loud though, it’s bad for your eardrums, so don’t forget that part!

You’ve heard it now for years. Take the stairs, it’s better for you than
taking the elevator! But how many of you really believed that taking those
couple flights of stairs would really do anything for your besides maybe
delay your ascent to your job or wherever else it is you happen to be
climbing your way up to. and make you feel out of breath temporarily? I
for one have always believe that taking the stairs has some sort of value,
no matter if it actually helps boost your metabolism all that much or if it
really burns any calories.

My belief is that if you take the stairs, you benefit in more ways that
just giving your metbolism a very small and temporary boost, but more so I
focus on what it can do for you energy levels and over time, what it can do
for your stamina and cardiovascular health. I try to take the steps every
morning on my way up to my desk job.

Even though it’s only a few short flights of winding steps, it gives me an
instant boost in the morning, even if I’m slogging through my day, sipping
on a cup of joe early in the morning, that ascent up the stairs gets my
blood pumping and my heart rate up, and this makes me feel more alert.

Think about it this way. Your brain runs on oxygen. You can get more
oxygen into your blood stream by exerting yourself physically, ie walking
up steps or walking briskly somewhere. When you are exerting yourself, you
are forcing your blood to take in more oxygen, and your brain therefore
gets more oxygen intake, and you feel more energized and better able to
think faster and more clearly.

I take the steps really more so for the therapeutics and energizing
benefits. I know realistically it’s not going to catapult my metabolism
into the stratosphere and make me one of those people who can eat anything
I want, but for me, it makes me feel better, stretches my back out, and
gives me a nice energy boost that lasts a while.

The famous trainer from the Biggest Loser huge hit show on TV, Jillian Michaels, has recently announced that she will be introducing a new line of supplements to the market. I’m a fan of Jillian, as I think her workouts are great, and I think her attitude is equal parts compassionate and kick ass about both weight loss and getting in shape. She herself started off as an overweight kid who scarfed down lots of salty, sweet and fatty snacks, and she has taken what she has learned from her experiences with weight loss and fitness, and shared them with legions of people.

I actually have a couple of workout DVD’s by her, and they are a staple at the house, I do them at least once a week and work them into my program because I find them to be highly effective as well as time efficient, which is really important for me seeing how I essentially have two full time jobs. So, I was naturally interested when Jillian announced that she would be selling diet supplements. I love supplementation and totally believe in it for losing weight and for a host of other problems and health enhancement as well (health enhancement is my favorite part, enjoying great health, skin, energy and more is awesome, and taking a few little supplements a day to get that is nothing short of a miracle).

She has released a diet system that includes a serious fat burner, a detox part, and also Quickstart package which is supposed to help jump start your body into the weight loss process and enhance the results you are getting right off the bat. I’ve read a little about Jillian’s recommendations about supplementation and natural ways to help increase metabolism and energy levels, and even how to get rid of excess water weight naturally without harm like over the counter diuretics can do to your system.

I like one of her recommendations for getting rid of excess water weight, which is combining lemon juice, sugar free cranberry juice, dandelion root tea and water in a drink and drinking that concoction for a few days to help get rid of excess bloat and water retention before a big event or to get rid of water you’re retaining perhaps because you’re on your period if you’re a woman. If you want to check them out, she has her own website which links to the new supplements – of course the website is named after her, so it’s easy to find!