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Fit Tip: Make Exercise Nonnegotiable

FitSugar — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0800

Whether getting fit is a new goal for 2009, or one you've had for years, the only way to make that happen is to keep regular exercise in your schedule. I know when you're pulled in multiple directions by life, work, and family, it is easy to rationalize that you just don't have the time to work out. Constantly making excuses can turn into a bad habit though, so make exercise nonnegotiable. Once you decide your workouts are just as important as all your other commitments, you'll be more likely to follow through. Be sure to set up a realistic schedule that you can meet, and once you've written down your workout "appointments" in your daily planner or fitness journal, stick to your plan. Even if you're a little tired, or you'd rather spend the time baking cookies - make no excuses. Put on your workout duds and get moving, because you know afterward you'll feel proud of your follow through.

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Fit Tip: Trade Your Office Chair For an Exercise Ball

FitSugar — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:30:00 -0800

I really don't believe we evolved to sit all day long. Sitting creates tight hips and hamstrings, causes a tight neck and shoulders, and often leads to back pain. If you suffer from these ailments, ditch your regular office chair and replace it with an exercise ball ($27).

When you sit on a firmly inflated ball, you'll improve your balance and tone your core muscles from your desk. It allows you to focus on keeping your spine long, and you can even use the fitness ball for wall squats or other exercises during the day. Sitting on a ball has also been proven to help kids focus and do better in school. If it works for them, it'll work for you, too.

If you're worried about the ball being too roly-poly, and not having a back support to lean on, then check out Gaiam's BalanceBall Chair ($99). I know it's kind of pricey, but if it can prevent discomfort while you work, then isn't it worth it? To see a video of this ball in action read more.

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Fit Tip: In a Time Crunch, Don't Skip Exercise

FitSugar — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:30:00 -0700

On those days where time is of the essence, exercise can be the first thing we cut from our hectic schedule. In the future, make your appointment to the gym or to run outside nonnegotiable and find ways to make time for exercise. Remember exercise does not always involve taking a big chunk of time to head to the gym - it's perfectly acceptable to break it up into smaller chunks of time. Fit in a 10-minute walk here and a 10-minute walk there and before you know it, you've managed to squeeze in at least 30 minutes of activity into your busy day.

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Fit Tip: Keep a Diet and Exercise Journal

FitSugar — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:30:00 -0800

Now that it's December and 2008 is only a couple weeks away, I'm sure New Year's resolutions are on your mind. Many people have the general goal to be fit, or to exercise more, but they are not quite sure how to make that happen.

Might I suggest keeping a diet and exercise journal? Keeping track of what you eat and how much you exercise can really help you stay on top of your goals. It pays to be organized. You can also write down your fitness- and health-related New Year's resolutions. Most importantly, you can write down your successes, too, like how much weight you've lost, or how you can run 20 minutes straight.

I like to use a blank book like this Moleskin Sketchbook ($16.95), because it allows me to write freely about anything I want. If you need a little more organization, you can get a BodyMinder Workout and Exercise Journal ($10.17), so you can keep track of all the details of your workouts, like how much weight you're lifting or how many reps you've done that day. If you love coloring, you could also get the Streamline Colors Fitness Journal ($7.95). It's a calendar that is color coded, so each day that you take a walk, you can color the box in yellow. If you do weight training, put in a dot of red. It's a creative and visual reminder to help you get moving. Sounds like a great gift idea for the health nut in your life (and you can even add it to your Christmas list).

Exercise, Weight Loss, and the Fat Burning Zone

FitSugar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:50:01 -0800

Much has been made of late about exercise and its relation to weight loss. There was the Time cover story The Myth About Weight Loss and a recent article on the topic in the New York Times, which recommended working out in the fat burning zone.

You see the phrase on all types of cardio machines: the fat burning zone, aka the "weight loss zone," means working out at a lower intensity to burn fat as fuel. But these workouts also burn considerably fewer calories. I was confused about how we should all be spending our cardio time, so I took my questions to exercise physiologist Jason Karp, who also happens to be an avid runner.

When I asked him if we should all be scaling our workouts back and aiming for the fat burning zone, Karp explained that it's not the type of fuel your body is burning, but the overall calories that count. "It doesn't matter if you're using fat or carbohydrates. In order to lose fat from your waistline you don't have to be using fat as fuel during workout," he said. He offered up the example of sprinters; they don't train in the fat burning zone, but they're mighty trim in the torso. Losing weight comes down to math - you want to be in a calorie deficit to shed pounds and body fat. Higher intensity exercise puts you at a higher burn rate. To burn the most calories in a cardio workout, skip past the fat burning zone and work out with more intensity. To really burn up calories, Karp recommends intervals. To learn why, read more.

Essentially, interval workouts give you the most bang for your sweat buck. Karp explains that with "intense exercise you're pushing your body more out of homeostasis," that is, the equilibrium of energy the body prefers to maintain. During the few hours after an interval workout, the body must go through a recovery period, and a lot needs to happen to return to the body to pre-exercise levels. "You've got to drop the heart rate, synthesize glycogen for the muscles, remove lactate from muscle and take it to the liver," says Karp. All these actions require energy, which raises the metabolic rate for many hours after exercising. Thirty minutes of exercise at a low intensity doesn't place nearly as much stress on the body as intervals, so you burn fewer calories both during and after the workout.

Before you hit the track and start running intervals, Karp recommends building a strong cardiovascular fitness base and working with a trainer for guidance. Even if you're not ready for sprints, play with your speed during your next cardio session. Slow and steady might win the race, but intervals will burn more calories.

Source: Flickr User pistoldrawn

When Did You First Start Working Out?

FitSugar — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:30:03 -0800

A little workout nostalgia - I was just thinking back to when I first started exercising, thanks in large part to my dad. Outside of required gym class or a sports team, I was trying to remember when fitness became important to me, and landed right at about eighth grade.

Around the end of middle school, beginning of high school, I started to pay attention to other girls and the way my own body was shaping up. At the same time, I was being exposed to new ways to work out. During high school, I was offered the choice of a regular P.E. class, or a semester of yoga and Pilates. I chose the latter and have been hooked ever since. Additionally, my dad used to ask me along to his training sessions at the gym, where working with his trainer helped to give me a better understanding of fitness and what I could do on my own to stay healthy.

Since then, I've made a conscious decision to keep myself fit - a lifestyle choice that I attribute to such a great introduction to working out during my early high school years. Obviously fitness is important at any age, but I'm curious, when did you first get into a fitness routine?

Why Exercise Won't Help You Lose Weight . . . Sort Of

FitSugar — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:00:36 -0800

There have been a lot of reports in the last year confirming that contrary to popular belief, not all exercise leads to significant weight loss. If you want to shed pounds, it mostly comes down to diet. It’s no surprise that changing your diet can help you lose weight, but for decades, many people believed that exercise was the best pathway to a slimmer, fitter you.

Today the New York Times added to the news that exercise doesn’t significantly aid in weight loss by reporting the results of an exercise and obesity study. The study followed a group of 58 obese individual who underwent three months of supervised aerobic activity but didn’t change their diets at all. And while the group lost an average of seven pounds, many participants barely lost three.

I admit that when all of these studies started coming up I was a little shocked, but it turns out that high intensity workouts mainly burn carbs, not just fat.

To hear what type of exercise may maximize fat loss, read more.

The article explains: "'The message of our work is really simple,' although not agreeable to hear, said Edward Melanson, PhD, the lead author of the study. 'It all comes down to energy balance,' or, as you might have guessed, calories in and calories out. People 'are only burning 200 or 300 calories' in a typical 30-minute exercise session, Melanson points out. 'You replace that with one bottle of Gatorade.'"

Fat loss can be maximized, but it’s a matter of how you approach your workout. To do this, work out at a lower intensity in your fat-burning zone, which is 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. For most people this zone falls between 105-134 beats per minute. Melanson’s study also found that once weight is lost from reduced calorie intake, exercise might prevent it from coming back by resetting metabolic pathways that stop the body from wanting to store fat.

The research is interesting, but should not dissuade any of us from our fitness goals. The benefits of exercise reach far beyond weight loss - it helps the brain function better, reduces stress, creates a toned body, and is important for healthy heart function.

No Equipment Necessary: Balancing Windmill

FitSugar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:47:10 -0800

Squats are essential in your strength-training tool belt if you want to tone your booty and thighs. Here's a variation that will also challenge your sense of balance and strengthen your core.

This is a four-part exercise. To see all the moves and learn the details on doing this exercise keep reading.

Fit Tip: Hydrate Before You Exercise

FitSugar — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:00:00 -0700

While the debate on the merits of eight daily glasses of water continues, we know one thing for sure, nearly every cell of the human body contains water. Without water, cells don't function properly and they certainly don't function to their full potential during exercise. This is why it is important to hydrate before exercise.

In a recent study, physiologist Dan Judelson, PhD, observed that dehydrated exercisers completed three to five fewer reps per set, during strength-training sessions. Dehydration lowers hormone levels necessary for strong muscles. One to two hours prior to your workout, Judelson recommends drinking an ounce of water for every 10 pounds of body weight. If you weigh 120 pounds, you should drink 12 ounces of water before hitting the gym. Don't forget to sip water during your workout and drink enough to replenish the fluids your body lost through sweat.

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Fit Tip: Hydrate Before Exercise

FitSugar — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:00:00 -0700

At my gym, you are required to bring water to a spin class, because an hour of profuse sweating means you are going to have to sip regularly to stay hydrated. But here's a thought: Make sure you start you workout well hydrated. This will seriously improve your performance and help your precious bottle of water last a little longer during your workout.

To do this you need to stay hydrated during the nonexercise times of your day, and if you exercise daily you will be drinking more than the average sedentary Joe or Jane. Lance Armstrong's coach Chris Carmichael recommends drinking around a gallon of water a day – that's 128 ounces – not including the fluids you drink while exercising. If you are planning on sweating later, go ahead and drink up now.

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