Monthly Archives: August 2011

Sarah's Workout Routine

Okay, so now I really do have to start saving, because I want a Precor EFX 556 Elliptical at home, rather than having to go to the gym to use it. The gym isn't bad, actually it’s fine, with TV’s you can watch and a track and a basketball gymnasium—although there isn't a pool. And everything seems clean enough. But the stuff I need to take with me there, and keep on me, is crazy. Bottled water, my keys, my cell phone, my reading glasses (I can’t read some of the controls without them), driver’s license, my gym card, my Ipod, a few hard candies, my tissues. . . My pockets are stuffed full. If I were at home, this wouldn't be a problem. But I did exercise, and I suppose having a track there is good. It’s a good place to warm up. I did six laps, then headed to the elliptical, and started out easy at level 1, increasing the level every 7 minutes, till I got through level 4 for only 5 minutes, then went back down to 1 to finish off. It felt lik

Sarah's Health & Fitness Blog #1

So, my husband had to have a triple bypass—took veins from his legs and chest, cut him open and filled his chest with ice, held his heart in their hands, and made him all better. I tell you the gruesome details because this is certainly an eye opening event, and keeping one’s heart healthy is of utmost importance. He’d had three small heart in his thirties and early forties, (quit smoking after the first one, and began to eat healthy food, and hiked a lot—but that didn’t do enough). Working your heart, and keeping your blood pressure low, are just as important as eating healthy food. After the surgery they sent him to rehab, which was basically a room with treadmills and exercise bikes—and doctors and nurses who would hook him up to monitors to watch his heart beat, etc. They had him spend twenty-two minutes on the treadmill

Why Don't People Use Rowing Machines Anymore?

Did you know that Indoor Rowing is a sport? If you didn't don't feel bad, 94% of the people we surveyed did not know that indoor rowing was a professional sport either. At the end of the day, most people do not think of using a rowing machine when thy begin their daily exercise routine. Not too long ago, the common denominator held by most fitness equipment enthusiasts, was the fact that they all had a rowing machine at home, that they could count on whenever they got the urge to workout and people were really into using their fitness rower to shape up. Underneath the bed. In the closet. Upstairs in the attic. Surely somewhere in your home, there used to be a rowing machine and it was there for anyone in the family to use. What happened between then and now? After all, rowing machines still provide an excellent total body workout and they are one of a few

Use Exercise to Relieve Stress

Protect your body from the stresses that build up over time at work. You promise your boss that you will do your job efficiently, but what do you promise your body? There is nothing worse than letting your health deteriorate while you sit back and watch your belly grow because you do not give your body the same attention that you give that stack of white papers in your office. If you are that person, stop what you are doing and really try to understand how important exercise it for human beings. You need to go for a hike. Take your favorite cousin on a camping trip. Go on a long bike ride. Promise your body that you will give it the attention and care that it needs. Promise your knees, hips and ankles that you will purchase a treadmill with a gym quality shock absorption system that will not let your joints suffer. Make a deal with your heart that you will buy a treadmill

Hate Working Out at Crowded Gyms? Here's the Secret to Faster Weight Loss!

Gym members have to exercise their patience as much as anything else when they go to the gym these days. Tempers can flare up from prolonged waiting for your favorite treadmill or elliptical. Not only is waiting to use fitness equipment at the gym frustrating, but it totally disrupts the flow of your workout, resulting in lost momentum and body cooling. This is one of the many reasons in support of the argument that having fitness equipment at home, is a more efficient way to stay in shape than going to the gym. If you like to use one of the more popular pieces of fitness equipment at your gym, then the odds are, you have spent more time than you would like to, waiting for someone to get off of your favorite piece of gym equipment. Time wasted waiting in line to exercise, should be spent remaining active and keeping your muscles warm

Less Calories and More Fitness

How much food do you consume on a daily basis? Have you ever made a list of the meals you eat throughout the week? I'm looking around the mall and it does not look like too many people are paying close attention to what they eat, let alone actually taking the time to write down on paper what they feed themselves. Not fixing a broken diet can be a burden to not only your personal life, but professionally as well. Associates, potential clients and superiors all question whether or not an obese individual will be able to handle a workload, more than they would question the ability of someone is stellar condition. Why do people have a hard time trusting those who appear to be unhealthy? Well, people who are fat and obese seem to neglect their bodies need for physical activity. Consequently, people think overweight individuals will be unable to take car of them, since it appears that the out of shape individual can not even take car of him or herself. On the other hand, people love to fol

The Numbers Don't Lie! The South and Appalachia are Fatter than The West Coast and Northeast U.S.

Clear cut correlation's between obesity and sickness have been cemented in stone, yet, the majority of us do not take 1/48 (30-minutes/1440-minutes) of our day for aerobic exercise and strength building activity. Regions of the US with the least amount of people that exercise per capita are the South (duhhhh - with all their deep fried, whiz cheese laced, sugar filled, heavy-duty selection of everything ranging from deep fried oreos to pig feet, there is no wonder the lower half of North America is eating more than their fair share) and Appalachia. Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee are the states that have the lowest levels of physical activity time per person. Normally, people exercise during their leisure time, but not in the states just mentioned. In those states, physical activity rates are just below 33%. That means that close to one out of every three people are not exercising during their free time. Well, it is no coincidence that rates of obesity

Our Nation is Too Fat

Maybe you should take a look around the next time you go out to eat. Wow, we are getting fatter by the day here in the USA and there is no end in sight. Will we as Americans ever own up to the fact that it is disgusting that out nation is so alarmingly overweight? This is a real crisis. While half of the world survives on less than $2 a day, we spend far more than our fair share of time and money, consuming food. While hundreds of millions of people starve, we eat far more than we should, all while people who breath and bleed like us starve to death everyday. Stop eating so much. When you feel like eating, eat some peanuts, drink some water and then run on a treadmill. Go burn some calories on a StairMaster stair-climber. Whatever you do, do not become stat...do not let yourself look like the rest of these 200+ pound animals on we see scarfing down Big Macs everyday.