Monthly Archives: March 2012

Sarah's Fitness Blog #7!

I haven’t blogged for a while. Quick back story so that in case you’re new to reading this blog you won’t have to scroll down too far. My husband and I began our exercising program because about a year ago he had to have open heart surgery and a triple bypass. We researched all the exercise equipment by joining a gym first—finding out, also, how easy it was to skip the gym when time got short or the weather turned bad. Finally we bought a standard upright bike because my husband liked that the best. I liked the recumbent, but it was most important to get something he would be sure to use. We bought it (thanks, Kings of Cardio!) and we both began a very decent exercise program at home. But then, a month ago, he began to have a slight shortness of breath again, and went back to his cardiologist, who set him up the next week with a stress test, the kind where they make you work your heart to its li

Are Elliptical Machines Better for Working Out than Treadmills?

Elliptical or treadmill? There is a lot of literature on the comparisons between the two, but there are two things that can't be argued against. One, if you really like running on a treadmill and dislike ellipticals, you should clearly use the treadmill. Secondly, elliptical machines, also referred to as Cross-Trainers, are better for our knees, hips and ankles than treadmills are.  When I go to the gym, it seems like ellipticals are more popular than treads. The vast majority of fitness experts and athletes that we surveyed agree that elliptical machines such as the Life Fitness 95Xi and Precor AMT 100i are probably better than treadmills because Cross-Trainers elevate user heart rate and burn calories and at the same time, they do not do harm to your knees and other body parts, like regular

KISS: An Effective and Simple Workout Routine Works

Are you capable of getting rid of those love handles, your excess fat and that lethargic attitude? Most of us are, yet we still fail to give ourselves the best chance of success of getting in shape. So many people just fail to get into the groove of  working out for at least 30 minutes each day. The right approach to building an exercise routine is to KISS. KISS stands for - Keep it Simple Stupid. Simply put, for those of you who are new to exercising, it will do more harm than good if you try to analyze every possible exercise and study each piece of fitness equipment that you see or read about. Instead you should just start doing some simple exercises that are easy to learn and perform. I work with so many people who put off working out because they procrastinate by taking too long to figure out the specifics of their game-plan. For instance my friend told me today that he isn't going to start working out until the trainer who he is waiting to start training him g

Drink Up! Coffee May Reduce Your Risk of MS

Coffee intake has been linked to a reduced risk of several diseases, including diabetes and heart disease.  New research finds drinking coffee also may protect against the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), a disabling neurological disease that affects about 2.5 million people world-wide. Researchers at Kaiser Permanente Northern California studied more than 2,000 people, half of whom were diagnosed with MS. They found people who did not drink coffee had about a 1.5 times increased risk of developing MS. A Swedish study involving more than 4,000 people showed similar results. Researchers evaluated the study’s participants based on their coffee consumption five to 10 years  before their MS diagnosis. “Those who consumed four to six cups of coffee a day had a reduced risk in developing MS later in life,” says neurologist Robert Fox, MD.

Caffeine and brain health