Healthy B.P.M.

Martial arts is a great way to get your kids into the fitness mode. The cardio and strength workouts prior to the disciplined ‘kathas’(sequence of movements) that entails karate help a child’s overall development and helps in boosting confidence levels. Self defense techniques are motivating and I personally feel that every child should learn how to defend himself or herself. That will improve overall health, fitness and confidence levels.

This article gives you a different take on karate and fitness. Don’t expect to be a Bruce Lee with karate sessions thrice a week. There’s a lot more to Bruce Lee’s chiseled body. He spent a large amount of time on heavy physical work outs. For him exercise was a way of life and martial arts a discipline that he worked on endlessly.

Read this to find out how karate is being used as method to instill discipline and fitness.

karate, Bruce Lee, fitness

Sometimes the weight can be embarrassing. Think about it. Overweight exercisers have to deal with joint pain, flabby thighs and heavy chest. It’s difficult to focus on your exercise when you still haven’t dealt with your self-perception issues.

Especially for women, gym wear and swim wear are really problematic. Try to get the loosest gym clothes that you feel most comfortable in and wear a swim dress instead of a swimsuit. Spandex leggings help if you are on the heavier side and prevent thigh chafing . For a heavy chest, a supportive sports bra helps. In case of men, stick to loose-fitting clothes.

Avoid jumping and other vigorous exercises and start with simple workouts that include walking,swimming and cycling. Tone your body before you get into the serious workout as that way you avoid unnecessary injuries.

This article is a godsend for people who have these kinds of problems.

obesity, swim wear, spandex, sports bra

If the average woman spends an average of 31 years on a diet, then women must be spending an average of six months dieting every year.Read this article.

As a result women admit dreaming more about food while they are watching their weight. And more and more women scrap their dieting plans after they start them. The funny thing is that dieting hasn’t changed obesity demographics….it’s only increased it.

So much for one-stop fad diets.

obesity, fad diets

One of my readers,Teresa, asked me which should be done first:cardio or strength training. Health experts are divided on that issue. It would be better if you could do cardio and strength training at two separate times in the day. If you have no time, prioritize your workout schedules. The problem with doing strength and cardio training at the same time is that if you do cardio first,you won’t be able to put in that endurance for strength training and vice versa.

Read this article.

More here.

cardio, strength training, fitness

Instead of blaming technology for turning children into couch potatos, teachers have started tapping into video games as a fitness resource. Games like Dance Dance Revolution and EyeToy: Play are fun ways for kids to work out.

Dance dance revolution has players dancing on a series of lighted panels; so you are literally dancing on your feet. Eyetoy,via a mounted camera, puts the player on screen.The games are pretty hard and take up a lot of energy. Kids love the interactive process and all the hi-tech wizardry associated with it.

Read this article.

Another article to fuel your interest here.

dance dance revolution, eyetoy, couch potato

There are many fun ways for you to stay fit. I mentioned skiing in one of my posts. Another sport that offers you a great deal is golf.Fitness is an essential component of the game and contrary to the claims of golf being primarily a mental game, golf needs a high level of fitness and endurance. This game has no age limits and is a great way for senior citizens to stay agile and develop friendships too.

Consider the game. Playing a round of 18 holes takes around four hours and don’t forget the clubs you have to carry. So before you take on golf as an activity make sure that you are fit. Playing golf requires strength training that targets specific muscle groups like the arms, wrists, back, trunk, legs, hips and ankles. Walking helps too. Before the game, make sure that you warm up to avoid any chances of injury.

Check out the Ultimate Golf program, which combines exercise with training for golf. Tone your body with the swing!

golf, swing, fitness, skiing

Nothing beats a good music work out and Punjabi music provides enough beats for a good dance. Sarina Jain’s Masala Bhangra Workout album on DVD mixes traditional Punjabi folk dances with fitness moves. What is Bhangra? Well it’s total fun in Indian Punjabi style. Having started off as a traditional dance celebrating the harvest, today Bhangra has spread its tentacles all over the world.

For more on Bhangra as an exercise mode, click here.

Punjabi music, bhangra, bhangra aerobics

Pole dancing as a fitness routine? There’s more to the pole than nudity and strip teasing. Polverised, a pole fitness studio in Albury, caters to girls who want to be fit in a a more innovative way.

Like any other fitness routine, pole dancing requires strength training and exercise. When you wrap yourself around the pole, you have to be flexible and be able to handle your body weight. Pole dancing results in toning from the neck to the ankle.

Pole manufacturers have reported a surge in pole sales since more and more fitness clubs have introduced this innovative method of having fun and doing exercise in their fitness schedules. Some women even have it fixed in their homes, so that they swing around when they feel like it.

For the more adventurous, pole dancing offers you and your partner a dose of silly fun on the weekends. For those of you who are sick and tired of the gym, the pole tones you up and increases your confidence.

So there’s more to pole dancing than night club fame and lap dancing, isn’t there?

Read this pole dancing story.

pole dancing story

If you walk for an hour you tend to burn maybe 150 calories, but with an hour of skiing you can lose as much as 500 calories. Check out the latest North Beach diet this season!

But before you ski you have to be reasonably ski fit. A daily aerobics routine coupled with some strength training for strengthening the quads and hamstrings will make you ready for the ski slopes. A lot of skiing injuries result from lack of fitness in the first place.

ski fit

According to the American Council on Exercise (ACE), 2007 has a lot of exciting fitness trends in store:

-Less fad diets: Although fad diets are structured and promise results, more emphasis will be on plain sensible eating. Eating a lot of fiber and nuts, cutting down on the red meat, drinking a lot of water and eating small portions will be the order of fitness in 2007.

-More technology-oriented methods:The bodybugg Calorie Management System from Apex Fitness keeps track of your calorie intake. So even if you cheat on your diet plan, the bug will tell you where you went wrong.

-More holistic fitness programs:More and more people are enrolling in yoga and tai chi programs. It’s becoming more and more apparent that the mind and body work in communion with each other. You have to change both if you want results.

-Restaurant policy changes:When New York banned trans fat in its restaurants, it became apparent that obesity control has become a matter of governance. More and more restaurants will be encouraged to provide healthier food to their customers. News just in that Starbucks chucks trans fats.

American Council on Exercise (ACE), bodybugg , yoga, tai chi, New York trans fat ban

A lot of people don’t believe in weight loss as a possibility in their lives. The dissatisfaction that comes with dieting has a lot to do with bad experiences that dieters have had with fad diets,strenuous exercise and lack of support. Surveys have revealed that dieters who followed a diet and exercise plan combined with family support had better weight loss results than people who followed alternative dieting regimens, focused on fad diets, exercised too little, or relied on diet patches,pills and belts.

Weight-Loss Alert is an interesting survey that shows that out that though dieting is in vogue, a lot of dissatisfaction and cynicism has made its way into the dieting life. People go on dieting sprees and don’t follow a constant diet plan. Either they only exercise, or they indulge on low fat foods thinking it makes them thin, or they totally cut down the starch the Atkins way or they skip meals.People have become victims of bogus diet myths and want the easy way out of their problems.

Weight loss satisfaction comes only when you are happy with what you see on the scales. And that happens when you diet the right way.

dissatisfaction, Weight loss Alert

This is one book to look out for.

Bob Greene’s experience as an exercise physiologist and personal trainer will definitely help the sales of his new book The Best Life
Diet. Having helped none other than Oprah to kick off the calories, his advice will definitely figure on any dietomaniac’s shopping plans.

What is this book about? How to lose weight by using a combo of exercise-diet-behavior modification. You'll have to register on this website if you want more information about the book and the new Best life website:
http://www.thebestlife.com/

http://sev.prnewswire.com/books/20061229/NYF03330122006-1.html

Bob Greene, Oprah, The Best Life Diet