For additional health benefits not provided by aerobic exercise, it is recommended that most adults perform regular muscle-strengthening or resistance training.  What is considered “regular”? The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans state that adults should perform muscular strength and endurance activities on a minimum of 2 days per week (Haskell, et al, 2007). On each of these days, individuals should perform 8 -10 exercises with 8 -12 repetitions. During these exercises, individuals should work against resistance, which can come in many different forms including body weight, resistance bands, dumbbells, barbells and many other apparatuses. Using elastic resistance bands, or one’s

When thinking of bad knees, the term osteoarthritis often comes to mind. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative condition of the cartilage of synovial joints, commonly affecting the knee joint, and is relatively pervasive in society today, including in those with an athletic and active lifestyle. While athletic activity does not have a cause and effect relationship with osteoarthritis, traumatic injury often resulting from athletic pursuits can increase the likelihood of its occurrence, which I think may explain the issues that have plagued me and my knees. Currently I have been able to manage the effects of osteoarthritis and have been able

While much of the nation still has snow on the ground, I have already begun making preparations for my springtime garden here in Dallas, TX. As I began getting the soil ready for planting, I found myself even huffing and puffing a little bit as I turned the soil. I also found myself squatting down and standing back up enough times to make me curious how much physical activity and benefit I was getting during my gardening adventures. As you are probably aware, physical activity is important for our health and may also be important for maintaining, or decreasing, bodyweight.

As you jump into the New Year, along with your New Year’s resolutions, consider adding changes to your exercise routine to keep it fresh and new. Recently we discussed what the effect of just changing your music can have on your workout in the article “Singing the Workout Blues.” While changing your music takes very little effort, changing your routine may take a little work but often it is well worth the effort. One possibility is to add in plyometric training which is basically jump training. Plyometrics can easily be incorporated into your exercise routine as long as you have

As I finish my preparations for the Dallas Marathon this coming weekend, I am looking forward to seeing the results of all my training. As you can probably imagine, that training has burned a large number of calories, and I still have some more to burn come race day!  As we have shared previously, during the Denver Marathon over 34 million calories were burned during the race. WOW! Of course those weren’t by just one person, and calorie burn varies by a number of factors, one of which is weight. If you are curious, click here and you can do

The metropolitan area of Minneapolis-St. Paul claimed the crown as the fittest metropolitan area in the country in 2012 according to the annual American Fitness Index.1 The report reflects a composite of community indicators for preventive health behaviors, levels of chronic disease conditions, access to health care, community supports and policies for physical activity.

No I didn’t say midlife crisis. But speaking of crisis, there is new evidence to help avoid the crisis of dealing with chronic diseases such as congestive heart failure, ischemic heart disease, stroke, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and colon and lung cancers in the later years of life after age 65.

The 2012 Summer Olympics have proven once again to have some amazing battles, swimming included. Many races came right down to the wire with each swimmer going to full exhaustion during the race.

Engaging in regular exercise provides a 6 to 10% wage increase according to a study by the Journal of Labor Research.1 Sign me up!! The study utilized information from a database of over 12,000 individuals who were in their prime working years of age 33 – 41.

“Whew, I made it here. Now with all of these choices, what should I do first?” It almost sounds like you could be at Disneyland or Six Flags but I am actually talking about the thoughts that often go through my head when I walk in the gym to do resistance training. Do you ever feel this way too?