New Year's Resolutions That Stick
It's that time of year again. Time to bring out the noisemakers, watch the Times Square countdown, and Google the lyrics to Auld Lang Syne. For millions of us, it's also a time to make a resolution that we'll get fit in the New Year. According to research conducted at the University of Scranton, nearly half of all adults will make some type of New Year's resolution. The top three resolutions are to stop smoking, lose weight, and exercise regularly. Unfortunately, the same research study also indicates that 25 percent of all resolutions will be abandoned after only one week, and another 10 percent dropped after the first month. How do you make your New Year's fitness resolution actually stick? Jazzercise Founder and CEO Judi Sheppard Missett has some advice for you. Check out Missett's tips for sticking to your fitness resolution this year.
Winter Workouts
Wintertime is certainly a season for hot cocoa and fireside chats. But, chilly winter weather doesn't mean that you have to put your workouts on hiatus for an entire season. Sure, it's hard to motive yourself to keep moving when the temperature is cooler and the air is crisper. But, imagine how hard it will be to start up again if you take the next three months off from exercising altogether! Jazzercise Founder and CEO Judi Sheppard Missett offers these suggestions to keep moving in the wintertime.
Ready, Set, Stretch!
The Mayo Clinic lists stretching as one of the basic components of a well-rounded fitness routine. Because cardiovascular and strength-training exercises typically cause muscles to contract and flex, it's vital to stretch those muscles as part of a balanced fitness regimen.
Battle Breast Cancer with Exercise
The month of October brings an important annual marker of health and wellness: Breast Cancer Awareness Month. If you've been paying attention to your doctor or health-related media, you're probably aware of the most important means to battle breast cancer. Self-exams, mammograms, regular doctor visits, and healthy diet are all important components for prevention and early detection of breast cancer. What may surprise you is that exercise plays a vital role during the pre-diagnosis, treatment, and post-treatment stages of breast cancer.
Safe Workouts During Pregnancy
You're pregnant. Congratulations! This is a wonderful time in your life. As you prepare and plan for a nursery, crib, car seat and formula, there may be one plaguing question that continually crosses your mind: Is it okay to exercise while pregnant? Exercising can help to elevate mood and boost self-esteem, while decreasing fatigue and backaches. There's even some evidence that exercising while pregnant can prevent gestational diabetes and build the stamina needed for labor and delivery.
What's Hot & What's Not
Fitness fads come and go. Are you up-to-date with the current trends in the health and wellness industry? Jazzercise Founder & CEO Judi Sheppard Missett has been at the forefront of fitness industry trends for more than 40 years. Missett shares these tips on "what's hot" and "what's not."
Falling Out of Shape
Whew! Life is busy. Before you know it, you haven't been to your exercise class in weeks.
If you're like most women, you're not looking forward to huffing and puffing your way back into shape when you return from your exercise hiatus. Unfortunately, while it seemingly takes eons to reach your target fitness level, it takes sheer weeks to fall out of shape. If you've taken a little time off from exercise, it's important to get back into your fitness routine as soon as possible. The longer you stay out of the fitness habit, the harder it will be to get back on track.
Fitness Reboot
Now that 2010 is more than halfway over, it may be time for a health and wellness reboot. Perhaps you've been faithful all year to maintain your fitness regimen, but you're bored with the same trek on the treadmill, day after day. Maybe you feel like you're in a workout slump, performing exercises with little enthusiasm and even smaller results. Or perhaps you fell off the fitness bandwagon many moons ago, and you just need a kick-start to get moving again.
Surprising Benefits of Exercise
Healthy heart. Stronger bones. Leaner muscle mass. Faster metabolism. The benefits of exercise are far-reaching, and most of us are familiar with the advantages of working up a sweat. We know that exercise helps trim the waistline, tone the biceps, and build cardiovascular fitness. But, there are other benefits to exercise that may surprise you. According to recent research studies, exercise has been linked to increased mental capacity, better moods, and even decreased likelihood for developing cancer.
Burn Calories at Home
Need a little extra motivation to do household chores? Feeling too lazy to trim the rose bushes or vacuum the spare bedroom? Perhaps this statistic will give your motivation a boost. Performing your regular household chores can actually burn more than 50,000 calories in one year. That’s right! Housework burns calories. There’s a reason why it’s called work, after all. In one British study, researchers concluded that the average person walks 22 miles each year by simply cleaning the house. These extra steps translate to calories burned.
Steps to Perfect Posture
A poor posture is not only unattractive, but also causes needless suffering in your muscles and joints. Good posture, on the other hand, decreases the wear and tear on your joints as well as the stress on ligaments that hold your joints together. Utilizing good posture can also ward-off fatigue, since your muscles work more efficiently when your body is properly aligned.
Strength Train to Slim Down
Many women fear that strength training will make them “bulk up.” But, the fear of building more muscle is entirely misguided.
In reality, most people don’t have enough muscle. Adults who don’t strength train lose about one-half pound of lean muscle tissue every year. The loss of this muscle tissue, known as sarcopenia, can begin as early as age 25, then increases around age 40, and increases drastically after age 70.
Why is it such a big deal to lose muscle mass? First off, losing muscle means sacrificing your strength and postural support. If that’s not enough to convince you that muscle mass is important, then consider this fact: Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue. The more muscle that you have, the higher your metabolism. If you lose muscle with age, then your metabolism slows down, and you inevitably gain weight.
Coach Potato Kids – A Global Crisis
The World Health Organization (WHO) concluded a study of 70,000 teens in 34 separate nations around the globe. The results are clear. One-third of children worldwide spend at least three hours per day in sedentary activities, such as watching TV or playing on computers. In the United States, First Lady Michelle Obama has launched the Let’s Move organization, seeking to end the childhood obesity epidemic. New food labels, healthier school lunches, and additional opportunities for exercise are all part of the action plan to promote health and wellness among our nation’s youth.
Treating a Fitness Injury
Ouch! You’ve performed this fitness move hundreds of times, but this time, something doesn’t feel right. You feel a twinge at first, then a sharp pain, and slowly you begin to realize that you may have an exercise induced injury.
Train Like an Olympian
Most of us can only dream about achieving the levels of strength and endurance showcased by extraordinary Olympic athletes. And yet, we just may be able to learn something from the Olympians. There are many Olympic-style training methods that can be adapted into an everyday workout regimen.
Got Results?
Intensity is basically a measure of how hard you are working. Keeping tabs on your intensity is imperative if you want to gain the best fitness results. If you waltz leisurely through your workout, it will only frustrate you in the end, when you see a lack of results. At the same time, pushing yourself beyond your safe intensity limits is a recipe for injury and burnout. The three most common methods for measuring workout intensity are target heart rate, the talk test, and rate of perceived exertion.
Kick-start a New Workout
Jazzercise Founder and CEO Judi Sheppard Missett has helped countless women embark on new workout plans every year. To help you kick-start your new workout and actually stick with your New Year’s resolution, Missett suggests following six steps. |
