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Archives for July 2008

Weight training training is good for your health!

By Peter 11 Comments

Weight training only for those who want to bulk up?

Ok, the title may be obvious, but how many times have you talked to someone about doing exercise with weights, and get a response along the lines of “Oh, I don’t want to bulk up” or “If i lift weights I’ll just get those big muscles, and I don’t want that!”. It’s a commonly held myth that only body builders should lift weights because otherwise you’ll become a glistening mass of big muscles.  What people don’t realize is that lifting weights can be great for you, and you don’t have to get too bulky if you don’t want to.

Pumping Iron
Creative Commons License photo credit: midiman

I was reading an article over at MSNBC today that talked about lifting weights can be good for you -by building stronger bones when you’re younger, and by helping you maintain bone strength when you’re older:

up until age 30, and particularly during childhood and adolescence, weight-bearing exercises such as jumping and running can help build stronger and stronger bones. After 30, studies show that weight-bearing exercise helps in another way — by preventing bone loss and therefore maintaining the bone strength that you already have.

….

Weight training, because it involves even greater resistance, challenges the bones more. A good starting point is a standard strength program, using free weights or weight machines, that targets all the major muscle groups with one to three sets of eight to 10 repetitions of each exercise. Over time, fitness experts say, it’s a good idea to periodically mix things up with different combinations of sets, reps and specific exercises.

So building and keeping strong bones is something that’s good for everyone, not just people who are trying to bulk up.

Getting back on a weight training program

I’ve been trying to get started on a “standard strength program” lately, but mostly have been doing lower body weight workouts, along with pushups from the 100 pushups program. I think I’m going to slowly be transitioning from the pushups only to more of a rounded upper body workout.

Usually I’ll do weight training 3 days a week.  The first day will be lower body.  Two days later I’ll do upper body, and then two days later lower body again (or vice versa with two days of upper, 1 of lower).

It seems to work pretty good when I’m doing it, and it really helps to jumpstart weight loss as well.

Have you been considering starting a weight training program as well?  Tell me about it in the comments!

Pushups are not happening this week apparently

By Peter 1 Comment

Well, I was planning on doing week 5 of the 100 pushups challenge this week, but every day something just seems to come up and get in the way.  Yesterday we didn’t get home from a gathering at a friend’s house until late, and I was too tired to do any pushups.  Tonight I had softball practice for a  company softball grudge match on Friday.  And tonight I am exhausted – I forgot how much work playing softball can be!

As of right now I plan on trying to get started up again on the pushups tomorrow evening.  Hopefully I’ll have the motivation!

Time for another fitness post roundup, and 1 month review!

By Peter 4 Comments

Site recap

Well quicktofit.com has been live for about a month now, and it’s been fun interacting with all of you out there, comparing pushups and keeping each other accountable.

While the site is still new, I’ve been gratified to find that there are a bunch of other people out there reading my blog, and doing so on a regular basis. The numbers of RSS subscribers and email subscribers has continued going up steadily.

I thank you so much for coming and reading this past month. Here are a few of our stats for our first month in operation:

RSS Subscribers: 45
Email Subscribers: 2 (c’mon people, we can do better! sign up by clicking the link, or the sidebar form)
Visits: 2,241
Page Views: 4,235
happy new year 2008 #3
Creative Commons License photo credit: mugley

Health, Fitness and Sports Blogosphere post roundup

Here’s a few great articles I read this week out in the Health, Fitness and Sports blogosphere. I hope you enjoy them as well!

  • The Importance of Challenging Yourself @ mtbtrailreview.com
  • How to Avoid Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness @ weightladder.com
  • Competition Update! (Don’t forget to enter!) @ irun365.com
  • Beginners Guide to Circuit Training @ lazymanandhealth.com
  • Building My Food Budget – Establish Daily Caloric Intake @ nocaloriesneeded.com
  • Soy Boys: Don’t Panic @ smarterfitter.com
  • What is fit? @ getfitslowly.com
  • Why are we fatter than the animals at the zoo? @ fatmanunleashed.com
  • Seven things I’ve already noticed since I began exercising again @ deflabbify.com
  • Thoughts on Consistency, Loopholes, and Slacking Off @ fit36.com
  • No Long Run, 129 Pushups and a new challenge: Core strength @ andrewisgettingfit.com
  • Three keys to weight loss: Nothing new, just what works @ fitfilter.com

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 4 Exhaustion Test

By Peter 3 Comments

Week 4 – what column will I be doing in week 5?

This morning I was waiting around for some workers to finish fixing a crack in my foundation. While I waited around I decided to do my exhaustion test for week 4.

If you perform 30 or less pushups you go back to week 3 and 4. I was thinking that was the way I might be headed. Up until now I haven’t been able to do more than 25 pushups at a time (which in itself was an improvement).

I got down on the floor this morning and started pushing out pushups at a pretty good pace. I made it to 10, then 20. Then I passed my previous high and kept going. I made it to 30 then 35. I eeked out one more to stop at 36. That’s quite an improvement over week one’s initial test!

Looking at the workout plan for week 5, I think I may be in for a rude awakening. Column 2 (which I’m supposedly supposed to be using) starts out with 35 pushups, and pretty much stays hard the entire time. Wow, this is going to be interesting.

In the interest of having a better chance of finishing week 5, I think I’m going to do column one for week 5. Let’s just all pretend I didn’t eek out that last pushup :).

So starting tomorrow, week 5 of the 100 pushups challenge!

Here’s my progress so far:

100 pushup challenge for Ipod

If you haven’t downloaded the 100 pushup challenge for your Ipod (or other portable device) yet, you can still do so by subscribing to our RSS feed. The download link will appear in the RSS feed. If you have trouble finding it, please email me through our contact page, and I’ll be happy to help. Thanks!

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 4, Day 3

By Peter 3 Comments

Week 4 – will I have to repeat it like week 3?

Today was day 3 of week 4 on my 100 pushup challenge.

Once again it looked tough, so I wasn’t sure if I could do all the pushups. Every time that I surprise myself and complete a set my confidence climbs though.

I was a bit stiff this morning so I did some jumping jacks and running in place before attempting any pushups. Didn’t want to hurt myself just jumping right in!

Today the sets were supposed to be 20, 15, 15, 15, 18.

I made it through the first set of 20 without too much problem at all. Two 15s were tough again. The third 15 was beginning to get pretty tough – and I powered through the last pushup with a small struggle.

Finally, the last set of 18 I went through at a brisk pace, starting to struggle at 15, but finally pushing all the way through to 20.

So today I did 20, 15, 15, 15, and 20. That brings it to a grand total of 85 pushups! Not bad, I’m getting better!

100 pushup challenge for Ipod

If you haven’t downloaded the 100 pushup challenge for your Ipod (or other portable device) yet, you can still do so by subscribing to our RSS feed. The download link will appear in the RSS feed. If you have trouble finding it, please email me through our contact page, and I’ll be happy to help. Thanks!

Wii Fit – Good fitness tool, or just a fad?

By Peter 4 Comments

6066
Creative Commons License photo credit: austinANOMIC

I was over at a friend’s house the other night, and noticed that they had purchased the Wii Fit exercise program.

I’m naturally a bit of a skeptic, so I tend to think that the exercise benefits you would get from working out with a video game would be minimal, but I was willing to look into it further.

I asked my friends for their opinion, and asked how much they liked it. They said that Wii Fit was a lot of fun, and that certain parts of the game did give you a decent workout. But they said that Wii Fit probably would only have a great effect when used in combination with other external exercise programs.

An article on MSNBC.com described the Wii Fit this way:

Wii Fit offers up more than 40 different exercises and activities that are supposed to help those who play it not only get into shape but actually have fun while getting into shape. Fat chance, you say? Well, to spice things up a bit, Nintendo has packaged “Wii Fit” with the Wii Balance Board, which is essentially what you’d get if a bathroom scale and a video game controller shacked up and had a baby together.

The Fit comes with a balance board which helps you to interact with the game. It takes your weight, is involved in the “40 different exercises” and probably helps justify charging an arm and a leg for the game.

The game will walk you through various exercises in Wii Fit program – anything from yoga led by an instructor to running around a track and strength exercises like pushups and squats. Probably one of the more popular ones you’ve seen is the hula hoop exercise game.

Wii Fit

While acknowledging that the game does seem to give you some good benefits in the way of getting you up off the couch, and getting you moving, the reviewer on MSNBC wasn’t convinced that the Wii Fit was in and of itself the answer:

I’m not convinced that much of the experience was compelling enough to make me more inclined to work out than I was before. After all, if I thought real-world gyms were skull-crushingly boring environments, they seem downright titillating when compared to the sterile digital gym you’ll find yourself working out in during a round of “Wii Fit” yoga.  Meanwhile, the jogging mini-game — which had me jogging in place in my living room as I watched my Mii run through tranquil animated scenery – was so tedious I nearly jammed my fist in the garbage disposal just to liven things up a bit.

Don’t get me wrong, the way I figure it, anything that gets people (and by “people,” I mean “me”) up off their couches and moving is probably a good thing. And “Wii Fit” does a really nice job making both a bit of exercise and a bit of gaming accessible to even those folks who’ve never executed a half-moon pose or laid hands on a gaming controller in their life.

wii fit

I’d be willing to give the Wii Fit a try, but I have a problem. I don’t have a Wii, or a Fit! So if you’d be willing to give me your copy, drop me a line!

Do you have the fit? If so, what is your opinion?

Lazy Man and Health talks about his Wii!

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 4, Day 2

By Peter 2 Comments

Week 4 resumes!

Here we are on week 4, day two.  Pretty similar to day one of week 4, but slightly more pushups.

I took the day off yesterday because I had such a hard day having to put my dog to sleep at the vet. Not something I ever want to go through again. (But I’m sure I’ll have to, we have another dog)

The first set was rough today, I didn’t really warm up beforehand, and i was pretty stiff.  The second two sets of 14 were better, but still tough. The set of 12 was beginning to show signs of a struggle. And the last set of 15 was tough- but I eeked out 16 pushups.  So on Saturday I’ll be attempting to finish out week 4. We’ll see if I make it. There is a bump up of 12 pushups in those sets, and that’s a lot of extra pushups!

100 pushup challenge for Ipod

If you haven’t downloaded the 100 pushup challenge for your Ipod (or other portable device) yet, you can still do so by subscribing to our RSS feed. The download link will appear in the RSS feed. If you have trouble finding it, please email me through our contact page, and I’ll be happy to help. Thanks!

No pushups last night. Too sad. Maybe tonight?

By Peter 1 Comment

Well, I was supposed to do the 100 pushups, week 4 day 2 workout last night. Unfortunately I had other things going on.

My 14 1/2 year old dog Buddy had to be put to sleep last night.  You can read all about Buddy and how special he was at my other blog in the post titled, “It’s so hard to let you go. Rest in peace old friend“.

I’ll resume regular posting shortly – and I’ll be doing my pushups tonight!  Buddy wouldn’t want me to get fat, now would he?

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 4, Day 1

By Peter 9 Comments

Week 4 of the challenge is here!

Here we are on week 4, finally!

At the end of week 3 I was able to power out 25 pushups in my final set, which was my new high. Today I am starting week 4 in column one:

That means I’ll be doing 16, 13, 13, 11, 16. After doing day 3 of week 3 this actually sounds do-able!

The first four sets were pretty easy today. I powered right through them without too much problem. I definitely feel like I’m getting stronger. The last set I was able to get all the way to 22 pushups. Not too shabby! Day two looks to be similar to day three of week 3, so we’ll see how that goes. As time goes on, my confidence is rising though!

100 pushup challenge for Ipod

If you haven’t downloaded the 100 pushup challenge for your Ipod (or other portable device) yet, you can still do so by subscribing to our RSS feed. The download link will appear in the RSS feed. If you have trouble finding it, please email me through our contact page, and I’ll be happy to help. Thanks!

Running. Love it or leave it?

By Peter 3 Comments

One thing I used to just hate doing was running.  I would rather die than go running.  Running is hard, it makes you sweat and it always leaves you as a heaving sweaty lump on the floor.

Well that’s how I used to think about it at least.

Since I’ve been working out and trying to lose weight and get fit I’ve found running to be an addictive form of exercise that is crucial in helping me along the road to dropping the pounds.  Once you’ve been running for a while you get to the point where your body craves the running high, and you can’t wait to go running the next day.

What has been especially effective for me is engaging in high intensity interval training (HIIT). Basically what HIIT involves is a warmup period, several short, maximum-intensity efforts separated by moderate recovery intervals, and a cooldown period. The period of alternating effort and recovery intervals typically lasts a total of 15-20 minutes for me.

That staircase
Creative Commons License photo credit: tanakawho

While I’ve come to enjoy running (to a certain extent), I’ve found at least one other blogger who enjoys it a whole lot more than I do.  Shéamus over at Irun365.com is on a journey to run every day for a year, and so far he’s done just that! What are the rules of his challenge? He needs to run every single day for a calendar year, for at least 20 minutes a day. So far he is 50 days into the challenge, and going strong!

Right now there is a competition going on over at Irun365.com for a $30 Amazon gift card. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment, subscribe to his site by email and/or write a post on your own blog about his contest. Not a bad deal, eh?

Check out his site today for some inspiration, running tips and some great writing.

As for me, I’m going to go for a run!

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