Exercise

4 Enjoyable Exercises To Improve Your Cardiovascular Health

Whether you want to be proactive about your heart health, or you have doctor’s orders to change your lifestyle, there are ways we can all improve our heart health.

Some people have struggled with hypertension at ages as young as the twenties. While genetics certainly contribute, people can take charge of their heart health before it gets out of hand. With heart disease being the number one leading cause of death in the world, we should all take our cardiovascular health seriously.

There is no one size fits all to fitness, and for those beginning it is important to start slow.

If you have been sedentary for a while and are ready to make a change to better your health, it probably would not be a good idea to start by running a marathon first. Besides, that would be a very discouraging start. Instead, it would be best to start slowly. Of course, consult your doctor before beginning any exercise routine. They can help to determine your specific needs in a workout regimen. In addition, a doctor can check your blood pressure and cholesterol levels to get an idea of your overall heart health. If they discover increased blood pressure and higher levels of bad cholesterol (LDL), further testing may be done to analyze your heart health.

For example, a doctor may decide to run an electrocardiogram (ECG). ECG Interpretation can help to determine any problems with your heart such as arrhythmia, in which the heart beats irregularly. If a doctor determines that you are at increased risk for heart disease (e.g. high blood pressure), they may recommend exercise to help decrease that risk.

Here are a few exercises that can help you start improving your cardiovascular health.

Walking

Several several studies have shown that walking improves cardiovascular health by lowering blood pressure and reduces the risk of heart attack. This is a simple way to get into working out, especially for beginners. Walking is a non-intimidating way for anybody to start improving their heart health. For some extra motivation, find a walking partner so that you can encourage one another in your fitness journeys.

Swimming

Summer is a great time to cool off by jumping in the pool to go for a swim. Although if you’re up for it, there are plenty of year-round gyms where you can take a swim anytime of the year.

Swimming is a wonderful low-impact activity if you want to avoid being harsh on your joints. In addition, swimming is an awesome cardio workout that can burn up to 500 calories in an hour. This is a great activity that doesn’t have to feel like exercise.

Racquetball

If you’re the more competitive type, then maybe taking up racquetball to help get in some cardio is right for you. This sport is an awesome way to burn calories, improve your heart health, and lean into your competitive side.

Racquetball involves coordination, flexibility, and strategy. Several health clubs will lend you some equipment for the day to pick up a game and try out this sport. If you find that racquetball is for you, there are several leagues that you could get involved in as a recreational hobby. Not only would this be a great way to improve your heart health, but being involved in a racquetball league can foster friendships. This way, even when there’s not an official game to play, you could still pick up a game with a racquetball buddy.

Biking

Riding your bike is a great way to get outside and enjoy the weather. If you live close to your place of work, it could also be a way to save on gas money while getting in some exercise.

Biking is a low-impact activity that strengthens your heart and improves your lungs. If you want to keep cycling year-round, stationary bikes are a great option if you’re not up for biking in cold weather.

Here are just a few options to get started, so try them out and see what exercises you enjoy.

Staying active is a great way to prevent heart disease. For more information on preventing heart disease and the factors which contribute to heart disease, check out this New York Times article that explains why it’s important to stay physically active.

Racquetball: A Fun Sport That’s Also A Great Workout!

By Guest Contributor 3 Comments

Racquetball is an interesting sport, more so because it has the strange honor of both being old enough to be established, but young enough that it benefits from at least the beginnings of modern game design theory.

It is also a great way to stay in shape, and fun besides. But where do you begin if you want to start playing racquetball regularly?

Benefits of Racquetball

racquetball for fitness

First of all, you might be wondering what the benefits of playing racquetball are. Being a one on one sport that requires strategy, the social benefits are immense. But from a purely health stand point, racquetball is an excellent calorie burner. In a twenty minute game, you can expect to burn off 600 to 800 calories. It also greatly builds on your co-ordination, flexibility, and cardiovascular health.

To begin playing, you need a few pieces of equipment. The primary piece you need to have is a racquetball court, of course. These can be a bit hard to come by since they share little in common with a tennis court and other sports, but any dedicated sporting or racquetball institution should have one. Our local health club has one that you can use, however, it does mean you’ll have to cough up the normal membership fees in order to use the courts.

The other pieces are a bit more easy to collect, involving a racquetball, a racquetball racquet, and racquetball eye guards. You can play without the eye guards, but due to the nature of the sport it’s extremely inadvisable. Most health clubs will also require you wear eye protection for liability reasons anyway. You may also want to invest in a glove, as rather like golf your grip on your racquet is extremely important and can be enhanced.

You can find most of these pieces of equipment in any good sporting goods store, although some may require a more rigorous search with equipment experts like Yonex U.S.A. who specialize in racquetball supplies. I was able to find some affordable equipment at extremely affordable prices. You can fully equip yourself for less than $100, less if you try.

Racquetball Strategy

Strategy in racquetball can be quite nuanced. The floor, the walls, and even the ceiling can be legal targets for the opponent to bounce the racquetball off of depending on the timing, so a ball can come out of nowhere. As such, the best strategy is to take up the middle court to cover as much ground as possible. This can of course backfire, however, depending on your opponent’s skill level and the strategy they employ. Be open to changing tactics.

Alternatively, if you can get to know your opponents style, you can take a more effective approach and work to block or respond to his usual choice of hits. It’s all about knowing your own strengths, and finding out your opponents weaknesses and attacking accordingly.

Racquetball is a great social sport that involves a lot of exercise, strategy and fun. It can be daunting to get into, but if you do and enjoy it, you will have a life long passion.

Have you played racquetballl, and did you enjoy it? Tell us your thoughts!

5 Ways To Maximize Your Workout

By Peter 2 Comments

Millions of Americans are currently committed to some type of exercise routine. While any regular physical exertion is a good thing, you may not realize that there are a few simple steps you can take to maximize the results of your workouts and feel your best during your downtime. Here they are in no particular order.

Hydration and Nutrition

It is imperative to properly hydrate yourself in the hours leading up to any workout, especially in a warm climate. Having a bottle of water with you during your routine is also a very wise move. During a workout, your body uses the vitamins and minerals within to propel the muscles, much like a wood-burning stove or a coal-powered train. The higher the foods that you consume are in nutrition, protein and other beneficial elements will go a long way toward determining how you feel during and after your workout.

Stretch Afterwards

For decades, athletes got in a habit of extensively stretching before a workout, then simply getting in their cars and driving home once their workout was complete. Over the past decade scientists and trainers have realized that stretching after a workout loosens the muscle tissue and allows the impact of aerobics, calisthenics and reps with workout weights to sink into your muscles, giving you maximum results.

Mix It Up

The number one mistake that athletes make when structuring a workout routine is to do the same thing every time. Mixing up your exercise routine is essential to keeping your body progressing. Folks that do the same routine for months on end will often complain of a plateau phase where they are no longer noticing physical improvements. Mixing up your routine with a variety of workout weights will prevent the plateau stage.

Time of Day

Although mixing the exercise is essential to getting the most out of your workout routine, the time of day that you exercise should be relatively consistent. Work and relationship obligations sometimes take precedent over working out, causing the workout times to vary slightly, but determining if you are a morning, afternoon, or evening exerciser is a good start to getting the most out of your workout routine.

Recovery Sleep

The most commonly overlooked component of a good workout is some restful and regenerative sleep. You may not be in a position to get a full eight hours, but as long as you hit the pillow sober and relaxed, you’ll certainly feel well enough to power through your next workout.

In short, getting the most out of your workout is all about working smarter and not harder. You should also keep an open and observing mind toward what your body is telling you, and feel free to take down notes about things you discover that can help you maximize your efforts.

P90X Update: Sickness Plus Injury Equals P90X Reboot

By Peter 3 Comments

A few weeks ago I started the P90X program. I was primed to start the new year off right, getting in shape and losing weight. I got about two weeks into the program and all was going well. Sure, my eating wasn’t as good as it could be, but it was going OK. I was almost a month in on the program when life happened – slowing down my progress.

Sometimes Life Doesn’t Cooperate

Sometimes when you’ve got a plan and you’re determined to follow through, life just doesn’t want to cooperate. At our house I’ve had a couple of setbacks that have slowed down my P90X progress.

First, we all got sick at our house. We’ve all been sick off and on for the past 2-3 months it seems. One person will get sick and we’ll all slowly take our turns. This time we were all sick for about a week – and for a second week I was taking care of my wife and son who got sick before me. Being sick and caring for others takes a lot out of you, so I just didn’t get any of the P90X program done during those two weeks.

After being sick for a couple of weeks – despite the fact that I had almost been a month in already, I decided to reboot the process and start P90X all over again from the start.

P90X program

Another Setback

This past week I restarted the whole P90X program from day one. Then on the yoga lesson of week one I re-injured my shoulder. I’m not sure what I did, but I have an old shoulder injury from a while back that seems to have resurfaced. I never had it diagnosed, but when it hit it made it extremely painful to do certain exercises or motions. I took a couple of days off from P90X, but continued again with Kenpo over the weekend. The shoulder still hurt, but I was able to get through it.

Yesterday I did the chest and back workout with pushups and pullups. I was able to get through it because most of the motions in the workout didn’t seem to aggravate my shoulder. There were maybe 3 sets of pushups that I had to skip because they were too painful, but otherwise I made it through.

So for now I think I’m gonna continue with P90X while avoiding some of the reps that have motions that hurt my shoulder. If it doesn’t get better in a couple of days I’ll probably head in and get it diagnosed. We’ll see.

The Good News…

It hasn’t all been bad news thankfully. Despite the fact that my P90X experience has now seen a couple of false starts and reboots, I’m still confident that the program will work for me. In fact it already is. Since December I’ve lost about 10 lbs doing the workouts and healthy eating, dropping from 255lbs to 245lbs in weight. I’m determined that this body will never see 250lbs again!

Two And A Half Weeks Down On P90X. How Many More Are There?

By Peter 2 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post on this site talking about how I was considering starting the P90X® workout program because I needed some structure in my fitness life, and I thought this looked like a good program to try.

I got some great feedback from some friends and colleagues online, many of them saying that they had done P90X® previously, and that they highly recommended it. Most of them said the program was tough, but that it was ultimately worth it for them.

With all the great feedback I decided to jump in and give it a shot. I bought the program and was hoping to start the first Monday of the new year. Unfortunately our family had a flu bug and I ended up getting sick as well. I pushed back my start date one week.

P90X program

Getting Started On P90X – Bring It!

I finally got started on P90X® one week into the new year. The day before I started I did the fitness test to make sure that I was “ready” to do the program. Most of the things I didn’t have much problem with, but a couple of them, including the pull ups and push ups, I struggled with a bit. I did enough to be OK to start the program, however.

Week One Of P90X

That first night doing P90X® was a bit of a struggle, but I managed to make it through that chest and back routine. What was involved? A whole lot of pushups and pullups. The first week I did actual pull-ups, aided somewhat by a chair as beginners were instructed to do in the video. The two following weeks I had actually purchased these resistance bands (highly recommended – good quality), and used those for the pullup portions instead. The pushups have been tough as well, and during some reps I’ve had to go from my knees – especially in later rounds. I especially hate the decline pushups, and have failed on those a couple of times.

The following nights of the first week were also tough. I was still struggling with that initial soreness that you get after you haven’t worked out for a while, and it was tough doing the plyometrics, shoulders and arms, and other workouts when I was so sore.

Week Two Of P90X

The second week was still tough, but I wasn’t quite so sore – which made it easier. Our family also had another bought of the flu pop up (again!), and so I was only able to workout 4 out of the 6 days because i was busy taking care of the family. My eating wasn’t nearly as good week 2 either. I had some nasty food (as Tony Horton would say), and I think that wasn’t helpful in my weight loss goals.

Another thing that I noticed was that while doing the P90X workouts you are working hard most of the time. They give you chances to catch your breath during the workout, but you’re always sweating and huffing and puffing. I have never been as drenched with sweat as I have been after doing these workouts – even and especially the yoga workout. Make sure to bring a towel!

Week Three Of P90X

With the first two weeks in the bag (with mixed results), I started week 3 on Monday of this week. It does seem like I’m slowly starting to be able to do a little bit more in the exercises, and without quite as much soreness afterwards the next days workouts are easier to complete.

Week three I also started doing the workouts in the mornings, getting up early so that I could complete them before going to work. After doing it for 4 days this week now I have to say I prefer working out in the morning because you feel good all day, you get it out of the way and then you can relax at home at night.

Today I did the yoga workout and had to cut it a bit short because I got up late – and the yoga workout is almost an hour and a half long. Tonight I’ll either finish that or do some other form of exercise.

P90X So Far: Tough But Worth It

So I’m just over 3 weeks into the P90X program, and I have to say – it is tough! I’m not sure I’ve ever sweated this much or worked this hard since I was in high school football. The workouts are tough, but you can feel your body getting stronger. I’m still fudging it a bit on some of the exercises, especially the pushups, but I’m getting better every week.

Now that I’m almost done with 3 weeks, I really think that I can stick with this for the entire 90 day – I can do this!

Are you considering starting P90X as well? Have you already started – or completed a round? Tell me about it in the comments!

How To Exercise While On Vacation Or On The Road For Work

By Peter 1 Comment

One thing that can be extremely difficult to do is continue exercising or working out while you’re on the road. Often the places you’re staying may not have adequate workout facilities or weights that you normally work out with.

What is a person to do when there just aren’t many great options for exercising? It’s time to get creative!

how to exercise when traveling

Exercising On The Road – Get Creative

When you’re on vacation or on the road for work it can be tough to maintain a regular workout schedule. If you plan ahead, however, it can be done.

So what are some things you can do to make sure you maintain your regular healthy lifestyle while on the road?

Stay at a hotel with workout facilities: When you’re booking your hotel make sure that they offer some sort of a workout facility with weights, treadmills and so forth. Most hotel booking sites will make a note of hotels that offer those types of amenities.
Go running: One thing you can always do even if your hotel doesn’t have a treadmill is to go running in the area that you’re staying. It can be fun to go out and see the area where you’re visiting – and see it early in the morning before things get busy. Just don’t get lost!
Do body weight exercises: You can do body weight exercises in your hotel room. Things like pushups, pull-ups, sit-ups or squats. Check out a program like Crossfit.
Bring your own workout gear: You can bring lightweight exercise gear like resistance bands in your suitcase and get in a good weights workout routine. Put video workouts on your ipod or laptop!
Go hiking or walking while sightseeing: When sightseeing do plenty of walking while you’re checking out the sites. Or if you’re in a more natural setting, go for a hike! You’ll be exhausted at the end of the day!
Incorporate fun healthy activities like golf or tennis: Take time for golf breaks and check out the local courses. It can be fun to see a course you’re not used to. Or play some tennis with a friend.
Do Yoga: Yoga can actually be quite strenuous, so try doing some while on the road.
Play beach games: If you’re on the beach at a tropical location, get in on a beach volleyball game or play frisbee on the sand.
Take a bike tour: Many popular tourist locations will do bike tours, or allow you to rent bicycles by the hour. Go out for a spin!
Swimming: Go for a swim in the hotel pool or the ocean. Swimming can be great exercise!

So as you can see there are a myriad of ways to stay on your fitness regimen while you’re out on vacation – or on the road for business. Just get creative and you’ll come up with a bunch of other ways as well!

How do you stay fit while you’re away from home? Tell us in the comments!

Can Playing Golf Help You To Get Fit?

By Peter 1 Comment

A while back I wrote an article on this site talking about how running can be a great cardio exercise, but how there are so many exercise alternatives for people who don’t enjoy running (of which I am one).

Among alternative exercises that we listed:

Doing a workout video
Playing basketball
Rowing machine
Hiking on local trails
Spin classes
Stationary bike
Roller Blading

The alternatives are really numerous and you’re really only limited by your creativity. There are a ton of exercises out there for non-runners.

One of the alternatives that I didn’t list, but that truly can be great exercise, is golf.

golf and fitness

Golf Can Give Great Exercise

One thing a lot of people really don’t realize is that golfing can be great exercise. I think people have an image in their heads of a bunch of old fat guys riding around in a cart and stopping off for drinks and food at the clubhouse. But the truth is that golf can help you to burn hundreds of calories. Playing 18 holes of golf can be about the same as walking 3.5 to 6 miles!

Research conducted by Neil Wolkodoff of the Rose Center for Health and Sports Sciences in Denver found the following statistics:

Golfers who walk and carry their own bag burn 721 calories, golfers using a pull cart burn 718 calories, golfers walking with a caddie burn 613 calories and golfers riding in a golf cart burn 411 calories on average.

So if you carry your own bag and walk the course when you play, you can burn in excess of 700 calories. That’s not too shabby! Even those who rode a cart still burned more than 411 calories by golfing 18 holes.

Not only does golf give you some great exercise, it can prolong your life! A Swedish study by the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports and based on data from 300,000 golfers found that golfers have a a lower death rate than others:

The death rate for golfers is 40 percent lower than for other people of the same sex, age and socioeconomic status, which correspond to a 5 year increase in life expectancy. Golfers with a low handicap are the safest.

They found that those with a lower handicap – those who typically play more – had better health. Also, because golfers tend to golf into old age, they will enjoy the health benefits for longer as well. So start golfing and add years to your life!

Of course in order to enjoy the health benefits you have to be a regular golfer, and not a once every 3 months type golfer.

Conclusion

Golf is another great exercise alternative for those who don’t like to run, bike or do workout videos. It will help you burn hundreds of calories while being low impact and doing something you enjoy (if you’re good enough and not hitting it into the sand traps!)

Next time you may think twice about taking your buddies up on those golf offers because you’re in fact improving your health and prolonging your life. So go hit the links!

I’m Thinking About Giving The P90X Fitness And Nutrition Program A Try. Have You Tried It?

By Peter 2 Comments

At the beginning of 2011 I hadn’t been posting on this site much at all, and I was at an all time high weight for me, over 270 pounds. At 6’4″, I’m a big guy, so the 270 lbs didn’t really look that bad, but I knew something had to change. I wasn’t feeling healthy and I was beginning to feel the strain that the weight was putting on my body.

In January of this year I joined Weight Watchers as a support system to my wife. Over the next few months we both lost weight, and by July/August I had dropped around 30 pounds off of my starting weight. I was ecstatic.

But then reality started to set in. I started getting bored with the program, life started getting stressful and I started to let myself slip into old bad habits. On top of that I hadn’t really stepped up my exercise routine while on Weight Watchers, and I knew I needed to get back on that.

Weight Roller Coaster

This past week I realized that over the past few months I was starting to gain back a bunch of the weight I had lost this year. Frustrating. I know why I’ve gained it back, my eating habits have quickly deteriorated. I haven’t been exercising. I know I need to get back on some sort of healthy eating and exercise regimen.

I’m now at around 255 lbs – still down from my high of 270, but nowhere near my goal of 200 pounds.

I need to get back into something that I can enjoy doing and that will get me moving.

P90X Sounds Intense, But Maybe What It’s What I Need

A few months ago I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn, and he was talking about how he was on a fitness kick. He was doing P90X, an intense 90 day workout from Beach Body, that promises to kick your butt and whip you into shape in no time. At the end of his 90 days, he shared his P90X results. They were impressive to say the least.

…just getting started is the hardest part. At the beginning, it was tough. I could barely do half of the workouts on the DVDs and would constantly drop out in the middle of routines just to rest. One of the mantras of P90X is “Push Play Everyday”, and that’s exactly what I did, and after a while I began to notice that what was once hard was getting easier and easier everyday.Also, I learned that nutrition is more important than anything. What you eat makes up 85% of your results and the workouts and training is only 15%. It sounds crazy, but it’s soooo true.

When I read his results I thought – “Hey, I should try that”! But then I put it on the back shelf in my brain and didn’t think about it again until this past week.

This past week was when I finally realized I was sabotaging all the results I had seen earlier in the year, losing 30 lbs, and slowly getting into better shape. I needed to stop my downward slide and get back into it.

So now I’m once again considering jumping onto the P90X bandwagon, and giving it a shot.

P90X Details

I first heard of P90X years ago when it first came out after seeing it on TV. At the time I wasn’t that interested in it as I was doing another fitness regime called “Body for Life”. While I still think that program is good, I think I need something a little different now.

So what is P90X all about? Here are some basic facts and screenshots from the P90X website:

P90X® is a revolutionary system of 12 sweat-inducing, muscle-pumping workouts, designed to transform your body from regular to ripped in just 90 days. You’ll also receive a comprehensive 3-phase nutrition plan, specially designed supplement options, a detailed fitness guide, a calendar to track your progress, online peer support, and much more. Your personal trainer, Tony Horton, will keep you engaged every step of the way, and you won’t believe your results!

Why is P90X so effective?

The secret behind the P90X system is an advanced training technique called Muscle Confusion™, which accelerates the results process by constantly introducing new moves and routines so your body never plateaus, and you never get bored! Whether you want to get lean, bulk up, or just plain get ripped, there’s an endless variety of ways to mix and match the routines to keep you motivated the full 90 days and beyond!

So when you buy the package, you’ll get a 12 workouts on DVD, a nutrition plan, a fitness guide and an overview video to get you started.

The workouts run the gamut from cardio, to weights to yoga.

When you sign up you also will get access to a variety of online support tools, community support and more.

So I’m seriously thinking about jumping in and giving it a shot.

I’d love to get some feedback from others who have tried the program. How did it work for you? Did you get the results you were hoping for? Was it hard to complete? Would you do it again? Tell me your thoughts in the comments.

15 Minute Fat Loss Workout

By Kevin Leave a Comment

If you’re in a time crunch and want a simple but highly effective metabolism boosting fat loss workout that only takes 15 minutes to complete then this is right up your alley.

Give it a go and let me know how it works for you: