Exercise Tips

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Prevent burn out and injury plus feel better at the end of the day. Yes, this is all possible! The following exercises can all be done standing or sitting at your desk.

Relieve Low Backache & Pressure

Standing or Sitting

• While exhaling, slowly lean forward, bring your head toward your knees and let your hands drop to your ankles. Hold for 5 seconds.
• Inhale while you slowly unwind and return your head to its normal upright position.
• Exhale and stretch your arms toward the ceiling.

Do this five times.

Relieve Upper Back and Shoulder Tension
Standing or Sitting

• Lift your hands to your shoulders
• Keep your elbows down and push your shoulders back
• Hold for 15 seconds

Do this five times

Relieve Back, Neck and Shoulder Tension
Standing or Sitting

• Inhale and raise your shoulders to touch your ears
• While raised, push your shoulders back and exhale
• Relax shoulders

Do this five times.

Relieve Wrist Tension and Stiffness

Standing or Sitting

• Place your palms together, chest high, as if in prayer.
• Slowly push your palms together while lifting your elbows slightly and hold for five seconds
• Rotate your hands so the tips of your fingers point to the floor and press your palms together. Hold for 5 seconds and release.

Do this five times

Relieve Neck and Shoulder Tension
Standing or Sitting

• Inhale and slowly turn your head to the right until you feel your neck muscles pull. Hold for five seconds.
• Exhale and return your head to face straight ahead.
• Inhale and slowly turn your head to the left until you feel your neck muscles pull. Hold for five seconds.
• Exhale and return you head to face straight ahead.

Do this five times

Relax Shoulder, Back and Hip Muscles

Standing or Sitting

• Place your palms on your lower back
• Stretch back your upper body
• Hold this position for 5 seconds

Do this five times

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[SaberG]

From Healthy Living WEDNESDAY, Jan. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Even a moderate amount of exercise can dramatically prolong a man's life, new research on middle-aged and elderly American veterans reveals. The government-sponsored analysis -- the largest such study ever -- found that a regimen of brisk walking 30 minutes a day at least four to six days a week was enough to halve the risk of premature death from all causes. "As you increase your ability to exercise -- increase your fitness -- you are decreasing in a step-wise fashion the risk of death," said study author Peter Kokkinos, director of the exercise testing and research lab in the cardiology department of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, D.C. That conclusion applies more or less equally to white and black men, regardless of their prior history of cardiovascular disease. According to Kokkinos, that may be because the veterans in the study all received the same level of care, regardless of income. This evened the playing field, he said, giving him "great confidence" in the results, which will be published in the Feb. 5 issue of Circulation and were released online Jan. 22. In the study, Kokkinos and his team reviewed information gathered by the VA from 15,660 black and white male patients treated either in Palo Alto, Calif., or in Washington, D.C. The men ranged in age from 47 to 71 and had been referred to a VA medical facility for a clinically prescribed treadmill exercise test sometime between 1983 and 2006. All participants were asked to run until fatigued, at which point the researchers recorded the total amount of energy expended and oxygen consumed. The numbers were then crunched into "metabolic equivalents," or METS. In turn, the researchers graded the fitness of each man according to his MET score, ranging from "low-fit" (below 5 METS) to "very-high fit" (above 10 METS). By tracking fatalities through June 2007, Kokkinos and his colleagues found that for both black and white men it was their fitness level, rather than their age, blood pressure or body-mass index, that was most strongly linked to their future risk for death. Every extra point in MET conferred a 14 percent reduction in the risk for death among black men, and a 12 percent reduction among whites. Among all participants, those categorized as "moderately fit" (5 to 7 METS) had about a 20 percent lower risk for death than "low-fit" men. "High-fit" men (7 to 10 METS) had a 50 percent lower risk, while the "very high fit" (10 METS or higher) cut their odds of an early death by 70 percent. "The point is, it takes relatively little exercise to achieve the benefit we found," noted Kokkinos. "Approximately two to three hours per week of brisk walking per week. That's just 120 to 200 minutes per week. And this can be split up throughout the week, and throughout the day. So it's doable in the real world." Alice H. Lichtenstein, director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Lab at Tufts University's USDA Human Nutrition Research Center in Boston, agreed. "What this finding demonstrates is that levels of physical activity that should be achievable by anyone can have a real benefit with respect to risk reduction," she said. "What's really important to understand is that you don't need special clothes, special memberships, special equipment," added Lichtenstein, former chairwoman of the American Heart Association's nutrition committee. "It's something everyone can engage in. And although we don't know from this research that this applies to women as well, there's no reason to suspect that it wouldn't." SOURCES: Peter Kokkinos, Ph.D., director, exercise testing and research lab, cardiology department, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Washington D.C.; Alice H. Lichtenstein, D.Sc., director, Cardiovascular Nutrition Lab, Gershoff professor of nutrition, USDA Human Nutrition Research Center, Tufts University, Boston, and former vice chair, nutrition committee, American Heart Association; Jan. 22, 2008, Circulation, online

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[Wallys1]

I'm trying... I sure wish it would warm up a bit...this sedentary lifestyle is not good. We're trying to make lots of changes in our lives at once...

Thanks for the article.

[SaberG]

from Prevention Stay Slim with Him By Rachel Meltzer , Rachel Meltzer is a Prevention magazine research editor. Your husband's weight--not his sparkling eyes or sense of humor--may have been what drew you to him, finds new research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Couples tend to share similar body fat levels when they meet--and are likely to stay that way over the years. Similarly, other research shows that if one partner improves his/her habits, the other may follow suit. Here are a few ways you can both live healthfully ever after: Bond over breakfast Many studies show that breakfast eaters are less likely to be overweight than those who skip their morning meal. Set aside 15 minutes to eat together before you head out the door. Avoid snacking together Just because one of you is a snacker doesn't mean you both have to be. Stop and consider whether you're actually hungry or just "eating with company" before digging in, and encourage him to do the same (keep in mind that men generally require more calories per day than women). Preplan your portions If dinner at home means lingering over a long meal at the dining room table, dole out a portion before you sit down and leave any leftovers in the kitchen. With the extras out of sight, you'll both be less likely to overeat. Break up the takeout If one of you craves a hearty meal (like pizza), but the other wants something a bit lighter (like sushi), place orders at two different restaurants and eat at home as a couple. Make one meal two ways Buy groceries for a shared meal that you can each personalize to your liking and to that day's caloric needs (the same basic ingredients can be used to make a burrito or a lower calorie Tex Mex salad). Stretch your drink Men can usually tolerate more alcohol--and calories. Instead of joining him for seconds, have seltzer with a dash of orange juice and a squeeze of lime. Or ask for half wine and half seltzer, and join in both rounds. Encourage him to stop after two (the amount the USDA says men can drink healthfully).

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[SaberG]

Prevention Stand Up For a Bigger Calorie Burn More time on your feet means a slimmer, healthier you Whether you sit or stand may play as big a role in your health and your waistline as your fitness routine. Missouri University researchers discovered that inactivity (4 hours or more) causes a near shutdown of an enzyme that controls fat and cholesterol metabolism, so you store more fat, rather than using it for energy, all day long. To keep this enzyme active and increase your fat burning, break up long periods of downtime by standing up--for example, while talking on the phone.

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[SaberG]

Weightloss Wars Strength Training For Weight Loss Success by Deborah L. Mullen, CSCS Why Diets Don't Work If you go "on a diet", what does that mean? That you will eventually go "off the diet". If you haven't changed your eating and physical activity behaviors, what's going to happen? Rationally, you know the answer, but emotionally, you engage in wishful thinking, hoping that this time you will lose the weight and keep it off. What weight are we talking about? When people tell me they lost 12 pounds in two weeks, I ask "12 pounds of what?" On low-calorie diets, about 25 percent of the weight loss may be muscle (Ballor & Polehlman 1994). Losing muscle is a bad thing. Muscle tissue is very active--it burns a lot of calories. Every pound of muscle burns about 35 calories per day, just staying alive. Using the above example, if you lost 12 pounds, then, you lost three pounds of muscle. You would be burning 105 less calories per day or 3150 per month. Since there are 3500 calories in a pound of fat, you would gain almost one pound of fat per month just from the muscle mass that you lost! Why The Middle-Aged Spread Keeps Spreading Inactive adults lose around one-half pound of muscle per year, or five pounds per decade. Since most people continue to eat as much as usual, what's going to happen? If you take in more calories then you burn, the extra calories get stored as fat. Fat is less dense then muscle---a pound of fat takes up more room than a pound of muscle. This means that as you lose muscle and gain fat, your weight might remain the same over the years, but your waistline will continue to expand! Rev Up Your Metabolism--The Key to Permanent Weight Loss How can we lose and keep off extra fat? You need to increase your resting metabolic rate (RMR), which is the pace your body burns calories at rest. Your RMR is closely linked to the amount of muscle you have--remember, muscle burns more calories than fat. Adding muscle will raise your RMR and will greatly increase the chance that the weight loss (more accurately fat loss) will be maintained. Strength Training Versus Aerobic Exercise Contrary to what many people think, strength training is as important, maybe more important to successful fat loss than aerobic exercise. The reason lies in the amount of calories that are burned when you aren't exercising. Depending on the intensity and your weight, an aerobic workout (walking, cycling, stairstepping) will burn approximately 300 calories per hour. If the exercise is strenuous enough (which is unlikely in the beginning exerciser) the RMR will be elevated temporarily up to a few hours afterwards. Compare this to strength training which elevates the RMR permanently. The RMR accounts for 60 to 75 percent of your daily calorie expenditure, so even a modest increase will help burn off more fat. One study (Campbell 1994) found that a three-month basic strength-training program resulted in the subjects gaining three pound of muscle and losing four pounds of fat, while eating 370 more calories per day (a 15 percent calorie increase). Remember, aerobic exercise generally doesn't increase muscle tissue. In fact, excessive amount of aerobic exercise combined with a low-calorie diet can cause the loss of some muscle tissue. This is not to say that overweight individuals shouldn't do aerobic exercise--it offers many health benefits and is a part of a weight loss program. It's just that aerobic exercise by itself may not be the best solution for permanent weight (fat) loss. Don't think that you need to workout in a gym for two hours to strength train. Significant gains can be made with a consistent 30-minute workout performed 2 -3 times per week. This could be your key to successful weight control!

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[SaberG]

WeightLossWars.com The Best Time of Day to Do Your Cardio Written by Leslie Yazel October 2004 Take advantage of your body's prime hour to burn calories more efficiently 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. "For increasing fitness, decreasing the chance of injury, and improving sleep, the best time to exercise is late afternoon or early evening," says Matthew Edlund, M.D., author of The Body Clock Advantage (Circadian Press, $15, Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more) and head of the Center for Circadian Medicine, in Sarasota, Florida. At these times, he says, your lungs use oxygen more efficiently, you're more coordinated, and your muscles are warmed up, so you're less likely to suffer a sprain or strain. Finish exercising at least three hours before bed so that when your head hits the pillow the extra adrenaline will no longer be pumping through your bloodstream (and other factors that keep you awake will also have subsided). Bonus: "If you're all wound up at the end of the day, exercise may be a great stress reliever," notes Shirley Archer of the Stanford Health Improvement Program, in Palo Alto, California.

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[SaberG]

The Best Workout for Fat Loss
Slim down with my metabolism-reviving routine
By Bob Greene , Bob Greene, a certified personal trainer and exercise physiologist, has transformed the lives of millions, including Oprah Winfrey. Get a personal plan designed by Bob at thebestlife.com.

A Prevention.com reader asked, "I heard that to lose weight I should focus on cardio first and pick up weights later. Is that the best approach?" Starting with cardio makes sense because research shows that you have a better shot at beating a bad habit (like inactivity) if you focus on one change at a time. Once you reach that goal, you'll have the confidence to move to the next level, such as weights.

Both strength-training and cardio are essential for dropping pounds and keeping them off, though. I think of aerobic exercise as the kindling in a fire and resistance exercise as the big logs that keep it burning. Cardio melts calories on the spot, while toning gives you stronger muscles that burn more calories all day long, so it's easier to slim down for good.

Start with cardio, like walking or aerobic dancing, 5 days a week for 2 weeks; then add some simple strength moves. Try shortening your cardio by 10 minutes 2 or 3 times a week and finish with about 4 exercises (8 to 12 reps each) targeting your arms, legs, and core. These basic moves should do the trick: ab crunches, shoulder shrugs (see p. 38), side leg lifts, and calf raises. Go to prevention.com/fitness and click on "Body by Design" for more moves to try, and work up to 6, 8, even 10 exercises per session.

"Strength-training and aerobic exercise both fire up metabolism in different ways"

Bob Greene, a certified personal trainer and exercise physiologist, has transformed the lives of millions. Get a personal plan designed by Bob, based on his book The Best Life Diet, at thebestlife.com.

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[SaberG]

Yahoo! 3 surprising fat burning tricks by Liz Vaccariello, Editor-in-Chief, PREVENTION, on Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:53am PDT Exercise makes you happy, healthy, sexy, and, unfortunately—really, really hungry. Back when I had the time to log many workouts every week, I fought constantly not to eat back all the calories I burned. Sometimes I was successful, other times—like the day I came back from a lunchtime power yoga class to find a monster brownie on my desk—not so much. You want to fuel your body when you work out of course, but not with mammoth brownies or seconds of pasta, or giant protein shakes you could swim in. A better idea: Understand the source of your raging appetite. Exercise is believed to trigger the release of a hunger-boosting hormone called ghrelin (it sounds like gremlin for a reason). It’s meant to protect the body from losing too much weight too quickly, but considering most gyms practically have a food court these days, that’s not a danger most of us face. Here’s how I keep the ghrelins at bay: Snack First, Sweat Later Twenty minutes later, to be exact. Exercising on an empty stomach lowers blood sugar, which can increase your appetite so you inhale your food later. You can always go for that pre-workout stalwart, a banana, but I’m not a huge fan, so I reach for about 4 ounces of yogurt or another carb-rich snack instead. Take Preemptive Notes Writing down everything you consume is a proven way to lose weight, but try this trick: Do it before you eat. Seeing what you’re about to put in your mouth—on paper—gives you instant perspective. Case in point: “Turkey sandwich plus two bags of chips plus a soda plus five of those cookies my co-worker brought it.” Would you eat all that? I think not. Drink Lots of Water—On the Rocks Studies show people who drink water regularly eat 200 fewer calories a day. (Here are some other sneaky tips to get rid of extra calories.) If you make it ice-cold, you may even burn extra calories without trying—researchers in Germany found that drinking six glasses of ice water a day can raise you metabolism by 50 calories. I’ll drink (a whole lotta frigid H20) to that! What’s your favorite workout snack? How do you keep postworkout hunger under control? Please tell me your tricks!

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[SaberG]

Yahoo! Biggest Loser Club: Burn, baby, burn! How can you burn off at least 500 calories in half an hour? Ah! You're gonna have to watch this quick video of The Biggest Loser trainer Bob Harper to find out. (But you'll be glad you did!) Below are three tips from The Biggest Loser trainers on how to get and stay in shape! It's okay to give into cravings. Losing weight and keeping it off means balance, not going without treats for the rest of your life. Use a food journal to track what triggers overeating--stress, a celebration, or being with certain people. Identifying these trigger situations will help you put a stop to them. If you don't have a measuring cup available, use your fist to figure out correct portions. from chicken to vegetables, just about every portion you'll eat is about the size of your fist.

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