Power Walkers Can Burn More Calores By Adding One Action

Today, this is for all of you who walk for exercise.  Walking (and better still - power walking) not only burns calories, but is a great cardiovascular exercise without the impact to the joints more aggressive forms of exercise cause.  If you're a walker, here's a great way to increase your fat burning/cardio workout...

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  Pick up a pair of Nordic Walking Poles and start using them on your walks.  These poles help to increase balance, stability, rhythym and add an upper body workout which will 'hit' all your arm and torso muscles.  You're already out there 'doing it', so why not do it to the max?

Snack Attacks! Have Healthy and Tasty Treats Everyday!!

Truly, we should all have 6 small meals a day; cows graze and so should we.  It's when we snack on the wrong foods that we start looking like our bovine counterparts!

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  be smart about snacking!  Prepare your daily snacks the night before.  It only takes 10 minutes of your life to prepare yummy goodies to munch on for the next day.
Throw a bag of baby carrots into your bag every morning.  They're tasty, crunchy and if you need a 'pick up', you can dip each one in a tiny bit of natural peanutbutter!  Keep a small container of peanutbutter at your office or get yourself a tiny tupperware to put a stash in.  Make some fat free salsa!  Chop italian plum tomatoes, spanish onions, cilantro, green and red peppers.  Add some Mrs Dash, cayenne pepper and fresh squeezed lemon.  Eat this salsa with some cut celery sticks...yummy!  Throw a few pieces of fruit in that bag of yours as well.  Green tart apples, clementines, pears, blueberries...whatever you like!  A small fistful of nuts can give anyone a pre-workout 'pick me up' and get you going to your next adventure.  Whatever you do, keep your palate guessing.  Don't eat the same snacks every day or you'll get bored.  Don't wait to eat until you're absolutely famished; this is a recipe for nothing but failure and dollars-to-donuts, you'll be reaching for chips and cookies instead of your well-prepared handy snack bag!  Remember, it only takes 10 minutes of your life every evening to make 10lbs of fat disappear quicker!!!

Rest is the Best

All of us want to believe we still have the energy and stamina of a 16 year old.  Just recently, I woke up to the realization that unfortunately, I've slowed down a bit over the last 30 years.
Well now...what's a doggie to do??  Let's work with what we've got!  If you're about 50 years of age and you're working out like Demon Damien and you can't figure out why you're not gaining more muscles mass, why your libido is going down the drain or losing those last 10lbs is near to impossible....it could very well be because you are overtraining and not allowing your body to get enough rest.
Rest and good sleep is just as important to good homeostasis and bodily functions as the good food and exercise you're putting into the 'engine'.  Rest and sleep allow the body's hormones to work better and more efficiently.  Rest allows the microtears in striated muscle to repair...this leads to greater lean muscle mass and less fat.  So, how much rest do you need?  Every person's needs are different and this is a conversation that needs to take place on an individual basis.

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  Get yourself into a complete wellness program that includes a knowledgable fitness professional who will give you several workout routines based on your health and fitness level.  Part of the wellness program includes diet, stress management and acupuncture and/or herbal formulas.  And, if you're tired...Rest is the Best!

Waist Size, Your Heart and Your Sex Life

Did you know that waist sizes greater than 40" in men and 35" in women are very strong indicators of metabolic dysfunction and are linked to possibly 50% in heart disease cases?  A large waist size is also linked to erectile dysfunction, poor sex drive, high blood pressure, high blood fats, type 2 diabetes and high insulin resistance. (European Journal Cardiovascular Preventtion Rehabilitation, 16:  729-734, 2009).

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  all of the above are very good reasons to take a 1/2 hour walk or get that 30 minutes of exercise in everyday.

Stepping Up The Endurance

Friday, I jumped rope for about 40 or 50 minutes - consecutive.  The last 5 minutes, I double-jumped 14, then 22 consecutive jumps.  Just a bit over 3 months since my knee surgery...not bad for an old bag.  Saturday, it was back to Muay Thai.  My legs are getting stronger, but my cardio really lacks and slacks.

So, today, I've enrolled myself into my "Stage 2" of my 'Wellnes For Life' program.  Now that I can run, jump and basically perform all the activities necessary to burn off all this fat (so I can better fit on the back of that Harley!), I'm going to step up the cardio and concentrate on endurance.  I've done quite a few triathlons in the past (never liked them...boring after the thrill of Muay Thai), but I learned quite a bit about endurance training from tri training.  Endurance training is fabulous for the heart muscles, the lungs and the whole body in general.  Unlike Muay Thai, nobody's getting beat up here (less chance of injury).

Last week, I had increased speed on the treadmill, but kept the distance the same.  I'm running with 3lb weights in my hands to add a little 'umph' into the mix.  Today, I will slow down the speed and increase the distance; staying within the fat-burning zone.  My reward for the boredom of being on the treadmill for an hour will be to go kick a heavy bag and have some fun after the experience.  The physical therapist gave me the green light to start some cardio exercises that were always integral to Muay Thai training, so I'll start working on them as well.

Here's Your Tip of the Day:  The big picture can sometimes be quite overwhelming.  Set some short term goals for yourself and limit the frustration factor of underachievement.  Short term goals give us a sense of being a winner and achiever.  This transcends into our everyday lives.  Better self atttitude leads to better attitude with others at work, home and social settings.  What's my short term goal right now?  Mine is to get back into some sort of decent training condition and walk into a Muay Thai class and represent again.  I don't need to go back into the ring, but I can get myself into good training condition.  When that happens, I'll think of something else....like, a new sexy summer dress!  Wish me luck, write me some encouragement.  It's easier to receuperate from surgery than it is to lose 20 lbs.