By Dr. Spencer Baron

This is so simple and so effective for conditioning and strengthening your mid section, that you’d be remiss in not adding this to your routine.
Or … if you don’t have a routine, this can be the second thing you do after waking up (the first, would be to go to the bathroom).

Why this exercise is considered the “most effective.”
While doing electromyographic testing, (a test that hooks up electrodes to the skin or where needle sensors are inserted directly into the muscle) it was found that this exercise was able to show more activity in most of the muscles of the midsection that any other exercise.

Read the full post on The Most Effective Abdominal Exercise – Improved!.

By Real Age

Most of us start the new year in love with our new workout gear, only to see it gather dust in the closet a month later. Here’s how to keep your interest in activity alive and kicking.

In her book Outdoor Fitness, exercise guru and author Tina Vindum recommends this three-pronged approach: meet, play, love.

Read the full post on 3 Secrets to Living – and Loving – an Active Life.

1. Meet. When you have a workout buddy who’s planning to meet you for a run or cardio class, you’ll be more motivated to follow through. And group workouts and classes offer a built-in support system, with shared goals, social interaction, and stick-to-it instructors. Yep, it definitely pays to sweat well with others. (Here’s why the YOU Docs think a workout buddy is better than going it alone.)

By Real Age

Spend 20 easy minutes doing this and you could help guarantee a good mood for 12 hours: walk.

That’s what a recent study revealed. A short, moderately paced workout produced feel-good brain chemicals that lasted up to 12 hours afterward.

Step Up to Happy
In the study, college students either rested quietly for 20 minutes or cycled on a stationary bike for the same amount of time. And the cyclers weren’t even really pushing it. They merely exercised at a mild to moderate pace (60 percent of maximum heart rate). Both groups reported lower levels of negative emotions — like anger, depression, fatigue, and tension — immediately after the experiment as well as 2 hours later. But only the cyclers continued to enjoy their happier mindset a full 12 hours after the workout session. (Here’s another easy way to brighten your mood.)

Read the full post on Do This, Feel Happy for 12 Hours.

If you want the kids to play, then you may want to set an example …
You might as well get a quick pump, especially since you have to be there while they burn off some energy.

Here are 6 exercises and what body parts they effect:

1) Monkey bar pull ups – Works the biceps and upper back
2) Elevated feet push ups – Works the triceps, chest and front shoulder
3) Swing squats – Works front of thigh
4) Single leg squats – Works thigh, hamstring and butt muscles
5) Go nowhere swing presses – Works shoulders, triceps and top of chest
6) Frustrated kid, fake launch, swing pull – Works upper back and biceps

Read the full post on Playground Pump Up – 6 Exercises.

Carbohydrate Loading
Many athletes know that they should carbohydrate load prior to endurance events. Very few athletes know how to properly do this. In sport medicine terms, carbohyrate loading is a “practice that aims to maximize muscle glycogen stores prior to competition”. Muscle glycogen is the storage form of carbohydrates found in the muscle.

Carbohydrate loading is beneficial for events that last longer than 90 minutes. Itʼs said that it can improve an athletes performance by “2-3%” through prolonging the time to exhaustion. Carbohydrate loading includes 3 days of a high carbohydrate diet, in addition to very light or no training or exercise.

Read the full post on Nutrition Preparation for Your Big Race Day.

Did you know?
Ballroom dancing may be the ideal workout for some people. It can raise the heart rate enough to achieve aerobic fitness and can be fun to exercise with a partner.

Steps to take
If you find it hard to stick with an exercise regimen, take classes in ballroom dancing and/or other dance classes. Look at it as your version of Dancing with the Stars.

If you or your kids are tech savvy here is your chance to develop your own App..As a nutrition professional, I look for any opportunity for children and teens to move their body. Whether it is organized sports, swimming, dancing, using the Wii Fit or walking to school..our children need more physical activity! First Lady Michelle Obama agrees…check out this great competition based on the United States Department of Agriculture’s Healthy Kids Initiatives….

Read the full post on Make Screen Time Healthy Screen Time.

A Calendar that will provide a Tip of the Day for June or Any Month!

SparkPeople’s calendar will help put a focus on one healthy habit each month. For June, that means achieving an active lifestyle.

Contained in this calendar are 30 daily tips that will help you include more activity in your day. Click here to download and print your June calendar. (You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to download this PDF – You can get it here http://get.adobe.com/reader/.)

Thinking about tri-ing a tri? Doing a du? Here is the lowdown on one of the fastest growing sports around!

Multisport is a “lifestyle” exuding vitality and charisma. It is fresh, new, and exciting, while at the same time being tough and demanding. It is the perfect cross-training exercise program combining the simplicity of two or three very common sports, with the intricate challenge of putting them all together on race morning. Multi-sport training is physical, mental, and social. Think you can’t do a multisport race? Think again, anybody committed to a healthy lifestyle and willingness to put the time in to train, can complete a triathlon or duathlon!

Read the full post on Entering the World of Multi-Sport Racing.

Did you know?
On average, kids ages 2 to 11 watch an average of 3 hours and 22 minutes of TV a day.

Steps to take
Get ideas on ways to limit TV watching and promote physical activities for children from TVTurnOff.org