Choosing the Best Option for Cardio Machines
Back in Early 2009 we discussed some of the pros and cons of various cardiovascular machines. Since many of you may be taking advantage of a new Piece of exercise equipment you purchased or are down at the gym with your new membership I thought it would be good to let you revisit some of these posts so you know not only what machines to choose but also how to make them more effective.
How Much Exercise do We Really Need?
Our latest Poll was asking how often you exercise with the overwhelming response (60% compared to 10% for the next most popular) being 1-2 Hours a day 3-5 days a week. SO this means the majority worked out somewhere between 3 and 10 hours a week. For many years we have heard various "experts" tell us how much exercise our bodies "need". I have heard the common responses of 3 days a week for 60 minutes. More aggressive estimates are along the lines of 6 days a week for 45-75 minutes. So what is the actual amount of exercise we need to get during the course of a week?
Is it Safe to Exercise in the Cold?
Many people tend to use the cold weather as an excuse to not workout. It is so much more appealing to sit on the couch by that nice warm fire instead of going out in freezing temperatures. I have done this many times myself but for many I think they have a legitimate excuse of just not knowing if it is ok to go outside to workout when the temperatures drop into the 20's or below.
Weight Loss and a Recaptured Love of Cycling
Here is the second guest post from Paul at Pacificpedaling.com. In this one he details how he was able to take a former love of his (cycling) and use it again to help him lose over 50 pounds! If you have not had a chance to do so, check out his blog. It is loaded with great cycling info and there are some cool pictures from local races his team has been competing in.
If you are at all Interested in Cycling, Check this Out!
We have asked Paul, the Author of pacificpedaling.com to do a few guest posts for us. You will instantly see why. Paul is as passionate about his cycling as we are about our training. His blog is excellent and if you are at all interested in cycling, you need to take some time to go check it out. Here is the first of a few posts he will be doing for us. Please when you are done reading it, go check out what else he has done on his site. The pictures alone are worth a look.
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Fitness Tip of the Week #17 Are You Changing Your Cardio Workouts?
How often do you change up your cardio workouts? Every other workout? Every week maybe? Once a year? Here are a couple of great tips on how to change up the cardio routines you do to get the greatest benefit for your body.
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Exercise of the Week Workout #4 Running Warmup
EXERCISE OF THE WEEK WORKOUT #4
RUNNING WARMUP
Here is the complete Running Warmup for you to follow. Give it a shot the next time you are headed out for a run. We have taken the time to put together an intelligent warmup that incorporates the various components necessary to promote an efficient stride. Here is the extra descriptions for each move along with the number of repetitions of each.
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What is Your Favorite Time of Year to Run?
Some of the Athletes I coach were discussing this topic today. They were doing a workout for our winter track program in our indoor training center. At the end we went outside to do some sprints to open up their stride and it turned out to be significantly colder than I had anticipated. I was worried this would be a detriment but they all said it was a relief since the training center was getting pretty humid from the sweat and heaters.
Is Running Stairs a Useful Training Tool?
Stair Routines have been a standard of many workout programs for who knows how many thousands of years. Stairs are a tremendous training tool to help develop more power and efficiency in your stride. One of the major limiting factors that runners suffer from is a lack of proper muscle sequencing in their stride. To have an efficient stride it requires the proper muscles working in sequence. The stride should be initiated in the muscles surrounding the pelvis such as the iliopsoas and rectus femoris.
Exercise of the Week #37 Standing Hip Flexor Stretch
EXERCISE OF THE WEEK #37
Standing Hip Flexor Stretch
You can never do enough lengthening of the hip flexors with the amount of siting we are forced to do as a part of our jobs. This is the main reason why we decided to add an additional stretch for the hip flexors as a part of the running warm-up. This is a great stretch that can even be done throughout the day to help break the tightness that we suffer from as we sit.
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