Stefano Croce Health & Fitness

Posts Tagged ‘Fitness’

Below are our top 10 health and fitness tips, in no particular order. From healthy eating habits to exercise programs, these health and fitness tips will help you get smarter about weight loss, wellness and healthy living overall. car hire

1. Drink more water. You hear this all the time and there’s a reason for that – because it’s important! Drinking water curbs your hunger, hydrates your body and nourishes you from the inside out, including your skin. Aim for half your body weight in ounces per day. i. e. if you weigh 150 lbs, you would aim to drink 75 ounces of water per day.

2. For faster fat loss and a stronger heart, try sprint interval training. The basic format of sprint interval training is sprint/walk/sprint/walk, etc. Pick a stretch of road that is flat for 50 yards – sprint the 50 yards, walk back slowly, repeat – do this 10 times. Make sure you’re warmed up before you start sprinting and that you warm down when you’re done. Sprint interval training boosts your metabolism, burns more fat, and takes less time to complete.

3. Stay away from sugar! When you consume sugar, it causes your body to release insulin – and insulin causes your body to store fat. That’s why those fat-free cookies with extra sugar are actually causing you to gain weight. Read the ingredients label and stay away from products heavy in sugar and high fructose corn syrup. “Healthy” breakfast cereals and bars are notorious for being high in these two ingredients.

4. Add more of the following foods to your diet: whole grains, olive oil, eggs, natural peanut butter, fish, poultry, berries, apples, almonds, protein powder and water. These foods will help you burn more fat, stay in shape and better your health.

5. Add weight training to your exercise routine. Adding muscle to your body increases your life span, makes you stronger and burns fat. If you’re looking to tone up, use a weight that you can lift 8-12 times; if you’re looking to add bulk, use a weight you can lift 4-6 times. Weight train 2-3 times per week and keep your weight training sessions to 45 minutes max.

6. At a minimum, add a quality multivitamin to your diet and fish oil softgels (omega-3 fatty acids). Most people don’t get a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals from foods alone so it’s important you compliment your healthy eating habits with a strong multi. The fish oil softgels are important because most people’s diets are severely lacking in omega-3 fatty acids and this is suspected to be a contributing factor to many health diseases, including obesity. Fish oil softgels are the easiest way to add omega-3′s to your diet – consume 2,000 to 3,000 mg of omega-3′s per day.

7. Add more Wild Alaskan salmon to your diet. It’s extremely high in protein and omega-3 fatty acids, and low in fat – an incredibly healthy combination. And Wild Alaskan salmon is very low in mercury, the one problem with regular salmon.

8. Stay away from foods that contain hydrogenated oils and processed foods altogether. Hydrogenated oils, or trans fats, wreck havoc on your body and some states are even banning them. Read the ingredients of the food you are eating – it will indicate if it contains hydrogenated oils – and if it does, toss it! Processed foods are the chemically-altered, packaged foods like many of the foods targeted towards kids nowadays. Usually you can tell a food is processed if the ingredients show a list of chemicals a mile long.

9. A simple way to keep your weight under control is stop eating before you’re full. Portion control is an easy way to make sure you don’t over eat and gain weight. If you continuously eat until your uncomfortably full, you’ll consume too many calories and stretch your stomach out, causing you to eat more often.

10. Give yoga a try because you’ll be amazed at the difference it makes when your body is limber and flexible, plus it will help reduce your chances of injury. Yoga consists of 15-20 minutes of deep stretching and usually meditation. Your body will feel younger and you’ll have less stress – combine this with cardio, weight training and a healthy diet, and in 12 weeks you’ll be in the best shape of your life.

Procrastination – The Arch Enemy of Success

The majority of us do it at some point in our life… and hey, some of us might do it every day… procrastination has a way of finding its way into many corners of our life.

At home it usually happens around housework… “I’ll take the rubbish out after the footy” or “I’ll wash up in the morning”…

When it comes to exercise, the excuses are endless… “I’ll exercise after work”… then after work, it’s “oh I feel a bit tired… I’ll exercise in the morning”… then after going to bed too late and sleeping through the alarm, you repeat the procrastination game.

Sometimes the excuses are more elaborate… “I need to buy a new pair of sneakers first and if I’m doing that I should probably book an appointment with the podiatrist to check if I’ll need orthotics”.

But if you are serious about your Health and Fitness, then you must overcome procrastination. Below are ten (10) tips to help you get your Health and Fitness regime back on track.

1. Make sure you set yourself realistic goals. If you work a 55hr week, have a 1-2hr daily commute to/from work, plus family responsibilities, it might be a little bit unrealistic to expect yourself to go to the gym for 1hr, 6 days a week. Chances are, you’d be lucky to get there twice and the remaining four days would be guilt-ridden. Often this will make you abandon the idea of exercise completely.

It is important that EVERY exercise experience is positive. A better approach might be to allocate one gym day per week initially, and a 20 minute walk in your lunch break on another day. It is better to start off with smaller, achievable exercise goals and build up slowly until you are getting 150min/week of cardiovascular exercise.

2. Schedule Your Workout times in your diary or on your calendar. Scheduling workouts at a similar time and on set days can develop a routine. This allows others to learn your routine so they can work around it too. Once it’s in your diary, you treat it as you would any other appointment.

It is important to schedule exercise at a time when you’re most likely to do it. Don’t schedule it into times where you are likely to be too tired or hungry. Personally I find that exercising in the morning is best because you reduce the chance of “not being able to fit in exercise” later.

3. Get an exercise buddy. Find someone else of a similar fitness level to train with, and who is expecting you to meet them at a certain time and place, and then you are more likely to commit to training times that you’ve scheduled in your diary.

4. Get a Personal Trainer. A personal trainer is an even more committed version of the exercise buddy. A personal trainer is an appointment in your diary, that in some cases you will have to pay for even if you miss the session… this can be a great incentive to make sure you turn up! The advantage of a personal trainer is that you don’t need to think of the exercises yourself and you are more likely to train harder than if you were doing it on your own.

5. Document Your Progress. This is a great way to stay motivated. If you regularly review your progress and can easily see your improvements, you’ll be motivated to keep going.

6. Reward yourself regularly. Bribes work with kids… why not you? If you make the bribe good enough, you’d be surprised what you might do. Try getting a group of friends together with similar fitness goals and “pool together” for a super prize! Or buy yourself some new clothes whenever you reach a weight loss goal…Whatever works.

7. Bargain with yourself… say you’ll just do 5 minutes. You might not feel like exercising, but tell yourself that you’ll start your program and only do 5 minutes and then if you still don’t feel like doing it you’ll stop. Most times you’ll finish your program.

8. Take the approach that every bit counts. Incidentals count… hide the remote control! Make yourself take the stairs… park the car further away at the shops or at appointments… get off the bus or train one stop earlier… take the kids to the park and chase them around…or try getting up off the couch every ad break and move around (e. g. march on the spot or do pushups etc)

9. Choose exercise activities that fit with your lifestyle. If you are a busy mum with 3 kids under 3, it is unlikely that you can get to the gym 5 days a week. Similarly, if you are a corporate executive working a 60 hr week and commuting it is also unlikely that you’ll head to the gym straight after work at 8pm each day.

So pick exercise activities and times that fit with your lifestyle. A busy mum might be better off combining her exercise time with activities that include the kids. Pushing the pram off-road (i. e. not on pathways or the road) is an excellent workout for new mums. Or just chase the kids around for an hour at the park. It is also important for kids to learn that exercise is a part of daily life. Exercising as a family can have a very positive affect on family dynamics… like one of the sayings goes… the family that plays together – stays together.

10. Pick activities that are fun. There are so many forms of exercise; you should be able to choose something that you find enjoyable. For example, you might love looking at houses, so walk through a neighborhood full of great houses. Or ride a bike along the beachfront. Or swim or dance… Whatever you enjoy – do it!

The health and fitness industries are making billions of dollars every year on herbal supplements, fitness equipment, gyms, and special diets.

Statistics show that seat belts add to longevity and help alleviate potential injuries in car crashes. Thought for the day: Buckle down and buckle up.

Statistics show that seat belts add to longevity and help alleviate potential injuries in car crashes. Thought for the day: Buckle down and buckle up. Greater muscle strength, however, was associated with stronger bones.

Banana – The banana made my list since almost everyone loves bananas, but most of us think that they are fattening! Well, at about 120 calories for a medium one, loaded with potassium, vitamin C, sweet and starchy, they make the list. Bananas are also versatile.

Walking and swimming. Any body can walk and those of you who know how to swim can swim. For these two activities you do not need much gear and experts say that these two exercises have no side effects and are excellent stress busters.

Diet plays an important role in our day to day life so it is necessary to maintain the proper diet. Diet-friendly sugar substitutes may not be so slimming after all. A new study in lab animals furthers the theory that zero-cal sweeteners throw your body out of whack and plump you up.

The music may sound just perfect, and you may think that you can start doing shimmies and hip drops. That is not the case. Give your muscles the attention they deserve before and after your practice.

fast foods are higher in fat, calories and sugar than home-prepared foods, there are many healthier fast food choices. Try some of the fast foods which have nutritional data for calories, fat percentage, protein and carbohydrates are supplied.

Before we discuss the fat burning tools, let’s accept that there is no overnight way to burn fat. Let’s focus on the tools of fat burning rather than watching for immediate results. Start with small changes and pile them up like college credits!

Environmental stresses, pollution, and negative vibrational energy currents plague us to a degree that is unprecedented in human history. Using the science of yoga and the wisdom of the ancients, it is possible to create a space of harmony in our own homes.

Stress is a key contributor to poor health. Study after study has found that when a person is stressed, the body reacts. The result of stress could be high-blood pressure, tension headaches, upset stomachs, poor posture, and so on. Keeping stress in check will help you manage your overall health much better.

Summer is here, and look at you — you’ve done it! You’re exercising more, you’re eating healthier — congratulations! You’re well on your way to living a healthier, happier, fitter life!

Here is a great technique to keep up that momentum and keep you moving toward your health and fitness goals — it happens to be one of the favorite techniques at SHE (Sports, Health and Exercise). We call it the “One Magic Minute– and before you roll your eyes, read on! The One Magic Minute is not a gimmicky program from a late-night infomercial. It’s really just 60 seconds of an easy mental exercise that will help keep you on track. It’s a technique that will remind you to be clear and decisive, and will keep you accountable to your action plans.

Here’s how it works. Set aside one minute each day — a slim 60 seconds — and schedule it for at least one hour before you have a bit of slack in your schedule. Maybe it’s early in the morning before everyone else is awake or in the evening after work but before dinner. Once you’ve determined that hour, spend one minute ONE HOUR BEFORE that hour to stop and think clearly about your work toward your goals. Hold yourself accountable. Ask yourself, “Did I do what I said I was going to do?”

If you did, spend that moment celebrating. Praise yourself for a job well one. Sing, dance, or laugh at yourself for thinking about singing and dancing. Whatever you do, spend 60 seconds feeling good about your success that day. If you didn’t follow through, then here you are — you’ve stopped, and you’ve acknowledged that — and look! — you still have time to make it right! Use that introspective moment to kick yourself into gear — take a look at your fitness blog or your journal — and figure out a way to earn check marks on your fitness to-do list. And hey — if you just can’t make it happen that day, take that moment to commit yourself to making tomorrow’s plan your number one goal for the day.

You are already on the path to a happier, healthier and more active you — you know that nothing is more important that your health. Keep it up, and use your new strength and energy to make a difference in the lives of your friends and family!

So make it happen every day — spend just One Magic Minute reviewing your progress toward a healthier lifestyle. Acknowledge both your successes and your missteps, and remember that your better health increased energy will be the greatest reward you can give yourself and your loved ones.

And well done — keep it up! You are on your way to living the butt-kicking life you’ve been dreaming of!

Aside from the daily personality and motivational guides read from you horoscope, there are yet more things that your astrological sign can provide you. Your string association with the movements of each star, planet and other terrestrial bodies will bring more direction as to what, when and which path should your spiritual, emotional, social and physical needs be leading you.

Every accurate and proper interpretation of your star signs connection opens more positive and viable choices for a perfect decision making. Some of these options are for your health and fitness lifestyle where only a adept and professional astrologer can particulate accurately.

You might notice that however harder a person tries to alter his/her eating habit, there still rare chances of success as to meet the goal. Especially those who have problems with obesity, the emotional difficulty to resist their usual needs further weakens their drive to go on. These individuals common dilemma is not how will they do their fitness program but when and why. Some say that a sin from gluttony is harder to repent than adultery since eating can either be badly needed or badly wanted by a person.

Inspiration or emotional drive is proven stronger as basis for a successful fitness program. But wrong timing and faulty input of requirements lessens the quality of living as the person may omit or sacrifice some other important roles in his/her life. A person might jeopardize his love life because of unbalanced time allotted between his partner and to his fitness gym. A girl might overdone her workout and end up with her partner’s insecurity because he might not understand her fitness objectives.

All these kind of flaws that mislead a healthy and happy lifestyle to an obsessive narcissism can be avoided through health and fitness astrology. Say, from the reflected possible mood your star signs interpreted, professional astrologer would simulate the data to specify your possible trait towards a food, activity or fitness routine. They would give you the best possible outcomes from a positive and even instructive advices regarding health and fitness. Even a highly cognitive astrologer, who is apparently rare, would particulate the single effect of each food intake to an individual just from the movements and description of star signs associated with him/her.

It never fails but as soon as I wrote all my Weight Loss, Weight Gain, Fitness and Nutrition type of tips I had a few left over that couldn’t really be placed into these categories.

But as you will see they are right on the money for your general health and fitness and can be used in your everyday activities.

Lets take a peek:

What Is A Healthy Diet – A healthy diet satisfies two criteria: It contains enough fibre and a number of micronutrients including vitamins and minerals to maintain a healthy body. It is balanced in forms of fat, protein, and carbohydrates and micronutrients.

Don’t Train With The Flu – This is one of the biggest exercise blunders you can make A number of temperature raising viruses, including the flu can affect the muscles.

People often forget that the heart is also a muscle and can be weakened by the flu virus. Normally our hearts can cope with the strain of this, but exercising on top of an already weakened heart is potentially fatal. After a bout of the flu, you should wait at least 48 hours before exercising again.

Cool Down – When you do a strenuous workout the blood vessels in your muscles dilate to deliver more blood for the muscles to operate. The skin vessels also dilate to increase the heat loss from your body, which is why you get flushed after exercise.

If you don’t give your blood and skin vessels enough time to recover, and jump straight under hot water your skin vessels will dilate even further. Then your heart goes into overdrive trying to pump blood throughout the body.

Ultimately you might notice symptoms like faintness, dizziness or at worst, you could even collapse.

Don’t Eat Before Exercising – Always try to eat two or three hours before your exercise and not after that. If you do eat before exercise you can develop what is known as “dumping syndrome’ where the blood supply that normally goes to your muscles during exercise is diverted to your gut.

This means that you’re not getting enough blood to your muscles, which can cause you to become lethargic and faint.

Try to Give Up Smoking – the best and easiest way to give up smoking is to replace it with another habit. Unfortunately, quitting has been associated with weight gain if you replace your cigarette habit with a candy or snack food habit.

So replace the smoking with the habit of exercise!! Nothing tough or painful at first and build up to it. A five minute walk instead of a cigarette and aim to build it up slowly and easily.

Before, you will be fitter, you will be healthier and your body will be more you realize tight and toned.

You will feel better in the morning, your breath will be worth being near again and fingernails, hair and skin will take on a much younger fresher look!! Of the people who die from lung cancer, 95% of them smoke.

Protein Power – Carbohydrates supply the sort of calories easily burned during cardiovascular exercise, but protein plays an important part in building muscle mass – or rather in not storing food as fat. “This is largely because the bulk of protein that is eaten will be used to build muscle”.

Further the average male will lose 500gms of muscle – not fat – every year once he stops regular exercise. While older men and women are usually touted as the beneficiaries of strength training so to are the young.

Planned Exercise – I suggest you start with 100 minutes per week of mildly puffing exercise be it 2×50 mins, 3×35 mins, 4×25 mins, 5×20 mins all of which produce the same results.

Mix up your aerobic activities in the gym; use the treadmill, bike, climber or any other training gear available to you.

Keep A Training Log – Keep a training log for all your fitness requirements, keeping account of the reps you are using, how many sets, what weights you are using and also the date, time and where the workout took place is imperative for gauging your day to day progress.

Also recording all cardio- vascular activities is just as important.

In conclusion, these general health and fitness might have been left to last but the are still right up there as far as your health and fitness is concerned.

Weight training makes a person healthy, fit and strong. It is not just for people who want to build muscle, but for everyone who likes to stay fit and keep the excess weight off. If you want to get in shape or stay in shape you can walk, run or cycle every morning, play sports with friends, but if you want to have muscles and look lean, then lifting some weights either at the gym or at home is your best bet.

People go to the gym for many reasons. e. g:

To lose a few pounds if they are overweight.

To gain a few pounds (of muscle) if they are underweight.

To get fit and Healthy.

To get strong.

The most effective exercise plan for most should have some cardiovascular work and mostly weight training exercises. for more detials:-www. insomnia-battle. com. This helps burn calories and increase the muscle to fat ratio better than cardiovascular work alone.

Some Benefits of Weight training;

1. It is the best way to maintain and improve ones health from a variety of diseases and premature death.

2. It makes a person feel better and increases ones self confidence, prevents depression, anxiety
and gloom.

3. A weight training lifestyle helps a person live longer than an inactive person.

4. It instils discipline into a person, making other things in life easy.

5. It makes one stronger physically and mentally.

To start: one should consult a physician to get the go ahead and then get into it gradually.
Getting stronger, fitter, healthier Week by week building up more endurance will be of great benefit to you. for visit detials:-www. bad-breath-secrets. com. Aim for 3 or 4 days a week working out, this is sufficient no matter what your goals are.
Maintain a reasonable diet.

You could consult with a professional to get an excellent eating plan to match your goals and gym
activities. They will evaluate you based on your needs, and recommend a diet plan.

A good diet should have nutrients from all the food groups.

This is made up by 3 basic groups.

The first is carbohydrates. The energy source. The food that a person consumes should have vitamins, minerals and some fiber. A lot of this comes from oats, rice, potatoes, cereals and breads, and also from vegetables and fruits since these have chemicals, enzymes and micro-nutrients that are essential for a healthy diet.

The Second is Protein. The building blocks of muscle and essential organs. This comes from fish, chicken, red meat and dairy. Protein is broken down in the body to form amino acids for repair and
growth of new cells.

The third is fat. The enemy, according to most. There are 4 types of fat: Saturated (the bad) from animals, the more animal fat you consume the higher your blood cholesterol will rise, increasing the risk of a malfunction in the body. Should be taken in small quantities. Sources are: Beef, dairy, coconut oil.

Polyunsaturated (the good) Comes from plants, reduces blood cholesterol.

Sources are: nuts,fish, safflower oil, seeds, corn oil and sunflower oil.

Monounsaturated (the best) also comes from plants, raises the good cholesterol.

Sources are: Avocado,

olive oil, olives, nuts, canola oil and peanut butter.

Hydrogenated fatty acids (the ugly) This is relatively new, the effects are unknown, it is believed that they behave like saturated fat (the bad) causing blood cholesterol levels to rise.

The consumption of fats (the good fats) is important for our health. They are used in the production of hormones and other activities. We do need some fat, but do limit the bad.

A great way to help your efforts in the gym is to give up some detrimental habits such as smoking and drinking alcohol. Smoking damages the lungs and dramatically increases the risk of lung cancer along with other diseases. Excessive drinking has also been shown to causes major diseases.
These two habits are definitely not worth having around.

The best thing one can do for themselves is to quit any destructive habits they have and get into that gym, start pumping some iron and look forward to greater Health and Fitness.

The key to achieving good health is really quite simple. About now youre undoubtedly thinking, if it is so simple, why is the health level of the overall population declining at a record pace?

Of course the key to how one becomes healthy and maintains health is not difficult. In fact you may already know several of the things you should be doing to improve your health. It becomes complicated when we are faced with choices that are less than healthful and they cloud our judgment. These distractions compete for our attention with more healthful alternatives that may not seem quite as exciting.

We must allow ourselves to become focused by gaining an understanding of what is required in order to get the big prize – a healthy life. Basically there are three parts we need to master including proper nutrition, fitness, and finally the motivation to keep on track with both.

Proper nutrition, or healthy eating, is probably the most basic and easiest to understand principle of good health. Virtually everyone is aware when they are eating something that is healthful versus a food that is void of nutritional value.

Many times the simplest method of including a majority of healthful foods in the diet is to focus on good foods to eat rather than on bad foods that should not be eaten. As with most things in life, focusing on the positive usually produces the best results. Try to include as many fruits, vegetables, lean meats and whole grains as possible in each days meal plan. By including a large amount of good foods each day, you will find that theres little room left for the not-so-good foods. Proper nutrition will be nearly automatic.

Unlike nutrition, fitness is a bit more difficult to incorporate into daily life. The primary reason for this is that everyone must eat in order to live. Achieving proper nutrition simply means making the right choices for something you are going to do anyway. Activity, however, is not something we must do every day. Even though we should move every day, we wont suffer major consequences immediately if we dont. Instead, the price will be paid years down the road.

The key to increasing ones fitness is to build upon the activities already in place. For example, walking is an activity that most people perform every day. To get the most of this daily activity, expand the amount of walking you do. For example, park in the back of a parking lot to increase the number of steps it takes to reach your destination. Once inside a multi-level building, take the stairs to move from floor to floor rather than the elevator. Start with small changes and build from there.

Once you have increased your natural activity level it is time to focus on developing a fitness routine. Start slowly with just a short period of time devoted to your program each day. Even ten minutes is a good start. The key is to start a program and stick with it.

Sticking with it is where the motivation factor comes in. Motivation is tricky and its different for everyone. Many people are motivated by doing something routinely and building on it. If youre one of those people, consider yourself lucky and just get started with your health plans. The rest will take care of itself.

For the rest of us it is important to find what motivates us. Maybe its buying a new workout outfit or trying a new healthful recipe. Many people like to read fitness magazines and search online for new tips and exercise techniques. Others read inspiring stories and quotes.

Whatever it is for you, find it as soon as possible and hold on to it. Getting motivated is the number one key to achieving your health and fitness goals.

If history has taught us anything, it is that when an industry exhibits the potential for growth, people and companies exploit the opportunity. The fitness industry has transformed into a multi-billion dollar juggernaut with highly trained sales and marketing snipers who have their cross hairs on your cash.

Although the expansions of this industry and advances in modern technology have helped usher in a new era of quality health and fitness products, they have also opened the door for liars and con artists who could care less about your health. The trick is to understand how to maneuver through the marketing madness to find the truth.

Sadly, the number of people who fall victim to unrealistic quick-fix solutions is in the tens of millions. All the while, companies that sell ineffective products that will never help you acheive your goals, get rich at your expense. Beyond the scams and rip-offs designed to separate you from your hard-earned cash, there are people, companies, industries and even government agencies with hidden agendas designed to sabotage your attempts to improve your health. It’s not a conspiracy theory; it is simply the undeniable truth that you will see once the facts are known.

There is no shortage of people who stand to profit from those who do not know the truth, and they will do everything possible to refute the facts. Remember, when it comes to big industry and their profits, the fix is in: billions are spent to keep consumers in the dark. You will need to rely on the one thing that marketing cannot spin your common sense.

Let’s start with a simple truth that helps feed the big, fat health and fitness lie. That truth is that the average person would much prefer to go on a diet or take a pill rather than exercise. This is why the fitness industry at $19 billion in annual revenue pales in comparison with the diet and weight loss industry, which exceeds $40 billion. Even the supplement industry, with more than $20 billion in annual revenue, outperforms the fitness industry.

Yet with a success rate of sustained weight loss as low as 5 percent, more than 50 million Americans line up each year to go on a diet. Why? The answer was simple. When people think about exercise, they relate it to work. Even the phrase we use to describe exercise is to “work out. ” The truth is that the average American spends the majority of waking life working. Who wants more work? We want to play. We want to relax. We want to escape from the reality of work, Exercise is the last thing we want to do. Instead, we want a quick fix solution, and the desire for fast results is an open invitation for health and fitness parasites. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The smoking gun that reveals the real truth about the state of health in the U. S. is the sky rocketing revenue within the pharmaceutical industry. Between 1995 and 2005, prescription drug sales increased by 249 percent to a staggering $251 billion on more than 3. 6 billion prescriptions that are written annually. This doesn’t include the $17 billion we spent on over 100,000 over-the-counter drugs that have in excess of 1,000 synthetic chemical compounds.

As you peel back the layers of the lie, you quickly realize that these record-breaking numbers were made possible by drugs that treat conditions and diseases, which are largely self-inflicted or forced upon us by accomplices that stand to profit from our ill health.

Read more in Part Two.

Millions of people are being led astray by incorrect information, beliefs, opinions, and practices recommended by health care professionals, fitness instructors, and coaches who do not fully understand exercise and its requirements.

Many governmental agencies and fitness industry institutions promote the supposed health benefits of general physical activities over planned structured exercise. In an effort to gain compliance, these organizations have lowered the requirements of exercise to such a level that virtually every activity that involves mere movement of the body qualifies.

Such misinformation has caused many people to miss the real benefits that a proper exercise program can deliver or, even worse, to end up injured in the pursuit of health. Others become frustrated by lack of results or confused by conflicting information and choose to do nothing at all.

Suddenly there are all these experts saying things like, just park the car a bit further away from wherever you are going, or just do some gardening or housework. The most misleading of all is the notion that walking alone is enough to strengthen and condition the body and that is all that is necessary. Well listen up, we all have legs and we all walk, legs are the things that move our body and walking is what you do when you need to go to the shops or somewhere. How did it suddenly become an exercise program?

The truth of the matter is that if you want to lose weight, get fit, increase your strength or change your risk for heart disease you are going to need to work your body much harder than simply going for a leisurely stroll.

If it were that easy why is the world now facing an epidemic of overweight and obese people, sky rocketing levels of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other life threatening illnesses and conditions labeled lifestyle diseases? One of the greatest global health threats of the modern age is our sedentary and inactive lifestyles.

People who have health disorders which can be treated with physical activity should not be mislead into believing the “walking is all it takes for a good health” myth. This myth has given many a false sense that a stroll through the neighborhood is all you need to stay strong, fit and healthy. Instead of pushing people to become more active, it has merely provided an excuse to do as little as possible.

The other misleading type of information is to just “do something you enjoy”. What has fun got to do with an exercise program? Getting up at 5 o’clock in the morning to exercise before work is not any fun at all. Sometimes it is dark, cold and wet and it takes commitment and discipline to roll out of bed when it would be so much easier and nicer to stay in bed. Absolutely no fun there!

Well, here’s the truth that no one else in the health and fitness business wants to tell you: change is tough and getting fit takes hard work. In the fitness arena, that might mean better health, higher levels of cardiovascular fitness, increased strength, decreased body fat or decreased risk of disease or illness.

In competitive sport it might mean performing a skill or event at a higher level of competency.

Exercise training should challenge you to accomplish something not normally experienced in everyday life and to conquer new challenges. Have the courage to leave your old comfort zone, and step out into the discomfort of new territory, then you can achieve the healthy body you have always dreamed of. . .