College Classes & Exercise

According to Thomas Jefferson, for a student to be successful in their academic studies, they need to devote time to exercise. They need to “give about two of them (hours), every day, to exercise; for health must not be sacrificed to learning. A strong body makes a strong mind.” Back to School It’s been about six weeks since college students headed back to their computer desks, lectures and libraries. Students get more sedentary as their workload increases. They are cramming for tests, spending a lot of hours researching papers, writing, rewriting and more. They don’t’ call them the freshman 15 … Continue reading →

Imagination Counts in Exercise

Recently, during a stint subbing, one of the children asked me what imagination was. Imagination is a huge word and we talk to our kids about their imagination all the time, yet as adults – we don’t really talk about our imagination. At least, we don’t talk about it much. Imagination is a wonderful facility that humans have. We utilize our imagination in many different ways whether we are suspending our disbelief when watching a movie, reading a book or creating our own stories. But we can use imagination in many other ways too. Music and Imagination Now I am … Continue reading →

It Starting to Look a Lot Like Autumn ….

“Mommy! Come see! Come see! There’s a red leaf on the tree!” That was what woke me up yesterday morning and here we are – October 1. Autumn officially started last month, of course, but for some reason it doesn’t feel like autumn until the leaves actually change color or we flip the calendar page to the month of October. What a Time of Year I love the autumn. It’s a welcome respite from the heat of the summer here in Texas. Though, I admit, we only had one really bad month of heat this year. September was very crisp … Continue reading →

Motivation Trees

I went to the doctor a couple of days ago because I wasn’t feeling great, I’d had a persistent cough I couldn’t get rid of and it was really messing with my workout and my plans. I was frustrated; I’ve had enough with the health problems this year beginning with my husband’s emergency surgery last December to my surgery in February to the most recent escapade getting my wisdom teeth taken out. So when I discovered that I had walking pneumonia – well let’s just say my attitude was less than thrilled. I mean seriously, who did I annoy? Motivation … Continue reading →

I Want to Know How to Build My Own Exercise Program

Last week, I asked and you answered. One of the things you wanted to know about was how to build your own exercise program. An exercise program needs to consist of three basic elements: cardiovascular exercise, strength training and flexibility. These are the three tiers of fitness that you want to address. Cardiovascular Training Cardiovascular training refers to building fitter heart and lungs. Exercises you might do to increase your cardiovascular fitness include: walking, running, bicycling, roller blading, jump roping and more. Essentially, you want to hit your target heart rate and maintain it for at least 15 to 20 … Continue reading →

Taking Back 9-11

It’s the 6th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Like Pearl Harbor before it, September 11th is a day that will live in infamy for our generation. My daughter, who will be 7 in November, has no real clear cut idea of what today means. She just knows that today is a sad day. She cannot comprehend what happened. She cannot fathom the depth of grief, fear or pain that occurred. I am glad. Taking Back Today I remember each and every detail of the day in stark relief. I remember the way the house smelled. I remember the clothes … Continue reading →

Maintenance: I Want To Keep The Weight Off!

The worst thing that happens to someone who loses weight is that they gain it right back. I know so many people who literally torture themselves to get the weight off, then six months later, they are back to the same grind. The trick, however, is not to crash diet and crash your weight loss efforts. Crash diets may be a way to burn 20 pounds quickly, but for people who need to lose more than 20 pounds, that crash could do more to hurt their efforts than help. If what you want to do is lose weight and keep … Continue reading →

I Want to Know How to Keep the Weight Off

I asked and you answered. Today, we’re going to talk about keeping the weight off. In the world of fitness this is called “maintenance” – much like your car – you have to keep up your regular maintenance or you’re going to have problems. Sticking with the car analogy for the moment, let’s say that your car breaks down on the side of the road and you take it to a mechanic. The mechanic looks over the car, runs some diagnostics and fixes you up. Then he tells you that you need to get regular oil changes and tune-ups. Ideally, … Continue reading →

I Asked & You Answered

Yesterday, I asked and you answered. I wanted to know what you wanted to know and here’s what I found out: I want to know how to keep the weight off I want to know how to stick to a workout program I want to know how to build my own exercise program I want to know how to get the most out of a workout I want to know how to like working out I want to know how to exercise without hating every moment of it That’s just a sampling of the responses that I received from different … Continue reading →

What’s the Right Question?

You know, as I write my fitness blogs I often wonder what’s the right question to ask? What’s the question that will engage –you- the reader and get you to respond to me? What do you want to know? How do you want to know it? The art of blogging is all about the chunks of information that are distributed. Some blogs do it in 100 words or less (I don’t know if I could answer anything in just a 100 words, but I could try) and some are huge novels. I don’t know that I could write a novel … Continue reading →