Exercise Blog

While celebrating today, take some time to enjoy yourself with healthy foods, quality family time and maybe even a nap - the best part of any holiday. Our Health Guides have some great suggestions for ways you can enjoy this 4th of July.

• Healthy Grilling
• Stay Cool on Summer Walks
• Take a Power Nap
• Play Outdoor Games

Happy 4th everyone!

First, Happy 4th of July! Second, it's Thursday and we have 24 hours before the holiday extravaganza begins. I'm picturing ribs, barbecue, watermelon and beer...and lots of it. If you're planning on indulging tomorrow, today is your chance to burn a few extra calories to help mitigate the damage. I don't want to scare you, but just one cup of homemade potato salad has about 350 calories. Okay, maybe I did want to scare you just a little...but only for my own personal enjoyment.

The great thing about exercise is that it can help you manage your calories so that you don't go too far. Below are a few of my favorite workouts for burning extra calories. Many of these are for intermediate and advanced exercisers, so keep that in mind as you lace up your shoes. Have a fabulous holiday!

• Strength & Power Circuit. This workout is geared towards travelers, but it's also a nice calorie-burner. Add this 10-minute circuit onto the end of your usual workout or go through the circuit 2 or more times to a longer workout. It includes lots of power moves, so get ready for that.
• Cardio Speed & Endurance Workout. This cardio workout is a little schizophrenic, but it definitely makes machine workouts a little more fun. You'll be going up and down with speed and resistance for up to 45 minutes - all while burning lots of calories.
• Fat Burning Circuit. This workout has it all - strength training for every muscle in the body along with high intensity cardio peppered throughout. Sweat anyone?

If these workouts don't float your boat, check out my Workout Center for other ideas.

"Ugh!" That's pretty much the universal response I get from clients when I say it's time for pushups. Why? Because, like my other favorite compound exercises, pushups work just about everything you can think of. The more muscle groups you involve, the more challenging an exercise is. And, of course, you're lifting your own body weight, which is much harder than, say, 10-lb dumbbells.

I've highlighted a variety of pushups here in my blog because I know how much you love them, but today I'm showing one of the hardest pushups out there...divebombers. This pushup is similar to a yoga series in which you go from downward dog to upward dog. The difference is that you're repeating the movements for many more reps than you would in yoga.

The key to this move is, first, being very comfortable with traditional pushups. You'll need a good amount of core strength as well as arm strength to do this move without causing injury. If you feel any back pain, back off and try a different version. This move is difficult to describe, so you may need to practice it a bit before you get it. To really get the most out of this move, think of gliding the body along the floor, as close as you can get without touching, as you move from the pike to the up dog position.

Do it right: Begin the move in a pike position, with hands a bit forward of the body, legs straight and hips to the ceiling. Bend the elbows as you dive forward, bringing your head towards the floor. Keep moving forward, pushing the chest towards the floor and then through the arms. Keep going until your torso is lifted, hips still off the floor and you're looking forward. Reverse the movement and repeat for 4-8 reps.

In Friday's post, I mentioned a study which concluded that irregular exercise may make it harder to lose any weight you gained during your hiatus.

I've gotten quite a few emails about this over the years and this is the first study I've seen that may support what many people have been telling me - that weight is harder to lose the second time around. I say "may" because the study itself did have a few flaws, so it's questionable whether all the information they gathered was 100% accurate. Still, reading this study and seeing emails from my readers makes me curious - have you experienced difficulty losing weight after starting back to your workouts? Vote in this week's poll and leave a comment telling us about your experiences.

Poll: Do you find it harder to lose weight when you start and stop exercise?

1. Yes
2. Sometimes
3. I've never noticed
4. I exercise regularly and haven't experienced this
5. No, my weight loss is the same even if I start and stop my workouts
6. I don't exercise
7. Other - please explain in comments

View Results

Have you ever quit an exercise program, started back and realized the weight loss seems a little slower the second time around? If so, you're not alone. Researchers actually studied this phenomenon and reported their findings in the Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. In the study, researchers pored over surveys completed by almost 30,000 runners who had either increased or decreased their running distances. Some of the findings were pretty obvious, but there were some interesting conclusions as well:

• All runners who cut back gained weight
• The closer the runners came to being sedentary, the more weight they gained
• Below a certain exercise threshold, the weight gain from cutting back ended up being greater than the weight loss, once the runners started exercising again.

The conclusion? People who workout irregularly may have a harder time maintaining and/or returning to their previous weight.

Now, a couple of notes here: This study was based on self-reported information (and we all know that isn't always reliable) and food intake wasn't considered. Still, I think a lot of us have had a tough time losing weight the second time around and this may be a possible explanation.

Consistent exercise isn't easy, but when you look at the consequences of irregular exercise, you may be more motivated to get in some type of activity most days of the week. Even if it's just a few minutes, it's better than doing nothing at all.

• Getting Back on Track with Exercise
• Burn More Fat with Consistent Exercise
• Staying Committed to Exercise
• Timesaver Workouts

_Sources:

Williams, Paul T. Asymmetric Weight Gain and Loss from Increasing and Decreasing Exercise. Med & Sci Spts & Ex. 40(2):296-302, February 2008.

The other day, I was working my way through a tough interval workout when I had this realization: I will never make it through this workout. Almost as soon as I had that thought, I was ready to quit as I imagined slogging through the rest of that workout. I ended up finishing by giving myself a little pep talk, but it was amazing how that one thought almost brought my workout to a screeching halt.

That kind of negative thinking is something we all do and sometimes it's so automatic, we don't even notice it. Those negative thoughts can get in the way of your workouts, but you can do something about it. In my latest article, You Are What You Think, I discuss some of the distorted thinking patterns we may fall victim to and how to get past them.

How do you deal with negative thoughts? Leave a comment and give us the benefit of your wisdom.

If I had to pick my favorite lower body exercise, it would have to be squats. This compound movement works almost every muscle in the lower body: the glutes, hips, and thighs along with other muscles in the abs and back to help stabilize the body. I also like this exercise because it's functional - we perform any number of 'squats' throughout the day as we sit down and stand up, get in and out of cars or bend down to pick things up.

This dumbbell squat is one of the basic versions, using weights to add intensity to the movement. The key to keeping this move both safe and effective is to, first, keep the knees behind the toes when you squat. It's easy to let the knees drift forward, but that puts a strain on your joints and can cause pain and injury. By sitting back, you can protect your knees and by pushing into your heels as you stand up, you can put extra emphasis on the glutes. Also, make sure you keep your abs engaged to avoid straining the lower back. You want to avoid either rounding the back (slumping forward) or arching too much. Instead, try to keep a neutral spine.

Do it right: Stand with feet about hip or shoulder-width apart and, if desired, hold dumbbells just above the shoulders or at your sides. Bend the knees and lower into a squat, stopping when your knees are at 90-degree angles OR before you lose the natural arch of your back. Sit back as though you're about to sit in a chair. Contract the glutes and push through the heels to stand back up, repeating for 1-3 sets of 10-16 repetitions.

More About Squats

• Squat Photo Gallery
• Alternatives to Squats
• Best Butt Exercises

We spend a lot of time talking about how exercise can improve your health and make your body strong. But, more and more researchers are looking into the mental side of exercise - namely, how exercise can improve your mental health. A number of studies have shown that even a little exercise can improve your mood, but not everyone responds to exercise the same way.

In one of my older posts, I mentioned one reader who felt that exercise actually caused depression. As you can see from the comments on that post, a number of readers feel the same way.

I'm curious about your response to exercise. Does exercise boost your mood? Vote in this week's poll and leave a comment to tell us what affect exercise has on your moods.

Poll: Does exercise boost your mood?

1. Yes
2. Sometimes
3. I've never noticed
4. No, my mood stays the same
5. No, exercise makes my mood worse
6. I don't exercise
7. Other - please explain in comments

View Results

_Sources:

Lane AM, Lovejoy DJ. The effects of exercise on mood changes: the moderating effect of depressed mood. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2001 Dec;41(4):539-45.

If you struggle to motivate yourself to exercise, maybe I can convince you with this fact: A sedentary lifestyle can actually speed up the aging process. Now, other things can contribute to that, such as smoking and being overweight, but in this study, researchers focused on exercise while measuring the internal aging system in a group of participants - some who were active and some who weren't.

This marker they measured is called leukocyte telomere length (say that ten times fast). The longer LTL is, the younger (biologically) you are and, according to this study, being active translates to a longer LTL. Now, my mom says exercise makes her feel young, but it sure doesn't take the place of a face lift (as if she really needs one). That may be true, but even she can't deny that feeling young (face lift or not) is nothing to sneeze at.

The study didn't mention what kind of exercise participants were involved in, but it's a sure bet that a regular cardio program as well as strength training will certainly do the trick. The point is, any activity you can add to your life may just add years to your life.

You can visit my Workout Center for workout ideas and check out the resources below for more information about staying young and fit.

More Resources

• Combat the Effects of Aging with Exercise
• Tips for Staying Young
• Free E-Course: Anti-Aging and Staying Young
• Foods for Living Longer and Better

_Sources

Cherkas, Lynn F. PhD, et al. The Association Between Physical Activity in Leisure Time and Leukocyte Telomere Length. Arch Intern Med. 2008;168(2):154-158.

Have you ever had one of those workouts where you start out feeling great but suddenly, just a few minutes into it, your energy gives out for no obvious reason? I certainly have and it can be frustrating as well as puzzling. Your body wants to lie down for a rest (never mind if it's the middle of the sidewalk or a crowded gym) while your mind struggles to decide if you should give up or keep going.

The urge to keep going often comes from the responsible part of you - the one that reminds you of the fact that you've planned this workout, you've already gotten started on it...why stop now? Another part of you is telling that other part to shut up. Sometimes, it's a good idea to stop and try another day but, other times, it may just pay off to keep going. Sometimes, it's those tough-to-finish workouts that give us the most confidence, the most satisfaction and the most strength. If you want to keep going, you may need a few mental tricks to silence that part of you that just wants to give up. My latest article, Getting Through a Tough Workout, offers some ideas for how to do it.

If you have any thoughts or insights, let us know in comments.