(Written for LA’s the Place.com. Read original at LA’s the Place.)
With time and money in short supply, using your own body weight and changing up your exercise routine are top fitness trends according to the American Council on Exercise (ACE). 48% of ACE professionals surveyed predict that gym memberships will decline in 2009, so it’s time to look at what you can do at home to get fit quickly and inexpensively.
The last home workout article, Homegrown Muscle: Building a Home-Based Gym, focused on the essentials and recommended simple budget-friendly add-ons. From paper plates to stability balls and kettlebells, we ran the gamut with options that kept you motivated and on the path to weight loss success.
This time around we’ve found some “break-out stars” to supplement, or even replace, your home gym. Below each item you will find a “Trainer’s note” with my observations and comments.
Continue reading ‘Time-Saving Workouts: Gravity Bar, Perfect Pullup and Hula Hooping’
(written for One More Set - a health and fitness blog)
Yes, that’s correct. You actually heard a woman say that she loves her thighs.
My thighs are not particularly attractive: They are neither long nor thin nor tan. In fact, they are kind of short, bulky and pale. So why do I love them?
Continue reading ‘A Woman Says, “I Love My Thighs”’
(by Helen Ryan. Written for LA’s the Place)
Most things I know about life I learned in Spin class.
It’s true.
The stationary bike has been my teacher, and I have spent hundreds of hours learning from it.
Four years ago when I saw my first Spin bike it seemed like…just a bike. Made of cold metal with an unwelcoming seat, it did not look very comfortable. I felt physically awkward: I was very overweight and out of shape in a room full of really fit people. I wanted to leave, to run as fast and far as I could, but did not want to be seen as chickening out.
The first half hour was hell. My behind was numb, my legs were shaky and my heart was pounding. But then I felt something inside. A little spark that ignited a part of me…a part I thought was long gone. That spark re-ignited my pilot light and eventually changed - and saved - my life.
Continue reading at LA’s the Place…
We were not very close, my father and I. Sure we were cordial. Polite. Even friendly. But consistently superficial – shallow, even. Always joking, always laughing, but never really talking. Communication was neither of our strong points. We were the comedians – the happy makers – the King and Princess of rose-colored glasses. So that day in the doctor’s office was no different. Until the squeeze. The squeeze that finally broke the dam.
Continue reading ‘The Squeeze that Broke the Dam’
