Are your workouts working for you? Not sure? One way to tell is by using a method called the rate of perceived exertion, or RPE. It helps ensure that you’re working out to your optimal level! Aim too low and you’ll just be going through the motions without much benefit. Aim too high and you could end up frustrated, burned out, or injured!

So how do you find a pace that’s just right? Think of exertion on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being no exertion (sitting in a chair, for example) and 10 being the most you can possibly do. A moderate walk might put you at a 3. Remember, it’s not about how fast you’re walking, it’s about how strenuous it feels. Aim for a range between 3 (moderate) and 5 (strong), say experts at the American Council on Exercise. You should feel you’re exerting yourself enough to gain cardiovascular benefit, but not so hard that it’s difficult or uncomfortable to sustain your workout.

As your strength and fitness level increases, bump up the intensity to compensate, aiming to stay within your newly defined 3-to-5 range. The best thing about perceived exertion is that you can use it for any workout — walking, jogging, bicycling, bench stepping, climbing stairs, or performing low-impact aerobics! And be sure to keep checking in when you’re working out!

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Want dancer’s legs without having to go to dance class? Here’s a move that will help give your legs that long, lean appearance!

You’ll need a chair for support. Start by standing tall, with one hand on the back of the chair for balance and the other on your hip. Begin in “first position” (think ballet), with your toes turned out and your heels touching. Keep your back straight and your abs tight. Dip down by bending at the knees, keeping them square over your toes. Lift your heels off the floor, pushing from the balls of your feet. Straighten your legs, squeezing your buttocks and inner thighs, then lower your heels, returning to the starting position.

The move has four steps — plié down, lift heels, push up, and heels down to starting position. Repeat the series for two sets of 8 to 12 reps each. Rest for 15 seconds between sets. Fabulous! It’s that simple!

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I spent some time looking through one of my textbooks that I have acquired since going to school, looking for some ideas to give people out there in the blogosphere to stay healthy so they can keep doing what they love to do. I think before I can clearly give any sound suggestions. I think it is important that I have some sort of assessment tool in hand so I can maybe gauge what people are struggling with and what they would like suggestions in changing.

With that being said I do want to make you aware of the fact that I am not a Doctor (yet) and before you take the advice of anyone you should always consult a Medical Doctor and get a physical done before embarking on a new fitness and diet regimen. However, I can assist you with figuring out what you enjoy to do for physical activity and what you enjoy eating so that the term diet doesn’t sound so foreboding.

There are six dimensions of wellness that make up the health continuum

1. Physical
2. Intellectual
3. Interpersonal/social
4. Emotional
5. Spiritual
6. Environmental

A person can be emotionally well but not be physically well. They can have intellectual wellness but lack social wellness and spiritual wellness. Or even intellectual wellness but no physical wellness.  So what good is knowing all there is to know about blogging or even how to successfully build and maintain a web site if you are so run down you can’t focus? Instead you pop another No Doze and hope to stay awake for another hour trying to scoop someone. Before you know it the excessive caffeine builds up in your digestive tract and starts causing ulcers. Ok so that isn’t a very good push for caffeine as a whole as I am sitting here with a freshly opened can of Diet Pepsi next to me as I type this out. My problem is that I am on a high enough dosage of Zoloft that it makes me drowsy about two hrs after taking it so I need the boost through something so I go through a 24 can case of Diet Pepsi in about four days. That is six cans a day and at 35 mg’s of caffeine per can that is 210 mg’s a day of caffeine. So no I am not hoping on the caffeine is bad for you bandwagon because that would certainly make me look like a hypocrite.

I think what I would like to do instead is take some time to put together a survey OMG not another survey LOL. Yes just so I can help people see where their habits are and then help use the results to better suggest what they could try to make staying healthy maybe not so tedious and boring so they can be alert and handle the demands of their editors and readers or at least their readers if they are self edited. So I am going to be working after my podcast this Friday to put together my own little survey to send out to willing participants.

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I opened up my email this morning and saw this story about bloggers who are blogging themselves to death. “Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla., funeral services were held for Russell Shaw, a prolific blogger on technology subjects who died at 60 of a heart attack. In December, another tech blogger, Marc Orchant, died at 50 of a massive coronary. A third, Om Malik, 41, survived a heart attack in December.”

I was disturbed at this trend in how we are becoming such a slave to the PC and Internet that we are willing to die for our work. Not only that but die at an early age. This got me thinking about what other trends in health are on the rise over just the course of a decade or so. According to National Center for Health Statistics,and National Vital Statistics Reports between 1999 and 2001 the leading six causes of death due to diet and inactivity were heart disease,cancer, stroke,diabetes,kidney disease, and hypertension.Further in a 2000assessment people who led sedentary lives had 23.2 days in a 30 day time period where they felt healthy. They reported 3.9 days out of the month were they felt sad, blue or depressed and 8.1 days having trouble sleeping.”Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet.” These numbersdefinitely support on some level the New York post’s information regarding blogging till you drop.

I looked into some other statistics and what I found was just more confirmation that our sedentary lifestyles are not helping us but hurting us instead. In the most recent study I could find from the CDC I found this:

The percentage of adults who spent most of their day sitting increased from 36.8% in 2000 to 39.9% in 2005. A similar increase was seen among both men and women, adults aged 25 years and over, and non-Hispanic white adults. Overall, the percentage of adults who spent most of their day standing or walking decreased between 2000 and 2005. A similar decrease was seen among adults aged 65 years and over and non-Hispanic white adults.

Kansas Jumped from 5% reporting unhealthy days of more than 14 days to 9% from 1993 to 2006

Kansas also jumped from 6.5% to 9.1% reporting mentally unhealthy days of more than 14 days to 1993 to 2006

Overall in Kansas there has been an increase of 4 days to 5.4 days of being physically or mentally unhealthy.

Between 1998 and 2006 Kansas reported fair or poor self rated health initially in 1993 of 12.0 to 17.3 in 2006

These numbers are from

Health, United States an annual report on trends in health statistics.

On the plus side smoking has decreased for men and women nationally with smoking by men at 50% in 1965 to just under 30% in 2005 and just over 30% in women to about 20% within the same time frame. Even smoking by pregnant mothers declined from 20% in 1995 to 10% in 2005

Between 1999 to 2004 adults between 18 and 44 eat 1 to 3 meals out at a rate of just over 50% while they eat 4 or more meals out about 35% of the time

Overweight including obese has risen from 45% to 70% for the 20 to 74 yr old age group between 1960 to 2004

Arthritis/musculoskeletal, heart/circulatory, mental illness, diabetes are the top 4 conditions reported between 2004 to 2005 that cause activity limitations

Last but not least Antidepressant use by men increase from about 3% between 1988 to 1994 to about 7% between 1992 to 2002 and by women from about 4% between 1988 to 1994 to about 13% between 1999 to 2002

So you can see some pretty disturbing trends here. I love to blog and at the moment I am not getting paid huge bucks to blog, but I can’t see running my health into the ground to get a jump on the competition. I am in bed no later than 12:30 each night with the rare exception that I am working on a design, I keep healthy foods around to snack on like whole wheat bread for peanut butter and jelly sandwich’s , carrots, grapes, bananas, yogurt, skim milk, diet soda just to name a few. I make sure I get at least 30 min of fairly intense activity about every other day. At the moment that is taking the form of house work and playing out doors with my kid. I too am on antidepressants so I really have to work at keeping my body in good shape so the antidepressants can properly do there job.

You can see why now is it is crucial to focus on preventative health measures instead of treatment. Because in the case of the bloggers who blogged themselves ragged their deaths could have been prevented if in fact their sedentary lifestyles contributed to the cause of their deaths, in which reading this article it appears that it did.

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For years, the common knowledge has been that if you want to lose fat, you have to do aerobic exercise. But while it is in part true, that belief unfortunately led many women to think that they could skip strength training. A study changed that way of thinking.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics recently found that strength training — or weight lifting — plays a key role in controlling a woman’s weight. They discovered that women who lifted weights just twice a week were able to avoid the slow, one to two pound weight gain per year that’s so common in middle age. While that might not sound like a lot, over the years it can really add up. Another plus? Women who lifted weights had healthier hearts.

So how does lifting weights help keep you slim? It’s simple — strength training builds muscle, and muscle cells burn more calories than fat cells. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, 24 hours a day — even when you are asleep! So if you aren’t already, make strength training a part of your fitness program. Your efforts will pay off for years to come!

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In addition to being essential to general health and well-being, exercise is helpful in managing many MS symptoms. A study published by researchers at the University of Utah in 1996 was the first to demonstrate clearly the benefits of exercise for people with MS. Those patients who participated in an aerobic exercise program had better cardiovascular fitness, improved strength, better bladder and bowel function, less fatigue and depression, a more positive attitude, and increased participation in social activities. Since 1996, several additional studies have confirmed the benefits of exercise.

Inactivity in people with or without MS can result in numerous risk factors associated with coronary heart disease. In addition, it can lead to weakness of muscles, decreased bone density with an increased risk of fracture, and shallow, inefficient breathing.

An exercise program needs to be appropriate to the capabilities and limitations of the individual, and may need to be adjusted as changes occur in MS symptoms. A physical therapist experienced with the unique and varied symptoms of MS can be helpful in designing, supervising and revising a well-balanced exercise program. Any person with MS who is initiating a new exercise program should also consult with his or her physician before starting.

Periods of exercise should be carefully timed to avoid the hotter periods of the day and prevent excessive fatigue. With some guidelines, a good exercise program can help to develop the maximum potential of muscle, bone and respiration, thereby avoiding secondary complications and gaining the benefits of good health and well-being.

Source:National Multiple Sclerosis Society

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Resolutions ready? Take the plunge

12/29/2007By KALEY LYON

Hays Daily News

It’s back!

As 2008 draws near, The Center for Health Improvement is preparing for a repeat of what turned out to be its most popular event yet, Pound Plunge.

The program, which encourages locals to eat healthy and exercise right, shocked staff members and the entire community when about 1,500 people signed on last year to drop the pounds.

While it’s too soon for exact numbers, the second annual event is expected to be another big one, said Stephanie Schaffer, fitness manager.

“They keep coming in every day,” Schaffer said of this year’s registrations. “I’m expecting a lot more.”

The 12-week weight loss program will begin on Jan. 10 and end April 3. Each team must consist of four members, and the deadline to register is Jan. 6.

The beginning of the year is a good time to have such an event — New Year’s resolutions often help keep participants motivated, she said.

“New Year’s is a time when a lot of people in our country set goals,” Schaffer said. “The big thing is to lose weight and to exercise. It’s just a perfect time of the year to implement a team like this.”

Overall, the routine will be about the same as last year. Participants will receive a weekly nutrition or exercise tip to help them drop pounds and keep them off, she said.

The teams also will weigh in each week to track their progress, and at the end of the program, the team with the highest percentage of weight lost will receive a prize.

Unlike last year, when only the first place team received a financial award and free membership to the center, the top three teams will be rewarded.

Also unlike last year, team members will have the opportunity to weigh in on new digital scales, and individuals’ blood pressures will be recorded at the beginning and end of the program to gauge improvement, Schaffer said.

The program isn’t limited to the center — it strives to include the larger community and encourages participants and other local entities to get involved, she said.

“It’s just about getting people moving,” Schaffer said. “It’s just to teach people about fitness and exercise and nutrition, and they love it.”

Schaffer said she expects many of last year’s participants to try it again, and there also are many new team members already signed up.

“I think we’ll have people who did it last year who had great success. They’ll come back,” she said. “I think you’ll have people who did it last year and maybe have found out they need to do it a different way this year. And then you’re going to have the people who are going to come back, and this motivated them to lose weight and keep weight off.”

Deanna Staab, Hays, is one such individual. She participated in last year’s health challenge and has continued losing weight ever since.

At November’s Pound Plunge reunion, Staab took first place for having lost, and kept off, the highest percentage of body weight since the challenge began in early 2007.

Staab lost 13 pounds during pound plunge, and by continuing to eat and exercise healthy since then, has lost an additional 24 pounds.

“I really enjoy it,” she said. “I feel better and started exercising regularly, so that was the key — just to lose a little at a time.”

Staab’s team dubbed themselves the “hot tamales,” and the team support is what kept her going, she said. Her goal for Pound Plunge 2, which she has already signed up for, is to lose an additional 10 pounds, she said.

“I’m just happy about it,” Staab said. “It’s a good deal and everybody should sign up. It just gives you an idea of where you’re at and what you should be doing.”

Reporter Kaley Lyon can be reached at (785) 628-1081 Ext. 138, or by e-mail at klyon@dailynews.net.

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Thinking of kicking your walking routine up a notch with jogging? You should! It’s a great way to burn even more calories and reap additional cardiovascular benefits at the same time! But remember, the key to success — and to avoiding injuries — is starting off on the right foot! The experts at The American Physical Therapy Association offer these tips for new joggers:

• Alternate the pace. Gradually go between jogging and walking until you build up your endurance, rather than suddenly converting to jogging only!
• Do the talk test. If you can’t carry on a conversation while you jog, you’re pushing yourself too hard. Slow down!
• Look for give! For the sake of your joints, choose dirt, a rubberized track, or a similar soft surface over asphalt and concrete.
• Watch your feet. Keep an eye out for injury-prone obstacles like logs, rocks, and holes in your path. Be careful!

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Here is the latest weight loss and fitness carnival these are all great reads and I enjoyed reading them as well. My friend Cindy is in the Blog Mastermind Program with me and she has blossomed in her blogging skills since joining the Blog Mastermind program. Tupelo always has great articles and I have a new favorite with Weight Loss Dude as he puts himself out there through pictures of himself through his weight loss process. That takes guts for anyone to do that.

Flexibility Exercises posted at Weight Master

How to Count Calories posted at Strength for Her

Facing Fear with Deliberate Awareness posted at Tupelo Kenyon

Why I’m Not A Vegetarian posted at Weight Loss Dude

Michelle’s Corner- Tips to ward off weight gain at the office posted at IAmSoOverMe

Coffee and Fitness posted at Go Workout Mom

Being Present Through Sensuality posted at Tupelo Kenyon

A Healthy Career Change posted at ask the CareerCounselor

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These are all great reads I encourage anyone to check them out and spread the word about them.

Simple Toning Meditation posted at Tupelo Kenyon

Why excercise is absolutely necessary posted at 360 Degree Success

Your Friends are Making you fat posted at Witch on White Mountain

The Crude Reality Of Bodybuilding posted at MuscleBolism: Build Muscle Beyond Anabolics

When Business is Incontinent posted at Trust Matters

Dominic Acito.com - Stretching Guide posted at Dominic Acito

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