Watch me walk you through a quick mental checklist of things you want to be sure you're doing to save your knees and back when performing lunges.
60sec Read: Regular Exercise Can Lengthen Your Life
If you’ve been following my “60-Second Read” series, then it’s no secret to you that regular exercise is good for you. Throughout the series, we’ve learned that exercise can prevent various diseases/illnesses from ever plaguing our bodies and lives, it can enhance the great parts of life, and it can improve our life even when our health - mental or physical - is not in an ideal place. Even still, there’s more to add to the list… Regular exercise can actually lengthen your life. Here’s the cool part: in one study, people who only achieved about half the recommended amount of physical activity on a weekly basis still gained years to their life expectancy that their inactive counterparts did not - almost 2 years to be exact. This is another cool stat: in the same study, people who struggled with obesity were compared to others of a healthy weight, and obese individuals who met the recommendations for weekly physical activity gained 3 more years to their life expectancy than those who were a healthy weight, but inactive. How dope is that?! One more: on average, individuals who achieved twice the recommended amount of physical activity, [300+ minutes per week], gained over 4 years to their life expectancy. Don’t forget that regular exercise slows and eases the aging process too - allowing us to maintain our independence even into our elderly years. Not only will it improve your quality of life in the years you have left, making a habit of exercising may gift you with extra years. Whether it feels too early to worry about your health/aging, or too late to attempt making a change, the bottom line is that getting and staying active is going to make a difference - it’s going to change your life for the better within days of getting started. So just do it, not just for you, for your family and loved-ones too. Get off your booty and MOVE!!!
60sec Read: Regular Exercise Improves Health & Quality of Life For Those Who Work Desk Jobs
As the efficiency and necessity of technology penetrates society more and more, the number of people working from behind a computer screen is growing exponentially. We all need a paycheck. That’s the reality. While I’ll never tell anyone that their job “isn’t worth it”, I do believe it’s crucial for those who sit the majority of their 8+ hour work day to understand the consequences their body may suffer in the long run. A few of the risks associated with careers that keep people sitting too long include heart disease, diabetes, obesity, depression and chronic pain. We often associate these issues with aging, but the truth is that they are far more influenced by a person’s lifestyle than their age. So what kind of lifestyle should you adopt in order to prevent these issues? A lifestyle in which you are physically active 150-300 minutes per week; that’s 30-60 minutes each day at least 5 days a week. What kind of activity “counts” toward these minutes? To be honest, nearly anything, so long as you’re putting in an honest effort, [so no, walking hand-in-hand with a toddler likely won’t cut it, but a brisk walk-and-talk with a neighbor will!]. Pick any activity, group exercise class or workout program you’d like! The only thing I’d say you need to do is dedicate at least 60-minutes of your weekly activity to strength training - that could be two 30-minute strength training sessions, or three 20-minute sessions per week - and you should aim to train each major muscle group twice a week. Why do I say strength training is a necessity? For a few reasons: 1. It helps maintain our bone density [prevents osteoporosis/broken bones as we age]. 2. Strength training specifically is associated with decreased risk of certain chronic diseases like diabetes and some cancers. 3. It prevents and/or corrects muscle imbalances that result from sitting too long/with imperfect posture and can often lead to chronic joint, back and neck pain or even injury. So as far as quality of life, [living injury, pain and disease-free], I strongly encourage you to make strength training a habit - especially if you’re generally inactive at work. Long story short, don’t sacrifice your well-being while earning your retirement! Prioritize your health and wellness now so that you can truly enjoy your retirement later.
Must-Have Monday: BEST Sneakers for HIIT Workouts
Like every body, every foot is different, so you may not be as in love with these as I am... but give this a listen to find out if you seek the same qualities in sneakers. If you do, you may have just found your holy grail sneaker - FINALLY!!!
60sec Read: Regular Exercise Can Prevent Cancer & The Recurrence Of It
The evidence regarding regular exercise and cancer prevention isn’t exactly conclusive, however, as I’ve written about in past “60sec Reads”, regular exercise most certainly plays a huge role in preventing diseases that result from less than optimal lifestyle choices. And here’s the thing: more often than not, cancer develops due to lifestyle and environmental exposures, not because of genes - this is a common misconception about cancer. There have been plenty of studies performed about the effect regular exercise has on the risk of developing certain cancers, and each one tends to vary… For example, the statistics show that it can reduce people’s risk of developing colon cancer by about 20%, while it could decrease a woman’s risk of breast cancer by around 30-40%, [I don’t know whether studies have looked at possible differences in males vs. females for either of these cancers]. But the evidence suggests that, like Diabetes, even if it runs in your family, regular exercise can prevent cancer from ever developing in your body. That’s incredibly empowering information! Yes, our genes and our environment can increase our risk and likelihood of a cancer diagnosis, but the decisions we make every day hold just as much power - maybe more. It’s also worth noting that, worst case scenario, if you’re exercising regularly and still end up battling cancer, regular exercise before, during and after treatment will in fact reduce your risk of recurrence, as well as improve your quality of life during and after treatment. Basically, fighting disease or not, prioritizing your fitness will help you lead a happier, more fulfilling life - even if “the C-word” barges into it. So just move! That’s all you gotta do, kids!