Fitness - Health : mai 2017

mercredi 31 mai 2017

Gabrielle Union's Workout Will Give You Toned, Tight Arms

Gabrielle Union has never been shy about sharing her secrets to a bangin’ bod. The 44-year-old actress loves posting snippets of her grueling workouts to Instagram, and on Wednesday morning, she treated us to an Insta story of her favorite go-to exercise regimen.

This 7-move circuit routine especially targets the star’s shoulders and back—so she’ll look extra fit for backless gowns on the red carpet this summer. Union has previously chronicled her quest to “build a booty,” as she put it, so her trainer threw in a few glute-toning moves too.

Think you can handle Union’s workout? We say bring it on. But trust us, you’ll definitely be feeling the burn once you finish.

Rope Shoulder Pulls

Union captioned this image “25 reps of rope shoulder pulls = sexy shoulders,” and we can see why. It’ll seriously work your shoulders and upper back. Stand with your legs slightly bent and back straight. Hold a cable rope in both hands and pull toward your chest. Push the rope back in, then repeat. (Union did 25 reps.)

Dumbbell Front Raise

Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing in. Raise your arms straight in front of you and lower once they’re at shoulder level. Make sure your arms don’t go above 90 degrees. Repeat.

TRX Squats with Thigh Band

The caption says this is Union’s warm up, but to us it looks like the main event. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Holding a TRX suspension rope, do a low squat, making sure your knees don’t sneak past your toes. To add a little extra fire, slip a resistance band around your thighs, just above your knees.

Suspended Thigh Pulses

Stay in a squat position holding a TRX rope. With a resistance band around your thighs, pulse your legs in and out, keeping feet still. Judging by Union’s expression here, this will really pack a punch, but it’ll do wonders for your posterior.

RELATED: The Better Butt Workout

Kettlebell Squats

Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Hold a kettlebell with both hands between your legs. Squat with your back straight, making sure your knees don’t go past your toes. Repeat.

Medicine Ball Throw

Standing with one foot in front of the other, back straight and knees slightly bent, hold a medicine ball in both hands. Making sure you pull it across your whole body, throw the ball against a nearby wall and catch it. Repeat.

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Full Body Dumbbell Snatch

Standing with your legs more than shoulder-width apart, hold a dumbbell with that arm above your head, other arm extended out and parallel with the ground. Bring the dumbbell down to the ground in one move, squatting as you go. Bring the dumbbell back above your head and straighten out your legs. Repeat.

Gabrielle Union's Workout Will Give You Toned, Tight Arms

This 25-Minute Strength Workout Activates Every Muscle Group

Here's How to Make Yourself Love Exercise

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This article originally appeared on Time.com.

It’s not just you: Many people are turned off by the thought of exercise because they think it has to be intense or time-consuming. But the findings of a new study published in the journal BMC Public Health suggests that people could learn to enjoy being active simply by tweaking those beliefs and expectations.

So says the study’s lead author Michelle Segar, director of the University of Michigan’s Sport, Health, and Activity Research and Policy Center, who’s spent years researching what motivates people to get and stay physically fit. (She’s also author of No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness.) Too often, she says, people begin exercise programs to lose weight, and quit when they don’t shed pounds right away.

In her new study, she and her colleagues asked 40 women about what really makes them feel happy and successful. Then they analyzed how their views about working out either fostered or undermined those feelings. The diverse group of women were all between ages 22 and 49.

All of the women—whether they were regular exercisers or not—turned out to want the same things out of life: to have meaningful connections with others, to feel relaxed and free of pressure during their leisure time and to accomplish the goals they’d set for themselves, whether in their personal lives, their careers or simply their daily to-do lists.

The big difference, the researchers found, was that women who were inactive viewed exercise as counterproductive to those things. In order for exercise to be valid, they thought, it had to be seriously heart-pumping and sweat-inducing—the complete opposite of the “relaxing” feeling they wanted from their free time.

They also felt that following an exercise program took up too much time and put too much pressure on them, and that it was too difficult to commit to a schedule and meet expectations, leaving them feeling like failures.

But women in the study who were regularly active didn’t share these views. For them, exercise went hand-in-hand with their desires for social connectivity, relaxing leisure time and feeling accomplished.

WATCH NOW: Transform Your Body in Your Living Room With This Intense HIIT Workout

That shift in mindset has to happen for women who aren’t currently active, says Segar. “These women feel alienated by exercise, or feel that they’ve failed when they tried it in the past,” she says. “They have a very narrow definition of what exercise should look like.”

Segar says that definition comes from decades of messaging from fitness companies and older scientific research that suggesting that high-intensity activity is the only way for exercise to be worthwhile. “That’s no longer true,” she says. “The new recommendations for physical activity really open the door for people to pretty much do anything that works for them.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggests that for “substantial health benefits,” adults should get 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity, such as brisk walking. It’s true that additional benefits can be gained from more (or more intense) exercise, but Segar says this is a good starting point for many Americans who currently lead sedentary lives.

Instead of thinking about exercise as an alternative to enjoying free time or socializing with friends, she recommends framing it as a way to make those things happen. “Women need to give themselves permission to use physical activity as a way to relax—to get together with friends or loved ones and take a leisurely stroll, simply because being active and outdoors boosts their mood and makes them feel good.”

While walking is an easy way to squeeze in more movement throughout the day, she also encourages people to get creative. “If you liked biking as a kid, rent a bike and see if it still feels good,” she says. “Play tag with your kids, take a dance class or even just climb the stairs a few extra times while you’re doing chores around the house.”

Most importantly, Segar says, people need to know that any physical activity is better than no physical activity. “You don’t have to do 30 minutes at a time, you don’t have to sweat and you don’t have to hate whatever it is you’re doing,” she says. “You just have to choose to move when you see opportunities.”

Here's How to Make Yourself Love Exercise

Britney Spears Shows Off Impressive Abs Ahead of International Tour

mardi 30 mai 2017

Dead Butt Syndrome Is One More Reason You Shouldn’t Sit All Day

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It's no secret that sitting for long stretches isn't great for your body. Research has linked it to heart disease, obesity, diabetes, even cancer. But there's another health risk from sitting all day that most people don't know about: gluteal amnesia, or dead butt syndrome.

It almost sounds like a joke, but it's not uncommon, says Andrew Bang, a chiropractor at the Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute: “I see the injury all the time in varying degrees."

Dead butt syndrome develops when the gluteus medius—one of the three main muscles in the booty—stops firing correctly. That can happen if you spend too much time parked in a chair, explains Kristen Schuyten, a physical therapist at Michigan Medicine. "But it can also occur in very active individuals who just don’t engage the glute muscles enough,” she adds.

Since the gluteus medius normally helps stabilize the pelvis, gluteal amnesia can lead to lower back pain and hip pain, as well as knee and ankle issues, as the body tries to compensate for the imbalance.

Dead butt syndrome has to do with reciprocal inhibition—the process that describes the give-and-take relationship between muscles on either side of a joint. "In general, when one muscle contracts, a nerve signal is sent to its opposing muscle to relax,” says Bang.

When you spend hours on end in a seated position, your hip flexors are contracting while your glutes rest. “Over time, we’re basically training our glutes to be weak,” Bang says.

The same type of muscle imbalance can happen in highly active people who have very strong quads or hamstrings. Bang has even seen marathon runners develop dead butt syndrome

How do you know if you have gluteal amnesia?

One way practitioners diagnose the condition is with the Trendelenburg test, a physical exam in which a person lifts one leg in front of them while standing. “If the pelvis dips down on the side of the body where the leg is lifted, that indicates weakness in the gluteus medius on the opposite side,” says Bang.

The curve in a person's back can also suggest gluteal amnesia. While the lumbar spine (or lower back) should naturally form an S shape, more extreme curvature may signal that the hip flexors are so tight they’re pulling the spine forward, says Bang.

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What can you do to avoid dead butt syndrome?

Try to take frequent breaks from your chair throughout the day. Get up and walk around, or do some stretches at your desk. Schuyten recommends setting hourly reminders on your phone, to prompt you to squeeze your butt muscles at regular intervals.

And when you work out, don't forget to target that booty. Along with squats and bridges, lying-down leg lifts are a good move to add to your routine, says Bang. “Start on your left side with your right leg lifted and the big toe pointing toward the floor as you lift,” he says. “This angle isolates the gluteus medius and minimus muscles the most, so you’ll feel it within 10 to 15 lifts of the leg.” Add a band or ankle weight for extra resistance.

Above all, the best way to avoid gluteal amnesia is to mix up your daily routine, says Bang. Sit on an exercise ball for part of the day. Spend some time standing up, working at a high countertop. “Whatever you do, just don’t allow your body to get into a repetitive cycle,” he says.

Dead Butt Syndrome Is One More Reason You Shouldn’t Sit All Day

3 Strength Moves You Probably Aren't Doing—But Should Be

You're probably already incorporating strength moves such as squats, planks, and burpees, into your workout routine. But there are a few additional moves you're likely missing. These strength exercises below target commonly overlooked muscle groups, says Karen Litzy, a spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association. Adding them to your regular workout routine will not only improve your strength in your lower body and core but also help keep injuries away.

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Stability Ball Hamstring Curl

Lie faceup with lower legs and heels on a stability ball, knees straight. Lift hips off the floor (A). Slowly bend knees to pull the ball toward hips (B), then slowly return to the starting position. Do 3 sets of 15.

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Fire Hydrant

This exercise targets the gluteus medius (a.k.a. the upper part of your butt), says Litzy, which helps support your pelvis. "Any weakness there can cause hip strain that leads to pain." Start on all fours (A). Raise left thigh to the side, keeping knee in line with foot (B). Hold for 30 to 60 seconds. Repeat on other side.

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Bird Dog

For good posture, it's important to tone the erector spinae muscles along the back of your spine. From all fours (A), simultaneously extend left leg at hip height and right arm at shoulder level (B). Hold for 5 to 10 seconds. Repeat the move with right leg and left arm. That's 1 rep. Do 10 reps.

3 Strength Moves You Probably Aren't Doing—But Should Be

lundi 29 mai 2017

7 Easy Ways to Kick Your Sluggish Metabolism Up a Notch

When your metabolism is running like a well-oiled machine, your body is working for you. Not only can it make maintaining (or losing) weight a little easier, but maximizing your system's calorie-burning engine will also help you feel more energetic, active, and alive. To figure out how to get it to that happy place, incorporate these everyday eating and exercise habits into your regular routine.

Do more heavy lifting

It’s so easy to glance at the “calories burned” figure on the cardio machine and then add more time to your workout to make the number higher. But if you want your metabolic furnace to burn hotter during the day, you’re going to need to add muscle. “Muscle burns more calories than fat,” says Alissa Rumsey, RD, CSCS, author of Three Steps to a Healthier You. She advises fitting in a total-body strength workout two to three times per week, using a weight that’s heavy enough to make the 10^th rep very difficult.

RELATED: 23 Snacks That Burn Fat

**Eat protein in the morning and afternoon**

You already know that cranking your metabolism means filling your dinner plate with quality protein (in the form of lean meats, eggs, fish, legumes, and yogurt). Thing is, it’s easy to get that chicken breast or piece of salmon in at dinner. What's harder is remembering to eat a high-protein meal at breakfast and lunch, says Rumsey, when you're typically on the go and too rushed to do much more than grab a piece of fruit or carb-heavy sandwich.

Getting good protein in the a.m. and p.m. "will also help you maintain and build muscle as long as you consume it before and after regular weight training workouts,” she says. Plus, research suggests that your body works harder to break down and process calories from protein than from fat or carbs, resulting in a slight bump in metabolism. And don't forget, protein promotes satiety. You’ll feel fuller and burn more calories breaking it down. Double win.

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Dial back your work stress

No one has to tell you that chronic stress is unhealthy. But stress at work is especially detrimental. One study of women with a history of mood disorders in the journal Biological Psychiatry found that those who experienced extra stress during the workday burned 104 fewer calories in response to a higher-fat meal compared to women who were not stressed. As the researchers discovered in a later study, stress can change the way your body metabolizes fats, even reducing the benefits of eating a healthy meal.

Snack before bedtime

You heard that right—it's time to consider disregarding all those warnings about not eating after 8 p.m. “Conventional wisdom says that food you eat right before bed will sit in your stomach all night long, which will result in packing on the pounds,” says Cassie Bjork, RD, author of Why Am I Still Fat?. Instead, the right bedtime snack “will actually boost your metabolism by keeping your blood-sugar levels stable, which allows your pancreas to secrete the fat-burning hormone glucagon,” she says.

Hit the sheets early

Sleep may be the last thing on your to-do list, yet it deserves priority status, and here's one out of a million reasons why. Not getting enough rest has a disastrous effect on your metabolism, prompting you to misread your system's hunger cues and revving your appetite. As one study suggests, this appetite boost happens when your body calls for extra calories to fuel the additional time you’re awake—and that leads you to overeat. The National Sleep Foundation recommends adults snag seven to nine hours of shuteye per night. Give it a try tonight.

To get our best wellness advice delivered to you inbox, sign up for the Healthy Living newsletter

Get up and move—right now

Maybe you put in your 45 minutes of daily heart-pumping exercise on the regular. But if you spend the rest of the day with your butt planted firmly in a chair, you’re keeping your metabolism in stall, says Rumsey. “It’s important to move as much as possible,” she says, not just because movement burns calories but because it keeps your metabolism on high.

So make an effort to get up and stand at your desk, head outside to eat lunch and then taking a stroll, or walk or down the stairs when possible. Moving more during the day, even if you're just heading down the halls of your office or taking the long route to the parking lot where you left your car, will keep your metabolism running, she says.

Stop counting calories

“People often think that restricting calories boosts metabolism, but this does the complete opposite,” says Bjork. Here's why: calories are the energy that fuels your body and helps your metabolism run efficiently. Take in too few, and you’ll start to feel fatigued and hangry. Ensuring that you’re filling up your plate with lean protein (like fish or meat), healthy fats (avocado, olive oil, almond butter), and lots of fruits and veggies will deliver high-quality, nutritionally dense calories to your body. That helps your metabolism run optimally, in turn burning calories rather than conserving them.

7 Easy Ways to Kick Your Sluggish Metabolism Up a Notch

6 Slam Ball Exercises for Stronger Legs and Glutes

Photo: Twenty20

This is a partial workout. You can find the rest of the moves at Life by Daily Burn.

When you look at a slam ball, leg and glute exercises may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But incorporating this soft weighted ball into your booty routine will work your lower half hard. Weak hamstrings, glutes and hips can lead to knee and back pain. So if you’re looking for a way to strengthen these muscles, while building power, the slam ball can kill two birds with one big, squishy ball.

Gerren Liles, PROJECT by Equinox master trainer and Reebok ONE Elite ambassador likes to use it for a quick leg workout. “The slam ball is a simple tool that allows you to move in multiple dimensions and directions, and can serve as a load to develop strength and power,” Liles says.

In addition to tightening and toning, the slam ball creates an unstable environment that forces your body to work harder to balance weight. (Stability challenge, anyone?) And because you’ll move in different planes of motion, you’ll work your core, legs and arms, too.

“The ball can be used as a prop to challenge your stability, as you’ll see in the Bulgarian squat and soccer tap drill. It can also be used as a form of resistance in the squat with front push and hamstring curls,” Liles explains. Check out just how versatile this space-efficient piece of equipment can be in the six exercises below.

6 Slam Ball Exercises That Build Lower-Body Strength

These moves will not only blast your lower half, they’ll help improve your ankle mobility, agility and reflexes. Add some intensity, and they’ll get your heart rate up, too, Liles says. Do 8 to 10 reps of each exercise for two sets.

GIFs: Tiffany Ayuda / Life by Daily Burn

1. Bulgarian Squat

This variation of the squat challenges your balance. To keep your foot from rolling off the ball, engage your core so you can move with more control, Liles says.

How to: Stand with your feet together in front of a slam ball. Step your right foot back and place your toes on top of the ball (a). Keeping your weight in your left heel, slowly lower your body into a lunge, bending your right knee towards the floor. Your left knee should form a 90-degree angle to the floor. Be sure your left knee is stacked above your ankle (b). Straighten both legs and return to standing (c).

2. Lying Hip Bridge With Hamstring Curl

Take your glute bridges to the next level with this variation that also strengthens your hamstrings. The lack of surface area on the ball is an added challenge to making the movement slower.

How to: Lay on your back with your hips lifted off the floor and your calves and heels on top of the ball. Plant your hands on the floor at your sides (a). Draw your heels in toward your butt with control, bending your legs. Your hips should elevate even higher as you squeeze your glutes to bring your heels in (b). Slowly extend your legs back out to the starting position (c).

3. Lying Quad Extension

Your quads, hamstrings and glutes are some of the biggest muscles groups in your body. This simple move fires up all three, helping you torch more calories per workout.

How to: Lie flat on your back and place the ball between your calves with your knees bent. For an added core challenge, you can lift your head off the floor and bring your chin towards your chest (a). Without moving your hips, bring your legs straight up towards the ceiling (b). Then, bend your knees until the ball touches the back of your legs. Remember to press your low-back into the floor throughout the entire movement (c).

6 Slam Ball Exercises for Stronger Legs and Glutes

vendredi 26 mai 2017

Carrie Underwood Has Learned to 'Cut Myself Slack' When It Comes to Working Out: 'I Fit It in When I Can'

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This article originally appeared on People.com.

Before having her son 2-year-old son Isaiah, Carrie Underwood would work out six or seven days a week, but she doesn’t put pressure on herself to maintain such an intense workout schedule anymore.

“It just happens if and when it happens,” Underwood, 34, told PEOPLE of her new approach to working out at the CALIA by Carrie Underwood Summer Kick-Off event in Malibu on Friday. “I’ve gotten a lot better at doing what I can when I can, but also cutting myself a little slack. You have to!”

That means squeezing in a workout when it’s doable.

“Now it’s like, ‘Okay, I have 20 minutes. What can I do in 20 minutes?'” she says. “I can go run for a little while, I can go do some tabata rounds, I can do something. Sometimes I’m like, my workout today is going be running around after my kid. If we’re going to go to the park, why not run there and push him in the stroller? Then I get a good cardio session to and from, and then he gets to play, so everybody wins.”

If she does have a little more free time, she’ll do a full tabata workout.

“I ‘play cards’ a lot — I assign different exercises to each suit, and I sit down at breakfast and plan out what each suit’s going to be,” she says.

Her other go-to activities are running and group exercise classes, like Barry’s Bootcamp.

“I love just putting headphones in and going for a run,” says Underwood. “I feel so good when I get home, especially when it’s hot. I’m one of those weirdos that likes to run when it’s super hot outside! Or classes. I find myself competing with other people in the room. I’m like, ‘Oh she’s good, I want to be like her!’ I try to ‘beat’ someone in the class. They have no idea we’re competing!”

The singer says finding time for herself is possible thanks to family support.

“It helps having a supportive husband and a great unit around me,” she says. “You have to sit down and talk to those around you because I feel like I’m a better mom, a better wife, a better friend when I feel good about myself. It’s endorphins and all that stuff that’s being released, too. No bad things can come out of taking care of yourself!”

And having her own fashion line of workout gear is extra motivation to hit the gym.

“I used to go to the gym in ratty old sweats, but if you already feel good going into your workout, it just kind of gives you that little extra lift,” she says.

Underwood says her drive to work out comes from herself, and not from external pressures to look a certain way.

“It’s all about realizing why you do it,” she says. “I want to be a great mom and I want to be around for him for as long as I possibly can. I want to feel good about myself, I want to set that example for my child and make that a priority, because he’s watching. He’s a busy guy, so I need to keep my energy levels up to be able to play with him and chase him around. So it’s for me and my family and for feeling good about myself. Sometimes you have to remind yourself, but it helps to just say, ‘It’s not for everybody else, it’s for me.’ “

Carrie Underwood Has Learned to 'Cut Myself Slack' When It Comes to Working Out: 'I Fit It in When I Can'

This 20-Minute Yoga Flow Can Help Relieve Back Pain

jeudi 25 mai 2017

A 20-Minute Fat-Burning Kettlebell Workout

mercredi 24 mai 2017

The Inspiring Reason Jen Widerstrom Shared This ‘Embarrassing’ Old Photo

A 10-Minute Calming Yoga Flow to Help Banish Your Stress

6 Moves You Can Do At Your Desk for Better Mobility

Tracy Anderson’s Top Arm-Sculpting Exercises You Can Do Anywhere

mardi 23 mai 2017

America Ferrera on How Triathlons Changed Her Sense of Self : 'Working Out Has Always Been an Emotional Experience'

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This article originally appeared on People.com.

For years, America Ferrera used to focus on the limitations of what her body could do, and how it looked. But becoming a triathlete helped Ferrera rethink her strength.

“This relationship of being disappointed in our bodies is a relationship that I started at a very young age, whether that’s because of the culture around me or the points of views that I was exposed to,” Ferrera, 33, tells Triathlete magazine for their July cover. “I didn’t see a lot of examples — or nobody taught me to appreciate and love my body for what it’s capable of. It was always about what it wasn’t and couldn’t do, and what it could be.”

So the Superstore star set out to challenge herself, and signed up for the Olympic-distance Nautica Malibu Triathlon with Team in Training to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, in honor of a friend who had just lost her mom.

“I think recently in the past few years of my life I’ve started noticing a pattern of when something scares me, that’s an indication that I should do it,” Ferrera says. “There were absolutely times where I doubted whether I could do it. When we started, I was not a swimmer at all and I remember one night at swim practice where I was just literally weeping in the pool. I just started crying because I had to swim 600 meters in a row, and for someone who started like, ‘I don’t even know if I can do a 50! How am I gonna do this?’ ”

But she persevered; finishing the race with her husband, Ryan Piers Williams, the day before the 2016 Emmys, and even wore her number to a pre-Emmys party. The accomplishment completely changed her mindset.

“Why I think triathlons have changed my relationship to myself is because the whole sport is about going further than you think you can go, living at the threshold and pushing yourself to the place where you feel like, ‘I never thought I could be here and I certainly thought I couldn’t go further,’ ” Ferrera says. “It’s at that threshold that you have the opportunity to choose something new which could just be to be nice to yourself in that moment, to acknowledge yourself in that moment.”

Ferrera — who finished her second triathlon in April — says the sport and its challenges gave her a greater appreciation for her body.

“Our little bodies — the small little space that we inhabit for the entirety of our lives — everything we feel, everything we experience, everything we do is contained inside of our bodies. And to be challenged physically is to have to meet all of your experiences,” she says. “That’s why, personally, working out has always been an emotional experience for me.”

It also showed her that everyone — including the 79-year-old and the man with cane that she spotted during the Lavaman Triathlon — can take on the challenge.

“What I love so much about triathlon is that anybody can do it.”

America Ferrera on How Triathlons Changed Her Sense of Self : 'Working Out Has Always Been an Emotional Experience'

Kourtney Kardashian Shares Her Favorite Booty-Toning Moves

This article originally appeared on People.com.

Kourtney Kardashian is breaking down her favorite moves to sculpt her butt (and based on photos she shared from her recent bikini-clad birthday celebrations, her advice is definitely worth taking).

“Ahead of bikini season, I have a handful of exercises I swear by to keep my glutes toned,” the mom-of-three, 38, posted on her app and website. “The best part? If you have a few key pieces of gear, you can do all of these moves at home.”

Grab a resistance band and a kettlebell or sandbag to try these Kardashian-approved exercises:

The Move: “Leg lifts and kick backs are very straightforward, can be done anywhere and are really effective in toning your glutes and quads. Using a resistance band around your thighs with slightly bent knees, keep one foot stationary and kick the other foot straight out to the side of your body, then come back to center. Next, kick your foot directly behind while lifting off the ground, then come back to center. To modify this move and make it slightly easier, you can touch your toe to the ground, instead of lifting.”

What You Need: “A resistance band that fits around your thighs. Most bands are sold in sets with a selection of different strengths so you can start with the easiest and upgrade as you build muscle.”

How Many Reps: 30 seconds per leg, 5 sets

The Move: “If I’m really making an effort to get toned, I’ll kick things up a notch by doing weighted squat cleans with a kettlebell or sandbag. Lean forward with the weight and slowly lift up. As soon as you pass the knee, accelerate into a squat. You have to be very careful not to let your knees go over your toes when you squat down, so I do this move really slow and controlled.”

What You Need: 15 to 20-lb. kettlebell or sandbag

How Many Reps: 10 squats, 4 reps

Kourtney Kardashian Shares Her Favorite Booty-Toning Moves

lundi 22 mai 2017

5 Times Cher Was the Ultimate #FitnessGoals

Got 30 Minutes? The Ultimate HIIT Jump Rope Workout

Photo: Courtesy of Justin Patterson

This is a partial workout. Read the rest on Life by Daily Burn.

When was the last time you jump roped? If it was as a kid during class recess, now’s a good time to get back into the rhythm of things. The jump rope is not only a fun workout to turn up the sweat, it’s also a key conditioning tool for athletes and boxers, like Laila Ali, to build endurance, coordination and agility.

And now, it’s the basis for the new interval-based total-body workout, The Rope, from celeb trainer Amanda Kloots. “The jump rope is one of the most underrated pieces of fitness equipment. When you’re jump roping, you’re engaging all the muscles in your body, including your heart,” Kloots says. “Each jump involves tightening your core, toning your arms and powering your legs.”

Whether you’re crunched for time or traveling (it packs light, too), just a few minutes of jump roping can leave you breathless. Kloots’s signature jump rope workout is divided into four sections: warm-up, coordination, stamina and sprints. But before you jump in, it’s important to have the right length rope. Check by standing on top of the jump rope hip-distance apart with both hands holding each end. Bring the jump rope handles toward your shoulders. If the rope goes beyond your shoulders, it’s too long, Kloots says. Now grab your rope and hop to it!

The 30-Minute HIIT Jump Rope Workout to Build Endurance

THE WARM-UP

First, it’s time to re-familiarize yourself with the basic jump. According to Kloots, proper jump rope technique starts with the feet together, shoulders pulled back and arms down by your sides with your hands the same distance away from your body. You’ll want to jump and land on the balls or midsoles of your feet (heels not touching the ground), catching at least one inch of hang time on each jump. Be sure to use your wrists to power the rope and not your elbows or shoulders. If you get tired, “Keep your shoulders over your hips, hips over your knees, and knees over your toes,” Kloots says.

GIFs: Tiffany Ayuda / Life by Daily Burn

1A. Jump Rope (60 sec)

1B. Plank (60 sec)

Repeat for 3 rounds.

COORDINATION

Next, we layer on some footwork. The goal: improving agility and drawing a stronger connection between your body and brain. To keep you from getting tripped up, “I like to remind people of different ways to think of jumps to take the pressure off the fancy footwork. For instance, when you take your legs in and out of the jump rope, I’ll say outer thighs and inner thighs. It helps people focus on the muscle groups,” Kloots says. Cue up a three-minute song and you’ll hit approximately 360 jumps — with a whole bunch of strength and core work mixed in (sequence below). Do eight reps on each side and repeat for three rounds.

1. Oblique Crunch

How to: Stand with your feet shoulder-distance apart. Fold the jump rope in half twice so it’s shoulder-distance apart when you hold each end and lift it up overhead. Pull each end of the rope to create resistance in your arms (a). Engaging your core, crunch to your left side, while dynamically pressing the rope up overhead (b).

2. Single-Leg Forward Hinge

How to: Stand with your feet together. Lift your left leg up so your left knee is bent. Fold your jump rope in half and hold each end of the rope with your hands, pulling it tightly (a). Balancing your weight on your right leg, hinge your torso forward and bring the jump rope over your left knee to touch your shin (b). Bring the jump rope back overhead (c).

3. In and Out Jumps

How to: Stand over the jump rope with your feet a little wider than hip-distance apart (a). When you take your next jump, land with your feet together (b). Take another jump and bring your feet back out so they’re a little wider than hip distance (c). This is one rep. Repeat for seven more reps (d).

Got 30 Minutes? The Ultimate HIIT Jump Rope Workout

Gabby Reece: How I Stay Motivated to Work Out

This article originally appeared on Motto.

One of the biggest factors in achieving your health goals is finding the motivation to work out and keep your fitness top of mind. When life gets busy, it’s easy to let fitness fall by the wayside and not make it a priority. But once you find ways to keep yourself motivated and develop healthy habits, it can become a lifestyle that will enable you to see results and improve your overall well-being. Still, even as a former professional beach volleyball player, and now a Fitbit ambassador, carving out time to exercise hasn’t always been easy. That’s why I’ve depended on these five tips to keep me motivated throughout the years.

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1. Develop a workout structure

Scheduling out your workout helps you stick to it and leaves little room for opting out at the last minute. A flexible routine that gives too much choice will be the thing that you cut out of your schedule first. I personally like to write it down. If you treat your workout like an appointment, it will help you stay committed and develop habits over time, which will make it easier to continue building exercise into your routine. When you might feel tired or you’re not seeing dramatic results, a structure will help keep you going.

2. Figure out your favorite activities

Staying motivated is infinitely easier when you find something you love to do. Some people enjoy working out at a gym and lifting weights, while others might find more joy from running outside or practicing yoga. While it’s important to try and incorporate both strength training and cardio into your workouts, it’s equally important to determine which forms of exercise you love most, so staying active becomes less of a chore and more of a source of happiness.

3. Sport the right gear

It may seem like a minor factor, but having the right clothing and gear can work wonders when it comes to motivation. I love using a heart rate monitor — keeping an eye on my heart rate zones is a great way to maintain intensity and make real-time adjustments to ensure I’m hitting my goals. I also enjoy finding some cute tights or sneakers to help boost my mood. I think when you look good, you feel good, and will find that much more reason to get moving.

4. Find a workout buddy

Finding a partner in crime to work out with is another great way of staying accountable. Making plans with someone else adds more of an obligation and makes it harder to consider taking the day off. That’s why my husband Laird and I make it a point to exercise together.

5. Make rest and recovery a priority

To stay motivated and get your best workout, you have to give your muscles and body a chance to recover. So don’t overdo it and be sure to get enough sleep, which is just as important for your health as exercise.

Gabrielle Reece is a world-renowned athlete, New York Times bestselling author, wife and mother. She’s a former professional beach volleyball player and was Nike’s first female spokesperson. She has a passion for healthy living and fitness, which has shaped her career and makes her a popular leader in the world of health and wellness.

Gabby Reece: How I Stay Motivated to Work Out

This Beginner Swimming Workout Burns Major Calories in Just 30 Minutes

Swimming in a pool, lake, or ocean is an excellent way to exercise without feeling like you’re melting in the heat. Plus, it’s a full-body workout that is gentle on the joints. Ironman and USA Triathlon coach Heather Casey shares two quick beginner workouts, one for the pool and one for open water. Before you get started, here are a few helpful tips from Casey:

• Keep water bottles nearby. Just because you don’t feel sweaty doesn't mean you aren't losing fluids.
• Invest in some dark-lens or reflective goggles to help block the sun and the glare from the water.
• Swimming in open water? Stay safe by bringing a partner. Warm up on dry land. Remain close to the shoreline, and even if you’re an experienced swimmer, breathe every other stroke. It’s easier to become breathless in open water. If you do, head back to shore at an easy pace.

These workouts burn approximately 367 calories (a 30-minute swim for a 150-pound person).

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30-minute pool workout

Interval targets are set by a rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale of 1 to 10; 10 is the hardest.

The warm up: Go for a 100-yard swim at RPE of 4 to 5, then a 50-yard swim with kickboard at RPE of 5 to 6.

The workout:

• 25-yard swim at RPE of 4; 25-yard swim at RPE of 6
• 25-yard swim at RPE of 6; 25-yard swim at RPE of 4
• 50-yard swim at RPE of 4
• 50-yard swim at RPE of 6
• Repeat these four intervals
• 100-yard swim at RPE of 4 (cooldown)

30-minute open-water workout

Dry land warm-up: Arm circles and shoulder shrugs on shore.

Swim warm-up: 8 minutes of 1-minute out-and-back intervals from the shore at RPE of 4.

The workout:

• 4-minute swim at RPE of 4
• 30 seconds treading water
• 2-minute swim at RPE of 6
• 2-minute swim at RPE of 4
• 30 seconds treading water
• 2-minute swim at RPE of 4
• 2-minute swim at RPE of 6
• 30 seconds treading water
• 4-minute swim at RPE of 6
• 30 seconds treading water
• 2 sets of 3-minute swims at RPE of 4, treading for 1 minute in between (cooldown)

This Beginner Swimming Workout Burns Major Calories in Just 30 Minutes

vendredi 19 mai 2017

14 People Share Their Most Embarrassing (Yet Very Relatable) Gym Stories

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Ever had a less-than-poised moment on a weight machine, or in a boot camp class? Hey, you're certainly not the only one. In a recent Reddit thread titled "Stupidest thing you've ever done in the gym?" in the XXFitness subreddit, users revealed their most cringeworthy (and often painful) workout moments—from tripping on the treadmill to gym flirting gone wrong. Here are some of the comments that had us giggling. (We recommend you stop reading now if you're currently on a cardio machine!)

Uneven bar

User Sambeano made the mistake of unloading a heavy barbell on one side, but not the other: "It was resting on the safety bars at the time, at about knee height, with about 30 kgs loaded on the other side. The bar flipped in the air and crashed into a glass door frame ... The crash was so loud everyone turned around to look." Whoops.

Bike dominos

"I thought this bench near some cardio equipment was fixed to the ground for some reason and grabbed onto it to stretch my shoulders out. I flew backwards into a row of eight stationary bikes, knocking them all over like dominoes," wrote Mpaellen.

Bottom out

Themortalvalkyrie got off a rowing machine with a bruised bum: "My butt fell off the rower. I was [trying to] do sprints and got a little too excited, and at one point I think my butt must have come up a little and the seat flew back and i came down on the bar. But it was funny." (Another Redditer jumped in, "I wish that thing had a seatbelt!")

Nothing to sneeze at

From jazzehcakes: "Once I was running on the treadmill and closed my eyes to sneeze, which caused me to trip, land face first, and fly off the treadmill."

When exercise balls attack

"I threw an exercise ball on the mini trampoline and it flung back hit my fingers, which then hit my face," shared another Redditer. "I managed to grab the ball before it caused further chaos. Everyone around me either didn't notice or pretended not to. I probably looked like an idiot laughing to myself."

Is this thing on?

Reddutchess15 was new to the exercise scene when she tried out her university's fancy gym. Feeling a bit intimidated, she decided to "start off easy on the elliptical," she wrote. "Well, I get to the elliptical, try to push the start button, and nothing. I keep pushing the start button and nothing happens. So, I thought it was broken. Worse, I worried that I would be blamed. So I just left without doing any workout at all. It wasn't until my friend starting making fun of this other girl for the same reason days later that I realized i was supposed to get on it first." (Trust us, we've been there!)

Itsy bitsy spider

"Tried to kill a spider while running on the treadmill," user little---dolly posted. "I lost my balance, fell down, got my shirt caught up and ended up with two scraped knees and treadmill road rash down one side of my face. Oh, and I didn't get the spider."

Pee problem

"I peed myself while squatting in a busy gym," wrote Souponastick. "That wasn't the worst part. For whatever reason my brain decided I needed to announce it, so as I was coming up from the bottom of the squat I screamed, 'I'M F****** PISSING MYSELF!' Everyone looked and watched me clean up my puddle."

Right in the eye

"Saw a cute guy in the gym," posted Tokyo1964. "I went to take a swig of water just as our eyes met, but accidentally squeezed the bottle slightly and sprayed it into my eye instead."

Ripped pants

From Blaserea: "Ripped the crotch out of my shorts squatting, even heard it through the headphones."

Fast and furious

Ever cranked up your speed on a cardio machine to clock a specific number of miles before your time runs out? Phoenixinda attempted this strategy, without success: "Last year I decided to go extra fast on the cross trainer for the last two minutes so that I could get a full 3-mile distance at the end of the 30 minutes. Foot slipped, fell between the pedals, and my foot fractured in three places. I was out for three months ... I have been back at the gym, but I just can't bring myself to even touch the cross trainer."

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Mistaken identity

Vkm5028 learned the hard way to make sure you actually know the person you're waving at before you say hi. "Thought I saw a friend of a friend out of the corner of my eye. I was in a goofy mood, and decided to make a goofy face and wave at him. Turns out, it wasn't the guy who I thought it was, he was on the phone whenever I made the face at him, and I found out he's a player for the local minor league baseball team and probably thought I was fan-girling at the sight of him."

Sweat stain

"Worn pale blue leggings," one user commented. "It looked like I'd [peed] myself half way through my gym session."

Stuck on you

Wearing athleisure fresh out of the laundry? Make sure there's no other laundry stuck to it before you leave the house. "I once had a thong static-cling itself to my leggings," MyShoulderHatesMe posted. "I was at least 20 minutes into my workout before I noticed."

14 People Share Their Most Embarrassing (Yet Very Relatable) Gym Stories

5 Healthy Ways This Fitness Star Is Prepping for Her Wedding

jeudi 18 mai 2017

What a Stress Fracture Really Feels Like, and How to Keep It From Happening to You

Get Off Your Spin Bike and Try This Outdoor Cycling Workout Instead

Sure, spin class feels killer, but outdoor cycling may require you to work even harder, according to a study in Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Plus, "there’s something really nice about covering distance and being in the fresh air and sunshine," says Jim Rutberg, a cycling expert for Carmichael Training Systems and Strava in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He created the 30-minute interval workout below. If you’re a beginner, try doing the workout in a loop first so you can log the distance without getting too far from home. Once you feel comfortable, turn it into an out-and-back ride and explore some new terrain.

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The warm-up:

• 3 minutes easy riding
• 1 minute fast pedaling (high cadence, low resistance)
• 1 minute easy riding
• 1 minute fast pedaling (high cadence, low resistance)
• 2 minutes easy riding

The workout:

• Six 30-second speed intervals separated by 30 seconds of easy recovery. Rev your cadence and power as you accelerate for 30 seconds, then pedal very lightly as you slow down for 30 seconds before starting the next effort. These aren’t really sprints so much as hard, seated accelerations.

• 3 1⁄2 minutes easy recovery

• 8-minute tempo interval. Effort should be a 6 on a rate of perceived exertion scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being as hard as you can go. Your breathing should be deep and controlled, nowhere near panting.

• Cool down with an easy pace for 5 minutes.

This workout burns approximately 285 calories (for a 30-minute ride at 12 to 14 mph for a 150-pound person).

Not sure how to tell if you're biking at "easy" or "fast"? There are a lot of ways to gauge your intensity level, but you won’t always have a heart rate monitor handy. Instead, you can use a “talk test” to track your efforts.

• Talking casually: recovery pace/easy
• 1 to 2 sentences at a time: endurance pace/moderate
• 2 to 3 words at a time: labored breathing/hard

For timed intervals, look at a watch, or you can time the distance between landmarks, like phone poles, and use those as your markers.

Get Off Your Spin Bike and Try This Outdoor Cycling Workout Instead

A Guided Meditation to Help Quiet Self-Doubt and Boost Confidence

Beating Cancer Twice Inspired Me to Become a Fitness Instructor

The first sign was itchy skin. My thighs itched. My belly itched. Everything itched. I couldn’t see any rashes or dry skin, but after two months, the sensation got so bad that it distracted me at work.

I finally went to a dermatologist in December 2007. We considered potential explanations. Could it be eczema? Probably not; I showed none of the classic markers of the disorder. At the end of the appointment, I mentioned that I had a lump above my collarbone. It might be getting bigger, I told her, but I wasn't sure.

She examined the bump and told me it was an enlarged lymph node, a gland that helps the body fight off infections. She advised me to see a general practitioner for a full checkup. She even called me a few times the following week to remind me.

So I went to a general physician to have blood work done and take a chest x-ray. Then came additional tests, including a tissue biopsy of the lump. That biopsy confirmed the last thing I expected: I had stage 2A Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cancer that often strikes adults in their 20s and 30s. Itchy skin, it turns out, can be a symptom.

I collapsed into my mom's arms when I got the diagnosis. “I just don’t want to die,” I told her. I was 23, and I had so much more life to live.

The battle begins

I started chemotherapy two weeks later in my doctor's office, enduring 12 treatments over six months. I’d get the drugs every other Thursday and take off work the following Monday, when the steroids that were supposed to ease side effects like nausea and pain wore off. Apart from that—and the wig I wore to conceal my bald head—I kept my life normal. I went my job as a fundraising event planner and met friends for dinner.

By summer, I was in remission. Yet I wasn’t feeling like my old self, and I knew I wanted to get strong again. When two friends told me they were running the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco in my honor (fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society), I was moved and motivated. With my doctor's okay, I started to train for the Disney Half Marathon in Orlando in January 2009.

I admit it was a little crazy. I’d been a runner pre-cancer, but I had never attempted a race longer than 10K. Still, I did it—I ran the half in two hours and eight minutes. Victory, right? Not quite. The weekend of my half-marathon, I felt a familiar feeling near my collarbone. Could the lump be coming back?

Returning to normal life in remission

I should mention that coincidentally, I'd recently started working in the fundraising department at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), a top cancer hospital that my doctor was affiliated with. I wore my wig when I interviewed at Memorial in September 2008, but I didn’t mention that I had been diagnosed with cancer less than a year earlier. I wanted to be hired because I had the skills they were looking for, not my health history. Luckily, I got the job. But right after I ran my half in January, my doctor confirmed that my Hodgkin’s lymphoma was back.

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Lauren vs. cancer: round two

My doctors told me that treatment would be more aggressive the second time around, and I had to be admitted into the hospital for most of it: two weeks of radiation followed by four days of high-dose chemo. "Uncomfortable" doesn’t begin to describe the high fevers I struggled with and such severe throat pain that it hurt to eat.

I also underwent a stem cell transplant: a catheter transfers my own cells, collected by medical staffers weeks earlier, back into my body. The hope was that the newly transferred cells will prompt my system to produce healthy new blood cells. It's a milestone; people in the medical world call the date of your stem cell transplant your second birthday. I celebrated my 25^th birthday in the hospital on April 17. A week later, I had my 'second birthday' when I got my transplant.

A life dedicated to fitness

I left the hospital in May and focused my life on recovery and getting strong again. I’ve always loved trying new classes and getting better at old ones. After all I’d been through, working out felt even more rewarding. Nearly every Saturday for the next five years, I'd be at Core Fusion Barre class at Exhale or sweating it out at SoulCycle.

My teachers inspired me to develop a level of strength I didn’t know I had, and the thrill I felt when I realized I was getting better motivated me. With time, I made the decision to devote my life to inspiring others through fitness. In fall 2014, I signed up for barre teacher training with Exhale. Two hundred hours later, I was certified.

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In January 2015, I left the security of a full-time job and founded ChiChiLife. This is my way of pursuing fitness while keeping up my love for fundraising, event planning, and cancer advocacy. I teach barre at Exhale and Pilates and TRX classes at Flex Studios in New York City while also working with clients to plan philanthropic events.

For me, fitness is all about community and connection. I’ve run several half marathons since my cancer's been in remission, raising more than $75,000 for causes I'm passionate about. I even ran the New York City Marathon, which took me past the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center building. I wish there were words to capture what it felt like to run past the place that saved my life—and helped me discover my life's mission.

Beating Cancer Twice Inspired Me to Become a Fitness Instructor

mercredi 17 mai 2017

What It Really Feels Like to Get Bit by a Rattlesnake

Janette Sherman, 38, a recent transplant to Colorado, recalls how a casual walk with her dog last month turned into a frantic trip to the ER—and the mistakes she made along the way.

On one of the first warm days of April here in Denver, I set off on my lunch break for a hike in nearby Bear Creek Lake Park. I work for a cycling company where most people ride for an hour in the afternoons, but I had my dog with me that day and he needed a good walk.

I moved to Colorado last year from California, and my boss had warned me about rattlesnakes on the trail—especially in the spring, when the ground starts to warm up and the cold-blooded critters look for places to soak up some sun. Still, I’ve encountered snakes before and wasn’t overly concerned: I was wearing shorts (instead of pants and snake gaiters, like some experts recommend), and certainly wasn’t watching the ground every step of the way.

Almost a mile into my hike, I felt a sharp, sudden pain on my ankle, like I’d been stung by a wasp. I looked up, expecting to see a bug flying away. Then I looked down and saw the obvious puncture wounds.

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I glanced behind me and saw the snake, coiled up, ready to strike again. It wasn’t particularly large—its coil was maybe 6 inches across—and it hadn’t rattled, the warning sign that often alerts people to back away. I wasn’t sure what kind of a snake it was, but I knew I should call 911 just to be safe.

The dispatcher asked me if my bite looked like a horseshoe; I learned later that horseshoe-shaped wounds come from nonvenomous snakes with tiny teeth all the way around their mouths. When I told her no, there were three distinct holes (which indicates the fangs of a venomous snake), she calmly told me I should get to a hospital.

But at that point I still felt OK, and was embarrassed to make a big deal about things. Even though the dispatcher wanted to send an ambulance, I told her I’d walk back to my car—the long way, since I refused to backtrack past where the snake had been—and drive myself to a fire station down the road.

As I walked, my foot began to swell and hurt badly. A driver on the road saw me limping and gave me a ride to my car, and I managed to get myself to the fire station. I was sweating a lot more than normal, and my lips and face had started to go numb. Now I know that overexertion can speed up a person’s reaction to snake venom and make symptoms worse. Looking back, I should have waited for help to arrive.

At the fire station, the EMTs took my shoe off and used a Sharpie to mark how far the swelling had spread—up my leg and across my foot—in the 30 minutes since my bite. This would help the doctors determine how serious my case was, they explained. (They also told me that commercial “snake bite” kits are worthless, but that hiking with a permanent marker is a good idea for this very reason.)

I asked if I could go to an urgent care center, but the EMTs told me that only major hospitals would have antivenin, the technical name for what's also known as anti-venom. About two out of five rattlesnake bites are what’s known as a “dry bite”—not venomous—but with my swelling and facial numbness, that didn’t seem to be the case.

An ambulance took me to Saint Anthony’s Hospital in Denver, where the paramedics' suspicions were confirmed. But the antivenin had to be mixed in the pharmacy—it’s not always stored in a ready-to-use formula—which would take a while. I was seriously starting to regret not agreeing to an ambulance right away.

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In the meantime, the doctors performed an EKG to check my heart rhythm, and gave me anti-nausea medication to keep me from throwing up (a common symptom of snake bites). Then, about two hours from when I was bitten, I started seeing double and my vision began fading to black. In the nick of time, the antivenin was ready, and the doctors administered six vials.

Over the next few hours, I received six more vials as the hospital staff monitored my vital signs, making sure I didn’t have a bad reaction to the drug. Snake venom can interfere with blood cells’ ability to clot, so my doctors also had to take frequent blood draws and pay close attention to that, as well.

The pain from the swelling in my leg was excruciating, and I had to be monitored closely to make sure I didn’t develop compartment syndrome, when pressure builds up and causes tissue and blood vessel damage. But I got really lucky: Because I’d been treated quickly enough, I didn’t have any permanent injury.

I spent about three days in the hospital, and was discharged with crutches and some strong pain meds. I was cleared for exercise, and went back to the office, a week after the bite happened. I’d tried to answer work emails while recovering at home, but I felt really out of it those first few days—like my brain wasn’t working at full speed.

Then came several follow-up appointments, with an orthopedist and my primary care doctor, to make sure there were no lasting complications. My liver enzymes tested a little high, so I was told not to drink alcohol or take acetaminophen for a month.

It’s now been about three weeks since I was bitten, and I still have tenderness and swelling in my leg—especially if I spend a lot of time on my feet. But the bruising has faded and you can barely see the puncture marks. Also thankfully, I have health insurance: I haven’t gotten a bill yet, but I’ve read that antivenin can cost $2,500 a vial, and that it’s not unusual for snake-bite treatment to total $100,000 or more.

The most lasting effect of all this, honestly, is that it’s made me a little freaked out to go back out on the trail. I finally went for a bike ride at Bear Creek Lake this past weekend, and I screamed a few times when things brushed my leg. Luckily, I was able to calm myself down with some deep breaths and logical thinking.

I did learn a lot from my experience— that rattlesnakes don’t always rattle, how to recognize a venomous bite, how important it is to get to a hospital ASAP, and what not to do: Experts agree that you shouldn’t apply ice, cut into the wound, raise the affected limb above your heart, or apply a tourniquet.

I do plan to buy some snake gaiters, especially for when I’m exploring on foot, and I’m sure I will be more cautious from now on when I do get back out there. I know I’ll get my confidence back soon, though, because hiking and biking is what keeps me happy and healthy—rattlesnakes and all.

As told to Amanda MacMillan

What It Really Feels Like to Get Bit by a Rattlesnake

How Katherine Waterston Got in Shape to Kick Some Serious Butt in ‘Alien: Covenant’

In the latest installment of the Alien franchise, set 10 years after 2012’s Prometheus, a new heroine has been charged with kicking some major alien butt: Katherine Waterston plays Daniels, a chief teraformist on a colonizing mission to a new planet. And after an advanced screening of Alien: Covenant, which hits theaters Friday, I can assure you that Waterston embodies the strong female lead that's been a staple of the Alien movies since Sigourney Weaver’s portrayal of Ellen Ripley, the original badass known for beating down extraterrestrials.

As you might imagine, sparring with (or running from!) blood thirsty—and let's face it, pretty freaking scary—creatures isn’t an easy task. Translation: Waterston needed to be in great shape.

“I was so nervous that [director] Ridley [Scott] wasn’t going to let me do the stunts," she said during a pre-screening talkback with cast members. "There was a sort of fit test at the beginning that nearly killed me, but I didn’t want to seem like I couldn’t handle it, because I thought they might take the fun moves away from me."

But the 37-year-old actress explained that she didn't arrive on set in the best shape of her life on purpose: "I didn’t want to seem like some kind of warrior at the beginning of the film, because I feel like that journey happens within it, so I didn’t want to come in too ripped," she said.

Waterston's plan worked: She got progressively fitter just by playing her role, she said. "A lot of the training happened on set because we were carrying heavy packs and carrying really heavy guns—for me it was heavy."

Still, Waterston knew she needed to build muscle before filming began to avoid getting hurt on the job. "I didn’t want to rip my shoulder out my socket or something," she said.

One of her strengtheners of choice: “curls, really heavy bicep curls." Which totally makes since considering you’ll see her wielding gigantic guns, and swinging and climbing around a space shuttle for two-plus hours.

Channel your inner warrior and try a few: Stand tall with feet hip-width distance apart and arms at sides, a dumbbell in each hand; palms face forward. Without moving upper arms, bend elbows and curl weight toward shoulders. Slowly lower back to start, and then repeat.

Prefer to do curls with a cable machine? Check out the video below to see the proper form.

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Clearly Waterston nailed her training approach for the sci-fi horror flick because actor Michael Fassbender (who plays the androids David and Walter in the film) had this to say about his costar: “She was fearless.”

How Katherine Waterston Got in Shape to Kick Some Serious Butt in ‘Alien: Covenant’

Do This 30-Minute Beach Workout to Turn Up Your Calorie Burn

Exercising on sand offers not only amazing views but also a huge calorie blast. A study in The Journal of Experimental Biology found that running on sand requires 1.15 times more energy than running on a hard surface. (So for a 150-pound person, a half-hour, three-mile run on the beach would burn around 403 calories, compared with 350 on a typical surface.) Plus, it’s good for your joints—as long as the surface isn’t too slanted (instability can be tough on your hips and cause muscle imbalances).

Try this 30-minute interval workout, courtesy of Zack Daley, trainer and training manager at Tone House, an athletic-based fitness studio in New York City. It features running as well as bodyweight exercises to improve total-body strength and is perfect for beginners and experienced runners.

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30-Minute Beach Workout

First, take 25 to 30 large steps from your starting point and make a mark in the sand. This will be your point of reference for the "down-and-back" portions of the workout.

The warm-up:

• Light jog/run down and back two times
• High knees down and back one time
• Butt kicks down and back one time
• Run down and back at about 60 percent of your top speed two times
• 10 burpees
• Lateral shuffle down and back two times, facing away from the water
• Lateral shuffle down and back two times, facing the water
• Skip down and back one time
• Run down and back at about 80 percent of your top speed one time

The workout:

• 15 to 25 push-ups
• 10 to 20 plank walks (alternate from high plank to elbow plank and back)
• Rest for 30 to 45 seconds and repeat previous two moves
• Walking lunges down and back
• 20 to 30 jump squats
• Rest for 30 to 45 seconds and repeat previous two moves
• Bear crawl down and back
• Rest for 30 to 45 seconds and repeat previous move
• 15 to 25 toe touches
• Plank knee to elbow (in high plank, bring your left knee to your left elbow, then right knee to right elbow; do 15 reps per side)
• Bicycle-crunch burnout (keep going until you can’t do any more)
• Rest for 30 to 45 seconds and repeat previous three moves
• Sprint down and back twice, aiming to reach your fastest speed

Pin the full workout:

beach-workout-1

Your calorie burn: Approximately 285 (30 minutes of calisthenics for a 150-pound person).

Do This 30-Minute Beach Workout to Turn Up Your Calorie Burn

mardi 16 mai 2017

Why Barre Class Is So Good for Your Body

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This article originally appeared on Time.com.

In ballet training, the barre is the horizontal handrail dancers grip while perfecting their technique. Barre-style workouts take those classic ballet warm-up exercises and reimagine them for a much wider audience.

While it may seem like a recent phenomenon, barre strength and flexibility training have been in vogue since the times of Louis XVI, says Ginny Wilmerding, a research professor at the University of New Mexico. The modern-day version is primarily a leg-and-butt workout; from your ankles and calves up through your knees, hips and glutes, barre movements are all about improving range of motion, strength and flexibility in your lower half by forcing one of your legs to perform graceful and precise movements while the other supports and stabilizes you, she says.

The sales pitch for all of that excruciating precision is that if you want a dancer’s body, you should train like a dancer. “I mean, who doesn’t want to look like a prima ballerina?” says Michele Olson, a professor of exercise physiology at Auburn University, Montgomery. “You’re talking about nice, lean muscle tone and perfect posture.”

But just as going to football practice won’t make you look like a linebacker, barre training is more likely to help you achieve a ballerina’s muscle endurance and balance than her body shape.

Those are valuable assets that do not come with every workout. Unlike muscle strength, endurance determines your muscle’s ability to work for long periods of time. (Strength may allow you to lift a weight, but muscle endurance dictates how many times you can lift it.) Barre is also effective at targeting the “support and steady” muscles that run close to your bones and tie into your core and spine—the ones most of us neglect when we spend a lot of time sitting or engaged in forward and backward activities like running, says Olson. “Real 360-degree balance involves a lot of those side-to-side muscles a lot of us don’t use much, and so they become weak,” she says.

Barre is also low impact and has a built-in handhold, making it a relatively safe form of exercise. Especially for older people at risk for falls, barre may be a good way to improve stability and avoid accidents.

But the workout is not without risks, especially for the back and knees. One example: “Ballerinas are taught to tuck the pelvis so that the low back that normally curves inward loses its curve and looks straight,” Olson says. While dancers do that for their art, tucking the pelvis can lead to back pain and injuries for the average exerciser.

Most barre classes have abandoned that sort of strict pelvis-tucking, but Olson says some classes still include extreme plié knee bends that can increase a person’s risk for knee injury. Especially if you decide to go for a run right after your barre class, the “excessive” amount of pressure that some barre moves place on your knees could lead to sprains or strains.

“There are some things dancers do that others have no need for,” says Wilmerding, who advises to take the training slowly and to focus on form, rather than trying to get an intense muscle or cardio workout from the practice. Like tai chi, “you’re working on stability and flexibility and strength, but you have this higher goal of control and aesthetics.”

Another point to keep in mind is that even though barre class brings a good core workout, you may be torching fewer calories than you think. One of the few published studies that has looked at barre’s cardiovascular and metabolic demands found that the activity—at least in its traditional form—doesn’t burn many calories and more closely resembles walking than running in terms of its intensity.

“Like any form of exercise, I think you need some variety,” Olson says. “Do it three to five days a week if you want to get the most out of it, but do something different with a cardiovascular component on the other days.”

Why Barre Class Is So Good for Your Body

Exercise Makes You Younger at the Cellular Level

This article originally appeared on Time.com.

The more exercise people get, the less their cells appear to age. In a new study in Preventive Medicine, people who exercised the most had biological aging markers that appeared nine years younger than those who were sedentary.

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Researchers looked at the telomeres from nearly 6,000 adults enrolled in a multi-year survey run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People were asked what physical activities they had done in the past month and how vigorously they did them. They also provided DNA samples, from which the researchers measured telomere length. Telomeres, the protein caps on the ends of human chromosomes, are markers of aging and overall health. Every time a cell replicates, a tiny bit of telomere is lost, so they get shorter with age. But they shrink faster in some people than in others, explains study author Larry Tucker, professor of exercise science at Brigham Young University.

“We know that, in general, people with shorter telomeres die sooner and are more likely to develop many of our chronic diseases,” says Tucker. “It’s not perfect, but it’s a very good index of biological aging.”

After adjusting for smoking, obesity, alcohol use, gender, race and other factors, Tucker found in his study that people who exercised the most had significantly longer telomeres than those who were sedentary. The most sedentary people had 140 fewer base pairs of DNA at the ends of their telomeres, compared to the most active: a difference of about nine years of cellular aging, he says.

To qualify as top-tier exercisers, people had to do the equivalent of at least 30-40 minutes of jogging a day five days a week. Doing less was also linked to aging benefits, but they were not as powerful. People who did vigorous exercise had telomeres that signaled about seven fewer years of biological aging, compared to people who did moderate levels of activity.

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Tucker says he was surprised to see so big of a difference between moderate and high levels of exercise. “Moderate exercise was still valuable and it had some benefit, but it was really those high levels of physical activity that made the real difference,” says Tucker. The top exercisers were vigorously working out 150 to 200 minutes a week, or engaging in light- to moderate-intensity activity for longer periods. Research continues to suggest that more exercise means deeper reductions in risk for chronic disease, to a certain point.

The current study relied on self-reports about physical activity and was only able to show an association—not a cause-and-effect relationship—between exercise amount and telomere length. It wasn’t able to account for factors like depression, stress, sleep disturbances and dietary practices that could affect exercise habits, genetic changes, or both.

But a link between physical activity and cellular aging makes sense, says Tucker. Experts believe that telomere length may be linked to inflammation and oxidative stress, both of which exercise has been shown to ease over time.

While there’s no guarantee that people with longer telomeres will live longer, healthier lives, the odds may be in their favor, says Tucker. “We all know people who seem younger than their actual age,” he says. “We know exercise can help with that, and now we know that part of that may be because of its effect on our telomeres.”

Exercise Makes You Younger at the Cellular Level

vendredi 12 mai 2017

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93-Year-Old Yogi Believes Laughter Is Essential to the Practice: ‘You Can’t Have Yoga Without Humor’

This article originally appeared on People.com.

Ronnie Arond is 93, but she still teaches yoga every week in the basement of her Queens, New York home.

“It’s not a basement; it’s a sanctum sanctorum,” Arond told The New York Times about her unconventional class venue.

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Arond first became interested in yoga after her husband encouraged her to take a class back in 1973.

“[I was] a nurse,” Arond, who is a WWII veteran, told 42 Yogis.“I was very physically active, but my husband really encouraged me to try yoga. And I’m thankful for his pushing. I’ve never had such a special movement in my life. It was indescribable what I felt. It was on such a level that was so deep and profound. It was life-changing.”

Arond started teaching yoga herself — both at her home and her local YMCA — and now has a large following who regularly come for her one-of-a-kind classes infused with her signature sense of humor.

“If I don’t tell a joke, call an ambulance because something’s wrong,” she told the Times. “You can’t have yoga without humor!”

Her basement classes — which cost $10 to attend — are followed by tea and dessert in her dining room.

“The yoga,” she told the newspaper, “is just an excuse for the refreshments afterward.”

93-Year-Old Yogi Believes Laughter Is Essential to the Practice: ‘You Can’t Have Yoga Without Humor’

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Meet the Runners Competing in Nike's Sub-Two Hour Marathon Attempt

This article originally appeared on SI.com.

This weekend, Nike will stage an intriguing human experiment with the hopes of breaking the two-hour barrier for the marathon. Using a combination of advanced running apparel and an army of pacers on a 2.4-kilometer loop at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza complex just outside of Milan, Italy, the sportswear giant looks to shave two minutes and 27 seconds off the fastest recorded time ever run by a man.

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Dennis Kimetto currently owns the world record with his 2:02:57 victory at the 2014 Berlin Marathon. He is an Adidas athlete and has struggled with injuries in the past two years, so no sub-two hour marathon attempt has been tied to him, but his sponsor is working on its own sub-two shoe after having outfitted the last four world record holders.

Nike has taken the largest step forward in the sub-two arms (and footwear) race by staging the attempt under its own parameters and enlisting Eliud Kipchoge, Lelisa Desisa and Zersenay Tadese tackle one of the biggest queries of elite running.

The athletes have been in Monza since about Monday morning. A photo leaked on Twitter of one of the strategists explaining the pacing plan for 18 runners—which includes Olympic medalist Bernard Lagat and elites from the renowned Nike Bowerman Track Club—and it appears there will be runners alternating segments while remaining six at a time on the course with the three stars.

Social media posts out of Monza have the pacers and their agents targeting the attempt on Saturday, May 6, which would be the 63rd anniversary of Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile. A window from May 6 to 8 has been set by Nike to select the day with the most favorable weather.

Here’s a look at the résumés and credentials for the three protagonists of the attempt:

Eliud Kipchoge

Age: 32 Country: Kenya Personal Bests: 2:03:05, 2016 London Marathon Accolades: 2016 Olympic marathon gold medalist, 2008 Olympic 5,000-meter silver medalist, 2004 Olympic 5,000-meter bronze medalist, four-time world championship medalist (includes cross country and indoors), 2014 Chicago Marathon champion, 2015 Berlin Marathon champion, 2015 and 2016 London Marathon champion

Kipchoge enters the attempt as arguably one of the greatest marathoners in history. His personal best of 2:03:05 is the fourth-fastest time over 26.2 in history and the third-fastest over a standard course. By running in Nike’s Breaking2 project, we didn’t get to see Kipchoge try to win is third consecutive London Marathon or a clash between him and 2:03:03 man Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia. Kipchoge has proven he can win so Nike recruited him to go for time while probably also throwing him a large check to pass on appearance fees and potential prize money. Kipchoge was also the first of the three selected runners to receive the Zoom Vaporfly Elite shoes that will be worn in the attempt. He’s been instrumental in the company’s tailoring of the footwear to meet his needs and performance.

According to early reports out of Kenya, Kipchoge followed most of his regular training that made him successful in his marathon career thus far. He’s won seven of his eight career marathons and in the one that he didn’t win, he finished second to Kenyan Wilson Kipsang, who won in a then-world record time of 2:03:23.

LetsRun.com paid a visit to Kipchoge and filmed one of his workouts back in March

Kipchoge ran 59:17 in Monza seven weeks ago, when Nike staged an unofficial half-marathon to show off its new shoes. He told Runner’s World that it was about a 60% effort on his part.

Pacing is going to be critical in the attempt and it would be a bad sign for Kipchoge and the leaders to cross the half-marathon mark in over 60 minutes. Kimetto’s world record has an outlier of a 14:09 split at 35-kilometers, which is a large part why he negative split in the race and why attempts to go out hard and hang on haven’t worked as well. Sports scientist Ross Tucker noted on Twitter that 14:13 per 5K is the pace for a sub-two yet a 14:14 has happened only 10 times in fastest 90 marathon winners in history. It’s a tall order for Kipchoge but of the three, he’s the most probably to come the closest to under two-hours— yet that could still be a high-2:01 or low-2:02.

Zersenay Tadese

Age: 35 Country: Eritrea Personal Bests: 58:23 for the half marathon (WR), 2:10:41 for the marathon (2012 London Marathon) Accolades: Half marathon world record holder, 2004 10,000-meter Olympic bronze medalist, 2009 10,000-meter World Championship silver medalist, five-time World Half Marathon Championship gold medalist, seven-time World Cross Country Championship medalist

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The marathon has not been good for Tadese. Asking him to cut more than 10 minutes off his personal best sounds like a lot even for special shoes. He is probably the most unlikely of the group to be the one to break two-hours for the marathon but could be serving as an unofficial pacer to stick with Kipchoge and Desisa for as long as possible. In his attempt to debut at the 26.2 distance, Tadese dropped out of the 2009 London Marathon at about 35K. He finished the race in 2010 with a disappointing 2:12:03. His personal best remains 2:10:41 from the 2012 London Marathon, which put him at a distant 14th place. His last attempt at 26.2 came in 2014 and was another DNF but this time in Chicago and just after the half. Nike hasn’t affirmed it, but Tadese essentially serves as the best pacer (one with world record credentials) for Kipchoge and Desisa for maybe 25K to 30K. Tadese ran 59:41 behind Kipchoge in the Monza test run.

Lelisa Desisa

Age: 27 Country: Ethiopia Personal Best: 2:04:45, 2013 Dubai Marathon Accolades: Three-time Boston Marathon champion, 2013 World Half Marathon Championship silver medalist

Desisa has competed in 11 marathons since he started contesting the 26.2 distance in 2013. His first one at the 2013 Dubai Marathon was a 2:04:45 victory and it remains his fastest. His next-fastest was a 2:05:52 at the 2015 Dubai Marathon, but those are the only two occasions in which he’s run under 2:06. His most recent run resulted in a DNF at the 2016 New York City Marathon and so his other completed marathons have been tactical or unpaced affairs that have resulted in podium finishes or victories on the marathon majors circuit. Desisa struggled in the test run in March and fell off the sub-two pace less than halfway through and finished in 62:55, If he could somehow find that 2013 marathon form, he would hang late into the attempt with Kipchoge and maybe serve as a pacer through 35K. That’s a big “if” though.

The verdict

Given that we didn’t see any official races from these three runners ahead of the attempt, it’s really hard to assess their fitness and come up with any percentage of a chance. There’s the mental factor that comes with having run 17 laps around the course. There’s also the element of fueling and hydration that takes place within the body. Weather is another uncontrollable variable. Nike got the attention it wanted while also remaining secretive on a lot of details up until the week of the attempt. With millions watching, it’s on three men to deliver in the ultimate race against the clock.

Meet the Runners Competing in Nike's Sub-Two Hour Marathon Attempt

mercredi 31 mai 2017

Rope Shoulder Pulls

Dumbbell Front Raise

TRX Squats with Thigh Band

Suspended Thigh Pulses

Kettlebell Squats

Medicine Ball Throw

Full Body Dumbbell Snatch

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Stability Ball Hamstring Curl

Fire Hydrant

Bird Dog

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Do more heavy lifting

Eat protein in the morning and afternoon

Dial back your work stress

Snack before bedtime

Hit the sheets early

Get up and move—right now

Stop counting calories

6 Slam Ball Exercises That Build Lower-Body Strength

1. Bulgarian Squat

2. Lying Hip Bridge With Hamstring Curl

3. Lying Quad Extension

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The 30-Minute HIIT Jump Rope Workout to Build Endurance

THE WARM-UP

COORDINATION

1. Oblique Crunch

2. Single-Leg Forward Hinge

3. In and Out Jumps

1. Develop a workout structure

2. Figure out your favorite activities

3. Sport the right gear

4. Find a workout buddy

5. Make rest and recovery a priority

30-minute pool workout

30-minute open-water workout

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Uneven bar

Bike dominos

Bottom out

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Itsy bitsy spider

Pee problem

Right in the eye

Ripped pants

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Mistaken identity

Sweat stain

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The warm-up:

The workout:

The battle begins

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Lauren vs. cancer: round two

A life dedicated to fitness

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30-Minute Beach Workout

Pin the full workout:

mardi 16 mai 2017

vendredi 12 mai 2017

jeudi 11 mai 2017

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lundi 8 mai 2017

vendredi 5 mai 2017

​Eliud Kipchoge

​Zersenay Tadese

Lelisa Desisa

**Eat protein in the morning and afternoon**

Eliud Kipchoge

Zersenay Tadese