Fitness Tips

The golden age of work is gone. Modern life has us working long hours, contributing large amounts to shrinking health benefits, taking fewer and shorter vacations --and all without job security. Stress? We have it. If you've been reading about the effects of stress, then you know it's a contributing factor to being out of shape, high blood pressure and dozens of other maladies.

Don't you think it's time to look-out for number one? If you allow yourself to become unhealthy under the pressure of work - then you're not going to be any good to yourself, your employers, friends or family. There's an old saying, "the in-box is always full." Nothing could be more true. It's time to slow down, take a deep breath and then uncompromisingly schedule time for yourself into your day.

How My Mother Worked Herself Into The Ground

I want to share my mother's "story" with you. I'll keep it brief. You know those 80's women... the well dressed ones you would see emerging from cars, busses and subways wearing sneakers. That was my mom, a 12-hour a day, 60+ hours per week money-producing powerhouse. She was fast, efficient, performing the work of 2 ordinary humans and planning office parties, buying me cool stuff and pre-cooking the whole week's meals on a Sunday afternoon.

My mom smoked to deal with the stress - and exercise was not in her vocabulary. She also enjoyed gourmet food. Then one year in her late 50's, her dedication to her job lead to exhaustion and pneumonia. I watched my mother age 10 years overnight. While she did make a brief recovery, within 6-8 months time, she came down with pneumonia again -and that's when she was "retired." Put out to pasture. The psychological impact of a forced early retirement only added to my mother's physical issues. She spent the last 10 years of her life not feeling well -and dealing with a myriad of health issues before she finally passed away.

Getting It Into Perspective

I'm sorry if I've completely depressed you now - - but I had to do it because there's something for all of us to learn from my mother's story.

1. Don't make yourself indispensable at work - because no one really is.
2. Uncompromisingly schedule health & exercise time for yourself into your day.
3. Finish one task at a time -and don't be afraid to leave tasks for the next day.

What I'm advising is that you do your work; do all that can be done within a managed period of time. It's a given that many people will have to work more than the mythical 40 hour week. However, your health should always be your first priority - because it's the foundation for everything else in this life.

The year is officially more than half over, but that doesn't mean it's too late to make two easy 2008 Health & Fitness Resolutions!

1. Take The Stairs
2. Treat Soda Beverages Like Desserts

1. Take The Stairs: Always be on the lookout to take the stairs instead of elevators or escalators (sorry, walking while an escalator is moving doesn't count - that's too easy). If you're really out of shape and find going up a flight of stairs is too difficult, then make your resolution to start with taking the stairs down.

2. Treat Soda Beverage Like Desserts: It doesn't matter if you're drinking diet or regular soda, you'll find that you appreciate them much more if you only have them once in a while -rather than every day. We suggest replacing soda with water and if you need a little flavor in it - try a fresh slice of lemon, lime, orange or grapefruit. In addition, you'll also find yourself saving a lot of money.

I'm dating myself but I've lived long enough to watch hundreds of fad diets come and go from bestseller lists. With cult-like followings, the rise and fall of diets is a year-to-year affair. Sadly, I wasted a lot of time and money on many of these diets and fads (and a few miracle cure drug-combinations too). In fact, I can't count the number of times I have cleared out the "unhealthy foods" from my refrigerator and replaced them with food products that either tasted like dirt or plastic. One day, I decided that I would never diet again - and I haven't.

For me, the question was: can I live in this world and never eat another slice of pizza or serving of ice cream? My answer was no.

What I do, is my best to control portions and I make an effort to cook foods that are whole and healthy when I'm at home. I don't have a perfect record and it's not always easy. However, what I do best is stay active through participating in activities that I love: hiking, strength training, nutritional supplementation, biking and other activities on occasion (like tennis or swimming). I have also surrounded myself with fitness tools (many listed on this blog) so that I could continue develop the necessary skills to keep physical activities at the core of my motivation to stay healthy.

Copyright © 2008 FitMotive.com All Rights Reserved

You've probably already heard some of the more common fitness tips about taking the stairs, walking instead of driving when possible and parking in a spot furthest from the entrance to your grocery store. At Fit Motive, we take it one more step, by strategically placing exercise equipment around the house.

Many of the products we have reviewed here, are products that each of us has placed around our houses to "Make Fitness Unavoidable." For example, I keep my push up bars and a set of dumbbells outside my bathroom door, so that when I exit the room, I stop for a moment -and do a few sets of push ups or curls. As a direct result, I estimate that I have increased my strength by at least 20%.

Here are some tips for the Making Fitness Unavoidable by strategically placing various equipment around your house:

(1) Place a set of Dumbbells and/or push up bars outside your bathroom and every time you exit, do a few reps with either.

(2) If you have a backyard and weather permits, have a mini-trampoline ready at all times for 10 minutes of jumping fun!

(3) Keep a set of hand grips next to your computer - and when you have a moment or get a phone call, squeeze away.

(4) If you have children, keep a few jump ropes around the house and backyard - and join in on the jumping fun. If your boys think jumping rope is a girls activity - educate them about how jumping rope is considered essential agility and stamina training amongst all professional boxers.

(5) Subscribe to health and fitness magazines and keep them around your house, in your car, in your backpack, at the office, in your handbag, etc. Make it so that every time you turn around - there's a reminder of health & fitness.

We also encourage you to come up with a few ways to make fitness unavoidable on your own, for example:

(1) Devise a brief laundry-room fitness activity.

(2) Pick up the pace while performing household chores (i.e. take more trips around the bed when making it).

Take the time to look at some of the products we have listed here, buy the ones your like and place them strategically around your house as suggested.

You'll never make a better investment!

Copyright © 2008 FitMotive.com All Rights Reserved