02.02.10
Tuesday 06:10pm

7 Benefits of Regular Exercise

General Messages • Posted by FitZone Atlanta

Exercise: 7 benefits of regular physical activity

You know exercise is good for you — but do you know how good? From boosting your mood to improving your sex life, find out how exercise can improve your life.

By Mayo Clinic staff

Want to feel better, have more energy and perhaps even live longer? Look no further than old-fashioned exercise.

The merits of regular physical activity — from preventing chronic health conditions to promoting weight loss and better sleep — are hard to ignore. And the benefits are yours for the taking, regardless of age, sex or physical ability. Need more convincing? Check out seven specific ways exercise can improve your life.

1. Exercise improves your mood.

Need to blow off some steam after a stressful day? A workout at the gym or a brisk 30-minute walk can help you calm down.

Physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that may leave you feeling happier and more relaxed than you were before you worked out. You'll also look better and feel better when you exercise regularly, which can boost your confidence and improve your self-esteem. Regular physical activity can even help prevent depression.

2. Exercise combats chronic diseases.

Worried about heart disease? Hoping to prevent osteoporosis? Physical activity might be the ticket.

Regular physical activity can help you prevent — or manage — high blood pressure. Your cholesterol will benefit, too. Regular physical activity boosts high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good," cholesterol while decreasing triglycerides. This one-two punch keeps your blood flowing smoothly by lowering the buildup of plaques in your arteries.

And there's more. Regular physical activity can help you prevent type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and certain types of cancer.

3. Exercise helps you manage your weight.

Want to drop those excess pounds? Trade some couch time for walking or other physical activities.

This one's a no-brainer. When you engage in physical activity, you burn calories. The more intense the activity, the more calories you burn — and the easier it is to keep your weight under control. You don't even need to set aside major chunks of time for working out. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk during your lunch break. Do jumping jacks during commercials. Better yet, turn off the TV and take a brisk walk. Dedicated workouts are great, but physical activity you accumulate throughout the day helps you burn calories, too.

4. Exercise boosts your energy level.

Winded by grocery shopping or household chores? Don't throw in the towel. Regular physical activity can leave you breathing easier.

Physical activity delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues. In fact, regular physical activity helps your entire cardiovascular system — the circulation of blood through your heart and blood vessels — work more efficiently. Big deal? You bet! When your heart and lungs work more efficiently, you'll have more energy to do the things you enjoy.

5. Exercise promotes better sleep.

Struggling to fall asleep? Or stay asleep? It might help to boost your physical activity during the day.

A good night's sleep can improve your concentration, productivity and mood. And you guessed it — physical activity is sometimes the key to better sleep. Regular physical activity can help you fall asleep faster and deepen your sleep. There's a caveat, however. If you exercise too close to bedtime, you may be too energized to fall asleep. If you're having trouble sleeping, you might want to exercise earlier in the day.

6. Exercise can put the spark back into your sex life.

Are you too tired to have sex? Or feeling too out of shape to enjoy physical intimacy? Physical activity to the rescue.

Regular physical activity can leave you feeling energized and looking better, which may have a positive effect on your sex life. But there's more to it than that. Regular physical activity can lead to enhanced arousal for women, and men who exercise regularly are less likely to have problems with erectile dysfunction than are men who don't exercise — especially as they get older.

7. Exercise can be — gasp — fun!

Wondering what to do on a Saturday afternoon? Looking for an activity that suits the entire family? Get physical!

Physical activity doesn't have to be drudgery. Take a Hard Exercise Works class. Check out a local climbing wall or hiking trail. Push your kids on the swings or climb with them on the jungle gym. Plan a neighborhood kickball or touch football game. Find a physical activity you enjoy, and go for it. If you get bored, try something new. If you're moving, it counts!

Are you convinced? Good. Start reaping the benefits of regular physical activity today!

2 comments ( 189 views )

01.13.10
Wednesday 07:39am

CrossFit Women are B!tches

General Messages • Posted by FitZone Atlanta

http://www.crossfitmc.com/?p=1470

Some time ago I came across a website called Heartless Bitches International, and was unable to resist browsing through it a little. What I found was fantastic, and I quickly came to the conclusion that the name of the website, while most likely offensive to several people, is nothing more than their (probably accurate) description of how society views women who have strength, confidence, independence and intelligence, and the resolve to be openly proud of that fact.

Having been a CrossFitter for the past couple of years I’ve found that the women I’ve met who embrace CrossFit as a lifestyle embody all of those wonderful traits and outshine the hoi polloi to an astronomical degree. I want to get to know them and to meet more of them. They don’t lie down and accept defeat, nor do they allow fashion magazines or television shows to mandate who they should be and how they should act. I believe this is a good thing, and I hope that it continues to spread like wildfire. CrossFit women are amazing, incredible human beings, and I feel that the “stop whining and get over yourself” attitude of that website is representative of what CrossFit women possess naturally.

The word “bitch” is very volatile – to some it’s the deepest, harshest name anyone could call a woman, and to others it’s completely benign. If, however, a woman who has strength, confidence, independence and intelligence falls under the general category of “bitch” (when used as a description of her character) simply because she has those traits, then I will do anything and everything in my power to help my 8-year old daughter become one. I can’t think of a greater gift I could ever possibly give her.

I’m just sayin’…

6 comments ( 176 views )

12.07.09
Monday 11:16am

Sport is Art

General Messages • Posted by FitZone Atlanta

From www.crossfitunlimited.com

I had a great weekend at the cert in San Diego. Grab a seat, I feel like writing a bit. I’m on a flight home and have some uninterupted time.

CrossFit is constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity. There are a ton of exercise disciplines practiced under the CrossFit umbrella. None claimed to be invented by CrossFit but rather organized in a different way by CF. Here’s a way to think of it…take Moby Dick, a classic book written by Melville, and flip through the pages then randomly pick out any word in the book. Check the dictionary and see if Melville invented the word. The answer is no. There is not one word in the book invented by the author. He just organized the words in a specific way to deliver them like no one has before. Very similar to what CrossFit has done with functional movements. We squat, deadlift, clean, press, snatch, jerk, run, climb, throw, etc.

If you talk to three different elite powerlifting coaches about their lifts you will get some small differences in body positioning and execution of the lifts. It’s true in any discipline. You see, to become a master at anything you have to log hours upon hours. During your hours you try different things. Some work and some don’t and beliefs are born based on personal experiences. I’m talking very subtle beliefs that the average jane wouldn’t give a hoot about. It really turns into an art for coaches. The difference between starting with shoulders over the bar, behind the bar, or in front of the bar. The difference between a high bar back squat and a low bar back squat. The list can go on and on.

Although I think it’s important to discuss these diffeneces to grow CrossFit. I think sometimes coaches in the community spend a little too much time and energy debating who has the “better” way. CrossFit is the future of fitness. As it stands now I’d guess less than one half of one percent of the population is deadlifting, squatting, cleaning, etc. The battle should not be about the differneces of 3 inches in a starting position of a deadlift. The battle should be against donkey calf raises machines, three sets of ten, and the couch. Get people deadlifting. If they want to be an elitist then they can get into different positions. Look, not everyone is going to excel only one way at one movement. Watch the olympics for example. Look at the difference in foot positioning of some of the Chinese lifters versus some of the other lifters. It’s just one example, but the point is summed up by a classic saying…different strokes for different folks.

There are always going to be small differences in movements between elite athletes and that’s okay. Once you learn to deadlift and master it one way, try a different starting position and see if it makes you lift more weight. If so keep it. If not, dump it. The main point here is that CrossFit has done a better job than any single functional movement discipline at bringing these movements to the masses. We need to continue to fight the battle against the couch and bad fitness programs. Not fight micro battles within the community.

Thanks for reading

2 comments ( 318 views )

11.17.09
Tuesday 09:46am

Don't Be Another Stat!

General Messages • Posted by FitZone Atlanta

From CrossFit SweatShop blog

This graph was taken from Google Trends. It shows the internet search popularity of CrossFit, Bally Fitness, Gold’s Gym, and 24 Hour Fitness. Notice the huge spike each New Year for all big commercial gyms. CrossFit’s growth in popularity has been steady with the occasional spike due to large newspaper or magazine publications. However, it appears CrossFit will soon overshadow even 24 Hour Fitness in popularity.

One of the key differences with CrossFit is that it is a program and supportive community that seeks to improve the health, fitness, and well-being of it’s members, not a membership driven gym with several hundred or even a few thousand members which relies on an extremely high turnover rate for it’s success. CrossFit is a process of continual learning and refinement, both in regards to the exercises, as well as nutrition and other lifestyle habits. With the New Year right around the corner, don’t be just another jackass that makes a resolution to get in shape, only to give up come February. Make a change that will improve your long term health.

2 comments ( 386 views )

11.13.09
Friday 07:28am