Positive Fitness

I am changing pace a bit with this post, I am reading a book about leadership right now and in there they were talking about the world record mile. It got me thinking, so I did a bit of research and found this page on great article on the World Record Progression for the Mile Run over at Wikipedia.

The world record hasn’t been broken since 1999, and is still held by Hicham El Guerrouj from Morocco at 3:43.13 minutes.

Below is a link to a video of the record setting race, my favorite part is that he is contested by someone keeping pace with him on the final stretch. It is a good watch and well worth the 4 minutes.

Hicham El Guerrouj Sets a World Record in the Mile at YouTube.

Photo by: mikebaird.

Life Learning Today has a really neat article on:

Maximum Energy in 10 Simple Steps

I enjoyed reading this article on how to maintain and regain your energy in 10 easy steps. Agentsully over at Life Learning Today put it really nicely when he said:

“Everyone wants more energy. We chase it down with drugs and we rob ourselves of it with not enough rest. The answers to experiencing our ultimate energy levels come down to simple habits. Some of these may not sound new, but print this out and let it serve as a a lifestyle to aspire to. Oftentimes it is helpful to be reminded of the things we know so that we will actually take action on doing them.”

This is a great article to use to help yourself maintain and get the most energy possible. Without the use of caffeine and sugar. Great article guys!

Photo by: f10n4.

Who would have thought dark chocolate could be tasty and healthy? I personally have always loved dark chocolate, it isn’t as sweet as it’s white and milk chocolate brothers, but I prefer it most of the time.

I have done a bit of research online and found that dark chocolate is actually really good for you. I found a really great article on WebMD, “Dark Chocolate is Healthy Chocolate.” There are numerous potential health benefits to eating dark chocolate, including lowering high blood pressure and acting as an antioxidant

One of the benefits of eating dark chocolate is that it can help as an antioxidant. But don’t add milk!

“Our findings indicate that milk may interfere with the absorption of antioxidants from chocolate … and may therefore negate the potential health benefits that can be derived from eating moderate amounts of dark chocolate.

It was also found that eating dark chocolate can reduce blood pressure.

 

… “Every day for two weeks, they ate a 100-gram candy bar and were asked to balance its 480 calories by not eating other foods similar in nutrients and calories. Half the patients got dark chocolate and half got white chocolate.
Those who ate dark chocolate had a significant drop in blood pressure (by an average of 5 points for systolic and an average of 2 points for diastolic blood pressure). Those who ate white chocolate did not.”

Cocoa phenols is the part of the dark chocolate that is supposed to help lower blood pressure. What is that? I don’t know but Wikipedia does.

Now don’t go out and eat a bunch of dark chocolate because it is “healthy,” the fact is that it is still a sweet and should be eaten along with a healthy diet and active lifestyle.

Photo by: karviainen.

I am sure some of you have heard people talk about eating several smaller meals per day instead of 3 large ones. Well there are some truths to that, MayoClinic has a great article on “Snacks: How they fit into a healthy diet.”

• “Binge control. If eating several low-fat whole-grain crackers, a few pretzels, a piece of fruit or some raw vegetables keeps you from taking second or third helpings at your next meal, you may actually consume fewer total calories for the day.
• Extra energy and nutrients. Traditional, made-at-home meals often lose out to busy schedules. A grab-and-go snack can be the difference between some nourishment and none at all.
• Satisfaction for small appetites. Young children’s tiny stomachs can hold only small portions of food at one time. Older adults who are less active and who burn fewer calories also may feel more comfortable eating smaller meals more frequently.” - MayoClinic

They have some great information (calories, snack ideas, and general information) also on that article on MayoClinic that I recommend checking out.

Snacks are a great way to regain energy during the work day, while traveling, or just when you need a boost. There are many healthy snacks that can provide you with what you need to keep going (without coffee or soda pop).

Try taking a snack to work next week with you, I recommend an apple for the morning break and maybe a couple handfuls of trail mix. Afternoon snack maybe some baby carrots or another favorite healthy fruit or vegetable.

See Also my posts on Healthy Snack Suggestions Part 1 and Healthy Snack Ideas Part 2 for great healthy and delicious snack ideas.

The Nintendo Wii has already revolutionized gaming, but now some people are pushing for the Wii to not only provide entertainment, but to provide people with a new way (and alternative) to work out and stay active.

WiiHealthy, is a site completely dedicated to getting in shape and being active on the Wii. They just posted a Wii Sports workout guide that is 30-45 minutes a day. They do a great job into breaking it down into sport by sport (boxing, tennis, etc) instructions on how to play “actively” as they call say, instead of taking your time watching replays, etc. Also provided is the estimated number of calories you will burn from actively playing these games.

“Boxing is the most active game on the Wii Sports disc. We strongly advise very heavy people not to go too wild in this one since your heart rate will go up a lot. This could be a problem for people who have been advised not to do big efforts. The fact is that this is the perfect game to lose weight. In a couple of minutes you can burn easily 121 calories in 15 minutes time. So this is a rather fast method and you can even speed it up by using a Mii version of a person that you don’t like as an opponent! Keep moving, move from the front to the back, from left to right. Try punching your enemy from different angles, different types of punches and you’ll be sweating that body fat away. Make sure to keep the wrist strap tight!” - WiiHealthy

I really like the concept of WiiHealthy, since I own a Wii, I know how much of a workout it can be if you really get into it. I personally love my Wii, although I am only good at Tennis.

Photo by: LollyKnit.

“I think I can break the odds.” - Jose Fernandez

Lance Armstrong’s Survivor Story. I have always been a huge supporter of Lance Armstrong and LiveSTRONG, but not everyone knows his story check it out, it is sure to be a great read and inspiration.

“The beginning is always today.” - Mary Wollstonecraft

A very true statement, I for one know I am guilty of putting off what I should start today until tomorrow, or even longer. A good quote to try and live by, starting today.

“Have a go, anybody can do it.” - Alan Parker

Why not, what’s your excuse?

These quotes are quoted from: Yamada, Kobi. Success. Lynnwood: Compendium Inc., 2002.

Photo by: Pkeleher.

I just Stumbled Upon this great blog post on “What Happens if You Drink a Can of Coke Right Now” and I must say I was quite shocked. Now I know that Coke is not good for you by any stretch of the imagination, but I had no idea what it really contained. Luckily I do not drink pop, except on rare occasions.

In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.

That is just crazy. I can not believe how much sugar is in Coca-Cola. Read the full article to be slightly amazed, and hopefully never drink another coke again.

A Guide to Workouts and Staying Active on the Road.

Photo by: Brent_Nashville.

When you are out on the road traveling for either business or leisure it is not always possible to stay inactive for days or weeks at a time. Your body will start losing muscle over the course of even a week so staying active is essential. Depending on your accommodations when you are on the road (hotel, camping, relatives or friends house) reflect what you will be able to do physically to stay in shape.

General

• Running - Ask someone where a safe route would be to run, as you may not be familiar with the area and the roads. Go out during daylight hours to be safe.
• Pushups - Make a rigorous pushup routine to do in your room, use different hand positions to work out different parts of your upper body. Including shoulders, triceps, and chest.
• Crunches - There are so many ab workouts you can do in your hotel room or lodging that your abs can get just as good of a workout on vacation as they would at home or at the gym. Plus the fact that your eating habits may abnormal (more grease, more fast food), crunches and running are great for burning those excess calories.
• Squats/Lunges - Doing some weightless squats will help your legs stay active and not lose to much of your hard work.
• Swimming - Swimming is a great workout for the entire body. Most hotels have pools (and maybe a hot tub for some relaxing after a hard swim or day) and you can get some laps in. Make sure you bring goggles so you don’t run into the edge of the pool! If you are camping, there is also a possibility of swimming, call ahead and ask.

Hotel

Quite a few hotels have access to weight rooms with a few basic machines, which could include treadmills, bikes, and a few weight machines. Use the machines to your advantage, usually they are not the best quality or most useful but if you can get a few upper body exercises in, it will definitely help keep those muscles active.

Camping

While camping you can do various activities including hiking, mountain biking, canoeing, swimming. Call ahead to where you will be staying and see the activities that they would recommend doing to stay active. Camping is usually a relaxing vacation choice, but that does not mean that you should take the entire trip off, get out and do something, be active, there will be plenty of time to relax at other points of the day.

Relatives or Friends

Ask your family or friends if there is something you can get out and do to stay active during your visit. Maybe they will get out and do something with you. Ask them for good running routes to avoid high traffic areas and other dangerous areas.

Conclusion

 As you can see there are so many options to stay active when you are out on the road and there really is no reason to not even attempt to get 15-30 minutes into a day, even if you are busy most of the day. It will make you feel much better and could help you sleep better on that awful hotel bed you have to stay on for a week.

I am on the road while writing this and I must say I have felt much better on the days that I got up and did some running and pushups compared to the days I did not. Leave your traveling workout tips in the comments.

My goal when starting Positive Fitness was not just to provide workout information, exercise tips, and diet tips. I wanted it to be a place where you could also look for motivation.

I hope that today’s quotes will provide you with some positive and motivational insights.

Motivational Quotes

“If you can’t rise to the highest level of enthusiasm, passion, and
professionalism, and grasp this task as if it is the most important thing that you have ever taken on in your life, you aren’t worthy of the task. We have been blessed with this opportunity.” - Richard Taylor

My favorite quote as of late, I find it to be a very motivational quote for a big sporting event or a big occasion in someone’s life.

“Never talk defeat. Use words like hope, belief, faith, victory.” - Norman Vincent Peale, Source: Positive Thinking Every Day.

I love this quote because it can be about pretty much anything, a rough day at work, personal relationship, or weight loss.

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. - Helen Keller Source: The Book of Positive Quotations by John Cook

Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly. - Robert H. Schuller Source: Positive News Network

Motivational Video - Free Hugs Campaign

I really enjoyed this video when I first seen it posted a few months ago. It has received the YouTube Video of the Year Award! It is one of the must see web videos and if you have not seen it yet please take the 4 minutes out of your day to watch it, I hope you really enjoy it.

The Free Hugs Campaign.

Let me know if you enjoyed the video or the quotes in the comments and I will continue this feature as a weekly or a biweekly post on Positive Fitness.

I hope to make this a regular feature on Positive Fitness, what I am going to do is link to the best information and content I find during the week and post it to share with everyone. Everything from fitness, positive lifestyles, and other things.

Positive Living and Productivity

The Happiness Project has a great article on passion titled “Why PASSION is so critically important to happiness.“

A passion gives you a reason to keep learning and to work toward mastery. It can often give you a reason to travel, and therefore to have the new experiences so key to happiness. It gives you something in common with other people, and so fosters social bonds. It gives you purpose. It often has a satisfying physical aspect—rock-climbing, fly-fishing, knitting. It gives meaningful structure to your time. It makes the world a richer place. When you’re in pain, it can be a refuge, a distraction, a solace.

This can be applied to anything in life, becoming passionate about weight loss, fitness, healthy eating, anything and everything. I highly recommend this great article and blog by Gretchen Rubin she is a great author and blogger I have quickly come to respect.

Matthew Cornell has a good article on his blog “Idea Matt” about designer Bruce Mau on personal growth, a small excerpt from the article:

1. Allow events to change you.
2. Ask stupid questions.
3. Study.
4. Think with your mind. Forget technology.

The article is about design but I think a lot of it could pertain to health, fitness, and exercise. Good read and an interesting look at some things in life.

Game Producer has a good article on motivation entitled “14 Ways to Motivate Yourself” check out this article whether you are already motivated or looking to get motivated it is sure to have some thoughts and ideas you may not have thought of yet.

#14 - Remind yourself why you are doing this

The first tip about goal setting is important, but it’s as much important to remind yourself why you are doing games - or whatever it is where you need motivation. When you start reminding yourself about the main reasons what made you start the project in the first place you’ll be more motivated to continue.

The Positivity Blog has a nice list of 17 Inspirational Quotes on People Skills which I found to be a good and entertaining read with some good quotes, my favorite being:

Arguing with a fool proves there are two.
Doris M. Smith

Fitness and Exercise

I just discovered Wildman Training’s blog and found a good post on outdoors training, and being that summer is fast approaching I thought it would be appropriate that I am quite impressed with, the first is based on working out outdoors and in the playground, what could be better?

Real Muscle Online has a great article on “How to structure your ab workout for better abs” that I found very helpful and informational. They also had an informational post on “How to make your daily run more weight loss effective” that I found to be great as well. A lot of positive work going on at Real Muscle Online, keep it up guys!

The main reason regular running is limited in its effectiveness is because you get used to that heart rate range. If you jog at the same pace everyday your body becomes adapted to it and doesn’t get pushed. If you add some sprints in there though, you can increase your heart rate during the run as well as boosting your metabolism for the rest of the day. This means less calories absorbed as fat and more fat burning the next day. All good.

Crunch Notes has an article on “Marathon Training for Nerds” that is worthy to check out for the tech-hearted. They have a lot of great gadgets and technology that pertain to active workouts and running.