Exercise, Fitness and Health

With the usual collection of delicious holiday treats, including chocolate, sugar cookies, eggnog and the like, I wound up feeling a bit down on Christmas morning. After opening presents with the children and fixing a nice french toast breakfast, I asked my wife if she wouldn’t mind me going for a quick run. She agreed.

I thought that if I could just run for a few minutes it would help out. I remember hearing when I was younger that in order to get aerobic benefits from an exercise I would need to maintain an elevated heart rate for at least 18 minutes. With this in mind I started up the treadmill and ended up running 2.25 miles in just 20 minutes! I was thrilled. It did help me feel better and it also reduced my appetite for sugar and sweets, which helped me stay on track for the rest of the day. The kids were busy playing with their new toys and didn’t even notice that I was gone. When I came back in my wife said it was her turn and went for a quick run too.

In short, it really isn’t that hard to slip out for a quick run, even on a holiday with family around. Even a short run can make a big difference when it comes to how you feel during the holiday season. Give it a try. If you just can’t tear yourself away, you might just try parking further away from your holiday destinations when shopping or going out with friends and family during the holidays. For many people there is still a week of holiday cheer ahead (until new years), so get out for a walk or run, then come let us know how it went.

Happy Holidays!

To help Maintain Fit users stay fit through the holidays, we put together a music workout mix.  Today was the first of two login help sessions to help members access their account and download the workout mix MP3.  Several people logged in and downloaded the music during the session.  We would love to hear your thoughts on the mix and how it has helped motivate you to workout through the holidays.  Post your thoughts in the forums:

http://beta.maintainfit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13

The next login help session will be Tuesday, Dec. 18 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM MST.  We look forward to answering more questions then.

I was trying to think of a way to help people stay motivated to exercise and overcome all the food they were eating during the holidays. What I came up with was to provide a free MP3 with some high energy workout music. It will be available to all members of Maintain Fit until January 1, 2008. Please post a comment or visit the forum and let me know what you think about the music and if it was helpful!

Learn more about it here: http://beta.maintainfit.com/articles/content/view/21/1/

Or, to listen to a sample of the workout music mix MP3, use the player below…

Happy Holidays!

 

 FREE MP3 Workout Music Mix [1:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download