Exercise, Fitness and Health

This video illustrates how easy it is to personalize Maintain Fit for your own preferences. I’ve simplified the exercise log so that it is now much easier to add exercises to your profile. This means it is easier to use all that Maintain Fit has to offer! Now, all you have to do to change your exercises profile is choose from a list of fields and calculations (e.g. time, distance, pace, calories, etc.). New calculations include calories, BMI and more. Watch the video tutorial below. If you find I’ve missed a field you would like, just send me a request to add it (or post a comment and answer the poll on this post in the forum).

The Maintain Fit community is getting bigger every day (about 70 new accounts a month). Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.

 

 My Exercises Profile Tutorial: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The first of the year has arrived and the new beta website is now in the lead at www.maintainfit.com.  While this is exciting, it also means saying goodbye to the last site that I launched in January 2001.  In seven years I logged nearly 1900 miles of running on the olds site.  With a couple hundred miles already logged in the new site, it is ready to take the lead.

Read more about it here: http://www.maintainfit.com/articles/content/view/22/1/

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

I was sitting at my desk yesterday when my phone rang and a familiar voice (albeit one I had not heard in a while) announced himself. After the typical small talk he told me about a relay race he and three friends had registered to run the next day. Apparently one of his friends had injured his back and he wondered if I could fill in. I said I would.

The race involved a two mile course around the beautiful Ann Morrison park near down town Boise. Each team member would run the same two mile course and would predict his finishing time before the race began. Awards were given in a unique way. Rather than giving the prize (four large turkeys) to the team with the fastest time, the team that came closest to their predicted total time was the winner.

We drove to the park in the rain and found a group huddled under portable heaters with hot chocolate and coffee being served. Everyone was dressed up warm while waiting to run. The rain drizzled down throughout the race, but the temperature wasn’t too cold (about 50F). I found my friend and met the other two runners in our team. I also got a cup of hot chocolate for my daughter.

Based on my what my treadmill has been telling me I figured I would run the two miles in about 19 minutes. As it turns out I ran at a comfortable pace and finished in 16:24 (so much for treadmill readouts). We apparently ran in a different order than what we told them and so the results website shows them assigned to the wrong person (I ran the second leg). Not bad for having less than 24 hours to plan for it.

I got a great pair of socks with turkeys on them and had a fun activity with my family. Our overall time was only off by 2:19 from our estimate and the fastest runner on our team finished in 14:38. It was a fun race, one that I’ll probably do again.

A research study conducted in the UK by Cancer Research UK and the National Health Service Breast Screening Programme has recently been published online. Similar to the study published by the World Cancer Research Fund and mentioned in my last blog post, this study surveyed 1 million women in the UK aged 50 and older. The study aims to explain correlations between obesity and various kinds of cancer, including breast cancer, endometrial (womb) cancer and ovarian cancer. Find the study and its publications on the official website http://www.millionwomenstudy.org/

The results are similar to those in the previous article showing an increased risk of cancer due to obesity. This reinforces that it pays to eat right and get regular exercise. If you have ideas about how to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight, post it in the community forum.

It seems obvious to many people that physical fitness promotes a healthy and happy life. There is now scientific evidence that it may also prolong life. A report recently published by the World Cancer Research Fund outlines the relationship between obesity, diet and various forms of cancer. I have long known that a healthy lifestyle brings many different benefits. It’s nice to know that I’m also reducing my risk of cancer by exercising regularly. Among their published recommendations are:

1. Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight

2. Be physically active as part of everyday life

3. Limit consumption of energy-dense foods. Avoid sugary drinks.

4. Eat mostly foods of plant origin

5. Limit intake of red meat and avoid processed meat

6. Limit alcoholic drinks

7. Limit consumption of salt. Avoid mouldy cereals (grains) or pulses (legumes)

8. Aim to meet nutritional needs through diet alone

9. Mothers to breastfeed; children to be breastfed

10. Follow the recommendations for cancer prevention

While you may not be able to eliminate your risk of getting cancer, these suggestions may significantly reduce your risk. A summary including these points (with references) and a copy of the full report are available for download or hard copy purchase from the report website here: http://www.dietandcancerreport.org/

This short podcast talks about Google maps’ distance measurement tool. I’ve recently found that this little piece of technology helps me get more out of each run, since I can plan ahead and know my course and distance. Leave your feedback and let me know what you think of the podcast.

Google Maps

 

 Google Distance measurement tool: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tonight I posted my first run in the new website since it went live. I’ve been so busy launching the new site that I didn’t have time to run very much. The run was beautiful! I live on the outskirts of Boise near farms and horse ranches. I ran a three mile route that had a perfect view of a brilliant sunset and went past a golf course and a sod farm and a couple of horse ranches.

I sent the first e-mail out today announcing the new Maintain Fit website. The technology I used to send the e-mail is an open source application written in PHP. If you don’t know what PHP is, don’t worry too much. One frustration was that in the final import of my mail list from the website accounts, the First and Last Names were left off. As it turns out everyone got and e-mail entitled “Dear First Name Last Name,” (that is, if it wasn’t sent to the junk folder). Sorry about that! I have identified the problem and corrected it for future e-mails.

I’m sure interested in hearing what you all think about the new site. I’m sure the next batch of changes based on your feedback will be much improved.

http://www.phplist.com/