Fitness

We all know exercise is good for us--but statistics show most of us aren't making it a habit. According to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition, less than 5 percent of adults get 30 minutes of physical activity each day, with many more who just don't exercise. Now research shows skimping on exercise could prove deadly, especially if you're an older woman. Reporting in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers say post-menopausal women who stayed the…
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Is there such a thing as too much exercise? According to a new study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, it's possible--if you're a heart attack survivor. Researchers from the Department of Cardiology at Hartford Hospital say that heart attack survivors who exercised vigorously more than 5 hours a week--that's around 43 minutes every day--actually increased their risk of dying from cardiovascular complications. However, exercising at a moderate pace while abstaining from working out one or two days a week led…
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Having trouble losing weight? Using a fitness tracker could make it easier to shed those stubborn pounds, according to researchers from Wake Forest University. Reporting in the journal Obesity, researchers say that older obese adults who used a fitness tracker while on a diet lost 50 percent more weight than those who did not use it. As for the reasons why, researchers believe the additional attention they received helped them make serious changes that made it easier to lose weight.…
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It's a fact: 1 in 8 American women will develop breast cancer, according to the Susan G. Komen foundation. Now researchers say there's a surprising new way to reduce your risk if you're African American--just go for a daily walk. The research, which was headed by the Boston University Medical Center, says that African American women who vigorously exercised for seven or more hours per week faced a 25 percent reduced risk of breast cancer. This included those who walked…
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If there weren't enough reasons to exercise, listen up: It could now reduce your risk of breast cancer. According to findings published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, women who did just 30 minutes of "gentle exercise" everyday were 10 percent less likely to develop breast cancer. However, those who stopped exercising increased their risk of the disease quickly, suggesting exercise may have an active role in the prevention of breast cancer. Now lead author Dr. Agnes Fournier…
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Think you don't enough time to work out? Think again. New research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology says that running for just 5 minutes a day could reduce your risk of dying from heart disease by 45 percent. Researcher Duck-Chul Lee, an Iowa State University assistant professor of Kinesiology, now says this study may motivate more people to get off the coach--and stay active. "Because time is one of the strongest barriers to participate in…
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When your anxiety levels are out of control, the last thing you want to do is exercise. However, new research from Queen's University in Canada says that exercise could be the key to controlling bad anxiety levels--for good. "If you're anxious, you're paying attention to more anxiety-inducing things, whether that's external or internal," says Adam Heenan, a Queen's University Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology. "Exercising and doing relaxation techniques are already known to be good for anxiety, but this shows…
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For men, it's the pinnacle of a great physique--large, chiseled biceps. Now researchers say they've identified the best exercise to build that coveted bicep peak. Reporting from the University of Wisconsin LaCrosse, exercise scientists ran a series of tests to see which bicep exercise was best at activating the biceps brachii, something needed to stimulate bicep growth. As it turned out, that exercise happened to be concentration curls. "When you look at it, the concentration curl was significantly better than…
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Dealing with hip or knee pain? Here's a surprising new way to stop it: By dancing. According to a new Saint Louis University study, older adults who danced regularly reported feeling less joint pain compared to those who did not dance. Better yet, a daily jig caused them to reduce their pain medication use by nearly 40 percent. "After dancing, over several months they reported less pain and were able to walk faster," says Jena Krampe, Ph.D., an assistant professor…
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Chances are when you think of fun, you think of watching a movie, playing games, or even shopping. But exercise? Probably not at the top of your list. However, new research from the Cornell Food & Brand Lab says it's time to change this type of thinking. Two new studies from the university research facility say that people who considered exercise "fun" ate fewer calories than those who thought of exercise as a chore--something that may have to do with…
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