The latest video craze is thanks to the Wii and complimentary games like Wii Fit and EA Sports Active. These “exergames” have made fitness enjoyable by allowing physical activity to be fun, challenging, and adventurous. These fitness video games are great for improving eye-hand coordination, balance, stability, and stamina; all of which you can do at the gym as well.

Although the sweaty gym or health club may not be the most enjoyable place to spend an hour or so of your day, the benefits are endless. I understand that driving to the gym is an inconvenience and full of germs and people you may not want to talk to, but suck it up and hit it hard!

I strongly believe there is no substitute for exercise itself. Although “exergames” do a good job, exercise cannot be imitated. Cardiovascular training can be done anywhere and everywhere, but there is no exception for weight training. Weight training has been proven to increase bone density and lean muscle mass, improve posture, and reduce the risk of future injuries, which is not something you’ll be able to accomplish with your video game.

As a fitness expert, I encourage you to proceed with your normal workout routines (cardio and weight training) and let the digital workout world be an added benefit to your physically active lifestyle. In other words, don’t rely on video games to get your physical activity, use them for fun and additional exercise.

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Gym Workouts More Beneficial than Fitness Video Games

Finding ways to eat less and stay active are few and far between, but a must during this time of year. Below are a few fitness tips and a high intensity workout that you can take advantage of during the Thanksgiving season.

Top Thanksgiving Fitness Tips

1. Take a trip: Plan Thanksgiving somewhere where the entire family can be active (Ski resort).
2. Drink plenty of water: Staying hydrated is a must and a great way to give your mind and stomach a “full” sensation.
3. Eat less, but more often: Eat several smaller meals (smaller portion sizes) throughout the day; this will help keep the metabolism fired up.
4. Stay active: Go for a walk or bike ride, or plan family activities that engage the family and the heart rate like golf, flag football, tennis, or even a Wii Fit competition.
5. Stay away from the sweets: Excess sugar gets stored as glycogen and excess glycogen is stored as fat in the body.

Thanksgiving Workout

Below is an excellent routine that pushes your heart rate, core balance and stability, muscular strength and endurance to the max – just the thing to burn those last pre-holiday pounds, or take off the turkey weight. I recommend using a weight that gets rather difficult around the 10 to 15 repetition range. I also recommend performing three sets of each of the exercises below. Good Luck!!

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Thanksgiving Fitness Tips and a Thanksgiving Workout

Several female clients of mine have come to me over the past few months and stated that they really wanted to lose weight. I told them to write down everything that they ate and what activities they did each day outside of the workouts that we were doing together. After a few months of keeping a food journal and activity log, every single client saw results and were completely satisfied with how they were feeling and looking.

Below are the top weight loss tips and a sample exercise routine that I use with my clients who are trying to lose weight.

1. Keep a Food Log: This will help you see and understand what you are putting into your body
2. Keep an Exercise/Activity Log: This will allow you to increase your intensity and length of workouts
3. Exercise 5 Days a Week: If you are not sweating, you are not working hard enough
4. Drink 64-100 Ounces of Water a Day: Hydration is a huge factor in weight loss and appetite suppression
5. Chew Gum: Helps keep the mind and stomach satisfied
6. No More Soda: Cut the pop and other sugars out of your diet
7. No More Alcohol: Reduce the empty calories
8. Reduce T.V. Time: Stay active rather than sitting around and watching television
9. Don’t Snack After 7 p.m.: Snack during the day, but not at night because your activity levels have decreased
10. Get 8 Hours Of Sleep a Night: Refreshes the body and allows for a more productive day

Try this Weight Loss Routine:

Do 45-60 minutes of cardio, plus:

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10 Tips for Achieving Successful Weight Loss

I recommend eating breakfast within an hour of waking up, followed by an intense cardiovascular-based workout.

Below are the top five breakfast foods to help fuel your mind and body. Each of the foods chosen below are found in the food guide pyramid and offer the body either protein to repair and build the muscles, carbohydrates to energize the body, or vitamins, minerals, and fiber to keep the body regular. Learn more about the food pyramid, now known as MyPyramid.

Top 5 Breakfast Foods

1. Egg Whites: I recommend eating 3-5 egg whites; each egg white provides four grams of protein and no fat.
2. Fresh Fruit: I recommend eating one medium sized apple, banana, or orange.
3. Raw Vegetables: I recommend eating a half-cup of either carrots, broccoli, green beans, or spinach. These provide a wide variety of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and carbohydrates to energize the body. (Quick fix: Mix with your egg whites for an omelet!)
4. Whole Grain Foods/Oatmeal: I recommend eating one cup of oatmeal. This will fuel the body with plenty of carbohydrates.
5. Soy/Whey Protein Shake: Great way to get a healthy serving of protein, vitamins, and minerals, start off the day. (Quick fix: Toss your banana in the blender with the shake!)

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5 Healthiest Breakfast Foods

The list of exercises ranges from a single-leg leg press to a split squat jump. Each exercise is hand picked to target different areas of the glutes and hamstrings.

The glutes are made up of three gluteal muscles: gluteus maximus (largest and most superficial of the three), gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus. The hamstrings (posterior thigh muscles) are made up of three muscles as well: semitendinosus, semimembranosus, and the biceps femoris.

I recommend performing two sets of 20-30 repetitions. Good Luck!!

The Ultimate Butt Burning Workout

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The Ultimate Butt Burning Workout

Overeating not only causes rapid weight gain, but high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, or even a ruptured stomach can be result. Serving sizes have been blow out of proportion these days and can actually be rather scary. Below are the recommended serving sizes as well as a few helpful tips to prevent overeating.

Recommended Serving Sizes

Bread/Cereal/Rice/Pasta: 1 slice of bread/toast or 1/2 cup (eat 6-11 servings per day)

Fruit: 1 piece of fruit or 6 oz. glass of 100% fruit juice (eat 2-4 servings per day)

Vegetables: 1 cup or 1 whole medium baked potato (eat 3-5 servings per day)

Meat/Poultry/Fish/Nuts/Eggs: 1 egg, 3 oz. of meat/poultry/fish, or 1 oz. of nuts (eat 2-3 servings per day)

Dairy: 8 oz. glass of skim milk or 1 oz. cheese (eat 2-3 servings per day)

Fats/Oils/Sweets: Use sparingly (less than 10% of daily food intake)

Top 10 Ways To Prevent Overeating

1. Don’t buy food in bulk
2. Eat recommended serving sizes
3. Drink a glass of water before, during, and after a meal
4. Don’t grocery shop on an empty stomach
5. Take your time while eating
6. Start a meal with fruit (apple) or raw vegetables
7. Eat small, healthy snacks throughout the day to reduce hunger
8. Avoid stressful situations
9. When dining out, ask the server to box half the meal in a to-go box before serving it
10. Exercise

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Top 10 Ways To Prevent Overeating

Remember, if you are not breaking a sweat, you are not working hard enough!

So, putting exercise aside, being healthy mentally and physically requires a lot more than just getting the heart rate up. Below are 10 simple ways to a healthier you! Each of the following will help increase your energy levels and in turn, better workouts and more productive days will be the result.

1. Rest: Get six to eight hours of sleep a night
2. See the Doctor: Schedule regular doctor/dentist visits
3. Relax: Find time to relax and enjoy life
4. Be More Active: Find ways to get the heart rate up more throughout the day, in addition to exercising
5. Laugh: Find time to laugh
6. Eliminate Stress: Avoid stressful situations and try not to worry as much
7. Help Someone: Giving back has been proven to offer health rewards
8. Get a Hobby: Can help you enjoy life more as well as reduce stress levels
9. Try Something New: Try something new each week or weekend (dancing, hiking, etc.)
10. Smile: Reduces stress and it seems to be contagious

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10 Simple Ways to a Healthier You

First off, this added resistance during aerobic activity strains the joints and can cause injury to the ligaments and tendons. Secondly, it just silly.

So, if you are guilty of this, please do your joints and your body a favor by hitting regular non-weight/resistance bearing cardio followed up by your weight training.

It is a proven fact that the human body reacts to specific training (Law of Specificity). The Law of Specificity refers to the similarity between a training activity (exercise) and the actual task (goal). If you are training to run faster in a competition, then you have to run fast in practice (not use ankle weights). It is as simple as that.

With that being said, ankle weights are a great way to add progression to an exercise in the weight room. For example, a standard leg raise for the lower abdominals can be made more challenging simply by adding ankle weights or any type of weight or resistance for that matter.

Below are a few exercises that can be performed with ankle weights. The majority of exercises that can be performed with ankle weights are for the abdominals or the hips/hip flexors. I recommend performing two sets of 20 repetitions of the following exercises. Good luck and please feel free to ask if you have any questions!

Ankle Weight Exercises

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Best Ankle Weights Workout

For example: if you weigh 150 pounds, then you should be consuming 150 x 0.8, which is 120 grams of protein per day. Be careful and don’t over-do it though; protein is broken down into amino acids and excess amino acids are converted to fats and sugars and then stored in the body. Below are a few examples of the best sources of protein!

Best Protein Sources

1. Grilled chicken (Organic)
2. Grilled Salmon
3. Tuna
4. Almonds

Learn more about protein bars, too.

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Recommended Daily Protein Intake

1. Map your trail: Always figure out your path before you start your run as this will keep you from getting lost or ending up in a dangerous place.

2. Run during the day: Try to run during the day or follow a well-lit path. This will help prevent any possible danger that could happen at night.

3. Take a partner: A running buddy is always a safe bet in case of injury or to keep would-be assailants away.

4. Hydrate before, during, and after your run: This will keep you hydrated and will prevent possible cramps.

5. Get new running shoes: It is recommended that you get new shoes every six months or so; this will help prevent your feet and knees from future injuries.

6. Stretch: Stretch before and after your run.

7. Run on a flat surface: Try to avoid uneven ground whenever possible as it’s more rough on the ankles and knees.

8. Check the weather: Make sure to check the weather report before your run, this will keep you from getting caught in the rain, a thunder storm, or worse.

9. Carry a phone or change for a phone call: Just in case you get lost, can’t finish the run, or have an injury during your run.

10. Run facing on-coming traffic: Do this so you know where the traffic is and so that you don’t get hit from behind.

11. Don’t wear black. Wear lighter colored clothing at night, or if you are dressed in black make sure you have on something reflective.

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11 Safety Tips For Runners