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

Valerie Bertinelli pulls up a chair around Rachael’s kitchen table to discuss her fitness bikini body workout and to give audience members a sneak peak at some of the exercises.

 The fitness DVD, which releases on November 3, is the first collaboration with Valerie and her trainer, Christopher Ross Lane. The exercises in this DVD are the same ones Valerie did to get her body in ”bikini ready” shape, which she triumphantly showed off on the cover People magazine last spring.

In addition to a cardio workout and strength training routines, ”Losing It and Keeping Fit” includes interviews with Valerie as well as her trainer.

Plus, while watching the Jenny Craig spokesperson on the show, you can enter for a chance to win a copy of the highly anticipated exercise DVD.

You can read DietsInReview.com’s complete review of Losing it and Keeping Fit here.

Check your local listings for show times in your area.

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Tune In: Valerie Bertinelli on the Rachael Ray Show

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

“When you’re 35, you either starve yourself, or you do serious cardio.”

While a few Paltrow fans have staunchly criticized her comment, in my opinion, those attacking her are making the mistake of taking her comment a bit too literally.

Paltrow, having endured the scrutinizing and oftentimes unforgiving comments by the paparazzi is simply pointing out the obvious: That in order to lose weight and look great, you’ve got to work your butt off. And you know what? She’s right.

Granted, I don’t know Ms. Paltrow personally, but she doesn’t strike me as someone who is going to come out supporting starvation as a way to lose weight.  Yes, she has unabashedly admitted to following a post-holiday cleanse in order to detox after a few too many slices of pumpkin pie, but what her comment is instead suggesting is that dieting is tough work particularly as you get older and your metabolism slows. You inevitably have to work that much harder to not just maintain your weight but to lose it. And as long as we’re being as frank as Ms. Paltrow, let us all be clear that dieting takes some work and it’s not that fun. That work may involve feeling some hunger pangs as you pass up an afternoon coffee-house cookie for a grande green tea.

So let’s give Gwyneth a break and not misrepresent her comment by making her out to be pro-anorexic. Remember that this is the same woman who spent months eating her way through Spain with famed chef, Mario Batali.

She’s not scared of food. She’s not condoning starvation.

She looks great and she’s got the legs and the sweaty gym clothes to prove it.

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Gwyneth Paltrow’s Controversial Fitness Comment

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

And Jack isn’t just surviving, he looks as vital as when he was a young whipper snapper in his 70s.

So what’s the secret? There may not be one simple answer. To most people in the last few decades of his life, they know him for his juicer infomercials. But, LaLanne originally gained recognition as a successful bodybuilder. He owes his vitality to the power of strength training.

Many experts believe that strength training is the key to preventing age-related disabilities. As you age, if you don’t continue to use your muscles, you will lose mass. This has all kinds of implications, not the least of which is a connection to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic illnesses. This happens by slowing your body’s metabolic rate, which encourages fat accumulation, which in turn snowballs into various health problems.

Muscle mass usually begins to decline at around the age of 40. And by 50, your muscle mass can drop by a staggering 15 percent every 10 years. Strength training can put a stop to the decline.

The most important thing to realize is that it is never too late to start exercising. The human body has an amazing ability to respond to exercise at any age. In studies of men and women in their 80s (or even older), they gained strength just as rapidly as younger adults by doing resistance training.

Consumer Reports gives the following ways that strength training rejuvenates your health:

• Benefits your cardiovascular system
• Fights diabetes
• Strengthens bones
• Prevents cancer
• Builds bones
• Increases mobility

(via: Washingtonpost.com)

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Strength Training Key to Longevity

Over the years, The FIRM has created a line of best-selling workout videos that are designed to tone, strengthen and burn calories using the company’s  trademarked Synergy Training system. Their latest project is the Wave, which was the device that caught my eye as I was thumbing my way through the magazine.

The Wave Speed Slimming System is like having your own personal gym in your home that combines the elements of cardio and strength-training into its outlined workout plan. The device, which looks like a small bridge in one position and a mini seesaw when turned over, is used to tone abs, rev up metabolism, boost the butt, strengthen thighs and firm the core.

The entire Wave Speed Slimming System, which can be purchased online for about $60, includes the Wave device, an exercise mat, four workout DVDs, a weight loss guide book, a wall chart with 100 different Wave moves, and a 30-day access pass to The FIRM online club with online coaching, daily motivational tips, meal plans and more.

If you are hungry for additional information, here is DietsInReview.com’s complete review of The Wave Fitness.

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Shape Magazine Raves About Wave Fitness by The FIRM