By Becky Striepe for Care2.com

A new study out of the University of South Carolina suggests that it can!

The study looked at two sets of mice: one set exercised (on tiny, adorable treadmills!) for an hour each day, while the other set was sedentary. At the end of the experiment, the researchers had both sets of mice do one treadmill “run to exhaustion,” and then looked at the state of their brain cells.

What the scientists found was that the brain cells of the active mice had “newborn mitochondria.”

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There are too many excuses as to why we aren’t fit as a country. Among those excuses are mentions of how pricey it can be to buy gym memberships or workout equipment for the home. Those excuses seem fair to most people, but what if you were told that some of the fittest people in the country have no money and no access to any standard gym equipment? An attorney found this to be true as he dealt with clients in California correctional facilities.

After seeing how incredibly strong and fit inmates became during their time in prison, attorney William Kroger and his friend, a trainer, Trey Tuefel, devised a workout plan called Felon Fitness. Now, they’ve written a book, Felon Fitness: How to Get a Hard Body Without Doing Hard Time.  Now all can become prison yard fit without doing time.

In the 90’s, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation removed free weights from the prisons. Inmates looking to strengthen up had to resort to body-weight exercises. Exercises such as push-ups, cherry pickers, pull-ups, and burpees were done at very high repetitions to obtain extreme levels of strength.

The tough repetitive body weight workouts are exactly what the book promotes along with a no nonsense diet plan.

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Written by Randy Fritz, co-creator with Diana Herrington at Real Food for Life

One hundred calories doesn’t seem like a lot, but you can easily add at least one or two of these fun, easy strategies and they will add up over time.

I’m not lazy by any means, but in my opinion, if you have to strain or deprive yourself, you may not keep it up. To eliminate calories, you can either burn them up by adding a preferred activity or avoid the calories by making a smart substitution of some common food you are eating.

I have listed only healthy, green tips. Hopefully these examples will help jog your mind to others. What steps do you take to be active and be smart?

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When you say your vows in marriage, maybe the most famous part is “in sickness and in health”… Unfortunately, there may be a little more sickness than health, since research shows that we married types don’t exercise as much as people who are single.

A poll commissioned by the UK Department of Health found that married couples are much less likely to get in the two and half hours of weekly physical activity recommended by UK health experts than singles are.

Twenty-seven percent of the adults who were questioned met exercise guidelines. Women beat the men by 10 percent as more likely than men to stay fit. When you considered those people who were married, 76 percent of the men and 63 percent of the women did not meet the recommended fitness level.
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Pamela Hernandez owns Thrive Personal Fitness in Springfield, MO where she focuses on weight training for weight loss. She writes a blog for her web site, www.thrivepersonalfitness.com, sharing vegetarian recipes from her kitchen, exercise strategies, lifestyle tips and stories from her own journey. You can also follow Pamela on Twitter @ThriveFit or pick up more tips on Facebook, www.facebook.com/thrivepersonalfitness.

A client commented to me the other day about the lack of crunches in our workouts. She had worked at a health club many years ago and still had memories of endless crunches during the abs section of her aerobics class.

I told her that while crunches can have a place in a fitness routine, they are not the best exercises for overall core strength. A lot has changed in our world since Abs of Steel was in everyone’s VCR. We sit more during the day for longer periods of time and have less opportunity to be physically active at workplaces and schools. Bodies have gotten weaker. I see a constant stream of tight hamstrings, weak backs and hunched over shoulders. For the majority of my clients, it’s not about having a six pack. It’s about being able to pick up the kids and get up out of a chair without pain.

If this sounds familiar, and sit ups and crunches aren’t the answer, you may be asking what should you be doing?

First, remember the core is involved in pretty much every exercise we do in a standing or upright position. Get in touch with it by pulling your belly button into your spine during exercises like overhead squats and standing shoulder presses or while using cardio equipment like the elliptical trainer.

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