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

According to a recent article in The New York Times, exercise not just enhances mood and reduces anxiety but scientists are on the groundbreaking cusp of understanding the physiological processes that enable you to feel that amazing workout high after a long run or trek on the treadmill.

We have long known that exercise enables the growth of new brain cells. But at an October meeting for the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago, researchers from Princeton University revealed a startling revelation: In response to exercise, brains are calmer and more able to respond to stressful stimuli than brains that have not been exposed to regular exercise.

While the research was conducted on rats, the study does hold powerful implications for the far-reaching benefits of exercise in humans.

According to The New York Times, rats whose oxidative-stress levels had been artificially increased with injections of certain chemicals were extremely anxious when faced with unfamiliar terrain during laboratory testing. But rats that had exercised, even if they had received the oxidizing chemical, were relatively nonchalant under stress.

“It looks more and more like the positive stress of exercise prepares cells and structures and pathways within the brain so that they’re more equipped to handle stress in other forms,” says Michael Hopkins, a graduate student affiliated with the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Laboratory at Dartmouth.

So if you find yourself this week waiting in an airport line 200 people deep or with a houseful of ungrateful and cranky relatives, show your nervous system some love and move your body. Even if it’s just a brisk walk around the block as the pumpkin pie cools or an early a.m. fitness fix at the gym before the rest of your household wakes, you will feel much better prepared to handle daily stress with a little movement under your bum.

And hey, your bum will probably benefit too!

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Exercise Makes You Less Anxious and Reduces Stress

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

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

Where Whey Comes From

Whey protein is a by-product of the process of turning cow’s milk into cheese. There are two types of milk proteins: casein and whey protein. Within the whey category, there are three major forms that are used for weight loss and fitness purposes: whey protein concentrate, whey protein isolate, and whey protein hydrolysate.

Whey’s Fitness Benefits

Whey protein is a plentiful source of branched chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine). When you are exercising, your body requires higher quantities of branched chain amino acids, otherwise you are more susceptible to fatigue. Whey also contains bioactive ingredients, such as immunoglobulins and lactoferrin, that support proper immune system function.

Studies have found that people who combine a diet with whey protein and exercise have more lean muscle tissue and lose more body fat. This is achieved through various actions. For one, whey protein has been shown to have an effective satiety effect on people. This helps reduce daily calories, and therefore encourages weight loss.

Whey and Healthy Blood Sugar Levels

Whey also appears to be ideal for promoting healthy blood sugar levels through improved insulin sensitivity, which is associated with the reduction of stored fat.

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Whey Protein Supports Weight Loss

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

• The Power of 50 – 50 squats, 50 push ups, 50 sit ups and 50 lunges. It’s guaranteed to get your blood moving!

• The Birth Date Dash – One my friends invented this, and I thought it was too easy. Until I did it. Add up the numbers in your birth year. In my case, 1969 would be: 1+9+6+9 = 25. Now, run that number of flights of steps. (This is really good for you if you were born in any year that ends in a 9, and not so good if you were born in, say 2000.)

• Wall Work – Create a rotation of counter push ups and tricep dips facing away from the counter, and then rotate it with jumping lunges. Aim to do each set for a minute without stopping, and do 3-5 sets.

• Burpees – Possibly one of the most effective exercises ever, and the one I hate the most. Start by standing, drop to a squat, jump out to push up position, complete one push up, jump your legs back in, and explode up, clapping your hands above you as you do a jumping jack. That’s one. Shoot for 25!

• Jump Rope – If in doubt, and you only have five minutes, jump rope.

There are lots of exercises you can do at home, and most don’t require any equipment, no DVDs or even YouTube demonstrations. Don’t let your inability to visit a gym get in the way of your fitness!

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5 New Ways to Workout at Home