Marathon You Can Do It

When you have been overweight all your life it is very easy to say I was born like that and there is now way I can loose weight. John Goodman, the famous actor, is evidence with will power nothing is impossible. Three years of hard work has seen him lose some amazing 100 pounds.

One thing I loved about this story, it was nice to see a celebrity lose that much weight without drugs, some fancy diet or surgery.

John Goodman Fitness Tips

The actor shared his weight loss tips with Mens Health magazine,  He quit drinking three years ago, hired a health coach, exercises six days a week now and doesn’t eat sugar.

Cardiovascular/ Aerobic exercises on Elliptical Machine

Because of painful knees he couldn’t do outdoor running so his workouts included aerobic exercises on the elliptical machine and recumbent bike. He also did a lot of strength training with resistance bands, and boxing twice a week.

Thats it!

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Aerobic Exercises, Boxing, Diet Fitness, Diet Tips, drugs, Elliptical Machine, Famous Actor, Fancy Diet, Fitness Tips, Hardwork, Health Coach, Health Magazine, John Goodman, John Goodman Weight Loss, Painful Knees, Recumbent Bike, Resistance Bands, Six Days, Strength Training, Weight Loss Tips, Workouts

The best way to ensure you remain fit while on holiday is to observe the following fitness tips that will help to keep you in shape.

Exercise in the morning.

When on holiday you will have alot of things to do and by the end of the day you just want to lie down have a drink and rest. You will not have time during the day and you in the evening you will not be in a mood to exercise.

Start Running

Running is the simplest form of exercise, you just need a good pair of running shoes, shorts and T-shirt. These gear can be packed easily in your bag. Compare that with cycling – where will you pack your bike?

Confirm the hotel has a gym.

If staying fit is very important to you, make sure you confirm the hotel has a gym before you make the reservation.

Have back up plans

When on holiday / vacation, even the best-laid plans can be disrupted by flight delays and traffic jams. If you miss your “scheduled” workout, a short exercise routine is better than nothing. Sit ups and push ups can be done in your room.

Commit to Eat Healthy

Try and eat healthy foods. To prove you are serious you can carry a weighing machine with you so that every morning you can measure your weight. If you have tipped the scales you can remind yourself to stay on course.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Best Laid Plans, Exercise Routine, Fitness Help, Fitness Tips, Flight Delays, Healthy Foods, Holiday Vacation, Push Ups, Running shoes, Scales, Shape, Simplest Form, Staying Fit, T Shirt, Traffic Jams, Ups, Weighing Machine, Workout

I found this fascinating piece on the amount of weight to gained by a British football fan watching the 2010 Soccer World cup finals in South Africa.

Men’s Health magazine estimates a die-hard World Cup fan could gain 2st and 7lb (15.7kg) if they watch every game between 11 June and 11 July.

It bases this gain on the assumption that a British man watching a game with friends will drink, on average, four cans of lager and eat three slices of a pizza, half a bag of nacho chips and half a pot of dip – adding up to 1,913.5kcal. That’s two-thirds of the recommended daily calorie intake for men, and almost the entire daily intake for women.

In contrast, the energy expended while watching – even accounting for gesticulating, shouting and leaping to one’s feet every so often – is just 215.5kcals.

Source BBC Article

The moral of this is Playing football may be good for the health. Watching it, on the other hand, can pile on the pounds.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 11 July, 11 June, 7kg, Assumption, Bbc, British Football, British Man, Cans, Daily Calorie Intake, Die Hard, Football Fan, Health Magazine, Lager, Men S Health, Nacho Chips, Recommended Daily Calorie Intake, Soccer World Cup, Two Thirds, Watching Tv, World Cup Finals

Aerobic means “with oxygen” and refers to exercise that is of an intensity that allows sufficient oxygen and nutrients to be transported via the blood to the working muscles.

On the other hand Anaerobic exercise means “without oxygen” the intensity is so great that the body simply can’t supply the necessary oxygen and fuel fast enough. And good example is during the 100m sprint, the runners run so fast that they can barely breath.

When a runner starts jogging his system is on aerobic mode when he starts sprinting his system switches to anaerobic mode.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 100m Sprint, Aerobic Exercise, Aerobic Oxygen, Anaerobic Exercise, Intensity, muscles, Nutrients, Runners, System Switches

Human growth hormone is made naturally in the pituitary gland of humans, the gland is deep inside the brain just behind the eyes.

How To stimulate Human Growth hormone

Human growth hormone is secreted in short pulses during the first hours of sleep and after exercise. To ensure maximum stimulation, get quality sleep and engage in some form of physical exercise.

Although Human growth hormone is secreted naturally throughout life, some people suffer from human growth hormone deficiency. In this case they might need to inject HGH. It has been used to help stunted children in UK grow normaly since 1959.

Sources of the article, simple : BBC human growth hormone medical notes

Another good source, detailed : Wikipedia growth hormone

Plus : wiki how to grow tall

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Bbc, Brain, Growth Hormone Deficiency, Hours Of Sleep, Human Growth Hormone, Medical Notes, Natural Hormone, Natural Sources, People, Physical Exercise, Pituitary Gland, Pulses, sleep, Wikipedia

The best way to ensure you remain injury free is to combine your regular running with some targeted core exercise.

The core exercises will strengthen your abs, back and pelvis for better banlance and stability.

This idea of working on core exercise came to me while reading an interview of a 56 year old runner, Reno Stirrat who just finished 2010 Boston full marathon in 2.40s. This Dude has been running sub-three hours marathon since 1970s.

To be able to run that fast over the years you need to work hard on your fitness to ensure you remain injury free.

When Reno was asked his injury prevention secret, core exercises, especialy for the hips. he answered.

He was kind enough to describe his exercise routine,

For the upper body I do pull ups, push ups, dips, running arm motion with 10 lb. dumbbells and curls. For the legs I do one-legged squats with 15 lb. dumbbells and lunges with 15 lbs. I also do one leg hip exercises with a band for the hips. Sit ups, plank, side plank and reverse plank are what I do for core . I do this 2 to 3 days a week.

Do some of this core exercise/strength training exercise and you will becomen a better runner. You will train harder, run faster and run injury free.

Read Reno interview at runners world

Visit Reno coaching website distance running tips

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 40s, Arm Motion, Core Exercises, Curls, Dips, Dumbbells, Exercise Routine, Hip Exercises, Hips, Injury Prevention, Lunges, Marathon, One Legged Squats, Pelvis, Reno, Runners World, Running Tips, Side Plank, Strength Training, Ups

I read a report that said a third of Amricans are Obese while another third are overweight. It is clear to all that alot of Americans have issues with weight management.

One way to keep off excess weight is daily exercise. But, How much should one exercise to avoid tipping the scales.

Daily Exercise Hours & Minutes to Maintain Weight

I found this list from respected institutions, they all differ but they are a good guide.

• American College of Sports Medicine: Moderate activity 150 to 250 minutes a week to prevent weight gain.
• Institute of Medicine: 60 minutes a day to prevent becoming overweight.
• Department of Health and Human Services: At least 150 minutes a week for health benefits.
• American Heart Assn.: At least 30 minutes a day, five days a week, of moderate activity or 20 minutes a day, three days a week, of vigorous activity to maintain health.
• Brigham and Women’s Hospital study: 60 minutes a day for normal-weight women to maintain weight.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 60 Minutes, American College Of Sports Medicine, American Heart Assn, Brigham And Women, College Of Sports Medicine, Department Of Health, Department Of Health And Human Services, Excess Weight, Exercise Hours, Health And Human Services, Health Benefits, Institute Of Medicine, Moderate Activity, Recommended Daily Exercise, S Hospital, Sports Medicine, Tipping The Scales, Vigorous Activity, Weight Management, Weight Women

I have always assumed that running leads to weight lose, but I was shocked to read the results of a runner who had covered over 200k in five days.

One of my favorite running blog is baldrunner, bald runner writes the biggest running blog in Philippines.

He went on a five days adventure run and he posted his experience in his blog

Summary

Total Distance Covered: 242.25 kilometers

Total Time (Run/Walk): 36:53:16 hours

Total Calories Burned: 15,467 cal

Weight Before The Run: 140 lbs

Weight After The Run: 145 lbs

Read the full report at his blog post Adventure Run stats

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 200k, Blog, Cal, Calories, Kilometers, Lbs Weight, Leads, Lose Weight, Myth, Philippines, Running, Time Run, Weight Lose

Lindsey Vonn is the top draw athlete at 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia.Thats sports illustrated did the unusual and put her on the cover page on the 2010 Winter games edition.

Controversy! What controversy?

Lindsey Vonn Ski Training

In a Wall street journal interview the American skier disclosed how she trains to win gold (s).

Lindsey Vonn trains six to eight hours a day, six days a week. Most days she gets in three hours of cardio, usually on a bike. In Austria her trainers have her do Tour de France–style hill rides up the Alps. Her strength workouts are heavily focused on building her core. Perhaps the most challenging requires her to balance on a tightrope in a squat position while throwing a medicine ball at different angles against a wall.

Read the rest of the interview at wsj magazine

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 2010 Winter Games, Alps, American Skier, Angles, Cardio, Day Six, Eight Hours, Medicine Ball, Six Days, Ski Training, Sports Illustrated, Squat Position, Tightrope, Tour De France, Vancouver British Columbia, Vonn, Wall Street Journal, Winter Games, Workouts, Wsj

According to a review by Dr Reilly of Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University in England, it was noted that athletes’ best performances, including world records, were typically set in the late afternoon or early evening.

From that report we can conclude that the best time to get the best out of your exercise is to do your exercise later in the day.

In an interview by New York Times one of the researchers in that report said, they noticed that “Most components (strength, power, speed) of athletic performance are worst in the early hours of the morning,” Our good researcher never gave much reasons as to why this is so. My hypothesis is that it all has do with the fact that our bodies are warmed up later in the day unlike in the morning when they are cold.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Athletic Performance, Best Time, Early Evening, Exercise Sciences, Good Researcher, Hypothesis, John Moores University, Late Afternoon, Liverpool John Moores, Liverpool John Moores University, New York Times, Power Speed, Time Of Day, University In England