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The push-up: it’s said to be a great indicator of good health since it uses many major muscle groups. It’s also the do-anywhere exercise that requires nothing other than your own body weight. That said, push-ups should be the go-to exercise for the whole human race, right?
Yet for many people, they’re so darn hard to do.
According to a recent NYT article, the average 40-year-old woman should be able to perform 16 push-ups, and the average man of the same age should be able to do 27.
So we want to know…
How many push-ups …read more

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This photo is scary accurate in describing how I look whilst at my computer (only I’m blond and, uh, female). What about you? Are you a sloucher? Does your posture say “Hunchback of Notre Dame Body Double” rather than “Dancing With the Stars Champion”? If so, you may want to sit up and take note – because slouching can often times signify slacking.
How so, you ask? Colorado College researchers found that male students who had the best posture while seated scored markedly …read more

If even the thought of going to the gym makes you break out in hives, fear not. You can get just as good a workout by heading for the nearest shopping mall.
Before the workout going shopping
Always make sure you have something healthy to eat before you hit the gym mall. After all, you’ll need energy, stamina and mental concentration to complete the workout shopping. And don’t forget the water bottle. Shopping is thirsty work.
Eating before you shop also reduces the risk of eating at the mall, where, let’s face it, we usually end up consuming food high in calories and fat.
 Warm …read more

Steroid use and abuse is back in the news again with the recent release of the Mitchell Report, the result of a 20 month investigation into performance-enhancing drug use amongst professional baseball players.  Disturbing but apparently not all that surprising news.
I guess, in a way, it’s kind of understandable why anabolic steroid use is so prevalent in the professional sports arena. And, let’s face it, they are all adults and in theory know what they are doing and what the risks are. But you have to wonder if they understand the full extent of what they are doing to their …read more

So I was reading Army Times again and they had a great article about the apparent lunacy that is the stomach crunch. Core strength and sexy abs are best developed not through sit-ups and crunches, but through a variety of integrated exercises that focus on overall butt-kickability.
Money quote:
“Abdominal strength is the result of proper training in movement patterns. The abs, as the supporting cast, will develop alongside the rest of the muscles. Isolation exercise leads to a collection of body parts, not the integrated fighting unit we need to succeed on the battlefield.”
In other words, it’s the difference between looking …read more

In Wade’s grand tradition of the Morning News Run, a few times a week I’ll update you on the latest happenings in health. I hate running, so I’m calling it the Morning News Fix, which reminds me of caffeine, which I could not live without. I’ll offer my brief opinion if relevant, and I won’t cover any health news you don’t really care about (e.g. Elderly Danes Prefer Sublingual B12 to Capsule B12).
Are You Young? You Might Be an Alcoholic.
The image of a middle-aged guy tossing back a few fingers of scotch to make it through dinner with the …read more