What’s a parent to do? Well, one thing that might help is reading Dr Rob’s Guide to Raising Fit Kids. While he doesn’t have all the answers, his expertise as a physician, coach, and parent allows him to provide a general blueprint on how to raise a healthy child

Dr Rob is actually Dr Robert S Gotlin, Director of Orthopaedic and Sports Rehabilitation in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. He’s also the team physician for the Harlem Wizards basketball team, a member of the medical team for women’s rugby, U.S. national team, and coaches numerous children’s sports teams. He can also be found Saturday mornings on 1050 ESPN Radio hosting The Dr. Rob Says…Sports and Fitness Show.

Easy to read and understand, his book Dr Rob’s Guide to Raising Fit Kids, provides information for parents on how to choose appropriate sports and equipment for kids as they grow and mature, outlines the characteristics of successful coaches and supportive parents, provides dietary information, and highlights fitness guidelines for children.

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2. Buy affordable equipment. Don’t be conned into buying a whole home gym the size of the garage when a couple of hand weights might just do. Or be creative and make your own – can of baked beans can easily do as weights, or milk/water bottles filled with varying levels of water – just make sure they are secured with duct tape to avoid having an accidental shower during the workout.

3. Instead of expensive gyms, head for the local recreational department often found in community recreational centers, high schools, and colleges. Often local residents will be offered discounted fitness classes.

4.  Check out exercise DVDs from the library or local video shop. Or again, buy used. Another budget way of obtaining a library of exercise DVDs is to get together with a few friends and pool your resources.

5. Turn everyday activities into exercise: walking, gardening, taking the stairs, park a couple blocks away from shops and walk, playing with children and grandchildren.

(source: September issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource)

(image source)

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His book, Yeah Dave’s Guide to LiVIN’ the MOMENT is all about Dave and his Zen approach to happiness and living in the moment.  Informally written, it’s a rollercoaster ride through Dave’s life, complete with anecdotes and encounters that illustrate why we all need to slow down and pay attention.

As the founder/teacher of “Yoga + Chocolate” and “Yoga + Wine” workshops, David Romanelli writes “There is a place where the chocolate tastes sweeter, the music sounds better, the inspiration feels richer, and the visions look clearer. That place is the Moment.”

If the path to enlightenment means indulging in chocolate, wine, and great tunes, count me in.

The two dozen chapters, or mini essays are entertaining and insightful. It will have you laughing and crying all at once, while at the same time offer clues and ideas on how to get your life on track.

But traditional yoga fans be warned. This is about yoga, but not as you know it.

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According to the study, conducted by researcher Mary C. Tierney, PhD, of the University of Toronto,  long term strenuous activity such as running, swimming laps, or calisthenics may lead to memory loss.

The study looked at 90 recently menopausal women between the ages of 50 and 63. They were surveyed on their exercise regime – how frequently they did both strenuous and moderate recreational activities – from high school to menopause.

For this study, strenuous activities were defined as swimming laps, aerobics, calisthenics, running, jogging, basketball, cycling on hills, and racquetball. Moderate exercises, on the other hand,  included brisk walking, golf, volleyball, cycling on level streets, recreational tennis, and softball.

Each of the participants were also given eight memory and brain function tests.

Turns out the more strenuous activity a woman did, the worse her cognitive function on all eight of the tests, with the tests of recall, memory, and attention scoring worst.

On the other hand, it seemed that those who did followed a long-term moderate exercise regime had much sharper mental skills.

Of course, this does not conclusively prove a relationship between vigorous exercise and mental decline.

But it makes you think that maybe that old saying ‘everything in moderation’ works best for exercise too.

(image source)

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Here’s my latest find – the Yamaha Bodibeat

It’s an amazing music player that will synchronize your tunes to your heart beat.

Strap it to your arm and then get stuck in to your exercise routine. As you get moving and warming up, the Bodibeat will start shuffling the play list according to your heart rate.

During warm up, it will play some mellow and quiet music. But soon, as you hit your stride, so too will the Bodibeat, matching your playlist’s beats per minute to your heart rate.

It’s loaded with a couple thousand tunes – predominantly ‘90 techno – but if that doesn’t suit, you can upload your own workout music.

Sounds cool. I want one. Guess I’d better add it to the ever growing Christmas list.

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Image from FitnessMagazine.com

Aiming to be fit this summer?

Or at least a whole lot fitter?

Yeah, I know. Much easier said than done.

But if you are really interested in getting up and moving towards a fitter you, then FitnessMagazine.com wants to help.

They are running a ‘celebrate summer series’ that features workout routines, motivation tricks for getting your bikini body ready for the season, and special summer drink recipes.

Get Fit the FitnessMagazine.com Way…

“Get a Bikini Body in 4 Weeks” – receive weekly plans for getting your body in shape, featuring cardio and toning exercises and diet recommendations.

 Cycling guide – detailed information on how to get the most out of your biking exercise

10 motivation tricks – geared for how to get in your exercise even in hot weather.

Swimming pool workout – exercises that burn calories while you tone muscles and are targeted to different areas of your body.

Maximum sun protection summer workout outfits –  a guide to coordinated hats, tops and shorts or pants for maximum sun protection, broken into several categories—walking, running or just covering up at the pool.

Smoothie recipes – includes several combinations of fruit with added ingredients, such as flaxseeds, peanut butter, and even chocolate.

Low-cal drink recipes – gives a choice of refreshing alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for your happy hour.

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In fact, according to Lawrence Frank of the University of British Columbia, “Every additional 30 minutes spent in a car each day translates into a 3 percent greater chance of being obese,” he said.

Unfortunately, many American cities are not made for walking. As David Goldberg of Smart Growth America (a coalition of nonprofit groups that works to improve town and city planning) says “We have designed cities to suppress walking”  But times have changed and now the cities need to look at ways to move away from car culture and focus more on the health of their residents. This can be done through urban renewal projects and also through education.

In the meantime, here’s a few ways to get those daily 10,000 steps…

•  use public transport wherever possible and get off a stop or two before you need to and walk the rest of the way
• don’t aim for the closest car park at the shopping mall. Instead, park further away and walk.
• do a lap or two of the shopping mall before going into the supermarket or department store.

Of course, you could always move to one of these more pedestrian friendly cities.

(news source and image)

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It’s a Pumgo Scooter - the world’s first pedal-powered scooter.

Check it out…

Think of the all possible benefits…

• Increased exposure to Vitamin D – By being outside, you’ll get a decent quota of Vitamin D, something that’s apparently lacking for many people.
• Fun and entertaining – Remember, laughter and fun is important for good health.
• A stress release – How could you be stressed when riding around like a kid on a Pumgo Scooter.
• An exercise workout – It’s a cardio-vascular workout that will burn calories and strengthened muscles.
• Clean, green transportation – Small enough to sit in the office while at work, this could be the newest way to get around the city and to work and back.

It’s like taking your gym’s stair-climber outside into the sun for fun.

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Welcome to yet another edition of the Healthbolt Carnival. You know the drill – grab a coffee, get comfortable, and start reading…

Tristan fromBody And Fitness Blog discusses the importance of Muscle Overload in exercise.

Romeo Vitelli from Providentia writes about The Rafferty Experiment and how early medical experiments that helped shape the future of medical research.

Free Organic News suggests that you Nourish Your Skin Organically with these great tips.

FeminineSpirit provides some Easy Ways to Fuel Your Metabolism.

Dan Abshear from Informaproject looks at The Issues With Electronic Medical Records.

FitJerk from FlawlessFitness provides some Powerful Plyometrics Training That Will Knock Your Socks Off!.

Alvin Hopkinson from High Blood Pressure Treatment and Medication Reviews offers some Tips in Preparing a Diet to Prevent High Blood Pressure.

Dejan Banovic from Weight Loss Writings writes about How To Loss Weight.

Madeleine Begun Kane from Mad Kane’s Humor Blog asks Does Your Guilt Spring Eternal?

J.D. Bell from It Takes Work looks at Core Training and asks What’s With All The Bouncy Balls?

Ann Monahan from End Hemorrhoids Naturally provides suggestions for Eliminating Hemorrhoids.

Walter from The Highlight HEALTH Network reviews Brain Toniq and looks at the science behind this ‘Think Drink’.

Ross from Energise for Life discusses How To Cure Yourself of Hay Fever naturally.

dietetic boy from Vegetarian Culinary discusses The Advantage That you Will Find From the Many Vegetarian Menus | Vegetarian Culinary Recipes.

That concludes this edition of Healthbolt Carnival.

By the way, this is will be the last Healthbolt Carnival for a while.

Stop back next week and see what we’ve got up our sleeve instead.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: a healthbolt carnival, blog carnival.

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If I’m not blogging about health issues here at Healthbolt, green issues at ecosalon, travel at Perceptive Travel, or travel writing at Write to Travel, I’m checking my emails, twitter and  RSS feeds.

So I find articles like ‘10 Ways to get Fit WHILE Blogging’ a real help. It not only reminds me that I need to exercise but also provides interesting, unique, and fun ways to do so while chained to the computer.

But knowing that I’m probably not the only one out there often chained to the computer, I thought I’d share their list of exercises with you…

1. Cyber Squats
2. RSS Raises
3. Move it! Break #1
4. Twitter Tummy Tone
5. Social Squeezes
6. 10 Minute Move it! Break #2
7. Inbox Incline
8. 10 Minute Move it! Break #3
9. Blogger Breather
10. Sign Off Stretches

Read the ‘10 Ways to get Fit WHILE Blogging’ article to find out what to do and how to do it.

(image from sxc.hu /EdwinP)

It’s fun. I promise.

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