4 January 2020
SATURDAY, Jan. 4, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Exercise may do more than build body strength: New research shows it might also keep brain cells in shape.
According to the study, exercise helps maintain the brain's gray matter, which is linked to various skills and thinking abilities. So, keeping your gray matter intact may help prevent thinking declines, the German researchers explained.
The report was published online Jan. 2 in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
"This [study] provides indirect evidence that aerobic exercise can have a positive impact on cognitive function in addition to physical conditioning," said Dr. Ronald Petersen, a Mayo Clinic neurologist.
"Another important feature of the study is that these results may apply to older adults, as well. There is good evidence for the...
3 January 2020
FRIDAY, Jan. 3, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Pilates is an excellent exercise discipline that develops strength and agility, and you don't need to take formal classes or use Pilates machines to get its benefits. Using a stability ball with floor exercises is tailor made to target your core -- the muscles of your abdomen.
Here are three to try from the American Council on Exercise. Note: Choose a ball between 7 inches and 10 inches in diameter.
Roll-ups: Sit on a mat and place the ball between your legs. Raise your legs and slightly lower your back to make a V shape with your body. Your arms should be straight out in front of you. Now, keeping your legs elevated, engage your pelvic floor and abdominal muscles and slowly roll down your back, vertebra by vertebra until it's flat on the...
25 December 2019
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 25, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- It's hard to escape all the fanfare surrounding HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, which prevents plateaus by keeping your body at your max heart rate for very short intervals.
But another training approach called steady-state training, or SST, may be just as important, if not more so, depending on what you're trying to accomplish.
Steady-state training is the opposite of HIIT yet, at the same time, is complementary to it. It involves maintaining a specific heart rate below your target maximum for an extended period of time. Using a treadmill workout as an example, with HIIT you walk for two minutes and then run all out for one minute. With SST, you walk at a brisk pace the whole way through.
While HIIT is a known calorie...
24 December 2019
TUESDAY, Dec. 24, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- If you travel a lot for business or pleasure, you may think that the most exercise possible is lugging your bags in and out of a car or through an airport. But it's important to get in real exercise even when you're away from home.
If you're a business road-tripper, look for snippets of time to move those muscles, like when you stop for gas. Any bodyweight calisthenics will do. Think: squats. There are many varieties, but the basic is a powerhouse move. Stand with feet a little more than shoulder-width apart, arms out in front of you. Bend the knees and push your hips back, lowering your body until your thighs are below your knees if possible. And then return to standing position. Do three sets of 10. At your hotel, do planks or push-ups and...