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PBS host Stephanie Mansour, of "Step It Up With Steph," demonstrates proper form for common workout moves.

Virtual workouts have become increasingly popular due to Covid-19 restrictions. Online sessions allow you to bring your workout with you wherever you are, a convenience hitting the gym can't offer. However, without an in-person trainer or fitness instructor by your side, it can be easy to misinterpret the proper form for a new move.

In many group classes or workouts, the instructor keeps his or her eye on you and yells out corrections or modifications. Or maybe you're used to fitness equipment, like an elliptical or an ab machine, that keeps your form somewhat honest.

When it comes to virtual workouts, though, all you've got is you and your body without much to keep you in check. To enhance success in the world of virtual fitness, there are a few factors to take into consideration. First, make sure you are immersed in the workout. Those who exercise with a virtual coach are more motivated and present throughout their workout than those who work out on their own, studies have shown.

Dedication to improving yourself also helps. Intrinsic motivation, which involves doing something without knowledge of a reward, improves performance and efficiency levels, according to research. If you remain motivated throughout the virtual workout, you'll be more likely to double-check each move for accuracy.

Even so, there are some common exercises that can all too easily be done with incorrect form and lead to unnecessary pain, improper muscle build and even injury. So what are some key mistakes to look out for? Read on to find out.

Lunges

What to avoid: Maintaining proper form while in lunge position can be tricky. Many people don't realize that they aren't creating a full 90-degree angle with their legs. It's also common to lean forward while lunging, allowing your knee to surpass your forward-facing foot.

Avoid: Here the bend of each leg lacks a 90-degree angle of a proper lunge.

Get it right: To avoid these common mistakes, look at your form in a full-length mirror and make sure you are creating as close to a 90-degree angle as possible while keeping your knee aligned with your foot.

Correct form: Here Mansour demonstrates both legs bent in a 90-degree angle for a proper lunge.

Bicep curl

What to avoid: This move seems simple -- and it is -- but it's more about form than the amount of weight being lifted. So many of my clients do them incorrectly without realizing. When performing this move without a trainer critiquing your form, it's easy to slouch your back backward while lifting. Some people will move their hips, bringing the weights all the way up to touch their shoulders and allowing their elbows to leave their sides.

Avoid: Bringing the weights above your shoulders defeats the purpose of a bicep curl.

Get it right: This move is much simpler than that. If you're doing a bicep curl correctly, only your hands and forearms should be in motion. First, stand straight with your feet shoulder-width apart while you look straight ahead. Hold your dumbbells straight down, near your thighs. While keeping your elbows at your sides, lift the weights with just your forearms. Make sure to tighten your biceps and feel the burn. Finally, release and repeat.

Correct form: For a bicep curl, keep your elbows at your side. Lift with forearms only.

Plank

What to avoid: Doing planks is a common exercise, but it's hard to master, especially without a trainer telling you to lift your core or adjust your arm position. Because planks require self-discipline while alone, they frequently aren't performed correctly, which could hurt your progress. I see a lot of people slouching their stomachs or arching their backs, which could ultimately lead to injury.

Avoid: Do not arch your back when lifting into a plank.

Get it right: The mistakes I see the most, however, are easy to fix. First, make sure you're horizontally in the air with the length of your body lifted off the floor. Press your hands or forearms into the floor as you raise your body using your toes. With your heels in the air, squeeze your core and glutes for the most effective burn. Keep the shoulders over the wrists, and pull the navel in toward the spine to keep the back flat.

Correct form: Lift your core and keep your body in a strong, straight line for a proper plank.

Jump squats

What to avoid: When performing a jump squat, many people don't fully start from a squatting position. Instead, they tend to use just their ankles to jump up. People also tend to land with their legs straight or on the flats of their feet. This can cause injury and even instant pain upon landing.

Avoid: Don't jump if you're not yet fully in a squatting position.

Get it right: Instead, lower down into the squat position with your hips and knees pushed back and then land with a soft bend in your knees.

Correct form: Push your hips and knees back to get in a squat stance; land your jump with knees softly bent.

The new yearis a perfect time to start prioritizing your health, and virtual workouts are a great way to start. With the challenge of not having an in-person trainer, however, be mindful to adhere to proper form and vigilant about tackling mistakes as they arise. Next time you're performing your virtual workout, keep these tips in mind. If you remain motivated to improve, you'll find yourself becoming more aware of your own mistakes.

Stephanie Mansour, host of "Step It Up With Steph" on PBS, is a health and wellness journalist and a consultant and weight loss coach for women.

How to avoid 5 common mistakes when working out at home

What we observed over the quarantine period is that a lot of people resort to randomized programs stuff they see on social media or stuff their friends are doing that they simply arent ready for, said Clifton Hempstead, personal trainer and co-founder of Anthos Training Clubs.

Hempstead said a lot of these programs are high-intensity and designed to make you feel exhausted. Instead, he said you should seek out a program that is working toward a goal, with exercises youre capable of doing.

A lot of people shouldnt be jumping around and moving side-to-side, Hempstead said. Theyre doing all these exercises that they havent developed the prerequisites for.

Training beyond your limits can result in injury, he said: You might develop tendinitis in the knees; you might hurt an ankle, he said. Those (high-intensity) workouts are meant to beat you up, and thats fine every once in a while, but to do that constantly ... can be a recipe to hurt yourself.

Alysha Bazan, trainer and fitness director at CrossTown Fitness, said weightlifting is one of the most common exercises she sees performed incorrectly especially deadlifts, in which people will sometimes round their back while lifting.

Take your time anddont rush through the movement. Make sure that youre stabilizing your core, she said. Make sure youre doing the form properly without the weights first before loading it up.

Home exercisers may not know how to plan a workout either, Bazan said: Like, not knowing the proper exercises to pair together, especially if theyre loading up the weight, or how many reps and how many sets that theyre doing.

Bazan said you can lift safely at home, and it might not require as much equipment as you think. It seems like a lot of people have like one or two pieces of equipment at home which is great and you can do a lot of things with the one piece of equipment, Bazan said. Especially if people have one dumbbell or one kettlebell, you can do a lot of single-sided exercises.

A lot of home workout programs that dont require equipment include exercises such as planks, squats, push-ups and sit-ups. But having bad form can lead to injury, said Alex Nsiah-Kumi, trainer and owner of Paramount Personal Training.

When doing squats or lunges, your knees and toes should be going the same direction. So that, long term, your knees dont start bothering you, he said. Rep after rep, doing it wrong adds up.

Planking can be hard on your lower back if youre not doing it right, Nsiah-Kumi said. Make sure its not going into your lower back at all. It should be more of a core thing. There should be no lower back tightness or pain.

If you cant perform an exercise, find a variation that scales it back to a point where you can have less pain, he said.

Yoga is best done in the presence of an instructor, said part-time Chicago yoga instructor Whitney Katz. But thats not always possible, even in in-person classes, she said: Not being watched properly by a teacher has hurt me more than its helped me.

Katz recommends making live, virtual classes part of your at-home yoga practice, especially if youre a beginner. Even over the internet, having an instructor watching can help you tune the poses to your body.

Theres not an ABC of bodies, she said. We all have different anatomy, and what might feel great for one body might feel horrible for another.

But if youd rather learn yoga through YouTube videos, Katz said its important to take it slow. Beginner doesnt always mean gentle, she said. You can get into some pretty complicated things in a beginning class.

Katz said many video classes dont offer modifications of poses that might make them work for different bodies.

If something doesnt feel right, and youre taking a prerecorded class, back off, she said. Dont go as far.

You certainly are at risk for injury any time you exercise, said personal trainer Shane Schroeder. You want to check with your doctor to make sure its safe to start an exercise program.

Schroeder also recommends getting a trainer who can help you virtually. His service, Train With Shane, delivers his programs to clients through an app and he follows up with weekly coaching calls. People who use a free online program for fitness should do so with caution, he said.

Listen to your body, Schroeder said. If the pain goes beyond normal muscle burn or fatigue into joint pain, you might be injuring yourself. Let your body be your guide.

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These are the most common mistakes in online workouts that cause pain or injury - Arizona Daily Star

Ready to challenge yourself to feel healthier and stronger?

The Wall Street Journal is launching its first fitness challenge, a six-week program of step-up exercises designed for people of all ages and fitness levels who want to dial their workout up a notch. Developed by veteran NBA sports performance coach Arnie Kander, this six-week program doesnt require equipment and can be performed anywhere, even in small spaces.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE CHALLENGE.

Mr. Kander spent 25-plus years working with NBA teams, including the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons, for whom he still serves as a consultant. The 20-second step-up became his gold standard for measuring an athletes baseline level of fitness. Ive probably used it 1,000 times on professional athletes, he says. Its a very simple test that tells a lot about a persons movement efficiency, balance response, coordination, reflexes, ankle flexibility and core strength.

Last spring, he challenged friends. A 94-year-old woman he knows completed eight steps up and down in 20 seconds. A former professional soccer player achieved 41 steps, up and down in 20 seconds. Thats about two steps per second.

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Try This Six-Week Home Workout Routine to Build Better Fitness Habits - The Wall Street Journal

North Hempstead has announced that Project Independence, the towns aging-in-place initiative, will be offering a slate of live, at-home exercise classes for seniors to be held over Zoom. The classes are being offered to senior residents free of charge.

Throughout the pandemic, our remote exercise classes have been extremely popular among our residents, said North Hempstead Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth. These classes provide our seniors with an opportunity to stay fit and active while remaining safe at home. These new live classes will add an interactive component which we hope our residents will enjoy.

The upcoming live Zoom class schedule includes:

Dance Fitness Mondays, February 1 to June 14 at 2 p.m. with Margaret Gatzonis (no class 2/15, 3/29 and 5/31)Fitness Wednesdays, February 3 to June 16 at 10 a.m. with Mike Mancini (no class 2/17 and 3/31)Yoga Thursdays, February 4 to June 17 at 11 a.m. with Suzanne Scalcione (even dates) and Rebecca Miller (odd dates) (no class 2/18 and 4/1)

In addition to the live classes, the Town is also broadcasting remote exercise classes on the Towns public access television station, North Hempstead TV (NHTV). Residents can watch these programs on channel 18 or 63 on Cablevision and channel 46 on Verizon FIOS. These programs can also be found online on-demand. For a complete schedule visit: mynhtv.com.

Registration is required, and spots are limited for the LIVE Zoom classes. Upon confirmation of registered participants will be sent a Zoom link. For more information or to register, please call 311.

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Town to host live remote exercise classes for seniors - The Island Now

LANSING From local restrictions on gathering sizes to gym closures, staying fit during the COVID-19 pandemic might seem a near-impossible task.

Despite that, many communities in Michigan and elsewhere in the Great Lakes region have adapted existing physical fitness programs and implemented new ones.

For example, given the limitations of indoor options, the San Francisco-based National Fitness Campaign has partnered with cities across the region to implement outdoor fitness courts, free outdoor gyms open all day every day. These gyms are on a cement area about the size of a basketball court, and offer the equipment and space needed for a full body workout.

Fitness courts can be digitally activated with a free app to teach safe workout techniques and training tools via a smartphone. That eliminates the difficulty of getting to a gym or athletic trainer due to the pandemic.

Whats built in a community has a huge impact on the choices people make, which has an impact on their health, says Trent Matthais, the executive director of the National Fitness Campaign.

According to a study in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, a positive relationship exists between physical exercise outdoors and psychological health, which is as important as ever in the midst of a pandemic.

Higher anxiety levels were evident generally for indoor physical activity, whereas lower anxiety scores were evident for outdoors, the study by British researchers said.

The FitLot outdoor fitness park, located on the Lansing River Trail near downtown Lansing, opened in 2020. Urban outdoor exercise opportunities are growing in number.

Many [fitness courts] have been able to stay open by following physical distancing guidelines, Matthais said. The fitness courts also offer contact free workouts, and seven separated fitness zones that each target a different part of the body.

According to Matthais, there are many options depending on what your safety or comfort level is as an individual.

Even with colder temperatures, Matthias has seen Midwesterners get out there in the winter and still work out.

According to Matthais, the National Fitness Campaign has seen the Midwest take the lead in the number of fitness courts established. Michigan is in the top five states nationwide, with Illinois, Indiana and Ohio trailing close behind.

Already-established outdoor activity centers, like Boyne Mountain Ski Resort, have implemented new protocols to allow guests to ski and snowboard as usual.

The resort in Boyne Falls hosts thousands of guests every winter who are eager to hit the slopes for outdoor exercise. As a result of the pandemic, director of marketing Kari Roder said it anticipates outdoor activity demand to surge as it did this summer.

Boyne Mountain has had to change or alter every way that we do business, Roder said.

We plan to limit capacity on the slopes via lift ticket sales for winter skiing and snowboarding, she said. We are limiting ski lesson group sizes and eliminating larger group programs for the winter.

Ski racing, another popular sport at Boyne Mountain, is operating under new protocols for running safe, socially distanced races.

The resorts buildings have mask, social distancing and sanitization requirements

And outdoors? We cant emphasize the importance of masking enough, but luckily, face masks and goggles are something skiers and riders are accustomed to and comfortable wearing already, Roder said.

Lillian Young writes for Great Lakes Echo.

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Outdoor exercise in the time of COVID-19 - New Haven Register

SACO In the Year of St. Joseph, two Maine parishes will present opportunities for anyone interested to learn more about the universal patron of the Church and his life of wonder and ceaseless love.

A similar program will be presented by St. Joseph Parish inEllsworthvia Zoom from Feb. 15 to March 19. The 33-day virtual program involves spending 20-30 minutes a day entrusting yourself to the saints paternal care then meeting as a group via Zoom once a week. To register for the program, contact Joe Losquadro atjoelos@roadrunner.comor 207-664-0964.

The programs are based onConsecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father, a book by Fr. Donald Calloway, a member of the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. The book and programs aim to help restore order to our Church and world through the potent, paternal intercession and care of St. Joseph. Each day is a self-contained experience that includes three parts: a short passage that teaches the meaning of part of the Litany of St. Joseph, a passage on one of St. Josephs wonders, and a prayer.

In December, Pope Francis proclaimed a special Year of St. Joseph, beginning on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception 2020 and extending to the same feast this year (December 8, 2021). In his Apostolic Letter entitledPatris corde(With a Fathers Heart), Pope Francis describes St. Joseph as a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father, a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, and a father in the shadows. The letter celebrated the 150thanniversary of Pope Pius IXs declaration naming St. Joseph the patron of the Universal Church.

The Holy Father wrotePatris cordeagainst the backdrop of the pandemic, which, he says, has helped us see more clearly the importance of ordinary people who, though far from the limelight, exercise patience and offer hope every day. In this, they resemble St. Joseph, the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence who nonetheless played an incomparable role in the history of salvation.

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All welcome at 'Consecration to St. Joseph' in person and Zoom programs in Maine during Lent - Bangor Daily News

News

Colts to use soy-backed turf in new partnership with Indiana Soybean Alliance

January 22, 2021 By Amie Simpson Filed Under: Indiana, News, Soybeans

Soy-based turf will be used by the Indianapolis Colts during 2021 pre-game events and traveling education exercise programs.

The Indiana Soybean Alliance, with support from the United Soybean Board and SYNLawn Indiana, is partnering with the NFL team to highlight the benefits of soybeans and the soy checkoffs impact on building new markets.

United Soybean Board Director Jim Carrol says people will be able to learn about soy while enjoying a 40-yard dash across SYNLawn.

Theyre going to teach kids about their product, football, fitness, and what soybeans can do, he says. This is a product made with soybean oil and its renewable and I think it has great potential in other areas like this.

The Arkansas farmer says this partnership is an example of the many uses of soybeans.

This is just one of thousands of uses were working with as the United Soybean Board, he says. Were trying right now to get it into asphaltits supposed to do well in both warm and cool conditions. Also, were using it in biodiesel, were using it in paints and its also in tires, tennis shoes, and much more.

USB has collaborated with SYNLawn, through soy checkoff investments, to introduce the benefits of U.S. soy in other areas as well.

SYNLawn has installed 82 million square feet of U.S. soybacked grass across 200,000 installation in the United States and 19 other countries since 2008. SYNLawn says it will add more soy than ever to its products this year and will increase its use of soy by 10 percent.

USB farmer directors invest and leverage checkoff funds in programs and partnerships to drive soybean innovation beyond the bushel and increase preference for U.S. soy.

Audio: Jim Carroll

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Colts to use soy-backed turf in new partnership with Indiana Soybean Alliance - brownfieldagnews.com

Remote employees are now able to get fit from home with the power of Ripped30's high-intensity workouts with no equipment or weights.

The team behind Ripped30, the revolutionary at-home fitness program that doesnt require any weights or equipment, have launched their corporate fitness program to enable companies with remote employees to help their employees remain fit, healthy, and productive during these unprecedented times.

Ripped30s new corporate benefits program gives employers the opportunity to provide their employees with a fitness program uniquely catered to their work-from-home lifestyle and schedule by providing them with daily motivational videos, efficient and high-intensity 30 minute follow-along workout videos, and access to the nutrition plan developed by the Ripped30 team.

One of the biggest challenges facing remote workers right now is finding a way to stay sharp, focused, and productive even while theyre stuck inside, Ripped30 creator Marc Zimmermann acknowledged. Weve seen the power and impact Ripped30 has had on thousands of people from around the world, and were excited for employers to take advantage of a program that gives them the chance to spend fewer hours in the gym and more hours being at their best all through making their exercise as efficient and effective as possible in just 30 minutes from their own living room.

We know that active and healthy employees are happier, more focused, and more productive, which is why were so excited to partner with organizations who want to provide fitness benefits for their employees from the comfort of their own homes.

Coach Marcs unique approach to fitness and health has enabled thousands of people to get into the best shape of their lives through Ripped30, which focuses exclusively on exercises and movements that can be done from home with no weights or equipment. By focusing on 30 days of varied focus on strength, agility, the core, flexibility, HIIT exercises, and the famous Ripped30 challenges, participants get maximum movement and benefits in minimal time.

Companies interested in leveraging the power of Ripped30 for their employees can get in touch with Coach Marc and his team atwww.completethechallenge.com/ripped30-corporate

Ripped30 burst onto the online fitness scene in 2020 with the launch of Coach Marcs 7 Day Fitness Challenge, where he gives a week of high-intensity workouts for free to challenge participants to see the benefits of just 11 minutes of exercise per day. By partnering up with companies whose employees are shifting to remote-based work and limited access to gyms, Ripped30 is replacing traditional gym-based benefits programs.

Media ContactCompany Name: Ripped30Contact Person: Marc ZimmermannEmail: Send EmailPhone: +1-808-285-0012Country: United StatesWebsite: https://www.completethechallenge.com/

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Ripped30 brings its at-home workout programs to companies with employees working from home - Press Release - Digital Journal

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When you throw your leg over your saddle and head out on the road, you can use the following five variables to vary your training:

You can completely change the goal of a workout by changing one of its components. For instance, climbing intervals that are 10 minutes long can target two completely different energy systems if you simply change the cadence. Climbing at a cadence of 70 revolutions per minute (rpm) will tend to push an athlete to his or her climbing lactate threshold, which is slightly higher than the flat-ground lactate threshold due to an increase in muscle recruitment. I prescribe such workouts to develop an athletes ability to sustain prolonged climbing efforts in races. But if the same climbing workout is done at a cadence of 50 rpm, the tension applied to the leg muscles increases greatly, and the stress on the cardiovascular system decreases. I use slow cadence climbing efforts to increase muscle fiber recruitment and muscular power development. In this case, varying the cadence of an effort transforms a lactate threshold workout into a neuromuscular workout.

Intensity is a measure of how hard you are working. Because you dont have the time to ride moderately hard for 2 hours, youll have to achieve the necessary training stimulus in 1 hour. The impact of a workout is directly related to the intensity at which you are working, and over the years we have become increasingly precise in the methods we use to measure intensity.

Precision is important for success with many training plans, so I strongly encourage you to use a power meter, or at the very least a heart-rate monitor that records average heart rates for individual intervals.

Volume is the total amount of exercise youre doing in a single workout, a week of training, a month, a year, or a career. By definition, time-crunched means low volume, at least in terms of the hours you spend training. But theres another concept here that makes up for some of that reduction in volume, called volume-at-intensity. Classic endurance training programs contain a lot of hours riding at moderate intensity but relatively little time training at higher intensity. A time-crunched training program strips out most of the moderate-intensity volume of those programs but retainsand may even increasethe volume-at-intensity, especially volume-at-high-intensity. In a given week in this type of program, youre most likely going to spend more time riding at and above your lactate threshold power output than you have during any portion of your previous training programs.

Frequency is the number of times a workout is performed in a given period of training, whereas repetition is the number of times an exercise is repeated in a single session. Riding 3 interval workouts in a week is frequency; performing 12 intervals in a single workout is repetition.

Frequency and repetition are used to ensure the quality of your training sessions. For a time-crunched cyclist your goal is to accumulate time at high workloads, because thats the driving force behind the adaptations youre seeking. PowerIntervalsare maximum-intensity intervals, and their effectiveness is based on sustaining your highest possible power output for a given period of time.

Lets say you have a lactate threshold power of 250 watts and can sustain that output for 20 minutes. You might be able to average 300 watts for 3 minutes during a PowerInterval. Theres no point in trying to complete a 20-minute PowerInterval, because your output will fall so dramatically after the first 3 to 5 minutes that the rest of the effort will no longer be useful as a PowerInterval. It would feel ridiculously hard, and your heart rate would stay elevated, but once your power output drops that effort is no longer addressing the goal of a PowerInterval. On the other hand, if you do seven 3-minute PowerIntervals at 300 watts each, separated by recovery periods, youll accumulate 21 minutes at 300 watts. Thats why interval training is so effective for improving performance (and burning calories) compared to exercising at a steady pace or level of effort.

Frequency gives you another way to accumulate workload, by repeating individual interval sessions during a given week, month, or even year. For instance, a week with two PowerInterval workouts like the one just mentioned means 42 minutes at 300 watts. The harder the intervals, the more recovery you need before youll be ready to complete another high-quality training session. Fortunately, this works in favor of the time-crunched cyclist, because your relative lack of training time leaves plenty of time for recovery during the week.

This program has 4 workouts per week, and ideally youll be able to complete them on the days and in the order they are prescribed. However, because the workouts are so short and the overall volume is so low, you have a lot of latitude to move the workouts around without much risk of diminishing the quality of your training. In other words, if you have to pile 3 hard days of intervals back-to-back in 1 week, thats not ideal, but its probably better than skipping them because you couldnt do them on the days they were originally planned.

Workload is most accurately expressed as the number of kilojoulesthe amount of mechanical workyou produce during a training session. (How rapidly you produce those kilojoules determines your power output.) You can use terrain to manipulate your workload, and this is especially useful for time-crunched athletes, who need to get as much as possible done in 60 to 90 minutes. Riding uphill and performing efforts on hills can significantly increase the overall workload for your intervals, even though it can sometimes decrease the overall workload for the session (depending on the difference between the time spent at higher power outputs going uphill and the time spent going downhill at much lower power outputs).

Intervals on hills can also be useful for overcoming lagging motivation. Sometimes it can be difficult to push yourself through maximum-intensity intervals on flat ground, but a hill adds resistance and a visible challenge, and sometimes thats the little something extra you need to make your workout more effective.

Of course, training on hills is important from a specificity standpoint. If you want to go faster on climbs, it helps to train on them. But if you live in Kansas or some other pancake-flat location, increasing your sustainable power at lactate threshold is the number-one thing you can do to help you go faster uphill (when you finally encounter one). Riding into the wind can be a useful strategy for flatlanders who are training for hills; your power output and effort level will be high as you push against a significant resistance, which will likely bring your cadence down to the sort of levels you would use on a climb (80 to 85 rpm instead of 90 to 100).

I have long been a proponent of high-cadence cycling because it improves your ability to maintain high-power efforts longer by pedaling faster in a lighter gear. You can produce 250 watts at 80 rpm or 100 rpm, but your leg muscles will fatigue faster riding a bigger gear at 80 rpm than a lower gear at 100 rpm, even though the power output (wattage) is the same.

Power is a measure of how rapidly you can do work. Think in terms of moving a pile of 250 bricks in a minute. When you divide the work into smaller portions but get it done in the same amount of time, each load is lighter and you can move faster. If you double the number of bricks you carry in each load, youll move the pile in half as many loads, but youll have to work harder to move each load, and each trip will take longer.

As an endurance athlete, your training optimizes your muscles ability to work continuously and contract frequently. High-cadence cycling takes advantage of the adaptations already provided by aerobic trainingnot only muscular adaptations but also cardiovascular ones. Your heart and lungs dont fatigue the same way skeletal muscles do, and maintaining higher cadences helps shift stress from easily fatigued skeletal muscles to the fatigue-resistant cardiovascular system.

Learning to produce a lot of power while pedaling fast is also helpful when its time to accelerate. Youll improve in aerobic power, power at lactate threshold, and power at VO2max from the intensity of the efforts. Maintaining a higher cadence during the efforts will also give you the snap necessary to accelerate hard when its time to attack, cover an attack, bridge a gap, or just lift out of the saddle to get over a small climb with the group.

Keep in mind, however, that theres no magical cadence everyone should shoot for. Rather than aim for a specific number, I recommend athletes try to increase their normal cruising cadence and climbing cadence by 10 percent in a year (with the understanding that very few cyclists can ride effectively at sustained cadences above 120 to 125 rpm on flat ground).

Adapted fromThe Time-Crunched Cyclist, 3rd edition, by Chris Carmichael and Jim Rutberg, with permission of VeloPress.

The Time-Crunched Cyclist, 3rd Ed.

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The five components of any workout VeloNews.com - VeloNews

Newswise A new year brings a new opportunity to focus on health, and Loyola Medicine Men's Health Center Director Kevin McVary, MD is offering tips for a healthier 2021.

"Men don't always focus on their health," said Dr. McVary," and in fact, men are less likely to see a doctor or utilize health resources and wait longer than women to seek care. Often, its a man's spouse or partner who convinces him to see a doctor.

"A focus on health is especially important this year as the COVID-19 pandemic continues," said Dr. McVary, a nationally recognized urologist and expert on mens health. "We know that obesity, heart disease, diabetes and a lack of exercise can lead to poorer COVID-19 outcomes. In addition, some men may have stopped eating healthy during the past year, and/or may be consuming more alcohol due to stress. Others may have a condition or concern that they are not seeking treatment for due to the pandemic.

And yet, lifestyle choices exercising, eating healthy, not smoking, limiting alcohol consumption and managing stress combined with preventive care can keep you healthy this year and throughout your lifetime," said Dr. McVary. "And it's never too late to start."

Dr. McVary offers the following tips to help men improve their health in 2021:

The Loyola Mens Health Center, the only academic medical center-affiliated program in the Chicago area, takes a holistic, preventive approach to men's health, including healthy lifestyle, behavior modifications and medications.

The Mens Health Center is located at Loyolas Burr Ridge location, and offers a broad range of specialty services, laboratory testing, imaging services and a sleep lab.

To make an appointment, visit: loyolamedicine.org/urology/mens-health-center.

About Loyola MedicineLoyola Medicine, a member of Trinity Health, is a nationally ranked academic, quaternary care system based in Chicago's western suburbs. The three-hospital system includes Loyola University Medical Center, Gottlieb Memorial Hospital and MacNeal Hospital, as well as convenient locations offering primary care, specialty care and immediate care services from more than 1,800 physicians throughout Cook, Will and DuPage counties. Loyola is a 547-licensed-bed hospital in Maywood that includes the William G. & Mary A. Ryan Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine, the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, a Level 1 trauma center, Illinois's largest burn center, a certified comprehensive stroke center and a childrens hospital. Loyola also trains the next generation of caregivers through its academic affiliation with Loyola University Chicagos Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing. Gottlieb is a 247-licensed-bed community hospital in Melrose Park with the newly renovated Judd A. Weinberg Emergency Department, the Loyola Center for Metabolic Surgery and Bariatric Care and the Loyola Cancer Care & Research facility at the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Center. MacNeal is a 374-licensed-bed teaching hospital in Berwyn with advanced medical, surgical and psychiatric services, acute rehabilitation, an inpatient skilled nursing facility and a 68-bed behavioral health program and community clinics. Loyola Medical Group, a team of primary and specialty care physicians, offers care at over 15 Chicago-area locations. For more information, visit loyolamedicine.org. You can also follow Loyola Medicine on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

About Trinity Health Trinity Health is one of the largest multi-institutional Catholic health care delivery systems in the nation, serving diverse communities that include more than 30 million people across 22 states. Trinity Health includes 92 hospitals, as well as100continuing care locations that include PACE programs, senior living facilities, and home care and hospice services. Its continuing care programs provide nearly 2.5 million visits annually. Based in Livonia, Mich., and with annual operating revenues of$18.8billion and assets of$30.5 billion, the organization returns$1.3billion to its communities annually in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs. Trinity Health employs about123,000colleagues, including6,800employed physicians and clinicians. Committed to those who are poor and underserved in its communities, Trinity Health is known for its focus on the country's aging population. As a single, unified ministry, the organization is the innovator of Senior Emergency Departments, the largest not-for-profit provider of home health care services ranked by number of visits in the nation, as well as the nations leading provider of PACE (Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly) based on the number of available programs. For more information, visit trinity-health.org. You can also follow Trinity Health on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

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Loyola Medicine Offers Men's Health Tips for the New Year - Newswise

What is the purpose of fitness? Why do you exercise? What do you hope to accomplish?

Are you doing it to prepare for a sport? We know for sure that exercise and good fitness are important for whatever sport that you might happen to be playing, regardless of your age.

Sports-specific programs are important not only to help you be better at your sport but also to prevent injuries. How does fitness prevent injuries, you might ask.

Lots of injuries happen late in the game. Fourth quarter. Last ski run. Those kinds of things. Fatigue is definitely a factor. As you get tired, your technique deteriorates and your focus wanes.

Your bodys ability to a change in direction (think about planting your foot to cut to your left) or to react to outside forces (think about getting bumped while youre running) lessen with fatigue.

Performance is the goal for a lot of people. I took up CrossFit in 2008 because I could see that the emphasis on core strength would help me on the bicycle, particularly the mountain bike.

I can remember when Pete Rose broke down barriers in the 70s by lifting weights. Back then, baseball players avoided strength training fearing that they couldnt perform well with big muscles. We now know how wrong that was.

Now we know that strength training, stretching, and sport-specific training are all essential to successful sports performance along with eating right, getting adequate sleep, and listening to your body regardless of the sport.

Weight management is another great reason to seek better fitness levels. Dieting without exercising is futile. You just cant get the results that you want.

Maybe you exercise to look better. Thats OK. Whatever drives you. Ive said often that the best exercise program that you can do is the one that you will do. Same here. It doesnt matter as much why you exercise as it does that you do exercise.

Kids need to exercise so that they become active adults. Thats a proven fact. And its also a fact that if their parents will exercise with them, the kids are even more likely to participate and to continue an active lifestyle into adulthood.

You might exercise for the way it makes you feel. Although I have never ran far enough or hard enough to achieve a runners high, I do know that regular exercise keeps me feeling better.

Im not going to lie and tell you that it feels good on some of the long hills on my bicycle or that the strength training that I do is always fun. But I can tell you that as soon as it is over, it feels great. Exercise causes the release of endorphins in your system that will leave you almost euphoric.

Exercise is a key ingredient to living longer or, at the very least, living well in your later years. Again, study after study has indicated that.

I know people my age that feel like theyve reached the age when it is time to slow down; that it is the natural progression of aging. That is most certainly a slippery slope. If you let it, age becomes an excuse for getting lazy.

Stay active, stay strong, and dont let birthdays dictate how you feel or what you do. You are neither too young nor too old to pursue fitness. And let me repeat what I already said: It doesnt matter nearly as much whatyou do as it does that you doit.

Joe Black, PT, DPT, SCS, ATC is a physical therapist and athletic trainer at Blount Memorial Hospital's Total Rehabilitation. Write to Joe at joeblackdpt@gmail.com.

Originally posted here:
JOE BLACK: The purpose to fitness is living well - Maryville Daily Times

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