Tag Archives: Exercise

D is for Do Ya, Do Ya, Do Ya wanna Dance!

Posted on September 13, 2012 | Leave a comment

DANCE as though no one is watching you,

LOVE as though you have never been hurt before,

SING as though no one can hear you,

LIVE as though heaven is on earth

Alfred Souza

Ah the joys of dancing.  It’s one of those things that will pick you up and dust you off and get you smiling and living and thinking positively.  Don’t have a partner?  No big Deal – you can twirl and whirl by yourself.  Just put on some happy music – I like Queen Ida and her Bon Ton Zydeco Band – and get up off your butt and on your feet and start moving!

Dancing has many natural health benefits.  If you want to lose weight but hate exercising, dancing is the perfect way to get some movement going without calling it that dreaded word “exercise!”  Dancing can burn up to 10 calories per minute depending on intensity and speed of the dance.  Naturally, swing and salsa dancing burns more calories than a slow waltz.  Dancing combines stretching and toning and bending, all vital to staying healthy, young and strong.  Dancing strengthens our lungs and hearts, and builds strong bones with its weight-bearing activity.  Dancing keeps us naturally younger as it improves our memory and exercises our brains when we have to memorize  the steps, routines and patterns for each type of dance.  Dancing improves balance and flexibility and exercises our central and peripheral nervous systems.

The very simple act of getting up and moving will put you in a better mood.  Dancing increases the production of endorphins, those “feel good” brain chemicals that reduce stress and depression.

Dancing by yourself is an instant mood lifter.  Even better is to go out and dance.  Dancing is a social activity, whether it be with your very own partner or a partner that you dance with in a dance class.  In most countries around the world, people dance with people, women dance with women, and they all have a good time.  Don’t let not having a partner stop you.  Go to a dance class – you never know – you might meet your perfect partner out on the dance floor.

See Previous Post – D is for Dancing and Dance Shoes and the Resilience of Women

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Posted in Anti-aging, Healthy Senior Women, Mind-Body-Spirit, Natural Health

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J is for Jump, Jump, Jump for Joy

Posted on July 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

Jump, jump, jump for joy!  Jump for natural health!  Jump for long life and strong bones.  Jumping and other weight-bearing exercises will help you to preserve your bones and avoid osteoporosis.  Keeping still and sedentary promotes bone and muscle loss, while using your muscles builds new bones.  Rebounding, on a mini-trampoline, is the antidote to bone loss and the way to avoid breaking bones due to falls, and it’s the easy way to build muscle.

Mini-trampolines, also known as Rebounders, are great for year-round exercise.  Set up a mini-tramp in front of the TV and you can justify watching daytime TV, cause you’re not really watching that soap opera, you’re exercising your heart! You’re exercising your lungs and your lymphatic system.  You’re exercising your spine.  All in one easy exercise – jump – up and down and up and down.

The benefits of rebounding are many.  Rebounding not only works on the bones to reduce age-related degenerative diseases, it also helps to increase your breathing capacity and circulate more oxygen throughout your entire body.  Rebounding stimulates the production of red blood cells and improves the lymphatic system, thereby helping to increase blood flow to the veins. Improving the lymph systems also improves the whole immune system, thereby leading to less illness like colds and allergies.

Any kind of exercise will improve your chances to lose weight, and jumping stimulates metabolism which leads to even more weight loss. It stimulates the glands, especially the thyroid, which can lead to increased weight loss.  While you’re losing weight by jumping, you’ll also be lowering your bad cholesterol and triglycerides, while raising your good cholesterol levels.  Rebounding aids digestion and improves the elimination process, another way to lose weight!  For more info on getting a jump start on a weight loss programs, see previous post – J is for Jump Start your Wellness.

By improving muscle tone and building strong bones, rebounding relieves aches and pains in the neck and lower back, especially caused by a sedentary lifestyle.  Exercise can improve your mood, help you sleep and relax, reduce fatigue and menstrual discomfort in women.

If all of this hasn’t gotten you up off the chair and jumping up and down already – well, know that rebounding can keep you young!  And it’s so much fun you’ll want to do it every day.  And exercising every day will make you happy and joyful and naturally healthy and naturally beautiful!  So go ahead and jump for joy!

 

 

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Posted in Anti-aging, Mind-Body-Spirit, Natural Health

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Z is for Zumba – A Zuper way to exerciZe!!!

Posted on July 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

Zuper Zumba

Zumba, a dance-style exercise inspired by the sultry, sexy sounds of Latin America, turns fitness into parties.  In the 1990s, Colombian exercise teacher Alberto “Beto” Perez accidentally invented a new form of exercise/dance and brought it to the US and the world.   Zumba is almost like exercise in disguise, because a typical class will have you burning between 500 and 1000 calorie, but you’ll be having so much fun dancing that you won’t even realize you’re exercising!

The Zumba moves combine all the heritage of Latin dancing – mambo, salsa, merengue, samba with a bunch of other types of movement – hip-hop, belly dance, Bollywood, martial arts, and exercise like squats and lunges – all done to exciting, invigorating, world beat music – soca, flamenco, tango, cumbia, reggae, merengue, salsa – any music that gets you up to its pounding beat and makes you sweat, shimmy and shake off those extra pounds, they’ll do Zumba to it!

There’s no set routine or complicated moves, although the teachers do lead the way.  It’s not like exercise at all!  It’s just a matter of getting up, getting into the beat, and dancing like no one is watching you!

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E is for Energy and Exercise -4 EvEryonE EvErywhErE

Posted on February 25, 2012 | Leave a comment

Improve your Natural Health & Increase your Energy with Exercise

A lot of times we think we just don’t have the energy to get up and exercise.  Well, guess what – if you just get up and exercise, it will lead to having more energy.

It may be a surprising fact but exercise doesn’t deplete your energy.  On the contrary, regular exercise actually boosts your energy stores by training the body to make optimal use of oxygen and glucose, the body’s two most important sources of energy.  It only takes 30 minutes of exercise, a minimum of three times a week, to get the cardiovascular benefits that lead to increased vitality and optimum energy!

So using energy creates more energy.  Even a brisk walk around the block can do wonders for your body, and in turn improve your mind and spirit as well.  Maybe you haven’t exercised for a while and you’re sitting there yawning and saying, “I don’t have the time and I certainly don’t have the energy.”

But I say, instead of reaching for another cup of coffee or an “energy” bar, get up, put on your sneakers, open the door and start to put one foot in front of the other.  You might only make it to the mailbox and back, but it’s a start.  And tomorrow, I’ll bet you might even go to the end of the block and back.  And then around the block.  And pretty soon, you’ll realize you have a little bit more energy.  And then you’ll start whistling.  And maybe even picking up the speed a little bit more.  Like I said, even expending a little bit of energy on a little bit of exercise will lift your spirits and make you come back for more!

And if you need a little food to boost your energy, see my post E is for Energy – Eat for Extra!

So get up!  Get moving!  Exercise for Energy and Natural Health!

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E is for Exercise – Tai Chi or Yoga

Posted on February 24, 2012 | 2 Comments

Celebrities Choose Yoga for Natural Health

 

Tai Chi for Flexibiity and Anti-Aging

There are so many different types of exercise – you can choose from Zumba and NIA, or pilates or water aerobics.  You can bike, you can row, you swim, or you can walk.  The type of exercise really doesn’t matter – what does matter is that you do it and you keep on doing it, and you learn to enjoy it because it will help your natural health big time!

Not all exercise is foot-stomping, heart-beating, kick it up aerobics.  There are types of exercise that are quiet and contemplative, and designed to help your overall mind and spirit, as well as your body.

We’ve talked about yoga many times – Y is for Yoga Styles, Part 1 and Part 2.  Yoga is extremely beneficial for anti-aging and flexibility.  The quiet poses of yoga which are held for an extended time are also designed to help you meditate, an exercise for your mind and soul.

Tai Chi is an ancient Chinese martial art that has been refined away from the fight and tailored more for the flow.  The gentle movements are designed to foster calm and stress relief, and to keep one’s energy moving effortlessly and freely throughout the body.

Tai chi strengthens one’s flexibility and provides an increase in balance, both of which are vital for anti-aging and promoting longevity.  In Chinese communities around the world, you can see groups of seemingly “old people” up in the morning and at their mindful meditation and exercise called Tai Chi.

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