In the United States, bookstores are packed with best-selling diet books, and magazine racks overflow with diet plans and promises. Yet more than 90 percent of dieters regain their lost weight, and then some. With such a profusion of creative diets, why does the obesity rate continue to grow?
It turns out diets themselves may be [...]

Who has time to worry about stress? After all, if we had time to manage our stress, we would not be stressed in the first place! This retort, unfortunately, is often our first response to the subject of stress. Yet no matter how busy we become in our daily routines, we cannot afford to ignore [...]

Recent research results could hardly be clearer: Taking a walk is one of the best ways to take charge of your health. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (February 11, 1998) showed that walking briskly for half an hour just six times a month cut the risk of premature death in [...]

Q. Why is it important to know your heart rate when exercising?
A. Monitoring heart rate during exercise provides an excellent measurement of intensity. Intensity, or how hard you are working, is an important factor in determining if you will improve your fitness level. Heart rate training takes the guesswork out of how hard you should [...]

Imagine taking your trusty old three-speed–or your rugged new mountain bike–onto the open road for an exhilarating 40-minute ride. It’s a beautiful day . . . there’s a gentle breeze . . . and before you know it, you’re back home, tired but refreshed from a workout that seemed more like fun than work.
The simple [...]

Are you getting bored with your strength training program, or not getting the same results you did when you started? It’s easy to fall into a weight training rut, doing the same old routine of favorite exercises day in, day out. Unfortunately, too much “same old, same old” can be the enemy of effective physical [...]

Again and again, research has shown that women who maintain a regular, moderate strength training program enjoy a long list of health advantages. Some women still fear that weight training might bulk them up in unfeminine ways; however, as women of all ages realize the benefits of resistance training, negative attitudes about women in the [...]

Gyms, fitness studios, health clubs and wellness centers around the world are adding yoga classes to their schedules, but how do you find the right class for you? Yoga styles today range from very gentle and meditative to vigorous and technically demanding, says Mara Carrico, the San Diego, California, based author of Yoga Journal’s Yoga [...]