When I was a kid, my grandfather was convinced that raisins were the cure for everything from bad skin to an upset stomach. I’m not sure where he got this (although I did find something about gin-soaked raisins at our Arthritis Site - who knew?), but his fervor was impressive and I wonder, if he were alive today, would he think the same thing about exercise?

I wonder that because exercise is so good for treating and managing a number of issues like, of course, weight loss, low energy, depression and anxiety, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, just to name a few. It’s hard to think of any activity that has such far-reaching benefits for the body, mind and spirit and, yet, there are still too many of us who aren’t doing it.

If you’re struggling with exercise, it may help to learn about some common obstacles to exercise, like being too busy or finding it too boring, as well as some ideas for overcoming those obstacles.

Whatever your experience, leave a comment and tell us what obstacles you face with exercise. Is your schedule busy or do you have trouble finding a routine you can stick with? Perhaps you deal with these obstacles every day and can tell us ways to overcome them. Either way, leave a comment and tell us about your experiences.

10 Reasons You Don’t Exercise originally appeared on About.com Exercise on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 06:00:56.

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I fell off my treadmill this morning. What happened was, I was reaching for my bottle of water and my arm got tangled in the headphone cord and the water bottle fell and I tripped on it and…well, you can imagine the rest. Now, I was actually at home, so the only witness to this disaster was my cat (who yawned and went back to sleep, because he’s used to me being kind of a klutz), but it reminded me of what might’ve happened if I’d been at the gym. Embarrassment for sure.

Since I wasn’t injured and my cat didn’t really care, I recovered, but it’s a good reminder that A) You should pause the treadmill when you need a drink of water and B) Everyone has embarrassing moments.

With all the busyness at the gym these days, I thought this would be a good time to go over some of the embarrassing things that can happen at the gym (like falling off a treadmill), how to deal with them and share some of our reader’s embarrassing stories.

What about you? Share your story or leave a comment about what you’ve done that…well…you wish you hadn’t.

10 Most Embarrassing Gym Moments originally appeared on About.com Exercise on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 06:00:02.

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I would complain about how cold it is in Chicago, but I just spent the weekend in Daytona and, after seeing sleet and snow in a place where seeing flying pigs would be just as surprising, I’ll just keep my mouth shut.

This winter weather is always a pain, but with much of the country in a deep freeze, many of us are bundling up, shutting the door and laughing at the idea of going outside for a workout (except that guy in my neighborhood who runs every day, no matter how cold it is - more power to you, buddy).

There are ways to make winter exercise more tolerable and stay warm during outdoor excursions (you might find some ideas in Best Clothes for Winter Exercise) but, for some of us, this cold weather is starting to make us a little stir crazy.

What about you? How is the cold winter affecting your workouts? Vote in this week’s poll and leave a comment to tell us how we can make it through the winter.

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Vote in This Week’s Poll: How is the very cold winter affecting your workouts? originally appeared on About.com Exercise on Monday, January 11th, 2010 at 10:07:17.

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Shiva Rea (http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref_%3Dnb%255Fssc%255F1%255F6%26field-keywords%3Dshiva%2520rea%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Ddvd%26sprefix%3Dshiva%2520&tag=yogabasicscom&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957) has released a new DVD geared especially for yogi/nis who wish to have a daily practice but…

Dear Friends,
it is a great honour and pleasure for me to chair the FIRST VITILIGO WORLD CONGRESS to be held on September 23-24, 2010 at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milano.
Why at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute? Because, using the words of its Founder and President, Don Luigi Maria Verzé, “the San Raffaele complex focuses exclusively on every aspect of man: a blend of soma, intellect and spirit as far as duration and quality are concerned”, as well as because clinical and basic research are core activities of the …

Here’s some scary news: As obesity rates climb and smoking rates decrease, obesity now plays a larger role in our health than smoking. It’s great that we’re not smoking as much, but our weight problems are getting worse, putting us at risk for disease and shorter life spans. In a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine researchers determined that smoking declined by 18.5% in the last 20 years, while obesity rates increased by 85%.

As I was reading about this, I had to wonder: Why do obesity rates continue to rise? We talk about it in the news, on the Internet and, presumably, amongst ourselves. With all the information out there, why are we still gaining weight? I thought of three possibilities:

1. We don’t understand the implications of being obese - Most of us know the health risks associated with obesity, including high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart failure, gout, certain types of cancer, depression…the list goes on and on. But, do we really understand how these diseases could impact our lives? Are there overweight or obese people without disease who believe they will always be without disease? Does that affect their choices?
2. We don’t realize how our quality of life has suffered due to weight problems - Having trained a number of overweight and obese people, I noticed many of them had been overweight for so long, they thought living in pain was a way of life. Do you think there are people out there who believe the same thing? Are there people who simply don’t know they could change their lives by losing weight?
3. We think someone can fix it - With so many medications and treatments available, there may be some people who think - “If I have a problem, I’ll just see my doctor and take medication.” Do we rely too much on medicine to fix problems rather than prevent them by changing our behaviors?

This is a complicated issue and these ideas don’t even begin to cover what’s behind America’s weight problem, but I’m curious about what you think. Why are obesity rates rising instead of falling and what can we do about it?

Fit Fact: Obesity may be worse for our health than smoking originally appeared on About.com Exercise on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 06:00:58.

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It’s very easy to feel alone in the world even if you’re surrounded by family and friends. It could be the vitiligo that makes you feel this way, or just your life in general. Maybe it’s not even lonely that you feel, but rather, a separateness from people.
I felt this way often when I worked from home. The only time I would be around other people was when I’d get out to run errands. My choice of work and my lifestyle isolated me from the outside world going on …

Ask any college student, present or former, about the stress of Higher Education, and you will be met with a…

If I could tell you exactly how what and how much exercise you need to lose weight, I would probably be sitting on my own personal tropical island right now, digging a path through all the money I would make for having this rare and precious knowledge.

Despite what you may read in magazines, books or websites, there is no “right” amount of exercise that will help you magically get the body you want. What we do have are guidelines set out by people much smarter than I (like the ACSM and the AHA).

These guidelines offer a framework to set up exercise routines for different goals, which is nice except for one thing: These guidelines are a little vague. You get some ideas for how to set up your cardio and strength workouts, but it isn’t always easy translating those guidelines into something that works for you.

Because I’m still waiting to by my tropical island, I’ve decided to use the time to delve into the guidelines for better health, weight-gain prevention and weight loss, giving you some real life examples of how they can work. You can find out more in my latest article discussing, how much exercise you really need and please leave a comment to tell us about your exercise program. How much exercise does it really take to reach your goals?

How Much Exercise Do You Really Need? originally appeared on About.com Exercise on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 05:07:53.

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If you’ve ever put on a pair of pants and been horrified by how tight they are, then you’ve experienced what one of our readers, Denise, talks about in her exercise success story. In her case, she realized that the size 16 pants she’d been wearing were way too tight. She was so uncomfortable, that she started exercising right away by using part of her lunch hour for walking breaks.

Denise proves that slow and steady progress can make a difference. After walking for awhile, she bumped things up by adding a little running to her routine. It wasn’t long before she was running two miles at a time, watching her diet and slowly implementing other healthy behaviors. Even more amazing, she ended up completing not just one, but two half marathons.

Denise is just one example of a person who’s gone from overweight and sedentary to being a committed exerciser. She started slowly, made small changes and she never gave up, something we can all learn from. Read more about Denise’s story and share your own, if you’ve got one.

Thanks for inspiring us, Denise!

Reader Success Story: How Denise Became an Exerciser originally appeared on About.com Exercise on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 09:52:21.

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