Tag Archives: treadmill

Andrea Green Lost 136 Pounds by saying “You are Not a Dog. Do Not Reward Yourself with Food.”

“The kids used to say ‘Look out, Pudge is having a big mac attack, get out of her way.” Andrea Green can still recall the cruel taunts from her childhood. Considered almost morbidly obese from a young age. Andrea grew to be an adult who lived in her body, but didn’t live for it. Then, a scary health diagnosis for her husband and an inspiring chance encounter at a wedding convinced her to change her lifestyle.

Now, 136 pounds lighter, Andrea is doing things she never thought possible, like completing a short course triathlon.

I lost 10 pounds the wrong way by under eating and over exercising, which damaged my metabolism.

Over the years, Andrea tried to lose weight on her own, but she pursued the quick fix instead of the long haul approach. By the time she married her husband, she’d gained another 90 pounds. “I used being busy as an excuse to eat takeout and convenience food,” she admitted. “I used to work two full-time jobs. I never packed meals so I ate out twice a day. Then when I got married, we ate a lot of pre-packaged foods.”

Before when I saw people succeed at this kind of weight loss, I thought they were somehow super human, had personal chefs or didn’t work.

When Andrea’s husband was diagnosed with diabetes, she realized that both their diets needed a huge overhaul. To lose weight, she considered gastric bypass surgery, but then she remembered the friend she had seen recently at a wedding. He was also busy with work and famil, but still managed to lose 100 pounds just by changing his lifestyle.

Before having the surgery, Andrea decided to give herself five months to see progress on her own. In that time she lost 60 pounds! (more…)

Posted on August 31, 2024 by Dani Stone

The Home Exercise Equipment You Shouldn’t Live Without

If you have the time, money, and access to a convenient gym, it’s a great place to get in shape and stay that way. However, with a relatively small investment, you can create your own gym environment at home and ultimately save time, money, and accessibility. All you really need are a few basic pieces of equipment that will focus on cardio and strength training.

Having a home gym filled with the right equipment can save you hundreds of dollars a year in gym fees, babysitting services, and even cute gym clothes! Let’s face it ladies, most of us have the gym outfit and then the home gym outfit and I’m guessing the home gym outfit is way more comfy.

Clear the ping pong table out of the way and declare that corner of the basement yours. Add the following gym staples and you’ve got your own circuit training course that can be done any time of day, in any weather. Bonus reason for the home gym? If your exercise playlist includes a heavy metal, smooth jazz, country music shuffle, you just take out the headphones and crank it right up.

Must-Have Home Gym Equipment List

Elliptical: Easy on the joints and limbs, this home cross trainer mimics stair-climbing, walking and running. With the touch of a button you can go from slow crawl to an intense workout. You have the power to challenge yourself every time you step on. (more…)

Posted on April 17, 2024 by Dani Stone

Don’t Succumb To “Sitting Disease.” Stand Up and Live Longer At Work

Stand up! Whether you work in a cubicle farm, an office with windows or other desk “situation,” stand up! Because all that sitting is not only bad for your waistline, it contributes to muscle degeneration, poor circulation, foggy brain, disk degeneration, and a whole host of other bad consequences for your body. If you have a sit-down job, you need to rethink your workstation – now!

Create a Standing Work Desk

You may be chained to a desk job but that doesn’t mean your butt has to be chained to the seat. Studies show you burn 40 percent more calories standing than sitting, and it may even be better for your metabolic system. The beauty of the standing work desk is that you can get creative and DIY yourself a solution, or purchase a commercial desk.

This stand-up station from Office Max costs $219.00 and allows the user to adjust the keyboard and monitor to the perfect height for standing, then back down for sitting. Experts say that a 50:50 sitting/standing ratio per day is optimal.

Low on funds? Don’t let that be an excuse to keep on sitting. My standing desk is comprised of a laptop stacked on an empty Amazon delivery box that sits on the kitchen counter. It’s not pretty, but it works. Bonus – When the dishwasher goes through the final dry cycle, I get a nice little steam facial because it’s nestled under the counter below me.

As you set up your standing desk, be sure to remember these important tips:

Adjust the monitor height so it doesn’t cause neck fatigue
Wear comfortable shoes
Place a mat underneath you to reduce fatigue and joint pain

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Posted on February 20, 2024 by Dani Stone

Work it Off: Burn Off 672 Calories from 3 Slices of Pizza

This past week I organized a viewing party for the Olympics. On the menu that evening: Pizza. Regular pizza nights have become a tradition in my house over the last year, ever since acquiring a pizza stone that helps the crusts of our pies bake evenly and all the way through. Each gathering is a bit of a potluck—guests bring toppings for a pie, or a salad, beverage, or dessert.

We were all glued to the TV during Shaun White’s time on the half-pipe—and his ultimate defeat—but it was really the pizzas that stole the show that night. We had fresh pineapple and prosciutto, roasted cauliflower and caramelized onion, and even a bacon-apple-rosemary pie. I had a big slice of each one, which seemed like a good idea in the moment. (An hour later, I was still in the same place on the couch.)

The pizza was good, but it came at a cost of around 224 calories a slice, or 672 calories for 3 slices. Yikes! That was definitely more of a meal than I’d been hoping for.

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Posted on February 16, 2024 by Jessica Cassity

Fire Up Your Glutes with an Incline Interval Workout for the Treadmill

Out of all of the cardio machines that I have to choose from at the gym, the treadmill is usually the last one that I would choose. It’s not that I dislike walking or running – I actually kind of like it – but to me, walking or running indoors can get extremely boring. There’s something about the other machines (like the elliptical and stairmill) that just seem to hold my interest more and make my workout more enjoyable. That being said, I know that running on a treadmill can provide a great cardiovascular workout.

I almost always run outdoors and my surface of choice is definitely dirt. Unfortunately, because of weather and other factors, that’s not always possible. Recently, I decided to give the treadmill another chance, with a different approach this time.

I’m an avid hiker and walking up an incline is often a big part of my hikes. Hiking can be a great cardiovascular and fat-burning workout because it tones your lower body and (depending on the trail) can alternate between high and low intensity.

I tried utilizing the treadmill to get the same benefits of a hike by adjusting the incline and speed during a thirty minute period, which would offer the same type of interval training that I naturally get while hiking. Walking at an incline burns more calories than walking on a level surface because your body has to work much harder to push itself uphill. You’ll definitely feel your heart pumping faster as the incline percentage increases, and it will drop as you come back down to level ground. (more…)

Posted on November 14, 2024 by Lauren Martin

The Big Weight Loss Pay Off: Find What’s in it For You

Whenever you venture into a healthy lifestyle journey, it’s important to establish what will feel like you’re winning. Being really specific and clear on what you would like to do when you get healthy will inspire you along the way when you feel like giving up.

Some questions to consider as you look ahead include:

How do you want to live your life?

What kind of new activities will you get involved in?

Will you present yourself differently? A new look perhaps?

Will you make a career change?

Spend more time with your family? Make a family of your own?

Picturing yourself in the life that you dream of is important and acknowledging all the steps you are taking to make it a reality is priceless. (more…)

Posted on September 6, 2024 by Ali

A Beginner’s Guide to HIIT Training

If you didn’t already know, HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. The simplest way to explain HIIT is that it’s an organized cardiovascular training method. It’s comprised of high intensity exercise intervals of short durations mixed with low intensity intervals for recovery. It requires high effort (on an intensity scale of 1-10, at least a 7) of sprints lasting from thirty seconds to two minutes, followed with a different low intensity exercise lasting 1-2 minutes. The low intensity part of the workout is designed to be a break in order for your body to recover from the sprints and prepare itself to begin sprinting again.

What are the benefits of HIIT?

Why would someone choose HIIT over a standard, lengthier cardio session? The difference between the two is the amount of calories burned after the workout is complete. After finishing a long distance jog, your body stops burning calories as soon as you stop jogging. After HIIT training, you’re body continues to burn calories even after you’re done sprinting. That means you can spend less time on your cardio workout and still burn at least the same amount of calories, if not more. More benefits include: (more…)

Posted on February 4, 2024 by Danielle

Best Black Friday Deals for Fitness Gear

We’re only a few days out from the biggest shopping day of the year. That’s right, Black Friday is just two days away. Have you made your shopping list?

You probably never thought about the calories you burn during your Black Friday extravaganzas, but you should because it can actually be a beneficial workout to help burn off your Thanksgiving indulgences. A 140-pound person can burn up to 226 calories just by standing for three hours, and some of those door-buster lines will no doubt last that long. That same person can burn up to about 982 calories when shopping for five hours (this includes the average estimated standing time as well). Needless to say, going out on Black Friday could be a way to help burn off the estimated 3,000 calories we consume on Thanksgiving Day.

To reduce your chances of holiday weight gain even further, we combed through the Black Friday ads and found impressive deals on fitness gear, kitchen appliances, and more that will help you stay on track with you health and fitness goals.

Aspire Yoga Products: 25% off at Sports Authority. We’re giving away a yoga prize pack valued at $240!

Wieder 3-Piece Kettlebell Kit: Found at Sears for only $29, which saves you $20.

BodyFit Medicine Balls: BodyFit will be 50% off at Sports Authority

Sodastream Geness Soda Maker: With the purchase of this item at Target you will receive a $20 gift card. The flavors, which are sold individually, are also on sale for buy two flavors get one free. (more…)

Posted on November 22, 2023 by Danielle

Fat Burning Workouts for Non-Distance Runners

One of the best ways to lose fat is with some type of cardiovascular activity. The goal is to increase your heart rate in order to throw your body into fat burning mode. But the question is, which type of cardiovascular exercise is right for you?

It’s pretty common for the average American to only think of running as far and as long as they can when the word ‘cardio’ is mentioned. We tend to think that’s the only way to make an impact on the goals we’re trying to achieve.

The truth is, there are many different types of cardio that are either forgotten about or just plain ignored that can actually be extremely beneficial for our health. Try incorporating some of these workouts into your regular routine and note if you see any differences. Changing things up now and again is a great way to get out of plateau stage.

Walking on Incline
While on a treadmill, try adding at least a 5 percent incline. The benefits of walking upwards are tenfold over walking on a flat surface. For starters, it burns almost twice as many calories – walking flat for 30 minutes will burn around 145 calories; but if you raise the incline by only 5 percent, you can burn close to 243 calories.

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Posted on September 17, 2024 by Danielle

Trauma on a Treadmill: Real Life Treadmill Accidents

Treadmills are great. On a day when you want to jog but look out your window and there’s three feet of snow outside, treadmills are nice to have. Or when it is so hot and muggy that you start dripping sweat as soon as you step outside in your running shoes, they are a nice alternative. But beware – these helpful machines can sometimes lead to nasty bruises or just a bruised ego when mishaps happen. This week’s FitCrypt describes those awful moments that have happened to us all, when things get out of hand on the treadmill.

Sometimes we get distracted watching TV, changing our music, or zoning out and thinking of something else. But that small strip of rubber is moving quickly and it demands our attention.

Patricia Vee knows the feeling: “I don’t know if I was too busy looking at the TV, or everyone’s reflection in the mirror. (Thinking…why am I so red in the face? How does that man run at 8.0 on the treadmill? That woman is going over her 30 minute treadmill rule.) Suddenly, my left foot slipped, don’t know how but it did. It was like a slow motion movie as I saw myself in the mirror, slipping. The treadmill grabbed me and seemed to vomit me like yesterday’s lunch off the back of the treadmill. Klu pump!” (more…)

Posted on June 18, 2024 by SarahS

New Cardio Machine Features Soft Platform for a ‘Beach Running’ Feel

Image via The Independent

Running on the beach is one of my favorite things to do. Unfortunately, I live in the Midwest, so my chances to run on a beach are limited to vacations and work trips to the coast. But a new piece of fitness equipment on the market is hoping to bring that beach-running feel to people in all areas, even those in land-locked parts of the country. Recently launched at the IDEA World Fitness Convention in L.A., the Sproing cardio machine uses bungee resistance and a soft platform to create a running experience that is low-impact.

Unlike a treadmill that has a moving platform, the Sproing has no moving pieces. Instead, you wear a chest strap that it attached to a tethered bungee with resistance and run forward, pulling away from the tethered platform as far as you can. Below your feet is a stationary soft platform. Users have two types of surface options to run on. One is filled with air for an easier workout, and one is filled with special high-density foam for a more intense workout that feels like running on the beach. Although there’s no treadmill belt, the Sproing can measure your movement and steps. With custom built-in sensors, it measures your footsteps and tells you how far you’ve run.

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Posted on August 30, 2024 by Jennipher

Tag Archives: treadmill

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