Planning ahead for your New Year’s Resolution to get fit? Here’s what will be in — and out — in 2011, according to a survey of 19,000 “fitness professions” by the American College of Sports Medicine. Out: Balance training, stability balls and Pilates. “Pilates suffered the worst fall, disappearing after a ninth place ranking in 2010,” according to the ACSM. “It appears from this survey that Pilates may not have…

Another reason you should go for a walk today: Putting in six to nine miles a week may help you remember that you left your keys in the freezer. This from a University of Pittsburgh study published in the journal Neurology that followed 300 seniors whose average age was 78 at the beginning of the study in 1989. Over time — about 13 years — one-third had developed “mild cognitive…

Last week I heard an ominous observation on a British TV show. The context escapes me, but the phrase, intended as a benign descriptor, stuck. In referring to the United States, the narrator referred to us as “currently the most powerful nation in the world.” Currently? We’re losing step, people. In fact, according to a recent study from the University of Tennessee Obesity Research Center, were losing a lot of…

Imagine this: You’re at your desk, toiling away when suddenly the boss appears in your cubicle farm, blows a whistle and yells, “All right, people! Time for recess!” Recess, which was abandoned in our grade schools about the time EOCs began dominating the academic landscape, is being pushed as a key way to help a sluggish, overweight America get its supersized butt in gear. The notion of Instant Recess, which…

It is what folks looking for a workout magic bullet have been hoping to hear since Jane Fonda first implored her legginged followers to “feel the burn,” since we heard our first coach scream the phrase, “No pain, no gain!” “You want to create that sensation where your body says, ‘Ah … thank you!” I heard that phrase this morning from instructor Julie Ihrig during the cool down of my…

We now have a month dedicated to the childhood obesity epidemic. And the observance comes none-too-soon, considering it appears our kids may be even bigger than we realized. As Take A Child Outside Week draws to a close and as we segue into National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month comes the disturbing news that the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic may be even worse than the numbers suggest. First, to recap those…

From the research world comes more compelling evidence to be active … Bike to work: It’s good for your heart Remember when people didn’t have gym memberships, didn’t run 5Ks, didn’t sweat to the oldies — and not because they hadn’t been recorded yet? This would have been back when we walked to the factory where they had physically demanding jobs. When we were more concerned about how many $…

Ultra-endurance events can be bad for your heart. Or maybe not. That undefinitive statement comes courtesy of contradictory studies both reported Aug. 31 on the Science Daily site. We’ll start with the up(heart)beat report. The Karolinska Institutet and the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences studied 15 athletes (12 males, three females) at the Adventure Racing World Championships. The event covered 800 kilometers in the disciplines of mountain biking,…

The following story, which I wrote, first appeared in The News & Observer on Sept. 14 (a similar version ran the same date in the Charlotte Observer). It appears here with links. It’s hard to imagine a better yoga studio: as the hourlong class goes on, the temperature drops, the light dims and the obligatory relaxation music is as soothing as an eventide symphony on the front porch. And when…

Sunday, I returned from Colorado where I noticed more people riding bikes, more people hiking and walking than they do here in North Carolina. I also noticed that there was a whole let less of the people there than there is of the folks here. Hmm, I wondered. Is there a connection? Why, yes, it turns out. There is. It may be no-duh research, but it demands repeating because so…