Have I got your attention? I know it sounds contrary to what you’ve been told your whole life. After all, if it’s a bad way to lose weight, what’s with all the gyms, fitness studios, and video-based workout programs? Running clubs? Jazzercise? Pilates? Treadmills and...
Exercise
On This Page
> Result
This is the page for all things exercise. But for clarity purposes, we need to establish some overarching guidelines for how we approach exercise, what constitutes exercise and what does not, how we can measure it, and more. Understanding some of these principles will help us build on our overall fitness framework.
What is Exercise?
Movement and exercise are not synonmous. When we talk about exercise on this platform, we are talking about the deliberate action of moving for the purpose of improving our health. Walking up and down the stairs of our homes throughout the course of the day, while good for us, is movement, not exercise. Spending 30 minutes on a stair machine, that is exercise.
Game Plan
More often than not, people consider exercise a necessary evil. However, we want to challenge that mindset. Exercise is a gift. With God’s help, we can grow to not only be grateful for it and its countless benefits, we can enjoy it. So we need to shift to a gratitude mindset.
Result
There are no shortage of options out there. For those who have not found a form of exercise they enjoy, keep looking. For those who have, the challenge might be to keep from over-exercising. Remember, our fitness should be a part of our life, not our whole lives. Praying for wisdom will result with incorporating regular exercise into your life, while keeping a healthy balance with the rest of your goals and responsibilities.
The Best Exercise Books
- The 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferriss
- Outlive by Peter Attia
- Good Energy by Casey Means
- Spark by John J. Ratey
- Bigger Leaner Stronger by Michael Matthews
This list is growing, with great new titles being released all the time. Check back for more.
All Exercise Articles
Here is a complete list of articles I have written on exercise. Enjoy!
Ignoring Your Fitness Is Selfish
Ignoring your fitness is selfish. There… I said it. I know it’s not easy to hear. I know I just lost some friends on social media. I know it doesn’t seem compassionate. I also know it’s the truth. Before I tell you why ignoring your fitness is selfish, let me throw...
Crossrope Review: The Perfect Piece of Cardio Equipment?
In this Crossrope review, we are going to cover what Crossrope is and what separates it from other cardio equipment. Usually, when you think of cardio equipment, you think treadmills, elliptical trainers, stair steppers, or some kind of hybrid of each of these....
Pregnancy Fitness Tips
Pregnancy fitness tips are popping up everywhere and for good reason. More and more women are realizing the importance of keeping up with their fitness throughout their pregnancies. There are several benefits in doing so: 1) Pregnancy is tough enough on your mood and...
Strength Training for Endurance Athletes – Part II
If you read “Benefits of Strength Training for Endurance Athletes Part I,” welcome back. If not, do it. Right now. Seriously. I’m not going anywhere. Okay, now that you’re caught up on why strength training for endurance athletes is so important, here are some...
Strength Training for Endurance Athletes – Part I
Do you run? Bike? Swim? On your own? In races? Both? If you answered YES to ANY of these questions congratulations, YOU are an endurance athlete! One more question for you: Are you strength training? If you said “no,” I have to ask, “Why not?” If you said “yes,” how...
The Power of Posture
Maybe you can relate to the following story. You have been sitting around thinking about committing to that new fitness plan some of your friends are doing. It has taken you awhile, but you finally have all your gear. You have even carved out the time to make it...
Being a Fitness Role Model for Kids
Being a fitness roll model for kids seems like it would be hard. Ever look at your kids' face when you give them quinoa kale salad? Ever considered trying to change your family’s food preferences? Or maybe you think what you feed your kids doesn’t matter that much....
Setting Fitness Goals – Part II
You will recall from “Setting Fitness Goals Part I”, that I was in quite the dilemma with my exercise lifestyle. Things felt like they were going well, and then they suddenly seemed to be going poorly. Truth be told, I had no tangible way to prove either outcome. It...
Setting Fitness Goals – Part 1
Without ever setting fitness goals, I had been working out for over a year and thought it was going well. I felt like I was getting stronger. I didn’t seem quite as winded at the end of Insanity’s Full Cardio workouts. Playing sports with friends was going a bit...
Employee Wellness: What Can Be Done?
Employee wellness is becoming a topic of focus as headlines and our insurance premiums are making it painfully obvious: healthcare costs are increasing, in part to our increasing waistlines. And while employee wellness is a difficult and delicate issue to handle, it...
Prevent Diabetes in 5 Steps
The idea that one can prevent diabetes seems foreign to some people. I know this firsthand as I worked in nursing homes and rehabilitation centers for seven years as a clinical dietitian in the long-term care setting. As the staff dietitian, I spent much of my time...
Healthy weight… what should it be for me?
I don’t normally tell people when I first meet them that I am a registered dietitian. It makes me feel uncomfortable, especially if they catch me indulging in my beloved McDonald’s triple thick chocolate milkshake. However, if it does come up in conversation, the one...
Fitness at 40…
All my life I've been told to wait until ___________, then I'd understand. Wait until you can drive, wait until you are in college, wait until you're legal, wait until you're married, wait until you have kids, wait until you're past your prime, wait until you're 30,...
Forks over dumbbells
I've seen it over and over and over again...people spending countless hours on a treadmill or going to the latest, greatest aerobics class or halfheartedly knocking out reps on a universal machine trying to outwork a bad diet. It's just not going to happen... at least...
More muscle should be objective #1
More muscle, less fat... I have the following conversation with people quite frequently: Me: Tell me about your progress. Them: I've lost 15 pounds! Me: You have. That's awesome! 15 pounds of what? Them: (silence) ... 15 pounds of... uhm, well, not sure exactly....
Vacation fitness tips
"Vacation fitness" for some people sounds like an oxymoron. But I go on vacation to take a break from the real world, not to take a total vacation from my fitness. So over the years, I've fine-tuned my vacation fitness approach so as to perfectly balance my goals of...
When to exercise: morning, noon, or night?
When to exercise: morning, noon, or night? This is a question I get frequently and one that has a really easy answer... scroll to the bottom if you don't want to wait. But if you want to read the various pros/cons of each time slot, journey on. When to exercise:...
Of horses and fitness accountability
There's a parable that motivational speakers like to use. The speaker will ask the audience: "If a draft horse can pull between one to three tons, what would you expect two draft horses to be able to pull?" After posing the question, he'll give the audience time to do...
Kids exercise when you exercise
Kids exercise when you exercise. Don't believe me? I got the best call from my wife the other day regarding Gigi, our four-year-old. Kim said... I just wanted to let you know that your daughter asked if she could do the [product_referral...
Obstacle race course training
If you want to train for an obstacle race course (which are all the rage these days), but are unsure how to begin, you've come to the right place. Mud runs and obstacle race courses are popping up everywhere as people look for a fun new way of challenging themselves...
Should you workout when you’re sick?
Should you workout when you are sick? Today I was faced with this very question. You see, I got hit with the crud on Monday and decided to rest on Tuesday rather than workout. Today is Wednesday and I'm feeling better, but nowhere near back to full-health. I'm...
Avoid fitness plateaus by being like Bill Murray
Been doing the same thing over and over and getting nowhere? That's one definition of insanity: doing the same thing repeatedly but expecting different results. I'm going to let you in on the secret to breaking through fitness plateaus... simply model yourself after...
Is timing really everything when getting fit?
They say timing is everything. But can timing make a difference with your fitness and nutrition goals? The article How to Lose Weight All Day Long would sure have you believe so. The piece starts off by saying, "It's not just what you eat or how much you exercise that...
Fitness tracking! What’s the deal with fitness tracking?
When I say Seinfeld, you probably think of comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his TV show or stand-up comedy. But from hence point forward, I want you to think about progress... better yet, I want you to think, "Don't break the chain." Years ago, so the story goes, when...
The 80-20 Rule and Your Fitness
You know who that handsome devil is to the left? Why that's Vilfredo Pareto. What? You've never heard of him? Okay, I hadn't either. But I was very familiar with the rule named after him, The Pareto Principle (also known as the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few,...
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Weekly spiritual encouragement and physical insights to help you navigate the intersection of faith and fitness.