Work-It Wednesday: Christine Quinn’s Mac Attack Bann

The great thing about fast-food is that it’s quick, inexpensive and you can “have it your way.”  Well, at least for the time being.

With the obesity epidemic at an all-time high, New York City Council President Christine Quinn is aiming her sights on changing the city’s zoning laws to help minimize the number of fast-food joints in neighborhoods with high obesity rates; a.k.a. poor neighborhoods.

While it would seem that Ms. Quinn is trying to take a proactive approach to curbing fast-food-related obesity, she is overlooking two very important factors.  For starters, residents in these areas depend on these companies for jobs to help support their families.  Second, banning fast food isn’t addressing the larger issue.

If you think about it, there is a very good reason for the correlation between neighborhoods with high obesity rates and low income residents.  With the way the food industry is setup, it is cheaper to feed a family junk food than fresh produce.

For instance, you can walk into almost any grocery or retail store and get two large bags of cookies for about five dollars.  Take the same five dollars to the fruit aisle and you’ll be lucky to come out with a small bag of apples.  When you’re trying to feed a family, it’s not always about getting the right food into their mouths, but more important that they are getting enough so that they’re not hungry.  It’s as simple as that.

So sure, you can ban fast-food in these neighborhoods Ms. Quinn, but until we make reform in our food system, you’re only skimming the surface on a much larger issue.

What are your thoughts?  Do you agree with Ms. Quinn?

Photo Credit: whatyoureallyget.com

Work-It Wednesday: PumpOne Launches New FitnessBuilder Workout Plans

Tomorrow is April 1st and chances are you haven’t maintained the fitness resolutions you made back in December.  Summer isn’t far away, so today is your chance to get back on track with your fitness routine.  But you don’t need an expensive personal trainer or gym membership to get into the best shape of your life.  You just need some weights and your iPhone.

PumpOne, the leaders in step-by-step, image- and video-based workouts for your PDAs/iPods just added six new fitness plans to their FitnessBuilder database, the most comprehensive fitness database in the world.

According to the company’s website, “FitnessBuilder contains the largest library of exercise images & videos, the most challenging workouts across all disciplines, access to a live personal trainer and a complete set of every fitness tool, calculator and tracking feature available.”

Sound too good to be true?  For a minimal investment of $35 a year you can choose from and/or create more than 650 workouts, pull from 5,600 images and videos, share and receive workouts through the network and ask unlimited fitness questions from PumpOnes fitness advisors.  So now you have no excuse not to workout, unless of course you forget to charge your iPhone.

Disclaimer: Samples were received in exchange for editorial review.

Your Best Body in One Hour: Workouts from Men’s Health

It’s seven days into the New Year, and you still haven’t started your workout routine?  What are you waiting for?

Jumpstart your nutrition plan and workout routine today, begining with these gym-free workouts from Men’s Health.  In just one hour, you could be on the path to achieving your best body ever.

Move No. 1: Warrior Lunge

Stand with your feet together, then move your left foot forward about 12 inches and your right foot back about the same distance. Raise your arms straight overhead.

Finish: Keeping your head and chest up, bend both knees to lower your body. Shift your weight forward until the front of your right thigh feels stretched and your right knee is an inch or two off the floor. Hold for 3 to 5 seconds, then return to the starting position. Do three to five repetitions on each side.

Men's Health Workout: Warrior Lunge

Move # 2: Sumo Squat To Stand
Stand with your feet spread wide and angled out. With your knees flexed, bend at the waist and wrap your fingers under your big toes.

Finish: Holding your toes, straighten your legs as much as you can without losing the natural arch in your spine. (In other words, if your back rounds, you’ve gone too far.) Move at a slow pace. Do one or two sets of 12 to 15 reps.

Men's Health Workout: Sumo Squat to Stand

Move # 3: Kneeling Hip-Flexor Stretch
Place one foot on a bench behind you and your other foot flat on the floor. Lower yourself until your back knee touches the floor. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat on the other side.

Mens Health Workout: Kneeling Hip-Flexor Stretch

Move # 4: Lying Chest Stretch
Lie faceup on a foam roll with your head supported, your arms bent 90 degrees, and your upper arms parallel to the floor. Your palms should face the ceiling. Hold for 30 seconds.

Men's Health Workout: Lying Chest Stretch

Injury-Proof Your Body
Perform one or two sets of eight to 10 repetitions of the following exercises.

Move # 5: Glute Bridge
Lie with your knees bent, with a rolled towel between them. Pull your toes toward your shins. Squeeze your glutes and raise your body.

Finish: Lower your hips to the floor, but don’t touch it.

Men's Health Workout: Glute Bridge

Move # 6: Lateral Tube Walk
Slip exercise tubing around your ankles and move it above your knees. Stand with your knees slightly bent and place your hands on your hips. Sidestep to your right, then to your left.

Finish: Sidestep to your right, then to your left.

Men's Health Workout: Lateral Tube Walk

Move # 7: Swiss-Ball L
Lie on a Swiss ball as shown, with your chest off the ball.

Next: Bend your elbows 90 degrees as you raise them to the level of your shoulders, so that your arms create a pair of L’s.

Finish: Rotate your forearms upward 90 degrees. Retrace the pattern to the start.

Men's Health Workout: Swiss-Ball L

Move # 8: Swiss Ball Y
Assume the same starting position as for the Swiss-ball L.

Finish: Glide your shoulder blades back and down, and lift your arms up and to the sides at 45-degree angles till you form a Y. Return to the starting position.

Men's Health Workout: Swiss Ball Y

Move #9: Swiss-Ball T
Use the same starting position as for the Y. Pull your shoulder blades in toward your spine and extend your arms straight to the sides to create a T with your torso. Then reverse the move back to the starting position.

Men's Health Workout: Swiss-Ball T

To view a slide show of these workouts, visit the MSN health section by clicking here.

Photos & Content provided by MensHealth.com.

New Year’s Weight Loss Tips with Kai Hibbard

2009 was a yo-yo year for celebrities and average Joe’s alike.  Everyone from Jessica Simpson to Valerie Bertinelli – even that Subway guy Jared – has battled the bulge and the glaring eyes of the public as they take control of their cravings and waist lines. But for us mere mortals, who lack the convenience (and money) of a celebrity chef, pre-packaged meal plan and high-priced personal trainer, we need a little extra support to help jump start our fitness and nutrition plans in the New Year.
I recently sat down with Kai Hibbard from season three of NBC’s The Biggest Loser®.  After losing an amazing 118 pounds on the show, Kai – now an AFAA certified aerobics instructor and spokesperson for Livea, a doctor-developed, non-prescription patent-pending appetite control supplement – found it hard to keep the weight off after the show ended. Since then, Kai has discovered a new approach to weight loss, one she considers more balanced and healthy than her pre-show routine.  Kai’s S.M.A.R.T. plan is as follows:

• Snack: Have a snack before you head to a holiday party.  Try an apple with some cottage cheese or some whole wheat pita pieces and hummus. A snack that mixes healthy carbs and proteins (along with fiber!) will keep you feeling full, making you less likely to overindulge on sweets. Also, studies show that eating smaller meals, or healthy snacks, throughout the day helps speed up your metabolism.
• Make Time: There is no excuse for not working out, even if it’s a quick walk around the block.  Many people think that if they can’t make it to the gym for an official workout that this means they can avoid physical activity all together.  If you find yourself rushing from one activity to the next, fit your workouts into that day’s routine.  Try squats while you brush your teach, leg raises while you type at your desk or bicep curls while you carry your groceries inside the house.  Being creative means you’ll always have time to squeeze in a quick exercise or two.
• Avoid Overtraining: Whether you’re just starting out or you already know your way around the gym, overtraining is a serious issue, especially for the beginner.  Doing too much too soon is a sure fire recipe for fatigue, injury and feeling “burnt out.” This can leave many newbies with a sense of failure, which causes them to completely dismiss their New Year’s resolution to get into better shape.
• Rest: As mentioned before, it is important to give your body enough time to recover between workouts, not just to avoid fatigue, but also to give your muscles a chance to repair and grow.  For every pound of muscle, the average man or woman will burn 40-50 calories daily, as muscle helps increase your metabolism. And when you sleep, your body can burn several hundred calories.  If you lift weights on day one, try taking a brisk walk for 30-minutes on day two.  This will allow you to get in a great cardio workout without straining the muscles you worked the day prior.
• Think Ahead: One of the best ways to stay on track is by planning your workout and meals ahead of time.  If you know you’re going to be busy with a late meeting or chauffeuring around the kids, workout when you first wake up.  If you’re taking a road trip, pickup some healthier snack options at the grocery store the day before.  Nothing is worse than stopping for gas and filling up on sugar instead.  Mapping out your day will help maintain and reinforce all the healthy habits you’re working so hard to build.