With the new year starting tomorrow, the annual resolutions kick in and people try to lose weight and get healthy.

A better strategy is to avoid that entirely by living a healthy lifestyle for the long term.

Read this article from the NY Times on the Biggest Loser Fat Camp and maybe that will motivate you. You can also check out The Biggest Loser Blog.

Setting and achieving goals can change your mindset and get you out of that funk. Check out this article from Men’s Fitness:

For those of us who don’t pump iron to make our living, going to the gym might feel like a chore. But stick with it and your sentiment might change, according to a new Rutgers University study.

Researchers asked students to keep a difficult goal (like going to the gym five times a week or quitting the tube) for 40 days, and found that those who were successful at maintaining their goals actually ended up liking the activity more—even if they didn’t enjoy it initially. Why?

“If a person performs a behavior regularly and for long enough, the behavior becomes part of the person’s self-identity or self-concept,” speculates study author Alison Philips, Ph.D. “For example, if I made a goal to start running and succeeded, I’d begin to see myself as a runner.”

This just reinforces the notion that attitude is everything. But you can change your attitudes by developing habits. This then makes you feel better about what you’re doing and makes it easier to plow ahead.

The key is finding something that fits the person, whether you are purchasing a gift or buying something for yourself. So much fitness equipment just sits there. Too often people get some inspiration, and then reality sets in and you end up with an expensive clothes rack.

One this to consider is a basketball hoop for the home. Basketball is one of the best games out there for cardio health and people of all ages can play. Kids love the sport and many will play for hours with their friends. That sure beats having them sitting around playing video games all day!

It’s also a great option for those of us who are now older who struggle to find the time to get our cardio exercise time. It’s so easy to just pick up a basketball and start playing, whether it’s with kids or old friends who used to love to play when they were younger. Of course you need to be careful as you get older. Make sure you put on good basketball shoes and remember to stretch and warm up. But once you start playing regularly you’ll feel so much better.

If you shop around you find all sorts of options for basketball backboards and hoops. It’s obviously easier if you’re buying this for yourself or your own kids, as you know what best fits your home. But if you do some research you can find out what best fits for your grand kids or others on your list.

So think about something that everyone can enjoy that won’t be wasted. A basketball hoop is always a great option.

There’s a ton of advice out there on how you should be working out. One constant theme involves focus and challenging yourself. This is very important, particularly in a world where too many people don’t put the time in and don’t challenge themselves.

At the same time, people who are pushing themselves to get in shape are often pushing themselves in other aspects of their lives. Many of us work very hard to make sure we provide for our families or to advance our careers. Again, things like focus and hard work are emphasized, and for good reason.

Yet one thing that isn’t talked about enough is rest. It’s the importance of making sure that your body and your mind are rested. When working out, it’s important to consider things like pacing and also proper rest between set and between workouts. Some people decide they want to start working out or work out more, and of course they want to work at it. But you have to be smart about it and give your body the rest it needs. This will improve your overall performance and your quality of life.

The same principle applies to taking mental breaks. Stress is a huge problem and it can have all sorts of negative impacts, both emotional and physical. Take time away from work, working out and your loved ones to take a real mental break. Do short ones daily, and then make sure you take your vacations. Find time killers that help you take your mind off of work or exercise, whether it’s vegging out in front of the TV or playing online bingo or poker. Yes, even bingo can help you relax. I know for many people the opposite is the problem. They veg out too much and they can’t get motivated to work out or to put the work into their careers. But the opposite is also true, particularly in today’s crazy, fast-paced world.

So if you’re about to embark on a new workout regiment, keep this in mind. Develop good habits from the start and get your rest.

Strength training is not just for powerlifters, bodybuilders or high impact sports. Strength training can benefit everyone. At a minimum you should be strength training to ensure your health and overall wellbeing. And I’m not just talking about today, but for the future as well. As we age we lose muscle. This is an undeniable truth. This facet of aging has several negative outcomes:

Losing muscle will cause a decrease in your basal metabolic rate. Muscle drives the metabolism. The more you have the more calories you burn. Conversely, the more you lose the fewer calories you burn. It doesn’t stop here.

The weaker one gets as a result of muscle lost, the tighter one gets resulting in a loss of flexibility. And as one loses flexibility, they lose more strength, which also creates a loss of muscle. This loss of flexibility coupled with a loss of strength dramatically increases ones risk for injuries.

Are you starting to see what a vicious cycle this becomes?

So, I think my point that despite your genetics, experience, what you know (or what you think you know) about training, strength training is for you.

2. Running will ruin your bones and joints. A study in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found no evidence of accelerated rates of osteoarthritis among long-distance runners when compared with healthy nonrunners. “We used to say that osteoarthritis came from wear and tear. That’s now revised to say that is can result from tear but not wear,” says James Fries, emeritus professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and senior author of the study. Moreover, weight-bearing exercise like running helps stave off osteoporosis by maintaining bone mineral density.

3. Running will kill you before your time. According to a study published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, running and other vigorous exercise in middle age is associated with a longer life. Not only that, it will make your later years more pleasant by reducing disability. After tracking runners and healthy nonrunners for 21 years, starting when they were at least 50 years old, a research team led by Stanford’s Fries found that the ability to perform activities of daily life like getting out of a chair and walking was better among runners than nonrunners. And 19 years into the study, 15 percent of the runners had died, compared with 34 percent of the nonrunners.
USNews.com

Compare a marathon runner to a 100 meter sprinter. Marathon runners who train for very long periods at a very low intensity are emaciated looking having less than normal muscle mass and carry on average 14 ? 16% body fat. Sprinters, on the other hand, who train for short periods at a high level of intensity are very muscular and have half the body fat levels than marathoners. If cardio is the key to getting lean, as many people presume, why do marathoners have a higher body fat than sprinters? The reason is, a specific stimulus is required for a specific outcome.

The specific stimulus needed to stimulate muscle and strength is high intensity training. This is a universal training principle that affects everyone without exception. This is due to the fact that we are anatomically and physiologically the same. If this were not true doctors could not perform surgery and prescribe medicine. Consequently, the stimulus needed to induce biochemical changes that build muscle and strength in humans is the same.

Intensity, when referring to training, is the percentage of physical exertion that one is capable of. Training with one hundred percent intensity is the best way, the only way, to stimulate muscular size and strength in the shortest amount of time. How does one gauge the intensity of their workouts? By taking your working sets to positive or concentric failure.

Taking a set to the point of failure, where you cannot possibly perform another rep despite your maximum effort is one of, and perhaps the most important of several factors in your success. There are many who disagree and advocate high volume training with 60%, 72%, 95%, or whatever percentage of intensity they decide is the best. Some even claim training all out, with one hundred percent intensity is not only unnecessary, but detrimental. Over the years I’ve seen so called strength coach specialists, and personal trainers with 15 letters after their last names, concoct the most ridiculous routines, using almost every percentage, that have yet to show any effectiveness in real world application.

The main problem with these bogus routines is that there are only two accurate measures of intensity. Zero, when you are at rest; and 100%, when you?re training to the point of failure. How do you measure anything less than 100% intensity? If I can do 10 repetitions to complete failure with 100 pounds on the leg extension machine, where do I go for 80% intensity? Do I perform 10 reps with 80 pounds? Or do I use 100 pounds and only perform 8 reps? Is 80% the optimum percentage, or is it 65%? There is no evidence that suggests, let alone proves, anything less than 100% effort is equally or more effective. Are you starting to see the ridiculousness and inaccuracy of such training prescriptions?

Intensity cannot be measured accurately with reps or weight. While performing a set, intensity increases exponentially with each successive rep. Performing the first 5 reps on the leg extension is not equivalent in intensity to performing the last 5 reps. Hence, 5 reps is not the equivalent of 50% intensity.

The only way to train that is completely accurate is with all out intensity to failure. This will give you a concrete view of how you?re performing. If you train with 100% intensity during every workout and you do not progress, you know you are not recovering. There will never be a question whether you are providing a strong enough stimulus for progress. However, if you follow the percentage of intensity or the percentage of max rep principles, how will you know you are training intensely enough to stimulate muscular size and strength? If you plateau, are you training too hard or too long? Do you lower the percentage or raise it? Do you need more rest, or do you need to train at a higher intensity? There is no need for this guessing game.

Your goal is to bring about the largest, most rapid outcome for your individual genetic potential. In order for this to occur, the body requires 100% intensity every working set of every exercise. This is the only truly accurate way to gauge the efficacy of your training program. Nothing less than 100% will do. The body needs a reason to adapt. Give it!

Any type of exercise is good exercise, but some forms of exercise are better for greater weight loss than others. Group sports, and other types of exercise that work the body from head to toe, burn hundreds of calories per hour and they also challenge all muscle groups. Not only can this help you lose more weight, it can also help you keep it off. Just a few uber effective forms of exercise are swimming, cardio boot camp, running, basketball, and racquetball.

Racquetball is similar to handball. The game is played on a four walled court with a short-handled racket and a larger ball. The game is usually played by two players, but four players is also common. The amount of calories burned during an hour long game varies by weight and whether or not the game is casual or competitive. To give you an idea of just how many calories you can burn, a person that weighs 125 pounds can burn around 400 calories during a casual game or 568 calories during a competitive game. A 170-pound person can burn 541 calories during a casual game or 773 during a competitive game.

Racquetball can help you lose weight if you make smart food choices and commit to playing at least three times a week. Once you lose the weight, if you want to keep it off, stick to a sensible diet and try play on most days of the week.

So where are the Racquetball Courts?

If you’re looking for a place to play racquetball, look no further than your local health club, tennis club, community center or park district. If you’re looking for the cheapest place to play, try a community center or park district where public courts are typically no more than $10 an hour.

Laura went from an out of shape, stay at home mom to a national level figure competitor, internationally published fitness model, has been cast in infomercials, movie trailers and exercise DVD’s. She has started her own fitness web site and was also voted “2010 Over 40 Transformation of the Year” by BodyBuilding.com and that is just the beginning for this highly driven fitness role model, wife and mother.

We managed to book her for a rare and exclusive interview to find out all her secrets and tips on getting ripped, staying young forever and having amazing six pack abs in the fitness industry. Not only has Laura transformed her life, but now she is helping millions of other moms do the same.

Laura wasn’t always in shape, and actually working out and even being physically fit was extremely shunned. Growing up Laura was not even allowed to play sports, because of the rare condition her brother suffered from. He is a hemophiliac so sports were something that was not done in her family. She had to learn from scratch what is was like living a physically active and fit lifestyle after becoming a mom of three in her late thirties. It was not until her mid thirties and three kids later that she decided to take charge of her life and the direction of her health.

Laura lost over 20 lbs all by making simple yet powerful lifestyle changes, such as making the time to exercise, setting goals and staying motivated. Her new found fitness fire propelled Laura to become a nationally certified personal trainer with the NSCA, the only personal training certification to be accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies. She is also one of the first Master Certified JNL Fusion trainers in the world. But that was not the end, she went on to become an award winning national level figure competitor and fitness icon. Laura is a fitness role model for women in there 40’s, showing that with passion and determination there are no excuses. You can “Exercise Your Right to be Sexy” at any age.

Read the full article.