Fitness Watch

I don't know what has possessed me to write a post right now, considering I almost fell asleep driving home from work 15 minutes ago. I'm drinking a delicious hot chai tea though and I feel like a good blog post will relax me a bit. I'm constantly browsing different fitness blogs for ideas and inspiration and this week I've been keeping a mental list of the things I wanted to mention here. The problem is I keep forgetting to write about them! So before I forget again, here are some of the things that have piqued my interest this week:

• Exercising may have benefits that extend beyond weight loss, health improvements and mood elevation. While studying for Physiological Psychology I read that as people age, the cerebral cortex loses some thickness, affecting the brain's function. However, the cerebral cortex does not thin as much for people who remain mentally active and it thins even less for people who remain physically active. So in addition to getting that "runner's high" from endorphins, by working out you actually improve your brain's functionality!
• You all may have heard that Reebok agreed to pay $25 million to consumers after making claims that their EasyTone and RunTone shoes resulted in significant changes in the hamstrings, calves and butt. Can't say I'm surprised, honestly. I think people bought into the whole toning shoe craze because it just sounds so easy. Getting super fit and toned is incredibly rewarding, but it's very rarely easy. I'm a firm believer that you're just not going to get muscle definition without breaking a real sweat. Hopefully this situation will cause companies twice before deceiving the public with unsubstantiated claims - and hopefully it will keep consumers from falling for things that sound too good to be true.
• Women's Health magazine posted this great spinning workout! It's pretty difficult to find good spinning workouts online, so I may have to try this one Monday morning. This workout incorporates flat and hilly surfaces, as well as varied fast and slow paces.

Posted in: brain, exercise, fitness, spinning, toning