Workout for Skiers and Snowboarders: Fit Check

These leg-strengthening exercises will have you ready to hit the slopes in no time.

Going skiing or snowboarding isn’t just a fun winter activity—it’s also a high-intensity workout. And whether you go for the bunny slopes or the black diamonds, your legs are sure to feel the burn afterward.

We recommend some leg-strengthening exercises for anyone about to head for the hills. These five moves will help you strengthen key muscles to ensure you’re shredding the slopes, not your legs.

Perform the entire circuit two to three times.

Exercise One: Lateral hops with a towel
Purpose: Develops lateral quickness and leg power
Reps: 30

Keeping your feet directly underneath you, quickly hop sideways over a towel without pausing during the landed phase. Keep your chest up, maintain good posture throughout, and land softly. Each time you land is one rep.

To increase intensity, jump over a taller or wider object.

Exercise Two: One-legged squat
Purpose: Strengthens legs and glutes while improving balance
Reps: 8 to 10 per leg

Stand on one foot. Lower yourself onto a chair, bench, or box. Return to standing position without putting your foot down. Keep your chest lifted and your knee in line with your big toe. After one set, switch legs and repeat.

To increase intensity, use a shorter platform.

Exercise Three: Squat thrust with a jump
Purpose: This full-body exercise develops explosive power and strengthens lungs, legs, and core.
Reps: 10

With your feet shoulder-width apart, squat down and place your hands on the ground. Kick your feet back into a pushup position in one fluid motion. Bring your feet back toward your hands. Jump up as high as you can then land in the starting position and repeat, in one fluid motion.

Exercise Four: Glute march
Purpose: Develops hip stability and strengthens core and hamstrings
Reps: 20

Lie on your back with arms at your sides. Keep your knees bent. Raise your hips until your body forms a straight line from your knees to your shoulders. Hold this position.

Raise your left knee up to your chest as far as you can. Pause, lower knee back down, and raise left knee. Continue alternating knees.

Exercise Five: Standing hip abduction with resistance band
Purpose: Strengthens lower body, particularly the glutes
Reps: 15 per leg

Place a resistance band around your ankles. Lift one foot off the floor while balancing on your standing leg. Hold on to a stable surface for balance as needed. Continue raising your cuffed leg until you reach about 45 degrees or the limits of your comfort level.

Increase the intensity of this exercise by increasing your range of motion or by increasing the resistance of the band.

Source Washingtonian

What is Exercise? Calories Burned Equals Weight Loss

Being active is an important part of any weight loss or weight maintenance program. When you’re active, your body uses more energy (calories). And when you burn more calories than you consume, you lose weight loss.Because 3,500 calories equals about 1 pound (0.45 kilogram) of fat, you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in to lose 1 pound. So if you cut 500 calories from your diet each day, you’d lose about 1 pound a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories). Exercise along with cutting calories helps boost your weight loss. Exercise is also important for maintaining your weight and not regaining weight.

For most healthy adults, the Department of Health and Human Services recommends a minimum of two hours and 30 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity (think brisk walking or swimming) or one hour and 15 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity (such as running) — preferably spread throughout the week.Strength training exercises at least twice a week.As a general goal, include at least 30 minutes of physical activity in your daily routine. If you want to lose weight, maintain weight loss or meet specific fitness goals, you may need to increase your activity even more.

This chart shows the estimated number of calories burned while doing various exercises for one hour. Specific calorie expenditures vary widely depending on the exercise, intensity level and your individual situation.

Activity (1-hour duration)	Weight of person and calories burned
	160 pounds (73 kilograms)	200 pounds (91 kilograms)	240 pounds (109 kilograms)
Aerobics, high impact	511	637	763
Aerobics, low impact	365	455	545
Aerobics, water	292	364	436
Backpacking	511	637	763
Basketball game	584	728	872
Bicycling, < 10 mph, leisure	292	364	436
Bowling	219	273	327
Canoeing	256	319	382
Dancing, ballroom	219	273	327
Football, touch, flag, general	584	728	872
Golfing, carrying clubs	329	410	491
Hiking	438	546	654
Ice skating	511	637	763
Jogging, 5 mph	584	728	872
Racquetball, casual, general	511	637	763
Rollerblading	913	1,138	1,363
Rope jumping	730	910	1,090
Rowing, stationary	511	637	763
Running, 8 mph	986	1,229	1,472
Skiing, cross-country	511	637	763
Skiing, downhill	365	455	545
Skiing, water	438	546	654
Softball or baseball	365	455	545
Stair treadmill	657	819	981
Swimming, laps	511	637	763
Tae kwon do	730	910	1,090
Tai chi	292	364	436
Tennis, singles	584	728	872
Volleyball	292	364	436
Walking, 2 mph	183	228	273
Walking, 3.5 mph	277	346	414
Weightlifting, free weight, Nautilus or universal type	219	273	327

Train Through Injuries

Train Through Injuries

Nobody’s perfect. No matter how good your form or how small your ego is, there comes a time when every guy hurts himself in the gym. The important thing to know is how to train around the injury while encouraging it to heal properly. Marc Megna, a fitness model and strength coach for Bommarito Performance Systems in Aventura, FL, offers this advice.


1. Identify the Problem


“You need to make a clear diagnosis of the injury,” Megna says. “An overuse injury in the joint usually needs rest, while pain in the muscle may require blood flow to help the tissue heal.” When in doubt, see a doc for an official verdict.


2. Take an Angle


If the pain is in the joint, then rest it. But you may find that doing a variation of the exercise that hurt you— simply from a different angle—will allow you to train pain-free. If the pain is muscular, you can switch up exercises and angles or just reduce the load you’re using. Training through certain situations may be beneficial because exercising will flush blood (filled with nutrients) into the area and speed recovery.


3. Use Partial Ranges


Sometimes only part of the range of motion for an exercise causes discomfort. A squat might aggravate your hip in the bottom position, but the top three quarters of the movement might feel OK. “Limiting the range of motion will still create blood flow and allow you to train the same movement while avoiding further injury,” Megna says.


4. Stay Positive


Be committed to your recovery and look on the bright side. “Whether you have to do rehab, RICE [rest, ice, compression, and elevation], or active recovery, be diligent and approach it with enthusiasm, regardless of your setback,” Megna says. “Your attitude will play a huge role in the recovery process.”

5 Fitness Myths You Should Already Be Ignoring

Studies say this and studies say that. Every day it seems as though we’re bombarded with a new philosophy on eating healthy, training more effectively and achieving the dream body. To stop everyone from wasting their time, we’ve consulted with celebrity personal trainer Jay Cardiello for his top five picks of fitness myths you shouldn’t pay any attention to.

Carbs are the enemy

"Forget, Atkins, carbs are all about timing," says Cardiello. Carbohydrates are the body's first source of energy, especially for a hardworking and active body. Completely neglecting carbs will leave you tired, sluggish and hinder your performance. Cardiello recommends being conscious of your carb consumption rather than ignoring them altogether. "The best time to ingest carbs is at breakfast and after a workout," he says. Whole wheat toast, two eggs and salsa is his zesty go-to breakfast. After the gym, strawberries and fruit make a great addition to a post-workout shake.

Only morning workouts are effective

"The American Council on Exercise recommends working out between 4-6 PM when your body temperature is highest making your workouts more productive. But that's not an ironclad rule," Cardiello says. Successful workout routines are built around consistency, focus and intensity. "Some people can't get motivated in the morning and others are too burned out after work. So pick a time that's right for you," he recommends.

Protect your back with a weight belt

Weight belts are more than a fad, they’ve become a staple and in many gyms as well as for Home Depot employees worldwide. "I recommend that you don't train with a weight belt, or wear one while performing manual labor. Over time, regular training in a weight belt actually weakens your abdominal and lower-back muscles," Cardiello says. However, he does believe there is a place for weight belts. "Wear it only when attempting maximal lifts in such exercises as squats, deadlifts and overhead presses," he says.

Water sucks, sports drinks are better

Sports drink companies challenge the importance of water to market “enhanced” performance drinks at your expense. "Studies have shown water is one of the best tools for weight loss, acting as a great appetite suppressant. When we think we’re hungry, we’re actually just thirsty," Cardiello says. He also notes, “Drinking a good amount of water could lower your risk of a heart attack. What sports drink can say that?” If you’re tired and sluggish, lack of water could be the culprit. "Being dehydrated can sap your energy levels, even mild dehydration of as little as one to two percent of your body weight."

Extra protein builds more muscle

"Protein does have important roles in bodybuilding and maintaining muscles. However, excess amounts of it can be stored as fat," Cardiello says. A good general rule to go by is that any calorie-containing nutrient can be stored as fat if too much is eaten. Consuming the amount of protein the body needs will be as effective as it gets. "If you want to know how much protein you need for your specific weight, just multiply your weight in pounds by 0.36, or your weight in kilograms by 0.8," he says.

10 Lessons We Learned from Athletes in 2011

10 Lessons We Learned from Athletes in 2011 

Professional athletes don’t always make the best interviews. That’s less to do with their personalities and more the result of tight-lipped media training. But as futile as it can be to nab a good quote from sports stars, we accept their blank responses and one-word replies because it all adds to their mystique. Then, in the rare instances when athletes do open up and divulge their secrets, we pay extra attention to what they have to say.
Men’s Health had the good fortune this year of interviewing dozens of the biggest names in the world of sports, from clutch NFL quarterbacks to UFC champs to grizzled NHL vets. As part of our continuing year-end coverage, we chose the best quotes from these athletes—the words that, because they come from the mouths of our battle-tested heroes, provide an extra dose of inspiration in the times we need it most.


10. “Personally, adversity makes me hungrier. I thrive on being able to make a way out of no way, and I just feed it all to my teammates to get them to believe the same thing. Adverse situations really bring out the best players.”—NFL All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson, who knew a thing or two about adversity this year: His Minnesota Vikings team will finish the 2011 season with one of the worst records in the NFL.


9. ”Why focus on the negative when I can use this situation to go out there and help the world? I’m going to be able to raise a lot of awareness and a lot of money for charity, and it keeps me going, knowing I’m running for something much bigger than myself.”—Former professional soccer player (and Survivor winner) Ethan Zohn, who ran the New York City Marathon earlier this fall shortly after receiving news of a cancer relapse. Zohn is donating the money he raised from the marathon to Grassroot Soccer, which trains soccer stars to educate African youth about how to avoid HIV.


8. “I have to get the most out of my days, so how do I do that? Maybe that means not staying up as late at night, and knowing that you have to work hard during the day. As long as you can be really efficient, you’ll also make time for fun.”—NBA star Kris Humphries, on the struggle of balancing work (the free agent spent 2011 with the New Jersey Nets, in addition to owning and operating several Five Guys franchises) with play (his marriage to starlet Kim Kardashian lasted a brisk 72 days).


7. “If you feel good with what you’re wearing, it’s going to make you feel good about yourself. And when you know you look good, you’re always going to walk around with your head higher.”—Rickie Fowler, the flashy pro golfer who sports blindingly bright neon shirts, fitted flat-brimmed caps turned backwards, and zigzagged shoes to exude confidence on the green.


6. “When you’re doing something for a higher purpose, you can always do more than you think. A lot of it is mental. You can’t let the mind tell the body what it can’t do.”—Former NHL star Pat LaFontaine, who scored more than 1,000 points in a hall-of-fame career with the Islanders, Sabres, and Rangers. In September, LaFontaine and fellow vet Steve Webb completed a 500-mile charity bike ride from the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto to the NHL store in New York City in just 48 hours.


5. “That’s basically what you need to do—whether it’s a small or big mistake like this, you need to learn from it, put it in the past as fast as you can, and move forward in a better fashion.”—Oakland Athletics slugger Coco Crisp, who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in March during spring training. Crisp came back strong after the incident, playing in his most games since 2007 and swiping a career-high 49 stolen bases.


4. “A lot of people, once they feel uncomfortable, will simply stop whatever they’re doing. But I believe in order to succeed at anything, you need to be comfortable being uncomfortable.”—UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones, who had an electrifying 2011 in the Octagon. Jones defeated his opponents in four title matches this year thanks to intense physical and mental preparation.


3. “A lot gets thrown at athletes these days, and everyone is trying to pull you one way or the other. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that the most important thing is to take care of—and to be true to—yourself.”—America’s biggest soccer star, Landon Donovan, who capped 2011 by winning his second MLS cup with the Los Angeles Galaxy. Donovan admitted that the money he’s made from soccer is secondary to the joy he gets from playing the game.


2.“But I realize that this is a different world. Everything I did in the past and things I’ve been involved in, I realize that they don’t exist if I don’t allow them to exist. So we have to try new things in this world, and we have to go forward and leave that old stuff in the past.” —Boxing legend (and budding movie star) Mike Tyson, who doesn’t dwell on his troubled past, especially incidents like biting off his rival Evander Holyfield’s ear in the ring and spending three years in prison on rape charges.


1. “The danger is not to set your goal too high and fail to reach it. It’s to set your goal too low and reach it.”—UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, whose Zen-like mantras, intense training strategies, and methodical fighting style earned him widespread acclaim (and the MH March cover) in 2011.


Source menshelath.com