YOU DON’T KNOW SQUAT: An old-school move holds the key to unlocking your power—if only you can do it right.

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It seemed like a joke. I spend most of my time experimenting with cutting-edge fitness routines and new training technology. Yet here I was, challenged to do a single, textbook repetition of a classic exercise, one I’d long ago relegated to beefy defensive linemen and World Cup skiers. What was one squat supposed to do [...]

4 Ways Mindfulness Will Boost Your Results at the Gym

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It’s 7:30am on a Tuesday morning. You’re at the gym: ear buds in, music pumped, and treadmill cranked. You’re trying to focus on reading the closed captioning on the TV screen in front of you, so you don’t have to think about how much longer you need to spend running. Next, to help you get [...]

Graceful Aging: The Link Between Exercise and Aging

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“Keep up and you will be kept up!” Is there a relationship between how much I exercise and how well I age? The quick and easy answer is YES! But, let’s first start with two simple concepts, aging and detraining. People often confuse the two and this is unfortunate because it makes the aging process [...]

Boost Your Walking Workout to Prevent Cancer

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When the weather warms up and the sun is out longer, you just itch to get outside. Why not slather on some sunscreen and take a walk? Walking, after all, can be a great way to get the daily activity your body needs to fight off cancer. Walking also can help you maintain a healthy [...]

10 Ways to Keep Your Brain Sharp

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Alzheimer’s isn’t inevitable. Many experts now believe you can prevent or at least delay dementia — even if you have a genetic predisposition. Reducing Alzheimer’s risk factors like obesity, diabetes, smoking and low physical activity by just 25 percent could prevent up to half a million cases of the disease in the United States, according [...]

Looking Ahead With Lauren: JUST DANCE!

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If you follow my personal blog, Lauren’s Thoughts (if you don’t already, you should!), you know that I share my weekly workouts with my readers. In part to connect to others who like exercise and in part to make myself accountable for working out regularly. I’ve talked about a few of my favorite workouts: running, [...]

Monday Morning Moves For 10

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Here is a guaranteed great start to your day Get up! (count to 10) Stand up! (slowly count to 10) Reach Your Arms Up And STRETCH (count to 10) Hang Over Your Legs (like a rag doll & count to 10) Roll Back UP, REACH & STRETCH (count to 10) Repeat numbers 3, 4 & [...]

Dosha Think It’s Time You Learned About Ayurveda?

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If you’ve been around Joyful Yoga for any length of time, you’ve probably heard words like “dosha” and “Ayurveda” within our classes or spa rooms. Do you REALLY understand what they mean? Why they are important to you and your life? Come to find out more about this ancient science and how it affects your [...]

Why Four Workouts a Week May Be Better Than Six

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A common concern about exercise is that if you don’t do it almost every day, you won’t achieve much health benefit. But a commendable new study suggests otherwise, showing that a fairly leisurely approach to scheduling workouts may actually be more beneficial than working out almost daily. For the new study, published this month in [...]

Top Four Reasons Why Diets Fail

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The battle of the bulge is on — any movement on the scale yet? “Losing weight is one of the top resolutions made every year, yet only 20 percent of people achieve successful weight-loss and maintenance,” says Jessica Bartfield,MD, internal medicine who specializes in nutrition and weight management at the Loyola Center for Metabolic Surgery [...]