That's Fit

Summertime can be a boatload of fun, but too much enjoyment can sometimes lead to scrapes, bumps, bruises, sprains, and even splinters. That's why it's good to have your medicine cabinet stocked with the essentials.

To help keep everyone as prepared as a Boy Scout, Maximum Fitness magazine suggests some of these Medicine Cabinet Must-Haves:

1. Bandages and Triple-Antibiotic Ointment. You never know when junior might fall during a backyard barbecue and scrape his knee. Put some Neosporin on that cut, cover it in a band-aid and the little guy will be up and running again in no time.

2. Acetaminophen. For pain relief with the fewest side effects, pop one or two of these (check the suggested dosage). This should help keep you from whining for at least an hour or so about the ankle you sprained during that game of touch football.

Have an hour to spare each day? Looking to drop a few pounds? And help the environment? If you said yes to all three of these questions, you're the calorie-burning, eco-friendly person that a recent Men's Health article was obviously written for.

Slim down and tone up your muscles while doing your part to save the world; here are five ways to make yourself a green superhero.

1. Running (1 hr at a 9-min.-mile pace)

• 902 calories burned on a treadmill
• 943 calories burned running outdoors with hill sections
• Energy Saved: Running for 30 minutes on a treadmill a day uses about 2,000 watts a year and costs around $50
• Go the Extra Mile: Add stairs to your run. You'll burn an extra 308 calories in just 15 minutes

2. Trimming Trees and Hedges (1 hour)

• 287 calories burned using an electric trimmer
• 369 calories burned using a hand trimmer
• Energy Saved: Besides the electricity used to run the power trimmer, you can go a step further to help the environment by using watering cans instead of a sprinkler -- which loses most of its water to runoff or evaporation. You'll also burn an extra 123 calories in the process.

With the warm weather here, you may already have made the decision to unfetter your workout from the confines of the gym. Rocky trails and windy roads have replaced treadmills; push-ups, pull-ups and other bodyweight exercises have been subbed in for weight machines; and the scenery has suddenly become a whole lot better than some painted-over concrete walls, dirty mirrors and outdated fitness posters. You're outside, and you're very happy to be there. Buuuuut ... then it rains. Or the heat becomes too much to bear, just as it did here in the northeast last week. Looks like a sojourn back to the ol' gym may be in your future.

To ready yourself, make sure you have what you need. Your gym back has been sitting idly in your closet for over a month, so you may need to restock it a bit. To help you along, here is a quick checklist of some gym bag essentials.

1. iPod. For whatever reason, gyms are notorious for playing some of the worst music known to man. So, it's incumbent upon you to be your own personal D.J. if you want to hear some halfway decent tunes during your workout.

2. Water Bottle. Depending on where you live, the water coming out of your gym water fountain may or may not be palatable. Therefore, you may either want to fill-up a large water bottle at home or buy a bottled water on the way to the gym. Either way, make sure it ends up in your gym bag and then by your side during your workout.

Eating healthy at home can be accomplished with relative ease. You prepare the food, so you know what to expect. Do you know exact calorie, fat, carb, and protein counts? Maybe, maybe not. You could always find out by visiting sites like DietDetective.com, but there's not always time for such measures to be taken when you also have nine thousand other things that need to get done before the new episode of Lost comes on. So, in most cases we go by educated guesses. Again, not all that difficult to do when we're the ones making the food.

However, things can become much trickier at restaurants -- especially those where the healthy menu options are limited. To help you along, here are five healthy suggestions from Self magazine that should make your restaurant dining experience both enjyoable and guilt-free.

1. Quiznos - Black & Blue Salad. Go with reduced-fat dressing and only use half of the amount they give you. Also, ask for additional tomatoes and mixed greens.

2. Burger King - Tendergrill Chicken Salad. Lightly drizzle with 1/2 packet of low-fat dressing.

As I pointed out in a recent post about olive oil, many foods have a wide variety of applications that fall beyond simply filling up our bellies. This is certainly the case with the potato, which is, as the Men's Health article from which this information was sourced suggests, a utility player.

Here are five less common uses the folks at Men's Health mention for this super spud:

1. Heal Injuries. Wrap a cold potato with plastic wrap to make an effective compress. A raw potato will help reduce the swelling around cuts and bruises.

2. Soothe Eczema. Cube and then lightly boil a potato. Next, fold it into a thick gauze and apply it to the affected area. The warm potato poultice can relieve inflammation in some cases.

3. Fight Heartburn. Drop an uncooked, white potato through a juicer and get ready for an awful tasting drink but an effective method of reducing heartburn. Drink a half a cup after dinner for best results.

Olive oil is a great source of healthy fats, helping to lower cholesterol and the risk of cardiovascular complications. However, a recent Men's Health article listed five alternative uses for this healthy kitchen staple, many of which may come as somewhat of a surprise.

1. Remove Paint From Your Skin. No longer do you have to deal with the putrid stench of paint thinner to wash that lavender wall paint off your hands. Evidently, olive oil's lubricant properties softens your skin and the paint itself, making it much easier to scrub away.

2. Ease Constipation. A doctor at the London Nutrition Clinic was quoted in the Men's Health article as saying that taking two tablespoons of olive oil will soften your stools and make your sit-down session a bit more tolerable (well, that's me paraphrasing what he said. His actual quote was far more charmingly British.)

3. Fight Bad Breath. Bacteria in your mouth is one of the main causes of raunchy breath. Rinsing once or twice daily with a tablespoon of olive oil will bind the bacteria together, helping to reduce the smell (and thus increasing your chances of finding a date for this weekend).

I typically don't pay much attention to the cleanliness of a gym, whether or not their music selection sucks, or even if they have TVs in the cardio room. One thing I do notice -- usually not on purpose, but because it's so hard not to notice -- are the people around me. As dialed into my workout as I usually am, I still can't help but be distracted sometimes when I see, hear, or smell something that's just plain wrong.

I've written about gym etiquette in the past, but some of the things I mentioned certainly bear repeating. Plus, there are a few other tidbits of information that I feel are worth adding to the list, chief among them being the five listed below.

1. Unless you're lifting bar-bending amounts of weight, keep your grunting and screaming under control. There's nothing wrong with showing a little effort, but there's no need to showcase the fact that you're lifting 35-pound dumbbells, either.

2. Don't fart. Plain and simple. Sure, one may sneak out of you once and a while, which is perfectly normal and, depending upon your company, no big deal at all. But, if you keep blasting them out over and over again, you're going to make a bunch of people upset and grossed out.

When we hear about people dying from vaccine-preventable diseases, we tend to associate such loss with poorer countries than our own. This assumption is not terribly off-base, as many third-world nations do suffer an enormous amount of preventable human loss due to a lack of access to proper medical treatment. However, such vaccine-preventable loss is not exclusive to these less fortunate countries; an article in Women's Health magazine asserts that 50,000 adult Americans die each year for the same reason.

According to the article, the following is a list of five of the eleven vaccinations that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests getting:

1) Hepatitis A: A virus spread by infected food and water that can cause liver infection. Most often a danger to travelers to foreign countries.

2) HPV: The Human Papillomavirus is a sexually transmitted disease that can potentially lead to cervical cancer in women. Genital HPV is the most common sexual transmitted infection in the United States. About 6.2 million Americans will get infected with genital HPV this year.

Although I've yet to actually try it, The Perfect Push-Up seems like one of the better fitness gizmos being hawked on TV these days. Since it's really just a variation on the traditional push-up, I suppose it has to be effective (although, I do wonder if the twisting motion with the hands places undue stress on the rotator cuff). But is it really necessary to dole out money to vary a push-up? Are there ways of doing so without spending a dime? Of course there are.

Every day, I come across a new way to perform a push-up. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but suffice it to say that I come across them quite often. Here are five variations to the traditional push-up that you may want to try, all of which cost zero dollars but make good fitness sense (sorry for the pun. I couldn't resist). Oh, and by the way, click on each of the exercises if you'd like to see a video demonstration.

1.) Plyometric Push-Ups. Very Rocky-esque move where you thrust your body upward, to the point where your hands leave the ground. Throw in a hand clap before hitting the ground and you may be ready to take on Drago.

2.) One-Armed Push-Ups. The Jack Palance at the Oscars move. Very, very difficult. Don't be discouraged if you can only do a few -- if any at all. Although, Jack Palance was about 125 years old when he did his. I'm just saying ...

3.) Spider-Man Push-Ups. That's a lot of hyphens. It's also a great way to work your chest and triceps with this climbing-type move. You can either do it while remaining in one place, or you can 'spider crawl' your way across the floor. My only suggestion is that you don't wear Spider-Man underoos while you do it, as it may get you tossed from your gym.

It's such a simple idea for a book, yet it's still absolutely brilliant. By pitting one food against another, Men's Health has taken Eat This, Not That, a recurring sidebar entry from its magazine, and turned it into a national bestselling book. I know it's been covered here before on That's Fit, but I think some of the takeaway lessons from this book bear repeating.

Here are just a five examples, taken from the book, of ways to save on calories even while eating at notoriously unhealthy chains.

1. AT KRISPY KREME, ordering the Very Berry Chiller instead of the Mocha Dream Chiller will save 500 calories. (Do that once a week and you'll drop more than 7 pounds this year)

2. AT CHIPOTLE, save 498 calories by ordering your Chicken Burrito as a bowl (without the tortilla) and asking them to hold the rice. (you'll also eat 83 fewer carbs)

3. AT COLD STONE CREAMERY, cut 40 calories and 2 grams of fat by choosing shaved chocolate, not chocolate chips, as your topping. (If you're going to indulge, there's still no need to tack on extra calories and fat simply for the sake of it).

4. AT McDONALD'S, containing only 300 calories, an Egg McMuffin is actually a reasonably healthy choice. (The Hotcakes, by contrast, pack more than double that amount!)

5. AT CHICK-FIL-A, not a single sandwich tops 500 calories. (When it comes to fast food, this bird might be the healthiest option there is).

I'm already dreading the thought of hitting the gym tonight. Why? Because it's a cardio day. I'll be the first to admit that cardio bores me, which is why I am constantly seeking out ways to make my workout more interesting (without losing intensity, that is).

Over the years, I've come across a variety of boredom-busting tactics for cardio sessions. Some are a bit complex (involving the use of props - such as a deck of cards or a six-sided die), while others are fairly simple in their design. Here are five tips from the latter category that are sure to help keep your interest.

1. Go on a Fitness Journey. I posted about this other day. Click here to read the article.

2. Load Up your iPod. Nothing can make a cardio workout go by faster than some new tunes on your .MP3 player. Try a mix of fast and slow songs, matching your intensity to the BPM of each song.

3. Change it Up. I can't stress this one enough. If you're a treadmill junkie, get off that damn thing and try something different. Punch and kick a heavy bag, jump rope, use the stepper; do anything, just as long as it's not the same ol' same ol'.

4. Keep Records. Ever wonder why some people carry around little notepads with them to the gym? It's because they're charting their progress. Try doing the same, as it will help you see the growth in your performance level.

5. Change Your Scenery. Not that it's finally warming up, why not take your workout to the streets? Gyms are great places to work out, but they're not much to look at. Go for a jog down a nice, long stretch of road for a change. In fact, British researchers found that exercising outdoors works better at improving people's mental health than does working out inside.

As I said, these changes are far from drastic. But, they may be enough to keep your workouts interesting and to get your head back in the fitness game.

Go, go, go!!! It seems like that should be our national anthem. Considering the amount of events, commitments, obligations, meetings, activities, work functions, and -- lest we forget -- driving to and from each of these time crunchers, it's amazing that we even have time to eat and sleep. It's no wonder, then, that a healthy meal or snack sometimes has to simply be the lesser offender. Between a Snickers, Twix, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and a Pay Day, we choose the Pay Day because it has less sugar and contains a healthy amount of peanuts. Does this make a Pay Day healthy? Not really, it just makes it the lesser offender of the bunch.

This same idea generally applies for many on-the-go type foods, requiring a health conscious person to make the healthiest choice possible given the circumstances and options. A perfect example of such a decision usually happens at around 3:45pm or so, when you're hungry again and you only have a few minutes to prepare something at work. The answer usually comes in the form of a frozen sandwich of some kind. But which are truly among the most healthy? Thanks to a recent article in Men's Health, we now know at least 5 that aren't half bad for you.

1. Healthy Choice Smoked Chicken Panini - 310 cal, 42g carb, 4.5g total fat, 25g protein

2. Stouffer's Lean Cuisine Southwest-Style Chicken Panini - 280 cal, 32g carb, 7g total fat, 20g protein

3. South Beach Diet Chicken Monterey Wraps - 220 cal, 26g carb, 7g total fat, 16g protein

4. Lean Pockets Chicken, Broccoli & Cheddar - 250 cal, 38g carb, 7g total fat, 10g protein

5. Stouffers Grilled Chicken Italian Panini - 350 cal, 31g carb, 17g fat, 20g protein

Today's the day. You've made the conscious decision to start a regular workout program. And, let's say, for the sake of this discussion, that you have ruled out working out at home or outdoors. You want as many fitness options as possible, and you want the convenience of having them all in one central location. Bottom Line: You want to join a gym.

With so many out there to choose from, however, it can sometimes be quite difficult to find the right one to join. The right one for you.

Since you don't want discouragement, confusion, or intimidation to get in the way of your fitness goals, you should be looking for a gym that best suits your individual needs, desires, and lifestyle. To help you along, here are five questions you should have answers to before signing on the dotted line.

1. What Are You Looking For? If group exercise classes seem to be up your alley, then a gym that does not offer any (or only a limited number) probably isn't what you're looking for. Same goes for swimming; if you hoped to build your physical and cardiovascular strength with some laps in the pool, you'll be hard pressed to do that if the best a gym has to offer is a hot tub. Also, as far as hours of operation go, if your only chance of squeezing in a workout is before work, you should be on the hunt for a gym that opens its doors early. Very early.

2. How Close is it to Your House? One of the major reasons why people drop their workout is because of a lack of time. If you only have an hour a day to squeeze in for a workout, why would you want to waste thirty minutes of that time driving to and from the gym? Finding a gym located within close proximity to where you live will help you solve this time crunch. And, as an added bonus, you can always walk or jog there if you wanted to.

With the exception of performing exercises that can lead to injury or over-training, there are none that are wrong, per se. I realize this seems to fly in the face of an entry I just wrote about ineffective exercises, but there is a distinction that needs to be observed between wrong and ineffective.

The goal of any exerciser, whether they are a seasoned workout veteran or an ambitious newbie, should be to get the maximum results possible from the effort they are willing to expend. This is why there isn't any time to waste on ineffective exercises, just as there is no room for common mistakes that can hinder your progress.

Here are five mistakes that exercisers frequently make, serving to reduce the effectiveness of their dedicated effort:

1. Holding On. All too often, you'll see people on an elliptical, treadmill, or StairMaster holding onto the safety railings and leaning onto the machine. Unless you need to hold on for stability purposes, don't. Doing so can lead to back pain over time and also reduces the amount of calories that you'll burn.

2. Swinging. When lifting weights, always maintain proper form throughout the entire movement. If you have to twist, turn, contort, and kip your body to lift a weight, then it's probably too heavy for you. As a general rule, stick to weights that you can lift for at least 8 reps but no more than 15.

3. Only Doing Cardio. By and large, we begin losing muscle mass somewhere around the age of 30. As effective as cardio is at promoting improved circulation, weight loss, and a host of other health benefits, it does little in the way of rebuilding muscle. Not interested in building muscle? Fine. But you may want to know that the more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism will be and the more calories you'll burn. Still don't want to build muscle?

When it comes to losing weight, there are major changes a person can take, effectively resulting in a rapid results. And then there are smaller changes that, over time, will eventually have a cumulative affect on your weight. With respect to the former, implementing a regular exercise program and doing a complete makeover on your current diet may be in order. As for the latter, most of these weight loss tips and strategies require very little change to your lifestyle right away, thereby making them the more attractive option for many people.

To that end, try these five simple waistline-shrinking tips on for size:

5. Get more sleep. A lack of sleep can lead to an increased release of the hormone cortisol, which can contribute to muscle loss and weight gain.

4. Eat eggs with breakfast. Research has shown that eating eggs for breakfast (instead of a bagel or other fast-digesting carb source) will make you feel full for a longer period of time, making you less apt to overindulge during your next meal.

3. Eat a fruit before a meal. When women were divided into fruit-before-meals and no-fruit-before-meals groups in a recent study, the fruit group lost more weight -- even though all of their diets were otherwise the same. The high-fiber content in fruit will leave you feeling less hungry for when it comes time to eat your actual meal.

2. Avoid sweetened fruit juice. High-fructose corn syrup and other sugars will spike your blood glucose levels and your insulin levels accordingly. Once glycogen stores become overloaded, excess carbs will be stored as fat rather than being burned as energy.

1. Eat good fat. Not all fat is bad; in fact, much of it is good for you. Avocados, nuts, olive oil, and flaxseed oil are just a few examples of healthy fats that, when eaten in moderation, can help you in the battle of the bulge.