That's Fit

Hooray! I just completed a perfectly fun and grueling weekend shooting a ton of fitness videos for you. The videos were filmed for Tracy Benham's Sports Health and Exercise (SHE) company which is known for quick, smart, energetic and fun health and fitness tips from some of the foremost experts in the world.

We created a bunch of strength training and cardiovascular workouts which you'll be able to train with at home, as soon as they are released this summer. One of my favorite parts of the videos was being able to include my fellow blogger and friend, Kristen Seymour. Kristen has trained with me off and on for a few years, and truly has amazing levels of strength and endurance. She also has a perfect smile and looks brilliant on camera.

We were also blessed with the opportunity to film in one of the most beautiful gyms in the world. The Gainesville Health and Fitness Center generously opened their doors to myself, SHE and our team. The facilities are stunning, and all of the equipment is top of the line. Who could ask for more?

Have you ever seen the movie Fantastic Voyage? In this old 1966 flick, a submarine containing a team of scientists is shrunken to a size so small that they can navigate the blood stream in a human being. Imagine being able to get a view like that by swallowing a camera the size of a pill. That's exactly what researchers are describing with a new design for an even easier endoscope.

Pill camera are not new, but traditionally they are so uncomfortable that patients need to be sedated beforehand. This new design allows someone to swallow the camera and beam pictures back out of the mouth so easily that it could be done in a shopping mall. That's exactly how one professor described it.

Not only is it easier to engulf, but the procedure is cheaper too. This is good news, because esophageal cancer is rapidly growing in the US. Survival rates of progressed conditions are not very good, which stems from the difficulty in diagnosing it early enough. It all goes back to patients not being easily screened for Barrett's esophagus, the condition preceding cancer. Hopefully now they can rapidly deploy this new mechanism to catch cases quicker. Who knows, maybe treatment via this little pill is next!

In April, Fitz K wrote a touching post about the potentially devastating effects of drunk driving. In the post, Fitz describes how Corey Dahlem, a family friend and police officer with the Gainsville Police Department, was killed by a 20-year-old drunk driver after a local sporting event.

While I won't take the responsibility square off the driver for making the choice to drink and drive, I wonder if the tragedy (and others like it) could have been prevented had the man been driving a car with some of the new technology discussed here, which is meant to prevent drivers from taking the wheel after too many drinks.

The article discusses Saab's AlcoKey system -- basically a breathalyser linked to a car's ignition that prevents the vehicle from starting if the driver blows over a certain alcohol limit. Meanwhile, Nissan has integrated cameras and sensors that detect everything from sweaty palms to drowsiness. While the various devices will stop a car from starting if they detect signs of drunkenness beforehand, once a car is in motion they can only warn a driver that he or she is impaired -- it is still up to the driver to pull over. While the technology may not be perfect, it's a pretty impressive start.

I appreciate that car manufacturers are working to make the roads safer and think that similar technology should be mandatory in all new vehicles. What do you think?