That's Fit

See you later, Kerri Walsh -- it looks like beach volleyball superstar Misty May-Treanor will be trying out a new partner ... at least for this season's Dancing With the Stars. She's not only content to be the winningest beach volleyball female of all time, or to have two beach volleyball gold medals -- she wants to be the best dancer, too!

I'm a little biased, since I'm a huge fan of Misty to begin with, but I have to say this is the most excited I've been for DWTS. While I enjoy seeing celebrities out there dancing, I like watching the athletes on the show even more. Seeing people with quick feet on the court or field translate that talent to dancing footwork is fascinating, and is a big reminder that athleticism comes in many forms.

Misty will be joined by fellow gold medal winner Maurice Greene, a sprinter, and retired football player Warren Sapp, along with Brooke Burke, Kim Kardashian, Susan Lucci, and others. Will you be tuning in?

Just walking a few short blocks can make a big difference in heart health for the elderly. A recent study found that light exercise such as walking or dancing can prevent atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation is a common heart condition where the upper chambers of the heart twitch instead of beating steadily. The condition is most common in people over age 65, though there is an elevated number of cases in younger people who exercise vigorously (e.g. marathon runners).

The researchers studied the lifestyle habits of more than 5,000 people (average age of 73) and found that those who were active had a reduced risk of the heart condition. In fact, those who walked five to 11 blocks a week had 22% less risk of developing the condition.

AOL Health has more information on healthy aging.

Take one look at Dancing with the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba and it's clear the girl is doing something right to maintain her sleek dancer's body. Whatever could it be, aside from the dancing, that is?

Inaba credits yoga and a diet inspired by her island upbringing for her trim figure.

"I was born on Hawaii and I'm Japanese, so I was raised to eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and protein, whether it's soybeans or fish," says Inaba. Smart girl -- with some smart moves. Check them out in the gallery below.

Julianne Hough doesn't just dance to keep her slim body in shape. Nope. The two-time Dancing with the Stars champ says in addition to twirling on the dance floor, she also works out nearly five times a week.

Dancing just doesn't tone everything, says the 20-year-old. So she stretches and does crunches, lunges, and arm exercises every day -- preferably in the early morning so she can gain an energy boost for the rest of the day. Also on her exercise menu: the treadmill, free weights, and some choreography too.

Check out Hough in the July issue of Shape magazine -- and in the gallery below.

Wii pole dancing might be coming to a living room near you. But, don't worry ... dollar bills aren't necessary.

Peekaboo Pole Dancing is looking for a partner to license a pole dancing game for the Wii video game system. Peekaboo has previously marketed other pole dancing programs for fun, health, and out-of-the-ordinary fitness -- they're the creators of Electra-pole, Carmen Electra's pole dancing kit.

Pole dancing for fitness is nothing new. Some fitness centers have offered classes for years. The moves require plenty of strength and muscle control. But enthusiasts say that the benefits go beyond the strength and cardiovascular gains. The classes take you out of your comfort zone and help you to become more confident with your body and your sensuality.

Why are we gaining so much weight? Sedentary lifestyles certainly don't help, nor does our over-reliance on comfort technology (ie. cars, escalators, elevators, etc.). However, an argument can easily be made that diet is the main reason why our waistlines are growing. And, in particular, how our girth is largely due to how much sugar we consume.

Because simple sugars deliver a large amount of calories with little to no nutrition, it only makes sense that eating candy and drinking soda all day will cause a person to feel terrible and gain weight. A study published in the Annual Review of Nutrition found that from 1970 through 2000, daily caloric intake among women ages 20 to 39 jumped from 1,652 to 2,028. Interestingly, over the same period, the percentage of calories sourced from fats and protein decreased. So, we essentially got rid of of the healthy stuff and replaced it with junk.

It's no wonder, then, that since the average American consumes 25 pounds more sugar annually than we did back in the days of disco, we're barely able to get on the floor and dance these days.

Dancing With the Stars has certainly become quite the phenomenon, and I know I always find it interesting to hear about the training the stars (and dancers) have to go through in order to pull off those dances each week. Even for professional athletes, learning a whole new skill (and performing it so they can be judged on national TV) is difficult.

Olympian Gold Medalist figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi is currently on Dancing With the Stars, and she's joined with OK! Magazine to blog about her experience. I had hoped for a little more detail on the dancing training itself, but it's still a really interesting read. She's honest about what she finds difficult and what makes her nervous -- tonight she'll be dancing the tango, which is requiring her to bring out more anger than she can easily manage.

Anyone who is a fan of Kristi on the show or simply remembers her Olympic victory will get a kick out of what she has to say.

Entertainment Tonight closed a recent show with a blurb about Marie Osmond and her recent weight loss. A brand new Marie Osmond, the hosts called her just prior to flashing before and after photographs of the former Dancing with the Stars contestant.

Forty pounds this Osmond girl has lost and boy is she proud. She's never looking back, she says, and is simply in awe that she has a waistline again.

A combination of dancing and Nutrisystem is what helped Osmond combat her out-of-shape and too-much-weight condition. She looks great. Congratulations to her.

When I learn of a new cancer diagnosis -- my own or someone else's -- it makes me start contemplating life. I admit the thought of death does surface somewhere in my mind but life -- how to approach it, how to best live it, how to appreciate it -- is what mostly consumes my thoughts. That's what's happening now, now that I've heard actor Patrick Swayze has been diagnosed with one of the deadliest forms of the disease: Pancreatic cancer.

The media may want us to believe death is imminent for Swayze -- they give him just weeks to live -- but his doctors tell us otherwise. They say the Dirty Dancing star is receiving aggressive treatment, that he's pressing forward with projects, that he has a limited amount of disease in his body, that his life is not in fact over.

Swayze, 55, may be no closer to death than any one of us who might possibly fall victim to a car accident or a medical trauma. So I say he should make the most of his life, despite -- or in spite of -- his cancer diagnosis. I think you should make the most of yours too. I know I plan to.

My kids and I caught Oprah's Friday episode featuring Dancing with the Stars past champions and the new season's line-up too. My boys love to dance and have perfected some pretty good moves in their few years of life. Now, after watching a few pro performances, they're bound to get even better.

My interest in this Oprah show was not skill related. I don't dance and don't aspire to learn how. I do appreciate physical prowess, though, and must say I am simply amazed at what I saw happening on the dance floor. The professional dancers were on fire. Their partners, stars like pro football player Emmitt Smith and boy band guy Drew Lachey, start with no real ballroom dance experience, train their butts off in non-stop fashion, and then dance to kill. Inspiring, this stuff is -- for my boys who could hardly wait through the commercials to see each dancing team and for me too.

Need some of your own inspiration? Check out the new season of Dancing with the Stars, beginning Monday March 17 (8:00-9:30 p.m., ET) on ABC.

Fitzness Fiends is a section devoted to you, the reader! We all have learned so much on our path to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other! Fitzness Fiends are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect, some are not. All have health on the mind. Please send Fitz your answers to these questions with a photo of yourself. Time for you to be the motivator!

Name: John Alvira

Age:54

How often do you exercise? Four days a week.

What type of exercise do you do? Nordic Track

What gets you to workout, even when you're feeling lazy? Always knowing that it benefits me, and that I will see results after.

Dancing with your kids in the living room can burn more calories than you think. I've heard of this idea as a workout option before and thought you could never get your heart rate up high enough for it to count. That was before I danced with a 2-year-old.

I've danced with my toddler to various types of music several times in the past couple of weeks. She's like a personal trainer. She doesn't let you cheat, take breaks or stop for anything. You can certainly break a sweat if you attempt to keep up through an entire CD's worth of songs. And it doesn't have to be whiny kids' music, either.

My daughter loves The Beatles and anything Latin. I can't have music on in the house anymore without her wanting to dance. So go get groovin' and have a good time!

Want to get in shape and have fun doing it? How about dimming the lights, finding a dance partner and doing the salsa?

Ballroom dancing is a form of dancing that many people enjoy for the fun activity benefits alone -- and salsa dancing is no exception to this. Dancing can burn calories, lower blood pressure and can give you a workout that rivals that boring treadmill that may be gathering dust somewhere in your home.

Have you tried this form of dancing? If so, do you like it? Enjoying an exercise is a great way to stay on top of it -- hence, long-term commitment to fitness without even calling it "fitness." Perhaps those New Year's resolutions need some fine-tuning?

Sabrina Bryan, former Dancing with the Stars hopeful and member of Disney's Cheetah Girl singing group, is committed to fighting childhood obesity and promoting health body image among young girls. How exactly is she doing it? With a hop-hop fitness DVD, that's how.

"My opportunity with the project was to bring a health-conscious topic up in a fun way for girls," says Bryan whose three-part workout (called Byou: pronounced Be You) was a team effort with Healthy Kids Challenge, a nonprofit that focuses on creating children's nutrition.

Bryan, 24, remembers clearly body image issues she experienced during her adolescent and teenage years.

"I went through this whole, 'I hate my body,' thing," she said.

Becoming active in sports and dancing was key for Bryan who practices balance in her adult life.

"It is good to have balance," she says. "Anything that is too one way or the other is where you end up doing binge kinds of things which is not what we want in the minds of young girls."

For more on Bryan's dance outreach, visit the official Byou site.

Jennie Garth, formerly known as Kelly Taylor on FOX's 90210 and current contestant on ABCs Dancing with the Stars, has whipped her body into tip-top shape with all her recent fancy footwork.

"I've lost weight and I'm looking great," she says.

She may not keep her slimmed-down figure for long, though, because she's pretty sure she'll have another baby.

Garth, wife of actor Peter Facinelli and mom to three young daughters, says she secretly looks forward to being pregnant again. Why? "So that she could eat and have ice cream," says her hubby.

Before she focuses on family, Garth, 35, must first finish her ballroom competition. It's down to five dancing couples. Could Garth win it all?