Forget the forward lunge, ladies. Ditch the chin-ups and pull-ups. And drop the straight-leg push-up too. These just are not fitness moves chicks ought to be doing, says our sister site Lemondrop. They are either definitely dangerous or downright ineffective.

For the complete rundown on risky girl moves and a few you should be doing, click here.

Source

Once, I was at my son's school during recess and noticed that (other than a few exceptions) it was mostly boys playing kickball and girls sitting in small groups around the jungle gym chatting and playing cats cradle. At the time, I didn't think much of it, but I was reminded of it the day when I read an article about how young and old females aren't as active as males.

Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University followed 10 and 11-year-old children during recess and found that boys tend to engage in more active play than girls. On the flip side of the coin, another study found that women over age 70 are less likely to be active than men.

It's important for everyone to be active. But it's certainly important for girls (during the formative years when their bones are growing) and older women (who need to maintain bone density) to be physically active.

Source

If you knew a pint of beer had as many calories as a hot dog, would it stop you from downing six on a night out with friends. Experts in Britain think so, and they're looking into putting calorie counts on alcohol in an effort to curb binge drinking. It's thought that this move will target young binge-drinking women in particular, who are more conscious of their waistlines. The calorie count could also come with a warning like the kind you see on cigarette packs, an idea of what a food equivalent would be calorie-wise and an indication of how many standard drinks are in the serving size you're consuming (for the record, there are 2.3 alcohol servings in a pint of beer).

But not everyone agrees. Opponents of the initiative think that instead of deterring people from binge drinking, this will encourage them to compensate for the alcohol calories by skipping meals. Hmm. Good point.

What do you think? Are calorie counts on booze a good idea?

Source

As a former cheerleader, I'm not even remotely surprised by the recently released statistics showing that cheerleading causes the highest percentage of injuries for female athletes. When you consider the stunts, and lifts, and jumps, and tumbling... it's just not a shocker at all.

According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research based out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, cheerleading accounts for 65.1% of female athlete injuries at the high school level and 66.7% at college level.

The American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators has safety rules for college, high school, and all star levels. While injuries can (and do) occur within these guidelines, adhering to the safety rules will minimize injury risk.

Still, knowing all the associated risk, if I were magically transported back to more youthful years, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. Cheering was hard work and awesome fun, and I loved every minute of it.

Source

Any idea what sport is riskiest for girls? Gymnastics it is -- it has the highest injury rate of all girls' sports, says the Center for Injury Research and Policy (CIRP). For both boys and girls, injuries come most often from stick sports, like field hockey and lacrosse.

Don't pull your kids from these sports or refrain from signing them up in light of this news. Just follow these safety tips shared by Dawn Comstock, professor at the CIRP and Ohio State University, for Woman's Day magazine (September 1, 2008).

• Ask how many years the coaches have been working with the sport, if they're certified, and if they have first aid training.
• Ask coaches if they teach fundamentals before letting kids compete.
• If you child is small, consider enrolling in a size-based league.
• Don't let your child practice sports like gymnastics at home, where conditions may be unsafe.

Source

My son has ADHD and I know how important a good breakfast is for him. When he gets a nutritious breakfast -- preferably with some whole grains -- and gets good exercise in the morning, he's always more focused and better able to control his behavior. Previous research has confirmed what I (and probably every other parent) knew: Breakfast does a kid's body -- and mind -- good.

A new study supports this previous finding and takes it one step further. It turns out that, while beneficial for all, the benefits of breakfast vary in boys and girls. Researchers had half of students in the study eat a standardized breakfast while the other half didn't eat breakfast. All students later took a test to measure cognitive ability and mood. A week later, the test was repeated except the previous non-breakfast eaters ate a morning meal and vice versa.

While there was measurable improvement in focus, all of the students who ate breakfast reported feeling more alert. In addition, boys reported having an elevated mood and the boys performed better on visuospatial memory tests.

Source

One writer over at College Candy says the season is ripe for muffin tops -- not the actual tops of actual muffins, but the excess skin that hangs over the tops of shorts, pants, and skirts when these items of clothing are just a tad too small. This problem, coined the One-Size-Too-Small Syndrome by said writer, affects lots of college-aged girls (one might argue it affects more than just college girls) and should not be mistaken for an overeating problem at all. It's clearly a size issue. You can be a size four and still have a muffin top. All it takes is a size two piece of clothing to cause this all-too-annoying problem.

This female writer from NYU knows what's it like: "I'm definitely not a tiny girl by any means, and I completely understand the battle with body image," she says. "I get a little unhappy anytime I have to purchase something in a large instead of a medium, but if the medium makes me look like a sausage trying to escape its skin, is it really worth wearing? Is it really going to look like you're a size medium to anyone but yourself? Of course not! I may groan when I have to reach for a size larger in that cute little dress or jeans but if it lays just right and fits as intended, so be it."

NYU girl draws from comments made by Stacy London of What Not to Wear when she makes these points: (1) The only person who sees the size of your clothing is you. (2) What matters is the look and if you can pull it off. (3) If you must go up a size to look like you can breathe (or to actually be able to breathe), then bite the bullet and do it.

I get it -- I'm all about feeling good in my clothes. And as for breathing: It's a must have for me. How about you?

Source

It once was called the "Freshman 15." Now it's the "Freshmen 5" -- 15 was apparently an inflated number -- and even though the tendency for young women to gain five pounds after embarking on a new college experience doesn't seem so devastating, it's still quite alarming, say Canadian researchers.

It's alarming because the weight is typically gained over six or seven months. Putting on weight at this rate can be very problematic.

While there are limitations to the study of this phenomenon -- women who took part in weight-gain research reported only what they ate during the prior 24 hours, for example -- it's clear that colleges need to do more to incorporate physical activity into the lives of female students. And girls entering college should be advised to eat right and exercise well.

Source

Prevention. There's nothing like it. And what great news it is that girls as young as 12 can already start protecting themselves against breast cancer.

Just like middle-aged women are encouraged to work out to lower their risk of developing this disease, new research concludes that exercise during the teen years can prevent breast cancer in later years.

So here's the scoop: Women who were physically active as teens and young adults were 23 percent less likely to develop pre-menopausal breast cancer than women who grew up sedentary. Having the biggest impact was regular exercise between the ages of 12 to 22. And the women with the lowest risk reported running or exercising vigorously three or more hours per week. Although post-menopausal breast cancer was not studied, it's likely exercise helps all the same.

Time to get your daughters off the couch!

Source

Boys need gym class. But girls need it more, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

It's clear following a survey of 5,000 students ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade that girls who got 70 to 300 minutes of physical education per week scored higher on standardized tests. Funny because gym classes are being increasingly scaled back to make room for academics and testing when if the exercise was instead more frequent, girls would do even better. They'd concentrate better too. And participate more in class. Not so true for the boys, though.

The CDC study found no correlation between gym class and test scores for boys, maybe because they play more actively and physically during recess and outside school.

Source

I have just come across the coolest thing I've seen all day -- Girls on the Run. It's a program designed to encourage "preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running."

Girls on the Run holds 5K events and pairs up a girl with a running buddy -- that could be you! According to the Girls on the Run Northeast Florida Chapter's website, "a running buddy chaperones and mentors one or two girls through her two 5K experiences: the Practice 5K and the RITA CASH 5K. That means keeping pace with the girl, ensuring her safety, and cheering her on!" Each location might be slightly different, but you get the point.

You'll be running slightly over three miles, encouraging a young girl to get involved in fitness, and building her self esteem. Just try to find something that's not to like! If you're interested (and I hope you are), check out the website for locations near you.

via FitSugar

Source

No matter what the question, chances are very good that your doctor has heard it all before. And, if she hasn't, that's all them more reason you need to ask! Sexual health is important to your overall health -- in fact, it might be more important than diet and exercise.

I know it's embarrassing, and it might make you blush. If you're so embarrassed by your question you can't verbalize it, write it down before you go so you can make certain you let your doctor know what's troubling you. Or, if you don't feel like you can talk about it with your current doctor at all, find a new doctor with whom you're comfortable.

AOL Body gives a great run-down of fairly common but still embarrassing questions that women often fail to ask their doctors -- check it out here. But, even if this answers some questions, I still urge you to discuss any concerns with your doctor, no matter how red your face gets. Safe is always better than sorry, right?

Source

Being a recovering personal trainer (no meetings involved, no "hello my name is Chris and I'm a personal trainer" introductions. It's great), I have quite a bit of experience helping kids lose weight. For a short period of time back when I was training, I was helping members of a teenage swim team gain a competitive edge. At least, that's the way their slightly overzealous coach explained it, but I digress. Anyway, in working with kids in this capacity, you learn quickly that a fitness goal -- as well as the ability to achieve that goal -- is never the same across the board. Body types are different, levels of determination vary, and it also seemed as though body fat reduction was affected by gender.

Now, after reading about a study published a little while back in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, it seems as though these observations of mine may have been right on the money. It turns out that the impact of exercise on body fat differs for boys and girls. This discovery comes after a study of 224 children (a random sample) aged between 7 and 10 from twelve different schools in the Republic of Ireland. Unlike the girls in the study, the boys who performed the least difficult exercises were found to be the fattest. Moreover, those who led a predominantly sedentary life (video games and the internet strike again) had the thickest waists. As stated, this was not the case for the girls in the study.

It's strange to think that we live in a time where kids are going to personal trainers, not just to improve their sports performance, but to simply get some exercise. I know I pointed to the internet and video games as the culprit behind the rising child obesity rates, but also to blame are poor diets -- not eating enough throughout the day and then eating far too much in one sitting. I don't for a second claim to be an expert on why kids are getting heavier, but these reasons just mentioned seem to make sense to me. What I do know, however, especially with this new research on the topic to support my belief, is that (redundancy in 3-2-1 ... ) everybody's body is different. Some people need more time than others to lose weight and fat, as evidenced by this study on boys and girls. It also speaks to the fact that the Body Mass Index (BMI) may be inadequate, by itself, to determine the extent of cardiovascular risk in children and adolescents, and possibly even adults.

Source

It's not every day that you see researchers walking around active parties with a clipboard and Breathalyzer in hand. Well that's exactly what Megan Holmes was doing in order to discover more concerning the truth about drinking and college.

Her team's research was literally done on the site, taking surveys and testing how drunk people were actually getting. This method puts a shame to previous surveys that may take place months or weeks after partying. So what did they find? Well, college women are out-drinking the men... and they are wearing less while doing it.

Themed parties, like toga swaps with lingerie, are the kinds of events where women drink considerably more. One researcher thought this was because they might need to get more drunk to lower their inhibitions, making it easier to be seen in such skimpy clothing. Of course, more than 20 percent admitted they were at the parties to meet a sexual partner, so you decide.

Source

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.

Source