Water workouts work wonders
I've been swimming every day. I'm doing laps, jumping jacks, push-ups, dips, bunny hops, and a little running too. Like I usually get with exercise, I'm starting to become a bit addicted to my new sport. It's because the water feels great on hot Florida days, I feel so many of my muscles at work, and I feel an ever-so-slight soreness the day after I swim. It's a good sore, a WOW-that-really-worked sore. Water workouts have long been considered a good form of exercise. They're good for muscle tension and soreness too, says a recent European study suggesting that working out in warm water for three hours a week for eight months may help easy fibromyalgia -- a chronic condition characterized by widespread pain in the muscles, ligaments and tendons, as well as fatigue and multiple tender points. All exercise can help this condition, but swimming takes away the pain and fatigue land workouts often impose. Water therapy is less stressful on the body, there's no need to support the weight of your body since the water does it for you, and heated water can actually relax muscles.
Nowadays, I swear by swimming. Give it a try and see if you do too.
Think stretching helps prevent soreness after exercise? Not so, says a recent review of 10 stretching-related studies.
If there's one downside to resistance training, it's the soreness typically experienced a day or two after the most recent workout. Fortunately, our bodies becomes more and more adjusted to the workload over time and soreness becomes less and less of a problem. Still, those days after starting a new workout can be brutal. That's why some new research published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research may be the physical reprieve some newbies are looking for.
If every person who joined your local gym actually went, it would be near impossible to get in and out of the place in less than three hours. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), research shows that around 60 percent of people who start an exercise program throw in the towel within the first six weeks. While there are many reasons for this precipitious rate of attrition, one stands out as the most widely reported: Pain.
Stretching is one of those things you're told to always do when you embark on a fitness routine -- but is it really necessary? 









