Heart Rate - Find Your Workout Intensity
Are you really getting an aerobic workout? Brisk walking is usually considered moderate intensity exercise. But that definition means you must be breathing a little harder and getting your heart rate up. To really know whether you are working out hard or hardly working out, a heart rate monitor or pulse monitoring is needed to tell you what heart rate zone you are in.
Heart Rate Zones
Use the Heart Rate Zone Calculator to find what beats per minute are needed for you to workout in the moderate intensity zones.
- Fitness Zone: 60 to 70% of your maximum heart rate.
- Aerobic Zone: 70-80% of your maximum heart rate.
Finding Your Heart Rate
- Heart Rate Monitor: The most accurate way to find your heart rate is with a heart rate monitor that uses a chest strap to get an ECG-accurate heart rate. As these constantly transmit your heart rate to a device such as a watch or even your cell phone, you can keep track of your heart rate throughout your workout.
Top Picks for Heart Rate Monitors Under $100 - Pulse Monitor: There are many models of pedometers and sports watches that include a pulse monitor. You use this by pressing one or two fingers against a sensor on the device. This method is generally less accurate, and difficult to do without slowing or stopping (which also will slow your heart rate).
Top Picks for Pulse Monitors - Take Your Pulse: You can do it yourself the old fashioned way. You will need a timing device that shows seconds and you will need to slow down or stop to do it accurately.
How to Take Your Exercise Pulse
Review: New Balance Fitness Evolved Headphones with pulse monitor - Multi-Purpose Devices: I got review copies of Sportline's line of dual-use heart rate monitor/pulse monitor watches. The top of the line model also includes a built-in pedometer. Other manufacturers have similar products. It is nice to have a watch you can use as a pulse monitor without the chest strap, or add the chest strap for a continuous readout.
Review: Sportline Duo 1060 Heart Rate Monitor/Pedometer Watch
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
Nominations Close Feb. 15 for the Reader's Choice Awards 2012
Nominations are open for the 2012 Reader's Choice Awards. You nominate your favorite walking shoes, walking gear, and walker-friendly events and tours. Nominations are open through February 15, 2012. Then our walking experts select up to five nominees per category and you, the walkers, vote for your readers' choice. We have some categories returning from our first awards last year, and several new categories. Come tell us what you like best in each category.
It's OK to Cheat on Your Walking Partner
"You walked without me?"
Are you in a restrictive relationship with your walking partner and made to feel guilty if you walk without them? Is this cheating? Should you walk without them? If you find yourself feeling guilty when you walk without your partner, or sneaking around to do it, you need to stop and address those feelings so they don't inhibit your exercise program.
Shoelaces That Stay Tied
I'm a skeptic. I also seem to have above-average difficulty in keeping my shoelaces tied, which is a bother for a walker. Even my comfort shoes need retied every time I get out of my desk chair. So I was amazed that Wonder Laces worked as promised and don't come untied -- even just using a plain old single-bow knot. Not only that, but they are made with elastic and expand and contract with your foot. I'm sold. Wonder Laces review
I also got a pair of Synch™ Bands to try. They are also made of elastic, but they are designed to not even be tied at all. Instead, you order them to the length of your lacing system and they secure with a Synch Clip. They come in a big variety of colors. I had difficulty with the synch clip concept. No matter how many times I viewed their video on what to do with any extra laces, I couldn't get the lace to stay in the Synch Clip reliably. These probably work great if you get them the right length for your Converse kicks, which is what they are designed for. The colors are super. But they don't work well as tied laces, they loosen immediately. So order them fit, and maybe you'll have better luck with the synching instructions than I did.
More Products to Keep Your Shoelaces TiedDisclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
Photo © Wendy BumgardnerWill Susan G. Komen Backlash Hurt Walkers?
When breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen For the Cure decided to stop funding Planned Parenthood for breast health exams on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, they set off a huge backlash. Update: Komen reversed their decision on 2/3/12. Will there now be a backlash on the backlash?
Their Facebook page lit up with angry donors pledging never to support them again, and donations to Planned Parenthood replaced the lost funding within 24 hours. Two of my personal Facebook friends changed their avatars to anti-Komen symbols. Yet others strongly favored the decision and donations to Komen also rose 100%
With the flip-flop, will both sides stay mad at Komen and stop donating or walking their walks?
Read More...Wear Red Day Friday Feb. 3
Attack a killer by wearing red on Friday, Feb. 3. Heart disease and stroke are the leading killers of women in the USA, and they kill more women than men each year. The American Heart Association is promoting Go Red for Women on Friday, Feb. 3 to raise awareness of heart disease and stroke in women.
I'm warning you a day in advance so you can properly select your red ensemble.
And what is one of the best things you can do for your heart while wearing red (or any old time)? Moderate intensity exercise such as brisk walking. Wear red and get ready to walk!
Still Lots of Winter
No matter what the groundhog predicts tomorrow, we've got plenty of winter left to walk through. I'm staying prepared for ice and snow walking. I prefer to avoid it, but you don't always get a choice. And heaven knows the weather-guessers (as my grandpa called them) are often wrong. So I keep shoe traction devices like the Yaktrax Pro in my home, car and office. I also have a pair of walking poles stashed in each location, to help me make it across icy parking lots.
What's your favorite winter walking gear?
Gear for walking in ice and snow
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner 2012
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
Steps to More Steps Per Day
How can you be more active throughout the day and beat the health effects of being inactive? Here are some steps to begin.
- Wear a pedometer - it's the best and easiest way to know how much you really are moving each day.
- Set a step goal that is 2000 steps more than what you log right now on a typical day.
- Wear comfortable shoes to work or school so you can fit in bouts of walking throughout the day.
- Find cues to get out of your chair every 15 minutes throughout the work day. Whenever you take a call, stand up and pace around. This will help battle the health effects of sitting too long at any one time.
- Spend most of your breaks and half of your lunch time walking. This should easily add 3000 to 7000 steps to your daily total.
- Aim for 30 to 60 minutes of moderately-intense exercise, such as a steady bout of brisk walking, as its own activity. This will bring you the health and weight loss benefits of aerobic exercise.
10 Pounds Down
Like many of you, I started a weight loss diet right after Christmas. It's been a month and I'm down 10 pounds. I am super-charged to keep losing.
How to find the right diet: Our Weight Loss Guide shows you how to pick a diet program that is right for your budget and lifestyle. There are many free options out there, including our sister site, CalorieCount.about.com. I use their food and exercise log to stay on my calorie targets. In the past, I used Weight Watchers Online, and I liked the menus and shopping lists provided at eDiets.com. I've been weighing myself daily with the Withings Wifi Body Scale -- I like the convenience of it recording and charting my weight. Read More...
Starting Over After an Injury
If you haven't been walking for fitness for over two months due to an injury, you may wonder how to start over again to rebuild your walking program. I've had this experience several times. Plantar fasciitis, knee injury and sprained ankle were the causes for me. But many have had a break due to a long respiratory illness or other malady. Once the pain had cleared and my doctor gave me the go-ahead, I started fresh and slowly like somebody new to fitness walking.
Here are the baby steps to starting over:
- Discuss when to start with your doctor. Be clear about your goals so he or she understands the kind and intensity of walking you plan to do.
- Will you need any special care for the injury, such as wearing a brace or icing the old injury site after exercise?
- Start slowly, use the Absolute Beginners Walking Schedule to keep yourself from doing too much, too fast.
- Work on your walking form rather than speed for the first two weeks.
- It is common for those getting back into walking to experience shin splints.
Be like the tortoise, not the hare. Slow and steady will win the race to recovery.
MapMyDOGWALK App Debuts
Those clever folks at MapMyWalk have a new free iPhone app aimed at dog walkers. MapMyDOGWALK works pretty much like the other iMapMy apps for walking, running, biking, etc. But it is sponsored by Subaru and includes features for both you and Fido. Besides mapping and measuring your walks, you can geo-tag photos and add them to your saved routes. That ability was formerly only available for the iMapMy+ apps and not the free ones. You can tweet your walk or post it to Facebook.
It has ANT+ support so you can pair it with a heart rate monitor, such as their Wahoo Fitness Sensor. As with the other MapMyFitness apps, you can also track your diet, weight, and other workouts. An Android version will be coming in the future.
What walking apps do you like most? Come nominate them for the 2012 Readers' Choice Awards.
10 Tips for Walking with Your Dog
Tell us about your walking dog
Photo © Kevin Shaw
Taking Your Walking Indoors
Are you taking your exercise indoors because you don't like the wet and cold? You don't have to stop walking, here are options and tactics to keep walking indoors. Yesterday it was pouring cold buckets of rain outside, and for the first time in a year I drove to the mall and spent an hour fitness walking around its two levels before boredom set in and the number of shoppers increased. I was definitely not the only one using it for a workout -- one mom with a stroller was also putting in the laps.
The benefits of indoor walking are easier access to water and restrooms. The drawbacks are the boredom factor for treadmills and indoors tracks. Or even the mall.
If you like doing stairs indoors (or outdoors) for a workout, checkout 50MillionCalories. It's a free site to log your flights of stairs and earn awards for your milestones.
Photo © 2006 Krista Van Veen
Winter Walking Challenge - Idita-Walk
Need some mid-winter walking motivation?. The Idita-Walk invites you (and your dog if you have one) to challenge yourself to walk 30 minutes a day for 35 days, wherever you may be. It is named after the Iditarod sled dog race. You don't have to walk from Anchorage to Nome, you can just walk around your neighborhood or on a treadmill. If your dog walks on the treadmill with you, send me a photo!
Register for the Idita-Walk and submit your walking log to earn a pin. You can buy other logo items. It benefits youth charities in Nome, Alaska and enlists walkers all around the world.
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner - It would have to be a very small dogsled for these cute Poms to mush!
What's Your Excuse?
Outdoors, it's cold and wet. The gym is packed with sweaty people spreading germs on every surface. I look fat in my gym clothes. We all have excuses. What's your walking excuse? I have a big list of walking excuses and excuse busters -- ways to overcome your own objections.
OESH - Walking Shoes Completely Re-engineered
Serious researchers studying how our feet interact with athletic footwear decided we had it all wrong. They've come up with a completely different midsole technology that supports the foot at the points in a stride their research determined it was needed. The result are OESH shoes -- that's the word shoe "upside down and inside out." They sent me a pair to try out. I am a pretty big skeptic when it comes to claims about footwear, but I think they are on to something with these shoes. At the very least, they fit my feet right and feel natural to walk in. Their cantilever midsoles are different, but unlikely to produce stares. Review: OESH Shoes
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner 2012
Top 10 Walks in the USA Winners
If you're starting to feel cabin fever, here are the winners of my yearly poll of AVA walkers to choose the best walks in the USA from among over 1800 year-round walking routes offered by local clubs. Top 10 Walks in the USA of 2011. All of these routes are offered this year, 2012, although some are seasonal and don't open until spring. These walks are everywhere, and if you aren't in the loop, here is a search for AVA year-round walks. I've done six of the top ten walks -- how about you? This year the AVA has a new trail rating system.
Walking Gadgets Win Awards at CES
The Consumer Electronics Show 2012 gave Innovations Awards to fitness gadgets that walkers may find useful. I've already tried two of them.
Gaiam Touch Heart Rate Monitor SE336 from Oregon Scientific: The watch has a sleek, buttonless thin design you don't mind wearing all day. It pairs with a chest strap heart rate monitor. It has fairly basic heart rate monitor functions, but is aimed towards users who just want to know if they are in the right zone and burning calories. Review | Compare Prices. I actually prefer their strapless model, the Touch ECG SE338 (Compare Prices), which looks similar and only takes your finger pulse.
Jawbone UP!: This activity monitor bracelet pairs with your iPhone to record your steps, sleep quality, and improve your diet. The feature I love is that you can set it to vibrate after a number of inactive minutes, to remind you to move more throughout the day. Unfortunately, they had a high rate of failure and are not available until they get a new batch with better components. I got a full refund while mine is still working great. I'll be posting a full review once they are back on the market.
Shining on Dark Walks
Did you know you are invisible? If you go out for a fitness walk or dog-walking in the early morning or evening this time of year, it's probably dark. Even walking through parking lots to the grocery store puts your pedestrian body at risk of not being seen by drivers. If you wear a running jacket, it might have some reflective striping. But most winter coats, ski jackets and hats are unreflective and come in muted, dark colors. You might as well be wearing a ninja suit - and your dog probably is invisible, too.
How to combat invisibility? Sillshield.com makes velcro-adhesive reflectors perfect for adding to backpack and purse straps, dog leashes, or sticking on knit caps or sweaters, or the back of your baseball/trucker cap. They weigh almost nothing and adhere to themselves so you don't damage your strap. I added them to my jacket zipper pulls, purse strap and favorite winter walking hat. I love finding small entrepreneurs who have solutions to these problems -- and can save lives.
More: Reflective items for walking in the dark
10 Ways to Get Killed Walking After Dark
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner 2012
Hipzbag - the New Hands-Free
What do you do when you don't have a pocket to carry your cell phone and the belt clips they sell seem to have it dangle precariously from your waistband? Hipzbag is a solution - a stylish redesign of the fanny pack for the iPhone age. Hipzbag Review
I want to fit in more fitness walks during my work breaks and lunches, and my iPhone is my constant companion to listen to podcasts or music while I walk. I don't find sport armbands convenient (it takes me a few minutes to get my phone into and out of one and rarely are the buttons actually convenient to use). With Hipzbag, you just slip it into the back slash pocket, and you can carry other essentials in the zippered pocket. You can either clip it to two belt loops or use a strap to wear it on your waist or hip. It's stylish enough to wear with a sweater or tunic.
There goes one more excuse not to get out walking!
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner
Get in Shape with Walking
Want to be a shape other than round? You can rebuild yourself -- better, stronger, faster.
How to Get in Shape with Walking - a workout plan to shape up. Brisk walking and a combination of walking workouts can improve your cardiovascular aerobic fitness and endurance. For shaping, toning and muscle-building, add in workouts for the upper body, lower body, abs and core.
Walk of Life 10-Week Program - daily email assignments for the next 10 weeks to help you lose weight and shape up with walking.
You don't need a gym membership to get a good workout, although I admit I am much better at sticking with non-walking workouts if I have an exercise group or personal trainer to be accountable to. You can workout at home with a variety of fitness apps, videos, and podcasts to guide you.
I love kettlebells (pictured) for getting a good functional fitness workout. And with a set of resistance bands, you have a whole gym's worth of exercises that can fit into your purse or pack.
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner
Slim Chance Awards - Worst Weight Loss Products
The 24th annual Slim Chance Awards from Frances M. Berg highlight bad weight loss products. From fraud to quackery, these products are unlikely to help you lose weight.
Most Outrageous: Just Think Media markets acai berry weight-loss pills, colon cleansers and resveratrol supplements. Canada's Anti-Fraud Call Centre and the United States Federal Trade Commission are pursuing complaints (FTC Complaint) that customers found their credit cards overcharged and were unable to get promised money-back guarantees.
Read More...
How to Build Your Walking Habit
The new year is a time for a fresh start. Maybe this is your first time to seriously plan to get into shape. Maybe it is the tenth or eleventh. Success in forming a new habit is more likely if you set measurable, timely goals and write down your progress each day. Here it is, step by step:
How to Build a Walking Habit
To help get you there, we have free printable calendars and log pages and a free Excel spreadsheet:
Walking Calendars and Logs
If you want to track your diet and exercise online, we have one of the best free diet planning and tracking sites around, Calorie Count. They have an app for your phone or tablet, too!
Calorie Count: track your diet and exercise online -- free!
Long life and prosperity in 2012!
Photo © Wendy BumgardnerBack to the Gym or Personal Trainer?
Losing weight and getting fit are top New Year's resolutions, and gyms are usually packed in January. But if you are looking to join a gym, you need to consider many factors before you talk to the oh-so-friendly (but actually high-pressure) salesman, or you may have buyer's remorse in the morning.
It is a great idea to visit the gyms you are considering now, during the peak time, to see just how crowded they can get and how long you may have to wait to use the treadmill or other exercise machines. If you're only into it for the treadmill, then you might want to explore other ways to walk indoors. Read More...
Consumer Reports Rates Top Treadmills and Pedometers
Just in time for your resolutions, Consumer Reports has tested and rated treadmills, and pedometers and pedometer apps. Here is how they stacked up.
Best Treadmill: Precor 9.31 (Compare Prices): This non-folding treadmill is also on our list for top premium treadmill, and was nominated for the Walking.about.com Readers' Choice Award in 2011. Read More...
Jump Start Your 2012 Walking Fitness
If your resolution is to be leaner, faster and stronger, we have free email courses that can help. I have walking programs and tools to make those resolutions stick.
- Weight Loss: Walk of Life 10-Week Program
The goal is to use fitness walking and other exercise as well as better nutrition to get fit, lose fat and feel great. Each day you get a walking and exercise assignment and coaching, nutrition tips and a healthy recipe. - Beginners and Toning Shoe Walking: Let's Get Walking 28-Day Program
For people who are just getting into walking for fitness, or for those starting out fresh with toning shoes. this daily program will get you started right. You will learn proper walking posture and stride and build up slowly to the minimum daily recommendation for walking - 30 minutes a day, 5 days or more a week. - Treadmill Walking: Treadmill Workouts 12-Day Program
Find out how to choose and use a treadmill for your walking workouts in 12 daily lessons. Read More...
Deadliest Night for Walkers
This is a great time of year for night walking to view the Christmas lights. But it also is the deadliest time of year for those who combine drinking and walking. If you are going to see the lights on foot, lay off the wassail until you are safely at home. Trauma surgeon Dr. Thomas Esposito at Loyola University Health System notes that 29% of the pedestrians seen at his facility who were hit by cars had a measurable blood alcohol content, and 24% were legally too drunk to drive.
The deadliest night of the year is New Year's Eve/New Year's Day, with 410 pedestrians killed in 16 years, with 58% of those having high blood alcohol concentrations. Friends don't let friends drive drunk, but you shouldn't let them walk home drunk, either.
Joining Calorie Camp
Alex sent in a report on how he walked off 75 pounds. He has good advice, the same you have heard from me -- you need to eat fewer calories than you burn off each day, while still getting the healthy nutrition you need. A combination of more activity and exercise, plus eating fewer empty calories, will lead to steady weight loss. This is the basis of my free Walk of Life 70-Day Program.
I'm not happy that my scale is stuck on the same number (although happy it hasn't been going up!) I've taken the following steps to lose weight in 2012.
1. Calorie Camp: To keep myself honest on the food side of the equation, I'm joining our Calorie Camp, using Calorie Count's free web site and mobile app to track my diet and exercise. Calorie Camp gives you social support to stick with logging your food and exercise. You earn badges and points and can enlist supporters to help encourage you in your efforts.
2. Exercise: I'll be strict in following my own Walk of Life 70-Day Program. The variety of walking workouts and exercises will help keep my fitness on track during the tough winter months, when it's too easy to find excuses to not exercise. The program encourages using a food diary, which leads to:
3. Stop Sitting Still: I bought a FitDesk bicycle desk to get in more activity while I work on the computer. I also have a Jawbone UP! which I have set to vibrate after 15 minutes of inactivity, to remind me to move more during the day. These steps are to battle the health risks of sitting still too much.
4. Diet: To help jumpstart the diet, I found a local enterprise that provides a 1200-calorie diet for women or 1600-calorie diet for men based on fresh, locally sourced meals. I've had success in the past with programs that use packaged food, such as Jenny Craig. But I have been avoiding prepared, packaged foods and this option sounds intriguing. I may only use them for a week or two to re-educate myself as to what the right food portions look like.
Are you ready? I'm off to Calorie Camp!
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner
Fitbit Ultra - My Favorite Pedometer Keeps Improving
The Fitbit Ultra improves on the original Fitbit by adding a stopwatch function and counting the flights of stairs you climb. I love this clip pedometer for many reasons. It's small, it's silent, and it uploads data wirelessly to my computer, automatically. I never have to remember to do anything, other than putting it on.
They also greatly improved the brightness of the display. On the original, it was so dim you couldn't read it outdoors. Now you can. One "improvement" I don't care for is that the Ultra now displays encouraging messages. Except they seem kind of skeevy. "Hug me," "I like you." Weird. I feel like I'm being stalked by a computer geek. But I'll ignore that for all of the great graphs and data the Fitbit produces.
You can track your diet with Fitbit as well. You input your food intake and water on their web site or via an iPhone app. The program also integrates with an increasing number of other health and fitness tracking programs and apps, such as Endomondo and Google's HealthVault. You can set up trackers for your blood glucose, blood pressure, and other health indices you want to track.
The Fitbit also can be used to track your sleep quality. You have to start and stop the stopwatch function to record that.
You can Compare Prices on Fitbit Ultra and read my full review.
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner15 Years Ago Today - It's a Wonderful Walking Life
It's my 15-year anniversary today at Walking.about.com. If this were It's a Wonderful Life and the angel Clarence could show me what life would be like if I never became the Walking Guide at About.com, what would that be like?
For 15 years, I've been writing at-least weekly articles, blog posts, and newsletters on walking - over 5000 pages. To get continuously inspired, I have to keep walking and keep up to date on health research and new fitness ideas and products.
Without being your Walking Guide, I would never have:
- Learned to racewalk
- Walked a marathon and been certified as a marathon coach
- Walked a Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk
- Learned nordic walking
- Had an excuse to buy walking shoes, pedometers and other gear to review
- Enjoyed fantastic trails and races to write about and show in photos.
But most of all, it's the joy of my life to get emails such as this, "Many thanks for the FREE info that you sent to me. Your website is excellent and well written in easy to use layman/woman terms. I'm a diabetic and find your website an easy and informative help to my condition. Regards, G.K."
What more can you ask for in life -- to do what you love (writing and walking) and to have it make a positive difference in the lives of others? Thanks to all of my readers, it is the joy of my life to write for you. Here's to at least 15 more years!
If you love to write and are an expert on a topic, browse our Be A Guide page to see whether you can join me at About.com.
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner
Last Minute Gifts for Walkers
I'd rather be out strolling past the Christmas lights than elbowing my way through crowds at the stores and mall, so I prefer online shopping. Here are last minute online ideas for gifts for walkers. Gift certificates can be fun if you also print out ideas of what they could spend them on.
Racewalking clinic or racewalking camp certificates: Dave McGovern's clinics are excellent for new or advanced racewalkers. He holds them in various locations throughout North America, and even one coming up in South Africa. Cost is $175 per clinic.
Roadrunner Sports Buy Direct: A great source of walking and running clothing and shoes. They offer guaranteed Christmas delivery if you order by 12 pm PST on 12/23.
REI Gift Card or E-Gift Card Buy Direct: REI has long been our family's favorite outdoors store. It's our go-to place for waterproof jackets, trail shoes, fleece, camping gear and outdoor gadgets. Walkers have no problem spending e-cash either at the store or online. Expedited shipping is may still be available for a traditional gift card, or your can send an e-gift card until 3 pm PT on 12/24 to get there by Christmas Day.
Zappos.com E-Gift Certificate Buy Direct: Zappos is a great source for shoes and other fitness gear.
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner
My 2011 Walking Highlights
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of my virtual walking friends. I wish you a 2012 filled with love, laughter, health, and fun walking times.
I had a truly wonderful walking year. Here is my holiday newsletter and photos of the places and races I walked and memories that will last the rest of my life.
Read: Wendy's Walking Highlights of 2011
"To move, to breath, to fly, to float
To gain all while you give
To roam the roads of lands remote
To travel is to live."
- Hans Christian Andersen
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner
RumbaTime GO Watch
Do you like to go for your walks carrying as little as possible? I got a sample of the RumbaTime GO watch to review. With it, you don't have to worry about carrying your ID or emergency medical information. You can leave your cash and credit/debit card at home and use the payWave chip in the watchband to make purchases at merchants that use that system. Those include many fast food and convenience stores. It also has a stopwatch built in to time your workouts. Read more
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner
Chocolate Milk Wins Again - And Coffee Too!
Score another win for chocolate milk as a recovery drink. A small study of college soccer athletes concluded that it helped post-exercise recovery as much as a carbohydrate-electrolyte sports drink. And the men in the study (but not the women) actually had better endurance using chocolate milk as a recovery drink.
Meanwhile, our Weight Training Guide has lots of good news about the benefits of coffee and caffeine with exercise. So, go ahead and reward yourself with a low-fat mocha latte after a long winter's workout! But you might want to limit your portions of eggnog. See my Holiday Calorie Calculator. While it also provides protein and carbohydrate for recovery, you are looking at a big whallop of calories.
Photo © Wendy BumgardnerWater at Races - Where Does it Come From?
Facebook flames erupted from walkers and runners who got sick during and after the Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and Half Marathon. Many point fingers at the water. Per common practice at big races (this one had 44,000 participants) they used a hose from a fire hydrant at the water stops to fill large, new trash containers lined with trashcan liners. Then pitchers were dipped into the water, cups filled, and handed to racers. The same water was used to mix up electrolyte sports drink (Cytomax) from powdered mix.
I drank the water at almost every water stop and didn't get sick. My race review. Others began to vomit 1-2 hours after the start. Racers, whether they got sick or not, are invited to fill out a survey from the Southern Nevada Health District to identify whether there could have been an outbreak related to a common source before or during the race.
Update 12/15: The interim report issued on by the health district concluded that the water was an unlikely source of the illness. Their survey seems to point towards it being a viral infection picked up by racers 24-36 hours before the race.
Here is my analysis of this situation: Read More...
There's a Walking App for That
My walking buddy Nona just got an iPhone and she's an enthusiastic app shopper. She keeps sending me her latest finds, so I decided to share the wealth with you. Here are some useful walking apps from Nona, me, and some of my other walking buddies.
And what about you? What apps are you loving for tracking your walks or that you find useful when you are out on a walk?
In other app news, my friends at Kaiser Permanente's Every Body Walk! campaign have debuted an app for iPhone and Android. You can map and log your walks, find walking paths and walking clubs, read articles on walking and watch videos about walking.