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For the best workout, eat a large meal three to four hours before you exercise. If you must eat two hours or less before exercising, have a small meal, says Stephen DeBoer, a registered dietitian at Mayo Clinic. Choose lean protein, carbohydrates, and a little healthy fat. For example, eat half a sandwich or an apple with 1 tablespoon peanut butter.

Be sure to stay well-hydrated before, during, and after exercise. Drink a glass of water before and after you work out and take sips every 15 minutes during your workout.

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The next time you run or walk outside, take along a garbage bag and help clean up the planet.

Eco-running is a concept championed by Samuel Huber, an elementary school gym teacher and endurance runner in Milwaukee. He was so bothered by liter on his daily runs, he started to pick it up. Samuel, 26, then created a blog about it and the movement spread.

Samuel says:

“I remove all of that ‘me’ time and turn it into a positive impact for others and our earth. Eco-running is a volunteer effort where you are stepping outside of yourself and serving the greater good.”

Samuel estimates he has picked up close to 1,000 bags of trash so far. The next time you leave to walk, run, kayak, hike, or even golf, grab a trash bag and take someone else’s trash home with you.

“The environment makes running enjoyable. I want to clean it up. What better time to do this than while we’re on the move?”

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Did you know the average health club exerciser quits after just six months for one of the following reasons:

- Not Enough Time
- Not Seeing Results

Sadly, most people become frustrated and quit exercising before they see any real results. But it’s not surprising given the common mistakes many people make with their training programs. Are you making these workout mistakes?

Common Reasons Your Workouts Don’t Work

All Quantity, No Quality
Take a look around the gym (if you haven’t quit going yet) and see how many people are really getting a quality workout. I’m always amazed by how many people are wandering aimlessly, walking leisurely on a treadmill while reading a book, lifting weights so light that not one hair moves out of place, or simply look bored. A lot of exercisers head to the gym out of habit, and as if on automatic pilot, put in some time and head back to work or home. If you are one of these people, ask yourself, “What do I want to get out of this?” If you want serious results, you need to do serious exercise. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it and have fun. But it does means you need to focus on what you are doing and increase the quality of every movement. Once you start exercising with a real purpose and pushing both your aerobic capacity and your strength you will find your workouts take half the time and give better results.

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When it comes to working out on the weekends, some of us are weekend warriors while the rest of us like to take the weekends off.

I workout during the week, but I also like to exercise during the weekend because my schedule is a little more flexible in terms of when and where I can do work out. However, I know many people who allow themselves to have Friday - Sunday off, so working out doesn’t interfere with their weekend plans.

What about you?

Do You Exercise On The Weekend?

• Yes, every weekend.
• No, only during the week.
• Sometimes, it just depends.

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Yes … it is very hard to drag yourself out of bed before the sun rises, but there are some fabulous benefits to working out in the morning.

Here are the top five best things about morning workouts:

1. Knowing that the workout is over before the day has even begun.
2. Getting energy to fuel my day from working out instead of coffee.
3. Drinking lots of water before 9 a.m.
4. Not having to fight the lunch or after-work traffic at the gym (and on the road).
5. Learning that I am a morning person after all.

What are your favorite reasons for working out in the morning? Share them in the comments section below.

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If you’re serious about losing weight this year, think about working out twice a day.

I not trying to imply that you need to hit the gym for two tough and sweaty sessions everyday — it’s hard enough to get there once a day. However, just because you worked out once does not mean you should give yourself the green light to forgo all other physical activity throughout the day.

For example, if you already go to the gym in the morning then how about taking a 30-minute walk after dinner?

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LA Fitness is offering a “free pass” to those that want burn off those extra holiday calories. It doesn’t matter if you’re currently a member and it is a great way to start a healthy habit for 2008. Exercising on a regular basis is the best thing for your body and a gym offers many ways to help.

To take advantage of this opportunity, visit here to print out a guest pass.

Winter doesn’t have to slow you down. You can still continue to exercise as normal. Here are a few tips to keep you running during the cold months ahead:

Maintain Miles: The less activity, the quicker the free fall into detraining, so keep a running base of at least three nonconsecutive days a week of no less than 50 percent of your usual mileage. Cross-training can help keep your fitness high, but remember that only running makes you running fit.

Run Fast: A week or two off from quality runs can be beneficial physically and mentally. But extending a break longer than that can slow you down faster than a frigid north wind. Even if your next race is months away, tempo runs will keep you inoculated against the ravages of lactic acid. And fartlek sessions–my winter speedwork of choice–will help you maintain your VO2 max. These fast-paced runs also recruit fast-twitch muscle fibers that would otherwise remain dormant when only doing easy miles. And doing strides will help keep your sprint mechanics in working order.

Plan Ahead: Put the date of your first spring race on your calendar. Then your second. These forecasted races provide motivation. And they let you know when your training should begin, which might be well before spring.

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Stop pouting about putting away your bathing suit and running shorts. Just because the temperature has dropped doesn’t mean your fun has to go with it. Cold weather only requires a little extra planning and a lot of extra clothing.

You CAN stay active this winter. Check out these 10 seasonal sports.

1. Ice Skating - Strap on your ice skates. An hour of ice skating can burn more than 400 calories.

2. Ice Hockey - Grab a group of friends and find a skating rink. All you need is a stick, puck and some head gear (maybe some new teeth after you’re done). Go for the goal. An hour-long session of hockey can burn more than 500 calories.

3. Downhill Snow Skiing, Snowboarding - Nothing beats the feeling of soaring downhill on one of natures most beautiful landscapes. The two sports require both lower- and upper-body strength, but you’d never know it. The rush of the ride is so much fun you’d never guess you’re burning hundreds of calories.

4. Cross-Country Skiing - Forget about shivering after a session of skiing on flat terrain. You’ll be sweating buckets. This graceful sport burns nearly 1,000 calories an hour. It takes both upper and body strength, and it combines resistance and balance.

5. Snowshoeing - For all of you walkers, hikers and joggers out there, this is the sport for you. Snowshoeing is a great low-impact, cardiovascular exercise. It even burns more calories because of the weight of the snowshoes.

6. Winter Running - There’s no reason to put away your running shoes in the winter. There are plenty of trails specifically designed for the winter season. There’s nothing like feeling the fresh breeze on your face while running and inhaling the clean cool air. The cold air can also make it easier to run for longer periods of time, which makes it a great winter workout.

7. Sledding - This speedy sport is so much fun that you’ll forget you’re actually burning calories. All you need is a sled, a few bumps and a push to slide down the hill. It’s the trek back up the hill after you’re done that gives you the workout. Trust me, once you go down once you’ll keep going up for more.

8. Snow Fight - Consider dodgeball a sport? This is its cold-weather equivalent. When the snow starts falling, it’s hard to resist a good snow fight. There’s just something about throwing a cold ball of snow at an unexpected victim. If they get mad, just tell them you’re working out. One hour in a good snowball fight can burn hundreds of calories.

9. Winter Biking - You’ll need to tune up your bike more often during the cold season, your bottle of water will more than likely turn to ice, and you won’t be moving too fast. The reward of a great workout and a smooth ride in the cold air is well worth it. Put on some extra layers and be the first to leave your tracks on the fresh white powder.

10. Ice Climbing - If you want a thrill in the chill there’s no better way. Ice climbing is very similar to rock climbing. Combine the beautiful scenery and the buzz of a lifetime as you scale up a mountain of ice and you’ve got the ingredients to one of the greatest natural highs you’ll ever experience. As far as burning calories, it would take a whole forest of trees to burn as many calories as you will on this sport.

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I have had a love-hate-endure relationship with my bra for many years. I loved my bra as an overly-well-endowed adolescent (a bespectacled, serious girl, I felt embarrassed by my Dolly-Parton-flamboyant chest). My bra, in the multiple models that I tried on in the privacy of the dressing room, allowed me to try to hide myself, like an older Judy Garland trying to play a childish Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz.”
Of course, my dressing room experiences only seemed private: on the other side of the thin green dressing room curtain, I would hear my mother discussing my breasts with the sales clerk, “Oh, you have something called a “minimizer”? That would be ideal for the poor dear. She seems to have inherited my mother’s big floppy bosoms, not mine,” my petite mother would sigh, making me feel like a freak in a circus rather than Dorothy dancing nimbly on the Yellow Brick Road.

I hated my bra in my teens and 20’s, because the straps tended to peer out at the world just when I wanted them to stay hidden (like on that infamous New Year’s Eve date with Stoner Dave — but that’s another story that will never be told. We specialize in those closeted tales in my mother’s family.)

And now, well, I endure the straps that, no matter how expensive the bra, always cut into my shoulders. So when a tall, slim, self-assured personal fitness trainer at my local gym informed me that my Bounce-Free-Guaranteed-Sports-Bra was regarded as “an unnecessary restraint” these days, I felt like the bee-bop chicks in “Grease,” chanting, “Tell me more, tell me more.”
“Absolutely. Bras are just SO unnecessary,” said Skinny Cindy (who was so fat-phobic that she boasted that it took her an hour to shop for one can of bottled salad dressing — either that girl was a slow reader or she had problems with decisions, in which case someone should report her to Dr. Phil).

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