Fit Tip of the Week

Halloween Tips

Reducing sugar intake

Zero Calorie handout options:

• Plastic insects, ghosts, skeletons
• Halloween-themed pencils/pens
• Temporary tattoos or animal stickers
• Halloween bracelets or rings
• Bouncy balls, bubbles or whistles
• Plastic vampire teeth/fangs
• Sugar-free gum  

Still set on shelling out something sweet? Here's the caloric info:

• Fun/snack size Snickers - 72 calories
• Fun/snack size Baby Ruth - 85 calories
• Fun/snack size M&Ms - 90 calories
• Fun/snack size Butterfinger - 100 calories 

Eat one of each (approx. 350 calories total) and you'll need to walk briskly for over an hour and a half to burn them off!

Thanks Cooper Institute for the great ideas for Halloween!

Must-Make-More-Cut-Must-Make-More-Cut-Must-Make...

Fit Tip of the Week

You know Count Chocula isn't the Breakfast of Champions. But with so many seemingly nutritious options, how can you tell if you're picking the best cereal? Jackie Newgent, R.D., a culinary nutritionist in New York, recommends checking the label for:

• Three or more grams of total fiber per serving.
• One or more grams of soluble fiber, which may help lower cholesterol and keeps blood sugar stable. (Whole-oat cereals are especially good sources.)
• Fewer than two grams of saturated fat and no trans fats, both of which contribute to heart disease risk.
• Fewer than 10 grams of sugar, unless it has dried fruit, which contain natural sugars.

Our Picks:  General Mills Fiber One Honey Clusters, Kellogg's All Bran Bran Buds, and Cheerios.

Originally published in FITNESS magazine, September 2006.

Fit Tip of the Week

Are you having difficulty reaching your fitness goals?  Re-think how you've set your goals.  Create a list of manageable goals and set a specific date to satisfy each one.  On your "list of things to do" we talked about last week, write your specific goal: run one mile in 10 minutes.  This goal is obtainable and within a time frame that is foreseeable.  Try to avoid "increase speed of run".   Try to check off four goals a week! 

Don't forget, the holidays will be here before you know it!  Don't wait until it's too late to make changes in your physique.

Fit Tip of the Week

When you really want to push yourself past your limit, try partial reps.

Finish your normal training set (3 or 4 sets, right?!), keeping the same weight but increasing your speed and lifting only half-way.  Take bicep curls for example; you're completing your third set of 12 reps and your arm just won't lift anymore past your elbow...been there right, huh?...continue on until failure just at the half lift.  Stop if you cannot maintain good form!  Elbows pinned at your sides and not leaning back looks great.  Really knock these out and go as fast as you can.  Check out your hypertrophy in a couple of weeks!