Fitness Reads: What's new at CES? 12 months of fitness?

What did the SNEWS team read that other industry insiders might find interesting? Read on to find out!

• Now that the eight days of Hanukkah and 12 days of Christmas are over, it’s time to start focusing on the 12 months of fitness. This Washington Post story provides a combination of four exercises to focus on during each quarter of 2014. The article’s author said if readers are unsure of how to execute the exercises, the American Council on Exercises online library has videos and resources readily available.

• Fitness has been more of a focus at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and some of the products debuting at the show, which starts next Tuesday, are already making a splash on the web. LG releases a new fitness tracker, according to this story. Plus LifeBand Touch is a cool-looking product that seems as though it’s from “The Matrix.”

• Everybody is always looking for the magic pill, the sure cure and the ticket to preventing all kinds of diseases. We in this industry know what it is: exercise. This Slate story makes yet another case for the great health and disease-prevention benefits of regular exercise, which include lowering cholesterol and lessening sleep disorders.

• Yoga isn’t a superhero among activities. Sure, it relaxes you. Sure, it makes you flexible. But it doesn’t cure all that ails you, this story said. The article outlines all that yoga does — including improving sleep, quality of life and anxiety; and all that it doesn’t do — curing asthma and arthritis.

• We recently read this quote, “Doubt kills more dreams than fear ever could.” Doubt is fueled by myths, we think. So if you’re wanting to get ripped in 2014, don’t let these seriously ridiculous strength training myths hold you back. One myth that might be turning people off to strength training is that muscle can turn into fat. Not true, this story said, as it’s also not true that strength training doesn’t burn fat.

• We don’t do CrossFit — yet. But there is only so long one can hold out before giving it a go. We’ve been tempted of late, and stories like this one only make us want to do it even more. This article relays one couple’s experience with CrossFit and how it made them fitter, stronger, sexier and better able to cope with their son’s diagnosis of autism. It is a New Year, and what better time to try a new workout?

• This time of year always poses a problem if you’re not just a twice-a-year gym-goer (New Year’s and beginning of bikini season). The machines are packed. While we commend folks wanting to make healthy lifestyle changes, it makes us want to just use our home equipment more religiously. Consumer Reports recently released what it’s deemed to be the top at-home fitness equipment, including stuff from ProForm, Diamondback and AFG. This story recaps their choices.

• At-home fitness equipment could come in handy for the Netflix binge watchers among us. We admit — we’ve wasted a day on the couch watching “Orange is the New Black” on Netflix. We probably could have burned 1,000 calories if we watched while workout out on our elliptical machine. Turns out 45 percent of folks who responded to a Netflix survey said they would be more motivated to exercise if they had access to their favorite TV shows on their equipment, this story reports. We’ve seen that option from several fitness manufacturers but we know that our gym, for one, has to catch up with the times and get rid of that old equipment of theirs.

• Let’s go back to those exercise New Year’s resolutioners for just a minute: We all want them to succeed. So if you have some customers that are new to exercise and it’s part of their resolution for 2014, share with them this list of tricks to stick to them. The tips include sharing your goals, recruiting a friend and joining a team.

• Speaking of resolutions, the key, this article said, is to keep them realistic and have a network for accountability. One way to do that is to join fitness classes. Your classmates will wonder where you’ve been if you miss a few classes here and there, thus holding you accountable.

Did you read anything awesome this week? Email us because we want to read it, too.