SNEWS best fitness reads from around the web

What did the SNEWS team read this week that other fitness insiders might find interesting? Read on to find out.

• We know we wouldn’t want to compete against veterans in any type of activity. But a lot of contestants in the Paralympics do, as many veterans participate in the games and consistently raise the bar, according to this NPR story. Check out the piece for a great tale of veterans, such as Oksana Masters, who are dominating the London Paralympics games.

• The next time Mom tells us to take fish oil to help us with any type of ailment, we’re going to turn right back around and tell her to do the same. Turns out, according to this Telegraph story, fish oil could double the benefits of exercise for senior citizens. The benefits including improving balance and warding off muscle deterioration.

• If you can’t convince your older parents to eat some salmon, I’m sure you could convince them to take a box of chocolates as this Chicago Tribune story claims chocolate lovers have a lower risk for stroke than those who don’t eat chocolate. But we wonder, who doesn’t eat chocolate? 

• Though cutting calories may lead to a smaller waist and bigger health benefits, it doesn’t lead to a longer life, according to this Wall Street Journal article — at least not for monkeys. The article dives deep into the scientific reasons behind why this might be the case, and said that though the study involves monkeys, the same might be true for humans.

• Over time, the simple act of moving our bodies as they were designed to move has become a sort of punishment or to-do list item, leading people to have an all-or-nothing attitude when it comes to exercise. For example, if a person can’t get in their usual long run or long workout, they won’t settle for 10 minutes, but rather forgo a workout altogether. This U.S. News story dives into the topic of how exercise shouldn’t been seen that way; rather, we should simply be as active as we can throughout the day, even sitting less, and count it toward our activity goal. This idea could be helpful at selling things like balls to substitute for office chairs to your customers. 

• In light of the idea that exercise is something to check of a to-do list, people seem to continue to dread it and this Bend Bulletin story suggests that there aren’t many reasons that get people motivated to hop on an elliptical these days. Not even health scare tactics seem to work. So the article suggests we sell exercise not as a way to get skinny or sexy, but as a way to get happy and have less stress. 

• Ah, stress. Our ever-present yet unwelcome little buddy. Turns out, according to this Diets in Review post, we shouldn’t allow ourselves to get in the habit of doing things like yelling, using a punching bag or even a moderate run when we’re angry, rather we should engage in these four exercises for stress relief that include high-intensity interval training and yoga. We’re positive you can sell a bunch of accessories on the line that they could help relieve stress.

• In our sneak peek into the new products you’ll be seeing at Health and Fitness Business this year, we saw GoFit is bringing a new Wall Ball. Medicine balls like the Wall Ball are gaining steam among your customers because of the ever-growing popularity of CrossFit. Check out this Chicago Tribune story that outlines a simple medicine ball workout for your customers. 

• This Business Week article likens the building of the empire of the strength training at-home fitness regimen P90X to the building of Starbucks empire. We haven’t tried it but have some friends who swear it got them “ripped” in 90 days. Take a look into the mind of the Tony Horton in this Time article to see his motivation for developing the fitness craze.

Have you read anything interesting you’d like to share with us? Maybe we’ll include it next week’s column with a little shout out to you. Send a link to the story with the subject line “SNEWS Reads” to be considered.

–Compiled by Ana Trujillo