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 see it now. The next big development in the fitness accessories arena is going to be drum sticks that track your reps and calories burned. But for now, it’s just a regular old drum stick helping folks in New York torch some serious calories. If you’ve done Zumba, you know that the move where you’re frantically beating the imaginary drum with imaginary drumsticks while doing squats is among the most challenging. A new drumming class takes the concept to a whole new level. Read about it in this Huffington Post story. 

• We are all about gadgets, and apparently we’re not alone. This Seattle Times column goes through all the technological toys the writer used to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle, including the Polar RCX5, Withings Wi-Fi Body Scale and Nike+ Fuelband. We were more interested, however, in this fitness app we read about on Gizmodo that controls your heart rate through music. We’ve found listening to uptempo music helps us keep up a faster running pace.

• We are early risers here at SNEWS, and the first thing on our agenda after a hearty breakfast is a nice workout. Mostly because we know that if we don’t knock out our workout first thing in the morning, we won’t do it later. This Huffington Post article gives tips on how to maintain your morning exercise mojo, which include scheduling workouts like business meetings. This could be helpful, especially now during the height of cold and flu season as the publication also reports exercise boosts your immune system.

• Do your male customers need a little fitspiration? Have them check out this Diets In Review blog post reporting on Men’s Health’s Top 100 Fittest Men of All Time. Some of the chosen include Jack LaLanne, Bruce Lee, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Phelps. Find out why each of these guys was chosen.

• Fitness and healthy lifestyles go hand-in-hand with leadership positions for five reasons, according to this Forbes article. Some of those reasons include confidence and ability to efficiently face challenges. We’re not Navy SEALs like the author, but we’re pretty badass. Just saying.

• We don’t know about your place of work, but over here at Active Interest Media, all the people are fit and beautiful (seen our bio pics?). And we’re also pretty productive so we believe this study report from Brookings Institution that shows that exercise improves productivity. The report shows that as you age, you have fewer brain cells and exercise helps to prevent that deterioration. Exercise can make you feel more energetic, healthier and happier. We knew it makes us feel like every day is the best day we’ve had all week.

• Tell your customers to ditch the puzzles and get themselves a treadmill! Turns out, according to this CBS News story, exercise trumps puzzles in preventing brain shrinkage. Just make sure they’re not trying to do puzzles on those treadmills as that could lead to a whole host of other problems.

• We’ve read this time and time again, and we’re continuing to hope this news is never proven wrong: Exercise improves survival rates in breast cancer battlers, according to this Augusta Chronicle story. Though a treadmill or an elliptical right off the bat might not be an easy sell to breast cancer survivors, perhaps pointing them in the direction of a class or a networking opportunity to mingle with other survivors might be the ticket to getting them hooked.

• Your customers probably get hurt from time to time, and they might want to know tips on how to maintain their fitness routine after an injury. We know we’re nursing a strained hip flexor that is tormenting our back. But don’t let yourself or your customers take any of these medical missteps while exercising with an injury as reported by Time Magazine. First of all, don’t self-diagnose with Google (from experience we know this to be super nerve-wracking) and make sure your health plan covers everything you need for treatment of your pains and aches.

• Turns out us cracking ourselves up isn’t just a way to entertain ourselves when the cash flow is low, it’s actually a workout, according to this New York Times story. Don’t tell your customers as they may think going to Comedy Works might be an exchange for an actual workout. This story talks about how laughter is a physical response to something humorous, rather than just an emotional one. It also summarizes a study that showed laughter releases endorphins the way exercise does.

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