SNEWS best fitness reads from around the web

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

• We’ve been writing a lot about how many opportunities lie in getting into light commercial sales and one of those bigger opportunities lies in outfitting schools. Well listen up Los Angeles retailers, the Los Angeles Unified School District just received $252,000 to promote healthy eating and exercise, according to this Daily News story. We smell opportunity.

• Fitness information trackers have been big over the past year, and if you were still uncertain as to whether they really helped people lose any weight, check out this Technology Review story that says they do, in fact, help people lose weight. Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine recently wrapped up a study that followed 70 exercising adults. Half were given paper journals to record their fitness, and the other half were given mobile devices. The group with the mobile devices lost more weight and kept it off longer. Check out the Technology Review story.

• Ballet barre classes are becoming increasingly popular, and yoga has been a longtime favorite of fit folks, but which is better for you? This New York Daily News story features the woman behind Natalie Portman’s transformation into a ballerina for the movie The Black Swan and how she feels ballet barre workouts are better because your body is constantly moving.

• This has the potential to be a hot topic. We recently read this Huffington Post story about a few overweight soldiers who were discharged for failing fitness tests. The military said training and putting overweight soldiers to work costs more and in an effort to trim the budget they’re turning away unfit recruits and axing unfit soldiers. What are your thoughts on the topic?

• Speaking of other people in uniform, this website that offers fitness tips for police officers presents this helpful post that gives a few tips on how to properly execute exercises, tips for getting the most out of a workout session and specific directions for the best body weight exercises. Maybe those soldiers from the previous read could give this a go.

• It seems to be a trend: News articles about officers, soldiers and fitness tests in the news these days. The last one we read on Seacoastonline.com was about one male police officer suing the state of New Hampshire because he said the tests discriminate against men. The officer claims that men are required to outperform women and it’s not fair.

• This isn’t good news for the SNEWS team because we wake up bright an early to get in our workouts, but this New York Times blog said afternoon might be the best time of day to work out. Check it out to find out why. 

• Ohio retailers, we’ve found your mission. According to this Med City News story, Ohions smoke more and exercise less than their counterparts in other states. The article states that 25 percent of the entire state’s population smokes, compared to the national average of 21 percent. Though there state moved up to No. 35 on the America’s Healthiest rankings, it still has bad habits like these.

• So the holidays are nearly over, but that doesn’t mean shopping is. A lot of people are going to be taking advantage of those post-holiday deals and shopping for New Year’s resolution supplies. Check out this Seattle Times story about the top inexpensive fitness gear to buy and see if you’re stocking it in your stores.

• What are the top fitness classes people were into in 2012? This Washingtonian story points them out to you. We know we read several stories about pole dancing classes, including one where women met to pole dance for Jesus, so naturally pole dancing was on the list, as was CrossFit and trapeze school. Check it out and see what other cool classes people were into. What do you think next year’s hot classes will be?

Did you read anything interesting? Send us an email with the link so we can check it out too!

–Ana Trujillo