FOR your heart, running is the same as walking is the same as cycling is the same as basketball, is the same as…a gazillion other forms of activity. IN your heart, different forms of activity are rank ordered according to what feeds your physical activity soul. In a perfect world, your engagement in FOR is [...]
Momentum – a hard concept to throw a net around, yet understandable at the same time. A sudden spark, and you are a step faster, a shade brighter, a notch more focused. Energy comes from a different dimension—moving is effortless—time stands still yet passes quickly. Most important, you just KNOW the shot is going to [...]
Spice up your cardio workout with a simple circuit routine that doubles as a fitness event. Yep, cardio sessions that build heart health AND feature competition and novelty to stoke your intensity-pushing and motivation-driving adrenaline. First, decide how many components you want for your circuit challenge, and then, select the machines. The common choices include [...]
Motor skill practice is an Iron Footprint Fitness pillar because the better your proficiency the more activity choice you have, and the more activity choice you have the more likely you will engage any given day. It just makes sense. If limited to doing one thing, that one thing is going to get old fast. [...]
If your gym follows trending fitness then no doubt it offers some rendition of ‘functional fitness.’ Whereas traditional strength training isolates muscle groups to induce strength, endurance, size or power gains (think barbell bench press), functional fitness is all about integration. It teaches muscle groups to work together, and the exercises almost always engage the [...]
Remember when it WAS pc to talk about your maximum bench press or squat? Ah, the good ‘ole days! Today, the topic brings puzzlement or disgust, from either unfamiliarity or fear you will next strip down to your circa 1980 coaching shorts or leg warmers. In contemporary fitness, the 1-repetition maximum lift (1-rm) faces extinction [...]
Parents are THE strongest influences on a child’s physical activity habit. Whether playing catch, transporting to sport practice, or consistently messaging positive messages about activity engagement and offering encouragement, parents largely determine what activity is done, when it’s done and for how long—patterns that tend to follow across the life-span. Hey, this is great news! [...]
If you live in a snowy climate—this year who doesn’t!—March 1 is sort of like winter’s hump-month. Ever so slightly (especially since yet another widespread snow dump is in the forecast) the anticipation starts to grow about resuming outside workouts. Of course, some just ignore the elements, but many more prefer the forced heat comfort [...]
Any activity is better than no activity BUT the more it is achievement-purposeful, the stronger your motivation to keep doing it. Purposeful exercise provides a backbone for our effort by targeting intentional fitness or motor skill improvement. The opposite is ‘just’ exercise, risky since ‘today I’m just going to do some cardio’ or ‘today I’m [...]
Chunking activity minutes - even 10 minutes at a time - prevents disease, enhances life quality and helps sustain balanced energy (weight management). So chunk away! But accumulate as many chunks as possible for optimal benefit and to develop resilient motivation. It’s no more complicated than the more activity you do the greater the benefit, [...]