I’ve mentioned this before, but the news is just TOO good to not mention again when it pops up on Google News and the likes. I just found yet another article proving that consistent daily workouts truly do help ward off cancer returning to your body if you’ve already beat the disease.

This is coming straight from the American Cancer Society, so it’d be wise to lend your ear and hear what they have to say. According to their report:

“For some kinds of cancer, just 1 to 3 hours a week of exercise can lower the risk of cancer recurrence and death, as well as death from all causes. Exercise has also been shown to improve fitness, fatigue, and several other quality of life aspects in cancer survivors.“

Well if that isn’t motivation to stay fit, I don’t know what is. Come to Fit Express and join the hydraulic resistance circuit training revolution. Read the article, then zoom over to Fit Express!

If you’re looking for a sign of the apocalypse, this might just sound like one. Africa, a continent usually completely synonymous with hunger, starvation and terrifying images of young children and babies plagued by a total lack of nutrition, is now being plagued by obesity.

That’s right, Obesity has made its way to Africa and is gearing up to run rampant. Experts say this is happening because of trends brought on by new, more modern lifestyles migrating to the continent, as well as old beliefs that “big is beautiful.”

Now in Africa, more than 1/3 of all women are overweight and more than 1/4 of all men suffer the same fate. The best quote I heard about this epidemic is this: ‘‘We have gone from under-nutrition to over-nutrition without ever having passed healthy nutrition…” Frightening. Just frightening.

This is a short one just to chronicle a little example of how sad the state of American Fitness is. With all the hooplah surrounding the release of the Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii, it’s clear that we’re much more focused on video games and leisure than we are about fitness and exercising. I’ve never seen people camp out at a sporting goods store for a treadmill or a new pair of shoes.

Regardless, now that the Wii has been released, many people are complaining that they are too sore after playing with it. Too SORE after playing video games!? Turns out, there is a reason. I have to give credit to Nintendo and their brave spokesperson for handling this one so honestly…when the complaints were received she simply said, “…if people are finding themselves sore, they may need to exercise more.”

Well said Nintendo, well said.

Good news for any and all people suffering from auto-immune conditions; according to new research, low-impact aerobic exercise such as walking, cycling, or *cough*circuit training*cough*, can drastically reduce fatigue felt in patients.

Wow, that is good news. New studies are now reporting that, “reasonable evidence that people with conditions like multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus could benefit from exercise that gradually increased in intensity, duration and frequency.” Sounds just like circuit training to me.

Head over to Fit Express, we have a line of equipment designed for you to let you use your own strength to determine how hard of a workout you want. Plus, the best part of our style of hydraulic resistance circuit training is that you never feel soreness after your workout; by using your own strength to make your workout harder, you’re only working as hard as your body needs to, never straining against heavy weights.

In the battle of the bulge is it willpower or body wiring that can prove to be your greatest ally, or greatest enemy? Some people say it’s all willpower, that a positive will to lose weight can override any wiring issues you may have; others argue back that the biology of each individual body determines if you will lose the weight? Who is right?

Turns out, according to new research, both. That’s right, more research is now indicating that there are at least “30 or 40 genes that affect body weight.” That means that in each person, if those 30 or 40 genes show a greater predisposition to weight gain, that person will struggle to keep the pounds off their entire life; struggle, but they can still succeed. Enter Willpower.

Willpower, it turns out, is a hugely important, but also hugely personal tool in weight loss. Without it, the body wiring takes over and you enter into a lifetime of being overweight or obese. With it, even though it’s a daily battle, the battle can be won and your weight can be properly managed. Head over and read the article, then head back to Fit Express and let a group setting keep your willpower high. Don’t delay, start today!

Those 4 words represent the absolute Holy Grail for about 99% of people out there. The ability to eat more and weigh less; could it really be possible? Turns out, yes, it is…so what’s the secret?

The secret, it appears, is to eat foods that are less dense. In a land where 66% of the people are overweight or obese, it’s clear that most of us aren’t getting that secret. So, foods that are less dense actually translates into foods that will not fill you up as quickly with calories. When people snack and graze all day eating high-calorie foods, they are filling themselves with far too much food, far too many calories, and their weight will take the direct hit. This article aims to show you how to eat more and weigh less by selecting the “right” foods.

Some “right” foods include soup, water, and veggies. One of the easiest ways to eat more and not weigh more is to add water based veggies to your favorite foods. Add celery to chili, tomatoes to soup, carrots to stew, anything to bulk up the meal without bulking up the calories. Head over and read this article, it’s a great one. Remember, the best way to avoid putting on pounds no matter HOW you diet is exercise. Come to Fit Express and you’ll never want to leave!

The link between obesity and all sorts of cancer has been continually dissected as of late. People everywhere are doing studies trying to figure out just what the link is, how it will affect people, and what to do about it. Results are coming in on both sides of the scale; some say obesity can actually be a bit of a protection against breast cancer, while others are saying it most certainly is not a positive thing.

I just read a full, in-depth article about this very link and, more than anything, is extremely honest about it. The link does admit that in a way, obesity has proven in the past to provide what some people view as a “buffer” against breast cancer by altering hormonal and menstrual cycle patterns. This change can actually slow “circulating levels of the breast-cancer-promoting hormones estradiol and progesterone.”

So is it “worth it?” No. All reports say No. A direct quote from the article says, “This small benefit doesn’t come close to counterbalancing the risks associated with obesity, including postmenopausal breast cancer, diabetes, and heart disease….” Bottom line, stay trim, stay fit, fight diseases with a healthy body; there really is no alternative.

With obesity running rampant across the United States and heck, the whole rest of the world, the question is raised, Are Current Strategies Enough? Many, many people would answer that with a very simple, No.

Everyone knows exercise sprinkled with diet control is the best way to avoid obesity and all the pitfalls associated with it, but still, the numbers are growing. Some people believe a new strategy is required, and that strategy, as unorthodox as it may sound, could be psychotherapy.

To make a long story short, they treated a bunch of people with 49 days of treatment, and as surprising as it sounds, people actually were losing weight. In all cases, well-being, body-image, and eating behavior also improved. So, maybe if you’re at the end of your rope, keep exercising but ask your doctors about adding this as a potential treatment method.

Congrats to Tennessee for getting the appropriate grants to allow 19 more schools to now fight obesity statewide!

That’s right, a total of $1.4 million dollars in grants is going to be allocated across the boards to schools to, according to the article, “engage students, parents, staff and community members in creating an environment that focuses on physical activity, healthy eating habits and good social health.”

The program is called Coordinated School Health and started with 10 “pilot schools” but now, has proven to be so important that grants are being flooded in to allow its spread all over the state. Hopefully more states get this great idea into their heads and start making changes nationwide!

Sleep disorders were once problems that plagued older adults and senior citizens. Remember the old adage “sleep like a baby?” Well turns out now, even our youth are falling victim to sleep related disorders such as sleep apnea and severe snoring…the question is, why?

I’ll give you one guess; here’s your hint, the rapidly rising rates of overweight and obese children is the reason. In a recent study done on children in Georgia, the studies were overwhelming with proof that exercise can help relieve a great deal of sleep disorders in children and adolescents. In the study, kids were split into three groups: A non-exercising group, a group that exercised for 40 minutes a day, and a group that exercised 20 minutes a day. The kids performed their group tasks for 13 weeks and at the end of the study, both exercise groups showed direct improvements on their sleep disorders and snoring while the non-exercising group showed no improvement whatsoever.

What’s just as interesting is the fact that the improvements were not related to the loss of weight, as the BMI’s had no relevance in the sleep disorder relief. The simple act of exercise changed their rates of sleep disorder. Sounds like more than enough of a reason to get your whole family to Fit Express!