Free Sample Bootcamp Class w/ Angela - October 15th in Hudson

Come Try Bootcamp! Let Angela Doherty take you through a high intensity, calorie burning, muscle conditioning work out. If your looking for a program to help lose weight, jump start your work out program or just need help getting motivated -- Bootcamp might be for you. There is only a couple spots left in the 12 week program -- try it on Friday to see if Bootcamp is right for you.

Friday - October 15th at 6AM in Hudson. Please reserve your spot today - CLICK HERE! Hurry, space is limited.

Strength Training..

Strength



Strength training is designed to define, tone and strengthen your whole body! This is accomplished through the use of resistance which can take the form of a weighted bar, plates, or body weight in Group Power, weighted dumbbells, plates, or body weight in Group Active, or the body weight in Group Centergy, Group Kick or Group Step. In addition to this resistance training, the cardio portions of all of these classes and other cardio based Group Fitness classes have a strengthening benefit as the muscles overcome the resistance of the cardio workout.



Two Group Fitness based strength training programs you might find at your club are Group Power, which focuses exclusively on strength training, and Group Active, which incorporates cardio, balance, and flexibility training in addition to strength training.



The Benefits of Strength

How can strength training help you? Check out the proven advantages:

• You lose weight


• You lose body fat


• You tone your muscles


• You have more endurance


• Your clothes fit better


• You burn more calories both during exercise and when resting

In addition to these benefits, strength training keeps your bones and connective tissues strong. Since we may start losing muscle and bone strength beginning in our 20s, a strength training program like Group Power or Group Active can help reduce or stop these losses in their tracks.



What to Expect in Class



One of the great parts of Group Power, or the strength portions of Group Active, is that you work with adjustable weights so you can pick the perfect weight for your. As you gain strength, you can choose to add weight when you're ready, or it you have to take some time off or are having a bad day you can remove a bit of weight so that you can still benefit from a challenging but not overwhelming experience. The important thing is that you pick a weight that is challenging for YOU on any given day.



In addition tot he benefit of adjustable weights, using the plates alone in Group Power or the dumbbells in Group Active allows us to use both arms together, or one at a time. You'll usually experience both in every release. This helps keep one side of the body from compensating for the other and helps balance the strength of the body.



Don't forget the importance of core strength or strength in the muscles of the abdomen and the back. This area plays a big role in good posture, athletic performance, and in overall well being. Group Active, Group Centergy, Group Kick, Group Power, and Group Step all have one or more sections that typically incorporate core strengthening exercises.



Group Power and Group Active strength training take a whole body and peiodized approach to strength training. The whole body aspect means that you will be training most, if not all, of the major muscle groups during the class time frame. This also has the benefit of balancing strength so that no single area of the body becomes stronger than another. This is important because muscle imbalance, or one side of the body being much stronger than the other (for example the front versus back of the leg), can lead to injury.



Periodization refers to the variation of a workout over time. Group Power and Group Active training is designed with this in mind. Because our bodies are so good at adapting to stress, if we always do the same workout, it will eventually not be challenging any longer as your body adapts. Varying the workout keeps the body "guessing" so that the results and corresponding benefits keep coming.

Are You Drinking Enough Water?

Hit the Gym Wet

To get the most from your workouts, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends drinking about 17 ounces of water two hours before exercise to allow for adequate hydration and time for excretion of the exess. During exercise, drink regularly to replace the water lost through sweating. To test if you are drinking enough while exercising, weigh yourself before and after the workout; if you weigh less you are dehydrated.

Give Your Energy and Metablolism a Boost
For an energy Boost drink 12 ounces first thing in the morning. Your body loses fluid stored overnight, which can make your mind foggy. Starting your day with water may keep you from seeking out coffee or caffeinated tea, or at least help you cut back.

For Craving Control
Drink 12 ounces 30 minutes before meals. Whenever you feel a hunger craving, drink first. If you're still hungry have a balanced snack or healthy meal.

For Higher Metabolism
Drink water throughout the day. Mild dehydration can slow your metabolism by as much as 3%. A German study found that drinking 50 ounces of cold water can help you burn up to an extra 50 calories per day - that's 5 pounds per year - without exercising! Experts think the metabolism boost is due to the extra effort needed to raise the water's temperature to 98.6 degrees F.

Lack of Water Leads To:

• Fatigue/Weakness
• Thirst
• Headache
• Cramps
• Stress on the heart
• Dizziness

Sources of Water

8 Glasses a Day

Research varies as to how much water a person needs to consume in one day. The general guideline of eight 8 ounce glasses per day is just that - a guideline to help you maintain healthy function. Water regulates your body temperature; aids in digestion, circulation and joint lubrication; maintains blood volume; flushes toxins from the liver and kidneys; and helps decrease the risk of numerous cancers by 50% or more.

Solid Foods

Water is ingested via our food sources as well. For example, fruits and vegetables are mostly water. Watermelon, apples, grapefruit, broccoli, lettuce, celery and carrots are all good sources of water.

White bread, rice, and other carbs boost heart disease risk in women

Women who eat more white bread, white rice, pizza, and other carbohydrate-rich foods that cause blood sugar to spike are more than twice as likely to develop heart disease than women who eat less of those foods, a new study suggests.

In the study, published recently in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers analyzed data from a large, ongoing study of nutrition and cancer risk. The researchers surveyed roughly 48,000 Italian adults about their diets in detail, noting the amount and types of carbohydrates they consumed on a regular basis. Not surprisingly - the study was conducted in Italy, after all - bread, pasta, and pizza were common sources of carbs. During the eight-year follow-up period, 463 people in the study - 65 percent of them men - experienced heart problems (including heart attacks), had angioplasty or bypass surgery, or died of heart-disease-related causes. The women who reported eating the most carbohydrates had twice the risk of developing heart disease as their counterparts who consumed the fewest carbs.
When the researchers broke the carbs into high and low glycemic index categories, the increased risk was even more apparent: Women who ate the most high glycemic foods had about 2.25 times the risk of developing heart disease than women who consumed the fewest.

For more information, please email ereardon@myboostfitness.com for nutritional guidance.

How to do Interval Training

How to do Interval Training
Warm Up
Before your begin the training you need to warm your body up, and prepare it for exercise. Warming up is very important as it helps prevent injuries.
1. Start by jogging at a slow pace for 5 minutes.
2. Performs some stretches for 5 minutes, paying particular attention to your calfs, hamstrings, ancles and buttocks. But don't forget to give your upper body a stretch too.
3. Slow jog for another 5 minutes.
Interval Training
Now the high intensity exercise begins. For each of the sprints try and run at 80% of your maximum capacity. This does not need to be an exact pace, but run at sprint speed whilst also knowing that you could run a little faster if you were being chased by an angry bull. Keep your breathing at a regular pace with you are running. Many people find it helpful to breath in over two steps and breath out over the next two steps, this way you will run four paces per breath.
4. Sprint at your 80% pace for 30 breaths or 120 paces.
5. Jog at a slow to medium pace until you have recovered your breath, which should be after about 3 minutes.
6. Repeat the sprint and jog cycle three times.
Warm Down
7. Jog for a further 3 minutes.
8. Stretch your muscles again for 5-10 minutes.
This whole routine should take just over half an hour and if performed twice a week should help you to burn the fat that you want to loose. The great thing is that not only is this the best exercise to burn fat but it is also the best for getting fit quickly.
If a program like this is still too much of a struggle for you and you need extra motivation, think about downloading cardio workouts to your mp3 player from www.iTRAIN.com. Its like a personal trainer but without the expense.
Please make sure you speak to a doctor before starting this or any other strenuous physical activity. Also do not push yourself to hard, if when exercising you experience pain then consult your doctor before continuing.

The Best Exercise to Burn Fat

We all know that exercise helps us loose weight, improves our health and increases our metabolism. But many people don't know that how you exercise, rather than how long you exercise, will have a big impact on how much fat you burn.
So what is the best way to burn fat? What is the right kind of exercise to do? A study at Laval University, Canada found that a group following a program of high-intensity intermittent-training lost nine times more fat than those following a normal endurance training program.
High-intensity intermittent-training also known as interval training or fartlek involves a combination of short sprints with jogging in between. The interesting thing is that during the training sessions the endurance group burned more calories than the interval training group. It would therefore seem sensible to assume that this group should have burned more fat; but over the course of the study it was actually the interval training group that burned the most fat.
The researchers discovered that interval training increases the bodies resting metabolic rate and so your body continues to burn fat after you stop exercising. This means that on an interval training program you can burn fat even whilst you are sleeping or watching television. It's like a weight loss dream come true. Well almost.

Healthy Foods to eat every day

#1 Leafy greens
Medical experts call them one of nature's miracle foods. Leafy greens like Swiss chard and kale are high in nutrients like folate and vitamins A and C that can lower your risk of cancer. Just one cup of dark, leafy greens a day could also prevent diabetes and high blood pressure.

#2 Nuts
Many nutritionists recommend nuts like almonds, cashews and walnuts because they're high in natural fiber. Fiber slows your digestive process, keeping hunger and unhealthy mid-afternoon snacks at bay. Goodbye vending machine runs!

#3 Onions
Studies show that consuming onions on a regular basis may reduce symptoms of asthma and the risk of developing stomach cancer. Add them to soups and stir-fry, and just remember -- the stronger the onion, the greater the health benefit.

#4 Whole grains
Refined grains, like white rice and pasta, have lost 90% of their nutritional value through the refining process. As if that weren't reason enough to choose whole grains like brown rice, quinoa and whole oats, a recent study showed that a diet rich in whole grains actually flattens your belly by reducing fat storage in your lower abdominal region.

#5 Yogurt
Making yogurt part of your daily eating routine can improve your digestion -- if you're buying the right stuff. Check that the label lists "active cultures" to make sure you're getting healthy probiotics, and pick a yogurt rich in vitamin D to prevent osteoporosis

How Stress Affects Your Weight

If you're under a lot of stress you probably have noticed many different symptoms. You may not sleep as well as you'd like, your mood may be affected, you may crave more sugar and starches and you likely will notice weight gain especially around your midsection. Stress affects your weight the following ways:

1) Breaking down lean muscle tissue
Elevated stress hormones contribute to the breakdown of lean muscle tissue. The breakdown of muscle tissue is very detrimental because muscle tissue is metabolically much more active than fat, meaning it burns more calories. When you are breaking down muscle you are in a catabolic state as opposed to anabolic-building muscle.

2) Increased cravings
High cortisol levels from too much stress cause increased cravings for sugar and refined carbohydrates. Often one will reach for poor quality foods (sugar) to satisfy cravings and keep them going and as a result pack on more pounds.

3) Increased abdominal fat
Numerous studies have linked stress and the oversecretion of cortisol with obesity and increased storage of abdominal fat.

What to do about it:

* Practice stress management techniques 10-15 minutes each day.

* Exercise

* Include protein with each meal to stabilize blood sugar levels.

* Identify the stressor and work toward making changes if possible.

* Take nutritional supplements especially B-complex vitamins and vitamin C to help deal with stress. Those under lots of stress are depleting their bodies of vitamin B and C at a faster rate compared to those not under as much stress.

* Do saliva testing to evaluate stress hormone levels.

For more information, email ereardon@myboostfitness.com

Aspartame News

The company that produces Aspartame is renaming the product to Aminosweet trying to sound like a natural sweetener. The name may sound healthier but it still has the same toxic ingredients. There is evidence that Aspartame can cause neurological brain damage, cancerous tumors, and endocrine disruption. Many don't realize that Aspartame was invented as a drug and upon realizing it's sweet taste was transformed into a food additive. Stay away from Aspartame despite it's new name.

Eric Reardon - MS, CNC
Boost Fitness
ereardon@myboostfitness.com

5 Steps to Blast Fat and Lose Weight

What are the keys to blasting fat and losing weight? There are many theories out there but the following 5 are tried and true. If you're looking to lose weight and reduce body fat these steps are crucial to your success.

1) Weight train
Weight training is proven to add muscle and rev up your metabolism. Those that are only doing cardiovascular work are missing a key ingredient to losing weight. The more muscle on your frame the more calories you burn at rest. At least 2-3 times per week of 20-30 minutes and you'll soon see benefits.

2) Burst train to blast fat
Scientific research now shows that bursting or interval training is even better than traditional aerobic exercise done at the same speed. What's better is that it takes even less time and burns more calories once you are finished than that boring treadmill routine.

3) Eat a good breakfast
Many still struggle despite knowing the importance of this. Research shows those who eat a good breakfast (400-500 calories) are more apt to lose weight and reduce their cravings during the course of the day.

4) Replace one meal with a protein drink
Why? Because those that do lose more weight and keep it off. It's easy and full of quality nutrition. The basics are whey or brown rice protein, ground flax and fruit. Want to increase the nutritional content and make it even more filling-add green food powder, lecithin, vitamin C, almonds and or yogurt.

5) Avoid high fructose corn syrup
Not only will high fructose corn syrup make you hungrier it will make you store fat too. Read ingredient labels and steer clear of this sugar.

For more information on nutrition and diet please email ereardon@myboostfitness.com for a free half hour consultation.

10 Commonly Used Excuses to Avoid Exercise

1. Excuse: “I’m too busy at work during the day to find time to workout.”

Truth: Everyone is busy, and if it’s time on this earth you value, you should put your health first. If you don’t, what you're actually doing is letting time slip right through your fingers. Exercise improves your mood, your energy level, and promotes better sleep; making you more efficient at all those daily tasks that eat up your time. Make exercise a daily priority by scheduling it into your calendar or "to-do" list, like you would for any important meeting. Then, you will hold yourself accountable and exercise will feel like a natural part of your workday.

2. Excuse: “Health club memberships are too expensive.”

Truth: Memberships are available at a variety of price points, some as low as $19. In 2008, average monthly membership costs a little over $40. In 2010, $40 can get you a manicure/pedicure, a date night at the movies, or maybe a new sweater. When you evaluate where to allocate your $40, remember that those purchases, and most others, cannot improve your health or save you money, but exercise can, so plan your investments carefully.

3. Excuse: “Everyone at the gym is fit and in shape.”

Truth: People of all populations, ages, genders, weights, shapes, sizes, and skill levels workout at a club. Club staff, personal trainers, and other members will help ease you into the club environment. A trainer can show you the ropes, make you feel at home, and demonstrate proper exercise technique so you’ll feel like a pro on the fitness floor. Meeting a new workout buddy or bringing a friend can also provide the social support you need to get started and maintain your routine.


4. Excuse: “Why join a health club when I can exercise outside?”

Truth: Sunshine is beautiful, but exposes you to harmful UV rays. Every day is unpredictable - rain, shine, sleet, heat, cold, or snow, a health club provides a protective environment for working out; no matter what the weather is like outside.


5. Excuse: “I’m not overweight, so I don’t need to exercise.”

Truth: This is a big misconception. Exercise is not just a way to lose weight, but also a way to keep yourself healthy. People of any weight can have underlying health problems like diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis that can go undetected. Cardio and weight training help build a healthy heart, lungs, muscle mass, and strong bones; which are key to combat disease as you age and will help you live a long and healthy life. 7, 8


6. Excuse: “Dieting alone will yield the same results as exercising.”

Truth: Exercise is one of the most central components in maintaining your weight and improving long-term results. Ultimately, the most successful weight management plan is a combination of a healthy diet and daily exercise.


7. Excuse: “I can just workout at home on my own equipment or with fitness video games.”

Truth: Setting up a home gym means buying expensive equipment, taking up precious space, and spending time and money for equipment maintenance. A decent treadmill can cost about $1,000 (that’s the price of over two years of membership at a health club!). At home you’re on your own - you have no professional there to ensure proper technique and to help prevent injury. As far as video games go, a new study says Wii Fit provides insufficient stimulus for fitness changes and no major improvements in daily physical activity, muscular fitness, flexibility, balance or body composition. Leave the video games to Mario. Besides, it’s good for your mental health to get out of the house and go to the club for a change of scenery and to socialize, instead of being home alone. 9


8. Excuse: “There aren’t enough things to do at a health club.”

Truth: Boredom? Impossible! If it’s variety you want, health clubs have it: treadmills, ellipticals, weight machines, personal training, yoga, pilates, zumba, spinning, basketball, racquet sports, swimming, nutrition counseling, and spas. Not to mention a friendly staff of trained professionals.


9. Excuse: “Exercise isn’t all that important to my health.”

Truth: If exercise were a pill, it’d be the most potent and effective one ever made. Lucky for us, you don’t need to wait for a prescription; you just need to decide to get up and go. Regular exercise prevents chronic disease like diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease, increases productivity, improves your mood and your energy level, minimizes stress, promotes better sleep, and leads to decreased work absenteeism. Still need convincing? 1, 2, 4, 7


10. Excuse: “I can’t find a health club that fits my needs.”

Your already at our blog - might as well come to the club at least. With three convenient locations, great classes, personal training and memberships starting at just $19 a month - Boost Fitness might be just what you are looking for.

How to determine your target Heart Rate

One of the most common questions we get at Boost Fitness relates to what is my target heart rate. There are a bunch of little ways to mathematically figure out how you can improve your diet and exercise, and one of these ways is to determine your target heartbeat rate, and then use that information when you are exercising in order to get the most out of every single workout. Here is the math that you need to figure out in order to determine what your target heartbeat rate is.

First, take your age.Now subtract your age from the number 220.

220 - [Age]

Now take the difference, and perform these two mathematical equations:

[Your Number] x 0.6 =

[Your Number] x 0.8 =

Now take these two numbers and divide each one by 6 separately, so that we can get a target heart rate for 10 seconds rather than the full minute.

[First Result] / 6 =

[Second Result] / 6 =

The two numbers that you get as a result make up the range of beats per minute that should serve as your target heartbeat rate. Let us look at an example to explain this concept further.

First, take your age, 40 years.

Now subtract your age from the number 220.

>> 220 - 40 = 180

Now take the difference, and perform these two mathematical equations:

180 x 0.6 = 108

180 x 0.8 = 144

Now take these two numbers and divide each one by 6 separately, so that we can get a target heart rate for 10 seconds rather than the full minute.

108 / 6 = 18

144 / 6 = 24

What this means is that if you are a forty year old, then your target heartbeat rate should be between 18 beats and 24 beats in a 10-second count in order to be in the right cardio range.

After approximately 15 minutes worth of working out, not including your warm up, you should find your pulse on your neck using your index finger and your middle finger. Count how many beats you have for ten seconds exactly. If the number falls between your range, which in our example was 18 to 24, then you are doing good. If you get less than the lower number, you need to increase your workout intensity. If you get more than the higher number in the range, then you need to decrease the intensity of your workout.

When your heart rate matches with these numbers, that is when you know that you are getting the most benefit out of your workout. This is the best possible way for you to benefit from exercise for weight loss, so make sure that you know your numbers.

Keep the weight off for good...

With the New Year, comes new goals. Now is the time to lose some weight and get in shape. Unfortunately, for many of us - myself included - it is a revolving cirlce. How many times have you gone on a diet, only to gain back the weight, plus a little dividend? For many people, dieting is a vicious cycle full of ups and downs, and plenty of discouragement. If you want to keep your weight off permanently, you are going to need to implement a few techniques. For most of us, staying at a healthy weight requires a lot of dedication and hard work, but it will pay off in a longer life span, less sickness and simply feeling better. Let's look at a few of the ways that you can keep your weight off permanently.

1. Change your lifestyle -If you want to keep your weight off successfully, more times than not this means changing your entire lifestyle. It's not easy, but it is worth it. You don't have to become entirely preoccupied with your weight, that's not healthy. But you will need to keep focused on eating right, getting enough exercise and avoiding trigger foods that you know will put you back on that wrong path again. It's fine to cheat now and again, but you can't let it become a regular event. Allow yourself a nice dinner out every few weeks, but don't fall back into your old habits.

2. Replace bad foods with better foods -
There are some foods that you may never be able to enjoy in large quantities again. There are also other foods that simply may be too dangerous for you to eat ever again. These are known as trigger foods, like we mentioned above. These are the foods that start you on that downward spiral that can be nearly impossible to overcome. If you simply cannot eat one piece of chocolate cake, it's better to avoid eating it at all than risk falling back into your old habits.

Replace that cake with something that still satisfies your sweet tooth and chocolate craving but doesn't trigger that old behavior. This works for any food, not just cake, that you simply cannot control your reaction to. It's not easy and it's more than a little sad. But, you can look at this way. Which would you rather have - a few bites of cake or a longer life that you can enjoy? A little extreme yes, but sometimes you need to get tough with yourself.

3. Treat every day as a brand new challenge -If you've fallen off the wagon, don't let that cycle continue. Every day is a brand new day where you're going to have that chance to succeed at your healthy lifestyle. We all fall down every now again, but not all of us can get back up. Stop that cycle of falling and staying down, and start realizing that you are on a lifelong path towards getting healthy. It's ok to take a break for a few days, but don't let those days stretch into week, months and years. Get back in that saddle!

Looking for more tips - or help to jump start your weight loss? Join the BE A LOSER 6 week challenge starting January 18th at all Boost Fitness locations. Teams forming now.

Four Easy Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

Sure you lose some weight by keeping a close eye on what you eat and going all out in the gym. But you can also keep the fat burning for hours upon hours after your workouts as long as you follow these super tips.

Always Train Your Legs

Your legs are the biggest and strongest muscle group in your body. (If they aren’t and you are benching more than you squat, then we have a problem that needs fixing now!) By using these big strong muscles and turning most upper body workouts into whole body workouts you will ramp up that metabolism and have your body in catch up mode for a long time post workout.

A great way to incorporate your lower body into your workouts is to prioritize them. Get it done first before you move onto your favorite upper body exercise.

Rest Less Between Sets

This is a sure fire way to increase the intensity of your workouts. Instead of the usual 5 minute, grab a drink, talk to the hottie on the elliptical, flex in the mirror rest, grab a stopwatch and keep it to 60 seconds. No guess work here, use a stopwatch or your 60 seconds will turn into 5 minutes before you know it.

You’ll find that using this method decreases the time you need to spend in the gym because you’ll be getting through your sets a whole lot quicker.

Crank Up The Intensity With Your Cardio

No more boring cardio workouts on the treadmill my friend. The best way to both boost your fitness and fat loss in with high intensity interval training. This type of training will no only boost the number of calories you burn during your workout but also keep it going for another 24-48 hours.

Try this little workout instead of your usual boring cardio – 10 sets of 200 meter sprints with 90 seconds rest between sets. Your rest can be slow walking with your hands on your head or standing still with your head in a bucket depending on how you feel!

Once you’ve done your 10 sets, head home and let the fat burning continue.

Stick With Compound Exercises

Exercises such as bench presses, pull ups, chin ups, dips, squats, deadlifts and lunges should make up 90% of your workouts. Ditch the isolation exercises such as bicep curls, tricep kickbacks and leg extensions unless you have time to waste. The big exercises will use more muscles and burn more calories leaving you with a bigger, stronger, leaner body in less time.

For more information our a free workout with one of our trainers - visit us online at www.myboostfitness.com

Article source : http://maxhealthupdates.com/four-easy-ways-to-boost-your-metabolism/

Knowing What's Worth Paying for in Vitamins

One of the common questions our staff receives at Boost Fitness relates to vitamins and supplements.

What should I take? How much should I take? Do they really work? Do I need more?

We are approached weekly by people offerring us the opportunity of a lifetime to sell supplements - some have even been backed by the likes of Donald Trump. With so much information available it is no wonder members are confused.

On thing is for sure - Americans love vitamins. About half of adults take a daily multivitamin, according to industry data. And according to some theories, the economic downturn has inspired them to fortify themselves by swallowing more.

The following article might help decipher the many questions about vitamins.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/health/05patient.html?_r=1&ref=health

Top 10 Fitness Trends from 2009

“The non-profit American Council on Exercise (ACE) has announced the top ten fitness trends from 2009, based on its annual survey of personal trainers, group fitness experts, advanced health and fitness specialists and lifestyle and weight management consultants. The survey revealed that boot camp-style workouts, which were named the most popular workout in 2008, were also the most popular fitness trend in 2009. The following represents ACE's listing of the top trends for 2009: 1. Boot Camp-Style Workouts: 2. Budget-Friendly Workouts: 3. Specialty Classes: 4. Getting Back to Basics 5. Circuit Training 6. Kettlebells 7. Boomer Fitness 8. Technology-Based Fitness 9. Event or Sport-Specific Exercises 10. Mixing It Up.”

Boot Camp-Style Workouts: Boot camp workouts remain extremely popular because they provide a total-body workout that's varied, fun and challenging. Up to 600 calories can be burned during a boot camp session, which is obviously going to facilitate weight loss.

Specialty Classes: While yoga and Pilates will remain strong, dance-based classes were all the rage this year. Zumba, a fitness program inspired by Latin dance, combines South American rhythms with cardiovascular exercise. Bollywood, ballroom, Afro-Cuban and other exotic dance styles grew in popularity thanks to shows such as Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance.

Getting Back to Basics: Despite the fact that many exercises and equipment are becoming more advanced and trendy, trainers continued to focus on basic movements and techniques with their clients.

Circuit Training: Studies have shown that interval training combining strength training and cardiovascular activity at different intensities provides a more time-efficient workout than participating in traditional aerobic and weight training sessions

Event or Sport-Specific Exercises: Despite the emergence of new and trendy workouts, sports or recreational activities remained a popular way to stay in shape.

Mixing It Up: Traditional programming has changed from what's called linear progression to undulating, as research shows similar if not better results. For example, mixing low-intensity cardio with intervals on different days, and mixing high-volume, low- intensity weight training with low-volume, high-intensity training on alternate days.

On ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Health Can Take Back Seat

LOS ANGELES — When more than 40 former contestants from “The Biggest Loser” gather Wednesday for a reunion television special, the winner of the program’s first season, Ryan C. Benson, who lost 122 of his 330-pound starting weight, will be absent. Mr. Benson is now back above 300 pounds but he thinks he has been shunned by the show because he publicly admitted that he dropped some of the weight by fasting and dehydrating himself to the point that he was urinating blood.

Now in its eighth season, “The Biggest Loser” is one of NBC’s most-watched prime-time programs besides football, drawing an estimated 10 million viewers each week, according to Nielsen. It has clearly tapped into the American obsession with losing weight, as more than 200,000 people a year submit audition videotapes or attend open casting calls for the program.

It also has spawned a licensed merchandise business that will generate an estimated $100 million this year.

The series also highlights the difference between the pursuit of engaging television and the sometimes frenzied efforts of contestants to win, perhaps at the risk of their own health. Doctors, nutritionists and physiologists not affiliated with “The Biggest Loser” express doubt about the program’s regimen of severe caloric restriction and up to six hours a day of strenuous exercise, which cause contestants to sometimes lose more than 15 pounds a week.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/business/media/25loser.html?_r=1&ref=health