Warming Up, Cooling Down: How a Few Extra Minutes Can Change Your Workout
It's a Thursday morning at 6 a.m. You've already hit snooze too many times, and you have a meeting at 7:30. You really want to get your INSANITY® Max Interval Plyo workout in, but you don't have 55 minutes to spare. Well, if you just fast-forward through the warm-up, and skip the cooldown, you can squeeze it in and still get a decent workout, right? Um, I don't think so. Skipping the warm-up and cooldown can decrease your performance level, open you up to injuries, and possibly make your recovery time longer. How so, you ask? Let's find out.
Sour on Milk? 5 Healthy Dairy Substitutes
So you've made the decision to go dairy free for health, diet, and/or allergy reasons. Maybe you're trying to avoid lactose. Maybe you just don't like the way dairy cows are usually treated. But here's the rub: You love milk! So what are you going to do? Fear not, it's easy to avoid lactose and still get your fill of acceptable liquid dairy substitutes.
7 Substitutes for Diet-Killing Picnic Foods
It's almost summertime, which brings the incongruous collision of picnic season and swimsuit season. The weather's perfect for hiking, camping, barbecuing, and days at the beachâlots of opportunities for outdoor exercise, but just as many opportunities to pig out at pool parties, luaus, outdoor festivals, and county fairs. Here are some foods to try avoiding during the dog days of summer, and some ideas for substitutions for picnic favorites.
Tailgating: 8 Tips for Surviving the Football Season
Are you ready for some football? Sure ya are! As the new season kicks off, we're all rooting for our favorite team to make it to the Super Bowl®, or the Rose Bowl®, or the Whatever Bowl. But the celebration isn't all about the sport. It's about the pigskin, but it's also about the potato skins. It's about the Heisman®, but it's also about the Heineken®. In other words, it's about tailgating. Which is great and all, but where your fitness goals are concerned, tailgating leaves a little to be desired. So how do we capture all the fun of tailgating without destroying all the progress we've made during our hours of sweat?
Recipe: Lentil Soup
Even though Southern California is currently recovering from a triple-digit heat wave, much of the rest of the country is getting ready to dig into hearty fall comfort food. This savory classic has been given a healthful twist by P90X nutritionist Carrie Wiatt. Low in fat and high in protein, this vegan soup recipe will warm you up and lean you out.
The 5 Best and 5 Worst Cocktails
If you want a drink, you want a drink, and all the bad press you read isn't likely to quench your thirst. So the nutrition 911 on alcohol will be to skip the boring science and discuss what to do when you're going to drink. Besides, studies keep telling us that a bit of alcohol in your diet enhances your health and lengthens your life span. All you may know now is that the last time you hit the bar, you woke up feeling like someone was using a Rototiller® on your brain, leaving you to wonder, "How can this have been good for me?" The truth? It isn't. But all cocktails are not created equal.
3 Cool Soups for Summer
It's summer and the mercury is rising. The last thing any of us is in the mood for is a hot, steaming bowl of chicken noodle or miso soup—which is too bad, because for those of us who are keeping an eye on our calories, soup can be filling, nutritious, delicious, and most importantly, low in calories and fat. But cheer up, soup lovers—we don't have to wait for the first cold winds of autumn to bust out the soup bowls. By borrowing a couple of pages from the cookbooks of our friends across the Atlantic, we can keep a fridge full of refreshingly cool, healthy, soupy goodness.
Recipe: Low-Cal Spinach Dip
The temperature is rising and the season for barbecues and picnics is in full swing. If you're looking for something to bring to the neighborhood potluck, try this healthy twist on a party classic. Delicious with crudités or (for bonus presentation points) served in a hollowed-out round loaf of whole-grain bread.
10 Healthy Snacks for Couch Time
Fall is upon us, which means that the new TV season has begun, baseball is heading into the postseason, and football is starting up. The weather's getting cooler, and the couch will soon call for you to lie down on it with a warm blanket. Now, keep in mind we're not encouraging any couch potato behavior. We'd prefer that you pop in a P90X® video and use the couch as a towel rack. But we're all human, and it's almost impossible to resist the siren song of a playoff game or the return of Glee or Dancing with the Stars. Just because you're taking a couple of hours off to flatten both your gluteal muscles and your sofa cushions doesn't mean you have to stuff yourself with chips, cookies, or other bagged diet-killers.
Stretching and Flexibility
Stretching is one of the most important aspects of any exercise program, and usually one of the most ignored and/or misunderstood. Because it doesn't burn a massive amount of calories or give you a six-pack, many people choose to skip the stretch, hurrying off to Starbucks for a skinny vanilla latte instead. On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who push their cold limbs into pretzel-like positions, ultimately harming their connective tissue. Like most things that are good for us in life, if you ignore it or overdo it, stretching can create imbalances and eventually cause you harm. So how do you get stretching right? It's easy enough, but first let's learn about why it's important.
How I Stopped Faking It
I'm 45 years old this year, and even though I'm a P90X®graduate, I have to cop to the fact that I tend to baby myself for fear of getting hurt. I got to the point where I was working out an hour a day but able to "singsong" my way through my workouts without breaking a sweat. No wonder the results had stopped coming. I needed to stop faking it and find a way to really push myself.
Recipe: Apple-Raisin Coffee Cake
The traditional Thanksgiving is a gluttonous feast that's generally designed with carnivoresâor at least turkeyvoresâin mind. One way to make things a little friendlier for any vegetarians who may be joining you for the big meal is to prepare this delicious veggie gravy that's low in fat and so high in flavor your gravy-loving guests may not even notice there's no turkey in it. (Not even a lone giblet!)
Missy's Miso Veggie Stir-Fry
Missy Costello, Tony Horton's personal chef, presents this amazing Miso Veggie Stir-Fry recipe. It has carrots, orange and red bell pepper, broccoli, and zucchini for color, plus ginger and cayenne pepper for added flavor and kick. It's quick and easy to prepareâyou can either make it full-on vegetarian, or throw in some chicken breast for extra protein