PJ’s Fitness Blog
A blog about a fitter you. Come find out what is on the cutting edge of fitness science and be a part of the ongoing conversation.
I had to tell you about this new site, MyUrbanWellness.com - is just too cool to NOT talk about. MyUrbanWellness offers wellness products and services to people in the greater Seattle area at discounts of 50% or more.
If you are a reader of this blog, you are probably already spending lots of money on wellness, but you are not even sure you are getting the best service because it’s too expensive and time-consuming to shop around!
Well, MyUrbanWellness.com does all that for you. They screen each product or service carefully to make sure it is top quality. Then they make sure the merchant is “green”, by verifying they are making conscious efforts toward sustainability and are ecologically conscious. And best of all, by going through MyUrbanWellness, you get big discounts on the wellness products and services you need.
Sounds too good to be true? It’s not. It’s just a really great deal. It’s free to sign up. Then you automatically get reminders each time a new deal comes out – about 3 times per week.
Check it out and sign up for MyUrbanWellness.com today.
Great question, huh? I bet you know my answer already. Of course it’s better! Science has proven it over and over. Science has also shown that Prozac is about as good as a placebo, so it’s not hard to beat that over-used drug for elevating your mood. Even so, exercise is definitely the king for getting you happy, and curing depression.
The reason exercise works so well is because it is better at changing your brain chemicals than anything else you can do. Ever wondered why? God created us to move and to keep moving all day. Our modern society however, requires most of us to sit down all day instead. This unnatural lifestyle screws up the chemical balance in our brains and causes a downward spiral of depression, junk food cravings, more sedentary choices, obesity, etc., etc., until we are dead (10-20 years earlier than we have been).
A recent article in Time points out that exercise is indeed the best drug out there. High intensity exercise like the X Gym workout or the X Gym DVD is of course best; and activities like stair climbing offer the most intense “high” with the least time required, but for those who are obese or just want to get moving again, a simple walk can be the first step in a process that will change your mood and entire life.
Many regular X Gym members have eventually fired their “shrinks” because they just don’t need them anymore. When they are exercising regularly, they find it easier to eat better too. The X Gym member who suggested I write this post said, “I knew there was a reason I was (more…)
It’s done! I’m super excited about it, and it’s just in time for the holidays!
The special introductory price is only $19.95 (plus tax, shipping and handling)! Get a copy for yourself, your friends, family, travel buddies, kids in college, and anyone else who wants to get in shape fast with very little time required.
Just click the “Buy Now” button below to have it shipped to your door within 2-3 weeks, or stop by the Alki or Kirkland X Gym to get your copy today!
For those who love to get right to the bottom line, here are the results of my trip to LA on 9/25/09 with Chris Beams to take on the 75 story US Bank Building:
Chris placed 1st in his age bracket (30-39) and 3rd overall in the men’s open category. This was his 2nd competitive race.
I placed 1st in my age bracket and 2nd overall in the men’s open category. This was my 4th competitive race. For the official results on everyone, click here.
My niece Andrea placed 2nd in her age group and 16th overall. This was her first race!
For those of you who like videos, check out our stair blog at www.flightclubseattle.com.
Now, for those who like stories and details, read on, because it was a heck of a weekend filled with more fun and fitness insanity than I have ever experienced!
Wow! Now that was a hard climb! It was an eye opener too. All those piddly little 60 story practice climbs in Seattle helped a bunch until I got about that high in the US Bank building, but then I bonked. The remaining 15 stories were shockingly brutal! I felt like a little dutch boy in the Sahara dessert, walking up a sand dune wearing 10 pound wooden clogs!
My throat was part of that metaphor too. It got so dry and parched, I was horse for
Did you know that your brain burns 15-25% of your daily calories? Even though your brain makes up only about 3% of your weight, it accounts for a very big part of your metabolic rate! Most people think of muscles as their only calorie burner, and while they are the main engine for that, the huge amount of energy the brain requires is hardly ever discussed.
The reason this is important is because a healthy brain uses more energy and therefore contributes more to your metabolic rate. Keeping your brain healthy is pretty easy too if you know how. Some of the ways are: (more…)
I always find it interesting that the drug commercials on TV seem to spend much more time listing the side effects of their medicine than its benefits. Well, if one of those commercials listed only the top 20 side effects of extra body fat, it would have to read somewhat like this blog below (this article is largely adapted from the Scientific Laboratory of Food Intolerance, so I wanted to be sure to give them their props right off the bat).
Carrying around excess weight is becoming an epidemic in North America. While one of the initial concerns with obesity is usually all about how you look and how you feel about yourself as a person, the longer the problem exists for you, the more medical problems are going to arise, some of which can be fatal.
Obesity is a growing concern especially because overweight rates have doubled among children and tripled among adolescents. This increases the number of years that they are exposing themselves to dangerous health risks associated with obesity. While it is difficult to truly predict the future impact of obesity, there is strong scientific agreement that (more…)
Seattle personal trainers really are the best in the country. X Gym personal trainers are the best of the best, so when X Gym members have to move out of the area, they always ask me how to find a good personal trainer in their new town. This doesn’t have to be as tough as most people make it, and I’m going to walk you through the 7 easy steps in finding just the right trainer who will help you reach your goals as fast as possible.
1.) Look online and see if any show up in a local search. Just type in your city and “personal trainer”. Don’t bother looking past the first 3 pages on the search results. If they aren’t creative and motivated enough to figure out how to get ranked well, they probably won’t be creative or motivated enough as your exercise coach either. A good rank means they are popular too. They might have a website or a blog. Look for YouTube videos of them or other things they might have done. Once you learn their name, do a separate search that way. Find out their education and/or certifications. See if their body looks like you would want yours to look – which brings me to my second point: (more…)
