What is your ideal workout? Perhaps in as little as 20 minutes, working 86% of your muscles, completing a cardio workout, relieving stress and burning calories while having little impact on your joints. Sound too good to be true? Actually, rowers have known for decades that the often-overlooked rowing machine at the gym is one of the biggest secrets in fitness. 

Rowing works your upper back, pectorals, arms, abdominal muscles, obliques, calves and glutes. Yes, that is a lot for one exercise. Your legs do about two-thirds of the work while your upper body accomplishes the rest. Rowing could be the biggest time saver since the microwave. Only the results will be much better than burnt popcorn.  

Want more? Rowing will give it to you. In addition to working your muscles, it will also give you a cardio workout improving heart and lung health that often surpasses running for the same amount of time. And even better, it is much easier on your joints than a treadmill or pounding a blacktop path.  

“Rowing is what I would consider a super-exercise. You can achieve almost a total body workout in very little time. Besides being good for your muscles, it is going to work your heart which can also help prevent heart disease.”

As you probably know, most exercise is good for your mental health, but many rowers vouch for the calming effect of performing the rhythmic rowing motion. Rowers often state that rowing on a lake or river providers a calming sensation. However, if you don’t live near water, there are a variety of rowing machines in different price ranges. Plus, rowers can often collapse and fit under a bed if you are cramped for space.  

“Rowing is what I would consider a super-exercise. You can achieve almost a total body workout in very little time. Besides being good for your muscles, it is going to work your heart which can also help prevent heart disease,” said Monica Grygo, M.D., Genesis Primary Care.  

Twenty minutes for almost an entire body workout that benefits your cardio and mental well-being? It sounds like it is time to start a new workout. Before you start rowing or any other exercise program, please consult your family doctor.  

Rowers have known for decades that the often-overlooked rowing machine at the gym is one of the biggest secrets in fitness.

Some people cringe at the word “hike” – it brings forth visions of steep hills and mountains, rocky landscapes and a lot of hard work. But hiking doesn’t have to be a chore. It can be a way to move your body, enjoy fresh air and find inner peace. And physical activity is essential for good health – for your body and your mind.

For decades, we have heard 10,000 steps a day is the key to good health. Well, it turns out this is false. In fact, you can reap nearly the same health benefits with fewer steps. Before you discredit this article and walk out, give us a minute to step you through everything. You might be surprised and even pleased by what you learn. 

According to a study based on a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey published in JAMA in 2020, people age 40 and older who took 8,000 steps a day during the survey had a 50% higher chance of surviving than people who took 4,000 steps or less a day for ten years after the survey. People who took 12,000 steps a day had a 65% higher chance of surviving than the 4,000 step group.  

Higher step counts appeared to have the largest impact in enabling participants to prevent and survive heart disease and cancer. Participants from a variety of ages, gender and ethnic backgrounds enjoyed these benefits.  

For everyone who doesn’t like to sweat, the study also reported intensity didn’t matter. Carrying groceries in from the car can benefit you as much as running.  

“Walking is a great, low-impact exercise. It works several muscles, can increase your heart rate and often improves your mental well-being too. It’s also easy to do with a friend or loved one, enabling you to share time together and give you someone to encourage you to keep moving on the days you don’t feel like it,” said Stephen Knox, M.D. board-certified family medicine, Genesis Primary Care. “However, as with any other fitness program, you should always talk to your doctor first. Your doctor can examine you for unknown health conditions and recommend the safest way to get started.” 

For decades, we have heard 10,000 steps a day is the key to good health. Well, it turns out this is false.

We all know the importance of exercise. The benefits are more than physical, they’re emotional too. Research by the National Institute of Aging shows that physical activities can help reduce stress, improve your mood and help you sleep better. Why wouldn’t we want to exercise on a regular basis? Because sometimes, it’s boring. 

Staying motivated for fitness can be a struggle but keeping active is crucial to maintaining long-term health for your heart and body. How do you stay motivated to keep moving? Recognizing that you’re bored with your routine is a great first step.  

Find ways to exercise that fit your personality. If you’re a social person, do something that engages you socially – take a group dance class, join a recreational sports team, or start a walking group with friends. Connecting with your friends is a great way to stay motivated, and they can make you accountable to continue exercising.   

Cross-training, which means doing a variety of different exercises or activities, is another good way to keep exercise boredom at bay. For example, you may want to alternate between walking, swimming and strength training. Cross-training also reduces the risk of injuring or overusing one specific muscle or joint. 

Set small, new goals, find an exercise partner or even try exercising at a different time of day.  Enjoy the new activity, and whatever you do, don’t give up. 

Staying motivated for fitness can be a struggle but keeping active is crucial to maintaining long-term health for your heart and body. How do you stay motivated to keep moving? 

While you can’t protect your young athlete from every injury, you can try to minimize the risk with a few basic steps.

You spend an hour in a spin class one day and an hour in yoga class the next. You sweat in one and not the other, so does that mean one’s a better workout? If you run three miles on a hot July evening and sweat profusely, and run the exact three-mile route in January and sweat half as much, was it less of a workout?  

Everyone has a different sweating pattern. Gender, age, fitness level and environment contribute to how much you sweat. Women seem to sweat less and start to sweat at higher temperatures than men. People tend to sweat less as they grow old and cannot take the heat as well as younger people. Our bodies, regardless of age or gender, produce heat and the more your muscles contract, the more heat is produced. If our body didn’t have ways of keeping you cool, we would overheat. 

“When you exercise, focus on how you feel, and stay hydrated. Sweating is the body’s way to cool off, not an indicator of the number of calories burned,” said Stephen Ulrich, M.D., family practice, Perry County Family Practice and Genesis HealthCare System medical director of WellnessWins. “It’s not uncommon for people with larger body masses to sweat more.” 

Heat radiates out of the skin if the air around you is cooler than your body. Think January run. Exercise produces heat, heat produces calorie expenditure, and you produce the same amount of heat whether exercising in a cold environment or a hot one. Just because you don’t sweat as much in a colder environment does not mean your exercise session was less productive. 

There are two key factors that determine an effective calorie burn: duration and intensity. When you're ready to do more, you can build on your routine by adding new physical activities. Increase the distance, time, or difficulty of your favorite activity or do your activities more often. For example, if you walk regularly for exercise, gradually increase the duration of your walk over several days to weeks by walking longer distances. You can increase the intensity by walking more briskly or up hills. 

Don’t stress about your sweat, just keep moving. Regular exercise, of any kind, with a balanced diet is a healthy way to achieve and maintain a healthy body. Talk to your health care provider before you begin an exercise routine.  

Source: Healthguidance.org, American Heart Association 

You spend an hour in a spin class one day and an hour in yoga class the next. You sweat in one and not the other, so does that mean one’s a better workout?

It is common to search for ways to boost your workout. Supplements, new shoes, clothes that make sweat disappear, a new diet or routine are all common things to consider when you want to log a few more miles or decrease your split time. But have you considered music? 

Think about when the gym plays your favorite song or shuffle plays an old favorite song you haven’t heard in a while. Do you feel a rush of energy? Suddenly you feel like your feet glide along the treadmill … this might not be your imagination. Numerous studies have explored the impact of music while exercising. The results are still inconclusive. However, there is evidence to support the claim that music improves physical output.  

According to a study on the National Center for Biotechnology Information website, music tempo impacted how fast and far participants ran on a treadmill without increasing fatigue. Essentially saying your favorite song at the right beats per minute will let you increase your distance and speed while on a treadmill without being more tired than usual. Awesome.  

Exactly why you can exercise better with certain music is not yet fully understood. One study on the Oxford University Press by Altenmuller and Schlaug concludes your favorite music can cause an increase in serotonin, the natural chemical that makes us happy and feel good. This is supported by a study on Psychology of Sport and Exercise that also states music can improve our mood and performance.  

So, before investing in shoes, expensive clothes or a fad diet, grab some headphones, make a playlist and cut loose on your treadmill. If you do this at the gym, please consider not singing along out loud. 

It is common to search for ways to boost your workout. Supplements, new shoes, clothes that make sweat disappear, a new diet or routine are all common things to consider when you want to log a few more miles or decrease your split time. But have you considered music? 

A refreshing dip in the pool can do more than cool you off. There are benefits to swimming that will make you want to find a way to jump in a pool year-round.  

According to Swimming.org, exercising in water makes your body work harder and uses all the muscles in your body. Thirty minutes in a pool is worth 45 minutes of the same activity on land because of the water’s resistance. That same 30 minutes of a leisurely swim can burn more than 200 calories, double the number of calories for the same time spent walking.  

There are benefits to exercising in a pool, even if you're not a swimmer. Try water walking; working against the water's resistance is good for your muscles and helps keep you flexible. Aquatic exercise classes can be in the deep end of a pool with flotation devices or the shallow end of a pool. Try a class with a trainer who leads a group through a set of exercises with special water weights or pool noodles.  

Consider lap swimming if you're generally healthy and your doctor says it's OK. But start slowly. For example, swim for five or 10 minutes, a few times per week. Gradually increase the amount of time each week and note how many laps you can do within that time. 

Water supports up to 90% of the body’s weight, which makes a pool a joint-friendly spot to exercise. Heated pools, typically 82 to 88 degrees, can help soothe joint and muscle pain while your body reaps the benefits of exercise.   

“When you exercise in water, it can ease joint stiffness, decrease pain and swelling, and improve your range of motion,” said Shehla Atiq, M.D., fellowship-trained rheumatologist, Genesis Rheumatology Care Center. “It may be more comfortable to move in water when you’re in pain.”  

If sweating is your reason for inactivity, throw water on that excuse. You won’t feel sweaty in a pool, no matter how hard you work out, because the water constantly cools you down. Go ahead, get your feet wet.  

A refreshing dip in the pool can do more than cool you off. There are benefits to swimming that will make you want to find a way to jump in a pool year-round.

You exercise more often than most people clean their bathrooms. You don’t have any more time to dedicate to fitness. However, you might be able to exercise better … and save time.  As with any exercise routine, consult your doctor before you begin. He or she can provide recommendations for starting an exercise program and alert you to warning signs of when you should take it easy.  

Take our quiz to learn more.  

You exercise more often than most people clean their bathrooms. You don’t have any more time to dedicate to fitness. However, you might be able to exercise better … and save time.  Take our quiz to learn more.  

You’ve been doing it almost your whole life – taking steps. Most of us take the ability to walk for granted, but in the last few years the number of steps we take has become a feat to track. Do you know the benefits of walking and tracking the steps you take? Walking is one the of best things you can do to be more active, and you don’t have to take one long walk all at once for it to benefit your health. Tracking steps from an app on your phone, a pedometer or other wearable devices are ways to monitor your activity. If you start to track your steps, you may be surprised to learn how little exercise you were getting before you began counting steps.   

Any physical activity, including walking, is a benefit to your overall health, but walking comes with some surprising benefits.  

1. It counteracts the effects of weight-promoting genes. Harvard researchers looked at 32 obesity-promoting genes in over 12,000 people to determine how much these genes actually contribute to body weight. They discovered among the study participants who walked briskly for about an hour a day, the effects of those genes were cut in half. 

2. It helps curb cravings. A pair of studies from the University of Exeter found that a 15-minute walk can curb cravings for chocolate and even reduce the amount of chocolate you eat in stressful situations.  

3. It reduces the risk of developing breast cancer. An American Cancer Society study that focused on walking found that women who walked seven or more hours a week had a 14% lower risk of breast cancer than those who walked three hours or less per week. This protection included women with breast cancer risk factors, such as being overweight or using supplemental hormones. 

4. It eases joint pain. Several studies have found that walking reduces arthritis-related pain, and that walking five to six miles a week can even prevent arthritis from forming in the first place. Walking protects the joints — especially the knees and hips, which are most susceptible to osteoarthritis — by lubricating them and strengthening the muscles that support them. 

5. It boosts immune function. Walking can help protect you during cold and flu season. A study of over 1,000 men and women found that those who walked at least 20 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week, had 43% fewer sick days than those who exercised once a week or less. And if they did get sick, it was for a shorter duration, and their symptoms were milder. 

6. Improves your mood. Walking releases natural painkilling endorphins to the body – one of the emotional benefits of exercise. 

When you take steps to track your steps, find your activity level. In the first week, don’t change your routine but track your activity level. Set a goal for the second week. At first, try to add 300 to 500 steps to your day. Then work toward 2,000 more steps a day, which adds about one mile, or 20 minutes of walking to your routine. Compare how well you’re doing from one week to the next, and work to increase the number of steps.  

Talk to your health care provider before you begin an exercise routine.  

You’ve been doing it almost your whole life – taking steps. Most of us take the ability to walk for granted, but in the last few years the number of steps we take has become a feat to track. Do you know the benefits of walking and tracking the steps you take?