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A great show this week. Shayne shares his softer side when he tells Casey he has already been thinking about a holiday gift for her.

Shayne to Casey: “O.K Casey — its sort of a personal thing so I hope you won’t be mad — but I researched some exercise options for you and want to gift you a membership to whichever one of these resonates with you.”

Casey responds, “O.K. if you must — it’s better than having to do the research myself — what ya got?”

Shayne: “O.K.: 1) Weighted Hula Hooping…”

Says Lisa M. Wolfe of Demand Media about this hot new fitness option, “If you have an addictive personality, use caution when beginning a weighted hula hoop workout. Hooping may take priority above your other daily activities…

You know you HAVE to read more…

The squat exercise may be the most powerful and effective exercise for nurses.  Not only does it build significant core and lower back strength, but it helps build on some of the largest muscles in your body: the glutes in your buttocks, your hamstrings, and quadriceps.  All are muscles that you should build and rely on to help your patients move in and out of bed, down and up when using the restroom and across when walking down the hallways.

Building on these muscle groups and relying on them more to do lifting and moving will help alleviate the stress on other muscles groups that tend to be overused in lifting patients such as your deltoids and those located in your lower lumbar.

So here are some quick instructions, tips and a video for some fun squat exercises.

Form:  The movement begins from a standing position, feet shoulder width apart and toes pointing slightly outward.  (If you are squatting with a barbell place the the bar across the trapezius muscle or right at where the base of your neck meets your back). The movement begins by moving your hips and butt back and bending the knees and hips to lower your torso and returning back up to standing position.  During the movement you should be keeping your back flat and keeping your stomach tight to help bear some of the weight in the upper body.  The squat can be lowered to various depths, but your hips should descend to at least as low as your knees.   Read more…

We can’t wait until we are older to start eating healthier. We have to start now. Tonight.

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New study shows,  “resistance training can indeed improve both your cognitive performance and your brain function. What is key is that the training will improve two processes that are highly sensitive to the effects of aging and neurodegeneration — executive function and associative memory — functions which are often impaired in early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.” according to Teresa Liu-Ambrose, principal investigator with the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility and the Brain Research Centre at VCH and UBC.

Learn more at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120423162403.htm Read more…

You could say that Ol’ Arthur beats my butt, or that I have a hitch in my git-along. In short, my back hurts.

Since the lifetime prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries among nurses is as high as 80%, I am guessing you are sympathetic, but not impressed. Your back probably hurts too.

I started attending exercise classes after I had been a nurse for a while, so I had to learn from the get-go how to work out with a bad back. Kickboxing, step, Pilates, trampoline, circuit, resistance training…I figured out the back-friendly way to do each one.

I did push-ups against the wall. I lifted barbells without any weights on the ends. I roundhouse-kicked like someone stepping over a puddle. I did ballet releves when everyone else was jumping up and down, a substitution friendly to the bladder as well as the back. I marched in place a lot. I was in an exclusive relationship with the only pair of one-pound hand weights at the gym.

I’m not sure when everyone else at the gym suddenly got a lot younger than me, and somewhat disdainful of my exercise modifications. I think it was around the same time that the gauntlet of body-builders to be run between the gym door and the ladies’ changing room grew better tans, whiter teeth, and less body hair than I had. I started feeling sheepish about my exercise limitations. I decided it was time for a change. I began to Jazzercise.

Jazzercise has worked out well for me. Read more…

If you’re right in the middle of a long shift and starting to run out of energy, what should you do? Don’t reach for the sugary beverages or energy drinks. Instead, try these successful energy-building interventions that will keep you going strong until the very end of your shift.

Drink water. When the day gets busy, it’s easy to forget to hydrate so set a timer or get in the habit of getting a drink on the hour. Symptoms of dehydration can include feeling sluggish. Hydrating properly increases the efficiency of important physiological functions, reduces the perception of stress, and keeps intra- and extracellular fluids balanced. The harder you work the more water you should drink.

Snack smart. Snacking aids in controlling blood sugar and insulin levels, which will keep you from experiencing those low-energy times during the day. Depending on your daily calorie goals, snack from two to three times throughout an entire day, and in controlled portions. Snacking will also keep you from reaching for unhealthy temptations. Here are some great snack ideas for you to try:

• ½ cup of nonfat yogurt sprinkled with 2 tablespoons of granola and topped with fresh berries
• 1 pre-packaged 100 calorie bag of salt-free nuts with a banana
• 1 apple with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter for dipping
• Unlimited celery and carrot sticks with hummus for dipping
• Whole-grain crackers (small handful) with 2 ounces of Farmer’s or low-fat Mozzarella cheese, or tuna salad, and sliced cucumber, tomato, or sprouts
• Salad mixed with grilled chicken and low-fat dressing (Put it in a container with a lid, pour dressing just before eating, then just shake and eat!)

Stretch regularly. Read more…