Archive | February, 2010

Do This, Not That: Watch TV on a ball, not in a chair

15. February 2010

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Do This, Not That: Watch TV on a ball, not in a chair

This is the second in an occasional series on seemingly small acts of physical activity that can, over time, have a surprising impact on your life. Last week GGNC looked at taking the stairs vs. the elevator. Today: Watching TV on an exo ball rather than hunkered down in a La-Z-Boy.
Over the next 13 days [...]

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White Oak greenway stretch to close for two years

13. February 2010

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White Oak greenway stretch to close for two years

The good news: The long-awaited promise of being able to take a greenway from near downtown Raleigh to the heart of downtown Durham came a step closer to reality last week with the unofficial opening of the 4.6-mile Chatham County section of the American Tobacco Trail. It’s now possible to walk/run/bike/equestriate for 13.8 miles on [...]

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Fitness pioneer Fred Morrison

12. February 2010

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Fitness pioneer Fred Morrison

A pioneer of American fitness whose simple invention may have made more people healthy than any other device died Tuesday at his home in Utah. Walter Fredrick “Fred” Morrison, who was 90, invented the Frisbee.
Morrison first got the idea for a flying disc tossing tin cake pans on the beach with his wife, Lu. After [...]

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Let’s Move the toddlers

11. February 2010

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Let’s Move the toddlers

Wondering what you can do as part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move program to stop the super-sizing of our kids? If you have preschoolers, you can do three things according to a study to be published in the March Pediatrics.

Eat dinner as a family (at the table, not on TV trays assembled in [...]

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Let’s Move

10. February 2010

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Let’s Move

Yesterday, First Lady Michelle Obama revealed her — and the nation’s — plan for combating childhood obesity. It’s called, appropriately, Let’s Move. That the first lady has made this her top priority underscores how serious the matter of our kids’ ever-expanding waistlines has become: About one in three kids in this country are now overweight [...]

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Do this, not that

9. February 2010

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Do this, not that

So maybe you don’t have time to go to Zumba class before work, or walk at lunch, or hit the gym for a cardio workout after 6. That doesn’t mean you can’t get a good workout in in between. Current thinking from the health and fitness world is that bursts of exercise as brief as [...]

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Try an indoor tri

8. February 2010

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Try an indoor tri

Jill Malley knows more about competition than she thinks. “You’re doing great,” she said over my shoulder as I pedaled hamsterlike on the stationary bike. Then, leaning in, she added confidentially, “You’ve gone farther than anyone I’ve seen so far.” Nothing like a well-timed stroke to keep a guy from dialing back the stationary bike [...]

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Greenway maps: Thoughts?

6. February 2010

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Greenway maps: Thoughts?

Making progress, slowly, on the GGNC greenway project. Between the nont-so-friendly-for-greenway-mapping weather and and my ineptitude with technology, well, it’s not a good combination for progress. I do have a prototype ready for your scrutiny, however.
My plan is to focus initially on longer greenways that connect with other longer greenways to make much longer greenways. [...]

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Running barefoot: Dipping your toe

4. February 2010

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Running barefoot: Dipping your toe

There’s nothing like good news from the scientific community to spur interest in a given exercise: We’re all open to the latest magic bullet when it comes to getting in shape or improving performance. We’re even more susceptible when that magic bullet includes the promise of health minus hurt. Which is why a study appearing [...]

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The barefoot runner: Coming in from the cold

3. February 2010

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The barefoot runner: Coming in from the cold

In the midst of Saturday’s snow and ice storm, Jon Hayden of Holly Springs went for an 18-mile run wearing a pair of $5 water shoes from Walmart. The water shoes, a thin glove of rubber and mesh intended for a hot summer day at the beach, were a concession: Hayden, a marathoner, prefers to [...]

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