Cancer Patients Really Do Benefit From Exercise - Written by David Haas

David Haas is a cancer support group and awareness program advocate at the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance.  You find out more and connect with David here.

In today’s world, a cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence, as modern medicine provides a wealth of knowledge for treatment and ways to be healthy, again. Receiving the proper treatment, of course, is the first plan for the road to recovery. Eating healthy and getting plenty of exercise is of the utmost importance, as well. Not only will exercising on a regular basis play its role in preventing cancer, daily activity will significantly improve one’s quality of life physically and emotionally, after being diagnosed with any kind of cancer, whether it is colorectal, breast cancer, or other cancers such as mesothelioma.
Following some type of fitness program while being treated for cancer comes with a wide array of physical benefits. The possibility of muscle weakness is reduced, as well as overall range of motion. Exercise will improve balance, which lessens the chance of falling. When inactive for a long period of time, muscles will weaken, making it even more important to routinely exercise.  The chance of developing heart disease or osteoporosis is also reduced from exercising. Physical fitness will increase the blood flow and alleviate the danger of blood clots. Weight will also be better controlled.

Your Home Gym... Cheap and Efficient!!!

As a personal trainer in Charlotte, I offer one on one and small group training to people in their own homes or location of their choice.  Most of my clients don't have much of any workout equipment, and some have none.  Many of them also don't even have a separate workout room in the house.  Often times moving a coffee table over in the living room is all they're able to do to create space.   Any of my clients will tell you that despite their lack of equipment or space, their workouts are very tough!  Now, I can and do bring equipment, but I don't carry a whole Olympic weight set around with me (that'd be impressive though huh!).  Bottom line, you don't need a ton of space, and you don't need big, bulky, expensive equipment!  

For under $100 you can get enough portable equipment to get into awesome shape in your own home.  Slide that coffee table over and you're good to go!  I can guarantee a good, hard workout to anybody with this set up.  It's what you do with it that makes the difference.

So here's the typical equipment that I bring to someone's home...

Did Your New Year's Fitness Resolution Fail Before It Started? - A Quick Change Can Guarantee Success!

Have you made a New Year's fitness resolution yet? If the answer is yes, then answer the following:

- Is it a resolution that you've made in the past?
- Is it a resolution that you made for yourself, or are you making it to please someone else?
- Can you guarantee your success with this resolution?

If your answers to the above three questions went like this, (yes, someone else, no) then let us journey down the path of discovery so we can stick to our resolutions and accomplish things we set out to do!!! Ready?

7 Tips to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

Well it's that time of year again.  Time to be surrounded by family, friends and more desserts and food than the previous 3 months combined!!!

Gaining a pound a week only takes an extra few hundred calories a day, which could be that additional doughnut, or one more plate of mash potatoes and gravy.  There's a lot of temptation out there this time of year to eat more, and eat bad.  Or if you have a family like mine, you have a grandma or mom or someone who takes absolute enjoyment in seeing you eat until you're in a food coma!  If you're not sure what a food coma is, keep eating until you can't think or move.  It's the way your uncle Bill looks after Thanksgiving dinner.  

So here are 7 easy tips to help you stay on track this holiday season.  This isn't difficult, but it does take some  willpower and consistency. 

Product Review - ZEMgear 360 Barefoot Shoes

A friend of mine told me about these, and after seeing how much he loved them, I just had to try them.  These are as minimal of a shoe as you can get but they feel awesome!  I recommend them to anyone looking to get into barefoot running and working out.

Check out my video about my experience so far:

You can only order these online at http://www.zemgear.com/

The Apple vs. The Pear - Which One Can Kill?

Now I like both apples and pears, but one is has had a reputation for being much more deadly.  Oh by the way, I'm not talking about eating the apple or pear (although choking on one could... ah nevermind).  I'm talking about being an apple or pear.

When people store fat, they typically store much of their fat somewhere around the middle of their body.  The apple shaped person, or android tends to store more fat around the abdominal area, whereas the pear shaped person tends to store fat more in the hips.  You may have heard that one shape has been considered more dangerous than another.   Historically that was the apple.  Why?  Well if you think about it, most of your vital organs are in and around the midsection, so crowding these organs with excess fat can cause some serious problems.  The pear on the other hand, storing more fat on the hips, has been considered safer because there's not much activity critical for life that goes on in the hip area.  Oh wait except for... ah nevermind again.

What did this all mean?

In Home Personal Training - The Less Obvious Benefit

There are obvious benefits to using a personal trainer.  There are obvious benefits of having that trainer come right to your house and deliver results.  Those are other topics.

The less obvious benefit is what's more interesting to me.  Many people who wish to get in shape, or get back in shape or learn how to exercise start by joining a gym.  This may seem the obvious first step.  This is in fact a great first step!  Where most people make a wrong turn is when they actually set foot in the gym.  There's all this beautiful shiny equipment, and machines, and weights, and people, and music and it creates an energy that can be contagious.  I love this about the gym scene.

However, what happens is that our new gym member is drawn to all this amazing looking equipment like bugs to a bug zapper!  One by one they try this, or grab that, or try to do what they see someone else is doing.  All this equipment is awesome!  So where's their mistake?