Fitness 101: Resting Heart Rate


Updated 10/30/10 2:10 PM · Posted by FitSugar · 21 comments

How to Find Your Resting Heart Rate and What Your Resting Heart Rate Means

When it comes to matters of the heart, numbers matter. The number of times your heart beats per minute, when you are at rest, indicates the strength and efficiency of your cardiovascular system. A strong heart is able to pump more blood with every beat, so you want a low resting heart rate (RHR). A lower RHR tends to correspond with a higher aerobic fitness level. Take Olympian Michael Phelps as Read more

Home Fitness Test: Resting Heart Rate


Updated 03/10/10 6:52 AM · Posted by FitSugar · 14 comments

Home Fitness Test: Resting Heart Rate

Sometimes it is a good idea to assess your fitness level. You don't need to spend a lot of dough and have a trainer put you through the wringer. There are some great tests you can do in the comfort of your own home. The test explained below you can do in the comfort of your own bed! Resting Heart Rate Test Assess: Level of Aerobic Fitness The number of times your heart beats per minute, when Read more

Low Resting Heart Rate?


Updated 02/11/10 10:54 AM · Posted by FitSugar · 4 comments

Low Resting Heart Rate?

Have you noticed that since working out your resting heart rate is lower than it was? This is no cause for alarm as most athletes (yup, you're an athlete now) generally have low heart rates. Runner's World gives us this analogy: ...consider a bricklayer lifting bricks. If his arm muscles are strong from lifting lots of bricks, he can move 10 bricks with each lift rather than just two or three. Read more

From the Fit Community: Leave Your Phone at Home When You Work Out


Updated 02/09/12 10:36 AM · Posted by Fit Community · 2 comments

Why You Shouldn't Use Your Cell Phone in the Gym

FitSugar reader JessicaSmithTV wants you to know: you're hurting your workout when you bring your cell phone into the equation. She shared her three reasons you should stay cell phone-free at the gym in our 10 Pounds Down! community group. 1. It’s hurting your workout (and could cause you to get hurt) If you can text or talk on the phone during any part of your workout, you aren’t working Read more

10 Tone-Up Tweaks to Get a Better Burn


Updated 01/18/12 2:16 AM · Posted by Fitness Magazine · 1 comment

How to Get a Better Burn When Strength Training

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Fitness Magazine here on FitSugar! It happens to the best of us. Your gym routine becomes just that — a routine. Bust out of your plateau and burn more fat with these strength-training tweaks from the pros. Make Every Day Your Best Burn Yet Supercharge your gym routine by ditching the moves that have stopped delivering results and replacing Read more

5 Reasons You Need More Sleep


Updated 01/12/12 4:15 AM · Posted by Shape · 0 comments

Why You Need to Sleep

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar. Whether you admit you need help nodding off or are still in denial about the major suitcases under your eyes, chances are you could use an intervention: a full two-thirds of Americans say they have trouble getting enough shut-eye at least once a week. That’s pretty harrowing, considering that sleep is absolutely Read more

Why New Yorkers Live Longer Than the Rest of the US


Updated 01/05/12 5:02 AM · Posted by Heather Dale · 6 comments

The Secret to New York City's High Life Expectancy Rate

Well here's a new year's shocker for you — The Annual Summary of Vital Statistics has just announced that New York City has surpassed national figures with its all-time high life expectancy of 80.6 years. That's right, New Yorkers are living longer than ever before, and not only that, but they are living, on average, two years longer than the rest of the country. "By investing in health care Read more

How to Jump-Start Your 2012 Workout Action Plan


Updated 12/30/11 4:50 AM · Posted by Heather Dale · 0 comments

Tips For Workout Plan in 2012

If you're the type of person who likes to set New Year's resolutions each year, then you've probably already come up with some fitness-related goals to add to the list. With the holidays soon coming to a close, it can be difficult to carve out some time to plan for the next 12 months, which is why I've come up with some easy tips to help you get your workout plan underway. Just make sure your Read more

Ways to Ramp Up Workouts For Holiday Indulging


Updated 12/23/11 3:40 AM · Posted by · 0 comments

Ways to Lose Holiday Weight Gain

Confession: I've thrown in the towel when it comes to healthy holiday eating. Between the cocktail parties, office treats, and elaborate dinners, it seems near impossible! To compensate for my indulgences, I am ramping up my fitness regimen. (Recent studies confirm that regular exercise minimizes weight gain that comes from a fatty, high-calorie diet.) If holiday indulgences also have the best of Read more

Think You Wasted Your Day? How to Salvage It Before Bedtime


Updated 12/20/11 1:55 PM · Posted by · 0 comments

Healthy Things to Do Before Bedtime

The end of the day, at dinner and beyond, is a good time to assess your day to be mindful about your healthy goals. And while it's not the time to beat yourself up if you weren't able to get to the gym or you snuck more than a few pieces of candy during the day, you can end the day on a high note by making sure you hit a few more healthy to-dos. So before your head hits the pillow, here are a few Read more