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According to reports, the U.S. and Russian military will be engaging in an anti-terrorism exercise that will involve Russian paratroopers using U.S. weapons to “take and hold” the main facilities of the CIA and Denver International Airport in Colorado and the National Security Agency in Utah. (Related: Learn about the hypothetical ‘war games’ the U.S. and China have been playing) The European Union Times has more on the report announcing this exercise from the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation: Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Alexander Kucherenko publically announced this 24-21 May “anti-terror drill” this Friday past noting that this...

The value of mental-training games may be speculative, as Dan Hurley writes in his article on the quest to make ourselves smarter, but there is another, easy-to-achieve, scientifically proven way to make yourself smarter. Go for a walk or a swim. For more than a decade, neuroscientists and physiologists have been gathering evidence of the beneficial relationship between exercise and brainpower. But the newest findings make it clear that this isn't just a relationship; it is the relationship. Using sophisticated technologies to examine the workings of individual neurons - and the makeup of brain matter itself - scientists in just...

The representative for a district with higher-than-average rates of obesity-related conditions will return from recess a week from Monday to reintroduce her Lifelong Improvements in Food and Exercise (LIFE) Act. D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) will say on the House floor, according to prepared remarks, that her bill is intended to tackle a health problem “that cannot be remedied through the health care system alone.” The LIFE Act would give the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention $25 million “for a coordinated national effort to reverse increasingly sedentary lifestyles and diets that are high in fat and sugar.” That...

I used to run a lot...in my younger years. In the mid 90s I was running 20-25 miles every sunday afternoon, and around 10 miles the other days of the week. It all ended in '96 when I developed knee problems and iliotibial band friction syndrome, snapping hip syndrome, and chronic tendonitis of the iliotibial band, and also serious problems with the muscle attached to the iliotibial band...and a few other things like ganglion cysts in my feet and meniscus issues with the knees, and some other stuff. I went to doctors. I took pills, took supplements, did strengthening excercizes,...

Researcher Debby Herbenick. BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Findings from a first-of-its-kind study by Indiana University researchers confirm anecdotal evidence that exercise -- absent sex or fantasies -- can lead to female orgasm. While the findings are new, reports of this phenomenon, sometimes called "coregasm" because of its association with exercises for core abdominal muscles, have circulated in the media for years, said Debby Herbenick, co-director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion in IU's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. In addition to being a researcher, Herbenick is a widely read advice columnist and book author. "The most common...

Here are some links to "vintage" exercise / workout songs to incorporate into your brand new New Year's resolution exercise routine. (With an appreciative nod to FReeper "Winstons Julia" for the original idea.)   Feel free to add your own "more classic" / "further aged" exercise workout song suggestions and links to the list. I have to go run an errand right now, but I will check back later to see if there is more than just this "1" post on this thread (if I can remember to do that).   :-) Bits and Pieces Hippy Hippy Shake Twist and Shout Funky Broadway...

Someone mentioned this movie earlier today in another thread. I watched it on Amazon streaming video this afternoon(also avaialble on Netflix) and it was excellent! Its motivating me to lose some weight and there are stunning facts that literally made my wife get up and grab a hunk of peperoni from the fridge and eat it! She hasn't eaten pepperoni or bacon in over two years because she worries about cholesterol. This is essentially a response to the Super Size me movie. It debunks the the twisted information in that movie as well as the whole government anti-obesity movement. The...

To give you a sense of what you’re up against if you attempt to make it through P90X2, the sequel to the phenomenally popular P90X fitness program, here’s a sample exercise: the four medicine ball push-up. Yes, that means having a ball under each hand and foot. “It’s like doing push-ups during an earthquake,” says Tony Horton, the 53-year-old former stand-up comedian who created the original program eight years ago. That 90-day, 12-DVD regimen has sold 3.5 million copies, spawned an astounding number of before and after photos, persuaded politicians from both sides of the aisle to sweat it out...

America’s children are experiencing a “crisis of inactivity,” first lady Michelle Obama said Wednesday. “We may well be raising the most sedentary generation of kids in the history of this country,” Mrs. Obama said at an event in Washington to promote more healthful lifestyles for youth. “Kids today reportedly spend an average of seven and a half hours a day watching TV, playing with cellphones, computer games, video games.” The first lady has made it her cause to combat childhood obesity by promoting more healthful diets and encouraging groceries with fresh produce to move into underserved communities. But she said...

China now rehearses capture of Tibet passes A year after conducting its first live military exercise in Tibet, China has for the first time rehearsed capture of mountain passes at heights beyond 5,000 metres with the help of armoured vehicles and airborne troops. The Chinese Defence Ministry makes this claim in a short official report that describes the exercise as the “first joint actual-troop drill of the PLA air and ground troops under information-based conditions in frigid area with a high altitude”. The joint drill involved the Chinese Air Force, ground troops, armoured columns and a range of support entities....

Older women who got more exercise and less television time were the least likely to be diagnosed with depression, according to a U.S. study of thousands of women -- with physical activity having the biggest impact. According to findings published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, researchers found that women who reported exercising the most in recent years were about 20 percent less likely to get depression than those who rarely exercised. On the other hand, the more hours they spent watching TV each week, the more their risk of depression crept up. "Higher levels of physical activity were associated...

“Debate prep in Spartanburg, SC !!”

Operation Mountain Guardian is a terrorism-based, full-scale emergency exercise scheduled to take place in numerous locations in the Denver metro area on Friday, September 23, 2011. The exercise will involve first responders from 81 different agencies**, will be conducted at ten separate locations and will include loud noises, simulated weapons, smoke, emergency vehicles and other equipment that will be audible and visible throughout the day. The purpose of this advisory is to provide information that can be disseminated to the public ahead of time to avoid confusion or concern on exercise day, as well as to invite media coverage of...

Scientists found that small amounts of dark chocolate may improve health in a similar way to exercise. The researchers focused on the mitochondria, the tiny powerhouses in cells that generate energy, and discovered that a plant compound found in chocolate, called epicatechin, appeared to stimulate the same muscle response as vigorous activity. ''Aerobic exercise, such as running or cycling, is known to increase the number of mitochondria in muscle cells. Our study has found that epicatechin seems to bring about the same response - particularly in the heart and skeletal muscles.''

Taking regular exercise, drinking only in moderation and watching what you eat makes no difference to one's chances of reaching 100, research has found. Those who are lucky enough to qualify for a telegram from the Queen have simply been dealt a good genetic hand at birth, the study indicates. Academics studied almost 500 people between 95 and 109 and compared them with over 3,000 others born during the same period. They found those who lived extremely long lives ate just as badly, drank and smoked just as much, took just as little exercise and were just as likely to...

As strange as it sounds, a new research study published in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), suggests that the "healthy" ingredient in red wine, resveratrol, may prevent the negative effects that spaceflight and sedentary lifestyles have on people. The report describes experiments in rats that simulated the weightlessness of spaceflight, during which the group fed resveratrol did not develop insulin resistance or a loss of bone mineral density, as did those who were not fed resveratrol. This study also suggests that resveratrol may be able to prevent the deleterious consequences of sedentary behaviors in humans.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Michelle Obama dropped in on lunch and circle time at a Washington child care center on Wednesday and used the occasion to announce a new national initiative to encourage child care centers to promote healthy eating and exercise habits starting with the littlest Americans. The first lady watched as toddlers ate a healthy lunch of fish, fruit and salad greens, did the bunny hop with youngsters in a P.E. class and clapped along with singing time at CentroNia, a bilingual child care center that stresses just the kinds of healthy practices that Mrs. Obama is trying to...

This morning, after my exercise class (where there was a lengthy discussion on personal responsibility and that American culture used to stress that one was to go out of the way to not inconvenience others and respect other people’s property and space) I stopped at a chain discounter to pick up a few household staples that happen to be cheaper there than anywhere else. I walked across the parking lot, grabbed a cart and started pushing it through the store in search of the items I needed. Before long, a sight that is all too common in this country these...

Tony Horton used to be a stand-up comedian. Now he's the front man for P90X and a millionaire exercise guru. So is he an infomercial salesman? Or a fitness savior? ***** Beyond the compelling marketing, there are two reasons why P90X is so popular. First, Horton is the perfect front man. At 5´10* and 180 pounds with 9 percent body fat, he is genuinely ripped. He says he can consecutively do 110 pushups, 80 dips, 35 pullups, and eight 260-pound lat pulls. Plus, he can hold a handstand for a minute and even do a backflip off a wall. To...

If All My Children really does get cancelled as rumored, at least we can count on warmer weather to get ourselves (and all our children!) off the couch for an outdoor workout — like Michelle Obama does. SHAPE scored an exclusive Q&A with Cornell McClellan, fitness consultant and personal trainer to the First Family — who love to play outside. Q: How does the First Family like to work out? A: The First Family believes in working out together, outdoors, when they can find the time. They are an active family and want to inspire the whole country to get...

ScienceDaily (Mar. 10, 2011) — Man's best friend may provide more than just faithful companionship: A new study led by a Michigan State University researcher shows people who owned and walked their dogs were 34 percent more likely to meet federal benchmarks on physical activity. The results, said epidemiologist Mathew Reeves, show that promoting dog ownership and dog walking could help many Americans -- of which fewer than half meet recommended levels of leisure-time physical activity -- become healthier. "Walking is the most accessible form of physical activity available to people," Reeves said. "What we wanted to know was if...

Michael Strautmanis had no sooner started his White House job as a deputy assistant to the president when his boss began badgering him. "Am I working out? Am I eating right?'' Strautmanis recalled President Obama asking. "And then he told me that I should use his trainer.'' The very fit president has sent other White House aides to Cornell McClellan, the trainer, a genial master tormenter who is the secret weapon behind Michelle Obama's famously toned arms and who has overseen both Obamas' exercise programs for more than a decade. Strautmanis made one — and only one — appointment with...

America’s first lady is hell bent on fighting the obesity epidemic. For now it is focused on the nation’s children. She has interfered in school lunch and snack programs, and has even gotten one of the largest companies in the world, Wal-Mart, to comply with her plea to sell foods with less sugar and salt. In a Daily Caller op-ed, Orit Sklar, spokeswoman for My food. My Choice! wrote, “Now, one of the largest companies in the world is the vehicle through which all American food and health policy will flow. As Wal-Mart begins to institute the five-year plan, aimed...

Famous fitness guru Jack LaLanne died yesterday, Sunday Jan 23, 2011 in Morro Bay, California at the age of 96. Jack LaLanne was the son of French immigrants, born in San Francisco, California on September 26, 1914. So he was actually 96.3 years old. Not bad considering the average age of death in the United States is now 78.3 yrs, and man's years may now be limited to 120 according to the Bible. (Genesis 6:3) Jack LaLanne's life was changed at age 15 when he heard Paul Bragg speak about health and nutrition in Oakland, California. Jack went so far...

<p>Jack LaLanne, the fitness guru who inspired television viewers to trim down, eat well and pump iron for decades before diet and exercise became a national obsession, died on Sunday. He was 96.</p> <p>LaLanne died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia Sunday afternoon at his home in Morro Bay on California's central coast, his longtime agent Rick Hersh said.</p>

You might catch one late at night as you devour that leftover moo shu pork with a beer, watching TV in your underwear. The P90X infomercial. It's a guilt-inducing display in which a smiling 50-year-old man and several young cohorts, all rippling muscles and enthusiasm, knock out a couple of choice moves from what appears to be a scary-hard workout. That's followed by “regular” people vouching for the effectiveness of the workout, showing off their own pale, moo shu-ravaged bodies in pictures labeled “before,” and their newly rippling abs and rocky arms under “after.”

I am curious if any freepers are doing the P90X fitness program....i have to say that it is an excellent system...chime in if you like....would be interested in your experience or maybe questions.

CHAMPAIGN, lll. – Researchers have found an association between physical fitness and the brain in 9- and 10-year-old children: Those who are more fit tend to have a bigger hippocampus and perform better on a test of memory than their less-fit peers. The new study, which used magnetic resonance imaging to measure the relative size of specific structures in the brains of 49 child subjects, appears in the journal Brain Research. “This is the first study I know of that has used MRI measures to look at differences in brain between kids who are fit and kids who aren’t fit,”...

Mark Trahanovsky likes the way the world looks from the top floor of some very tall buildings. He's been to the top of the Sears Tower in Chicago a few times, and is a big fan of the 63-floor Aon Center in Los Angeles. The thing is, when Trahanovsky visits skyscrapers across the country, the 51-year-old Yorba Linda resident only believes in taking the elevator down. Trahanovsky competes in the growing sport of stair climbing. In fact, he is ranked no. 27, among male stair climbers in the world and climbed the Willis (Sears) Tower in 16:46 minutes in 2008....

Hitting the gym every day might do little to decrease your risk of death if you spend the rest of your time sitting down, a new study suggests. The results show the time people spend on their derrieres is associated with an increased risk of mortality, regardless of their physical activity level. Women who reported more than six hours per day of sitting (outside of work) were 37 percent more likely to die during the time period studied than those who sat fewer than three hours a day. Men who sat more than six hours a day (also outside of...

Russia’s N. Korean Refugee Drill JULY 07, 2010 11:21 Russia conducted over the weekend an emergency drill to respond to a massive inflow of North Korean refugees in the settlement of Khasan, Primorsky Krai. Russian soldiers played the role of refugees and others set up camps and provided food and medical supplies. The drill was the second of its kind following one in August 2003. Moscow apparently believes that a contingency could erupt at any time due to internal instability in North Korea. The drill was part of Vostok 2010, a military maneuver conducted by the Russian armed forces, that...

A mathematical model suggests that aggressively pursuing low blood pressure and cholesterol levels may not benefit, and could even harm, some patients with diabetes, according to a report in the June 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Almost all treatment guidelines for patients with diabetes suggest aggressively treating high low-density lipoprotein (LDL or "bad" cholesterol) and blood pressure levels to reduce patients' risk of developing heart disease, according to background information in the article. "These recommendations, which are based on the average results of trials evaluating the relative benefits of intensive risk factor control,...

(June 23) -- When most people get in line at Orlando, Fla.'s new Harry Potter theme park, they're worried about the wait -- not their weight. But according to some Harry Potter lovers, pudgy muggles -- those who weigh about 265 pounds or more -- are getting tossed from line at the most-hyped ride in Universal Studios' Wizarding World of Harry Potter amusement park. For them, the ride "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey" is truly living up to its name -- and that's a big disappointment for fans who resemble Harry's rotund cousin Dudley. Harry Potter fanatic Jeff Guillaume...

This week President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order establishing the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council. The task of this council will be to monitor the nation’s health and prescribe the behavior modifications needed to ensure optimal health. “Now that the federal government has taken on the responsibility of ensuring that all persons residing in America will have health insurance it is only fitting that we take aggressive steps to control the cost of this undertaking,” the President said. “We all know that bad habits are the major cause of preventable illnesses. Individuals who are unable to...

BOSTON — The word “Paleolithic” might evoke images from the 1980s film “Quest for Fire” — or, more recently, the scruffy cavemen in those Geico commercials. But Nate Rosenberg says going back in time to eat like a Neanderthal doesn’t make him one. “It’s obviously not a reenactment of Paleolithic life,” Rosenberg says. The 27-year-old foraged through his contemporary kitchen in the cute Somerville apartment he shares with his Paleo partner Michal Naisteter. “We eat modern foods,” he says. “In the Paleolithic era they did not have ground beef or, you know, dried oregano from Whole Foods and stuff life...

A few months back, the commander in chief of our Armed Forces, that erstwhile community organizer Barack Hussein Obama, denigrated a large cross section of Americans who identify with the Tea Party movement -- those who advocate for Essential Liberty and Rule of Law. Obama identified them as malcontents, "waving their little tea bags." Since then, the Obama administration and their Leftmedia sycophants have endeavored to characterize Tea Party attendees as rude, radical, racist, redneck, enemies of the state. They have attempted to tie high-profile acts of violence against the government to the Tea Party, including the pilot who crashed...

Traditional treatments of cognitive behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy don't reach everyoneExercise is a magic drug for many people with depression and anxiety disorders, and it should be more widely prescribed by mental health care providers, according to researchers who analyzed the results of numerous published studies. "Exercise has been shown to have tremendous benefits for mental health," says Jasper Smits, director of the Anxiety Research and Treatment Program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "The more therapists who are trained in exercise therapy, the better off patients will be." Smits and Michael Otto, psychology professor at Boston University, based their...

Losing weight is difficult, and keeping it off may be even harder. So Harvard researchers set out to determine exactly how much physical activity women need in midlife to avoid gaining weight as they age. The researchers found that an hour of moderate activity a day — including such recreational activities as brisk walking, leisurely bicycling, ballroom dancing and playing with children — prevented women of normal weight from gaining more than five pounds over any three-year period. Half that amount of vigorous activity, like running, jogging or fast biking, will do the trick as well, they said. Women who...

"5 Simple Wellness Strategies Sometimes Simple is Best" Posted: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 BRYAN FASS Fitness Contributor Officer.com SNIPPET: "This month, as we rapidly roll into the holiday season I thought it would be a good idea to start thinking about our wellness. As the weather got colder and most of us became less active out doors the pounds slowly began to sneak on and we slowly become more sedentary. As I have been fond of saying year after year, now that it is officially spring, SUMMER IS COMING. So instead of going into a tirade on fitness and nutrition,...

Michelle Obama Plays Football First lady Michelle Obama took to the pitch with a group of children to encourage them to exercise regularly. 05 Mar 2010 US first lady Michelle Obama kicks a ball as she attends a free soccer clinic Photo: REUTERS Mrs Obama's participation in a football clinic in Washington coincided with the announcement of a new partnership between the US Soccer Foundation and the National Alliance for Hispanic Health. The groups are launching a 25-city tour to provide children and their families with free health screenings and soccer clinics. The scheme is part of the first lady's...

People who complain they have no time to exercise may soon need another excuse. Some experts say intense exercise sessions could help people squeeze an entire week's workout into less than an hour. Intense exercise regimens, or interval training, was originally developed for Olympic athletes and thought to be too strenuous for normal people. But in recent years, studies in older people and those with health problems suggest many more people might be able to handle it. If true, that could revolutionize how officials advise people to exercise -- and save millions of people hours in the gym every week....

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Severely obese teens who had surgery to limit what they could eat lost more weight and enjoyed more health benefits than those who did an intensive lifestyle program, researchers said on Tuesday. They said 21 of 25 severely obese teens aged 14 to 18 who underwent a form of gastric banding lost more than half of their excess weight compared with just 3 out of 25 who did a diet, exercise and behavior modification program. "In this study, gastric banding proved to be an effective intervention leading to a substantial and durable reduction in obesity and to...

People who carry a few extra pounds after age 70 tend to live longer than people who don’t, new research finds. Overweight older adults who took part in the Australian study had a clear survival advantage over those who were normal weight, underweight, or obese. The findings suggest that the widely accepted body mass index (BMI) weight guidelines may not be particularly useful after age 70, lead researcher Leon Flicker, PhD, of the University of Western Australia tells WebMD. Last summer, researchers in Canada reported the same findings after analyzing data from more than 11,000 adults followed for more than...

Detroit (WWJ) -- Detroit's homeless not only have a place to stay, they now also have a place to stay in shape. The Green Gym opened at the warehouse of the Cass Community Social Services at 12025 Woodrow Wilson. It is the first gym of its kind specifically for homeless clients. The specially-equipped bikes hooked to a generator will make electricity redirected to the warehouse. One cyclist over an hour's time can create enough juice to power two laptop computers for an hour.

Lounging in front of the tube not only eats up hours in your day, it may also shorten your life, according to a new study. The study, which looked at the connection between watching TV and death for 8,800 Australian adults, found that each hour of TV-viewing was associated with an 11 percent increased risk of death from any cause, and an 18 percent increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease. These findings held true even after the researchers took into account other factors that could raise the risk of dying, such as age, gender, waist circumference and exercise habits....

When I was younger, I never worried about gaining weight. I was a “skinny little thing,” and at 5’3,” weighed 98 pounds soaking wet when I graduated from high school in 1971. At one time, I could eat anything I pleased. Oh how I wish for those days. However, age has caused my metabolism to slow down.

It is New Years Day. I just returned home from a great workout at the gym. Squats, leg press and 30 minutes on the Stair Master. Last year at this time, I was losing weight despite eating like a horse. Diagnosis, Diabetes. I have learned my blood sugar numbers are better when I reduce calories and exercise. Despite this knowledge, I have been lazy and not exercising. I had a revelation today. “You can exercise for an hour 3 or 4 times a week or you could probably have to attend kidney dialysis 4 or 5 times a week for...

U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors fly in formation during a training mission in southwest Asia, Dec. 6, 2009. The F-22 fighters and crews are deployed from the 27th Fighter Squadron at Langley Air Force Base, Va., and entered the Air Forces Central area of responsibility for the first time as part of a multi-national exercise where aircrews from France, Jordan, Pakistan, the U.A.E., the U.K. and the U.S. trained together in fighting a large-scale air war. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Michael B. Keller. SOUTHWEST ASIA — U.S. Airmen here marked a milestone recently, completing the first deployment...

Boston (SmartAboutHealth) - According to two new studies, coffee and exercise may be the keys to men beating prostate cancer. The first study was carried out by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, and was led by Kathryn M. Wilson. The study focused on data from 50,000 men to get an idea as to the rate at which prostate cancer was being diagnosed, and whether or not coffee would help in any way. Over a 20-year period from 1986 to 2006, there were nearly 5,000 cases of prostate cancer diagnosed out of the 50,000 men. What they found...

Joubert/Photo Researchers, Inc A neuron in the brain. Researchers at Princeton University recently made a remarkable discovery about the brains of rats that exercise. Some of their neurons respond differently to stress than the neurons of slothful rats. Scientists have known for some time that exercise stimulates the creation of new brain cells (neurons) but not how, precisely, these neurons might be functionally different from other brain cells.In the experiment, preliminary results of which were presented last month at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago, scientists allowed one group of rats to run. Another set of...