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Enjoy exercise, get fit the fun way |
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Tuesday, 06 November 2007 |
by ALISON MEANEY
Intern Lifestyles Reporter
For some people struggling with their body mass index, the problem of losing weight is complicated by the dread of going to the gym.
Repetitive laps, reps, or drills make some forms of traditional exercise discouraging for athletes with a will power problem.
There are ways to burn calories while enjoying Boone’s mountain scapes, making love, or by taking the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator.
Hula-hooping for instance, is becoming popular among Appalachian State
University students, adults and festival-goers, and is also a fun way
to break a sweat.
Though there are no hard numbers yet, Harold S. O’Briant, a professor
in the department of exercise science, estimates that a 30-minute
session with a weighted hoop could burn up to 150 calories.
It is safe to say that hooping has evolved from a childhood playground activity to a get-fit fad.
Weighted hoops of up to five pounds exaggerate your motions, thus
toning a variety of muscles. Some new hoops are even patterned with
massagers, balls or shapes to soothe muscles throughout the session,
O’Briant said.
O’Briant warns that hula-hooping is a low-impact method of working out.
A more intense anaerobic workout, such as weight training, causes the
body to expend energy as calories up to two days after the activity.
The body does not need to recover after a session of hooping, but it is
still a fun activity to do while watching TV or feeling nostalgic.
Another interesting way of staying in shape is through the practice of
yoga, an activity some mistake as purely a form of meditation.
Though there are restorative, highly spiritual styles of yoga, more
intense workouts are achieved through fast-paced power yoga, or bikram
yoga which is practiced in a heated room.
Senior speech pathology major Kim F. Lomonaco is currently training for
her yoga alliance certification through the Neighborhood Yoga Teacher
Training in downtown Boone.
Lomonaco said, “You get what you put into yoga.”
As a member of Appalachian’s swim club, she knows what an intense
workout is and can vouch for the legitimacy of a yoga workout.
“The fun thing about yoga is that as you progress, the poses progress too. It never ends,” Lomonaco said
The power yoga classes offered in Mt. Mitchell Life Fitness Centre and
in the Student Recreation Center will quicken the heart rate, improve
flexibility, lung capacity and muscle tone through the nature of the
workout, Lomonaco said.
Hula-hooping and yoga are only two fun and different excuses to get up
and move around. Playing frisbee Nintendo’s Wii Game Console, and
everything in between are marketed toward people who know they don’t
get enough exercise.
People don’t have to mourn going to the gym; instead, they can incorporate enjoyable exercise into their daily lives.
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