Tag Archives: exercise

Migraines and Situps

Deprecated: Automatic conversion of false to array is deprecated in /home/health/public_html/wp-content/plugins/easy-custom-auto-excerpt/default.php on line 5

Deprecated: Automatic conversion of false to array is deprecated in /home/health/public_html/wp-content/plugins/easy-custom-auto-excerpt/default.php on line 5

If you heard that you should isolate your abdominal muscles (abs) by crossing your arms over your chest while doing situps, and now you’re suffering headaches, neck aches, or migraines, then go back to the old way of doing situps: clasp your hands behind your neck, with your elbows and arms out straight in line with your shoulders and back.

Best Places to Comparison Shop for Outdoor Gear Online

I enjoy comparison shopping for adventure products, especially hiking gear. When I keep up with my comparison shopping routine, I know a good price when I see one. You really can save hundreds of dollars when you stay abreast of prices, because then you know a deal when it stares you in the eye. This year I found a brand-new $600 2010 North Face Free Thinker Gore-Tex Pro Shell Rain Jacket/Ski Jacket for $195.

Here are places I visit online for prices and deals on outdoor gear:

www.rei.com

www.rei.com/outlet read more

Endurance Training & Long-distance Hikes: Tips & Tricks

The training and nutritive techniques are virtually identical — endurance athletes minimize weight, eat high-calorie, easily digestible carbohydrate gels and fluid proteins, hydrate often, and take electrolytes — but if you compare the numbers (if you can find the numbers), you’ll find that marathoners and long-distance runners outnumber endurance hikers. While an average marathoner might finish a 42.195 kilometer run in about 5 hours, an endurance hiker will often take 11 hours to complete the same distance on rough wilderness trails. Recent mothers, fathers, and young professionals often find that the travel times to worthwhile hiking trails (plus the hiking times) are prohibitive. read more

Reavis Ranch & Hoolie Bacon Photo Galleries

A 19-mile in-and-out day-hike to the old Reavis Ranch in the Superstition Wilderness along a well traveled trail. Click through to the entire post so you can view the galleries.

Hoolie Bacon: Thorns, Sand and Mountain Lion Tracks

Winter Hiking on the Bruce Trail South of Speyside, Ontario

Click on the thumbnail photos (and then when you are done, click on the full size photos to close).

Toronto Waterfront, Leslie Spit, Cherry Beach

It was over 90 degrees in July, and with the humidity, that temperature had the effect of 104 degrees, but starting at 2 PM, I hiked from Yonge and St. Clair to the waterfront and then on to Cherry Beach and the Leslie Spit in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Then I hiked back to where I started on Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue. (Yonge is the longest municipal street in Canada.) Click on the photos:

Also see:

Hiking Photos from Bruce Trail and Grand Canyon

Here are a few of the photos I took on my hikes in Arizona and Ontario. I use a small Japanese-made Minolta.

I took the Arizona shot on the Tanner Trail in the Grand Canyon and the Ontario shots on the Beaver Valley and Sydenham sections of the Bruce Trail (Maps 28 and 29 of the Bruce Trail Reference: Edition 25), about 10 km south of Meaford, Ontario. (Did you know that John Muir once lived in Meaford?). Compared to Arizona, the Bruce Trail does not present large elevation changes, but its moss-covered rocks and boulders are extremely slippery. read more

Flat Feet and Arch Supports

Maybe you visited your doctor after taking up running, and the doctor told you that your feet hurt because your arches fell. In other words, you have flat feet. Well the chances are that it’s your shoes, not your flat arches, that are causing the pain. The arch supports hurt your feet: You do not want humongous arch supports. You want shoes that are built with very mild (low) arch supports.

Both New Balance and Vasque make athletic shoes that fit flat feet and wide feet. Vasque even says that their Perpetuum last is “comfortable for people with flatter feet.” read more