I’m probably never going to be someone who goes to the gym regularly. I just don’t enjoy hanging out on exercise machines even if it might be good for me. I’m the kind of person who has to enjoy my exercise or I’m not going to be able to do it.

Luckily, over the years, I’ve found several types of exercise that I actually enjoy. Last fall I discovered yoga (and more recently pilates) which I go to a few times a week. The combination of spirituality and exercise seems to really work for me there. I also like getting out into nature and enjoy hiking. I’ve done indoor rock climbing in the past and would love to try outdoor rock climbing one day. I think if you find exercises that you like such as these then you’ll naturally just stay in shape because you’ll enjoy working out.

In addition to learning to enjoy exercise, I’ve learned to enjoy reading and writing about exercise. I read a few fitness blogs and yoga magazines. Three recent articles that I wrote about exercise were:

• 10 Trampoline Exercises. Working out on a trampoline is so much fun. I wish I could get one but it’s not feasible in my apartment at this time.
• Foot Gymnastics. There are lots of workouts for the feet and toes. These are particularly good for anyone who has a problem with flat feet.
• How to Burn Calories. Did you know that you don’t even have to exercise to burn calories? There are other things you can do as well.

Those were all fun articles to research and write about. Hopefully they’ll be fun for you to read as well.

Tags: burn calories, exercise, exercise articles, fitness, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, lose weight, working out

I tend to stay in pretty good shape. I walk everywhere. I go to yoga. I recently started pilates. I eat right more or less. But the one thing that I don’t do that I really need to start doing is moe cardio work. Although I get a decent bit of cardio in whenever I climb up one of SF’s hills, I mostly manage to avoid this important part of a regular exercise routine.

Many people make sure that they do cardio for weight loss. I’m not really looking to lose weight so that’s not my motivation. However, I have problems with asthma and I’d really like to build up my lung capacity which seems like a really good reason to start getting active about doing more cardio.

The problem is that I’ve really never done much cardio. Getting started with it isn’t easy, especially since the asthma kicks in right away and I have trouble getting past that first difficult hump. However, I realize that this is not something that’s going to get better with time – at least not until I start making the effort to get that cardio in.

If anyone has tips on how to get in your cardio when you’re just getting started with it – I’d love to hear them!

Tags: asthma, cardio, exercise, fitness, health, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, weight loss

My health and diet post about yoga being so much more than just a physical thing has been included in the stress subject section of the Total Mind and Body Fitness blog carnival. Other articles on stress that were included were about rush hour traffic stress, destressing at work and finding satisfaction in life.

This blog carnival isn’t just about stress relief, though. It’s about all aspects of fitness and wellness. Other posts included:

• Posts on the brain including those related to memory, positive thoughts and brain plasticity.
• Tips, warnings and hints for dating online as well as offline and dealing with issues like cheating
• Exercise posts on yoga, the body (especially abs) and using ellipticals
• Beauty posts on cosmetic fillers and hair oil
• Food and nutrition posts on alcohol, pizza, health shakes, cholesterol and tea
• Financial wellness information on online banking, business and volunteerism
• Some seemingly random posts on Montana, PhotoLab, gold investing and remarkability

Wellness is a really important topic to read about so hopefully you’ll find some helpful information from the other articles that were included in this blog carnival!

Tags: blog carnival, blogcarnival, exercise, fitness, health, kathryn vercillo, life, stress, yoga