Category — Beauty & Fashion

February is heart health month and Fiterati offers you three ways to make small changes that have a big impact on your well being. From heart rate basics and heart healthy diets to relaxing exercises that reduce stress, blood pressure and prevent heart attack, here’s how to show yourself more love.

1. Heart Rate Basics

Heart health is more than eating a low-cholesterol or fat-free diet such as The O2 Diet. Heart health also means achieving certain numbers when in training and at rest. Several websites offer heart rate basics and tools to help you discover your target training zone, which will allow you to create a workout based on your heart rate for goals and calorie burn.

• Why heart rate is important
• Heart rate calculator
• Resting heart rate calculator
• How to determine maximum heart rate
• Get extra motivation from Polar’s training site

In addition to discovering your target heart rate, you can celebrate heart health month by eating your way healthier and including other exercises besides aerobics to your fitness regime, which will boost your cardiovascular system and add welcome variety to your workout.

2. The O2 Diet

3. The best heart healthy exercises

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Whether you save or splurge, these holiday gifts for the fitness buff will help her train smart, feel strong and look sexy. From now on all bulges will be out of sight.

1. ABS

SAVE: Portable abdominal trainer
The Power Wheel abs trainer includes a surprising feature that your hard-to-please friends will appreciate: It targets the front and back of the body. Grasp the foam cushioned axle with hands to do such demanding crunch-free exercises as ab rollouts and pike-ups, and then secure heels in the unique foot straps to draw knees up and under body for leg rollouts, which boost eccentric strength in hamstrings, responsible for running speed and jumping power. Paired with an instructional DVD of progressive training plans, it’s an impressive frugal fitness find. $59.95 at www.performbetter.com and www.fitter1.com.

SPLURGE: Get svelte around the belt
Help a desk jockey cinch a waistline by targeting upper, middle, lower and side abdominals from a seated position in a comfy chair. All movement begins at the core so newbies need a base level of abdominal strength. Aussie Abs’ unique plunging action targets job-related jiggle by allowing the rib cage and pelvis to move toward each other and contract, engaging deep ab muscles. She’ll expect an easy-to-follow DVD, but will be surprised by its charming instructor. $89.99 exclusively through www.theshoppingchannel.com.

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Stocking-stuffer gifts for fitness buffs are often bought last minute; they’re an afterthought or an impulse buy at the cash register. But at my house, plunging into the holiday stocking is the most eagerly anticipated event because of the element of surprise. The holiday stocking is the equivalent of a chef’s amuse bouche — a small sample of a dish to both excite a diner’s appetite and provide a glimpse into the dinner to come. My special someone and I look forward to tearing into our holiday loot bags and I enjoy that it’s my chance to impress him and set a happy mood for the holidays.

My most successful stockings were ones I planned in advance. Making time allowed me to fill the stockings with thoughtful, offbeat gifts. (If you want to melt someone’s heart, I recommend that you make the stocking. I hand-stitched the felt stocking pictured above for my muscle man, and I’ve yet to see him smile wider. It’s the stocking he wants stuffed every year.) I learned that picking unpredictable fitness gifts for someone dreaming of a tight Christmas requires a good eye for items that the recipient would want to try, but would not ordinarily buy; and that the presents should be easily affordable for you.
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Dress like an athlete for optimal performance this autumn whether you exercise to look fit or feel healthier.

Fall workout apparel and exercise gear is about picking appropriate clothing to enhance the actions of your workout. You know your body best, but not all workout clothes and trends will improve your workout or complement your style. Because fall is a time when you change up your workout, Fiterati’s fall fitness fashion guide for cycling, gym, running and yoga presents outfits that camouflage your trouble zones, keep your body dry, adjust to moody weather and protect your joints from the cold after sweating it out doing the hottest fall classes and moves.

Read on and discover how to easily update your workout wardrobe and what items you’ll need to pull a look together, plus get tips and recommendations from Fiterati.

Workout clothes for cycling
Workout clothes for the gym
Workout clothes for running
Workout clothes for yoga

Dressing for my gym workouts gets me in the mood to train. But, for days when my energy is low or my body fat is high, I greedily snatch up colourful fitted clothes to restore my body confidence. From cardio bras and tanks to training shoes and jackets, these new finds will get you psyched to get back into the gym because they’re designed for vigorous exercise and to keep you dry — and that’s important for your boxing, cardio, strength training, group exercise and core workouts this fall. [Read more →]