A little inspirational quote as we head into the holiday weekend.

I've received several entries for my blog-naming contest, but haven't chosen a winner, so you have time to submit your clever name for consideration. Use the entry form in the original blog post.

A little fitness humor about how to make progress with your lifting:
1. Stand on a firm surface, where you have plenty of room on each side.
2. Take a 5-lb potato sack in each hand. Extend your arms straight out from your sides. Hold your arms out as long as you can, then relax.
Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer. Build up to one minute.
3. After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato sacks. Then try 50-lb potato sacks and then eventually progress to lifting a 100-lb potato sack in each hand, while holding your arms straight out for a full minute.
4. When you can do this successfully, progress by putting a potato in each of the sacks.

A study showed that 6 months of exercise can bring a 50-year-old back to the level of fitness he had at 20.

After 6 months of walking, jogging, and cycling, which started slowly and gradually increased to 4.5 hours a week, the subjects in the study had the same aerobic capacity as they had 30 years earlier.

So, in 6 months they reversed 30 years of sedentary lifestyle.

That same study 30 years earlier included a 3-week bed rest. The bed rest was more detrimental to cardiovascular fitness than 30 years of aging.

In other words, move it or lose it. And if you lost it, you can get it back.

We know cardio exercise is good for the brain. A new experiment suggests strength training might be, too.
 
By late middle age, most of us start developing lesions in the brain’s white matter, which connects and passes messages between brain regions. These lesions affect cognition.
 
The experiment tested healthy women, aged 65-75. One group did light strength training once a week, another twice weekly, and the control group did stretch and balance work twice a week.
 
After a year, lesions had progressed in the control group and those who lifted once a week. But those who had lifted twice a week had significantly less white matter shrinkage.
 
Here's yet another great reason to do strength training:  prevent zombie lesions eating at your brain’s white matter.

Using the form below, send me your suggestion(s) for a name for this blog. The winner will receive a free admission to a JFTM workshop of your choice.

You may submit as many suggestions as you like, on one entry form or separate forms.

Selection criteria will be purely arbitrary and subjective!

Hint: I like humor and word play. 

I’ve been spending the past few months setting up my fitness workshops: developing the content and handouts (fun), finding a venue (sort of fun), building a website (definitely fun), compiling a mailing list and learning the spam laws (interesting), marketing (not fun), and ultimately presenting the workshops (loads of fun).
 
Now that all the workshop structure is place, I finally have time to write what I hope is an informative---and occasionally humorous—newsletter and blog about all things fitness. Expect an occasional quiz (with prizes), fitness tips, “how-to” info on my favorite exercises, and healthy recipes.
 
You are welcome to submit suggestions for topics you’d like to hear about, questions for me to answer in this space, and comment on any blog entry

Here is a gratuitous picture of my Labrador Retriever, Scrappy, who likes to participate in everything I do, including “helping” write this blog. This photo was taken at Scrappy’s 13th birthday party, held at an assisted living facility we visit.