Did you know that stretching your muscles is just as important as strengthening them? All of the muscles in your body have an optimum length. If all you ever do is work on strengthening, your muscles will actually shorten and become less efficient because they’re not working from this optimum length. So every time you exercise, you want to make sure to stretch out the muscles you have worked. Stretching is also a great way to relieve tension in the body, which is perfect after long hours sitting at a desk. So here are a few quick stretching tips, and ideas for stretches that are great after a workout or just a long day.

Quick tips:

- Hold stretches for at least 30 seconds to increase flexibility

- Don’t “bounce” or “bob” in stretches (instead of reaching for your toes, pulling back, and reaching again, over and over, reach as far toward your toes as you can and hold it) Read More »

December has arrived, which means that one very exciting thing is on its way: winter break! Unfortunately, finals, papers and projects stand in the way of that glorious freedom. Unless you go to a school with no final exams or homework (and please, let me know if there is such a place), you’re about to spend a lot of time sitting down to study.

When you’ve been sitting for a long time, it’s easy to get sleepy and distracted. So why not get up and do a little quickie workout? Working a little exercise into your study routine will get your blood flowing and help you concentrate. It’s a win-win. Read More »

Don't let your skinny jeans stop you from eating it all (twice) on Thanksgiving!

The two things I love most about fall are the food and the fashion, which means Thanksgiving is a major jackpot. I get to dress up all cute and stuff my face with turkey. It’s wonderful…for the first ten minutes. Then my stomach begins to protrude over my skintight mini and I start having a hard time breathing. Undoubtedly I end up taking an intermission, putting on my stretchy sweatpants, then heading back for seconds.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s possible to look cute and eat until you’re curled up on the couch in a food coma. You just have to choose your outfit wisely. I’ve combed through this season’s hottest trends and built outfits that are holiday appropriate, both in how they look and how they stretch to fit the 5 lbs of stuffing you will inevitably inhale. And I’m sure enjoying Thanksgiving dinner without the need to unbutton your pants at the table is something we can all be thankful for this year. Read More »

While most people’s gym routines differ – I, for one, have always been an elliptical girl and hate the stationary bike – it’s safe to assume that almost everyone incorporates a “cool down” into their cardio program. After running for 30 minutes at 7 miles per hour, you’ll knock your speed down to 3 and spend five minutes jogging or walking before you hop off the machine. Many pieces of gym equipment even include a 5-minute cool down automatically, tacking it on to the end of your desired workout. All of this is supposed to prevent soreness or muscle damage and relieve strain on the heart.

According to University of Texas physiologist Hirofumi Tanaka, however, there’s no proof that a cool down has any positive benefits on the body. “Everyone thinks it’s an established fact, so they don’t study it,” he said in a recent New York Times article. The article notes the ambiguity of the concept as a whole, noting that it’s not even clear what a cool down is supposed to be or how long it should last.

Apparently, the cool down became standard gym practice after it was reported that muscles become sore after exercising due to the accumulation of lactic acid. This theory has been reported false, leading people to believe that reducing the intensity at the end of a workout (which was supposed to let the lactic acid dissipate slowly) is unnecessary. The article does note, however, that blood can build up in your legs and feet if you stop running (or biking or ellipti-cizing) shortly, making dizziness or even fainting a possibility. Read More »

We are busy girls; there is no doubt about it. We’ve got class, and study groups, and student groups and work, and somewhere between all of that, we need to work out. And we need to get the most out of that limited time we have.

So we run to the gym, hop on the treadmill for 45 minutes, pack our things and move onto the next item on our daily agenda: the shower. We don’t have time to waste on stretching – we’ve got beer and pizza calories to burn, baby. Stretching is just an extra little thing, anyway; it’s not that important.

That’s what I used to think, but it turns out that stretching can be the most important part of a workout. Well, if you don’t want to mess up your body and do want to see more obvious results. Read More »

[It doesn’t matter what school you go to, what state it is in, how big it is, whether it is public or private, all girls or coed…there are experiences that all college students share. No matter how crazy you think your personal situation is, it is not just you.So, let’s bring it all out in the open. Right here. Because you are not alone - we’ve all been there before.]

You walk into the fancy department store at the mall, and, like a moth to a flame, you are immediately attracted to the jeans section. So many designers. So many colors. So many choices. Yaaaay!

You move around the section with a goal in mind: going-out jeans. “You came for one pair,” you think to yourself. “ONE PAIR.”

But that doesn’t mean you can’t take 27 pairs into the dressing room. Come on! They all fit differently and you don’t know exactly what look you want to take home. Skinnies? Wide leg? Black? Super dark? To wear with flats, or to sport with heels?

By the time you make it to your dressing room (which seems extremely small when filled with 40 pairs of jeans…and a few shirts you found along the way) you are sweating. You begin to strip off that baggy mess of a pair you reserve for Saturdays and start attacking the pile o’ denim in the corner.

The first few pairs are “Eh,” but you keep trucking. You were saving your favorites for later anyway. You finally get to that oh-so-hot pair of super tight and super sexy dark skinnies. You know these would turn heads and you have been eyeing them for months. You want em, you want em, you want em!!

You put one leg in. Then the other. You pull them up. They stop. Read More »