Pick the one that’s perfect for you.

ZumeWalk - Walking for Fitness

Easy? Check. Cost-free? Check. Gets real results…that really last? Check, check. Well, what more could you want from a slim-down plan — except that it be flexible enough to fit into your busy schedule? Okay, this one does that, too.

In fact, this plan is so easy and natural, it hardly feels like a weight-loss program. Of course, that’s the beauty of walking: The simple act of placing one foot in front of the other — no gadgets, no gear, no trips to the gym — can totally transform your figure, even if you don’t change one thing about your diet!

Walking can also transform your health. Experts now say that taking roughly 10,000 steps per day sets off a chain reaction of physical benefits, including lower blood pressure, reduced risk for heart disease and better odds for preventing breast cancer.

Does 10,000 steps sound overwhelming? A little perspective: It translates into 4.5 to 5 miles, or one hour of rapid walking. Still sound like a lot? Try breaking it into shorter bits: three 20-minute errands on foot, one breezy 30-minute walk before breakfast and another after dinner. Or simply commit to getting up once an hour, every hour throughout your day and moving for five minutes.

However you break down the steps, there’s only one fabulous result: a slimmer, more energetic you. In 60 minutes of walking, you’ll burn 300 to 500 additional calories. Keep that up for 10 days and you’ll lose a pound. Keep it up for a year and you’ll be 35 pounds lighter — without a minute of dieting.

Beginners!
Focus on miles, not minutes.When you start your walking workout, don’t be intimidated if you can’t keep pace with the time suggestions here. These are your ultimate goals, but the health and weight-loss benefits of walking are measured in number of steps, not minutes. Even if it takes you 20 minutes to walk a mile instead of the 13-minute ideal, don’t give up. Your first goal is to reach the 10,000-steps marker, then worry about whittling down the time it takes to reach it. Do a little more each day, but don’t overdo it. Good luck! (If you’ve never exercised or haven’t done so in a while, check with your doctor first.)

How to customize your workout:
A pedometer registers step count, but maximum health benefits also require the right exertion level. Rule of thumb: If you can’t catch your breath enough to say hi to a friend, slow down. Able to belt out your favorite song, no problem? You’re taking it too easy. To up your workout ante, consider these variations:

• Increase your pace, not your stride. Taking more steps per minute instead of longer ones not only helps you walk faster (a 12- to 13-minute mile is optimal), it also elevates your heart rate without increasing your risk of injury.
• Pretend you’re on a tightrope. Professional walkers place one foot directly in front of the other, as opposed to taking hip-width strides. Follow suit, and you’ll increase your energy output and use more major muscle groups.
• Work your arms. Bend your elbows at a 90-degree angle and pump them back and forth as you step. This propels you forward faster and burns more calories.
• Head for the hills! Adding an angle is the surest way to increase the intensity of your walking workout. If you’re on a treadmill, use the elevation button.
• Use weights or walking sticks — both give a more complete workout. The two dumbbells should weigh less than 10 percent of your body weight. Walking sticks (not to be confused with the kind Granddad may have sported) increase energy expended by 20 percent; order a pair at nordicwalker.com.

Do you really have time for a walking workout? Absolutely — you just need to find a routine that fits into your already superfried schedule. Pick your profile from one of our three plans, and let us solve your when, where and how.

1. “I don’t have a full hour. Can I still squeeze in exercise?”

PROFILE: Your job or your family, or both, have you going all day long. You never get more than 20 minutes to yourself, and commuting eats up a lot of that time.

Your 60-minute walking workout:

2. “I’ll concentrate and do it all at once.”

PROFILE: Lucky you. Finding a full hour to devote to working out is no problem — and you’d rather bite the bullet and get it done than worry about weaving it into your day.

Your 60-minute walking workout:

3. “Help! I hate to exercise!”

PROFILE: It’s tedious, time-consuming and boring. To hit 10,000 steps a day, your workout has to be fun, or it’s not going to happen!

Your 10,000-step walking workout:

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ZumeWalking for fitness, wellness and weight loss

OK, your a crazy walking machine and the exercise has become a part of your life and now you’re looking for a step two. Step two is eating healthy and creating the same livable routine for healthy eating and wellness, same as you created for walking and exercise. Check out, Sensei for Weight Loss.

Sensei & ZumeWalk, A Whole New Way to a Whole New You

Forget everything you know about weight loss. Sensei isn’t a fad diet or a magic pill, it’s a whole new approach to long term weight loss. You life shouldn’t stop because you want to lose weight. That’s why Sensei doesn’t make you wait for weekly meetings, count calories or eat only pre-packaged foods.

Sensei develops a program that is customized to suit your preferences and lifestyle. Whether you like eating fast food, hate going to the gym or enjoy cooking at home and working out. Sensei transforms your mobile phone and computer into a personal health coach that provides the support and guidance you need to make healthy choices in your meals and activities. Over time these good choices transform into healthy habits.

Take a look at one of their success stories:

Michelle leads an extremely busy life. She works full time and is constantly on the road. Her schedule is hectic; no two days are the same. Sensei was ideal for Michelle because it didn’t take a lot of time and was easy to live with. The meal plan Sensei created for her incorporated all the foods she liked plus many she thought she couldn’t have if she was trying to lose weight. She especially loved that each meal was tailored to her day. Whether she was eating at home or on the road, the program adapted quickly to changes in her schedule. If she planned to have dinner at home but needed to go out at the last minute, Sensei would quickly suggest a meal that enabled her to stick with the program.

“The idea of signing up for a weight loss program that required me to attend meetings, prepare all my meals, count calories or never eat out just wouldn’t work for me. I needed a program that could keep pace with my life; not one that added to my list of things to do.” I also knew I wanted to lose weight and keep it off for good. I have friends who have tried other programs. I’ve watched them lose weight only to gain it all back. Long term success is about making permanent changes to the way you live, not about starving yourself temporarily or attending weekly meetings for a few months. Sensei gave me the tools I needed to make small changes over time to the way I live.”

“I learned a great deal by using the Sensei program. The most important thing I learned was to go to the grocery store with a shopping list. Before Sensei, I would just go to the store and buy whatever I thought we would need to eat for the week. I wound up buying a lot of things we didn’t need, like snack foods. I also fell into the habit of buying things that were advertised as specials, thinking I was saving money. Sensei automatically created a shopping list based on my meal plan, that took into account the times I planned to eat out which was great. It saved me time and money because I knew exactly what I needed for the week when I went shopping. I didn’t have to run back to the grocery store in the middle of the week or wander aimlessly through the aisles looking for ideas. I was shocked when I got to the check out and realized my bill was almost $50 less than I was normally spending each week. The light went on in my head and I realized those store specials only encourage you to buy more than you really need.”

Of course, there are no guarantees but eating healthy can be one of the most uplifting and positive things you can do. If you combine healthy eating with a solid routine of walking the results will be not far behind, and then who knows what will come next. The possibilities are endless. Remember my secret mantra, starting is the secret. What are you going to do today, for yourself. How about walking out the front door?

Mike Zume_exercise isn’t about perfection, it’s about committing to an active life.

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program.
Your physician is your very best resource.

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Walking test that everyone should pass

If you’re middle-aged or older, a 10-minute walking test can give you and your doctor a pretty clear picture of whether you are at higher risk of dying during the next few years compared with other people your age, according to a large new analysis of data showing that cardiorespiratory fitness is intimately linked with the risk of dying of just about any cause.

However, you probably won’t get this exercise test unless you ask for it.

The exercise stress test –or, in medical parlance, the graded exercise test –measures your cardiorespiratory fitness, or how well your heart, lungs, muscles, and blood vessels work together to use oxygen and produce energy. There are several ways to do the test, but it basically involves walking or running on a treadmill at progressively steeper inclines or faster speeds under medical supervision.

It has been known for decades that cardiorespiratory fitness is a key factor in mortality risk, with more-fit people surviving longer than the less-fit, said Dr. Timothy Church, director of preventive medicine research at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “Fitness is just simply as powerful a risk factor as there is,” he said.

But primary-care doctors don’t include it in a patient’s workup along with blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and so on, he said.

It’s expensive, it’s not easy to do, it requires special equipment, and physicians these days don’t even have time to talk about exercise in general, let alone do exercise tests on everybody,” Church said.

But they probably should, according to the authors of a major review of the medical literature on fitness and mortality risk published this week in Journal of the American Medical Association. Health.com: Knowing your mother’s health history can lower your risks

Satoru Kodama, of the University of Tsukuba Institute of Clinical Medicine in Ibaraki, Japan, and colleagues looked at 33 studies dating back to 1980, including a total analysis of about 200,000 people, and came up with an important number that could encourage doctors to use cardiorespiratory fitness testing in their patients.

That number, in metabolic equivalent units (METs)– which basically measure how much work your body can do — is 7.9. This fitness level roughly equates to a 50-year-old man being able to walk “continuously” at four miles an hour during the test, or a woman of the same age walking at three miles an hour.

Kodama and his team found that people with cardiorespiratory fitness levels below 7.9 METs were 40 percent more likely to die during the next few years and 47 percent more likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular event than people with fitness levels at 7.9 to 10.8 METs. Compared with the fittest individuals, who had cardiorespiratory fitness of 10.9 METs or more, the least fit people were 70 percent more likely to die and 56 percent more likely to have a cardiovascular event.

Mortality risk in general dropped by 13 percent for every additional MET of fitness, while cardiovascular risk dropped 15 percent, said Lee W. Jones, an associate professor in the department of surgery at Duke University who studies fitness and cancer mortality. “That’s major stuff.”

Although people probably think that cholesterol levels, weight, and blood pressure tell them everything they need to know about their fitness, he said, the influence of your heart and lung function is actually separate from these factors — although becoming more fit will cut your cholesterol levels and reduce your blood pressure.

People who move from couch-potato status to moderate fitness –something they can accomplish by walking 30 minutes a day five days a week — will see the most substantial survival benefit from increased cardiorespiratory fitness, said Church.

But everybody could stand to get a little fitter, and the fitter you are, the greater the benefit, said Jones. “People always ask me how much exercise they should be doing,” he said. “My answer is always the same: more.”

MikeZume_walking step by step to fitness and weight loss, join my today and everyday.

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program.
Your physician is your very best resource.

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ZumeWalking and Eating Healthy

Summers are a great time for dinner salads, however be careful what you put ON them!! You may think you’re eating healthfully, but actually loading up on fat and sodium unless you watch the dressing.  Below are some healthy dressings and also keep in mind, squeezed lemon on salads, fat free cottage cheese INSTEAD of dressing, grilled peach instead of dressing (the juice will do the trick) and many more ideas!

MEDITERRANEAN COUSCOUS SALAD:

1 cup whole wheat couscous

¼ cup lemon juice and olive oil, mixed

2 large chopped and seeded tomatoes

½ cup sliced green onions

1 package reduced fat feta cheese

*Mix couscous, lemon juice and olive oil.  Add tomatoes and green onions and cover before refrigerating a min. of 4 hours.  Stir in cheese just before serving.

Great on top of spinach salad, or filling for a whole wheat pita, or as a side with grilled chicken.

MikeZume_walk, walking and eating right for me and my family

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program.
Your physician is your very best resource.

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ZumeWalking for Weight Loss

One of the best ways to lose those love handles is walking and if you wantt to shed those unwanted pounds try walking to work. Here’s a great article from Detroit News written by Tali Arbel titled, “6 Ways You Can Put a Little Exercise Into Your Work Day.”

Stressed at work? You need some exercise! But if working out after or before the job isn’t working out, make your desk a gym, says the Mayo Health Clinic, which offers these ideas on how to incorporate exercise intooffice life:

1. When you need to talk to a co-worker, get up and walk to other desks and offices rather than calling or using instant-messaging.

2. When walking to and from work — or at any time during your day — make sure you move quickly.

3. Instead of a coffee break, take a “fitness break.” Go on a walk, do some stretches or even try a few easy muscle-building exercises with equipment you can store in your desk, such as resistance bands or small hand weights.

4. See if you can find others who want to increase their activity level to join you on a lunchtime stroll. Regularly-scheduled exercise with a group makes you more likely to stay involved, according to the Mayo Clinic, and is also a nice social opportunity.

5. Stand, don’t sit! Just getting up burns more calories than if you remain seated for hours at a stretch.

6. Make your commute an opportunity to move. Bike to work if possible, or get off public transportation before your destination and hike the rest of the way to work. If driving, park as far away as is reasonable. And always take the stairs.

MikeZume_walk everywhere not just for exercise.

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program.
Your physician is your very best resource.

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walking for fitness

Aging is a part of life but getting old is a matter of mind-over-matter, if you’re working to live a fit life, then it don’t matter. You’ve all seen me write this a hundred times, walking is the exercise is the rest of us and for the rest of life. If you commit to slowly working yourself back into shape, good health and find a form of exercise that you love, a life time will be easy because it becomes a part of who you are, what you do and keeping fit.

Eugenie Jones writes for the Kitsap Sun that, “We’ve come accustomed to thinking “older means fatter.” Yes, we do lose muscle as we age, but it’s not getting older that’s the culprit as much as it is allowing ourselves to neglect our fitness — to become more and more unfit.

When it comes to muscle tissue this neglect materializes in the form of your lean tissue, ever so slowly, shriveling away.

It’s a gradual process that can almost go unnoticed, especially if the manner of detection is the bathroom scale. No, your muscles aren’t defying science and turning into fat, as some people mistakenly believe.

By not being put to use, they begin to deteriorate, to atrophy, while your spoon and fork — being put to excessive use — cause excess body fat tissue to accumulate. The loss of one tissue type is balanced out on the bathroom scales by the gain of the other.

So, when you do weigh yourself you’re given a false sense of “Oh, I’m not doing so bad,” and all the while your body’s fat-to-muscle ratio is changing for the worse.

Americans typically lose five to six pounds of muscle tissue every 10 years after age 30. That fact alone is pretty significant, but only part of the problem. Additionally problematic is the fact that a loss in muscle tissue also means a loss in strength.

Lost strength can materialize as lost physical ability and a diminished quality of life. Tie in the fact that the amount of muscle tissue you have affects your body’s metabolic rate (how fast your body burns calories), and it all adds up as motivation to use and not lose your muscles.

You don’t have to aspire to professional bodybuilding in order to counter these affects. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends a minimum of eight to 12 exercises involving the major muscles groups: arms, shoulder, chest, abdomen, back, hips, and legs — performed two to three nonconsecutive days a week.

A minimum of one set of eight to twelve repetitions should be sufficient for most people, but you can gradually work up two to three sets for greater benefit. If your body fat is also a concern, add walking or a similar cardiovascular activity on four to six days a week, beginning at a comfortable workout duration and gradually working up to 24 to 60 minutes of cardio work.

If you’re unsure of what exercises to perform or how to perform them, pick up a copies of “Weight Training For Beginners,” by Tony Gallagher, and/or “The ACSM Fitness Book: A Proven Step-by-Step Program from the Experts.”

Both can help you to effectively use your muscles without losing all the advantages that keeping them strong brings to your life. Above all, remember that greater fitness is possible at every age and that you have more power over how “old” you are than you may imagine. Now go be great!

If your body fat is also a concern, add walking or any cardiovascular activity can accelerate your caloric burn and try to build toward a routine of  four to six days a week, beginning at a comfortable workout duration then build a routine that you can maintain and enjoy. Even if means starting small by walking around the block or down the street then build your walking for fitness routine from that point, remember you have the rest of your life. Build it slowly but do it six days a week.

MikeZume_i love walking because it gives me time to think and who couldn’t use a little time to think.

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program.
Your physician is your very best resource.

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I love kiwi, you probably could tell and it sounds so refreshing and juicy, perfect after a good steamy workout. It comes from Sharon at Rising Sun Fitness blog, a triathlon certified trainer - check out her site. Thanks Sharon and keep training those triple threat athletes and creating recipes everyone can whip up.

Kiwi Salad - RisingSunFitness.com

KIWI SALSA:

2 medium kiwis, peeled and diced

1 small red onion, chopped

1 red pepper, seeded and chopped

1/3 cup fresh chopped cilantro

1 crushed garlic clove

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

2 tbsp pineapple or lemon juice

*Combine and chill before serving with lowfat chips, on top of salads, mixed with chilled green beans, etc.

Now get crazy and buy some of those cute little kiwi’s, not the people from New Zealand, but the fruit and munch on to some flavor filled salad goodness. Oh, by the way National Salad Month is over, boo-woo.

MikeZume_walking, exercise for the rest of us. exercise for the rest of life.

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