Weekly Tips for Your Peak Fitness and Wellness

This Week's Tip: Beware of Health Scams

If the novelty of a new exercise or healthy eating plan has started to wear off, you might be eyeing up the myriads of nutritional supplements and abdominal gizmos that promise to make it a lot easier to get fit. But buyer beware; in many cases all you’ll be boosting is your credit card bill—or even your chance of injury.

When it comes to exercise, several well-researched studies continue to show that the basics—things like squats, step-ups, and lunges for the butt and legs, and bicycle crunches or exercise ball crunches for the abdominals (and Outside In Fitness variations thereof!)—still activate the muscles far better than any fancy piece of equipment, whether that’s the leg press at the gym or the latest infomercial ab roller.
http://www.acefitness.org/getfit/studies/GlutesStudy2006.pdf
http://www.acefitness.org/getfit/studies/BestWorstAbExercises.pdf

And when it comes to “scientific” weight loss supplements, foods, and other products, unless the ad’s (oftentimes paid) “expert” is touting good ol’ fashioned fruits and veggies and a multi-vitamin, most claims really are too good to be true. Click here to read a Washington Post article that gives an excellent overview of what to watch out for, including what you read on the Web.