The American Council on Exercise (ACE), America’s leading authority on fitness and one of the largest fitness certification, education and training organizations in the world, earlier this month announced key findings from an exclusive study on the benefits of kettlebell workouts conducted with the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, through its exercise and health program.  Results concluded that kettlebells provide a much higher-intensity workout than standard weight-training routines and offer superior results in a short amount of time.

“The use of kettlebells has grown immensely over the past few years, as they can offer a great bang for your buck when it comes to time spent exercising and quality of results,” says ACE’s Chief Science Officer Cedric X. Bryant, Ph.D.  “A person can easily burn several hundred calories in a brief period of time using these iron orbs, which makes them appealing to those looking for time-efficient results.  Kettlebell-themed workouts and kettlebell-only gyms are popping up everywhere in order to cater to the high demand of this growing fitness trend.”

The study tested men and women between the ages of 29-46 years old and was led by John Porcari, Ph.D., and Chad Schnettler, M.S., both research experts at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse Exercise and Health Program.  After establishing a baseline, the subjects continuously performed kettlebell snatches, quick lifts over the head, to a certain rhythm during a 20-minute period. In terms of calorie burning, these results are equivalent to running a six-minute mile pace, or cross-country skiing uphill at a fast pace.

Researchers credit the brisk calorie burning to the fact that the kettlebell snatch workout is a total-body movement performed in an interval-training fashion.  Study participants were observed to achieve exercise heart rate that ranged from approximately 86 to 99 percent of maximum heart rate and 67 to 91 percent of maximum oxygen uptake, suggesting that the use of kettlebells provides a much higher-intensity workout than standard weightlifting.

“Overall, kettlebell use can produce remarkable results, which is what virtually all fitness enthusiasts look to get from their workouts,” Bryant continues.  “Kettlebells not only offer resistance training benefits, they also will ultimately help people burn calories, lose weight, and enhance their functional performance capabilities.”

A complete summary of the study can be found on ACE’s newly created “Get Fit” Web site, designed to inform, inspire, educate and motivate people to become fit and lead a healthier, more active lifestyle, located at http://www.acefitness.org/getfit/research.aspx.

Sports bra designer KALYX Technologies, Inc. announced today that celebrity trainer and reality TV star, Rebecca Cardon, has been selected as the KALYX “Woman of the Week.”

Says KALYX Founder and CEO, Kimberly Cayce, “It is our pleasure to acknowledge the accomplishments of amazing and inspirational women through the KALYX “Woman of the Week” Award. As a company, KALYX is committed to helping other women enjoy active and healthy lifestyles, and, our commitment extends far beyond creating revolutionary sports bras. We recognize a need to acknowledge other women, and, to celebrate their accomplishments, careers and their dedication to becoming leaders in their fields.”

Says Cayce, “Rebecca Cardon embodies the spirit of the KALYX Woman in so many ways. Rebecca demonstrates an adventurous spirit, a playful nature, and, incredible professionalism. Her lifelong commitment to helping others become fit and fabulous is an inspiration to us all!”

To see the full article on the KALYX Woman of the Week, visit the official blog of KALYX Technologies, “BUSTED! The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Substance, Style & Sports Bras.”

About Rebecca Cardon:
Many people recognize Rebecca Cardon from the sixth season of “The Amazing Race” or from Bravo’s docu-drama, “WorkOut”, but her interest in physical fitness can be traced back to her early childhood. Cardon’s family, which is made up of several fitness enthusiasts, heavily influenced her passion for physical fitness. In her senior year of high school, Rebecca appeared with her father on “Good Morning America” as father/daughter world record holders for the bench press. That record is still in place today.

In March of 2009, Rebecca appeared on The “Oprah Winfrey Show” and in Oprah’s April 2009 issue of “O Magazine.” She joined Team KALYX in the fall of 2009 and appeared alongside KALYX founder and CEO Kimberly Cayce on ABC’s reality show Shark Tank. A few months later, she joined the staff of the immensely popular “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew” as the group’s personal trainer.

About KALYX Technologies, Inc:
Founded by former NCAA All-American and former professional golfer Kimberly Cayce, KALYX sports bras are activity-specific, and, are engineered to work with a woman’s body depending on what type of activity she enjoys. Every KALYX Sports Bra incorporates K-FORCE, a revolutionary, ultra-lightweight, quick-dry fabric made from recycled polyester fibers. Each KALYX sports bra helps take three to five 3 – 5 plastic drinking bottles out of a landfill.

KALYX launched its new blog, “BUSTED! The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Substance, Style and Sports Bras” as a way to help educate, empower, and inspire other women to lead active and healthy lives.

As part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative, she has partnered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council today launched a new series of public service advertisements (PSAs) designed to address childhood obesity. The ads feature Warner Bros.’ legendary Looney Tunes characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety and Taz, as well as Scholastic Media’s Maya & Miguel, as an extension of HHS’ Childhood Obesity Prevention campaign, which encourages children and families to lead healthy lifestyles.

Earlier today, the First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off the national campaign Let’s Move!, building on effective strategies at all levels and in all sectors, to engage families and communities and mobilize both public and private sector resources to solve the childhood obesity challenge within one generation.

Created pro bono by Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Scholastic Media, the PSAs leverage the fun aspects and family appeal of each partner’s characters to reach children with important messages about being healthy.

One series of ads features the Looney Tunes characters as they are paired up with professional athletes to deliver an active lifestyle message that tells kids you don’t have to be a pro to “Be A Player.” The Looney Tunes’ beloved characters appear alongside New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant. These ads were developed in collaboration with the NFL PLAY 60 and NBA FIT initiatives. In addition, pro skateboarder Tony Hawk and Olympic Gold Medalist Misty May-Treanor are featured in PSAs aimed at promoting a healthy lifestyle and increasing physical fitness for kids.

Another series of PSAs guided by the creative expertise of ad agency Casanova Pendrill, features Maya & Miguel (commonly seen on PBS KIDS GO!) and encourages children to the “Take the Maya & Miguel Challenge” as a way to get more physically active and eat healthy. The Maya & Miguel materials produced by Scholastic were created in both English and Spanish to leverage the characters’ strong appeal to all Hispanic families, as well as general audiences.

Wearing cushioned running shoes may have changed the way in which many of us run, new research suggests.

Using slow-motion footage, scientists have discovered that experienced barefoot runners land very differently from runners who wear shoes.

The researchers showed that runners who have trained barefoot tend to strike the ground with their forefoot or mid-foot, rather than their heel.

The team described their findings in the journal Nature.

Barefoot runners, the scientists say, may be at less risk of certain types of injury than those who wear cushioned running shoes.

Read the full story……

Listening to an iPod while working out feels like second nature to many people, but University of Alberta researcher Bill Hodgetts says we need to consider the volume levels in our earphones while working up a sweat.

Hodgetts, assistant professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, says his research has found that exercising in a gym often prompts people to turn up the volume to potentially unsafe levels for the ear.

The researcher found that the study participants, who were in a gym-like setting, listened at potentially dangerous levels while working out, likely due to the presence of background noise. But he says it isn’t the listening level alone that’s risky, it’s how long a person listens at that level. What Hodgetts found is that almost half of his study participants listened for a length of time during exercise that put them at risk for hearing loss.

The good news? The solution is simple, he says: get better earphones, those that “seal” the ear canal, acting as an earplug and thus reducing background noise.

Hodgetts’ mission is to get the message out that proper earphones will make a huge difference in auditory health while allowing people to enjoy music at a lower, and safer volume.

Robert Demonstrates Cables