Are you fit

Facts on American Youth fitness!

Nearly half of American youths aged 1221 years are not vigorous-ly active on a regular basis.

About 14 percent of young people report no recent physical activi-ty. Inactivity is more common among females (14%) than males (7%) and among black females (21%) than white females (12%).

Participation in all types of physical activity declines strikingly as age or grade in school increases.

Only 19 percent of all high school students are physically active for 20 minutes or more, five days a week, in physical education classes.

Daily enrollment in physical education classes dropped from 42 percent to 25 percent among high school students between 1991 and 1995.

Well designed school-based interventions directed at increasing physical activity in physical education classes have been shown to be effective.

Social support from family and friends has been consistently and positively related to regular physical activity. Benefits of Physical Activity

Helps build and maintain healthy bones, muscles, and joints.

Helps control weight, build lean muscle, and reduce fat.

Prevents or delays the development of high blood pressure and helps reduce blood pressure in some adolescents with hypertension. What Communities Can Do

Provide quality, preferably daily, K12 physical education classes and hire physical education specialists to teach them.

Create opportunities for physical activities that are enjoyable, that promote adolescents and young adults confidence in their ability to be physically active, and that involve friends, peers, and parents.

Provide appropriate physically active role models for youths.

Provide access to school buildings and community facilities that enable safe participation in physical activity.

Viewed this week by our visitors:

What's going on in world of fitness and Nutrition:

Good Muscle Soreness vs. Bad Muscle Soreness

Many of you who have embarked on a bodybuilding program recently have emailed me about your muscle soreness and whether that is normal or not.

Muscle soreness is a normal part of the recovery process that begins once you finish your bodybuilding workouts.  Muscle soreness is more pronounced at the beginning of your bodybuilding journey since your muscles are not used at all to lifting weights.  That is the reason why it is of utmost importance that you use the right beginning bodybuilding routine.  By doing so, you avoid getting injured or excessively sore.

There are various types of soreness that you need to be aware of.  The key thing is to be able to distinguish between good muscle soreness, which is the one that indicates you had a good workout, and injury type soreness.  For learning how to differentiate between soreness types, please take a look at my Types of Muscle Soreness article, where not only will you learn about the different types of muscle soreness, but also how to minimize them.

Good Muscle Soreness vs. Bad Muscle Soreness originally appeared on About.com Bodybuilding on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 07:21:09.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

For those of you that follow competitive bodybuilding or who simply would like to watch a professional bodybuilding contest, once again bodybuilding.com is providing a free all-access webcast featuring the 2010 Arnold Classic men's professional bodybuilding championships and the Women's professional bodybuilding, figure and fitness International championships.

You can watch the Ms. International Women's Bodybuilding Competition, Ms. Fitness International and Ms. Figure International at 7:00 pm EST on Friday, March 5th. Tune in the next day, Saturday, March 6th at 12:00 pm for the Men's Prejudging (where most of the judging happens) and again at 7:00 pm EST for the Men's Finals (where you see the posing routines and the final judging). If you are busy those days and cannot tune in live, you will still be able to access webcast replays and additional event coverage until March 20, 2010. For more Arnold Classic competition information visit: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/2010-arnold.htm.

Note: For articles on how to prepare for a bodybuilding competition, or just for how to get in that sort of shape, please take a look at my bodybuilding competition page.

Free Arnold Classic Bodybuilding Competition Webcast originally appeared on About.com Bodybuilding on Sunday, February 21st, 2010 at 23:54:37.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

First of all I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and thank all of you for all of the feedback provided on the site.  Remember that this site is for you and any feedback provided can only make it better!

Because we are closing on 2009 and starting the New Year I want to share with you several valuable resources that will help you to get started on the right track when you implement this year's bodybuilding program:

Combining The Best Bodybuilding Routines For Achieving Your Bodybuilding Goals:  With the New Year upon us, it is time to start revamping our bodybuilding training routines in order to add variety to our training programs. To help you with this, I've listed some of the best routines I used last year and how you can combine them to accomplish your bodybuilding goals in this new year.

Accomplish Your Bodybuilding Goals - Bodybuilding Guide:  To help you achieve your bodybuilding endeavors, I decided to put together this resource guide that will point you to all of the information that you will need to accomplish your goals, whether these may be losing a few pounds of fat with moderate amounts of muscle gain, bulking up, or even bodybuilding competition. You will find bodybuilding training routines, diet plans and supplements' advice.

Bodybuilding for Weight Loss: New section with articles from fitness and weight loss expert Anthony Alayon geared for those of you who simply want to use bodybuilding principles to lose some weight.

Lee Labrada's Ten Fast Fat Burning Bodybuilding Tips:  In this bodybuilding article, IFBB Pro and Hall of Fame Inductee Lee Labrada shares his 10 most important fast fat burning bodybuilding tips.

Dave Draper Bodybuilding Straight Talk: Benefit from the sage bodybuilding advice of Dave Draper, a bodybuilding legend, author and fitness expert with over four decades of practical experience. He holds the prestigious bodybuilding titles of Mr. America, Mr. World and Mr. Universe, in addition to being part of the Bodybuilding Hall of Fame.

Healthy Bodybuilding Recipes: High Protein Recipes, Low-Sodium Recipes, Low Carb Recipes, and No Sugar Recipes that can easily be incorporated in your bodybuilding diet.

New Body Part Exercise and Bodybuilding Training Routine Database: Check out the new body part exercise and bodybuilding  training routine database full of exercise descriptions and body part specific training routines.

Please comment and let me know what you think of all these resources.

I wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Achieve a New You in the New Year! originally appeared on About.com Bodybuilding on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 01:17:16.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Working Out with the Best Supplements