Happy New Year ! I want to take this time to thank you for all of your support, for continuing to read my articles. My hope is that the readers benefit from these articles and they open your eyes to whats out there as far as health and fitness. It is a cliche but I love the beginning of the season, when everyone starts out with the same record and has the same chance of winning it all. While we are closing one year out another is beginning. It's interesting that we don’t feel the same way fresh start feeling about a year or at least we do the first couple of weeks then the desire and commitment to our resolution tends to wane. Truthfully you are lucky if you can sustain your resolve that long. My solution is forget about Wednesday and start today. Why not? Whats holding you back? Do you remember that first summer when you gave into you're daring side? Maybe you derived a thrill from going on a roller coaster or into a haunted house, that youthful exuberance unabashed enthusiasm. You had butterflies in your stomach hands sweaty nervous feeling all over. The haunting build of the chain lift as you ascend the lift hill before the initial drop, then you are launched forward by the kinetic energy as you go into the second peak. You learned to love that feeling, running back to get on line, begging your parents for tickets. Lets be completely honest that person would not wait until Wednesday to get on the ride, you're certainly not going to strap into the ride hung over. This is your new adventure make it fun, commit to it for 21 days or a month. Whether is quitting smoking an exercise regiment or a new way of eating make a commitment of time and to have fun. If you're not having fun, you won't stick to it. This last year has been much like a ride on a roller coaster full of ups, downs and everything in between. This is the first year of this blog the purpose of which was to spread information and help people. I have come to find it has helped me more than anyone else, it has helped me to find my voice again, allowed to me to delve deeper into issues that interest myself and others. It has also created more questions about some subjects rather than resolving already existing questions. It has also put me in touch with some of my readers, allowing for an exchange of ideas, interests as well as some brainstorming sessions. I am writing this post today about the top four articles of the past year, the articles were picked by the amount of times they were read. This is a tool that is utilized to determine what people are interested in and what subjects people want to read about in the future. So how do we do this….. Lets do it top 40 Casey Casem style make that Ryan Seacrest style otherwise I am dating myself.
Coming in at number four is
Food Love Mediterranean Style: Our take on the Mediterranean Diet
The title of this one is pretty self explanatory, we look at the many benefits of transitioning to a Mediterranean style diet. It benefits the cardiovascular system, peoples cognitive abilities, as well as has been shown to extend lives.
Rounding out the Top Three is
Shut up and Lift Like a Girl! Ten Reasons Women should life weights
This article allowed me to be a little sarcastic but get some good points across that women more than men should be throwing the iron around or moving some weight. Crossfit has become the fitness whipping boy this last year, but it has many positive aspects one of them is it has women lifting weights. Which is a fitness industry coup in my eyes as most women are reticent to look at weights let alone lift heavy weights.
Our runner up for the top read article of the year is entitled Top 10 Supplements for Joint Health.
It is my portion of an article that was a collaborative effort with Dr. Robert Silverman. This was inspired by “Pills, Tape and Lasers.” the final article in a five part joint health series. In the article we shed light on some solutions you may be aware of, and hopefully opened your eyes to options available to you. As new treatments arise for inflammation and joint disease I will review the research and push it out you. Keeping that in mind I have seen some new interesting equipment along with treatment modalities. All of which should appear in a future article.
The Top article as set down by the folks at the home office is ……Jump Around! A case for plyometrics.
In the numero uno article we look at plyometrics, it is an introduction of another training tool for your tool box. We have a rough outline of its history along with some of the benefits that can be attained in implementing them into you're training program. As well as warnings with regard to overusing this training modality.
We had to push back the release date for the GMO2 article a week as it needs and deserves to be fully formed idea when you read it. In the coming year we will have follow up articles on plyometrics, a mobility and nutrition. I expect 2014 to be a busy year with the launch of the Functional Fitness Systems website, speaking engagements along with seminars and always getting people to move better, feel better and look better. If you have any fitness related questions please put them in the comments and I will get back to you. Thank you for taking this journey with me and have a Happy Healthy New Year.
