The Gym: It’s A Jungle In There!
Exotic Tours Presents: The Commercial Gym The commercial gym is like a jungle. The landscape may be unfamiliar, or even threatening, to an outsider. Strange sounds abound—metallic clanging, pulsating base and otherworldly squeals and grunts reverberate throughout the habitat. But perhaps the most frightening aspect of this metallic jungle are its colorful, amusing and sometimes shocking inhabitants. Without a guide, the foreign landscape of a commercial gym can be downright... Read More
Rock The Bod You’re In
With Memorial Day right around the corner, many people are digging out their swimsuits and sunscreen and gearing up for a summer full of pool days and beach trips. Others of us are trying desperately to cram into the shorts we sported a year ago– you know, the ones that obviously shrunk in the dryer. Why else wouldn’t they fit? Between the New Year’s Resolutions of January 1st and the official start of summer on Memorial Day (May 30th this year, if you’re curious)... Read More
Give A Dog A… Job?
The fact that US workers are currently facing a shrunken labor market with an unemployment rate that has hovered near 9% for the last couple years is not new to most people. The media has provided us with a steady supply of pictures and stories featuring many an unemployed U.S. adult applying in vain for one of the few jobs available. Apparently, however, there is one group for which employment prospects are looking particularly rosy: dogs. A perusal of the newspapers... Read More
Fragile: Handle with Care
I struck up a conversation with a kind looking man at the doctor’s office. I had tired of texting and reading old magazines, when I looked up and saw him rubbing his left arm. As my own pain was in the same upper left arm area, I felt he was a kindred spirit and, to break the ice, I asked him if he had been waiting long. He replied he had been there almost an hour. I told him we were called patients because of the infinite patience we need to have when visiting... Read More
Wonder Woman I’m Not
I am invincible. Well, I used to think I was. I thought I was able to handle EVERYTHING: the super charged academic schedule, the extra-curricular sports activities, the loads of homework, the family obligations and a busy social life. If the cells in my body could have spoken to me, they would have screamed, “JULIA! STOP IT! We’re tired and beaten!” Yet, I continued to think I was Wonder Woman sans the outfit and awesome bullet-deflecting bracelets. Little... Read More
You’re so healthy, you make me sick.
Do you have one of those friends that is a total health freak, one that makes you feel like a total slob every time you get together for lunch? I do. I love her, but she drives me nuts. First, let me tell you my thoughts on healthy living. I work out three times a week, and I do watch what I eat. I’m not a fan of weighing myself, but I keep tabs on my weight by the feel of my clothes. I’d say, I’m pretty healthy. I am “normal” healthy.... Read More
Don’t Worry, Be Happy: A New Health Mantra
It seems like yesterday (but it was really 23 years ago) that we were all singing “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” Bobby McFerrin’s joyful and catchy musical sensation. When it was released at the end of 1988, it was the first a cappella song ever to reach # 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. A year later, the song collected 3 Grammys for: Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. McFarrin has attributed the inspiration... Read More
Step It Up!
New Year’s fitness resolutions tend to come in all shapes, sizes, and colors: I want to eat more wholegrains, or more protein, or more of those top ten antioxidant-rich foods. I’m gonna eat more red, yellow, orange foods; I’m gonna eat less white or brown foods. I want to lose x pounds by y date. This year I am going to train to run a 5k, 10k, half marathon, full marathon, heck I’m gonna climb Everest in 2011. We tend to have a “go for the gusto”... Read More
