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Time to Recalibrate Your Workout

By Laurel-Lea Shannon

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Do you monitor your heart rate while working out? If so, you may be setting your pace too high. A recent study of 5,500 women at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago found that the time-tested formula for calculating maximum heart rate for women is, uh . . .wrong!

Up to now, the

Read more . . . Time to Recalibrate Your Workout

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Beat The Heat

By Diane Stibbard

Now that summer is well underway, some parts of the country are hitting record high temperatures, with humidity levels running between 60 and 100 percent. Hot weather is a challenge for cyclists but don’t worry, your body adapts to these conditions quickly.

How? Within ten to twelve days you’ll start sweating earlier, and you’ll

Read more . . . Beat The Heat

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BPA-Free Water Bottles—2010 Update

After last year’s foofaraw about the health risks of BPA (bisphenol-A), two companies, Polar and CamelBak, have come out with new insulated water bottles designed for cyclists. Insulated water bottles keep water cooler twice as long as standard plastic bottles.

Polar’s water bottle is made of LDPE, low density polyethylene,

Read more . . . BPA-Free Water Bottles—2010 Update

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A Delicate Matter: Cycling and Genital Problems

When Cycling Hurts – OUCH!

By Laurel-Lea Shannon

Cycling and male impotence is a familiar topic but we seldom hear about the long list of gynecological problems women cyclists can encounter.

It’s well known that time spent in the saddle can affect your sexual health. Male cyclists suffer everything from

Read more . . . A Delicate Matter: Cycling and Genital Problems

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Weight Loss for Spring Cycling

By Laurel-Lea Shannon

If your winter fitness plans fizzled out this year, and instead of packing on extra muscle during the off-season you’ve added a few pounds of fat, don’t despair. There’s still time to tweak your diet and tune up your exercise program in time for spring.

Too many women make weight loss a chore. If

Read more . . . Weight Loss for Spring Cycling

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Cycling and Osteoporosis: Protect Dem Bones

By Laurel-Lea Shannon

Osteoporosis will affect one in three women during their lifetime. We’re facing “an osteoporosis epidemic,” says Dr. Jean-Philippe Bonjour of the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF). What’s responsible? Mainly, changes in diet and a sedentary lifestyle.

In osteoporosis, bone tissue deteriorates causing low bone density. As the bones become increasingly porous

Read more . . . Cycling and Osteoporosis: Protect Dem Bones

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Suffering From Sitting Disease?

Add More NEAT to Your Life

by Laurel-Lea Shannon
Sitting at a desk eight hours a day can be a royal pain in the a##. Sedentary occupations (like working at a computer) used to be considered harmless. Not anymore. It turns out that all that sitting day in and day out can make you sick.

Prolonged sitting is

Read more . . . Suffering From Sitting Disease?

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Exercise Necessary for Permanent Weight Loss

BY DR. GABE MIRKIN

More than 50 percent of Americans are overweight and can expect a premature death because of it. One of the largest scientific studies on weight loss shows that calorie restriction (below 1700 calories per day) is the most important factor that helps people lose weight and that its effect is temporary and dependant

Read more . . . Exercise Necessary for Permanent Weight Loss

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Weight Loss After-Breakfast

Okay, so you’ve eaten lean protein for breakfast.  Now what about the rest of the day? To lose weight and keep it off, follow this basic rule of thumb: If you’re hungry, eat. Women often make weight loss hard work—incorrectly assuming they will only lose weight if they

Read more . . . Weight Loss After-Breakfast

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BPA-Free Water Bottles

As a cyclist you’re active and fit. You eat a balanced diet (mostly!) and care about your health. Don’t let the bottles you drink from undermine your well-being. Take the time to check out the number on the bottom of your sports bottle. If it isn’t on the safe water bottle list get rid

Read more . . . BPA-Free Water Bottles

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How To Clean Your Water Bottle

Other dangers besides BPA (Bisphenol A) lurk in your water bottle. In fact, your innocuous looking plastic water bottle is a natural incubator for bacteria and mold.

Many bottle liners have inverted pits or other odd shapes that make them difficult to clean properly. If you store your bottle with the lid on, new

Read more . . . How To Clean Your Water Bottle

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Weight Loss—Minus The Cravings

You’ve probably heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Well, it turns out that’s true—especially if you’re trying to lose weight. Women sometimes skimp on breakfast, or skip it all together, thinking they can save calories by not eating the first meal of the day and instead indulge in a mid-morning

Read more . . . Weight Loss—Minus The Cravings

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How Safe Is Your Water Bottle?

Have you seen cyclists tipping their sports bottles upside-down lately to read the recycling code on the bottom? Here’s the reason. Recent news about bisphenol-A’s (BPA) potential health risk to adults has cyclists worried. And well they should.

The dangers of bisphenol-A to fetuses and babies has been known for some time. It increases the risk

Read more . . . How Safe Is Your Water Bottle?

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Boning Up: Why You Need Calcium

Although calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body, most people are deficient in it because they consume only about half of what they need—500 to 700 mg a day. Too low an intake of calcium causes calcium reserves in the bones to be withdrawn, resulting in osteoporosis or osteopenia (weakening of the bones).

Should

Read more . . . Boning Up: Why You Need Calcium

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12 Ways To Boost Your Calcium

Here are the facts you should know to make the most of the calcium in your diet or any calcium supplements you take.

1. Stress from tension and worry can decrease calcium absorption. The calcium in the diet is excreted instead of being used by the body.

2. Labels on calcium supplements can be

Read more . . . 12 Ways To Boost Your Calcium

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Muscle Fatigue May Be Caused by Calcium Loss

Why do our muscles get tired? Calcium appears to play a big role. The following is an article by Dr. Gabe Mirkin.

New research from Columbia University in New York shows that muscle fatigue during and after exercise may be caused by loss of calcium from muscle cells and that drugs that block the release of

Read more . . . Muscle Fatigue May Be Caused by Calcium Loss

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Hot Foot: Is that steam coming off my toes?

It’s a sunny day, perfect for exploring the countryside by bike. You’re enjoying the ride, the fresh air, the scenery. But after cruising for couple of hours, the joy and exhilaration you felt when you started the ride is slowly replaced by an unrelenting burning sensation coming from your feet. With each kilometer the heat

Read more . . . Hot Foot: Is that steam coming off my toes?

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Getting Older? Slowing Down? Maybe Not.

Your Strongest, Fastest Days Could Still Be Ahead Of You!

We all have images of what aging looks like. It starts with grey hair, and wrinkles, then continues down a slippery slope of fatigue, sore knees and hips, low energy, and impaired balance. Until one day you wake up a frail shadow of your former robust

Read more . . . Getting Older? Slowing Down? Maybe Not.

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