Cleaning hotel rooms is a strenuous business. However, when Alia Crum and Ellen Langer talked to 84 maids, most were under the impression that they did not get enough exercise. Furthermore, when they were measured for tests such as BMI and blood pressure, their results were typical of couch potatoes. The researchers let half the group in on the knowledge that they were getting more than enough of a daily workout and kept the rest in the dark. After a month results showed the former group were healthier on every single one of the objective health measurements tested - despite claiming to have been doing no more exercise or to have changed their diet. The study raises the possibility that mindset alone can influence our metabolism. Christopher Shea in the New York Times and Ben Goldacre in The Guardian have articles discussing the original paper.
posted on Aug 25, 2008 - View this thread

A runner's primer
posted on May 29, 2008 - View this thread

"You don't tell kids that they're overweight ... This can have such a negative effect on young girls especially, that they can focus on eating and develop eating disorders." A professor of nutrition takes on WiiFit.
posted on May 22, 2008 - View this thread

Gyminee is a truly excellent web app that lets you track workouts, nutrition and fitness goals. Prints grocery lists, lets you find workout buddies, etc. Very aesthetically pleasing, too. Considerably easier to use than Fitday, which a lot of people swear by.
posted on May 19, 2008 - View this thread

The Origins of Cybex Space Just in case you are in need of ...." a preventative against the evils engendered by a sedentary life and the seclusion of the office."
posted on May 12, 2008 - View this thread

Circuit relays, fulcrums and pulleys support not just exercise, but concepts in science and social studies, thanks to an innovative gym teacher.
posted on Mar 17, 2008 - View this thread

MapMyRun.com
posted on Mar 14, 2008 - View this thread

11 hours, 29 minutes ... That's how long you'd have to play your instrument, if you were a 180lb musician, to work off the calories in a 12-inch Pizza Hut Super Supreme Pizza, (Regular Crust). Foodsel offers a wealth of information about the foods we eat, organized by group, manufacturer or nutrient, with visuals about the exercise needed to work off the calories, and the amount of fat and energy in 7500 different foods.
posted on Mar 5, 2008 - View this thread

Rehearsing the next terror attack. before 911, the government paid little attention to the role of media and public communications in its national exercises. In 2003, Ogilvy PR was asked by the Department of Homeland Security to develop and manage a full-scale, sophisticated media element in support of TOPOFF 3, its most comprehensive terrorism response exercise ever. The result was a simulated yet eerily realistic news broadcast via the Virtual News Network. The TOPOFF 4 exercise is scheduled to take place October 15-19, 2007.
posted on Oct 10, 2007 - View this thread

Why most of us believe that exercise makes us thinner—and why we're wrong.
posted on Sep 25, 2007 - View this thread

“What is fitness?”(large PDF) is an essay by the leaders of the CrossFit movement. The ideal they propose is an athlete who is “equal parts gymnast, Olympic weightlifter, and multi-modal sprinter or ‘sprintathlete.’ Develop the capacity of a novice 800-meter track athlete, gymnast, and weightlifter and you’ll be fitter than any world-class runner, gymnast, or weightlifter.”
posted on Jun 20, 2007 - View this thread

"Being thin doesn't automatically mean you're not fat." According to the data, people who maintain their weight through diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim. "The whole concept of being fat needs to be redefined," said Bell, whose research is funded by Britain's Medical Research Council.
posted on May 10, 2007 - View this thread

Tim Ferris claims to have gained 34 lbs. of muscle in 28 days while exercising for only four hours, total.
posted on May 3, 2007 - View this thread

Animated Exercise Examples courtesy The Training Station.
posted on Mar 9, 2007 - View this thread

The iJoy Ride™ is a "unique and exciting way to work out." It is not to be confused with the Sybian sex toy. (Please press "Play" for the embedded video and enjoy the smiles.)
posted on Feb 6, 2007 - View this thread

41 lbs in 90 days
Man discovers that World of Warcraft makes him oblivious to everything in the outside world.
Man puts keyboard stand over his exercise bike.
Man loses forty pounds in three months.
Whether or not that's a healthy rate to lose weight, we'll find out later.
posted on Nov 1, 2006 - View this thread

No running in PE. I was talking to my kids about school the other day. We were discussing what they do in their different classes and the conversation came around to physical education (PE). I was shocked when they told me that their gym teacher forbids running in PE class. What?! No running in PE? It’s true.
posted on Oct 7, 2006 - View this thread

"The streets of 2030's New York remain the only venues not under the thumb of the monolithic corporations. Manhattan’s three major hacker gangs have developed black-market technology that enables them to jack into the phone network though the payphone nodes, and redirect the payment deposited into that phone into their own coffers." The premise of a new cyberpunk novel? Nope. A new street game you can play with your friends.
posted on Sep 24, 2006 - View this thread

BULLSHIT! Penn & Teller present their rational, libertarian bent views on diverse subjects, now available for free download on Google Video ::: profanity; creationism; alien abductions; conspiracy theories; recycling; gun control; endangered species; religion; the bible; family values; the apocalypse; signs from heaven; the occult; 12-step recovery programs; exercise v. genetics; environmentalism; hypnosis; ghosts; the war on drugs; feng shui / bottled water; college; PETA; and abstinence.
posted on Aug 11, 2006 - View this thread

Let's Paint and Exercise TV! Four videos of a public access TV show where a guy paints pictures of a fat naked dude and runs on a treadmill at the same time. Features four letter words and a fat naked guy, so may not be work - or mind - safe. Presented by artist John Kilduff and featuring musician Frozen Plastic and model Michael Q Schmidt, star of 'Huge Naked Guy'.
posted on Aug 1, 2006 - View this thread

Are you a fast sprinter? Do you live in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota? You've probably seen the crazy ads on your local channels for Dick Enrico's 2nd Wind Exercise and always wondered, "What's that guy like in real life?" Now's your chance to find out by signing up to race his web developer Jerry Holland, a geek out to prove that he's not just a desk monkey. They've even got a championship belt! (I don't have the guts to sign up, has anyone out there done this/willing to do this?)
posted on Jun 22, 2006 - View this thread

Researchers discover that lactic acid is more than just a byproduct. According to George A. Brooks, "lactate is the link between oxidative and glycolytic, or anaerobic, metabolism." You can read the abstract of the paper at the American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism.
posted on May 17, 2006 - View this thread

Now we're cooking! Burlesquercize! (Apparently it's all over the country.)
posted on Mar 20, 2006 - View this thread

Rice, the rocket. Secretary of State shares fitness tips with early-morning DC news. Next week: Cyclin' with POTUS (schedule subject to change).
posted on Feb 28, 2006 - View this thread

The Shock Absorber Bounce-o-Meter is *definitely* NSFW, but sure is a lot of fun. Choose your cup size, then your level of activity, and you will be presented with naked breasts, breasts in a normal bra and breasts in the Shock Absorber bra side by side...all the while doing some exercise to get things jiggling.
posted on Feb 28, 2006 - View this thread

Fat Man Walking. Steve Vaught chronicles his effort to shed most of his 400 pounds on the highway from San Diego to New York. An inspiring, if medically dangerous, tale of human willpower. (via today's Washington Post, registration required).
posted on Jul 8, 2005 - View this thread

Salon interview with Mike Salvini of Size Matters A look into a bizarre internet subculture of men who spend hundreds of hours doing exercises to get a bigger wang. Requires premium membership or day pass.
posted on Jul 8, 2005 - View this thread

How to perform strong man stunts - learn how to how to how to lift and swing a man with your teeth, how to support 1000 lbs. of living weight with ease, and other manly feats that will get you looking Charles Atlas buff for the summer. See also.
posted on Jun 20, 2005 - View this thread

Sick of all those fad diets? The No S Diet consists of fourteen words: No snacks, no sweets, no seconds except (sometimes) on days that start with 's'. It's sound advice and fairly easy to stick to. And what would a diet be without some exercise?
posted on Jun 5, 2005 - View this thread

Smart Shoes. "Run Billy, RUN! Only 5,800 more steps and you can watch American Idol!"
posted on May 19, 2005 - View this thread

With girya or kettlebell training you can hack the fat off without the dishonor of diet and aerobics.
posted on Mar 31, 2005 - View this thread

Horseballs! (SFW) (Quicktime)
posted on Mar 7, 2005 - View this thread

Mariko Takahashi's FITNESS VIDEO for being appraised as an "EX-FAT GIRL" A most peculiar entry from Panasonic's Olympic Games in Action summer promotion in Japan. From the artist: "This video expresses the joy of excercise. ...While I was trying to find something that both adults and children could enjoy, I saw a poodle with its 'muscle-like' hairstyle and I thought, how about a girl with muscles in the same places?" ...Possibly the most bizarre video I've seen all month. (38MB - QuickTime/Real/Windows Media Player req'd)
posted on Nov 24, 2004 - View this thread

Dsicipline, Strength, Beauty, Youth 'Bodies in Formation' is a wonderful exhibition of photographs and ephemera, that illustrates Soviet-era mass gymnastics displays in eastern Europe. Via plep.
posted on May 23, 2004 - View this thread

Pole dancing? It's the new Yoga. Just ask the people behind PoleTricks 101: "Women all around the country are finding out that pole dancing is a sexy way to entertain your man (or men!) Not only that, it's good exercise and just plain fun. PoleTricks 101 is dedicated to bring you the training, the equipment, and the satisfaction of dancing with the sexiest of all props... the pole!" Just $549.00... [via linkdump]
posted on Mar 7, 2004 - View this thread

Nerd Gym (43 pages o' flash) is about 80% hackneyed obvious jokes, but there's some gems here and there. Which is dissapointing, because I don't get enough of the "Cleaning the Spitten Coffee off of the Monitor" workout. It also has very little to do with driving a tricycle drunk or throwing a javelin limpwristed against the Alpha Betas.
posted on Sep 4, 2003 - View this thread

Couch potato lifestyle is worse for your health than smoking Poor diet and lack of exercise cause more illness than smoking, new figures show. The lifestyle of couch potatoes has overtaken smoking as the major cause of ill-health in EU countries for the first time, the World Health Organisation says. Great, now reading Metafilter is bad for me.
posted on Sep 4, 2002 - View this thread

Lose 15 Lbs. in 20 Minutes a Day! by playing the flute during sexual intercourse, square dancing while stacking wood, and other easy methods.
posted on Jul 28, 2002 - View this thread

Punk Rock Aerobics. "Punk Rock Aerobics: The work out that rocks out. No more sucky classes full of braindead bimbos in spandex thongs. PRA is for fun people with discerning taste. An hour and a half of cardio and strengthening class that will have you pogoing and skanking your butt off!" Brought to you by Maura and Hilken (the latter of the band fuzzy). As they say on the mission page: "Free your mind and your ass will follow."
posted on Jun 8, 2002 - View this thread

Uncle Sam Sez: Sheesh! Get Some Exercise!! A new National Center for Health Statistics survey shows that only seven out of 10 Americans get enough exercise every week. About four in 10 get practically no exercise whatsoever. How much do you exercise, and if so, are you one the three in 10 who do so enough? Is the report full of it? Should I go swimming now, or in an hour? Ride the bike there or take the car? Isn't driving a car to a nearby gym kinda stupid? But I digress. (Pauses, gets his bearings.) Isn't this pathetic?
posted on Apr 7, 2002 - View this thread

The coming breed of couch potato jocks? "Discoveries made at the University of Dundee are helping in the development of drugs that fool your body into thinking that your are actively exercising even when you are not, and may help in the fight against the current increase in the incidence of obesity and Type 2 diabetes." It might seem that I'm just sitting in front of a computer screen all day, but in reality I'm training for the Olympics.
Story coverage from the BBC
posted on Mar 5, 2002 - View this thread

Work out? Why bother? Study shows that imaginary exercise builds muscles. Now if only imaginary friends worked the same way.
posted on Nov 12, 2001 - View this thread

The latest exercise craze "Aerobic stripping". "I get people to move in a figure-eight with their hips," Costas said. "There's a lot of body rolling, starting with your chest, rolling down through the abdomen and through your buttocks. There's also a lot of touching yourself, and the session finishes in lap dancing." Where do I sign up?
posted on Sep 9, 2001 - View this thread