The holiday season is a great time to visit with friends and family, reminiscing about old memories while making new ones.  It is also a great time for exciting sports action on television as the basketball season is just beginning, football is in full stride, hockey is starting to pick-up, and soccer comes to an electrifying finish.  It is truly a season for the couch-potato.   Unfortunately, as we all know, watching television is not one of the healthiest activities.  This holiday season, challenge yourself to be less of a spectator, and more of a participator.  Take advantage of all the extra friends and family in town and put-together friendly games for everyone to enjoy.  Pick-up football games, mini basketball tournaments, and a day at the park are all fun ways to burn calories.  Sports also provide an excellent opportunity for cross-training as they test your agility, speed, balance, flexibility, endurance, and coordination.  Playing sports is a healthy break from a worn-out exercise routine that can revitalize your fitness regimen and spark new gains and improvements.  Check the Fitness Activity Schedule for our current sports programs or ask our friendly staff for more information on other places to play.

This month in Exercise 101, we focus on a very versatile piece of equipment– the cable cross-over.  The cable cross-over, located in the strength room, is an effective way to focus on large muscle groups and small stabilizer muscles at the same time.  It can be used as a substitute for countless machine and free-weight exercises and is a great way to add life to a stale exercise routine.  Utilizing a variety of handles and providing resistance from various angles, the cable cross-over can be used to exercise all of the major muscle groups.  A key benefit to using the cable cross-over is the fact that it creates imbalance.  While other exercise machines typically have seats, pads, and support to keep you in the proper position, when using the cable cross-over you must rely on your own coordination and strength to maintain proper positioning and balance.  In many exercises utilizing the cable cross-over, the resistance of the machine disrupts your center of gravity forcing you to compensate by adjusting your balance and using your core muscles to stay in position while performing the exercises.  It is this “secondary” work-out that proves to be a great benefit.  While progress will be seen in the muscle groups being focused-on with the exercises, improvements will also be made in balance and posture.  Additionally, because you are using your core muscles with many of the exercises, back and neck pain can be decreased and prevented.  To learn the many exercises that can be done with the cable cross-over speak with one of our Fitness Specialists.