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  • Raili 5:18 pm on April 5, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , music, playlist   

    How to Create a Perfect Workout Playlist 

    The best way to create workout playlists is to organize your music by bpm.  This way you can randomly create playlists for slow workouts, fast workouts, long workouts etc.  You can also create mood music playlists etc.

    There are several programs available to find the bpm of your music.  I’m going to talk about two and assume you are using itunes.

    The first is a program called Mixmeister.  It does a pretty good job of finding bpm of songs and adding the value into the ID3 tag.  You can download it for free here: Download Mixmeister.

    Using mixmeister is pretty easy.  Simply open your music files in the program and it will automatically calculate the bpm.  Only problem I ran into was if I tried to import too many songs at once (ie. entire music library) it would crash.  The only other issue is I have not found a good way for itunes to automatically update the bpm so it needs to be manually entered.  This is easy but takes some time if you have a large library.

    Go to File- Get Info (command I) – Info.  Enter bpm and click OK.

    There is also a widget you can download for macs that will calculate a rough bpm estimate and update the file automatically.  You can download it here bpmWidget.

    Using it is easy – simply tap the mouse to the beat of the music and it will calculate and update itunes with the bpm. This is still song by song but is much faster than manually entering each bpm.

    To create a new playlist in itunes go to File – New Smart Playlist.  Here you can select bpm and your desired range.  You can also select how large you want the playlist to be and what types of music, genres, ratings, most played etc.


    When you are done click OK and the playlist will appear on the left side of itunes.   Note that bpm does not take into account slow parts of songs so you will want to check over your finished playlist.

    Here is an example of what I would select for a faster playlist:

    BPM is greater than 130
    Genre is not Classical
    Genre is not Oldies
    Rating is greater than ***
    Limit to 50 items selected by random

    BPM Ranges:
    Under 100 BPM – Slow song for slower paced parts of workout- stretching etc.
    100-130 BPM – Little faster. Good for walking, warmup.
    130 and up BPM – Fast, good for jogging, faster paced cardio.

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  • Raili 1:58 pm on March 17, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Biking, , ,   

    Google Maps Now Includes Bike Routes 

    Google had just added biking direction for more than 12,000 US bike trails.  According to Google the new biking features will “include as much bike trail data as possible, provide efficient routes, allow riders to customize their trip, make use of bike lanes, calculate rider-friendly routes that avoid big hills and customize the look of the map for cycling to encourage folks to hop on their bikes.”  The routes will also try to steer riders away from traffic congested areas.

    The option is easy to use.  Simply use google maps to get directions and select “Bicycling” from the drop down menu that also has car, public transit and walking.

    There is also a “Bicycling” option that you can turn on under the “More” tab in Google maps.  Selecting this will display all bike trails on the map.  Dark green lines mean bike only, light green means there’s a bike lane, and dashed green means no bike lane but biking is decent.

    Right now this is not included in mobile apps but should be in the future!

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  • Raili 1:06 pm on March 11, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , meditation   

    Pranayama Breathing 

    Pranayama is normally used in yoga to prepare for meditation, asanas, postures and focusing the mind. It creates alertness and makes the respiratory system function at its best. The different types of Pranayama are Bhastrika Pranayam, Anuloma/Viloma, Kapalbhati, Bhramri, Sitali, Sitkari, Ujjayi, and Vedhene Bandh.

    Bhastrika Pranayam
    1. Sit in a comfortable position.
    2. Breath forcefully but evenly in through your nostrils until your lungs are full. You should feel your diaphragm move down, the midsection of your chest expanding and finally your collar bone rising.
    3. Breath out forcefully but evenly through your nostrils. Your collar bone should drop, your chest deflate and your diaphragm move up. Your exhalation should be faster than your inhalation.
    4. Repeat the process for five minutes.

    Anuloma/Viloma Pranayam
    1. Sit comfortably and close your eyes.
    2. Close your right nostril with your right thumb.
    3. Inhale slowly through your left nostril until your lungs are full.
    4. Close your left nostril with your right middle and ring fingers and open your right nostril.
    5. Exhale slowly through your right nostril until your lungs are empty.
    6. Inhale through your right nostril until your lungs are full.
    7. Close your right nostril with your right thumb.
    8. Open the left nostril and breath out slowly completing one round of Anulom/ Vilom Pranayam.
    9. Continue for fifteen minutes.

    Kapalbhati Pranayam
    1. Sit straight.
    2. Inhale through your nostrils a little and exhale through both nostrils forcefully.
    3. Inhale again through both nostrils followed by another forceful exhalation.
    4. Continue doing about 60 strokes/minute.

    Bhramri Pranayam
    1. Close your ears with your thumbs, rest your index fingers on your forehead, and the rest of your fingers on the base of your nose touching your eyes.
    2. Breath in then breath out through your nose while humming like a bee.
    3. Continue for ten minutes.

    Sitali and Sitkari Pranayam
    1. Sit in a comfortable position.
    2. Draw your tongue about one inch outside your lips rolled up on the sides to form a channel.
    3. Breath in through your mouth, close it, hold your breath and breath out through both nostrils.
    (If you can’t roll your tongue, open your mouth a little keeping the tip of your tongue touching your lower front teeth and suck air in with a hissing sound. Hold your breath and then exhale through your nostrils. )

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  • Raili 4:07 pm on January 13, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , ,   

    Winter Biking Tips From Readers of GOOD 

    Do you bike in the summer? Why not bike in the winter too? Yesterday GOOD asked readers to share their winter biking tips. Winter biking tips from readers.

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  • Raili 1:56 pm on January 13, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: ,   

    Genes Only Responsible for 1% of Obesity 

    In the January 2010 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition investigators determined that only about 1% of obesity is accounted for by genetics. Not that this is really surprising, obesity rates rose rapidly during the 1980s when people began to consume more calories through larger portion sizes, drank more soda, and processed food became more readily available. To make matters worse around the same time lifestyle changes led to less physical activity.

    Several suggestions for reversing the obesity epidemic were offered, these included public health campaigns, community and medical programs, and industry supported changes in our food supply, eating patterns, and lifestyle. It was also suggested that community structured programs for exercise and work related physical activity should be included in the average day.

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  • Raili 4:47 pm on January 4, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , ,   

    Why Diets Don’t Work 

    When it comes to losing weight do you go on the lastest fad diet, take weight loss pills, or starve yourself? It’s easy to lose 5-10 pounds this way, or even achieve your weight loss goal if you stick with it but once you go off your diet all the weight (and often even more) tends to come back faster than you lost it. Why didn’t your diet work?

    Losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight is about lifestyle changes, not diets. You need to develop healthy eating habits that will last for the rest of your life. On diets you tend to eat foods that you don’t like or starve yourself. Instead of “dieting” you need to find healthy foods that you enjoy in reasonable portion sizes.

    Not only is “dieting” depressing but it can also be dangerous. The cycle of losing weight, gaining it back, and losing it again is stressful on your body and may weaken your immune system. “Dieting” can also slow down your immune system because you are taking in less calories. If you don’t exercise while on your diet you will lose muscle mass slowing your metabolism even more making it so you need to eat less calories each day just to continue the same weight loss. It is difficult to exercise while on a diet but if you don’t exercise and you go off your diet you will gain the weight back quickly because of your slowed metabolism.

    So what do you do to achieve permanent weight loss without dieting? Find healthy food options that you like. It will take time and commitment but after a while it will become easy. Don’t think of it as eliminating foods that you enjoy but rather cut empty calories that you don’t really like and find healthier substitutes for other foods. For instance, eliminating soda would cut out a fair number of empty calories for most people. Start putting low fat milk or soy milk in your coffee instead of cream. Eat out less and cook at home more so you can control your portion size and how much oil/fat is in your food. Don’t eliminate any food groups but rather control how much you eat overall. Eat food that isn’t highly processed whenever possible. Highly processed food (ie most packaged food at the grocery store) is usually full of sugar, empty calories, and will leave you feeling hungry again an hour or two later.

    Don’t believe anything with wild weight loss claims, and avoid packaged food with any claims printed on it. Picking healthy food is easier than you think but it involves reading labels. A very good book about how to pick healthy foods is In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan.

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  • Raili 9:56 am on January 3, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , ,   

    Keeping Your New Year’s Resolution to Live Healthy in 2010 

    If your 2010 New Year’s resolution is to live a healthier lifestyle don’t let it fall to the wayside. Living healthy is not difficult but it takes commitment, and exercise is a vital component of good health.

    • The most important part of an exercise routine is to pick something you enjoy. If you don’t enjoy it, you will have a hard time keeping it up. It can be anything active, swimming, biking, running, skiing, hiking, dancing etc.
    • Schedule a time to exercise. Try to make it a habit but be flexible. If you miss an exercise time, try to work activity into your day another way. If you miss a day don’t worry about it, but get back into your schedule as soon as possible.
    • Surround yourself with people who encourage you to keep your exercise routine. Better yet, schedule your exercise/activity with other people.
    • It can be helpful to keep a record of your activities so that milestones and successes become motivation.
    • Create a goal so that you are working toward something- for instance run a marathon, enter a dance competition, etc.

    Have a great 2010!

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  • Raili 9:40 pm on December 17, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , ,   

    Winter Workout Ideas 

    Snowshoeing: Not only is snowshoeing a lot of fun but it is also a great workout.

    Curious porcupine checking out our snowshoes:
    IMG_2903

    IMG_2939

    Cross Country Skiing: It gets your heart rate up and is funner than the gym – need I say more?

    skiing

    Backcountry Skiing: Do I need to explain?!

    IMG_3037

    Yak-Trax: Hmm. I have never been much of a runner but some people like to put these on their running shoes and run in the snow!

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