Telling people to exercise isn't working. So why does the fitness community just do it louder and more often?

According to a terrific article in today's New York Times by Tara Parker-Pope, "Only 3.5 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 59 do the minimum amount of physical activity recommended by the Department of Health and Human Services: 150 minutes a week of moderate activity."

Wow.

She also says that when it comes to self-reporting, about 40 percent of Americans say they never exercise, a stat that has remained steady for decades.

Double wow.

I found Pope's entire article, "Updating the message to Get Americans Moving," a great read, and would encourage you to check it out.

We talk more about fitness, do it less

My first takeaway from reading it is that over the past 10 years, there seem to be 100 times more blogs and magazines and fitness gurus and tv shows that all talk about how easy it is to exercise.  And yet, it changes nothing. The same percentage of people are still inactive.

So the gurus, tv doctors, gyms, fitness instructors say it louder, in even more brain-numbing terms, and in more places.  

There are people who "do" fitness, and people who "don't do" fitness

The other thing it brought home to me is how stratified our country has become in terms of health and fitness. I'd venture to guess that among my friends, fewer than 20% would report they never exercise.

Some of that probably reflects that I live in Silicon Valley with a high percentage of active adults. More likely it also reflects that people who are active hang out with others who are active. 

I'm a slug compared to most of my friends who are busy running marathons, biking for fun, and hiking for weekend pleasure.  I'm more about yoga and stairs and my PowerPlate machine. In any case, it's not about how or what, and I digress.  

Read her article.  I like that she actually says out loud what fitness people seem to ignore: telling people to work out, telling them exercise is good for them, giving them easy tips is "clearly not working."

Fitness with your dog made better: Dog-E-Glow and Thank Dog iPhone app

Two fitness products for people and their dogs have come my way that are worth a mention - Dog-E-Glow and Thank Dog! Bootcamp (a mobile app). I'll likely be including them in holiday articles on San Jose Fitness Examiner, but space constraints and format there make it easier for me to tell the longer story here.

Cardio with your dog: Thank Dog! iPhone app

Thank Dog! Mobile is an app developed by Metova, Inc. for iPhone/iPod touch. This health and fitness app goes for $.99 and allows users to enjoy a challenging program of cardio and strength training, plus dog obedience training, all at the same time.  

It is created by the people who run the Thank Dog! Bootcamp facility in LA, which incorporates nine dog commands. The mobile app includes only the four most basic: heel, sit, down and stay.

Having no dog to train nor to work out with, I didn't try it out but I like the idea. Here is a description from the company:

The cardiovascular parts of the program benefit both dogs and their owners, making both physically tired and mentally stimulated. Included are a variety of heart rate boosting activities, such as jogs, sprints, high knees, wide steps, and more. At every step, users are encouraged to go at their own pace, substituting activities of lesser or greater difficulty whenever appropriate.

Safer nighttime dog leash: Dog-E-Glow

Dog-E-Glow is a line of LED-lit collars and leashes that are cute and practical. The company sent me one of each to test, and I took the leash to a party where pets were included. After dark, I put the leash on on of the dogs and took her for a walk.

Totally cute.

Everyone was oohing and ahhhing and talking about how much they disliked walking their dogs in the winter because it's so dark, and difficult to be seen. The LED lights on Dog-E-Glow remain steady, or blink on and off.  Priced under $30 each, I could have sold a half a dozen right there at the party. I figured I knew what I was buying all my dog friends for the holidays.

Then the bad news.  While the leash worked as promoted, the collar wouldn't work with the batteries included, even with the backup batteries included.  It was a new collar in the sealed package, so it's not that I got some demo model. I was apparently sent a collar that would have gone to a customer.

In any case, a new set of batteries got me set up but after two days of testing, the built-in off/on button stopped working. The lights would go on, but to turn them off, I had to unscrew the battery case and remove the batteries.  After doing that once or twice, I had pretty much ruined the small screw that held the battery case closed. 

We all know things like this happen, and the company has online customer support which I did not use.  Instead, I emailed the contact who sent me the samples and in addition to an apology, and the assurance this rarely happens, was told that any time the product doesn't perform the policy is to replace it.  

I'd still give it as a gift, but now consider it more a novelty than a product built to last. 

Here's the PR info on the Dog-E-Glow
  
Dog-E-Glow has 12 illuminated stylish designs apart of their Fashion Collection and 48 NCAA Division I Universities LED logo designs in their Collegiate Collection available in matching LED collar and leash sets including the following product highlights:

• Collars & leashes are seen up to 1,000 feet away for maximum visibility
• Medium and large sizes with all leashes 6 feet in length 
•  Collar and leash lights are visible when turned on in a steady, flashing or off mode
•   Weather resistant 

Katie Boyd's top tips to get in shape this spring

Katie Boyd,  certified trainer and nutritionist, specializes in getting beauty pageant hopefuls in shape. She also works with cheerleaders.  These are two categories of women whose bodies are on display every minute do training them is no small task. Boyd is also host of Style Network's Wicked Fit, a popular show set in her Wellesley, MA gym, The Miss Fit Club.

With all this under her belt, she's got great perspective on how to get the rest of us ready for spring. So here are Katie Boyd's four tips to get in shape this spring (Also Read: Katie Boyd shares a meal plan to rev up your weight loss.)
Rule one: shock your body

The biggest lesson I have ever learned in my life: Your best bet to shock your body into change is to do an 8 week stint of High Intensity Interval Training. HIIT training consists of upper and lower body movements at the same time with Isometric or holding contractions in static electricity in the muscle fiber and Plyometric exercises which are explosive movements in between every two exercise combos. 

For example: Bicep Hammer Curl with Plie Squats then Alternating Side to Side Lunges with Upright Rows then a Plyometric Jump Squat. A workout like this should be done 4-6 days a week depending on how much body fat you are looking/needing to lose. 45 minutes tops! Workouts that are hyperexplosive get the job done.

Rule two: never say diet
Eat six small meals a day! Never say the word DIET. Food is nourishment and fuel for an active lifestyle and if you follow the 80/20 rule meaning 80% of the time eat what I am going to show you and then 20 % eat some nachos or have a cocktail...do not  beat yourself up over it. Eating every three hours makes sure your body is always working to metabolize. Thus burning calories. I like to use the analogy of making a fire. If you are making a fire you feed the fire kindling and some news paper or brush and that usually ensures a bright burning fire that you can add larger items to like the occasional log.  It is the same with your body. 

Most people starve themselves until dinner time and drink coffee to keep themselves going until the eat a dinner the size of Manhattan, then go to bed with all that junk just waiting to be stored as body fat. How is that ever going to work for you? Exactly...it never will! Adapting the twigs and newspaper idea for your body as you would starting a fire is the way to go. Always have some kind of a protein at every meal. It doesn't always have to be food you chew...it can be a shake. You can also get protein from legumes like hummus or nut protein like raw almonds or all natural peanut butter as well. Tapering your starchy carbs off as the day comes to an end is also going to really help you shed that body fat because your body does not need carbs at night for energy. Just protein for repairing muscles and fibrous carbs like green veggies. 

Rule three: HIIT the treadmill
That's High Intensity Interval Training for your cardio, so head to the gym for this one.

Warm up for 5 minutes on the treadmill at 3.0 MPH at a 0 Incline. Then 3.5 MPH at a 15 Incline...hold on for dear life it's going to get really real right now! Do this for 2 minutes. Recover at 3.0 MPH at a 0 Incline for 1 minute 

Then walk side to side first starting on your less dominant side step together step together at 1.8 MPH at a 5 Incline. 1 minute on each side. Then recover at 3.0 MPH at a 0 Incline. Sprint at 6.0 MPH at a 5 Incline for 2 minutes then recover at 3.0MPH at 0 Incline...that is always going to be your recovery zone. Then to finish the round you will walk backwards at 2.0 MPH at a 7 Incline for 2 minutes. 

You will repeat this for either a half an hour 45 minutes or an entire hour depending on what your goals are for body fat burn. You are getting a full blown all around leg workout without the boredom of just blankly staring into space.

Whew!  Take a break and pat yourself on the back.  You've done a great workout.