Online tools for financial and physical fitness

I have previously written of my love for Mint.com, a personal finance management site, and am always on the lookout for online tools to help me improve my fiscal health. This week, the New York Times brings us a checklist of 31 Steps to a Financial Tuneup. As an ESTJ, I love a good checklist!

Although very focused on weight loss goals, the Strength Training Woman website has a great list of exercises by muscle groups and even some handy worksheets for tracking your progress. I've been reading John Medina's Brain Rules and he tells me that exercise boosts brain power. The more brain power I can get, the better!

Opting out of exercise

There are plenty of hardcore exercisers writing for this blog, sometimes myself included, and I’m sure plenty of readers, too.  We've posted exercise tips in the past, and likely will in the future, because exercise is a part of our and many of our readers' lives.  I understand the power of exercise, and the excitement surrounding it, and the benefits for one’s health.  That said, amid this chorus of “wheee, exercise,” I want to take some time to offer a different perspective: you don’t have to do it.

I say this because when obesity, and the health problems surrounding it (note that these are often drastically overstated), are so often in the news, it's easy for us to get caught up in a culture of healthy eating and fitness to such an extent that we begin to associate a value judgment with something that is, at its core, self care.  We don't tend to associate values with getting a manicure or not, but deciding to go to the gym or not can determine whether we feel "good" or feel "bad."  The same way marketers describe desserts as "sinful," we feel that lying on our couch catching up on Lost instead of hitting the treadmill is "lazy," "indulgent," or just plain "bad."

Working out... no gym required

I was going to send this to my boyfriend, because he's headed out for another week on the road, but then I thought, who couldn't use a few ideas for working out without hitting the gym?  I know personally my (currently somewhat nonexistent) workout routine always seems to disintegrate when I'm away from home.  When I worked as a consultant, flying out on a weekly basis, it was the other way around--on the road I had the Westin fitness center, at home it seemed so much easier to just slack off.  So for those of us whose workout has gotten disrupted this holiday season for whatever reason, here are some ideas to get back on track...no equipment needed.

And while you're at it, check out the NYT's piece on how much exercise we really need.  It turns out, no one really knows.  So go easy on yourself if your current fitness routine involves watching the Biggest Loser and taking out the trash... or maybe that's just me.

About.com: Body Weight Workout Routine for Budget Fitness
About.com: No Equipment Travel Workout
Play It Fitness on YouTube: No Equipment 30 min in Home Power Workout
Military Fitness: The No-Equipment Workout for Fitness on the Road
Zen Habits: Minimalist Fitness: How to Get in Lean Shape with Little or No Equipment
Virtual Fitness Trainer: Beach and Outdoor Workout: Strong, Sleek, Sexy

NYT Phys Ed: How Little Exercise Can You Get Away With?