Overview

Aerobic exercise is any type of cardiovascular conditioning. It can include activities like brisk walking, swimming, running, or cycling. You probably know it as cardio.

By definition, aerobic exercise means with oxygen. Your breathing and heart rate will increase during aerobic activities. Aerobic exercise helps keep your heart, lungs, and circulatory system healthy.

Aerobic exercise differs from anaerobic exercise. Anaerobic exercises, such as weightlifting or sprinting, involve quick bursts of energy. Theyre performed at maximum effort for a short time. This is unlike aerobic exercises. You perform aerobic exercises for a sustained period of time.

Read on to learn more about aerobic exercises you can try at home and at the gym. And remember, always talk to your doctor before beginning a new aerobic exercise routine.

Cardiovascular exercises can be done at home. There are many you can do with little to no equipment, too. Always warm up for 5 to 10 minutes before starting any exercise.

Equipment: gym shoes (sneakers), jump rope

Benefits: Jumping rope helps develop better body awareness, hand-foot coordination, and agility.

Safety: Your jump rope should be adjusted for your height. Stand with both feet on the middle of the rope and extend the handles to your armpits. Thats the height youre going for. If its too long, cut or tie it to avoid tripping on the rope.

Duration and frequency: 15 to 25 minutes, 3 to 5 times per week

Following a jump rope circuit is a great indoor or outdoor activity, though youll want to make sure you have plenty of space. Your circuit routine should take 15 to 25 minutes to complete.

If youre a beginner:

If youre an intermediate exerciser, you can perform the moves for 30 seconds and rest for 30 seconds between sets. The advanced circuit should be performed for 60 seconds at a time, followed by 60 seconds of rest.

Equipment: gym shoes (sneakers), sturdy chair or couch for dips

Benefits: This exercise increases heart and cardiovascular health, builds up strength, and tones major muscle groups.

Safety: Focus on proper form with each exercise to avoid injury. Keep your heart rate at a moderate level throughout. You should be able to carry on a brief conversation during this exercise.

Duration and frequency: 15 to 25 minutes, 3 to 5 times per week

This aerobic circuit is designed to get your heart rate up. Perform the following strength exercises for 1 minute:

Then jog or march in place for 1 minute for your active rest. This is one circuit. Repeat the circuit 2 to 3 times. You can rest for up to 5 minutes between circuits. Cool down afterward with some light stretching.

Equipment: running shoes

Benefits: Running is one of the most effective forms of aerobic exercise. It can improve heart health, burn fat and calories, and lift your mood, just to name a few.

Safety concerns: Choose well-lit, populated running routes. Let someone know where youll be.

Duration and frequency: 20 to 30 minutes, 2 to 3 times per week

If youre a beginner, run for 20 to 30 minutes twice a week. Your pace should be conversational during the run. You can alternate between 5 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking to start. To stay injury-free, always stretch after your run.

Equipment: gym shoes (sneakers)

Benefits: Walking daily can reduce your risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and depression.

Safety: Walk in well-lit and populated areas. Choose shoes that offer good ankle support to reduce your risk for injury.

Duration and frequency: 150 minutes per week, or 30 minutes 5 days a week

If walking is your main form of exercise, aim to get 150 minutes per week. This can be broken down into 30 minutes of walking 5 days a week. Or, walk briskly for 10 minutes at a time, 3 times each day.

You can also use a fitness tracker to keep tabs on how many steps you take each day. If your goal is to walk 10,000 steps a day, start with your base (current amount you walk) and slowly up your daily step count. You can do this by increasing your daily steps by an extra 500 to 1,000 steps a day every 1 to 2 weeks.

So, once youve identified your base, add an extra 500 to 1,000 steps. Then, 1 to 2 weeks later, increase your daily step count by an additional 500 to 1,000 steps.

Your local gym is a great place to get in some aerobic exercise. They probably have equipment like treadmills, stationary bikes, and elliptical machines. There may be a pool for you to swim laps in, too.

If you arent sure how to use a type of exercise equipment, always ask a professional or trainer for assistance.

Equipment: pool, swimsuit, goggles (optional)

Benefits: Swimming is a low-impact exercise, so its good for people prone to or recovering from an injury or living with limited mobility. It can help you tone your muscles and build strength and endurance.

Safety: Avoid swimming alone and, if possible, choose a pool with a lifeguard on duty. If youre new to swimming, begin by enrolling in swim lessons.

Duration and frequency: 10 to 30 minutes, 2 to 5 times a week. Add 5 minutes to your swim time each week to increase your duration.

If your gym has a pool, try swimming as aerobic exercise. Its a nonimpact workout, so its a good choice if youre prone to injury. Youre also increasing your heart rate, toning your muscles, and building strength and endurance all without adding additional strain to your body.

You can start by swimming laps using one stroke, such as freestyle. As you swim more, add additional strokes. For example, you could do 1 to 4 laps of freestyle followed by 1 to 4 laps of breaststroke or backstroke.

If you get tired, rest on the side of the pool between laps. Always follow the safety instructions and guidelines of the pool where you swim.

Equipment: stationary bike

Benefits: This low-impact exercise can help develop leg strength.

Safety: Ask a trainer at the gym for help adjusting the bike so that the seat is the correct height. This will help reduce your risk for injury or falling off the bike.

If youre biking at home, a general rule is to adjust the bike seat height to maintain a 5- to 10-degree bend in your knee before reaching full extension. Doing so reduces compression on your knee joint. Its not recommended to fully extend your knee while peddling on a stationary bike.

Duration and frequency: 35 to 45 minutes, 3 times per week

Riding a stationary bike is another option for low-impact cardio. Stationary bikes are a good cardiovascular workout, help you develop leg strength, and are easy to use. Many gyms and workout studios offer cycling classes, which use stationary bikes. But you can still benefit from a stationary bike workout without taking a class.

After stretching and warming up by cycling at an easy rhythm for 5 to 10 minutes, increase your pace to 15 miles per hour and aim for 20 to 30 minutes of steady cycling. Cool down for 5 minutes. Stretch to finish.

Equipment: elliptical machine

Benefits: Elliptical machines provide a good cardiovascular workout thats less stressful on the knees, hips, and back compared to the treadmill or running on the road or trails.

Safety: Look forward, not down. Use the handlebars if you feel unsteady or to help you get on and off the machine.

Duration and frequency: 20 to 30 minutes, 2 to 3 times per week

The elliptical machine may seem intimidating at first, but its easy to use once you get the hang of it. After warming up, keep your posture upright while you use your legs in a pedal motion to move the machine. Look forward the entire time, not down at your feet. Keep your shoulders back and abdominal muscles engaged. Cool down and exit the machine to stretch.

Increase the resistance on the machine for a more challenging workout.

If you dont like exercising on your own, a class can provide a supportive and encouraging environment. Ask the instructor to show you proper form if youre new. They can help you modify the exercises if youre a beginner, if necessary.

Attend group classes at your local fitness center 2 to 3 times per week to start. You can always go more frequently later on if you enjoy the workout.

Equipment: gym shoes (sneakers)

Benefits: Kickboxing is a high-impact exercise that builds strength and endurance. It may also reduce stress and improve your reflexes.

Safety: Drink plenty of water throughout the class. Take a break if you feel dizzy.

Duration and frequency: 60 minutes, 1 to 3 times per week

Cardio kickboxing is a mix of martial arts, boxing, and aerobics. Your class may start with a warmup of jogging, jumping jacks, or strengthening exercises, such as pushups. Then expect a series of punches, kicks, and hand strikes for the main workout.

There may be core or strengthening exercises at the end. Always finish your workout with a cooldown and stretch. Drink plenty of water throughout the class.

Equipment: gym shoes (sneakers)

Benefits: Zumba is beneficial for heart health, improves coordination, tones your entire body, and may help relieve stress.

Safety: Drink lots of water during the class. Take a break if you feel tired or dizzy. You may want to wear shoes that provide good ankle support if youre prone to ankle injuries.

Duration and frequency: 60 minutes, 1 to 3 times per week

If you like to dance, Zumba is a fun choice for an aerobic workout. After warming up, your instructor will instruct the class through easy-to-follow dance moves set to upbeat music. Youll finish with a cooldown and stretch.

Shoes are required. Drink plenty of water throughout the class. You can always take a break and rejoin if you get tired.

Equipment: stationary bike, cycling shoes (optional), padded bicycle shorts or pants (optional)

Benefits: Indoor cycling classes build strength and improve muscle tone and cardiovascular endurance.

Safety: If your new or need a refresher, ask the instructor to help you set up the stationary bike. Lower your resistance if you get tired, or take a break if you feel lightheaded.

Duration and frequency: 45 to 60 minutes, 1 to 3 times per week

Unlike a leisurely bike ride, a cycle class will get your heart rate up. It may include resistance and climb (incline) portions for maximum training benefits. This will help you build strength and tone your muscles. Some classes require cycle shoes that you clip into the bike. You can usually rent these at your facility.

Most classes are 45 to 60 minutes long and include a warmup, cooldown, and stretch. Bring water with you to the class. If youre new, you can reduce the resistance on the bike and peddle lightly for a break if you get tired.

The American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes or more of aerobic exercise five or more days each week. That can be broken up, though. For example, you can take three, 10-minute walks throughout the day.

You should also add in two or more anaerobic strengthening sessions each week that focus on major muscle groups. If youre new to exercise, see your doctor. They can assess your health and recommend a fitness routine thats safe and effective for you.

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Aerobic Exercise Examples: At Home, at the Gym, Benefits ...

BOSSES at a gym are looking to expand and offer aerobics and yoga classes.

An application has been submitted for a new two-storey building with the studio on the first floor and ground floor parking.

The site is owned by Pro-Physique Fitness Gymnasium on the former Laund Mill, Great Harwood, which was in danger of being left derelict.

In the planning statement it said: The gymnasium is used by locals many of whom arrive on foot. Its membership is approximately 600, with many using the facility on a daily basis.

The owners offer bespoke training programmes and has a referral scheme with local GPs who prescribe exercise for their patients who have a number of medical conditions that exercise can help to remedy.

To address the growing need for aerobics and yoga and other types of class based exercise they need to provide additional space which cannot be accommodated within the current building. In order to do this it must grow.

Due to the Covid-19 outbreak the gym needs to provide more floor area to allow members to use the facility properly when it re-opens. To achieve this the first floor of the proposed building would be used as additional floor space for the activities that will be moved from the existing gym to this new space.

The ground floor space will be used as car parking.

The new aerobics and yoga studio will provide jobs for two full-time instructors and two part-time instructors along with cleaning staff and a maintenance role.

The upper floor level will be an open studio floor area with entrance from ground floor, having its own uni-sex disabled toilet.

The studio floor space is designed to accommodate classes of 10 people each with space to carry out the aerobic moves without impeding the pupil next to them.

There will be four classes per day between 8am and noon and five between 1.30pm and 5pm.

Read the original:

Plans for new Great Harwood aerobics studio and car park - Lancashire Telegraph

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What is a great brand?A great brand has these elements:

A great brand is exceedingly well-known.

A great brand has outstanding relevance and differentiation.

A great brand is markedly superior in character.

A great brand is remarkably skilled.

A great brand has undeniable leadership.

A great brand has high aspirations.

A great brand focuses on satisfying the needs of all stakeholders.

A great brand does not need to be a big brand in terms of size. But, it does need to be a big brand in terms of its power to engage peoples imagination. For example, Nike, Coca Cola, McDonalds, Apple, Beetle are great brands.

Unfortunately, Reebok, once a great brand of the 1970s and 1980s is about to be an orphan. Adidas, the second-largest sportswear maker in the world, bought Reebok in 2005. Today, Adidas wants to sell Reebok. Adidas was never able to replicate the extraordinary, out-sized success of Reebok. A look at the history of Reebok shows how the brand lost its way. Great brands and iconic brands can last forever. But, only if properly managed.

Reebok represented the beginnings of the gym-fitness scene, especially for women. Think Jane Fonda aerobic videos. Think John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis in Perfect, the 1985 film based on an article in Rolling Stone magazine about health clubs and singles. Reebok has one of those incredible stories. Its provenance is fascinating.

In an English workshop, a fourteen-year old named Joseph William Foster designed some of the earliest spiked running shoes. In 1900, he founded his business adding his sons soon after. The company J.W. Foster and Sons became famous across the British Empire for innovative athletic shoes. The Olympic runner, Harold Abrahams, wore a pair of Fosters running pumps in the Paris Summer Olympics in 1924. Mr. Abraham was commemorated in the film, Chariots of Fire.

Two of J. W. Foster's grandsons, Joe and Jeff Foster, created a new enterprise in 1958 called Reebok. Reebok shoes were popular internationally. But, it was not until 1979 that Reebok entered Americas consciousness.

At a trade show in Chicago, a young man named Paul Fireman saw Reeboks. Mr. Fireman worked in his familys outdoor and fishing gear business in Boston, MA. Looking for something else to do, Mr. Fireman asked one of Fosters grandsons for the rights to license and sell Reeboks in the U.S. In the space of two years, in 1981, Reeboks sales were $1.5 million.

Mr. Fireman saw the explosion of health clubs and aerobic classes. Most gyms focused on men and bodybuilding. Health clubs and aerobics had large female participants.Reebok gave women the Reebok Freestyle aerobics shoe in 1982. The Reebok Freestyle was the first athletic shoe designed for women.

If you lived in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, it seemed as if every womans foot was wearing a Reebok Freestyle shoe. It was as if you were not serious about aerobics if you were not wearing the Reebok Freestyle. This particular, highly attractive athletic shoe captured the imagination of women. It was a physical entry to the world of fitness before fitness became fitness, as we know fitness today. Reebok owned aerobics. It was the brand that perfectly fit that junction of time, values, excitement, and personal health focus. The Reebok Freestyle was part of the liberating acceptance of women into non-professional physical fitness. The Reebok Freestyle was so successful that by 1983, Reebok's sales were $13 million.

Reeboks success led Mr. Fireman to buy the U.K.-based parent company in 1984. The Reebok brand went public in 1985. And, during the 1980s, with new shoe products, shoe innovations, clothing, and accessories, Reeboks sales soared to $1 billion. Reebok closed sponsorship deals and sports celebrity endorsements. Reebok was one of the most connected sports brands next to Nike. The brand was soon part of the Adidas family.

For whatever reasons, and there are multiple instances to point to, Adidas could not keep the energy going. Adidas replaced Paul Fireman. Adidas pushed Reebok into a wide array of partnerships. These diluted the image of Reebok. The logo was changed a few times, each time with a new rationale. What Reebok stood for was lost.

There were all sorts of turnaround plans and restructurings. There were write-downs and strategic plans. Adidas had hoped that Reebok would be a linchpin for competing with Nike. Cost cuts did yield profit on the bottom line. But as one analyst told The Wall Street Journal, Returning profit was a good step but driving the top line is something else.

Coronavirus has closed the door on many great brands. Neiman Marcus, J. C. Penney, Nordstrom are just a few. All of these had issues before coronavirus. It is the same with Reebok. There is no reason for great brands to disappear except for brand mismanagement. In Reeboks case, they lost the core promise of the brand. Reebok lost its core identity.

Some marketers talk about a brand lifecycle. They say that brands go through several stages from birth to growth, to plateau to decline to death. This is wrong. Brands do not have to follow a natural lifecycle. Brands can and do live forever. Brands do not have to die. Factories may close and turn to rust. Technology becomes outdated. Brands can live forever if properly managed.

The Reebok brand is not dead. It can be revitalized. Lets hope that whoever buys Reebok will focus on articulating Reeboks core promise in a relevant, differentiated, trustworthy way. Lets hope that the new owner will focus on delivering that promise consistently to every customer, every time, everywhere.

Continue reading here:

The Iconic Reebok Brand Is On The Auction Block - Forbes

By: Lifestyle Desk | New Delhi | December 19, 2020 4:20:26 pm We all get lazy to workout during this season. (Photo: Pixabay)

When you think about winters even the best fitness enthusiasts find their workout routines taking a back seat. When it is cold. our body automatically goes into a dormant mode due to reduced circulation and spasms in the muscles.

This is because the cold weather makes the muscles lose more heat which makes them contract. In turn, stiff muscles cause more pressure on the nerves causing impingement, shares Dr Manoj Kutteri, wellness director at Atmantan Wellness Centre. Ahead, he shares a few exercises which can help you maintain the health of your joints and promote circulation in your body.

Stretching

Stretching is an underrated activity but one which can set things right in winter because it helps in enhancing joint health and also helps lubricate them while correcting your posture.

Careful and well-coordinated stretches are important to improve the range of motion at the joints. If you are already suffering from any compromised functioning of the joints, then you must do mostly static stretches whereby you stretch and hold it for some time until the initial pain and stiffness ease-out, suggests Dr Kutteri.

Walking

Walking might seem like a low impact exercise but it has long-term health benefits. Joint movements while walking help increase the blood flow in turn making them more lubricated. He adds, Walking is also a good form of cardio that helps maintain the warmth of our body, making the muscles and ligaments attached to the joints much relaxed and supple.

Yoga

Practising yoga during winters cannot be stressed enough. He suggests doing the Sookshma Vayama (loosening exercises) in yoga which specifically targets various joints in the body. Regular practice of yoga also helps to improve the cardiac efficiency and better the working of the nervous system. Intense practices in yoga such as suryanamaskar etc can also be practiced by someone who does not have any joint problems, adds Dr Kutteri.

Cycling/ Aerobics

Aerobics and cycling are a great way to not only start your day during winters but it is also the best way to get fit because not only does a 30-minute cycling or aerobic session warm your body but makes sure you are burning a good amount of calories too. Resistance training and moderate impact practices are a great way of preventing osteoporosis and also good for bone mineralisation, says Dr Kutteri.

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Here are four exercises to help keep joint pain at bay this winter season - The Indian Express

Floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee was Mohammed Alis mantra to capture the heavyweight title back in the 1970s and its still alive

today at the Title Boxing Club in Springfield where all the floating and stinging is burning calories, improving the posture and instilling confidence without bloodying any noses.

Its the best workout in the world, said Tommy the hammer Coelho, an employee of the club that runs around with sparring mitts, giving pointers on landing that jab. Absolute total full body workout, he said.

LaToya Spencer from Alexandria agreed, as she cooled off after a session. The workouts are divided into an eight-round program led by an announcer, similar to the aerobics classes that attract many. I love it, a good workout, Spencer said. Aicha Jaani was also in the class. Helps with your anger, any issues, she said.

The Title Boxing Club is in a shopping center right off Rolling Road next to the West Springfield Police Station, and the inside if full of punching bags, a mini boxing ring, weights, a locker area and a little store where there are sweats, tee-shirts and boxing gloves in the 12-18 ounce size for the punching bag workouts. In the ring, a boxer would wear 10-12 ounce gloves, and the mixed martial arts (MMA) uses four ounce gloves.

Even with all this boxing and punches being thrown, there is no actual fighting between participants, its all about working up a sweat, ducking and weaving for upper body strength. MMA uses a lot of kicks, where boxing is mainly concentrating on the punches.

Some of the punching does bring fighting into the picture too. A little bit rubs off on anyone thats gone through the class. You learn self-defense, youll learn the basics here in self-defense, said Jacob Scharf, the general manager. Coelho noted the stance they teach for landing the punch, and noted how he saw it recently when there was an incident in the parking lot and one of the men shifted his weight onto the back foot.

Somebodys going to get hit, Coelho said.

Coelhos boxing knowledge goes back to when he started boxing at age 10 in Oakland, Calif. He was a three-time Golden Glove State Champion, and rose to the top in the Air Force boxing program out in the South Pacific. In addition, he was a three-time National Roller Speed Skating Champion.

The West Springfield location is one of several in the Northern Virginia area. Others are located in Fairfax, Falls Church, and Ashburn. Our exercise classes engage the body, mind and spirit by channeling the fundamentals of a true boxers workout, it says on the website.

Michael Carson, a local MMA pro, has worked out at the Springfield club before.

View original post here:

Boxing isn't Always About the Knockout - Virginia Connection Newspapers

(CNN)

Before you start your Christmas list for You-Know-Who, lets go through what they already got (or got themselves) this weird shut-in year of 2020: slow cooker, gaming console, video teleconference class subscription on how to cook with a slow cooker, fancy cookware, new phone, robot vacuum, sourdough bread starter and, yep, video teleconference class on how to bake with sourdough bread starter.

In other words, its going to be a hard holiday season to find something to treat people whove had to treat themselves just to stay sane this year unless, that is, if you think outside the usual gizmos, goodies and gluttony.

After months of being locked up indoors, barred from gyms and beaches and unable to get in a pick-up game of basketball anywhere, the best gift you could give someone you love and who you want to pick out Christmas presents for for years to come is the gift of fitness and health. And the safest way for people to keep in shape is an at-home workout system like Tempo.

This isnt a Shake Weight and a set of oversized rubber bands. Tempo Studio is essentially a real gym and trainer you get to keep at home, meaning you dont have to wear a mask and you dont have to wipe down and share the equipment between every set.

The first all-in-one home fitness system and AI trainer, it uses 3D sensors, motion detection and a powerful artificial intelligence to analyze your form, regulate your speed and that most vital of jobs for a good spotter keep accurate count of your reps. Itll even let you know if youre overdoing it on the weight or if youre ready to kick the challenge up a notch or three.

Tempo Studio comes with a full 115-pound set of professional Olympic weights and equipment, a 42-inch touch screen, a workout mat, a recovery roller, a Microsoft Azure Kinect 3D motion sensor and camera and a heart monitor everything needed for a workout whether youre a veteran gym rat or completely new to the fitness scene. And though it packs a big punch, the whole thing takes up only a 3-square-foot footprint, meaning you wont have to dedicate more than a corner of a room to it. Even that big screen neatly hides away in its own cabinet another reason the Tempo Gym has won so many design awards!

That touch screen isnt just for showing pretty pictures while you work out, either. Its your portal to a full staff of certified trainers who can help you improve in whatever kind of workout youre looking for, from aerobics to strength training, five-minute abs or mobility training. Each of the over 500 group classes ends with personalized feedback from the coach on how to get the most out of the next session. And if youd rather not work out with strangers, you can use Tempos customizable AI to create your own solo sessions or to compete for best times and accomplishments with your friends. Whether youre getting ready for your next marathon or just trying to shed a few quarantine pounds, the Tempo AI will use its deep database of scientific knowledge and cutting-edge tech to help you achieve exactly the goals you set for yourself, helping you design three- to eight-week fitness programs thatll keep you in great health even if you still cant make it to the fitness center anymore.

Whether its a holiday present for a loved one or a gift that youre giving yourself, Tempos got the goods to make health and fitness a reachable goal even under these most challenging of circumstances. This holiday season, why not give the gift of many more holidays to come with Tempo Studio?

Link:

The home gym that should be on your wishlist - CNN

A student of Green Land Senior Secondary Public School, Jalandhar Bypass, Ludhiana, performing yoga.

Green Land Senior Secondary Public School, Jalandhar Bypass, Ludhiana, is organising Fit India School week to encourage students, their parents, and the staff to inculcate physical activity and sports in their everyday lives.

Freehand exercises, yoga, aerobics, zig-zag, and shuttle run sessions, along with lectures on diet and nutrition, will be held for students, staff members, and family.

Principal Baldeep Pandher said that regular physical activities are a must for students during the pandemic.

Virtual fire safety drill for KBDAV-7 students

A fire safety drill was held virtually for the students of classes 11 and 12 of KB DAV Senior Secondary Public School, Sector 7, Chandigarh.

Gurmukh Singh Multani, officer, fire department, Chandigarh, conducted the drill.

Later, he defined fire and urged students to always stay alert as fire can break out anytime, anywhere with just a little negligence.

He advised all students to keep fire extinguishers at their homes.

Swachhta ranking: BCM Arya School tops the list

BCM Arya School bagged the sanitation champion award in the Swacchta ranking given by the Ludhiana MC.

Principal Paramjit Kaur and environment manager Vipra Kale received the award from mayor Balkar Singh. The school has been organising various activities to motivate its students to be responsible for a clean and green city.

St Josephs kids take part in fancy dress competition

A fancy dress competition was organised for the Kindergarten students of St Josephs Senior Secondary School, Sector 44-D, Chandigarh. The students selected the topics of their choice and dressed accordingly for the competition.

While some students dressed as issues of relevance such as coronavirus, farm laws, child labour, and pollution; others dressed as great personalities like Gautam Buddha and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. Some tiny tots even dressed as trees, humanity, sanitizers, books, pencils, newspapers, milkmen, doctors and policemen. Children, through their speeches, highlighted the importance of their respective topics.

The winners were adjudged on the basis of content, confidence and presentation.

More:

Punjab school events: Fit India Week launched at Green Land School - Hindustan Times

Photographer, aerobics teacher and Key West volunteer extraordinaire Roberta DePiero was just looking for a way to get a little exercise this summer after the coronavirus shut down the Keys.

Her usual job as an aerobics teacher was gone because the gyms were closed. Her other job selling ads for theater and event programs was shut down because there were no local events taking place.

So, DePiero, who followed her soon-to-be ex-finance to Key West in 1991, started riding her bicycle around town. Joined by a friend, their cycling jaunts got longer and more elaborate.

I started riding my bike just to get exercise. We went to all the tourist locations and took cheesy photographs, she said. Then we started doing scavenger hunts, looking for historical markers. We rode every street in Stock Island, Key Haven and Key West. It took about two months.

Those cheesy photos were posted on DePieros social media pages, leading her to start paying attention to what other local photographers were posting; recording how they were dealing with the town and its business community being closed to visitors. She got the idea of pulling the images together into a book documenting local response to the pandemic and reached out to friend and local photographer Carol Tedesco, with whom she had previously published a 2013 photo book of the Key West Cemetery, After Life: Images From the Key West Cemetery.

The women set a three-month timeline for photos taken between March 1 and June 1, and reached out to other local photographers to collaborate on what was supposed to be a 150-page book, entitled, Isolated Island, The Key West Covid-19 Spring of 2020.

But the images were so spectacular that it grew to 27 photographers and 352 pages, DePiero said. Its a time capsule. In 100 years, people can open this up.

The images range from people getting COVID-19 tests, to underwater shots to pictures of empty stores and a deserted Duval Street. Photographer Kyle Campbell got Federal Aviation Authority permission to use a drone, since Key West International Airport was essentially closed, and took a heavens-view look at an empty city and surrounding waters. Publicist Andy Newman took pictures of the checkpoint on U.S. 1 and a deserted highway. Tedesco, Rob ONeal and Larry Blackburn, all local photojournalists (Editors note: ONeal is the staff photographer for The Citizen), looked at daily life, including crowded food banks and police horses patrolling an empty beach.

But the cherry on the top of the beautiful images is that all proceeds are going to benefit Sister Season Fund, which has been giving grants to help out-of-work employees in the service sector survive the coronavirus shutdown. With a limited edition of 1,000 books, priced at $75, Isolated Island will raise more than $38,000 for Sister Season if all are sold. As of this week, there are only 300 left and can be purchased at http://www.sisterseason.com.

Julie Hanson, Sister Season president, said the non-profit organization has given $1,000 grants to 339 applicants since COVID-19 hit Key West, draining its funds.

Our grants were running out, she said. We had fundraisers, online auctions. We sold a lot of masks. The community really stepped up to help us. Carol and Roberta were two of those people. Were so grateful for that.

Its amazing that my little, tiny idea blossomed into this, DePiero said. This is the biggest thing Ive ever done.

And that is saying something. DePiero has been an active volunteer for a wide range of local, state and national organizations since arriving in Key West. One of her early jobs was executive assistant, then catering manager for the former Holiday Inn La Concha. While there, she was given the task of being the hotels team captain for the new Relay for Life, the annual race to raise money for the American Cancer Society. DePiero eventually became chair of the event, then chair of the state Relay for Life Task Force, a member of the national taskforce, and local chair of the American Cancer Society. She is also past president of the Zonta Club of Key West, helped organize the Mote Marine Ocean Fest for its first six years, and helped start the Anne McKee Artist Fund of the Florida Keys, which raises money for local artists through an annual art auction that gives half the proceeds to the contributing artist, then uses the other half to award grants up to $2,000 to different artists in literary, visual and performing arts fields.

As for how she thinks Key West will come out of the coronavirus pandemic, DePiero feels positive about the recovery.

I personally feel weve dealt with it very well. Its made all of us living here stronger, like after [Hurricane] Wilma, she said. We may be recovering differently but maybe well get a different kind of people coming to town. I think well be alright.

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Although they grow well in our climate, persimmons seem like an exotic fruit, not often found in fruit bowls alongside apples, oranges and bananas. As for me, Im simply mad about them. Id rather have a luscious, ripe persimmon than a bowl of ice cream, and thats really saying something, because ice cream is the pinnacle of human culinary creation. (Ill brook no argument on this point.)

You may have had an unfortunate, if not downright scarring, experience with a persimmon in the past, due to some varieties extremely high levels of mouth-drying tannins. A few tannins are nice, such as in a glass of red wine. A whopping great bucketful of tannins, such as youd encounter in an unripe hachiya persimmon, will cause you to feel as though someone had opened a direct portal between your mouth and the Sahara desert.

The heart-shaped, deep orange hachiyas are intensely flavorful, but only if eaten at the point of extreme ripeness, when their insides have practically liquefied in their shiny skins. You can speed the process along by storing them inside a paper bag. Your patience will be rewarded with a bite of heaven a jammy treat thats sort of a cross between pumpkin pie and a sun-warmed, juicy peach.

If you cant wait that long for your heavenly reward, purchase the tannin-free fuyu variety: squat, sunset-orange packages of ready-to-consume goodness, delicious in every stage from crisp to squishy, but probably best somewhere in the middle. Eat them like an apple, skin and all, or peel them, puree them and use them in everything from cookies to risotto.

Boil 2 cups of very ripe, pulpy persimmons with 3/4 to 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon zest. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn off the heat and allow the jam to cool and set. Transfer to Mason jars or another airtight container and store in the fridge for 1 to 2 weeks or freezer for a year or so. Serve with buttered toast, scones, biscuits, pancakes, waffles, blintzes or crepes, but not necessarily all those things at once, unless youre having a particularly hard day, or its a Wednesday.

This moist persimmon bread was what got me hooked on persimmons. The baker, my aerobics instructor, may have fed it to me to ensure that Id keep taking her class, a vicious caloric cycle of consume-and-burn.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and oil a loaf pan. In a bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice with 1 cup of any combination of chopped walnuts, pecans, raisins, dates, dried apricots, crystallized ginger or chocolate chips.

In another bowl, combine 2 eggs, 3/4 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup vegetable oil. In third bowl, mix 1 teaspoon baking soda with 1 cup persimmon pulp, stirring until there are no lumps. I recommend extremely ripe hachiya persimmons, but you can use very soft fuyus. Either way, they should be squishy.

Full disclosure: I only had enough ripe persimmons for 3/4 cup. I tasted a half-ripe hachiya, and it was like eating cotton. I improvised and substituted pumpkin puree and 2 tablespoons peach jam. I suppose I made persumkineach bread.

Add pulp to the egg mixture, then fold in the flour mixture. Pour batter into pan and bake for 75 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. I baked mine for probably an hour and 40 minutes preposterously long! So quick bread is a misnomer, but the result, although dark brown around the edges, is so good I now need another aerobics class.

Im always looking for ways to eat more leafy greens. Just kidding, Im really looking for ways to eat more goat cheese. This beautiful, scrumptious salad, which I discovered at http://www.proportionalplate.com, is worth saving for a COVID-safe Thanksgiving with your immediate family and your neighbors waving through the window, or you could make this today, just for funsies. It veers into foodie territory anything with radicchio and pomegranate seeds is dangerously trendy but recipes are merely inspiration for ways to use things I already have.

Cut two ripe but not too soft fuyu persimmons into thin wedges. Mix with 1 cup crumbled goat cheese and 4 cups each shredded radicchio and escarole. (I didnt have escarole and I couldnt find it at the market, so I used baby arugula.)

Add the seeds from 1 pomegranate. Since seeding a pomegranate produces a similar enjoyment quotient to clipping an angry cats claws, you should feel quite justified in substituting dried cranberries or chopped dried cherries.

For the dressing, mix 3 tablespoons olive oil and salt to taste with 1 clove minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard and 3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses, which can be found in many Middle Eastern markets but not in my pantry. Instead, I used balsamic vinegar.

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Fall is a perfect time to explore passion for Persimmons - The Columbian

Sylvester Stallones Rocky days are over, but at age 74, he hasnt given up his vigorous training regimen. It often consists of three or four sets of a dozen weightlifting exercises. He also begins and ends each workout with 10 to 20 minutes of cardio.

Fortunately, recent research suggests you dont have to emulate Stallone to age well and stay fit. A study on physical fitness intensity and older adults found that those who regularly did high-intensity interval training didnt live any longer than those doing moderate-intensity continuous training or sticking to standard activity guidelines.

The study, published in The BMJ, involved 1,567 adults in their 70s. Participants in the HIIT group performed two sessions weekly of high-intensity interval training with four four-minute bursts of activity at about 90% of peak heart rate with three-minute rest periods in between. The other group did moderate intensity continuous training at about 70% of peak heart rate for 40 minutes twice a week. And the control group followed standard guidelines for physical activity (a minimum of 30 minutes moderate activity daily combining aerobics and strength training). After five years, the researchers didnt find a difference in cardiovascular health or in all-cause mortality between the control group and the combined HIIT and moderate-intensity continuous training groups.

So dont fret if you cant emulate Stallones workout! Turns out, once youre over 70, a sly not Sly approach to exercise, by integrating it into your daily routine, is an effective way to protect your cardiovascular health and promote longevity.

Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of The Dr. Oz Show, and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer Emeritus at Cleveland Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune into The Dr. Oz Show or visit www. sharecare.com.

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You don't have to HIIT it -- but you do have to move! - The Union Leader