Fitness
Exercise ranks No. 1 in resolutions
GETTING FIT FOR THE NEW YEAR — Those who took part in an aerobics class taught by instructor Carol Teaff at the Weirton campus of West Virginia Northern Community College, will once again have the opportunity to join the upcoming free course that is being offered beginning Tuesday. The class runs from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays through May 8 and is free of charge.
— Contributed
WEIRTON — Approximately 80 percent of Americans who made a New Year’s resolution this year chose to set a goal to improve their health.
Exercise and weight-loss were among the promises made by more than 96 million adults, according to a nationwide survey conducted by the Health and Fitness Association.
That makes it the most popular theme for 2025.
The reality of making these resolutions come to fruition, however, can be expensive.
According to YouGov, research has shown that just 9 percent of Americans will actually keep their resolutions throughout the year. And almost nine out of 10 people said having access to structured spaces such as gyms, health clubs or exercise studios is an important factor to achieving their goal, resulting in those low figures of those who follow through on their Jan. 1 promises. One reason people end up shying away from continuing or beginning an exercise routine is that not everybody can afford to join a gym or club.
As a result, apps are being downloaded as a means to losing weight and getting physically and mentally fit so people can go through the process at home. The top aspirations of app users saw 50 percent of people wanting to build or strengthen their muscles and 44 percent seeking to establish a regular exercise regimen. Americans wanting to improve their mental health through physical activity stood at 42 percent.
“Americans are entering the new year with strong ambitions to improve their health and fitness, but financial strain is a real obstacle for many,” stated Liz Clark, president and CEO of the HFA. “This represents both a challenge and an opportunity to explore strategic solutions that can make fitness more accessible to everyone.”
But one area woman is helping community residents achieve their goal of getting fit by offering free aerobics to those intent on keeping their word.
Carol Teaff has been exercising non-stop for 45 years. She has been offering free aerobics classes since retiring as an English and speech professor at West Virginia Northern Community College in 2008, following a 33-year career.
The college had asked her to run a community education exercise class because she previously taught a one-credit hour step aerobics class as part of her schedule.
And she has continued to do so ever since.
Even during the pandemic, she still ran her class through Zoom, not allowing COVID to deter her from doing what she loves.
So, what prompted her to begin exercising in the first place?
Teaff explained, “I started exercising to work my way out of depression caused by life events. Exercise is the perfect cure for depression.”
“I started out going to exercise classes with friends, but they all eventually quit,” she continued. “So, I kept on going to classes by myself because I could see what exercising was doing for me — reducing my heart rate, strengthening my lungs, lowering my risk of cancer and other diseases, increasing my flexibility and just making me happy. Cardio is the best thing someone can do for their body, along with weight lifting, which I also did for many years and have recently gone back to.”
“Most people who start exercising drop out within six months, and of those who remain, many keep exercising at the same level instead of upping their game,” Teaff said.
“The goal should be to keep improving, whatever your age,” she stressed. “In addition, a lot of people set unrealistic goals — dropping x number of pounds or running a 5K race before they are ready, or lifting weights that are too heavy for them. Deconditioned people need to start with something easy and work toward realistic goals, resisting the urge to compete with others in better shape who have been exercising longer.”
“I can’t even tell you how many out-of-shape guys I have seen running on the beach in bare feet at noon,” she stated. “This is a bad idea for so many reasons.”
Even if one doesn’t take Teaff’s classes, she offered advice on the proper way those starting out their New Year’s resolution of exercising should begin.
She stressed the importance of starting slow, doing it three times a week.
“Make it harder when you’re ready,” she commented. “Schedule it into your life and don’t quit, even if you feel like quitting. If I skipped my exercise routine every time that I didn’t feel like doing it, I would rarely work out. Once my heart rate climbs, I am always happy that I kept my schedule. After 45 years, I can’t not do it!”
“To get the most advantage out of cardio, exercisers need to keep track of their heart rates,” she noted, saying anyone is able to go online and search for target heart rate zones. Wearing a fitness tracker also is a good idea, she added.
She will once again hold classes for those interested in continuing or just beginning an exercise routine starting on Tuesday.
The class will meet from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the student center of the Weirton campus, located in the back of the building. The class will run through May 8.
This is a low-impact class that puts an emphasis on continuous movement, strength improvement and flexibility. All of the exercise are done while standing, so there aren’t any chairs or floor work involved.
Everyone is encouraged to work at his or her own ability level, never pushing themselves beyond what they are able to handle.
Participants are asked to wear loose or stretchy clothing, along with athletic shoes. They should bring a bottle of water as well, she noted.
To register for the class and begin to fulfill that resolution to become healthier, visit wvncc.edu/community-education and click on “Current Courses Available.”
Select “Community Education/ Health and Wellness,” and then enter the information required.
Students can register on paper Tuesday prior to the first class.
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — 8News got a visit from two special guests Friday to learn about the benefits of Pilates and try out some beginner moves.
8News anchors Autumn Childress and Delaney Hall were joined by Laura Mae Harper and Angie Madison with Point and Flex Pilates. The studio, which opened on Sept. 3 last year, offers a variety of classes, ranging from beginner to intermediate and advanced.
“We went through years of teaching at other places and developed this beautiful studio for them and this community, and we’re super excited about it,” Harper said.
For more information, visit Point and Flex Pilates.
Like every piece of gear you wear on your body day in and day out, fitness trackers are incredibly personal. The right tracker for you should be comfortable, accurate, and tailored to your lifestyle, including your preferred workouts and health goals. Do you bike, row, or strength train? Do you run on trails for hours at a time, or do you just want a reminder to stand up every hour? Do you want to wear it on your wrist or your finger, or tuck it into your sports bra?
No matter what your needs are, there’s never been a better time to find a powerful, sophisticated tool to help optimize your workouts or jump-start your routine. We test dozens of fitness trackers every year while running, climbing, hiking, or just doing workout videos on our iPads at night, to bring you these picks.
Our top choice for most people is the Garmin Vivoactive 6 ($300), which works well with Android and iOS, but we also vouch for the latest Oura Ring 5 ($399) and the budget-friendly Google Fitbit Air ($100). For more wearables, check out our guides to the Best Smartwatches, Best Smart Rings, and Best Sleep Trackers.
Jump To
Best Fitness Tracker Overall
Garmin makes some of the most accurate fitness trackers on the market, and the Vivoactive 6 is the best midrange option for most people. It strikes a solid balance between smartwatch features and fitness tracking, with support for both iPhone and Android users.
Why WIRED recommends: The Vivoactive 6 is accurate, comfortable, and packed with useful wellness features without feeling overwhelming. It uses Garmin’s proprietary algorithms to power features like Morning Report and Body Battery, which provide daily insights into your sleep, recovery, and readiness. It also has built-in satellite connectivity and GPS, so you can track outdoor workouts without bringing your phone along. There’s also incident detection, which alerts emergency contacts if it detects a serious fall.
Garmin’s biggest advantage remains its free Connect platform, which enables health and fitness tracking without requiring a subscription. The company also continues to add new software features through regular updates without putting them behind a paywall.
The trade-offs: Garmin launched Connect+, a $70-per-year subscription with extras like live tracking and access to Garmin’s AI-powered Active Intelligence. Former editor Adrienne So doesn’t think most people need it, but it’s worth noting if you’re looking for a completely subscription-free experience. The Vivoactive 6 may also feel like overkill for casual users who only want basic activity and sleep tracking.
Fitness
Why this unexpected exercise is most effective for building arm muscle in your 50s – and how to do it properly
When it comes to building strong, defined arms, traditional fitness advice will usually point you toward endless sets of bicep curls and tricep extensions. But according to Dr Stacy Sims, a leading women’s exercise physiologist specialising in perimenopause and menopause, isolation movements like these aren’t necessarily the most effective. Instead, she advocates for one functional compound movement: the farmer’s carry.
Speaking on podcast A Life of Greatness, when host Sarah Grynberg asks how to get arm muscles like Dr Sims, the 51-year-old explained: ‘In order to get shoulders like this, heavy farmer’s carries. I’ve been travelling so much this year, and I haven’t been in the gym being consistent with all the push presses and Olympic lifts that I love to do, but what I have been consistent in doing is heavy farmer’s carries.
‘It’s good for grip strength, learning how to walk properly, core strength, shoulders – so if there’s one move everyone should do, it’s heavy farmer’s carries.’
The magic of the move lies in its ability to engage your biceps, triceps, shoulders, forearms and hands all at once. And because your arms are working continuously to stabilise heavy loads against gravity, the exercise activates the deep muscle fibres that don’t fire up as efficiently in single-joint arm movements, like bicep curls. Here’s how to do it with proper form, plus how heavy to lift and a workout to try, straight from Dr Sims.
How to do a farmer’s carry
- Standing with feet hip-width apart and weights at the outside of the ankles, hinge your hips back and bend the knees, keeping your back flat.
- Tighten up your lower back and abdominals before reaching down to grab the weights.
- After gripping the weights, begin to stand tall by driving your heels into the ground, maintaining a tight form. Once you reach full standing position, tighten your armpits and make sure your shoulders are pulled back to activate the muscles in the rotator cuff area.
- Finally, begin to take small steps forward, maintaining a strong grip and form. If you’re returning in opposite direction, set the weights down, turn around, and then grab the weights again before walking in the opposite direction.
Set/reps for results: Aim for three sets. Try timing your farmer’s carry for 25 to 30 seconds or go for 10 steps forward and back.
Form tips: Start out with a light weight to ensure you don’t end up leaning too far forward or towards one side. Make sure to keep your back straight for safety. When it comes to moving, small strides will do. They’ll keep you balanced as you increase your weights.
How heavy to lift
As for what “heavy” means to Dr Sims, she says: ‘How many people have heard that you should be able to farmer carry 75% of your body weight for a minute? That is made up from bro science. It’s a good metric but there’s no science behind it. So, a heavy farmer’s carry is you have two very heavy dumbbells by your side and you’re walking back and forth.’
Here’s a weight guide to follow:
- Beginners: 2x 4-6kg
- Intermediate: 2x 8-12kg
- Advanced: 2x 12-20kg
Farmer’s carry workout
Dr Sims shares a descending ladder workout to try.
- 500m ski
- 500m heavy farmer’s carry
- 400m ski
- 400m heavy farmer’s carry
- 300m ski
- 300m heavy farmer’s carry
- 200m ski
- 200m heavy farmer’s carry
- 100m ski
- 100m heavy farmer’s carry
‘If you really have anything left in the tank after this workout, you go back up in 100m,’ she adds.
One of our most frequently asked questions here at Women’s Health? How to build muscle and burn fat at the same time. So, we asked superstar trainer Oyinda Okunowo exactly how to do it. In this 4-week plan – created exclusively for Women’s Health COLLECTIVE members – you’ll get the workouts and nutrition guidance needed to help you on your way to better body composition. Tap the link below to unlock 14 days of free access to Oyinda’s plan and start training today.
Get the plan
As Women’s Health UK’s fitness director and a qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, Bridie Wilkins has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since the start of her decade-long career in journalism.
After earning a first-class degree in journalism and NCTJ accreditation, she secured her first role at Look Magazine, where she launched the magazine’s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!
Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner’s World and Red. Today, she oversees all fitness content across Women’s Health online and in print, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, which showcases the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise.
She has also represented the brand on BBC Radio London, plus various podcasts and Substacks – all with the aim to encourage more women to exercise and show them how. Outside of work, find her trying the latest Pilates studio, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting workouts on Instagram.
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