What is lifestyle medicine? Have you heard of it? If you have, do you know what it is? In short, doctors who practice LIFESTYLE MEDICINE encourage patients to have a healthy and balanced lifestyle which can decrease our need for medical interventions. Our society seems to look for drugs to improve or solve problems. The thing is, we could often prevent these same problems simply by staying active, eating a clean diet, reducing stress, sleeping more, laughing more, and loving more! I sat down with Dr. Jill Gamberg of Double Bay Doctors here in Sydney, Australia to chat about what lifestyle medicine is all about.

 It's always tough to make and keep fitness goals and resolutions if we don't have a proper plan in place. If you're having a hard time... wait! Don't throw in the towel! Time may get away from us, our co-workers may bring in their leftover holiday goodies, our kids may need extra attention... That's life. Life happens! But don't waste the effort you've made so far. Don't feel like a failure just because you fell off the wagon. Get up!... Let's stand up together... dust our shoulders off... Let's get back on... and try it again. Hit. It. Don't. Quit. It. 

How can we keep our fitness resolutions? For the answers... I have interviewed several top instructors from organizations I have found some my own fitness success. Their advice is awesome. Take a look!

If you watch a barre class from afar... some of the movements seem so small... you wonder how the participants could consider these tiny wiggles and raises exercise. But if you are the one taking the class... you know that the small, intentional movements start to B-U-R-N quite quickly! Often your legs, arms, abs, or buns are screaming the next day! At least mine are! While living in New York City I spent a lot of time trying barre classes at different boutique fitness studios... on the hunt for the cream of the crop! One of my favorites is Exhale Spa.

"Ride your bike like you live your life!" It's just one of the many inspirational quotes you'll hear from instructors during Soul Cycle classes. The boutique fitness studio chain has a cult following. And I must admit... I have been bitten by the Soul Cycle bug too. Students ride to the beat of the music by candlelight. Among their fans... instructors have rockstar status... and if ya just take a look... rock hard bodies too! ;-) I'm happily an advocate for em... and have been telling anyone who will listen about the 'tap it back' syndrome I've been suffering from... for several years now! LOL 

Classes are typically 45 minutes long. Most of the time students are in perfect unison... dancing along to the pumping playlists... meticulously designed and choreographed by instructors. Each class also includes one song for a weighted toning section. Students use one to five pound weights and do overhead presses, bicep curls, tricep extensions, rows, etc... Again all choreographed to the beat of the music. It's so much F-U-N!

Barry's Bootcamp has an incredible reputation for drawing celebrities and fitness fanatics through its doors in major cities worldwide. They vow students will burn up to 1,000 calories per class! When living in the Big Apple I would workout quite frequently at Barry's Bootcamp. I started going regularly while getting ready for my Central Park wedding! My favorite time to go? Thursday afternoons at the Chelsea location. Each day trainers run students through workouts targeting a specific muscle group. Thursday is abs day. I found their formulas to be challenging but manageable. 'Barry's' - as its fans like me refer to it - now has more than 25 worldwide locations including Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, London, and Oslo. It was founded in 1998. Reps tell me today... more than 40,000 people visit their fitness studios every week. 

1. Play touch football with the extended family... or round up some neighbors. Wear old yucky clothes.... The more grass stains the better! Ladies... get involved too... and don't go easy on the guys... Go for the knees and take em down! LOL

2. Break out the video games or virtual reality goggles one of your family members had all packaged up nice and perrrrrty under the tree. Tennis, bowling, or my favorite... dancing!! Clap... clap... Criss cross... Hands in the air... Now stomp! LOL 

In a word... Yes! Tabata is for real. And yes you can lose weight 20 seconds at a time. It's become a real fitness buzzword. You've probably seen it on the cover of a lot of magazines lately. So what is it? And why are some folks trying it out... but not reaping the rewards?  

"Anna, you need to take a rest day." Can I get an AMEN!?! I love it when trainers say these words! But believe it or not... it's a phrase a lot of hard core athletes need to hear. It was certainly something I needed to be reminded of when I was training for the Boston and New York City marathons. I was burning myself out. 

You wanna be in the Mile High Club? How about the Mile High Run Club!?! Fortunately... or unfortunately... depending who you ask... the two have nothing to do with each other. But just like the Mile High Club... there's a lot of buzz around Mile High Run Club in New York City too!  It's a running boutique fitness studio. Founder & CEO Debora Warner says some folks come for fun or stress relief... others come to trim down. "Running offers the highest caloric burn of any type of cardio for those who are looking to lose weight. Calories will vary depending on the person and class type, but the minimum number of calories burned in class should be around 500."  

I am excited to share my passion for fitness with pretty much anyone who will listen! I love group exercise and at one point was teaching up to 10 classes a week under my AFAA (Athletics and Fitness Association of America) certification.