Here’s a nice mind-body workout I found from MyYogaOnline. The ten minute routine will help you relax after the long holiday weekend, find inner balance and ease your mind and body before you start another hectic week.

Last year I was searching for a fitness watch to calculate distance. I was surprised to find the only kind that existed were bulky GPS varieties that didn’t look much like a watches at all or ones that included a foot pod. Now, Garmin has finally come out with a style that looks like a watch but tracks mileage and calculates speed and pace using GPS–the Forerunner 405.

You can upload your date to free Garmin Training Center software where you can keep track of workouts and calories burned, map routes you’ve run and design future workouts. You can also connect with other users online and even compete against other 405 users with the unit nearby. The watch is available with or without a heart monitor. If you workout indoors you can opt for a foot pod to track treadmill mileage (since GPS won’t work inside your gym) and if you’re a cyclist you can get a cadence sensor. I don’t think you’ll find a more fully-funtional fitness watch.

Fit Celeb shares Maria Menounos’s healthy recipe for this lean ground turkey Mykonos burger.

The Budget Ecoist offers tips to stay green as you celebrate red, white and blue on the 4th.

My Super-Charged Life attempts to inspire with seven ways to rekindle your creativity.

The Weighting Game shares a study about how reading fitness mags can undo the feel good effects of exercise.

Whole Story takes us on a trip to Ecuador to explore fair trade certified roses.

Eating Fabulous tells you why your answer to “Got milk?” should be yes.

There are plenty of abdominal exercises that can make you feel a little silly when you’re doing them at the gym, but it’s all in the name of flat abs, right? Here’s one of those exercises–the Wicked Wiper straight from an Olympic trainer as shown in Women’s Health. Only thing is, if you can actually pull this exercise off any snickering will be replaced by worship. Something to work towards…I’ll try it tomorrow, I swear.

If you’re up for the challenge, hang from a pull-up bar (you may want to enlist a friend to spot you) with your arms shoulder-width apart and palms facing outward. As you continue to hang, raise your hips, back and shoulders as much as you can to try to get your body parallel to the floor. Lift your legs up into a pike. Now like a windshield wiper, lower your legs to the right, raise them to the center and lower to the left. Amateur variation: Do the same action on a mat.

Blueberries are packed with phytonutrients, fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin K and Manganese giving them lots of healthy benefits. Studies show they can help improve memory, promote healthy aging, prevent urinary tract infections and improve vision health. And since it’s clear that all of you love blueberries based on your comments in the Skin Appetit giveaway, I wanted to share one of my favorite light blueberry desserts from Cooking Light: Upside-Down Berry Cakes.

This recipe creates single serving warm blueberry treats that offer all the nutrients this superfood has to offer along with the sweet deliciousness you crave for dessert. And it’s easy! Mix together 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and a dash of salt in a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup skim milk and 4 teaspoons reduced-calorie stick margarine, melted; stirring just until the flour mixture is moist. Coat two 10 ounce custard cups with cooking spray and divide the batter evenly between them. Then top each with 1/2 cup of blueberries. Bake at 375° for 35 minutes or until they’re bubbly and lightly browned. For extra credit, pick your blueberries yourself!

Have you ever wondered what order you should do your strength training exercises in, if it matters what muscles you work first or if you should mix up your routine each time? I asked our new contributing personal fitness trainer and coach Jason Onserud (check out his bio here) to give us the answers. Here’s Jason…

When you’re starting a resistance training program, there are guidelines to consider when you plan your routine. If you follow them, you’ll see better progress and reduce your risk of injury. You should change your training program every 5-8 workouts to prevent reaching strength plateaus and reduce the risk of injuries like tendinitis.

1. Start with your weak spots. The strength of the muscles you train at the beginning of your workout will improve the most. So if you feel your shoulders are weaker than your chest muscles for example, do the shoulder press before the chest press.

2. Train larger muscle groups before smaller muscle groups. For example, do squats (quadriceps) before sit-ups (rectus abdominus) and chin-ups (latissimus dorsi – upper back) before curls (biceps). If you train smaller muscles first, you’ll fatigue the auxiliary muscles and in turn limit your ability to train the larger muscles to the fullest. Read the rest of this entry »

With the vast array of Pilates moves and crunch variations out there, it’s easy to forget that a lot of other activities strengthen your core too. That’s why I love this plyometric exercise from Runner’s World that proves bursts of cardio can work your abs.

Jezebel critiques Teen Vogue’s spread that takes the athleticism out of the Olympics and replaces it with not-so-sport-friendly fashion.

Laurel on Health Food charts out the best ways to store fruits and veggies to keep them fresh.

The Budget Ecoist shares an easy recipe for healthy, organic and eco-friendly strawberry lemonade.

Fit Sugar gives tips on what to look for when you buy summer hiking boots.

The Accidental Environmentalist reminds us that a bicycle isn’t just a fit way to travel, it’s a green one too. And these days, it’ll even help your wallet as you avoid the pump!

Simply Stated reviews Jen Lancaster’s new book, Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist’s Quest to Discover If Her Life Makes her Ass Look Big, OR, Why Pie is Not the Answer, about dieting and working out.

Nutritionist Keri Glassman just launched a new beauty line, Skin Appetit. The concept is brilliant–a healthy diet isn’t only good for our bodies, it’s good for our skin too. “Consuming a balanced diet that packs in lots of vitamins, minerals, fiber, essential fatty acids and protein is what produces shiny, glowing, hydrated and smooth skin,” Glassman says. Antioxidants aren’t only beneficial in our diets, they have similar anti-aging effects when applied topically.

So each paraben-free Skin Appetit product includes natural whole food extracts from 8 super foods: blueberries, cantaloupe, grapeseed extract, creamy yogurt, wild honey, fig, walnut oil and dark chocolate. The “Nutrx 8 Complex” helps smooth fine lines, moisturize, reduce inflammation, boost your glow and more. To celebrate the launch, Skin Appetit is giving away a set of all five products ($75): Optim-Eyes Firming Eye Gel, Nutri-Pro Night Serum, Nutri-Collagen Daily Moisturizer SPF 15, Detoxifying Nutri-Cleanser and Nutri-Moisture Balm Stick. To win, make a comment telling us which of the 8 super foods is your favorite before 5pm, June 30. One name will be chosen randomly. Good luck! [Note: This giveaway is now closed]

If you ever overindulge on the weekends–a night (or two) of cocktails, a giant brunch, one of everything at the baseball game and a heaping second BBQ helping–you might not feel your best come Monday. Instead of scolding yourself for everything you did wrong, start your week off with a few detoxifying yoga poses. A series of twists (like this workout from Tara Stiles) can be very cleansing and will help your body release accumulated toxins. By the time you’re done, you’ll feel rejuvenated instead of regretful.