No matter what time of the year it is, there are usually some peppy and energetic cheerleaders on the sidelines of our favorite sports shaking what they've got and rooting for their own teams! While of course the action occurring on the court or on the field may take center stage, there are many looking to the sidelines between plays and envying those lean legs and tight glutes of the cheerleaders. Whether you wish you were down there shaking those pom poms, or simply covet their svelte shapes, you can rah-rah yourself slim with a few cheerleader inspired moves of your own! Add these moves to the end of your cardio sessions three times a week, and in no time flat you'll be cheering for yourself!

* Touchdown Lunge: Stand with feet together, lung your right leg to the side and squat down into a deep lounge, touching both hands to the ground by your foot. Pop back up and return to neutral, clapping your hands then repeat on the other side. Do a total of 20 lunges. (10 on each leg)

* Toe Touch Hurray: Standing straight up, kick your left foot as high into the air in front of you as you can and reach for your toe. Repeat with other leg. Do a total of 20 kicks. (10 on each leg)

* Squat Leap: Standing forward, duck to the ground in a squat with your hands touching the ground, then spring up as high as you can and reach your hands to the sky. Do a total of 15 jumps.

* Back ward leg kick cheers: Standing upright, bend your legs at the knee one at a time to kick your butt. Alternate your legs as fast as you can while clapping your hands. Do a total of 30 butt kickers.

* Slam dunk sashay: Standing feet together, slide to the side two quick steps, clap your hands, then slide to the opposite two quick steps and clap. Repeat 10 on each side.

GO YOU!!!

Following his startling diagnosis with chronic myeloid leukemia, noted basketball legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has now set out to conquer another arena. Although, instead of becoming king of the court or appearing on the silver screen, this basketball phenom has set out to spread the awareness about his disease. Despite living a healthy and active life even today, Abdul-Jabbar was not able to dodge this opponent. Known to adhere to a rigorous and daunting training regime at the peak of his career, he has continued to workout and remain active on the court as a special assistant coach to the Los Angelos Lakers. Yet despite this he too has fallen victim to the presently incurable leukemia. However, unlike only ten years ago, his cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence, and it is that message he is hoping to send to sufferers and their loved ones around the world.

Taking the opportunity to use his fame and fabled career as the podium on which to stand upon, Abdul-Jabbar is just the latest celebrity to actively battle this disease in front of millions worldwide. Proving that he can still enjoy the sport that has been his passion since youth, Abdul-Jabbar has no plans on slowing down or stepping aside in his assisting the Los Angelos Lakers basketball team. While fitness and his continued working out may not have spared him from contracting cancer, it will still remain a staple in his life.

With the latest in cancer research and revelations, Abdul-Jabbar can still participate in the rigors of the game he has mastered, and he hopes to prove that to the world. Now taking an oral medication, he is waging the war on cancer, and he is joined in good company in that fight. Just as Lance Armstrong, Cheryl Crow, and even the brave and heroic Farrah Fawcett who never lost hope up until the end, have not shied away from the public in their own diagnosis, Abdul-Jabbar hopes to prove to all cancer patients that not everyone with the disease must face a cruel and crippling demise. For many they can live life to the fullest and still be active while in the throws of their own disease.

Of course he by no means is making light of the leukemia and its potentially fatal nature, he only hopes that through his own continued active and fulfilled life he can shine a ray of hope to those patients struck with terror at their own diagnoses.

For any of those currently enveloped in the latest season of The Biggest Loser, along with the continued eliminations and goals of the contestants still striving to win the title, one particular contestant has won over our hearts for her bravery in the face of tragedy. While she has already been voted off of the show, Abby Rike has overcome personal loss to come to the point she is at today. In a devastating accident that claimed her beloved two children and husband, she had ventured to the ranch not only to reach a healthy weight but to reclaim her life.

Through finding peace in exercise and a healthy diet, she hoped to set herself up for the best possible chance at healing her own emotional wounds. In fact, the mind and body correlation is quite strong and with a healthy body comes a stronger spirit as well. It is true that exercise can not only help with healing but battling depression as well. I've spoken before of the mood enhancing effects of the endorphins released from exercise, but working out can further help the mind through struggles and times of great stress and loss.

Being physical, such as you are when you are working out, can not only help take one's mind from what may be tying it up or circulating, but can also clear your focus and get you in a more logical and serene state of mind. By taking your focus from a more emotional state with exercise, you can clear a lot of the circular or obsessive thoughts or tendencies and think of ways that can impact or change your life for the better. Of course personal losses and tragedies will no doubt still be hard to cope with, but in exercising you are given an outlet for a release of the accumulating hurt and feelings.

When Abby Rike looked to a way to heal her emotional scars by a physical means she can then gain a healthier body while achieving a healthier state of mind. An exercise routine will also aide in her own mental work, as we are minds and bodies connected.

As for last night's Biggest Loser, for those contestants sill at the farm actively engaging in ways to create their own healthier bodies and lifestyles, both Shay Sorrells and Daniel Wright were asked to leave. In a turn of events that lead to two people leaving, in only true rating inspired drama, they will now pack their bags to hopefully continue on their own weight loss and fitness goals at home.

While it is true that for many the holiday season is filled with festivities. Family gatherings around a roaring fire, caroling around the town, decorating the home, and spending time with the ones we love and cherish the most. However, it is also true that these same holidays come with stresses and sadness if we are alone or away from people that we miss. It is with this that the holiday season comes with an increased rate of suicides and depression.

However, despite any lingering longings or frazzled days in anticipating family gatherings that may be the ground work for some family conflicts, continuing to work out and follow your fitness routine can be key in not only reducing tension levels but keeping you upbeat and supplied with that holiday good cheer. Working out, and exercise in general, are proven to be an excellent mood boosters. In fact, regular exercisers are known to be more happy in their overall lives and less prone to depression.

This is because when you workout your body produces endorphins, which are responsible for causing feelings associated with happiness, satiety, and rewards. You have no doubt experienced this yourself, often feeling better after a workout, and usually less tired than you did prior. Regular exercise has been shown to not only help those suffering with depression, but can actually aide in warding its onset.

So by continuing your fitness routines and working out during the holiday season, you will not only be doing well to avoid packing on any extra pounds that have been known to creep up when we are surrounded by such wonderful treats and favorite foods, but it can make this time of the year more enjoyable and less stressful too!

Whenever people exclaim that they plan on going on a diet, the words dread, hunger, deprivation, and misery are often synonymous; but that doesn't need to be the case! In fact, the most healthy people allow themselves the freedom to eat what they want just in the right amounts. There is plenty of room in any diet to eat your favorite foods, just so long as you don't over-do it and you balance those food that may not necessarily be the best for you out with healthy fruits and vegetables.

Weight loss and management comes down to two factors: calories in versus calories out. Keep the two numbers equal and you will maintain your weight, create a caloric deficit and you will lose weight, and when the calories coming in is more than the calories going out that is what leads to weight gain. To successfully lose one pound you need to trim 3,500 calories; you can do that by eating less, exercising more, or a combination of the two. The best tactic is to aim to create a caloric deficit of 500 calories each day to lose about one pound each week.

Now we come to the part where so many diet myths and rumors start: fat, carbohydrates, and protein. Exactly what are these terms and how do they apply to weight loss and management? Fat, carbohydrates, and protein are all energy sources that make up the foods we eat. Each of them have a certain amount of energy that they provide us with fat containing 9 calories for each gram, and protein and carbs both containing 4 calories for every gram. Fat has gotten a bad reputation because of its confusion with the fat tissue on our bodies, and also because it has more calories for every gram. This is why many high fat foods are also high in calories. But fat, just like the other nutrients, has a crucial place in every diet. Now carbs too have been shunned by many and looked to as the culprit for weight gain, but this shouldn't be so. Carbs are also critical for our energy levels and keeping our insulin levels even. Protein is the nutrient most adept at helping to build muscle mass. A healthy diet needs a combination of all three of the nutrients.

The biggest obstacle standing in your way to achieving your fitness goals and getting in the shape you've always envisioned could very well be yourself! In fact, it is a fact that the brain will tell you to give up, let up, or stop well before your body actually ever will. When you begin to tire during your workout, the fatigue signals your brain to tell you to stop. This is actually a survival technique that is well outdated, as the brain is simply trying to protect the body. So when you begin to get winded during your workout and you're being told that you simply can't go any further, you may do well to simply tell that little voice to stuff it and keep on hoofing it!

We often think of certain feats of strength or achievements as unobtainable. Some imagine a marathon well out of their capabilities, and others shudder at the mere thought of finishing a single mile. Whatever your glass ceiling is, I challenge you to look beyond that as it may come down to a matter of mind over matter. Studies prove that the human body is actually the most evolved and best equipped at handling endurance. Our species may not be able to run at the same speeds as gazelles or cheetahs, but we can keep going long after they tire. This is how citizens in some African and other countries are able to routinely run up to 50 miles a day.

While many of us don't even want to do that, it goes to show what the human body is capable of. It is just a matter of pushing past the discomfort and barriers our own mind sets up for us. In your own workouts and fitness routines, keep this in mind; you will be surprised at how much you can accomplish when you shift your thoughts from, "I'm too tired and I can't go any further" to, "I know I can do it!" It may sound corny, but when you remember that even Oprah, Katie Holmes, and funny man Ryan Reynolds have all finished marathons, it should be further proof that you too can achieve any fitness goals you set out to do!

In our weight obsessed society, it's tough to pass a day without being bombarded with the newest weight loss advice, fad diets from Hollywood, or being showed before and after pictures of celebrities who miraculously dropped 20 pounds in 10 days. We've heard everything from magic diet pills that allow you to binge of french fries and chocolate cake while still losing weight, machines we simply stand on and they gyrate the fat right off of our hips, and the craziest diets on this side of the Milky Way.

Yes, we are a Nation, and a World intent on getting the perfect body as quickly as possible, and many times with the least amount of effort. So comes the idea of liquid fasts. We've heard Beyonce spreading the word that simply sipping her crazy blend of Cheyenne peppers helped her peel off pounds, Rachel McAdams and her maple syrup drinks, and gurus pushing the Master Cleanse further crediting their secrets to losing weight quickly to a fast, but do these liquid fasts really work and are they safe?

Let's be honest, most of what we hear about diet, weight loss, and even fitness tips isn't totally true and a lot of it is simply a lie or a bit of a stretch from the truth. The same goes with these fasts, and in fact days on end with nothing being consumed but liquids can not only leave you tired, cranky, but it is potentially dangerous. When you consume below a minimum amount of calories, your body will go into a starvation mode, your metabolism will slow down to almost nil, and after a while your body will actually begin to break down muscle mass and turn catabolic.

Beyonce and other followers of the Cheyenne pepper fast state that the hot flavoring will boost your metabolism and make you burn extra calories naturally. Well, while there may be a bit of a raise in your metabolism, this is almost negligible and in fact you burn calories eating anything as your body works to break it down. Further, you are much better off raising your metabolism by exercising and building your muscle mass to body fat ratio.

Further, these fasts will often leave you too tired to get in your workouts, and then when you do begin to eat again you are prone to over doing it simply because you are starving. The weight you lose when you go on a fast is initially simply water weight, and when you return to a normal diet you will gain that right back. Simple mathematics make it virtually impossible to lose 10 pounds of fat say in 10 days, because it takes a deficit of 3,500 calories to simply lose one pound. So in the end, you are much better off sticking to a healthy diet and exercising. Plus you will be much happier in the process; and fitness is fun and you want to have the energy to partake in your favorite activities.