Worthwhile Guidance on Exercise Is a Few Clicks Away

Some New Year’s resolutions are washed away by the champagne on Dec. 31, and others dissolve during the year’s first hangover, like so many seltzer tablets. But there’s good evidence that fitness vows often survive a little longer: Many health club membership rolls swell fastest during January, and personal trainers often sign up many new clients after the first of the year. It’s not cheap: Fitness costs can rival car payments. Before taking the leap--or leaping into any new fitness regimen, experts say--it’s worth looking online for guidance.

Columbia University Health Education Program

www.goaskalice.columbia.edu

Columbia University experts cover a lot of ground on the Go Ask Alice site, providing “nonjudgmental information ... about physical, sexual, emotional and spiritual health.” The fitness section is especially good, answering such questions as: Which matters more for weight loss--speed or distance? Is it safe to exercise beyond my maximum heart rate? Do bodybuilders need more protein? The answers often surprise, and they manage to be readable and technical at the same time.

The discussion of maximum heart rate, for example, reviews the origin of the concept, questions its adequacy and then offers other measures of fitness--such as how quickly heart rate falls after exercise. The site produces tables and numbers whenever appropriate. In responding to a question about the accuracy of exercise machine calculations, for instance, Alice gives a table showing caloric expenditure per minute for a variety of activities, from aerobics to using a stair-climbing machine. There are also entire sections on weight training and stretching. The biggest failing of the site is it leaves you wanting more--more answers to more questions.

American Heart Assn.

www.justmove.org

This is a no-frills site and seems mostly aimed at middle-aged and elderly people. Its primary value is in giving visitors some idea of how much huffing and puffing is appropriate for their individual needs. In the feature My Fitness, for instance, the site divides consumers into three groups: “low active,” or occasional, exercisers; “active” regulars; and “special needs,” people who are limited by such diseases as arthritis or diabetes. For each group, the site explains how to calculate target heart rates and body composition and gives tips on how to start an exercise program that’s not too demanding or boring. To get a more tailored routine, consumers can register and keep an exercise diary. The Web is replete with sites that provide similar services. But the AHA does it for free, and the information is authoritative.

American Council on Exercise

www.acefitness.org

ACE is a San Diego nonprofit organization that certifies fitness professionals, including personal trainers, and acts as a watchdog to protect consumers from bogus exercise gimmicks and frauds. The site’s best feature is called ACE Fit Facts, a miscellany of handy advice on how to choose a fitness trainer, how to evaluate equipment, supplements and sneakers, home videos, home gyms and so on. There are even suggestions on how to evaluate an online fitness trainer. When it comes to assessing equipment, ACE is especially good; the group tends to be skeptical of new gizmos and recently has helped debunk electronic abdominal stimulators, among other things. The one glaring feature the site lacks is some interactive training program--a calculator of some kind that would give people a sense of what exercise is needed, based on their individual history and needs.