Laila Ali hits the speed bag with a pal from Kentwood Elementary School in Los Angeles as part of the Live Like a Champion Tour.
It’s tough to believe that Laila Ali wasn’t into sports as a kid. Anyone who’s seen the Super Middleweight boxing champion, youngest daughter of legendary boxing champ Muhammad Ali, in action would imagine her as a lifelong athlete. But she didn’t take up sports until adulthood, something she says she regrets. So she’s out to share the many benefits of being active with children, recently taking part in the Live Like a Champion Tour staged by the California Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. “It always feels good to inspire and motivate kids,” says Ali, “because they’re like little sponges.” She adds that most kids want to be active, and just need to be pointed in the right direction.
That direction, however, might be different for different kids. If things don’t work out with the first sport your children try, encourage them to try others. “Kids need to realize that we all have our own special gift,” says Ali. She’s a big fan of competitive sports, but realizes that’s not for everyone. “Some people just aren’t competitive, and that makes it hard,” she admits. But with everything from swimming to dance, skating and biking to karate now available, the possibilities for active kids are endless. Read what Laila has to say about working out and eating right …
Being overweight is a simple equation: eating more calories than you burn. And when you hear that more than 20% of California children ages 6-19 are overweight, it’s easy to blame the calories. Steven Blair, past president of the American College of Sports Medicine and a professor of public health at the University of South Carolina, doesn’t.
If you’re a mom, no part of you will ever be the same again. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be fit and healthy! Tracey Mallett (
Whether you call yourself an amateur athlete or are just trying to do the right thing and stay in shape, here’s a way to save money, too. Skip the carbohydrate-based “sports drinks” and have a bowl of whole-grain cereal with milk instead. When they tested it out on a team of 12 trained cyclists, researchers from University of Texas at Austin, published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 
Here’s one more potential benefit of coupling up: It could help you lose weight. In a study that followed 357 couples over the course of a year, researchers from the University of Connecticut found that spouses of folks on intensive weight-loss programs also lost some pounds.
