If you’re lucky enough to live near the ocean (jealous!) you might want to spice up your spring and summer workout routines by exploring a workout that’s also an undersea adventure: free diving.

Free diving is often likened to scuba diving without the mask; divers head down to the ocean floor on the power of their own lung capacity alone. Frequent divers enjoy all the benefits of swimming (cardio and muscle training galore), plus a respiratory workout you just can’t get anywhere else. Divers call the practice soothing, exciting, and way more raw than running on a treadmill or swimming in a chlorinated pool; after all, the floor of the gym may be harboring life forms, but they’re probably not fish and coral.

Celebrity free-diving devotees include Hayden Panettierre - make like her and give it a try!

To find classes near you (this is one sport you definitely don’t want to go DIY on) check out the info on freediving at the USAA.

Sunday mornings can be rough.

Everyone has those nights where you somehow end up in a fast food restaurant at 4 AM and then when you get home, you decide it’s a good idea to smear chocolate frosting from your roommate’s cake onto the leftover bread from your sandwich. Right??? Don’t answer that one.  Or, you know, you wake up the next day with Tyson’s pet tiger in your bathroom and realize you have a baby and a hooker wife and missing tooth.

We’re all entitled! But once you put the pieces back together (or not), does it make it all better if you motivate yourself to go to the gym the next day? I think yes. So when I arrived at Equinox on 19th and Broadway in NYC yesterday at 2pm, my trainer Tom took one look at me and introduced to me:

The 6 All-Time Best Hangover Exercises

1. FOAM ROLLER: This isn’t so much of an exercise as it is a self-massage. By letting your body weight do the work, roll your glutes, legs, back and obliques back and forth on a foam roller. You’ll be releasing toxins from the night before. (Otherwise, we recommend a massage)

2. ROWING MACHINE: Rowing machines are just more fun that most cardio machines. Instead of setting a time goal, set a distance goal of 1000 meters. This will take you about 5 minutes to complete (more or less depending on your hustle) and will seem like less. Do this twice, giving yourself a 5 minute breather in between.

3. MEDICINE BALL (THE SLAM): They don’t call it a medicine ball for no reason. Slam it down! The morning after a rough night calls for some fun. And there’s nothing quite as fun as slamming a medicine ball down to the floor and letting out a booming ARGGGG!!! Do 10 in a row— it gets your heart pumping and provides sensational release! Go back and forth 3 times between this exercise and #4:

4. MEDICINE BALL (PLAY CATCH): You’re not done with your meds. You’ll need a partner for this one. Stand about 8 feet apart, and toss the medicine ball to one another underhand. Now, do this while trotting back and forth across the width of a room 20 times. You’ll forget you’re even working out!

5. SPRINTS: This morning is all about baby steps. Don’t even think about a treadmill… just run back and forth! Do 3 sets of 10 laps— across a gym classroom, or any clear straight path where you can see the other end and don’t think “oh man, that’s far.” On the way there, sprint it. On the way back, jog it out.

6. JUMP ROPE: If you did it on a playground in grade school, chances are you’ll be able to handle during a hangover. Make it to 100 without skipping a skip! Every time you mess up, that’s one push-up you have to do afterward. 4 trip-ups? 4 push-ups. Do this twice, and make sure you’re listening to some good old school music to add to the experience.

Don’t forget to DRINK LOTS OF WATER! Or do better, and drink something with electrolytes like Gatorade. And when you look in the full-length mirror, don’t hide. Embrace the dishevel. You could have gone back to sleep, but look at you, superstar!

Training sponsored by Equinox on 19th and Broadway, NYC

As the Saints-Colts match up draws nearer, there’s just one question on everyone’s mind: are you in shape for the Superbowl?

OK, OK, so maybe you’re not quite ready to be put on a roster. That’s okay! The American Physical Therapy Association, tongue planted firmly in cheek, has outlined 6 exercises that will fit right in with your game viewing. What better way to get a workout without even realizing it?

1. Watch warm-ups while lying on your side and lifting your top leg up, keeping the knee extended. Hold for 5 or 10 seconds and wish for many touchdowns. Repeat on the other side.
2. When your team makes a completed pass, hold your arms out at shoulder length with palms up to the sky. Move your shoulder blades toward one another until the next snap!
3. During commercial breaks, make like a player in the locker room and do some quick wall sits. Press your back flat against the wall. Slightly bend your knees to slide down the wall and hold. Repeat until the game comes back.
4. Grab a couple cans of soda (or, you know, your game watching beverage of choice) and hold one in each hand. Stand with your feet about 6 inches apart. Bent at the waist towards one side and bring the can up under your opposing arm.
5. When the ref makes a bad call against your team, shake your head in disbelief, making sure to tuck your chin to your chest. You’ll stretch and exercise muscles on the back and sides of your neck.
6. If the game comes down to the last few minutes, relieve the tension by lying on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Bend one knee toward your chest, grab the back of your thigh with both hands, and stretch your leg from the knee.

For more detailed instructions and diagrams, check out the “Couch Potato” pamphlet here!

When it comes to getting to the gym in the mornings, when I make it there I’m usually a broken record - I’ll run on the track or use the elliptical before rotating through a few weight stations. It works, but it’s far from thrilling.

I know I usually never cast a glance towards the other cardio equipment, but this Fitsugar article convinced me that I should give these lonely pieces of equipment a second chance. 

All this equipment blasts calories and mixes intense strength training with all the heart-healthy benefits of cardio, which means you can knock out boredom at the same time that you turbo-load your workout.

If you’re neglecting the following equipment, you might want to think again:

1. Rowing machine
2. Arc trainers (like a stair-stepper, elliptical, and treadmill all in one…my gym doesn’t have one or I think I would have given it a try! Who doesn’t love exercise machines that mimic that hamster-in-the-wheel feel?)
3. Stationary bikes
4. The Stairmaster or “StairMill”/endless staircase
5. VersaClimber (another one my gym doesn’t have - this machine mimics the effort required to mount a vertical incline.)

As an added bonus, most of these machines have all the benefits of running but are much more gentle on the joints. Thanks for the reminder that we can shake up our workouts even without taking classes, Fitsugar! 

What piece of gym equipment - traditional or not - is your favorite to work out on?

Zachary Adam Cohen is a social media institution. A force of nature that never shuts off. He Twitters at a remarkable rate of 8 tweets per second, he’s a social media strategist with clients up both his sleeves and more knocking down his door, he’s a connector and a foodie blogging about  local foods and social media, and apparently he’s got some sort of TV show coming out. After ditching the Wall Street job just 18 months ago, Zach has taken new media to a new level in his own unique way, and if I didn’t know any better I’d think he never stops for air. But I do know better… and I also know a million and one other New Yorkers — myself included — who “don’t sleep” and could benefit from a few words from him. So I asked him to share with our readers about the balance and success he’s found through one of his great loves, Bikram Yoga.

(This is not Zach.)

Bikram Yoga, also known as hot yoga, is practiced in a room heated to about 105°F (40.5°C) with 40% humidity, and usually last 90 minutes. Classes are guided by specific dialogue including 26 postures and two breathing exercises.

(This IS!)

New York is a tough place to make your mark. Both the young and old continue to flock to New York City because it is the place where dreams can and do come true. Every single day. Of course in the midst of all that dream-making, New York City has a way of beating down its inhabitants. There is the pollution, the long nights working and partying, the never-ending tension to do more, to go faster, to make more money, to see more museums, attend more theater, shop at the coolest store.

Of course, New Yorkers, above anything, know how to do all of the above, and look fabulous doing it. What’s our secret? For me - and so many of us - it’s Bikram Yoga.

New York is a city of Alphas. We are people who expect, NO! we demand a lot out of life. We come to New York, and stay here, because we want access to the best restaurants and clubs, the best cultural happenings, the best job opportunities and in general, to participate in the conversation that this great city enables us to have with one another. It is a living breathing organism, but in the interest of keeping that organism as healthy as possible, I thought I’d offer up my assessment of why Bikram Yoga is the best yoga no matter where you are. Readers of Spa Week Daily have come to expect a certain kind of content about how best to care for themselves, their skin, their love lives, their bodies and their minds. Bikram Yoga should be a part of that routine.

But first a few words on my background as a serious workout-a-holic. I have done everything from spinning, running, free weights, cardio classes, boxing, bootcamp workouts and the like. I’ve also done all sorts of yoga including Hatha and Vinyasa yoga.

Nothing beats Bikram. It is truly an all around workout. Cardio, stretching, meditation, strength-building. Bikram yoga is the complete package; this alone makes it the perfect workout for New Yorkers. But there is more…

The truth is that Bikram is by far the most challenging daily workout you can do.

For those of us who just like “get our sweat on,” 26 asanas in a 100 degree room over 90 minutes guarantees even the most svelte of us are going to see the water weight, the sodium, the bloating and the toxins (including last nights vodka) expelled.

For those who prefer the lengthening and posture benefits of yoga, Bikram Yoga offers the ultimate. The heat warms the muscles and prepares the body for a series of postures that is sure to get you look lean and taut. I’m the thinnest chubby boy in the world because of it!

But whether you are an endorphin-chasing cardio monkey, a peaceful lotus flower who enjoys deep breathing and concentration or something in between, Bikram Yoga fits New Yorkers perfectly by getting us out of our own heads!

I have seen ultimate athletes overwhelmed by the sensations and feelings that a good camel pose or Ustrasana bring up. And I’ve seen 70 year old women do inversions like they were chewing caramels. Bikram is a great equalizer and has as many benefits to one’s ego as to one’s waistline. The internal struggles that Bikram Yoga bring about can humble even the most disciplined.

So if you want to live life to the fullest, like a proper New Yorker, find a Bikram Studio in your neck of the woods and give it a try. We’d love to hear your thoughts about it!