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You may think you have two left feet, but even so dancing can have great benefits for your health. It's simply a question of finding a form you enjoy - and a willing partner.

Types of dance
There are many forms of dance, from ballroom to barn and from disco to morris. Among the most popular in terms of participation are the folk-type dances, including line and square dancing.

In many societies, folk dances are an integral part of community life

These are so popular because they are often made up of repetitive, easy-to-learn steps. In many societies, folk dances are an integral part of community life and are linked to specific occasions such as holidays, festivals and religious celebrations. However, while most once had ritual purposes, today they mostly provide recreation, self-expression and competition.

Benefits
Dancing is largely an aerobic activity that improves the condition of the heart and lungs, as well as tests your balance. To dance for any length of time also requires muscular endurance and motor fitness.

For 10st 7lb person, ballroom dancing uses about 3.5 calories per minute. So, 45 minutes would use around 157 calories - or about half a chocolate bar.

speaking wellSpecific Tips

1. Don't oversell or ignore downsides from the audience's points of view. Research suggests a mix of focusing on evidence to support your position AND considering objections is most effective.

2. Pre-empt attacks by bringing up audience concerns yourself. For example: "I know some of you are probably thinking [fill in objection]. Let me address that."

This is much better than ignoring these until an audience member attacks you with an objection.

3. Match your language to the audience. That is, stay away from all bureaucratic language and abbreviations, unless your entire audience is very familiar with them. Even then, explain the abbreviations.

Match your language to the anticipated educational levels and dialects of the audience members. Don't use huge words, or language that isn't used in the world your audience lives in. Don't use long, convoluted sentences, either. Speak like them!

4. Whenever possible DON'T READ A PREPARED SPEECH. This reduces your power of influence, and credibility. Very few people are able to read a speech effectively. Most attempts at reading make you appear to be unconfident, stiff, and artificial. Reading occasional quotes, however, is OK.

5. Generally, a lectern separates you from the audience. Consider using a wireless microphone so that you can leave the lectern, or dispense with it entirely. However, if you must use a lectern, don't use a death grip on it. The audience will perceive this as discomfort and stiffness. By the way, walking around is relaxing for you (usually), and is more interesting for the audience.

6. Use a well-organized structure for your presentation. Use the old saw: Tell em what you are going to tell them. Then tell them. Then tell them what you told them. This corresponds to the introduction, body, and conclusions/summary.

7. When using the above structure, indicate in your opening that you imagine that some have concerns, that you will be addressing. Then, in your body, present both sides. You may want to emphasize any positives you have identified.

8. Speak with energy and intensity to show your commitment to your topic, but don't go "over the top", by sounding like a preacher or sales-person.

9. Make an extra effort to make eye-contact with people in the group. The listeners need to feel that your primary concern is each of them, not selling them on the ideas YOU have. So you want to appear as listener focused as possible.

10. Don't try to accomplish too much, or present too much information. The more you present, the less impact each point has. By trying to do too much you risk the possibility that the listeners will miss your main points, or simply get lost and frustrated.

Do you know yourself?
Get in the habit of asking yourself two crucial questions: "Why do I pursue the work and the life that I do?" and "What do I act like during the most fulfilling times of my life?" Your answers will help you spot the defining thread of your experiences, and they will lead you to your purpose.

Do you know how to listen -- and to hear?
Most leaders think that not speaking is the same as listening. But hearing people's words is only the beginning. Do you also hear their fears? Their intentions? Their aspirations? When you start to hear at a deeper level, you'll start getting information from people. Better yet, people will know that you care about them, and they will eagerly commit to you.

What's your appreciation ratio?
In the business world, confrontation, criticism, and even hate are more socially acceptable than expressions of appreciation. That's too bad, because appreciation is a truly value-creating activity. It energizes people, and it makes them want to exceed their goals and perceived limits.

If you're in employment

Despite advances in technology, many of us still spend more - rather than less - time at work. However, there are ways in which you can be more active:

Go for a walk in your lunch break. Try to find at least three different walks and vary them throughout the week. It might even be possible to find an indoor walking route, incorporating stair climbing, for those inevitable bad weather days.

Have meetings 'on the hoof'. There's no reason why one-to-one meetings with clients and colleagues can't take place while walking around the local park rather then sitting in an office. Such meetings can be an excellent way of breaking the ice with new contacts.

Talk to your employers about promoting health at work. Ask if it's possible for them to provide showers and cycle racks to encourage people to cycle to work. You might also be able to encourage them to set up a gym. Sell the idea by pointing out that doing so will improve productivity, reduce absenteeism and result in a happier and more efficient workforce.

Walk to and from work. If you live too far away, park further from the office or get off the bus or Tube one stop earlier.

If you look after children

Having children can change everything about your lifestyle. Some parents find their activity levels drop and their weight increases as going to the gym or playing sport becomes more difficult. Here are some positive steps you can take:

Exercise with your child. Take them to the local swimming pool or play in the garden or local park.

Find out which local sports and leisure centres have crèche facilities, so you can exercise while your children are being looked after.

Walk your child to school. Not only will this help you to be active, it will also help your child develop an early pattern of physical activity that might stay with them into adulthood.

Find out if there are activities available at your child's school for the local community. Many schools use their facilities for sports and exercise classes in the evenings and at weekends.

Ask your child what you can do to be more active. You might be surprised by what they've learned in PE - and perhaps you've forgotten what fun it is to play childhood games!

If you're a student

As well as studying vocational and academic courses, students learn about and experiment with new lifestyles. Get into good habits by trying out the following:

Go for walks with friends to talk about your studies. Brainstorming about an essay as you walk around the campus can be a productive use of your time.

Spend some time in the learning resource centre reading about sport, exercise and health. The more you know, the more choices you have about how to be physically active.

Most colleges run sport and exercise programmes that students can take part in. Find out which activities are on offer, and try those you think you might enjoy. Be adventurous and pick something you've not tried before.

If you're based at home

If you find you spend most of your day in the house, try these tips to stay active and healthy:

Plan your week so you have to walk to the shops frequently. By going often you'll only have to carry light bags of shopping back.

Look at ways in which you can be more active in and around your home. Use the stairs to exercise, work on the garden or install some gym equipment, for example. Even hiding the remote control for the TV can help.

Look for community-based activity programmes in your local area. These don't have to be fitness classes, just anything that gets you moving. Conservation groups can be a great way to get involved in improving your local environment and being active at the same time.

No time like the present
Exercise is never a waste of time, it's an important part of a healthy lifestyle. It reduces your risk of heart attack and is an essential component in controlling body weight.

It's also something you can do with other people, which can be great fun. So, there's no time like the present to make that commitment to yourself to find time to exercise and improve your health.

This article was last medically reviewed by Dr Rob Hicks in September 2005.
First published in May 2001.

2008 Lexus LS600h L Road Test Review

Comfort, Sophistication, Power, Style, Exclusivity. These are attributes that people look for when contemplating the purchase of an ultra-luxury automobile.

What do you look for in a sedan with a six figure price tag? Cars in this strata used to be few and far between, but these days, there are certainly plenty to choose from.

For the 2008 model year, Lexus has joined this exotic group with its first entry in the $100,000 plus price point. The car is called the Lexus LS600h L.

From it's outward appearance, there is not much to distinguish it from the LS460 L which was introduced last year as a 2007 model. The high-tech LED headlamps (the first in any production automobile) are different and jump out at anyone who knows what they are, but for the average Joe, they will go unnoticed. The L logo in the grill has a neat blue halo around it and there's that Hybrid badge on the bottom of the back door. And, of course, there is the LS600h L badge in blue and chrome on the deck lid, but that's about it.

The LS600h L has the world's first full hybrid V8 powertrain sending power seamlessly through all four wheels. This unique power system generates 438 horsepower. That's V12 territory, but with the fuel economy of the best V8s. It does this while earning a SULEV emission rating which makes it on the order of 70 percent cleaner then the competition.

hi guys,

Fitness has been defined in relation to a concept called physical work capacity, or how much work the body can do. A person's fitness can be determined in a laboratory by looking at how much energy they can produce on a cycle ergometer when cycling at a specific heart rate, or on an athletic track by looking at how far they can run in a set time. Fitness can also be understood in relation to a number of components including endurance, flexibility, strength and power. You need to be fit to play many sports, including football, hockey and tennis.

Health, on the other hand, is a broader concept that includes being free from and resilient to disease, mental and spiritual wellbeing, and the quality of our social relationships. Normally, being fit and being healthy go hand in hand, but this isn't always the case. For example, you can be very fit, through playing football for example, but suffer a major health problem such as alcoholism.

Understanding the difference between fitness and health is important because the level of exercise you need to be healthy is less than that needed to get and keep you fit.

There are three core qualities to leadership: authenticity, self-expression, value creation. "Authenticity" refers to a link between the inner and the outer person. Truly authentic leaders are open both to their gifts and to their underdeveloped qualities. People who understand who they are tend to have a more powerful voice -- and to make a more profound contribution to an enterprise.

People look at your communication BEHAVIOR. If it is confrontational, people will react negatively. If it is cooperative, even difficult people will be more likely to "work with you". You can save yourself a considerable time, aggravation and stress by learning how to use language in cooperative ways.

Not only that, your organization is much more likely to recognize your ability, if you are a more cooperative sounding person.

Hey guys,

What if I were to tell you that the guy who is more successful with
women than any other guy I know wears a pair of goofy looking Elvis
glasses?

You probably wouldn't believe me--but I assure you it's true, and
this is the kind of truth that's so strange you couldn't make it
up. You've just got to see it to believe it.

the art of attraction comes into play when you start
breaking the rules. While following the rules leads to success,
knowing when to break them leads to massive success.

When do you start breaking the rules? Once you've mastered them,
and gotten consistent results with them. Once you have a baseline
for success, then you can start breaking the rules, and see if you
achieve a breakthrough.

Many times you won't. But on the occasions you do, it's worth all
the failures to get the occasional spectacular results. As you get
more experienced, you'll start to get a "feel" for when to break
the rules.

Let me give you an example. One rule I teach is to never ask for a
phone number--set up another meeting first (NOT a "date"), then
exchange "contact information." It's hard to go wrong doing
this--and asking for a phone number usually gets you the "brick wall
treatment."

However, there are times when you just get the feeling that you
should ask for a phone number--that to do so is an incredible turn
on to the woman you're talking to. This doesn't happen often, but
it does happen, and it's a situation where you should let the "art
of attraction" take over, break the rules and get spectacular
results.

If you're just starting out, stick with the rules. When you have a
handle on them, and know you can get results, start breaking
them--only then will you truly master the art and science of
attraction.

Hey guys,

When most guys discover that attraction is predictable and
controllable, they get excited. But then they start to worry,
wanting to know if they're "doing it right." Sometimes they
overthink things, leading to bad results, when they already had
good ones.

Attraction is an art and a science. It's a science because when
you engage in repeatable, predictable attractive behavior you get
repeatable, predictable results. The science leads to rules.
Follow the rules, and you'll succeed.

Hey guys,

In physics there are immutable laws--the law of gravity being the
most well known. No matter where you go in the world, if you drop
a penny (in a vacuum), it's going to fall at 32 feet per second
squared.

Just like there are laws in physics, there are also laws in
business.