By Karen Asp
The Active Times

Forget room service. If you really want to unwind on vacation, head to a yoga class -- but don't let it cut into your sightseeing time.

Not only could a session be welcome relief for travel-stiff muscles, but it could also offer a powerful way to connect with your destination: take a helicopter ride to a secluded yoga spot in the Canadian Rockies, or salute the sun at Ala Moana Beach in Honolulu as it dips into the Pacific. And it doesn't really matter if you're a newbie or stiff as a rock -- yoga is an activity anybody can try regardless of age, shape or flexibility, especially since many styles of the practice are less goal-oriented than conventional strength training workouts. (Though you might want to tread carefully if you have health concerns or injuries.)

You might find that taking your first class in the serene quiet of a gothic cathedral or in a treehouse overlooking the Caribbean's peaceful blue waters dovetails with your goal of finding a relaxing escape. Recent research into the health benefits of yoga indicates that regular practice can have the therapeutic effects of lowering heart rate and blood pressure, as well as helping to ease psychological ailments like anxiety and depression.

As yoga's popularity continues to soar -- between 2008 and 2012, the number of American adults practicing yoga grew by 29 percent, according to a Yoga Journal study -- it's no wonder that this ancient Indian practice is popping up in unlikely settings.

With this carefully curated list, even beginners can enjoy a vinyasa voyage.

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Jacoby Jones and Aly Raisman have reached the pinnacle of their respective sports in the past year, winning a Super Bowl and an Olympic gold medal, respectively.

And if things go well, one could add to their trophy cases next week. Jones and Raisman, along with country singer Kellie Pickler have advanced to the finals of Season 16 of "Dancing With The Stars." Should Jones or Raisman come away in first place, they will continue a long line of athletes winning the show. In fact, in the previous 15 seasons, seven athletes have finished in first. Below we list each of them, in chronological order.

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For female athletes, one of the most important career decisions comes outside of competition: When to start a family. With a nine-month commitment for pregnancy even before the child arrives, many athletes wait until retirement to start a family.

To celebrate Mother's Day, here's a look at these supermoms took motherhood head-on, while also competing at the highest level in their respective sports.

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Most men who hit the gym are familiar with plateaus. You know, when you just can’t seem to gain any more muscle mass? While your weightlifting routine is partially to blame, a lot of men overlook another important factor: nutrition.

During a workout, your body breaks down muscle glycogen as well as muscle protein structures. Therefore, following exercise, your body needs to replenish its energy stores and repair muscle tissue to allow for new growth. In order to do this, you'll need to consume enough carbs to promote substantial insulin release. That’s because it's your body's insulin that is responsible for shuttling carbs and amino acids back into the muscles.

So, how exactly can we give our bodies the carb and protein it needs?

As a general rule of thumb, you'll want to consume about 0.8 grams of carbohydrate per 2.2 pounds of body weight within 30 to 60 minutes after your workout. Any longer and you may miss your "window of opportunity" (the time period in which your muscles will benefit most from nutrition). You'll also want to take in about one-third or one-half that ratio in protein or about 0.2 to 0.4 grams per 2.2 pounds of body weight.

However, it's not just the amount of these nutrients that's important -- it's a little bit more complicated than that -- which is why AM has decided to rank its top 10 post-workout foods for you to keep handy after you hit the gym.

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The annual Met Ball took place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday, and sure enough several athletes hit the red carpet to hobnob with fashion's finest. And even though professional athletes aren't always known for their fashion sense, these men and women certainly knew how to fit in.

The night's theme was "PUNK: Chaos to Couture." Unfortunately, no one from the New York Jets showed up to represent "chaos."

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By Peter Koch
The Active Times

While most of us loathe our daily commutes to work and school -- enduring white-knuckle, traffic-choked drives into downtown office buildings or waiting forever for some crowded mode of public transportation to deliver us like cattle -- there are others among us who look forward to the journey.

These are extreme commuters, men and women who use mostly human-powered alternative modes of transit -- be it a stand up paddleboard, a unicycle or a zipline -- and harness the forces of nature, like wind, currents and gravity, to make their way into work. We're talking extreme commuters -- people who ski through the dark Alaskan winter, put in thousands of miles climbing over and over up the same mountain and sail over a 1,200-foot gorge tethered to a cable.

They put your grandpa (who, we know, walked uphill both ways to work, barefoot in the freezing cold and carrying a 100-pound bag) to shame. On top of that, they stay functionally fit, save money on gas and, as a bonus, save the environment by not burning fossil fuels. And, most importantly, they get a taste of nature and take a measure of themselves two times a day, a claim few of us can make.

Here, we present you with extremely active commutes, 11 instances where outdoorsy people have figured out how to get to work without, you know, feeling like they're going to work. Give one a try, and your commute might actually put a smile on your face.

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