Jim Pivarnik, a professor of kinesiology at Michigan State, says setting a comeback schedule helps ease back into a workout routine safely.

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When the center opened in 1999, the first customer was a single-person startup, LAD Industries, which wanted to improve abdominal and lower-back training on workout machines.

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Starter Phil Hughes, who hasn't thrown for the past nine days because of a bulging disk in his upper back, will continue to workout for the next couple days in a pool.

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Cut back on starchy carbohydrates on non-workout days -- This is a trick that I use in my office quite often.

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They believe it will probably continue meeting its obligations, but even if it can't, a debt workout will just pay them back on somewhat different terms.

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But for people as driven as elite athletes, holding back can be harder than pushing through an extreme workout.

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There is much in this series that is gorgeous, like the sight of steam rising from a horse's back while it is being soaped and washed after an early morning workout.

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Then the group heads back to the Kochlounge to cook a dish that sometimes seems like a workout.

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Then there's "Back Home" (audio), which begins as a revival-tent gospel workout but eventually detours into molasses-slow blues.

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