A workshop that starts Thursday aims to help people’s bodies move better – starting with their brains. The Alexander technique operates on the principle that people develop physical habits that inhibit their movement or coordination or cause pain, said William Conable, of Cheney, who will lead the workshop along with other instructors.

Pregnant with her fourth baby – six months after the birth of her third – Jamie Spranget promised herself she’d do something for herself after the birth of No. 4. She chose training for a half-marathon, which she’ll run this month – two weeks before her baby’s first birthday. Never athletic before she started training, Spranget said, she wouldn’t have made it this far without an organized group of runners who connect both online and on the pavement, offering encouragement and noting one another’s progress and hurdles.

CHICAGO — Good news: Sex is safe for most heart patients. If you’re healthy enough to walk up two flights of stairs without chest pain or gasping for breath, you can have a love life.

Standing nervously on the narrow platform, a bundle of wires linking me to a wide-eyed and unblinking machine, I stepped gingerly onto the moving belt of the treadmill and the test began. With instructions to run until I could run no more, I was on my back and out-of-breath within minutes. The cardiologist glanced at the readouts, listened to my heart for a moment, then turned and delivered his verdict: “You’re below average.” And then, if that wasn’t bad enough, he added “If you don’t start exercising, you’ll just get worse.”

The class description reads: “Got a bun in the oven? Get your heart rate cookin’ and help make your pregnancy experience a healthier one!” It is an advertisement promoting a new Prenatal Water Workout class at the Kroc Center offered Tuesdays and Thursday from 9 to 9:55 in the morning.