Fitness Tip of the Day: Friday's Facts and Findings- Exercise Prevents Disease

In past blog posts I've given you the recommended guidelines for cardiovascular, muscular and flexibility training, but I didn't list all the benefits of doing these types of exercises.

Here is an article that explains many reasons to exercise.  Exercise Prevents Disease.  Do you watch The Biggest Loser? (yes I admit, I watch it, even though I don't necessarily agree with the extreme measures and quick weight loss) At the beginning of the season, they always have a doctor telling the contestants what diseases they have or will potentially get if they continue to live their lives the way they have been.  Then toward the end of the season, after they have lost weight, they rerun these tests.  A good deal of the time, contestants are either able to cut the dose of medications they are on or go off of them all together.  These meds are usually for diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension) and high cholesterol.

If you don't have any of these diseases, and you begin exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet, you can help prevent getting these diseases all together.  My husband is a great example of this.  His blood sugar was at nearing the Diabetes II side, so he started exercising and eating better thereby losing about 25 pounds.  While he still monitors his blood sugar, he is no longer in the pre-diabetic range and does not have to be on meds.  Other aspects of his health improved quite a bit too. While genetics does play a role in some of these diseases, exercise and healthy eating can also lessen the severity or the help the onset start later rather that sooner in life.

This article from Idea Fit goes into more detail:  Exercise Prevents Disease

Also on this subject--taken from my personal training text.  The many Benefits of Cardiorespiratory Fitness (American College of Sports Medicine, 2006a)

      Reduction in coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors

• Reduced resting blood pressure
• Increased HDL (good) cholesterol
• Decreased triglycerides
• Reduced body fat and intra-abdominal fat
• Reduced insulin needs, and improved glucose tolerance
• Reduced blood platelet adhesiveness and aggregation

     Improvement in cardiovascular and respiratory function

• Increased VO2 max (maximal oxygen uptake)
• Increased stroke volume
• Stronger heart
• Decreased heart rate (HR) and blood pressure at submaximal workloads
• Increased capillary density in skeletal muscle
• Increased anaerobic threshold
• Increased stamina, endurance, energy

    Other benefits

• Decreased anxiety and depression
• Enhanced feelings of well-being
• Enhanced performance of work and sports activities
• Enhanced function and independent living in older persons
• Improved sleep
• Improved immune function
• Increased quality of life
• Decreased morbidity and mortality

...and that's just cardiovascular exercise!!!

From the same text, The Benefits of Muscular Fitness:

• Increased physical work capacity (increased functional ability) resulting in improved ability to perform activities of daily living
• Increased bone density
• Increased fat-free mass resulting in decreased sarcopenia (age-related muscle mass loss) and potentially resulting in increased metabolism
• Increased strength of connective tissue
• Decreased risk of injury
• Increased motor performance
• Enhanced feelings of well-being and self-confidence
• Improved quality of life

I listed these when I posted the stretch video--but worth reading again since this is the workout we skip the most.  

    The Benefits of Flexibility Training

• Decreased risk of injury
• Decreased chronic muscle tension
• Decreased low-back pain
• Improved posture
• Increased motor performance
• Decreased stress
• Relief of muscle soreness
• Increased mind/body connection
• Improved ability to perform activities of daily living (increased functional ability)

All these benefits from exercise!   I say take it a step further and add a healthier eating plan into your life as well :)

Fitness Tip of the Day: Thursday's Total Body--Walking

I realized that some of the videos that I posted previously may have been a bit advanced for some people.  So, I decided to post one of Leslie Sansone's Walking videos.  She has made many walking videos with ranges from 3 to 5 miles.  The great thing about these videos is that you can do the walking in your own living room.  In this video, she incorporates the use of a "special" exercise band that is attached to a belt.  If you have a regular resistance band, you can do the exercises with the band around your waist or upper back and you will get the same benefits.  While you are walking, just put the band around your neck and hold onto the handles--it won't go anywhere.  Leslie is very bubbly, chatty and quirky, but in a good way.  She constantly reminds you about your posture and form--which is the way I teach as well.  She keeps it fun and light.  If this type of routine was taught by someone very serious, it could get very boring, very quickly.  This video runs about 45 mins (there's a short commercial for the resistance band belt at the beginning) and you will walk approximately 3 miles.

You could also do this video as a recovery workout if you did a more challenging workout the day before, but still want to do something.  Or if you did a shorter high intensity workout of only 20 minutes or so, you could do this workout in addition to further burn calories and fat without having to do any higher impact moves, thus avoiding potential injury. If you already did resistance training, you could easily do this workout without the band and just focus on getting the cardio work in.

She cools you down, but doesn't stretch at the end, so once again, I'd do the stretch video following this routine.

Fitness Tip of the Day: Wednesday's Website -- Eat This, Not That

I'm sure you have seen the multiple books with this title written by David Zinczenko with Matt Goulding.
I have two of them that I recently took out of the library.  Some of the nutritional information, especially on restaurant food, really surprised me.  Some of the foods that I would have considered healthier choices, turned out to be anything but that.  I like the fact that supermarket foods are also included as well as recipes to make healthier versions of your favorite restaurant items.  While looking through the books, I came across the free website that is featured here today and decided to check it out.

Eat This, Not That

There is a lot of great information on this website.  There are free trackers.  There's a section entitled "Top Swaps" that features top pick items and top items to pass up from many different restaurant chains. I referenced this website before my latest visit to The Cheesecake Factory.  It helped me pick my healthier entree (they do have a new Skinny menu there now).  Yes, I still ordered the wonderfully decadent cheesecake--Rick and I split it.  C'mon, even I can't go to The Cheesecake Factory without ordering cheesecake--and not the low carb, low fat one--eeww.  But, even though I knew that the cheesecake was a crazy amount of fat and calories, I didn't feel as guilty knowing that my entree was a good choice--and that I don't eat cheesecake on a daily basis.  Thankfully, many restaurants are now offering lighter fare food choices.  I know I will be visiting this website again to help me make better choices when eating out.  You do have to sign up for free membership either through facebook or entering your name and email.  Note--I did get some emails from Men's Health after I signed in via facebook that I will have to unsubscribe from.

If you prefer books, this is one of the books that I have checked out.

I really liked it because it stresses that this is NOT a diet.  It's a healthier way of eating and looking at the foods that you buy from the grocery store and at restaurants.  These healthier swaps and choices are lifelong changes that you can make and not feel deprived.  There are also recipes for healthier versions of things like French Toast Stuffed with Strawberries and Tiramisu.

It also gives you food matrix-es.  For example, the first one is for trail mix.  You start by choosing a nut from the list, a seed, an extra crunch, and a sweetener.  You can make up your own combination or follow the recipes on the next page.  There's also a matrix for fruit salad, vegetable salad, deli salad, smoothies and snacks.

Subjects like high blood pressure and cholesterol are also addressed.  There is a section on exercise.  There's a good amount of  humor thrown in as well.  I do think this is one I will be purchasing in the near future.