Home > Good Form > Archives > 2007 > January
January 2007
Calling All Runners
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A new technique combining Tai Chi with Walking and Running is reportedly providing avid aging runners with the ability to continue to pound the pavement while avoiding injuries. Research is underway to quantify forces at different joints while using this new technique to determine if it indeed will prevent injury and decrease stress on the joints.
Check out this story on the technique from the NPR website http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6070170
And the ChiRunning website: http://www.chirunning.com/
I have tried experimenting with the technique myself on my runs and have subjectively found I feel less pounding and less effort to keep me going up the hills. I would recommend any die-hard runner with degenerative issues in their feet, legs, hips or back investigate the technique further.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Study Shows that Diet, Exercise…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I recently read an article about a study stating that diet and exercise are equal in regards to losing body fat (related article). According to researcher Dr. Eric Ravussin who is part of a research center at LSU, “it’s all about the calories.”
He basically concluded that you can lose the same amount of body fat just by decreasing calories at 25%, or increasing exercise at 12.5% calorie output and 12.5% calorie decrease (the input). Dr. Ravussin states, “so long as the energy deficit is the same, body weight, fat weight, and abdominal fat will decrease in the same way.”
The study also shows as “evidence” that an increase in muscle mass does not “boost” metabolism. Here is where you might say, “we’ll I guess exercise isn’t all that important.” This is one of the problems with a study such as this. Honestly, it is not so much the study. In fact, it’s the articles written about the study that can draw such conclusioins. For instance, I did additional research to see what the exercise portion of study was. Unfortunately, the participants did not perform the same exercise programs. As a matter of fact, there wasn’t that much structure involved at all. It was all about caloric output.
Moreover, when you research Dr. Ravussin’s intentions, he is searching to see if calorie restriction improves longevity. He is also known for his research in human genetics and metabolism as it relates to obesity and diabetes. In this particular study, his main interest was in regards to decreasing visceral fat (which is fat located within the abdominal organs).
Therefore, for what he was studying, the conclusions could be true. The only problem is, when it comes to human beings, we live much longer than laboratory rats or other animals that might be used to demonstrate similar results. To their own admission, researchers state the same thing.
The research also states that exercise is necessary for an overall healthy lifesyle. To help you understand, you can’t improve cardiovascular endurance through nutrition. Likewise, you can’t improve strength or muscle tone without weight bearing exercise.
I have been following and reading research articles on diet and exercise for over a decade. From reading articles in magazines, papers, or seeing reports on television, there is one thing I have learned, you can’t always believe what you read or hear. You must be objective in your own conclusions. If you really want to find the truth, you must do additional reseach and do research on the intentions of the research (I hope that made sense). Researchers are out to validate their own beliefs and agendas, whether it is for profit, to get that grant they’re after, or to simply validate their own position. To be fair, is is apparent thar Dr. Ravussin is noble and has done wonderful research for years.
What we do know through a myriad of others studies that have been done, is that you simply can’t go wrong with a combined effort of cardiovascular exercise, weight bearing exercise, and proper nutrition. So, don’t be quick to avoid the weights and jump on a treadmill just yet.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Nutrition
Give Yourself a Break - Clean up your insides
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What Is Detoxification?
Detoxification is the process of clearing toxins from the body or neutralizing or transforming them, and clearing excess mucus and congestion. Many of these toxins come from our diet.
Detoxification involves dietary and lifestyle changes that reduce intake of toxins and improve elimination. Avoidance of chemicals, from food or other sources, refined food, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, and many drugs helps minimize the toxin load. Drinking extra water (purified) and increasing fiber by including more fruits and vegetables in the diet are steps in the detoxification process. Moving to a less congesting diet, by choosing more of the food listed below, will help us to move along the detox road.
Fresh Fruit
All fresh fruit.
Fresh Vegetables
All fresh vegetables. Great detox foods include broccoli, cauliflower, broccoli sprouts, onions, garlic, artichokes, beets, red and green vegetables.
Rice
Brown or basmati rice, rice cakes, rice crackers and rice pasta.
Other Grains
Quinoa, amaranth, millet, and buckwheat can be used instead of rice. They can be purchased at a health food store.
Beans
Split yellow and green peas and lentils are easiest to digest and require the least soaking time. Other acceptable legumes include kidney beans, pinto beans, mung beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas) and adzuki beans
Nuts and Seeds
Unsalted nuts, seeds and nut butters can be sprinkled over any meal. Includes flaxseed, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews and walnuts. Avoid peanuts.
Oil
Extra-virgin olive oil
Condiments
Vegetable salt, sea salt, vinegar, naturally fermented soy sauce or tamari, any culinary herbs or spices, limited amounts of honey.
Herbal Tea
Herbal non-caffeinated teas, green tea.
Other Beverages
Water, lemon water, 100% natural fruit and vegetable juices, rice milk
Daily Detox Must Do’s
Drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water per day, warm or room temperature. Water is essential to clear waste from the blood. Thirst is often mistaken for hunger.
Do not drink liquids around mealtime.
Dilute fruit juice with 50% water.
Take the time to chew food well, especially grains.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Weight Loss and Fitness Myth #10: You should do aerobic exercise, before weight training
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Somewhere years past, you might have been told, “do cardiovascular exercise before your weight lifting.” Most likely, no reason was given; it was just what you were told to do. So, you accepted it because it came from someone else who exercised, or was a health club representative.
Now, we know that it is best to do your cardiovascular exercise after your weight training. Even right now you may be saying, “that’s not what I was told.” To understand why it’s the other way around is to understand how the body utilizes different sources of fuel (carbs, fat, protein) as energy.
While doing cardiovascular exercise, you are in an aerobic state. You are not only using fat as energy, but glucose, which is stored as glycogen in the muscle (think of it as stored carbohydrates). During cardiovascular exercise, you are increasing the intensity and need quick energy. Though fat will be utilized, it will be utilized very slowly and steadily.
Now, in weight training, you will only utilize glycogen as a source of fuel because it is anaerobic. So, if you use all of your glycogen stores during cardiovascular exercise, you run the risk of losing glycogen as energy, but something else more detrimental. You can lose muscle. Glucose can only quickly become available from stored carbohydrates (which is glycogen) and guess what else- protein. So, what is the most ready available source of protein in your body? Answer- muscle.
Your body will use muscle protein as a source of energy, as it will break it down into amino acids to create glucose. Because weight lifting is anaerobic, it can’t use fat as energy. As a result of losing muscle protein, you are effectively decreasing your metabolism. To put it simply, if you want to burn more calories and fat at rest, then you want to preserve muscle.
Do not confuse cardiovascular exercise with a cardio warm-up before weight training. At a moderate intensity between 5-10 minutes is advised to jump on a treadmill, bike, or elliptical. For such a short period of time and low intensity, it will not deplete your glycogen stores.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: General Fitness
8 weeks to a new you!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Do you want to lose weight fast? Are you ready for a total body makeover?
Then you may want to consider joining one of Atlanta’s growing fitness Bootcamps. If offered, their weight loss exercise programs are customized specifically to you, so that everything fits your needs perfectly. Your weight loss during boot camp is a steady process over time. If you’re a competitive person you may find that you excel in this arena. No matter, I’m sure that after the two weeks, you’d take pride in your accomplishment and your results!
Consider getting in shape with one of Atlanta’s fitness bootcamps.
Boot camp programs are the perfect combination of personal training and outdoor fitness in a fun group environment. Bootcamps offer an intense physical training experience that will leave other exercise camps in the dust. Boot camp training classes are offered throughout Atlanta. A few local bootcamps are located at Piedmont Park, Grant Park, Southside High School and the Decatur area (to name a few). Generally they start at 6AM three to four days a week. For you gym rats this is a great cross-training tool. For the rest of you, find the time for this outdoor adventure! Lose weight, sculpt, tone, feel great in your own skin. Change your body, change your mind. Experience invaluable training with our some highly motivational Personal Trainers and Boot Camp Trainers. Now is the time to find yourself again.
Permalink | | Categories: General Fitness
Are You on a Diet? Then Read This…….
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My current bedtime reading is You on a Diet by Michael Roizen, MD and Mehmet Oz, MD. I have been a fan of Mehmet Oz for sometime and couldn’t resist picking up his new book. While I am only in the first chapter, I can already recommend this book to each of you.
First, I like it because it is NOT a journal article and secondly, because I am inspired by it. My education provided me with a working knowledge of the digestive system and the guidelines for a healthy diet, but I certainly am not a nutritionist. And I am human, with cravings, secret chocolates stashes, and a weakness for cheese.
So I really appreciate the approach the authors take in educating the reader about how our bodies work, why we have cravings, what food does for our bodies, and empowers us to respond with reason and elegance as we go forward in our lives and “diet”. But really it is not about going forward and “dieting”, it is about knowledge influencing every choice you make about food and choosing a healthier lifestyle because you know the effect it will have on your body and life.
Overweight, underweight or just right, this book is a MUST for every adult.
Understanding and Determination = Empowerment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As a fitness professional for 10 years now, I can tell you that I have no “miracle” answers to how you lose weight and get fit. I can tell you that the only thing that I have ever done is share what I know. Everyone who has ever met their weight loss and fitness goals will tell you the same exact thing.
We know that there are no pills you can take, there are no particular exercise contraptions that will spot remove, or any particular exercise moves or programs that will do it., etc. There never will be either, no matter what anyone tells you. Though I cannot cover them all in this one blog, there are two things that the people who truly transform their bodies and lives possess.
First, is the understanding that there is no single answer. In fact, it takes a multitude of factors that includes a sound fitness program, proper nutrition, consistency, goal setting, and accountability, to name a few.
Second, is absolute determination. I’m not just talking about the determination of getting out of the bed to go to the gym and eat a good breakfast. I’m also talking about the determination to find the truth. The determination not to be caught up into the stigma of what you should weigh or buy into the hype of the latest weight loss or fitness craze.
As they have, when you have understanding and determination you become truly empowered. You get beyond the “hoopla” and trends. There is nothing that can stop you at this point.
To the best of my ability, I try to empower those who will listen. There are others out there that try to do the same thing. Just the other day, I had the pleasure of talking to Steve Yu. Steve is an actual Atlanta resident producing and directing a documentary called Inspired: The Movie. By going to his website, www.InspiredTheMovie.com, you can watch and listen to some clips of the movie expected to come out fall of 2007.
I truly believe, that this movie will serve as one more form of knowledge to guide and direct you in the right direction (if you’re not on track already). If you’re not on track, remember what I said. You need true understanding and determination. You can do it, you just have to start somewhere.
On Tuesday (January 16th), I will be interviewing Steve Yu on my radio show Fitness Mythbuster at RadioSandySprings.com, between 5-6 pm. If you miss it, don’t worry you can download it for free for up to two weeks.
Permalink | | Categories: Health, In The News, Lifestyle, Weight Loss
Save a Life
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The American Heart Association recently made significant changes to CPR guidelines in order to save more lives and make it easier for the layperson to understand the guidelines. The major change to the guidelines is the increase in chest thrusts to breath ratio.
This change to make CPR easier to understand is important considering the national average of percentage of people in major US cities trained in CPR is 5%. I feel strongly that every parent be trained in CPR. But it is a skill for everyone to master, you never know when someone may rely on you to save their life.
And now there is no excuse not to learn CPR, it’s as easy as it’s ever been! See this link to find a CPR class near you www.americanheart.org
Permalink | | Categories: Health
Claim: Pills the answer to weight loss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Recently, the FTC reached a settlement with four major pill makers making false claims about weight loss results. The four distributors are TrimSpa, Xenadrine, CortiSlim, and One-A-Day WeightSmart. The settlement came to the total of $25 million dollars. According to the FTC, the money will be used for refunds. There are a few lessons that you can learn from this.
Lesson number one, never believe the claims that any supplement maker has about it’s own product. These “pill-makers” basically made unsubstantiated claims of dramatic weight loss. They made these claims based upon “studies” that they did with participants using their product. The makers of CortiSlim even went as far as to claim that their product prevented osteoporosis and cancer (just to name a couple).
Lesson number two, never trust that any weight loss remedy is the real reason for the weight loss. Xenedrine EFX makes a fine example of this. From what the FTC gathered, the weight loss that was achieved was from diet and exercise modification (go figure).
Lesson number three, don’t fall victim to anything that claims to improve metabolism. In the case of One-A-Day WeightSmart (created and distributed by Bayer), they have a component in it’s product called EGCG. Most of you don’t know what that is or where it comes from (comes from green tea), however, because it is something you’ve never heard of you may think it works. Fact is, it has never been proven to work in unbiased, controlled studies. Something to keep in mind is that nearly all of these products and one’s similar to it, usually contain caffeine or some other stimulate (remember the now banned ephedra). Now, they may also contain synephrine, gugglesterones, yohimbe, and other things you can’t pronounce and have no conclusive evidence to help you burn fat.
Main lesson: Don’t believe anything that promises you to lose weight quick and easy without consequences. Believe it or not, the makers of these products aren’t always telling the truth. People have literally killed themselves taking pills. Many, such as fen phen, were even prescribed. (Another lesson, don’t believe it’s safe because it’s “doctor recommended” or prescribed). As noted above, if you want to lose weight (body fat), you must engage in a proper diet and you must exercise. These pills will ultimately, in the long run, screw up your metabolism, hormone production, and mental function. A wonderful website for you to learn about the effects of diet pills and diets, go to www.ChaseFreedom.com.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Weight Loss
Down and Dirty Resolution Reminders for FAT Loss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Best Food Sources and Portions
Good Foods Are Your Friend This is the ‘2007 Repeatable Mantra and it must be repeated until you really mean it
Cutting out foods containing sugar, alcohol and grease and replacing them with clean foods like brown rice, lean chicken and salmon will speed you on your way toward your physical goals
To eat cleanly you need to choose from the following choices and make sure to eat the correct portion sizes. Most important is to make sure that you eat about five to six small meals every day.
Use your palm or a deck of cards to determine the serving size of lean protein.
Examples include:
· Soy products · Legumes · Egg whites only · Salmon · Lean chicken or turkey breast · White fish no butter · Pork tenderloin · Beef tenderloin
Add two cups or two handfuls of steamed or fresh veggies.
Whole-grain sources should be about the size of a tennis ball. Select things like brown rice, whole-wheat toast or whole grain cereal.
Things to avoid include:
· Regular Soda. Drink water, clear green tea or black coffee instead.
· Fruit juices. They contain too much sugar.
· Too many sugary fruits.
· Becoming Proud about not eating.
· Forgetting to drink water.
Quick Pick-me-Ups
Peanut butter and Banana Sandwiches,
Bran Cereal,
Green Tea
Fat loss Reminder
In order to lose fat, you’re going to have to learn to eat more, you have to eat better food and you have to make better food choices.
Approximately 75 - 80% of your weight loss/gain is directly proportionate to the amount of calories that you put into your body.
20 - 25% of your weight loss/gain is directly related to the amount and type of exercise that you choose to do.
Your actual total weight is a combination of fat, muscle, organ tissue, bone and water. The only item on this list that is an acceptable loss is FAT !
Skinny looking people can be fat!!!!
Change is never easy but it does make the victory that much sweeter!
Put your heart into it. Stay Strong and have the most successful year ever.
Permalink | |
Setting SMART Goals
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last week I was in Toronto shopping at my most favorite athletic wear store (Lululemon Athletica) and was using a gift certificate I had received from Christmas. Along with the certificate was a booklet that encouraged setting yearly career, personal and fitness goals. The booklet gave a great acronym to help remind you how to write goals. SMART was the acronym they used.
S- Specific M- Measurable A- Attainable R- Realistic T- Timely
I have seen this approach to goal setting before (as you may have too) but the way Lululemon presented it was so timely and simple. I thought it would be a good thing share this time of the year. So I’m passing SMART on to you for your 2007 resolution and goal setting. If you have already written your goals, put them to the SMART test. Remember, goals that are written down are more likely to be achieved!
Permalink | | Categories: Lifestyle
New Year’s Resolutions Can Work, Part 2
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, last night, I stayed in and listened to my neighbors shoot fireworks and party. It’s what I’ve been doing for the past few years (since kids).
Some things are just associated to they New Year. There’s the count down, the kiss, the partying, the recovery, and of course, the resolutions.
I believe than when you make a resolution, you shouldn’t have to wait till the New Year to commit to it. Funny thing is, the commitment is usually what fails. However, I also believe that when most are making a resolution, it’s kind of like a birthday wish. You don’t expect for it to come true, but you do it just out of tradition.
Traditionally, the resolution to lose weight is the most common. You might begin a diet, join a health club, or make good intentions to change your overall lifestyle. However, in a short period of time, you quit.
Last week, I gave three reasons why resolutions can fail (lack of knowledge, poor planning, and lack of motivation) and a little advice how to make them work. Now, I am giving you two more. These two are probably the most signigicant, so pay close attention.
Reason #4: No Accountability - First, you must realize that willpower does not exist. If it did, you sure is heck don’t need to read about why New Year’s resolutions don’t work. You must also understand that desire alone won’t cut it either. This is the reason why holding yourself accountable doesn’t work. You also can’t rely on family and friends, as they don’t want to put pressure on you because they don’t want to damage the relationship. Your best bet is to have an accountability coach, such as a personal fitness trainer. Just like a business coach, accountant, or doctor, a fitness coach will be straight forward and follow up with you. Therefore, they will only share the facts and be unbiased in their approach to help you.
Reason #5: FEAR OF FAILURE- One of the reasons that you don’t do the things you’re suppose to (from the start), is due to your lack of commitment. You fear that all the time and energy to do the right things will not work. Therefore, you may put yourself into another cycle of the “quick-fixes” or make excuses. You’ll either say you don’t have enough time, you’re too old, too weak, “I have to get into shape, to get in shape,” or whatever. However, let’s get real about it. You’re just coming up with another excuse as to why it won’t work, because you know that you’re going to have to work at it. Understand that you’re going to have to go through a little pain (both physically and mentally). Except that it will require your time. In the long run, you will achieve more pleasure as you become stronger, improve blood flow, decrease cholesterol, and lose weight. The pain you feel now, equals pleasure tomorrow. Don’t fear failure, but except it and learn from it. Improving lifestyle (to lose weight the right way), is a process, not an event.
To receive a complete free report about the New Year’s resolution to lose weight, click here- Discover 5 Reasons New Year’s Resolutions Fail And What You Can Do To Make Them Work!
Permalink | |
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
