Welcome to our Fitness Resources Archives!

Why Women Need Weight Training
courtesy of IDEA, the Health and Fitness Source

10 Tricks for Sticking To It
courtesy of IDEA, the Health and Fitness Source

Beat The Heat Before It Beats You
courtesy of the American Council on Exercise

Is Stress Making You Fat?
courtesy of IDEA, the Health and Fitness Source

Can Exercise Reduce Your Risk of Catching a Cold?
courtesy of the American Council on Exercise

Exercise And Menopause
courtesy of the American Council on Exercise

Travel Fitness: A Plan of Action to Keep You Active
courtesy of the American Council on Exercise

Tips for Flexibility Training
courtesy of IDEA, the Health and Fitness Source

Instrinsic Motivation: The Secret to Enjoying What’s Good for You
courtesy of Polar USA

The Big Picture
by Eve Chenu, courtesy of Workin’ Progress

Exercise and Strength Training
courtesy of Alliance for Aging Research

Hitting the Gym at Home
courtesy of MSNBC

Redefining Great Abs
courtesy of Yoga Journal

The Wonders of Water
courtesy of Cooper Wellness

Get Moving and Maybe You Can Beat the Flu
by Pamela LeBlanc, courtesy of the American-Statesman

Clear Your Head
by Bob Cooper, courtesy of Runner's World

Physical Activity for Everyone: Making Physical Activity Part of Your LIfe: Overcoming Barriers to Physical Activity
by Bob Cooper, courtesy of Center for Disease Control and Prevention

New Year's Resolution Meet Your Exercise Goals with Success
by Eve Chenu

Walking is Powerful Medicine
by Maggie Spilner, courtesy of Runner's World

Lactate and lactic acid - dispelling the myths
by Dario Fredrick, courtesy of Whole Athlete

Exercise and weight control: Myths, truths and gender differences
by Nancy Clark, M.S., R.D., courtesy of Active.com

Twenty-Three Tips for the Best Cycling
by Foundations of Wellness, courtesy of wellnessletter.com

PERSONAL HEALTH; To Avoid 'Boomeritis,' Exercise, Exercise, Exercise
by Jane E. Brody, courtesy of nytimes.com

Loving Food, Losing Weight
by Patricia Wells, courtesy of patriciawells.com

LOBES OF STEEL
by Gretchen Reynolds, courtesy of nytimes.com


Why Women Need Weight Training

Again and again, research has shown that women who maintain a regular, moderate strength training program enjoy a long list of health advantages. Some women still fear that weight training might bulk them up in unfeminine ways; however, as women of all ages realize the benefits of resistance training, negative attitudes about women in the weight room are rapidly fading, according to renowned strength training researcher William J. Kraemer, PhD, of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

Weight training expert and researcher Wayne Westcott, PhD, from the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts, gives 10 important reasons why women need to take strength training seriously:

1. You’ll Lose More Fat Than You’ll Gain in Muscle. Westcott and his colleagues have done numerous weight training studies involving thousands of women and have never had anyone complain about bulking up. In fact, Westcott’s research shows that the average woman who strength trains two to three times a week for eight weeks gains 1.75 pounds of lean weight or muscle and loses 3.5 pounds of fat. Unlike men, women typically don’t gain size from strength training, because compared to men, women have 10 to 30 times less of the hormones that cause bulking up, explains Kraemer.

2. Your New Muscle Will Help Fight Obesity. As you add muscle from strength training, your resting metabolism will increase, so you’ll burn more calories all day long, notes Westcott. For each pound of muscle you gain, you’ll burn 35 to 50 more calories daily. So, for example, if you gain three pounds of muscle and burn 40 extra calories for each pound, you’ll burn 120 more calories per day, or approximately 3,600 more calories per month. That equates to a loss of 10 to 12 pounds in one year!

3. You’ll Be a Stronger Woman. Westcott’s studies indicate that moderate weight training increases a woman’s strength by 30 to 50 percent. Extra strength will make it easier to accomplish some daily activities, such as lifting children or groceries. Kraemer notes that most strength differences between men and women can be explained by differences in body size and fat mass; pound for pound, women can develop their strength at the same rate as men.

4. Your Bones Will Benefit. By the time you leave high school, you have established all the bone mineral density you’ll ever have—unless you strength train, says Westcott. Research has found that weight training can increase spinal bone mineral density by 13 percent in six months. So strength training is a powerful tool against osteoporosis.

5. You Will Reduce Your Risk of Diabetes. Adult-onset diabetes is a growing problem for women and men. Research indicates that weight training can increase glucose utilization in the body by 23 percent in four months.

6. You Will Fight Heart Disease. Strength training will improve your cholesterol profile and blood pressure, according to recent research. Of course, your exercise program should also include cardiovascular exercise and flexibility training.

7. You Will Be Able to Beat Back Pain and Fight Arthritis. A recent 12-year study showed that strengthening the low-back muscles had an 80 percent success rate in eliminating or alleviating low-back pain. Other studies have indicated that weight training can ease arthritis pain and strengthen joints.

8. You’ll Be a Better Athlete. Westcott has found that strength training improves athletic ability. Golfers, for example, significantly increase their driving power. Whatever your sport of choice, strength training may not only improve your proficiency but also decrease your risk of injury.

9. It Will Work No Matter How Old You Are. Westcott has successfully trained numerous women in their 70s and 80s, and studies show that strength improvements are possible at any age. Note, however, that a strength training professional should always supervise older participants.

10. You’ll Strengthen Your Mental Health. A Harvard study found that 10 weeks of strength training reduced clinical depression symptoms more successfully than standard counseling did, Westcott says. Women who strength train commonly report feeling more confident and capable as a result of their program.

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Now you’re exercising again, and it feels great. Of course, it felt great last year, too, when you went to the gym every morning for almost the entire winter! If it feels so great, why do you keep quitting? You may be able to make your physical activity more consistent by using some of these tricks. 

1. Start Looking at Exercise Differently. This is the big one, from my perspective, says James Gavin, PhD, sport psychologist and professor at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. All movement is exercise. People need to give themselves more options. Take the dog for a walk, bike to the store, take five-minute stretch breaks. If you don’t count something as exercise unless it happens in the gym, goes on for 40 minutes or requires a shower afterward, you're missing some of your best opportunities to stay active.

2. Think Small. This advice can be hardest for people who expect the most from themselves. Why bother walking around the block when you should be running your usual four miles? Because when you don’t have time to do all four miles, a brisk hike can keep you from feeling that you’ve failed.

3. Set an Agenda. It helps to challenge yourself with a learning or performance agenda, says Gavin. Set a goal, such as increasing the speed, frequency or duration of your activity. Maybe it's time to train for a marathon--or take a walk up the hill in the backyard without getting winded. (It’s perfectly fine to think small for your performance agenda, too). Your trainer can help you determine appropriate goals.

4. Get off the Beaten Path. Have you ever tried snowboarding? Bowling? Swing dancing? Body surfing? Chi kung? How about reversing your power walk route? Exercising at a different time of day? Physical activity isn't boring, but how you participate in it can be.

5. Use Your Brain. The active mind needs to be engaged, says Gavin. If you're new to exercise, dissociate tactics, such as listening to music, watching TV or playing computer games may help you stick with it--but stay aware of sensations that could signal injury or overdoing it. As you become more experienced, associative strategies, such as focusing on your breath or concentrating on the movement of your body, can help you enjoy exercise more. 

6. Get an Accountability Partner. Minneapolis lifestyle coach Kate Larsen suggests finding a friend, mentor or coach to keep you honest. You can either exercise with your partner, or simply check in with him or her to report your progress.

7. Plan to Stay Active. Don't decide in the moment if you can make the choice beforehand, says Larsen. Plan to park farther from the office and put your walking shoes in the car the night before. Plan to take that new yoga class next week, and call the babysitter now.

8.Face Your Fitness Foes. Does vacation throw your exercising schedule out of whack? Do projects at work overtake your activity time? Do injuries sideline you? Boredom? Fear of success? Fitness foes can be beaten once they've been identified. You can change your vacation style, set work limits, get guidance for injury-free activity, find new challenges, or face your fears with counseling and support.

9.Go Tribal. Even if you are introverted, the presence of others in your exercise environment can be motivating. We pick up on other people's energy, Gavin points out. We get into the tribal rhythms of being fully alive. Choose places and times to exercise where there will be other people who are actively involved in exercise.

10. Use a Script. We tell ourselves things like, Skipping this one little walk won't matter all that much, according to Larsen. Next time, be prepared with an answer for this excuse. Use images of past successful experiences to remind yourself of how good exercise makes you feel. Or repeat a simple phrase to yourself, such as, Every little bit makes a big difference. If you use planning, flexibility and imagination, you won't ever need to feel like a dropout again.

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Keeping Cool When The Weather Is Hot
It's summertime and you head out for a run. Before you even finish the first mile, your body feels as though it might ignite from the heat. It's not your imagination. Fifteen minutes into your run and your body temperature could be as high as 5¡ F above normal. If you were to continue at this pace, fatigue and heat illness would no doubt take over.

Strategies To Protect Yourself From Heat Illness
The above scenario doesn't have to happen. Drinking enough fluid, whether it be water or a sports drink, is imperative for exercising in hot or humid weather. Maintenance of body fluids is essential to maintaining proper body temperature. Sweat dispels heat through your skin. If you let your body become dehydrated, you'll find it much more difficult to perform even the lightest of workouts. But don't wait until you're thirsty to start replenishing those fluids. Chances are, by the time you actually feel thirsty, your body is well on its way to becoming severely dehydrated.

The following strategies will help you protect yourself from the onset of heat illness:

1. Hydration
Fluid replenishment before, during and after exercise is essential to avoid progressive dehydration. Always consume more fluids than you think you need before and after exercise, and strive to drink six to eight ounces of fluid every 15 to 20 minutes during exercise.

2. Exercise Intensity
You should probably reduce the intensity of your workout, particularly the first few times you are exposed to higher temperatures.

3. Temperature
Use the heat stress index table to determine the risk of exercising at various combinations of temperature and humidity. While a 90°F outdoor temp is relatively safe at 10 percent humidity, the heat stress of 90°F at 50 percent humidity is the equivalent of 96°F. When the heat stress index rises above 90°F, you may want to consider postponing your exercise session until later in the day. Or, plan ahead, and beat the day's heat by working out early in the morning.

4. Fitness
Physical training and heat acclimation can increase your blood volume, helping to regulate body temperature more effectively.

Interestingly, the acclimatization process can be completed in 7 to 14 days of repeated heat exposure. However, you must always continue to drink fluids before, during and after exercise.

5. Clothing
Wear minimal clothing to provide greater skin surface area for heat dissipation. Your clothing should be lightweight, loose fitting, light colored to reflect the sun's rays, and of a material that absorbs water, such as cotton.

6. Rest
Know when to say 'no' to exercise. Using common sense is your best bet for preventing heat stress when Mother Nature turns up the heat.

Heat Stress Index

Air Temperature °F

Relative Humidity	70°	80°	90°	100°	110°	120°
0%	64°	73°	83°	91°	99°	107°
10%	65°	75°	85°	95°	105°	116°
20%	66°	77°	87°	99°	112°	130°
30%	67°	78°	90°	104°	123°	148°
40%	68°	79°	93°	110°	137°
50%	69°	81°	96°	120°	150°
60%	70°	82°	100°	132°
70%	70°	85°	106°	144°
80%	71°	86°	113°
90%	71°	88°	122°
100%	72°	91°

Heat Sensation Risk of Heat Injury
90°—105° Possibility of heat cramps
105°—130° Heat cramps or heat exhaustion likely. Heat stroke possible. 130°+ Heat stroke a definite risk.

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The human stress response
The human stress response is a powerful reactive function, elicited to empower the body to either elude a pursuing enemy or fight off imminent danger. Our stress response is intended as a short-term solution to a short-term problem. In today’s world, however, we seldom face the kinds of physical dangers that would require such a response. Rather, our modern-day enemies are overloaded schedules, traffic jams, financial pressures and a host of other worries.

When faced with a stressful situation, our brains signal the adrenal glands to release a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol, in turn, releases glucose and fatty acids into the bloodstream in order to provide energy to the muscles. Cortisol has a direct impact on the body’s blood sugar levels. If too little cortisol is released, hypoglycemia can develop. If too much cortisol is released, hyperglycemia can develop, which can increase the risk for developing diabetes. High levels of cortisol also result in increased appetite and fat deposits.

When stress is chronic, cortisol levels remain elevated for long periods of time. Eventually, the adrenal glands become overworked and the cortisol release becomes lowered, or blunted. Researchers studying the link between stress and weight gain have found that people with a blunted pattern of cortisol secretion response were more likely to have increased body fat around the waist, higher blood pressure and blood sugar imbalances.

Stress and eating patterns
Not only does stress increase our appetites, but typically it also makes us crave foods that are calorie laden and contain few nutrients. Unfortunately, no definitive research has determined why stress-eaters make bad food choices.

Although many people automatically overeat at the first signs of stress, others initially shun food. However, after some initial weight loss due to a reduction in food intake, approximately 40 percent of these individuals typically begin to eat excessively six to seven weeks later and ultimately weigh in above their original weight.

Seven Stress-reducing strategies
Is there a more useless phrase in the English language than “calm down!”? Getting past stress is much more difficult than it sounds, but it is possible to take charge of one’s reactions to life’s pressures. Below are listed seven practical tips for reducing the stress response that contributes to overeating.

Don’t Worry, Be Happy. Instead of seeking comfort in food, engage in a pleasurable activity that pampers you. In other words, do something fun that doesn’t involve calories! Here are some options:
• Take a nap
• Get a massage
• Visit a friend
• Read a book
• Watch a movie
• Go dancing with a spouse or friend
• Sip a cup of decaffeinated herbal tea
• Go for a walk
• Play games with your kid

Take charge of the situation. When faced with a stressful event, ask yourself what you can change to minimize the pressure. We are never without workable options, even during the most stressful times in our lives. Elect to take charge of the situation instead of being victimized by it. In the process, your body will reduce the amount of cortisol it produces, which minimizes the harmful effects of prolonged hormonal release.

Eat a variety of real foods throughout the day. Because stress affects blood sugar, it is important to eat healthy meals throughout the day to maintain blood sugar levels. Be sure to include the recommended amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fat in each meal. Keep in mind that food allergies can develop when the adrenal gland is exhausted due to prolonged stress.

Replenish vitamin and mineral stores. Stress causes the body to “burn” more vitamins and minerals, specifically vitamin B complex, magnesium, and zinc; these nutrients are needed for blood sugar balance, and when their levels drop, stress levels increase. Also, the adrenal glands require more vitamin C and pantothenic acid (a B vitamin) during stressful times. Eat adequate servings of fresh vegetables and fruits daily.

Get Physical. Moderate exercise can help reduce the body’s production of cortisol during stressful times. Physical activity also has a calming effect on stressed individuals. Numerous studies have shown that exercise helps modulate mood, improves self-efficacy and self-esteem, and reprograms the brain for optimism instead of pessimism. Don’t overdo it, however. Taking all your frustrations out during an overly intensive workout will further increase cortisol production.

Avoid dieting. Don’t try to deprive yourself of any one food group. High-protein diets that restrict carbohydrates do not provide sufficient energy to shore up flagging energy levels. High-carbohydrate diets that restrict fat and protein cannot fuel the energy demands of the heart or maintain lean muscle mass. Instead, choose a well-balanced, natural-foods regimen. And rather than dieting, restrict your food portions and quit eating once you are naturally satisfied.

Get plenty of rest. Research has shown that most Americans get at least 1 1/2 hours too little sleep per night. Sleep deprivation affects blood sugar levels, reduces the production of human growth hormone, increases the secretion of cortisol, and reduces the production of leptin (a hormone that signals satiety). Aim for at least eight hours of sleep.

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Sir William Osler, the famous Canadian medical doctor, once quipped, 'There's only one way to treat the common cold - with contempt.' And for good reason. The average adult has two to three respiratory infections each year. That number jumps to six or seven for young children.

Whether or not you get sick with a cold after being exposed to a virus depends on many factors that affect your immune system. Old age, cigarette smoking, mental stress, poor nutrition and lack of sleep have all been associated with impaired immune function and increased risk of infection.

Keeping The Immune System In Good Shape
Can regular exercise help keep your immune system in good shape? Researchers are just now supplying some answers to this new and exciting question. Fitness enthusiasts have frequently reported that they experience less sickness than their sedentary peers. For example, a survey conducted during the '80s revealed that 61 percent of 700 recreational runners reported fewer colds since they began running, while only 4 percent felt they had experienced more.

Further research has shown that during moderate exercise, several positive changes occur in the immune system. Various immune cells circulate through the body more quickly, and are better able to kill bacteria and viruses. Once the moderate exercise bout is over, the immune system returns to normal within a few hours.

In other words, every time you go for a brisk walk, your immune system receives a boost that should increase your chances of fighting off cold viruses over the long term.

Should You Exercise When Sick?
Fitness enthusiasts and endurance athletes alike are often uncertain of whether they should exercise or rest when sick. Although more research is needed, most sports medicine experts in this area recommend that if you have symptoms of a common cold with no fever (i.e., symptoms are above the neck), moderate exercise such as walking is probably safe. Intensive exercise should be postponed until a few days after the symptoms have gone away. However, if there are symptoms or signs of the flu (i.e., fever, extreme tiredness, muscle aches, swollen lymph glands), then at least two weeks should probably be allowed before you resume intensive training.

Staying In Shape To Exercise
For athletes who are training intensely for competition, the following guidelines can help reduce their odds of getting sick.

1. Eat a well-balanced diet. The immune system depends on many vitamins and minerals for optimal function. However, at this time, there is no good data to support supplementation beyond 100 percent of the Recommended Dietary Allowances.

2. Avoid rapid weight loss. Low-calorie diets, long-term fasting and rapid weight loss have been shown to impair immune function. Losing weight while training heavily is not good for the immune system.

3. Obtain adequate sleep. Major sleep disruption (e.g., three hours less than normal) has been linked to immune suppression.

4. Avoid overtraining and chronic fatigue. Space vigorous workouts and race events as far apart as possible. Keep 'within yourself' and don't push beyond your ability to recover.

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There was a time when the word was never spoken, even between a mother and daughter. Menopause, still referred to as 'the change' in some circles, has now come out in to the open. It's about time. After all, a woman can expect to live one-third to one-half of her life past meno-pause, and these can be among the most satisfying years of her life. Part of the reason for its emergence as a hot health topic is likely due to the increasing body of information on how to manage it. Exercise plays a key role in making the transition through menopause easier and in enhancing health, happiness and productivity during the second half of life.

What Is Menopause?
The medical definition of menopause is cessation of menses for 12 months, caused when the ovaries stop making the hormones estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. For most women, menopause simply marks the end of their reproductive years. While the average age of menopause is about 51, some women may experience it as early as their thirties or as late as their sixties. Symptoms of menopause include: hot flashes, night sweats, bladder and reproductive tract changes, insomnia, headache, lethargy/fatigue, irritability, anxiety, depression, heart palpitations and joint pain.

How Does Exercise Help?
The good news is that a regular program of physical activity can help manage the uncomfortable symptoms of menopause as well as the related health concerns, such as heart disease and osteoporosis.

The mood-elevating, tension-relieving effects of aerobic exercise help reduce the depression and anxiety that often accompanies menopause. Aerobic exercise also promotes the loss of abdominal fat—the place most women more readily gain weight during menopause. In addition, some research studies have shown that the increased estrogen levels that follow a womans exercise session coincide with an overall decrease in the severity of hot flashes. Strength training also helps. It stimulates bones to retain the minerals that keep them dense and strong, thus preventing the onset and progression of osteoporosis. These effects of exercise, along with improved blood fats and physical fitness, work together to help prevent heart disease. Keep in mind, though, that good nutrition works hand in hand with a physically active lifestyle. A low-fat, high-fiber diet and adequate calcium intake are vital in order to reap the full benefits of exercise.

The Good News
If you have been a consistent exerciser during the years leading to menopause, you already have an advantage. Aerobic activity during childbearing years reduces the risk of breast cancer, a disease that becomes more prevalent after menopause. You also will have a jump on your bone health since your strength-training exercises just may have increased the density and strength of your bones.

To reap the benefits of exercise, a balanced program of weight-bearing aerobic activity (walking is great), strength training (with weights, resistance bands, yoga or even gardening), and flexibility is essential. Consistency is key; strive for some moderate activity daily, or at least most days of the week, every week.

Menopause And Beyond: Exercise Helps:

Reduce and Prevent Symptoms:
• Hot flashes
• Vaginal and bladder atrophy
• Joint pain
• Anxiety, irritability, depression
• Sleep disturbances, insomnia

Reduce risk of:
• Heart disease
• Osteoporosis
• Weight gain

Improve and increase:
• Strength, stamina, flexibility, energy
• Function of vital organs
• Condition of heart, lungs and muscles

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It is easy to let a vacation or business trip destroy your fitness schedule and eating habits, but why let something as rewarding as a vacation or as exciting as a business trip leave you feeling unhealthy upon return? With a little research and proper planning, you can create an easy-to-follow plan to keep you fit and healthy no matter where you travel, and you can come home feeling more healthy and energized then when you left.

Nature’s Playground and Man’s Monuments
There is no excuse for not finding places to exercise when every city has a great staircase, stadium, or tall buildings where you can master the stairs without a machine. If stairs aren’t your thing, cities have lots of places good for walking, running or even hiking. Ask the hotel concierge if there are parks or trails nearby; or if you have ventured to the mountains, ask for a map of local hiking trails. It is also a good idea to ask the concierge for a map of the city to find out how many of your destinations are reachable by foot. (Walking will increase your fitness and decrease your taxi fares.) Prior to departure on your trip, find out if your hotel has a workout facility and a pool, and remember to pack your bathing suit and workout clothes. If they don’t have a facility, they may be affiliated with a local gym where you can get a one-day pass for a small fee. There are no limits to the exercise you can do while exploring new territory. Make the most of your trip, and get to know the city by foot..

Prepare for Power, No Excuses
If your hotel doesn’t offer fitness accommodations, bring along a jump rope and an exercise tube. They are both lightweight and easy to transport. Jumping rope is one of the best forms of cardiovascular exercise, and you can do it anywhere. With the exercise tube and a pre-arranged plan to keep you motivated, you can keep your entire body toned and energized without entering a gym or stepping on a piece of exercise equipment. Numerous magazines and Web sites offer workout instructions for each body part. And, of course, body-weight exercises such as push-ups and crunches require no equipment at all. The point is to find a workout routine that suits your needs and follow it. Plan a specific time each day or every other day to do your strengthening and cardiovascular routines (a good plan is to alternate days between the two). Remember that the 20 to 60 minutes you spend working out each day is for you, and try to stay on schedule.

Have Fun
Be sure to enjoy yourself and make the most of the area to which you have traveled. Remember to bring comfortable shoes so that you can easily get a workout while using your feet as your main mode of transportation. Whether your trip is for business or vacation, remember that you should have some time for yourself every day. Why not dedicate that time to improving your health and making yourself feel better!

Nutrition Road Tips:

Reduce and Prevent Symptoms:
• Always drink plenty of water, particularly if you’re flying.
• Conjure up a healthy meal in your mind prior to entering a restaurant, and stick to your plan as closely as possible.
• Try to eat at least three times per day to keep you from feeling famished and overindulging at any one time.
• Pick up portable, healthy snacks at a local market so you won’t be caught hungry in front of the mini-bar.
• Go ahead and splurge on regional dishes or local cuisine, but balance your diet by choosing lower-calorie foods at other meals.

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When it comes to the Big Three of exercise—cardiovascular, strength and flexibility training—it‘s pretty clear which one can get overlooked. After all, while we prize cardiovascular and strength training for their role in helping us lose weight, build muscle and get fit, the benefits of flexibility training are less immediately alluring.

However, as the population ages, more of us are learning to appreciate the rewards of  stretching. Staying limber can offset age-related stiffness, improve athletic performance and optimize functional movement in daily life. Research shows that flexibility training can develop and maintain range of motion and may help prevent and treat injury. In fact, the American College of Sports Medicine has added flexibility training to its general exercise recommendations, advising that stretching exercises for the major muscle groups be performed two to three days per week.

How can you include an effective flexibility workout in your fitness program? Here are some guidelines:

1. Think in Terms of Serious Flexibility Training, Not Just Brief Stretching.  Squeezing in one or two quick stretches before or after a workout is better than nothing, but this approach will yield limited results. What‘s more, generic stretches may not be effective for your particular body. The more time and attention you give to your flexibility training, the more benefits you‘ll experience. A qualified personal trainer, physical therapist or health professional can design a functional flexibility program specifically for you.

2. Consider Your Activities.  Are you a golfer? Do you ski, run or play tennis? Do your daily home or work routines include bending, lifting or sitting for long periods? Functional flexibility improves “the stability and mobility of the whole person in his or her specific environment,” says physical therapist Deborah Ellison. She recommends an individualized stretching program to improve both stability (the ability to maintain ideal body alignment during all activities) and mobility (the ability to use full, normal range of motion).

3. Pay Special Attention to Tight Areas.  Often the shoulders, chest, hamstrings and hips are particularly tight, but you may hold tension in other areas, depending on your history of injuries and the existing imbalances in your muscle groups. Unless you tailor your flexibility training to your strengths and weaknesses, you may stretch already overstretched muscles and miss areas that need training.  

4. Listen to Your Body.  Stretching is an individual thing. Pay attention to your body‘s signals and don‘t push too far. Avoid ballistic stretching, which uses bouncing or jerking movements to gain momentum; this approach can be dangerous. Instead, slowly stretch your muscles to the end point of movement and hold the stretch for about 10 to 30 seconds. Older adults, pregnant women and people with injuries may need to take special precautions.  

5. Get Creative.  Varying your flexibility training can help you stick with it. You can use towels, resistance balls and other accessories to add diversity and effectiveness to your stretching.

6. Warm Up First.  If you‘re stretching on your own, don‘t forget to warm up your muscles before you begin. Walking briskly for 10 or 15 minutes is a simple way to do this.

7. Find a Flexibility Class That Works for You.  Classes that include stretching are becoming more popular and more diverse. Some combine cardiovascular and strength components with the flexibility training; others focus exclusively on stretching.

8. Stretch Yourself—Mind and Body.  Did you know that your emotional state may affect your flexibility? If your body is relaxed, says Ellison, it will be more responsive to flexibility training. Listening to music and focusing on your breath can help you relax as you stretch. You may also want to explore yoga or exercise inspired by the work of Joseph Pilates. In addition to stretching, classes in these disciplines may include relaxation, visualization and other mind-body techniques designed to reduce stress and increase mindfulness.

9. It‘s Not Just for Wimps.  Forget the idea that stretching is just for elderly, injured or unconditioned people. Many Olympic and professional athletes rely on flexibility training for peak performance.

10. Do It Consistently. It doesn‘t help to stretch for a few weeks and then forget about it. Integrate regular stretching into your permanent fitness program. For inspiration, look to cats and dogs—they‘re dedicated practitioners of regular stretching!

Intrinsic Motivation: The Secret to Enjoying What's Good for You

by Eric Harr

As the wet, chilling weather of winter sweeps across the country, a sweeping, chilling feeling also sweeps over us: The declining weather and expanding holiday feasts lead to this fact: the average person adds eight pounds of pure bodyfat to their frame from October 1 to December 31. The question is: How are you going to stay fit and maintain a healthy through these tough months?

We all know it can be done. We've all stared in bewildered awe at the irritatingly-motivated person running merrily down the street at 6am-just as we pry our eyelids open with our morning cup of coffee. What on Earth does he know that we don't? How can we acquire a similar motivation to exercise-one that is impervious to external forces such as work, family and poor weather?

According to many experts, the solution may be to develop your intrinsic motivation.

"Intrinsic motivation-or performing a task for its own sake-is the most powerful way to change behavior," says Jay Kimiecik, PhD, a professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and author of "The Intrinsic Exerciser" (Houghton Mifflin, 2002).

This is especially true of exercise.
"Doing a behavior for its own sake or learning how to enjoy a (healthy) behavior is not generally part of health promotion," he says. "It's usually, 'If you want to live a long life and reduce your risk of disease, you better figure out how to do these behaviors or you're going to die at an early age.'"
"The main difference with this approach is getting people to zoom in on their feelings and thoughts before, during and after an exercise experience," says Dr. Kimiecik.

This "inside-out approach" to physical activity is what cultivates an intrinsic motivation; unfortunately, this is precisely the opposite of how many of us approach physical activity. We tend to be destination-oriented when it comes to our bodies-we want to lose lots of weight, we want to do it now and we want it guaranteed. That visceral yearning is what powers the 19 billion dollar weight loss industry.

But if you take this "outside-in" approach, those external factors-such as poor weather-may more easily derail your fitness efforts. When you build an intrinsic motivation you begin to exercise for the sheer pleasure of doing and that solidifies your long-term commitment to physical activity. "Unless you become an intrinsic exerciser, things in life will keep coming up and will make it easier and easier for you not to exercise," says Dr. Kimiecik. "As an intrinsic exerciser, you'll figure out ways to overcome these various barriers."

The first step to developing an intrinsic exercise motivation is to shift your focus from the outcome to the process. Instead of setting long-term fitness goals that relate to outcomes such as weight loss, set goals that relate to participation (i.e., how many times you will work out this month, what type of exercise you will do). That way, the weight loss comes as a result of the participation-centric focus.
Most of all, keep your focus on doing your best each day-not in the past or in the future. This begins with setting a clear goal for each workout. But too vague a goal may result in your focus shifting to the boredom or discomfort of the workout. If your goal for an exercise session is to run faster, then focus on your breathing, using graceful technique and testing your limits. Stay focused on running fast and smooth and the thrill that comes along with that.

The next step to developing an intrinsic motivation is to hone your ability to focus during physical activity. Mental strategies can help you experience "flow," an optimal psychological state characterized by an intense absorption in a workout, a clear sense of your goals and a feeling of letting go. To increase your flow during exercise, concentrate on a deep, smooth and rhythmical breathing pattern such as inhaling when your left foot strikes the ground and exhaling on your right foot.
After your workout, take a moment to note how your body felt and what went through your mind. What felt good? What physical and mental strategies helped you stay centered on each moment? What can you do to improve the experience the next time out? Analyzing your exercise session shortly after the fact will improve your awareness of the exercise experience and help you focus on the process rather than the outcomes. That leads directly to a deeper intrinsic motivation-on performing a task for its own sake.

Finally, balance the challenge of the workout with your current skill level. In other words, design a workout goal that is neither so challenging that it makes you suffer nor so easy that it makes you apathetic. By challenging yourself subtly each time you workout, and staying focused on the here-and-now, you will begin to develop that "inside-out" intrinsic exercise motivation.

Then you can glide along on your morning run-with a smile on your face-as others looks on in disbelief!

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The Big Picture
by Eve Chenu

Regular exercise is a proven way to improve appearance,
increase energy, decrease the risk of many diseases, and
even improve emotional and mental health. In order to
fulfill these promises to their full extent, a fitness program
needs to be supported by a healthy lifestyle. An hour spent
at the gym will only bring the best results if the other 23
hours of the day also contribute to health and well-being.

Proper Nutrition: Food is the fuel needed not only for exercise but for all other functions such as tissue repair, brain activity, and immune system functioning. There is much debate among scientists and in the press about what constitutes the "perfect" diet. There may not be a single food regimen that works for everyone, but until a consensus emerges, some principles remain safe for most people:

• Content: Choose whole grains, fresh veggies and fruits, beans and nuts, fish, lean dairy and lean meats. Vary choices in order to get as many nutrients as possible. Keep sugary, fried, and highly processed foods to a minimum.

• Quantity: How much you eat is just as important as what you eat. Overeating of any type of food will lead to weight gain, not just eating the wrong foods as some people believe.

• Quality: A slice of white sandwich bread does not sustain the body in the same way as, say, a cup of organically grown brown rice, although both belong to the "grain" and "carbohydrate" categories on the USDA food pyramid. So choose whole rather than refined grains, and foods that are dense nutritionally rather than foods that consist only of "empty" calories. To avoid overloading the body with toxic substances that can have long-term negative effects, avoid artificial coloring and preservatives, and choose organically-produced foods.

• Making changes: Make gradual changes in your diet so you
don’t feel deprived. Long-term approaches always work better
than quick fixes. Rather than going to the grocery store with
a list of foods to avoid, make healthy choices whenever
possible. The healthy foods will naturally displace less
desirable options.

If you feel overwhelmed by food choices, seek the help
of a registered dietitian.

Proper Hydration: Water is necessary for cellular
function of all types, as well as proper digestion,
blood volume, kidney function, and more. There is no
agreed upon amount of water that is appropriate
for everyone but the following factors call for
increase intake of water:
• increased physical activity
• warmer or drier climate
• high protein dietary intake

When in doubt, drink more rather than less water.
Many people suffer from mild chronic dehydration.
Stresses such as travel or unusual exertion can be
enough to bring on fatigue, headache and nausea—even
causing a trip to the emergency room. Conversely,
overhydration is serious but quite rare. Because of added
sugars and artificial ingredients found in sodas and some
juices, choose water, diluted juices and herbal teas instead.

Stress Management: Scientific studies are increasingly
supporting the idea that stress causes a negative chain reaction
in the body that leads to poor health in the short and long term. Regular exercise does help, along with the following measures:

• Sleep: 8 hours may not be the magic number for everyone, but if you can’t get going in the morning, or nod off unless you get more coffee, you need to sleep more. Sleep is necessary for the body to regenerate itself. Lack of sleep can lead not only to physical ailments but also to emotional disturbance such as anxiety and depression.

• Down time: The body and mind need rest not only during sleep but during waking hours as well. Don’t wait for your yearly week of vacation. Make time each day and each week for relaxation and quiet.

• Relaxation techniques: Meditation, gentle Yoga, and Qi Gong are ancient arts that can provide a sense of renewal. Biofeedback is a modern method of using technology to learn how to control internal processes such as muscular tension, blood pressure and more. Massage and acupuncture can also diminish unnecessary tension.

• Make conscious choices: Learn to say no to activities that create a negative environment in your life. Make time for joyful moments and pursuits that make you feel wonderful. While most of us have difficult obligations at home or at work, it is easy to become compulsive about doing this and that without stopping to wonder whether it is necessary or beneficial.

Although our culture does not value relaxation to its full value, a well rested mind and body will allow you to power through tough workouts, look and feel energized, have an better emotional and mental outlook, and ward off illness.


Exercise and Strength Training
It's Never Too Late To Start

The best medicine to combat the vagaries of old age is exercise. And it's never too late to start, says Dr. Maria Fiatarone Singh, professor of Medicine and Sports Science at the University of Sydney in Australia.

Dr. Fiatarone and colleagues at Tufts University developed and tested a strength training program using weights on frail men and women in their 80s and 90s who live at the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged in Boston. Nearly all have arthritis and heart disease and take multiple medications. Most use walkers and almost all experienced falls.

Within 10 weeks, researchers saw improvements across the board in their patients. Virtually all of the participants got stronger and were able to walk faster and climb stairs more easily. Those who were depressed became more sociable, and those who took nutritional supplements had improved appetites. The non-exercising control group lost muscle mass and received no benefits from nutritional supplements. The evidence is clear, and so is the geriatrician's message to the medical community: doctors spend too much time prescribing pills and not enough on encouraging play for older patients.

Here, Dr. Fiatarone elaborates on her studies.

Q. We all know that physical exercise is good for our health and that most of us don't get enough of it, but what special benefits can exercise provide for the elderly?
A. There is a difference in the reasons for exercise for the elderly and exercise for younger people. An exercise program for the elderly is targeted more specifically for the prevention of disease and disability, while younger people exercise primarily to look better.

Q. What kind of exercise do the elderly need?
A. Not all exercise is good for all purposes. If you are using it like medicine, it's specific in terms of effect. You need to prescribe an exercise in relationship to what it is you are trying to promote. Somebody who has gait disorders—difficulty walking, falls a lot, has osteoarthritis and is susceptible to fractures—needs strength and balance training for the muscles. If the purpose of exercise is to prevent cardiovascular disease, you will need an aerobic exercise.

Q. Is strength training the best exercise for the elderly?
A. We looked at strength training for frailty and functional dependency. We looked at causes of frailty. Loss of muscle strength with aging is a cause of frailty. So the kind of
exercise needed is strength training. Stretching and walking don't impact muscle size. If somebody is weak and the weakness is contributing to the health status or quality of life, strength training is the way to go. If core balance is the problem, it makes sense to give them balance training. Tai chi and yoga are examples of balancing exercises. Standing on one leg or walking on a balance beam are balancing exercises.

Q. Isn't it enough walk regularly, or are the
benefits of walking overrated?
A. All exercise training should challenge you to accomplish something not normally experienced and to conquer new challenges. When you walk, you normally don't get any better unless you challenge yourself in a more difficult way, like walking heel to
toe. However, the epidemiologic literature shows that walking is associated with reduction in mortality and cardiovascular disease, diabetes and stroke. The more
vigorously you walk, the better it is. But, you have to look at it like medicine. You can't use the same form, dose, and intensity, for all people.

Q. Isn't exercise dangerous for senior citizens, particularly those who are already frail and have fragile bones?
A. Being a couch potato is lethal. We recommend seeing a doctor before starting any exercise program, but chronic, age-related medical conditions almost always indicate a need for exercise.

Q. Are there mental as well as physical benefits to exercise for the elderly?
A. Depression is well treated with exercise. Weight lifting and aerobic exercise work equally well. Exercise works 70 percent of the time for depression. It's better than anti-depressants because drugs are often less well-tolerated in older people. Nobody knows how or why exercise works. However, there are no good studies that show it can treat dementia. It helps with attention span, and there is some evidence that people who exercise are less likely to end up with dementia, but there is no way to tell if it is causal or not.

Q. How do you persuade seniors to get out of their rocking chairs and start pumping iron?
A. Independence and quality of life are the driving factors, not longevity. One thing people don't want is to become dependent on others. Strength training effects are evident in just a few weeks. They can see that they get out of chairs more easily and can move around better and that sustains people. Long-term adherence to strength training is quite high, whereas people are likely to drop out of exercising on a bicycle or walking.

Q. Is it ever too late in life to begin an exercise program and benefit from it?
A. It's never too late to start. Lots of people are starting in their 80s and 90s. It's good if you can come to old age with a bit of reserve, but even if you don't, exercise works.

GETTING 'WELL BEYOND 50’
1. See your health problems as a reason for exercise rather than as a barrier to exercise.
2. Look for opportunities each day to exercise instead of avoiding exercise. Turn what comes your way into exercise. Carry something instead of dragging it. Stand on one leg. As you go through the day, you can turn lots of activities into exercise opportunities.
3. Do something you enjoy and can conceive of doing most days for the rest of your life. It must be something you will do on a regular basis. That's what brings health benefits.


Hitting the Gym—at home
Shop smart so your new exercise equipment doesn't become a clothes hanger
By Jacqueline Stenson

For people with hectic schedules, a home gym can be the solution to never having enough time to go to the health club. In fact, more and more Americans are going this route. Sales of exercise equipment for the home have doubled over the last decade, and often surge this time of year as people make their New Year's resolutions to get fit. But if you're in the market for fitness gear, sorting through the myriad machines can be a workout in itself. Retail sales of home exercise equipment, including cardiovascular and weight machines, free weights and other items like fitness videos, totaled $4.3 billion last year, up from $2.9 billion in 1997 and $2 billion in 1992, according to the National Sporting Goods Association.  "It's really picked up in the last five years," says Larry Weindruch, spokesperson for the group.

People whose busy lifestyles make exercising at home a convenient option are fueling the trend, he says, along with aging baby boomers hoping to fight back the hands of time. Working out at home can also be cheaper than joining a health club year after year.

The most popular piece of equipment, by far, is the treadmill, which accounted for $2.5 billion in sales last year, Weindruch notes. But there's no single machine that's best for everyone, experts say.

SPECIAL REPORT
If you're shopping for exercise equipment, your first task is to determine which activities appeal to you most. Hate to bike? Maybe a stair climber or elliptical trainer would be a better choice. Don't like weight machines? Opt for free weights or resistance tubing.
"The single most important consideration before buying home fitness equipment is to choose equipment that you'll like to use," says Michael Bracko, an exercise physiologist in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and a spokesperson for the American College of Sports Medicine.
"Otherwise," he says, "it's a very expensive clothes hanger." Once you've identified which activities you'd like to engage in at home, do some research. Independent product reviews in publications like Consumer Reports and Runner's World can help you get an idea for the range of products and features available and which ones get the best scores, experts say.

Work up a sweat. But ultimately, you'll need to do some legwork— even work up a sweat -- to find which equipment is best for you. Bracko recommends visiting three to five fitness stores and
spending an hour or two in each one. Ask lots of questions about the various products and then try them out. Come wearing sneakers and sweats so you can work out with a 
machine for 10 minutes or so. "Make sure it's a good fit," says Barbara Bushman, an associate professor of health, physical education and recreation at Southwest Missouri
State University in Springfield.

A product may have an excellent rating but if you don't like how the handles feel or the readout works or the way the belt moves or the weights clang together, keep looking. And if you're planning to share the equipment with other family members, make sure they like the product as well and that it's adjustable to their body types, notes Bracko. Weight machines that work well for a 6-foot-2-inch man, for instance, may not always suit everyone.

Take careful note of the equipment's workmanship and safety features. Is it sturdy? Do the cables, levers or pedals operate smoothly? Is it easy to start? (And if it's a treadmill, is there an emergency stop button and is the belt long enough for your stride?) Is the display easy to read and does it provide you with the information you want (such as minutes and intensity)? Is the seat comfortable? Can you adjust the difficulty of the workout as your fitness level improves? If you like to interval train on a bike or stair climber, does the machine offer that?

The pricier, the better? To some extent, you get what you pay for in exercise equipment, Bushman says. But beware all the bells and whistles. Expensive high-end models may have features like fancy electronic displays that you don't need. Factor in how you'll use the product, she says. If you're planning to walk on your treadmill a few times a week, a less expensive model will probably suffice. But runners who will log several miles each day on the machine will likely need a pricier model that can stand up to the use.

Buying a home gym
For more information on purchasing exercise equipment, check out these resources:
• American College of Sports Medicine 
• American Council on Exercise
• Consumer Reports (subscription required)
• Runner's World

Overall, though, exercise equipment is better than ever, says Bracko, who has tested dozens of machines. Moderately priced or even economy models also can be good, he says. One low-cost option is to search for good used equipment, preferably with a warranty. For bikers, another way to save money is to buy a stand for their road bike, so they can use it indoors, too.

Before purchasing any equipment, though, make sure it will fit in your home. This may seem obvious, but a machine may appear a lot smaller in the store than your bedroom. All-in-one weight machines can take up a lot of room. And it's not only floor space you need to be concerned with. If you're buying a treadmill, for instance, you'll also need to make sure ceilings are high enough to accommodate the tallest family member on the machine at a steep incline, if that's how it will be used. Also inquire with the sales rep about warranties -- the longer the better -- and delivery and set-up.

By spending some time researching and testing exercise equipment, you should be more likely to get quality products that best suit your needs -- and, hopefully, won't wind up holding your dry cleaning in a few months.

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Redefining Great Abs
Forget all about the six-pack. Yoga builds strong,
balanced abdominal muscles in a healthy,
holistic way.

The instruction seemed so shocking, I assumed I'd heard it wrong. Then the teacher repeated herself: "Soften and release your abdominals." This was the early 1980s, and I'd just started taking classes in Iyengar Yoga. Conditioned to hold in my abdominals by more than 20 years of dance training, traditional fitness classes, and our "suck in your gut" culture, I found it surprisingly difficult to let go in that area. Yet over time, I learned to relax my belly and fill it up with breath. Free at last!

Then I moved to another city and began taking yoga classes with different teachers schooled in various styles of hatha practice. Each instructor presented an alternative approach to working with the abdominals. In one class, we were told to "draw the pit of the abdomen up" and "hollow the belly." In another, we were instructed to "lift the side waist" and "pull the belly toward the spine." A third class emphasized Uddiyana Bandha (Upward Abdominal Lock), engaged by "contracting the abdomen above and below the navel toward the back." When yet another teacher asked us to "lift from the center but without creating hardness," I found myself wondering if I was the only one who didn't quite get it.

Were these completely different viewpoints about the abdominals? Or were my teachers
saying the same thing in different ways? Everyone seemed to agree on the belly's energetic importance--as the body's center of power, the abdomen initiates movement and is a repository for strong emotions, or "gut feelings," ranging from fear to anger. But the directions for engaging the abs were often very contradictory, esoteric--more metaphysical than practical--and at times, frankly, quite puzzling. What does it mean to have strong and healthy abdominals? How much does the yogic view differ from that of Western fitness? And just what did all those teachers really mean by their cryptic instructions? I intended to find out.

Clearing Up the Confusion
"There's a quagmire of confusion about the abdominals," says Jean Couch, yoga teacher, author of The Runner's Yoga Book (Rodmell, 1992), and owner and director of the Balance Center in Palo Alto, California. The central problem, she says, "is that people think they should hold their stomachs in, because the shape our society values as healthy and attractive is abnormally thin and held.” Since most people hold a low amount of tension in their abdominals all the time, she says, "they're unable to build abdominal strength, because you can never, ever strengthen a tense muscle. The only way you can strengthen your abs is to continually relax them--then you can exercise them as much as you want."

Despite the American fascination with rock-hard, washboard abs, she explains, a healthy muscle is actually "springy and elastic." Yet most people's abdominals go from "being held to being flaccid," says Couch, who urges her students to release their bellies and "align their bones naturally" so their abs can relax. "I never say, 'Pull your belly in,'" she adds. "I tell people, 'Elongate your spine,' which makes the belly automatically pull in." From this pulled-in--yet relaxed--place, she says, the abs are soft enough to allow deep breathing but elastic enough to be contracted when called upon, for example, to stabilize the body while balancing on one leg in Vrksasana (Tree Pose). Abdominal strength is important, Couch explains, "not to create washboard abs but to support vital organs and stabilize the skeleton."

This strength should be balanced with flexibility, says Joan White, an advanced Iyengar teacher and national chair of certification for Iyengar Yoga in the United States, "so we don't create further hardness and tension, but also so we're able to soften and release."

Many in the yoga community point out that the sedentary American lifestyle has created an epidemic of weak abdominals and a dangerous tendency to use back muscles to compensate. "Many people don't understand the difference between moving from the lower back and moving from the abdomen," says White. "When the abdominals aren't strong enough to do a pose, such as a leg lift, people will lift their legs by pulling from the lower back, which can cause injury."

Most yoga teachers agree that a strong, healthy abdominal region is essential to a strong, healthy practice. But it is difficult to find consensus about how to use yoga to develop that area. It's not as if each school of yoga consistently teaches abdominal awareness in the same way, using the same language. In fact, many teachers reacted strongly--almost as if offended--when asked how to examine this area in a detailed, muscular way. Because yoga is a discipline that seeks to unify, pinpointing one body part can seem inappropriate, almost baffling.

As Shandor Remete, an instructor at Shadow Yoga in Australia, explains, "Yoga isn't an exercise system, it's an energetic system. It's not about the size of the muscles but about the quality of the circuitry of wind, blood, and nervous energy that flows throughout the body." Over-development and hardness of the abdominals--or of any single muscle group--can be harmful, because excessive muscle bulk can obstruct energy flow and decrease the body's vital forces.

The Western focus on the body's physicality often ignores the emotional importance of the abdominal region, says Ana Forrest, yoga teacher and owner of the Forrest Yoga Circle in Santa Monica, California. "Some of our abdominal problems are related to lack of skillfulness in dealing with our gut feelings," she says, adding that "whatever happens on the mat is a paradigm for our lives. If we're not good at connecting with our center, perhaps we're not good at taking a stand for our truth and ourselves."

Forrest emphasizes abdominal work in each class, believing that it is helpful "for relieving emotional and physical constipation." But this very emotional component prompts some teachers to shy away from abdominal work in certain circumstances. "I've observed a lot of psychological baggage connected with the abdomen," says White. "It's a common place for people to hold anxiety, so if someone's feeling anxious, I don't want to create further anxiety and tension by giving them the chance to harden and tighten more in this area."

The Anatomy of Abs
Although many yogis are reluctant to focus directly on the abs, most exercise physiologists and fitness professionals have no such compunction. In our midriff-baring culture, "abdominals are one of the main areas people want to develop in an exercise program," says Tom Seabourne, an exercise scientist, martial artist, and coauthor of Athletic Abs (Human Kinetics, 2003).

Many fitness enthusiasts focus on developing the "six-pack" muscle, or rectus abdominis, which is actually a "10-pack" that runs from the pubic bone to the breastbone. "A straplike muscle designed for smooth, long movement, its main purpose is to raise your body from bed each morning," Seabourne explains. "The rectus is the most superficial and visible of four abdominal muscle groups that work synergistically."

Internal and external obliques, on the sides of the torso, rotate and bend the torso. "Obliques are used in almost every activity," Seabourne says. Twisting is the key to training them.

The deepest layer is the transversus abdominis, which is located horizontally underneath the rectus abdominis and the obliques. One of the few muscles with fibers that run from side to side, the transversus generally functions along with the autonomic nervous system to flatten the stomach in "bearing-down" activities, such as childbirth and defecation, and is activated in expelling actions, such as coughing and vomiting.

Yoga is excellent for building healthy abdominals, Seabourne says, because it involves moving the body in various directions and angles through postures requiring stability and balance--often in an unusual relationship to gravity. "The key is flexible strength, and that's what yoga develops," he explains. "Too many people still think ab training is doing crunches, which does nothing for flexibility. If you just train for strength, your muscles can actually shorten. And if you train in only one direction, you're limiting your range of motion."

Alternative Perspectives
Building strength and flexibility in the abdominal and back muscles, which form the body's "core," is the main goal of Pilates--one of the most rapidly growing exercise systems in the nation. Unlike in yoga, students in Pilates always "exhale through pursed lips, because this creates a resistance that helps people feel the abdominal contraction," says Moira Merrithew, program director of Stott Pilates in Toronto. Throughout all Pilates exercises, she says, the inhalations are done through the nostrils and the exhalations are done through the mouth to help students focus on their core and strengthen the deep abdominal muscles.

Several classic Pilates exercises focus on strengthening the abs, with the goal of creating "optimal functional fitness," Merrithew says. One of the best known is the "hundreds," performed supine with the head and shoulders raised while the arms pump up and down by the sides in time with the breath to the count of a hundred.

To help people learn the often subtle engagements of the abdominals, "hands-on work is invaluable," says Michael Feldman, a certified Rolfer in Sausalito, California, who teaches functional-anatomy workshops. He suggests that instructors teach people how to engage the transversus by first palpating the hip points at the front of the pelvis, then asking the person to "draw the two hip points together by lengthening the back and hollowing the belly." Another important aspect is finding the sitting bones, "so people can learn to sit on them properly," Feldman says. "One reason the abdominals are so weak is that most people sit with their backs rounded, which makes the abs go slack."

Using alternative modalities and systems, such as Pilates and Rolfing, to access the abdominal region can be a helpful way to create a connection if you're not feeling it in your yoga practice. To truly augment your yoga, be sure to take what you have learned and experiment with it the next time you're on the mat.

Let Your Breath Be Your Guide
Tuning in to your breath through yoga practice offers yet another way to access and tone the abdominals. Many yoga teachers find it most effective to teach ab work and awareness through breathing exercises.

Toronto yoga instructor Esther Myers recalls that after a hysterectomy, she experienced "an inner emptiness that left me feeling unstable in standing poses in a way I found surprising." Deep abdominal breathing proved particularly restorative for Myers, who used pranayama (breathwork)--especially the pumping action of Kapalabhati Pranayama--to strengthen and tone her abs without the shortening and contraction of sit-ups and crunches. Intended to clear the nostrils, ears, and other air ducts in the head, Kapalabhati--which means "shining skull"--activates the deepest abdominal muscle, the transversus, to perform an action she describes as similar to a controlled sneeze.

Kathleen Miller, a yoga teacher and therapist in the Viniyoga tradition, says that "many people find it difficult to access the [lower belly] area from the pubic bone to the navel." To help students awaken this "sleepy area," she has them lie on their backs with their legs bent, feet on the floor and one hand just above the pubic bone. She then has them tune in to their breath and contract this area on an exhalation, feeling how the navel moves back toward the spine, stabilizing the pelvis and lengthening the lower back. "In time," she explains, "people begin to feel that every exhalation can be an abdominal event."

The lower abdominal region is the site where Uddiyana Bandha is performed; this bandha "has the effect of bringing one's awareness to this energetic core," says Tim Miller, director of the Ashtanga Yoga Center in Encinitas, California. "At the end of the exhalation, there's a natural flow of awareness to this area. Uddiyana Bandha occurs in a very specific location and is a subtle contraction that is fairly light and mostly energetic in nature." To locate this area, he suggests "exhaling the breath completely, then sitting for a moment in that state of emptiness."

In response to the many people looking to strengthen their abdominals, Miller assures them, "Each time you take a complete breath, you're toning the muscles of the abdomen." In addition, he says, "there's an incredible amount of ab work within the [Ashtanga] vinyasa--jumping back and jumping through require grace and control in the center of the body so you get a sense of lightness." A large part of the Ashtanga practice--especially the primary series--is "detoxifying and ridding the body of waste material," he says. "And a common place that tends to get stored is in the gut."

Once it's clear to a student that yoga practice centers on energetics and unification--rather than getting something exactly right muscularly--some teachers will suggest specific asanas for abdominal development. For example, Shandor Remete recommends working the abdominal region in many different directions, such as in Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation). This series contracts the abs in forward bends, such as Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend), and lengthens them in backbends, such as Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog Pose). He also suggests doing Hanumanasana (Pose Dedicated to the Monkey God, Hanuman) and Mayurasana (Peacock Pose), because they both build and require strong, supple abdominal muscles, as well as Navasana (Boat Pose) and Nauli (abdominal churning).

Go Exploring
Since weak abdominals and damaged lower backs are common in our culture, Forrest encourages her students to perform ab exercises daily to help stay injury-free. "Core strength is essential in every pose--and absolutely mandatory for doing advanced 'gravity surfing' postures and series," she says--for example, moving through a series of Handstand variations or doing arm balances such as Eka Pada Bakasana (One-Legged Crane Pose), Tittibhasana (Firefly Pose), and Astavakrasana (Eight-Angle Pose). Plus, Forrest says, "building core strength and awareness in the abdominals can translate to feeling centered and strong in daily life."

Forrest includes at least 15 minutes of abdominal strengtheners in every class, in part because she found that strengthening her own abdominal area was critical to her recovery from a back injury. "At first, people tend to really hate doing abdominal work, because it's a painful area that many find hard to access," she says. "But after a while, it feels really good to wake up and cleanse our insides."

On the quest to create healthy abdominals, it's crucial that students learn to trust the body's messages. As Esther Myers explains, "If pulling the belly in improves your posture and makes you feel energized and confident, that's telling you something. If it makes you feel tense and strained, that's also telling you something. In yoga, you can make decisions based on an inner knowledge of what the practice is doing for you."

And how to develop that trust? "Go exploring," says Forrest. "Find out what works best for you."

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The Wonders of Water

If asked to identify the elixir of life itself, what would your answer be? The correct response would be WATER! Every creature sips this drink of life and without this "magic potion" life would cease to exist. Deprived of simple water, plants begin to droop and wither away to death. Seeds cannot germinate and no animal can survive without it. In the absence of water, the planet Earth would forever have remained one vast barren
rock of lifeless desert.

Water is the most important substance that the body needs next to oxygen. The people of ancient times worshipped water's importance as the key to life. The Egyptians worshipped the Nile River. The Hindus revered the Ganges River. In addition, the Greeks held water in the highest of holy substances; this is why their natural springs were chosen as sites for temples. Jesus even likened His gift of life to a well of crystal water (John 4:14; Rev.21:6). Despite the unbelievable importance of water, people today have yet to realize and appreciate the profound significance of its role in their lives.

The significance of water becomes apparent to people when they understand the body's need for water. The human body is comprised of over 70 percent water, which is involved in all body functions. All chemical reactions of the body occur within the aqueous environment (fluid environment) of the body,  and all solids (foods and nutrients) of the body are transported through this fluid medium. Water supports all nutritive processes, from digestion and absorption to utilization and excretion. Water is even essential for the simple act of swallowing and is a constituent of all cells and tissues. The temperature of the body is even dependent on water, much like the radiator of a car. The bodies need for water is relentless. The fact that somewhere between two and three quarts of water per day can be used by the body for these important functions is paramount. As you can see, it is obvious that water is the most important nutrient in our body. Yet, it is the most under-rated of all. Proper hydration is crucial for the establishment and maintenance of optimal health.

With all this information on the vital nutrient to life, now you are probably wondering how much you need. The rule of thumb is that an average adult should drink at least eight glasses of non-caffeinated fluids per day, with at least four glasses being water. We have been hearing this rule touted for many years, but as research indicates, few individuals are truly listening. The average adult loses between four and six pounds of water a day in the form of sweat, stool or urine. With a three percent loss of total body water, fatigue and decreased body functioning will ensue. A ten percent loss would be considered life threatening. With the daily body loss mentioned, exercise results in further losses of body water. Approximately one-half gallon of water will be lost during any light activity in moderate temperatures. One-half cup of water every 10-15 minutes should be consumed while exercising to make sure repletion is occurring and hydration is maintained. To translate, this equals at least two glasses of cool water for each pound of sweat loss. During the summer season and heat, the demand for water almost forces an individual to become a water warden. Activity and body weight are the factors in focus when determining the amount of water needed to maintain proper hydration. Fluid replacement is necessary, before, during, and after a workout because maintenance of water balance is critical. One important thing to remember is not to wait until your thirsty, but to drink to avoid thirst.

Finally, fluid fancy has to be addressed. Which fluid do you prefer? The fluids that Americans ultimately ingest most often come from substances such as coffee, tea, beer, soda, and other recreational type beverages. The problem with these choices is that they may contribute in dehydrating the body rather than hydrating the system. These choices should not be relied upon for fluid replacement even though they are made with water. Plain water remains at the top of the list when choosing which fluid is right for you. If plain water is not your favorite, consider spicing it up with some lemon or lime wheels. Or, add a drink mix such as Crystal Light to provide some flavor. Whatever method you choose to get those fluids, remember that water is the sustenance of life.

No other item has been taken for granted more than water in its role in health. When one has something in such abundance that its presence is everywhere and so plentiful, one cannot help taking it for granted. This seems to be the case for water. Focus on your fluids!

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Get moving and maybe you can beat the flu
By Pamela LeBlanc

Can't get your hands on a flu shot this year? Try exercising instead.

That's the moral of a study unveiled at a physiology conference in Austin this week.
Two University of Illinois researchers found that mice that ran on a treadmill after being
infected with the flu virus had a much higher survival rate than similarly infected mice that, well, did what mice do when they're not exercising.

If people are like mice, then the study offers yet another reason to get moving.

"The take-away message is 'Keep exercising because you never know when you'll get sick,' " said Tom Lowder, a graduate student at the Physical Fitness Laboratory at the University of Illinois, who worked with senior researcher Jeff Woods on the ongoing study, which began a year and a half ago.

Lowder and Woods were in Austin presenting their findings at the American Physiological Society's 2004 Intersociety Meeting.

Their study compared mortality rates between mice that ran at a moderate pace on a treadmill for 20 minutes a day after being infected with the flu virus and mice that were sedentary after being infected.

Half the mice were 10 to 14 weeks old and half were 5 to 7 months old — old enough to have fully developed immune systems. Mice typically live about two years. None had exercised regularly before the study.

When flu symptoms appeared, they quit exercising to mirror what most people do when they start sniffling or coughing.

Three times as many of the young mice that exercised survived, compared with their nonexercising peers — 37 percent compared with 12.5 percent. And twice as many of the older mice that exercised lived, compared with their sedentary counterparts — 82 percent compared with 43 percent.

The researchers said they were surprised to see such big differences in survival rates with such little exercise. But the results should give hope to those who hope to strengthen their immune systems with just a short daily jog or bike ride.

"This is really just the beginning," Woods said. "As researchers, we want to be able to understand why it happens."

A human trial is under way at the same lab to find out whether the flu vaccine is more effective in seniors who exercise than seniors who don't exercise. Preliminary data shows that it is, Woods said. Typically, older people are more susceptible to the flu and don't respond as well to flu vaccine. The human trial will be completed in 2006.

The message, then?

"Adopt a physically active lifestyle. You potentially could protect yourself from problems from the flu," Woods said.

Another tip? Wash hands thoroughly and often to prevent the spread of the virus. And people who fall into a high-risk category — older than 65, younger than 2, suffering from a chronic disease or pregnant — should get a flu shot, and get it early.

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Clear Your Head

by: Bob Cooper
courtesy of Runner's World

When a nonrunner asks why you run, you probably skip the fact that it makes you feel good because you know your sofa-embedded friends won't get how something that looks so difficult can make you feel so happy. But the exercise-mood connection is real.

Physical activity—especially running—improves mood and self-esteem and diminishes stress, anxiety, and depression. "We've published several studies in which we've compared aerobic forms of exercise with weight training, and in virtually all of them, aerobic exercise s more effective at reducing anxiety," says Jack Raglin, Ph.D., associate professor of kinesiology at Indiana University at Bloomington. "Unlike less rigorous forms of exercise, running elevates mood for up to four hours afterward." Running outdoors will perk you up more than running on a treadmill. And a little running is better than none at all. Researchers recently reported that a 10-minute run provides an immediate bump in mood.

Running can even help people with depression, which affects 23 million Americans each year. It's not a replacement for therapy, but running can be beneficial on the road to recovery. Running provides the benefits of therapy (time to think and talk things over) and medications (a biochemically induced mood lift) without the drawbacks (cost and side effects).

In 1999, Duke University researchers found that depressed people who exercised had comparable mood improvements to those who took the antidepressant Zoloft. After six months, depression returned in only nine percent of the exercisers, compared with38 percent of the Zoloft group. "People with depression can benefit as much, or perhaps even more, from exercise as from medication," says lead researcher James A. Blumenthal, Ph.D.

Exercise may even prove powerful enough to prevent depression. A recent study found that athletes were less likely to become depressed later in life than nonathletes. For every hour they exercised, their risk of depression dropped by eight percent.

For years, runners have credited endorphins, feel-good chemicals released during exercise, for their mood lift, but that theory lacks scientific backing. One study suggests another brain chemical is at work (see "Is There A Runner's High?" page 59). Gary Sforzo, Ph.D., professor of exercise and sports science at Ithaca College, has two other hypotheses. One theory is that exercise increases levels of monoamines (brain neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, and noradrenaline), and deficiencies in these monoamines may cause depressive moods. The second possibility, thermogenesis, says mood could be affected by the rise in body temperature during and after exercise. Elevated body temperature reduces muscle tension and may release biochemicals that favorably affect the brain.

Psychology studies show that exercising bolsters self-esteem, emotional stability, and body image. Combine these perks with the aforementioned biochemical boost, and it's no wonder most runners can boast of physical, mental, and emotional good health. So there's some ammo for your next "Why run?" interrogation.


Physical Activity for Everyone: Making Physical Activity Part of Your Life: Overcoming Barriers to Physical Activity

•Tips for Being More Active

•Risks to Being Active

•Tips for Avoiding Activity-induced Injuries

•Overcoming Barriers to Physical Activity

"If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere." —Anonymous

Given the health benefits of regular physical activity, we might have to ask why two out of three (60%) Americans are not active at recommended levels. There are barriers that keep Americans from being, or becoming, regularly physically active. Understanding common barriers to physical activity and creating strategies to overcome them may help you make physical activity part of your daily life.

Environmental Barriers

Social environments such as school, work, family and friends can significantly influence an individual's level of physical activity. However, characteristics of our communities such as the accessibility and location of parks, trails, sidewalks, and recreational centers as well as street design, density of housing, and availability of public transit may play and even greater role in promoting or discouraging an individual or family's level of physical activity. There are also significant environmental barriers from water and air pollution to crime and dangerous automobile traffic.

To address this, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has initiated the ACES: Active Community Environments Initiative project to promote and support the awareness and development of places where people of all ages and abilities can easily enjoy walking, bicycling, and other forms of recreation. 

There are many opportunities within our environment that support physical activities from parks, trails, and sidewalks to recreation and fitness centers. Even malls provide opportunities for fitness walking. Understanding environmental opportunities and barriers that we face in our pursuit for a healthy lifestyle may provide some of the knowledge necessary to promote healthy living. This information may also provide ideas for advocacy and civic participation. 

For more information on the Active Community Environments Initiative and how you can support a positive environment for physical activity in your community, please visit ACES: Active Community Environments Initiative. 


Personal Barriers

Aside from the many technological advances and conveniences that have made our lives easier and less active, many personal variables, including physiological, behavioral, and psychological factors, may affect our plans to become more physically active. In fact, the 10 most common reasons adults cite for not adopting more physically active lifestyles are (Sallis and Hovell, 1990; Sallis et al., 1992)

• Do not have enough time to exercise
  
• Find it inconvenient to exercise
  
• Lack self-motivation
  
• Do not find exercise enjoyable
  
• Find exercise boring
  
• Lack confidence in their ability to be physically active (low self-efficacy)
  
• Fear being injured or have been injured recently
  
• Lack self-management skills, such as the ability to set personal goals, monitor progress, or reward progress toward such goals
  
• Lack encouragement, support, or companionship from family and friends, and
  
• Do not have parks, sidewalks, bicycle trails, or safe and pleasant walking paths convenient to their homes or offices

How can I figure out which barriers affect me most?

The Barriers to Being Active Quiz (PDF–101K) can help you identify the types of physical activity barriers that are undermining your ability to make regular physical activity and integral part of your life. The quiz calculates a score in each of seven barrier categories. Once you've taken the quiz and identified which barriers affect you the most, look below for suggestions on how to overcome them.

Suggestions for Overcoming Physical Activity Barriers

Lack of time

• Identify available time slots. Monitor your daily activities for one week. Identify at least three 30-minute time slots you could use for physical activity.
• Add physical activity to your daily routine. For example, walk or ride your bike to work or shopping, organize school activities around physical activity, walk the dog, exercise while you watch TV, park farther away from your destination, etc.
• Make time for physical activity. For example, walk, jog, or swim during your lunch hour, or take fitness breaks instead of coffee breaks.
• Select activities requiring minimal time, such as walking, jogging, or stairclimbing.
  

Social influence

• Explain your interest in physical activity to friends and family. Ask them to support your efforts.
• Invite friends and family members to exercise with you. Plan social activities involving exercise.
• Develop new friendships with physically active people. Join a group, such as the YMCA or a hiking club.
  

Lack of energy

• Schedule physical activity for times in the day or week when you feel energetic.
• Convince yourself that if you give it a chance, physical activity will increase your energy level; then, try it.
  

Lack of motivation

• Plan ahead. Make physical activity a regular part of your daily or weekly schedule and write it on your calendar.
• Invite a friend to exercise with you on a regular basis and write it on both your calendars.
• Join an exercise group or class.
  

Fear of injury

• Learn how to warm up and cool down to prevent injury.
• Learn how to exercise appropriately considering your age, fitness level, skill level, and health status.
• Choose activities involving minimum risk.
  

Lack of skill

• Select activities requiring no new skills, such as walking, climbing stairs, or jogging.
  Exercise with friends who are at the same skill level as you are.
• Find a friend who is willing to teach you some new skills.
  Take a class to develop new skills.
  

Lack of resources

• Select activities that require minimal facilities or equipment, such as walking, jogging, jumping rope, or calisthenics.
• Identify inexpensive, convenient resources available in your community (community education programs, park and recreation programs, worksite programs, etc.).
  

Weather conditions

• Develop a set of regular activities that are always available regardless of weather (indoor cycling, aerobic dance, indoor swimming, calisthenics, stair climbing, rope skipping, mall walking, dancing, gymnasium games, etc.)
• Look on outdoor activities that depend on weather conditions (cross-country skiing, outdoor swimming, outdoor tennis, etc.) as "bonuses"-extra activities possible when weather and circumstances permit.
  

Travel

• Put a jump rope in your suitcase and jump rope.
• Walk the halls and climb the stairs in hotels.
• Stay in places with swimming pools or exercise facilities.
• Join the YMCA or YWCA (ask about reciprocal membership agreement).
• Visit the local shopping mall and walk for half an hour or more.
• Bring a small tape recorder and your favorite aerobic exercise tape.
  

Family obligations

• Trade babysitting time with a friend, neighbor, or family member who also has small children.
• Exercise with the kids-go for a walk together, play tag or other running games, get an aerobic dance or exercise tape for kids (there are several on the market) and exercise together. You can spend time together and still get your exercise.
• Hire a babysitter and look at the cost as a worthwhile investment in your physical and mental health.
• Jump rope, do calisthenics, ride a stationary bicycle, or use other home gymnasium equipment while the kids are busy playing or sleeping.
  Try to exercise when the kids are not around (e.g., during school hours or their nap time).
• Encourage exercise facilities to provide child care services.
  

Retirement years

• Look upon your retirement as an opportunity to become more active instead of less. Spend more time gardening, walking the dog, and playing with your grandchildren. Children with short legs and grandparents with slower gaits are often great walking partners.
• Learn a new skill you've always been interested in, such as ballroom dancing, square dancing, or swimming.
• Now that you have the time, make regular physical activity a part of every day. Go for a walk every morning or every evening before dinner. Treat yourself to an exercycle and ride every day while reading a favorite book or magazine.
  
  
  New Year’s Resolution Meet Your Exercise Goals With Success
  
  by: Eve Chenu
  
  • Commit to moving:
  Do something active most days, and focus on how it makes you feel. If you worry about the scale or the mirror, you might get discouraged if you don’t see what you were hoping for right away. Keep the focus on the process, and the outcome will take care of itself in time.
  
  • Make a list of physical activities you can do and enjoy:
  Now pick something from it! Tomorrow, pick again. And the day after….
  
  • Don’t make it such a big deal:
  Just get started! How about a stroll around the neighborhood? Just put on your shoes and head out the door. See, I knew you could do it! Don’t build such great expectations about your new exercise program that you create a mental hurdle.
  
  • Take it easy:
  If you haven’t exercised in a while, don’t work too hard. Your workout should feel good, not leave you exhausted, or cause injuries. The benefits of fitness happen at a lower intensity than most people realize. If you stay with it, you will be able to go faster, stronger and further over time.
  
  • The year doesn’t end on Valentine’s day:
  You have to stick with it to reap the rewards of your new active lifestyle. Don’t let your enthusiasm fade after a few weeks. You may be expecting too much in the beginning of your exercise program, but you may not realize how much you can gain in the long term. Keep it up over time and see some real results.
  
  • Feel good! Have fun!
  If your exercise doesn’t feel fulfilling, you won’t stick with it. Part of being able to motivate yourself is to remember how good you will feel if you get moving. So if you don’t love your exercise, figure out why and make changes. Perhaps you need to add more variety, or go outside or workout with a group, or find a trainer. Create the conditions for your own success!
  
  
  Walking is Powerful Medicine
  
  by: Maggie Spilner, courtesy of Runner's World
  
  Whether you're just starting a walking program or you're already a regular walker, your health likely played a role in your decision to get fit. Maybe you want to lose a few pounds or protect your heart from disease or keep your bones strong and your joints limber. Walking can do all this and more.
  
  But when we talk about walking for health, we must look beyond the physical benefits. After all, health is a rich fabric spun from physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual threads. If one of these threads becomes frayed for any reason, it can weaken the entire fabric. What you eat, how much you sleep, how you handle your personal and professional relationships, how you view the world and your place in it -- all of these things influence whether or not you feel vital and strong. They also have a real impact on your body.
  
  The same can be said of walking. It supports health in every sense -- physically,
  mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It enriches and balances your life. And it just plain makes you feel good. No wonder the Greek physician Hippocrates deemed walking to be "man's best medicine."
  
  Boosting Immunity, One Step at a Time
  To get a complete picture of how walking supports good health, you must start at the cellular level. A daily walk keeps certain cells -- your immune cells -- tuned up for action, ready to whip viruses and battle bacteria. In fact, some experts believe that walking may be one of your best weapons for fighting off infection and disease and getting on the road to recovery fast.
  
  Strong statement? Maybe. But a number of studies have shown that a moderate walk not only relieves the stress that may trigger or aggravate an illness but also stimulates your immune system, your body's main defense against disease. In one such study, a 45-minute walk (about 3 miles) increased the activity of certain immune cells by about 57 percent. The cells' activity level returned to normal about 3 hours after the walk.
  
  Now researchers don't know for sure whether walking can make you heal faster, but some studies suggest that people who walk consistently develop fewer illnesses than people who are sedentary. The fact that walking is a moderate activity may be key to its immune-enhancing effects. Indeed, other studies show that long bouts of intense exercise -- like an hour of pavement-pounding, heavy-breathing running -- can actually suppress your immune system and make you more susceptible to infection.
  
  This brings up a question that I often hear from fellow walkers: When you're under the weather, should you continue your walking program or take off a few days until you feel better? One expert recommends this rule of thumb: If you have a headache or runny nose, or if you're sneezing, you're okay to walk as long as your temperature is normal. In cases of fever, sore throat, or coughing, you should rest until your symptoms subside.
  
  Even if you feel well enough to continue walking, skip the marathons, races, and fun walks for the time being -- unless you have your doctor's okay to participate.
  
  
  Gaining Ground Against Cancer
  If walking has a beneficial effect on the immune system, then might it have some protective effect against any type of cancer? The research so far seems promising.
  
  In one study, laboratory rats were given a chemical that induces breast cancer. Half of the rats were put in cages that allowed them free access to an exercise wheel. The rats could run on the wheel any time they got the urge, and they did so frequently. Compared with the rats that didn't have a wheel, those that did developed one-third fewer cases of breast cancer. What's more, their tumors appeared much later.
  
  Exercise in general keeps cropping up as a factor in cancer prevention and treatment. Scientists don't yet understand how exercise might deter tumors, but they do know that people who work out regularly seem to get cancer less often than those who don't.
  
  For instance, three separate population studies found that men with physically demanding jobs, such as carpenters, plumbers, gardeners, and mail carriers, are less prone to colon cancer than men who sit all day. In another study, Harvard University researchers determined that men who engage in about an hour of vigorous activity every day reduce their risk of prostate cancer by 47 to 88 percent. And researchers at the University of Iowa Cancer Center in Iowa City found that women over age 65, a group that accounts for 50 percent of all breast cancer cases, are less likely to get the disease if they exercise moderately. In fact, the more active these women are, the lower their chances of being diagnosed with breast cancer.
  
  While no one can say for certain that walking every day protects against all kinds of cancer, enough evidence has been uncovered to persuade the American Cancer Society to recommend regular exercise as one possible way to reduce your risk. And if you or someone you know is receiving treatment for cancer, walking may be the ticket to a steady recovery and the speedy return of strength and energy.
  
  For example, walking may counteract the fatigue and weakness that are associated with high-dose chemotherapy. Traditionally, patients have been told to rest to recuperate from chemo. But extended bed rest leads to loss of muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness, which only worsens fatigue and weakness -- so much so that they can linger for years after treatment. So a team of German researchers tried a different approach: They encouraged patients to exercise regularly after completing chemotherapy. People had not only more energy but also a more positive attitude toward recovery.
  
  The benefits of exercise for cancer patients are psychological as well as physical. One study of women being treated for breast cancer showed that their levels of depression and anxiety dropped dramatically after 10 weeks of regular exercise -- 30 to 40 minutes, 4 days a week. This finding is especially encouraging because breast cancer survivors face a significant risk of depression and anxiety.
  
  What Else Can Walking Do for You?
  
  To be sure, scientists have only begun to scratch the surface in understanding the benefits of exercise -- not only for fighting cancer and boosting immunity but also for enhancing all aspects of human health. Interestingly, most studies of exercise use walking as the activity of choice. And they have revealed some extraordinary information about what this most fundamental of workouts can do.
  
  • It supports weight loss and weight maintenance.
  • It reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke.
  • It fends off diabetes by improving the body's ability to use insulin.
  • It eases the pain and stiffness of arthritis.
  • It keeps bones strong, which prevents osteoporosis.
  • In women, it relieves premenstrual and menopausal discomforts.
  • It improves sleep.
  • It builds strength, flexibility, and stamina.
  • It enhances mental function.
  • It counteracts anger, depression, and anxiety.
  
  
  As you can see, you have a lot to gain just from lacing up a pair of walking shoes and putting one foot in front of the other.
  
  
  Lactate and lactic acid - dispelling the myths
  
  by: Dario Fredrick, courtesy of Whole Athlete
  
  You work hard in training and get fatigued. You've accumulated lactic acid in your blood and that's why you're tired, right? Wrong, says Dario Fredrick, M.A. - it's a bit more complicated than that.
  
  One of the most interesting challenges that coaches and exercise scientists face is to explain exercise physiology in easy to understand way. A common goal is to provide athletes with useful information to optimize their exercise behavior. Unfortunately, the oversimplification of concepts can lead to misunderstanding. Lactate has suffered this regrettable fate.
  
  The belief that lactate or "lactic acid" as the cause of fatigue in working muscle was a convenient explanation for complex processes. Since the appearance of lactate increases as exercise intensity increases, and as exercise intensity increases, fatigue increases, some assumed that lactate caused fatigue. If we didn't understand heart rate as well as we do, one might assume the same correlation between heart rate and fatigue. Heart rate and fatigue both increase as exercise intensity increases, but we know that heart rate does not cause fatigue. The same is true of lactate.
  
  To understand lactate requires a fair understanding of biochemistry and physiology. However, even many of the current physiology textbooks are outdated regarding the information they provide about lactate. There is quite a bit of interesting new (and not so new) research that has shed much light on our understanding of lactate metabolism.
  
  Let's examine a few popular misconceptions.
  
  The accumulation of lactate causes fatigue in muscles.
  
  Lactate does not cause fatigue, and on the contrary is a useful and efficient fuel source[2].
  
  Lactic acid can be measured in the blood using a lactate analyzer.
  
  Lactic acid does not exist in the blood. As soon as it is produced, the substance thought to be lactic acid disassociates into lactate and hydrogen (More on lactate and hydrogen below). A lactate analyzer measures the concentration of lactate (a useful fuel) in the blood.
  
  Lactate clearance and lactate tolerance refer to how the body deals with fatigue.
  
  Since lactate does not cause fatigue, its clearance from the blood depends on the body's ability to use it as fuel. The body not only tolerates lactate, but at times prefers lactate over glucose as an energy source[6].
  
  Measuring lactate is a reliable means of measuring performance.
  
  This point is heavily debated. Although lactate production increases progressively as exercise intensity increases, the ability to use lactate as fuel varies from person to person and varies with one's trained level, fed and rested state[5]. The ability to use lactate as fuel will also vary the amount that will appear in the blood at maximum sustainable workloads[4]. This evidence suggests that a fixed lactate concentration may not be a valid predictor of performance.
  
  Measuring lactate values reflects the accumulation of hydrogen, which is the fatigue-causing substance at non-sustainable workloads.
  
  Lactate and hydrogen both result from anaerobic metabolism. While the accumulation of hydrogen may contribute to fatigue, it is not reflected as a one-to-one ratio with the appearance of lactate in the blood. More importantly, there is new evidence that mechanisms other than hydrogen accumulation are the primary sources of muscular fatigue at non-sustainable workloads[8, 9].
  
  Energy pathways To understand lactate kinetics, a basic overview of exercise metabolism is warranted. The body uses metabolic pathways to provide fuel to working muscles. Each of these pathways converts a particular type of fuel into ATP, the high-energy molecule that enables the actual contraction of muscle fibers.
  
  The three metabolic pathways include the aerobic (with oxygen), anaerobic (without oxygen) and creatine phosphate (CP-ATP) systems. The most immediate energy pathway is CP-ATP. This is a very short-lived (few seconds) and extremely fast method of providing energy.
  
  The aerobic pathway is the most complicated given the steps involved, but yields the largest amount of ATP, allowing the use of many types of fuel (fats, proteins, glucose and lactate). The conversion of these fuels into ATP requires various steps within the muscle cell. Oxygen and fuel need to be delivered into the mitochondria (mini-organ "aerobic furnaces" within cells) during this process to produce ATP aerobically. While the aerobic pathway is the slowest ATP producer of the three pathways, it is also the most efficient.
  
  The anaerobic pathway, on the other hand, is very fast at providing ATP to working muscles since it does not require as many steps. Furthermore, its primary fuel source glycogen (stored glucose) is locally available, stored in and around the muscle itself, making its conversion to ATP a quicker process. The anaerobic production of ATP is also called glycolysis (breakdown of glucose).
  
  The process of glycolysis results in the formation of lactate and hydrogen. These two products, while produced from the same reaction, disassociate and have different fates in the body. If lactate and hydrogen were to remain a single unit, then it would be lactic acid. It is unlikely however that you would find any lactic acid in the blood. Lactate can remain in the cell for energy or leave the cell and travel to active and inactive muscles to be used as a fuel[1]. The ability to use lactate as fuel, particularly within the muscle itself, varies with the trained characteristics of aerobic muscle fibers, specifically via endurance training[5].
  
  Other fates of lactate include transport to the brain or cardiac muscle for fuel or to the liver to be converted to glucose. During exercise, the body works to maintain the availability of glucose for the brain. The making of glucose (gluconeogenesis) is an important function of the liver while exercising, and lactate is the most important precursor for the process of guconeogenesis[3, 7].
  
  While hydrogen (H+) accumulation resulting from glycolysis can lower pH, increasing acidity, much of the H+ is buffered via the bicarbonate buffer system (H+ + HCO3- <---> H2CO3 <---> CO2 + H2O), and converted to H2O and to CO2 which is eliminated via the lungs. If the accumulation is severe, there is some evidence that it may interfere with muscular contractions, although recent evidence suggests otherwise[9, 10]. Glycolysis is not the only contributor to an increase in acidity and hydrogen accumulation is not the only potential contributor to fatigue. Fatigue at non-sustainable workloads appears to result of an accumulation of other metabolites such as inorganic phosphate[9], as well as the inability of muscle to keep up with the rates and force of contraction through the progressive loss of potassium from inside the muscle cell[8].
  
  Summary
  
  For the sake of understanding, athletes have been taught that lactate or "lactic acid" is the root of all evil. However, while easy to relate to athletes, this paradigm has hindered what has really been known about lactate for the last 5-20 years. Lactate is not: 1) present as lactic acid in any appreciable amount in the blood, 2) the direct cause of fatigue at higher workloads, or 3) directly predictable of acidity. Lactate is: 1) a valuable energy source within working muscle, non-working muscle, and the heart, 2) quantitatively the most important contributor to the making of glucose in the liver, and 3) subject to training- induced improvements in its use as a fuel. Just as many 'old school' athletes had to adjust to the idea that rest is good for training, the idea that lactate is 'good' continues to fight a similar resistance.
  
  Thanks to Dr. Benjamin Miller for his feedback on this article. Dr. Miller is currently performing research on exercise metabolism in Copenhagen, Denmark.
  
  References
  
  1. Brooks, G. A. Intra- and extra-cellular lactate shuttles. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 32:790-799, 2000.
  
  2. Brooks, G. A. The lactate shuttle during exercise and recovery. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 18:360-368, 1986.
  
  3. Consoli, A., N. Nurjhan, J. J. Reilly, Jr., D. M. Bier, and J. E. Gerich. Contribution of liver and skeletal muscle to alanine and lactate metabolism in humans. Am J Physiol. 259:E677-684, 1990.
  
  4. Donovan, C. M. and G. A. Brooks. Endurance training affects lactate clearance, not lactate production. Am J Physiol. 244:E83-92, 1983.
  
  5. Dubouchaud, H., G. E. Butterfield, E. E. Wolfel, B. C. Bergman, and G. A. Brooks. Endurance training, expression, and physiology of LDH, MCT1, and MCT4 in human skeletal muscle. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 278:E571-579, 2000.
  
  6. Miller, B. F., J. A. Fattor, K. A. Jacobs, M. A. Horning, F. Navazio, M. I. Lindinger, and G. A. Brooks. Lactate and glucose interactions during rest and exercise in men: effect of exogenous lactate infusion. J Physiol. 544:963-975, 2002.
  
  7. Miller, B. F., J. A. Fattor, K. A. Jacobs, M. A. Horning, S. H. Suh, F. Navazio, and G. A. Brooks. Metabolic and cardiorespiratory responses to "the lactate clamp". Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 283:E889-898, 2002.
  
  8. Nielsen, J. J., M. Mohr, C. Klarskov, M. Kristensen, P. Krustrup, C. Juel, and J. Bangsbo. Effects of high- intensity intermittent training on potassium kinetics and performance in human skeletal muscle. J Physiol. 554:857-870, 2004.
  
  9. Westerblad, H., D. G. Allen, and J. Lannergren. Muscle fatigue: lactic acid or inorganic phosphate the major cause? News Physiol Sci. 17:17-21, 2002.
  
  10. Westerblad, H., J. D. Bruton, and J. Lannergren. The effect of intracellular pH on contractile function of intact, single fibres of mouse muscle declines with increasing temperature. J Physiol. 500 ( Pt 1):193-204, 1997.
  
  
  Exercise and weight control: Myths, truths
  and gender differences
  
  by: Nancy Clark, M.S., R.D., courtesy of Active.com
  
  "For all the exercise I do, I should be pencil thin!" "Am I the only runner who has ever gained weight training for a marathon?" "Why does my husband shed pounds when he exercises and I don't?" When I listen to athletes complain about their lack of success with losing body fat, I hear abundant frustration: "Why can't I do something as simple as lose a few pounds!" Why? Because weight loss isn't simple and often includes debunking a few diet and exercise myths. Perhaps this article will offer some insights that lead you to weight-loss success.
  

  Myth: You must exercise in order to lose body fat.
  

  To lose body fat, you must create a calorie deficit. You can create that deficit by adding on exercise (which improves your overall health and fitness) or by simply eating fewer calories. For example, sick people commonly lose body fat, but they don't exercise; they create a calorie deficit. Similarly, injured athletes can also lose fat despite lack of exercise. The story "I gained weight when I was injured because I couldn't exercise" could more correctly be stated "I gained weight when I was injured because I was bored and depressed and I overate for comfort and entertainment."
  

  Myth: The more you exercise, the more fat you lose.
  

  Often, the more you exercise, the hungrier you get, and:
  • the more you eat, or;
  • the more your believe you "deserve" to eat, or;
  • the more you want to eat as a reward for both getting to the gym and surviving the workout.
  
  But if you spend 60 minutes in a spin class and burn off 600 calories only to reward yourself with 12 Oreos (600 calories), you'll wipe out your weight-loss efforts in less than three minutes!
  
  The effects of exercise on weight loss are complex and unclear. A study showed that 56- to 78-year-olds who participated in a vigorous walking program had nearly the same daily calorie needs as those who didn't exercise (2,400 without exercise, 2,480 with exercise).
  
  How could that be? Well, the exercisers napped more and were 62 percent less active throughout the rest of their day than non-exercisers.1
  
  Another study of post-menopausal women found the same results from eight weeks of moderate exercise training. Their 24-hour energy expenditure remained similar from the beginning to the end of the program.2 Bottom line: Eat according to your entire day's activity level, not according to how hard you trained that day.
  

  Myth: If you train for a marathon, your body fat will melt away.
  

  Wishful thinking. I commonly hear marathoners, triathletes and other highly competitive endurance athletes complain, "For all the exercise I do, I should be pencil thin." They fail to lose fat because, like the fitness exercisers described above, they put all of their energy into exercising, but then tend to be sedentary the rest of the day as they recover from their tough workouts.A study of male endurance athletes who reported a seemingly low-calorie intake found they did less spontaneous activity than their peers in the non-exercise parts of their day.3 Bottom line: Keep taking the stairs instead of the elevator, no matter how much you train!
  
  Alternatively, athletes who complain they eat like a bird but fail to lose body fat may simply be under-reporting their food intake. A survey of female marathoners indicated the fatter runners under-reported their food intake more so than their leaner peers.4
  
  Bottom line: Calories mindlessly eaten while standing or on-the-run count just as much as calories from sit-down meals.
  

  Myth: Couples who exercise together, lose fat together.
  

  In a 16-month study focused on exercise for weight loss, men and women completed an identical amount of exercise. The men lost 11.5 pounds; the women maintained weight.5
  
  In another study of previously sedentary, normal-weight men and women who participated in an 18-month marathon training program, the men increased their intake by about 500 calories a day; the women increased by only 60 calories -- despite the 50 additional miles of running per week. The men lost about five pounds of fat, whereas the women lost just two.6
  
  What's going on here? Well, a husband who increases his exercise is likely to lose more weight than his wife because he's probably heftier and therefore burns more calories than she does during the same workout. But, speaking in terms of evolution, nature seems protective of women's role as child bearer, making it easier for women to maintain adequate body fat for nourishing healthy babies. Hence, women are more energy efficient.
  
  Obesity researchers at New York's Columbia University suggest a pound of weight loss in men equates to a deficit of about 2,500 calories, while women need a 3,500-calorie deficit.7 No wonder women have a tougher time losing weight than men!
  

  Bottom line
  

  If you're exercising to lose weight, I encourage you to separate exercise and weight. Yes, you should exercise for health, fitness, stress relief and, most importantly, for enjoyment -- After all, the E in exercise stands for enjoyment! I discourage you from exercising to burn off calories; that makes exercise feels like punishment for having excess body fat.
  
  When exercise is something you do to your body, rather than for your body, you'll eventually quit exercising. Bad idea.
  
  Instead of focusing on exercise to lose body fat, pay attention to your calorie intake. Knocking off just 100 calories a day from your evening snacks can theoretically result in a 10-pounds fat loss in a year. Seems simpler than hours of sweating ...
  
  References:
  1. Goran, Am J Physiol, 263:E950, 1992
  2. Keytel, Int J Sport Nutr, 11:226, 2001
  3. Thompson, Med Sci Sports, Exerc 27::347, 1995
  4. Edwards, Med Sci Sports Exer, 25:1398, 1993
  5. Donnelly, Arch Intern Med, 163:1343, 2003
  6. Janssen, Int J Sports Med, 10:S1,1989
  7. Pietrobelli Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord, 26:1339, 2002
  
  
  
  Twenty-Three Tips for the Best Cycling
  
  by: Foundations of Wellness; courtesy of wellnessletter.com
  
  
  About 90 million American adults ride a bike at least once a year, nearly
  30 million cycle regularly for recreation, and a few million even commute
  by bicycle, according to a recent article in American Demographics. Those
  numbers may rise in the next few years, thanks to federal legislation that
  encourages local communities to build cycling into their transit plans. That's
  good not only for the environment, but also for the nation's health, since
  cycling is one of the best forms of exercise around. It gives the heart and
  circulatory system a workout; it puts little stress on joints (except perhaps
  the knees); it can burn 400 to 700 calories per hour; and if you own a bike,
  cycling is free and can be done just about anywhere.
  
  Here are some steps you can take to improve cycling performance, safety,
  comfort, and enjoyment:
  
  Use your head
  

  1. Absolutely crucial: always wear a helmet. Of the nation's 800 annual cycling
  deaths, head injuries account for about 60%. If all cyclists wore helmets, perhaps
  half of these deaths and injuries—especially in children—could be avoided. Choose a bright color, and make sure the helmet fits properly. It should sit horizontally on your head and shouldn't move about.

  Do the right thing
  

  2. Brake right. To exert optimal pressure, brake with your hands at the ends of the levers. For a quick stop, as you press the brakes firmly, slide your buttocks to the very back of the saddle. This will keep the rear of the bike down so that you don't flip over the handlebars.

  3. On a long downhill, don't stay on your brakes. That may overheat the tire's rim and could cause a blowout. It's safest to "feather brake"—that is, tap the brakes, applying intermittent pressure. This is wise in wet weather, too.

  4. Don't pedal in high gear for long periods. This can increase the pressure on your knees and lead to overuse injuries such as biker's knee. Shift to lower gears and faster revolutions to get more exercise with less stress on your knees. The best cadence for most cyclists is 60 to 80 revolutions per minute (rpm), though racers pedal in the range of 80 to 100 rpm.

  5. Going uphill, shift gears to maintain normal cadence. On a long hill, conserve energy by staying in your seat.

  6. When cycling at night or when visibility is poor, wear brightly colored, reflective clothing, and use your headlight. In fact, wearing bright colors is a good idea at any hour. Also consider a rear strobe-type light (attached to the bike or your belt) to enhance visibility at night.
  
  Easy rider
  

  7. Make sure your bike fits. Handlebars, saddle, wheels, gears, and brakes can all be adjusted to match your size and riding ability, but the frame has to fit from the start. To find the right frame size, straddle the bike and stand flatfooted: on a road bike, there should be one to two inches of clearance between your groin and the top tube. On a mountain bike, the clearance should be two to three inches or even more.

  8. Position the saddle right to protect your knees. At the bottom of the stroke, your knee should be only slightly bent. If your knee is bent too much, the seat is too low, and you will lose stroking power and strain your knees. If the knee locks when extended, or if you have to reach for the pedal, the seat is too high, which can also stress the knee. The saddle should be level.

  9. Position the handlebars correctly—one inch lower than the top of the seat. Drop handlebars (preferable because they allow you to change your riding position) should be about as wide as your shoulders or slightly narrower. Some cyclists who suffer from neck or back discomfort may prefer upright handlebars.

  10. To avoid saddle soreness, get the right seat. The hard narrow seats on racing bikes can be particularly uncomfortable for women, who tend to have widely spaced "sit bones." Special anatomically designed saddles—wider and more cushioned at the back—are easy to install. Gel-filled saddles or pads or sheepskin pads can ease the pressure and friction.

  11. Change your hand and body position frequently. That will change the angle of your back, neck, and arms, so that different muscles are stressed and pressure is put on different nerves.

  12. Don't ride in the racing "drop" position (with your hands on the curved part of the handlebars) for a long time. This may cramp your hands, shoulders, and neck.

  13. Unless you're an experienced cyclist, don't use those special aerodynamic handlebars—shaped like an upside-down "V"—which let you lean forward on your forearms and thus reduce wind drag and increase your speed. These increase the risk of injury.

  14. After a long uphill, don't coast downhill without pedaling. As you climb up the hill, lactic acid builds up in your muscles and can contribute to muscle soreness. By pedaling lightly but constantly while coasting downhill (even if there's little resistance) you can help remove the lactic acid.

  15. Keep your arms relaxed and don't lock your elbows. This technique helps you absorb bumps from the road better.

  16. Wear the right shorts if you cycle a lot. Sleek cycling shorts have less fabric to wrinkle or bunch up, so there's less chance of skin irritation. For extra protection, choose cycling shorts with special lining or padding to wick away perspiration and no seams at the crotch.

  17. Don't wear headphones. They can block out the street sounds you need to hear in order to ride defensively. Cycling with headphones is a misdemeanor in some areas.

  Good road sense
  

  18. Ride with traffic, obey all signs, and give right of way to cars.

  19. Use hand signals to alert drivers to your intentions.

  20. Try to make eye contact with drivers as you pull into an intersection or make a turn, so they know your intentions and you know that they've seen you.

  21. Don't ride side by side with another cyclist.

  22. Watch out for storm drains, cattle guards, and rail-road tracks. They're all slippery when wet. And if you don't cross them at a right angle, your front tire may get caught.

  23. When cycling in heavy traffic, on a narrow road, or on winding downhill roads, ride in the lane with the cars, not to the side, where you're not as visible and may get pushed off to the side. Of course, if a car wants to pass, move out of the way.
  
  Bicycle Safety: How Not to Get Hit by Cars
  
  
  
  
  PERSONAL HEALTH; To Avoid 'Boomeritis,'
  Exercise, Exercise, Exercise
  by Jane E. Brody, courtesy of nytimes.com
  
  
  An apology to all baby boomers and beyond: I'm afraid that in our efforts to get everyone to become physically active, we've sold you a bill of goods. A 30-minute walk on most days is just not enough. There is much more to becoming -- and staying -- physically fit as you age than engaging in regular aerobic activity. (Of course, the same applies to those younger than 60.)
  
  In addition to activities like walking, jogging, cycling and swimming that promote endurance, cardiovascular health and weight control, there is a dire need for exercises that improve posture and increase strength, flexibility and balance. These exercises can greatly reduce the risk of injuries from sports and endurance activities, the demands of daily life, falls and other accidents.
  
  Musculoskeletal injuries are now the No. 1 one reason for seeking medical care in the United States. And falls, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last month, have become the leading cause of injury deaths for men and women 65 and older.
  
  Unless you do something to slow the deterioration in muscle, bone strength and agility that naturally accompanies aging, you will become a prime candidate for what Dr. Nicholas A. DiNubile, an orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, calls ''boomeritis.''

  3. On a long downhill,''By their 40th birthday, people often have vulnerabilities -- weak links -- and as the first generation that is trying to stay active in droves, baby boomers are pushing their frames to the breakpoint,'' Dr. DiNubile said in introducing a November press event in New York sponsored by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and the National Athletic Trainers' Association.
  
  ''Baby boomers are falling apart -- developing tendinitis, bursitis, arthritis and 'fix-me-itis,' the idea that modern medicine can fix anything,'' he said. ''It's much better to prevent things than to have to try to fix them.''
  
  Dr. DiNubile pointed out that evolution had not kept up with the doubling of the human life span in the last 100 years. To counter the inevitable declines with age, we have to provide our bodies with an extended warranty.
  
  Assess Your Fitness
  
  In their recently published book, ''Age-Defying Fitness'' (Peachtree Publishers), two prominent physical therapists, Marilyn Moffat of New York University and Carole B. Lewis of Washington, D.C., provide the ingredients to help you make the most of your body for the rest of your life: a quick quiz and a five-part test to assess the status of your posture, strength, balance, flexibility and endurance, followed by five chapters with step-by-step instructions on how to safely improve the areas in which you are lacking.

  The therapists describe what happens to these ''five domains of fitness'' as you age. Posture begins changing as early as the teenage years, the result of activities like prolonged sitting, carrying a heavy purse or briefcase, or working at a computer.
  
  Strength declines as muscle fibers decrease in size and number and as the supply of nerve stimulation and energy to the muscles diminishes. Balance deteriorates as muscles tighten and weaken and joints lose their full range of motion.
  
  Flexibility declines because connective tissue throughout the body becomes less elastic. And endurance falls off because of reduced flexibility, weakened muscles, and stiffer lungs and blood vessels.
  
  Still not convinced you need to work on your fitness? See how you do on the therapists' quiz:
  
  Are you not standing as straight and tall as you once did?
  
  Is walking up a flight of stairs a strain at times?
  
  Are you getting up from a chair more slowly than you used to?
  
  Is it getting harder to look to the left and right while backing up?
  
  Do you get stiff sitting through a long movie?
  
  Is standing on one leg to put on your shoe difficult or impossible?
  
  Do you trip or lose your balance more easily?
  
  Does walking or jogging a distance take longer than it used to?
  
  As a daily exerciser I consider myself a physically fit 65-year-old, and I did well on the quick quiz, but I flunked the tests for balance and flexibility. So I've added exercises to my weekly regime to improve these two domains of fitness.
  
  ''The antidote to aging is activity,'' the therapists wrote. ''Inactivity magnifies age-related changes, but action maintains and increases your abilities in all five domains.''
  

  No Time to Waste
  
  Dr. Vonda J. Wright, a sports medicine specialist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said at the New York meeting that ''boomers are 59, and we must intervene now to head off what happens to those who age in a sedentary way.''
  
  Injury and arthritis are the main reasons people stop exercising, she said. She urged those in need of a joint replacement not to postpone the surgery, which she likened to repairing a pothole.
  
  Marjorie J. Albohm, a certified athletic trainer affiliated with OrthoIndy and the Indiana Orthopedic Hospital in Indianapolis, cautioned against ''cookbook recipes'' for exercise. ''The key to a good workout is customization,'' based on a professional assessment of flexibility, cardiovascular endurance, strength and balance, she said. ''The goal is to minimize symptoms and prevent new injuries,'' Ms. Albohm said, and she urged people to listen to their bodies to avoid making things worse.
  
  Ms. Albohm emphasized flexibility, saying it is ''not optional'' as you age. ''To prevent stiffness and maintain joint mobility you should stretch daily for 15 to 20 minutes,'' she said ''using slow, controlled movements, before or after your exercise program.''
  
  For cardiovascular endurance, she recommended alternating between weight-bearing (walking, jogging) and non-weight-bearing (swimming, cycling) aerobic activities three days a week for 30 to 45 minutes each time.
  
  Muscle strength, Ms. Albohm noted, can be increased at any age, even in one's 90s, to protect against falls, maintain mobility, prevent new injuries and empower individuals. Especially important is strengthening the muscles in the front and sides of the thighs, which help support the knees, and strengthening core muscles of the trunk (back, buttocks and abdomen) to protect the spine and support the entire body.
  
  Finally, we need to worry about our bones. At least 1.5 million ''fragility fractures'' occur annually in the United States. These are breaks that result when someone falls from a standing height or less, trips over the cat or lifts something heavy, and they affect men as well as women, Dr. Laura Tosi, an orthopedic surgeon at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., said at the New York event.
  
  ''A history of a fragility fracture is far more predictive of future fractures than a bone density test,'' Dr. Tosi said, adding that a major cause is a shortage of vitamin D, which lets calcium into bones.
  
  ''The current standard for vitamin D is not adequate,'' she said, and predicted it would soon be raised to perhaps 1,000 International Units a day. Vitamin supplements are crucial, because adequate amounts of vitamin D cannot be absorbed through diet and sunshine alone.
  
  
  LOVING FOOD, LOSING WEIGHT
  By PATRICIA WELLS
  Published: Town and Country Magazine, July 2003
  courtesy of patriciawells.com
  
  
  A food writer drops forty pounds not by dieting but by learning to
  follow her appetite and diversify her exercise.
  
  There I was, fifty-three years old and, like many American women, facing
  the fact that my weight was creeping up with every passing year. An avid
  runner from the age of twenty-three and a food writer since turning
  thirty-one, I had always hoped, even assumed, that my passion for
  running would offset any damage done at the dinner table, but that plainly
  was not the reality.
  
  I fretted about my weight a lot - the scale read 180 pounds by the end
  of 1999 - and although I was running longer distances, and more often,
  I was getting nowhere. I began to believe that my size 16 frame was
  inevitable, given my age and my work as a cookbook author, cooking
  teacher and restaurant critic for The International Herald Tribune, where
  I have worked since moving to Paris in 1980.
  
  Then I was talked into celebrating a friend's birthday at the Golden Door,
  a spa near San Diego. I went along in January 2000 to be a good sport, but I
  certainly did not anticipate any life-changing epiphany.
  
  How wrong I was. It turned out that while I had plenty of motivation, I did not have the information I needed to lose the weight and keep it off, or to get fit and stay fit. The Door did.
  
  By putting in hours of hard work and heeding the advice of trainer Mike Bee and other specialists at the Door, I lost six and a half pounds that first week. I returned to Paris and, with even greater motivation and discipline - combined with lots of jogging - lost a total of thirty-six pounds in seven months. Since that first visit, I have returned to the Door twice a year. Each time, my weight inches downward, my strength builds, and I leave with a specific, attainable new goal. I am now forty pounds lighter than I was before my initial orientation at the spa.
  
  None of this would have happened without small but dramatic changes leading me toward an approach known as attuned eating. After my first stay at the Door, I examined my eating patterns and determined that it was not the three-star-restaurant meals that were making me fat, but many seemingly innocent day-to-day indulgences: a single nibble of cheese that turned into three or four nibbles at about five in the afternoon; that extra glass of wine at the end of the day; a second helping of anything. I needed a permanent lifestyle change, in diet as well as in exercise. And I needed a program that I could follow for the rest of my life.
  
  Attuned eating is not about skipping meals, using diet aids, counting calories obsessively or depriving yourself. To practice it means to learn, or relearn, the "art" of being in touch with your body's appetite signals instead of relying on external cues. It means eating only when you're hungry, and then mindfully, without letting stress, emotional issues, social pressures or insane schedules drive you to eat more. Food is not meant to be a punishment, reward or crutch, but simply fuel; and eating, a pleasurable ritual. I have integrated the following attuned eating concepts into my daily life.
  
  Changing Your Ways: The first time I visited the Door, the nutritionist taught me the importance of creating new habits. I discovered that if I didn't give in to the afternoon nibble of cheese for twenty-five to thirty-five consecutive days, on the thirty-sixth day I didn't even consider that old ritual an option. Believe me, it works.
  
  Focusing on the Fullness Sensor: As I began to analyze my eating habits, I realized that for most of my life I ate until I was full (instead of satisfied). That seemed normal. During the past three years, I've rarely eaten until I became full, and when I have, I've felt uncomfortable.
  
  Setting Small but Attainable Goals: Before spending time at the Door, I had been goal-oriented but hadn't realized how important it was to break down a huge objective into little parts - for example, losing five pounds in a month or getting into a favorite pair of slacks. Set your sights too high and you're likely to fail.
  
  Sticking to It: Attuned eating calls for mindfulness every day. That does not mean depriving yourself of foods you love, but it does involve finding the discipline to be attentive to your body's signals on a daily basis.
  
  Maintaining the Pleasure Factor: I have always had a good relationship with food and considered eating a joy. I've never connected guilt with eating, and I know that if I have a truly special feast one day, I'll have to lie low the next. Since moving to Paris, I have adopted the French commitment to moderation. While Americans eat every meal as though it were their last, the French know that the slice of foie gras or extra piece of chocolate cake will be there tomorrow.
  
  These days, I enjoy food more than ever. Because I make sure that every bite I take counts -especially in terms of pleasure - I find that I can easily reject foods that I know won't really satisfy me. (In fact, I get downright cranky when faced with a tasteless meal or a disappointing glass of wine.) I approach each meal with a sense of anticipation and a good bit of hunger, so my palate is clearer and food seems more flavorful. As a food writer, I can stretch the enjoyment beyond the table: writing about what I have eaten allows me to relive the delight, as does describing a meal to a friend.
  
  As for exercise, I realized that I had to do more than run. I needed variety. (I learned the hard way. I trained for a marathon I never ran because of constant injuries.) Today I have a toy chest full of options for workouts. Depending on my mood and schedule, I run outdoors or on a treadmill; ride my mountain bike; use an elliptical trainer, free weights or a cable machine; and walk everywhere I can. And it is the dailies of the exercise that is important. Day in and day out for the rest of my life.
  
  I have retooled favorite recipes to make them lighter and integrated special fitness weeks into the roster of cooking classes I teach at my farmhouse in Provence. During these two-week sessions, in addition to the regular daily activities - hands-on cooking classes, visits to markets, vineyards and local restaurants - we hike and do pool workouts.
  
  I would be a liar if I sugarcoated the past three years. There were many moments when I was convinced that no amount of attuned eating or working out would budge the scale. There were those miserable weeks of injury during which I could not work out at all. There were lengthy book tours and eating trips or travel days when food options ranged from over-the-top to awful. But the good days have outweighed the bad. And the bonuses never stop. There's the great feeling I have all day after a good workout, increased flexibility, constant compliments on how I look and an understanding that I'm doing all I can to live a good, long, healthy life.
  

  
  
  
  LOBES OF STEEL
  By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
  Published: New York Times, August 19, 2007
  courtesy of nytimes.com
  
  The Morris water maze is the rodent equivalent of an I.Q. test: mice are placed in a tank filled with water dyed an opaque color. Beneath a small area of the surface is a platform, which the mice can't see. Despite what you've heard about rodents and sinking ships, mice hate water; those that blunder upon the platform climb onto it immediately.
  Scientists have long agreed that a mouse's spatial memory can be inferred by how quickly the animal finds its way in subsequent dunkings. A "smart" mouse remembers the platform and swims right to it.
  
  In the late 1990s, one group of mice at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, near San Diego, blew away the others in the Morris maze. The difference between the smart mice and those that floundered? Exercise. The brainy mice had running wheels in their cages, and the others didn't.
  
  Scientists have suspected for decades that exercise, particularly regular aerobic exercise, can affect the brain. But they could only speculate as to how. Now an expanding body of research shows that exercise can improve the performance of the brain by boosting memory and cognitive processing speed. Exercise can, in fact, create a stronger, faster brain.
  
  This theory emerged from those mouse studies at the Salk Institute. After conducting maze tests, the neuroscientist Fred H. Gage and his colleagues examined brain samples from the mice. Conventional wisdom had long held that animal (and human) brains weren't malleable: after a brief window early in life, the brain could no longer grow or renew itself. The supply of neurons—the brain cells that enable us to think—was believed to be fixed almost from birth. As the cells died through aging, mental function declined. The damage couldn't be staved off or repaired.
  
  Gage's mice proved otherwise. Before being euthanized, the animals had been injected with a chemical compound that incorporates itself into actively dividing cells. During autopsy, those cells could be identified by using a dye. Gage and his team presumed they wouldn't find such cells in the mice's brain tissue, but to their astonishment, they did. Up until the point of death, the mice were creating fresh neurons. Their brains were regenerating themselves.
  
  All of the mice showed this vivid proof of what's known as "neurogenesis," or the creation of new neurons. But the brains of the athletic mice in particular showed many more. These mice, the ones that scampered on running wheels, were producing two to three times as many new neurons as the mice that didn't exercise.
  
  But did neurogenesis also happen in the human brain? To find out, Gage and his colleagues had obtained brain tissue from deceased cancer patients who had donated their bodies to research. While still living, these people were injected with the same type of compound used on Gage s mice. (Pathologists were hoping to learn more about how quickly the patients  tumor cells were growing.) When Gage dyed their brain samples, he again saw new neurons. Like the mice, the humans showed evidence of neurogenesis.
  
  Gage's discovery hit the world of neurological research like a thunderclap. Since then, scientists have been finding more evidence that the human brain is not only capable of renewing itself but that exercise speeds the process.
  
  "We've always known that our brains control our behavior," Gage says,"but not that our behavior could control and change the structure of our brains. "
  
  The human brain is extremely difficult to study, especially when a person is still alive. Without euthanizing their subjects, the closest that researchers can get to seeing what goes on in there is through a functional M.R.I. machine, which measures the size and shape of the brain and, unlike a standard M.R.I. machine, tracks blood flow and electrical activity.
  
  This spring, neuroscientists at Columbia University in New York City published a study in which a group of men and women, ranging in age from 21 to 45, began working out for one hour four times a week. After 12 weeks, the test subjects, predictably, became more fit. Their VO2 max, the standard measure of how much oxygen a person takes in while exercising, rose significantly.
  
  But something else happened as a result of all those workouts: blood flowed at a much higher volume to a part of the brain responsible for neurogenesis. Functional M.R.I.'s showed that a portion of each person's hippocampus received almost twice the blood volume as it did before. Scientists suspect that the blood pumping into that part of the brain was helping to produce fresh neurons.
  
  The hippocampus plays a large role in how mammals create and process memories; it also plays a role in cognition. If your hippocampus is damaged, you most likely have trouble learning facts and forming new memories. Age plays a factor, too. As you get older, your brain gets smaller, and one of the areas most prone to this shrinkage is the hippocampus. (This can start depressingly early, in your 30's.) Many neurologists believe that the loss of neurons in the hippocampus may be a primary cause of the cognitive decay associated with aging. A number of studies have shown that people with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia tend to have smaller-than-normal hippocampi.
  
  The Columbia study suggests that shrinkage to parts of the hippocampus can be slowed via exercise. The subjects showed significant improvements in memory, as measured by a word-recall test. Those with the biggest increases in VO2 max had the best scores of all.
  
  "It's reasonable to infer, though we're not yet certain, that neurogenesis was happening in the people's hippocampi," says Scott A. Small, an associate professor of neurology at Columbia and the senior author of the study, "and that working out was driving the neurogenesis."
  
  Other recent studies support this theory. At the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, a group of elderly sedentary people were assigned to either an aerobic exercise program or a regimen of stretching. (The aerobic group walked for at least one hour three times a week.) After six months, their brains were scanned using an M.R.I. Those who had been doing aerobic exercise showed significant growth in several areas of the brain. These results raise the hope that the human brain has the capacity not only to produce new cells but also to add new blood vessels and strengthen neural connections, allowing young neurons to integrate themselves into the wider neural network. "The current findings are the first, to our knowledge, to confirm the benefits of exercise training on brain volume in aging humans," the authors concluded.
  
  And the benefits aren't limited to adults. Other University of Illinois scientists have studied school-age children and found that those who have a higher level of aerobic fitness processed information more efficiently; they were quicker on a battery of computerized flashcard tests. The researchers also found that higher levels of aerobic fitness corresponded to better standardized test scores among a set of Illinois public school students. The scientists next plan to study how students' scores change as their fitness improves.
  
  What is it about exercise that prompts the brain to remake itself? Different scientists have pet theories. One popular hypothesis credits insulin-like growth factor 1, a protein that circulates in the blood and is produced in greater amounts in response to exercise. IGF-1 has trouble entering the brain—it stops at what's called the "blood-brain barrier" —but exercise is thought to help it to do so, possibly sparking neurogenesis.
  
  Other researchers are looking at the role of serotonin, a hormone that influences mood. Exercise speeds the brain's production of serotonin, which could, in turn, prompt new neurons to grow. Abnormally low levels of serotonin have been associated with clinical depression, as has a strikingly shrunken hippocampus. Many antidepressant medications, like Prozac, increase the effectiveness of serotonin. Interestingly, these drugs take three to four weeks to begin working "about the same time required for new neurons to form and mature. Part of the reason these drugs are effective, then, could be that they're increasing neurogenesis. "Just as exercise does," Gage says.
  
  Gage, by the way, exercises just about every day, as do most colleagues in his field. Scott Small at Columbia, for instance , likes nothing better than a strenuous game of tennis. "As a neurologist," he explains, "I constantly get asked at cocktail parties what someone can do to protect their mental functioning. I tell them, 'Put down that glass and go for a run.' " .
  
  This Is Your Brain on Something Other Than Exercise
  
  The human brain undergoes neurogenesis—the creation of new cells—throughout a person's life, although the amount depends on a variety of factors, not just exercise.
  
  MARIJUANA: We just report the data; we don't endorse it. A 2005 study on rats found that stimulation of the brain's receptors for marijuana increased neurogenesis.
  
  ALCOHOL: A 2005 study found that mice that swallowed a moderate amount of ethanol showed more neurogenesis than teetotalers. Other studies on mice have suggested that heavier drinking can be damaging to the brain.
  
  SOCIABILITY: One study suggests that rats that live alone and have access to a run ning wheel experience less neurogenesis than those that have access to a running wheel and live in group housing. So go ahead and join that singles running club you've been avoiding.
  
  DIET: A diet high in saturated fat and sugar sharply diminishes the brain's production of the proteins and nerve-growth factors necessary for neurogenesis. Exercise may mitigate that effect somewhat.
  
  STRESS: Mice that are subjected to uncontrollable stress (like electric shock) suffer substantial deterioration in their ability to produce new neurons.
  
  CHOCOLATE: In a study published this year, an ingredient in cocoa, epicatechin, was shown to improve spatial memory in mice, especially among those that exercised. Epicatechin can also be found in grapes, blueberries and black tea. "I plan to start ingesting more epicatechin," says Henriette van Praag, a neuroscientist at the Salk Institute, "as soon as I can't find my car keys anymore." G.R.
  
  

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