Beginner's Fitness Programs

Archive for September, 2011

Osteoporosis affects more than 200 million people worldwide and is a serious public health concern. This is especially problematic for postmenopausal women because, after menopause, the rate of bone destruction accelerates and the creation of new bone cells cannot keep pace with the deterioration. If you are obese and postmenopausal, you are in a really high-risk category – one in four postmenopausal women with fractures is obese. Many obese women think that they have a thicker bone; they might, but it may not be strong for the body frame.

Unfortunately, osteoporosis is not just for golden-age women. Even among younger women, there are many potential osteoporosis sufferers, especially those with anorexic tendencies. If you drink sugared soft drinks regularly, you are also at risk. Some studies suggest that soft drinks drain calcium from the body. Further, if you are sedentary, your bones tend to be thinner than those of people who exercise regularly, and chances of developing osteoporosis is quite high.

Old or young, two things are needed: good nutrition and exercise. It is recommended to consume 1,000mg to 1,500mg of calcium daily, preferably from food. Milk is still the best source of calcium (and is often fortified with vitamin D). Of course, low-fat or non-fat milk, yogurt, or other dairy products are best. If you cannot digest dairy products, nuts, seeds, and some vegetables like cabbage and kale are also good sources of calcium, but the body does not absorb it as efficiently as that from milk. Lean meat and poultry are good, too, but fish is a better source of calcium and other nutrients. You can also take calcium supplements if you think you are not getting enough, but there are a few studies indicating that calcium supplements may cause heart problems.

If you are still young, vigorous workouts will thicken the bones, so that when you are in the postmenopausal phase, you can delay the loss of bone density for quite a long time. In general, weight-bearing exercise, such as push-ups and lunges, are good for strengthening both muscles and bones, but a University of Missouri study indicates that high-impact activity such as running is much more efficient for strengthening bone. For beginners, however, this may not be the best option. You should first walk or do other cardio-workouts and weight-bearing exercises so that you will strengthen the leg muscles. Otherwise, you may injure your knees.

If you are already post-menopausal, high-impact activities may not be good for you. You can still do weight-bearing workouts. Walking is still a good option for strengthening leg and hip muscles and bones. According to a study done by Hong Kong researchers, T’ai Chi is a good form of workout for bone health. (You can read more about the benefits of T’ai Chi in my previous article.)

You may also want to drink green tea. Scientists have found that green tea has a group of chemicals which stimulate bone formation and slows its breakdown. You can even drink a cup of green tea after your workout to relax!

Note: if you drink green tea, don’t brew the tea with boiling water. It will destroy the chemicals in the tea. Use hot, but not boiling, water to brew the tea. In Japan, the better the quality of green tea, the lower the water temperature we use to preserve the flavor and, of course, healthy chemicals. Of course, most bagged tea is not high-quality, and you may need to use hotter water.

Sources
Green tea and tai chi enhance bone health and reduce inflammation in postmenopausal women: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (2011, May)
Effects of Tea Catechins, Epigallocatechin, Gallocatechin, and Gallocatechin Gallate, on Bone Metabolism. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2009; 57
Low calcium intake linked with increased risk of osteoporosis and hypertension in postmenopausal women: European League Against Rheumatism (2010, June)
Calcium supplements with or without vitamin D and risk of cardiovascular events: reanalysis of the Women’s Health Initiative limited access dataset and meta-analysis. BMJ, 2011; 342
Nearly one in four postmenopausal women with fractures is obese: International Osteoporosis Foundation (2011, March)
Those who exercise when young have stronger bones when they grow old: University of Gothenburg (2010, July)
Lean body mass and weight-bearing activity in the prediction of bone mineral density in physically active men. Journal of Strength Conditioning, February, 2009

• Back to Articles
• Back to Healthy Diet for Your Healthy Life
• Back to Home Page

Although it is a good idea to join a gym and work with a personal trainer at the beginning, or join a local walking or running club to learn from local “experts” before going solo, if you prefer to work out at home, there are huge numbers of fitness programs available. In fact, there are just too many of them, and you may be overwhelmed by trying to choose one (or two or three).

One way to find out which is best is to ask someone you know for their recommendations. This may not be an option for everyone, but if you know a person who has had good results from a particular program, you may have already been convinced to try it!

Second to a friend’s insights, you might join a forum such as Weight Loss Forum and read other people’s opinions. Sure, it will take time to research, but it is worth the time. If you cannot find the answers you are looking for, you can always post your question. You may get 100 recommendations (or none) depending on your questions.

Another way is to go to Amazon.com. This option is mainly useful for buying exercise DVDs, some equipment, and how-to books (many are on eBook). Amazon allows users to post their comments on products. This is very helpful, if you read carefully. Most reviews posted on the first page are positive, so you need to click “See all customer reviews” to read negative comments. Some of the positive reviews are written by vendors themselves and not always trustworthy.

Also, competitors of these programs occasionally write their own negative reviews. So read all reviews to decide if this product seems best for your needs. Once you decide on a program, go to google search and type “price comparison for X”. Often you can find a better price than that at Amazon.com (but make sure that it is actually the same product). eBay is another site where you may find the same product for a cheaper price. Note that since some eBay transactions are used for identity theft, selling fake/stolen products, or fraud, make sure that you use PayPal or other money back guarantee services, and take other special cautions.

Online programs such as Weight Watchers or Diet-to-Go are slightly harder to judge. First, before you even go to their sites and read what they offer, I recommend doing the following homework: (This is also true when shopping for DVDs,etc, but less critical because of the investment in time and money.)

Prepare a sheet of paper, and write down what exactly you want from a program. List at least 5 things that you are expecting, and rank them in order of importance. Next, write down your budget. Many people neglect this and end up quitting even if the program is effective, because they cannot afford the investment. These programs are ongoing, and you need to expect to go for 6 months to one year, if not longer. Set a monthly budget for the program.

Now, divide the rest of the sheet into two columns. The heading for one is “Positive”, and the other is “Negative”. Start reading the descriptions of the online programs. Since you know what you are looking for, it should not take much time to find all the information you need from the program. Check them off if the program provides the services you are looking for. You can also rank them 1 – 5. (For the purpose of this exercise, 5 = best; 1 = worst.) While doing this, if you find something you like, list it under “Positive”, and if you find something you don’t like, under “Negative”.

Do the same for several programs you find online. Assuming that all programs are within your budget, score them all and compare. If you rated the items you listed, add them up. If you did not rate them, give +2 for the points that are checked off. Give +2 for all items under “positive”, and give -1 for any under “negative.” (Why not +1 and -1? People don’t like negative numbers and, when comparing the scores, it is better to have all scores add up to positive numbers.)

Consider the program with the highest score. How do you feel about this program? Do you really like it? Or do you feel like the one with the second best score is better for you? If this is the case, choose it. This is an important step: Even if the scores indicate that a particular program is “best”, if you feel that another fits you better, you will be more likely to stick with this one. But of course, if you really like the first one, choose the best!

Finally, this is the hardest to evaluate: online direct-sales. They include quick weight-loss programs, muscle-gain programs, supplements, and equipment. For example, if you google “fast weight-loss program”, you will find hundreds of web pages advertising the “best” programs. Their sales pitches are usually very high, and full of convincing, but unsubstantiated “testimonials”. Although there are many good products out there, there are just as many that are not good. It is also very difficult to get all the information you need from these sites (including prices!) It is best to go to a forum and check out whether anyone mentions the program in which you are interested. “As seen on TV” does not mean anything. It is just an infomercial, and has no real credentials. If you are totally new to this field, avoid buying things from this category, unless you find many people in a forum who think it is a great program.

If you have already been working out for a while and need a boost, investigate several programs and use the scoring system described above to choose one for you. At least, most reputable programs are refundable, and if you are not satisfied, you can return them. If you don’t mind spending for shipping/handling + return shipping, this is actually a good way to test a program.

Anyway, starting a program, any program, is better than just thinking about it. So jump in and start moving your body!

• Back to Articles
• Back to Correct and Updated Information
• Back to Home Page

Yoga, whether or not you agree with the philosophy behind it, is now widely accepted as a health-promoting “fitness” activity, and many fitness centers offer yoga classes several times a week, if not every day. Yoga is well-known to improve flexibility, balance, strength, and mood. Several scientific studies indicate that yoga lowers blood pressure, improves recovery from some illnesses, and may even reform prison environments! No wonder everyone wants to practice yoga these days. However, there are some dangers, as with any other activities, in practicing yoga.

Although most yoga instructors are very knowledgeable and aware of the dangers of doing certain poses incorrectly, if you are in a class with 40 other students, s/he cannot watch every student all the time. The responsibility, as always, falls on you and you need to pay attention to what you are doing. This is especially true if you are practicing yoga at home with a DVD or on TV. There is no one to correct your mistakes and you may unknowingly injure yourself. (If you practice at home, I strongly recommend working with a yoga instructor once a month privately so that s/he can monitor your alignment and correct mistakes, if necessary.)

Although overstretching of muscles can be a problem, most injuries occur with joints, specifically wrists and knees.

Usually, men don’t have problems with wrists because of thicker bones and stronger forearm muscles, but many women, especially novices, stress their wrists with the “Downward Dog” posture. Even among regular yoga-practitioners, this can be a problem. If you are a novice, take a shallower angle so that you won’t need to bend your wrists so sharply and wrist pressure is lessened. You also want to think to put more weight on your legs. You may want to ice the wrists after class if you feel any strain.

Knees are another concern. When yoga was originally developed, most people did not live much beyond 40 years old, and wearing of the joints was not much of a problem – people died before their knee cartilage wore out! However, we are now expecting to live to 100 years or more if we take good care of ourselves (too bad that most of us don’t take care our body) and wearing out the knee cartilage can be a major obstacle to achieving that age. So when you do yoga poses which could stress your knees, you should pay special attention to what you are doing.

Although you can bend your knees quite deeply, every time you bend them more than a 90-degree angle, you press and grind the knee cartilage between your leg bones and patellas. Several famous yoga poses can induce this dangerous position and really stress your knee cartilage. One example is “Reclining Hero’s Pose” in which you sit on the knees and lay backward. This can be modified by not sitting on the lower legs, but rather turning the legs slightly inward so that you sit on the floor with the lower legs on either side of the body. This way, you can keep the patellas in a neutral position. If this position is too difficult to take (probably majority of men think so), you may want to skip this until you are flexible enough to do so.

There are a couple of other postures you may need to watch for your knees. One is “King Pigeon Posture”, where you put your knee cap directly on the floor and pull your lower leg toward your back. To release the stress, you either want to use a Yoga block to support your weight with the other hand, or put a soft folded towel under your knee. Another is “Garland Pose” where you go down to a deep squatting position. Because this really stresses the knees, you may want to keep your hips higher than your knees and also support your body with forearms on the upper thighs. As your leg muscles become stronger, you can do without arm support, but in the beginning it is much safer and you still benefit from a yoga practice.

You also need to pay attention to the lower back and the neck. For example, in “Halfway Lift” you bend forward with straight knees. To protect your back when you do this pose, you must keep your lower back arched rather than rounded downward. As for the neck, “Plow Posture” is a very dangerous one if you don’t do it correctly. Make sure that your neck is not sharply bent or pressing on the floor! Several major nerves which control your body come from there, and you don’t want to damage them. Put more pressure on your mid-deltoids.

Yoga may be challenging, but should never induce pain. If the posture is painful, it may be that your alignment is not correct or that the posture is simply not right for your body. You always have an option not to do certain posture in yoga class. In any case, if you have any questions, ask your yoga instructor immediately. S/he is there to help. Namaste!

Source:
ACE Certified News Feb 16, 2011 issue “Harmful Yoga Poses”
Special yoga classes aimed at breast cancer survivors improves recovery: University of Alberta (2010, August).
Effects of Yoga Versus Walking on Mood, Anxiety, and Brain GABA Levels: A Randomized Controlled MRS Study. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 2010; 1008
Yoga could help improve prison environment University of Leicester (2010, December)
A pilot randomized controlled trial of the Yoga of Awareness program in the management of fibromyalgia. Pain, 2010; 151

• Back to Articles
• Back to Flexibility
• Back to Home Page