Anti-aging is a weird term. It’s like anti-air, or anti-water. How can you be against it?
Why do we think we can fight aging?

The anti-aging logic is flawed, and preventing aging is futile.
That won’t stop researchers and product developers from aggressively pursuing”anti-aging” genes
or pills. Certainly the appetite for such cures will remain strong and ready to be exploited.

Instead, I think it is much more productive to focus on improving the quality of life.
We need to focus on adding life to years, not just years to life. This mindset shift leads us to proven solutions to living a better life.

90yr old Effie Nielson squats 80lbs, deadlifts 135lbs, benches 50, and can do 10 pushups. She weighs 105 lbs

Haven’t we done a good job by increasing life expectancy?

Advances in providing better nutrition and promoting lifestyle modifications have helped increase life expectancy, but clearly
medical advancements have had a tremendous impact on increasing life expectancy. Treatment of infections, traumas, and organ transplants are just some examples of medical advances that have significantly improved life expectancy. From 1900 to 2007, life expectancy rose from 49.2 years to 77.9. This is a huge accomplishment to be proud of. But successfully increasing life expectancy has overshadowed 2 major problems: A lack of effectiveness in treating chronic conditions and the quality of life has not necessarily improved.

Increasing life expectancy was mostly related to decreased peri-natal deaths and infectious disease. So these increases were mostly due to treating conditions that affected younger people. If we move from analyzing our impact on improving life expectancy from treating acute infections to chronic diseases, we would have to look at different life expectancy figures. The way to do this is to see how much the life expectancy increased for those living past 65 years old. In the last century, a person older than 65 increased life expectancy by only 6 years. In the last 20 years, the life expectancy for those older than 65 has increased only 1 year. Clearly our impact on extending life in the face of chronic conditions is less impressive

More years, not better years.

An alarming trend is clear when analyzing research about the aging process. Over the last several decades, while the number of years someone can expect to live has increased, the number of “quality years” has not. In fact, the number of years someone can expect to live without significant loss of function and disease has actually decreased! This is exemplified by a recent study showing that the Length of life with disease and mobility functional loss has increased between 1998 and 2008. (Crimmons, et al. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci (2011) 66B (1): 75-86.). We are living longer, but not better.

A key term we must understand in addressing this issue is Morbidity, which is defined in relation to aging as the existence of disease or medical condition and the burden or functional disability it causes. So morbidity is living with high blood pressure and high blood sugar requiring medical management and not being able to ascend stairs, get on and off the toilet independently or travel.

This clearly tells us that rather than seeking methods to prolong life, which we have succeeded at, we should instead focus on improving the quality of these years. This does not mean that we give up on efforts to prolong life, but rather increase the emphasis on the need to address morbidity, especially considering the simplicity and effectiveness of strategies available to do so. The questions that this raises are: how do we reduce morbidity and is there evidence that this is possible?

The compression of morbidity

It is inevitable that we will succumb to disease and disability as we near death. There will usually be some morbidity leaning up to mortality. If it was within your control, would you rather choose to be ill and unable to function for  several years as you slowly die, or have normal function before briefly falling ill for a few months before dying? I’m sure we would all strive towards the later scenario.

This concept is referred to as the compression of morbidity: shortening the inevitable decline of function that proceeds death to months as opposed to years. Interestingly, there is some great research to suggest that this is certainly possible.

Is the compression of morbidity possible?

Recent research has found that we can significantly reduce morbidity

Hubert HB, Bloch DA, Oehlert JW, Fries JF. Lifestyle habits and compression of morbidity. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2002 Jun;57(6):M347-51. This study was performed at Stanford involving 418 adults over 12 years. Those who had less risk factors for disease lived more years without morbidity.

Several other studies support this concept. I recently wrote here about how strength can be improved in older men to levels similar to men half their age with proper training in 12 weeks. Other studies have seen that people can retain 100% of their muscle mass and strength from age 40 through their 80s with exercise! (Wrobelski, A. et al. The Phys and Sports Med, Sept 2011) Countless studies show how exercise plays a dramatic role in reducing morbidity. One particular study looked examined lifestyle habits of older adults who lived passed 85 and had no disability prior to death. The most significant variable associated with living without disability was level of physical activity after 65. Those who were physically active had a two-fold increased likelihood of dying without a disability. (Levielle, et al. Am. J. Epidemiol. (1999) 149 (7): 654-664)

What about those we are already very frail and deconditioned? Are they “too far gone” to reap the benefits reported on exercise to reduce disability? I sadly come across the perception held by many patients and worse by clinicians that the most frail elderly are not capable of benefiting from exercise interventions to reduce disability. Good thing there’s research to lend some insight. Researchers from Tufts showed that not only did frail older adults benefit from exercise, they actually benefited the most! They had higher improvements in strength and function. Guess what type of exercise yielded these results? That’s right – high intensity resistance training. (Fiatarone, MA, et al. N Engl J Med 1994; 330:1769-1775)

Clearly, reducing morbidity is possible and should be a major emphasis for health care policy and how we elect to take care of our selves. It is something that we should focus on whether we are young and in shape or older and deconditioned.

How do we do this?

Enhancing strength is the simplest route to reducing morbidity. Strength has been linked to mortality in older adults. It is the most important variable in reducing falls, preventing sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass), preventing osteoporosis – all conditions that plague us as we age and contribute to mortality. Resistance training has shown to be a vital treatment for preventing and managing osteoarthritis, improves glucose metabolism (the basis of type 2 diabetes), and reduces the risk or heart disease. As the most effective exercise for fat loss, it helps in managing obesity. It is the primary or one of the most effective treatments for addressing the most common causes of death (CAD, stroke, obesity) or morbidity (falls, sarcopenia, osteoporosis), especially in older adults. And considering it’s role in pain management and improving mood, it should be clear that resistance training is especially important if adding life to years is something you are interested in. If there is one thing to do to improve the quality of life as we age, strength training would be it.

Unfortunately, many people are unaware as to what strength training is. Some assume that doing dumbbell curls, balancing on a swiss ball, or doing leg extensions at the gym constitutes and effective strength training program. Many are confused about how much weight, how many sets and repetitions, how many exercises, etc are best. Others have no idea how to do their program safely and effectively. It usually boils down to two issues:

1. how to design a proper program (ie the dosage: what to do, how much, when, etc) and

2. instruction (how to do it, providing cueing and feedback, etc).

Everyone needs help with these two issues, from professional athletes to the morbidly deconditioned and everyone in between. Some need less than others, but they will all need assessment, program design, instruction, and accountability. And that is exactly what we do at Spectrum. I am passionate about making sure people realize this so they receive the proven benefits a proper program can provide them. That’s why I offer a free consultation to those who are serious about optimizing their health. Click here to get started.

If you want to see some videos of some of our older clients showing some examples what proper strength training looks like, check this out.

Death to the anti-aging movement?

It seems to make more sense to focus on a proven strategy that is right under our nose to dramatically improve our quality of life, rather that hold out for hope that someone will be able to defy the cellular mechanism of aging. Although researchers seems to have found that aging occurs because cells begin to die faster than they can regenerate ( cell senescence), no one has determined how or if that can be changed. I’m sure the riddle will involve a relation between lifestyle variables amongst other things having an impact on the cellular mechanisms of aging.

In the meantime, it seems dangerous to ignore the tenant of the compression of morbidity. Ask anyone who is near the end of the life span – they will tell you the same.

It seems that there still exists some confusion about injuries in young athletes.

Some think that injuries are due to bad luck, or just the inherent stress of sports. Others believe that poor training or a lack of conditioning is to blame, while others believe this is simply a problem for older or more elite athletes to deal with, as kids don’t have to worry about serious injuries.

So what is the deal?

Let’s get to the bottom of this, so we can focus on the overall objective, which is to allow kids to maximize their potential, be safe, and have a blast playing the games we all love!

My clinical and training experience tells me clearly that injuries are largely preventable, and often attributed to:

1. inadequate training, or being unprepared for the demands of the sport
2. poor training, in which the training itself causes or contributes to injury which is really a travesty.
3. Improper rest and recovery due to too little sleep, poor nutrition, or doing too much sport (think year around baseball)
4. Improper response to early warning signs of injury. This is perhaps the biggest issue. Most problems give you more than fair warning before they rear their ugly heads. Think of the young pitcher throwing across his body, stepping with the lead leg in an open position, lacking sufficient shoulder rotation and most importantly complaining of PAIN = hello shoulder and elbow growth plate damage. Or, the girls whose knees collapse inward during a squat or jump stop. That signals a high risk for a complete ACL rupture.

I can go on and on. I’m not trying to scare you – but these issues are serious and can be easily identified and corrected with trained eyes assessing the issue and designing the right intervention. Simple concept, but often ignored.

So what can we do about this? Does conditioning play a roll in preventing injuries in young athletes? Lets look at some research and expert opinion about some common issues regarding the role of youth conditioning and injury prevention:

Is there any proof that resistance training is safe for young athletes?

“There is no current evidence to support the misconceptions that children need androgens (i.e. must be post-puberty) for strength gain, or lose flexibility with training.”
- Lyle J. Micheli, MD, Boston Children’s Hospital, JAAOS, 2001

“Experimental training protocols with weights and resistance machines and with supervision and low instructor/participant ratios are relatively safe and do not negatively impact growth and maturation of pre- and early-pubertal youth.”
-Malina, Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, 2006

Are Injuries in young athletes really a big problem?

Injuries in young athletes are increasing

“ I am seeing four times as many overuse injuries in youth sports than five years ago and more kids are having surgery for chronic sports injuries.”
-Dr James Andrews, regarded as the world foremost expert of orthopedics surgery and dysfunction of the shoulder and elbow in baseball pitchers.

Overuse injuries are the most common

Nearly half of all sports injuries to middle-and high-school students, are due to overuse.
-NSCA

30% to 50% of all pediatric sports injuries are due to overuse
-SAFE Kids USA

Overuse injuries are more devastating

“Athletes who had overuse injuries lost 54% more time from training and competition than those who had acute injuries.”

“In some cases, the damage is permanent, increasing the risk that the athletes—some of them as young as 9—will suffer crippling arthritis or require extensive surgery as they get older.”
-Difiori, Physician and Sports Medicine

Is Proper conditioning the solution?

“50% of overuse injuries in children and adolescents are preventable.”
- The American College of Sports Medicine

“Most overuse injuries can be prevented with proper conditioning and training”.
- Dr. John P. Difirori, Physician and Sports Medicine, ‘99

“Young athletes need proper training for sports. They should be encouraged to train for the sport rather than expecting the sport itself to get them into shape. Many injuries can be prevented if youths follow a regular conditioning program.”
- American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons

“Cross-training in moderation throughout the year is recommended to prevent any one area of the body from becoming overworked and stressed and to help maintain overall fitness levels.”
-American Academy of Pediatrics

“Risk factors identified for overuse injuries include inflexibility, muscle imbalance,Prior injury Inadequate conditioning Anatomic malalignment, low self-esteem, Too-rapid training progression and/or inadequate rest, and incorrect sport technique”
- Difiori, Physician and Sports Medicine

Hopefully, for the sake of the safety and healthy of young athletes, it is clear now that proper conditioning really can prevent many disabling injuries. Of course, no injuries are completely preventable. But we would be ignoring the evidence and opinions of experts by not taking proactive steps shown to reduce the risk of injuries.

Trained professionals focusing on teaching athletes, not just yelling at them and pointing them from station to station, are required to ensure young athletes achieve the benefits of conditioning. Trainers who focus on teaching kids how to push to improve performance and distinguish this hard work from the unnecessary risks and warnings of injury are something every athlete should have. I’m proud to say that our team of Physical Therapists, Athletic Trainers, and Nutritionists at Spectrum Fitness Consulting has developed the skills and program required to provide such an experience for young athletes.

See for yourself by scheduling a free consultation or simply call 978-927-2065. Please call soon, as we keep our program small to provide the level of supervision that is need to do this right. Our programs generate a lot of interest, so call in advance to get the times slots that are best for you. Our Winter -Spring session starts on January 16th, and we have a few openings available. If you would like to download a registration form, you can download one here.

It’s no wonder that obesity trends are on the rise, preventable diseases running rampant, and children are succumbing to diseases and injuries at increasing rates that were previously seen only in adults. Painful conditions like low back pain have reached epidemic proportions as well.

We are being deceived all the time about what is healthy, how to relieve pain and how to get fit. The medical community, fitness community, government policies, “fitness gurus” – they are all at least partially to blame. But this wouldn’t be so if there was an underlying belief that we are all personally responsible to seek the truth. Instead we are drawn to talk shows, infomercials, fads, and reality shows to get answers, and rarely question the same old advice that fails to get results.

People actually take her seriously?

Prevention is Everywhere, Results…Not So Much!

All these devastating conditions are on the rise in spite of advances in pharmaceutical, surgical, and  imaging sciences, as well as a flourishing multi-billion dollar fitness industry. How can this be?

The Cure for Misinformation

Whether you are an exercise newbie or a fitness freak, you likely are weighed down by a healthy dose of misinformation. In fact, the more time you’ve spent in a gym or a clinic, the more you are being weighed down by misnformation about fat loss, injury prevention, rehabilitation, and performance enhancement. The reason why this country are going in the wrong direction towards improving health is because of misinformation. We are being fed irrelevant and inaccurate information.

Knowledge is the key

Researchers wanted to know the most important factor for determining long term compliance to an exercise program.  They discovered that the most important factor was…

KNOWLEDGE!

The more the subjects knew about how and why to do their exercise program, the more likely they would comply.

I would imagine the same would relate to nutrition.

Expose the Fallacies, Get the Facts

If you want to take an active role in seeking the true solution to improving your health and fitness and you believe that people should seek out the truth from credible sources, not just listen to the loudest, glitziest, and simplest fad of the week, then I can help. And if you think you know someone who has had the wool pulled over their eyes - please send this to them. (these people are easy to spot – they go to the gym, always have aches and pains, or have dozens of tapes and fitness gadgets in their home).

In effort to tell people the truth about getting healthy and fit based on research, experience, and common sense, I am hosting a seminar at the Spectrum Fitness Consulting Studio, titled, “Fitness Facts and Fallacies” on Thursday, July 21rst, from 6-7:30pm. Admission is $25 if you register after July 14th. If you register before July 14th, registration is only $15.

Here are some of the issues we address – see if you can distinguish fact from fallacy:

• Eating late causes more fat gain
• Cardio is the best way to burn fat
• Eating eggs increases cholesterol
• Resistance training machines are safer than free weights
• 60 minutes  of exercise/day most days of the week is best for health and fat loss
• Fat intake is associated with stroke and heart disease
• Strong abs prevent back injuries
• Eating small, frequent meals is best for fat loss
• Food is not addictive
• Most fitness trainers teach safe exercise
• More fat is burned at moderate intensities, known as the fat burn zone
• Rapid fat loss is less effective in the long run

Attend for Free!

If you bring another friend or family member with you, you can both attend for free! Be sure to call Kristine at 978-927-2065 or email at schedule@spectrumfit.net to reserve your spot today, as seating will be limited.

To celebrate the Fourth of July, some attend patriotic parades, others firework displays, and many go to cookouts. Me, well I chose to hang out in the ER, then the OR at Holy Family Hospital in Methuen.

Last Sunday I completely ruptured my patella tendon as well as my lateral and medial retinaculum. For those who aren’t aware, the patella tendon is the tendon (actually it is a ligament, but referred to as a tendon because of its role in knee extension) that connects your patella and quad to the tibia, or shin bone. Without it, you aren’t able to walk, stand, or straighten your knee.

So how did this happen? Well, there was this kitten stuck in a tree…ok not really. I don’t have a good story. Unfortunately, a heated game of horse enticed me to perform a dazzling running hook shot to put my athleticism on display (count the oxymorons in that sentence). As  I  planted my leg to explode into untold heights,  my foot slipped just as  I was ready for liftoff, and I felt like I had been shot in my knee. As I clutched my knee, I saw my patella was relocated up my thigh, and knew that I had ruptured my patella tendon. My leg was in extreme spasm, and my quad was pulling my knee cap further up my thigh. Fortunately, a fellow PT was at the party and he extended my knee so that the quad could relax and the patella returned to somewhat of a normal location. After a brief stay in the ER and a night at the hospital, I had surgery the next morning on the 4rth of July.

left, where the patella goes when the tendon ruptures. Right, where the patella should be

All went well, although I was disappointed that there were no burgers or beers waiting for me in the recovery room – that’s no way to celebrate the fourth. For the next few days, my time was spent in the hospital watching bad TV, recounting my lame mechanism of injury to concerned family and friends, and interacting with the amazing staff at Holy Family Hospital in Methuen. Being restricted to no leg movement and no weight bearing for 6 weeks, hopped up on narcotics, and sans laptop, I had little to do except contemplate how I would attend to all my responsibilities being laid up like this, how miserable the rehab was going to be, and how lucky I was that I have all the resources and circumstances to deal with all this. Most importantly, I realized how this injury, although extensive, pales in comparison to what many people go through every day.  And I had the opportunity to have lengthy conversations with everyone I came across in the hospital, from Doctors, nurses, aides, janitors, volunteers, administrators, and even clergy. Those conversations were a real silver lining to the whole injury storm cloud.

Perspectives From the Patient

All the while I wondered how this experience would lend perspectives and secrets to help my clients and patients improve their health. I have plenty of first hand experience with injuries and from each I have learned priceless lessons that have really helped those I treat. Only a few days out from surgery, I have already amassed several. So here are some lessons that will surely help you along your fitness journey:

1. Never take function for granted – always focus on maximizing your function. Being able to move and participate in basic daily activities, as well as high level work tasks and sports functions is probably the greatest gift we have. Few appreciate this until it is gone, even if temporarily. Requiring assistance going to the bathroom, not being able to get into a car or hold your kids sucks. When you are complaining about going to the gym or feeling lazy, remember that there are people who would give anything to run, jump, or simply do the basics we take for granted. If you have your function intact, consider it an obligation to take great care of it.
2. Injuries happen –even if you do everything right.  Sometimes, we simply can’t control what happens, especially if you play sports. Which is all the more reason why we should aim to prevent the injuries we know we can prevent, or at least significantly reduce the likelihood of experiencing, like most low back and neck pain, rotator cuff injuries, tendonopathies, ACL injuries, and stress fractures to name a few.
3. Technique is vital! It has been estimated that a healthy patella tendon can withstand up to 17.5 times your body weight prior to failure. So how could jumping cause a rupture? Well, several ways, but I suspect in my case it was at least partially related to my center of mass shifting well behind my base of support as my foot slipped forward and my body fell backwards precisely at the same time I applied force to jump. This significantly increases torque. Similarly, poor technique can dramatically change the physics of an exercise, such that a safe exercise becomes an injurious exercise
4. Don’t say “can’t” –  FIND A WAY! I have witnessed C5 quadriplegics transfer independently in and out of their wheel chairs to their bed. Far less extreme, from wrapping the upper end the end of a crutch around my foot and changing the furniture around  in my living room, I figured out how to independently get on and off my couch with a leg immobilizer, no quad intact, and no weight bearing allowed on my leg. The first time happened in the middle of the night – I had to go to the bathroom, was on the couch in the living room and didn’t want to wake up my wife and kids by yelling upstairs for help. It took me 3o minutes, but I figured it out. It never occurred to me that I could not do it. There are people far more disabled than I and navigated around greater challenges. When things seem daunting and they are important, you find a way. When it comes to your health, no matter your family crisis, work issues, or personal demons – you need to address your health – you have to FIND A WAY!
5. It is never as bad as you think. Our brains tend to catastrophize. Our thoughts are usually far  worse than reality. Opportunities to learn and great experiences usually hide amongst struggles and challenges.
6. Broken bones and leg injuries are the easier injuries to deal with compared to back and neck pain. I’ve herniated discs in my spine and had fractures and tears requiring surgery. The latter are much easier to deal with. First, you have visible damage, both via imaging and externally with a brace or cast and crutches that everyone can see. Everyone sympathizes and accommodates someone with crutches. No one debates the significance of the injury. The cause is usually well known by all involved. Even though the pain might be greater and the healing time is longer, the suffering is often less with these injuries compared to that of low back pain. Low back pain is more variable, the cause is more elusive, and the damage is not obvious or visible. Something to think about when you or someone you know is contending with low back or neck pain.
7. When things are bad with you, focus on everyone else from time to time. The day after surgery, I was bored as hell and sick of being drugged up and in the hospital. I knew my stomach wouldn’t take the morphine much longer, plus I needed to show Physical Therapy that I could walk independently with crutches and go up and down stairs in order to get back home that night. So, I stopped the IV, and periodically meandered up and down the hospital halls. Still bored and sick of telling people the same story about what happened to me, I resorted to talking to every single person I came in contact with. I had lengthy conversations with the nurses,  phlebotomists, administrators, janitors, aides, and anyone I came across. My goal was to find out as much as I could about them and their day. That was the best day since my injury. Although the pain was worse, I felt so great hearing the interesting stories and seeing the smiles on people when someone seemed really interested in knowing how they were doing. I honestly wasn’t trying to be a great guy, I was really bored. But I realized how good it felt to get outside of yourself and your problems and focus on someone else for a moment. Of course, don’t do so to your detriment, but rather as a means to simply feel  good, and make someone else smile.
8. Many people really want to help you:  If you know someone in the healthcare industry, odds are you know someone who genuinely likes to help those who are sick or hurt.  That is the same thing with the employees at Spectrum. My biggest accomplishment as a business owner is assembling a team of people who genuinely want to help people get more healthy and fit. When you need help, and there are people around you who desperately want to help you – let them.
9. Humor fixes most things: Getting hurt is serious stuff, but making someone laugh relieves a lot of tension and anxiety. A sense of humor is a great trait when times are tough. It is hard to feel pain when you are laughing!
10. Pain does not always come from mechanical damage: Much of the pain after a trauma, especially the days following, is from the chemical irritation as a consequence of inflammatory byproducts, the pressure on vascular and neural structures caused by increased volume if fluids, and the hypoxia and impaired tissue perfusion resulting from altered pressure gradients between cells and blood vessels. Also, the peripheral nervous system becomes hypersensitive, and even the central nervous system changes in response to pain. So even when a structure is mechanically stabilized, pain will often persist. That’s why intermittent movement, elevation, compression, ice, medication, and proper nutrition are some important things in managing pain.

Well, that’s about all the lessons I can think from my perspective as a recent patient. My hope is that you translate these lessons to help push you towards accomplishing your health and fitness goals, which can be equally, if not more so of a challenge as recovering from a major injury.

And when you need help, we are always here for you! Give us a call or request a consultation, and we will get you the results you deserve!

Pushups for Charity Beverly 2011  was a huge success!

We were able to raise over $2000 for the Wounded Warrior Project, providing funds and services for severely injured veterans of the armed services.

Funds are still coming in, as participants are informing their sponsors about their performances. And you can still donate now by going here, or by simply sending a check payable to the Wounded Warrior Project to our office.

Before I recap the event, I want to relay my sincere appreciation for all of the donors. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. I also want to thank the local businesses who Sponsored us:

So here’s a recap of the event:

Over 30 people were in attendance for the event. 19 were participants, and the rest were firefighters, police officers, and friends and family. A few even brought their kids and grandchildren!

The event started out with a brief presentation, where I told all in attendance  about why we are doing pushups for charity, what the Wounded Warrior Project is all about, what we do at Spectrum, and then  closed with some awesome examples of push-up performances of Spectrum clients, as well as a synopsis of last year’s event.

Next we went off to knock out some pushups.

3 Teams competed:

1. The Beverly Police Department
2. The Beverly Fire Department
3. The “Average Joes/Janes”

The Winners!

The team with the highest total pushups, and the highest pushups performed per participant in 90 seconds was…

…the Beverly Fire Department!

The Average Joes/Janes came in second, followed by the Police.

The prize for the highest individual total was Spectrum client Daniel Cavaretta, racking up 185 in 90 seconds!

Particpants received Wounded Warriort-shirts, hats, wrist bands, and Spectrum training sessions.

After prizes were awarded, we all enjoyed some great food from Not Your Average Joes, socialized, and bragged about our awesome pushup performances

Many of us were also interviewd by the Beverly Citizen – be sure to pick one up, as there will be a feature on the event in this week’s paper.

Finally, given that some blog readers have donated to members of the Average Joes/Janes for each pushup performed, here are their results:

• Tom Biggart: 59
• Rob Herron: 61
• Dave Knight: 69
• Michelle Theriault: 37
• Zane Craft: 61
• Mike Stare: 93
• Daniel Cavaretta: 185

Great job – thanks so much for your support!

www.PushupsForCharityBeverly.com

As I’m getting ready for Pushups For Charity this year, thought you might appreciate some cool stuff about pushups in general and lasts year’s event:

Ever wondered how much weight you are actually lifting when you are doing a push-up? We did an experiment in our studio and food the answer. Also, we quantified how you can determine the resistance with advanced techniques like using bands. Check it out here.

Speaking of advanced pushups techniques, see how my daughter’s helped me train last year – the pics tell the story about how well that worked! Click here.

You can see the results from last year’s push ups for charity event here.

Finally, check out the cool photo’s from last years event and the total money we raised for the Wounded Warrior Project by clicking here.

To learn more about this years event and to donate, go to www.pushupsforcharitybeverly.com – We would love to have your support!

Amongst the many myths and misconceptions about health and fitness, the one that surprises me the most is the myth that consistent and steady healthy lifestyle changes are best to optimize your health and fitness. Fitness folks and health professionals love this idea.

This sounds perfectly reasonable. However, in talking to hundreds of people about changing their fitness, this notion of slow, steady, gradual change means  boring, insufferable, unrewarding and tedious! To some, it is daunting, painful, and even impossible. I see this in the eyes of the skinny guy who wants to put on 20 pounds of muscle, the obese person who needs to lose 60 pounds of fat, and the weekend warrior that wants to return to the court without blowing out her knee.

So let me reveal one key concept that should change your approach and mindset about healthy lifestyle changes. This should be well understood by those who are super-fit, as well as those far from it. Hopefully it serves more useful that the boorish “Everything in Moderation” utterance that everyone says but no one really understands.

The concept of Cycling (not involving a bike)

Cycling generally refers to regularly changing elements of a fitness or diet program according to some predetermined schedule. It is nothing new, but mostly under utilized and under appreciated outside of elite athletics. In fact, the idea of cycling is not only effective in fitness, it is common in areas of business, education, and nature.

Cycling with Diet

Diet cycling involves varying the amount of calories or types of calories (macro-nutrients) over a certain period of time, or cycle. This is best appreciated with a specific example:

In losing weight, it is well known that lowering calories is required. It is also known that lowering calories for a long term can be problematic: metabolic and hormonal changes, energy levels, mood, and compliance rates can all decrease. This is why dieting is such a struggle. But cycling can fix this. Allowing for pre-scheduled periods of increased calories can remove the negative consequences  and risks of prolonged dieting. In addition to the proposed physiological benefits, it seems that the psychological benefits are huge as cycling can provide a welcomed break.

There are several ways to do this, like increasing calories in the moments after exercise (daily cycling), increasing calories on certain days of the week, increasing calories for only a few meals of the week, or even going several weeks on low calorie diets, followed by a couple weeks of eating higher calories.

Both psychologically and physiologically, it seems to make sense to vary our diet approach. Simply telling someone to eat less until they lose weight, then keep eating like that forever not only seems daunting, but it simply might not be ideal. Instead, most are able to wrap their heads around the idea of restricting intake for a several weeks, punctuated by a few breaks, knowing that they will have another extended break down the road. It breaks the process into chunks, which is a very well know strategy for learning and productivity that is ingrained in educational systems and business operations as well.

Again, there are many ways to to this and the approach will differ depending on the individual. I go into this in depth in our Beverly Body Balance Challenge, and we have seem some amazing results with this approach.

Research on diet cycling

There are a handful of studies on the effectiveness on diet cycling in humans. Let’s take a look at some of them briefly:

Varady et al. Short-term modified alternate-day fasting: a novel dietary strategy for weight loss and cardioprotection in obese adults — . 90 (5): 1138 — American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Participants were put on a diet in which they were instructed to eat and exercise as they normally do for one day, then eat at reduce calories to 25% of their baseline needs, or about 1200 calories for the next day. They alternated eating this way for 12 weeks. Compliance was high (89%), and weightloss and improvements in cardiovascular profiles improved. A few other studies found similar results to this;

• Halberg, N et al Effect of intermittent fasting and refeeding on insulin action in healthy men. J Appl Physiol 2005;99:2128
• Heilbronn LK, et al. . Alternate-day fasting in nonobese subjects: effects on body weight, body composition, and energy metabolism. Am J Clin Nutr 2005;81:69–73.
• Johnson JB, et al Alternate day calorie restriction improves clinical findings and reduces markers of oxidative stress and inflammation in overweight adults with moderate asthma. Free Radic Biol Med2007;42:665–74.

This is the study actually compared low calorie diets versus calorie cycling:

K V Williams, et al.  The effect of short periods of caloric restriction on weight loss and glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care, Jan ’98

One group ate 1200-1500 calories. The other group did the same, but  went to 800 calories for 5 days every 5 weeks. The calorie cycling group  achieved significantly more weight loss, and reduced A1C levels to normal compared to the control.

More research is needed, but there are some promising indicators that cycling is more effective. If we rely on experience and the fundamentals of physiology, we can also see merits to this approach.

Cycling Your Workouts

Fitting that I write about this today, as it kicks of my 7th and final week of my current workout cycle: my recovery week. Essentially, this week I do little more than warm-ups and stretching as I’m scheduled not to exercise strenuously. I’m looking forward to having a few more hours of free time this week. I feel great, because after 6 hard weeks of training, I’ve earned it. I’m on  schedule to break some personal records next week when I return to the gym and well on my way to hitting my goal weight. It is a great feeling.

Workout cycling usually occurs over weeks to months, with mini cycles in between. Fitness experts commonly refer to exercise cycling as periodization. There are many forms and variations of periodization, with books devoted to this topic along. For the purposes of this post, it is simply best to appreciate that cycling your workouts between working on different goals or planned periods of training and resting is vital. Research is very clear on the benefits of cycling your workouts. Let me provide an example of using workout cycling in a common scenario – You are trying to lose fat, but are very out of shape and have multiple joint problems. Here’s how to apply cycling:

• cycle 1: Learning, assess, and correct: Simply put, the only focus here is on learning proper movement technique, and identify and correct mobility/motor skill impairments. The focus is not on how many calories are burned, because 1. These people aren’t in shape enough to work hard enough to burn many calories, 2. The joints aren’t ready to handle the stress, 3. They don’t know how to perform the exercises well enough to balance risk reward of significant calorie burning exercise.

• cycle 2: Intensify: now, the focus is maintaining proper technique while increasing intensity – approaching and reaching a significant calorie burn level.

• cycle 3: Learn: intensity comes down again, as we learn new movements that build upon new abilities. This opens the door to more diverse exercise options, increasing effectiveness, compliance and interest. this phase is shorter than the first learning phase. This also allows for some extra recovery.

• Cycle 4: intensify with the new program

This process essentially repeats, but can be far more variable and complex, depending on someone’s needs.

Final comments on diet and exercise cycling

• Cycling your diet and exercise is more effective, and more fun – or at least tolerable. It might appear more complex, but it is really quite simple. The complex part is knowing what is right for you, and setting up the plan. That is certainly our expertise at Spectrum. The results and the logic of the plan make it easier to follow.

• The lack of reward perceived from this notion of “perpetual long term lifestyle change” is usually why some refer to themselves as “unmotivated”. A huge part of increasing  motivation is to achieve multiple victories. Telling someone to make changes or peruse training with no reprieve in sight can backfire in many ways. Instead of amassing victories, they experience defeat.  For too many in the fitness game, victories are sparse. Cycling gives you multiple victories.

• cycling workouts and diet needs to follow a logical plan, not haphazard. Muscle confusion, training chaos, or tricking the body concepts are bogus concepts, and often have negative consequences. Hang out in the PT clinic for a week with me and you’ll see why.

• Cycling needs to be individualized. If you are on a very low cal diet while performing metabolic circuits, long distance runs, and intervals most days of the week,you will crash and burn.

• Lifestyle habits take time. Some of us need to give up our morning latte and make our workouts more consistent. Others, need to completely overhaul  sleep and diet habits, while starting to exercise. From professional athletes to the sedentary, we all function better when cycling our training and diet.

• Knowing when to push and when to coast might be the best way for you to optimize your health.

After 6 weeks of pushing, I’m looking forward to enjoying “the coast” for a week.

Let us know if you need help with cycling your diet and fitness routine.

It’s inevitable that we will get a cold or some sort of sickness, especially this time of year. In addition to the uncomfortable  symptoms, the stress and  guilt about skipping a workout makes you feel worse.  This is a real dilemma, especially for those who:

• are preparing for an event (like a 10 k charity race)
• have finally found their groove with their training routine
• Really need to lose fat
• Simply don’t feel right mentally if they don’t exercise

So what do we do? Take time off, risk getting out of shape and struggling to regain fitness- again? Suck it up and exercise – which we know helps so many aspects of health? What about the  claims that exercise increases immunity, while other claims say that it does the opposite? Some say to feed a cold, but that hurts our fat loss goals, right? What about the experts that claim it’s ok to exercise if the symptoms are above the neck? Sounds confusing, huh?

Let’s look at the evidence, and I’ll give my perspective from my experience with this issue.

Exercise Improves Immunity

Strong evidence suggests that those who exercise regularly have reduced incidence of sickness compared to those who do not. Rossi and friends wrote a great review about this in the December 2010 Strength and Conditioning Journal.  So we definitely know that exercisers have a better immune function. However, this doesn’t necessarily tell us what to do when we are sick, nor does that tell us what type of exercise (or if that matters) helps improve immunity. So let’s move on for more clarification

Exercise Impairs Immunity Too! Why the type of exercise  matters

Research also shows that certain types of exercise actually increase your risk of infection. Most researchers suggest that moderate exercise is best for improving immune function. Again, that doesn’t really answer what to do about exercising when you DO have a cold in the short term .. we’ll get to that in a minute. Before we move on, it is vital to address what I think is a big problem in exercise research in general – that is the use of the term intensity. This is very important.

Typically, intensity refers to how hard something is. But this is not accurate in the world of physiology. Intensity instead is best defined as the percentage of one’s maximum relative  the physical system in question. For example, if your maximum bench press is 100 pounds, then benching with 90 pounds is 90% of your maximum, which would be characterized as high intensity strength training. However, doing 2 sets of bench presses twice a week could not by any definition be characterized as high intensity aerobic and even anaerobic energy system training.

The studies that looked at the correlation between high intensity exercise and decrease immunity were mostly looking at endurance athletes, or athletes participating in sports training over 90 minutes a day, 6 days a week. In this case, it was really high frequency and high volume training at a moderate to high aerobic intensity (gauged by % VO2 max).

This means that endurance athletes training for triathlons, and some high-school through pro sport athletes will  be more susceptible to infections and colds.  Of course, many other factors like stress, nutrition, and environment (close proximity to multiple other athletes) has a huge effect, so it is difficult to say that training by itself is the culprit.

For most of us, it is more common to train 3-4 times a week, each session lasting less that 60 minutes. This falls more in line with the moderate exercise groups than tend to have enhanced immune function.

We need to turn our attention to another issue about immunity – nutrition

Will your diet help you get over or prevent a cold?

I addressed this issue a bit in my blog about zinc  here. There is some evidence that mega doses of vitamin C can reduce the duration of cold symptoms (form 10 days to 7 days), but the evidence is weak. It does seem that diet can enhance immune function however.

Studies show that protein deficiency is linked to reduced immunity. It seems that they defined deficiency as less than .36 grams per pound body weight, which is really really low. This is all relative, as exercising adults (especially endurance athletes), older people, and adolescents need more protein. Some sources suggest as much as 1 gram or more per pound body weight. Suffice to say that adequate protein is important.

The same generality can be said about fat. Levels less that 20-30% of total caloric intake in fat lead to insufficient essential fatty acids, which some studies link to immune function as well. Again, no one following a sound diet is getting less than that, so it’s really not an issue, except for those who are still following the misinformation of the low fat fad. They might also still have giant bangs, love Duran Duran, rock some awesome leg warmers and watch re-runs of Mork and Mindy on their beta tapes:)

Some great research shows that those who do exercise for bouts longer than 90 minutes can blunt the immunosuppression of exercise by consuming a carbohydrate and protein drink before, during, and after exercise. For example,  140lb triathlete training 90 minutes a day should consume a 12-16 drink of 38g carbs, 9 g protein about 15 minutes prior, then sip on a similar solution during the workout, and have a 60g carb, 15 g protein drink after. I get into these pre-post workout calculations more in the nutrition guide that all of our clients have.

So unless you are working out for very long durations and frequencies, simply following a sound nutrition program will optimize your immune function.

Let’s address another important notion about diet and immune function.

Do Low Calorie Diets and rapid weight loss increase risks for infections?

I’ve heard some physicians and nutritionist say that rapid fat loss can reduce immune function. Not sure why, because there isn’t a shred of evidence that suggests this. In fact, some research shows just the opposite.

The Effects of Weight Loss and Gastric Banding on the Innate and Adaptive Immune System in Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes A. Viardot^*, R. V. Lord, and K. Samaras The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, doi:10.1210/jc.2009-2371

Research had participants follow 1000-1600 calorie diets. Then the subjects had lap band procedures (which was weird because they were already losing weight …). Pro-inflammatory markers declined dramatically as they lost weight, which the authors concluded was a sign of improved immune function (not to mention metabolic and cardiac function). Here’s where I think people got confused: the finding of reduced inflammatory cells may make people think that this was a decrease in immune function. However, immune function is based on a balance between normal elevation of immune cells to fend off attacks (a good thing), versus chronically elevated levels of immune cells (which is a bad thing). So rapid fat loss lowered the activity of the chronically elevated immune cells back to normal, which improved immune function rather them less at risk for infection.

Why do I feel some in the health and medical field just don’t want people to get rapid fat loss in spite of it’s dramatic effects?

My general rules of thumb: to exercise or not when sick

There is a rule of thumb in the medical community that goes like this:

If you have symptoms above the neck, exercise is fine.

If you have symptoms below the neck, stop and rest

If you have a fever, don’t exercise.

This is ok, but there are some problems. So I’m going to create my own rules that I think more accurately reflects the research and experience from someone that exercises and prescribes routine for a living:

1. If you have a fever, don’t exercise. Rest – a lot. Don’t stretch. Don’t stay home and work from your laptop in bed or answer emails. Simply rest or you will be sick longer.

2. If you have GI symptoms – Well, I don’t think I need to tell you what to do about that, so I’ll move on.

3. For other symptoms, I’ll break it down based on type of exercise and personality type:

Resistance training: low to high intensity,  low volume (1-2 sets per exercise, 3-6 exercises) low frequency (1-3 sessions) low duration (20-40 minutes) low rest periods (2-4 minutes between sets)

Corrective exercises: definitely fine

Dynamic warm-up: Definitely fine

Energy system training: Moderate intensity (under 80% max simply rated at less that an 8 out of 10 – ten being an all out maximum), low duration,  moderate frequency (3-4 times a week).

Beginners/fat loss: Focus on rest, diet, corrective exercise, dynamic warm-ups, and resistance training as above. I tend to give more encouragement for these clients to exercise when they are symptomatic (again, not if they have fevers). Mostly because their exercise habit is fragile, and also they aren’t capable of exercising at the intensities that cause over training and immune compromise.

You won’t burn a bunch of calories now, so this is not the time to push to new limits. But this might be the time to keep the routine of your new and perhaps fragile fitness commitment intact. At this stage, the focus is on learning the routine via proper technique anyways, and you can always push the sets and reps later. If symptoms allow, don’t back off how much weight you use. But cut out some sets, allow plenty of rest between sets. Circuit training and complexes may need to be backed down a bit. Intervals can be tolerated very well, but your work phase will not be nearly as intense.

Endurance athletes: I like them to take time off completely. they tend to be overworked and over trained, and the endorphin high of training is too tempting to trust them to not chase it. However, if they must train (which i totally get – stress release, etc), again I suggest they focus on corrective exercise and some resistance training. Most will lose it mentally if they don’t do some aerobics, so they are advised to do so with very low intensity 20-30 minute walks or rides. Best to do this inside if they have chest congestion and it is very cold out, as this can irritate the respiratory tract.

Strength athletes: Pretty much the same as the beginner/fat loss people, and there is somewhat of a mental issue here as well – but not like with the endurance athletes. The big difference is that training with weights at 70% of their max can still be tough to handle if they have sinus issues because the strength capacities are so high proportionate to others. Just because you can bench 300 pounds doesn’t mean your sinus cavities are 300% stronger that when you could only bench 150lbs!. It also depends on positions. For example, bench press and bent over rows may make your head feel like exploding. But lunges and chins might be fine because you are upright. On the other hand, if you have chest symptoms you’ll be fine as long as you stay away from complexes, circuits, high reps, and low rests which tax the respiratory system too much.

I hope this gives you some clarity about a complex topic. Remember that their is no magic solution or quick fix for colds and viruses, beyond plenty of rest and good nutrition.  Exercise can still be part of the short term plan when you are sick, and it is certainly the best bet for long term immune function.

You have probably heard of the shoes that claim to tone your butt just by walking,  amongst other things (like improved circulation, greater fat loss,   strengthening of your calves,  hamstrings,  and low back). It is hard not to see commercials or magazines with the ads of scantly glad women with great buns donning a pair of these ridiculous looking shoes. The claim is that you simply walk with these shoes, and the above results are yours.

The distinctive feature of the shoe design is that they have a rocker bottom which alters gait and provides instability.

The many ads of scantly glad women with great buns donning a pair of these ridiculous looking shoes and claims of research validating their effectiveness are pasted all over magazines targeting women, and TV commercials. Hall of fame quarterback Joe Montana endorses them,  as do several other celebrities.

Let’s look at the research and some common sense to see if this is legit.

THE PHYSIOLOGIC AND ELECTROMYOGRAPHIC RESPONSES TO WALKING IN REGULAR ATHLETIC SHOES VERSUS “FITNESS SHOES”,Porcari, Ph.D., et al. * American Council on Exercise (* amongst the “et al  was Stephanie Tepper, who submitted this research study as part of her masters thesis at Univ. Wisconsin-Lacrosse. The lead author often takes credit and is listed first because they head the department, but it seems like Stephanie did most of the work – just trying to give credit where credit is due).

The researchers looked at the most common “fitness shoes”:  Skechers Shape Ups, MBT, and Reebok Easy Tone  shoes, and compared them with standard flat shoes (New Balance). The study was very well designed. They concluded that there was absolutely no difference in muscles activated, energy spent, calories burned, or any metric to substantiate these claims.

The research shows clearly that this concept of a shoe design to increase fitness, like most fitness fads, is a load of crap. In spite of their convincing marketing campaigns, these shoes do not do what they claim. Unfortunately, they do rob you of $100-$250 dollars, look silly, deceive you, and may increase your risk of injuries. Teppers study revealed that some subjects excessively pronated while walking in the “fitness shoes”. Over pronation has been linked to foot and knee pain.

So where did these companies get their data about these false claims? Skechers sites independent research (which means they performed heavily bias and poorly designed experiencements to boost their claims), and will not publish their research.  Accordingly, I suggest the name be changed to Sketchys.

Even if their claims of increased muscle activation of the glutes by 40% via walking with heir shoes  were true, who cares? This does not mean that you will get stronger or lose more fat. It is like saying using a broom to clear a foot of snow off my driveway is 40% more effective than using my hands – therefore, we should all use brooms to deal with snow accumulation!

These companies have made millions deceiving people. This happens all to often. The formula is well established: find a problem people desperately want solved, provide them a simple and easy solution, and use celebrity media, and unscrupulous claims that most won’t critique to appear legit.

People are easy targets for this junk because we so desperately want to feel better and look better. Please don’t let fall for this stuff, and encourage your friends and family to steer clear from this garbage. The road to improving fitness, reducing pain, and looking and feeling better is full of enough challenges. No need to add the ill feelings of deceit and failure on account of falling for these schemes to the challenge.

Hey, if the Kardashians endorse it, it must be legit!

Instead, encourage them to read, investigate, and seek legitimate solutions for proper health and fitness. Hopefully my newsletters and blogs will continue to serve as your resource for the fitness truth.

Speaking of, be sure to sign up for my new print newsletter by clicking here. Our first edition goes out on Monday, and we will be sending them monthly, full of recipes, practical health and fitness solutions, humor, and special offers.

Also, check out this article to learn the truth about working the glutes and here to see some more videos of a great glute exercise.

The more experiences I accumulate in the fitness industry, the more I’m aware of the rampant confusion about fat loss. Many conflicting opinions are out there but few are credible, however.

Accordingly, it would be refreshing to see some evidence about what really works for fat loss, without the hype. That’s where quality research can help. Here are some recent  research studies I’ve found that describe specific strategies for fat loss. Not surprisingly, what you see below are suggestions and strategies we provide that help our clients experience dramatic fat loss.

Insufficient Sleep Undermines Dietary Efforts to Reduce Adiposity  Nedeltcheva, A.  et al  Annals of Internal Medicine October 5, 2010 vol. 153 no. 7 435-441

This study involved 2 groups on the same diet and activity program for weight loss. One group was able to sleep 8.5 hours, the other 5.5 hours. The group who was restricted to 5.5 hours lost less fat and more muscle. Participants who were restricted to less sleep also felt hungrier, although the intake of food was the same as the other sleep group.

These findings are not too surprising. Impaired sleep has found to affect hormones related to hunger and metabolism. Some studies indicate that our body switches to preferring carbohydrate and protein sources for energy instead of fat.  Clearly proper sleep is critical if fat loss is a goal.

The Metabolic Costs of Reciprocal Supersets vs. Traditional Resistance Exercise in Young Recreationally Active Adults. Kelleher et al. JSCR 2010 Mar 17

When people perform resistance training, they traditionally perform a few sets of an exercise, then move on to perform a few more sets of another exercise, and so on. Another method of resistance training involves performing a set of one exercise, resting briefly, then performing a set of another exercise, rest, and return to perform a set of  the first exercise and so on. This is referred to as an alternating or reciprocal set method, and it it the most common method of training we use with our clients at Spectrum for a variety of reasons.

This study compared the energy expenditure of traditions sets to alternate sets. They found that the alternate set group burned more calories per minute than the traditional set group. The study also showed that the alternate set group had a higher EPOC (excess post exercise oxygen consumption), which means they burned more calories after exercising.

No wonder why this works so well for our clients!

So. how do you design an exercise program that uses alternate sets? There are many options, and which is best depends on a host of individual factors. Here are just a few things to consider, and some options.

The total body Alternate set workout:

a1 Squat

A2 Pull Downs

B1 Lunges

B2 Pushups

C1 Inverted Rows

C2 Side planks

In the example above, we alternate sets with a pair of exercises that are not related from a muscular involvement perspective.  For example, although squats and pull downs are metabolically challenging, the muscular stress in one exercise focuses on the legs, while the other focuses on the back muscles. While performing the pull downs, the leg muscles are recovering, allowing them to produce high intensity effort for the next set. However, the metabolic stress remains high, thereby maintaining a high degree of caloric expenditure. Furthermore, this is a very time-efficient strategy, as more work can be done in less time.

Here is an example of a pairing that can be a mistake, especially in those who are strong and using significant resistance:

A1 Walking lunges with dumbbells

A2 Lat Pull downs

This can be a problem because the grip challenge of holding the dumbbells with lunges can interfere with gripping the bar on pull downs, thereby reducing the intensity of the pull downs.

Finally, this is an example of a alternate set routine with circuits – which combines two very effective fat loss techniques:

A1 Goblet squat

A2 Pull downs

A3 Step up and thrust

A4 Push ups

A5 Lunge and row

A6 Ball walk outs

In this case, you perform one set of an exercise, then move on to the next exercise, then the next exercise and so on completing one set of each exercise for a total of 6 exercises. This is one circuit. After a period of rest, you move on to complete another circuit. This is a great strategy for those who have mastered some of the basic exercises and are strong enough to maintain proper technique with minimal cuing under significant fatigue. Waring: a huge mistake is to introduce new exercises of perform circuits if you have yet to master the exercises included in the circuit. Fatigue will magnify poor technique, and injuries usually ensue.

To sum this up, to maximize fat loss, it is clear that adequate sleep and alternate sets with resistance training are critical factors. Designing proper alternate set routines takes creativity and time to learn proper technique, and can be a very powerful and time efficient option for fat loss.