Give Me Strength

Friends Don't Let Friends Hold onto the Treadmill

2012-02-26T12:07:00.003-08:00

As someone who has more than a glancing familiarity with the gym, the most frequent question I'm asked is "Are the calorie counts on cardio machines accurate?"

The short answer is, not really.

But you can make them a bit more accurate. If you just hop on and press "manual" or "quick start," you will get the default calorie count, which is generally set for a 150-pound 35-year-old male. If your are female, you will burn fewer calories. If you are older you will burn fewer calories. If you weigh more, you will burn more calories. The calorie readouts are based on equations, so if you input your own weight, age, and gender, the count will be a bit more accurate, but not totally accurate, because everyone's level of fitness is different. If I jump on a treadmill and run, I'm going to burn fewer calories than a novice runner because my body is trained for running. My movements are more efficient and my heart rate is going to be lower.

The best way however, to get an inaccurate calorie readout is to hold onto the handles of the treadmill or Stairmaster. I see people all the time just flat out draped over the stepmill, resting probably 25 percent of their bodyweight on it. This is wrong. Don't do it. For one thing, it burns fewer calories. For another, you could be using your core to stabilize you and thus working those muscles. And finally, it makes you feel tireder than if you were standing tall and striding proudly.

If you're serious about getting an accurate estimate of the calories you're burning, invest in a heart rate monitor. When you program it with your weight and age, it will figure out how any calories you're burning based on your actual heart rate.

The Government Thinks I'm Fat

2012-02-19T19:09:00.000-08:00

Well, okay, that may not be quite accurate.

Actually, the government thinks I eat too much fat. It would prefer that I keep my olive oil consumption to 5 teaspoons per day. Which is not really possible for this Mediterranean diet follower. The government also hates my sodium intake.

How, you may ask, is the government privy to the particulars of my diet?

It's my own fault. When I gain a little weight, I like to track my calories for a few days. It helps me be more mindful about what I'm eating. But I'm fickle about where I track them. I've tried Calorie Count, Fit Day, LoseIt, and now, the USDA's MyPlate.gov site.

Each have their strengths and weaknesses. The USDA site is best for macronutrient management--if you believe in the current standard nutrition advice, MyPlate will help you figure out whether you're eating enough whole grains, fruits, protein, etc.

You can enter physical activity into another part of the site and you can set personalized goals for weight management, intake of various nutrients and macronutrients, or minutes of physical activity. You can also generate historical reports for days or weeks to see if your nutrient intake overall is satisfactory.

All of the sites have their drawbacks. The MyPlate site is really bad at estimating calories burned in exercise--even though I entered my weight, age, and gender (which is what calorie burn is dependent on), the site consistently says I've burned about 50 percent more calories than I have at any given exercise. The other problem with MyPlate is that the database does not have everything I eat in there (none do, of course), but weirdly you can't actually add foods to the database yourself, like you can with most other calorie trackers. Instead, you have to pick out something roughly equivalent in calories, protein, carbs, and fat. That makes me crazy. If I'm going through the trouble of tracking my calories, I want to be as precise as possible.

The nice thing about the USDA site is that it's easy to use and nice to look at. Don't underestimate the power of good design. Calorie Count is really the right the site for me to be using--the database is huge. But it's butt-ugly and cumbersome to use, which why I flit ficklely from site to site.

Do you count your calories? If so, what do you use? And is it more fun to do it on a smart phone?

325 Lunges

2012-02-16T00:22:00.001-08:00

So here's what happens when you get two personal trainers trapped in desk jobs for eight hours a day talking to people on the phone about the health risks of a sedentary lifestyle and watching their asses grow bigger (Well, mine. Can't speak for my co-worker's): Someone decides that doing 300 lunges is a good way to spend our half-hour lunch break.

So once a week for the past three weeks, we've been doing sets of 50 lunges every Wednesday. Today we did 5 sets of 50 plus one set of 75 (we're adding reps each week with the eventual goal of getting to ... wait for it ... 600 lunges).

The first week lowering myself into a chair was sheer torture for close to a week afterward. When I went running it felt like someone was whacking my butt with a two-by-four with every step.

The second week, I had mild soreness for a day or two. This week I don't expect much soreness at all, which just goes to show you, the body can adapt to a lot in a very short period of time.

If anyone wants to join us, we'll be on the Southwest waterfront every Wednesday at 12:30.

I Heart Carbs

2012-02-13T20:44:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been in a quandary about what to eat. I was gaining weight and it seemed that wherever I was, I couldn't avoid hearing/reading about the Paleo diet.

Paleo dieters eat as they perceive our ancient ancestors did. They don't eat any grains (because paleo people hunted and gathered their food; they didn't grow it). Paleo dieters eat mostly meat and vegetables. They maintain that since that is what we evolved to eat, it is the healthiest diet. Never mind that most paleolithic people died of disease, starvation, or predation before the could experience the kind of lifestyle illness we suffer from today.

The crazy thing is, despite the fact that they eat lots of saturated fat, eating Paleo, at least anecdotally, seems to work both as a weight loss tool and as a way to improve cholesterol. And, as I said, hearing the diet seems inescapable. Sadly, Paleo dieters (like some on the other extreme of the meat eating-non-meat-eating spectrum) put forth their theories in a way that comes across as "My diet is perfect; your diet causes premature death."

At work, I used to sit one cube away from a low-carber. "Wheat causes inflammation," she'd tell another co-worker who sprained her ankle, "you should avoid it until you are healed up."

"Don't peddle your Pale-dieter theories here," I'd shout over my cube wall at her.

Nearly every nutrition website I read has some pushy Paleo person haunting the comments section, extolling the virtues of giving up grains and letting us all know that we're in for some type 2 diabetes if we keep eating that oatmeal for breakfast.

So I started cutting down on my own carb consumption. First I threw out sugar for awhile (there are really good reasons to minimize sugar in your life, whether you believe in low-carb dieting or not). Then I tried to avoid wheat and other whole grains, replacing them with salads, nonfat yogurt, and cans of tuna.

Meanwhile, I was having some trouble with my running. I would run a mile or so, then have to walk for awhile. I would just run out of energy.

Then, on Friday, I had had a bad day and decided to drown my sorrows in mashed potatoes. The next day I ended up eating about a ton of museli throughout the day. And when I went for a run that afternoon, I felt like a million bucks. I powered out a five mile run with two serious climbs in it and didn't have to walk at all.

The moral of the story is, pay attention to your body and my brain. I've taken Sports Nutrition classes for goodness sake--I know that carbs are the body's preferred fuel for endurance activities like distance running.

My diet could definitely use some improvement, but it seems like cutting out whole grains and potatoes is the wrong way to go about it--at least if I plan to do any productive exercise.

Squish!

2011-11-07T21:04:00.000-08:00

I love the smell of new fitness gear in the morning.

Last week I started a new early boot camp--7:30 a.m. on Sunday--and found out that apparently that's the very hour that the stealers are lurking around, snatching exercise equipment. Because when we came down the stairs after our last round of Mt. Tabor, the little five pound dumbbells that I'd stashed at the foot of the stairs were gone. But since I had actually gotten them for free, it was not an epic tragedy.

Instead it was an opportunity to invest in a piece of equipment I had wanted for a long time--a medicine ball.

The one I chose was a petite 8-pounder, filled with sand and covered with rubber. It irresistible--heavy for it's size and squishy. Unlike a firm medicine ball, running with it is not pure torture.

Which is a good thing, since I ended up running with it quite a bit this past Sunday when it got its try out during two back-to-back boot camps.
,
We used it for medicine ball chops, tricep extensions. squat-to-toss, and just plain games of catch. And when we did our loops (up the 200+ stairs of Tabor, jog around the top, and back down the path on the backside), either me or some participant was carrying it since I wasn't going to take a chance someone would steal it.

Shoes Can't Give You a Shapely Ass--It's What You Do While You're Wearing Them

2011-09-30T22:52:00.000-07:00

The Federal Trade Commission has disciplined Reebok for saying that their EasyTone shoes could "shape a behind 28 percent better" than regular athletic shoes. Turns out the research they based their claim on was totally bogus.

This is no surprise. Longtime readers know how skeptical I am of anything that claims to get you in shape without you having to actually work at it. Reebok sold a lot of $100 pairs of EasyTones. Mostly to EasyMarks.

Rehabbing and the Fear of Fat

2011-09-09T06:41:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting at the kitchen table with my feet on a bag of frozen green beans (we were out of peas). I ran 17 miles this week in three days (not each day--9.0, 4.1 and 4.3.) This is an achievement. I have been struggling all summer with swollen painful feet that I'm assuming are caused by plantar fasciitis.

I've tried a lot of cures, from digging/rubbing a golf ball into the afflicted area to buying more padded running shoes to Dr. Scholls gel pads. Nothing really helped. But recently, someone made a casual comment about arch supports and a light went off. I had flat feet as a child and wore corrective shoes. Sage wore over the counter shoe inserts for foot pain last basketball season. Maybe my problem had something to do with fallen arches. So I put her "Superfeet" inserts into my running shoes, and my feet started to feel better.

My current running protocol starts like this: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, up at 5:15 a.m. I've cleverly put on clean running clothes to sleep in, so I'm already dressed. Dry-swallow 750 mg of ibuprofen, put on running shoes with inserts tucked inside, and head out for 45-50 minutes of jogging. When I get home, I ice my dogs before climbing into the shower and getting ready for work.

Crazy, I know. Why am I so obsessed that I risk injury and sleep deprivation just to get a run in? Well, it's like this. As I've written about here before, the odds of keeping lost weight off for five years are not good. Only about 17 percent of people keep a 10 percent weight loss off for a year. I know that I have trouble restricting my eating, so I need to be very active to maintain my 40 pound weight loss.

As most everybody who knows me knows, lately I've been freaking out because of my desk job. I love my work (at a corporate wellness company) and I love my co-workers. But I hate sitting all day every day. I have made some modifications (stability ball as a chair, creating a part-time stand-up desk). But I know that if I don't get at least four hours of cardio in per week, I'm a goner. Hence the 5:30 a.m. jogs on broke-ass feet.

I'm not sure what will happen this winter when it starts to rain. But I've decided to just relax into my current workout and take it a week at a time.

Woody Allen Was Wrong

2011-08-16T23:49:00.000-07:00

In Annie Hall Woody Allen's character Alvy Singer notes that " Everything our parents said was good is bad. Sun, milk, red meat... college." And in the 1970s, we thought that was true. For me, however, all of those things actually are good. Given that I live in the Pacific Northwest, spending time in the summer sun is an important way to stock up on vitamin D--low levels of which have been linked to cardiovascular disease. Milk's easy to defend. Non-fat milk has protein, calcium, and just enough carbs to make it one of my favorite post-workout drinks (whirred in the blender with a frozen banana and some cocoa powder of course). Red meat? I could go for a nice, lean buffalo burger right now.

Which brings us to college.

I graduated on Saturday with a Bachelor of Science degree. Ironically, it was 30 years exactly after I graduated high school, so that was amusing. I'm pretty grateful that I was able to take two and a half years out of my life and get this degree. Even though I often complained bitterly, it was a privilege to be able to wake up every day and be immersed in thinking and reading and studying.

College also gave me something very important aside from career training and a degree. When I entered PSU, I was a bit beaten down. The previous few years had not been kind to me careerwise (or, some might argue, in other respects. But I'm not going there). The process of earning my degree helped me get my confidence back. The path to excelling at college is very visible when you have the perspective that middle-aged adulthood gives: Show up for all your classes. Read the syllabus. Study for tests. Work up a passion for what you're learning. Because it was easy to see how to do well, I did well. Gradually, I began to rebuild a sense of self-esteem about my abilities. It didn't hurt that I was also getting stronger and fitter physically.

PSU's gym was where I first got my hands on personal training clients. What a high to be able to earn money while helping others find the fun in fitness.

And perhaps most importantly, college provided me with a community of people who are as in love with exercise, health, and wellness as I am--I made what I hope are lifelong friends at PSU.

So, you see, Woody, college ended up being the ultimate good thing for me. In fact, I might have to change your quote to "Everything the hippies said was good is bad. Sprouts (cuz of salmonella), carob, dropping out of college, communes ...."

Last Paper of My Undergrad Career

2011-07-28T23:09:00.000-07:00

Here's the last paper I will write as an undergrad. It is for my class on the physiology of aging. Please excuse any typos, bad grammar, or stylistic weirdness. I finished it on Tuesday at about 1 a.m and had to be up to train my 6 a.m. client, so the last part is prolly a little disjointed.

But enough with the prefacing! (Let me know what you think, and I'll disclose what the grade is when the professor hands them back in the next week or so.)

Vigorous vs. Moderate Activity in the Elderly

Don't Let Granny Lift Weights that Weigh Less than Her Purse

The American College of Sports Medicine asserts that “exercise is medicine.” If that is true, can one overdose on it?

For many years, it had been thought that moderate activity is as good as vigorous activity for reducing risks brought on by “lifestyle diseases”. People were advised that walking for 20 minutes three times per week was all that was necessary to keep them healthy. Older adults, especially, were not encouraged to perform vigorous exercise. As recently as 1992, the journal American Family Physician in an article on “Promoting and Prescribing Exercise for the Elderly” noted that “...sedentary patients should begin at a very low level and gradually progress to a goal of moderate activity” (emphasis mine) (Nied & Franklin, 2002, p. 421) .

Perhaps this is because hard exercise is, well, hard. It hurts. As Bruce Grierson puts it in a New York Times Magazine article on 90-something track star Olga Kotelko (2010), “Exactly how exercise affects older people is complicated. On one level, exercise is a flat-out insult to the body. Downhill running tears quadriceps muscles as reliably as an injection of snake venom. All kinds of free radicals and other toxins are let loose.”

And there is some evidence that, at least for some markers of disease, moderate walking can be as protective as more vigorous exercise. Risk of cardiovascular disease, for instance, seems to decrease

almost as much with moderate exercise as it does with more vigorous exercise as reported in 'Walking Compared with Vigorous Exercise for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Events in Women.” (Manson et al, 2002). The study concluded “Although vigorous exercise should not be discouraged ... our results indicate that moderate-intensity exercise confers substantial health benefits for post-menopausal women.” (p. 724) However, the authors also observed that there was a strong dose-response gradient between the physical activity level and the reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. (p. 723). In fact, the women in the study who had the best outcomes were those who did both moderate walking and more vigorous exercise.

But while heart disease and stroke are still widespread and potent enough to number among the top five causes of death in the U.S. (CDC, 2008) , cardiovascular disease is not the only challenge to the health of the elderly. Increasingly metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors that, when they occur together, increase the likelihood of coronary artery disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. Two of the most important risk factors for metabolic syndrome are excess fat around the midsection and insulin resistance.

Studies in middle-aged adults have shown that high-intensity exercise is beneficial in reducing abdominal fat. Irving (2009) found that compared to low-intensity training, high-intensity exercise training “significantly reduced total abdominal fat, abdominal subcutaneous fat, and abdominal visceral fat.” (p. 1863). And, indeed, with regard to body composition, it appears that older adults react the same way to high-intensity exercise as other adults. In a study that looked at high-intensity exercise in men and women aged 65-90 years, the researchers split the participants into three groups. The control group did nothing. The low-intensity group exercised at 50 percent of their VO_2PEAK; the high-intensity group at 75 percent of their VO_2PEAK. Although both groups were standardized to work off 1,000 calories a week in exercise, only the high-intensity group enjoyed decreased levels of abdominal visceral fat. (Coker, 2009)

Despite the benefits of high-intensity endurance exercise, trainers are often loath to prescribe it for their elderly clients. Perhaps this is due to the fear of injury. A 1991 study, however, looked at high-intensity treadmill incline walk training and incidence of injury and noted that while injuries did occur, they seemed to be more related to fast walking than incline or intensity. (Carroll, 1991)

The benefits of high-intensity vs. moderate training seem to be even more pronounced as we move from endurance training to strength training. Human aging is associated with losses in lean muscle tissue, especially in type II fast-twitch fibers. Losing muscle mass leads to a changed body composition with a lower percentage of muscle and a higher percentage of fat. Therefore, holding on to muscle as we age is crucial (as is starting in the aging process with a healthy body composition that includes a high percentage of lean muscle mass).

In a study of previously untrained men 60-75 years old who underwent an 18-week strength training program featuring high-intensity lower-body weight training, the subjects derived many benefits from this high-intensity work, including significant gains in strength and concomitant decreases in percent body fat. The authors note that “Although recommendations of exercise training intensity and duration for aging subjects have been, for the most part, quite conservative, it is clear that not only is it possible for elderly people to tolerate resistance training of high intensity ... but that a regiment of this type may be necessary to elicit optimal physiological responses in this age group.” (emphasis mine) (Hagerman, 2000, p. 336)

In fact, the benefits of high-intensity strength training and aging are not limited to the young-old. A study of frail nonagenarians subjected to high-intensity quadriceps training developed increased muscle mass and increased strength. (Fiatarone, 1990)

But aging successfully doesn't just mean maintaining the correct body composition. The elderly often struggle with activities of daily living, whether it's putting a bag of cat food into their grocery carts or hustling for the bus. In addition, successful aging also requires maintaining cognitive function as well as positive emotions. High-intensity exercise can help with that, too. When Spanish researchers gave 62 women older than 65 a high-intensity strength traiining regimen to follow five days a week for five months, they not only increased their strength considerably (and lowered their resting heart rate), they also gained in cognative ability, reduced their anxiety, increased their internal locus of control (especially important in the elderly, who may feel others are controlling their lives), and gained social resources. In fact, the subject's quality of life was not even lowered by training fatigue or muscle soreness.(Cancela Carral, 2007, 544)

Conclusions

As the population that is in middle-aged now (and struggling with the many health challenges that come with the greater levels of obesity prevalent in the population) ages into senior-hood, society will continue to feel the burden of a population that is skeptical of vigorous physical activity.

Increasingly, researchers are finding that, when it comes to exercise, less isn't more. In many of the studies examined for this assignment, benefits of exercise rose on a curve that was twinned with the intensity, duration, or volume of exercise.

Health officials have long been tentative in their recommendations for exercise. Maybe that's because they believed if people know that exercise should be somewhat difficult in order to make gains, potential exercisers would be scared off of exercise before they even started. Yes, three or four half-hour walks a week is better than sitting on the couch, but letting people think that they can lose significant amounts of weight or gain significant amounts of strength with those walks is not really fair.

Because of the physiological decline in muscle mass that occurs as we age, the elderly perhaps stand to gain the most from honest encouragement toward more vigorous activity, and yet, ironically, no group has received more tentative exercise prescriptions than the aged.

Of course, the potential for overuse injuries and other disabling bodily problems is always there when you partake of high-intensity exercise. But in the U.S., in 2010, a far, far greater proportion of the population is ending up with bad health outcomes from exercising too mildly than from exercising too vigorously.

References

Cancela Carral, J.M., Ayan Perez, C., (2007) Effects of high-intensity combined training on women over 65. Gerontology, 53, 340-346.

Carroll, J.F, Pollack, M.L., Graves, J.E., Leggett, S.H., Spitler, D.L., & Lowenthal, D.T. (1991) Incidence of injury during moderate- and high-intensity walking training in the elderly. Journal of Gerontology, 47(3), M61-M66.

Center for Disease Control. (2008). Mortality Rates [Data File]. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm

Cooker, R.H., Williams, M.S., Kortebein, P.M., Sullivan, D.H. & Evans, W.J. (2009) Influence of exercise intensity on abdominal fat and adiponectin in elderly adults. Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders, 7(4), 363-368.

Fiatarone, M.A., Marks, E.C., Ryan, N.D., Meredith, C.N., Lipsitz, L.A., Evans, W.J. (1990) High-intensity strength training in nonagenarians. Journal of the American Medical Association, 263(22), 3029-3034.

Grierson, B., (2010, November 28) The incredible flying nonagenarian. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.newyorktimes.com/2010/11/28/magazine/28athletes-t.htm

Hagerman, F.C., Walsh, S.J., Staron, R.S., Hikida, R.S., Gilders, R.M., Murray, T.F., Toma, K, & Ragg, K.E. (2000) Effects of high-intensity resistance training on untrained older men. I. Strength, cardiovascular, and metabolic responses. Journal of Gerontology, 55A(7), B336-B346.

Irving, B.A., Davis, C.K., Brock, D.W, Weltman, J.Y., Swift, D., Barrett, E.J., Gaessner, G.A., & Weltman, A. (2008) Effect of exercise training intensity on abdominal visceral fat and body composition. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, 40(11), 1863-1872.

Manson, J.E., Greeland, P., LaCroix, A.Z., Stefanick, M.L., Mouton, C. P., Oberman, A., Perri, M.G., Sheps, D.S., Pettinger, M.B., Siscovick, D.S. (2002) Walking compared with vigorous exercise for the prevention of cardiovascular events in women. New England Journal of Medicine, 347(10), 716-725.

Nied, R.J, & Franklin, B., (2002) Promoting and prescribing exercise for the elderly. American Family Physician. 65(3), 419-427.

We're Tired

2011-07-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

I know there's been radio silence in here for a few weeks--it's been a bit of a steep learning curve getting used to the new schedule. Sage just fell asleep fully clothed in the hallway. She'd frolicked all day in Oaks Bottom wildlife refuge at nature camp, then went to the library and did her two hours per week volunteer job. Then waited for me to get out of class with some friends at a concert in the park.

My schedule is no less gnarly, with some days including training clients at 6 a.m., P.E class (STILL!), workin' at my fancy new office job, and then topping the day off with my night class or a shift at the MAC until 11 p.m.

Although I am not performing well athletically (ask my running partner), I still think it's lucky that I'm pretty fit. This is not a lifestyle you want to attempt if you are suffering from low energy.

It's a good day if I only have to go downtown once. Some days I go over the Hawthorne Bridge three times.

But enough belly-aching. In just about three weeks, everything will change. I'll graduate and go full time at the office job! (Still gonna keep my shift at the MAC though and try to train clients on the weekends.)

P.E., con't

2011-07-19T22:43:00.000-07:00

Chipping away at those p.e. classes I have to take (just to refresh your memory, I have to take 34 hours of p.e. classes in 8 weeks.) The week I had to take four p.e. classes a day for four days in a row was great. At the end of the week, I felt like I was in the best shape of my life.

Now, however, because of a NEW JOB I just happened to get, I am down to only one P.E. class a day, and in an ironic twist, the class offered at that time slot is Abs/Low Body. Ironic because I've always paid much more attention to my upper body. I blithely train my chest, back, shoulders, and arms, and let whatever cardio I'm doing (running, cycling) take care of my legs.

Now, four days a week, I go in for a punishing class filled with lunges, squats, lunges, squats, and more lunges and squats (not to mention lunges and squats).

The sad thing is that my my awesome new job is an office job, so the rest of the day after p.e., I'm sitting. This is stressing me out because I know that sitting = dying. I feel like I'm deconditioning a little bit every single day. And who knows what will happen to my fitness when I finish up my p.e. requirements and go to a 40-hour sitting week.

The job is all about talking to people about their own wellness challenges--among the greatest of which is getting enough exercise when you work full time! Luckily, I will have plenty of empathy for their situation...

Phys Ed

2011-06-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

No, for reals, P.E. is actually what this post is all about.

To maintain my financial aid for this summer, I had to take a couple of extra credits, so I decided to take "Flex Fitness." Basically, that means that you must attend 34 P.E. classes over the 8 weeks of the term. You can choose them from a big old roster than ranges from fencing to boot camp.

Because I'm on my own this week, I decided that I would take advantage of the extra time and take as many classes as I could each day so that later in the term, when I wanted to spend more time with my daughter, I wouldn't have to be running to school to take gym.

Today I indulged in four back-to-back classes. Because I had run 11 miles yesterday and so was already feeling kind of run down, I started the day with Gentle Yoga. The teacher was great about modifying the poses for all ranges of ability. We did some very basic poses, but since I have absolutely no experience in yoga, that was great for me. I will go back to that class.

Next up, I chose Hip Hop Dance. I was excited for this class, because by this time, I was ready to get my heart rate up. Sadly, I did get it up, but though anxiety, not exertion. This is s a much more serious class than I was expecting, and the group was clearly right in the middle of learning a longish routine. The teacher drilled us again and again on moves I had no hope of mastering, since I was just a drop-in student.

By the time I got to Weightlifting, I was ready for exercise that I could feel proficient in. Basically weightlifting class means they open the door to the weight room and let people in there to lift weights. I can do that. Since I was last in that particular weight room on campus, they erected some TRX straps, so I had fun with those. But they took out a whole bunch of stuff, too, I guess to put it into the VARSITY ATHLETE weight room that us mere mortals are not allowed to use.

Finally, I got to lie down with a Pilates Stretch class. Mmm, lying down. It wasn't as relaxing as it could have been, given that I had to keep challenging my core muscles with various movement (that pesky pilates!), but it still was a good way to stretch out my body after the weight training session.

Tomorrow, I have another full roster: Abs/Low-body, Zumba, Weight Loss Boot Camp, and either Relaxation Yoga or Weight Training.

Poutine? No.

2011-06-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

While I have been able to maintain a 45 pound weight loss for four years now, I do it pretty much all through exercise. Anyone who knows me knows that I love to eat. Thin crust pizza? Bring it on. Los Gorditos burrito? Yes ma'am. Trip to the all-you-can-eat salad bar restaurant? Calendar it. Beer, ice cream, guacamole, dal. I enjoy all of these.

But, I have to draw the line at Portland's newest obsession--poutine.

Once solely a quirky food cart offering in PDX that is now appearing on upscale menus around town, this Canadian treat consists of french fries slathered in gravy and sprinkled with cheese curds. A portion will run you about 700 calories. That's a seven mile run. (Farther if you're older than 35 and weigh less than 150 lbs.)

Besides, according to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine, "Every additional serving of potatoes people added to their regular diet each day made them gain about a pound over four years."

So people, please, step away from the poutine, before it is too late.

Don't Become a Statistic

2011-06-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

It's fun to bust other people's fitness myths. But today the New York Times busted one that I didn't even know was a myth: When you're adding mileage to your running, you don't have to go up by increments of 10 percent per week. For years, people have passed on the lore that the best way to avoid injuries is to add only 10 percent at a time. But, as the Times article notes, in the only rigorous study to look at two groups of runners--one added only 10 percent per week, the other added mileage faster--both groups incurred injuries at the same rate: one in five. In fact, in another study that looked at preconditioning (through walking, hopping and jumping) before starting a running program vs. no preconditioning, both groups in that study incurred injuries at a rate of one in five as well.

So what do we learn from this? Clearly it's better not to be the one out of five runners that is going to incur an injury no matter what happens.

But joking aside, I think that there are some techniques that can help you avoid injury. One is to pay close attention to your body. It's often difficult to figure out whether that voice you're hearing in your head during your run screaming at you to stop is something you need to push through or something you need to obey. Unfortunately, knowing exactly when to push and when to pack it in often comes through hard-won experience. But in the meanwhile, while you're earning that experience, you want to err on the side of caution. Decide how long you will run each time and set yourself a pace you can live with for that duration. Learn to tell the difference between relatively benign muscle soreness and the warning signal of joint pain. Eat healthy foods in sufficient quantities to help you fuel yourself for and recover from runs. Stay hydrated.

I also swear by weight training (of course!). I think a good program of single-leg squats, lunges, calf raises, adductor and abductor exercises can help you stay injury-free by adding strength and endurance your your muscles.

It's no fun to get injured. As I age, my recovery time from even regular runs increases--I shudder to think how long it might take to come back from an injury, so I play it pretty safe. But that doesn't give me liberty to play it so safe that I'm just sitting on the couch watching reality tv. No, you gotta take a little risk, but listen to your body and make that risk a calculated one.

I Heart My Clients

2011-06-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

I think it's because the academic year is wrapping up and people are in a reflective mood, but twice this week clients have told me that they are feeling better than they have in years, thanks to getting active.

I would LOVE to take the credit for this, but we all know that it was their own hard work that led to this. Still, it gives me a warm feeling to know that I am the one who gets to observe and cheer them on.

Tonight, some of my own work paid off: I won Campus Recreation's Personal Trainer of the Year award. Really, it's a testament to the awesomeness of my clients. Going in every day to meet up with people who are changing their lives by getting stronger and fitter is a total joy--and I'm sure that my happiness with my work is a big part of what won me the award.

This Photo Delights Me

2011-06-01T22:27:00.000-07:00

I found this photo on Slate: An impossibly young Marilyn Monroe pumping iron.

I love it for its not-so-subtle mix of signifiers of femininity and masculinity. The dumbbells, the dungarees, the make up, the bikini top. And the ultimate signifier of all things soft and girlish, Marilyn herself.

When I get my own space to train, I'm buying a poster of this photo and putting up on the wall to bust some stereotypes about women and weightlifting.

Wipe That Smile Off Your Face

2011-05-26T23:42:00.000-07:00

Contrary to the title above, this post is not about how I am mean to my clients. Instead, it's about learning a new exercise.

I've been obsessed with something called "the wiper" for awhile now, ever since I saw a photo of it in Women's Health and they actually had to print a note that the move was so difficult that they used Photoshop to fake it.

So for a long time, I just assumed that no one could do a hanging wiper.

Then, not long ago, it suddenly seemed like everyone could do it. Seriously, one week about a month ago, every day I was in the gym, I would see some dude hoist himself up onto the pull-up bars and start doing wipers.

Well, I realized that this goal actually was achievable, even for someone as bottom heavy as me.

I began to work on it as a progression. First I did leg lifts on the captain's chair at work. Starting with bent knees, I worked my way up to doing them with straight legs.

Then I started working with raising my legs while hanging on my the handy chin-up bar I mounted in the doorway to my bedroom. That kills your abs. Then I had a weird realization: For some reason, it's easier to get your legs up if you are in a half-chin-up. I don't know why , but when I contract my biceps to hold myself up, I can get my legs into just the right position for the wiper.

Currently, I can do about two "wipes" across the windshield, and my legs are not what you would call perfectly straight, but it's fun to realized that an exercise that was "impossible" is actually quite possible.

Intervals, Again

2011-05-06T02:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, even though I have a theory that running hard intervals without properly warming up caused my heart rate to get wacky, I have been exploring them again.

For me, interval training for running looks like this: I get on the treadmill; do 10-20 minutes of moderately paced jogging (5.5 mph), then cue up a Ramones song and run at 8 mph for the 2 or so minute duration of the song. My heart rate soars to 165 or so BPM (my estimated max heart rate is around 172, but who knows what my real max is) When it's over, I walk on the treadmill until my heart rate has come down to a more reasonable place and repeat three to five times.

Intervals are reputed to increase your fitness in many ways

There is some evidence that they help you burn more fat
They have been proven to increase your cardiovascular fitness
They have been proven to improve your speed

All I know is that just two sessions of hard intervals helped me start to lose the 5 pounds I have put on this spring that have been resistant to any other ways of getting rid of them. Also, I was weight-lifting and wearing my heart rate strap this morning and looked down at the monitor at one point when I was resting between sets (standing up) and the dang thing read "51". That's an incredibly low heart rate for someone who is not lying down quietly in their bed. I attribute it to the intervals (low resting heart rates are an indicator of heart health).

Intervals aren't for everyone. If you have not been exercising consistently, DO NOT GO OUT AND DO SPRINTS AT 90 PERCENT OF YOUR MAX HEART RATE. Obviously. But you can work up to them.

Heavy Lifting

2011-04-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

There's something amazingly satisfying about lifting really heavy weights (well, relatively heavy given my gender, age, and height).

This week I've been stressed out about various things, so naturally I've cranked up my workouts to compensate. I use exhausting workouts like some people use liquor or drugs--I like to get so tired from them that I can't really think about the things that are bothering me. It's satisfyingly obsessive/compulsive while still being good for me. This week I've been exploring treadmill runs, which, I rediscovered over the past couple of days, are great for challenging yourself, speedwise.

I've also been cranking out some heavier weights at the gym. The other day, I slid a bench under the Max Rack and did some bench pressing. The Max Rack stabilized the barbell in one plane (though not in every plane), making it easier to control the weight. I was able to crank out a few sets of 2-3 reps at 100 pounds. When I'm on the regular bench at that weight, my form goes to slop, but my form stayed great in the Max Rack. There are many who will argue that using a Max Rack or Smith machine does not give you a good enough workout simply because you should actually be using those muscles that the machine is stabilizing. But if you're working without a spotter, these devices can give you the boost of confidence you need to work heavy.

I've also upped my weight for the clean and jerk. In this exercise, you take a barbell, "clean" it from the ground to your chest, then "jerk" it by jumping skyward and using that momentum to push the dumbbell over your head until your elbows are locked. It's an intimidating exercise for me, since the moves are explosive, rather than slow and deliberate. I usually do sets with the 60 pound barbell, but I'm up to small sets with 70 pounds. What I like about the clean and jerk is that it is a total body exercise: It will strengthen nearly every muscle in your body, including your heart--a set of these will get your heart rate up pretty high.

Finally, I loaded up the leg press machine with four 45-pound plates (180 lbs for the math challenged) and did some heavy leg presses. Since your butt and quad muscles are some of the largest in your body, training them heavy makes sense.

Besides being a tonic for stress, lifting heavy does great things for one's confidence and inner and outer strength. I've watched my clients bust out in joyful laughter when, after a few sessions with me, they realize they can lift far more than they ever thought they could.

I see healthy young women in my gym doing rep after rep, set after set with little 5-pound dumbbells and I just want to go up to them and tell them for god's sake pick up something heavier. I'm not quite up to getting in people's face like that--in the meanwhile I'll just set good example.

I Respectfully Disagree

2011-04-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

So nobody tells me that the New York Times Magazine featured an article called "What's the Best Exercise" last Sunday? I have to find that out on some street corner somewhere? You guys are falling down on the job.

Anyhoo, it was a good piece, as these things go. It included interviews of exercise physiologists and researchers, which turns me on. The article concludes that the "best exercise" isn't a one-size-fits-all proposition. One researcher notes that brisk walking is an exercise nearly everyone can do and can aid with everything from weight control to lessening the risk of dying prematurely. Okay, but dudes, it has to actually be brisk. I mean arms swinging, sweat dripping, breath coming fairly fast.

The article notes that if you are already active, brisk walking isn't going to get you anywhere (well, it will actually get you to the store and stuff, but I digress). For the higher-fit, the prescription is squats. Done with the weight of your own body and utilizing the biggest muscle groups, squats should undeniably be part of anyone's strength-training routine. But I wouldn't build my whole workout around them.

The article's final nomination for Best Exercise is high-intensity interval training. There has been a certain amount of research lately that touts the benefits of his kind of training--you can gain cardio strength using bursts of high-intensity exercise interspersed with low-intensity exercise in a fraction of the time it would take you to make those gains using moderate-intensity steady-state exercise. Unclear, however, is whether you can expect the same kind of weight loss benefits, since you aren't actually expending as many calories doing it as you would for longer moderate-intensity exercise. And besides, intervals broke my heart rate.

I have my own nomination for Best Exercise. It's the plank. A mainstay of the Pilates and Yoga crowd, the plank is handily modifiable so that everyone, from the deconditioned to the overconditioned, can participate. It requires no equipment and reaps benefits even though it is done for only 30 seconds to a minute at a time. And it tightens the muscles of your torso like nobody's business.

Perhaps next week's workouts for everyone will be a hardcore mixture of brisk walking, sprinting, squats, and the plank. Sounds like a boot camp workout to me!

Having It All

2011-04-10T21:46:00.000-07:00

Did you ever have to make up your mind? Pick up on one and leave the other one behind?

I often feel like that about running and weight lifting. Strength training and endurance training have very different effects on your muscle cells. Endurance training causes your body to increase its mitochondria and capillary density, all the better to shuttle oxygen around. Resistance training can actually cause a decrease in these things. Look at it this way: You don't see many marathon winners with 30-inch biceps, and you don't see bodybuilders running around the waterfront. Muscle is heavy--it just slows down competitive runners. And I feel like running (especially if you are on a lower-calorie diet) just eats up your muscles.

The reason these things are on my mind is that I'm attempting to optimize both at the same time.

It's spring, when a young woman's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of finally signing up and completing the damn marathon she's been talking about for years. (Ran 9 miles today in an hour and 45 minutes--a super-comfortable pace for the loop from the Hawthorne Bridge to the Sellwood Bridge and back. Had the foresight to download a couple Radio Lab podcasts beforehand so I was well-entertained the whole time.)

Meanwhile, my roommate has challenged me to a bicep'n'bench press contest. We'll choose a set weight for the bicep curls and the one who can curl it the most reps wins. For bench press, it's a one rep max, baby.

Now, my roommate has a decade more of youth than I have, although I am currently better conditioned. I'm pretty nervous, though, since she was a college athlete--once you've gained muscle, it's easy to get it back--even if you've been away from the gym for awhile--once you start training it. I think I can definitely take her on the bicep curl contest. The one-rep max bench press may be a bit trickier.

The good news is that she's training for a race, too. (If you see her, don't tell her that the running works against her strength training.)

The truth is that for most of us, we're not so elite that we have to worry about our modes of training interfering with each other. And certain types of mixed training can have a beneficial effect--i.e. quad, calf, and hamstring weight training can certainly help runners run stronger. So you bodybuilders, don't use this post as an excuse not to do your cardio! (You need the cardio to carve off the fat and expose your rippled abs) And you cyclists, try to hit the weight room every so often so that your bones don't turn to lace.

The Tale of the Tape

2011-04-03T23:20:00.000-07:00

It's weird to be, at the age of 48, in the best shape of my life. I can bench press more, clean-and-press more, and run more than ever before. And I enjoyed my fitness more than ever before when I ran/walked 48,000 steps to celebrate my 48th birthday on Saturday.

The day started out perfectly at 7:45 a.m. I headed out, listening to Weekend Edition on my MP3 player (hey, I'm middle aged. That's what we do--listen to NPR). I walked for a few blocks to warm up, then started to run. Happily, my heart rate appreciated the warm up and reacted just perfectly. I jogged to Crema Bakery and Cafe on SE 28th Ave. and Ankeny. I was early to meet my friends Mark and Olga, so I jogged around the block a few times, putting more steps on my pedometer. When they arrived, we went in for coffee and treats. We shared a big slice of their chocolate-espresso pound cake, then jogged out toward the Morrison Bridge. I was running a "marathon pace"--super slow and easy. 45 minutes later we arrived at PSU, where I had a personal training meeting. The fact that the meeting included wandering around the weight room demo-ing cool new exercises for each other put a few score more steps onto my pedometer.

By the time Belinda and I headed out from PSU, I had a good base: 14,000 steps, almost a third of what I would eventually need. We ran up Terwilliger. Usually, she smokes me and I have to beg her to walk as we get near the top, but this time I felt extremely strong and didn't have to walk at all. We hit Capitol Highway and stopped at Baker and Spice. I had three delicious shortbread cookies--vanilla, chocolate, and best of all, coconut-ginger. The bakery's rich pastries were calling to me, but I knew my stomach would rebel if I ate the wrong thing.

Next we ran toward Council Crest. We did end up walking a bit as we reached the summit there, but soon broke back into a jog, especially since the hail started to fall on us. We jogged along the confusing streets of the SW and soon enough we hit Vista and headed down to Burnside and NW 23rd Ave., where we met Gary. We strolled down 23rd, enjoying the sun and the bustle of Saturday shoppers. After hitting up St. Honore for iced espressos and amazing French-style rolls with butter, we walk/jogged through the NW for a bit, zig-zagging back and forth to build up mileage. When we said goodbye to Gary, we began jogging again in earnest, heading back down toward the waterfront. Of course, it wouldn't be a long run for me without a big fall, and just as we reached the waterfront path, I tripped on something and took a header. Luckily, I bounce. I picked myself up and we ran south toward the Hawthorne Bridge and PSU.

At 4:30 we were back at PSU with 47,600 steps on the pedometer. Belinda walked me to my bus at 5th and Salmon, and as we approached the stop, my pedo rolled over to 48,000. Since the bus wasn't coming for another 10 minutes, I walked down a bit farther to a more comfortable stop. Total steps for the day: 48,880. Total calories burned: 2045. Duration: 8 hours (to be fair, that includes my one-hour meeting and all the time I spent sitting in bakeries). Max heart rate: 150 (yay!).

So far, no major soreness, despite putting 24 miles on my body in one day. Between the exercise, the fun company, and the sense of accomplishment, I have to say, this was my best birthday in a very long time.

My New Nickname

2011-04-01T17:44:00.000-07:00

Just because of a little workout involving copious amounts of heart-rate raising bosu moves alternating with cruel resistance band training, one of my clients has decided to start calling me "Big Bad Wolf." It's not fair, I tells ya! Especially since, at 5'4", it's creative license to call me big.

In other training news, I was talking to a friend about the novel I read over Spring Break. "It's kind of dark; it may not be good for your state of mind. Or maybe it will be just the thing."

"Thanks, Dr Wolf," he replied sarcastically.

"Hey, I don't prescribe books any longer, I prescribe exercise."

Suddenly, we both realized that is my million-dollar idea. Since in my former career, I wrote and edited plenty of book reviews, I'm actually well-qualified to prescribe books. For interested clients, I'll offer literature along with leg lifts, biographies with your bicep curls for the total mind/body workout.

Take the Long Way Home

2011-03-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

I've talked about my pedometer fetish before. I like to wear it and check out how many steps I've walked for the day. I know I end up walking/running/dancing more when I wear it because it's super-satisfying to see those numbers go up. And, as we all know, there is a magic number to shoot for: walking 10,000 steps is considered baseline for an adequate amount of daily physical activity. (I don't always make it, but generally I do.)

This weekend, inspired by one of my professors (who makes my fitness nerdiness look positively dilettantish--he wears a pedometer every day and keeps track of his steps in a spreadsheet), I've decided to celebrate my 48th birthday by walking...get ready for it...48,000 steps. That is approximately 24 miles.

Even though the weather looks pretty crappy for this venture, I'm really looking forward to it. Not least because I've mapped out a route that will hit at least three bakeries. Plus, there will be beer afterward. Haven't decided on a venue yet, but if you want to help me hoist a stein (and I mean really help me--I'll probably be so debilitated I won't be able to lift my glass) , shoot me an email and I'll let you know when and where.

Gary Taubes Is a Hack -- But I'm Still Cutting Carbs

2011-03-27T00:18:00.000-07:00

One of the delicious things about Spring Break--aside from naps--has been being able to read books that aren't on anyone's syllabus.

When Sage and I went to the library last Friday, I was pleasantly surprised to find two things I'd been wanting to read on the library's "Lucky Day" shelf. One was Jonathan Franzen's big-ass contender for Great American Novel Freedom. The other was Gary Taubes' Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It.

To say Taubes and I don't see eye-to-eye is an understatement. His contention is that the whole concept of calories-in/calories-out as a method of weight control is a lie perpetrated by exercise and public health professionals. He feels that exercise is useless as a way to control weight because you just work up and appetite and end up eating more.

Instead, he lays the blame about obesity on our overconsumption of carbs.

Now, it's hard to argue that refined grains and sugar do not cause people to gain weight. And it's equally hard for me to argue about the addictive nature of sugar and white flour--I know first-hand how strong a craving for pizza or chocolate can be.

But Taubes wants us to eschew most carbohydrates, including things like apples. He feels that vegans and vegetarians can not become lean because even a diet consisting of beans and leafy green vegetables has too many carbohydrates. He feels that you shouldn't really start exercising until you've given up carbohydrates because you'll get too hungry while exercising.

The research he uses to support these contentions seems sound, but if you read closely, you realize that he is leaving out big pieces of the picture. He lists a whole bunch of research about poor communities around the world that have high rates of obesity because they eat a lot of carbs, but neglects to mention any Asian countries, which also experience hunger but remain lean on a rice-based diet. He talks about how our metabolism slows as we get older so, if we are runners, we have to add more and more running to our weekly schedule to keep our weight off but he doesn't talk about the natural reduction of appetite that occurs as we get older that can allow us to run the same amount but stay the same size because we're consuming fewer calories.

Still, even though this book is inspiring me to throw it across the room every few pages or so, it has also reminded me that perhaps my late-night breakfast cereal binges (studying-related) and insistence on dessert after every meal might be habits from which I need to take a break. So this week has been all about the chicken. Lots of Trader Joe's chicken breast tenders, lots of eggs.

Best meal of the week: Crustless quiche. Nuke a couple of veggie sausages and chop them up. Grease a small glass pie plate. Saute some asparagus (or your choice of veggie) in olive oil until browned and tender. Put the asparagus and sausage chunks in the pie plate. Beat four eggs with a little bit of half and half. Add salt to taste. Pour over the other ingredients. Grate some cheddar on the top. Slide into a 350-degree oven an bake until puffed and golden. Share with a friend or two. Do not add a baguette. Do add a salad.