New Gym Space is Ready!

Fitness In The Buff is growing! I, finally, have a private gym space set up in my home. This allows me to train clients, full-time, in the buff. I'm excited! Hope you guys are, too!

Exercise and Pain Perception in Older Adults

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has published an interesting study suggesting that physical activity can help older adults deal with pain.

Participants who logged higher levels of vigorous activity reported lower pain response to painful stimuli, and those who maintained light activity throughout the day reported they were able to better tolerate pain.

The study was published in PAIN (2017; 158 [3], 383-90)

You can find the article I read, here:  "Exercise and Pain Perception in Older Adults." IDEA Fitness Journal May (2017): 13. Print.

Is exercise an effective method of weight loss?

I'm writing on this topic because of an article I read, yesterday, and because it continues to be a topic of confusion. This isn't a simple matter, so it is understandable why!

I don't want to reference the article. It was written for industry professionals, so it is technical, anyway, and I worry that reading the article would send the wrong message to those that don't understand the jargon and intent. This isn't meant to be an insulting statement. I would have no luck understanding research on complicated medical issues or rocket science, either.

The takeaway of the article is that the research conducted concluded that it was a person's diet that effected weight loss, and not their activity level. Participants that were more active showed no significant difference in weight management/change than those that were sedentary. Only when diet was assessed, was there a correlation. The results of the experiment seemed to show that exercise did not matter or did not affect weight loss efforts among the participants. Of course, this was NOT to say exercise didn't matter! Again, this was looking at a very specific response in a very specific area.

The danger in reading this article by laymen is this: The experiment was very specific and only addressed the fact that active people did not fair any better than sedentary people when they all ate fast-food on a regular basis when it comes to weight management. It is important to state that general health and fitness level were NOT being assessed by this experiment and, therefore, were not analyzed.

Controlling your diet is how you are going to manage your body composition, whether you want to lose mass or gain it. That is undisputed.

But, exercise is the tool that is going to shape your body. Exercise (or lack thereof) is going to control whether your weight gain/loss is a change in lean mass or body fat. The more lean we are, the more calories we will burn at rest. And, if we don't perform enough activity to warrant the need for all that lean mass, then our bodies will drop it, because it is expensive to maintain (it requires more calories and more activity).

Simply put: Eating controls our weight, but exercise controls whether that weight is lean or fat.

The complexity comes in how much food, and what type, it takes to affect your body in the specific way you want it to, combined with how much activity and what type.

"Study Finds Measurable Boost For Aging Brains From Exercise"

If you are age 50 or older, this article is of particular importance for you. Exercise has numerous physical and mental benefits for all of us, no matter what our age; but the older we get, the more important it becomes.

Follow the link below to read the article.

"Study finds measurable boost for aging brains from exercise"

"Investigating The Physiological Responses To TRX Suspension Training."

"How effectively does the TRX suspension trainer deliver short-and long-term health benefits?"

"In the past decade, the TRX Suspension Trainer has become an incredibly popular piece of fitness equipment in studios around the world. The manufacturer, along with the equipment's many proponents, has claimed it provides a variety of workouts that improve mobility and flexibility, build lean muscle and improve stability."

The Study

"Researchers recruited 16 healthy, physically active men and women (21-71 years of age), all of whom were considered low to moderate risk for cardiovascular disease.

The first part of the study was a 60-minute class, which was used to quantify each individual's acute cardiovascular and metabolic response to TRX Suspension Training.

The second part was designed to clarify the benefits over a highly varied, 8-week training program consisting of three 60-minute sessions per week. Before and after the 8 weeks, participants underwent a variety of measurements to determine maximal heart rate, maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), resting blood pressure, body composition, fasting blood lipids, blood glucose, and waist circumference. In addition, participants were evaluated on muscular, neuromotor and flexibility fitness."

The Results

"During the 60-minute session, participants burned an average of nearly 400 calories, which is at the upper reaches of the 150-400 calories recommended by industry guidelines (ACSM 2014).

The training study showed positive effects on body composition and cardiovascular health, as demonstrated through significant decreases in waist circumference, body fat percentage, resting systolic blood pressure and resting diastolic blood pressure.

There were also significant improvements in muscular strength and endurance. According to Dr. Dalleck, these improvements, "if they are maintained long term, have been linked to the prevention of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and (early) mortality." In addition, the reduction in resting blood pressure was significant, with "more dramatic results than are typically seen with traditional aerobic exercise," he noted.

The only area where participants didn't see a substantial improvement was in their VO2max, though this may have been because they were relatively fit at baseline."

The Bottom Line

"TRX Suspension Training produces strong metabolic responses that meet guidelines for improving and maintaining cardiorespiratory fitness, increasing muscular fitness and positively affecting cardiometabolic disease risk factors."


REFERENCE
American College of Sports Medicine, 2014. ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription (9th ed.).Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams.

"Ready to Love Your Stress?"

Stress is something we all have to deal with, and, for most of us, it is not a pleasant experience. But what if I told you it could be?

Ask anyone to help you because you are stressing out, and almost every time, she or he will tell you to, "take a deep breath and try to relax." However, research shows, that may not be the best way to deal with it.

I recently read an inspiring article by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D. in IDEA Fitness Journal for ACE Certified Professionals titled "Ready to Love Your Stress?". In the article, she outlines 3 strategies for dealing with stress that consists of harnessing its energy, rather than trying to dissipate it. Kelly says, "In my work as a psychologist and fitness professional, I've found that expanding our repertoire of strategies for dealing with stress is enormously helpful. When we can't calm down, we can harness the energy of stress to fuel peak performance. When we're stuck in a difficult situation, we can choose to learn from the experience. And when we feel hopeless or overwhelmed, we can connect to something bigger than ourselves."

Kelly cites a Harvard Business School study comparing two very different ways of dealing with stress: Two groups of participants facing two different stressful situations were instructed to, either, try to calm down, or embrace their nerves and tell themselves they were not anxious, but, rather, they were excited. Who do you think fared better?

According to the study, trying to calm down didn't reduce the participants' anxiety. It just highlighted the gap between how people felt and how they thought they should feel. By contrast, those who tried to channel their anxiety into excitement felt more confident and, most importantly, they dealt with their situation better.

Stress Strategy #1: Harness the Energy of Stress

When your heart is racing and your palms are sweaty, tell yourself, "Hey, I'm excited! Let's do this!" Turn it into a positive.

Stress Strategy #2: Choose a Growth Mindset

When you're in a rocky situation, don't look at it as a negative. Look at it as a learning experience that you will gain something from.

Stress Strategy #3: Make it About Something Bigger Than Yourself

Think about how you can use the experience to help the people you care about. Providing support in a stressful situation lowers our stress even more than receiving support does. Knowing that you are able to make valuable contributions to those that you care about and your community gives you an incredible sense of importance and belonging and is one of the most rewarding experiences that one can have.

McGonigal, Kelly, PhD. "Ready to Love Your Stress?" IDEA Fitness Journal Feb. 2017: 72-75. Print.

"Clean Eating" Diet Doing More Harm Than Good

I read an article today that I just had to blog about. I can't find it, now, so I must apologize for not providing the link.

The point of the article was that there has been an increase in cases of people with weak bones and early signs of osteoporosis due to nutritional deficiencies. Many of these people reported following a "clean eating" diet.

Even more alarming is the fact that these diets have become fashionable among young people, who are even more susceptible to the effects of nutritional deficiencies because their bodies are still developing.

These diets can be very attractive because they appear to be healthy, and they, often, do, partially, provide good advice. The problem arises when they call for the near, or complete, removal of certain types of food. In this particular case, the missing element was dairy.

Dairy is, often, labeled as a food to avoid because many people have an intolerance or sensitivity to lactose. Others avoid dairy, simply, because it is a food that is processed.

"Clean eating" diets, usually, consist of only eating non-processed "clean" foods. They say, "don't eat dairy, don't eat non-organic fruits and vegetables, and don't eat processed grains. It is not uncommon for these diets to, also, promote veganism or vegetarianism, which further restricts nutrient sources ".

Now, this is actually good advice, for the most part, but they don't instruct you on what to eat in order to replace the missing VITAL nutrients that we get from those foods. Again, these nutrients are VITAL. If you don't consume them, your body will not be able to function properly and you will get sick (or worse).

So, the point is folks, if you want to attempt to eat in such a way, you absolutely must consult and licensed nutrition professional. There's a reason a license is required for these professions. This is serious stuff! These professionals spend countless hours studying and researching; years of preparation and education go under their belts before they are permitted to practice.

As important as fruits and vegetables are in the human diet, we cannot live off of organic fruits and vegetables alone. Thanks to modern science, if you choose to eat a "clean" diet, there are alternatives and supplements that are available to replace any missing nutrients from your diet, and adding them to what you consume is not optional.