Winston Salem Fitness

Winston Salem Fitness -Osteoporosis
Regular exercise can improve your balance, reflexes and coordination. This means you are less likely to fall and injure yourself. Injuries from falling can mean disaster to someone with osteoporosis.If you have osteoporosis, seek the advice of your doctor before beginning an exercise program. To help reverse bone loss, exercise must be of a particular type and intensity – and appropriate for your level of fitness and fracture risk.

In general, walking is a great way to start regular exercise. Initially, walking will improve bone strength because it causes some of the body’s weight to be transferred to bones over and over again. However, bone responds best to intensity not duration. Bone needs to be consistently challenged. This can be accomplished by adding different types of weight-bearing activities (dancing, skating, and aerobics) and strength/weight training (also called resistance training) to your program. Adding greater levels of resistance causes healthy stress to bone. Bone responds by making more osteoblasts; the cellular material that fills in bone cavities that increases bone density (3).

Osteoarthritis (OA) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)
Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are conditions that affect the ‘flexibility’ of spinal joints (facet joints). Flexibility is the ability of a joint to move through its range of motion. The amount of movement is largely determined by the tightness of muscles, tendons, and ligaments that attach to the facet joints. The more a muscle can stretch, the better the flexibility of the joint.

Low Back Pain – Sciatica
To help prevent low back pain the leg, back and hip muscles must be flexible and strong. Poor flexibility and weak muscles in the back, pelvis, and thighs can increase the curve of the lower back and cause the pelvis to tilt too far forward. Good posture coupled with flexible and strong muscles in these areas can help prevent nerve compression and low back and leg pain.

General
Healthy body composition means a high proportion of lean body mass (e.g. muscle) to a small proportion of fat. Strength training can help by raising the metabolic rate and lowering body fat. Increased muscle strength helps to maintain good posture and body mechanics during activity. Not only does good physical conditioning reduce the chance of injury but increases physical performance such as climbing stairs or carrying groceries with ease.

Exercise: Helpful Suggestions
Now that you have learned about many of the benefits a regular program of exercise offers, you need to work exercise into your new healthier lifestyle.

• Be realistic! It can take 6 to 8 weeks to see some of the benefits; focus on short-term goals.
• You may need to buy out time from other activities to add exercise to your schedule.
• Ask a friend or relative to join you in exercise.
• If you don’t feel like an entire workout – exercise for 10 minutes. Consistency is important – not how long or hard the exercise.
• Keep a written record of your progress.

Conclusion
You will reap rich rewards from the healthy changes you make today in food choices and implementation of regular exercise. You do not have to be thin to be healthy. In fact, a reduction in weight of just 10% can reduce the detrimental effects of obesity.

Many organizations and research facilities are working to learn more about obesity. In the last few decades great progress has been made in identifying the causes as well as making new treatments available.

References
1. American Obesity Association. AOA Fact Sheets. 2002. http://www.obesity.org/subs/fastfacts/aoafactsheets.shtml

2. Eidelson SG. Aging and Exercise: What You Need to Know to Stay Fit. http://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/article292.html

3. Daniels D. Exercises for Osteoporosis. Hatherleigh Press/Getfitnow.com Books, Long Island City, NY. 2002.

4. United States Surgeon General. The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity. http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/calltoaction/fact_whatyoucando.htm

5. Schwenk H. Trends in food and alcohol consumption away from home. Family Economic Nutrition Review 1995;8:30-40.

6. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Resource Guide for Nutrition and Physical Activity Interventions to Prevent Obesity and Other Chronic Diseases.

7. Stubbs RJ, Mazlan N, et al. Carbohydrates, appetite and feeding behavior in humans. Journal of Nutrition 2001;131:2275S-81S.

8. Howarth NC, Saltzman E, et al. Dietary fiber and weight reduction. Nutrition Reviews 2001;59:129-39.

9. Nicklas TA, Baranowksi T, et al. Eating patterns, dietary quality and obesity. Journal American College Nutrition 2001;20:599-608.

Winston Salem Fitness Information Source: Sally Smith and Spine Universe

Winston Salem Fitness -Physical activity: Any movement of the body produced by skeletal muscles and resulting in energy expenditure.Exercise: A physical activity that is structured, planned and is done at a certain intensity level, frequency and duration.

Physical activity suggests doing something fun that involves moving. Exercise implies doing something you don’t like because it’s good for you. If you hate to exercise, think physical activity, and remember, if it’s not fun, it’s not done.

“I hear that you should get 30 minutes of exercise a day, but you can break it up. Does this have the same effect?”
Yes. A recent study (Deakin University, Melbourne) found that nine weekly 10-minute sessions offer the same health benefits as three weekly 30-minute sessions. This is good news for beginning exercisers, who may find it easier to stick to shorter workouts.

“Which is better for burning fat: 30 minutes of exercise at a quick pace or a longer session at a slower pace?”
The highest intensity an exerciser can sustain without going to exhaustion will burn more fat. The faster you walk, swim, cycle, etc., the more calories you use per minute. However, if you’ve been sedentary, you won’t last long at a higher intensity and might hurt yourself, so you need to start slow and gradually work up to a higher pace.

“Is doing only one set of an exercise really as good as doing two or three?”
Many studies (University of Florida, Gainesville is one) have shown similar improvements in strength and muscle size for groups of untrained people performing one set per exercise as compared to groups doing three sets. For people just starting out, or who want to maintain the strength gains they’ve already achieved, one set of each exercise is enough. However, for athletes and anyone trying to achieve greater strength gains, 2-3 sets are better.

“Will crunches help me lose the fat around my stomach?”
You cannot spot reduce fat, except by liposuction! Crunches will tone your abdominal muscles, but you will have the same layer of fat sitting on top of these muscles unless you create a calorie deficit by burning more calories than you consume. Don’t look for quick fixes–as we all know, if it sounds to good too be true, it probably is! For more information, see The Truth about Training the Abdominal Muscles.

“I started exercising (walking, exercise bike, etc.) to improve my health and lose some weight, but I have gained weight instead. What am I doing wrong?”
What weight are we talking about? Scales are a poor indicator of changes in body composition because muscle is more dense than fat. This means that a pound of muscle occupies less space than a pound of fat. Instead of worrying about changes on the scale, look for changes in how your clothes fit. Gaining weight isn’t bad if it’s muscle–along with looking good, it revs up your metabolism. For every pound of muscle added to your body, you’ll burn at least 35 more calories per day. Three pounds of muscle will burn enough calories in a month to lose a pound a fat! (The only way you can really “melt off pounds in your sleep”!) Read Strength Training for Weight Loss Success for other interesting facts.

If you really did gain fat, see if anything has changed that might contribute to the extra pounds of fat such as quitting smoking or going on hormone replacement therapy. Most importantly, you’ll have to look at the whole picture: aerobic exercise is only one of three factors in weight management. Strength training and healthy eating habits are the other two. If you’re really concerned, I’d suggest investing in a few sessions with a registered dietitian who is knowledgeable in exercise prescription.

Winston Salem Fitness Information Source: Sally Smith and Spine Universe