Spring his here! I think!

Spring is a time of rebirth and renewal and it’s officially here, I think! The warmer weather is just around the corner. Well, that's what I keep telling myself. Just think, a whole landscape of outdoor activities will be available to you just in time to add some spice and freedom to your exercise routine. The best thing is to plan ahead for the new season, you will become more excited about new fitness goals in the months ahead. Use the extra enthusiasm to focus on pushing yourself harder during the last few weeks of your winter workouts. Dust off those running shoes and unpack your warm-weather workout gear. Go the extra step and find new parks, trails, and neighborhoods to explore. Enjoy every ounce of the new season by getting out there and getting going.

Colorado has a whole playground full of activities built in it to enjoy during the spring and summer months. Take advantage of them. Here is a list of some fun activities I like to do in Colorado this spring/summer:

Tough Mudder
This one of the more popular obstacle course races taking advantage of the mud run rage.  While 5k’s and other road races have been used to gauge of fitness, obstacle races have emerged as a new venue for competing and socializing among friends.  Combining trail running with military style obstacles, Tough Mudder is the preferred sporting arena for weekend warriors, general fitness seekers, and former athletes.
More of an adventure race than a traditional running race; obstacles can include mud, water hazards, wall climbs, and rope ascents.  Get race ready by preparing to jump, climb, and crawl over, around, or through unpredictable challenges.




Colorado 14er
Most of Colorado’s Fourteeners are not a big deal for an experienced rock climber, but for most mountaineers they form not only a natural playground but are also a great place to learn basic mountain climbing, travel, and hiking skills. Most of the Fourteeners are basic walk-up hikes , however there are a few that do require a lot more skill.  Make sure you do your homework on them before you venture on one of them.


Boulder Boulder
There is no better way to start Memorial day, then to be in beautiful Boulder.  The Boulder Bolder is a fun and exciting 10k. You'll find yourself running through Boulder and sharing the race course with 50,000 other runners then, at the end of all that craziness, you can run into Folsom Stadium and cross the finish line to the roar of the crowd. That’s what the Bolder Boulder 10k is about.

 If you have fallen short of your New Year’s resolution, use this new season as a time to hit the reset button or to make new resolutions. And even if you have been keeping up with your fitness promises, now is a great time to double down on your commitment to fitness and total wellness. 

Why Not Have Fun Doing It..........

Exercise is Medicine

I recently spent time at the children's hospital.  As I sat there in the waiting room, it got me thinking how the Children's hospital differed from a regular hospital or clinic.  Let's get the obvious out of the way, but a lot of the children where there because they were born with conditions that effected their health. Our current hospitals and clinics are filled with people that have conditions that could have been prevented.

Exercise is medicine is something that we are going to be hearing a lot more about in the next ten years. Why you ask? As a nation we have no other choice but to use exercise as medicine. With our ever growing special population of obese, diabetic, arthritic, and hypertensive, just to name a few, we obviously need to find a better alternative to what’s being offered. What’s being offered obviously isn’t enough and our health care system is now being pushed towards MANAGEMENT AND PREVENTION. With our current economic crisis- much which has to do with health care (250 billion on obesity last year alone), we can no longer just hand out drugs and send these people on their way. We have to actually educate these people how to change their habits and lifestyles in order to manage and prevent their conditions. How is this done? This is done through programs that offer education, lifestyle training, and medical exercise. The good news is that programs like this exist out there.  American College of Sports Medicine, actually has such a program that is out there, thriving and is a global initiative.  Exercise is Medicine.

 VISION

To make physical activity and exercise a standard part of a global disease prevention and treatment medical paradigm.For physical activity to be considered by all health care providers as a vital sign in every patient visit, and that patients are effectively counseled and referred as to their physical activity and health needs, thus leading to overall improvement in the public's health and long-term reduction in health care cost.

Do you believe exercise is medicine? I do!!!! This weekend I took my meds (cardio exercise) and ran at the Cherry Creek State Park.  Finally, a day where I needed to put on sunscreen instead of gloves and snow boots.  The day was sensational! the balmy spring breeze was caressing my face as I jogged along the path for an hour and half. My legs felt strong, my cardiovascular system was working like a charm. I will take my meds, because I am proof....exercise is medicine. What kind of meds do you take? How will you be living your later years of life....with endless energy, passion and life? Exercise is medicine.

Reference: American College of Sports Medicine online publication. 2012 /http://exerciseismedicine.org/public.htm

Resting Metabolic Rate

I decided to write this weeks blog on resting metabolic rates, since I spent the last couple of weeks performing them on student that needed them done for their homework assignments.  One common question that I asked them was, if they new what a resting metabolic rate was.  I also asked them how knowing what it is, how can that benefit them with their weight management goals.  I was alarmed by most of their answers.  Most of them new what a resting metabolic rate was, but felt by knowing what it is can help them not eat so many calories.  It's equally important to know that your eating enough nutrient rich calories throughout your day.

In today’s post, I’ll explain a few simple methods for calculating your resting metabolism, i.e. how many calories you burn while at rest. At the end of this post you will find a resting metabolic rate calculator to figure your RMR out quickly and easily.

How to Determine Your Calorie Needs
Determining how many calories you need can be tricky. If you google “how many calories do I need” you get hundreds of results with all sorts of different calculators. How do you know which is right for you? The thing to remember is that the calculations are a best guess. If you really want to nail down your calorie needs, then you can have your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) measured. Through a resting metabolic test.  However, if you can not have it measured, the formulas are a good place to start. They can help determine your predicted RMR.

Your RMR is the base number of calories your body needs to live if you stayed in bed all day. Your RMR is your zero point for the number of calories your body needs to live. If your RMR is 1500 calories that means you don’t eat less than 1500 calories. If you eat less than 1500 calories for a period of time (2 – 4 weeks lets say), your RMR will get slower. A slower RMR means it is easier to gain weight. Not what most people want.
Next, you multiply your RMR by an activity factor. I use an activity factor based on your daily, non-workout activity. If you sit at a desk all day and don’t walk around much, I’ll use 1.3 or 1.35. If you’re walking around a lot, I’ll use 1.4 or 1.5 depending on how much time you spend sitting down. (Again, more details are below.)
Then, you add calories for workouts. Most of us wear gadgets that give us an estimate of how many calories we’ve burned. You can plug in that number to the number of your RMR x activity factor. This is the number of calories you need to maintain your weight. Next, you subtract 500 to 1000 calories for weight loss. However, if this number is less than your RMR, your base number of calories is your RMR (remember, we don’t want that to slow down – right?). 

Remember, if you’re an athlete, your different the Jack and Jill couch potatoes, you need to fuel your body with nutrient rich foods. If you don't  you’ll be hungry, sluggish, and won’t have good workouts.

Take a few minutes and follow the steps below to determine your calorie needs.

When I’m calculating calorie needs, I use the formula is below.

Males:
0-3     (60.9 x wt*) - 54
3-10   (22.7 x wt*) +495
10-18 (17.5 x wt*) +651
18-30 (15.3 x wt*) +679
30-60 (11.6 x wt*) +879
> 60   (13.5 x wt*) +487
Females:
0-3     (61.0 x wt*) - 51
3-10   (22.5 x wt*) +499
10-18 (12.2 x wt*) +746
18-30 (14.7 x wt*) +496
30-60 (8.7   x wt*) +829
> 60   (10.5 x wt*) +596
*Weight is expressed in kilograms.

For example a female that is 36 and weighs 115lbs would be calculated as the following:
(8.7 x 52.2) + 829 = 1283.14  kcals per day.  Then you would need to add in their activity factor:


Multiply the RMR by an activity factor. Here are the activity factors:

• Sedentary (little or no exercise) = 1.2
• Llightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) = 1.3 (both men and women)
• Moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) = 1.7 (Men), 1.5 (Women)
• Very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) =2.1 (Men), 1.9 (Women)

In the end, it’s all just estimation. Even when you use the method described above, you may still be off by a few hundred calories per day. Knowing this, you can always tweak your program to your results! If you calculated that you need 2900 calories per day and notice that you’re not losing weight on this program, then you may need to drop it by 100 calories and assess again in a couple of weeks.  Likewise, if you find that you feel deprived, hungry, and lack energy, then you may need to increase the number of calories by 100 calories or more.

Source:  Adapted with permission from Recommended Dietary Allowances, 10th edition.  Copyright 1989 by the National Academy of Science.  Published by the National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.

Exercise Myths

The other day I was helping my daughter with her homework and I came across a questions that I didn't know the answer to, so my daughter blurted out, just ask Google.  It got me thinking how we live in a society that the answers are just a click away.  That is also the case when it comes to exercise.  If I want to lose weight, I can just Google "how to lose weight" and thousands of web-sites will come up.  It's easy to fall into the exercise myth trap.  You see it and read about, so it must be true, but in the world of fitness, myths and half-truths are everywhere.

That being said, here are the top seven fitness myths that I have found.

Exercise Myth #1: Running on a treadmill puts less stress on your knees than running on asphalt or pavement.

Running is a great workout, but it can impact the knees.  I'm a runner, so I used to switch my running pattern from asphalt, trail, and then treadmill running just to put ease on my knees.  However, since it's the force of your body weight on your joints that causes the stress, it's the same whether you're on a treadmill or on asphalt.  The best way to reduce knee impact is to vary your workout.

Exercise Myth #2: Doing crunches or working on an "ab machine" will get rid of belly fat.

Don't believe everything you hear on those late-night infomercials! While an ab-crunching device might help strengthen the muscles around your midsection and improve your posture, being able to "see" your abdominal muscles has to do with your overall percentage of body fat.  If you don't lose the belly fat, you won't see the ab muscles.  In order to burn fat, you should create a workout that includes both cardiovascular and strength-training elements. This will decrease your overall body fat content, including the area around your midsection.

Exercise Myth #3:  You Will Burn More Fat If You Exercise Longer at a Lower Intensity.

The most important focus in exercise and fat weight control is not the percentage of exercise energy coming from fat but the total energy cost, or how many calories are burned during the activity. The faster you walk, step or run, for example, the more calories you use per minute. However, high-intensity exercise is difficult to sustain if you are just beginning or returning to exercise, so you may not exercise very long at this level. It is safer, and more practical, to start out at a lower intensity and work your way up gradually.

Exercise Myth #4: If You’re Not Going to Work Out Hard and Often, Exercise Is a Waste of Time. This kind of thinking keeps a lot of people from maintaining or even starting an exercise program. Research continues to show that any exercise is better than none. For example, regular walking or gardening for as little as an hour a week has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease.

Exercise Myth #5: If you're not working up a sweat, you're not working hard enough.

Sweating is not necessarily an indicator of exertion. "Sweating is your body’s way of cooling itself."  It's possible to burn a significant number of calories without breaking a sweat:

Exercise Myth #6: Exercise Is One Sure Way to Lose All the Weight You Desire. 
As with all responses to exercise, weight gain or loss is impacted by many factors, including dietary intake and genetics. All individuals will not lose the same amount of weight on the same exercise program. It is possible to be active and overweight. However, although exercise alone cannot guarantee your ideal weight, regular physical activity is one of the most important factors for successful long-term weight management.

Exercise Myth #7: If You Want to Lose Weight, Stay Away From Strength Training Because You Will Bulk Up. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, cardiovascular exercise and strength training are both valuable for maintaining a healthy weight. Strength training helps maintain muscle mass and decrease body fat percentage. You will not bulk up unless you changed your diet and training specifically to add muscle mass.  Also women don't have the testosterone levels that men do, so there's a limit of how much muscle mass they will gain. 

The bottom line is that there is a lot of good information out there. Just make sure you're getting it from a reputable source. And not from the latest "fit" magazine.

Sport and Exercise Nutrition

I started my weekend by attending the American College of Sports Medicine Rocky Mountain regional conference.  I found it quite interesting and incredibly educational.  As I listened to various key note speakers, one in particular really hit close to home.  It was "Sport and Exercise Nutrition" from Jackie Berning, PhD UC Colorado Springs.  She spoke of the importance of nutrition and the overall effects that poor nutrition can have on your body during exercise. Another topic that she spoke about was how important it is"not" to fast before an exercise workout.  That if your unable to eat "real" food then it is recommended that you consume a sports drink that contain between 6-8% CHO.  I found this topic to be really interesting, since I often here from people that they either one don't eat before a run in the morning or that they don't believe it's beneficial to have a sports drink like Gatorade or power aid, before they run.  I have a fifteen year old daughter, who runs 6 days a week and can log anywhere from 25-40 miles per week. Since she competes competitively, her nutrition plays a vital role in how well she performs. This is also the case for many of you out there.  Weather your playing competitively or training for the latest 5k the food you eat will play a vital  role in your overall performance and outcome.  According to the ACSM, here are some important factors when it comes to sport and exercise nutrition.

Hydration:

Being well hydrated is an important consideration for optimal exercise performance. Dehydration before exercise, even if it is mild, can potentially affect how your body regulates its internal temperature while exercising, putting a greater strain on your body. Performance in both short-duration exercise and prolonged exercise can be affected if your body has a fluid deficit. Therefore, the American College of Sports Medicine, ACSM, recommends that you drink adequate amounts of water during the 24 hours prior to exercising.

           Before exercise

Before you exercise you should drink between 12 and 20 oz. of water or sport beverage 2 hours before exercising so that your body has enough time to excrete the excess volume of water you drank.

          After exercise

The goal of drinking water after exercise is to replace all fluid or electrolytes lost. Usually, eating a balanced meal after exercising and drinking water freely can restore hydration and keep your blood glucose levels steady. Drinks containing electrolytes can be helpful, but usually a meal can adequately replace sodium losses. If you need rapid and complete re hydration, the ACSM recommends drinking about 3 cups or around 22 oz. of water for each pound of body-weight loss.

THE TRAINING DIET:

According to the ACSM, the fundamental differences between an athlete's diet and that of the general population are that athletes require additional fluid to cover sweat losses and additional energy to fuel physical activity.

Pre-Exercise Meal

Eating before exercise, as opposed to exercising in the fasting state, has been shown to improve performance. Foods should be mainly carbohydrates, low in fiber, fat, and moderate in protein.  Also, they should be familiar to the athlete (or you). If it is 1 hour or less, the stick to liquids, water, or sports drink.

During Exercise

Current research supports the benefit of carbohydrate consumption in amounts typically provided in sport drinks (6%-8%) to endurance performance in events lasting 1 h or less, especially in athletes who exercise in the morning after an overnight fast when liver glycogen levels are decreased.  Carbohydrate intake should begin shortly after the onset of activity; consuming a given amount of carbohydrate as a bolus after 2 h of exercise is not as effective as consuming the same amount at 15- to 20-min intervals throughout the 2 h of activity. 

The bottom line is that no matter how well you train your energy source comes from the fuel in your body.  Poor nutrition leads to fatigue, muscle breakdown and injury!

Reference:

1. American Dietetic Association. Position of the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: nutrition and athletic performance. J Am Diet Assoc. 2000;100:1543-56.  

Dramatic action needs to be taken to increase physical activity in American kids

According to American College of Sports Medicine, our children need to increase their physical activity level.  A recent government survey found that only 29% of high school students participated in 60 or more minutes a day of physical activity on each of the seven days prior to the survey. That's the amount recommended for kids and teens by the government's physical activity guidelines. Boys (38%) were more likely than girls (19%) to meet the guidelines.
Also, according to recent studies, over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. Also, the numbers are even higher in African American and Hispanic communities, where nearly 40% of the children are overweight or obese. Studies also report that one third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives. Many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. As a mother of three this really hits home. 

Thirty years ago, most people led lives that kept them at a healthy weight. I remember as a kid I walked to and from school every day, ran around at recess, participated in gym class, and played for hours after school. Most of my meals were home-cooked with reasonable portion sizes and eating fast food was rare and snacking between meals was an occasional treat or at most ate just one snack a day.  It's common now for children to have three snacks a day and one in five school-age children will have up to six snacks a day.  Also, portion sizes have exploded.  Research has shown that they are now two to five times bigger and beverage portions have also grown.  The average sugar-sweetened beverage was 13.56 ounces compared to today, where kids are drinking 20 ounces at a time.The average American now eats fifteen more pounds of sugar a year than in 1970.  
Today, it's sad to say, but children experience a very different lifestyle. Walks to and from school have been replaced by car and bus rides. Gym class and after-school sports have been cut, due to lack of funds and afternoons are now spent with TV, video games, and the internet. An eight to 18 year old will spend on average 7.5 hours a day using some sort of entertainment media. Parents are busier than ever and families eat fewer home-cooked meals.

Now that’s the bad news. The good news is that by making just a few lifestyle changes, we can help our children lead healthier lives–and we already have the tools we need to do it.
First, we need to get our children moving! Children and adolescents should do an hour or more of moderate-intensity to vigorous aerobic physical activity each day. That should include vigorous activity at least three days a week. And it should include bone-strengthening activities such as running, jumping rope, skipping, playing soccer and playing tag at least three days a week and muscle-strengthening activities such as tug of war, sit-ups, pull-ups and push-ups (modified for younger kids) at least three days a week.  As an alternative, you can count your daily activity steps using a pedometer, at least 10,000 steps per day.

Then, we need to educate our children on healthy eating. On eating a well balanced diet based on my plate.gov.

Putting all politics aside, Michelle Obama has started a wonderful initiative with Let's Move!  It's a great resource in getting our children moving.  Also, ChooseMyPlate.gov. is a great website in getting our children eating healthier.  But, the best resource is "you" be a healthy role model for our children.  Make it a family goal to Move more!



 

Is sitting is the newest, greatest evil since cigarettes

Chances are, while you're reading this blog your probably sitting. Studies show sitting more than six hours a day puts you on a potentially deadly track, even if you exercise! "Wow" that's pretty bad if you consider the average American sits about nine hours a day.  Studies have also shown that when we sit, especially for a long period of time, our body tends to shut down.

Sitting Is the Smoking of Our Generation

So you ask, how is sitting the new smoking? Well,  we often sit so much that we don't even question how much we are doing it. Also, we sit so often that we don't even consider it bad for us.  It's a mind set that if everyone else is doing it, then it must be ok.  Just like smoking!

Research has shown that lack of physical activity is directly tied to 6% of the impact for heart diseases, 7% for type 2 diabetes, and 10% for breast cancer, or colon cancer. You might already know that the death rate associated with obesity in the US is now 35 million. But do you know what it is in relationship to Tobacco? Just 3.5 million. The New York Times reported on another study, published last year in the journal Circulation that looked at nearly 9,000 Australians and found that for each additional hour of television a person sat and watched per day, the risk of dying rose by 11%. In that article, a doctor is quoted as saying that excessive sitting, which he defines as nine hours a day, is a lethal activity.
According to  Nilofer Merchant, with the Harvard business journal.  After 1 hour of sitting, the production of enzymes that burn fat declines by as much as 90%.  Also extended sitting slows the body's metabolism affecting things like (good cholesterol)HDL levels in our bodies.

No, I've never smoked a cigarette in my life.
But sitting? Sitting is something I do big-time, especially since I had decided to take an online math course.  Some-day's I sit in front of a computer all day long. I sit 30 min each way in the car to get to work or school.  When I get home, I spend a few more hours sitting in front of a computer as I finish up work, help the kids with their homework, pay my bills. I sit and I sit and I sit.


However, I have found a way to add in movement while I sit.  In the car you can often find me singing, moving my arms, and of course bee-bopping to my favorite song. When I get to my destination I tend to park as far away as possible. I thank my husband for instilling that trait in me. While I'm sitting, I always have a power hour. That means if I have been sitting for longer then an hour I get up and do one of the following: climb stairs for 5 minutes (either at work or at the campus), perform 20 pushups, 20 squats, 2 minutes of jumping jacks, or if I'm at the campus I take a walk from one end to the other.

The key is to get up and move!