Exercise

Summer is Coming. What’s Your Workout Plan?

/ Mark A Nutting / Leave a comment

About this time of year, I start hearing people talking about how they’re going to stop going to the gym because they will be active outdoors all summer. I get it, active inside or active outside, it doesn’t really matter, does it? Well, I have to tell you. It’s not the same.

gardener

First, let me say that exercising or being active outside can have some significant emotional/psychological benefits. Even five minutes of “green exercise” can enhance your mood and feeling of well-being. So, yea for being outside! There are, however, a few cautionary notes to dropping out of your regular full body workout program.

Whether we are gardening or playing tennis, activities are never symmetrical. We always favor one arm or leg. Raking, digging, planting are one side dominant. We even get up or down on the ground favoring one leg. Tennis is essentially a one-armed sport. In golf, you always swing to one side. These asymmetries can create strength and flexibility imbalances that may cause injuries in time. kayak

Another issue is that these activities rarely take us through the full ranges of motion that we would (or should) be getting with our  gym workout. Full movement at the knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, etc. doesn’t come without planning for it. Walking, running, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, and biking do not promote joint mobility (or certainly not full-body joint mobility).

trx chest press

TRX (suspension device) for outdoor workouts

There are some solutions that are pretty simple. One option is to just keep doing your regular gym workout. If you don’t seem to have time and want to spend more time outside you can modify your workout to be shorter and/or go to the gym less frequently. In example, you could cut back to a 30 minute, twice a week. Another answer is to do your full body workout outdoors. There are a number of ways to make that happen. You can do bodyweight workouts, use a suspension device such as the TRX, or you could use elastic tubing that is very portable and very effective.

What you can’t do is go from a structured, full body workout program to summer “activities” and expect to maintain the benefits. You’ll come back in the fall having to start up at a much reduced level to reflect what you have lost. So, plan ahead and decide how you can continue your strength and mobility training throughout the summer.

 

Squat Until You Die!

/ Mark A Nutting / 2 Comments

You’ve probably heard from the hardcore exercisers that squatting is one of those basic exercises that everyone should be doing. At the same time, I often hear some in the medical field say, “Oh no. You should avoid squatting. It’s too dangerous.” Let me cut to the chase and say… yes, everyone should be squatting and should continue to squat until you are too weak to get out of bed (which won’t happen until later in life because, well… you’re squatting).

Deep-Squat

I know, that does sound like an outrageous statement, but I believe the controversy lies in the misunderstanding of what a squat really is. Squatting is dropping your center of gravity by flexing (bending) your hips, knees, and ankles and usually involves the hip moving backward and the torso tipping forward (although to what degree depends on the squat variation and differences in body structure). It is something we every day. If you get up and down from a chair (or toilet) you’re squatting.

squat variations

Some squat variations (L-R, T-B): Chair Squat, Goblet Squat, Front Squat, Sumo Squat, Dumbbell Squat, Overhead Squat, Prisoner Squat, One-Legged Bench Squat, Bulgarian Split Squat.

There are many varieties of squats, and while not every variation works for every body, there is at least one that will work for you. You can also make modifications to make squats more accessible to you. Adjusting the weight, from partial body weight (such as assisted body weight squats, i.e. holding on to something.) to adding weight with dumbbells, barbells, etc. is one modification. Adjusting the range of motion is another (start with small, top end range of motion and go deeper as you get stronger).

So, the notion that someone shouldn’t squat because of age, or arthritis, or low bone mineral density, or whatever… is not taking into consideration that we need to be able to do this movement and there are endless ways to begin.

Let me know if you have any questions and, if not, squat away, my friend.

What’s More Important as We Get Older, Cardio or Resistance Training?

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A brief history… until “aerobics” broke onto the scene with Kenneth Cooper’s books, Aerobics (1968) and The Aerobics Way (1978), fitness was dominated by resistance training. cooper-aerobicsCooper’s books changed the face of exercise by supplying research showing the health benefits of cardiovascular training. When I was in college in the late 70s, my exercise science professors actually asked me to teach the weight training portion of their courses because none of them had any experience with anything other than aerobics (now commonly termed as cardio).lalanne

As a result of that paradigm shift, most health related research only looked at the benefits of cardio. Since that’s where the research was, cardio was the mode of exercise that was most recommended for health. Thankfully, resistance training has received more attention by researchers in the past couple of decades.

For the sake of this article, I’ll stick to an older definition of cardiovascular exercise as rhythmic, continuous, and maintaining a heart rate of 50-85% of your heart rate reserve (max heart rate – resting heart rate). Some typical cardio activities include walking, running, cycling, swimming, dancing, cross-country skiing, etc. Let’s define resistance training as loading movements with a force with the intent of increasing muscular strength or endurance. This can be with body weight, tubing, machines, free weights, etc. Please note that these definitions are simplistic for the sake of discussion. The truth is that there are many hybrid forms of exercise as well.

There are significant benefits from both of these exercise modalities. Both, in varying degrees, can decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease, improve lung function, increase insulin sensitivity, improve circulation, relieve stress, improve memory and cognitive function, help control weight, and many other positive health changes. So, which do we choose?

If we are talking about maximum benefits as we age, the best answer is to do some of both. That said, I’m going to say that IF I had to choose one, I would choose resistance training because, if done correctly, it can provide a greater ability to do daily activities. That, to me, speaks to keeping independence and quality of life. quirky_lift_4These activities, squatting down, lifting, carrying, pulling, and pushing, all benefit more from resistance training than traditional cardio training. Resistance training is also better at building/maintaining lean body mass, increasing fat loss, and improving bone mineral density.

Now many people hesitate at the idea of starting a resistance training program. They think that they are too old to be throwing huge weights on their back to squat or on the bench press. I’ve even heard doctors say that their patients shouldn’t squat. That’s a misperception of what resistance training really is. Getting up and down out of a chair (or off a toilet seat) is a squat. It’s a movement we need to be able to do and if getting out of your chair is difficult, that may be what you start with. Try getting out of your chair 6-10 times in a row. That’s resistance training and your body weight is the resistance. Doing repetitions of “chair squats” will strengthen your legs and hips and make getting out of the chair less of a challenge.

So, when you know you should be exercising and are finally ready to do something about it, don’t automatically think that cardio will do it for you. It is definitely good to do, but having the right resistance training program will give you faster and better results in how capable you are in doing your daily activities.

 

 

 

 

Will Working Out Fix My Back? (Shoulder? Hip?) 

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I know a lot of personal trainers that will claim that they can fix your problem(s). Can they? Well, it depends on the personal trainer, your individual issue(s), and what is meant by “fixing” it.

pain

Let me start this discussion with a confession. Most people wouldn’t know this, but, I’m in physical pain, every day, and have been for years. It’s not overwhelming, but it is annoying. I have spinal stenosis that creates a radiating nerve pain down my right leg. I have a torn meniscus in my left knee. I have arthritis in both of my thumbs which make gripping things painful. I had a complete shoulder replacement about five years ago (Although, this is no longer a source of pain. My shoulder feels great these days.). And then there are the day to day aches and pains that we all deal with as we get older. Yet, in spite of all this, I teach group fitness, lift weights, and do pretty much anything I want. My, “issues” do not limit my activity. This is because I work out regularly and consistently challenge myself. Am I “fixed”? No, but I am soooo much better than I would be if I wasn’t working out.

That’s my story, but could it fix other issues? Well, it’s not going to get rid of arthritis (but, it can increase your ability to do what you want and it can diminish the sense of pain.) It’s not going to reattach torn ligaments (but, it can strengthen the muscles surrounding the area and may allow you to continue activity without surgery [always check with your doctor]). That said, if you are having back pain because of weak core muscles and poor posture, yes, the right workout with a qualified personal trainer can correct this condition. If you are having pain that is determined to stem from improper gait or movement patterns, yes, these can be corrected and alleviate the pain.

So, yes, working out can “fix” some problems and can make the best of others. The key is to check with your doctor and with his/her approval, find the right personal trainer to work with and you can be on the road to a better quality of life.

“I Don’t Need Help. Why, Back in My Day…”

/ Mark A Nutting / 2 Comments

A man’s pride can be his downfall, and he needs to learn when to turn to others for support and guidance. – Bear Grylls

Older men are the worst (I know because I am one.) We’ve had at least half a lifetime’s worth of experience and we believe that means that we know stuff.

Well, we do know stuff, but often times not as much as we think we do. It turns out that sometimes what we think we know, we remember incorrectly. Other times what we believed was “The way” to do something has since been proven to be ineffective or even harmful. Have you ever found yourself saying, “Back in my day…”? I do fairly often, but it’s not to show expertise. I discovered early on that if I relied on what I learned when I was younger, I would have found myself left behind in the world. Now, when I use, “back in my day” it’s to illustrate how far off the mark we were.

casey_viator_nautilus_flexing-650x429

Old-time bodybuilding champion and Nautilus pitch man, Casey Viator

In example, “Back in my day, we used a Nautilus machine circuit as a major part of our strength workouts for college football.” True story. While it might have done a fine job at building muscle, we now know that machine-based strength training programs do not have the best carry over to sports performance.

 

What myths and fallacies are you hanging on to? Are you putting in a lot of time training your abs to lose the fat around your waist? (There is no spot reducing. Sorry.) Are you putting in lots of time on cardio to lose weight? (It’s not the most effective way to take off the fat.) Are you doing yoga and avoiding weight training so you will build longer, leaner muscles? (Muscles don’t build longer, and getting leaner results from the right caloric balance.)

There’s also the issue of what you were training for back then. The goals of the past may not be what you want from your training now. I used to train for strength and power. That was when I was playing football. Now, my goals are different and my training reflects that.

The point I’m trying to make is that “back in my day” information may be a day too late (or, more likely, years too late.).

fat-belt-3

“I can feel it working!”

Don’t take the chance that what you “knew” back then, still holds true and don’t let your pride or ego keep you from asking for help. Find a certified, experienced personal trainer to help make sure your training program is one that is based on the most current scientific evidence and is specifically created to meet your individual needs.

 

 

 

 

 

The Final Straw

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Many people go through life without feeling the need to exercise or watch what they eat. Weight gain, decreased strength, endurance, and/or flexibility, the onset of disease, these are all situations that happen gradually, many times without the individual’s notice. That is, until something happens that changes their perspective.

This final straw or moment of crisis, shifts an individual’s thinking from, “I’m fine the way I am.” to “I need to do something to change this.” If and when you have this moment, you should write it down in detail. What was going on? What did you hear and see? How did you feel? These are emotional moments and questions that require emotional answers. It is emotions, after all, that drives us. By documenting this, you will help to strengthen your resolve in changing and you will have something to turn to when your motivation wavers.

final-straw

The following are a few of the actual moments that brought clients to me for my help.

“At my last checkup, my doctor told me that I was pre-diabetic and that if I didn’t change how I was living my life, I would need to go on insulin.”

“I fell down outside my barn and I couldn’t get off the ground. It took me three hours to eventually get to something that I could use to help me pull myself up.”

“I saw a picture of myself and I couldn’t believe it was me. How could I have gained so much weight?”

“I just found out that my daughter is pregnant and I want to be around to be part of my grandchild’s life.”

To change our lives takes a change in our mindset, a shift in our priorities. When that final straw moment happens, you need to own it. You can change, and, while not knowing how to can be a problem, it’s no excuse. Find help and always keep in mind why changing is important to you and your life.

Good luck, and let me know if I can be of help. Mark

The Loss of Balance Fear Spiral

/ Mark A Nutting / 1 Comment

Balance, like most other aspects of fitness, falls under the “use it or lose it” category. As we age, we tend to be less active. With that decrease in activity comes sarcopenia, a wasting of muscle that causes a drop in resting metabolic rate, increased fat weight, loss of strength, and functional abilities. A drop in activity can also decrease flexibility and balance. We notice these things, of course. We can’t do the things that we used to be able to do. So, when it comes to balance, the “What if I fall?” question that we start to ask ourselves is followed by fear and anxiety.

tight-rope

That fear and anxiety causes us to start to hedge our bets when it comes to balance. If you try to stand on one leg, right now, I’ll bet that you fall inward, toward the midline. Having worked with many older adults, I’ve found that this is almost universal. Why is that, you might ask. I believe (yes, this is my humble opinion, although based on years of working with the issue) that the fear of falling has started making people play it safe. If I stand balanced on one leg and lose my balance, which direction would be safer to fall? If I fall outward, I might not be able to catch myself and I could get hurt. If I fall inward, I simply catch myself with my other foot and all is right with the world. So, rather than take the chance of falling outward, I begin to pull back on my balance, never quite getting on top of the leg. This guarantees that I fall inward.  The same is true in falling forward or backward. If I lose my balance and fall backward, I could really hurt myself. However, if I fall forward I’ll either be able to get a foot out in front or at least be able to break the fall with my hands. Hence, we start to lean forward… just in case.

What’s the harm in playing it safe? Well, as we start to hedge our bet, never really balancing on one leg or standing up straight as we walk, our strides become shorter as we fall inward. We’ve decreased the balance challenge, which decreases our actual ability to balance, which we start to feel, which makes us hedge our bet more and challenge our balance even less, and… the vicious cycle continues. Before you know it, your walk has turned into a sequence of short steps, falling forward and inward. You’re now doing the old person shuffle.

The good news is that you can both prevent the loss of balance and/or regain it once you’ve started to lose it. This, like other aspects of fitness, comes from regularly challenging it. As you challenge it and start to see improvement, you become more confident, with increased confidence, you feel comfortable challenging your balance more and… you’re on an upward spiral toward greater balance and functional abilities.

Next week, I’ll talk about some specific ways to safely improve your balance.

 

What a Pain!

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Pain is a funny thing. For personal trainers, we have been taught that when a client feels pain it is a red flag. Stop what you are doing and send the client to a doctor. But pain is not redflag1always that simple. First, everyone perceives it differently. I’ve had clients that, after a few reps of an exercise, said that it hurts. ? OK, do I stop and send them to a doctor? Well, I do stop. But then we talk about what they are really experiencing. Where does it hurt? In the joint? In the muscle? OK, it’s in the muscle. What does that feel like? Is it sharp or stabbing? Is it dull or achey? Is it tension and fatigue? You’d be surprised how many people are unused to feeling muscle fatigue and report that as pain. I’ve also had clients that would tell me that their backs hurt when they did abdominal crunches (back when I used to have them do crunches). We’d discuss what they were sensing and determine that they were feeling a stretch tension in their lower back. This was neither harmful nor uncommon as one of the limiting factors in how high someone could crunch was the flexibility of the low back.

My point here is not to support the common declarations of “No pain, no gain.” or “Pain is weakness leaving the body.” Rather, I bring this up to make you aware that there are many sensations when you are working out that are often lumped into the pain category and to take a moment and analyze what you are really feeling.

“Pain”, like Baskin-Robbins ice cream, comes in many flavors and depending on the flavor and where it is located, can help you understand its severity. First, let me say that joint pain is always more concerning than a muscular pain. With muscles, you can feel a burning fatigue, stretch tension, acheyness, soreness, cramping, etc. All of which are really more discomfort and, while not pleasant, they are not that concerning. A tearing feeling or pop, on the other hand, you had better pay attention to (stop what you’re doing and see your doctor). Joint pain should rarely be ignored. If ysevere-knee-painou have diagnosed arthritis or are just stiff and achey, maybe you can keep on keeping on. However, if you feel a sharp, stabbing sensation, a radiating pain, or even a strong ache in a joint, it is cause to stop what you are doing and seek medical attention. Joint issues can be very serious and should be addressed before returning to activity.

Backtracking a little, if there is any chronic pain that you are experiencing, no matter what flavor,  you should see your doctor. It’s always better to know what you’re dealing with. The diagnosis will let you make an informed decision as to what you can safely do or not do.

So, while some discomfort is expected in a fitness program, being able to discern between what might be considered normal and what is potentially a real injury, is important in keeping your body healthy. Listen to your body and get to know your flavors.

 

What’s Really Affordable Care

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As I write this, the Affordable Care Act (aka ACA or Obamacare) is being dismantled for who knows what as a replacement. Although I personally think that the ACA was a great, first attempt at finding something better than a health care system that was already too expensive for most Americans, it does have it’s issues. aca-logoBut, you can never know all of the problems until something is actually put in place. In my humble opinion, we should now be focusing on correcting the things that don’t work with the ACA. That said, what I really wanted to talk about was the most affordable care… preventative care.

According to the CDC, 75% of health care costs are on people with chronic conditions. These chronic conditions include heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, obesity, and respiratory diseases. Furthermore, the CDC estimates that eliminating these 3 risk factors – poor diet, inactivity, and smoking – would prevent:

  • 80% of heart disease and stroke
  • 80% of type 2 diabetes
  • 40% of cancer.

cover-chronic-care_281731694While I know that the majority of smokers know that smoking is hazardous to their health, I believe that benefits of exercise and eating healthfully are too often thought of as just a way to look better. Many people don’t understand the magnitude of health benefits that also come with them. Managing your diet and physical activity really is a health intervention. See Exercise is Medicine!

Going forward, whatever health care system is developed or put in place, it must promote preventative care or we as a nation will never manage health care costs. Of course, you don’t have to wait for that to happen. Take charge of your heath today.

“Without concerted strategic intervention, chronic diseases and their risk factors can be expected to cause more harm—and be more costly to society. We cannot effectively address escalating health care costs without addressing the problem of chronic diseases.” – CDC, The Power of Prevention

EIM Canada_clr

 

Free Weights, Machines, Tubing, or Body Weight?

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Should your resistance workout include free weights, machines, tubing, or body weight exercises? The answer is “yes!” It should and could include any or all of those various resistance training forms. The choice you make depends on a few things. These include what you are training for (your goals), what equipment do you have access to, and what have you been using (variety is the spice of life). Let’s talk about what each has to offer.

First, let me note that all are means of adding resistance to movement and, in doing that, have the potential to build muscle size, strength, and endurance depending on the repetition range and volume (a post for a later time). Yes, you can body build with tubing alone. Your muscles don’t know what form of resistance you are using. They only know, “Is it hard?” and if it is, your muscles will adapt.

designFree weights (a constant, external weight) have been around forever. Anything we grab and lift is a free weight. There are many physical professions that produce strong people because they lift heavy things as part of the job. In fact, some of the strong man/woman challenges are taken from these, such as the farmer’s walk and yoke carry. One of the major benefits of lifting free weights is that can replicate the demands that we face in our activities of daily living (ADL). This is typically what is called functional training. Lifting with free weights can make you deal with balance, stability, and gravity in a similar way as lifting something in “real life”.

Machines typically have a pin selected weight stack, seats that need to be adjusted to fit your body, and handles that you either pull or push. The good and the bad? Changing weights are quick and easy. Machines support your body weight so you don’t need to. This makes it less like activities of daily living. However, that support can also allow you to work around injuries and not all exercises need to be directly related to ADL. Additionally, most machines offer variable resistance. Where free weights are always the same (a 10lb dumbbell is always 10lbs), through the use of different shaped cams, machines can increase and decrease the resistance. This helps you to work through “sticking points” to maximize resistance within a full range of motion.

Tubing (elastic tension) offers the advantages of being highly portable, very versatile, and simple to change the direction of force (up, down, horizontal, etc.) by changing the anchor point. It can provide significant resistance both by changing to a heavier gauge tubing or by simply moving further away from the anchor point. The biggest downside to tubing is that you are never sure how much resistance you are using. This makes replicating the tension, from one workout to the next, challenging. Without that measurable progress marker, some people may not be as motivated.

Finally, there is body weight exercise. Using your body weight (BW) is certainly functional, we have to move our bodies around all day long. No external equipment is needed, so it’s a handy portable workout. There’s also an ego advantage. Who doesn’t like the idea of being able to handle their own BW. Push ups, pull ups, and dips are long time fitness standards. We can’t alter our weight, though, to suit the exercise. I watch some guys crank out pull ups and have to note, “Well, you only weigh 150. Try that at my weight (212 as of yesterday, btw).” Sometimes your BW is not enough. BW squats, if challenging now, will rapidly become too easy. You need to be creative to give the whole body the right amount of resistance. (See push up progression here)

So, when the question of which mode of resistance training is best for you arises, you know the answer is “It depends”. What tools are available, what is your goal, what things do you like doing? The important thing to note is that all of these can provide very effective workouts and your body will not respond differently because of the type of resistance you use.