ENGAGE YOUR CORE! You’ve heard it before. “Engage your core!” “Tighten your core!” while you’re performing such exercises as a plank or squat. But strengthening your core muscles has real-world benefits in addition to perfecting your workouts What is Your “Core?” The core is composed of the lumbar spine and a group of muscles that can co-contract to stiffen the torso. These core muscles include the rectus abdominus (your “abs”) the transversus abdominus, internal and external obliques, plus major muscles in the pelvic floor. The core is supremely important because it joins your lower and upper body helping them work...
SUGAR—THE SWEET & BITTER TRUTH As much as we’ve heard about the evils of sugar, our bodies actually require it. Every single cell in our body needs carbohydrates to provide energy. And all carbs are made up of sugar of one form or another. These are the three main types of carbohydrates: Sugar. Sugar is the simplest form of carbohydrate and occurs naturally in some foods, including fruits, vegetables, milk and milk products. Types of sugar include fruit sugar (fructose), table sugar (sucrose) and milk sugar (lactose). Starch. Starch is a complex carbohydrate, meaning it is made of many sugar...
YOGA—A TERRIFIC WAY TO KEEP YOUR BODY & MIND IN GOOD HEALTH I’ve been going to yoga classes for 20 years. I was hesitant in the beginning. I remember that I kept getting backaches after running. I mentioned this to my friend Steve Haimovitz and he said, “Try yoga.” But I resisted and instead saw a chiropractor, and then an acupuncturist. My backaches persisted. Again Steve said, “Just try yoga.” I finally did. After a couple of weeks my back pain from running disappeared and I was convinced. But yoga gave me a great deal more than that. In time,...
COFFEE—YOUR ULTIMATE HEALTH & FITNESS DRINK I’ve been drinking two or three cups of coffee a day for more than 50 years. And over that time have read many articles, both pro and con, on its health affects. But lately, study after study is showing that coffee drinkers actually have a much lower risk of several serious diseases. And that it can greatly improve physical performance. Thus, coffee has now become the supreme health and fitness beverage. Bob Arnot, MD, writes in the October 2017 issue of BottomLine Health (www.bottomlineinc.com), “In a 16-year study of more than 500,000 people, published...
MINDFULNESS CAN TRANSFORM YOUR FITNESS TRAINING Mindfulness has lately become a hot topic. Actually, though, it’s rooted in ancient traditions—it was originally conceived as a way to ease suffering and cultivate compassion. There are various descriptions of mindfulness, but in short, it’s living in the moment. It’s a conscious effort to be completely present—to take your attention away from the past or future and simply focus on what’s happening with you right now without interpretation or judgment. I’ll talk about mindfulness in general and then how we can use it in our fitness training. The Mayo Clinic cites studies that...
A TRIATHLON TALE I finally participated in a triathlon this year. It was the Carpinteria (California) Olympic Triathlon a week ago Sunday. Earlier in the year, I’d missed out on two other triathlons and a marathon because of injuries or flu—the latest being the Santa Barbara Triathlon in August with a pulled calf muscle. I arrived at Carpinteria State Beach and the triathlon transition area early. I found my spot, racked my bike and placed out my gear for the 3 segments of the event and had plenty of time to pull on my wet suit. Then I sauntered down...
SILVER SNEAKERS FITNESS I write Generation Fit for seniors 50+, but this week I want to talk about SilverSneakers, which is restricted to those 65 or older (or otherwise on Medicare). If you’re younger than this, it’s something to look forward to or you may know someone older who is unaware of the program. Spin class with instructor SilverSneakers® is the nation’s leading fitness program designed exclusively for older adults. It’s available at no charge by many insurance carriers for members of their Medicare Advantage plans. Some Medicare Supplement insurers and plans with group retirees also offer the program. Carriers...
MIGHTY NEAT Reading my latest issue of IDEA Fitness Journal, I came along an article called The Smart Way to Move by Terry Eckmann, PhD. This fascinating piece is about NEAT, which stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis. This is the energy we expend each day for everything that is not sleeping, eating or exercise-like activities. Thus NEAT is specifically all the non-exercise activities we perform on a daily basis such as doing yard work, washing dishes, walking from the car to the grocery store, etc. I researched NEAT online and found that the term and the theory originated from James...
SHOULD YOU TAKE A CPR TRAINING COURSE? I finally took a CPR training course in July. For years I’d been asking myself how I would respond to someone having a sudden cardiac arrest emergency. Probably helpless! I took definite action after I read that this someone could very well be a family member—spouse, parent, child, grandchild—or a good friend in my own home because something like 4 out of 5 cardiac arrests happen at home. I checked out the American Red Cross website (www.redcross.org) and found they continually offer CPR training courses combined with AED and basic first aid nationwide....
ARTHRITIS EXERCISE PROGRAMS I subscribe to the Mayo Clinic Health Letter and every few months there’s another article relating to arthritis. No surprise, more than 45 million Americans are affected by it, myself included—in my knees and in my hands. These days, the Mayo Clinic and just about every other health letter or valid health website strongly recommends an arthritis exercise program. Osteoarthritis common inflammation locations Arthritis is inflammation of the joints, affecting one joint or multiple joints. There are more than 100 types of arthritis but the most common by far is osteoarthritis (OA) followed by a much smaller...
