INTERESTING :part2 (ACSM) exercise & pregnancy

Exercise: A pregnant pause

For almost every woman, there's no need to stop exercising when you're pregnant. But you may need to adjust your intensity and avoid certain high-impact sports.

November 21, 2011|By Anne Stein, Special to Tribune Newspapers

At a British 10K charity run last year, a blonde with sunglasses and a slew of world records jogged easily among the 11,000 other runners who'd shown up that day. Olympic marathoner Paula Radcliffe crossed the finish line with a huge smile on her face, despite being a whopping 15 minutes off her best time for the distance.

The ultra-competitive Radcliffe, who at the time was seven months' pregnant with her second daughter, told reporters after the race that she "wasn't concerned about running a time, it was about enjoying the day."

But the day was also about staying in shape; though Radcliffe toned down her training during pregnancy, her ultimate goal was to make the 2012 British Olympic team. (She qualified at the Berlin Marathon in September.)

Back in the 1950s and 1960s — before the jogging and aerobics boom hit the U.S. and thousands ofhealth clubs dotted the land — exercise during pregnancy was rarely discussed. These days, pregnant women are packing prenatal yoga and low-impact aerobics classes. They're swimming, biking and running — and, yes, they're occasionally lining up at a race near you.

"The benefits of exercise during pregnancy are tremendous," says Dr. Raul Artal, author of the exercise and pregnancy guidelines for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, or ACOG, and chairman of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health at St. Louis University.

"Pregnancy shouldn't be a state of confinement. I consider it an ideal time to start engaging in physical activity," Artal says. For a healthy pregnant woman, ACOG recommends at least 150 minutes a week of exercise, preferably in 30-minute bouts — although shorter bouts of 15 minutes are OK, says Artal.

Healthy nonexercisers with a normal pregnancy should start slowly (like any new exerciser). ACOG recommends starting with five minutes a day and adding five minutes a week to reach the 30-minute-a-day mark. Walking, swimming or aquacise classes and low-impact/gentle aerobics are great options for beginners.

A previously active woman who's healthy and has a normal pregnancy can usually continue what she's doing, but at a less-intense level. (She shouldn't be short of breath at any point during exercise.)

Big benefits

What do the 30-minute bouts of exercise bring? According to ACOG, they can help reduce backaches, constipation, bloating and swelling; may help prevent gestational diabetes; increase energy, improve mood and posture; promote muscle tone, strength and endurance; and help you sleep better.

Women who should not exercise, says Artal, are those with significant heart disease, those with risk factors for preterm labor or risk of bleeding and women with poorly controlled Type 1 diabetes. Other women — such as those with severe anemia, severe obesity or high blood pressure — should talk to their doctor before starting an exercise program and do it under a doctor's supervision.

The talk test

Neal Pire, a fitness educator and fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, has noticed a huge change in attitude from both pregnant clients and the medical profession over the past few decades. Pire, based in Bergen County, N.J., cites the old ACOG restriction that pregnant women never let their heart rates go above 140. That number's no longer valid, he says.

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Now women are being advised to follow the "talk test." Basically, if you're exercising and you get to the point where you're short of breath and finding it difficult to hold a conversation, back off, explains Dr. James Pivarnik, Director of the Center for Physical Activity and Health, Michigan State University. "If the shortness of breath continues, stop the exercise," he says.

"Usually the moms who are active before pregnancy can continue their exercise routine up until birth," Pire says. "If they're starting a program they should start as any basic exerciser should — slow and gradual."

"If you're a moderate exerciser before pregnancy — doing walking, low-impact aerobics and moderate weights, for example — you should not start doing a spin class and upping your heart rate to 200 and adding plyometrics and heavy lifting. That's a whole different animal," Pire says. "Don't start anything new that's dramatically more intense than what you've been doing."

Exercise physiologist and trainer Karen Merrill, who trained for a marathon while pregnant, has pregnant clients who use kettlebells, TRX (suspension training bands) and other challenging fitness tools, but only if they've used them before pregnancy.

"My clients don't want to give those things up when they're pregnant, but they need to have a good sense of balance and a strong core," says Merrill, a mother of two and spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise. "As a trainer, you look at each pregnant woman individually, assess what her strengths are, and design a program based on that. Even then, there are going to be changes as the pregnancy progresses."

INTERESTING :Resistance training is far from futile (ACSM)

DETROIT — The variations have new names but center on the same main principle.

Whether you yank on suspension bands, pull stretchy rubber tubes, heft a bulbous low-tech kettlebell or pump traditional free weights, you’re moving your muscles against resistance. That’s what burns calories while building healthy, attractive lean muscle tissue. Both lead to weight loss, a firm physique and a raft of other benefits.

Strength training is a growing trend, according to the annual survey by the American College of Sports Medicine. It ranks No. 2 — up from No. 6 in 2007 — among the most popular trends for 2012, according to the poll of 2,620 fitness professionals, including certified trainers and exercise physiologists. And there’s new evidence that strength and resistance training can have other benefits.

“In the last decade, research has shown that resistance exercise can help numerous disease states,” including depression, says Jeffrey Potteiger, dean of graduate studies at Grand Valley State University near Grand Rapids, Mich.

“You can improve your overall health just by watching your weight and taking walks in the neighborhood. But if you want to improve your fitness — look better, maximize health, have more energy, prevent injuries — you need to do more,” said Potteiger, who has spent 24 years doing research on strength training.

In recent years, emphasis has shifted to a type of resistance training that builds muscles used in day-to-day tasks, helping avoid injury or re-injury.
Called functional strength training, it helps with chores such as hefting infants in and out of car seats or lifting garage doors.

Another goal is to reduce the risk factors in patients with chronic diseases such as osteoporosis, heart disease and diabetes.

“Part of my job is trying to convince that 85-year-old woman that she really should start weight lifting,” says Dr. Dennis Kerrigan, senior exercise physiologist at Henry Ford Health System’s Center for Athletic Medicine in Detroit. The bone-strengthening effect of strength training is widely known.

Others who need persuading are women recently treated for breast cancer, Kerrigan says.

“Friends and family tell them, ‘Take it easy,’“ but chemotherapy can reduce muscle mass, leaving body fat that’s linked to cancer returning, he says.

The prescription? Strength training.

“It’s taken a long time for women to realize how important strength training is,” says YMCA trainer Sandy Gossett at the South Oakland Family Y in Royal Oak, Mich.

“It’s always been cardio, cardio, cardio — aerobics. But once they try it, they’re hooked,” Gossett says.

The first time she tried strength training in one of Gossett’s classes a year ago, Catherine Goddard says she needed courage.

“I didn’t think I could lift 5 pounds,” says Goddard, 57, of Royal Oak. She soon learned that the more weightlifting she did, the stronger she felt in her treadmill workouts. One success led to another until last month she finished a half marathon.

“For women in particular, they feel empowered from just a couple of weeks of strength training,” says Irene Lewis-McCormick, author of “A Woman’s Guide to Muscle and Fitness,” set to be published in February by Human Kinetics. “When you become stronger, you feel more confident in everything you do.”

Planet Fitness-Southgate instructor Jon Abbott agrees: “Women absolutely enjoy it.” Of the 260 weekly fitness classes held each week at Planet Fitness, more than 200 of them include strength training.
Functional Integrated Training is the favorite of Kelly Lawson, 49, of Rochester Hills, Mich. She’s been doing core exercise for two decades.

“I’ve got a degenerated disk in my back, but I haven’t needed any surgery and the doctors attribute that to all the core exercise I do,” says Lawson, who teaches online math classes for the University of Phoenix.

Weight Bearing Exercise And The Benefits 2

Regular Exercise Improves Health

Regular exercise helps people with arthritis stay as strong and healthy as possible. Exercise can reduce joint pain and stiffness, as well as improve:

• balance
• muscle strength
• flexibility
• cardiac fitness
• endurance
• weight control
• overall sense of well-being

However, it is difficult for people with arthritis to stick with a regular exercise program because of their physical limitations. While it's important to respect those limitations, it's also important to learn about the different types of exercise and set personal goals after consulting a doctor and physical therapist.

Types of Exercise

There are several types of exercise, each with a specific target for improving your physical health:

• Range-of-motion exercises, which move each joint through its full range of motion daily
• Strengthening exercises, which build muscle strength and improve joint stability
• Endurance exercises, which bring heart rate up and improve cardiovascular fitness

Two subcategories of strengthening exercise are weightbearing exercise and resistance exercise. Weightlifting is an example of resistance exercise. Right now, let's focus on understanding weightbearing exercise.

What Is Weightbearing Exercise?

Weightbearing exercise is essential for building and maintaining healthy bones. Weightbearing exercise is any activity you do while on your feet and legs that works your muscles and bones against gravity. During weightbearing exercise, bone adapts to the impact of weight and the pull of muscle by building more bone cells. Consequently, bone becomes stronger and more dense. The risk of fracture, osteopenia, and osteoporosisdecreases.

Weightbearing exercise includes:

• walking
• jogging
• hiking
• dancing
• step aerobics
• soccer
• baseball
• basketball
• tennis, racquetball
• bowling
• golf
• stair climbing

Exercises that are non-weightbearing include:

• swimming
• bicycling

In order to sustain the strengthening associated with weightbearing exercise, the intensity, duration, and amount of stress applied to bone should increase over time. But arthritis patients with physical limitations may have a problem with increasing the intensity of exercise. Arthritis patients must find the balance between too much exercise and too little.

Many arthritis patients with moderate-to-severe physical limitations will look at the list of weightbearing exercises and regrettably be able to participate in few or none of the activities. Patients with mild symptoms should be able to do more.

Talk about exercise with your doctor. It's a discussion every arthritis patient should have. Talk about what types of exercise are safe for you to do, how often you should be doing the exercises, and why it's important to consistently participate in some form of exercise on a regular basis. If arthritis prevents you from doing any weightbearing exercise, non-weightbearing alternatives are better than no exercise at all.

Benefit of weight bearing exercises

If you want strong bones, you have to use them! Everyone needs lifelong weight-bearing exercise to build and maintain healthy bones. Girls and young women especially should concentrate on building strong bones now to cut their risk of osteoporosis later in life.

A bone thinning disease that can lead to devastating fractures, osteoporosis afflicts many women after menopause and some men in older age. Osteoporosis is responsible for almost all the hip fractures in older people.

The disease is largely preventable if you get enough weight-bearing exercise when you're young, stay active and continue other healthy habits as you age.

Bone Mass and Young Females

The maximum size and density of your bones (peak bone mass) is determined by genetics but you need weightbearing exercise to reach top strength. The best time to build bone density is during years of rapid growth.

• Weight-bearing exercise during the teen years is ideal.
• Bones continue to grow during the 20s and sometimes into the early 30s. (Bone loss normally begins in the mid-30s.)
• Smoking and excessive alchohol use can decrease bone mass.

Osteoporosis prevention is a special concern for females for a number of reasons:

• Women generally reach peak bone mass at an earlier age than men.
• Peak bone mass tends to be lower in women than in men.
• Pregnancy and breast feeding can lower bone mass.
• Women undergo rapid bone loss after menopause when levels of the bone strengthening hormone estrogen drop dramatically. (The removal of ovaries will have the same effect on bone mass.)

Doing regular weightbearing exercise for the rest of your life can help maintain your bone strength.

What is "Weightbearing"?

Weightbearing describes any activity you do on your feet that works your bones and muscles against gravity. Bone is living tissue that constantly breaks down and reforms. When you do regular weightbearing exercise, your bone adapts to the impact of weight and pull of muscle by building more cells and becoming stronger.

Some activities recommended to build strong bones include:

• Brisk walking, jogging, and hiking.
• Yard work such as pushing a lawnmower and heavy gardening.
• Team sports, such as soccer, baseball, and basketball.
• Dancing, step aerobics, and stair climbing.
• Tennis and other racquet sports.
• Skiing, skating, karate, and bowling.
• Weight training with free weights or machines.

Although they are excellent cardiovascular exercise choices, swimming and bicycling are not weightbearing activities, so are not as effective as the above activities in adding bone mass. If musculoskeletal conditions prevent weight-bearing exercise, then swimming and cycling are good alternatives. They do have some bone-building capacity.

You should exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, four or more days a week. Besides improving bone strength, regular exercise also increases muscle strength, improves coordination and balance, and leads to better overall health. To sustain the bone strengthening benefit of weightbearing activity, you must increase the intensity, duration and amount of stress applied to bone over time.

Five Best Weight Loss Foods

There is no such thing as the best single weight loss food unfortunately. We know that weight loss is the result of the energy consumed from various foods within the diet, and that a diet's total energy must be lower than the energy used by the body.

Some sites peddle the idea that certain foods are the best for weight loss because when these "special foods" are eaten they result in negative calories. However, there is no hard scientific proof to support this theory. If a low calorie food is replacing a food high in calories then it can be considered good for losing weight.

But, consuming a diet exclusively of low or negative calorie foods maybe detrimental to your body's health in receiving vital minerals and nutrients.

Here are a few tips to recognize weight loss foods :

Low Fat Foods : Foods that are low in fat are also believed to be the best for losing weight. Fat contains more than twice the amount of energy than carbohydrates or protein, so eating less fat naturally lowers calorie intake.

High in Fiber Foods : Some other foods that are considered helpful when losing weight are those high in fiber. The fiber helps fill up the stomach quicker causing the individual to eat less, thus less calories are consumed.

Nutritionally Dense Foods : Foods that are nutritionally dense, especially from some of the B vitamins may help increase energy levels and give an individual more desire to exercise.

High Water Content Foods : Many foods with a high water content are among some of the best foods to help lose weight. They are often low in calories plus increasing water intake has been shown to benefit weight loss. More about Fat Burning Foods Click Here!

Fresh Natural Foods : Fresh, natural produce are among the best foods for weight loss, they are often low in energy and low in sodium.

A high sodium intake has been shown to cause slight water retention, thus gaining an extra few pounds of water weight. A low sodium diet can help rid the body of water retention.

Processed and convenient products loaded with refined sugar are NOT the best foods for losing weight. The sugar contributes to "empty calories" void of all nutrients.

All the best foods for weight loss should generally be....

• Fresh natural food High in fiber
• Low in calories
• Low in fat
• Low in refined sugars
• Low in sodium

Many good weight loss foods may also contain...

• High quality protein
• Fiber
• High water content

Examples of some of the best foods for losing weight...

• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Legumes
• Wholegrain foods (muesli, oatmeal, wholemeal pasta, etc)
• Baked potato
• Boiled brown rice
• Fresh fish

stretching

Stretching

Stretching used to be considered the main activity before a workout. That has all changed now. Stretching is still a beneficial activity prior to working out, but only after you have sufficiently warmed up. The reason for this is that stretching cold muscles can directly contribute to pulled and torn muscles. It's also now known that stretching is important after a workout as well.

Stretching properly may reduce muscle injuries and provides these benefits:

• an increase in flexibility and joint range of motion
• correct exercise posture
• relaxed muscles
• better sports coordination

Stretching has to be done right to have benefits, though. Here are some tips on stretching properly:

Stop if it hurts. Stretching should never hurt. If you have reached a point in your stretch where it hurts, relax to where it feels comfortable and hold the stretch.

Maintain each stretch for 10-30 seconds. Holding a stretch for any less won't sufficiently lengthen the muscle. Stretch the muscles gradually and don't force it. Avoid bobbing. Bobbing or bouncing while stretching may damage the muscle you are stretching. This damage may even cause scar tissue to form. Scar tissue tightens muscles and can get in the way of flexibility.

Remember to breathe. Breathing is a necessary part of any workout, including stretching.

Practice equality. Even if you are a righty, it doesn't mean that you should neglect the left side of your body. Make sure you stretch both sides equally, so all of your muscles are evenly ready for action.

If you play a sport, you should do-warm ups that go with that sport. The same is true for stretching. These types of stretches are known as sports-specific stretches, and they focus on the muscles that are used for your particular sport. For instance, if you play baseball you might focus on your shoulder for throwing or your forearm for batting.