FRIDAY FOOTPRINT FLASH – Check out your county’s health metrics
Posted: April 4, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: exercise, exercise motivation, Fitness, Gym, Health, motivation, physical activity, Physical fitness Leave a commentThe Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute team recently released the fifth annual County Health Rankings, a report that uses 29 factors to assess the wellbeing of residents in nearly every US county.
The results reveal physical inactivity is decreasing and rates of obesity are leveling off, trends that deserve a glass-half-full head nod. But other results reveal access to activity engagement and healthy food is wealth-dependent, a persisting, unsurprising correlation since SES influences the built environment that either invites or dissuades activity engagement.
Glass-half-empty? On the one hand, any disparity is unacceptable, but looking at this report through the lens of other reports that also reveal encouraging physical activity and obesity rates brings us back to glass-half-full, especially if we dig into the how’s of the improved trends.
The common citizen CAN initiate built-environment change. Many engagement improvements are the ground swells of one person’s advocacy for programming and policy. Net/net, one person can make a difference—and when there are lots of ‘one persons’ making a difference, WE get healthier.
Need an idea to get started on your one-person mission? Here are two examples of policy change that would make an immediate impact.
One, ensure the quality of your community’s programming by requiring leaders to demonstrate competency, either through an earned degree or comparable acquisition of knowledge (reputable fitness certification). Considering the stakes, we can’t leave our wellbeing in the hands of someone who only might be able to help.
Two, increase accessibility to physical activity by instituting joint-use agreements that eliminate ‘territory’ barriers. Schoolyards are just the safe spaces many communities need to offer programming, but squirrely usage rules lock the gates late afternoon and on weekends. Joint use agreements between school districts and community-based organizations can pathway, literally, regular exercise benefits to residents.
Be a ‘one person’ for your community, and look for the results in next year’s report. Better yet, see it in the eyes of the people whose quality of life YOU have improved.
CHOICE – A FEATURE OF MODERN LIFE
Posted: April 3, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: exercise, exercise motivation, Fitness, Gym, Health, Iron Footprint Fitness, Physical exercise, Physical fitness Leave a commentMotor skill practice is an Iron Footprint Fitness pillar because the better your proficiency the more activity choice you have, and the more activity choice you have the more likely you will engage any given day.
It just makes sense. If limited to doing one thing, that one thing is going to get old fast. Variety appeals to human nature whether for what we eat, or wear, or how we exercise—and more so every day, the opportunity to exercise choice is a feature of modern life.
Our Ipods are filled with music we forget we have, our readers with material that spans all prose, our TVs offer channels many of us have no idea exist—wander around in the 800s if you haven’t—and, of course, the Web enables access to even more music…books…TV shows.
All this exercise of choice; except when it comes to exercise, which usually means going to the gym at the same time for the same class, or out for a walk/run around the same block. Nothing wrong with this, but even the best intended can get tired of the same, when one missed day becomes a string of several until we recover and return to…the same class or the same run.
There is a solution. Increase your exercise choice by adding motor skill practice to your routine. It’s never too late to improve skills, and you will be surprised how quickly you can develop proficiencies that allow you to add new activities to your repertoire.
Have a catch, hit golf balls, shoot baskets, play hopscotch. Then do it again, and before you know it, you will be ready for the recreation league. Most important your motivation will benefit from the choice it affords.
Don’t leave exercise in the prehistoric days of, gasp, 3G!
DON’T FORGET THE FUNCTION OF FUNCTIONAL FITNESS
Posted: March 25, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: exercise, exercise motivation, Fitness, Gym, Health, motivation, Physical exercise, Physical fitness Leave a commentIf your gym follows trending fitness then no doubt it offers some rendition of ‘functional fitness.’ Whereas traditional strength training isolates muscle groups to induce strength, endurance, size or power gains (think barbell bench press), functional fitness is all about integration. It teaches muscle groups to work together, and the exercises almost always engage the core (think dumbbell shoulder press while standing one-legged on a Bosu ball).
Functional fitness is all about intra-muscular communication, especially because in traditional routines the upper body rarely connects with the lower body, and besides the antagonists talking to the agonists, other chatter is limited. Biceps day is biceps day, and any benefit to other muscles is (typically) incidental.
Functional fitness developed as a response to the seemingly improbable scenario of being able to bench press more than your body weight yet struggle to complete a benign task like putting an infant in a car seat. Physical activity professionals recognized that everyday movement was not isolative, thus overloading differently could optimize physical quality of life.
Fast-forward to now, and common to the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ dynamics that stir from lifestyle trends, functional fitness is the favored child while traditional strength training has been relegated to the dusty back rooms of gyms.
No doubt, the features of functional fitness make a significant contribution to wellness, cognitive as well as physical since control, synergy, and balance all stimulate different brain function than traditional strength training. But the all-or-nothing, or either-or stance is an ironic disservice to the very thing functional fitness touts – balance.
Like any approach to fitness, take care to engage in ALL of what we know to foster optimum wellness – cardiovascular exercise in its appropriate training zone, strength training to induce gains of strength, power and/or endurance, and stretching to sustain joint range of motion.
Mixing traditional and contemporary might be the ultimate in functional fitness since good old-fashioned strength, mass, and power training is beneficial just as that which induces synergy, balance, and integration.
Yep, and its ok to wear stripes with solids!
FRIDAY FOOTPRINT FLASH – Kids WILL use ‘active transport’ when it’s available!
Posted: March 21, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: childhood obesity, exercise, Fitness, Health, physical activity Leave a commentEven though kids are far less physically active than previous generations, it’s important to realize its value is not lost on them. So, it’s not surprising that when schools increase access to different modes of ‘active transportation’ they take advantage of the opportunity.
Quick poll any group of third graders and they will recite the importance of exercise and a basic understanding of what to do to ensure wellness, only to be confounded about where and how they can do it, especially those in urban environments already plagued with disproportionate rates of obesity and underactivity.
Enter the Safe Route To School initiative that increases active travel to school by financing access features such as crossing guards, bike racks and sidewalks. More elementary schools than ever are participating and student active travel to school is 60 percent higher at participating than non-participating schools. At participating schools, over 1/3 of students walked or biked to school, a rate administrators contend will improve.
Kids themselves know the importance of exercise and can be the first to express frustration about barriers that prevent engagement. Safe Route to School shows kids WILL be active with access provided.
Source – Bridging the Gap, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s research arm
1-REPETITION MAXIMUM LIFTS – TREND THEM BACK
Posted: March 19, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: exercise, exercise motivation, Fitness, Gym, Health, Iron Footprint Fitness, motivation, Physical exercise, Physical fitness, weight lifting, weights Leave a commentRemember when it WAS pc to talk about your maximum bench press or squat? Ah, the good ‘ole days! Today, the topic brings puzzlement or disgust, from either unfamiliarity or fear you will next strip down to your circa 1980 coaching shorts or leg warmers.
In contemporary fitness, the 1-repetition maximum lift (1-rm) faces extinction given the creation of various iterations of circuit training, and the evolution of weight machines that push free weights to the nether regions of the gym, rendering them prehistoric, almost museum-like in their (dusty) display.
1-rm’s, where it’s you versus a bar loaded with as much iron as a muscle group can successfully push or pull one time, are strength metrics. They are the epitome of isolated, one-dimensional down/up or up/down moves that make contemporary fitness-ists cringe, for there is nothing functional, integrated, or core about them.
Here though is a reminder of how valuable, powerful, if you will, 1-rm’s are to your exercise program, both for their contribution to your overall fitness and impact they have on your motivation.
Muscular development requires tasking your muscles with work that exceeds normal capacity. Called overload, muscles respond by calling in reinforcements to get the job done which results in enhanced fibers, meaning strength or endurance increases. Just as there are different types of strength training routines, there are also different types of overload. Adding 1-rm’s to your routine is a different type of overload than what your routine elicits. Different is good for how it stimulates a unique muscular response that leads to strength, endurance and/or power gains that otherwise wouldn’t be tapped.
1-rm’s gift to motivation lies in the simple objectivity of tracking strength gains. Last month’s 100lb bench press pales compared to this month’s 120lb bench press. Not only do we benefit from this aspect of improved fitness, our motivation strengthens from realizing the achievement.
1-rm’s may be down with contemporary fitness trending away from them, but never count them out. Let the old become new again for they can make a serious contribution to your fitness and exercise motivation.
SHOUT OUT TO ANYTIME FITNESS
Posted: March 16, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anytime fitness, exercise, exercise motivation, Fitness, Gym, Health, motivation, physical activity, Physical exercise, Physical fitness Leave a commentAnytime Fitness doesn’t need me to toot its horn, but after using one of its clubs for the first time I’m tooting, loudly. At face value it’s a gym like any other. A hodgepodge of cardio and weight equipment, and clientele equally as diverse, some uber-fit, others new to fitness but realizing the magic unique to a 20-minute treadmill walk.
Deeper than face value is the primary pillar of its operating philosophy – members have 24/7/365 access to the club. 2am – yep. Holidays – yep. Anytime is your time to work on your Iron Footprint at Anytime!
To that, safety appears to be priority one, especially/obviously for patrons working out alone when the rest of us are sleeping. I imagine it’s the same across all clubs, but notices are posted to NOT open the door for anyone, and lanyards with an alert sensor are provided so members can summon help in an emergency.
Since I wasn’t part of the business development team I can only speculate about the model’s premise, but three messages about the approach stick out to me:
–We trust you (members) to use the facility safely and respectfully
–Fitness is so important we will eliminate the barrier of scheduled access
–Fitness is about you, not about us
Thanks, Anytime, for trusting me, eliminating the number one barrier to engagement, and sagely realizing you are a true conduit to my relationship with fitness, but not its definition.
FRIDAY FOOTPRINT FLASH – The Lets Move initiative is working!
Posted: March 14, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: exercise, Health, Lets Move, motivation, physical activity, Physical exercise, Physical fitness Leave a commentFRIDAY FOOTPRINT FLASH – The Lets Move initiative is working!
Mrs. Obama recently marked the 4th anniversary of her (ongoing) Lets Move initiative. Concurrently, data revealed drastic improvement to the obesity rate of our nation’s 3-5 year olds.
While each is a win—sustained commitment to the mission and the improved health of millions of our youngest citizens—it shouldn’t be lost how the age-group demographic correlates to the length of time the White House has forefronted the initiative.
Today’s 3-5 year olds and Lets Move share the same birth year. Their world has been healthier than generations past thanks to coordinated, multi-platformed, country-wide canvassing about physical activity and nutrition, and improved access to quality activity offerings and healthy food.
The result speaks for itself, which isn’t necessarily surprising since wellness-spectrum professionals regard energy balance as key to healthy weight management. Complicating factors notwithstanding, balancing the IN by the OUT makes for a happy scale–even for the youngest among us.
A significant take-away of the good news is the physical activity of toddlers/pre-schoolers is captured perfectly by the initiative’s moniker. It’s Lets Move as much and whenever possible until directed by mom/dad/caregiver/teacher to let’s stop moving and sit down.
Lets Move is proving to be brilliant for its result and its simple directive. Take a page out of the playbook (literally) of the youngest among us and in the name of Lets Move, JUST MOVE! today, tomorrow, and lots of tomorrows thereafter.
MARCH: WINTER’S HUMP-MONTH
Posted: March 8, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: exercise, exercise motivation, Gym, Health, Iron Footprint Fitness, motivation, Physical exercise, Physical fitness Leave a commentIf you live in a snowy climate—this year who doesn’t!—March 1 is sort of like winter’s hump-month. Ever so slightly (especially since yet another widespread snow dump is in the forecast) the anticipation starts to grow about resuming outside workouts. Of course, some just ignore the elements, but many more prefer the forced heat comfort and stable footing of the great indoors—until right about now when with help from spring training being in full swing and the professional golf tours broadcasting from 80-degree courses, the outside itch starts to creep in.
Best of all, daylight savings just a day away – literally a light at the end of the tunnel!
Ride the March adrenaline uptick and allow yourself to get excited about the great outdoors again. But while you are at it, take the time to think about how you are going to re-purpose your snow shoveling time. Train for a distance running/cycling race? Recommit to tennis/golf? Get to the batting cage and join a softball team?
It’s pedestrian to mark the shift as the end of hibernation, but with the epic winter so many have endured it seems appropriate. A quick review, that bright thing in the sky is the sun and that green stuff under your feet is grass.
FRIDAY FOOTPRINT FLASH: Now this is more like it!
Posted: March 7, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: childhood obesity, exercise, exercise motivation, Fitness, Health Leave a commentMy post yesterday railed on the pathetic, blatant, ANTI-health promoting messaging I witnessed a teacher direct to her students on a playground. Thankfully, today we are back on the sunny side of the street, for it is with great enthusiasm I report recent research that shows unquestioned evidence that school-aged kids can be motivated to engage in physical activity by any adult who takes the time to offer encouragement, regardless of the adult’s own level of fitness or skill proficiency.
In the study, self-identified low fit and low skilled adults charged with supervising recess at a cluster of elementary schools were recognized by the kids as the one’s most influential in getting them to play every day. This proves what many of us have known anecdotally, that to kids, an adult doesn’t need to be an accomplished athlete or uber-fit to inspire them to be active. An adult simply needs to offer encouragement!
It also should dispel any anxiety adults have about their ‘qualification’ to inspire/motivate engagement, particularly if they perceive themselves (or are) low-fit or low-skilled. Kids DO respond to encouragement to play even when it’s from someone who may lack the skill to do the same.
While recess on a school playground is a nearly failsafe, barrier-free, ‘automatic’, activity environment, actual engagement can’t be taken for granted since millions of kids across the country don’t get the daily minimum of 60 minutes.
Find the chance to make a difference, today.
FRIDAY FOOTPRINT FLASH – Banning minors from energy drinks
Posted: March 2, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: energy drinks, Health, kids, lifestyle Leave a commentMaryland lawmakers recently introduced a bill that would prohibit minors from purchasing or possessing energy drinks containing 71 or more milligrams of caffeine (and other ingredients), and also remove these drinks from vending machines.
Pause for applause.
71 milligrams of caffeine (approximately 8-ounces of coffee) is nearly double the recommended limit for minors, but the devil is in the detail of the ‘other,’ often overlooked ingredients, especially Taurine, Guarana and Panax Ginseng, each its own stimulant. Guarana itself contains caffeine that is NOT included in the caffeine count. Net/net, the 71 milligrams listed is inaccurately low. Besides stimulants, these drinks are also high in calories and sugar so could contribute to weight gain.
Equally disturbing is how these products can message/enable unhealthy lifestyle habits in kids. Most of us find our way to caffeine at some point in our lives, which in moderation appears to be safe and benign compared to other chemicals along the substance spectrum, but the aggressive marketing can be TOO effective in luring kids to the appeal of chemical reinforcement. It’s just the wrong message! Helping kids form healthy lifestyle habits requires teaching the difference, providing daily opportunities for healthful activity and monitoring their consumption. Since it can be just as easy for kids to learn to live healthy as unhealthy, we need to err on the side of…healthy!
Some may balk at governmental dictation of product consumption, and others concerned with choosing our battles with kids may wonder if this is one to fight. Yep, this is definitely worth any ensuing power struggle. Here’s to the fuddy-duddy’s getting a win.
Iron Footprint Fitness 
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