Maureen Mason-Cover, MS PT

How do you measure up when compared to others, regarding your walking speed?

Are you at the “normal” range for your age group, or, faster or slower? Walking speed has been identified as an important barometer of general health, and if you have slowed down significantly and don’t know why, see your MD for a check up. Walking speed is now identified as a VITAL SIGN, similar to heart rate and blood pressure.Metabolic conditions, arthritis, dementia, and cardiopulmonary disease are some of the medical factors that can cause you to slow down. Slower walking speed is linked with declines in balance, cognitive status, and activities of daily living. Faster timed walking speeds are associated with improved functional capacities and overall improved quality of life. (Researchers have focused on timed 6 minute walking distances, timed 400-meter walks, and timed 10-meter walks.)

Exercise  counteract the effects of aging, and walking speed, strength, and balance can be improved with therapeutic exercise training. Even if you have a diagnosis or condition that impairs your walking speed, you can set a goal and over time speed up for improved vitality. Here is a sample of how you can SPEED UP: warm up with your regular paced walk for a few minutes, and then walk faster for 30 to 60 second intervals, with 30 to 60 seconds of regular speed walking in between fast bursts of speed.Repeat this a 5 to 10 times, gradually adding more intervals to your walking.Perform intervals at least 3 times a week with your cardio training.In the course of a few months you will be able to perform multiple intervals at faster speeds, and your overall walking speed can improve.Monitor your program with record keeping for motivation and maximum adherence; the easiest method is to mark off walks on a calender. Side benefits include weight loss, body “sculpting” with increased lean muscle, and improved mood and sleep cycles. Get up and GO! Interval training of this type is also very energizing.

REFERENCE:BMJ. 2009 Nov 10;339:b4460. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b4460.

Slow walking speed and cardiovascular death in well functioning older adults: prospective cohort study.

Dumurgier J, Elbaz A, Ducimetière P, Tavernier B, Alpérovitch A, Tzourio C.

INSERM, U708, F-75013, Paris, France.

Comment in:

.   BMJ. 2009;339:b4236.

Superwoman:A Vital Exercise

The American Journal of Health Promotion published a research review* which tried to decipher the reasons why women are less active than males,and female activity levels decrease with aging. Whats important here for health promotion is that exercise benefits include reduced cancer, stroke and heart attack risk, as just a few of the “perks” that make exercise a vital health behavior.So what’s going on?

A review of factors influencing women’s ability to exercise noted the need for social support involving family and professional help.(No kidding).

According to this review study, women need an array of social support factors, including acceptance from others for exercising, informational (educational) input on health benefits and exercise strategies, activities of daily living assistance, health-appraisal support, and the ability to exercise beyond cultural stereotypes and gender roles.

So who is shopping, cooking, cleaning,helping with childcare, and bringing home a paycheck? How hard is it to ask for help and to delegate? What healthy fitness models and exercise health benefits can you list? Who pats you on the back and supports your exercise?  What strategy do you use for fitting in exercise if your schedule varies?

Here are some strategies that can help, for busy  moms with families who have “no time” to exercise:

List ALL household tasks, and let family members know you need their help for your health;Each family member chooses 2 tasks (expect resistance and imperfection!) to perform weekly, and one daily.For me this means letting my teens do 75% of their laundry (yes they leave it in the washer or dryer), being so bold as to leave dishes in the sink for my family to clean…especially after dinner (as I shop, prep, cook, and serve 2 meals a day), and multitasking with exercise (calisthenics, weights, Pilates, Bosu, Swiss Ball) in my living room…as pasta water warms up for 10 minutes, and cooks for 12. Ok my al dente is sometimes al soggy but I am fitting it in.

Learn a few exercise programs, short, medium, and long programs, for varied schedules.Some of the easiest beginning to intermediate programs include walking, and Pilates, here are a few helpful links:

http://www.walking.about.com

http://www.pilatesontheball.com

Good luck and Power On!

Maureen@BenchFit.com

*Vrazel, J., Saunders, R.P.,Wilcox, S., 2008, An overview and proposed framework of social-environmental influences on physical-activity behavior of women,American Journal of Health  Promotion 23 (1), 2-12

most women feel bad about their bodies
most women aren’t working out
workouts often don’t work

boot camps were designed for military fitness and are now mainstream, regardless of client age or life goals

fitness is probably going to be found to be highly linked to genetics

you can be overweight and fit

underweight and unfit

women have unique fitness challenges due to

hormone influence, cycles, pregnancy, childbirth, and often develop a menopot (thats the belly that develops at menopause).

Fitness formulas are simple, yet unknown to the general public.

My fitness blues started at age 20 when my  hip used to hurt for a few hours after running, and eventually it began to hurt to walk.Bicycling and swimming filled the gaps, but pregnancy and schedule overload left me feeling like I was in a trench, a rut, trapped, with no time to exercise and a larger than desirable midriff.So I had a check up from a fellow Physical Therapist, found my hips were out of alignment, weak, and one leg longer than the other. I was like a car with a broken axle!

Pilates…specifically ” Pilates on the Ball” helped me climb out of the trench,as week by week I added reps and more challenging moves on the ball.It was a “fit” for me, as I enjoy home exercise, and the flow, centering, and breath focus gave me that mind body ease that made me want to keep at it.

As I studied fitness as a choice, I decided to add weights to the repetoire, without a plan or direction. Do NOT start off by  trying to imitate the geriatric fitness geeks at your local YMCA who are using 50 pounds on the row machine for your first week. Yes, women are competitive and macho to…more on that later. BenchFit Blues:the truth about fitness reality.

Took me a while to be able to perform with proper form!

What is your fitness struggle?Fitness trenches can be hard to climb out of.What have you found that suits your style? Send me a note:Maureen

I see people strolling around my neighborhood, slowly strolling, turtle paced and going along for an hour or more…and if they only knew…! So here’s what I want you to enjoy: Cardio Intervals:5,4,3,2,1, GO! GO!Walk FAST for 30 seconds, then  slower for 60, repeat this recipe 10 times during a walk. Over a few months you can expand this into walking 90 seconds faster, and then 30 seconds slower,and you will be re-booting your anti aging metabolism right down to the little powerhouses in your cells that “make” energy.This is a great spring time change up, a little “tapas” recipe for you.

Even Chickens do Intervals! This is Midnight, age 10 = age 100 in Human Years!In this photo she is resting after a few sprints…

Power On!

Let me know how your anti-aging intervals go!

Maureen@ BenchFit.com

references

Nainggolan, Lisa, Walking Speed Predicts CV Mortality in Older People, Medscape Cardiology Heartwire , November 2009

Dumurgier J, Elbaz A, Ducimetiere P, et al. Slow walking speed and cardiovascular death in well functioning older adults: prospective cohort study. BMJ 2009; DOI: 10.1136/bmj.b4460. Available at: http://www.bmj.com.

Harwood RH and Conroy SP. Slow walking speed in elderly people. BMJ 2009; DOI:10.1136/bmj.b4236. Available at: http://www.bmj.com.

If you can’t stand strongly on one leg for several seconds, you probably don’t last long with walking, climbing, or lifting, as the weak links give out over time. Stability exercises SOMETIMES need to be performed for a few months before clients can lift, push, pull, walk, and climb steps with POWER.

www.mayoclinic.com has FREE exercise videos and slide shows, including balance exercises, if thats all you need, and the american coucil on exercise, ACE, has free balance postings as well. Check out Acefitness.org/exerciselibrary/exercises.

In the picture posted here we are performing a complex upper and lower body exercise for Pelvic Power with stabilization.It speeds up a workout to do double duty exercise as pictured.This is a Pilates Circle with free weights. I practice this type of exercise to increase functional fitness power, with the Pelvis as the stability base. Let me know if anyone out there is benefiting form a similar workout,

Maureen

Create a time and place in your home to workout, and gather:

A. Upper body free weights that you can lift 8-12 reps until you feel fatigue, and

B.Ankle cuff weights, kind of retro but they work great and cost little.

Start with 1 set for each major muscle group.

Add some calisthenics using your body weight.

Sample:Lying Down: Bench Press, Hip Bridges, Sit Ups

Side Lying: Top Leg Lift. (Don’t let your trunk wobble).see pic

Prone(medical term for face down!): Plank, Push Ups(Girlie style or manly-however you can perform and hold your gut from hanging!).Hamstring Curls.

Seated, leaning forward at the hip yet holding back straight: Rows.see pic. Looks easy but most people round their back and don’t engage the back muscles…

Sit to Stand:Squats. Drop weight back into heels to engage gluts as you  descend from standing to squat position.

Make it fun-with music, and a yoga mat or weight bench in a color you like.

If you have a pain problem that prevents you from working out, and you are female, find a Physical Therapist near you with http://www.womenshealthapta.org.Look back on other posts for Personal Training FITT Formulas,to safely guide your progression of exercises.Be BenchFit.

Best of luck,

Maureen

Maureen@BenchFit.com

Hips hurt a lot-in Physical Therapy I have to figure out WHY,  and as a Personal Trainer I have to make sure workouts are balanced, and painfree. We spend too much time with hips folded at a 90 degree bend; chairs, driving, couch potatoing.Spell check doesn’t like that last word but you KNOW what I mean.Often the side and back of the hip are weak: Glut Max and Medius, and the hip needs to be “balanced” by strengthening the Gluts. Here is a tip: This is a small motion but it tires rapidly.

Lie on your side, with your spine straight-don’t arch your back too much or pike your hips forward…hold the top hand to feel the bone in the front of the pelvis. As you raise and lower your knee, the pelvis should not sway. Lifting the top knee isolates and works the glut medius. 2 sets of 10 are a good baseline performance, 3-4x a week.Add this to other exercises to strengthen gluts, such as hip bridges, to counteract the “folded hip posture” and maintain hip balance.

*BenchFit Tapas are bite sized exercise tips to add to and expand on your current routine. The BenchFit Workout is a 20 minute routine that the “tapas” can add to.

BenchFit classes are available at: www.Comprehensivetherapy.com  and outdoors-locally in San Diego, send a contact form in at www.BenchFit.com for information.

Power On!

Maureen

Any ideas to share on this topic? Let us know how you are doing with the “tapas”,

and solutions you have found for hip discomfort.

(Pain that lasts should be medically checked-see you health care provider for information and screening.)

We all need abdominal exercises, but who wants to look like a question mark after workouts? Traditional abdominal exercises can leave your back aching, and your head and neck hunched forward towards your knees. And don’t we get enough bending forward with sitting, computer work, driving, and daily living?

So for a new spin on abdominal exercise, try these “roll backs”, which will engage your abdominals along with your back, as you slowly lower back, and then presto! pull back up to starting! What is you “point of no return” where you can’t pull back up?Go to the edge, pull up, repeat, and if you do this every other day, soon you’ll have control of the motion from start to finish. Move in the comfort range of your spine and hips. Keep shoulders pulled down and abdominals engaged and breathe as you move.

*Tapas are small dishes served in spain as an “appetizer”, accompanying a beverage. Here the term is used for mini exercise offerings, that can be linked together to add to other movements to expand your exercise “menu”.The BenchFit Workout coaches a 20 minute, 6-position Home Exercise program for strengthening primarily, and is available in DVD and book format, Levels I and II.It is desirable to exercise in little bits, such as the Tapas, throughout the day, if you can’t fit in one 30 to 60 minute session.

Power On!

Let me know how you do with this!

Maureen

So I offer some BenchFit Tapas-Mini Exercises that you can sprinkle into your day with variety and spice. Here is a lengthening-postural stretch, that de-compresses

the front of the hip and lifts the rib cage. I chose the seaside shot to encourage outdoor exercise, and easy breathing, with great fresh air. You can perform this with a park bench, or if indoors, on an arm of a couch or bed. Try holding it 5-10+ seconds per side, and perform 2 reps on your tighter side. Check in for our summer Tapas tips.

Power On!

Maureen

Fitness Classes at www.comprehensivetherapy.com  and also outdoors, centrally located in San Diego.

Aside from competive tests, the fact is we lose 5-8% of our strength per decade. Lift weights and Be Fit; BenchFit fitness entails holding free weights with control and form
in a series of 20 motions, all of which can counteract aging.

Of course your ability to successfully lift weights depends on your exposure to appropriate fitness training, your natural genetics and body type, and your ability for self care with discipline and training. BenchFit focuses on the health benefits of exercise vs vanity, and therefore coaches an intro, intermediate and advanced level for safety and sustainability.

Engage in a workout safe for your level, at the gym or home, and a safe rule to follow is to increase reps for a several sessions (eg 2 to 3 sets of 10 reps each) before you increase weights.When you go up in weights, initially lower your reps to get use to the new level.You can use your body weight too, such as push ups and curl ups…to build strength,Let me know your success stories, and questions,

Power On!

Maureen

Maureen@BenchFit.com