With the holidays upon us, you may find it difficult to maintain your exercise routine. The literature on “detraining,” or loss of fitness, is surprisingly complex, because different adaptations to your muscles, heart and metabolism fade away at different rates. However, research has shown that there are some patterns in the way the body adapts to time off.

For example, people who have taken up exercise relatively recently lose their fitness quite quickly; by many measures, they’re most of the way back to their sedentary selves within a few weeks. Those who have been exercising for a long time, on the other hand, have structural adaptations like a larger heart and more capillaries to take oxygen to their muscles, which will endure for several months.

Earlier this year, Paul Williams of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California published some surprising results about a phenomenon he called “asymmetric weight gain and loss,” based on a group of 55,000 runners he has been following since 1991. Put simply, he found that you gain more weight when you stop exercising than you lose when you subsequently resume the identical exercise program. “In other words,” Dr. Williams says, “if you stop exercising you don’t get to resume where you left off.”

A series of classic studies in the 1980s explored the best way to maintain fitness during a break in your routine. You can get away with working out fewer times a week, and with doing shorter workouts, the researchers found – but if you reduce the intensity, your fitness quickly evaporates. In fact, subjects who were used to training six times a week were able to maintain key fitness indicators such as heart size and oxygen uptake by exercising just twice a week, provided that the intensity was high enough. (source)

The sweet spot for maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of your workouts is three times a week for 45 minutes. The key is the intensity of the workout, and the workouts should contain a combination of resistance training, cardio, and flexibility. This is the model we follow at FT. Thus the good news is that you don’t need to be exercising 6 days a week and doing hour long bouts of cardio to reach your health and fitness goals. But if you want results, you need to establish a weekly routine of relatively short, intense workouts.

So for this holiday season, make a commitment to your health and fitness. It requires less than 3 hours per week, and those 3 hours can make all the difference.

I also want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of our clients. It is rewarding to see the progress that many of you are achieving. You have entrusted your health and fitness to us, and we take that responsibility quite seriously. I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!

To your health and happiness.

P.S. Be on the look out for our holiday specials! We will be offering a variety of options to enable you to give the gift of health to someone you love.

I am sure all of us can remember our high school gym classes where at some point we had to do some stretching. Even then there seemed to be controversy about the best way to do your stretching. Should you do it before your workout or after your workout. Should you bounce the muscles and tendons that are being stretched, or should you hold the stretch in a static position for a few seconds. And if you are holding your stretches, how long is appropriate?

A couple of recent research reports examined some of the controversies surrounding the pros and cons of stretching, and offered the latest thinking on the subject. Here are a few of the highlights from an article titled “Stretching: The Truth” that appeared in The New York Times on October 31, 2008:

• static stretching before a workout actually weakens the muscles for up to 30 minutes, not an ideal way to prepare for a strength training workout!
• a well designed warm-up is just what the name implies, it should heat up the body and increase blood flow, which will allow the muscles to work more efficiently.
• to warm-up the body, you need to start with some easy cardio activity, such as walking, jogging, biking, etc., for about 5-10 minutes and then move on to what is known as dynamic stretching
• dynamic stretching is basically moving while you are stretching, the opposite of static stretching; the movements should be ones that closely mimic the activities that are to follow (e.g., strength training, golf , or tennis)
• the article concludes with some useful dynamic stretches you can try on your own, or with the help of your trainer

Another article in the November 2008 issue of “Fitness Management” summarized the findings of 24 studies on stretching. The conclusions were quite mixed, but the author does try to offer some general guidelines, such as:

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• stretching is probably more beneficial to get ready for activities that require a greater range of motion (e.g., golf), and is not as beneficial for activities that require a more limited range of motion, such as running
• as noted above, do not stretch until you have performed some type of activity to literally warm up the body
• clients are better off performing static stretching at the end of a workout as opposed to before the workout

For me, the bottom line is fairly straightforward:

1. warm up with some cardio for about 5-10 minutes before your workout
2. get the muscles ready for the movements they will be performing in the workout by using appropriate dynamic stretches and other similar activities
3. perform some static stretching as part of your cool down; the stretch should be one that you are comfortable holding for at least 20 seconds, you do not want to exceed your normal range of motion
4. stretching is important, but probably not as important as it was once thought

Our trainers are always striving to incorporate the latest research findings from the fields of exercise science and kinesiology into our programs at FT so that you can benefit from that knowledge. If you ever have any questions about why you are doing certain exercises or why your workout is designed a certain way, feel free to ask your trainers, they would love to share their expertise with you.

To your health and happiness.

P.S. Please note that the above is not meant to stop you from reaching for the stars!!

CNNMoney.com recently had a brief quiz to help readers determine what it will take to have a satisfied retirement. I’d encourage all of you (even you young’uns out there) to take the quiz, which can be found here.

The question I found most interesting was the following:

What is the best thing you can do in your prime earning years to make your retirement pleasurable?

a) Put in overtime so you can pump up your retirement fund
b) Put in time at the gym so you can pump up your pecs

Since this newsletter is coming from a personal training studio, I am sure you can guess what the answer is, but it still may surprise you. Here is the reasoning offered in the quiz results:

“If you have enough socked away for a moderately comfortable retirement, extra money isn’t likely to make much difference. According to research by economist Keith Bender at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a $10,000 boost in your annual income in retirement raises the probability that you’ll be very satisfied by one measly percentage point. Meanwhile, a survey by the Center for Retirement Research shows that retirees in poor health are 20% more likely to be discontented than those in good health.”

I find this advice particularly relevant now as many individuals are trying to decide where is the best place to put their money, given all the turmoil and uncertainty in the markets recently. It seems like one of the best investments you can make is in your own health and fitness, something you have much better control of than the Dow Jones.

To your health and happiness.

I came across this great story in last week’s Wall Street Journal about an 81-year old woman who was in training for her 21st consecutive New York City Marathon, which took place this past Sunday.

Joy Johnson won the 80-85 year old age group last year, with a time of 6 hours and 56 minutes. This year she was expected to face some tough competition from Bertha McGruder, who won the 75-79 year old age group last year in a time of 6 hours and 15 minutes. Bertha will be moving up to the 80-85 year old age group this year, but Joy was looking forward to the competition, and says simply “Bring it on.”

Winning the NYC marathon is a goal Ms. Johnson has been working towards for months. Throughout the summer she ran 50 to 55 miles each week instead of 30 to 35. She ran hills and bleachers at the local high-school football field, and she worked to build up her core strength at a running camp in Minnesota.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Joy is that she did not start a regular exercise program until she was in her late 50s, and it all started with a simple 3-mile walk.

I found Joy’s story quite inspirational, and it got me thinking about the limitations we sometimes put on ourselves. Whether you want to lose weight, run a marathon, or get stronger, there is nothing that can stop you if you are committed to achieving your goal. And rather than think in terms of hitting your goals in a matter of weeks, think about the long-term benefits of adopting a permanent life-style change that includes regular exercise and healthy eating.

You can read the full article about Joy by clicking here; it’s worth visiting the site because there is also a short video of her training regimen. If you are curious as to how Joy actually did, you can read the results by clicking here.

So where do you see yourself in 23 years – will you be running marathons or wondering where all the extra pounds came from and why you have no energy to make it through the day?

To your health and happiness.