I don’t know about you, but I am psyched for the great weather that is forecast for the next few days. I hope all of you get a chance to get outside and do something physical – go for a walk, a run, a hike, some gardening, etc. Just make it something enjoyable and appreciate the moment…

As I was getting my car inspected this week, the thought came to me how we often take better care of our “stuff” than our bodies. Can you imagine if we had to get inspected once a year, and were required to fix whatever was wrong with us? If that were the case, we would probably take our health and fitness a bit more seriously – and I would open up a fitness studio on every corner

But we don’t live in such a world, and so many of us wait until something is wrong, like having high blood pressure, being 40 pounds overweight, or getting tired walking up the stairs, before we decide to do something about it. If such problems prompt you to make a commitment to your health, that’s a step in the right direction, but think how much better off you would be if you took a preventive approach and you never experienced such problems at all. As I have said many times, exercise and good nutrition are the magic pills that enable you to live life to the fullest.

Some interesting stories I came across this week (click on the link for the details):

- Should you take supplements? The quick answer – from the American Dietetic Association – eating a wide variety of nutrient-rich foods is the best way to get needed nutrients and reduce the risk of chronic disease. And by foods, the study is referring to whole foods, food that is not processed or processed minimally. Supplements may be necessary for some individuals (for example, as a vegan, I take a Vitamin B12 supplement), but there is little need for the amount of supplementation that takes place today ($23 billion per year!)

- Music, Art, Theater and Good Health If you’re a culture vulture – if you paint, dance, play the guitar (or another musical instrument) and appreciate the arts – a Norwegian study suggests that you’re better off physically and psychologically. The study also implies that those who simply attend concerts or the theater are healthier and less depressed than those who don’t, which is good for people like me who can’t paint, dance, or play a musical instrument!

- Injuries: See a Doctor or Tough It Out? We’ve all experienced those nagging injuries – a stiff knee, tennis elbow, a sore foot, and the question is whether we should see the doctor about it. Based on interviews with a couple of doctors who are also active athletes, the answer is that for the most part you can skip the doctor’s visit. There is usually not something magical that the doctor can do to heal such injuries, besides recommending that you give your body some rest. The article makes for interesting reading. The one thing I would like to add is that while rest is recommended, most times that means resting the affected area, but not the entire body. So if you have a sore elbow, stop playing tennis, but get in some running or lower body strength work; if you have a bad knee, give it a rest, but use the time to focus on your upper body and your core.

To your health and happiness…

___________________________

P.S. If you would like a free inspection and diagnostic check-up (we call it an assessment and fitness consultation), please give us a call. You do not have to bring proof of registration or insurance coverage…

I guess I’m one of the lucky ones; I’ve always enjoyed exercising and most days look forward to my workouts. But I know for many of you exercising is not on your list of favorite things to do, so you either avoid it completely, or you do it without really enjoying it, sort of like paying your bills or listening to opera

So I wanted to share with you an article written by Paige Waehner from About.com titled “10 Things I Hate about Exercise“. I won’t list them all here, but I will point out that a couple of them are not relevant if you train at Fitness Together, such as “Annoying People at the Gym” (I know, except when I’m there…), or “It’s Too Confusing, Too Boring, or Hard to Stay Motivated” (not with our great team of trainers!)

What I like about the article is that Paige offers suggestions as to how to deal with the things you may be using as an excuse to not exercise, not exercise enough, or not enjoy it while you are doing it – highly recommended.

If you caught the subject line of this newsletter, you may have noticed that it mentions “11 Things You May Hate about Exercise”, but Paige just talks about 10. There is one more I’d like to add, and it’s geared just towards women.

A recent study found that women at a normal weight who consume a normal diet can beat middle-age weight gain with 60 minutes per day of moderate exercise or by working out intensely for 30 minutes a day.

This is significantly higher than the federal guidelines of 150 minutes a week of moderate-to-intense exercise; such recommendations were geared towards preventing disease and obtaining other health benefits.

I. Min Lee, the study’s lead researcher and a doctor and associate professor at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, concluded, “The data suggest that the 2008 federal recommendation for 150 minutes per week, while clearly sufficient to lower the risks of chronic diseases, is insufficient for weight gain prevention absent caloric restriction.”

It doesn’t seem fair that women apparently need to work harder to receive the same benefits that men get from exercise, and I could certainly understand if women included this result in their list of things they hate about exercise.

But I would like to point out a couple of things. First, you can accumulate the 60 minutes over the course of a day, rather than trying to fit it all into one 60 minute block of time. Second, the 60 minutes should be viewed as a goal, something to work towards. As I have stressed many times, the best improvement you will see is when you go from sedentary to some activity. So rather than being intimidated by the 60 minutes per day guideline, use it as motivation to start doing something; you will be amazed by the results. And who knows, maybe someday you will actually find that there are “10 Things You Love about Exercise!”

To your health and happiness.

It’s been a fun-filled past few days, starting with St. Patrick’s Day, one of my all time favorite holidays (when your mom is from Ireland, it’s literally in your genes), and ending with an unbelievable weekend.

On St. Patty’s Day we went to see Natalie Macmaster down at Penn. She is an amazing fiddle player from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; words cannot do her justice, so here is a video to give you some sense of her talent.

The weather this weekend just made you want to get outside, so we did some chillin’ at Rittenhouse Square on Saturday, and then some miniature golf on Sunday. Throw in some time spent talking with the neighbors and reading a couple of good books, and it was a great weekend.

Anyway, enough about me…

The New York Times recently had an informative article on the myriad benefits to body, mind and longevity of regular physical activity for people of all ages.

What I liked about the article is how the writer organized the results of multiple research studies by looking at the effects of exercise on cancer, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and dementia. I highly recommend you take 5-10 minutes to read this article.

And now that Spring is officially here (and there’s no reason to follow March Madness any more), it’s one of the best times to commit to a well-rounded fitness program. By putting in the time now, you can be in the best shape of your life by the time summer comes around. Give us a call at 610-355-0935 to schedule your free fitness assessment and personal training session, we know you won’t regret it!

To your health and happiness.

“If you’re not fit in your 50s, your projected life span is eight years shorter than if you are fit. If you are fit in mid-life, you double your chance of surviving to 85.” -Dr. Jarett Berry, cardiologist at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Wow! Some powerful words…

And Dr. Berry is not just talking about surviving to 85, but living a healthy lifestyle when you reach that age. His comments are based on a long term study that started in the 1970s and has continued to the present. Click here to read the full story.

The study highlights the fact that despite an array of effective drugs and other medical advances, the front line for most of us in the battle to prevent heart disease and survive into old age lies in adopting healthy living habits. The report also underscores the importance of physical activity in maintaining overall health: Fitness even trumped smoking cessation in the magnitude of benefit among participants in the study-though not by much. The combination of being physically fit, not smoking and having low blood pressure was a powerful predictor of longevity.

As has been pointed out here several times, national guidelines recommended Americans get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times a week or 20 minutes of intense physical activity three times a week to maintain fitness. Twice-weekly weight-training sessions to strengthen muscles are also advised.

At Fitness Together, we can help you meet these guidelines in the privacy of your own training studio in a program customized to your specific goals and needs.

And if the above comments aren’t enough to get you moving and lifting, here’s a final comment from Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, a cardiologist at Northwestern University, “If you make it to middle age with optimal risk numbers and healthy behavior, you’ve essentially abolished your risk of cardiovascular disease. It becomes a fountain of youth for your heart.”

To your health and happiness,

The source for this week’s topic came from of all places, a SEPTA train. I was taking the train from the airport after having visited my oldest son in North Carolina for a few days, and my seat happened to have a copy of Metro, the SEPTA daily newspaper.

As I was paging through the paper, several interesting articles caught my eye. There was a brief report on a link between naps and Type 2 diabetes (those who take naps may have a higher risk of developing the disease), tips on how to stop smoking, and then an article about how to achieve Super Sleep.

Here are some of the key recommendations/tips:

* get plenty of exercise
* maintain a healthy diet
* keep a consistent sleep-wake routine
* take regular breaks during the day
* start taking it easy 90 minutes before bedtime
* de-clutter your world
* write it down, instead of using an electronic device
* do not keep any communication tools next to your bed
* make your bedroom a sleep sanctuary
* keep the bedroom at a cool temperature

Sweet dreams!

To your health and happiness,
___________________________

P.S. For those nights when you are really having trouble falling asleep, I have several of my accounting lectures available online. My students tell me they work like a charm…