Posts Tagged "exercise"

Exercising to your max? Try the “talk test!”

Posted by Liz on Sep 16, 2011 in exercise | 0 comments

Have you heard of  the “talk test?”

Evidently, the talk test may be an easy way to gauge how hard you are exercising and if you need to “up” or “lower”  your intensity level. And we know that exercise is an excellent way to maintain overall wellbeing, keep the blues at bay, improve bone and heart health, boots sexual function and possibly even ameliorate certain menopausal symptoms, which is why gauging how you’re doing may be important.

For those of you unfamiliar with the talk test, its underlying premise is that if you can respond to conversation while exercising, you are exercising at an intensity level that is “just about right.” Studies have shown that if an individual can talk comfortably during exercise, he or she is likely exercising at about 75% of their maximal oxygen consumption and 85% of their maximal heart rate. These targets are commonly used in exercise training. However, if an individual is unable to talk comfortably during exercise, he or she is likely pushing target rates up to 90% and 92% respectively. Still, it all gets a bit fuzzy after the age of 40 since in aging individuals, target heart rates vary fairly widely. Moreover, certain exercise intensities may be inappropriate for someone just starting out on an exercise programs or with health or weight issues.

While experts have been fairly certain that the test is an accurate gauge of how much oxygen is being used up during exercise, they are less certain if the test corresponds with how much lactate the muscles are producing during activity, and more importantly, if the body is producing more than it is using up. Too much lactate leads to sore muscles and less productive exercise; in other words, individuals are forced to slow down. Ideally, the goal is to work out at an intensity that best uses our oxygen capacity and doesn’t cause too much lactate to build up in the bloodstream.

In this very small study of 15 men and women, researchers from the University of New Hampshire first measured lactate and oxygen reserve levels while participants exercised on a treadmill at different speeds and inclines. The next day, they administered the talk test by having the participants read the Pledge of Allegiance while exercising on a treadmill at differing intensities that mimicked those the day before. Every three minutes, they were asked if were able to speak comfortably or not or if they were unsure.

Surprisingly, it appeared that the talk test actually corresponded more closely with the lactate threshold than the ventilatory threshold. When people in the study were exercising at the lower end of their exercise intensity and could speak comfortably, they were consistently well below their lactate threshold. However, when they started to suddenly breathe harder and were unable to speak comfortably (i.e. likely outside American College of Sports Medicine guidelines not to exceed 94% target heart rate or 79% maximal oxygen capacity), they were consistently above their lactate threshold. With regards to heart rate and maximal oxygen capacity, being able to speak comfortably did correspond to exercise intensity but not as closely as to the lactate target.

The researcher suggest that if you are beginning an exercise program and can still talk while exercising, you’re doing okay.  But, to increase and enhance endurance, you may want to think about pushing it up a notch or two, not quite to the ‘out of breath’ stage but closer to “heavy breathing,” which will correspond more closely to the line between using muscles to the max and overdoing it.

On the plus side, this is truly an easy way to gauge your training efforts. On the minus side, the study was in a very small group of healthy people who were no older than 35. So, more information is definitely needed on more sedentary populations. Still, it can’t hurt to try.

This time, talking the walk, and not simply walking the walk,  may be the way to go…

Wednesday Bubble: Exercise and Sexual Health – How you move affects how you groove. Guest post by Alexandra Williams, MA

Posted by Liz on Sep 7, 2011 in aging, exercise, sexual health, women's health | 0 comments

Every now and then I like to shake things up in this space, which is why I asked fitness professional writer, speaker and radio host Alexandra Williams (aka @alexandrafunfit on Twitter) to lend me her expertise for a day. What I didn’t expect, however, was for her to rock the sexual health world with the revelation that exercise, i.e. how you move, affects how you groove. Frankly, if all it takes is exercise, you will find me adding an extra hour or so a day at the gym!

Show Alexandra some love. She’s witty and has been putting the fun back into fitness for for some time now…

Image: http://vectorportal.com

Sexual health is defined by Mosby’s Medical Dictionary. as “a capacity to enjoy and control sexual behavior without fear, shame or guilt.” Sexual dysfunction is broadly defined by the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine as “disorders that interfere with a full sexual response cycle. These disorders make it difficult for a person to enjoy or to have sexual intercourse.”

The good news, especially for older adults, is that most sexual dysfunctions can be treated or alleviated through exercise. It has been found to increase sexual drive, functioning, activity and satisfaction, due to the physical endurance, muscle tone and body composition derived from exercise. In addition, exercise activates the sympathetic nervous system, which encourages blood flow to the genital regions. Even low levels of physical activity can elevate mood and help keep sex organs and muscles in better working condition. A 2000 study found that after just 20 minutes of vigorous exercise, women became more sexually responsive, while men had increased testosterone levels after short, intense bouts of exercise.

Frequency, level of desire, and enjoyment are also affected positively for those who engage in regular exercise, at any age. In 2004, a study of college-age students a strong correlation was found between fitness levels, self-perception, body image, social meaning, outward appearance and sexual performance and desire. These findings were replicated in studies of people in their forties and sixties. And of course, sexual activity itself counts as exercise!

One really interesting comparison of exercise and sexual activity, looked at heart rate and blood pressure during treadmill exercise and sexual activity (not simultaneously)! Unsurprisingly, participants spent more time in sexual activity than they did on the treadmill, but here’s the intriguing point – the treadmill exercise duration predicted sexual activity duration. For each minute of treadmill time, there was 2.3 minute increase in sexual activity duration!

There are also a number of sexual diseases and dysfunctions that are radically improved through exercise. For example, exercise has a protective effect on Type 2 diabetes, with pelvic floor exercises of specific value. A minimum of approximately 50% of overweight men with Type 2 diabetes have erectile dysfunction, a frustrating condition that is helped enormously by cardiorespiratory fitness.

Urinary incontinence is markedly improved via pelvic floor muscle training, with 100% of women reporting decreased incontinence frequency and duration. And it works for men too – after the strengthening training, incidences of urinary and fecal incontinence decreased, and erectile function increased. Pelvic floor exercises are also an effective modality for primiparous (giving birth only once) women who have vaginal deliveries. Desire and satisfaction go up, and pain goes down for these women.

Breast cancer survivors consistently report an improved quality of life (better physical functioning, reduced fatigue and pain) when they participate in physical activity. In addition, prostate and bladder cancer are positively affected by exercise, including its stress-reducing aspects.

Sexual activity itself has been found to help with cardiovascular disease, with researchers finding that sexual activity corresponds to light to moderate physical exercise and entails no significant risk to the majority of patients with cardiovascular disease (severe angina or chronic heart failure are exceptions).

There’s been a lot of research on the relationship between exercise and erectile dysfunction, which affects over 100 million men. The link between cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and erectile dysfunction is strong, and exercise is a mitigating factor on all three. Doctors who prescribe movement to patients with these three issues have reported high success rates. This is good news, especially considering that exercise is a less invasive treatment than medications, surgery or testosterone replacement therapies.

Sexual functioning and health is something everyone should have at any age. Exercise just may be the magic pill!

About the author…

Alexandra Williams, MA, has been in the fitness industry for over 25 years. She is the co-owner of funandfit.org. Together with her twin sister, she writes, teaches and speaks on fitness-related topics, using wit and research! For more, be sure to write to Alexandra and Kymberly at info@funandfit.org.And if you are the sort of person who likes to put a voice to an image, be sure to check Alexandra and Kymberly out on their radio program ‘Fun and Fit.’

Use it or lose it – more on osteoporosis

Posted by Liz on Jul 15, 2011 in bone health, osteoporosis | 0 comments

Bone health and osteoporosis. Yes, I know I keep writing about it. The reason is simple: you ARE at risk of losing your bone density and strength, especially if you are a woman over the age of 35. And if you are 50 or older? You have as much as a 40% risk of suffering a fracture due to osteoporosis during the rest of your lifetime. Moreover, during the first five years after menopause, women can experience as much as a 30% loss of bone density.

I can’t emphasize it enough. The risk is there. It is inevitable. However, you can reduce your risk a little bit by incorporating the following message into your life:

Use it. Or lose it.

In other words, you need to move.

The latest news out of the esteemed Cochrane Collaboration (an international organization that extensively reviews medical research) is that exercise specifically designed to promote bone growth and preserve existing bone mass, namely the type that places mechanical stress on the body, is necessary.  The newly-published review of 43, scientifically sound (i.e. randomized, controlled studies) is an update of a review that appeared in 2000. Of the 4,320 postmenopausal women included in the reviewed trials:

• Those who engaged in any form of exercise had slightly less (0.85%) bone loss than women who did not.
• Those who performed combinations of exercise types, i.e. walking, jogging, dancing, progressive resistance training, vibration platform had, on average, as much as 3.2% less bone loss than those who did not exercise.
• Non-weight bearing exercise, such as progressive resistance strength training targeting the lower limbs, was shown to slightly preserve bone mineral density at the hip, while the combination of exercise, per above, was most beneficial for slightly preserving bone mineral density at the spine. (Did you know that spine and hip fractures are the most common among women with osteoporosis?)

The conclusions are pretty clear: long periods of inactivity lead to reduced bone mass.However, here is a simple way to mitigate some of this loss, albeit slightly, and even help reduce the costly effects of osteoporosis: Exercise.

The best exercises? Those that stress or mechanically load the bones, meaning the type that make the bones support body weight or resist movement, such as aerobic or strength training, walking, or Tai Chi.

Ultimately, your goal is prevent osteoporosis from occurring in the first place. While some amount of bone loss is part and parcel with aging, resistance training is critical.

Move it or lose it.

Diet? Exercise? Or both?

Posted by Liz on Apr 25, 2011 in diet, exercise, weight | 3 comments

A novel study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center shows that combining dietary changes with exercise yields the best the results. While this isn’t necessarily surprising, it is important, especially as the metabolism starts to slow as we grow older.

So what’s the 4-11 on this study?

Previous studies have shown that moving your body is important, not only for maintaining weight but also for preventing conditions like osteoporosis, which is a huge problem for both men and women as they age.  Other studies suggest that watching what you eat, both in terms of calories and content, are key. You can check out those posts here.  But how do the two strategies differ when it comes to weight loss?

To find the answer, researchers separated 439 overweight or obese (by body mass index > 25) postmenopausal women (average age 58 years) into four groups:

1. > 45 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise, 5 days a week (225 min/week), including walking/hiking, aerobics and biking with the goal to reach 75% to 80% of target heart rate and 45 min/daily exercise
2. A weight loss strategy based on a daily intake of 1,200 to 2,000 calories comprising <30% from fat coupled with individual and group dietary counseling, diet journaling and weekly weigh-ins, with the goal to achieve a 10% weight loss
3. A combination of exercise and weight loss per above
4. No intervention

Over the course of the 1-year study, women in the diet group lost 8.5% of their total body weight (a mean 15.8 lbs) while those in the exercise only group lost 2.4% of their overall weight (mean 4.4 pounds). However, women who participated in both diet and exercise strategies lost 10.8% of their overall weight (mean 19.6 lbs). Moreover, although all women who had some active intervention lost inches off their waistlines, the greatest decline — almost 3 inches –was in women who watched their diet and exercised regularly. The same pattern was observed for the overall percentage of body fat that the women lost over the course of the study: 4.2% for diet alone, 1.6% for exercise alone and 5.9% for a combined strategy.

Importantly? The researchers say that when women added the 5 days weekly of exercise to a diet program, however tedious and time consuming, the majority were able to attain the 10% weight loss goal.  They add that both the American College of Sports Medicine and the US Department of Health and Human Services Physical Activity Guidelines Committee suggest that current activity level recommendations (which are roughly 30 minutes daily) be upped to as much as 60 minutes per day.

Granted, this is a hard pill to swallow. It’s difficult to find time in daily schedules to exercise as much as an hour a day AND eat properly. And lord knows, it’s not easy. Can you do one or the other? You can, but the best strategy is both.

A few tips to get you started:

• Start slowly and build up over time.
• Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day or cheat on your diet goals. While moderation is key and diligence is important, so is the occasional cheating! Deprivation is not a rule, ever!
• The same goes for missing a day of exercise. And remember, a little is better than none at all.

So the skinny (pun unintended) is that the greatest potential lies in doing the greatest amount possible. The only thing at risk is your health. And that’s a pretty big deal.

Want to live longer? Get off your ass and move that body!

Posted by Liz on Apr 18, 2011 in exercise | 4 comments

I was fascinated by an article that appeared in this past weekend’s New York Times about inactivity. In it, a Mayo Clinic researcher Dr. James Levine, who’s been studying the impact of  activity and weight, is quoted as saying that “excessive sitting is a lethal activity.” Even bending over to tie your shoes is better than sitting on your butt all day.

Last Fall, I wrote about inactivity and obesity and after seeing this piece, I wanted to reprise it. Whether it’s your waistline or your life, clearly, nothing is more important than getting up and moving. If you didn’t read it the first time around, I urge you to do so now. Seriously, get off your ass!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ_gP_hFOss&w=640&h=390]

Get up and move? You bet!

According to a newly published study in the advanced online edition of European Heart Journal, taking breaks from long stints at your desk or even while you’re playing couch potato can go a long way towards preventing heart disease and losing some of that waistline bulge. In fact, the researchers say that prolonged periods of being sedentary, even if you regularly participate in moderate to vigorous physical activity, can increase the risk of heart disease. The bottom line? It’s not only the length of time you’re spending at your desk or on your derriere but how often you interrupt that time that counts.

This is the first time that a large, multiethnic population of varying ages has been evaluated to determine how a lack of activity affects certain markers of heart disease, including inflammation, waist circumference, cholesterol and blood fats. Researchers studied 4,757 participants over a period of three years who wore a small device (an accelerometer) that measures both the amount and intensity of activity; this allowed them to collect data on inactivity and breaks in inactivity.

The findings? Irrespective of factors like exercise time, diet and smoking, people who took the most breaks from inactivity (~179 breaks a day) had, on average, a 1.6 inch smaller waist circumference than people who took the least amount of  breaks (~14 breaks per day) and remained inactive for the longest period of time. Moreover, taking breaks from being sedentary appeared to improve blood fats and blood glucose levels as well as C-reactive protein level (CRP, a blood protein that many experts believe, increases heart disease risk because of its role in promoting inflammation).  Another interesting finding was gender-based; even though women tended to be more sedentary overall, they did take more breaks, thereby improving their heart disease risk. This is especially notable since research has shown that not only is heart disease the number one killer of women, but it tends to increase as estrogen levels wane.

Dr. Healy, the study’s lead researcher, suggests that even small changes, standing for as little as one minute at various intervals throughout the day, may help lower heart disease risk and counter the danger of being sedentary for too long. In a work environment, this means, standing up when talking on the phone, walking over to a colleague, using the restroom, and of course, taking the stairs. If you work at home, some of these recommendations are adaptable, such as making a point to take out the garbage, walk outside for a minute or put in a load of laundry.