Diet/Exercise/Health/Wellness Support Thread

Parent Cafe
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<p>The lurker returns … I’ve been reading and cheering everyone on, while doing my own swimming/running/walking/ weight lifting routines regularly. I ran for 45 minutes the other day, a personal record. Now I just have to find a race to enter. </p>

<p>What brought me back was to draw people’s attention to the New York Times section on fitness trackers and other gadgets in Tuesday’s paper. Like this article, <a href=“Better Eating With Smart Scales and Forks - The New York Times”>Better Eating With Smart Scales and Forks - The New York Times. It describes the Prep Pad, “a new smart food scale for home cooks that doesn’t just weigh food, but also provides a breakdown of its nutritional content.” And the Hapifork, which motivates you to eat slower.</p>

<p>Here’s a description of the scale: “The 9-inch-by-6.25-inch scale made by the Orange Chef, a Google-backed company, is sold at Williams-Sonoma for $149.95. It works with the Countertop app on my iPad, which displays a breakdown of proteins, carbohydrates and fats as I build a meal.” </p>

<p>This link (<a href=“Wired Well - The New York Times”>http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/category/wired-well/&lt;/a&gt;) will take you to all the articles. There’s one about fitness trackers for dogs, too. If anyone can’t access the articles, I can get more info since I do subscribe.</p>

<p>And for those of us with osteoporosis, this was interesting: <a href=“Why High-Impact Exercise Is Good for Your Bones - The New York Times”>Why High-Impact Exercise Is Good for Your Bones - The New York Times, on the importance of high-impact exercise. </p>

<p>“So, Dr. Tobias says, young people and healthy adults should probably pound the ground, at least sometimes. Sprint. Jump off a box 15 inches or higher at your gym and jump back up. Hop in place. A study by other researchers published in January found that women between 25 and 50 who hopped at least 10 times twice a day, with 30 seconds between each hop, significantly increased their hipbone density after four months. Another group of subjects, who hopped 20 times daily, showed even greater gains.”</p>

<p>I’m just trying to figure out how to hop with 30 seconds between each hop.</p>

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<p>“I’m just trying to figure out how to hop with 30 seconds between each hop.” LOL. Maybe iDad can help us with that one!</p>

<p>blankmind- Sometimes? LOTS of the time!</p>

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<p>Good stuff, fire and rain.</p>

<p>I do have one quibble with the NY Times…</p>

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<p>I’m not sure about the wisdom of that advice, particularly for us “middle-aged” folk. Jumping off boxes puts very high stress loads on ankles, knees, and hips. Mike Boyle won’t let his 20 year old Olympic hockey players jump off boxes due to the high injury risk. Jump up. Step down.</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tDG3ahMNCA”>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tDG3ahMNCA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>One other important point. High impact stuff like jumping or running is not the place to start, but are activities that only make sense after you are already in shape. Just starting out, walking makes more sense. And a great way for anyone to get in the bone strengthening resistance exercise is doing whole body exercises like squats, push ups, etc.</p>

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<p>Just got in from snow shovelling. Just an inch or two over frozen rain, but wow is it cold. 17 degrees, with 20+ mph winds.</p>

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<p>iDad, I would much rather jump off than jump on! (Although I wouldn’t jump off anything much higher than 15 inches). When I come mano-a-mano with a box, the thought of jumping UP scares me – what if I miss? What if I can’t jump that high? I guess my question is – will jumping off a box 5-10 times a few times a week do tremendous damage? </p>

<p>I frequent another online board that discusses only osteoporosis, and most of those women have been told to pretty much do nothing. They scared me for awhile, until my current specialist assured me that running and twisting and jumping is fine. But many doctors scare patients silly into thinking they will break a bone if they move. What I liked about this research is that maybe it will prod some women to get in shape and start doing high-impact stuff, as opposed to being afraid to do anything. But working on your core and balance is also crucial.</p>

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<p>I completely understand the hesitation about jumping up to a box. I don’t think that doing plyo jumps is mandatory (or necessarily a good choice) for bone health. Jumping is an advanced exercise…</p>

<p>As far as jumping down and doing damage… If Mike Boyle won’t do it with NFL football players, the Boston Red Sox players, the US women’s olympic ice hockey players, and high school athletes, I have to think that it is too risky for an ol’ (formerly) fat guy like me. Torn knee ligaments, hip fractures, and so forth are very serious injuries. Making the equation even more daunting is that there isn’t much reward for it. The benefit for bone health isn’t from impact exercises. It’s from load-bearing exercise. Like a goblet squat or a split squat or a kettlebell swing or a single leg dead lift or a farmers carry or a step-ups to a box. The idea is to select exercises that give maximum weight bearing benefit with minimum impact on the joints. That’s why running isn’t a great choice until you have a baseline level of fitness – great exercise, but high impact. </p>

<p>I do a very small amount of jumping/hopping with some agility ladder drills. It has to be pretty limited. If I do a lot of it, I start feeling it in my shins and knees.</p>

<p>I do jump up to a box (actually up to a 16 inch weight bench). The bench is padded and so far I’ve escaped unscathed from the occasional miss). Instead of trying to jump higher, I mark my gains by jumping better – landing properly as shown in the video I posted. I do a couple of sets of six jumps once a week or so.</p>

<p>For developing explosive power, here’s a great exercise: the single arm DB snatch as demonstrated by one of the women’s olympic hockey players:</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDTn5o_BqI8”>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDTn5o_BqI8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Same thing with a kettlebell:</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13y4bOwOvbg”>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13y4bOwOvbg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Well- and there’s the fact that I have been running long distances for most of 37 years and I still have osteoporosis! </p>

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<p>For preserving bone health, I really think the cornerstone of a fitness program needs to include some kind of resistance strength exercise for 30 minutes at least twice a week. It can be as simple as body weight exercises. Can be kettlebells. Can be DBs. Can be TRX. There are all kinds of options. “A push. A pull. And something for the legs…”</p>

<p>Everyone. Athlete. Non-Athlete. Runner. Non-Runner. Cyclist. Non-Cyclist. Tennis player. Non-tennis player. Golfer. Non-golfer. Swimmer. Non-Swimmer. They all benefit from some kind of consistent, regular resistance strength training.</p>

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<p>Friends don’t let friends skip leg day…</p>

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<p>Dreaded 1 mile Airdyne intervals. Too cold/icy to go outside. Couldn’t think about KBs or burpees on top of these new strength workouts this week. So, it was the Airdyne. Not too bad… as Airdyne intervals go…</p>

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<p>OMG, Idad. Never in a million years. My old shoulders won’t do that!!</p>

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<p>That’s what I thought. I didn’t think I could do it…or that it would be one of those exercises that would take six months to get the hang of. But, I tried it one day and it wasn’t that hard. Don’t get me wrong… it’s an exercise that will gas you in no time flat. Six reps per side and I’m bent over panting like a dog. </p>

<p>And, there’s a lot to work on… it’s really a hip exercise. All the power comes from hinging the hips. The arm and the weight are just along for the ride. The shoulder isn’t doing any work. So I have to constantly think “hips” rather than making it a pull with the arm or a jump from the knees. It’s actually the same exercise as a kettlebell swing except you are driving the weight up rather than forward.</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILBGy6h3yE”>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILBGy6h3yE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Same exercise with a barbell (the most basic Olympic lifting move):</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMrYel0Tmh4”>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMrYel0Tmh4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The dumbbell version is a lot easier, I think.</p>

<p>The problem comes when you try to do it with heavier weights. It’s supposed to be a fast, explosive power exercise. It requires a lot of energy to move a heavy weight fast – hence the bent over panting like a dog part… :)</p>

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<p>8.1 miles. Glad I came back in one piece. :)</p>

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<p>^so are we, Bunsen :)</p>

<p>I’d try that kettlebell snatch but fear I’d be banned from the house…after it flew through a window or a glass table :slight_smile: I wonder if good old-fashioned skipping might be a substitute for the bone-density benefit. Perhaps I should go READ the article :)</p>

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<p>Ok, read the articles and I want that fork but I want it to send me a shock every time I start eating like an idiot! Operant conditioning (in reverse.)</p>

<p>What would be really great is a sci-fi fork that could identify the components on it and caloric density and that would just log everything I ate for me…then go into ray gun mode once I reached my caloric budget for the day ;)</p>

<p>As someone whose meal last night was tasty appetizers at a reception that likely tripled my usual meal in terms of calories, I think I could use occasional intervention. My stop button just doesn’t seem to work on those occasions.</p>

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<p>BB- are you feeling healthy?</p>

<p>I actually had a decent run after work yesterday. 5 miles with every mile faster pace. Did a short 2 miles this morning once I got myself out of the bed. </p>

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<p>I did slow flow yoga and 45 minutes of weight training on Thursday. I’m feeling great about my new yoga studio–it’s got me enthusiastic about yoga. </p>

<p>I did a spin class early this morning and then took off to visit my D in Philly this afternoon. </p>

<p>BB are you running in Boston next month?</p>

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<p>Hah. The first time I tried it, I totally surprised myself by actually getting the DB up in the air. Then, I though – oh &^%$, now what am I gonna do with it as I had to quickly figure out how to get it down without bouncing it off my head. :)</p>

<p>I’m off to the basement for a workout that includes DB snatches. I’ll be trying them with a 35 lb DB.</p>

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<p>3.5 miles with mix of fast, slow and walking. Today was a better day. </p>

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<p>Yeah for a better day Blankmind! </p>

<p>2 mile fast walk on park trail. Some melting today but am not liking the conditions for my scheduled race Sunday - high of 20 and windy - and its near the lake. ;( Plus I’m worried about ice that will freeze from all the melting. I’m not talking myself out of it, but I’m also trying to be realistic and give myself permission to make a reasonable decision. ugh.</p>