New exercise guidelines

In 1995 the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published national guidelines on Physical Activity and Public Health that led to our current 30 minutes a day of gentle exercise guidelines.
This month has seen these guidelines revised, in line with more up to date research.

In this article we take a look at the new guidelines and assess where they leave the general population today.

The old guidelines seemed to give most people a false sense of what is necessary to achieve and maintain fitness and overall health. They were also extremely vague, with Mr, Miss & Mrs Average being left to work out and implement vital health and fitness issues such as ‘how much exercise is optimal for me?’ and ‘what intensity should I exercise at?’ on their own.

Not only did the previous guidelines give a false comfort level but they also failed to provide sufficient information to allow that level to be implemented in any effective way.

So we ended up with this result: sadly less than half (49.1%) of U.S. adults met the CDC/ACSM physical activity recommendation with 23.7% of adults reporting no leisure-time activity at all. (1) Saying: “do something for 30 minutes a day” was a step in the right direction, a shift towards more specifics was badly needed.

Although it took a monumental 12 years to address this fundamental issue, new guidelines were released in August 2007 to international media coverage.

Let’s look at the updated recommendations in more detail before we assess where they leave us. They suggest (1):

Moderate intensity aerobic physical activity (briskly walking) for a minimum of 30 min (authors note: is there a maximum?) on five days each week or vigorous intensity aerobic physical activity (jogging) for a minimum of 20 min on three days each week.
Combinations of moderate and vigorous intensity activity can be performed to meet this recommendation. For example, a person can meet the recommendation by walking briskly for 30 min twice during the week and then jogging for 20 min on two other days.
In addition, every adult should perform activities that maintain or increase muscular strength and endurance a minimum of two days each week. This means activities - such as weight lifting - that use the major muscles of the body. You should do eight to ten exercises on two different days at least one day apart.
Persons who wish to further improve their personal fitness, reduce their risk for chronic diseases and disabilities or prevent unhealthy weight gain may benefit by exceeding the minimum recommended amounts of physical activity (Authors note: by how much?)



It cannot be understated that this is a real step in the right direction and is to be applauded, but one does find oneself asking the question: How far do the new guidelines really take us towards a healthier society and where could they be strengthened to allow a deeper understanding of what is required to make us fitter and healthier human beings?

As a health and fitness professional working day to day on the ground I’d like to take a moment to outline three major improvements that I think are easy to communicate and easy to implement:

1. The recent guidelines state that aerobic activity for 30 mins (gentle) or 20 mins (vigorous) should be minimums – does that mean ‘more is better?’ and if so how far should we go in using aerobic exercise?

The issue is that excessive aerobic activity can lead to a decrease in muscle mass due to muscle potentially being used as a fuel, and from the production of catabolic hormones that break the active tissue down.

I am by no means suggesting that aerobic/cardio activity is bad. Indeed it is vital, as it allows nutrients to be transported to the cells via the bloodstream. When fat is released from storage centers (adipose cells) it travels through the bloodstream to be ‘burned’ and this is facilitated by cardio activity, but a decrease in muscle mass due to excesses in this form of exercise leads to a decrease in the body’s ability to burn fat.

Hence the most beneficial method of performing your cardiovascular component of exercise is through interval training methods, focusing on shorter periods (10-20 minutes) at med/high intensities with breaks in between. It is to be noted that what medium/high intensity means is relative to each person’s baseline level of fitness. In addition I would recommend performing aerobic/cardiovascular sessions no longer than 40 minutes in duration to avoid muscle mass loss and the associated issues mentioned above.

Through providing clearer and more specific guidelines optimum and more effective levels of exercise are possible without lessening the general population’s ability to implement the exercise regime.

2. Effective resistance training is the key to any program aimed at achieving weight loss, so its inclusion in the new guidelines is a major plus.

Focusing on resistance training will lead to fitter, leaner and stronger bodies as when we reach around age 30 our muscles begin to shrink, leading to a metabolic rate decrease and therefore a decreased ability to burn fat. (2) The guidelines however, do not take into account the need to change the variables in such resistance training.

The suggestion that, “a resistance (weight) should be used that results in substantial fatigue after 8-12 repetitions of each exercise” is severely limiting. I often see people in the gym still doing their ‘3 sets of 10’ with no additional results after one month’s training. It’s easy to get to ‘first base’ doing things this way, but getting any further results is unlikely.

In addition many would suggest that recommending weight training is an unrealistic edition and ‘not for the majority’. I believe this is where more education on the benefits (like increased fat-loss and strength) needs to be highlighted.

I recently read one expert called David Haslam, chair of the U.K. National Obesity Forum, commenting that: "If you suggested everyone here should do weight-training twice a week they wouldn't do it. They don't have the time or money for the gym, it would be an unrealistic guideline. I'd rather see healthy habits built into daily life - gyms aren't a sustainable habit." (3)

This is a very limited perspective from which to view the possibilities of effective resistance training. Resistance training does not need a gym membership, just a little creativity will do and it can be easily and cheaply done at home with:

· Uncomplicated body weight exercises like pushups, squats, lunges, chin ups that require no equipment and little space.
· Simple inexpensive equipment like: bands, tubing, medicine balls, stability balls, dumbells, with perhaps a small investment in one of the many home training books, dvd’s, or online programs out there.

To achieve consistent changes in strength and body composition programs must be changed regularly every 2-4 weeks, including the number of repetitions, sets, exercises, rest periods and intensity, and made progressive (i.e. harder each session).

This kind of guidance would be a major addition to the recent guidelines.

3. There is no mention of flexibility training which simply must be mentioned under any exercise guidelines.

We are currently experiencing an epidemic of pain and overuse injuries such as Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI’s). According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), RSI’s are the nation’s most common and costly occupational health problem, affecting hundreds of thousands of American workers, and costing more than $20 billion a year in workers compensation. They account for 14% of physician visits and 19% of hospital stays. (4)

Through effective stretching this could be reduced and the general health of the nation would be improved too!

The new exercise guidelines are a definite improvement on those released in 1995 but in much the same way that grains are still being used as the basis of the food pyramid at a time of growing public awareness that grains may be a barrier to health. The recommendation that emphasizes longer duration cardiovascular exercise over resistance training is a flaw that will keep people back from achieving permanent weight loss.

The fact is that despite the recent guidelines the bar is still too low and ill defined to bring real benefit to the general population.



References

(1) Physical Activity and Public Health: Updated Recommendation for Adults from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: Volume 39(8)August 2007pp 1423-1434 http://www.acsm-msse.org/pt/re/msse/fulltext.00005768-20070800000027.htm;jsessionid=GMwPjzCJtwyTZyJLmx1ndlQMP1pK6TLBjdVKqqPnM1Z2LGTvg14S!-362743511!181195628!8091!-1

(2) 3dpts.com: Strong beginnings – success through synergy. Craig Burton http://www.3dpts.com/ArchiveArticles/BodyArticle/2005-10-Bodyarticle.htm

(3) The Guardian: The era of gentle exercise is over. Its official: you've got to work up a sweat. Polly Curtis, health correspondent, Friday August 17, 2007 http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,,2150618,00.html

(4) RSI Therapy.com: RSI Stastics. http://www.rsi-therapy.com/statistics.htm

Secrets to weight loss

Yesterday I read a great article from Dr. Mercola called:

Finally Science Confirms the Secret Key to Weight Loss. http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Finally-Science-Confirms-the-Secret-Key-to-Weight-Loss-19046.aspx

I want to expand on this article. Basically researchers in Boston compared A low–glycemic load (40% carbohydrate and 35% fat) vs low-fat (55% carbohydrate and 20% fat) diet. They found that reducing the glycemic load may be especially important to achieving weight loss among individuals with high insulin secretion. They also stated that regardless of insulin secretion, a low–glycemic load diet has beneficial effects on high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations but not on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration. You can check out this study by following the link:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/297/19/2092

The researchers did state that the results of clinical trials involving diet in the treatment of obesity have been inconsistent, possibly due to inherent physiological differences among study participants, which makes sense considering our biochemical individuality or different diet needs.

But I believe the value of this research is in the importance of those overweight to be aware of their insulin levels (your GP can test it) and reducing them through a diet consisting of less sugar and processed carbohydrates empahasising lean meat, fibrous carbohydrates (above ground vegetables), low GI starches (brown rice, sweet potatoes), and good fats and oils (fish oils, coconut, olive).

Best wishes

Craig Burton

Here is my opinion of the most dangerous product when it comes to maintaining optimal hydration - soft drinks.

I outlined some nasty ingredients that are causing our body's an array of problems including :
1. Sugar
2. Artificial sweetners (if you thought the 'diet' variety was better)
3. Caffeine
4. Phosphoric Acid

• Sugar is commonly known that it leads to an array of problems including obesity and diabetes.
• Artificial sweetners like aspartame are among other things neuro-toxins. There are over 92 different health side effects associated with aspartame consumption including brain tumors, birth defects, diabetes, emotional disorders and epilepsy/seizures
• Overconsumption of caffeine has also a strong negative effect on the nervous system espcially the adrenal glands. High caffeine use is associated with high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, elevated blood cholesterol levels, vitamin and mineral depletion that potentially leads to disease.
• Phosphoric Acid may interfere with the body's ability to use calcium, which can lead to osteoporosis or softening of the teeth and bones. Phosphoric acid also neutralizes the hydrochloric acid in your stomach, which can interfere with digestion, making it difficult to utilize nutrients.

Not only do these chemicals cause direct problems they also lead to dyhdration which seriously affects the body's ability to function. The alternative is simple however for many boring - consume water!


Craig

Welcome to my first blog!

Hi and thanks for visiting my new blog.


Technology is amazing! Forming a website, contacting and communicating with people from all around the world is so easy now days. Check out these tools for faster, cheaper and better communication:

• I use voipstunt.com to speak free to my Mum's landline in Australia, or via peterzahlt.de
• Most of you have heard of skype, but do you know you can use it to have a business number in most countries, so that people call to your computer or landline
• Even this blogger.com - instant website! Pretty cool to speak your mind and communicate with people
• You can even make a video and have it sent out all over the web with youtube.com

I know this may seem a stretch from health and fitness, but it's not really. Because communication with friends and family is such a vital ingredient to health, and the easier and more accesible it is the better in my opinion. But again it comes down to moderation (like a lot of things in life) and not overindulging, as to not become completely dependent on the internet or our mobiles, just appreciating it. I remember seeing the Dalai Lama in Melbourne talk on technology. I thought he might talk about its perils, but instead he loved it - even raved about his new watch! Seeing this "enlightened" monk get excited about his new watch was pretty funny.

Yours in health

Craig