“Compared with persons who watch no television, those that spent a lifetime average of six hours a day watching TV can expect to live five years less”

How are you doing with your new year’s resolutions? I’m betting that one of them included a commitment to exercise on a regular basis. It’s only four weeks into the year, but if the thinning crowd at the gym is any indication, this is the time when you see who’s serious about their fitness and who isn’t. If you’re in the latter camp, you MUST watch this engaging 10 minute video that explains why exercise is the single best thing you can do for your health. If this doesn’t motivate you to get with the program, nothing will.

If you do watch the video by Dr. Mike Evans, an Assoc. Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of Toronto, you’ll learn that even a half hour of daily exercise can be meaningful. Consider these recent research findings that he explained more fully in his talk:

• Just one hour a week of activity reduced the incidence of heart disease by almost half in one study.
• For every increase of 10-minutes in your walk to work, there’s a 12 percent reduction in your likelihood of getting high blood pressure.
• Compared with persons who watch no television, those who spent a lifetime average of six hours a day watching TV can expect to live five years less.

If exercising at least 30 minutes a day seems out of the question, given home and work responsibilities, take a look at Joan Pagano’s exercise books. Joan specializes in full-body strength training that can be done with minimal equipment at home, in the gym or on the road. They’re illustrated with step-by-step photos and clear instructions so you do each exercise properly. But most important, these books are designed for women who want to work exercise into their daily lives but just don’t have much time to devote to it. But everyone can find 15 minutes, right?

Joan’s 15 Minute Total Body Workout (+DVD) combines cardio with resistance training and stretching. And she keeps it fresh with 4 unique programs: Step-touch, Beach Ball, Hop, Jig and Jump, and Lunge Around the Clock.

A second book, 15 Minute Abs Workout (+DVD),  is designed to to strengthen and firm your torso, flatten your belly, trim your wast and stretch out your muscles. Again, she offers four routines: Crunch, Beach Ball, Core Basics, and Core Challenge.

These easy to follow workout programs are included in a third book, Best Health Home Workout: Pilates Yoga Abs Body Toning with DVD that offers even more options for 15-minute workouts at home.

And a fourth book, a long-time favorite of mine, is Strength Training for Women.  It’s perfect for women who want to incorporate weights for shaping, toning and bone-building. I’ve never met Joan in person, but with this book, she’s been my personal trainer at home and at the gym for many years!

This year, I’m going to be giving away books and products that I think you’ll find helpful and worth your consideration.  I’ll start this week with a set of these four books, which Joan has graciously offered and signed.

To enter this giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment in the box below saying how many minutes a week you exercise.  If you have time and want to share details of your workout, even better.  All comments must be posted by midnight PST on Sunday, January 29th. A winner will be chosen via Random.org and I’ll announce it on February 1st. 

January is a time for setting new goals…and crowded gyms. It happens every year. Resolved to get fit and healthy, new members (or those who have been MIA) fill up group classes and the wait for using the cardio equipment becomes too long for my schedule. So, I’ve learned to be patient because I know that in just one month, most of them will be gone and I can return to my own, stress-free pace. Until then, I hit the outdoors for long walks and do Pilates floor exercises at home. It’s always a fresh reminder that there’s really no excuse for not exercising especially when there are so many fitness resources available on the web to help plan workouts and monitor how we’re doing. Here are just a few examples:

Visit the website of the American Council on Exercise and click on “Get Fit” to view their exercise library and illustrated workouts. You can indicate your target body part, experience level, equipment needed and workout type. This is the website for the organization that certifies fitness trainers, so you’ll find good instructions here. While you there, try out their handy fitness tools and calculators for estimating percent body fat, daily caloric needs, heart rate zone and BMI (Body Mass Index).

For Pilates enthusiasts of all levels, there are plenty of online videos by master instructor Elizabeth Larkam (whom I’ve taken classes with) as well as podcasts that you can download onto your phone or tablet and take with you anywhere. And you’ll find excellent instruction videos on YouTube including this one.

If you enjoy working out with an exercise ball, you’ll find tips and workout ideas in a series of free videos on this website. For core exercises using the fitness ball, watch these slide show demonstrations produced by the Mayo Clinic.

For a more individualized approach, check out Daily Burn, a new “personalized fitness platform” that delivers HD-quality, daily video workouts that are tailored to fit your unique fitness needs and goals. The videos are streamed to your computer, smart phone or other mobile device such as iPad or Android. There’s a membership fee of $30/month, but if this works for you, it’s considerably less than paying for a personal trainer.  They offer a free, 7-day trial if you want to give it a test run.

Finally, if you want to monitor your progress, check out the Free Fitness Tracker, where you can set fitness goals, track and measure progress and access their workout library of 300 exercises. As a member, you can even upload your own exercises to share with others.

If you’ve discovered other no-cost or low-cost online resources for fitness workouts, please let me (and other readers) know in the comment box below.

]]> http://www.menopausetheblog.com/2011/01/05/heres-a-way-to-practice-yoga-on-your-terms/feed/ 1 http://www.menopausetheblog.com/2010/10/11/your-lovely-bones/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=your-lovely-bones http://www.menopausetheblog.com/2010/10/11/your-lovely-bones/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:00:11 +0000 Joan Pagano http://www.menopausetheblog.com/?p=1664 Continue Reading]]> Note from Wendy: Numerous studies have clearly established the benefits of exercise on bone density as we age.  But what kind of exercise?  For this guest blogpost, I asked Joan Pagano, an authority on the benefits of exercise for women’s health issues such as breast cancer, menopause and osteoporosis, to describe the basics of a bone-strengthening program.  She’ll follow-up later this week with a second blogpost that provides a more detailed plan that you can integrate into your workouts.  Joan is the author of six books, including my own favorite resource for strength training; Strength Training for Women.

Think about your strong, healthy bones and how they support you as you move through your day.  Picture your skeleton as the infrastructure of your body, a framework for your muscles and joints, and just imagine how life-changing it could be if the struts in that framework became weak and fragile, at risk of collapse.

Osteoporosis – which literally means “porous bones” – is a bone-thinning disease caused by a loss of mineral (primarily calcium) that weakens the bone structure.  It is a silent disease, with no apparent symptoms until a fracture occurs.  Exercise is a key factor in both preventing and treating this condition, but the strategies are completely different.  This column will highlight exercise for prevention and next week we’ll look at modifications if you’ve been diagnosed with osteoporosis.

After age 40, the goals of exercise are to maintain bone mass, offset or reduce bone loss and improve balance and coordination.  Exercise should maximize the load to the bones with a progressive (i.e. gradual intensification) program of weight bearing aerobic exercise and weight lifting.  Assuming your joints are healthy, you should aim for:

• High impact aerobic exercise, defined as activities in which both feet are off the ground at the same time, as in running, jumping rope, and high-impact aerobic dance; also sports like basketball, volleyball and gymnastics. For bone formation, you want to maximize the ground reaction forces, the force with which your body hits the ground.

• High intensity weight lifting, using the heaviest weights you can lift in good form for 8-12 repetitions with the last few reps being challenging.  Do 1-3 sets of each exercise.

To target bones throughout the body do exercises for all the major muscle groups:  Hips and thighs, back, chest, shoulders, arms and abdomen.

• Stabilization exercises, using the stability ball, BOSU and foam rollers, which recruit the muscles of the core body as you master unstable surfaces.

Remember: To prevent injury, it’s essential to prepare your joints for more intense work by increasing the workload gradually.

Of course, this information should not take the place of guidance from your own physician or other medical professional.  Always consult with your doctor before beginning an exercise program or becoming much more physically active.

Apparently, what’s most critical in evaluating whether you’re really fit or just acceptable is not your BMI score, the traditional measure for obesity,  but how much body fat you’re carrying around. If you don’t have access to a gym that has equipment for measuring your body composition, a simple way to estimate if you are really fit is to measure your waist or use a metric called the waist-to-hip ratio (are you an apple or pear?).  Many research studies have proven that fat stored around the middle (a particular problem for post-menopausal women) doubles the risk of death from stroke, cancer and cardiovascular disease. Why? Dr. Joann Manson, a Harvard endocrinologist explained in an NPR interview that “abdominal fat cells tend to be more active in producing hormones and chemical  messengers that cause inflammation throughout the body.”

So, if you’re on a weight loss diet, be sure to include exercise, particularly weight training, to ensure that you’re building lean muscle as you lose weight. And don’t think you’re sitting pretty just because you’ve reached your ideal weight. If your percentage of body fat is still high, you’re not fit, you’re just at a (barely) acceptable level.

For one thing, there’s so much available on the web to help us plan our workouts and monitor how we’re doing.  Here are just a few examples.

To begin with write down your goals. Becky Williamson, who calls herself “America’s #1 Fitness Coach for Boomer Women”, says this is your secret weapon for success.   You can download the goal sheet that she provides to her private clients and watch her video that explains how to create “smart, specific and time-based goals.:

Visit the website of the American Council on Exercise and click on “Get Fit” to view their exercise library and illustrated workouts.  You can indicate your target body part, experience level, equipment needed and workout type. This is the website for the organization that certifies fitness trainers, so you’ll find good instructions here.  While you there, try out their handy fitness tools and calculators for estimating percent body fat, daily caloric needs, heart rate zone and BMI (Body Mass Index).

If you’re into Pilates, download a free 15-minute Power Pilates Beginner Mat Class with Dana Eisenstein. If you find that you enjoy it and want to do more, you can purchase 30 -minute Pilates Mat Class videos (for beginners and advanced, in Spanish and English) for only $15.00.

If you enjoy working out with an exercise ball, you’ll find tips and workout ideas in a series of free videos on this website. For core exercises using the fitness ball, watch these slide show demonstrations produced by the Mayo Clinic.

You’ll also find dozens of free mini and full-length workout  videos that you can follow at Exercise TV. If Comcast or Time Warner is your cable service provider, you’ll be able to view many of these videos on the on-demand exercise channel.  (I bet you didn’t even know you had it!)

Finally, if you want to monitor your progress, check out the “trackers” at The Carrot. Their exercise database includes thousands of activities so you can see how many calories you’re burning. It’s free to register.

If you know of other no-cost or low-cost online resources for workout support, please let me (and other readers) know in the comment box below.

It’s an internet study that is being funded by the NIH to explore ethnic differences in midlife women’s attitudes towards physical activity.  The goal is to “reduce health disparities in physical activity programs that serve ethnic minority women through the internet.”

The researchers at the University of Texas at Austin are seeking a total of 500 participants, 125 for each ethnic category (White, Hispanic, Black, Asian). To participate, visit their website  to learn more and see if you qualify. If you are eligible, you’ll receive a gift certificate of $10 per internet survey and an additional gift certificate of $50 for participating in an online forum for six months.

“Regular activity can also help to relieve mild to moderate depression,” the site explains.  “During exercise, hormones flood your body, causing you to relax and the depression-fighting neurotransmitters in the brain surge.”

Read the entire article to learn how exercise can combat hot flashes, osteoporosis, and the vaginal and bladder problems that result from declining estrogen levels.

Medpedia describes the site as a “repository of up-to-date, unbiased, medical information contributed and maintained by health experts around the world and freely available to everyone.

]]> http://www.menopausetheblog.com/2009/03/30/exercise-is-the-best-rx-for-many-perimenopausal-symptoms/feed/ 0 http://www.menopausetheblog.com/2009/03/13/rx-for-belly-fat-strengthen-tone-with-exercise/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rx-for-belly-fat-strengthen-tone-with-exercise http://www.menopausetheblog.com/2009/03/13/rx-for-belly-fat-strengthen-tone-with-exercise/#comments Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:53:59 +0000 Wendy http://www.menopausetheblog.com/2009/03/13/rx-for-belly-fat-strengthen-tone-with-exercise/ Continue Reading]]> Can diet and exercise really eliminate belly fat? Recent research has shown that eating fewer calories, no matter what program you sign up for, will contribute to weight loss and thus, a smaller paunch.  But what about exercise?  Will just burning calories help eliminate the “muffin top” that a lot of middle-aged women (and men!) carry around?  Or do we need to target ab muscles with 100 crunches every day to do the trick?

I asked fitness expert Joan Pagano, whose newest book, “15 Minute Abs Workout” has recently been published.  As in her earlier books, Strength Training for Women and 15 Minute Total Body Workout (+DVD), Joan lays out specific routines with excellent photos (and a CD-ROM) that show proper form and execution.  They’re well organized and very easy to follow.

Joan: You need to do strengthening exercises as well as cardio to get results.  Abs exercises flatten and tone the abdominal muscles underneath the belly, while cardio exercise reduces the size of fat cells in that area.  If your abs are toned, but you have a layer of fat over them, do at least 30 minutes of cardio most days of the week to burn calories and reduce fat.  If you do not have excess belly fat, but lack of muscle tone causes your belly to hang, concentrate on the abs routines to firm up.  If you are both lacking muscle tone and carry excess fat, step up both cardio and abs routines.

Wendy: You state in your book that the classic crunch is one of the most effect ab exercises.  Can you explain why? How many and how often do you recommend?

Joan: The crunch is a versatile exercise, suitable for beginners and adaptable to many advanced modifications.  It targets the rectus abdominis, best known as the coveted “six pack” muscle, which describes the sections that develop when this muscle is toned.  It is the most superficial abdominal muscle, running from the sternum to the pubic bone, and is easy to isolate with the crunch.   Quality is more important than quantity: do three sets of 20 crunches in perfect form every other day.

Wendy: Your book includes “core training.” Can you explain why this is so important and how it contributes to overall abdominal strength and toning?

Joan: Core training is an integrated approach to working the muscles in the anatomical center of the body – the core – and training them to function as a unit (as in a plank) instead of in isolation (as in the crunch).  The abdominals and spinal extensors are key players in core conditioning, working together as a team to provide support for the spine and maintain its proper alignment.  Core strength enhances the overall appearance of the torso, improves posture and provides a foundation for quality of movement in the whole body.

Question to readers….Are you seeing results from doing ab exercises?  What’s helped you?   Do tell!

Update 3/27/09-  If you’d like to read more about Joan’s book read “Fab abs in 15 Minutes” at the “She Knows”website.

Be creative about fitting exercise into your day-to-day.  If life intervenes and you can’t do your normal weight training session, at least do some exercises using your body weight, like push ups, squats, crunches and planks.  I make it a habit to do two sets of push ups after my run, as well as a full-body stretch.  I do extra leg stretches at night while I’m brushing my teeth for two minutes.  At my desk, I sit on a stability ball to improve my posture and get a little core training as the muscles of the trunk work to keep me upright.

If your program is stale and needs rejuvenating, try something new.   Intervals of high intensity work can be adapted to resistance training as well as to cardio activity.  Try interspersing one minute of heart-pumping cardio into your strength training exercises.  You can use exercises like jumping rope, step-ups or running in place to keep your heart rate elevated.

The routines in my book, 15 Minute Total Body Workout (+DVD) follow a format of a 3-minute warm up, 10 minutes of standing, weight bearing work combining cardio and weights, and a 2 minute cool-down using full-body stretches similar to Yoga.  By using compound movements, combining upper and lower body, the exercises target 8-10 muscle groups for efficient toning and calorie expenditure.  I’ve been doing them myself, and last night when my husband gave me a hug, he said, “You’re redistributing” – music to any woman’s ears!

Note from Wendy:   Please click on this link to download a PDF of Joan’s five blog posts this week:  Joan Pagano on Menopause the Blog  Joan will respond to your questions or comments left below. Be sure to visit her website and check out her books too!

Copyright 2008 Joan Pagano. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.