Many of my clients are older adults, and many only train with me once per week. Is that sufficient to make a difference?

Great news for healthy older adults who may not be able to weight-train more than once a week. For 60- to 75-year-old men and women, supervised whole-body resistance training once weekly for six months led to significantly less inflammation, lower blood pressure and blood sugar levels, and better overall well-being.

Individuals who trained three times per week received the same benefits and had significantly less body fat and more muscle mass. Participants saw increases in HDL cholesterol whether they trained once, twice or three times weekly, but significant reductions in LDL occurred only in those who trained three times per week. These findings are published in Frontiers in Physiology (2019; doi:10.3389/fphys.2019.00032.)

University of Jyväskylä researchers in Finland led the study to evaluate the effects of resistance training frequency on older adults’ body composition, inflammation markers, lipid levels and glycemic profile. Researchers randomly divided 106 subjects into four groups: resistance training once, twice or three times weekly, and a control group. Training sessions consisted of 2–5 sets of seven to nine total-body exercises, with 4–12 repetitions per set, for 6 months.

“We found that individuals who were close to having high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood glucose, or high levels of inflammation improved the most,” said principal investigator Simon Walker, PhD, faculty of Sports and Health Sciences at University of Jyväskylä. “Training two or three times per week didn’t provide greater benefit in these individuals.” He noted that for maximum strength gains, muscle growth and fat loss, training more times per week was better. “But for other measures that are important for older people, such as the ability to perform activities of daily living, once per week seemed sufficient.

#1 Your scale indicates your level of health
#2 Your daily workout ”routine” will make/keep you fit
#3 All calories are created equal.

In my last two blogs, I discussed why your scale weight is not the true measure of your level of health and why a daily workout routine will not make you more fit.

Today I will discuss the myth of the calorie.

All calories are created equal…don’t believe it

We’ve been sold on the idea that we can eat whatever we like (and favorable health and fitness will result) so long as we stay within our predetermined calorie count. Going over that number means we will gain weight; going under that number means we will lose weight.

This idea is the driver behind Diet Coke, Snackwell’s low-calorie cookies, and Breyers fat-free ice cream (low calorie foods with nonetheless horrific health consequences)

All calories are not created equal. A calorie from chicken breast has a fundamentally different hormonal effect in our bodies than a calorie from M&Ms. A calorie from yogurt has a different hormonal effect than a calorie from avocado, and a calorie delivered from fruit juice precipitates a different hormonal effect than a calorie obtained from pistachios. These differences in hormonal effects makes calorie counting nearly meaningless.

Here’s how it actually works:
• There are three macro nutrients: protein, fat, and carbohydrate. Each plays an essential role in hormonal balance and the subsequent regulation of blood sugar, and you need all of them. In my examples above, chicken is a protein source; M&Ms, yogurt, and fruit are carbohydrates; and avocados and pistachios are fats.
• When you consume carbohydrates, your blood sugar rises. This provides energy for immediate use, with sugar being used first at local muscle sites and within the brain, and with any remaining sugar then stored as body fat. •    • Storage is accomplished via insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas.
• When you consume protein, stored body fat is mobilized to provide energy. This is accomplished via glucagon, another hormone secreted by the pancreas. You can think glucagon as a counterbalance to the insulin storage mechanism.

When you consume fat, you slow digestion and increase satiety (the feeling of being full). In practice, fat consumption slows the rise of blood sugar in your bloodstream caused by eating carbohydrates, thereby slowing insulin release and limiting fat storage while simultaneously signaling that you should stop eating.

Generally, we want storage (via the carbohydrate/insulin mechanism) and mobilization (via the protein/glucagon mechanism) to be balanced.Too much storage, and you get fat. Too much mobilization, and you won’t have the energy reserves necessary to sustain daily activities. Further, we want to take in significant enough amounts of fat to curb our appetite and slow the entry of sugar into the bloodstream.

Notice that none of these effects are calorie dependent. Rather, they are determined by hormones. Therefore, it is not excess calories that make us fat, but rather more carbohydrate storage resulting in rises in blood sugar. Thus, the source of each calorie is profoundly important in determining body composition — and a calorie is never just a calorie.

The takeaway: Forget calorie counting, and learn to balance your macro nutrient intake, consuming proteins, fats, and carbohydrates at every meal. Aim for consistent protein consumption and eat low-glycemic index carbohydrates such as fibrous fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens), and if you’re consistently hungry, increase your fat intake. I provide clients with an easy-to-follow system call “The Metabolic Effect “ to accomplish just that.

#1 Your scale indicates your level of health
#2 Your daily workout ”routine” will make/keep you fit
#3 All calories are created equal.

In my last blog, I discussed why your scale weight is not the true measure of your level of health.
Today I will discuss the myth that your daily workout routine will keep you fit.

Your daily workout routine will make you/keep you fit…don’t believe it.

I meet people all the time who have been led to believe that that you can work out at moderate intensity, repeating a single stimulus, and achieve results.

This could be the casual daily walk, or a long slow run or a circuit through the same gym machines or using three-pound dumbbells in yoga class. This is the lie of every device you see marketed at 3:00am. It is the lie of routine.
Improving your fitness requires effort and some difficulty. You must run faster than before, you must lift more than before, you must do more work in less time than before. This fact follows from a fundamental principle of exercise science known as SAID or specific adaptation to imposed demands.

Stated differently, SAID says you’ll get precisely the physical adaptation your workout demands of your body — and no more. Jogging three miles per day at a pace of ten minutes per mile will result in a body capable of precisely that, three miles in thirty minutes. It will result in a body-fat percentage, muscle mass, and aerobic fitness consistent with that pace. Once that adaptation is achieved through repetition, there will be no further gains.

And so to become more fit or lose weight, you must push. You must run faster. You must lift more. You must include variance in your “routine,” finding new ways to impose demand on your body. .Above all, you must do things you don’t normally do, varying activities, rep schemes, loads, and distances to create new adaptations. Certainly that does not mean pushing and becoming injured, but it may mean pushing beyond your comfort zone, at least on some of your exercise days.

The takeaway: There is no such thing as a daily workout “routine” that works to improve fitness, strength or weight loss. If you want results, you must seek the discomfort of new demands. I have people ask me frequently for a daily workout program. To truly become more fit, lose weight or build muscle, you need a varied exercise program that places new demands on your body, at a pace and level that benefits you wherever you are at this moment. I can help find that for you.

#1 Your scale indicates your level of health
#2 Your daily workout ”routine” will make/keep you fit
#3 All calories are created equal.

Today I will tell the real story about the most insidious of the misinformation from the fashion and fitness industry…the scale indicates your level of health.
(Over the next two weeks, I will also discuss the downfalls of a daily workout “routine” and the mistaken idea that all calories are created equal. )

The scale indicates your health….don’t believe it.

Rather than worry about your scale weight, focus on your body composition.This is a much more comprehensive measure of your health, one that takes into account the underlying components of your weight: how much of your body is fat, how much is muscle tissue, and how much is bone and water.

By focusing on body composition and working to reduce your proportion of stored fat to muscle, you’ll look leaner, you’ll be more fit, and you can safely ignore the scale.
But you may find you weigh more as you develop a better body composition. This doesn’t seem right to many clients, and I understand the frustration this causes. But when your diet and exercise are in order, muscle begins to replace fat, and your density actually increases, leading to a higher scale weight despite improved body composition.

This is where many fitness adherents, especially women, go off the rails. They dial in diet and exercise, they lift and run, and they find their scale weight stays the same (or increases), leading them to believe they’re not making progress.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Tape measurements or clothing sizes may decrease as body fat vanishes, but the scale doesn’t necessarily follow suit — and once you’re healthy, it never will.

The takeaway:  Stop relying on the scale. take measurements with a tape measure. Have your body fat measured. (I can help you with both these measurements.) Just don’t believe a thing the scale tells you. It is not the true measure of your health and fitness.

A popular myth is that there is a specific range of heart rates in which you must exercise to burn fat. Even many cardio machines display a “fat-burning zone” on their panels, encouraging people to exercise in a specific heart rate range. Have you ever wondered if you really have to exercise in a specific heart rate zone to lose fat? And what happens if you venture out of that zone? Jason R. Karp, PhD, a nationally recognized speaker, writer and exercise physiologist who coaches recreational runners to Olympic hopefuls through his company, RunCoachJason.com, sheds light on this issue.

Fuel Use During Exercise
You use both fat and carbohydrates for energy during exercise, with these two fuels providing that energy on a sliding scale. During exercise at a very low intensity (e.g., walking), fat accounts for most of the energy expenditure. As exercise intensity increases up to the lactate threshold (the exercise intensity that marks the transition between exercise that is almost purely aerobic and exercise that includes a significant anaerobic contribution; also considered the highest sustainable aerobic intensity), the contribution from fat decreases while the contribution from carbohydrates increases. When exercising just below the lactate threshold, you are using mostly carbohydrates. Once the intensity of exercise has risen above the lactate threshold, carbohydrates become the only fuel source.

If you exercise long enough (1.5–2 hours), your muscle carbohydrate (glycogen) content and blood glucose concentration become low. This metabolic state presents a threat to the muscles’ survival, since carbohydrates are muscles’ preferred fuel. When carbohydrates are not available, the muscles are forced to rely on fat as fuel.

Since more fat is used at low exercise intensities, people often assume that low-intensity exercise is best for burning fat, an idea that has given birth to the “fat-burning zone.” However, while only a small amount of fat is used when exercising just below the lactate threshold, the rate of caloric expenditure and the total number of calories expended are much greater than they are when exercising at a lower intensity, so the total amount of fat used is also greater.

The Bottom Line
For fat and weight loss, what matters most is the difference between the number of calories you expend and the number of calories you consume. Fat and weight loss is about burning lots of calories and cutting back on the number of calories consumed. For the purpose of losing weight, it matters little whether the calories burned during exercise come from fat or carbohydrates.

Workouts for Fat Loss
To maximize fat loss, I design interval training workouts with all of my clients. Interval training, which breaks up the work with periods of rest, not only allows you to improve your fitness quickly; it is also more effective than continuous exercise for burning lots of calories during exercise and increasing your postworkout metabolic rate. My clients often do interval workouts such as:

5–6 rounds of 3 minutes of exercises at 95%–100% maximum (max) heart rate (HR) with 2-minute active recovery periods.
4 rounds of 4 minutes of exercises at 95%–100% max HR with 3-minute active recovery periods.
8–12 rounds of 30 seconds every minute with 30 seconds recovery.
Each of these interval workouts include a warm-up and a cool-down.

Go Very Long

Long runs or bike rides (? 1.5–2 hours at 65%–70% max HR) that stimulate mitochondrial synthesis and promote the depletion of glycogen threaten the muscles’ survival, since carbohydrates are muscles’ preferred fuel. In response to this threat, muscles “learn” how to use fat more effectively and over time become better fat-burning machines.

It is well known that in order to improve cardio respiratory (CR) fitness, the CR system must be stressed so that it will adapt and improve. How much do you have to stress the CR system?  For years we’ve known that there is a linear relationship between heart rate and work, which means the harder we work, the higher the heart rate goes.  Therefore we can use the heart rate as a thermometer of aerobic work. The higher the heart rate, the more one is performing.

What is the magical target heart rate range that will guarantee that you are working hard enough to elicit an improvement in the CR system?  Bottom ranges are generally at 50-70%, and top ranges are generally from 75-85% of maximum heart rate. Over 85% one is in the anaerobic ranges, meaning the heart is using glycogen and phosphagen for fuel rather than oxygen.  It is difficult to sustain this for very long, but it is an important area to exercise.

The range of heart rate chosen also depends on whether exercisers are beginners, intermediates or advanced. Do you want to be conservative or aggressive in training?

Karvonen formula…most accurate

MHR = 220 – age _____= ____bpm

RHR = ____ bpm

HRR = MHR ____ – RHR ____ = ____

Training Intensities:

70% TI = HRR ____  x .7 + RHR ____ = ____ bpm

85% TI = HRR ____  x .85 + RHR ____ = ____ bpm

95% TI = HRR ____  x .95 + RHR ____ = ____ bpm  (anaerobic)

Gradual program

Week               Duration                      Frequency                   Training Intensity

1                      20                                4                                  70%

2                      20                                5                                  70%

3                      30                                4                                  70%

4                      30                                5                                  70%

6                      30                                4                                  70% -85%

7                      30                                5                                  70% – 85%

8                      40                                4                                  70% – 85%

9                      40                                5                                  70% – 85%

10                    40                                4                                  70% – 95%      (2x intervals 4::1)

11                    40                                5                                  70% – 95%      (3x intervals 3:1)

12                    45                                4                                  70% – 95%      (2 x intervals 2:1)

Let’s face it! Travel, even if it’s for pleasure, takes you out of your element and makes it difficult to keep up your fitness routine. After all, you can’t do the same things at home that you do on the road. What you can do is PLAN-find out the lay of the land, bring your tools, check out some running trails and even sneak fitness in during your business meetings.

One of the main tips I have to staying fit on the road is to make sure to do some research around possible accommodations before booking. On a recent trip to Maui I was able to book a hotel with a 24-hour brand new gym by doing a little research on a travel reviews site called Gogobot beforehand. Here I was able to see a list of Maui hotels that I could thumb through to see which ones offered the best fitness amenities. If you are not a gym person and prefer to work outside, you can check into walking/running trails in the area.  If you are neither a gym person nor an outdoor person, bring your favorite portable fitness equipment with you.
One of the best tools for maintaining your fitness routine is your smartphone!  The article – The Best Fitness Travel Apps lists apps that you can download on your phone to maintain your fitness on the go.  Runkeeper is a fitness app that tracks distance, time, and pace.  You can use it for any exercise including running and working out on fitness equipment like the elliptical machine.  There are also several workouts that you can download directly to your phone for easy access including P90X and yoga and Pilates workouts.  Check out the app store or marketplace on your phone to find your favorite workout.
Did you know that running is making a comeback? According to America’s Best Urban Running Trails, more people are running/jogging not only to relieve the stress of traveling but also as a way to see the sights of the city they are visiting.  The article goes on to describe running trails in Chicago, Boston, New York City, Washington, DC, Atlanta, and Minneapolis.  If you aren’t traveling to one of these cities, find out what’s available where you are going and pack your running shoes.
Business travel is especially challenging for maintaining fitness – the environment (schedule, meals, etc) is often beyond your control.  The article – How to Stay Fit on the Road offers great tips for maintaining your fitness during business travel including getting into the right mindset, exercising absolutely anywhere, training in your hotel room, exercising in the hotel gym, and maintaining a well-rounded routine.  Getting into the right mindset before your trip will help you stay on track-pack your workout clothes and we’ve already talked about finding out about the workout facilities ahead of time.  Even if you are stuck in a meeting there are lots of ways to “sneak” exercise in.  You can do basic stretches in your seat, take “stand up” breaks every 30 minutes to stretch your legs or even walk a lap around the perimeter of the meeting room.  The open space in most hotel rooms offers lots of options for exercising even without exercise equipment.  You can do yoga or Pilates, light aerobics like jumping jacks or step-ups, or even body-weight exercises like pushups or lunges.  The hotel gym is another way to go.  Maintaining a well-rounded routine involves managing one’s own eating, sleeping, along with your exercise.  Eating can be a huge challenge during business travel because someone else usually provides the meals.  If there are no healthy options available, eat what’s available in moderation and load up on WATER which will keep you hydrated and help flush out the bad food.  Being well –rested is also important for business travel.  Make sure to get a good night’s sleep so that you are awake and alert for anything the business day throws at you.
Follow these tips and you will be ready to hit the road (and maintain your fitness) any time!  Good luck!

Guest blogpost by Mike Manning

Want a great little 7-minute workout you can do anywhere? The New York Times understands the benefits of short, high intensity training. Here’s a link to the science and the workout.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/

This is a guest blog post from Melanie Bowen who is passionate about exercise for cancer patients

Many studies have shown the effects of daily exercise upon cancer patients and those in recovery from treatment. The results vary for the type of cancer that fitness helps. In cases of cancer patients who have been through breast or colon cancer treatment, exercise can reduce the risk of cancer redeveloping by almost 50 percent. However, what about physical activity for other types of cancers such as lung cancer or mesothelioma? Andrea Cheville, M.D. of the Mayo Clinic suggests that exercise is always important but many cancer patients aren’t well informed on how to get physically active in a healthy way during or after cancer. Fitness is an important part of a daily routine to build strength, confidence and wellbeing. It can also bring energy balance back into the body and increase blood circulation. So where do you start?

Just Getting into Exercise

It’s okay to start small with physical activity. In fact, that’s what most doctors recommend. Many cancer patients see a daily walk as a triumph in the beginning, but over time will see immense improvements. In addition to walking, stretching, yoga, rowing, swimming and other light impact exercises can help build muscular and bone strength in the body. It’s important to realize that exercise is meant to improve mobility and produce endorphins, so if you don’t feel that exercise is producing a happy effect or you feel sicker after exercising, it may not be the right choice to start physical activity. As always, check with your doctor about a plan to get more physically active if you have cancer.
Benefits of Low Impact Exercises

For many cancer patients, it’s difficult to get around at first. There is a real lack of energy that comes from surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Many patients choose to lift light weights at home, or try other at-home exercise to see improvements. Swimming, light aerobics and even tai chi are some other great ways to get started with low impact exercise. Each of these physical activities moves your body, develops muscle strength, alleviates stress and builds your fitness level. In a few short weeks of doing low impact exercises, you can see improvements and build upon your physical activities for more rigorous training.
Taking the Next Step

Physical activity for cancer patients will always be relative to how their bodies cope with the changes. If the body is still weak after exercise or more cancer treatment is necessary, it’s important to check with your doctor about the types of activities available to you. It’s important to realize that not all cancer patients will find the benefits of cancer to be ideal. There are all types of cancers out there, and some with more extreme effects may not be able to handle any stress to the body for a certain period after treatment. However, even the slightest exercise can benefit a patient so it is very important to speak with your doctor and find out what is right for you.