Exercise and First Impressions

Do you exercise? If so, people see you as ''a harder worker, more confident, and [as having] more self-control'' than non-exercisers, according to a recent issue of the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology.

Dr. Kathleen A. Martin and colleagues at McMaster University in Ontario asked 627 Canadian men and women to rate the personality and physical attributes of individuals based on a brief description that included the person's gender and exercise habits.

Unlike exercisers, who were perceived to be healthy, muscular and sexually attractive, non-exercisers were perceived to be sickly, scrawny, and sexually unattractive.

Non-exercisers were also believed to have fewer friends and be less smart, brave, neat and happy.

Why such radical differences in perception? ''We suspect that knowledge of the physical benefits of exercise had a positive effect on raters' impressions of exercisers' physical attributes,'' researchers write.

These results complicate the problem of trying to get people to exercise: If they know exercise is beneficial and can make someone healthier and more sexually attractive, why don't most people exercise regularly?

In an earlier study, Martin and her team found that negative stereotypes of overweight women could be overcome if a woman was thought of as an exerciser.

She urges people to ''be aware that there are potent social benefits associated with exercise - that is, people will think more positively of you just by virtue of your exercise habits.''


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Are You Getting Enough Exercise?

Only one in four U.S. adults get the recommended amount of daily exercise, which is 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days of the week, or 20 minutes of vigorous activity three days per week.

Even worse: Nearly one in three Americans admits they don’t exercise at all.

The culprits? High-stress jobs and an abundance of sedentary distractions, such as cable television and the Internet, according to some experts.

Sandra Ham, a statistician with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), believes Americans see exercise as an inconvenience, an attitude which is closely linked to inactivity and obesity, which kills 180,000 Americans each year. And that number is rising.

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Exercise Lifts Spirits of Frail Elderly Adults

Exercise, whether in the form of strength training, stretching or walking, can provide a much-needed emotional boost to frail, elderly men and women, say researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo.

And this benefit comes without the cost of additional pain or discomfort.

More than 1,700 elderly adults, all of whom were frail and at risk of fall-related injuries, took part in exercise programs at four sites across the United States.

Activities focused on balance training, muscular strength and endurance exercises, and stretching.

Researchers discovered that participants experienced a marked improvement in emotional health overall and, specifically, in how they felt about themselves.

Lead researcher Dr. Kenneth B. Schectman was particularly encouraged by the fact that study subjects did not experience an increase in pain or discomfort as a result of participating in these activities.

This is significant given that many older adults live with painful conditions such as arthritis, which may make them wary of exercise. Even so, he cautions all older adults to consult with their physicians before beginning an exercise program.

Additional studies are planned to determine the optimal type, frequency and intensity of exercise needed to provide this emotional boost to this growing population.

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Jog Your Bones Stronger

Joggers have it made. Not only do they tend to weigh less, be nonsmokers, have fewer chronic health problems and enjoy better overall health than their non-jogging peers, they have stronger bones as well.

These are the findings of a recent study of 4,254 black, Mexican-American and white males that took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Those who reported jogging at least once per month (about 900 men) had higher bone density than their sedentary counterparts. And those who jogged nine or more times per month had the greatest bone density.

In this case, more may not necessarily be better, as those who reported jogging 20 or more times per month had about the same bone density as less frequent joggers.

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Intermittent Stair Climbing Improves Fitness

In a recent study, British researchers confirmed that some exercise is better than nothing.

Researchers found that for sedentary people, even a few minutes of daily stair climbing - a vigorous but easily accessible form of exercise - can improve cardiovascular health.

Previous studies have shown that accumulating short bouts of exercise can make a difference; this one shows just how short those bouts can be.

Twenty-two sedentary college-aged women walked up 199 steps - more than you’re likely to find at home, but doable in a high-rise - in 2.25 minutes, a “brisk but comfortable” pace which shot their heart rates up to 90 percent of their predicted maximum.

They progressed from one ascent per day during the first week to six ascents per day, for a total of 13.5 minutes over the course of a day, during the sixth and seventh weeks.

By the end of this modest exercise program, the women were measurably more fit: Heart rate, oxygen uptake and blood lactate levels during climbing were reduced, and their HDL (''good'') cholesterol levels had increased.


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Top Six Fitness Myths

With so much health and fitness information coming from so many different sources, it's no wonder people are confused.

What does it take to get fit? Will crunches get rid of my spare tire? What’s the best way to lose weight? These are the types of questions ACE-certified Fitness Professionals hear on a daily basis.

More than 1,500 ACE-certified Professionals responded to our request for the most pervasive myths and misconceptions about exercise.

Here are their top six responses.

Women who lift weights will get bulky muscles.
Spot reducing is possible.
No pain, no gain.
Exercise requires a hefty time commitment.
If you exercise, you can eat whatever you want.
There’s a magic bullet (quick fix) out there somewhere.

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Some Fats Are Actually Better Than Others

Trans fat, found in fried and processed foods, may be worse for the heart than the saturated fat found in meats and dairy products.

Researchers in the Netherlands compared the effect of trans and saturated fats on the cholesterol levels and blood vessel functioning of 29 healthy adults.

Participants followed a diet comprised of 9.2 percent of total calories from trans fat for four weeks, then switched to a diet of the same proportion of saturated fat.

When compared to the saturated fat diet, the trans fat diet reduced blood vessel function, which is measured by how readily the vessels dilate in response to blood flow, by 29 percent and lowered HDL (good) cholesterol level by 20 percent.

It is estimated that trans fat accounts for four percent of dietary fat intake, much of it hidden in foods such as store-bought cookies and crackers and fast-food fare.


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Think Yourself Stronger

Competitive athletes often use a technique called visualization to help give them an edge over their opponents.

By imagining every aspect of a race or performance, from start to finish, they bring themselves one step closer to making it a reality. New research suggests this same technique may apply to strengthening muscles as well.

''Just thinking about exercise can help maintain muscle strength,'' says Dr. Vinoth Ranganathan, who, with a team of researchers from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, investigated the strength benefits of imagining exercising a muscle.

Thirty healthy young adults were divided into three groups. For 15 minutes a day, five days per week for 12 weeks, the first group imagined exercising their little finger muscle, the second group imagined exercising their biceps muscle and the third group served as a control by not doing any imaginary exercise.

''We asked the subjects to think as strongly as they could about moving the muscle being tested, to make the imaginary movement as real as they could,'' explains Ranganathan.

Muscle strength was measured before, during and after the training sessions.

The finger exercisers increased their strength 35 percent, while the biceps group increased 13.4 percent. Measurements of the participants' brain activity during their mental exercises suggest that these strength gains were due to improvements in the brain's ability to signal muscle.

Researchers hope these results will assist in the therapy of stroke and spinal cord injury patients, and follow-up studies are planned for healthy older adults as well.

''We believe that anyone who has difficulty doing physical exercises can use our mental training method to improve the muscle strength they have lost or maintain the muscle strength they have,'' researchers wrote.

Of course, actual strength-training exercises — as opposed to imaginary ones – are still the most effective means of building strong, healthy muscles.

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Resistance Training Effectively Trims Ab Flab in Women

There's no doubt about it – resistance training is a great way for both men and women to increase strength, reduce overall body fat and, especially in the case of older adults, improve their ability to perform everyday tasks.

But elderly women may have a slight advantage when it comes to trimming their waistlines.

A new study suggests that women who follow a basic resistance-training program can expect to lose more fat from their midsections than their male workout partners.

Dr. Gary R. Hunter of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and colleagues placed 26 men and women, aged 61 to 77 years, on a three-times-per-week resistance-training program.

After 25 weeks, both men and women improved their strength by an average of 15 percent and 16 percent, respectively, and lost about 4.4 pounds of total body fat.

But while the men didn't appear to lose any fat from their midsections, the women lost about 15 cubic centimeters of abdominal fat, even though both groups lost equal amounts of overall body fat.

Hunter and colleagues are quick to caution older men from being discouraged by these findings, and suggest adding aerobic exercise to a resistance-training program to spur abdominal fat loss.

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Key Ingredient to Keeping off Holiday Pounds? Air

Just about everybody overeats during the holidays, but researchers may have discovered a secret weapon in the battle to keep off extra pounds: extra air.

Eating foods containing more air might make you eat less, according to researchers at Pennsylvania State University in University Park.

Twenty-eight lean men were fed three meals per day for four weeks. Thirty minutes prior to lunch, each man was required to drink a shake. All the shakes contained the same ingredients, but were blended for varying times to increase the amount of air and, thus, the volume.

When the largest volume shakes were consumed, the men ate 12 percent fewer calories than usual at lunch. Drinking lower-volume (denser) shakes did not lower subsequent calorie consumption.

Researchers offer a word of warning, however: Filling up on air-laden foods can give you a stomachache.

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Hungry? It May Be All In Your Head

How do you know when you're hungry? Or when you're full? Is it your stomach or your brain that gives you the signal?

Sure, that noisy growl or the pull on your waistband are telltale signs, but chemicals in your brain called neurotransmitters are much more reliable - and quicker to respond.

For some time, serotonin has reigned supreme as the mood-regulating neurotransmitter. Several popular diet drugs operate on the premise that by increasing the amount of time serotonin hangs around in the brain, the easier it is to keep one's appetite in check.

But serotonin has some new competition: CART peptide, or cocaine-and-amphetamine-regulated transcript.

Yes, cocaine. Researchers at Yerkes Primate Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta discovered the CART peptide while conducting studies on this narcotic.

They found that when normal rats were injected with CART they ate 30 percent less than usual. Researchers are hopeful their discovery may eventually lead to another anti-obesity drug.

Of course, what works in rats doesn't always work in humans, particularly since humans eat for numerous reasons, many of which have little or nothing to do with hunger.

But studies such as these remind us of how eager Americans are to solve their weight problems with a pill - and how anxious pharmaceutical companies are to develop one that will do just that.


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For Older Adults, A Little Exercise Goes A Long Way

Just one workout a week is all it takes for older adults to maintain their strength and, possibly, their independence, according to a new study from researchers at the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University, Muncie, Ind.

Ten sedentary 70-year-old men were recruited to take part in a 12-week strength-training program.

After training three times per week, the men had increased their muscle size and strength by 50 percent.

At the end of the program, half the men went back to their sedentary ways, while the other half did the same routine, but only once per week.

After six months, the sedentary men had lost much of their muscle size and strength, but the once-a-week exercisers were still going strong.

Sarcopenia, or loss of muscle size and strength, is a major cause of the falls and injuries among older adults that result in a loss of independent living.

''One day per week seems to be effective,'' writes Scott Trappe, Ph.D., in the April issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences.

''Older adults could engage in a low-volume, high-intensity resistance-training program and still maintain independence and reduce their chances for falls and injuries.''


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Want to Stay Alive? Stay Fit!

Being sedentary and out of shape may have a more detrimental effect on one's health than other well-known risk factors such as smoking, hypertension and heart disease, according the results of a recent study.

Researchers from Stanford University Medical Center and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System studied more than 6,000 men for an average of six years. The average age of participants was 59.

More than half had experienced an abnormal exercise-test result and/or had a history of cardiovascular disease; nearly one-third had suffered a heart attack, and many had risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and a history of smoking.

The remaining men were apparently healthy without a history of cardiovascular disease.

During the study period, more than 1,200 patients died, most of whom were older. After adjusting for age, however, researchers concluded that exercise capacity was a more powerful predictor of mortality than any other risk factor.

They also found that as exercise capacity improved, patients experienced corresponding improvements in survival rates.

In a corresponding editorial, Dr. Gary J. Balady of Boston Medical Center compares these new findings with Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. Balady urges physicians to go beyond identifying risk factors and to encourage and prescribe increased physical activity as an essential step in reducing one's risk of death.

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Men and women looking to strengthen their knees

Men and women looking to strengthen their knees and prevent injuries need different types of training regimens, according to a recent study.

Researchers from the University of Michigan Health Systems compared male and female college athletes that competed in several different sports.

Men who participated in jumping and twisting sports such as basketball developed strength in the muscles and ligaments that help stabilize the knee, particularly the anterior cruciate ligament, which runs behind the kneecap and connects the shin and thigh bones.

Runners, cyclists and rowers did not exhibit the same protective strength in these muscles.

The same was not true for women, however. In fact, when a woman participates in a sport like basketball or soccer, she is four to six times more likely to sustain an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee than a man playing the same sport.

Researchers cite biomechanical and neuromuscular factors as the cause of this increases risk of injury.

For example, according to Dr. Letha Griffin of the Peachtree Orthopaedic Clinic in Atlanta, as girls' hips widen during puberty, the angle at which the bone connects to the knee changes.

Girls' thigh muscles, however, usually do not develop at the same pace to compensate for the extra strain.

''Women who played jumping, turning, twisting sports actually had the poorest ability to protect themselves against rotational strains,'' said Dr. Edward M. Wojitys, the study's lead author, in his presentation at the annual conference of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in San Francisco.

''Neuromuscular factors, like how an athlete lands from a jump, may also be factors in injury risk,'' added Dr. Freddie H. Fu, chairman of the department of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. ''It's important that female athletes learn proper jumping and landing techniques as part of their conditioning and training.''

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Golf Fitness Can Improve Your Scores

Golf fitness.
Two words you might not believe go together if you've seen too many beer-bellied guys riding in carts. But golf fitness is important for those golfers who truly want to improve their games - and who want to improve their physical abilities. Because golf fitness means addressing issues of strength, flexibility and balance. Paying attention to golf fitness can improve your scores.


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Warm Up Before You Tee Off

It may be one of the fastest growing sports, but most people still don't treat it as such.

A sport, that is.

Australian researchers spied on 1,040 golfers and found that about half of them began play without any kind of pre-game warm up. Those who did warm up did so by taking a few practice swings at the tee.

However, fewer than three percent warmed up adequately to help prevent injury and improve performance.

Most experts recommend a 10- to 15-minute warm-up for most amateur golfers.

Dr. Andrea J. Fradkin and her colleagues at the Sports Injury Prevention Research Unit at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia, are currently testing the effectiveness of a warm-up conditioning programs, which can be done at home, as well as a shorter warm-up for the course.

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Golf is a Pain in the Back for Some

If a round of golf leaves you grimacing and gripping your back muscles, your stance is probably to blame.

A report presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons indicates that more than half of golfers experience low-back pain when they make contact with the ball or in their follow-through.

That pain, they believe, is caused by rotation of the spine and the high velocity of that rotation.

Unfortunately, while your stance may be beneficial to your golf score, it could result in the wearing of the disc in the spine. An alternative stance, such as standing up straighter on the follow-through, could help eliminate the back pain, but send your handicap skyrocketing.

So, the choice is yours — your back or your score.

According to lead researcher Dr. David Morgan, the real beneficiaries of his research are the new generation of golfers, many of who are being taught to adopt a more upright stance during their swing.




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