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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(781)665-8282

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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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Scott Batchelar

Melrose Fitness Together
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(781)665-8282

www.MelroseFitnessTogether.com

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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(781)665-8282

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