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It’s Passover today. Well, it’s technically passover all week. Which probably means nothing to you if you’re not Jewish. However, seeing as I am, we got the whole family together last night for a nice dinner at our place. My wife’s family, who is not Jewish, also attended and seemed to enjoy themselves. Overall, a wonderful evening. So whether you’re Jewish or not, I wish you a happy passover to you and to your families.

And with that, let’s take a look at some interesting articles from this week.

I’m a big fan of technology. I don’t believe it can replace will power, motivation and hard work, but I think it can really help. I’ve used numerous tools to get and stay in shape. Things like spreadsheets, websites and calculators. I’ve also been a big fan of iTunes and iPods. So this article about a fitness tool built on the iPod was very interesting to me. Not many details here but it looks promising.
@Times Online

On a less upbeat note, we have this article from Reuters discussing the contagious nature of eating disorders. No, eating disorders aren’t contagious like a flu, but they can be socially contagious in that we tend to influence the people around us with our habits. This is especially problematic with teens who tend to imitate their peers.
@Reuters

Well, if the last article was bad news for parents, here’s some good news. More and more studies are showing that a healthy diet means better school performance. Not that surprising really, a healthy diet means less mood swings, stability, consistent energy levels and more focus.
@Reuters

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Interval training is a form of cardio that relies on increasing the exercise difficulty for brief periods of time while you workout.  Most people might be familiar with the name but they’re not familiar with the details.

Benefits

The benefits of interval training are increased performance and increased calorie burn.  The higher difficulty intervals cause your heart to beat faster and your body to spend more energy.  This energy expenditure is maintained even when you slow down for a few minutes.  Thus, your body spends energy as though it’s running at a high speed while you rest.  This is similar in concept to the post workout energy burn where your body is still spending calories as though the workout is continuing while you’re in the recovery and rest stage.

For example, if you’re running at 5.0mph, which is a pretty slow pace, your body might be burning 400 calories an hour.  Now you increase that speed to 6.5mph and your calorie burn goes up to 800 calories per hour.  You maintain 6.5mph for a minute and then go back down to 5.0mph.  Well, your calorie burn doesn’t immediately go back down to 400.  In fact, it stays up near 800 for a few minutes before your body realizes that it’s no longer needed.  At that point you can do another high speed interval.  The result is a high calorie burn even though you spent most of your run at a relatively low speed.

The other benefit of interval training is increased performance.  By increasing difficulty for brief periods of time, you make your body adjust to this increased demand.  The result, is an increased ability to handle greater demand.  This is similar to using a very high weight for one rep and then switching back to your normal weights.  The normal weight will seem easy because your body is adjusting to the strain and demand of the very high weight.

For example, if you normally run at 5.0mph, you might find it difficult to increase that speed to 5.5mph.  However, if you increase the speed to 6.5mph for 1 minute, you might find that decreasing it back down to 5.5mph feels quite good.  Where before 5.5mph seemed impossible, it now seems positively restful.

How To Interval Train

The how to of interval training is pretty easy.  Just exercise at your normal speed for a few minutes.  Now increase that speed for a minute or so and then drop it back down.  There are no hard and fast rules about how much you should increase the speed and for how long.  You need to pick a time and speed high enough to challenge you but not high enough to force you to stop or slow down to a slower pace then usual.  For example, I usually run at 6.5mph.  When I do intervals, I will spend every 5th minute running at 7mph.  That’s high enough to really challenge me, but it’s not too high which means I can go back to 6.5mph afterwards and keep running for another 4 minutes until my next 7mph interval.  If I had to slow down to less than 6.5mph after my interval then I’m probably speeding up too much during that 1 minute.

By the way, interval training isn’t just for running.  You can do it with any cardio activity.  When I swim, I do 9 laps of at a relatively moderate pace and then 1 lap at a really fast pace that leaves me out of breath and in need of rest.  I get that rest during the next 9 laps of moderate pace and then I’m ready for another fast lap.

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By the way, the other side benefit of intervals is that it makes your exercise time go by much faster.  You’re so busy getting ready for the next interval that you don’t even notice how long you’ve been working out.

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If you’re a long time reader of 60 in 3, you’ll notice that I usually try to save money while improving health. I believe that health and wealth can easily go hand in hand. There’s no need to spend a lot of money on expensive gear, gym memberships or supplements. Most healthy choices end up being quite affordable. In fact, being healthy might save you money when you do things like walk instead of drive, eat at home instead of out at a restaurant or ride your bike to work. However, today, I’m going to change that a bit and tell you about the one place where you shouldn’t skimp, your feet.

Oh The Humanity!

Think about the the kind of life that feet lead when they belong to a person who’s interested in fitness.  They walk between 2 to 3 miles a day!  They go to the gym where they get pounded on for hours and hours.  They go running and have to withstand 100 to 200lbs of impact EVERY SECOND.  They go hiking and need to climb hills over rocky uneven terrain.  Sometimes they even go dancing and spend an evening shuffling around and getting stepped on.  In short, it’s a rough life, and while the rest of your body may appreciate it, your feet can easily get worn out.

Good Shoes Are A Must

Beyond giving your feet an occasional bit of rest, your most important means of protecting these valuable assets is shoes.  Which is why I’m going to tell you that shoes are the one area you shouldn’t try to save money on and instead go for the best quality possible.  That said, there’s no reason to go out there and buy a $300 pair of LED lit, computerized, pumped, Air Jordans, Racing striped, springs in the heels, Blu Tooth equipped sneakers from Nike.  Those aren’t quality, they’re just silly.  What I’m talking about is reasonably priced shoes that are also comfortable and quality.

At Work

Yes, good shoes begin at work, not at the gym.  Think about it, you spend an hour a day at the gym, but you spend 8 hours a day at work.  So the shoes you wear at work are a lot more important than your gym shoes.  Contrary to popular belief, you can actually get comfortable work shoes that don’t actually look like those old rubber shoes that nurses used to wear.  Just look for something with rubberized soles as opposed to hard leather.  For women, this is going to be a bit more difficult and I’m not going to pretend like I understand women’s fashions enough to give specific advice.  However, you really need something that combines looks and comfort if you intend to wear it for multiple hours.  The more padding on the bottom, the better, and the more natural of a position your foot is in, the better.

At The Gym

If you’re an avid gym goer, and especially if you’re a runner, you need a new pair of shoes every six months.  No, this is not my way of helping the American economy recover by encouraging more spending.  Your shoes wear out.  The padding on the bottom becomes more compressed and less springy the more you use it.  At the six month mark, your shoes no longer provide you with a cushion to exercise on.  That’s why you need to replace them with something that will protect your feet from the constant impact of working out and running.  Keep in mind, good shoes don’t need to cost a lot.  My running shoes cost around $100 and I occasionally find a good deal as low as $60.  So keep an eye out for deals.

If possible, you should also go to a store where they can help you get the right fit by looking at how you run and walk.  Different people use different strides and shoes that are comfortable for one person can be painful for someone else.

Personal Recommendation

I’m not going to recommend a specific shoe model because I know it’s not going to be a good recommendation for all people.  However, in general, I’ve usually bought New Balance shoes.  I’ve found them to be very comfortable, durable and reasonably priced.  If you’re in the Bay Area, I recommend a store called Sports Basement.  They have a great selection and I’ve always found their sales people to be knowledgeable and helpful.

NOTE - as usual, I am not connected in any way with Sports Basement or New Balance nor am I making these recommendations at their request.

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Your feet bear a lot of strain when you’re active.  Make sure you protect them with a good pair of shoes.

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I upgraded a few of 60 in 3’s plug ins yesterday and this caused a slight issue on the site with some links to old series being broken. If you notice a broken link, please let me know. Also, if you notice any odd behavior on the site, let me know that as well.

Thank you for your patience,
Gal

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It never fails, get three people together in a gym and ask them to discuss their workout and inevitably the conversation will eventually turn to machines vs. free weights. If you’re completely clueless about this argument, it comes from the fact that some people prefer free weights like dumbbells and barbells while others like to workout on specialized machines that offer a narrow range of choices for exercises per machine.

In fact, most gyms are set up to have one area in which people work out on machines and another area in which people use free weights. for beginners, this can be a little confusing. After all, it seems like these two options are identical. I can get on a machine and do some curls or I can use dumbbells. I could use the leg press machine or I could do some squats. What’s the difference?

Form Is Better On Machines

As I’ve said before many times, form is very important when you workout. You want good form in which you slowly and gradually move the weights around. You want to primarily use the muscle group which you intend to workout. That means if you’re doing curls, you shouldn’t be swinging your entire body around trying to lift those weights.

For the purposes of good form, machines are better. Machines force us to have good form by stabilizing our whole body. For example, when I do a curl on a machine, I’m sitting and my upper body is relatively immobile due to the various supports on the machines. That means it’s only my biceps which are doing the work. With free weights, I’m free to swing more body parts around which could contribute to bad form. In fact, you can see that if you click on the free weights curls link here. The person working out is swinging back and forth, which is bad form. By way of comparison, look at these machine curls here. You can see that the whole body is much more stable and only the biceps are working. Do free weights have to mean bad form? Not at all. It’s very possible to achieve good form with free weights, but it’s somewhat easier with machines.

Muscle Recruitment Is Better With Freeweights

What the heck is muscle recruitment? It’s that thing your body does when you lift something and need to maintain your balance. Think of it this way. When you do a squat, you’re lifting a weight up with your legs. Your leg muscles are doing most of the work lifting straight up, but your body also recruit quite a few smaller muscles groups to maintain stability, to keep you upright and to prevent you from falling over. If you did the same exercises with a machine, less of your body would be involved.

Muscle recruitment is a little like form. It means more muscles are involved in the exercise than just the ones you wanted involved. The difference is that bad form means you’re making things too easy for those primary muscles. You’re replacing the work they’re supposed to do by doing it with other muscle groups. Muscle recruitments means you’re adding more work which is being done by other muscle groups.

Take a look at a free weight squat here, vs a machine press here.  Both have very good form and in both, the legs are doing the same amount of work.  However, with the free weight squat, the user is also recruiting other muscle groups to keep himself upright and stable, which the machine press does not do.

Less Injuries With Machines

By their nature, machines limit the potential for injuries.  You’re not going to drop a weight on your foot, you’re not going to move your arm into a weird position and tear a tendon and you’re not going to find yourself pinned to the bench with too much weight on your chest.  Machines are in fact safer to use since they limit the range of things you can do.

More Accurate Progress With Machines

It’s easier to measure progress with machines since the movements and weights are always the same.  For example, if I use the example of the machine press vs. the squat I showed above.  The machine press is easy to adjust for less or more weight, but what about the squat?  My body weight ranges up or down a few lbs every day.  Since I’m also lifting my body weight, that could make things harder or easier.  Also, as you lose weight, exercises with freeweights could feel easier because you’re lifting less weight.  Finally, you could adjust your form or grip to make things harder or easier, something that’s more difficult with machines.  For example, if I’m doing a bench press, a narrow or wide grip on the bar could make things harder or easier.  With a machine press, there are places for you to grip, which means you always grip in the same spot.  All of these things combine to make machine workouts more precise.

Even Workout For Both Side With Free Weights

With machines, you typically workout both sides at the same time.  For example, when you do curls, you’re doing them with both hands at the same time.  This is not always true, but in general, that’s how most machines are set up.  That means one side could be doing more of the work and you might not notice it.  In fact, many people, when doing two handed exercises, will let their dominant hand or leg do most of the work.  With free weights, and specifically with dumbbells, it’s impossible to let one side do more of the work.  So you end up with a more even workout for both sides.

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So have we solved the argument?  Well, not really.  Personally, I’m a free weights fan.  However, I believe that most people who are new to the gym start out with machines before they use free weights.  That will help you learn good form and how to avoid injuries.  In the end, the best workout is the one you feel comfortable with.  The differences between free weights and machines are relatively small and both are far better than not working out at all.

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I was walking out of the bathroom last night when I accidentally kicked a chair so hard that I had to sit down for a few minutes and let the pain pass. Toe doesn’t seem swollen this morning so I’m hoping it’s not broken. That would be very disappointing considering how well my marathon training is going. Oh well, I suppose I hope for the best. It’s a good thing today is my rest day.

And with that bit of unpleasant news, here are some articles you might find useful:

From Final Call news, here’s an article about a study conducted by Duke University. It’s focused on how well people lost weight and then maintained that loss when you compare methodologies. Turns out that having a regular appointment with someone who talks to you about how well you’re doing is statistically better than trying to do things on your own. I’m a big believer in this. Find someone you can talk to about your progress, who will encourage and motivate you.
@Final Call News

From eMaxHealth, this article discusses ways to work on fitness with your children. I can’t personally comment on this article since I am not a parent, but having read through it, the advice they have seems practical and effective. If you’re a parent, this might be valuable reading for you.
@eMaxHealth

From CNN we have 10 ways to boost your energy. It’s an interesting list since it doesn’t focus on the usual weight loss and fitness tips. I like some of their ideas like more light and short breaks. In fact, I’m planning to try a few these at work.
@CNN

I love consumer reports. I find them to be one of the few sources of relatively unbiased information out there. So I enjoy reading their fitness related articles even if they contain information I’m already aware of. In the case of this CR article about 10 tips for a healthy heart, I was already aware of the first seven. The last three were interesting reading and taught me something new.
@Consumer Reports

From the Washington Post comes this article about keeping TV out of the bedroom. I would go one step further and say that you should keep TV out of your lives altogether. My TV is nothing more than a screen for my DVD player. We cut off cable access about five years ago and it’s had an amazing impact on my life. I’m more productive, fit and I have more time to do the things that really matter, like spending time with my wife.
@Washington Post

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As you can see by my weekend roundups, I like reading about fitness and health news. The only problem is, where to find quality information that is well written and worth reading? I can do Google searches and that sometimes yields good stuff but it’s a bit random. I have a few newspapers which I enjoy reading online, and I sometimes link to articles in their health section, but this is a limited selection of information. I’ve tried looking on places like Digg and Reddit to see what health related articles other people are reading, but I’ve never been able to find useful things on those sites without getting lost in the incredible amount of other stuff that’s there.

So I was really interested when someone sent me a link to Health Ranker. It’s essentially a Digg style social bookmarking site but with an emphasis on health related articles. Users can submit and rank articles from any source and then subscribe to feeds which show them more articles they might be interested in. I’ve only been a user for a few days now, but I’ve already seen multiple useful articles, some of which I intend to link to in this week’s weekend roundup.

Overall, the site really does feel a lot like Digg. You can submit articles, add your approval to already submitted articles or bury articles you think do not belong. It does suffer a little from the crowd mentality of Digg in which certain articles seem more popular than others for not particular reason. However, I’ve found that the majority of the top ranked articles really do deserve their ranking.

My only complaint is the lack of a plug in that I can add to 60 in 3 to allow users to rank articles for health rankers. Right now, they only offer code which I have to enter in to every single post. So if someone from health ranker happens to read this (hint, hint) let me know if there is a way to include your ranking tool in each post automatically or if I’m just technically inept and completely missed something.

In the meantime, why don’t you head on over to Health Ranker and check it out for yourself?

NOTE - I am not affiliated with Health Ranker in any way. As usual, I only review sites and products I am personally interested in. I do not accept payment in return for reviews.

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