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Next week I start graduate school. It’s going to be a bit of a time crunch to study and work full time at the same time, but I think it’s manageable. I’ll have to find ever more efficient ways to work out I suppose

And with that, here are some articles I thought you might find useful:

From the LA Times is an article about how natural trans fats may actually turn out to be healthy. Chalk up one more victory for the proponents of natural food.
@The LA Times

From the Health News Digest comes an article about men and weight loss. It’s an interesting read, especially to members of a couple who might want to influence their partner to be more healthy. Men and women think about weight loss and health in different terms. So if you’re trying to talk to your partner about getting fit, you may want to think in their terms and not yours.
@Health News Digest

From the Seattle Post Intelligencer is a story about the perfect body weight and what some people don’t understand about health. Good read for general understanding of health plus I like their exercise recommendations at the end of the article.
@The Seattle Post Intelligencer

From CQ Politics comes an interesting piece about how the rising cost of health care threatens American businesses. This is just one more reason why companies should support health initiatives and why employees should worry about their health. Being healthy and fit is far better for your country than any number of “buy American” bumperstickers on your car.
@CQ Politics

And finally, from the Associated Press comes an article about the association between poor sleep and poor health. Remember, a good 7 to 9 hours worth of sleep a night is one of the best things you can do for your body. That’s something I’ll need to remember as I go through the next 2 years with school and work.
@The AP

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My wife and I are looking for a new place to live these days. Our lease on our apt is about to expire at the end of June, which means we want to find a new place to move into by the end of May. I’ve been talking to a number of friends about their housing options and they all seem to have made their decisions based on the following aspects:

• Schools for their kids
• Price
• Commute time

Price and schools seem to be the most important items for most people with commute time coming in a close third. However, I have to ask, where is health in all of this?

Healthy Living In The News

There have been a number of recent articles that have discussed the impact of home location on health. From Science Daily is an article about how tree lines streets can help childhood asthma. From the Dallas News come this article about the connection between obesity and easy access to fast food. Along the same topic is this article from the LA Times which discusses the link between poor health and poor eating options in a neighborhood. Finally, From Reuters, comes this article about how walkable towns reduce health problems and pollution.

With all of this evidence, plus numerous other articles that discuss the benefit of walkable streets, quality food sources and non car commutes, I find it difficult to believe that health should not be part of a housing decision.

Our Criteria

My wife and I are looking at housing with a number of different criteria.

Money - Yes, money is a factor in a housing decision, but money doesn’t just mean the rent.  For example, our current housing complex has a nice gym which I use on occasion.  Losing that would cost us an extra $50 a month in gym fees.  So that factor goes into the cost of a new house.  At the same time, we’re looking for a house with hardwood floors that would be easier on my wife’s allergies, so that’s another health factor that changes cost.

Commute - Commute is important.  That’s why we’re looking for a home within biking range of the train station.  That would allow me to continue my bike / train commute which is healthy, cheap and good for the environment.

Yard - We want to raise our own vegetables because it’s cheaper and healthier, so we’re looking for a place with a backyard as opposed to a small balcony.

Walkable - We want somewhere that is walkable so we don’t have to take the car everytime we want to go shopping for groceries or out to a restaurant.  That lowers our fuel costs while also adding a healthy walk to our daily routines.

The Health Factors

Notice how health subtly changes each one of the criteria for housing.  For example, health tends to go hand in hand with reducing cost.  A healthy home ends up costing you less in terms of groceries (raise your own vegetables), fuel (walk to store, bike to work) and overall medical care (less allergy medication, lower weight).  However, if you looked at rent or buying price alone, you might not notice this.

It’s also good for your kids.  Numerous studies have shown a connection between health and school performance.  So that park close by or the daily walk to school isn’t just about health, it’s also about their education and mental development.

Even the commute factor is changed by health.  It’s no longer about how close you are to work but how close you are to public transportation, and that gives you a much larger range of housing areas to look at.

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When you look for a home you worry about your commute, your wallet and your kids education.  Shouldn’t you also be worried about your and your kids’ health?

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Maybe you read 60 in 3 in the morning, right before you head to work. Maybe you read it in the evening before you go to sleep. You might even read 60 in 3 during the day, while you’re at work. Whenever you read this article, it’s still a good time for your ten minute workout. Yes, that’s right, you’re going to get up and workout regardless of time of day and where you are.

Lunges - Start with the lunge, one of the best exercises ever invented. If you don’t know what a lunge is, click on the link and you’ll get instructions complete with a video courtesy of Cooper’s guns. One note, we’re not going to be going as fast as the guy in the video. We’re going for a 5 by 5 rep. That means it takes you 5 seconds to go down and another 5 seconds to come back up. So while the guy in the video takes about 2 seconds to complete a lunge, you’re going to take 10 seconds.

Deadlifts - We’re going to follow the lunge with the deadlift. Again, click on the link if you don’t know what that is. Unlike the video, we’re going to do this with no weights. We’re also going to use the 5 by 5 rule again. So stand up and then slowly bend at the waist for 5 seconds until your fingers dangle down and hopefully touch the ground. If you can’t touch the ground, that’s fine, just try. Then take 5 seconds to straighten back up.

Leaning Press - Keep going with the press. Now the video shows a man lying on the ground doing these. We’re not going to do that. This is supposed to be a workout you can do anywhere and lying down at work is probably not acceptable. So instead of a lying press we’re going to do a leaning press. All you need to do is lean forward against a wall and then press yourself back into an upright position. Again, take 5 seconds to go forward and 5 seconds to push yourself back up.

Trunk Twist - Now lets work out that core for a minute with the trunk twist. It’s a very simple exercise as you can see from the video, and when you slow it down with the 5 by 5 rule, it becomes even more effective. Make sure you have some room around you since you don’t want to hit anything as you swing those arms; trust me, I’m talking from experience

Squats - And we’re going to finish it up with the squats. From a standing position start bending your knees until you reach a squatting position. Now stand up. Rinse and repeat using the 5 by 5 rule to make sure you slow it down.

A Note On Weights

This is supposed to be a quick workout that you can do anywhere. It’s halfway between a workout and a warmup routine and isn’t supposed to be very challenging. It’s just supposed to get you up off your butt and doing something physical. However, if you want to increase the difficulty a bit, feel free to hold something in your hands while doing this. I just did this routine while holding my laptop in my hands.\

Medical Disclaimer

Again, I’m not a doctor, nor do I know your specific medical issues. If you have some kind of problem, don’t be silly and attempt this workout. For example, if you have a serious back issue, don’t do the deadlift just because “that guy on 60 in 3 told me to do it!” Know your body’s limitations and check with a doctor before you do something dumb.

Time

5 exercise, 10 reps each at 10 seconds per rep. That’s less than 10 minutes. If you’re at work then think of it as a break that will make you more productive. If you’re at home, think of it as something a bit more productive than catching up on that last episode of American Idol or checking out new pictures on cuteoverload.com.

Not A Workout Substitute

Again, this is supposed to be a simple workout / warmup. It’s not a substitute for a real workout.  This is something you do in addition to a regular workout.

Repeat

Don’t just do this once.  You need to keep active all through the day and if you have a desk job like me then you should do something like this at least once every two to three hours.  So bookmark this page and then come back to it every two to three hours.  Make this a habit.

###

Our bodies were designed with regular physical activity in mind.  They are not meant for sitting behind a desk for 8 hours.  Make sure you break up that monotony with a quick workout.

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After a long and incredibly fun honeymoon in the Caribbean, my wife and I returned home last night, exhausted but very satisfied.  Today, I climbed on the scale for my Monday morning weigh in and was pleasantly surprised to see that I had gained no weight over this trip.  This surprised me since I had no time for workouts and my diet was not as controlled as it usually is.  However, in retrospect, I realized that being healthy on vacation turned out to be pretty easy.

Physical Activity

In terms of workout, a vacation may not have scheduled trips to the gym, but it’s actually very active.  Sure, I wasn’t in the gym every day for an hour, but I was constantly moving.  I was swimming in the ocean, wading in the pool, diving on a reef or walking through interesting neighborhoods.  Rather than hardcore exercise once a day and then remain relatively sedentary the rest of the day, I was moderately active the entire day.  There’s an important lesson there about how healthy an active lifestyle can be.  It’s also comforting to know that an active day can replace a daily workout, at least in the short term.  This will allow me to enjoy my vacations a lot more.

Food

This is the pitfall of vacations.  You are constantly surrounded by food and most of it is unhealthy.  Get to the airport and your breakfast choices are Starbucks or some greasy bacon omelet.  Get on the plane and they toss salty peanuts and cookies at you to keep you pacified.  Get to the hotel and there’s Pina Coladas to drink plus overprice room service.  Go out to eat and the tourist restaurants will provide you with an incredibly large portion size in an attempt to make you forget about the incredibly large bill.  In other words, you are constantly surrounded by food, most of it bad.

This is really the essence of unhealthy vacations.  It’s not the lack of physical activity, it’s the tendency to binge.  To say “hey, I’m on vacation so why not have that extra steak plus the cheesecake and the milk shake!”  Well, the immediate answer is because you want o enjoy your vacation and not spend it feeling bloated.  The long term answer is because you want to be healthy and not spend your post vacation time regretting those extra milk shakes.  And the real answer is because vacation is not about food, it’s about enjoying yourself, and you could do that a lot better if you weren’t overweight and out of shape.

A Whole New Life

During this honeymoon, my wife and I got our scuba certification.  We had the most incredible time diving on the coral reefs of the Grand Cayman and playing with the stingrays.  Having spoken with the dive instructor, he relayed quite a few stories about overweight and out of shape people who simply couldn’t dive.  That really made me realize how much more I’ve been enjoying my life in the past few years.
I’ve been able to climb peaks that I could never imagine climbing a few years ago, and the views have been spectacular.  I’ve been able to bike down roads I might never have seen if I had not lost weight.  I have hiked trails that I could never attempt if I was still out of shape.  I’ve danced with my wife, and while the exercise didn’t cure me of my two left feet it has certainly allowed me to stay on that dance floor for more than one song before I’m out of breath.  I’ve now dived on reefs and swam with sting rays, two experiences I will never in my life forget.  These are all things i could not have done if I was still out of shape and to me, these are what vacations are all about.

Culinary Experiences

By the way, I’m not saying you should stick to lettuce and tofu on your vacations, my wife and I certainly didn’t.  We sampled the local cuisine and we enjoyed a few desserts we wouldn’t normally order.  All I’m saying is that making a vacation healthy means not eating that extra food you really didn’t need in the first place.  I mean, are those airplane peanuts part of your unforgettable vacation experience?  Get rid of the useless junk and save room for the really important things.

###

Next time you’re on vacation, ask yourself “do I want to spend my time binging on food or do I want to spend it having an experience I will never forget?”  Believe me, you can get that extra milk shake anywhere, but you can’t really say the same about diving with the stingrays.

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Posts on 60 in 3 might be a bit sporadic over the next week. My wife and I are finally going on our much delayed honeymoon. We’ll be spending the next seven days in the Grand Caymans. We’re going to try and get our scuba diving certification which I’m looking forward to. Other than that, it should be a pretty relaxing week, something I really need in anticipation of the next 19 months which are going to be all work and school.

And with that lovely thought, here are some articles I thought you might find useful.

This is an interesting article from CBS news which discusses the the whole “fit and fat” idea. This notion came about after several studies showed that it’s better to be overweight but physically active than reasonably weight and out of shape. Well, that may be true, but as the study points out, ideally you’re in shape AND at the right weight. just because you’re physically active doesn’t mean that extra weight isn’t damaging your health.
@CBS News

The next article is from Forbes.com and has an annoying tendency to pop up a welcome screen before it takes you to the article. However, if you’re willing to tolerate that, the article itself is very interesting. It talks about goal setting and how sometimes it’s better to set multiple goals than just one. It also mentions that combining complimentary goals it a great way to motivate yourself. I talked about this a couple of weeks ago in this post about goal setting. Having multiple goals is ok, but don’t overdo it and see if you can work on multiple complementary goals at once. You’ll achieve more and be more motivated.
@Forbes.com

I loved this next article. It’s a fascinating look at health studies and some of their flaws. If you’ve ever seen multiple studies with completely opposite advice and wondered how that was possible, go ahead and read this. You’ll be a lot more educated on what’s right and what’s wrong with “scientific” studies.
@WebMD

And from Parade, here’s a quick little article that discusses three common health myths and the truth behind them. I like articles like these. They quickly deflate those arguments people have against exercise and the excuses they use for being inactive and overweight.
@Parade

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A week or so ago I mentioned that you should be measuring more than just your weight. One of the measures I mentioned was resting heart rate. Well, I got a couple of emails from people asking how to measure heart rates and what do the measurements mean.

Please note that all of the numbers mentioned below are averages. They vary by age, weight, gender and a number of other factors. Please don’t try to apply these numbers to yourself without consulting with a doctor. They are intended only as a guideline, not absolute recommendation.

How To

Let’s begin with how to. There are a variety of places you can measure heart rate but the easiest I found is along the wrist. Place both your hands palms up in front of you. Now take one of your hands and place the index and middle finger of that hand on the outside of the wrist of the opposite hand. The fingers should lie together on the opposite wrist about 1/2 inch on the inside of the joint, in line with the index finger.

Feel for a pulse. When you find a pulse, count the number of beats in a ten second section of time and then multiply by 6. If you want to be more accurate, count heart beats for 15 seconds and multiply by 4, count for 30 seconds and multiply by 2 or count for 60 seconds. The more time you count for, the more accurate your measure.

Resting Heartrate

For resting heart rate, you should measure in the morning, a minute or two after you wake up. Don’t measure your heart rate if you just woke up from some horrible nightmare or especially exciting dream. Those tend to elevate heart rate and will make for an inaccurate measure. Try to measure on three or four separate days and then average the number for more accuracy.

Normal resting heart rate is about 60 to 80 beats per minute. It will be lower for people who are in good shape and it increases as you age.

Maximum Heart Rate

Maximum heart rate is the level above which your heart is in danger. You really shouldn’t cause your heart to go up this high. Maximum heart rate is roughly calculated as 220 minus age. There are more accurate formulas out there but this one will do for now. Note that maximum heart rate doesn’t really change except with age. It does not go up if you’re in shape. However, people who are in shape can take a lot more physical strain before their heart is pumping this hard. For example, a person who is in shape can run for miles and never even come close to this number while someone who is badly out of shape may be close to their maximum heart rate after climbing one flight of stairs. For most exercise, you should aim for 60 to 80% of your maximum heart rate.

So for me, being 34 years old, my maximum heart rate 220 - 34 or 186. My target heart rate for exercise is between 111 and 149 beats per minute. If it goes a bit over 149 that’s probably ok but I shouldn’t be close or over 186 for a sustained period of time.

Recovery Rate

Recovery rate is another important factor when it comes to heart rate. It measures how quickly your heart rate goes back to normal after exercise. To measure it, simply check your heart rate right after your peak exercise point. Now rest for two minutes and measure your heart rate again. The more in shape you are, the quicker your heart rate will return to normal.

So I measure my heart rate at my peak exercise point and find it to be about 140. Now I wait two minutes and measure my heart rate again. This time I find a heart rate of about 100. I subtract 100 from 140 and divide by 2 to come up with a recovery rate of 20 beats per minute. If your recovery rate is below 12 beats per minute, then you’re in trouble. It means your heart doesn’t recover very well from the stress you put on it.

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Heart rate is one of the most important measures of health and fitness that we have. It’s relatively easy to measure at home and is a far better indicator of progress and general well being than weight. Go ahead and give it a try, and don’t forget to consult with your doctor during your yearly physical.

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