Oct
31
When I first registered the name “60 in 3″ it was all about losing 60lbs in 3 years. I thought this was a great symbol for my fitness philosophy, slow and gradual. However, someone pointed out to me that it may be interpreted as “60 years old in another 3 years.” In fact, I have had a few people make that mistake, which is why I occasionally get questions and inquiries about senior health care. Unfortunately, I can’t always answer those, so it’s a good thing that someone like Emmy Pei has come along with her guest post.
This post is especially important to me as I have a grandparent in this exact situation. It’s difficult to tell someone who has been independent all of their lives that they may need someone else to take care of them. So it’s nice to hear that there may be alternative solutions.
Without further ado, here’s Emmy’s post. If you have any further questions for her, please post them in the comments.
Assistive Technology to the Rescue: Helping Seniors Stay Home
Due to advancements in medicine, technology, and our increased knowledge of fitness and nutrition, people are living much longer, healthier lives. In 1900, the average North American life span was roughly 47 years. Today that number is closer to 80, and according to Jeanette Takamura, dean of Columbia University’s School of Social Work and former assistant secretary for aging in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources, by the year 2030, the number of Americans over 65 will have increased to 72 million.
For most this is wonderful news, but for seniors with disabilities this number can be worrisome. In the face of an ageing population, fewer and fewer workers are willing to take care of them in hospitals and nursing homes. Low wages and tough working conditions are making it difficult to recruit and retain qualified staff. On the other side of the coin, fewer and fewer seniors want to be looked after by nursing home workers. So the big question remains: Who will take care of them? Well, thanks to technology, it looks like seniors will be able to take care of themselves.
Assistive Technology
Assistive technology has been defined as “any item, piece of equipment, or product system…that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities.” So if we are to accommodate the increasing number of disabled seniors who wish to remain at home, as well as those who are forced to stay home due to limited nursing staff, we need to focus our attention on smartening their homes with assistive technologies. This can be a little tricky, as each individual has a unique set of needs requiring a unique set of solutions. The following systems are a great start, and offer a wide variety of elderly care.
For those who are perfectly capable of living at home alone but who have medical conditions, are at risk of falling and injuring themselves, and who could benefit from the peace of mind knowing that help is easily accessible in case of emergency, personal response systems like Direct Alert provides valuable assistance. In the form of a watch, a bracelet or a necklace, help is only the push of a button away. Once pushed, you will access an emergency response team who can assess the situation and respond accordingly. A notification is also sent to your emergency contact, as well as a neighbour, so that help will arrive as quickly as possible. 70% of North American women over 85 live alone, but with Direct alert technology they don’t have to feel alone.
For seniors whose well being requires a more vigilant watch from the outside, there are home systems like QuietCare. Home monitoring assistive technology helps loved ones and professionals keep track of specific activities. Sensors are placed all over the home, near the medication, on top of the fridge, in the bathroom where most falls and accidents occur, and they essentially “report” back in the form of computer data. Sleeping habits, medication schedules, what temperature the home is kept at, is all information analyzed by a central computer, and should any significant changes occur, a notification is sent to a family, a doctor, or a neighbor by phone, email, or text message. You can even track their movement patters on a website. This may seem intrusive and seniors might not like the idea of Big Brother always watching, but sometimes a caring eye needs to be kept on them for their own good. Complicated medication schedules can be easily forgotten, high home temperatures might go unnoticed and falls can happen at any time.
Everything from walkers to magnifying glasses, from enlarged touch tone telephone numbers to computer software, all fall under the category of assistive technology. And, as these technologies advance, smart homes equipped with emergency response systems and motion tracking sensors will help to keep seniors healthy and at home for many years to come, making the number 72 million without enough workers, a little less scary.
EDIT - Please note that it seems like Emmy Pei does indeed work for Direct Alert, something I was unaware of when I chose to post this article. I have gone ahead and removed the links from the article since I refuse to have 60 in 3 used this way, but I have kept the text of the article since it does have some useful information. Thank you to the readers who pointed all this out to me in comments and emails.
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Hope you enjoyed this guest post from Emmy. Next week, we’ll be back to our regular 60 in 3 articles. Have a happy halloween or (if you’re not a halloween fan) enjoy your weekend!
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Oct
29
I have frequently written in the past about how vegetarian is not necessarily a healthy diet. This is in spite of the fact that I am vegetarian myself. I still hold to that view and think that meat can have a role in a healthy diet. However, I recently found an interesting debate site on this subject and I thought I would highlight it on 60 in 3. The opinions here were both informed and informative, something I always find valuable.
Here’s the link to the site:
CLICK HERE
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Oct
27
Darshant writes in:
I want to add more cardio training to my gym workouts but my gym has limited cardio options. Which one would you recommend, treadmill, stationary bike or elliptical?
Your gym sounds like mine Darshant 
But no worries, you can still get a great workout using these machines. Let’s take a look at each one.
Stationary Bike
This is actually my least favorite machine, for a number of reasons.
- Difficult posture - Most stationary bikes force your body into an odd position which is both uncomfortable and not very good for your spine.
- Difficult to maintain speed - Unless you’re constantly looking at the readouts, your speed will tend to decrease over time. So you get into this cycle of slowing down over time, checking out the readout, picking up your speed and then starting to slow down again.
- Only works out one part of the body. Really, the only part of you which moves is your legs. The rest of you is stationary. That’s not a good workout as far as I’m concerned.
On the plus side, the stationary bike is easy to figure out and has no impact on your feet. However, these two advantages don’t outweigh the disadvantages.
Elliptical
One of the best options out there. The elliptical does suffer from the same speed maintenance problem as the stationary bike. That is, since you’re the one setting the speed and not the machine, there’s a tendency to slow down unless you’re constantly watching the readout. However, the elliptical does have a two very strong advantages that make up for this.
- Full body workout, especially if you’re using an elliptical machine with the moving poles for the arms. When you’re on an elliptical, you can really get your whole body engaged, which is much better than working out your legs alone.
- Low impact - Unlike the treadmill, the ellipitical has zero impact on your feet.
So as long as you can maintain a good pace, the elliptical is a great option.
Treadmill
Another great option. The treadmill’s strongest advantage is the ability to set a pace and follow it. Just program your desired speed into the treadmill and off it goes. At this point, you have no choice but to keep up or fall off. That means no slacking and it’s the reason why I think the treadmill provides the strongest cardio workout. However, strongest does not mean best and the treadmill does have a few disadvantages.
- Falling off - It sounds silly, but if you’re not careful, you can injure yourself on a treadmill.
- Impact - And if the falling doesn’t hurt you, the repeated impacts on your feet might. Running on a treadmill is better than running on concrete but it’s still running, which means it’s still a lot of repeated impacts on your feet and legs.
My Recommendation
Avoid the stationary bike. Instead, alternate between the elliptical and the treadmill. Personally, I work out on the treadmill every Tuesday and Thursday and on the elliptical every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. That gives me a a good variety of workouts while not being boring. I would also recommend varying things up by doing faster, shorter workout followed followed by slower, longer workouts and so on.
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Oh, and if you can, try to convince your gym owners to get a stair master. A real one, the one that looks like a small, steep escalator. Those are great! It has all the advantage of a treadmill without the impact to your feet.
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Oct
26
Weekend Roundup - Squeaky Frog Edition!
Filed Under Weekend Roundup | 1 Comment
Do you have any ideas how hard it is to write a blog post while a 7 month old black lab puppy wrestles with a squeaky stuffed frog in my lap? I should get the pulitzer prize for this! SQUEAK!!
From CBS News we have this article about yet another odd diet. I think we’ve talked about this one before actually. It’s the banana diet which claims miraculous weight loss as long as you eat tons and tons of bananas or at least one banana every morning. Scientific basis? None! Common sense? None! Feel free to eat bananas I suppose. They’re not bad although they’re a bit high in starches for a fruit. Just don’t assume this is the only thing you need to do for a balanced diet.
@CBS News
(She’s still squeaking!)
Cracked.com is not exactly the place for objective and informative reporting. They’re a humor site and their articles are more about making you laugh than educating you. However, once in a while, Cracked has an article which is both informative and funny, like this one about 6 of your favorite things that might be making you fat. Enjoy!
@Cracked
The future of exercise is here! Well, at least according to this article. It talks about a couple of new gadgets that aim to make exercise more fun. I don’t know, this seems like overkill to me but the gyroball sounds like a neat idea.
@The Oregon Daily Emerald
And from Fat Man Unleashed, we find this article about weight lifting for weight loss. Most people think weight lifting will bulk you up, which is why many of them don’t do it. However, as this article points out, weight lifting does a lot more than build muscles. I couldn’t agree more!
@Fat Man Unleashed
And presenting my coauthor for this post: Daisy McPupperson and her stuffed animals!
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Oct
24
The US Department of Health and Human Services recently released its new guidelines for physical activity, and I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss them. I’m going to review their summary since the actual guidelines are hundreds of pages. However, If anyone is interested, I’m going to include links to both the summary and the full guidelines at the end of this post.
The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans provide comprehensive science-based guidance on physical activity for Americans. Inspired by President Bush’s personal dedication to physical fitness and his desire that every American have access to science-based guidelines, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt appointed a 13-member Physical Activity Guideline Advisory Committee to review and analyze current scientific literature. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans published by HHS are based on the 683-page report submitted by the advisory committee.
Ok, so far so good. This is definitely a good start, although I find it amusing that the report was 683 pages.
The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans are designed so that people can customize them to suit their lifestyle and include activities they enjoy. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans contain examples of activities for different age groups and those with special considerations. A shorter companion guide, Be Active Your Way, helps adults develop a customized plan to suit their lifestyle and physical activity goals.
Hey, this is good so far. I love the fact that they get it. Every person is different and what we need and like may not be the same. So it’s good that these exercise guidelines are customizable per person. In fact, if you read the in depth guides, you’ll see a lot of suggestions on how to customize them to suit your needs.
Health benefits of physical activity occur for children and adolescents, young and middle-aged adults, older adults, and those in every studied racial and ethnic group.
Wow, now I’m really impressed. This is a point that needs to be made over and over. EVERYONE can benefit from physical exercise. It’s not just for young adults, men or whatever group you think belongs in a gym. Physical activity is for everyone.
Regular physical activity improves health for young and old and reduces the risk of disease. With regular physical activity, children and adolescents improve their cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness and bone health, and reduce symptoms of depression. Adults and older adults lower the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, colon and breast cancer and can help prevent falls and reduce depression. Older adults also enjoy better thinking ability with regular physical activity. Regular physical activity also helps people with arthritis or other rheumatic conditions affecting the joints by improving pain management, function, and quality of life.
Again, very well said. Too many people see physical activity as just a way to look good and tone up their butt. Guess what, there’s a lot more to it. Regular activity helps with everything from chronic conditions like arthritis to cancer prevention and better mental capacity.
Some physical activity is better than none; the more physically active you are, the more benefits you reap. For most health outcomes, additional benefits occur as the amount of physical activity increases through higher intensity, greater frequency, and/or longer duration.
Can it be? An actual government press release which makes sense and doesn’t contain too much spin? Again, this statement is spot on. Even a little physical activity is better than none. So even if you can’t meet all the minimums, it’s still beneficial to do something.
Children and adolescents should participate in one hour or more of physical activity per day; and most of the activity should be moderate or vigorous aerobic physical activity. They should participate in vigorous physical activity at least three days a week. They should participate in muscle-strengthening activities, such as push-ups and sit-ups and playing tug-of-war, three days a week. They should incorporate bone-strengthening activities, such as jumping rope, hopping or running, at least three days a week.
Don’t be fooled, kids can get most if not all of this exercise in a couple of hours on the playground. So there’s really no need to send a child to the gym if they’re getting plenty of time to play outdoors with other kids. However, I do like the fact that the summary gives a bit of information on how much and what types of exercise kids should do. The detailed guides contain even more useful information.
Adults gain substantial health benefits from two and one half hours a week of moderate aerobic physical activity or an hour and 15 minutes of vigorous physical activity. Aerobic activity, such as walking briskly, water aerobics, ballroom dancing, jogging, and jumping rope, should be performed in episodes of at least 10 minutes. Increasing aerobic physical activity to five hours a week of moderate activity or two and one half hours a week of vigorous aerobic physical activity, results in more extensive health benefits. Adults should do muscle-strengthening activities, such as weight training, push-ups, sit-ups, carrying heavy loads and heavy gardening, at least two days a week.
This is great. Again, whoever wrote this should be immediately promoted to write all other government documentation. It’s brief but contains enough information to be useful. It’s also very accurate. I like how it recommends both brisk (cardio) activities as well as muscle strengthening exercises. This is something many people ignore, usually focusing too much on either cardio or weights.
Older adults generally should follow the guidelines for adults. If chronic conditions limit their ability to do two and one half hours a week of moderate aerobic activity, they should be as physically active as their abilities and conditions allow.
Yep, this is good advice again. It doesn’t matter how old you are, the guidelines still apply to you. Too many older folks are stuck in the mindset that they are too old for the gym or too old for weight or too old for cardio. That’s dead wrong. You’re never too old.
Be safe as well as active. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans include tips for safe physical activity. Some examples are choosing activities appropriate for current fitness level and health goals; increasing physical activity gradually over time to meet guidelines or health goals; and using appropriate gear and sports equipment and looking for safe environments.
and hey, let’s finish things up with a bit of good safety advice. If you want more details on this you’re going to need to read the full guides, which contain a lot of useful safety information.
Summary
This is a one page summary of the new health guidelines. In fact, it’s pretty much a press release. However, I am amazed by how useful and accurate it is. This is what all government press releases should be like.
Here’s the link to the summary
And here’s the link to the actual guides
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I’m a pretty cynical person when it comes to our government, but I have to say that these guidelines are well written and very useful. If you have the time, take a look through them. Even I found a lot of useful advice in there and I think they’re even more useful for people just now starting out with exercise.
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Oct
22
Increase or Decrease Weight By Set?
Filed Under Building Muscles, Work Out | 4 Comments
If you’ve been to the gym on a regular basis, you will eventually see the following behavior. Someone is working out with freeweights, doing some common exercise like bench presses. They do a set and then they change weights, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing. They do another set and again they change the weight. In fact, they go on like this for multiple sets, usually four or five, changing the weight each and every time. Is this normal? Is it helpful?
Well, Maybe…
As with many things, the answer isn’t quite as straightforward as you would think. There are reasons for and against both increasing and decreasing weight. However, the difference is rather small. In fact, unless you’re a serious body builder, you probably don’t have much to gain from increasing vs. decreasing weights. However, that doesn’t mean you should ignore the impact of weight altogher.
The Right Weight
The right weight is the one at which, when you do your target number of reps, you can barely do the last rep. For example, if I plan on doing 10 reps, then I should pick a weight where, on the 10th rep, I am barely able to lift the weight. If I can easily do an 11th and a 12th rep, then I’m using a weight that’s too low for me. The same applies to any number of reps. For example, if I want to do 5 reps, then I should pick a weight that will be very difficult on the 5th rep and pretty much impossible on the 6th rep. That’s called “working to failure” or “failure point”. That last rep is the failure point at which you simply cannot complete another full rep. Ideally, every set of exercises you do goes to the failure point.
NOTE - This applies to everyone, not just body builders. And yes, it applies to women too.
What Does This Have To Do With Increasing Or Decreasing Weight?
A lot. Think about the fact that many people do multiple sets. For example, I used to do 4 sets of 10 reps for each exercise. So for example, I would do 10 lunges, rest a few seconds, 10 more, rest, 10 more, rest and then 10 more. That’s 4 sets of 10 reps. Now clearly, as I do more and more of these sets, I’m going to be pretty tired. That means I’m going to have a harder time with the weight.
If I used the same weight for each of these sets, I would have an easy time lifting it on the first set and I might find it impossible to even complete my fourth set. To compensate for that, I would start out with a higher weight and decrease the weight as I progressed in sets. So the first set might be with 120lbs, the second with 110, the third with 100 and the last one with 90.
So Decreasing Weight Is Good?
That’s not what I’m saying. Decreasing weight is just a means to an end. That end is always working each set so that you’re unable to do even one more rep at the end of it. Decreasing the weight was just one way of achieving that. I could have done it in other ways. For example, I can do:
- Set 1 - 12 reps with 100lbs
- Set 2 - 10 reps with 100lbs
- Set 3 - 8 reps with 100lbs
- Set 4 - 6 reps with 100lbs
This way I can keep the weight the same while still working to failure on each set.
Alternatively, I could do:
- Set 1 - 20 reps with 60lbs
- Set 2 - 15 reps with 80 lbs
- Set 3 - 10 reps with 100lbs
- Set 4 - 5 reps with 120lbs
This approach is just as valid.
These days I only do one set of exercises per workout. So I’m never doing multiple weights. However, I do change weights per day so that on Monday I might be doing a set of 10 lunges with 100lbs. In Wednesday I do a set of 5 lunges with 160lbs while on Friday I do a set of 20 lunges with 70lbs. Again, it’s not about increasing or decreasing weight, it’s about always working to failure and making sure that last rep is really the last one that you can do.
One Last Point
The only real benefit of decreasing and increasing weight is change. Change is good for your body. Doing the same thing over and over in the exact same way tends to lead people into a rut. They get stuck with one routine and can never improve. Changing weights can be a way of forcing your body to adapt to different conditions and that’s a good thing. So whether you change weights every set or every day, just keep trying new things and always work towards that failure point.
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Speaking of which, today was my blowout workout with 50% the normal weight and but only half the reps. I loved it! If anyone hasn’t tried something like this before, I highly recommend it.
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Oct
20
5 Things To Do This Monday
Filed Under Healthy Habits | 2 Comments
It’s Monday. For most of us, the weekend is over and the work week is beginning. Monday is usually the slowest of days as everyone adjusts back to being in the office. Not the day to think of exercise and fitness, right? Absolutely wrong. Monday is the beginning of your week. How about using it as a way to start your week right? Here are five possibilities.
Walk - Take a walk today of at least 30 minutes. It can be during lunch or after work. Maybe you can bring your loved on with you or take the dog out for a morning walk. Whatever you choose, make a commitment to just one walk.
Avoid snacks - Avoid snacks today just to see how easy it is to do. All you need to do is commit yourself to just one day with no in between meal snacks.
Add a fruit or vegetable to your diet - What are you going to eat today? Can you add a piece of fruit or vegetable to it? Whatever it is, add an apple at the end, a tomato at the beginning or some spinach in the middle. It doesn’t have to be a whole salad, just try to add one piece of fruit or vegetable to your diet today.
Stretch break - Taking a break from work shouldn’t be hard, right? Especially on a Monday! Make a promise to yourself that today you will not sit at your desk for more than 2 hours at a time. Get up, stretch and let your brain have a break while you workout the kinks in your muscles.
Take the stairs - You’ve been taking the elevator every day for the past two years. How about a little change today? Today, you will take the stairs. Don’t have stairs at work or at home? Maybe you can change this one to “Today, I will park a little further away and walk” or “Today, I will walk to my coworkers instead of calling them.” Whatever it is, commit to moving instead of being moved.
Are These Meaningful?
In and of themselves, these little changes for one day are relatively meaningless. They’re 5 calories here and 5 calories there for an insignificant net gain. However, the point isn’t to make drastic changes in your life. The point is to make a small change, prove to yourself that you can do it and then repeat it again and again until it becomes an ingrained habit.
So pick one of those five things I have up there (or come up with your own small change) and commit to doing it today. If you successfully accomplish your commitment, then commit to doing it until the rest of the week and then next week and the week after that too. Write your commitment down somewhere where you’ll have to read it every morning. Make sure you also write down why you’re commiting to this and not just what you’re committing to. Now keep doing this until it becomes a habit. Keep it up until you no longer need to read that note.
Being fit isn’t just about making a decision one day and completely changing your life. It’s about a series of small changes that slowly turn your from a sedantary life style to one of activity. It’s about a number of small things that change a diet from unhealthy to healthy. Each of these small things takes time. Time to try out and time to make into a lifelong habit.
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It’s Monday, the beginning of your work week, but it can also be Monday, the beginning of a brand new healthy habit.
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