Pain in the Neck

Got neck pain? Office workers who experienced neck pain and who stretched their neck three times a week cut aches in half within one year, a study in Medicine & Science & Exercise indicates. Pull your chin in (not down) towards your neck for ten seconds and repeat twice. Ahhhhh...

The Benefits of Interval Training

from the NYTimes, May 3, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/fashion/03Fitness.html?ei=5070&en=9e74e98f3732c066&ex=1180065600&pagewanted=all

SOME gymgoers are tortoises. They prefer to take their sweet time, leisurely pedaling or ambling along on a treadmill. Others are hares, impatiently racing through miles at high intensity.

Each approach offers similar health benefits: lower risk of heart disease, protection against Type 2 diabetes, and weight loss.

But new findings suggest that for at least one workout a week it pays to be both tortoise and hare — alternating short bursts of high-intensity exercise with easy-does-it recovery.

Weight watchers, prediabetics and those who simply want to increase their fitness all stand to gain.

This alternating fast-slow technique, called interval training, is hardly new. For decades, serious athletes have used it to improve performance.

But new evidence suggests that a workout with steep peaks and valleys can dramatically improve cardiovascular fitness and raise the body’s potential to burn fat.

Best of all, the benefits become evident in a matter of weeks.

“There’s definitely renewed interest in interval training,” said Ed Coyle, the director of the human performance laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin.

A 2005 study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that after just two weeks of interval training, six of the eight college-age men and women doubled their endurance, or the amount of time they could ride a bicycle at moderate intensity before exhaustion.

Eight volunteers in a control group, who did not do any interval training, showed no improvement in endurance.

Researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, had the exercisers sprint for 30 seconds, then either stop or pedal gently for four minutes.

Such a stark improvement in endurance after 15 minutes of intense cycling spread over two weeks was all the more surprising because the volunteers were already reasonably fit. They jogged, biked or did aerobic exercise two to three times a week.

Doing bursts of hard exercise not only improves cardiovascular fitness but also the body’s ability to burn fat, even during low- or moderate-intensity workouts, according to a study published this month, also in the Journal of Applied Physiology. Eight women in their early 20s cycled for 10 sets of four minutes of hard riding, followed by two minutes of rest. Over two weeks, they completed seven interval workouts.

After interval training, the amount of fat burned in an hour of continuous moderate cycling increased by 36 percent, said Jason L. Talanian, the lead author of the study and an exercise scientist at the University of Guelph in Ontario. Cardiovascular fitness — the ability of the heart and lungs to supply oxygen to working muscles — improved by 13 percent.

It didn’t matter how fit the subjects were before. Borderline sedentary subjects and the college athletes had similar increases in fitness and fat burning. “Even when interval training was added on top of other exercise they were doing, they still saw a significant improvement,” Mr. Talanian said.

That said, this was a small study that lacked a control group, so more research would be needed to confirm that interval training was responsible.

Interval training isn’t for everyone. “Pushing your heart rate up very high with intensive interval training can put a strain on the cardiovascular system, provoking a heart attack or stroke in people at risk,” said Walter R. Thompson, professor of exercise science at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

For anyone with heart disease or high blood pressure — or who has joint problems such as arthritis or is older than 60 — experts say to consult a doctor before starting interval training.

Still, anyone in good health might consider doing interval training once or twice a week. Joggers can alternate walking and sprints. Swimmers can complete a couple of fast laps, then four more slowly.

There is no single accepted formula for the ratio between hard work and a moderate pace or resting. In fact, many coaches recommend varying the duration of activity and rest.

But some guidelines apply. The high-intensity phase should be long and strenuous enough that a person is out of breath — typically one to four minutes of exercise at 80 to 85 percent of their maximum heart rate. Recovery periods should not last long enough for their pulse to return to its resting rate.

Also people should remember to adequately warm up before the first interval. Coaches advise that, ideally, people should not do interval work on consecutive days. More than 24 hours between such taxing sessions will allow the body to recover and help them avoid burnout.

What is so special about interval training? One advantage is that it allows exercisers to spend more time doing high-intensity activity than they could in a single sustained effort. “The rest period in interval training gives the body time to remove some of the waste products of working muscles,” said Barry A. Franklin, the director of the cardiac rehabilitation and exercise laboratories at the William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich.

To go hard, the body must use new muscle fibers. Once these recent recruits are trained, they are available to burn fuel even during easy-does-it workouts. “Any form of exercise that recruits new muscle fibers is going to enhance the body’s ability to metabolize carbohydrates and fat,” Dr. Coyle said.

Interval training also stimulates change in mitochondria, where fuel is converted to energy, causing them to burn fat first — even during low- and moderate-intensity workouts, Mr. Talanian said.

Improved fat burning means endurance athletes can go further before tapping into carbohydrate stores. It is also welcome news to anyone trying to lose weight or avoid gaining it.

Unfortunately, many people aren’t active enough to keep muscles healthy. At the sedentary extreme, one result can be what Dr. Coyle calls “metabolic stalling” — carbohydrates in the form of blood glucose and fat particles in the form of triglycerides sit in the blood. That, he suspects, could be a contributing factor to metabolic syndrome, the combination of obesity, insulin resistance, high cholesterol and elevated triglycerides that increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

By recruiting new muscle fibers and increasing the body’s ability to use fuel, interval training could potentially lower the risk of metabolic syndrome.

Interval training does amount to hard work, but the sessions can be short. Best of all, a workout that combines tortoise and hare leaves little time for boredom.

Honey-Glazed Pork Tenderloin and Carrots

Serve this delicious low calorie dish with a large green salad with light dressing for a quick and easy dinner!

Prep time: 8 min.
Cook time: 16 min.
Servings: 4

Carrots:
3/4 pound baby carrots
1/4 cup water

Glaze:
1/4 cup honey
3 T apple juice or apple cider
2 t Dijon mustard
1 t soy sauce

Pork:
1 (1 1/4 lb) pork tenderloin, trimmed
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 T butter
2 T minced fresh chives (optional)

1. Place the carrots and water into a medium saucepan and bring them to a boil over high heat; reduce heat to simmer. Stir, cover, and let carrots simmer until tender.

2. Meanwhile, prepare glaze by mixing all glaze ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside. When carrots are done, remove from heat, drain and set aside.

3. Cut tenderloin crosswise into 12 equally sized slices, and season with salt and pepper. Melt butter in an extra-large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork and cook 2-3 minutes or until nicely browned on the bottom side. Using tongs, flip the pork and cook another 3-4 minutes or until almost cooked through.

4. Add carrots to pan with pork. Stir glaze again, and add it to the pan. Bring mixture to a simmer, and cook until pork is done, about 1-2 minutes. Stir to coat pork and carrots with glaze. Divide pork and carrots among four plates. Pour any remaining glaze over pork and garnish with chives if desired.

Nutritional Information
Calories: 293
Fat: 8g
Cholesterol: 86g
Protein: 29 g
Carbohydrates: 26g
Fiber: 2g
Iron: 2g
Calcium: 2g

The Lowdown on the Low-GI

Low-Glycemic index foods get more points for helping you stay slim.

Wondering why those pounds won't budge. A Danish study published in a recent issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reinforces the idea that a low-glycemic index (GI) diet can help. Made popular by diets like South Beach, low-GI foods (high-fiber, complex-carb foods like veggies, beans, nuts, lean meats, and whole-grain breads) slowly release energy into your bloodstream and keep you satisfied longer. Study participants who ate high-GI foods gained more wight, especially in the stomach area, over six years. To go low-GI choose whole foods like an apple with a little bit of peanut butter, over anything starchy, sugary, or refined.

How to Pick Up A Toddler

Lifting that 30-lb bundle of joy can wreak havoc on your back and knees if you're not careful. Here's how to do it right according to the American Physical Therapy Association.

*Kneel in front of your child with one knee on the floor. Hold her close with both arms and stand up, keeping your feet planted firmly and your back straight (don't bend from the waist). Try not to twist while lifting, and don't carry her on one hip.

* Hold her in front of your body with both arms, making a little seat for her with one of your arms.

This method should help keep your little one--and your back--safe and healthy.

Find this tip in the May 2007 issue of Health Magazine.

Get Cultured

How to Choose the Best Yogurt
You want to eat healthier, so the next time you swing by the dairy case, you reach for the yogurt. Healthy, right? Perhaps...

There are so many yogurt products out there, and many of them are absent of all the redemptive qualities that make us seek it out in the first place. Here's a list of guidelines to help you choose a tasty yogurt that gives you all the health benefits you're craving.

When choosing yogurt, look for Low-Fat or Fat-Free Yogurt that contains (per 6-ounce serving):
1. Has the official "LIVE AND ACTIVE CULTURES" Seal. 2. No more than 180 calories. 3. No more than 1.5 grams of saturated fat. Saturated fat's daily limit of 20 grams is easy to reach, so avoid it here.
4. No more than 30 grams of sugar. Naturally occuring lactose accounts for about 12 grams; more means excess sweeteners.
5. At least 20% of your daily calcium. This nutrient can be watered down by added sugars and filler ingredients.
6. 300 mg of potassium. Okay, so this tip is a little picky, but if you can find it, go for it!

Remember:
"Plain" doesn't have to be... Layer low-fat Greek yogurt with blueberries, a thin drizzle of honey, and a sprinkle of granola. Mmmmm.

If it says "creme" or "custard" on it, nutritionally, it's probably one step away from ice cream.

Understanding Weightloss Plateaus

Slowly but surely you've lost ten pounds. But now, the scale is stuck and won't budge. What gives? Don't blame it on a slow metabolism. Hers Muscle and Fitness explains why plateaus happen in the June 2007 issue:

There are two reasons why: First, you're smaller, so your metabolism is matching the "new" you; second, your body thinks it's starving, and as a result, thyroid hormone levels drop and your resting metabolic rate may drop 10%-25%, so you aren't burning as many calories in a day as you were before you lost the weight. And here's what most of us forget: when we lose weight, we become lighter, meaning the amount of calories we burn in everyday activities drops as well. Eventually, your metabolism adjusts to your new, smaller body.

"At some point you come back to energy balance--where your output and input are the same--so you stop losing weight," Robert Keith PhD, RD, FACSM, explains. "That's the sticking point or plateau a lot of people talk about."

If losing more weight is your goal, you'll have to either exercise more or restrict your calories more, but be wary--if you're already at a healthy weight, be honest with yourself in analyzing whether you truly need to push to lose even more.