Polycystic ovary syndrome - what you can do

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common female endocrine disorders affecting approximately 5%-10% of women of reproductive age (12-45years old) and was once thought erroneously to be one of the leading causes of infertility.

The principal features are obesity, anovulation (resulting in irregular menstruation), acne, and excessive amounts or effects of androgenic (masculinizing) hormones. The symptoms and severity of the syndrome vary greatly among women. While the causes are unknown, insulin resistance, diabetes, and obesity are all strongly correlated with PCOS.

Over the last couple years I've had at least six clients who have been diagnosed with PCOS. What really pisses me off about PCOS is the lack of help these women get at their doctor's offices. They get the diagnosis. They are told not to worry. It's not serious. Often they get asked if they are trying to get pregnant. If not, no worries.
Then they are sometimes prescribed drugs like metformin, an anti-diabetic drug and sent on their way without any further advice. Ahhh! Maybe a little encouragement to lose weight

Not everyone with PCOS is overweight and PCOS doesn't always present the same in everyone. I'm not doctor. But the deal with PCOS is that losing weight can become very hard for some people. And drug therapy doesn't work for everyone.

But anyone being diagnosed with PCOS and being prescribed an anti-diabetic drug should be getting nutritional and lifestyle advice. How about a referral to a nutritionist who can help manage the insulin resistance that often goes along with PCOS. I wish doctors would tell their patients that often a low GI diet can really help with managing PCOS and can even help regulate menstrual cycles. I wish with all my heart that OHIP could help cover fitness programs. Regular exercise and strength training (according to moi) will help with insulin resistance. More muscle = more insulin receptors so that sugar doesn't float around in the blood for longer forcing another jolt of insulin.

Although I hate diet books, I'm so happy to see that PCOS diet book is coming out in November 2010:
The PCOS Diet Plan: A Natural Approach to Health for Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome by Hillary Wright.

Here's a link to a bunch of PCOS books from eating to other strategies for managing the condition.

Eating a low glycemic diet is pretty common sense. But maybe having a book come out that publicly acknowledges the benefit of a low GI diet will encourage better advice from docs.
Anyone with PCOS and anyone else for that matter should be exercising regularly, strength training at least twice a week, focus on getting to a healthy body weight and should stay away from processed food and simple carbs. But people with conditions like PCOS are special and need to focus on self-care even more. Even if someone with PCOS doesn't lose weight, healthy eating and exercise (with strength work...sorry can't say it enough) can manage PCOS and improve fertility.

One of my former clients with PCOS managed to get pregnant without IVF and never developed gestational diabetes (another issue for people with PCOS). She did a pre-conception type boot camp. All she did was exercise 4-5 days a week and started including protein and good fats at every meal and limited simple carbs. She carried her baby to full term no problemo and had a natural birth.

So people with PCOS should not treat their condition with passivity. I refer many of my clients with hormone related issues to Dr. Penny Kendall Reed ND at PKR Health. If you're having any adverse reactions to the drug therapy or if you just want to limit the adverse affects of your condition, get some help.

Jane

American College of Sports Medicine 2010 Fitness Trends

I'm late late late in posting this. Darnit!
But here it is nonetheless. The last several years I've always taken a look at the ACSM forecasted fitness trends. Today I stumbled upon it and am excited to share them with you along with my own commentary. God knows I can't keep my opinions to myself for long!

And I'm so excited because in my little bubble in my little studio sometimes I wonder if I'm out of touch with what's going on in the big fitness world around me. But today, alas, I realize I've got my finger on the pulse and predicted many of these trends two years ago. The biggest one I saw coming for a while is that Yoga is not even on this list any more.

ACSM Predicted Fitness Trends 2010:

1. Educated and experienced fitness professionals. Because of an increase in the number of organizations offering health and fitness certifications, it's important that consumers choose professionals certified through programs that are accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies, such as those offered by ACSM.
SAW THIS COMING FO SHO. THE CONSUMER IS FINALLY GETTING MORE SAVVY AS TO WHAT MAKES A GOOD TRAINER. IN MY STUDIO, I SEE SO MANY PEOPLE WHO HAVE MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INJURIES, ARE IN REHAB, RECOVERING FROM ILLNESSES. BABY BOOMERS ARE GETTING OLDER AND REQUIRE SPECIALIZED HELP WITH GETTING FIT, NOT MORE INJURIES ON TOP OF THEIR ISSUES.




2. Strength training. Strength training is an essential part of a complete physical activity program - for all physical activity levels and genders. In addition, some health clubs still focus exclusively on weight lifting and strength training.
YAY! IS IT FINALLY OK FOR WOMEN TO DO PULL UPS. I'M HAVING FEWER CONVERSATIONS WITH WOMEN WHO ARE AFRAID TO GET BULKY FROM LIFTING WEIGHTS. LOVE THIS ONE.

3. Children and obesity. Health and fitness professionals see the growing problem of childhood obesity as an opportunity to reverse an alarming trend. There is also an increasing market demand for programs tailored to overweight and obese children.
SAD SAD SAD. THESE PROGRAMS SHOULD BE FAMILY PROGRAMS SINCE WE LEARN LIFESTYLE BEHAVIOURS FROM OUR FAMILY OF ORIGIN.

4. Personal training. Education, training and proper credentialing for health and fitness professionals who act as personal trainers has become increasingly important, and is an integral part of staffing for health and fitness facilities.
MORE TRAINERS MEANS MORE PEOPLE TO CHOOSE FROM. ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT THEY COULD MAKE GOOD COIN AFTER TAKING A WEEKEND CERTIFICATION ARE GOING TO FIND IT TOUGH TO MAKE A LIVING.

5. Core training. Different from strength training, this type of training specifically emphasizes conditioning of the middle-body muscles, including the pelvis, lower back, hips and abdomen - all of which provide needed support for the spine.
SO GLAD THEY ARE DEFINING CORE THIS WAY. HOPE PEOPLE STOP THINKING OF CORE AS THEIR BELLIES.

6. Special fitness programs for older adults. With more and more of the baby boomer population reaching retirement age, health and fitness professionals are designing age-appropriate fitness programs to keep older adults healthy and happy well into their golden years.
AS I SAID ABOVE, THIS POPULATIONS NEEDS PROGRAMS THAT WORK WITH THEIR AGING BODIES. DOESN'T MEAN TAKING IT EASY. I'VE GOT A 68 YEAR OLD FEMALE CLIENT DOING ASSISTED PULL UPS.

7. Functional fitness. This is a trend toward using strength training to improve balance and ease of daily living. Functional fitness and special fitness programs for older adults are closely related.
FUCNTIONAL FITNESS IS AN OVERUSED TERM. IF YOU'RE NOT DOING FULL RANGE OF MOTION MOVEMENTS THAT MIMIC THE WAY YOU USE YOUR BODY IN DAY TO DAY LIFE, THEN IT AIN'T FUNCTIONAL.

8. Sport-specific training. This trend distinctly relates to young athletes. High school athletes are incorporating training into their off-seasons in order to stay in top shape for their sports, and might join a health and fitness club or local community health organization to increase strength and endurance.


9. Pilates. Incorporating core training using the entire body, Pilates classes have become a mainstay of many health and fitness clubs. Pilates also improves flexibility and posture.
OK PEOPLE. I SAW THIS ONE MOVING DOWN THE LIST A WHILE BACK. IT DROPPED 2 SPOTS SINCE LAST YEAR. LYING ON A MAT AS YOUR PRIMARY MEANS OF GETTING FIT DOESN'T CUT IT. BUT WE DON'T NEED TO THROW THE BABY OUT WITH THE BATH WATER.

10. Group personal training. Perhaps the most surprising top-10 trend of the survey, group personal training involves small groups, in lieu of one-on-one instruction. The trend may reflect economic difficulties and makes financial sense for both the client and the trainer.
I'M ON IT. THUS THE URBAN WARRIOR WORKSHOP. SMALL GROUP TRAINING TO SAVE CASH BUT GET PERSONAL ATTENTION.

There you go!
Have a good one.

Jane

TABATA JUST HIT TORONTO AND NOW URBANFITT!

NEW Tabata Workshop for 6 weeks:

Thursdays at 6:30 pm 7:15pm starting March 4th

INTERVAL TRAINING IS LIKE SPOT REDUCTION FOR YOUR BELLY

The Tabata Protocol--named after Izumi Tabata, Ph.D., a former researcher at Japan's National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya--is an interval routine developed by the head coach of the Japanese speed-skating team.

WHY TABATA WORKS TO BURN FAT:

Tabata offers the stimulus necessary to tell the body it needs muscle. The body maintains protective margins against stress, and Tabata intervals are a stressor. When a muscle is repeatedly taken to exhaustion, an alarm is triggered, telling the body its protective margins are in danger and it must adapt to maintain itself. So muscle will be spared at the expense of fat. This is why Tabata kicks ass compared to steady state cardio.

While a true Tabata workout is only 4 minutes, I’m not letting you off that easy.

NO PAIN NO JANE

• We will be starting with a dynamic warm-up
• Then completing a total of 4 Tabata Intervals
• Finishing with myofascial release and a lovely stretch.
(A Tabata circuit = 20 seconds anaerobic work - 10 seconds rest for 4 minutes total)

Full body, heart thumping movements only. Ramp up fat loss fast.

Cost $149 per person.


Sign up now. Call 416.964.3309
CONTACT US

The Truth about Tabata: A fitness trend taking hold in Toronto

The Secret of Tabata: Start sweating

I'm so happy to see a fitness trend take hold that's all about getting out of the long winded steady state cardio workouts and into high intensity training. I would love even more if this would forever get people out of reading magazines or watching TV while working out.
Come on people! It takes a little discomfort to get fit.


THE WHOLE TABATA TREND FITS WITH

NO PAIN NO JANE


The Tabata Protocol--named after Izumi Tabata, Ph.D., a former researcher at Japan's National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya--is an interval routine developed by the head coach of the Japanese speed-skating team. (It's called a protocol because Tabata and his team took the speed-skating coach's workout and studied it to quantify just how effective it really was.)

The workout consists of six to seven 20-second full-speed sprints interspersed with rest periods of 10 seconds.

What's happening in the fitness world is people are calling almost any high intensity workout or circuit within a workout TABATA training. Hey, if throwing around a trendy word gets people out of doing easy workouts that don't provide results then great!

BUT a pure TABATA workout is as above: a high intensity burst at full anaerobic capacity for 20 seconds followed by a 10 second rest period.

There's been lots of research to show the benefit of intense bursts of exercise over steady state cardio. The main fat burning benefit of TABATA comes in the fact you are building Type II muscle fibres (the ones sprinters have more of) vs. Type I muscles fibres (the ones marathoners have more of). And we all should know by now that the more muscle we have the faster our metabolism.

"High-intensity resistance training offers the stimulus necessary to tell the body it requires muscle. The body maintains protective margins against stress, and exercise is a stressor. When a muscle is taken to failure (the point where continued contraction is impossible), an alarm is triggered, telling the body its protective margins are in danger and it must adapt to maintain itself. Hence, muscle will be spared at the expense of fat. This is the method of discriminated weight loss."

Taking it all off: high-intensity resistance training promotes fat loss without muscle depletion by Robert Serraino

If TABATA were what some people think it is, then it ain't so new after all. I've been teaching high intensity interval and circuit training since I started offering boot camps 8 years ago. High Intensity Training (H.I.T. ) first got a name back in the 70's. The main difference between any type of H.I.T. training and TABATA is the rest to work interval.
H.I.T. has a 1:2 work rest interval
TABATA has a 2:1 work rest interval.

A pure TABATA workout would only have one 4 minute set preceded by a warm up and short cool down. But a 4 minute workout won't improve body awareness, help you learn bio mechanics or improve structural balance. But if all you have is 4 minutes to workout which everyone does, then TABATA just took another excuse away from you. And if you don't have a good base of fitness, body awareness or have any medical issues, then TABATA is OUT OUT OUT!

Any of my Urban Warrior peeps can attest to the intensity of our stair climbing, drills in the room and the no stopping workout circuit we do.
If they want to call it TABATA, no problemo as long as they're sweating!

Here's a link to a TABATA kettlebell squat interval

Here's a link to TABATA cycling interval


In both of these you can see their rest to workout ratio holding true to TABATA. Also note there is NO opportunity for magazine reading. Excellent.

Mindfulness for body shrinking

It's not fair for me to say in my previous post: "Losing weight is so easy" without going a little further into how we can make it easier on ourselves.

I've got one word for you: mindfulness.

Mindfulness is all about making conscious choices. Being mindful doesn't necessarily thinking more. I found a great excerpt from Wildmind Buddhist Meditation website that discusses the differences between awareness vs. mindfulness.
"We sometimes (me included) talk about “mindfulness” and “awareness” as if they were interchangeable terms, but that’s not a good habit to get into. I may be aware I’m irritable, but that wouldn’t mean I was being mindful of my irritability. In order to be mindful I have to be purposefully aware of myself, not just vaguely and habitually aware. Knowing that you are eating is not the same as eating mindfully."

And to go a little further, here is some more explanation of mindfulness in practice. The below is taken from www.spiritualintelligence.com

"Mindfulness, a powerful tool for spiritual awakening and growth, is used frequently in both psychotherapy and spiritual/religious practice. Mindfulness creates a quiet place where our best qualities can flower. Intuition, insight, gratitude, patience and enthusiasm all take root in the quiet space of mindfulness.

The practice of mindfulness is necessary because many of our behaviors and thoughts are automatic. After we have learned a behavior, such as brushing our teeth or driving a car, we are able to duplicate that behavior without a great deal of conscious effort. For example, it is quite possible to eat a meal mindlessly while engaged in reading a newspaper or an interesting discussion.

In Buddhist tradition mindfulness is a path to liberation from ego and automatic behavior, bringing one closer to a true perception of reality. In Judaism and Christianity mindfulness serves a similar function and also leads to a fuller appreciation for the majesty of God–Source of All, inviting the expression of blessings and prayers of thanksgiving.

In psychotherapy mindfulness is often a first step in the healing process."

It is my firm belief that much of our personal struggles comes from a lack of mindfulness. And losing weight is really about mindfulness in our food choices. We all have areas of our lives where it's easier to be mindful. We all struggle in our own ways and need to shine some light on different areas of our lives. For some it's food related. But the ONLY way to make permanent change in ourselves in by increasing our self awareness.

To lose weight and keep it off, mindfulness has to be an ongoing priority. Not mindfulness in terms of calorie counting, weighing food or rigid diet regimens. Mindfulness as a way of life. Nobody's perfect and being mindful all the time would put us in the same league of the Dalai Lama. The more mindful we are in life, the harder it is to make choices that take us away from what really matters to us. Diets and fads take us into the micro. They aren't going to help us see the big picture cause of our struggles.

Yes sometimes that glass of red wine really matters but maybe not that slice of pie or that half baguette that went with it. Maybe that chocolate bar at 3PM really isn't doing what you thought it was doing for you when you tune into your body.

I'm no spiritual guru so here's a list of a couple resorces that can help improve mindfulness:

The Ultimate Happiness Prescription: Deepak Chopra
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, Eckhart Tolle
Mindful Eating, Jan Chozen Bays
The Artists Way, Julia Cameron
MIndful Awareness Research Centre: Download guided meditations from 3 minutes in length

We all have to discover our own way of becoming more mindful. For some it's regular meditation. For others is psychotherapy and still for others it's solo run. But physical activity that requires REALLY tuning into the body, paying attention to how the body feels and controlling movement patterns to improve body mechanics can also be a super first step.

And any personal trainer worth spending money on should be helping you with the above as well as getting you fit.

Now it's time for to get on with some more mindfulness in my life and some baby steps towards regular meditation. I've got my own stuff to work on too!!

Losing weight is so easy

It's true. But if you don't believe that losing weight is going to be easy, you're always going to struggle with it. The truth is that there is no big secret behind weight loss. It's all common sense stuff. Often, eating well is something we began to learn at a young age.

Who didn't hear from their mothers growing up "Finish your vegetables." OR "No more treats. You've had enough." OR "Go outside and play and turn off the TV."

One of my clients just bought another diet (although the author says it's not a diet book but instead a lifestyle book????) titled the "Rebel Diet". So why is diet in the title exactly.

Basically, she recycles information like "Eat more vegetables and protein and less processed carbs". Good advice. She goes into more detail about why common sense not so good for you nutritional choices are going to make you hang onto fat. Great stuff. But again, here I go being annoyed with the re-packaging of common sense stuff and the coining of a new eating trend (which ain't new at all). Maybe I'm jealous because my fitness book never padded my wallet! But if I were to write a weight loss book, it would be titled "Losing weight is so easy".

I had someone call me this week trying to hawk a cleansing product. Because apparently now it is being discovered that toxins make people hang onto fat and water. If you clean you pool, why wouldn't you clean your body? UH duh! Because your body isn't a concrete hole full of water and your body has it's own built in toxic removal system (skin, liver, kidney, bowels etc.). So funny!

Obesity stats in the US are scary. 81% percent of the population is overweight and of that 81% overweight, 30% are obese (BMI over 30).

I just went onto amazon.com and did a search for diet books. I came up with over 53,000 books! Another diet book isn't going to solve the problem.

This is my hypothesis. North American society is moving further and further away from making a search for mindfulness and consciousness a priority.

If we decide to make mindfulness a guiding principle in all aspects of our lives, people wouldn't struggle so much with obesity. If parents behave in a more conscious and mindful way, emotional eating wouldn't be such an issue for so many people. If people stop for a second and determine if a food choice is going to be nourishing or damaging and try to live in the present, excess caloric intake wouldn't be such a problem.

I admit we all struggle with making good choices in different aspects of our lives to varying degrees. However, what will improve our moment to moment choices is a desire to be more present. Things just don't go off the rails so much when we don't fall asleep at the wheel of life. Obesity is merely an outward signal that something is out of balance in our inner worlds.

So losing weight is easy IF and only IF we decide to take care of the big picture and stop burying our noses into repetitive diet books and wake up.

Jane

Media driven fitness trends

I'm trying to write an intelligent blog post while I eat breakfast, drink coffee, feed my daughter, pack a lunch and try to make myself presentable. Maybe time to look at my own life balance!


When my daughter was a toddler or maybe I was pregnant (If I remember correctly because it all becomes a blur at some point), I was attended another Can Fit Pro conference. At those conferences you get to see all the latest gadgets and potentially up and coming fitness trends. One of the things I saw at this particular conference was the TRX. I've been using it ever since. I picked up one of the first models.

Over the years, I've seen some fantastic stuff that never made it into mainstream. And I've often speculated why? The main reason is the media. If the media doesn't get interested in what someone is trying to hawk, no one here's about it. If someone isn't connected with some influential media folks, nothing gets popular.

It can be confusing for lay people to sort through the plethora of fitness related media coverage to know what the best thing to do is. This confusion can almost lead to a state of paralysis! Too much to choose from, what is best? How many times have you been at a dinner party and people debate what the best piece of cardio equipment is? The best type of fitness class etc. etc.

Maybe I'm getting cynical because I've been at this fitness thing for so long. But I've seen so many trends eb and flow. I've seen so many journalist say this is the next best thing and celebrities rubber stamp whatever trend they dig at the moment.

So to all of you wanting to learn how to sort through the plethora of fitness related information, I suggest the following book to help you grow a healthy amount of skepticism like I have over the years.
Ultimate Fitness: The Quest for Truth about Health and Exercise by Gina Kolata

Part of my mission in my work is to help people make intelligent choices about how they decide to devote their very precious time and to help educate people about how to sort through all this information we are bombarded with.
Gina helps to show the reader that these so called newest trends have been recycled since human beings were interested in physical activity, health and sports.

This blog post was inspired by Amy Verner's newest article in the Globe about her discovery of the TRX, the newest and best fitness tool.
Only this fitness tool has been around for at least 6 years now for the mainstream population and even longer for the Navy Seals who've been using it for a LONG time. Not so new afterall. Just new to her. So much power to propel fitness trends are held in the hands of media folks and their personal fitness journeys.

Yours in health,

Jane
Jane