Single best exercise - my response to NYT article

I get this question all the time. "What's the best overall exercise people should do?" It's like people just want to do a couple exercises a day for the rest of their lives and hope to be fit.

Well there's a number of issues with doing just a couple exercises a day which include:

1) Why do people want to do just a couple exercises over and over again? Boring for your mind and your body.

2) Why are people CONSTANTLY looking for short cuts to being healthy and fit? Anything really worth having takes work.

3) Our body is complex and requires movements in all different planes of movement to optimize strength, functionality, prevent injury and build muscle tissue in every major muscle group.

No exercise specialist who takes what they do seriously likes getting asked this question. With that being said, the New York Times asked several experts, "What is the single best exercise?", and got a variety of answers.

THE BURPEE

Ask a dozen physiologists which exercise is best, and you’ll get a dozen wildly divergent replies. “Trying to choose” a single best exercise is “like trying to condense the entire field” of exercise science, said Martin Gibala, the chairman of the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

But when pressed, he suggested one of the foundations of old-fashioned calisthenics: the burpee, in which you drop to the ground, kick your feet out behind you, pull your feet back in and leap up as high as you can. “It builds muscles. It builds endurance.” He paused. “But it’s hard to imagine most people enjoying” an all-burpees program, “or sticking with it for long.”

WALKING

“I personally think that brisk walking is far and away the single best exercise,” said Michael Joyner, M.D., a professor of anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and a leading researcher in the field of endurance exercise.

As proof, he points to the work of Hiroshi Nose, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of sports medical sciences at Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan, who has enrolled thousands of older Japanese citizens in an innovative, five-month-long program of brisk, interval-style walking (three minutes of fast walking, followed by three minutes of slower walking, repeated 10 times). The results have been striking. “Physical fitness — maximal aerobic power and thigh muscle strength — increased by about 20 percent,” Dr. Nose wrote in an e-mail, “which is sure to make you feel about 10 years younger than before training.” The walkers’ “symptoms of lifestyle-related diseases (hypertension, hyperglycemia and obesity) decreased by about 20 percent,” he added, while their depression scores dropped by half.

THE SQUAT

But let’s face it, walking holds little appeal — or physiological benefit — for anyone who already exercises. “I nominate the squat,” said Stuart Phillips, Ph.D., a professor of kinesiology at McMaster University and an expert on the effects of resistance training on the human body. The squat “activates the body’s biggest muscles, those in the buttocks, back and legs.”

H.I.T.

“I think, actually, that you can make a strong case for H.I.T.,” Gibala said. High-intensity interval training, or H.I.T. as it’s familiarly known among physiologists, is essentially all-interval exercise. As studied in Gibala’s lab, it involves grunting through a series of short, strenuous intervals on specialized stationary bicycles, known as Wingate ergometers. In his first experiments, riders completed 30 seconds of cycling at the highest intensity the riders could stand. After resting for four minutes, the volunteers repeated the interval several times, for a total of two to three minutes of extremely intense exercise. After two weeks, the H.I.T. riders, with less than 20 minutes of hard effort behind them, had increased their aerobic capacity as much as riders who had pedaled leisurely for more than 10 hours. Other researchers also have found that H.I.T. reduces blood-sugar levels and diabetes risk, and Gibala anticipates that it will aid in weight control, although he hasn’t studied that topic fully yet.


WHAT I THINK

Of the exercises listed above, I like H.I.T. for the overall benefit however it is the least functional in terms of learning proper movement patterns if done on a stationary bike. The burpee is an issue for people who don't have good core stability. The jump back in the burpee can be too much strain on the lower back for people with weak core muscles. And walking is great but shouldn't really be counted as exercise (there's my very opinionated outlook coming out). It should just be a regular part of our lives, not counted as something 'extra' and it won't help people hang onto lean body mass especially in the upper body. Of course anything is better than nothing!

None of the exercises above talked about how important it is for people to fix postural issues and work on upper body musculature. We are evolving into hunched forward humans given the amount of time we clock at computers and in cars. It is essential that people build up back muscles to hold their bodies up. The issues from rounded shoulders and overly curves thoracic spines are numerous and can truly interfere with quality of life. The pain I've seen people suffer from in their neck and shoulders stop people from sleeping at night, prevent them from being able to pick up their kids and severely limit them from doing the simplest things in life.

So I would like to nominate the...drum roll please...

SQUAT WITH CABLE ROW





With this exercise, you will get all the benefits of a squat but also work most of the upper body musculature as well. Plus it takes total concentration and coordination to do it properly and it will get your heart rate up like in H.I.T. because your whole body is engaged. And it will help fix posture by working the posterior chain (i.e. back) and your core has to be engaged or you will fall forward.

The squat cable row involves:

Starting in a squat position with arms extended (the weight shouldn't rested on the weight stack) and then using your core to stay grounded and not allowing the weight of the cable to pull you forward, you exhale and pull the cable while straightening your legs. Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top of the movement, keeping the shoulders down and squeeze your glutes and add a little kegel at the top.

If you don't quite get it, just come to a class at Urbanfitt and I'll show it to you!!!

Don't overdo it gals or you might fry your brain: new study out of U of T

There is much debate about what amount of exercise is optimal for women. Many people think more is always better. I'm not of that mindset. Anyone who knows my philosophy knows that I'm not pro long duration exercise like marathon training or triathalons especially for women who are already burnt out, under slept or just plain chronically stressed.

What we do very well at Urbanfitt is maximize the time spent exercising to make it efficient. We only have a certain number of energy points to spend on fitness without starting to tip the scales out of balance. Optimal health is really about balance after all.

Eating well but not being obsessive compulsive about food. Finding a way to mindfully eat without becoming anxious.

Getting fit without depleting our energy or making it impossible to sleep at night.

Working out with focus without pushing past what is safe and always ensuring to give our bodies lots of love after a challenging workout.

SO MORE IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER!

And a study just released out of U of T confirms this.

Apparently, women who spend too much time exercising might be putting their future mental function at risk. Let's be honest. Most people don't exercise enough so this isn't a major concern for 95% of the population.

But women trying to clock more and more time exercising or training at high intensities ought to listen up.

"Many studies have found that exercise protects the brain, but until now no study has compared different intensities of exercise. Mary Tierney, a professor of family and community medicine at U of T, became especially interested in that link after reading about a study where intense physical activity reduced women’s risk of breast cancer – by depleting their estrogen levels.
Estrogen, Tierney knew, protects the brain against cognitive decline. Could highly active women be depressing their estrogen levels enough to have a detectable impact on their cognitive well-being?

Tierney, who is also a senior scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute, recruited 90 healthy post-menopausal women and asked about the amount and intensity of their physical activity throughout their adult life, in 10-year periods up to menopause. Strenuous activities included swimming laps, aerobic exercise, playing racquetball and running. Moderate activities included brisk walking, golfing, cycling on street level and playing softball. Tierney and her colleagues calculated the number of hours a week that each woman engaged in both strenuous and moderate activity, in exactly the way the breast cancer study had done.

Then the researchers tested the women on six neuropsychological tests. One, the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, requires a subject to listen to a list of 15 simple words five times. Then, after reading a list of 15 other words just once, the subject is asked to recall the words from the first list. The test is highly predictive of Alzheimer’s disease up to 10 years in advance. “Women with the highest levels of strenuous exercise did the most poorly,” says Tierney.
Many active women refuse to believe the results. They feel at their peak when running marathons and tearing up the squash court. “But these results raise the concern that a lot of strenuous exercise may not be good for women,” says Tierney.

Read full article from U of T Magazine

All I can say is this is yet another reason to exercise efficiently. More isn't always better. Clearly, any activities that involve us over doing it aren't good for us. So pick your activity based on what will give you the biggest bang for your time and energy butt. And for those obsessive exercisers who don't know how to take a day off, maybe being healthy for you means learning how to chill.

I feel a little concerned posting this. I can see lazy ladies using this as an excuse not to sweat. But again, the results of this study probably don't apply to you. It's a depressing fact, but the majority of the population isn't active at all. Zilch. So by spreading this study, I hope I'm not giving anyone another excuse not to exercise.

REPORTING FROM COMPLAINT FREE MONDAY

I promised to report back honestly. Oh yes I did.

Seems I did worse than most other people except my friend Max who really did deserve to complain today so he should be forgiven completely.

I knew I needed a little complaint detox!!! I am generally a grateful person and I've consciously decided to work on being more grateful. I voice how I feel. I think it's important not to keep things pent up, repressed and waiting to jump out at inopportune times. But I knew I needed to learn to keep some things to myself!

So here's how today went:

I started the day with a serene breakfast, no rushing around to get out the door. I saw one of my oldest clients (not in age but in length of time training together...10 years in fact!). She normally gripes a lot while working out but she too had joined the challenge. Within 15 minutes of starting our session guess who complained? That was at 10:25

ME!

It was about not being booked up with clients today. Instead of focusing on her I griped about what I didn't have. Bad move Jane.

Then within the same session at 11:10 I said something about how parents can be boastful and how that was annoying. Now you might be thinking was she actually working out during her session or just listening to me blah blah blah. You can ask her tomorrow how sore she is. Yes we always work hard.

Next complaint came while I was driving to get my daughter from school at 3:18. I was trying to get too much done making changes to the Urbanfitt website and left just a few minutes late. Someone driving a Lexus in front of me was letting everyone and their grandma pass in front of him/her. I said, "Could you just give me break already!"

My last complaint of the day was tonight over dinner with my friend Ilana around 7:15. I can't remember what it was but it was something trivial.

So I owe $20 to the Food Bank. I must confess. I actually thought I was going to owe closer to $100 so despite not fairing as well against others in this challenge, I did do better than I thought I would.

I like the way it made me feel. Catching myself before letting something out of my mouth that goes against my philosophy about life was empowering. Made me feel like I was being more conscious about my reactions to things around me.

I still firmly believe in communicating both positive and negative emotions. Stuffing them down is like holding back a sneeze. We might implode. However, choosing to let go of trivial and petty complaints sure does clear up psychic room for more good stuff.

COMPLAINT FREE DAY - Monday April 4th

When I got back from Berlin last week and was welcomed by the snow storm, I was not at all happy about it. Everyone around me heard about how freakin' cold it was for days. Many of us of were right pissed off about the delay of Spring although yesterday and today have brought some hope!

Last night I was having dinner with Victoria and she was telling me about a mutual friend who got a very interesting assignment from her therapist - DON'T COMPLAIN FOR AN ENTIRE DAY. Our friend was very surprised by how difficult it was but was also inspired to continue working on limiting her complaining after the exercise. Apparently, it had a major impact.

I was thinking about it. I had just come back from an amazing travel experience and just started bitching about the weather instead of focusing on exercising my gratitude muscles more. I was and am grateful for the opportunity to get away but I really should have just zipped the complaining altogether. I see clients with cancer and other serious disease. Why waste my life complaining about weather, something totally out of my control.

Surely, the mere activity of complaining must set off negative reactions in my brain and body. Maybe a well worn path like complaining needs a dramatic action to shut it down. We truly can rewire our brains just like we can change our bodies, through mindfulness, effort and intention. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that expressing negative emotions = complaining. I am by no means saying to stuff the shit deep down in our beings. I'm just saying that if there is one area in your life you find yourself constantly being pissed off about, why not decide to stop feeding it with more crappy feelings. It could be an annoying work mate, neighbor, or ex-spouse that you are letting suck up your vital energy. Or maybe it's feeling stuck in a job or a house. Inevitably, we are going to only make things worse if we don't turn our attention to creating hope, taking action and refocusing on what we should be grateful for.

So I'm going to put my money where my mouth is. I'm going to designate Monday April 4th as a COMPLAINT FREE DAY for me and invite you to join me. From the minute I open my eyes to the minute I go to sleep.

For every complaint I 'accidentally' make, I'm going to donate $5 to the Food Bank. The people needing those services have something to complain about, like poverty and malnutrition.

I will report back, honestly, and let you know how it went and how much money I owe.

If you're going to join me, let me know! Email me at help@urbanfitt.com or post something below.

Let's see how hard this might be and let's do it together!

My super simple guide to eating out and not gaining weight

Just got back from Berlin. Feeling a little mushy because I haven't been sweating the way I normally do the last couple weeks. I stayed true to my not gaining weight while traveling guide, cross my heart. I ate out a lot and didn't deny myself the pleasure of trying whatever food I wanted. You only live once and I don't want to regret not eating that amazing strudel I saw in the outdoor market or regret not going back a second time to have some of the BEST baclava I've ever had (even though the guy was grumpy as hell). I didn't gain weight. Tada!

Which brings me to the subject of this post. One of my clients is constantly entertaining guests because of her work and because she has a giant network of wonderful friends who live internationally. She said "I have to stop eating out for a while. I've gained weight."

I nodded and paused. "Uh ha. Do you think you're ever going to stop entertaining the way you do? You're going to continue entertaining right? You're going to have to eat out a lot forever?"

"Well yes but I also drink wine when I'm out," she said.

I asked, "Do you finish everything on your plate? When you drink wine do you still eat simple starches?"

She said, "Well...yes I do. I grew up at a different time than you did."

"Well why don't you just start leaving something on your plate and stop when you're full. Stop ordering food that isn't healthy or just limit how much of the crap you eat. And if you know you're going to drink more wine, don't have any white stuff like bread or pasta."

Problem solved. Eating out doesn't mean gaining weight. Eating too much beyond what is full does whether you're home or whether you're at a restaurant. Crap is crap no matter where you eat it and full is full whether you're at home or at a restaurant.

Got it? It's so simple it hurts.

Highlights from Berlin so far...

I love traveling. I want to meet people, see new things and challenge myself to change the way I think about the world. Of course, I observe people's lifestyle behaviours and compare them to home. It's what I do for work. It's hard to shut it off.

People are generally not as overweight in Berlin as they are pretty much everywhere else I've been.
It could be chalked up to the fact that most people don't drive and instead walk or take public transit. People I've met also seem to eat a lot of whole foods, not processed. That could be about the demographic of the people I know here or not. Although there are some fast food places around, they certainly aren't as plentiful as in Toronto.

Anyone curious about visiting Berlin really ought to just come. Whatever I write won't do it justice.

But here is a list of highlights so far:

1) Visited Cold War bunker in the ghetto which included an underground hospital, decontamination room, underground theatre space and a bunker that was used during the famous Air Bridge of 1949
2) Best apricot crumble of my life around the corner from where I'm staying
3) Best vietnamese food in XBerg
4) First trip to Hamam in XBerg, kids in tow. Got full on body scrub down

5) Check Point Charlie Museum, thanks Amanda

6) Visit to cafeteria in the middle of government building (by accident). Appreciated perfectly clean washrooms
7) Neues Museum - favourite thing...Egyptian gold rings
8) Bought two pairs of MC Hammer pants AKA Harem pants - you can kiss my arss if you think they look funny
9) Dinner with three sociologists and ate a delicious dinner in an amazing old apartment
10) Outdoor market where I found the best hat I've ever had on my head

11) Checking out bullet holes everywhere
12) Visit to the Berlin Zoo - Knut the polar bear died while we were there. Heard a lion roar for the first time in person
13) Got lost and found on the public transit system many times and always got help from nice people
14) Grafitti art everywhere and it just fits
15) Amazing Turkish food at a Hasir location
16) Cocktail at the Green Door where we had to get buzzed in
17) Blackberry streudel in outdoor market that was so fresh
18) Haunting Jewish memorial statue

19) Observing Freedom for Libya demonstration

20) Not stepping into a gym for an entire week so far but walking everywhere and getting fresh, sometimes frigid, air
21) Upgrade to first class on the plane after experienced motion sickness and getting a sponge bath from the flight attendant
22) Saw my first flowers of 2011 springing up from the ground


Three more days to go!

How to stay fit while traveling

I'm about to head to the airport to catch a flight to Berlin. I was thinking about my plan to keep on feeling good while I'm away. I may or may not check out some gyms which is always an interesting cultural education. But I have things I automatically do to stay fit and healthy while I'm away. Most people dread gaining weight on a trip. I actually rarely gain weight while I'm away with the exception of my 4 month European adventure during university. That could have been due to a tight budget requiring copious amounts of baguette and cheese eating and maybe a little too much wine drinking.

I thought I'd share some of my secrets for being able to fully enjoy travel while avoiding weight gain and a loss of overall fitness. Life is too short to feel like we have to undo the effects of a vacation. Kind of misses the point of going away for a break or adventure doesn't it.

1) I eat whatever I want, I just don't eat too much.

I love trying new food and drink. It's a big part of why I enjoy travel. I don't deprive myself of the gift of food and the sensuality that accompanies enjoying it. I just don't over eat. Plain and simple. I stop before I'm full because I know it takes time for us to register we are full. I eat regularly and don't skip meals.

2) I walk everywhere.

I will avoid taking the metro if it means I get to walk through an interesting neighborhood. This is a no brainer.

3) I bring a heavy resistant stretch band.

One of the things I hate giving up while traveling is working my back and core. You can hit every major muscle group with bodyweight training (i.e. no equipment) except our backs. I'm very serious about good posture and alignment and love feeling tall and strong. So I do at least 2 strength training workouts a week while away that last about 30 minutes.

If you want an example of an equipment free workout you could do anywhere, check out a video of me on The Kit. There's one full body workout and one core workout.

4) I stretch

Sitting on a plane for long periods and walking a lot can create sore hip flexors and tighten up different muscles in the entire body. I take five minutes at the end of a travel day to do some basic stretching for my glutes, hip flexors and spine.

5) I don't leave assuming I'm going to gain weight

This is the biggest one. Most people assume they will gain weight while on vacation. I don't. We can taste food without stuffing ourselves like pigs. If I'm full, I leave leftover food on my plate. I hate feeling bloated. How is that fun?

6) I use vacations as an opportunity to catch up on sleep

We need vacations to recharge psychologically and physically. Albeit I might have a couple late nights during my trip to Berlin, I respect the need to restore our energy reserves. I love naps while on vacation or even just laying down and reading. I don't over plan my days so that I come back wiped out. One of the best ways to stop storing fat on our tummies is to bring our cortisol (stress hormone) levels down. Vacations should be about destressing.

So there are some of my staying fit while traveling tips. Just remember, fun doesn't have to involve gluttony. And overeating just isn't sexy at home or on vacation. Remember there is no falling off the wagon and getting back on it in terms of health and fitness. Stop thinking there is a wagon at all.

Gotta go! Whoot hoot!