Friday, July 2, 2010

Taking it outside


By CONNIE ARONSON

Sidewalk cafes are a beloved part of summer, especially when summers are much too short. While in Montreal recently, I read that restaurant owners were paying hefty fees to have their tables spill out onto the sidewalks. Who would blame them for trying to fight the red tape that could prevent a true-blooded Canadian from dining outside in a gorgeous city on a summer night? Winters are brutally cold.

Meanwhile, it hasn't been that hot here in Idaho this spring, and now we all want to just get outside and play. We could hike Baldy or ride Fox Creek, go to a lake or just sit outside at our favorite restaurant. The point is that going to the gym this summer might not be high on your priorities. Don't feel guilty, though, because you can still build muscle and prevent weight gain with basic strength moves that you can do anywhere—outside, off a trail, waiting for your dog if it's older, in your yard or by a park bench.

Most of us want to burn brightly with vitality throughout our lives. There is no better way to ensure vitality than by keeping the engines of the body, our muscles, strong. If you never strength train, you can lose four to six pounds of muscle per decade as you age. This unnoticed loss of muscle may be the biggest contributor to lowered resting metabolic rates of 2 to 3 percent per decade. Though eating less keeps your weight down, it cannot reduce the rate of muscle loss. It is more likely that muscle loss and metabolic slowdown are the culprits in fat gain.

The good news is that you can be proactive without a huge time commitment. While 95 percent of Americans find the American College of Sports Medicine's recommendation of five days a week of regular exercise to be daunting, a basic and brief strength-training circuit, twice a week—the minimum ACSM training protocol for muscular development—works. Studies show that previously inactive adults, simply by adding strength training to their week, increased their lean weight (muscle) by 4.5 pounds and their resting metabolism rate by about 7 percent. If, for example, your resting metabolic rate is 1,500 calories per day, you could potentially use 100 calories per day more, which over a year is a 10-pound fat loss. Researchers at Wayne State University propose that muscle repair and remodeling processes that follow a challenging training session may explain the resting metabolic rate increases.

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Strength training also plays an important role with respect to blood pressure, blood lipid profiles, vascular conditions, bone mineral density, post-coronary function, arthritis, low back pain and depression. There are psychological benefits as well. Studies using the Exercise-Induced Feeling Inventory before and after a single training session showed that participants had significant improvements in the categories of positive engagement, revitalization, tranquility and physical exhaustion. They felt more purposefully engaged and energetic and less troubled and tired.

Try one or two of these moves for your legs, chest and arms, or core. My co-trainers and I will be here, at the gym, dreaming up ways to keep you interested, if you're in the neighborhood.

Surrender Squat

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, arms out to the side, as if in surrender, with elbows behind your back, and hands by your ears, gently squeezing the shoulders back. Engage your core and abdominal muscles and maintain this contraction throughout the exercise. Push your hips backward as you lower your gluts toward 90 degrees, as if you were to sit on a low bench. Keep your heels down. Hold this position for 30 seconds, raise your arms for five more seconds, and return to a full standing position as you bring your arms back to prisoner arms. Repeat seven times. On the eighth repetition, bend more in the ankles and knees, maintaining a strong stretch of the arms, and bring the spine up more toward vertical.

Walkover push-up

Begin in a high push-up plank position with hands on a railing or fence. Feet are hip-width apart. Lower into a push-up, straighten your arms, and walk left hand to right hand, so they are narrow, by your ribs. Lower into a push-up again, with the emphasis on hands right beside your ribs to work your triceps. Complete the narrow push-up, and hand-walk back left. Perform a push-up. Continue the crossover push-up for 35 seconds. If you can't complete the time frame, hold the push-up plank position for the remainder of the time. On the last one, hold push-up plank and extend one arm forward, thumb up for 10 seconds. Repeat four to five times.

Glute marching bridge

On your back, feet hip-width apart, lift your hips up into a bridge, toes up. Lift your chest and roll your shoulders back. Keeping your gluts very tight and your hips lifted, lift one leg up as in a march. Hold for two seconds, and alternate the legs, lifting as if in a march. Repeat for one minute.

Connie Aronson is a Ketchum-based health fitness specialist and personal trainer.




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