Five Quick & Easy Fitness Opportunities You're Missing Out On

If achieving greater preventive health and fitness was as easy as a few minutes per day, then wouldn't you take those few extra minutes to improve yourself and reduce risk for debilitating disease?

Below are five quick and easy ways to make yourself healthier and more energetic, with a very small time commitment:

#5.  Perform 30-60 seconds of a front plank exercise.

This exercise is rarely contraindicated for those of normalized blood pressure and spinal health, making it a generally safe, effective method of improving core muscles, balance, and posture.  Please breathe regularly while you hold this position, and be sure to check with your physician to be certain that there are no health concerns regarding this or any other exercise.

#4.  Divide your bodyweight (in lbs) by two.  This number is, roughly, your recommended amount of daily water intake (in ounces).  On days of heavy sweating, high juice or tea intake, or prolonged cardiovascular or strength training, then this number should be much higher.

#3.  Stretch your major muscles any time that you can -- during phone calls, television time, or whenever you find yourself available to perform  some stretching.  Twenty seconds or longer is usually sufficient for improving joint and muscular health and flexibility.  This may even help you to prevent muscle aches and cramps, and to sleep more soundly.

#2.  Consume green teas, green vegetables, beans, and other high-anti-oxidant foods and drinks.  Just adding one more serving to each day can make a tremendous difference in your health and wellness.

And the #1 easy fitness opportunity to aim for each day:  Devote more time to cardiovascular training!  Just 20 minutes per day is often sufficient for greatly reducing risks for heart failure, stroke, and heart attack.  If twenty minutes per day isn't attainable for you, then keep in mind that even five or six minutes each day is helpful at improving long-term cardiac function, and will burn roughly forty to eighty calories for most people.

There you have it!  As always, we recommend consulting a top-certified and degreed Perfect Personal Trainer for specific, personalized exercise science and nutrition.  Have a great Easter weekend!

Is BMI Obsolete?

Hello, faithful readers!

This may be our most important post of the last year -- especially for those of you with an unhealthy body composition.  We encourage you to read this posting and respond with questions or comments, as the information below may help revolutionize the medical approach to weight management.

Since PPT's inception, we've declared that the Body Mass Index (BMI) is an inaccurate method of evaluating one's risk for fat-related disease.  Our reasoning?  BMI does not determine any difference between a person's fat weight and lean tissue.  This means that if you were to gain ten pounds of hard-earned muscle while losing ten pounds of excess fat, your BMI would stay the exact same, and your doctor would likely tell you that your exercise efforts were not paying off in terms of fat loss.  Imagine that... You lose fat, gain muscle, and then hear that your BMI hasn't improved.  You'd be making tremendous progress, but you'd be likely to become discouraged from a lack of understanding.  Unlike our methods of body composition assessment (also called body fat percentage assessment), The BMI is a simple system that looks at fat, bone, water and muscle as all falling into one category:  weight.

The medical community has continued to rely on the BMI because of it's simplicity and ease.  And, for non-exercisers, it has some merit (until they begin exercising and gaining muscle, at which point it becomes misleading).  From its inception the Body Mass Index has been questioned for its numerous flaws, and other quick and easy means have been evaluated.  But finally, researchers from the University of Michigan seem to have something on the horizon that is just as simple, but that illustrates a more accurate assessment of health risk.
After assessing anthropometrics, or body circumferences in more than 1100 children ages 6 to 18, correlations were found between neck circumference and risk for later diseases such as obstructive sleep apnea, diabetes, or high blood pressure.  Whereas abdominal obesity is not taken into account with the BMI scale, it does seem to correlate quite well to these neck circumference measurements, thereby leading the researchers to feel that neck measurement would present a more meaningful value to patients than the BMI.

Neck circumference and risk stratification charts are not currently available, but should become so in the near future. In the meantime, rely on direct measurements of body fat (body composition) with your Perfect Personal Trainer, along with anthropometric measurements to predict risks to health and to assess proper lifestyle modification.

Learn more about your risk factors and the best ways to reduce them!  Call (877)698-DO-IT (3648) to speak with a Perfect Personal Trainer.  We're even happy to schedule a free consultation, right in your home or office, and to evaluate your risk factors for you and your family.

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Lack of Sleep... Slow, Sluggish, & a Bigger Belly?

We at PPT hope you had a safe & happy Mothers' Day!

The effects of sleep duration are gaining more and more attention among wellness professionals. Getting the right quality and quantity of sleep is not only essential to optimizing mental and physical recuperation, it may be essential to preventing obesity.

In a recent study published in the journal Sleep, researchers from Wake Forest University reported that getting less than 5 hours of sleep or more than 8 hours of sleep leads to increased intra-abdominal fat when compared to those who sleep for 6 or 7 hours.

More than 1,000 Americans were interviewed to obtain information on sleep habits, nutrition, physical activity and lifestyle. They also participated in a CT scan, which was used to assess both visceral and subcutaneous abdominal fat. Baseline measurements were then compared to a re-assessment five years later.

Participants who slept less than 5 hours a night experienced a 32% increase in deep abdominal fat over 5 years, while those who averaged more than 8 hours of sleep increased by 22%. Subcutaneous abdominal fat increased similarly.

After factoring in lifestyle factors such as total calorie intake, education levels, physical activity and smoking, sleep duration persisted as an independent risk factor for increased abdominal adiposity, especially in participants under 40.

Researchers offer broad speculation to explain the cause and effect relationship of sleep to fat gain. The primary explanations involved increased daytime fatigue, which limits energy to participate in physical activity. In addition, some believe in the potential for sleep deprivation to inhibit appetite-suppressing hormones, thus leading to overeating.

We hope you found this research to be helpful in your daily decision-making. And, if you're not already taking these supplements, then please do yourself a favor and include them in your daily routine to reduce your family's risk for athersclerosis and other chronic health conditions while battling the effects of aging!




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The TV Workout -- Part Three: Cardiovascular

Hello, Readers!

We have important news for you: The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that cardiovascular exercise be performed at least five days per week for 20-60 minutes at a time. This helps to control blood pressure and cholesterol while promoting a stronger heart and lungs. This form of exercise doesn't have to be boring. Here are some great ways to burn bodyfat and improve cardiorespiratory health while watching movies and TV, right at home:

Marching in Place -- Alternate from one leg to the other, raising your knee up high and maintaining a neutral posture. Do not continue if this causes back pain. You can also step forward and backward with this movement or swing your arms with it for a more intense workout.

Jumping Jacks -- If your knee, hip, and ankle joints are in good health, then consider putting bouts of jumping jacks in your cardiovascular training. You can modify intensity by changing the height of your jumps or the range of movements of your arms or legs.

Kicks -- Stand on one leg and perform repeated kicks with the other. Or, alternate from one leg to the other while you continue. For greater intensity, kick higher or hold your arms out to the side while you kick.

Side Kicks -- Stand on one leg and kick out to your right or left. This is an unusual movement, so attempt it lightly at first. Eventually, you can kick higher and with more force if you are feeling comfortable and not experiencing any knee or hip trouble.

Punching -- Stand with your legs at about shoulder width for a strong base of support. Alternate from one arm to the other as you punch straight in front of you. Do not fully extend your arms at the end of each movement, as it may damage your elbows.

Back Kicks -- Stabilizing your hands on a couch or table, bring one leg back behind you. Act slowly at first, and gradually increase the movement over time.

Jogging in Place -- This is another great way to exercise your cardiovascular system. This may be abrasive, so avoid any heavy stomping and discontinue if your knees or hips feel painful.

We hope this helps! As always, we encourage you to consult your Perfect Personal Trainer with questions, or to call us at (877)698-DO-IT (3648). Stay healthy and strong!