Great video 23 and 1/2 - With a few important quotes from the researcher!

This week Cris and Marla will be at the UW Medical Center giving a talk to the staff on "Motivation and Fitness."  We also found a great video online about fitness, "23 and half" a few items to keep in mind while watching this. 


An important quote below from the research Dr. Mike Evans is referring to in his video:


"We've studied this from many perspectives in women and in men and we get the same answer: It's not the obesity—it's the fitness."
-Steven Blair, P.E.D., Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research, 2004

"Groundbreaking work on fitness and weight has been done by [epidemiologist Steven] Blair and colleagues at the Cooper Institute. They have shown that the advantages of being fit are striking and that people can be fit even if they are fat … and thus have lowered risk of disease. A remarkable finding is that heavy people who are fit have lower risk than thin people who are unfit."
-Dr. Kelly Brownell, Director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders, 2003

2012 Tweaking Resolutions: The NEW 5 - Steps to Improved Fitness!

#1 Don't make your exercise plan contingent on what you weigh -Studies show it's the exercise not the weight loss that is making you healthier. Injuries and just plain quitting, are the two biggest reasons people end up back on the couch. Make your exercise plan easy.

#2  Use a heart rate monitor for biofeedback -With this simple piece of technology you can easily learn how to see your progress in real fitness terms, not in pant size. 

#3  Talk Nice To Yourself - When it comes to motivation, nothing stops forward movement cold like harsh criticism. So talk nice to yourself and praise small baby steps toward your goal. Time plus consistent, slow progress wins the race. Especially when the finish line is health (good physical and good mental health).

#4  Start slow - It only takes a 12 minutes of walking a day to make a long term difference in health!


#5 Have Fun - Everything is better when it's fun. Remember what it was like to go outside and just play at being active?  All Activities count! Tag your it!

Experience Life Magazine Blog on Ramping up your Fitness- Mentions "Fresh Off the Couch"

"If you’ve been meaning to ramp up your fitness efforts but just haven’t quite gotten around to it, or if you’ve started exercising but don’t know where to go from here, this is the book for you. Authors Fields and Kessler first present a “Cognitive Fitness” program designed to get both your brain and body on board, whatever size and shape that body happens to be. Then they ease you into a smart, strategic, doable exercise program that builds your motivation and strength in equal measure. Making expert-level strategies like heart-rate and interval training accessible to a beginner audience, Fields and Kessler are serious about helping you upgrade your fitness for good — for the real-life reasons that matter to you. They don’t just cheer you on with a bunch of “you can do it” encouragements, they teach you how and why to use a heart monitor, pack a gym bag, and schedule plenty of rest and rewards into your routine. Each chapter ends with a seven-day chart to help you map your progress in its particular area. Whether you’re actually stuck on the couch or just stuck in a pattern of exercise resistance, this guide will help clear the cranial roadblocks and help you have a good time getting fit. " Experience Life Magazine
http://experiencelife.com/article/fresh-off-the-couch/

To Live Longer & Healthier - Focus on Fitness, NOT Weight - Says new study

A new study reported in this week's issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Medical Association  concluded that people can worry less about their weight as long as they continue to maintain or increase fitness levels.  Which is good news for those who are  physically active but have trouble losing weight.  Researchers say fitness pays off in a lower risk of premature death, regardless of weight.

"To reach that conclusion, researchers in the U.S. studied the fitness levels of 14,345 participants using treadmill tests over six years. After more than 11 years of follow-up, those who maintained or improved their fitness levels lived longer, regardless of whether the numbers on the scale stayed the same or even went up, the researchers said."  In an article from  cbc news the study's lead researcher went on to say,

"Given the great difficulties of losing weight and maintaining a reduced weight over the long term, this study underscores the benefits of maintaining and improving fitness to reduce mortality risk independent of weight change," said the study's lead researcher, Duck-chul Lee, a physical activity epidemiologist in the department of exercise science at the University of South Carolina.

"You can worry less about your weight as long as you continue to maintain or increase your fitness levels," he added. 

"In conclusion, maintaining or improving fitness is associated with a lower risk of premature deaths from all-causes and cardiovascular disease in men," the study's authors wrote.

To live longer and healthier lives increased attention needs to be placed on strategies to maintain or improve fitness. and moving the focus away from weight loss. 

Studies get closer to understanding how exercise benefits the Brain

A recent article from the New York Times Health Section by GRETCHEN REYNOLDS  outlines how recent studies have new evidence that short bursts of intense exercise may increase a  protein known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, in the brain.  BDNF is known to promote the health of nerve cells in the brain.   One recent study in Ireland suggests that increases in BDNF prompted by exercise may play a particular role in improving memory and recall. 
Reynolds article went on to describe a recent experiment involving aging pilots. "The experiment, published last month in the journal Translational Psychiatry, scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine asked 144 experienced pilots ages 40 to 65 to operate a cockpit simulator three separate times over the course of two years. For all of the pilots, performance declined somewhat as the years passed. A similar decline with age is common in all of us. Many people find it more difficult to perform skilled tasks — driving an automobile, for instance –  as they grow older, says Dr. Ahmad Salehi, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford and lead author of the study. "

" These aging pilots carried a common genetic variation that is believed to reduce BDNF activity in their brains. The men with a genetic tendency toward lower BDNF levels seemed to lose their ability to perform complicated tasks at almost double the rate of the men without the variation.

While the pilot experiment wasn’t an exercise study, it does raise the question of whether strenuous exercise could slow such declines by raising BDNF levels, thereby salvaging our ability to perform skilled manual tasks well past middle age.

“So many studies have shown that exercise increases levels of BDNF,” says Dr. Salehi. While he notes that other growth factors and body chemicals are “upregulated” by exercise, he believes BDNF holds the most promise.

“The one factor that shows the fastest, most consistent and greatest response is BDNF,” he says. “It seems to be key to maintaining not just memory but skilled task performance.”

Dr. Salehi plans next to examine the exercise histories of the pilots, to see whether those with the gene variant, which is common among people of European or Asian backgrounds, respond differently to workouts.

In people who have the variant and less BDNF activity, “exercise is probably even more important,” he says. “But for everyone, the evidence is very, very strong that physical activity will increase BDNF levels and improve cognitive health."

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/how-exercise-benefits-the-brain/?smid=tw-nytimeshealth&seid=auto

Today is the day! Major Heart Zone Conference To The Max!

Cris and Marla will be in downtown Seattle  - Busting Fitness Myths for  Personal Trainers, Health Professionals and Fitness Enthusiasts! It's All weekend long- the conference is Packed to the Max!
If you have all ready signed up - We will see you there!

For More info about the Heart Zone Conference  go to www.heartzones.com

Work Smarter not Harder-And Get All the benefits of fitness! Heart Zones Conference Nov 4-6th

Heart Zones Conference 2011  Seattle - Nov. 4th - 6th  Special Pricing for the EveryBody track!

       Here’s just a small sample of what’s at the conference!

• Meet with Sally Edwards Spokesperson Trek & Danskin Tri Series - Silver medalist -World Ironman Competition
• Choose from a great list of classes: Zoning - Indoor Cycling- Running- Walking - Nutrition - Kettle bells-Using your Heart Rate Monitor to Full Advantage-Create a Smarter Fitness plan-Set Goals - Key Note speakers-Bond with friends & trainers After Hours/Social Gatherings and more!   * $80 Blink Heart Rate Monitor Included!

 Spots are limited.  CEU/Contact hrs avail. for RN's- PT's -Social Workers and Personal Trainers

Register at www.heartzones.com today!       Direct link to conference: http://conta.cc/q13eK6