Why Weight Train?

This past Monday I was standing outside the classroom with my peers during a short break.  I was telling them that I had a meeting after this class, before my next class at 1 pm  which would last until my last class at 4pm.  In other words, I was not going to have the one hour 12 -1 window to get in my weight training during the day.  I would have to go at the end of the day.
One of the women, who is in a different program (human development and family studies) than I (public health) said and asked, "You lift weights?"  "Why would you do that?"
 It was a serious question.  She is a young woman, in her mid to late 20s and she was raised in another country but I do not know much about the culture there.  I imagined that she asked me those questions because her country does not make as big a deal about health promotion and physical activity as some countries do, but I do not know that for sure.  I do know that she sounded genuinely surprised.

My quick list of reasons was:
to be stronger
to prevent osteoporisis
to improve balance
to increase the chance of healthy active aging

And one of my friends added:
to increase muscle mass which is more metabolically active than fat mass(well, I am not sure that is how she said it, but you get the idea - burn more calories)

This all reminds me that I do have a website which, though woefully in need of an update, has some good fitness information.  It has a section on strength training that you might find helpful.   You can visit it here.

SWOOOOOSH!

I hope that I can do this story justice, as it must be told.  No one was really there to see it – what a waste.  It is a funny story.  It isn’t about disease prevention directly, but I suppose it qualifies indirectly.  It is a story about what happened when I went running yesterday morning – and running is exercise and exercise is medicine and the fountain of youth so let’s dig in:

On Friday, I needed to get up and complete my run before a meeting on campus at 11am.  I wanted to run about six miles and was considering trying an amended route.  I had explored this on USATF running routes to make sure it would be about right and I would not get lost.  I was looking forward to the run because we have been having some unusual weather here in Greensboro NC.  It has been very cold (for me, for NC), and I have run in hats, gloves and tights in 25* weather but it has also been in the 40*s and even higher.  It also has rained often, but I have managed to work my run days around that.  I keep a steady eye on the weather, as I had Thursday evening.  And the expectation was a near 60 degree morning for Friday!  Crazy, I know.  I had put out running shorts and a tee shirt the night before as I had not run in shorts since my December visit to Florida. 

I was ALL set.

The first thing that went wrong was my GPS watch – but I didn’t know that until later.  Instead, as I awakened with my coffee and the news, I was confused because the rain showers from the night before had not exactly ended.  It was not raining, but storms or showers were still possible for the next hour or so.  Of course, I could not wait – I had a meeting.  I vacillated, but I could not stay undecided for long.  The weatherman was saying that the temperature would be moderate all day, but would be dropping, not rising.  I finally decided to go out.  Thinking, I can always turn around if it does start to storm ( I say, and never do).

As I started running, in my shorts(!), my watch failed.  “Oh, bother.”  I did not want to run the new route without my tracking device, but I was fine.  I chose another way.  About ¼ of a mile into my run, it began to rain.  Not heavy and it was not cold.  About one mile out, well, it was raining pretty hard.  At about two miles, it stopped and the sun came out.  It rained again later, but at about mile five, when I was almost done, it seemed that the rain was all past.  I smiled.  I was proud of myself for sticking with it.  The day would be even better because I had gone on this run.  I had even run a little faster than usual (it was raining and a bit chilly after all).

So here I came into the home stretch.  Of course, this was not the first time I ran in the rain, heaven’s no.  And certainly it was not the worst rain I have run in.  Not on purpose, but I have gotten caught in storms so bad I was certain to meet ‘my maker’ with a lightning bolt. I have run into and through puddles that came half way up my shins.  And I have chosen to start a 13 mile run in a very heavy downpour in Florida (no thunder and lightning then - though).  I have run when it was cold enough to freeze my face and another time, when ice cycles formed on my gloves (I knew because I heard a funny sound and it was the rubbing of the ice on my stomach as my arms and hands moved back and forth).  I have run in wind gusts that pushed me backwards.  Oh YES – ' - insert chest thumping ' – I AM a RUNNER.

But I had NEVER experienced what was about to happen at mile 5 of my Friday 6 mile run…

I came around the corner which had me back on same traveled ground – if that makes sense.  Can’t show you the map because the watch wasn’t working. But here is a similar map.

I had run up one road, crossed over so I ran back on a parallel road and then came back across at an under pass.  So that the first and last mile were on the same roads – get it?

I crossed the street at the light, and in the glory I described above, went back under the bridge (see where the lines reconnect) and as I did so….. cars were in both lanes going West past me (I was on the sidewalk).  The car in the nearest lane to me hit a puddle that literally gushed over me from Feet to Face – drenched as though a tidal wave had hit me.  I was totally engulfed in the water, and I squealed out loud. I don’t think the driver caught it, but the lady in the outer lane sure did.  It was PRICELESS.  My shirt and shorts, everything was plastered to my body, to the left side of my body - because of torquing water flow.  The splash went directly into my face as well.  

Of course I kept running!!  About a ¼ mile after that, because I had no running buddy to say it for me, out loud I exclaimed, “THAT was Awesome!!”

The work that has kept me busy today is not something that lends itself well to blogging - so instead I will talk about weight training, sometimes called strength training or even personal training.  I refer to my own routine in this post.
As previously mentioned, I prefer to do a full body workout (meaning all muscle groups in one session) twice a week.  Research that I have read from the American College of Sports Medicine supports this method as one of several that is effective for increasing muscle strength and size.  Also supported by the ACSM, is my penchant for fewer reps and higher weights.  Lastly, one should rest between muscle training days and recent studies suggest that 48 hours between workouts (of the same muscles) is ideal.
The information that I have just referred to can be read in this edition of the ACSMs Certified News from 2010.
I had been doing the same routine on both days - Monday and Thursday (which are also the days that I swim).  Recently I began doing the same routine 4 times in a row.  I was using too many creative thinking cells and I think 4x in a row is not too many at all.  That means I am switching the routine every two weeks and my muscles will not become immune to the workout (you have GOT to switch it up).  I have also been increasing the load on my biceps and am pretty pleased with that.
Today was the third time I did this routine:
Bicep pyramid hammer curls (weights go up, reps go down - 10 lbs 12x, 12 lbs 10x, 15 lbs 8x and back down)
Squats with a lunge (you can see this move and me here)
Triceps push down traditional and bent over extension 
(both with a rope attachment)
Squats with the Smith Machine (2 sets)
Seated chest flies with a cable machine
Abdominal crunches (with a machine)
Lateral pull down and low row (for the back)
[but I was sitting on the floor and using a different type of cable machine for the low row]
Another set of the squat lunges
Shoulder rows and overhead presses (with 8 lb dumbbells)
That's all - plus the swimming and riding my bicycle to school :) 

It was very cool to be able to use the ExRX website to give you an idea of what my exercises looked like.  I think it is the best place to go for information, education and visual descriptions.  But do be careful not to click on any of the ads that come on the free website.

Physical Activity after and during Cancer Treatment

In my last post, I referred to the American College of Sports Medicine's exercises recommendations for persons who are in cancer treatment or who are post cancer treatment.  The goal of the exercise programs is to improve cardiorespiratory fitness or CR.  CR is a measure of the body's ability to transport oxygen.  When we breathe oxygen in, it is sent to our cells, tissues, organs etc. Oxygen is basically a fuel and nutrient for our cells.  Enhanced transport is essential.
With regard to the exercise recommendations, what struck me as most important was not that the goal should be 30 minutes of cardiovascular activity a day- such as walking - five days a week, but the sentence that followed.  

This should be considered the minimum level you need to set as a goal for your post-cancer treatment rehabilitation exercise program.

There were a couple of other statements in the article that are worth repeating here.

Being physically active may prevent the risk of cancer recurrence for cancer survivors. 

And

...one of the primary objectives is to return CR fitness to pre-cancer levels post therapy and in many cases, increase it beyond pre-cancer diagnosis. (in other words, get the person at a level of fitness that is greater than the level they had prior to becoming ill)

A list of benefits that can be achieved is listed in the article.  It is not yet available on line, but includes increased muscle strength, muscle mass, quality of life, sleep, decreased anxiety and depression, decreased symptoms from treatment, increased energy and vigor, decreased physiological markers of disease, like insulin resistance and inflammation and the best one - as stated in the opening of this post - decreased risk of cancer recurrence.

As I said, the article is not yet available for on line viewing, but you can click on this link to see the ACSM's press release on the guidelines, which was released about a year ago.

We have come such a long way from the frail cancer patient who was encouraged to eat, and who often died during the course of treatment.  Now we have the one who is encouraged to eat well, monitor their weight and  keep moving.