“Rest Day” Benefits & Pitfalls in Your Fitness Program

The best day for most people who exercise is being told they get a rest day! Even as an Exercise Physiologist, this is one of my favorite things to see on my workout calendar. There are many reasons on why we should take a few days to a week (at most) for our bodies to recover. Below are a few examples:

Reasons To Take a Break

• Prevent Over-training
• Allow our Muscles to Repair Themselves
• Help to Prevent “Plateaus”
• Prevent Injuries from Occurring

Taking Advantage of an Exercise Break

As a trainer, however, I dread giving people too many days off because it’s easy to take advantage of the “rest period’. Once you reach a week of no activity your body begins to experience the effects of deconditioning. Deconditioning is defined as reversible changes in the body system brought by physical inactivity and disuse. Here is a timeline of what happens to our body when we stop exercising!

Within 10 Days

Within 10 days of being physically inactive your brain may actually start to change. Research shows a reduction in blood flow to the hippocampus, which is associated with emotion and memory.

Within 2 Weeks

After 14 days you will notice a more difficult time climbing stairs or partaking in sports activities. The reason you start to notice this winded feeling is because your VO2 max can dip about 10% after no activity for 2 weeks. After about 4 weeks it will drop about 15% and after three months it will drop about 20%.

Another study shows people who did about 8 months of resistance and aerobic exercise saw improvements in their blood glucose levels; however, after no activity for 14 days they almost lost half of their blood glucose levels.

Within 4 Weeks

With 4 weeks of inactivity, you will start to notice changes in your muscles. They will become noticeably smaller and weaker. Some people have shown to keep their muscular strength and endurance for longer periods of time; however, the majority of people will realize it’s harder to make that one trip with all the groceries in your trunk!

Within 8 Weeks

This is the time period were you will start noticing physical changes to your body – either by the number on the scale, clothes fitting differently or by simply looking in the mirror.

Whether work, vacation or life in general – sometimes taking a week (or more) off of your exercise routine can’t be avoided. If you do have to take extended time away from your exercise program, try to perform some type of activity to keep your body moving. These activities can be as simple as a light walk, using the hotel gym’s cardio machines, climbing flights of stairs instead of using the elevator, parking your car at the furthest point in the lot or playing some type of sport with family and friends.  Future you will greatly appreciate these decisions when you get back to your fitness routine.

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Bone Loss… What Can Exercise Do?

Bone Loss… What Can Exercise Do?

It is easy to think of our bones as a hard and unchanging aspect of overall health, but bone is actually extremely dynamic. We typically will accrue large amounts of bone mineral density as children and young adults. As we age, bone loss will begin to outpace bone gain, leading to increased risk for osteopenia and osteoporosis. These conditions will put us at greater risk for fracture later in life. The impact of osteoporosis is far-reaching; nearly 1 in 2 women and 1 in 4 men will break a bone because of osteoporosis, accounting for nearly $17-20 billion in healthcare costs and work lost per year (1).  

There are several ways we can promote bone health while attenuating the increased risk for fracture due to osteopenia and osteoporosis. Such ways include changes in diet and pharmacologic therapies.  Exercise is another great way to help attenuate this risk and may actually help accrue small gains in bone mineral density in several ways:

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Celery – A “Negative-Calorie Food?”

Celery, like cucumbers and lettuce, is often considered a “negative-calorie” food. Meaning the the calories burned from eating and digesting celery are greater than the calories it contains. Despite this widely believed diet myth, there is no evidence to support this claim. Nonetheless, celery  is still a low-calorie, high fiber food that is unlikely to halt any weight loss plan.

Nutrition Profile of Celery

Celery may be low in calories, at around 6 calories per medium stalk, but its not lacking in nutrients. Celery is a good source of vitamin K and fiber. It’s also rich in water, and contains a modest amount of vitamin A and potassium. Furthermore, celery contains phytochemicals, which may have antioxidant and anti inflammatory effects. In addition, some researchers believe that eating celery pre-workout may help improve endurance and enhance strength training. While not a concern for most people, those on a low-sodium diet should be aware that a medium stalk contains about 35 milligrams of sodium.

Celery Consumption

The majority of Americans consume celery raw (usually with dips or nut butters) or cooked in soups or roasts. Celery leaves have a bolder flavor than the stalk and may also be used in cooking, along with celery seeds. When choosing celery, look for stalks that are straight and rigid with fresh leaves. To clean, first slice off the stalks from the base. Then strip the leaves off of the stalks and cut the stalks in half. Next, add the cut celery to a glass bowl or container for storage. Finally, add clean water to cover the stalks and fill the container. Seal the container with a lid or plastic wrap and be sure to change the water every day to keep the celery fresh. 

 

Simple Celery Apple Salad

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil with 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice, 1/4 tsp. salt and pepper. Add 2 cups of thinly slices apple (recommend honey crisp or granny smith) and 2 cups of sliced celery. Top with 1/3 cup sliced red onion and fresh parsley and serve.

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Resistance Training to Improve Blood Sugar

Find Out Why Resistance Training Will Help to Fight Your Type 2 Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome

Many of us are very familiar with the positive effects aerobic training can have on blood sugar (glucose) control, but did you know that resistance training can be extremely beneficial as well?  Skeletal muscle is actually a very key site in the body for uptake of glucose from the blood. Contracting muscle can act to influence metabolism in other tissues and organs through secretion of protein communicators called myokines.  One myokine in particular, known as IL-6, helps to increase blood sugar uptake, as well as improve utilization of fat (1, 2, 3).

Another way by which resistance training works to improve blood sugar is through increases in insulin sensitivity (4).  Insulin is a very important hormone that regulates entry of sugar into almost all tissues in our body.  In individuals with “insulin resistance”, our body is releasing high levels of insulin in response to a rise in blood sugar to be able to get this sugar into our cells. Continued, chronic elevations in insulin is associated with not only type 2 diabetes, but hypertension and increased risk for coronary artery disease as well (5).  An individual who is more “insulin sensitive” will be able to use less amounts of insulin to take up the same amount of blood glucose.

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Calcium Scoring : New Cholesterol Treatment Guidelines Recommend Including Heart Scans for Personalized Risk Evaluation

Coronary Artery Calcium Scoring Gets American Heart Association Endorsement

At the annual American Heart Association convention, on November 10, 2018 [and simultaneously published in their Scientific Journal] the much-anticipated update to the 2013 Guideline for Management of Blood Cholesterol, was presented to a standing room only audience.

Since 1980 the two major cardiology societies have tried to translate scientific evidence into clinical practice guidelines with recommendations to improve cardiovascular health.  Initially these were only lifestyle suggestions but after the first studies published in the early 1990’s regarding the use of ‘statin’ cholesterol-lowering medications which could dramatically lower an individual’s cholesterol levels – the guidelines have, initially cautiously but now whole-heartedly supported the aggressive use of various statin medications to a variety of cholesterol goals.  The clinical application of these goals consisted of first assessing the ‘risk’ of the patient using the Framingham Risk Equations [which incorporated information about cholesterol, smoking habits, age, gender, diabetes, and blood pressure].  After a simple calculation made my any physician, he/she would be advised that their patient was ‘low’ risk, ‘high’ risk, or ‘intermediate’ risk for the future development of heart disease – and the individual cholesterol ‘goal’ was then indicated in the guidelines.  There had always been controversy about the accuracy of the ‘intermediate’ designation [which unfortunately may be up to 50% of a standard internists or family practitioners waiting room].

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Cardiac CT :: The Newest Research is Out
Cardiac CT

In Just Seconds Cardiac CT can determine your true risk for heart attack years before the first symptom.

This month in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Imaging [JACC-Img], there were three pivotal articles published and one editorial discussion regarding the clinical use of Cardiac CT – two articles dealt with the determination of the coronary artery calcium ‘score’ [CAS – defining what we call the ‘coronary atherosclerotic plaque burden’].  The first paper looked at long term prognosis for fatal and non-fatal heart disease in young military men and women; an editorial was also provided as an overview of the results.  The second paper looked at using the changes in the CAS over time to predict worsening of the coronary artery plaque burden.    The third paper published looked at the use of contrast enhanced Cardiac CT in terms of CT Cardiac Angiogram [CCTA] – this study showed that people with a totally normal CCTA had virtually NO cardiac events for the next decade.

Pioneers In Cardiac CT

The Princeton Longevity Center is a pioneer in application of Cardiac CT to define the presence, extent, and prognosis for a variety of heart diseases in our clients.  As part of our on site [and now on-line] training programs we have taught and continue to teach literally hundreds of cardiologists and radiologists from around the world in independent performance and interpretation of Cardiac CT.  We also do thousands of CAS and CCTA scans each year in our three sites: Princeton, NJ; Shelton CT and Fairfax VA.

Dr. Rumberger Commentary on New Cardiac CT Studies

These articles are posted on the website but below I offer some summary comments on each.

JACC-Img 2018: Coronary Artery Calcium and Long-Term Risk of Death, Myocardial Infarction, and Stroke: The Walter Reed Cohort Study

This is a long term [>10 year] follow up of 23,637 military service members who had a baseline CAC scan – none of them, at the time of their initial scan had known heart disease and were considered to be low risk using conventional assessments.  The mean age was about 50 years and 77% were men.  They examined long term consequences for fatal heart attack, non-fatal heart attack, and/or stroke based on the initial coronary artery calcium ‘score’ [CAS].  The scores were divided into 4 categories [0 or zero – i.e. no calcified plaque; 1-100 – i.e. ‘mild’ plaque; 101-400 – i.e. ‘moderate plaque’; and >401 – i.e. ‘extensive’ plaque].  The results confirmed many prior studies showing that the higher the CAS the more likely for a major cardiovascular event during the follow up period.  Also the study showed that CAS strongly predicted CV events regardless of age and number of conventional risk factors.  What makes this study so important is that it was done in a generally low-risk group of young adults.

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Exercise Benefits Beyond Weightloss

Not only is it important for weight management/loss, regular exercise will improve your day to day life. As a matter of fact, with a quick Google search you will find a list of benefits of exercise such as:

  • Increased energy
  • Improved mental awareness
  • Enhanced physical strength
  • Happiness
  • And more!
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