Exercising with bad knees

For most people we have one of two issues when we are starting a new training program, bad back or bad knees. Knee osteoarthritis is one of the leading causes of pain world wide. For most people when starting a new exercise program one of the first things to start playing up is the knees.

In the following blog I will give some tips on how to work around these issues and get/keep you exercising.

Weight

Most people starting at the gym are normally looking to drop body fat. However excess weight can be a major issue for bad knees. Research has found that that from the age of 30 every 5 kg that a person is over the recommended BMI equates to a 36 percent increased risk of osteoarthritis in the knees. The worse the knee pain the harder it is for a person to find exercise to help them burn more body fat.

If your knees are already sore and have issues, then it is advised to go to your physiotherapist to help get the knee prepared for exercise and help with tightness and soreness around the knee. Walking for most people can be a great starting, however if the knees are painful when walking then taking gravity out of it and exercising on a cross trainer or a bike would be a good alternative. Upper body work can be another option for exercise while trying to avoid pain in the knee.

Most knees will need work and strengthening but a traditional squat, lunge and leg press can cause more pain in the knee joint. Performing a wall squat with an exercise ball can help take that pressure off the knee and help you work your knee in a range that can be comfortable for you. As time goes on and your knee strengthens up then you can take away the ball and try the squat without support.

Knee alignment

The knee cap is designed to slide in the knee joint created by the femur and tibia. However due to our everyday practices we then have hip tightness, weakness in the gluteus, fallen arches in the feet and tight calf muscles can all contribute to the change in the alignment of all the bones. This can cause rubbing between the bones, cartilage and ligaments of the knee.

If you are concerned about your knee, hip or back alignment then first and foremost go to a physiotherapist to have yourself evaluated and get a better understanding of how your lower body is functioning.

Research is now showing that deep buttock muscles of the hip play a critical role in taking the load off the knee and are often weak for most people with knee issues. Learning to activate the gluteus and strengthening them can make a massive difference for knee pain. Also some simple stretching and foam rolling can help release muscle tightness causing the knee pain.

 Incorrect posture

Poor posture can be one of the biggest contributing factors to causing knee pain but can be one of the simplest to correct. People who stand slumped with all their weight on one leg and hang on one hip are putting a lot of load onto the hip and knee joints and switches off the deep gluteus muscles causing more aggravation at the hip and knee joint. Also just by leaning on tables, benches, walls etc can cause the deep core muscles to switch off causing more load onto the knee joint.

To start correcting this you need to change your daily habits. This is as simple as making sure that you’re standing up straight and not leaning against things or shifting your weight to one side while standing.

 Hopefully with these small tips this can help you with your knee pain and managing it while exercising. If you are unsure on getting started or need help then enlist the services of a personal trainer at North Adelaide fitness centre and see a physiotherapist for more help

 

source: Network magazine, reference “training clients with bad knees by anna-lousie bouvier, BAppSc (Phys)

Training with Menopause

Menopause is the permanent ending of the menstruation. Natural menopause is caused by hormonal changes and it occurs when a women has not had her period for 12 consecutive months. This signals the end of the fertility stage of a women’s life.

Premenopause and perimenopause refer to the transition years which normally last from 2 – 7 years before menopause. This is when a women’s hormones begin to fluctuate and start the menopausal symptons.

Natural menopause is caused by shifts in a womens hormone balance, particularly in ovarian hormones like oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone.

Oestrogen helps regulate the menstrual cycle and prepare the uterus for pregnancy. Oestrogen levels fall between 40 and 60 percent during menopause as the ovaries cease to produce it.

Progesterone’s role is to change the character of the uterine lining to prepare for pregnancy. It has many other functions including protecting a womens body from many types of cancer, normalising blood sugar levels helping metabolise body fat. In menopause progesterone levels can fall to as low as zero.

Testosterone is commonly referred to as a male hormone. It helps build muscle and bone and it affects a womens libido, mood and energy. By the time a women reaches 40 her testosterone level will drop to half of what it was when she was in her 20’s.

With this change of hormones in women, this will cause all women to experience weight gain during menopause if they don’t make some changes in lifestyle habits. Some simple guidelines which women can follow are:

Increase

-          Soy

-          Water

-          Flaxseed oil and other omega 3 fats

-          Bioflavanoids ( cherries, grape skins, blueberries, cranberries, whole grains)

-          Green tea

-          Vitamins and minerals

Decrease

-          MSG foods

-          Caffeine

-          Aspartame

-          Refined processed and high glycemic foods

-          Chocolate alcohol

-          Peanuts

Not only avoiding foods is recommended but also some general rules with your diet can help with the regulation of the symptoms of menopause:

-          Eat three to five small meals per day

-          Focus on the portion size

-          Eat protein at each meal

-          Eat a variety of organic fruits and vegetables

-          Eat healthy fats everyday

 

Exercise during menopause can allow women to control their body and emotions but there are many other benefits you can get from exercise. It is important to consider your energy levels on a day to day basis and if you are unsure please consult your GP or a trainer at your gym.

Training should include a balance of cardiovascular exercise, strength exercises, stretching and relaxation. The benefits from regular exercise can be:

-          Protect bone mass and reverse bone loss

-          Enhanced cardiovascular function

-          Strive for healthy body composition

-          Reduce symptoms

-           Delay age related losses in functions

-          Help reduce the risk of high blood pressure and diabetes

-          Sweep excess cortisol

-          Reduce menstrual cramps and PMS

-          Reduce depression

The list of benefits of exercise goes on but from an overall point exercise is important in every time of life but especially pre during and post menopause. So with regular exercise and healthy eating this can help most menopausal women get control over their symptoms and continue to have the energy to enjoy life.

source: Network magazine, reference “training menopausal clients by Lyn Miller”

The 650 pound virgin’s story

The link below is for the story of David Smith who lost 401 pounds (181 kg). We have posted a news story on him previously entitled “the 650 pound virgin” but I stumbled onto an article david wrote about his experiences. It’s not a long read but a sad yet inspiring story. However more people look at David’s and other major weight loss stories (such as myself) not in sadness but as hope! I can speak about my own experiences but I always say I’m not special or genetically gifted I just have belief in myself and passion to be different. If I could do it than anyone can and I am more than sure that David Smith would tell you the same thing!

http://www.chrispowell.com/chris-powell-stories.html

 

Cortisol – How this hormone is stopping your progress at the gym!

We all train hard at the gym! Then we follow this up with good eating but sometimes we don’t see the benefits of the training and wonder why? Well in this blog I’m going to look at cortisol and how this natural hormone can stop your physical gains in the gym.

Cortisol is a hormone which is released by adrenal glands when you are under high mental and physical stress. The hormone will do a few things:

• Stop muscle growing
• Reduce the protein synthesis
• Break down muscle to glucose

In our society of fast pace and stress this hormone will be released in most people regularly. With excess cortisol the side effects can be

• Reduced growth hormone, and testosterone output.
• Osteoporosis.
• Reduced muscle and increased abdominal fat.
• Impaired memory and learning.
• Reduced glucose utilization.
• Impaired immunity.

 

So you can see that from the regular Body Attacker to the Weight Lifter cortisol is not good to be released in large amounts as it will cause our progress in the gym to slow down or even stop.

Unfortunately you can’t turn off the production of this hormone as it is an important function in the body to deal with stress but some ways of making sure that you control its production you can do the following:

-          Training! – so actually hitting the gym will reduce this hormone. As muscle mass increases and aerobic function increases the body then can deal with physical stress better. However over training will cause the production to increase, so make sure you limit the time of your sessions but increase the intensity.

-          Stressing less – Relaxing and not stressing about things will make a big difference on the body. As cortisol is a protection hormone it will release with stress.

-          Use glutamine – Glutamine can help as this will provide cortisol a supply of blood glutamine which the cortisol will attack rather than muscle.

-          Sleep – Cortisol is at its lowest when you are asleep so make sure you get a good and long night sleep.

So there are some simple things you can do to keep cortisol under control. However if your are struggling in the gym to see gains in muscle gain or weight loss and you are doing everything right then maybe try some of these techniques.

Staying lean over Christmas

So Christmas isn’t too far away and as always this is the time of the year that diets and fitness regimes go out the window. So here are some tips for everyone to try to minimise the damage over the Christmas break.

 

1. Keep exercising – First off the gym will only closing a couple days over the Christmas break so there is no excuse in not getting to the gym for a workout. If you are away you still can go for a walk or even go to the local gym and see if they are open!

2. Minimise the alcohol intake – I have post before about the impacts of alcohol in weight loss, however due to the holidays most of us we drink more over the break. Again this is okay but trying to keep the amount in one session down is important and having a few alcohol free days over the Christmas / new year break is important as well.

3. Be prepared – Don’t assume! If you are going away or going to stay with family and friends don’t assume that they will have healthy food in the house! Also if you are going out plan where you are going and if you can’t eat a small meal before hand  don’t over indulge while you are out.

4. Soft drinks are diet killers! – Watch the soft drinks and especially diet soft drink as both are bad for the waist line. Of course normal soft drink has a lot of sugar in it but diet soft drink also has aspartame which can cause cancer in the long term but for the short term it has been shown to cause weight gain in people as well.

5. Don’t just let it all go! – Just as it is Christmas and New year’s doesn’t mean that your diet and fitness regime go out the window! As stated in number one the gym will still be open for most days but also you can keep your diet and eating habits under some control which will go along way for you stay in shape for the rest of summer!

From all the team at North Adelaide Fitness Centre, we wish all our members a great and safe Christmas and we look forward to getting you to your fitness goals in the new year.

Lack of sleeping and the impacts on life!

A new study conducted by the University of Adelaide being presented to the Australia sleep conference in Sydney this week has linked lack of sleep with tougher lifestyles and health circumstances.

The study also found that the flashing lights of our current society are making it harder for us to actually fall asleep and have restful sleep.

The study was based on 1195 men who were tracked to see the health of their relationships and mental wellbeing. The study found that poor sleepers were more likely to be depressed, have a lower income and more likely to be single. Shift workers also were found to have health problems which mainly included high fat and sugar levels and sleep apnoea sufferers were more likely to be become obese and have a lower income.

Another study conduct by Helen Burgess at the rush university medical centre in Chicago found that late bed times led us to be more exposed to household lights in the evening and this exposure made it harder for people to fall asleep and made them groggy in the morning.

In previous blogs I have touch on how lack of sleep effects muscle gain and fat loss but now with this current study being presented, you can see what an affect lack of sleep could be having on the rest of your life. So turn the TV, I phone/pad/pod off and get some sleep!

Drag Curl – old school bicep exercise for new growth

This exercise is oldie but a goody for bicep growth. Invented by the late
Vince Gironda, who was a very unorthodox trainer back in the 60’s. It was
created to get a person to completely isolate their bicep while doing a curl
and avoid using their deltoid muscles to complete the movement in a bicep curl.

 

To perform the movement, stand holding a barbell in a supinated grip and
shoulders apart. Pull you elbows back and forcefully contract your biceps to
drag the bar up your body towards your shoulders. Hold it up the top for a
couple of seconds and then slowly lower the bar along the same path.

The key with this exercise is not to overuse weight and keep a
controlled movement the whole time as you move the bar. Using too much weight
will use shoulder and cause you to lean.

So as you can see this is an easy move and something which you could add
to a bicep workout for variety.

 

for more information visit http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/drag-curl

The social impact of Obesity

Once being an overweight and obese individual, I have experienced the impacts but also have experience how it affects people socially, not just health wise. A new paper was published in the journal social science and medicine. This study was conducted at multiple universities in Australia. The study interviewed 141 obese people to find out what sorts of stigma are commonly experienced and what affect it has on their lives.

The results found that between half and three quarters of those interviewed had experienced the stigma of obesity from strangers, family, school peers, health professionals, friends, employers and colleagues. The paper then stated that “most direct stigma was based on moral judgements about the reasons why the participant was overweight – particular laziness, gluttony and overconsumption.

The study also found that obese people have their parenting abilities questioned and whether they would make good parents. Judging and looking at what they are eating and shopping for the participants were unwilling to participate in exercise as they feel they will be judged, laughed at and victims of abuse.

The study then found that the anti-fat stigma in society prevents many people from pursuing ambitions such as university, applying for work, engaging in new relationships and a decrease in social activities leading to loneliness.

After a quick overview of the study you can see that obesity has so many more impacts to an individual than just your fat and you will get heart disease. I cant see the ridicule ever stopping but from my experience it makes it worst and the obese person than turn to their one comfort and that’s food and the cycle begins and only gets worst, this is what causes the morbidly obese people in society (just watch the start of any biggest loser to get an idea of how someone gets to a breaking point).

Junk Food tax in Australia – a good thing?

With 6 in 10 Australian adults and then one in four children considered over weight in Australia What can we do to curb this trend? Recently in Denmark there has been a ‘fat tax’ passed on junk food adding one euro to the cost per half kilogram of saturated fat to any food that contains more than 2.3 % saturated fat, Denmark has also already banned the use of trans fats in 2004.

So would this be good for Australia? With the ever rising obesity issues in Australia it is time to take some form of stand. Like the alcolpop tax which has curbed drinking in Australia by 30 percent in pre mixed drinks and taxes on tobacco having effects on smoking habits then a ‘Fat tax’ could do the same.

So would this deter people or would we just pay the extra money for the food? From the price of actually healthy food going up in price more so than junk food and the decline in people consuming healthy food there is a connection between the two (price and consumption).

If a tax was included into the price of junk food and soft drink and sugary cereals the question to ask the government is what they would put back into the community to combat obesity. There are different things being suggested, such as putting a subsidy on healthy food for lower income houses or on healthy food period. There are also suggestions for more to go into education of families on healthy lifestyles and impacts of poor eating.

In conjunction with education there have been calls for more to be done on advertising and marketing to people (especially children) for junk food. Even with education society has been engineered to desire unhealthy food from a young age and once habits are in place it is very hard to change them.

Data on adverstising on the three main tv stations

I believe personally that the government then should be striving to then subsidise gym and personal training prices for the general population and more education on why physical activity is important for overall well being. A lot of work sites and business have begun doing this for overall productivity but maybe it’s time for the government to subside the whole industry.

Having a fat tax I personally believe is a great idea but a lot of the solutions being suggested are either band aid solutions or never get off the ground in part to corporate greed. The obesity situation is almost out of control and it is time for massive changes to be made in society and a fat tax will be a first step towards achieving a fitter healthier Australia.

 

Sources:

 

http://www.smh.com.au/national/drinking-drops-as-alcopop-tax-bites-20100527-whun.html

http://www.news.com.au/money/flab-tax-may-be-good-for-australians/story-e6frfmci-1226156405846

Why everyone needs casein protein!

Casein protein (referred to calcium caseinate) is a type of protein which is derived from cow’s milk. It is found in high levels in foods such as cottage cheese, milk and butter. However supplement companies have produced protein supplements which contain part casein with whey or a casein only protein.

 

What casein does in the body is it becomes a gel and glob in the stomach as it hits the stomach acid. It becomes a gel and slows down the rate of digestion and allows for a slower more efficient release of amino acids. So like low GI carbohydrates, casein is a longer releasing type of food which will help keep you full for longer compared to a whey protein which digests at a much faster rate.

Having just a casein supplement or food (cottage cheese) before bed is fantastic for the slow release of amino acids to keep your muscles growing as you sleep. During the day just having a casein blend has its benefits. For people who are looking for weight loss, casein can keep them feel fuller for a longer period of time which may help with over eating. For the gym members looking to build muscle casein will help release amino acids slowly during the whole day.

Dymatize have two types of protein which we offer at the gym which contain casein. Elite Gourmet is a whey and casein protein which is low in carbohydrates and fat which is fantastic for a after workout meal or it can be added to meals. The second is Elite XT which is a casein only product which is perfect for just before bed consumption as the protein will be release slowly over the night.

So if you are looking for both weight loss or muscle gain have a look at casein products / food as this can help get protein up in your diet but also help with appetite control as well.