Welcome to secrets news issue 21
Updated Physical Activity Guidelines
The American College of Sports Medicine and American Heart Association
updated their PHYSICAL ACTIVITY GUIDELINES and after you read them, I wonder
how you stack up? No, this isn't about feeling guilty, but rather a friendly
reminder to GET MOVING! At least get moving a bit more.
You should find these guidelines very helpful with your own physical routine
and if you need to make any changes today is a great time.
American College of Sports Medicine and American Heart Association
provide physical activity recommendations for adults and older adults
American College of Sports Medicine and American Heart Association provide
physical activity recommendations for adults and older adults
All healthy adults ages 18 to 65 years need moderate-intensity aerobic
physical activity for at least 30 minutes on five days each week or vigorous-intensity
aerobic physical activity for at least 20 minutes on three days each week,
according to updated physical activity guidelines released recently by
the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the American Heart Association
(AHA).
Further, adults will benefit from performing activities that maintain
or increase muscular strength and endurance for at least two days each
week.
It is recommended that 8-10 exercises using the major muscle groups be
performed on two non-consecutive days. To maximize strength development,
a resistance (weight) should be used for 8-12 repetitions of each exercise
resulting in willful fatigue.
The preventive recommendation specifies how adults, by engaging in regular
physical activity, can promote and maintain health, and reduce risk
of chronic disease and premature death.
The updated recommendation for adults is improved in several ways.
- Moderate-intensity physical activity has been clarified.
The 1995 document specified "most, preferably all days per week" as
the recommended frequency while the new recommendation identifies
five days per week as the recommended minimum.
- Vigorous-intensity physical
activity has been explicitly incorporated into the recommendation.
To acknowledge both the preferences of some adults for vigorous-intensity
physical activity and the substantial science base related
to participation in such activity, the recommendation has
- Specified:
Moderate- and vigorous-intensity activities are complementary in
producing health benefits, and a variety
of activities can be
combined to meet the recommendation.
This combining of activities is based on the amount (intensity
x duration) of activity performed during the week and uses
the concept
of METs
(metabolic equivalents) to assign an intensity value to
a specific activity.
- Specified: Aerobic activity is
needed in addition to routine activities of daily life.
The updated recommendation now clearly states that the
recommended amount of aerobic activity (whether of moderate-
or vigorous-intensity)
is in
addition to routine, light-intensity activities of daily
living, such as self care, casual walking or grocery shopping,
or that
last less
than 10
minutes, such as walking to the parking lot or taking out
the trash. Few activities in contemporary life are conducted
routinely at
a moderate intensity
and last for at least 10 minutes. However, moderate- or
vigorous-intensity activities performed as a part of daily
life (e.g., brisk
walking to work, gardening with shovel, carpentry) performed
in bouts of
10 minutes
or more
can be counted towards the recommendation. This concept
was implied but not effectively communicated in the original
recommendation.
- "More is better."
The new recommendation emphasizes the important fact that
physical activity above the recommended minimum amount
provides even greater
health benefits.
The point of maximum benefit for most health benefits
has not been established but likely varies with genetic endowment,
age, sex,
health status, body
composition and other factors. Exceeding the minimum
recommendation
further reduces the risk of inactivity-related chronic
disease. Although the
dose-response relation was acknowledged in the 1995 recommendation,
this fact is now
explicit.
- Short bouts of exercise are OK.
The original recommendation introduced the concept of
accumulating short bouts of physical activity toward
the 30-minute goal,
but there was confusion
about how short these episodes could be. For consistency,
the minimum length of these short bouts is clarified
as being 10 minutes.
- A muscle-strengthening recommendation
is now included.
Muscle-strengthening activities have now been incorporated
into the physical activity recommendation. The 1995
recommendation mentioned
the importance
of muscular strength and endurance but stopped short
of making specific
declarations in this area. Available evidence now
allows the integration of muscle strengthening activities
into the core recommendation.
- Wording has been
clarified.
Minor wording changes in the
recommendation have been made to enhance clarity in communications.
For
example,
the
term "aerobic," or
endurance, has been added to clarify the type of
physical activity being recommended
and to differentiate it from muscle-strengthening
exercises, which are now part of the core recommendation.
The updates also provide a clearer sketch of what combinations
of moderate and vigorous intensity activity can be performed
to meet
this recommendation.
Moderate-intensity aerobic activity is described as generally
equivalent to a brisk walk, or activity that noticeably accelerates
the heart
rate.
The recommendations also summarize new research that links muscular
strength to health benefits, such as protection against bone
loss and a decreased
risk of all-cause mortality.
The updated recommendations emphasize that relatively modest
amounts of physical activity will improve health; physical
activity for
cardiorespiratory fitness and expanded health gains, such
as weight loss, may require
more than a minimum 30 minutes of moderate activity most
days of the week.
In
general, there are more agreements than differences when
it comes to physical activity recommendations. Differences on "minutes-per-day" recommendations
appear because they are intended for different groups, and may be gender-specific
or relevant to overweight or obese individuals.
The papers have published jointly in Medicine & Science in Sports and
Exercise(r), ACSM's official journal and ai journal of the American Heart
Association. For more information or additional details on the physical
activity guidelines, please visit www.americanheart.org/fitness or www.acsm.org So
what are we waiting for let’s get physical!
Be safe and have fun. Warm wishes
Sharon 
Weight Loss in the Martial Arts
Obesity, or being over weight, is a condition in which having too much fat
in the body may pave the way for other diseases. Obese people have a high
risk of getting various diseases like heart disease, diabetes and arthritis.
Obesity is nowadays a serious public health problem. The United States has
the highest rate of obesity in the world.
According to the latest statistics,
32.2% of people who were above the age of 20 years were over weight. The
number of obese people is increasing at a steady rate and showing no signs
of stabilizing.
There are many causes of obesity like lack of activity, lower relative cost
of food, increased food production and changes in lifestyle.
Doctors say
that losing body weight will help two out of every three people in the United
States.
Losing body weight can put many diseases away. Obese people always have
greater risks of getting a heart attack. Being over weight increases the
amount of
cholesterol in the blood. This cholesterol gets deposited in the blood
vessels and narrows them, so that blood does not flow to the heart properly.
Due
to lack of blood, the heart is deprived of oxygen and eventually fails to
function.
This causes heart attack.
Taking the negative effects that being over
weight can cause, it is very advised to take measures to decrease body weight.
Exercising for about 20 minutes a day helps to burn out the excess fat in
the body.
Exercise can involve light jogging, running or aerobics. During exercise,
the cells
of the body utilize the fat for producing energy and so the fat gets
depleted resulting in body weight loss. Controlling the diet is also very
much
important.
Junk food should be avoided at all costs as these contain a large amount
of fats. Changing lifestyle is the best solution to obesity.
Martial arts
has been known to be very effective in reducing body weight. Martial
arts involve
a variety of techniques to overpower an opponent and learning these
techniques involves a lot of physical exercise to the body. Joining a local
martial
arts
club may be very effective. It is not a necessity to be physically
fit to learn martial arts. Physical fitness will be acquired during
training.
Regular
training in martial arts like judo, karate and jujitsu will improve
agility and make one perfect. They are also known to improve confidence
and will
-power. Confidence and will-power are very much necessary during the
weight loss program.
So martial can be an effective means of losing body weight.
My husband is a 3rd dan blackbelt in Taekwondo and all of our 3 children
are also blackbelts so I have a very "tough" family. If you would like
to check out my husband's new book called "Be the Best you can Be" which
incorporates the martial arts belt system to help you achieve your goals go
to Amazon.com.
Green Tea Benefits
There have been many studies on the benefits of green tea antioxidants. It
has been found that with proper dosing green tea antioxidants can help those
struggling with weight loss achieve their goals.
The benefits of green tea
are not limited to weight loss. Green tea also is reported to help increase
energy levels. It is not known with one hundred percent certainty as to
why green tea antioxidants assist in weight loss. Many experts believe that
green
tea antioxidants speed up metabolism which helps the body burn fat faster.
Undoubtedly, the scientific community will continue to study the benefits
of green tea antioxidants.
Early results indicate that the medicinal properties
are vast and it may take years to study them all. Green tea has been around
for centuries as a cure for ailments in other cultures. Science is just
beginning to shed light on all of the health benefits of this natural remedy.
As the
studies continue, we will continue to learn more about the numerous benefits
of green tea antioxidants.
Read more secrets
from Sharon's Blog.
24-hour weightloss support groups at eDiets.com
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