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> Hints > Past Newsletter Editions > Articles > Dangerous curves ahead

Dangerous curves ahead

You'll probably know by now that I'm not one of those naturally spritely people who love exercise.

The only reason I've been committed to regular (albeit incidental) physical activity for the past twenty years is that it helps me keep my weight in check. Almost every day I clock up over 8,000 steps per day on my pedometer. This - along with my husband, two young children, my medical research team and my company - fit snugly into my life.

However, while incidental activity is scientifically proven to keep weight off, ample research shows that the best long-term health and weight management benefits come when you push yourself a bit. As I wrote in The Don't Go Hungry Diet, the more you move, the more energetically you move, and the more frequently you move, the better your weight and health outcomes will be.

New research shows that strength training is particularly important for health and weight management. A recent publication in Obesity showed that losing weight through dietary changes - with or without the addition of aerobic exercise - resulted in a significant reduction in fat free mass (including muscle mass), a decline in muscle strength and a drop in resting metabolic rate. Intriguingly, the addition of resistance (strength) training completely prevented these adverse effects of weight loss.

Clearly, there's something 'magic' about actively pushing your body against resistance. This becomes increasingly important at every birthday you celebrate, by countering the natural decline in muscle mass and strength that starts in middle age and beyond.

Knowing the benefits of other forms of exercise besides incidental activity, and fueled by my impending 40th and the realization that 50, 60 and 80 are just around the corner, I knew that sooner or later I'd have to bite the bullet and put more grunt into my life.

This state of contemplation might have gone on for another decade. Fortunately, however, I happened upon Paula Goodyer's Fit & Firm Forever. Something about the way she describes the most convincing research on exercise (or lack thereof) and ageing put the wind up me and made my intentions to improve my physical fitness all the more urgent.

The trouble was; just when was I going to make this heightened investment in myself?

Was I going to go to the gym on the weekend and book our children in for yet another session of child-care? No way.

Was I going to nick out to the gym in my lunch break at work? Um, what lunch break?

Was I going to join a local Pilates class on Thursdays when I work from home? Unfortunately, finding a class that fell on a Thursday, in between my various appointments, deliveries, tax returns and the mad rush to get some groceries before the kids come home, proved impossible.

I started to despair about my plans to improve my fitness. What could I change in my life in order to make it happen?

But wait…

What about my family's regular Sunday afternoon visits to the aquatic centre?

Instead of just splashing around with my husband and children in the warm pool for the whole time we were there, I could ask Hubby to watch the kids for half an hour while I pounded out some laps.

Brilliant!

Pulling against the water's resistance, I envisaged my muscles getting stronger and I imagined myself at 80, living in our own home with strength enough for any doorknob, jam jar or toddler. My whole body feels addictively invigorated after my half hour Sunday swim, and if I ever have to miss it for any reason I feel very disappointed.

While my Sunday swim was a good start, I often wondered what kind of body I might have if exerted myself like that every day. In her book, Paula promised irresistible benefits to women who regularly push themselves; more curves, more lift and a more youthful demeanor. I wanted more of that magical elixir. What else could I change in my life to bring it on?

Thinking I'd found the perfect solution, I ordered a pilates DVD over the internet. In the comfort and convenience of my own home I'd be able to strengthen and shape my whole body. The kids would have a ball.

But I was wrong. Not only did I find the 50-minute workout excruciatingly difficult and tedious, the kids got bored after 5 minutes and started climbing on me while I was trying to do killer crunches. The DVD is now lost somewhere in the back of the wall unit.

Just as I was about to give up my dream of having a better body at 40 than I've ever had in my life, I had a life changing 'aha' moment from one of the ideas in Paula's book:

You can shape, tone and strengthen your whole body, while delaying the ageing process and reducing your risk of diabetes and other metabolic diseases, simply by adding several sets of crunches, push-ups and other strength-building exercises to your weekly activities.

...

This was a revelation for me.

Somehow I'd assumed that the only way I'd be able to get results from strength training would be with complicated gym equipment or routines. Never in my wildest dreams had I imaged that such simple exercises as push-ups could give me results. This was something I could envisage fitting compactly and sustainably into my life.

Afraid of doing something wrong and damaging my body, and coaxed by Paula's intelligent book, I then did something that felt quite unimaginable for me:

I went and had a couple of sessions with a personal trainer!

This was a fantastic investment. Matthew from Live Well Fitness showed me how to do a series of simple strength-building exercises at home without hurting myself, aided by just a few pairs of hand weights. He then designed a program specifically suited to my abilities.

Matthew's personalized program blew me away with its ingenuity. Because there were only three different exercises to do on each of the five days in the program, and because those three exercises were different and worked different muscle groups on each day, and because it only took me ten minutes to do all the prescribed reps and sets, and because I could do it anywhere and anytime, the whole program was incredibly do-able. In the past month I've done Matthew's five-day program four times and I've never gotten bored, never gotten overly sore, and never gone for longer than three days without being able to find ten minutes to do it.

Fueled by mounting confidence in my physicality, I then did something else that was exhilaratingly unlike me. On my precious, busy Thursdays at home alone, I started driving to the pool and racing the clock to swim a kilometer. Exercise was starting to give me a real high!

Triumphantly, I wrote to Paula and told her of the strange and wonderful effects her book was having on me. She wrote back with an even stranger recommendation.


My initial reaction to Paula's e-mail was to think it must have been intended for someone else. Me? Run? She obviously didn't know that when I was at school I was the cleverest kid at getting out of sport. Besides, it can't be good for the knees.

However, the idea that running could save me time held massive appeal. I went back and re-read the section in Paula's book about running and knees, with new research suggesting that if you don't have any existing problems with your knees, short burst of occasional running may actually help prevent problems later on.

Ten days later, and who's that running in her local park?

Although I could only run three quarters of a length of the park before stopping, I was delighted that I could actually run at all. To see a photo of me on my maiden voyage, click here.

Since that time I've worked up to running two lengths of the park before taking a walking break, and I can see it will only be a question of time before I can run for 20 minutes continuously.

I can't say that I love running, but I'm rapidly becoming addicted to the buzz it gives me afterwards. This Wednesday my husband and children were at home, sick, so I stayed with them. By 5 pm, after nothing but pottering around our apartment all day, I actually craved the feeling that running gives me. I pulled on my runners and ducked out. In 35 minutes flat I got a 15-minute walk up and down stairs and inclines to and from the park, a 20-minute run-walk on lovely soft grass, 4,500 steps on my pedometer and a priceless feeling of being fully alive.

Something that struck me in my month's adventure to better form and fitness is the number of discouraging messages I've received from people. Before finding Matthew I spoke with two other personal trainers in my neighborhood, both of which said that unless I committed to a certain duration of additional physical activity per week, an amount that I knew was totally unrealistic for me, that I'd be 'wasting my time'.

An active friend whose partner runs for an hour every day, upon learning that I'd taken up running, sent me an e-mail informing me that her partner said that unless I ran for more than 20 minutes, I wouldn't get any benefit from it.

If I didn't know better, having read many research publications showing that the benefits of exercise are dose dependent rather than all or nothing (i.e. the more you do, the more benefits you get), I might have given up.

The fact of the matter is that in the month since I increased my level of activity from purely incidental activity to incidental activity plus a 30 minute swim, a 35 minute run-walk and five 10 minute bursts of strength training per week, I have noticed changes.

I'm definitely stronger. The strength-training program Matthew wrote for me is now almost too easy. In a couple of weeks I'll have to ask him to revamp it so I can keep growing stronger.

I'm also aerobically fitter. Whereas before I would struggle to swim 650 m in half an hour, now I can swim a kilometer in the same time.

Additionally, I've noticed changes in my body. While I'm still the same 65 kilos I was a month ago, my clothes glide on more easily and my stuffing seems to have shifted, so much so that sometimes I have to do a double take before recognizing my body.

Are those really my arms in the mirror? Surely my arms had more wobbly bits on them before?

And whose reflection is that in the shop window? Surely my curves weren't as 'dangerous' as that before?

And is that really my shadow cast upon the wall? I seem to recall that my bum was slung lower than that before?

Wow, if I can see these benefits after just one month of increased focus on my physical fitness, what might happen if I continued for another two months?

I'm keen to find out.

Watch this space!

Over to you

Here's something you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

Would you like to get the best body of your life?

If so, why not join me in committing to three months of increased physical activity and see how much of an improvement you can notice. Over the next three months I'll be including a section in my newsletter to encourage you in your journey.

If you're currently getting less than 12,000 steps per day, including three to five sessions of aerobic exercise and a few strength training sessions several times a week, then any increase in your current activity levels will give you benefits.

Before you start, be sure to get your doctor's OK. Also, be sure to get some reliable starting measurements so you'll know how well you're going. Your weight and waist circumference are the minimum measurements you'll need, but some measure of body fat - such as skin fold thickness by a personal trainer - will also be helpful.

When I started this adventure a month ago I had a DXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) scan by Dr Jarrod Meerkin at Body Composition Australia. DXA is the most reliable way of tracking changes in body fat content, and it also gives an index of changes in muscle mass. In a couple of months I'll have another scan to see how much muscle I might have gained from my efforts. If you live in NSW, Dr Meerkin has a mobile DEXA unit that you can visit.

Once you've got your starting measurements, what could you reasonably do in the next month to increase your fitness?

If you normally get incidental activity throughout the day, could you move a bit faster? If you have one of my New Omron Acceleration Pedometers, you might like to try increasing the number of 'aerobic steps' you get every day.

Could you do a few sets of push-ups and lunges before breakfast? Even just 10 minutes, combined with other activities, can make a difference to your shape and your risk of chronic disease.

Remember: the benefits of physical activity are dose dependent, not all or nothing. Everything you do, counts. Don't listen to anyone who tries to belittle your efforts.

If you'd like to order a copy of Paula Goodyer's book Fit & Firm Forever for a giant dose of motivation in your journey, click here.

Take care, and I look forward to seeing you fitter and feeling on top of the world.

Amanda

Dr Amanda
Connect with your body
www.DrAmandaOnline.com