Insulin Sensitivity

In the past, I posted an article about cardiovascular exercise and insulin sensitivity.  Research now shows that resistance training as well as cardiovascular exercise increases insulin sensitivity.  Increasing insulin sensitivity reverses the disease process of Type 2 diabetes.  This article explains now exercise increases insulin sensitivity, prevents Type 2 diabetes, as well as which types of exercise are most beneficial.  Note that these benefits of exercise were seen even without any weight loss.  Increasing insulin sensitivity, and preventing Type 2 diabetes, is one of the many benefits of exercise that don't have anything to do with weight loss.  However, weight loss together with exercise does offer greater benefits.

Brazil's Innovative Approach to Dietary Guidelines

Brazil recently revamped their dietary guidelines to focus more on sensible, mindful preparation and consumption of food.  Some are saying these guidelines are better than the nutrient-based American guidelines.  Others are saying more definitive structure, like in the American guidelines, is necessary.

Brazil's Dietary Guidelines

Eight Most Popular Diets Today

I recently found an article describing the eight most popular diets today.  The best diet is made up of mostly whole foods with processed foods kept to a minimum.  As long as you're eating a large amount and variety of fruits and vegetables while also receiving adequate animal protein, you're on the right track.  Of the 8 diets outlined, the Mediterranean has been shown to have the best health outcomes in research studies.  Which diets have you or others had success with.

Know Your Alphabet for Stronger Shoulders

The repetitive nature of tennis puts your body under severe stresses, which can result in overuse injuries.  The most common sites for these injuries are the knees, ankles, lower back, elbows, and shoulders.  A tennis strength and conditioning program focuses on decreasing the possibility of injuries in these areas and improving and perfecting tennis biomechanics.

Shoulder injuries are especially common because the muscles surrounding the shoulder are relatively small and under constant repetitive stresses.  Due to the large range of motion in the shoulder, the ligaments alone cannot provide enough stability through all planes of movement.  In a healthy shoulder, stabilization is provided by the rotator cuff muscles.  In tennis, and most of our daily lives, the internal rotators are overused and therefore very tight.  The external rotators are often underused and very weak.  Strengthening the external rotators will help decrease shoulder injuries and improve your tennis game.

Because the external rotators are very small muscles, I recommend using no weight or very little weight for these shoulder exercises.  These three exercises are progressions of the same exercise. Start by only working on the Ts.  After those become easy, work on the Ys, and later, on the Is.  All three exercises are done lying face down on a bench or on the floor. 

Ts: Lying face down, position your arms at a 90-degree angle to your body, so that you look like a T when viewed from above.  Rotate your shoulders so that thumbs are pointing up towards the ceiling.  Squeeze your shoulder blades in towards your spine, and, while keeping your arms straight, raise your arms up towards the ceiling.  Let your arms drop, and then repeat.  Perform 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps.

Ys:  Lying face down, position your arms so that you look like a Y when viewed from above.  Rotate your shoulders so that your thumbs are pointing up towards the ceiling.  Squeeze your shoulder blades in and downward towards your mid back spine, and, while keeping your arms straight, raise your arms up towards the ceiling.  Let your arms drop, and then repeat.  Perform 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps.

Is:  Lying face down, position your arms so that you look like an I when viewed from above.  Rotate your shoulders so that your thumbs are pointing up towards the ceiling.  Squeeze your shoulder blades in and downward towards your mid back spine, and, while keeping your arms straight, raise your arms up towards the ceiling.  Let your arms drop, and then repeat.  Perform 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps.

Incorporating these exercises two to three times weekly is the first step to improving your tennis game.  Developing and implementing a strength and conditioning program 2-3 times weekly is tantamount to continuing to play tennis as you get older with less interruptions for injuries.

           Viktoria Brautigam MS, CSCS is a personal trainer with 12 years of experience preventing and post-rehabing injuries, improving performance on and off the court, and weight management.  Contact viktoria@fitathletic.com for more information.

Let's Dance

Fitness and exercise should include components we enjoy for other reasons, in addition to health benefits. Having fun makes it easier to continue exercising. I like dancing, so I dug out some videos from back in the day when only Europe listened to electronic music.

Christopher Walken's dancing lessons have finally been put to use! And David Guetta's mix of breakdancing, ballet, parkour, gymnastics, and modern dance. Moving muscles through their full range of motion has never been better.

Fatboy Slim's documentary on evolution. What does the last 10 seconds mean? Is this where humans are currently. We've been swimming, crawling, climbing, swinging, running, walking since life began. Now, we're chillin' on a bench, and "#1 So why try Harder?"

The answer is "No, see first two links."

Cartoons, Fitness, and Philosophy

Some friends referred me to these thought provoking cartoon videos...which I thought were written by the same person. However, apparently narrating while sketching is a "thing" these days.

23 and 1/2 hours Reiterates the benefits of exercise, and how lifelong exercise has the greatest impact on health, quality of life, death etc.

The High Price of Materialism I found this to be really thought provoking and it has inspired me to think about what motivates me intrinsically. I've found that by thinking about what my actions mean in relation to my personal values has made me happier, just over the past week :) I do think that "materialism" may be better (although long-winded) restated as "putting more importance on impressing others, rather than focusing on what's important to you." This frequently tends to mean material possessions, but it can mean a number of other things. It can mean trying to be the best parent on your block, rather than the best parent you can be; The fastest runner on your team, rather than the fastest runner you can be.

Life is a combination of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Other people's opinions will always have some influence over us, we are social creatures. It seems that we can all be happier by focusing more of our intentions and actions on our intrinsic values.

Run Don't Jog

As a lifelong runner, I take it personally anytime anyone starts talking about jogging. Jogging is to running as shuffling is to walking. We may jog during a warm-up or cool-down, just as we may shuffle when drunk. But this does not make us joggers and our sport of choice is not jogging, it is running.

Unfortunately, some people are jogging far more than they should. 430,000 Americans ran a marathon in 2005 and the average finish time was a shuffling 4:45. In 1976, 25,000 Americans ran and the average men's finish time was a brisk 3:32. No wonder runners are constantly injured; most of them today are hardly running.

I encourage anyone who wants to take up a new sport, be it running or rockclimbing, to compete at your level. Race your race, don't just try to finish. If you can only push yourself for 3 miles, enter a 5k race, don't aim for a near death experience in a marathon. There is far more satisfaction to be gained from being a competitor rather than just a participant.

I'll be delivering a webinar on Tuesday on Injury Prevention Strategies for Runners (Live Webinar) , and ran across this rant that I wanted to share with all of you.