Saturday, October 27, 2012

Why Women Cannot Do Pull-Ups...or can you?


This column appears in the Oct. 28 issue of The New York Times Magazine.
The Well Column
THE WELL COLUMN
Tara Parker-Pope on living well.
While the pull-up has been used by everyone from middle-school gym teachers to Marine drill instructors to measure fitness, the fact is that many fit people, particularly women, can’t do even one. To perform a pull-up, you place your hands on a raised bar using an overhand grip, arms fully extended and feet off the floor. (The same exercise, performed with an underhand grip, is often called a chin-up.) Using the muscles in your arms and back, you pull yourself up until your chin passes the bar. Then the body is lowered until the arms are straight, and the exercise is repeated. The Marines say a male recruit should be able to do at least 3 pull-ups or chin-ups, but women are not required to do them. In school, 14-year-old boys can earn the highest award on the government’s physical fitness test by doing 10 pull-ups or chin-ups: for 14-year-old girls, it’s 2.
To find out just how meaningful a fitness measure the pull-up really is, exercise researchers from the University of Dayton found 17 normal-weight women who could not do a single overhand pull-up. Three days a week for three months, the women focused on exercises that would strengthen the biceps and the latissimus dorsi — the large back muscle that is activated during the exercise. They lifted weights and used an incline to practice a modified pull-up, raising themselves up to a bar, over and over, in hopes of strengthening the muscles they would use to perform the real thing. They also focused on aerobic training to lower body fat.
By the end of the training program, the women had increased their upper-body strength by 36 percent and lowered their body fat by 2 percent. But on test day, the researchers were stunned when only 4 of the 17 women succeeded in performing a single pull-up.
“We honestly thought we could get everyone to do one,” said Paul Vanderburgh, a professor of exercise physiology and associate provost and dean at the University of Dayton, and an author of the study. But Vanderburgh said the study and other research has shown that performing a pull-up requires more than simple upper-body strength. Men and women who can do them tend to have a combination of strength, low body fat and shorter stature. During training, because women have lower levels of testosterone, they typically develop less muscle than men, Vanderburgh explained. In addition, they can’t lose as much fat. Men can conceivably get to 4 percent body fat; women typically bottom out at more than 10 percent.
So no matter how fit they are, women typically fare worse on pull-up tests. But Vanderburgh notes that some men struggle, too, particularly those who are taller or bigger generally or have long arms. This is related to an interesting phenomenon: if you compare a smaller athlete to an athlete who has the same exact build but is 30 percent bigger, the bigger athlete will be only about 20 percent stronger, even though he has to carry about 30 percent more weight.
“We’re a combination of levers; that’s how we move,” Vanderburgh said. “Generally speaking, the longer the limb, the more of a disadvantage in being able to do a pull-up. I look at a volleyball player and wouldn’t expect her to be able to do a pull-up, but I know she’s fit.”

Friday, October 12, 2012

Two stretches that will help your posture right now!


By Katherine MacPherson BS, ACSM HFS & UVAC Personal Trainer

Right this moment check your posture. 

Are you like picture 1?                                                                           Or like picture 2?

If you’re looking like picture 1, then these two stretches may be exactly what you are missing.  It is very common as a fitness professional to see clients coming into the faculty with the same posture as picture 1.   For many, spending the day at the desk or traveling in your car will typically follow with chronic poor posture like picture 1.  Issues like neck and/or shoulder pain, headaches and hip pain will start to rise and can lead to dramatic health issues that will take time to undo the damage. 
Stretch #1: The Pec Stretch
Directions:
·         On a doorway or wall corner, place your elbow slightly above shoulder height against the doorway or corner. 
·         If you start with your left arm against the doorway or corner, you will then pull your chest toward the right.
·         You should feel a stretch in your chest.  Hold this for 20-60 seconds and change sides.
What it’s doing: It improves the pectoralis (pec) major length.
Stretch #2: Hip Flexor Stretch
Directions:
·         Using a foam mat, kneel one leg back down on the mat and the other bent in front of you. Make sure your front foot is flat and both legs are parallel with your hip.
·         Before you began the hip stretch, make sure your chest is up.
·         Shift your front bent leg forward, allowing you to feel a mild stretch in the back kneeled leg. Hold this for 20-60 seconds.
What it’s doing:  Lengthening the hip flexors.
There are many great stretches that can improve your posture.  Because every person can have a very different structure issue, it is important to get evaluated by a health professional so that you are doing the right stretches.  These stretches can typically be done ANYWHERE (home, work, sitting at your desk) and will go a long way in your overall health.  Call today to see what can be done about your posture.  
The Upper Valley Aquatic Center

 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

LADIES: The weight lifting is waiting for you. (BONUS full-body workout attached to blog!)


By Katherine MacPherson BS, ACSM HFS & UVAC Personal Trainer
How many of you will enter the fitness center with pure intent of just using the cardio machines? Well guess what, that won’t burn away hundreds of calories nor give you the muscle and bone building you actually need.  In this blog you will learn WHY women should to strength train and the major benefits that you get when you do it.
What is strength/weight training?
It is a method of training that will improve your strength, bone density, flexibility and balance. Regimens include:
·         TRX Suspension Training®
·         Circuit Training
·         Training that includes dumbbells, resistance bands, barbells, or equipment that adds resistances or load.
·         Boot Camp
·         Personal Training
It is typically common to see women only using cardio machines partly due to three reasons:        
1.       “I read that cardio burns more fat.”
2.       “Only men lift heavy weights.”
3.       “I don’t want to get bulky.”

Your answers to all questions: FALSE
Cardio will burn calories, but so does weight training.  Assume 100 calories on average per mile walk or run.  As you are only burning X amounts of calories, running or walking is only recruiting and generating a select amount of muscles.  With that in mind, you may be missing out on serious posture, balance, and strength development. 
The other myth that only men lift heavy weights is a topic I hear often. “Will I get too buff if I lift heavy weights?”  General strength training programs such as weight lifting and TRX Training® for an example will not create this effect on women.  Strength does not have to come with bulk!
A Personal Training client of mine, looking great on the TRX Straps!
So what are your benefits?
Strength Training will:
·         Reduces levels of fatigue (Daily Fatigue Patterns, Wiley). 
·         Decreases your risk of osteoporosis.  As well as prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.  Curtain training will benefit your bone health through impact loading and resistance training.  Example exercises: Squats and push-ups. (ACSM’s Health and Fitness Journal 5:6-14.)
·         Decreases your risk of heart disease, body fat, cholesterol and blood pressure. (Journal of the American Medical Association 259:1537-1540.)
·         Decreases your risk of type 2 diabetes. (Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 24:331-333.)
·         Studies link exercise to reduced risk of breast cancer. (Cancer causes and control, 2001.)
·         The more muscle development you have, the more calories you burn.
YOU’RE FREE FULL BODY WORKOUT: Find these exercises on youtube.com keyword UVACSWIM!
Before you get started:
 Warm up: 5 minutes on the treadmill or elliptical  
Stretch: 3-5 minutes of stretching
The workout: Complete 3 rounds…
Goblet Squats, 12 reps.
Push-Ups, 10 reps.
Static Lunges, 10 each leg
2 Arm Row, 12 reps.
Ball Slams, 15 slams
:45 plank
The Finisher: complete as many rounds in 7 minutes!
                Jump Squats, 12 reps
                Dead Bugs, 20 reps (10 each side)
                Side Planks, :15 each side
                Jogging in place, :45 
WANT MORE WORKOUTS, TIPS ON TRAINING OR MEET A PERSONAL TRAINER? Contact me at kmacpherson@uvac-swim.com or stop by the Upper Valley Aquatic Center!
Resourses:
Anna, L., Schwartz, Ph. D. 2001. Daily Fatigue Patterns and Effect of Exercise in Women with Breast Cancer. 8: 16-24.
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 24:331-333.)
Metcalfe, L., T. Lohman, S. Going, L. Joutkooper, D. Ferreira, et al. 2001.  Postmenopausal women and exercise for prevention of osteoporosis: The bone, estrogen, strength training (BEST) study.  ACSM’s Health and Fitness Journal .
Pia., K. Verkasalo, Hollie, V., Thomas, Paul, N., Appleby, et. Al. Cancer Causes and Control. SpingerLink. 12: 1.
Thompson, P.D. 1988.  The benefits and risks of exercise training in patients with chronic coronary artery disease. Journal of the American Medical Association 259:1537-1540.