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- Segment Number 3
- Audio File train_your_body/1521tb2c.mp3
- Featured Speaker Neal Pire & Grace DeSimone
- Organization ACSM
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Guest Bio
Neal Pire is a nationally noted expert on fitness and personal training. He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and has served on the Executive Council of ACSM's credentialing arm, the Committee on Certification and Registry Boards. Neal served as vice president of a leading national health management company and now serves as an Exercise Physiologist at HNH Fitness, a medical fitness center in Oradell, NJ. He is widely sought after as a consultant for athlete training programs, performance enhancement centers and fitness industry management. As a 35-year veteran with deep understanding of the subject matter, he is often asked for background, commentary or analysis by media covering wellness, fitness, and personal training.
Grace DeSimone has been in the fitness industry for over 30 years and brings a variety of experiences in commercial, corporate and community settings. She is the editor of ACSMs Resources for Group Exercise Instructors (LWW, 2011) and is an ACSM certified personal trainer and group exercise instructor. Grace is the National Director of Group Fitness for Plus One Health Management, an Optum Company. -
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Train Your Body | Original Air Date: May 19, 2015
Host: Melanie Cole, MS
Guests: Neal Pire & Grace DeSimone
Your trainer, Melanie Cole, is here to motivate and help you perform. It's time for train your body.
MELANIE: In this day and age of the increasing popularity of female doctors, female gynecologists, female pediatricians, does it make sense to have a trainer, fitness instructor of the same gender? Do you feel that uncomfortable? Most of my clients, as a trainer, are men. So what is it about the gender thing? Is there anything it? Guests today, He Said/She Said Grace De Simone, National Director of Group Fitness, for a Plus One Health Management, an Optum Company and Neal Pire, exercise physiologist at HNH Fitness, Medical Fitness Center in Oradell, New Jersey.
So, guys, I'm going to start with you, Neal. Is there something to gender? As a man and kind of a big man, do you find that women are more attracted to you as a trainer, more drawn to you or do you feel that sometimes they are like “I don’t want you like touching my body parts”?
Neal: I have learned over the years that if you touch, it's how you touch and how you communicate touch to the client that’s most important. And I really don’t think that it’s an across the board gender thing. You have to be able, as a fitness professional, to be able to manage and communicate and develop a level of rapport with your client, regardless of gender so that they feel comfortable. It's that comfort level that you need to address as a professional and the comfort level that as a customer, as a client, you need to have with the trainer, be it male or female. Again, the personality traits and how they communicate with you really, I think, are integral in making that happen and not necessarily just gender.
MELANIE: So, Grace, what do you have to say about this? How do you feel comfortable and do you feel comfortable with a man training you? And what would you tell somebody who maybe says, “I'll try a man” but then all of a sudden gets the wigglies and doesn’t feel comfortable. What would you tell them about finding a trainer of either gender and how they can feel more comfortable?
GRACE: Well, a few shows ago, I'm sure you both remember, we did a show on breaking up with your trainer and breaking up with your instructor. So, whatever you choose, think about the long-term effect. If you are working with a trainer or you are working with an instructor, it’s something to just think about just like when you choose your dentist or your doctor. You are hoping that it's going to be a long-term relationship, so if you get yourself involved in something early on and you really don’t feel comfortable, move on. Don’t feel like, “Oh, I have to work this out. “
That’s why test drive, get to know people, ask questions and really go with your gut. It is a very personal thing, much like choosing a medical professional. Some people prefer same gender, other people prefer different gender. And I can tell you from somebody who I have been transformed from, I only went to female gynecologists until I met the doctor that was so awesome. Gender doesn't matter because his personality, his rapport, his education, all those things that Neal was talking about are there. So, it's very much a personal decision, there's no rhyme or reason. But I would advise our listeners to follow your gut. If you are feeling uncomfortable on day one, you’re probably going to feel uncomfortable on day 21. So, take that under advisement and really get to know who you’re talking to, have conversations with them because it’s a very long hour that you are spending with a trainer or a half an hour, if you are not comfortable.
MELANIE: Well, it is and there's certainly, as you say, that very intimate element. And as I work with all these men and most of them are in their 70s and 80s and even 90s, things happen. Things fall out, things happen, they do.
GRACE: Yeah, things can fall out.
MELANIE: Things fall out and you have to be their trainer that is able to take that whether they fart or whether something happens and just kind of let it go.
So, Neal, what if it’s a woman and something like that happens? Because to me I'm training this old guy. If something falls out it's like, “Okay. Whatever. Let's go on.” But if it’s a man and it happens to a woman or is there any difference in that feeling? Do you feel as a man that you have to be more careful with women?
Neal: Well, I mean, I think that because of society’s pressures, for lack of a better way to put it, you need to be careful and you need to be respectful and professional above all. I'll give you a perfect example and let me tell you, I was a rookie. This is going back to 1979 and there I am, an unseasoned professional but always very respectful of women, and just adults in general as I grew up. But there I am and I'm instructing a new member at this health club how to use the old Nautilus hip and back machine. Do you remember that machine?
MELANIE: I I love those.
Neal: And, of course, you'll never find one these days. But there the woman is, lying on her back and she is extending her legs and using her hips, etc., the way you would use the machine. And I'm instructing and I’m coaching and I'm there within reach of her personal space, right? And with my little chart I'm recording her reps, etc. And this is 1979. Back then you didn’t have the assortment of exercise gear that a lot of the women wear these days at the gyms. And this woman was wearing a leotard with sheer tights. And the leotard had snaps in the crutch.
MELANIE: Oh, oh.
Neal: And you know the exercise I'm talking about, you know the movement and as she extended one leg down with the other knee up towards her chest, the snaps popped.
MELANIE: Yikes.
Neal: And here I am.
MELANIE: There you are in full view of her sheer tights.
Neal: I’m like, “Oh boy.” And I didn’t say a word. Just…
MELANIE: No.
Neal: "Okay, good make sure you’re breathing. Excellent, exhale. Awesome. Let's move on to the next machine." And I just turned very slowly and walked towards the next machine, giving her an opportunity to fix herself.
MELANIE: And if she hadn’t caught it, then would you have said, we only have a minute left but I'm going to go Grace, but would you have said something? Did you say something?
Neal: I didn’t say anything. Well, I would have said something if she hadn’t caught it but, obviously, her leotard rose up around her waist now and there she is-- so there was no pretending.
MELANIE: There was no pretending. Grace, you have about a minute, my darling. Tell us about how to pick the gender? How to figure out if you’re comfortable with that gender and when things go awry and there's, what do they call those slips in Hollywood, ‘things happen’, then how do you deal with them if it’s a member of the opposite sex?
GRACE: Well, couple of questions that I would suggest people ask themselves when making a choice. Some people naturally gravitate towards one gender or another for most things. You feel more comfortable with a man or you feel more comfortable with a woman. So that would be choice number one. Go with your gut. How do you like to be motivated? And for some women, they like a man motivating them because there's less chit chat, sometimes two women together, it's like two kitties in a litter box. You have to be really careful with that if you know that you are going to be chatting with this person all day long.
I choose men for that reason because they keep me out of the gossip mill. It’s like, “Come on. Stop talking. Stop complaining. Let's go.” I know that about myself but if I'm with another girl I'll be chatting away. So, that’s something to think about it. What's your goal? Do you really want to be with somebody that’s going to keep you in line and say, “No we’re not talking now. We are working now.” And that’s not going to upset you, because that's what your goal is. Think about that.
What's the knowledge and the experience of the person which I think far outweighs the gender. If you find somebody who's got the right background, it might not matter. But if you do have those uncomfortable sensations like, “Oh, how come he brushed up against me that way? I feel uncomfortable in that way,” that’s a red flag and you really need to address that, either by saying, “I'm not comfortable,” or you go to someone else in this facility to say, “Hey, let me inquire about this. Am I off base or should this not have happened?”
MELANIE: All good advice. All good advice. Look for the gender you are most comfortable with and how you feel about it. You know your instincts.
You’re listening to Train Your Body right here on Radio MD. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Melanie Cole, MS
Additional Info
- Segment Number 2
- Audio File train_your_body/1521tb2b.mp3
- Featured Speaker Walter R. Thompson, PhD
- Organization ACSM
-
Guest Bio
Walter R. Thompson, Ph.D., FACSM, is a regents professor of exercise science in the Department of Kinesiology and Health (College of Education) at Georgia State University and in the Division of Nutrition (Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing and Health Professions) where he also serves as the executive director of the After-School All-Stars Atlanta. He has served on the ACSM Board of Trustees and was twice elected a member of its Administrative Council.
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Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Train Your Body | Original Air Date: May 19, 2015
Host: Melanie Cole, MS
Guest: Walter R. Thompson, PhD
Train Your Body. Here is exercise physiologist, Melanie Cole, MS.
MELANIE: The American Fitness Index data reports measures these metropolitan areas and provides a score and a ranking that reflects the preventive health behaviors of the communities, the level of chronic disease conditions, the access to quality healthcare, community resources, policies that support physical activity, which includes recess in gym and park districts, and golf courses and public pools. And, again, I'm always blown away. You cannot imagine what goes in to creating this report.
And my guest is Dr. Walter Thompson. He is a Regents’ Professor of Exercise Science in the Department of Kinesiology at Georgia State University, one of my favorite guests here on Train Your Body. So, Dr. Thompson, let's talk about some of the guys at the bottom here. We talked about Indianapolis a little. Memphis, Tennessee, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Louisville, Nashville, Birmingham. What are these guys doing? They are spending less per person on recreation. What else are they doing? Is it their smoking policies, are they cutting gym and recess? Do they have not great access to healthcare? What are they doing?
DR THOMPSON: The answer to that question is “yes” to all of those that you just mentioned. All of these cities that fall in the bottom of the American Fitness Index, those that are chronically at the bottom, and you just named them, all have the same kinds of characteristics. I mentioned before this park-related expenditure is true of every city. And I know we focused on Indianapolis earlier but it's true of the bottom five, from Nashville, Louisville, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Memphis and, of course, Indianapolis. All spent less on their parks than the top cities.
This second characteristic that is quite unique, and, Melanie, you and I have talked about this before. And that is the opportunity to get our kids physically active. In all of the top cities, there is a physical education requirement in the public schools through high school. In all of the bottom cities, there is no requirement for physical education in our schools past the fifth grade. So, when a kid gets into middle school, and into high school in these lower ranked cities, they’re not exposed to physical education and they lose the appreciation for being physically active. And guess what? That carries into adulthood as well.
So, it's no surprise that these two things that we just talked about, policy for school physical education and park related expenditures per resident, are chronically low for the lower ranked cities and chronically high for the higher ranked cities.
MELANIE: Dr. Thompson, are they also cutting these gyms and recess things because they feel they need to spend more time on academics, mathematics, when we know kids need to get their beans out or they can't think straight. Do you have studies that say whether they are doing that for academics and is it resulting in higher academics? Because it would seem to me that some of those communities also have low scores in their math testing and such.
DR THOMPSON: Well, they do and in the state of Georgia just a couple of years ago, we actually tried to legislate physical education back into the school system. That is, we tried to get the state legislature to create a law.
MELANIE: God, you shouldn’t have to do that.
DR THOMPSON: No, we shouldn’t have to do that, but we felt that we needed to do that and it’s happening all over the country--that we’re forcing these kids now to learn and you’ve heard the word “STEM”. And sometimes it's called “STEAM” when they want an appreciation for art. But most of the time we are forcing this STEM agenda, which is not a bad agenda, as long as kids also get an opportunity to be physically active. Let me tell you about this very unscientific study that I did. My daughter is a second grade school teacher, public school teacher. Second grade--so there's a physical education requirement in the state of Georgia for physical education in elementary schools. So I asked her, "Do your kids have physical education?" And she said, "Yes." Then I said, "Well, for how long?" And she said, "30 minutes." And I'm thinking to myself, “That’s great, 30 minutes a day.” And then she quickly followed up by saying, “30 minutes a week.”
MELANIE: Yes. Once a week.
DR THOMPSON: Once a week for 30 minutes, and you know when you corral second graders, that’s going to take 15 minutes to get them to the gym. They do a physical activity program for about five minutes and it takes another 10 or 15 minutes to get back to class. So even when there's the physical education requirement, we’re not doing a great job in teaching these kids how to be chronically, physically inactive throughout adulthood.
MELANIE: Well, and, I think, as you say, it’s a role model situation and if they see…So, if in your community, your school is cutting these for STEM. And, as you said, we need that. It's good, it's giving them technology and science and art, music and all of these things. But there has to be room for all of it. And I think that there is. My kids are getting both of it. We are in a good community here but I know that my kids would go crazy if they didn’t have their physical activity in the day. They just would be squiggling around, like they'll got those schpilkas all day long. They wouldn’t even be able to sit still.
So, there has to be room for all of it. But the role modeling, Dr. Thompson. If they see it’s a community where you can't be smoking around doorways, where the park district is offering fitness classes all over the place. So, tell us just a little bit more about some of these other places that are not doing well. Does that include fattening food and these regulations on smoking? Do these tend to be in communities where they say, “Leave us alone. Don’t regulate our government. Don’t regulate my personal space.” Is it political I guess?
DR THOMPSON: And the answer is “no”. People who live in the cities that fall in the bottom of the American Fitness Index list are not happy. And I'm going to give you a great example of this. Mayor Mick Cornett of Oklahoma City, when he became mayor, the American Fitness Index ranked Oklahoma City at number 50. He was not happy about that, because he adopted an active lifestyle. He put the City of Oklahoma City on a diet in about 2008 when the first American Fitness Index came out. He put the city on a diet and they lost a million pounds.
MELANIE: Wow.
DR THOMPSON: And he continues to be the mayor and he continues to push the physical activity agenda. He is involved in all of these community-based road races and things like that. A great of example of a leader who leads the kind of lifestyle we would like for them to lead. Now, Oklahoma City is no longer number 50. It’s 48, but it’s inching its way up the American Fitness Index. And if we could just keep the weather under control in Oklahoma City because they had some tornados that came through there, which sets some of these public policy agendas back.
MELANIE: Back a little.
DR THOMPSON: But as long as Mayor Mick Cornett is there and as long as the city -- and we met with them, and all of them said, “Yes, we need to make some changes,” and they have done exactly that.
MELANIE: See that’s cool when you say they lost a million pounds. And that it's not political that they are not saying, “We don’t care how we rank,” because I would think that there would be a little bit of that. Don’t regulate my smoking. Don’t do that. Don’t take these things away from me. But I'm glad to hear that that’s not the case. In just the last minute: best advice, website, for people listening about the American Fitness Index for 2015.
DR THOMPSON: Well, we are certainly indebted to the Anthem Foundation who provides the funding to allow us to do the American Fitness Index each and every year. We look forward to talking with folks like you, Melanie, and others in media across the country, about the good things and some of the not so good things that are happening in communities. But most important, if folks who live in these cities are not happy with the American Fitness Index ranking, go to our website americanfitnessindex.org, download the community action plan and make some significant changes in your own communities.
MELANIE: Great advice. Absolutely great advice. Go to americanfitnessindex.org and look for your community, look for your city. And then, you can click on the map and it will tell you the ranking and why. It will tell you what's going on in your community, and that’s how you can figure out how you can get involved to change some of those things. And you can download the action guide for free and use that also as a good guideline on how to make those changes.
You’re listening to Train Your Body, absolutely motivate and perform, with the American College of Sports Medicine right here on Radio MD. Thanks for listening and stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Melanie Cole, MS
Additional Info
- Segment Number 1
- Audio File train_your_body/1521tb2a.mp3
- Featured Speaker Walter R. Thompson, PhD
- Organization ACSM
-
Guest Bio
Walter R. Thompson, Ph.D., FACSM, is a regents professor of exercise science in the Department of Kinesiology and Health (College of Education) at Georgia State University and in the Division of Nutrition (Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing and Health Professions) where he also serves as the executive director of the After-School All-Stars Atlanta. He has served on the ACSM Board of Trustees and was twice elected a member of its Administrative Council.
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Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Train Your Body | Original Air Date: May 19, 2015
Host: Melanie Cole, MS
Guest: Walter R. Thompson, PhD
Your trainer, Melanie Cole is here to motivate and help you perform. It's time now for Train Your Body.
MELANIE: In 2008, the American College of Sports Medicine launched the ACSM American Fitness Index program in partnership with the Anthem Foundation. This report measures the 50 most populous metropolitan areas in the United States and it breaks them down for you on the fitness level based on so many factors that you cannot even imagine that they are able to put together this report. My guest today is one of my absolute favorite guests here on Train Your Body, Dr. Walter Thompson. He is a Regents’ Professor of Exercise Science in the Department of Kinesiology and Health at Georgia State University. He is also the one in charge of this massive undertaking of the American Fitness Index. So, tell us what's going on this year, Dr. Thompson.
DR THOMPSON: Hey, Melanie, it's always great to talk with you. The American Fitness Index is published today. We had the big unveiling today and to no one’s real surprise, Washington DC came out on top again as number one. Number two is Minneapolis, which is always surprising. Maybe we can spend some time on Minneapolis there are really interesting things happening there. But the real big surprise this year, up from number eight in 2014 is San Diego, at number three. Some real significant things happening in a lot of the California cities and maybe if we have time, we can focus on a couple of them as well.
MELANIE: You mentioned Washington, DC, as being number one. I wouldn’t think of that as being number one but it's been a couple of years. Why is Washington, DC? It doesn’t seem like it's got a lot of open areas, parks golf courses, all those things that you take into account.
DR THOMPSON: Yes, and Minneapolis is a surprise, too, isn’t it? In 2013, Minneapolis was number one. It flipped to number two last year and stayed at number two. But you know what? In Minneapolis, folks know that between about October 1st and April 1st, it's going to be wet and cold right? Same thing in Washington, DC. So, what they have done in these cities and really in the top 10 of our 50 most populated cities in the American Fitness Index is they understand that in the wintertime particularly, they have to find places indoors to exercise. So, you walk down the street of Minneapolis and it seems like every other storefront is either a commercial health club or a community-based organization or a recreation center run by the cities.
So, they make these conscious, really conscious decisions to put their money and their resources where it's going to be the most benefit. So, let me focus a little bit on Washington, DC. One of the things that is a really interesting is the comparison between the one number city and the number 56. One of the things we look at is not just how many parks, for example, are in a city but how much money do we spend on keeping them up, making them safe and welcoming for the folks who live in the city. Washington DC spends $287 per resident on their parks. Indianapolis, who came in number 50, and this is a trend in the bottom 10 of our cities, Indianapolis spends $24 per resident…
MELANIE: Wow.
DR THOMPSON: …on their parks. A huge difference, right?
MELANIE: Wow. And you don’t expect to hear the Midwest like Indianapolis the home of the American College of Sports Medicine. You expect those Southern States because of the fatty food or because of the rural atmosphere but that’s an odd thing. Then, as you say, Minneapolis being in the tundra is able to put these things forward and spend the money. How do you think that happens?
DR THOMPSON: Well, because the city will just make this very conscious decision that that’s what they are going to do. Let me give you an example of Atlanta. Atlanta is my hometown. Our mayor, who was elected now six years ago, is in his second term. The previous mayor made the decision, between 2007 and 2010, when the city was being hit by the recession, to close every one of Atlanta's recreation centers. Every one of them. When our new mayor came on board six years ago, he was determined to open up every single one of those recreation centers, and every single one of them is open today.
So, that’s just an example of a mayor and city leaders making, again, that conscious decision to open up recreation facilities to allow kids and adults in the neighborhoods just around those recreation centers to exercise, and exercise safely. Another example in Atlanta, and I hate to use Atlanta as an example but I live here and I'm so proud of the fact that we moved up to number 14 this year.
MELANIE: You did move up to number 14. Yes, you did.
DR THOMPSON: We did. And something that we’ll find it a greater impact in years to come because the project’s not done yet is, the Atlanta BeltLine. Again another conscious decision made by city leaders, and with public and private funding opened up 22 miles of walking, jogging and bicycling paths that surround the city of Atlanta. So, you literary can get on your bike and ride around the perimeter of Atlanta on the BeltLine.
MELANIE: See that’s really cool, and as you say Dr. Thompson that’s a conscious effort. People think of places like Boulder where everybody is hiking and they are all natural and they are biking everywhere and all of that. While Denver is up on the list for sure at number six, that seems to be less of a conscious and more of an environmental…It just goes with the territory.
DR THOMPSON: That’s right, and there are certain pockets of communities and I use the examples of California cities because the folks that live in California and particularly along the coast and in -- Los Angeles is not a great example because it fell a little bit. But cities like Sacramento and San Diego, all those folks that live there are conscious of their health, and they create public policy. Like for example, indoor and outdoor smoking bans. They make these public policies that promote good health.
MELANIE: So, I think that when they make those policies, they look at this overall -- I mean it blows me away every year, Dr. Thompson, how you’re able to compile all of this information from medical reports and park district and money spent. People can go to Americanfitnessindex.org, that’s americanfitnessindex.org and see the 2015 report, see the work that these folks at ACSM put into this so that we can look at our communities. Because that's really the goal isn’t it, Dr. Thompson? So, that we can look at our own communities and say what can we do, a little bit of a competition, “What can we do to rise ourselves up that list? What can I do to get involved?” Give your best advice in the last minute. And we are going to talk in another segment about some more of these areas but what can they do in their communities to try and get in on this competition and rise up that list a little bit?
DR THOMPSON: This is a great question, Melanie, and we provided the answer for folks who live in these cities. We have created what is called a community action guide. You can go to the americanfitnessindex.org website and we have this community action guide ready for you to download free of charge. And it's full of ideas on how you as an individual living in a city, in your community can make some significant changes. How to approach your mayor, how to approach your city council, how to put pressure on the leaders within the city, to make significant changes.
MELANIE: I think that’s great information and the website is americanfitnessindex.org and you can download for free the action guide that they put out. Because if you do that listeners you can take this action guide, print it out at your local library and take it to one of your board meetings, take it to a meeting of your community members and show it to them and say "We need to rise up on this list and this is how we can do it and this has been put out for us."
It’s information that is succinctly put out on things that you can do to make your community more active and healthier all around. It includes everything from smoking cessation, to food deserts, to park ways, park districts, bike paths. I mean, you cannot imagine what these guys put into this. So go to americanfitnessindex.org and read about it. We are going to talk more as we come up about the American Fitness Index right here on your Train Your Body with the American College of Sports Medicine.
I'm Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening and stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Melanie Cole, MS
Additional Info
- Segment Number 4
- Audio File train_your_body/1520tb2d.mp3
- Featured Speaker Jordan D. Metzl, MD
- Organization ACSM
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Guest Bio
Jordan D. Metzl, MD, (www.DrJordanMetzl.com) is a sports medicine physician at Hospital for Special Surgery, America’s premier orthopedic hospital located in New York City. Regularly voted among New York’s top sports medicine doctors by New York Magazine, Dr. Metzl takes care of athletic patients of all ages and lectures and teaches extensively both nationally and internationally.
With a practice of more than 20,000 patients, Dr. Metzl is widely known for his passion for sports medicine and fitness. His focus is to safely return athletes to the playing field of their choice and to keep them there. In addition to his busy medical practices in New York City and Old Greenwich, Connecticut, Dr. Metzl is the author of the bestselling titles The Exercise Cure (Rodale 2014) and The Athlete's Book of Home Remedies (Rodale 2013) and has also authored three other books, including The Young Athlete (Little Brown). Dr. Metzl is also the medical columnist for Triathlete Magazine. His upcoming book entitled Run Your Best Life is expected in 2015 (Rodale).
His research interests include the treatment and prevention of running related injury, the effectiveness of preventive wellness programs, and the prevention of youth sport injury.
Dr. Metzl appears regularly on media programs including the Today Show, on radio including National Public Radio (NPR) and in print media including the New York Times, discussing the issues of fitness and health. In addition to his busy medical practice and academic interests, he practices what he preaches.
Dr. Metzl created the Ironstrength Workout, a functional fitness program for improved performance and injury prevention that he teaches in fitness venues throughout the country. The workout is featured on www.RunnersWorld.com where it has been performed by more than nine million athletes around the world.
A former collegiate soccer player, 31-time marathon runner and 12-time Ironman finisher, he lives, works, and works out in New York City. -
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Train Your Body | Original Air Date: May 12, 2015
Host: Melanie Cole, MS
Guest: Jordan D. Metzl, MD
Your trainer Melanie Cole is here to motivate and help you perform. It’s time now for Train Your Body.
MELANIE: So what are shin splints? And what are muscle cramps? You get them, you start to run, maybe you’re out walking, maybe you’re doing a lunge, maybe you’re just bending over to pick up your kid, or sleeping at night, and all of a sudden this thing grabs your leg behind your leg, you know, or in your foot, what is that? And if you’re out exercising what can you even do about it? My guest is Dr. Jordan Metzl. He is a nationally recognized sports medicine physician, and best-selling author of Running Strong.
Welcome to the show Dr. Metzl.
So tell us first, what is a cramp? What is it?
DR. METZL: So, you know, running and cramps and cramps from sports are a very common thing that we see in the office. As an athlete myself, I want to make sure that I hopefully don’t get too many cramps when they come on they are really horrid. Nothing worse than in the middle of an iron man or a marathon and you get a hamstring or a quad cramp and you’re just like “Aw, man. I put in all this training. This sucks.” So, why do they happen? Muscle cramp just means the muscle is kind of going into spasm. They tend to happen for a couple of reasons. The number one reason is that the muscle is not strong or flexible enough. So, there is kind of a mechanical cramp, which tends to be related to just not being strong or flexible enough. That’s probably about 20% of cramps are related to that. So, you just put too much loading force on the muscle, and in quite English terms, the muscle gets pissed off. It starts to cramp up and get very sore and goes into spasm and it doesn’t like it. You know. The other group which is much more common are nutritional cramps. So, those fall in the category of things like dehydration. If you get severely dehydrated your muscle tends to go into a cramp and a spasmodic type pattern. Electrolyte imbalance. Things like sodium, potassium, magnesium. Those deficiencies, particularly after doing a lot of sweating. You can lose a lot of electrolytes. Those can cause muscular cramping as well, so if you’re somebody that is in a hot, humid environment, you want to make sure you’re pre-hydrating and definitely pre-electrolyte loading and replacing those electrolytes as you go so you don’t end up down the road with all kinds of problems. So, muscle cramping is a common thing I see and it is also a common thing I try and give people guidance on how to prevent because, generally speaking, if you’re smart about it, not always, but certainly much of the time, you can avoid these.
MELANIE: Now are those kinds of cramps that are exercise related or, you know, nutritionally related to muscle imbalance, whatever, you know, are the reasons, are those different than those ones that wake you up screaming in the night? That your hamstring or your foot juts out in a direction, you hop around for a while, and then the next day that muscle is actually sore.
DR. METZL: Yea that’s a different type of drill. So, that’s a different thing. These tend to be exertional related cramps that I’m talking about versus just some of the night time cramping which maybe sometimes related to dehydration or something, but, generally speaking, those are sometime positional at night and some people just get those.
MELANIE: So, you don’t have any remedies for those middle of the night things?
DR. METZL: I’m sorry, if I did I would be the first person that would buy it. I, thankfully, you know, it’s not something I get a lot of, but I’d say stretch out before bed and don’t move.
MELANIE: And what about, you mentioned electrolytes and sodium potassium, you know, so is eating a banana, half a banana, is that going to help you? Is that enough potassium? Or, do you like energy drinks? Or, you know, like a Gatorade electrolyte replacement drink?
DR. METZL: I got to say, my patients, and I have people that do all kinds of different things. I’ve had the best success with some of the new high sodium sports drinks. So, like endurance formula Gatorade has been very, very helpful. And then I have a whole other crowd. The patients that seem to get this the worst are my iron man people, like me, who are doing stuff in hot, humid environments and my tennis players who are playing, particularly down in the southeast, where they get a lot of heat and humidity down there and they lose a ton of electrolytes. Those tennis folks swear by dill pickle juice. I’m not kidding.
MELANIE: I’ve heard that before.
DR. METZL: They love it. They go crazy for dill pickle juice, and they really believe in it. I mean it really. It’s a great. It’s brine salt. It’s readily available in terms of the absorption capacity is very quick. They love it. So, that works for them but for everybody else I think some of the salt containing, high salt sport drinks probably are the best.
MELANIE: Now, what is a shin splint? You know we’ve talked on the show with so many experts about various muscle conditions and things, but shin splints, in particular, seem to be a common one and a bit of a confusing one because there is like, it feels like there is no muscle there, it’s like it’s just a bone. But we know that there is muscle. What is a shin splint?
DR. METZL: So, basically, shin splint means an irritated, or, as I say in my videos on Runners World, pissed off my shin. I’ve irritated my shin. And there are kind of two main, broad categories of shin splint. The less common is what we call muscular shin pain, and the person with muscular shin pain is the following person: “Hi I’m Melanie and I’m a runner and I run. After about 15 or 20 minutes the outside or the back of my leg starts to get really tight and my leg is killing me and the more I step the tighter it gets and I feel like something is squeezing inside my leg.” Now, that’s sometimes called a shin splint. It’s in a broad category of shin splint with running, but that’s what we call muscular shin pain. And what you’re describing is something called exertional compartment syndrome meaning that the muscle is expanding and there is not enough room for it to expand and it gets squeezed by the wrapping called the fascia and it becomes really tight and we do things to help that. We shorten peoples’ running stride. Then, if that doesn’t work, we do a diagnostic test called Compartment Syndrome Test, and then if that shows an elevated pressure, sometimes these people need surgery to fix that. Now, the much more common shin pain are the people who run and they start running and running and running and they get pain either in the front or the back inside part of their bone, particularly their tibia bone. And that is called Tibial Stress Syndrome, most commonly, Posterior Tibial Stress Syndrome on the inside part of the leg. And when people get that problem, it’s most often related to a combination of their foot mechanics and their stride length. So, the things I really educate my patients on are: number one, I use oftentimes a corrective type orthotic. The kind I like are the types that you just get in the mail for forty bucks. You heat them up in the oven and then step in them and they mold to your feet. Those have been very…
MELANIE: Yeah. I like those too.
DR. METZL: They’re great, and then in terms of stride length I have them shorten up that stride. I have them use the shorter stride. Try and get to a cadence 175/180 and try and match that cadence to see what that feels like and that should help as well.
MELANIE: Well and I want to point out that he mentions running because he is like, you know, iron man runner but walkers get shin splints, too, and it’s easy to get these things. It’s the same issues. You get them in aerobics class or you get them in yoga, you get them in… and it doesn’t even matter. But walking, also. So, you mentioned orthotics and shoes, base, stride length, gait. All of its involved. Are there certain stretches or things because sometimes taking your toe, tucking it under across the leg. It’s a very hard area to stretch.
DR. METZL: Yes. So, here’s the story on this. I’m a big fan, in all my books, I have whole illustrated workout on how to use your foam roller. I think getting on that sucker makes a huge difference and I think that’s the best way. It’s very difficult to stretch that. I have a lot information on using a foam roller and how to do that.
MELANIE: So, using a foam roller would be the best way to learn to stretch that area because it is, as you say, a difficult area…
DR. METZL: Impossible.
MELANIE: It certainly is. In the last minute, the best advice on those little nagging things, shin splints, cramps, things that come up when we run or walk, because some of us are walkers, Dr. Metzl. We are not all Iron Men, but I’m a long distance walker. I’ll walk forty miles. You know, I just can’t seem to run but we will talk about that on another show. Best advice.
DR. METZL: For what? For people who do that?
MELANIE: On all of this shin splints, cramps, any of it.
DR. METZL: Yes. So, my best advice is, number one: if pain changes your mechanic of movement, get it checked out meaning if shin pain is changing the way you walk or run, if knee pain is changing the walk or run, get it checked out. I see so many injuries in my office that are getting worse by people changing their mechanical movement patterns because of pain. So, that’s number one. And number two is, figure out why the pain is happening. We can do so much. I want to educate what runner and walkers around the world on how they can take care of their bodies and prevent problems from happening. With a little bit of education you can make a huge difference and be your own best advocate in this space.
MELANIE: Wow, he is ending this just like he is a complete pro, which he is. The book: Dr. Jordan Metzl’s Running Strong. You can get it on Amazon. You’re listening to RadioMD.
This is Melanie Cole.
Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Melanie Cole, MS
Additional Info
- Segment Number 3
- Audio File train_your_body/1520tb2c.mp3
- Featured Speaker Jordan D. Metzl, MD
- Organization ACSM
-
Guest Bio
Jordan D. Metzl, MD, (www.DrJordanMetzl.com) is a sports medicine physician at Hospital for Special Surgery, America’s premier orthopedic hospital located in New York City. Regularly voted among New York’s top sports medicine doctors by New York Magazine, Dr. Metzl takes care of athletic patients of all ages and lectures and teaches extensively both nationally and internationally.
With a practice of more than 20,000 patients, Dr. Metzl is widely known for his passion for sports medicine and fitness. His focus is to safely return athletes to the playing field of their choice and to keep them there. In addition to his busy medical practices in New York City and Old Greenwich, Connecticut, Dr. Metzl is the author of the bestselling titles The Exercise Cure (Rodale 2014) and The Athlete's Book of Home Remedies (Rodale 2013) and has also authored three other books, including The Young Athlete (Little Brown). Dr. Metzl is also the medical columnist for Triathlete Magazine. His upcoming book entitled Run Your Best Life is expected in 2015 (Rodale).
His research interests include the treatment and prevention of running related injury, the effectiveness of preventive wellness programs, and the prevention of youth sport injury.
Dr. Metzl appears regularly on media programs including the Today Show, on radio including National Public Radio (NPR) and in print media including the New York Times, discussing the issues of fitness and health. In addition to his busy medical practice and academic interests, he practices what he preaches.
Dr. Metzl created the Ironstrength Workout, a functional fitness program for improved performance and injury prevention that he teaches in fitness venues throughout the country. The workout is featured on www.RunnersWorld.com where it has been performed by more than nine million athletes around the world.
A former collegiate soccer player, 31-time marathon runner and 12-time Ironman finisher, he lives, works, and works out in New York City. -
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Train Your Body | Original Air Date: May 12, 2015
Host: Melanie Cole, MS
Guest: Jordan D. Metzl, MD
Train your body. Here’s Exercise Physiologist Melanie Cole, M.S.
MELANIE: Do you see those people out there running? You think to yourself, “I know I could be one of those. I just really don’t know how to begin. I don’t know if I have the wind for it”. I hear that all the time. “I don’t know if I have really the strength to do it. They seem like they’re so motivated.” Well, we are going to talk about healthy running and the things you need to do if you want to become a runner. My guest is the consummate expert, Dr. Jordan Metzl. He’s a nationally recognized sports medicine physician, bestselling author and fitness instructor, practices at the hospital for special surgery in New York. Welcome to the show Dr. Metzl, so your new book, Running Strong, right? That’s the name?
DR METZL: You bet you, nice to talk to you and, yes, the new book is called Running Strong. I did it with “Runners World” and I kind of think of this as the following things. So, I was thinking about it when I put it together. So, I’ve been practicing sports medicine for 15 years and I’ve been running for, I guess, thirty plus years, and I do believe that the best medicine every day, is to get off your couch every single day and get out of bed and get out there and get going. I want people to go do that and in sports, running certainly is the easiest, literally lowest bar entry. Literally you just got to get a pair of shoes and open your door. So, as a lifelong runner and somebody that has taken care of thousands of runners, how to you get that information and how do you keep people on the road? So, the idea of Running Strong was basically every single thing I know as a runner and every single thing I know as a sports medicine doctor together. This year was my 33rd marathon so just by way of “street cred”…
MELANIE: Oh, that’s just wonderful.
DR METZL: So, I practice what I preach. You know, I don’t want to talk about it, I want to do it!
MELANIE: Yes.
DR METZL: We did a really cool thing actually with the great folks at Runners World, and that was, I have been doing a whole series of videos with them called “Inside the Doctor’s Office” over the last four or five years and literally somebody’s in my office and we tackle every subject matter a runner will deal with, from shin splints to muscle cramps to achy hips, to achy backs, to stride lengths to drinking coffee before you run. Everything. We called that series “Inside the Doctor’s Office”. So, what we did is, in addition to all the information about everything related to running, we did a series of illustrated, feet, ankles, knees, hips, backs and every time you get to a thing like shin splints, you read about it and then you hold your smart phone over the picture of the shin and we’re using this new scanning app called “Blippar” and it basically scans the page and takes you, on your smart phone, to the video I did on that subject. So, it’s literally like a 24/7 video consultation from anywhere around the world, but different than Dr. Google, who is only right about 30% of the time. I know what people are doing because they get all the information, so it’s a pretty cool way, I think, on the health informatics side to be able to give people info but also just for runners I want to keep on the road. So, yes, Running Strong is the title and it’s all about how to keep people healthy.
MELANIE: Wow! What a cool app that is. You just put it right on there and then it has you talking about that specific injury, or that specific limitation, whatever it is. That is absolutely brilliant! So, give us a little summary of your best advice for running strong. What do you tell people about getting out there on the road?
DR METZL: Sure. So, basically, first of all, I want everybody to do it. It’s interesting to think about my typical day in the office. You know, one patient can be a 62-year- old woman who is a new runner who wants to do the “5K” and she’s got a little bit of arthritis in her knees. The next patient could be a 16-year-old, cross-country junior who’s looking to kind of make it to a college runner and then the next person may be like a 40-year-old guy who wants to run a marathon for the very first time. So, each one of those people are runners and they all run and yet they all have very different needs and so I start by talking about the proper running form and some of the basics of preparing your body to run. Then, after going through pretty much the whole body piece, talk about things like improving your physiology, maximizing your strength, maximizing your flexibility on a foam roller, some of the things you think about in terms of mechanics of your own personal run, nutrition, so it’s pretty much a tip to toe thing. I guess the message I want to give everybody, I titled the book, Running Strong and that was no accident. We did it in combination of a new version of my workout called “Iron Strength” which is, I think I’ve talked to you about it before, a full body function training, which is basically kinetic training for runners. So, using body weight, a lot of plyometric-based training to basically build your strength so you put much less loading force on your hips, and your knees and your back. So, what I want people to think about is, “How do I make myself--whether I’m the 61-year-old person with arthritis, the 16-year-old kid who wants to run faster, or the 40-year-old person who wants to run a marathon--how to I make running the healthiest for me?” If you think about those kinds of things, maximizing your form, maximizing your strength, maximizing your physiology, you will make yourself the best version of yourself when it comes to running.
MELANIE: How do you maximize your motivation to get started?
DR METZL: HA! That’s a great question! And, that’s a fair question. A couple things. In my last book, An Exercising Cure, I talked a lot about what we call the exercise wheel. The exercise wheel is a concept that if there’s like a tractor tire lying on the street and you want to take this tire and take it from here to there--you know, down the block or wherever--the biggest amount of energy expenditure is getting that thing up and moving. Once it’s rolling, it’s easier to keep it rolling. So, number one is you’ve just got to get started. You have to force yourself to get started, number one, motivationally. Number two, you just think about it and the last guy on the show which was talking about some of the different apps and you need to kind of think about making a community, whether a virtual community or a real community. In my “Iron Strength” workout community we started in New York about 3 years ago, we have hundreds of people that come out and do the workouts now. They’re all free and it’s all free community-based fitness. It’s awesome and it’s so fun to see what the community looks like when it grows and develops.
MELANIE: And that is really cool. To be a part of something like that helps. I mean, people have learned that even buddy systems help them get going, help them do something. So, that new person, that person that wants to get up off the couch and start running. Right away they start running and the first thing they say is, “I’m not going to be able to do this. I felt my knees after that run” or “I only made it for two blocks and I couldn’t catch my breath”.
DR METZL: Yes.
MELANIE: What do you tell them?
DR METZL: So listen, I tell them that nothing in life is…You know, if it ain’t a little bit of work, it probably is not worth it in the first place but I think some of the coolest advances are with technology and movement together. Knowing how far you’ve gone, what you pace, what your friends are doing, some of the different tracking apps that allow you to setup different virtual communities so you can compare yourself to other people. Those things are all so helpful, I think, in terms of motivating people and keeping them going, getting them metrics on what they’re doing. I just think the whole face of this has changed so much. I love the interface of technology and health and wellness and preventive medicine.
MELANIE: I do, too, and I think it’s a great way for people to figure out what they want to do and get involved in it. Tell people how they can find your book and what you really want them to know about running strong.
DR METZL: Sure. So, you can find Running Strong on Amazon or in any bookstore or Barnes and Noble. The title is Dr. Jordan Metzl’s Running Strong and when you use it, I want you to send me a note. You can send me a note on Twitter. I’m on Twitter, on Instagram, on Facebook under Dr. Jordan Metzl, let me hear your feedback. Particularly, I’ve had some really neat videos from around the world of people using the scanning app, so it’s nice. Like, I had some guy down in Brazil, he was a big runner in Brazil that watched my shin splint video and sent me a video of him watching the shin splint video. It was pretty cool!
MELANIE: That is cool.
DR METZL: To have people use your information around the world--it’s really cool.
MELANIE: You’ve created a community of your own.
DR METZL: Yeah!
MELANIE: Revolving around people who want to run strong; people that want to get running. So, give us those handles again and where we can find your book.
DR METZL: Sure! So, any of you can get any of this. It’s accessible through my website which is www.drjordanmetzl.com and on there you can order the book. You can order the new Iron Strength DVD. You can access my information and then, if not, Amazon has the book as well.
MELANIE: And the book is called Running Strong. Dr. Jordan Metzl’s Running Strong, the sports doctor’s complete guide to staying healthy and injury free for life, and, you know, that’s it, listeners. That’s what you want to do. You want to find something that you can do and stay injury free and if running is your thing, well then, this would be the definitive encyclopedia for you!
You’re listening to RadioMD. The show is Sports Medicine. Train, motivate and perform with the American College of Sports Medicine. Train your body right here.
This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening. If you missed any of our great information, you can listen anytime on demand or on the go at RadioMD.com.
Thanks again! - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Melanie Cole, MS
Additional Info
- Segment Number 2
- Audio File train_your_body/1520tb2b.mp3
- Featured Speaker John P. Higgins, MD
- Organization ACSM
-
Guest Bio
John P. Higgins MD, MBA (Hons), MPHIL, FACC, FACP, FAHA, FACSM, FASNC, FSGC, is a sports cardiologist for The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and the Harris Health System. His research interests include the effects of energy beverages on the body, and screening for underlying cardiovascular abnormalities in 12-year-olds (6th graders), and steroid effects on the cardiovascular system.
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Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Train Your Body | Original Air Date: May 12, 2015
Host: Melanie Cole, MS
Guest: John P. Higgins, MD
Your trainer Melanie Cole is here to motivate and help you perform. It's time now for Train Your Body.
MELANIE: You know, you see people wearing their little Fitbit, and there's all these health apps out there, and you think – Well, when I see them I think either one of two things. That, that person is really healthy, or that person wants that extra help, that extra push. Are those health apps beneficial for the more motivated of those people that you see, those runners out there, those cyclists that are out for a hundred miles?
My guest is Dr. John Higgins, sports cardiologist at UT Health Science Center. So, are health apps beneficial for healthy people too, Dr. Higgins?
DR HIGGINS: Yes, Melanie. I believe in the thing -- I believe it was Peter Druker, the businessman who said, "What gets measured gets improved." I think in the case of health apps, even people that have been healthy for a long time, and are working out on a regular basis, oftentimes, a lot of them don't know exactly how much they are doing, what type of workout, what type of calories they are burning. These can take them even to the next level, Melanie, of health and wellness.
MELANIE: "What gets measured gets improved." That's awesome. What an awesome statement, and it really sums up this whole topic. Really, that's brilliant Dr. Higgins.
DR HIGGINS: Oh, thank you.
MELANIE: So, when we look at those health apps out there, what do you want us to keep track of? Miles? Minutes? Food we eat? Food we stick into our mouths mindlessly? Things we did on the treadmill? Weights? What do you want us to keep track of?
DR HIGGINS: Well, I think you've mentioned it, Melanie, all of the above! In fact, there are set of new apps that are coming out, which are what we would call a comprehensive health and wellness app. That is, they are looking at not only how much activity you're doing during the day, making sure that you're getting the right activity; that you are getting the right amount; and what's coming into your body is the right stuff as well, whether it be the food you are eating, the beverages you are consuming; as well as making sure that you're getting good rest and sleep. This is the -- when we talk about health and wellness, exercise is a very important part, but these other parts cannot be left out of the jigsaw puzzle, Melanie, otherwise you may end up with someone who may be able to run an eight minute mile, but their cholesterol might be 400 and their chronically fatigued, because they are not sleeping properly.
MELANIE: Well, you know, so at the beginning people might be listening to us and saying, "Okay, I am not going to really freaking write everything down or keep track on an app--everything that I'm doing: all my walking, and all my eating, that's for the Type A's." But maybe it's something you do at the beginning if you're really trying to lose weight or you're trying to get in shape, or you're trying to do something fitness-wise. Don't you think at the beginning of any program, at least to get you going, that accountability is what's so important?
DR HIGGINS: You're right, Melanie, and in fact, this is the true power of apps, I think, is that they can give people very good and accurate assessment of what they're doing, feedback, and the person sees the positive results. This motivates them to stick with they're doing, and they want to achieve the next goal. So, maybe they're initial goal was, "Okay, I just want to get into an exercise program" and now they're starting to like it after a couple of months, and now the next goal may be "I want to get back to the weight I was when I was in my 20's or 30's." So, the apps can really help them with this, and they're getting smarter and faster. A lot of the apps now, Melanie, can differentiate between activities. So, they can tell, for example, if you're just walking, if you're jogging, if you're running, if you're cycling. You know, some of them now actually have devices that are waterproof, and they can go underwater and track people who are swimming. Definitely a great power of the apps Melanie is giving someone that fairly instant feedback. The other nice thing that a lot of them do too, Melanie, is they will send a summary, a daily summary and-or weekly summary, and it can be downloaded into your Google Medical app, so you can track very well what you're doing. Finally, Melanie, they will even remind you. Some of the apps will buzz you and give you a message, "Hey! You haven't gotten to your 10,000 steps today," or "Hey! It's been five hours since you were last active, get off your butt".
MELANIE: That's what I need. Now Dr. Higgins, my editors will kill me if I don't ask you to list some of the apps, some of your favorite of these health apps. These "minders". So, give us a list.
DR HIGGINS: Sure.
MELANIE: We only have about four minutes left, three minutes left, so list them off for us, baby!
DR HIGGINS: Okay. So, in terms of the -- someone who is doing cardio or running, there are a couple of great apps: Strava Running and Cycling. That can measure all of your activities, Nike+ Running, Runkeeper, and Runtastic. In terms of just tracking your overall activity, Fitbit is still one of my favorites. It can track lots of different things, from exercise, food intake, weight, sleep, and they’re only about $100 or so for the band, and it works wirelessly with your phone. There are also some great apps for those people that like to be part of a community. So, for example, Melanie, Fitocracy. This is this whole, huge community of literally a million people out there, and they have a little bit of competition between each other. You can also find out what good running tracks are in your neighborhood, or good places to walk, to bicycle. They kind of have little competitions within each other. The weight loss apps: Lose It, MyFitnessPal, Calorie Counter, and Weight Loss Coach. They can give you a lot of helping in terms of understanding the different energy patterns of foods and how to approach your diet. Fooducate is a great app where it will tell you the nutritional value of the food, and they have a scale from A-D. A is the great and D is avoid, and the nice thing about Fooducate is you can scan a barcode of the food when you're out grocery shopping, and it will give you the ranking. Let's say it's a D, Melanie, it's a flunk food. It'll actually suggest foods of the same type of food or categories that are grade A's so you can go and get the right thing.
MELANIE: That's awesome!
DR HIGGINS: Isn't that cool?
MELANIE: Yeah, that is so cool!
DR HIGGINS: Then Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock is a great one for tracking your sleep. Finally a couple of ones that I think are cool for people just starting out, Melanie, with exercise: Couch to 5K is a fun one. This will basically take someone who is a couch potato and it will prepare them within three months to run their first 5K or 3.1 mile. They have these really fun motivating virtual coaches that will actually, depending on what type of personality you have, they've got ones that'll get in your face like someone from New York.
MELANIE: The trainers that'll scream at you versus the trainers that'll just give you that motivational nudge.
DR HIGGINS: Right. So, depending on what you like. Finally, medical apps for people who just want to learn about their condition, WebMD is a fantastic app. It's free. It has lots of information about different conditions, and also gives you some idea about some of the treatments and some of the things to discuss with your doctor. So, I think those are some of my favorites, and there are ones coming out every day, and I think in the future, Melanie, look for the - what I'm going to call - the super app. I mean, we're starting to see them coming out now. That is, an app that will cover all aspects of health and wellness and integrate all of those things to give you an overall picture of where you are and how to be healthier. So, to quote our friend, the late Mr. Spock, so you can "Live long and prosper."
MELANIE: "Live long and prosper." One of my favorite quotes. So, "What can be measured can be improved." Apps that are out there, we're going to list them on our website. Great, great segment.
You're listening to Radio MD. Motivate and perform with the American College of Sports Medicine.
This is Melanie Cole, thanks for listening and, of course, stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Melanie Cole, MS
Additional Info
- Segment Number 1
- Audio File train_your_body/1520tb2a.mp3
- Featured Speaker John P. Higgins, MD
- Organization ACSM
-
Guest Bio
John P. Higgins MD, MBA (Hons), MPHIL, FACC, FACP, FAHA, FACSM, FASNC, FSGC, is a sports cardiologist for The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and the Harris Health System. His research interests include the effects of energy beverages on the body, and screening for underlying cardiovascular abnormalities in 12-year-olds (6th graders), and steroid effects on the cardiovascular system.
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Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Train Your Body | Original Air Date: May 12, 2015
Host: Melanie Cole, MS
Guest: John P. Higgins, MD
Train your body. Here's exercise physiologist Melanie Cole, MS.
MELANIE: People ask me every single day, what type of exercise is best for losing weight? Which is more important, diet or exercise? I get these questions every day and all the time, and, of course, they are going to be answered definitively today by me expert guest Dr. John Higgins. He is a sports cardiologist at the UT Health Science Center in Houston.
Dr. Higgins, welcome to the show.
DR HIGGINS: Hey, Melanie.
MELANIE: So, which is more important in your personal opinion. All the research you've done all these years. Diet or exercise, does one matter more?
DR HIGGINS: Yes, Melanie. The answer is exercise, and the second best is diet, but the penultimate best is a combination of exercise and diet.
MELANIE: Well, absolutely true and I agree with you because when I eat horribly, and sometimes I'll just have a big ol' burger for dinner and just -- you and I know, I love my food. I'm a big foodie, so are you, but if I don't exercise, then that food goes right to my thighs, right to my hips. If I keep my exercise up, I can usually maintain, maybe not necessarily lose if I'm going to eat like crap. So, let's talk about the exercises that you feel will help us the most when we're talking about weight training, aerobics, walking, swimming, running. What do you put in your top thing for losing weight?
DR HIGGINS: Well if I -- starting off Melanie, and this is more of a philosophical thing, but if I've got someone who's just not doing anything, I'll want -- whatever they will do, I'll take that as a first step. So whatever exercise they say they're going to do, I’ll say, "Great, get into it!" Then, after they've been doing -- so some of them might say they like going to the gym and doing some resistance machines or weight machines. Others might say they like doing walking, but after a while, I will have the discussion with them of the facts of exercise, and that is, what exercises do you want to be doing if you want to burn off the most calories. Those exercises are the aerobic exercises. So, just to give your listeners an idea of how many calories per hour we're talking about here, Melanie. Doing something like weight training, you know, going and lifting free weights or machine weights, you're not burning up much calories, unfortunately. You're only burning on average about 200 calories an hour. Also yoga and other stretching exercises, they are great and we do recommend them for people, but if your goal is to lose weight, they don't do a lot either. Yoga will burn about 150-200 calories an hour as well. Once you start getting into the aerobic exercises, like walking for example. Just walking at a relatively slow pace around three to four miles an hour, you're already at 250 calories an hour. If you go to more aerobically challenging exercises like swimming, jogging, or step aerobics, you're talking about 400-500+ calories an hour, and cycling as well. So, if you want to look at the actual numbers, we need to think about those aerobic exercises, and I will give them priority. I'm not saying the other things are not important and, in fact, as part of a comprehensive exercise program for most of my patients. I will have the foundation being the aerobic exercise at least three to five days a week, and then I'll add to that some resistance training, some stretching, some strengthening, and/or yoga as well.
MELANIE: So, let's just quickly start with walking. How fast do you have to walk to burn that many calories? Is a casual stroll enough or does it have to be a pretty brisk walk?
DR HIGGINS: Well, the more brisk you walk, the more calories you'll burn. So for example, Melanie, if you are walking really slowly, for example, you're only covering a couple of miles in an hour, which is a fairly slow walk. You're only going to be burning about 100-150 calories per hour. Whereas, if you are going to be walking at about four miles per hour, and that's about a mile every fifteen minutes, which is not a fast walk, but it's a reasonably brisk walk, but you can still have a nice conversation. You're going to be burning about 250 calories per hour and then if you take it up a notch like those power walkers that you see out there who are walking five, six miles per hour. They are going to be burning closer to 300-350 calories an hour. That's still short of somebody who's jogging or running, which is around about 500 calories an hour, but if people can't do that and they prefer the walking, because they have issues with knees or hips or other things, I am all for the walking.
MELANIE: Do you like something like the elliptical better than if someone were to say to you, "I want to take up running" or "I want to use the elliptical". You know, putting that kind of a piece of equipment up against some of the other just body weight, do-on-your-own kind of things. What do you think of those?
DR HIGGINS: Oh, yeah, the elliptical machine is good. Melanie, that's a good way to burn calories, because you're exercising both your lower and your upper limbs, and the nice thing, is you can do it in air-conditioned comfort or a controlled temperature environment. You're also not getting as much of the pounding. It's more of a smoother motion of the joints, so in particular, patients of mine who have various joint problems like rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis, or patients who are trying to lose weight and they're quite overweight, and they're just not down to a weight where they feel comfortable with the pounding from running, either outside or on a treadmill, I definitely go with the elliptical machines as well as things like the stationary bikes, and also, water aerobics. In fact, water aerobics is a tremendous burn. It burns more than step aerobics. In fact, a well-done water aerobics program will burn up to 800 calories an hour.
MELANIE: Wow, so that's -- and you don't always think of swimming. People don't think of swimming or water aerobics as being that really tough of a workout, but really you just don't feel it as tough, because the impact is so low and because your body is cooling itself externally from that water, so you don't feel that heat value that you get from these other excursuses.
DR HIGGINS: Exactly, Melanie. That's a great thing, I think, about water aerobics. I see, at our gym, more and more people doing that of all ages as well. It initially start as very popular with the elderly folks, because they're not getting the pounding and they have a little bit of the gravity effect, but now all ages are getting into that, and they are even doing things like putting bicycles in the water now at various gyms. They are doing what's called aqua cycling, because that burns more calories than just regular cycling. There's a whole lot of different things. The bottom line is, Melanie, there are so many different things that people can do. I am certain that someone can find something that they like to do, which is going to give them a good calorie burn, and, hopefully, that will help them either maintain their weight -- and to maintain their weight, I would probably tell them that they need to do at least around 150 minutes a week, but if they want to bring it up to the next level and lose weight, they are probably going to have to increase that amount of time closer to four hours a week, rather than two and a half hours. It can be done and the other nice thing is, Melanie, I tell my patients to mix it up and spread it out. You don't have to go and do a whole one-hour or one and a half hours in one session. You can do thirty minutes, maybe in the morning, at lunch time go for a fast walk, and if you've got your Fitbit on, or your device, you can measure all of the steps you're doing, and then in the evening, maybe go for a swim or a stationary cycle. So, you can kind of add it up to achieve your goal.
MELANIE: That's what you need to do is to mix it up, and you heard it here from Dr. John Higgins. If you had to choose exercise or diet, exercise is number one, diet being number two, and the combination being the best of all worlds. Exercise to lose weight is aerobic type exercise. You can do water aerobics, you can walk, you can jump, you can bike, you can cycle, you can elliptical, you can do anything that you want that burns calories. So, as long as you're doing it that's your best bet and your best fight against weight loss.
This is Melanie Cole for Radio MD. Stay Well! - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Melanie Cole, MS
Additional Info
- Segment Number 2
- Audio File train_your_body/1519tb2b.mp3
- Featured Speaker Tom Farrey
- Organization ACSM
-
Guest Bio
Tom Farrey is the Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program. In 2011, he founded the Sports & Society Program, whose mission is to convene leaders, facilitate dialogue and inspire solutions that help sport serve the public interest. Farrey is also a journalist whose work has been recognized as among the nation’s best and most innovative. With ESPN, his television stories have won two Emmy Awards, as well as the 2014 Alfred I. DuPont/Columbia University Award and 2013 Edward R. Murrow Award. He is author of Game On: The All-American Race to Make Champions of Our Children (2008, ESPN Books), an investigation of contemporary youth sports used as a text on many college campuses.
- Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Melanie Cole, MS
Additional Info
- Segment Number 1
- Audio File train_your_body/1519tb2a.mp3
- Featured Speaker Tom Farrey
- Organization ACSM
-
Guest Bio
Tom Farrey is the Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program. In 2011, he founded the Sports & Society Program, whose mission is to convene leaders, facilitate dialogue and inspire solutions that help sport serve the public interest. Farrey is also a journalist whose work has been recognized as among the nation’s best and most innovative. With ESPN, his television stories have won two Emmy Awards, as well as the 2014 Alfred I. DuPont/Columbia University Award and 2013 Edward R. Murrow Award. He is author of Game On: The All-American Race to Make Champions of Our Children (2008, ESPN Books), an investigation of contemporary youth sports used as a text on many college campuses.
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Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Train Your Body | Original Air Date: May 5, 2015
Host: Melanie Cole, MS
Guest: Tom Farrey
Your trainer, Melanie Cole, is here to motivate and help you perform. It’s time now for train your body.
MELANIE: If you have children aged 6 to 11, the US Surgeon General's recommendations is for engaging at least 60 minutes of moderate physical activity most days of the week. And one problem that’s been happening around the country is that fewer children are signing up for sports, and some are even dropping out of sports. I’m actually going through something right now in my own household, so I know that this is definitely the case.
My guest today is Tom Ferret, he’s the Executive Director for the Aspen Institute Sports and Society program.
Welcome to the show, Tom. Tell us a little bit about what's going on with that state of children and sports and gaming activity, even including the gym and recess, which in schools are being cut in favor of academics. It’s all kind of spiralling, isn’t it?
TOM: Yes it’s clearly changing. It’s almost hard to get your mind around how much it changed in the course of just one generation. I’m 50 years old and when I was a kid I played organized sports. I put on a uniform for the first time when I was probably eight years and played T-ball. Today you have kids in informs at age 3 and are playing T-ball at 6, and they are being sorted out on the travel games by age of 6 or 7 or 8. They sort the weak with the strong. They say, “You’re a good athlete, in the sport” “You’re not”, and we create this sort of second-tier kind of environment and a lot kids end up falling out shortly after that. It’s gotten a lot more, frankly Darwinian at a really early age. We’re less patient now in introducing sports to kids and we’re less patient in asking them to engage in a deep way, and really focusing more of our resources on the very best average of those who are from the upper income home.
I think all of this is really at the center of, frankly, our epidemic of physical inactivity, and it plays a role in the obesity crisis that we have in this country. A limited number of kids being told that you are the center of our sport system, and whole bunch of other kids are really kicked out of the team by the age of 12 and pushed aside.
MELANIE: I absolutely know, Tom, my children both started soccer when they were three in their little uniforms. I personally was somebody who did not let them do travel because I didn't like the whole travel system here; too much at too young. And now even with this AYSL and different things, my daughter who’s a really good soccer player – fast as a little bug--wants to drop out because the drama, the things, she just isn't really happy with it. So, what do we as parents do?
TOM: That’s a great question because parents, at the end of the day, have ultimate control over the youth sports system. The problem is that they don't know where to turn for solutions and where to go for answers. They don't know what good athletic development looks like; they don't know when it's appropriate to create a travel team; they don't know what kind of competition structures are going to engage kids most appropriately and they don't know where to turn when things go wrong. They’re kind of a group with all the power but very little of it is exercised, and if t is exercised, it’s often in the wrong way.
MELANIE: Yes, you see all the parents screaming at their kids, or you hear them on the walk to their cars saying, “You know, you could have gotten that goal. I don't know why you didn't just go around that person.” You hear all of this and it certainly would seem to be enough to make the kid want to drop out of that sport altogether.
TOM: Yes, we call it youth sports but it's really about adults. These sports are designed by adults for adults. There are Little League boards and soccer boards; you pick the sport. It is mostly just a bunch of parents, mostly dads, sitting around a table drawing things up and deciding what the sport is going to look like in a given town, and nobody ever really actually talks to the kids saying, “What do you want? What are your priorities? Is it playing with your friends or playing with the very best kids from three towns away?”
MELANIE: So, starting right there is a tip, Tom, because we want to get lots of tips to parents about this problem. You doing what you do and being the Executive Director of the Sports and Society program, so the first tip is you want the parents to actually ask kids (such a lovely idea), “What is it you want to do?”
TOM: Exactly! Frankly, we wring our hands to the videogame industry; that they are monopolizing our kids, just sitting on the couch. But here’s what he video game industry does: they talk to kids, they do research, they do focus groups, they figure out what good competition structures look like for kids. So, what do they give them? They give them lots of action, they give them lots of access to the action (yes, it’s all through their thumbs). The kids can start or stop whenever they want, there's plenty of room for experimentation which you can't do at your local soccer game. If you dribble in front of the goal and try something new, then someone steals it, it gets punched in and everyone yells at you. The videogame companies basically give kids everything they want out of a sport experience, they can even talk with her friends and have a social experience over the oversets. They’ve given them everything except there is no physical activity in there.
So, parents need to talk to their kids, “What do you want?” Really listen to them. Maybe consult a researcher and then encourage their local sport bodies to do the same; to really put the kids first, not the parent first. But, do so in a manner that surveys kids, and you could actually do this more structurally. We’re thinking about finding ways to do this through our program, which is Cradle Surveys. Maybe their pre-season surveys, post-season surveys, asking kids what kind of experience they want and had, and giving feedback to the parents and school leaders and community leaders. So, they can say, “Look, kids of this age group did pretty well. They like this and this they didn’t like,” and using that in their policies and their practices. But, right now it’s not happening. So, step number one is to talk to your kids. Listen to your kids.
MELANIE: Listen to your kids. Actually take advice from the videogame industry and listen to what it is your kids want to do. We only have about minute and a half left, but where does ability…As I said, my daughter is a good soccer player, my son just started gymnastics in high school, so it’s the high school team. He is taking it seriously but he knows he didn’t start at two years old like most gymnasts, but he's having fun with it and his body has changed within just eight weeks – it’s incredible. What do you say to parents who say that my child is so good they’re going to go ahead to get scholarships and be a pro?
TOM: Yes, not happening! It’s really not happening. One of the best soccer clubs here, private soccer club here in Connecticut is run by a friend of mine and he coached the U9 Team. And what he tells the parents before every season…and these are like the best U9 players in the state really, he says, “Your kid is not getting a college scholarship.” And jaws drop, they can’t believe their kids not. He’s special, look at him dribble around everybody! But the scholarships are so rare and certainly full scholarships are extremely rare, so it just doesn't happen. And they recruit kids from overseas these days, so it is really not about college scholarships. It’s about how do you engage your kid, and will they love sports at the age of 25 when they’re outside your umbrella and your control; that they now have a lovely game and have the physical literacy and some of the ability to play well and they can feel competent out. If those can be the priorities, then your kids could end up in a good place. And you know what? If they are truly that special, it’s going to happen.
MELANIE: Yes, those stick out. And this is a great discussion to have. Parents listening, have this discussion with other parents that you know and coaches and your community because that's how we're going to get kids involved so that they love sports, so that they stay in shape, so that they run around on a Sunday afternoon or Saturday morning and they have a great time and they get outside. It’s so good for their mind and their body.
This is a great discussion, we’ll keep having it right here on radio MD.
You’re listening to Train Your Body, motivate and perform at the American College of Sports Medicine. And if you missed any of the great information you can listen anytime on-demand or on the go www.RadioMD.com.
This is Melanie Cole, stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Melanie Cole, MS
Additional Info
- Segment Number 4
- Audio File train_your_body/1518tb2d.mp3
- Featured Speaker Brian Parr, PhD
- Organization ACSM
-
Guest Bio
Brian Parr, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Exercise and Sports Science at the University of South Carolina Aiken where he teaches undergraduate courses in exercise physiology, research methods, nutrition, and health behaviors. He also conducts research in physical activity and weight control. Dr. Parr is an ACSM member and an ACSM Certified Clinical Exercise Physiologist. Dr. Parr writes a weekly Health & Fitness column for a local newspaper and is a regular contributor to magazines, websites, and professional publications.
- Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Melanie Cole, MS
