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Fitness Tips: Weights for Women, Now More Than Ever.
by David Garred,
Club Manager Dusit Resort Sports Club.
Howdy readers, welcome again to Fitness Tips.
This week I want to take a look at something that would benefit all of us
but especially the ladies out there.
Two years ago the Journal of the American Medical Association published an
article about a stunningly successful strength training programme developed
at Tufts University in the USA. By following a weight lifting regime, post -
menopausal women actually built bone and muscle. They became stronger, more
active and less vulnerable to osteoporitic fractures. After one year, their
bodies were 15 to 20 years more youthful.
Back in the 1980s, scientists generally believed that loss of muscle and
strength were inevitable as people aged. There had been only a few cautious
studies of strength training for the elderly. Fearful of provoking injuries
or cardiac problems, investigators had measured the maximum weight that
subjects could lift, then they were given weights that were only one third
as heavy. These feeble efforts produced only puny results.
Not discouraged by conventional wisdom, scientists at Tufts took a different
approach. Instead of working out at 30% - 40% of their potential, the Tufts
volunteers exercised at 80%. There were no injuries, no cardiac episodes.
These Men didn’t merely survive, they thrived. In just 12 weeks, the muscles
they were exercising became 150% - 175% stronger across the board.
The next study undertaken at Tufts was performed with nursing home
residents, men and women 86 - 96 years of age, with chronic diseases and
disabilities. The results were truly remarkable. After eight weeks of
training, these frail elders, many dependant on frames and walkers,
increased their strength by an average of 175%.
As findings accumulated in this field of study, discussion arose as to what
effect that resistance training would have on the subjects’ bones -
especially the females.
40 post-menopausal women, all of whom were healthy but sedentary (non -
active) and none were taking hormones. Half were asked to do nothing
different in their usual routine/lifestyle (a control group), the other half
lifted weights twice a week with some supervision.
Most women begin to lose bone and muscle mass at about age 40; in part
because of this, they begin to slow down. This is exactly what happened to
the control group. One sedentary year later, their muscles and bones had
aged and on average they were even less active than before. The women who
lifted weights changed too - but in the opposite direction. They traded
around 3 pounds of body fat for muscle and increased their strength by 35% -
76%, reaching levels typical of women in their late 30s. They showed an
average 1% GAIN in bone mass, whereas the control group LOST 2% of their
bone density. The active group had an improvement of 14% in their balance
but the control group declined by 8.5%.
The combination of greater strength, increased bone and improved balance
dramatically reduced their risk of fractures from osteoporosis.
All the participants were asked and agreed not to gain or lose weight,
however those in the strength training group traded fat for muscle. So they
looked trimmer and many dropped a dress size or two.
The final outcome of this study was that the weight training group became
27% more active as they got stronger outside of the activity prescribed in
the study. They were not permitted to join a fitness club for that would
corrupt the overall results, these ladies basically went out and tried
things that they always wondered about but never had the confidence or
strength to try before, things like roller-blading, hiking, mountain biking
and swimming. They went out and had Fun.
These three studies have since had their results verified by over a dozen
universities the world over and as a result Health and Fitness professionals
the world over have industry prescribed guidelines on how to aid people of
all ages in the pursuit of a healthy and happy body.
Age need not weary them.
Carpe’ diem.
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Everybody on the Eastern
Seaboard knows that Dusit Resort Sports Club offers the
Greatest Variety of Health and Fitness related activities in
the area. Unfortunately most people don’t know that there is
always one type of membership or another on promotion. This
Month ALL MEMBERSHIPS are on promotion for 1 day only. Make
FRIDAY THE 13TH of JUNE 1997 lucky for you now and for the rest
of your life.
We Offer to you Fitness, Aerobics, 3 Tennis Courts, 2 Squash
Courts, 5 Swimming Pools, Snooker and Pool, Ping Pong, Private
Beach, Childcare, Locker Rooms with Sauna, Steam and Cold
Plunge.
All you need to give us is 30 Minutes of your time 3 times per
week and you will be on the road to being healthier and happier
for the rest of your life.
Make Friday the 13th YOUR lucky day. |
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Health news from all over the world
by Hakim
Fear gets on a stomach and intestines’
nerves
It’s true, fear can make your stomach sick. Newest research shows
that healthy people need an approximately 24 hour ‘transit time’ for food to
pass through the stomach, while people who have fear take only 14 hours to
digest. Now it’s been proven at last: the central nervous system is
connected very closely to the stomach & intestines.
TV is fattening for kids
Many children spend more and more time in front of the TV and
less time in sports activities.
U.S. researchers watched 750 children for four years. The results are
shocking: children who watched TV more than five hours a day were 5.3 % more
over-weight than children who watched only two hours per day. Every extra
hour in front of the tube added even more to the over weight problem - more
chips and soft-drinks were consumed.
Smokers have a thinner skin
The skin of a smoker is up to 40 % thinner than the skin of a
non-smoker. The flexibility and softness gets lost and skin becomes
wrinkled. British scientists examined 50 twins (one of them had to be a
smoker) and found out the difference. The possible reason: smoke produces an
enzyme which effects the natural collagen within the skin.
More risk to the heart of a small man
Sorry, big men seem to be more healthy. Small men have heart
problems more often.
Researchers at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center examined 1046 short men
and determined them to be prone to more organic disease with the heart
com-pared to the same amount of bigger men.
They also suffer a much higher rate of heart attacks.
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