More on Coffee and Exercise

There is new research on the effects of caffeine on exercise induced muscle soreness. I wrote about this topic before here. The recent research as reported in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 2009, was done at the University of Illinois and looked at college aged males performing high intensity 30-minute cycling workouts. They were given a pill containing either a dose of caffeine equivalent to 5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight (about 2-3 cups of coffee) or a placebo. The cyclists reported a reduction in quadriceps muscle pain after consuming the caffeine. The researchers believe the reduction in pain is due to caffeine blocking adenosine, a biochemical in the brain that is involved in pain processing. If this reduction in pain leads in a greater likelihood that you will continue to exercise on a regular basis, it could be a helpful addition to your daily routine. I wouldn't suggest that you get your caffeine through one of those $5 calorie laden drive-through drinks, but maybe a couple cups of regular coffee have their place in a healthy lifestyle.

Two Great Events

I had the good fortune to be invited to participate in two great events on Wednesday. The first was a retreat at Jackson's Mill that was an opportunity for women who are affiliated with West Virginia University Extension Service to participate in a program offered by WVU's National Center of Excellence in Women's Health. The retreat is better known as WOW - Women on Wellness. These two great organizations, Extension Service and NCEWH know that 85% of all health care decisions are made by women in the home and that changing the health and wellness of the State of West Virginia will begin with women. Most, though not all of the women attending the event were in the 60+ age range. I played a small part by teaching a brief balance training workshop. Good balance and fall prevention are crucial elements to keeping older West Virginians active and living independently. The first skill I taught was how to get up out of a chair. I have written about my passion for sharing this strategy before and have a video of the method posted on YouTube for anyone who is interested . Participants in the retreat had a number of workshops to choose from, so not all women attended every workshop. I was pleased to see that when we got together for lunch after the break out sessions, 3 of the participants from my workshop were already at work teaching women who had not attended how to get up from a chair safely and effectively. One woman told me she intends to take the information to her council meeting later this week. That's the power of West Virginia's women in action!

I have to mention how much fun it was to work and play with these women. The spirit at the retreat was infectious and I hated to leave to get on to my second commitment. Kudos to the Extension Service and the National Center of Excellence on Women's Health for their efforts to improve, not just the lives of women, but the lives of all West Virginians.

The second event I participated in was the Get Moving Night at Ridgedale Elementary School. Tama Waugaman, a friend who teaches buggies and babes fitness classes for young mothers and runs Total Transformations LLC, helped organize this event and asked if I would like to come and give people the opportunity to try Nordic Walking. The event ran from 4-7 PM and included many indoor and outdoor activities including a climbing wall, biking, soccer, yoga, Red Cross CPR demo, and dental hygiene interactive displays. Since the event happened during dinner time there was food available and the organizers decided that if the kids walked twice around the track they would get a stamp on their hand that allowed them to collect on a free dish of ice cream. Not a bad start on bringing home the message that activity and food are tied together. The climbing wall was incredibly popular with the kids, as was the booth where they could throw a ball to dunk the principal and coach in a big water tank! Many of the kids walked the track as well and there was much interest from the kids in trying out the Nordic Walking poles. As kids often do they were making up all kinds of games on their own using everything in the environment. There wasn't a lot of sitting around - at least not by the kids. I did notice that the parents were not as actively involved in the physical pursuits as their children were. It was in contrast to my morning at Jackson's Mill where all the women were trying Zumba, yoga, balance training, etc. Maybe people were tired after working all day, or maybe we loose some of our spirit of adventure during those years when we are busy with work and child rearing. If that is the case, I'm glad to know that we can get that spirit back in the second half of our lives. If you are a parent, I encourage you to play actively with your kids. Try new activities with them and don't be afraid to look silly while you are learning. Laughter and humility are good for the soul.

Thanks again to the people who put together these two great events. I was honored by the opportunity to participate in both and heartened to see people out, active, and enjoying life.

Weekend Recreation

Saturday morning, I headed out my front door on foot, down the hill, across the bridge and onward to the local farmer's market. In Morgantown, you have to get out early to take advantage of the market which only lasts from 8:30 - 12:00 on Saturday morning. I arrived at 9:30 and missed the opportunity to buy fresh filleted trout which I am told sold out in the first 20 minutes of the market! Next week, no second cup of coffee before heading out! Never mind, I bought plenty of other fresh locally produced foods, including salad greens, salsa, goat cheeses, goat meat(yes, you read that right!), pastured beef from highland cows (if you have never seen this breed you can find pictures on google), and chicken from free ranging chickens. I had hoped to get some turkey, but the farmer explained that it will be August before the turkeys are ready. It's also too early in the season for berries and there are only hydroponic tomatoes. I talked with each vendor about how the animals are raised and the produce grown and how their businesses are faring this year. I thanked them for their efforts to provide quality food. I mingled some with the other shoppers who were at their leisure as they perused the stalls and had some informal conversations and cooking lessons from people I had not had the pleasure to meet before this particular Saturday morning. I spent the entire contents of my wallet except for 56 cents. It was a lovely experience. Enough so that I didn't really mind the trudge back up the hill to my house with the bulging bags thrown over my shoulder.

After storing the purchases from the market I got in my car to take some toxic household waste (in my case an empty can from a sealant for our deck) to the once yearly collection of these "hard to know what to do with" materials. The site was busy with a steady stream of cars. As I drove along in the line I had the opportunity to talk with 5 different workers who were part of the process of collecting information, a small fee, and eventually the waste products. Everyone was unfailingly polite and good natured as they attended to their tasks. A sheriff's patrol car was posted at the entrance to the site to be sure that everyone was paying attention to the unusual amount of traffic on the somewhat quiet road. The deputy smiled at the drivers as he leaned up against his car in the spring sunshine.

As I drove away from the site towards home I passed by a car wash sponsored by a local Young Life group. These young people were spending their Saturday washing cars on a busy thoroughfare for free. Some of the kids were lining the street with posters, waving cars into the parking lot where they were set up. A lot of cars were taking advantage of the offer and the kids looked like they were having a good time engaged in their service work. There were lots of smiles and laughter and splashes. I smiled at the sight of teenagers having fun doing a task that I can only imagine would be classified as a chore at home. It reminded me of what I know to be the helpful spirit of Americans that is so often downplayed in our news coverage of National deficits and crises.

I was having a very good day. I had engaged in activities that took care of my health and well being,and the health and well being of my community. It was pleasant and restorative after a busy week of work to engage in these somewhat mundane acts in my community. It reminded me that health and well being are not all about exercise and discipline. They are about finding ways to be of service to others through your work and leisure activities and about doing it with an attitude that what you do and how you do it matters. It reminded me of a lesson in my first year of college when I was getting a degree in Physical Education and Recreation. The lecture was on the purpose of recreation, that it is literally supposed to recreate our spirit and strength to ready us for another week of work. I had that kind of day on Saturday and felt better for it.

Walk On!

It was sunny, if a bit chilly today, and my husband and I headed out for a long walk by the river. There is a well maintained rail trail that passes through our area and we headed for a section that is several miles outside of town. We spent a peaceful hour and a half walking, talking, and pointing out the wonders of nature to each other. It was good for the body, mind, heart and soul. Such a delightful and simple thing. This was the perfect walk for today!

Now on other days, I have other kinds of walks. Sometimes I want to challenge my heart and lungs and I walk where there are hills or staircases to climb. I tie a bandanna around my forehead to catch the sweat as I push myself forward, straining my legs as well as my heart and lungs. Those days I sometimes have to give myself a pep talk to get out the door for the walk, but ten minutes in I am committed and know I will see it through.

On yet other days, I grab my Nordic walking poles, my ipod loaded with a continuing education lecture, and I head for the rail trail for a steady, moderate intensity walk. Study and exercise all in one, multitasking at it's best!

And then there are the days when I am worried about family or business matters and I walk while I ruminate and problem solve, looking for a path of wisdom to emerge if I keep plodding forward. On those days the walk is a moving metaphor.

There was a walk last week, where I came to a spot on the trail that I remembered as the spot where I had to turn around when I first started walking in Morgantown in 2004. I was new in town and 70 pounds heavier than I am now. I was trying to get my health and fitness back and I had to start slowly. When I walked past that spot on the trail last week, I reviewed all the many times I have walked ( and yes, sometimes even run) that trail since that day and felt proud of the accomplishments that have come as I have continued to walk towards my future.

I don't ever recall going out for a walk and coming back wishing I hadn't gone. Such a simple and healthful pleasure. Have you been for a walk today?

Health Fair?

Warning! This is a bit of a rant.

Last Friday I dropped into the local mall to see a movie with a friend. When we arrived it was particularly crowded. There were many booths set up for a Health Fair that was scheduled to run through the weekend. Students and senior citizens had been bussed in to attend the event. Multiphasic blood testing, blood pressure checks, and balance screening were being offered. A couple of local chiropractic practices were offering free chair massages. These are all great services to the community and one could argue that they are important to health and wellness. However, there were many other booths that were more centered on disease, than health. Gruesome pictures of wounds that would not heal, diseased lungs, etc were on display. A number of surgical associates were promoting their services. One particularly ironic display was promoting laproscopic surgeries and had a display where you could play a game to try to find the piece of candy in the abdomen of the dummy - sort of like Operation, for those of you who remember that game. The technology on display was impressive. I was struck, however, by the fact that one would have to be decidedly unhealthy to be in the market for these services. I suppose many Americans find themselves needing to make decisions about these sorts of services everyday, but to see them marketed in a festive atmosphere seemed a bit bizarre to me. Maybe I am old enough to remember when health care was not a business and I just can't seem to make the adjustment to medicine as a consumer pastime. It seems to me that promoting health is a different venture than promoting critical care procedures. If that is my age showing, then so be it. In the meantime, I'll try eating and sleeping well, exercising intelligently, and staying engaged emotionally and intellectually, in the hope that it can stave off the need for most of the "health care" services I saw on display last week.

Balance

My new class is being taught at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and is targeting balance training for people in the second half of life. (For those of you new to the blog, I assume we will all live to 100 if that helps you to figure out who is in the second half!) This class is a new venture for me so I am learning even as I teach. What I am learning from this class is not all about physical skill. Certified trainers always do some form of assessment before working with clients. For this class I used a Medical and Health Behavior Questionnaire, a Balance Efficacy Scale, and 11 basic tests of balance and strength to gather information that would help me plan the class to best meet the needs of the people who attend. What most impressed me about the information I gathered was the confidence and positivity of my class members. Although a number of the class members are facing health challenges as they age, they rate their quality of life as good and remain confident in their abilities to meet the challenges that are before them. They don't let the changes in their physical condition overwhelm them. They remain active in the community and a number of them volunteer their time to charitable causes. They engage in intellectual pursuits. As a result, they are interesting and stimulating people to be around. We have lots of fun in the class and we laugh every day. The members of my class are models for how to stay strong in the second half of life, physically, emotionally, intellectually, and socially. That is a balance that I hope to achieve in my own life. There is magic in the teaching/learning equation. When you learn something you have the opportunity to go out and teach it, and when you teach something you almost always learn something more from the experience.

Preparation Meets Opportunity

The landscape of my life is illumined by optimism. I have had a great week! The bitter cold we have been experiencing in West Virginia has temporarily dispersed, the sun is out. I began teaching a new class this week and my ongoing class quadrupled it's attendance! I've signed with two new clients and was able to up the ante on my resistance training workouts after a period of lighter workouts while working on a back pain problem. The news broke on a national level this week that my town, Morgantown, WV is considered to be recession-proof and has the nation's lowest jobless rate - just 2.7 percent. Truly, it has been a great week.

Why is it that I am having such a good week, when the country seems to be in such dire straights? In part, I am lucky to be living in Morgantown, where we are buffered from the worst economic disasters, at least in the short run. But I think there is a bit more going on as well. I have been concentrating for the last 3 years on learning everything I can about my work and my passion for health and fitness. I have followed any lead that seemed interesting to me, even when I couldn't see a direct correlation to my current work. I've been reading blogs written by some of the best trainers in the business, and I have been learning the way the fitness industry works at the local level. I have been preparing myself for change in my life. And this week, preparation met up with opportunity. If you had asked me two years ago when that might happen I would have had no idea, but I prepared anyway. Had I not prepared, the opportunities might have been lost.

What are you preparing for? What are you doing today to get your body, mind, and soul ready for the day when your preparation meets up with opportunity? Invest in your own growth and development. The opportunities will come. Be prepared for success.