national crisis

I like what Dr. Sallis has to say...it is indeed true, indeed a MAJOR problem, and indeed CURABLE!

Physical Inactivity- A Growing Crisis

This is my first blog. What I’ll try to do is share thoughts that might be useful in furthering my goal of getting people more active, thus healthier and happier. I want to start with the big picture as I see it. Most Americans are very inactive, and the rest of the world is trying to catch up with us. Based on accelerometer monitoring in the NHANES study, fewer than 10% of teenagers and 5% of adults meet physical activity guidelines. The real number is probably higher because accelerometers miss some activities, but I’m sure it is closer to the truth than surveys. If 95% of adults smoked, we would consider it a health crisis, but that’s about where we are with physical inactivity. We should consider it a crisis.

The epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes in adults and children are indications that low activity levels, along with disastrous eating habits, are the biggest health challenges of our time. I suggest you check out www.3four50.org. The basic idea is that 3 behaviors—smoking, inactivity, poor diet—are the main causes of four diseases—heart disease, cancers, lung disease, diabetes—that account for 50% of deaths worldwide. Physical inactivity is one of the big three, so we need to be serious about improving the situation.

I want to end on a positive note. With support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as several health organizations, a National Plan for Physical Activity is being developed. Having a plan does not ensure we will be successful, but not having a plan is a good way to guarantee continued failure. There are opportunities to have input into the development of The Plan, and it is essential that every person who believes physical activity is essential for health is directly involved in the implementation of plan. As a first step, visit www.physicalactivityplan.org.

Jim Sallis

www.drjamessallis.sdsu.edu

I hope Dr. Sallis doesn't mind that I link his writings and information here, as I have with others of like-minded opinions on the LACK of physical activity in this country.

Being a trainer, education is part of my resume. Educating someone on how to properly lift an object, throw an object, and push an object, is a passion of mine. To fight off any other future health problems, we must start NOW to help reverse what we've done. We have done a poor job of this, and we must get better, for the future is not all roses...

what is our future with kids' fitness?

Brett Kilka of Fitness Quest 10 in San Diego, works with kids every day. This is his opinion of our problem in teaching today's youth exercise "skills." We have had to change our approach to training adults, why not kids? If ADULTS don't have the skills to move, how do we expect our kids to learn them? Their parents don't know, there is NO or LIMITED physical education in our schools, so where do we turn? Mr. Kilka, in my opinion, has a piece of the puzzle down:


"Our current curriculum for working with kids is outdated. It is designed and implemented on the assumption that kids are still capable of doing the things that kids did 20 or 30 years ago. When this curriculum is implemented with groups of kids, whether it’s in physical education classes, sports, teams, camps, or even personal training groups, you’ll see that less than 10 percent of the kids can actually accomplish the given tasks. Ninety percent of the group is failing, yet the apathetic instructor moves on. It’s like physical education has become akin to law school. However, instead of getting people out of parking tickets for a living, you have a heart attack at age 25 if you aren’t in the top 10 percent.

To be proactive, we need to start viewing body weight activities with our youth as “skills” instead of “exercises.” In the good old days, kids developed many physical skills on their own through general daily activity. When an instructor would have them do a push-up, the summation of their daily tasks would allow for the strength and stability to do so. Pushing their body weight away from the ground was a demonstration of their coordination and strength. They didn’t really need to practice it much because of their active, adaptive neural systems. In those days, you could just throw “exercises” out at the kids and they could do them pretty well with some basic coaching. It doesn’t work that way anymore.

With the inactivity problem, there is hardly any strength and coordination to “showcase” in an exercise. A push-up has to be a learned skill. It has to be adapted, progressed, and practiced. Even general movement tasks like bear crawls, crab walks, and skips have to be acquired as a skill."

http://www.elitefts.com/documents/too_fat.htm

Well said. Never too early to start...

posture problem?

iposture.com - Posture for Life

This could provide an instant reminder. Of course, along with proper weight training, this could be helpful for those who need it.

probing

In my long lasting quest for nutrition knowledge over the years, it seems that all I can find are contradictory studies. A handful say low carb, high protein, moderate fat. A handful say high carb, low fat, and moderate protein. Needless to say, there are other combinations of macronutrients that are in play as well, but all conflicting what the other has to say. SO, what is one to do, or believe in.

Well, I heard years ago that one shouldn't eat the same way all the time. Just as there are certain times when when activity is higher, one should eat accordingly. More 'energy' is needed, so fuel your body as such. MOST of us use carbos efficiently for energy, therefore eat more carbs. HOWEVER, this is not the case for those who are metabolically sensitive to carbos (have a problem with insulin resistance). OR this is not the case for those who utilize FAT more efficiently for energy. So, confused again?

Yes, this is the case. There are no one size fits all 'diet' plans. Repeat, THERE ARE NO ONE SIZE FITS ALL DIET PLANS. Everything is trial and error. You have to figure it out, make some notes, and know how your body reacts. Try a zone approach (moderate protein, moderate carbos, moderate fat) for a few weeks, and see how you feel. Chances are, if you feel more energetic, crash less than before, and are seeing better performance in the gym or playing field, you might be on the right track.


Comparing the Diets: Part 1 | BodyRecomposition - The Home of Lyle McDonald
Take it from Lyle McDonald: Here is his chart for what to use when.

Finally, the Chart You’ve Been Waiting For

Ok, now you’ve hopefully got a better idea of which diet approach may be the most ideal for you. To make it a little more clear, I’m going to try to summarize all of the above information into a chart so you can see how the different variables interact.

Diet	Activity Level	Insulin Sensitivity	Carb Choices	Carb Addict	Stubborn Fat
High-carb/low-fat	High	High	Low GI	No	NO
Mod carb/mod-fat	Medium	Low-moderate	Medium GI	Maybe	Yes/Maybe
Standard Keto	Low	Low	N/A	Yes	Yes
Targeted Keto	High	Low	N/A	Yes	Yes
Cyclical Keto	High	Low	N/A	Yes	Yes