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Anne Stein, M.S.
Sports & Fitness Journalist/Author

Whether you’re a new exerciser or an experienced athlete, you want to get the most out of your strength-training routine. In his latest book, Women’s Home Workout Bible (Human Kinetics, 2010), certified strength and conditioning specialist Brad Schoenfeld details his 10 Commandments of Fitness.

While they’re targeted toward strength training, most apply to exercise in general.  (Note: A personal trainer or easy-to-understand book such as this one is especially helpful for following these commandments!)

1. Train according to your goals. Decide what your goals are and come up with a routine to reach them.  If you’re looking to avoid back pain, work on core (ab and back) exercises. If you want to increase bone density, focus on moves that load the skeletal system.
2. Fuel your body before exercise. When you run out of fuel, your workout slows down or comes to a stop, like a car running out of gas. Eat two to three hours before exercise. If you can’t eat that far in advance, have something light, like a piece of fruit or an energy bar, before hitting the gym.
3. Warm up before intense training. Warming up increases your range of motion and allows muscles to work harder. It also decreases your chance of injury. Start your strength sessions with at least 5-10 minutes of cardio activity. Go easy on the bike before a lower-body workout, or do jumping jacks or use the elliptical before a full-body workout.
4. Continually challenge your muscles. Choose a weight that makes it difficult, if not impossible, to finish the last few reps in your routine. If it doesn’t challenge your muscles, it’s too light. Same with cardio: if you’re chatting while exercising and barely breaking a sweat, you’re probably not asking your body to do enough and you won’t see the desired results.
5. Train with proper form. Bad form can lead to injuries, muscle imbalance and failure to reach goals. Have an expert make sure you’re doing things right. Watch yourself in the mirror as you lift to double-check your form.
6. Rest after intense training. Strength training breaks down your muscles. Rest is when you recover and get stronger. Give your body 48 hours between strength training sessions to fully repair damaged muscle tissue.
7. Create a regimented training schedule. Make exercise a habit and stick strictly to your schedule. Make sure your workouts fit in with your other responsibilities, or exercise will become a hassle. Pick the best time of day for your body to exercise (some people love early-morning workouts while others thrive at night).
8. Vary your routine. The longer you stick with one routine, the less effective it becomes. Throw in some variety so your muscles are challenged and forced to adjust to new stress. New routines also keep you motivated and excited.
9. Develop a mind-to-muscle connection. Visualize the muscle you are training and feel that muscle contract throughout each repetition. Sound weird? A mind-to-muscle connection is beneficial because it ensures that your target muscles perform the majority of work during an exercise. (Without this connection, your supporting muscles and connective tissue tend to dominate the lift, which diminishes results.) Additionally, when you’ve mentally locked into a movement, your form tends to automatically fall into place. This improves performance and reduces the possibility of injury.
10. Know the major muscle groups. You need to know your muscles to get the most from your training efforts. (Unless you’re an anatomy expert, a good exercise training book can be really helpful.) This knowledge helps you visualize each muscle during training, fostering a better mind-to-muscle connection. It also makes you aware of the path that weight must travel to target specific muscles, improving your ability to train with proper form. Finally, it allows you to hone in on muscular imbalances, assessing which muscles need improvement and which don’t.

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Anne Stein, M.S.
Sports & Fitness Journalist/Author

Sitting at a desk may not seem strenuous, but for office workers who spend hours each day in front of computer typing, using a mouse, or cradling a phone, neck and back pain is a common occurrence.

Danish researchers, however, have come up with five simple dumbbell exercises that can ease neck and back (trapezius) pain. And if you combine these five exercises with a series of easy seated stretches done throughout the day at your desk, office life can be painless.

At the gym

The five strength-training exercises are (use fairly light weights – under five pounds):

1. Shrugs: Stand upright with dumb bells at the side of your body. In one even motion, lift your shoulders up towards your ears and lower them again slowly. Try to relax your jaw and neck.
2. One-armed row: Stand with one knee on a weight bench and lean on the same-side hand on the front of the bench. With your other arm, pull a dumb bell up towards your lower chest. When the weight touches your chest, lower it in a controlled motion.
3. Upright row: Stand upright with your arms stretched and hand weights in front of your body. Slowly raise your hands toward your chin and lift the weights in a straight line as close to your body as possible, until they reach the middle of your chest and your elbows point up and out. During the whole exercise, the hand weights should be placed lower than the elbows.
4. Reverse flies: Lie down on a bench in a 45° forward bent angle with hand weights hanging towards the floor. Lift the weights outward and upward until they are horizontal, and then lower the weights in one controlled motion. During the exercise, the elbows should be slightly bent.
5. Shoulder abduction: Stand upright with hand weights at the side of your body. Lift the weights outward and upward until they are horizontal, and then lower the weights in one controlled motion. During the exercise, the elbows should be slightly bent

Researchers found that the exercises work best if they’re done three times a week, alternating between exercises 1, 2, and 5 on one day and exercises 1, 3, and 4 on another. Start with two sets of 12 repetitions, then increase to three sets. After 4 weeks you can increase the weight and reduce the number of repetitions on the last set to 8-10 reps. Increase the weight when you can do three sets fairly easily.

At the office

In addition, make sure your desk is set up correctly (monitor and keyboard at proper heights and distances, chair with lumbar support) and that your posture’s good. Get up and walk around every 20-30 minutes. Also, do these exercises (15-20 reps while sitting, every hour if possible) to stretch and stimulate muscles:

1. Scapular pinches: Roll your shoulders back and pinch the shoulder blades together.
2. Shoulder shrugs: Lift the shoulders up toward the ears then lower slowly back down.
3. Neck side-bending: Slowly tilt one ear toward your shoulder gently and hold/stretch briefly. Repeat on the other side.
4. Neck rotation: Slowly turn your head to look over one shoulder and pause briefly. Repeat on the opposite side.

dskciado/flickr.com

Anne Stein, M.S.
Sports & Fitness Journalist/Author

Getting old doesn’t mean you have to give up golf, but cross-training’s a must if you want to keep spending quality time on the course.

To put it bluntly, says Dr. Steve Hawkins, professor of exercise science at California Lutheran University, everything declines as we age. “We lose strength and power fairly significantly, about 25 percent of strength by age 65 and another 25 percent by age 85,” says Hawkins, who has studied master’s athletes over several decades. “Our cardio-respiratory endurance drops and the loss escalates after age 65. Our flexibility declines as we age, too.”

While we can’t stop the decline, not exercising accelerates all of this so it’s best to keep active. In fact, it’s best to start exercising when you’re young and stay active throughout your life, so you’ll enter middle and old age at a higher fitness level. Think of it as ‘money in the bank.’

From a golf perspective, the experienced older golfer won’t drive the ball as far because of strength and power loss. But unlike other sports which are so dependent on strength, power, and cardio respiratory fitness, there are tremendous skill and technical components to golf that aren’t as severely affected by aging. For example, older golfers tend to be more accurate than younger golfers.

So the good news is that while you may not be hitting as far, your scoring average won’t decline as much as you’d think.

While many people use golf as their sole source of exercise, it’s a pretty modestly demanding activity that won’t have a significant impact on your fitness, says Hawkins.

To remain fit, active and healthy, you’ll need to focus on cardiovascular endurance, strength training and flexibility. In other words, cross-train. Swim, bike or go for brisk walks, for example; strength train with dumb bells, bands or weight machines and stretch to maintain flexibility. The stronger you are, the farther you’ll hit the ball and the better your cardio fitness is, the less fatigue you’ll experience as you golf.

It is possible your mechanics may change as you age, so you should have your golf swing and equipment evaluated by a pro. Your club length may need to change as our posture changes with time. Hawkins offers these tips for other issues faced by older golfers:

Arthritis in the shoulders

• Have your swing and golf club length checked to make sure they’re optimal for your current condition
• Use heat, ice and anti-inflammatories if needed to treat pain
• Stay active! Exercise relieves arthritis discomfort
• Cross-train. If all you do is golf the pain may become unmanageable
• Have a health professional come up with a strength and flexibility program for muscles around the shoulder joints
• Warm up before playing

Low back and hamstring pain

• Focus on strengthening the upper and lower back and hamstrings, as well as stretching those areas. Back and hamstring weakness is a huge indicator of this pain.
• Core strength training (abs and back) are critical to physical performance

If you’ve never strength trained before, it’s never too late to start, says Hawkins. Ninety-year-olds have achieved impressive changes when they started resistance training.

Tips for the brand-new older golfer or the previously sedentary golfer

• Start a conditioning program (strength, flexibility, cardio) that’s general or golf-specific to get you ready for the stresses and strains of the game
• Proper technique/mechanics are important. Have lessons from a qualified club professional to enhance the fun of the game as well as to decrease the chance of injury
• Carrying your clubs for 18 holes (10,000-plus steps) is a huge stress for someone who’s been sedentary. Pre-conditioning is important before stepping on the course

It’s human nature not to start doing something until you see a need, says Hawkins. But if you’re serious about enjoying golf, the sooner you start cross-training, the better.

Zach Cox running the Richmond Marathon

Anne Stein, M.S.
Sports & Fitness Journalist/Author

Running a marathon a month might seem crazy, but for a 22-year-old University of Virginia senior devoted to public service, it’s been a great way to combine charity fundraising and a love of athletics.

So far, despite enduring a couple of nasty knee injuries, Zach Cox has run two marathons, two half-marathons, and raised enough money to pay for the floor in a brand-new school in war-ravaged southern Sudan.

“I started with the idea to do a marathon a month until I reached the 1,000-mile mark, because that’s the rough estimate of total miles that the Lost Boys of Sudan walked,” explains Cox, an anthropology major.

The Lost Boys fled southern Sudan while civil war raged in the mid-1980s. The young boys, who were nicknamed by aid workers, marched upwards of 1,000 miles to reach the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. Thousands died along the way, while several thousand have since relocated to different cities in the U.S.

“I’d heard about the Lost Boys for a while and kept seeing more documentaries and reading about them, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do to help,” Cox said. He eventually found Help Sudan International, a Chicago-based group founded by local Lost Boys who are rebuilding schools back home. “I think when you have someone of the culture doing the work, it gives it a great chance of success,” says Zach, explaining why he picked the group.

A marathon a month might seem crazy…

Cox, who ran cross-country in high school and completed two marathons (including a 3:30:00 first-time effort) a few years ago, didn’t just want to donate money. “I wanted to make this kind of personal – I wanted to do something that took a fair amount of effort on my part, as far as putting in time, trying to fundraise, figuring out which races to do and how to get there.”

In November and December, he completed his first two charity marathons, Richmond and Charlotte, but with nine miles to go in his second run, he injured his knee. He pushed through the pain and completed the race but missed his January marathon, having discovered he had tendonitis and bursitis in his knee.

The injuries have been a learning process, says Zach. “I’ve learned to listen to my body and rearrange my goals and training to reach the 1000-mile mark.” But he has no intention of quitting.

“If I had been doing this without some purpose, I would have stopped because of my knee. But since I have that goal and I’m getting money to help Sudan, it pushes me.”

Zach’s marathon training tips:

• Training with a group can be a great motivator. Zach likes to run by himself without an iPod. Whatever you prefer, training should be fun.
• Having a goal like an upcoming race gets you out the door when you don’t feel like training.
• Listen to your body. It’s dangerous to stick with a rigid workout schedule where you think you can’t miss a workout, even if your body needs a break. “There were days when my body was saying you shouldn’t go this far and I still did,” Zach says, explaining his knee injury.
• Get enough mileage under your belt before your marathon. You want to be comfortable running at least 22 or 23 miles. If your long run’s only 18, you can finish the race, but it won’t be pretty.

Zach’s injury tips:

• Re-adjust your goals and training. He’s substituted half-marathons for a couple of marathons while the injury heals, and he’s slowed his race pace to protect his knee.
• Cross-train (such as biking) twice a week to get your legs off the concrete.
• Ice injured areas after workouts to reduce pain and inflammation.
• Use ice and anti-inflammatories if needed after races to reduce swelling and pain.

To learn more about the Lost Boys, Zach’s races, or to donate, go to:

• www.helpsudaninternational.org (click on Donate Now and enter Zach’s name in the Comments box)
• www.facebook.com/zach.ftw.cox
• http://twitter.com/my1000miles

Stephanie Camillo
Washington, DC

The facts

• Back pain accounts for $50 billion a year in healthcare costs in the U.S.
• Each year low-back pain disables five million people in the U.S. and results in 93 million lost work days

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

We all know that there are two things that bosses love:  increased productivity and cost savings.  Back pain can do damage to both of these.  Why?  Because when employees stay healthy, they work more efficiently, stay happier, and take fewer sick days.

You’ve got health insurance and a competitive benefits package so you don’t want to seem too greedy.  But what if getting your boss to part with a little extra dough meant that your boss would save in the long term?  Turns out, it can.

Moji has done the research for you and come up with a number of investments that can easily be implemented in the workplace to help reduce the risk of back pain and promote an active lifestyle among employees.  Whether you work for a small start-up or a massive corporation, getting your boss to part with a little cash can go a long way towards keeping the team up and running.

New chairs

The average desk jockey employee can spend over 2,000 hours in their desk chair each year. And research shows that people who sit down on the job can be more prone to not only back pain but also serious injuries such as disc herniation.    A company need not spend a fortune to get back-friendly chairs that will work better for employees.  In fact, the most important element of the office chair is adjustability.  Adjustable office chairs start at $100, which works out to less than $10 a month per employee, or $0.05 per hour.

If your company can’t afford the fancy ergonomic chairs (upwards of $300 each) then consider kneeling chairs ($110 each) or hop on the bouncy ball bandwagon.  Exercise balls large enough to use as seats start at just $12.  See if your office can purchase three or four and keep them in storage for when people feel the need for a change of seat-ery.

Even cheaper alternative.  If your company really can’t let go of its regular office chairs, try the bum cushions that are sold everywhere.  You can pop one in your car and/or your cubicle to give your tailbone a little bit more support.  For as little as $40 you can be sitting prettier.

Headsets for phones

It’s no secret that back pain is connected to neck pain.  And there’s no faster way to get neck pain than by being on the phone with your head cocked at an odd angle for hours on end.  Have your boss invest in headsets for all employees.  Good headsets can run anywhere from $70-$160, but just think of the extra work you could do with two free hands!  What your boss pays for in equipment is more than made up for in safety, comfort, and productivity (you don’t have to waste time massaging your neck after a long call).

Swap the happy hours for yoga classes

In addition to providing a workout and burning calories, yoga offers a big bang for your buck.  Yoga tackles three problems in one: it reduces stress, it develops strength and flexibility, and it improves mental focus and attitude.  Regular lessons for employees could start at about $18/hour and some yoga studios cost as much as a regular gym membership, but your boss could bring in a yoga teacher to teach employees for a group rate.  Additionally, people might enjoy trying something new in the company of friends and colleagues – after all, the purpose of “happy hours” is to be together.  Why not be together doing something that’s good for you?   You can use group yoga classes as a team building exercise or morale booster, which are investments your company should already be making.

Gym memberships

Engaging in a properly designed fitness regimen can dramatically reduce the risk of back pain and improve back health among employees.  Research suggests that active employees are $391 less expensive than employees who don’t maintain an active lifestyle.  Unfortunately, gym memberships can cost up to $300 per month for an individual.  But there are tons of group and corporate rates available—and within five years your boss can see anywhere from 100% to 300% return on investment.  We are willing to bet that with staff buy-in it might even be possible to have staff contribute internally to gym memberships thereby keeping the boss’s costs really low.

Break out the bikes

Biking can reduce back pain (and strengthens just about every muscle in your back) significantly.  But what if your office isn’t bike-commuter friendly?  Well, it turns out that it’s pretty inexpensive to make it easier for the bike commuters to ride in each day.  And for those who are considering the bike commute for the first time, perhaps some of the perks we suggest are just the push they need to ride in on two wheels.

Offices can provide convenient bike storage spaces for employees who bike to work by using empty wall or storage space for bike racks.  This will save people the trouble of finding outside bike racks and worrying about whether or not rain will rust their bikes.  Mounted bike racks start at about $100.  If there is room to hang pictures in the office, then there is room to mount bikes.  Additionally, there are a number of accessories that go along with biking to work: helmets, shoes, bike clothes, etc.  Mesh or wire storage cubbies are available starting at $20 and can be used to de-clutter workspaces.  The office can also invest in a general-use bike toolbox ($55) and some communal locks ($15/each) that people can use on the honor system.

Space modification

Stretching and relaxing during the course of the day are important to maintaining your focus and keeping your body from building up tension – tension which often leads to low back pain.  People could feel awkward breaking into downward dog or meditating in their cubicle, so why not design a designated space for people to get away from it all without leaving the office?  It just takes a corner, a well-placed screen, and some props (a plant, a candle, a floor cushion) to create a space where people can decompress, stretch, and get back to work without missing a beat.

Dress down the dress code

High-heeled shoes might make your legs look thinner but they can also wreak havoc on your back.  They tilt your pelvis forward and place a lot of added stress on your back muscles.  So it’s time to think about some other options.  Flats – or even lower heels for that matter – will make any intra-office walking you have to do a lot easier on your body.  There are plenty of shoes out there that meet business formal dress codes, don’t break the bank, and are easier on your body.

Flexible scheduling

Many causes of employees’ back pain can be linked to getting to and from their job sites.  Studies indicate that the stress and monotony of long commutes and even the vibrations in cars can all play a role in acute or chronic back pain.  So pitch some new scheduling ideas to your boss.  Chances are they just haven’t thought outside the box.  Later start times, an extra vacation day, or a variation on the government flex schedule that gives people an opportunity to work from home can all decrease commuting monotony without cutting productivity.

Conclusion

With everyone cutting costs due to the tough economic times it can be hard to approach your boss with ideas that ask the company to dish out more money to employees.  But direct and indirect costs for neck and back pain cost U.S. employers over $20 billion in workers compensation.  Think of these pitches as investments that your company can easily implement that will have multiple returns: improved employee satisfaction, reduced sick days, higher morale, and increased productivity.  Anything that improves productivity and pays for itself over time should be an easy sell for your boss.

References:

1. Causes and Prevention of Back Pain, American College of Sports Medicine, April 2006