We at TRAIN are highly cognizant of our need to be extra vigilant in our highly trafficked environment. We are taking extra measures such as extra swabbing of surfaces, equipment and mats with alcohol and virucides. We are providing a plentiful supply of hand sanitizers, posting signs of flu awareness and admonishing our staff to stay home at the first sign of illness. Let’s all wash our hands more often, take our vitamins and stay healthy.

So if you look and feel like this guy, we don’t want to see you! If you are sick, please stay home and get your much needed rest.

It sounds so simple as to be innocuous, a throwaway line in public-health warnings about swine flu. But one of the most powerful weapons against the new H1N1 virus is summed up in a three-word phrase you first heard from your mother: wash your hands.

A host of recent studies have highlighted the importance and the scientific underpinning of this most basic hygiene measure. One of the most graphic was done at the University of California, Berkeley, where researchers focused video cameras on 10 college students as they read and typed on their laptops.

The scientists counted the times the students touched their faces, documenting every lip scratch, eye rub and nose pick. On average, the students touched their eyes, noses and lips 47 times during a three-hour period, once every four minutes. Hand-to-face contact has a surprising impact on health. Germs can enter the body through breaks in the skin or through the membranes of the eyes, mouth and nose.

The eyes appear to be a particularly vulnerable port of entry for viral infections, said Mark Nicas, a professor of environmental health sciences at Berkeley. Using mathematical models, Dr. Nicas and colleagues estimated that in homes, schools and dorms, hand-to-face contact appears to account for about one-third of the risk of flu infection, according to a report this month in the journal Risk Analysis.

In one study of four residence halls at the University of Colorado, two of the dorms had hand sanitizer dispensers installed in every dorm room, bathroom and dining area, and students were given educational materials about the importance of hand hygiene. The remaining two dorms were used as controls, and researchers simply monitored illness rates.

During the eight-week study period, students in the dorms with ready access to hand sanitizers had a third fewer complaints of coughs, chest congestion and fever. Over all, the risk of getting sick was 20 percent lower in the dorms where hand hygiene was emphasized, and those students missed 43 percent fewer days of school.

Young children benefit, too. In a study of 6,000 elementary school students in California, Delaware, Ohio and Tennessee, students in classrooms with hand sanitizers had 20 percent fewer absences due to illness. Teacher absenteeism in those schools dropped 10 percent.

Better hand hygiene also appears to make a difference in the home, lowering the risk to other family members when one child is sick. Harvard researchers studied nearly 300 families who had children 5 or younger in day care. Half the families were given a supply of hand sanitizer and educational materials; the other half were left to practice their normal hand washing habits.

In homes with hand sanitizers, the risk of catching a gastrointestinal illness from a sick child dropped 60 percent compared with the control families. The two groups did not differ in rates of respiratory illness rates, but families with the highest rates of sanitizer use had a 20 percent lower risk of catching such an illness from a sick child.

Regular soap and water and alcohol-based hand sanitizers are both effective in eliminating the H1N1 virus from the hands. In February, researchers in Australia coated the hands of 20 volunteers with copious amounts of a seasonal H1N1 flu virus. The concentration of virus was equivalent to the amount that would occur when an infected person used a hand to wipe a runny nose.

When the subjects did not wash their hands, large amounts of live virus remained even after an hour, said the lead author, Dr. M. Lindsay Grayson, a professor of medicine at the University of Melbourne. But using soap and water or a sanitizer virtually eliminated the presence of the virus.

Frequent hand washing will not eliminate risk. When an infected person coughs or sneezes, a bystander might be splattered by large droplets or may inhale airborne particles. In a recent Harvard study of hand sanitizer use in schools, hand hygiene practices lowered risk for gastrointestinal illness but not upper respiratory infections.

Still, it is a good idea to wash your hands regularly even if you’re not in contact people who are obviously ill. In a troubling finding, a recent study of 404 British commuters found that 28 percent had fecal bacteria on their hands. In one city, 57 percent of the men sampled had contaminated hands, according to the study, which was published this month in the journal Epidemiology and Infection.

“We were surprised by the high level of contamination,” said Gaby Judah, a researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Ms. Judah added that many of the contaminated commuters reported that they had washed their hands that morning. They may have been embarrassed to admit they hadn’t washed, or they may have picked up the bacteria on their hands during their commute.

For all those reasons, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with other health organizations around the world, urge frequent hand washing with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizers. (They also repeat some advice you may not have heard from your mother: cough or sneeze into the crook of your elbow, not your bare hands.)

And as hospitals put stricter hand hygiene programs in place, absentee rates during cold and flu season also drop.

“Statistically, you can’t determine a causal relationship, but it’s very suggestive,” said Dr. Neil O. Fishman, infectious disease specialist at the University of Pennsylvania. “Our vaccination rates remained relatively stable, so what else changed? The only thing different was that hand hygiene rates increased.”

As a fitness and lifestyle coach for over sixteen years, I’ve noticed some keys to successful living and it’s not as hard as you think! Little changes can go a long way to improving your health and happiness. Here are just a few tips to get you started:

1. Get a Personal Trainer
Obviously, I’m a little biased. But a personal trainer will keep you on track and make sure you are doing proper form so you don’t get injured-especially important if you are juststarting a workout regimen.

2. Measure
Before starting a program, you have to know your current state of fitness. Take measurements, do before pictures, and do body fat measurements. It’s fun to make yourself look as bad as you can in the before picture (i.e. no makeup, scowl, stick out your belly, make your hair really messy!)

3. Keep a food diary
If you can’t meet with a certified nutritionist, you can still be aware of food patterns. Write down what you eat, how much, and when. Then see where you can make improvements.

4. Keep a water bottle with you throughout the day
Most of my clients drink more water if they use a water bottle. I love to keep bottles of water in the car and whenever I’m driving, it’s easy to reach back and grab one.

5. Take a multi-vitamin
At the very least, just take a multi-vitamin every day. It’s like food insurance. Chances are, you’re not getting all the vitamins and minerals you need from food.

6. Forgive yourself
If you fall off the food wagon, just say, “Whoops!” (or some other colorful expletive) and get back on. Don’t beat yourself up over a cookie. EVERYONE likes cookies. You just can’t eat them all day every day.

7. Make friends at the gym
Studies show that the more friends you have at the gym, the more likely you are to go to the gym. Say hello and introduce yourself! And are you more likely to go to the gym if you know your friend is there waiting for you? Of course you are.

8. Mix it up
Frequently change your workouts. If all you do is a steady pace on a treadmill for 30 minutes every day, I guarantee you’re going to get bored and your body will stop responding to the workout. (Besides, looking like you’re in a coma with drool dribbling out of your mouth is just not attractive.) You need to challenge your body with high intensity sets or different machines like a bike or an elliptical machine. If you get off the machine and you don’t feel like you worked out hard, chances are you didn’t. Just take a nap next time instead of boring yourself for 30 minutes.

9. Competition
Whoever said that competition is bad is a loser!
Join a charity run/walk like the AIDS Half Marathon in Disneyland! Not only do you get to hear It’s a Small World all day, but you’ll be more motivated during your workouts when you can focus on one special day! You’ll meet lots of people, you’ll raise money for a good cause, and you’ll be in great shape!

10. Be grateful
Take a moment to count your blessings. Many people would LOVE to be healthy enough to walk on a treadmill but they can’t. If you put yourself in a state of gratitude, life becomes so much more enjoyable!

Zen can be reached at zen@zengray.com.

In my all experience as a fitness professional, I’ve never some across one person that doesn’t have a vice. Usually it’s one of the following: sugar, alcohol, caffeine, salt, or just plain portion size. If you nodded your head to one of those, just know you’re not alone.

Personally, my vice is sugar. In the past, I felt like I had a dysfunctional love/hate relationship with sugar. But I’ve learned to control it with a strategy that lets me look forward to enjoying carrot cake without feeling guilty about it.

If you want to live a healthy and happy life, I think you’ve got to develop some flexible rules for yourself regarding your food. And you have to start with loving yourself. Stop beating yourself up each time you may “slip” in your diet because life will happen. Celebrations will happen. And giving up by saying, “Well, my office/spouse/friend/co-worker/children won’t let me eat more healthy food so I guess I’ll just have to be I’m unsatisfied with my health and my appearance…” is NOT the answer. You’ll get a little pleasure by indulging in those vices with the excuse that it’s someone else’s fault… but ultimately you will feel more pain by not developing a healthy strategy to deal with them.

First thing you need to do is to write down why indulging in those vices is harmful to you. What will happen 5, 10 or 20 years down the road if you DON’T change your eating habits? You really need to make this association painful. Get disturbed!

If you keep eating sugar (or refined carbohydrates), what will happen to your body, your energy, your health? What will happen to your relationship with yourself or your spouse or your family? If you are depressed and getting fatter and your energy is low, how will that affect your life? Can you achieve your dreams if you can’t get control of your vice? Or worse, did you give up on your dreams? Will you even be around for your family? What will happen?

Write it down. By writing down those painful associations, you will make connections in your subconscious mind. Your mind is always working to make associations and most of it happens on a subconscious level. So, let’s use that to your advantage. If something is painful enough, you will do something about it. Imagine that pain so you can use it as a motivator.

Next, write down all the benefits to developing a healthy strategy for that vice. How great will you look and feel if you no longer let it control you? How will having more energy and vitality affect your career, your relationships, and your family? Will you inspire your spouse, your kids, yourself? The momentum you build through successful eating will spill over into all areas of your life! Perhaps the self-confidence you gain will help you achieve your dreams! Write it down! Writing down the benefits of healthful eating will also inspire you and help you reprogram your subconscious mind.

Now you’ve got leverage on yourself to change your eating habits! How you FEEL about those vices will help change your BEHAVIOR and ultimately your results.

The next step is to develop a strategy. For me, it’s limiting sugar to weekends and holidays. I know that if I eat like I’m “on the job” during the week, I can enjoy cookies or a slice of cake on the weekends and it doesn’t send me into a downward spiral of self-loathing and depression. That strategy works for me. I also know that if I have a holiday or celebration where I’m sure to have cake during the week that I can increase my cardio or eliminate a weekend day indulgence. It’s got to be flexible for LIFE. I also know that if I happen to have sugar 3 times in one week, it’s NOT going to kill me. But I have to make sure I’m back on track the next week.

Think of ways where you can start weaning yourself off your vice for most of the week. If it’s alcohol, what will you drink instead when the waiter asks, “What can I get you to drink?” If it’s portion size, how can you limit what you see on the plate in front of you? If it’s caffeine, how can you maintain your energy throughout the day without an artificial jolt? If it’s salty food, what else can you choose that has less sodium?

(I do need to say that I have had some clients that discovered they CAN’T deal with alcohol on their own. It was just too difficult. It’s a big realization that really improved their life after they sought professional help from Alcoholic’s Anonymous. If you can’t cut back on your alcohol consumption, you may want to take a really close look at that vice.)

So, let’s break it down:

1.) Identify your vice(s).

2.) Write down how your life will be affected if you DON’T get a handle on your vice. Make it very painful and imagine how it will feel in 5, 10 or 20 years if you don’t change your habits!

3.) Write down how much better your life will be if you DO develop a strategy that helps you limit your vice. Imagine how a successful strategy will affect your life in 5, 10 or 20 years!

4.) Write down your strategy. Will you limit your vice to weekends? Once a week? Only on holidays and special occasions? How will you get a handle on it? How can you manage your vice for life? What will your strategy be if you slip up sometimes? How will you get back on track?

Just remember, it’s not about falling down. It’s about getting back up.

Prior to “Modern Medicine” no one had a problem with pregnant mothers being active. Families’ socio economical status and lifestyle would have prevented many moms-to-be from being sedentary. “Prevalence of the Victorian view, fear of malpractice, and unscientific assumptions encouraged doctors for many years to advise women to put their feet up for nine months.” says Dr. Raul Artal, professor of the Department of Ob/Gyn at SUNI Health Science Center at Syracuse, NY. “But with the exercise boom of the 80’s, questions started coming up about working out while pregnant” he says. Frustrations were felt both by the medical community, athletes, coaches and active women by the “old” restrictive guidelines of ‘84. Inpatient with the very restrictive low levels of exercise, that women were “allowed” to do, scientists started to examine pregnant women at much higher than recommended levels of exercise intensity. The new studies are coming out in favor of active moms.

MYTHS DISPELLED Modern medical research is disproving all of the old misconceptions about what pregnant women can and can’t do. These myths of the entire concept of “prenatal exercise” that grew from fear or ignorance are changing as we become more knowledgeable on how exercise can be modified during pregnancy. This is what exercise was thought to cause, compared with new findings: Miscarriage exercise decreases the rate of miscarriage Hormonal imbalance exercise normalizes hormones and produces endorphins that reduces stress. Increased risk of injury exercise strengthens joints and prevents injury Directs blood flow away together pregnancy and exercise feto-protectivly from fetus to muscles increases blood volume to insure sufficient blood supply for all activities. Overheating of fetus – pregnancy and exercise feto-protectivly improves a pregnant moms cooling system. (However, never exercise when hot and humid) Uterine bleeding – only excessive exercise may increase spotting in early pregnancy. Placental displacement – no relation to exercise found, but modify program if it happens. Entangled umbilical cord – exercise reduces the incidence of entanglement. Breech position – only inverted exercises after 32 weeks may increase risk of breech position. Increased c-sections and exercise reduces C-sections by more than half and medical intervention – reduces all other interventions.

Meconium stained amniotic fluid – exercise reduces this risk by half. Premature labor – no exercise relation found. Prolonged labor – exercise reduces labor time by about 30%.Fetal distress – exercise reduces fetal distress.

Low birth weight – babies are born 10% leaner, with normal height and cranial circumference. Low Apgar scores – exercise increases Apgar scores at 1 min. Difficulties for baby after birth – babies adapt faster to the outside and handle labor better. Difficult maternal recovery – (?) of course fit mom’s recover quicker and easier, and here are a few more reasons to exercise:

MOMS PRENATAL BENEFITS OF EXERCISE

• Improves fertility

• Reduces effects of biomechanical changes to your body such as upper and lower back strain, sciatica, and knee pain by maintaining strength and proper spinal alignment for better posture.

• Eliminates or reduces discomforts of water retention, tension, stress, depression, and excessive weight gain.

• Prevents and treats pregnancy induced diabetes.

• Improves calcium absorption to prevent hypertension, preeclampsia and future osteoporosis.

• Minimizes stretch-marks, varicose veins, abdominal separation and hyperventilation.

• Improves self-esteem and well-being.

• Increases energy, stamina, fitness levels and muscle control for an easier pregnancy and a faster and less painful delivery.

POSTPARTUM BENEFITS

• Minimizes postpartum blues.

• Minimizes future incontinence and organ prolapse.

• Allows faster recovery.

• Reduces back strain from carrying and nursing a newborn.

• Increases energy and strength.

BABIES BENEFITS

Babies come out healthier and fitter by handling labor better and adapting faster to the outside. Babies seem calmer, are leaner (with less chance of future weight problems) and with improved neurological and mental development – they are more intelligent.

That should be enough motivation to get you going. For more detailed information on the feto protective benefits of exercise in pregnancy, how to modify any sport for your pregnancy, “high risk” pregnancy exercise, nutrition and postpartum, click on EXPECTING FITNESS, to purchase the book.

Medically, overtraining is classified as a neuro-endocrine disorder occurring when the balance between the autonomic nervous system and the hormonal system becomes disrupted. Physiological improvements occur during periods of rest following hard training; therefore, the practice of periodization, which involves the correct prescription of exercise volume and intensity, is essential to avoid burnout and exhaustion. According to Andrew C. Fry, “Periodization insures that the body is continually being presented with a stress that permits both progress and adequate recovery, while eliminating training monotony.

VOLUME: Research identifies two unique physiological types of the syndrome. First is the parasympathetic form, more common in endurance sports associated with high volume training, which negatively impacts the hormones cortisol and testosterone. Cortisol, the stress hormone that causes muscle breakdown, rises, while testosterone, the anabolic hormone that aids muscle building, falls. Normal resting concentrations of these hormones are vital to one’s health and fitness goals and, when compromised, may led to a variety of symptoms such as fatigue, loss of appetite, mood swings, depression, sleep disturbances, headaches, decreases in mental focus, susceptibility to illness, decreased morning resting heart rate, changes in blood pressure, severe joint aches and pains, and excessive muscle soreness.

INTENSITY: The second physiological type involved in overtraining syndrome deals with the sympathetic nervous system, and is more common in sprint type sports and power athletes; it is a result of excessive training intensity. When weight loads become too heavy for an extended period, studies show that concentrations of catecholamines (adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine) become significantly elevated in order to compensate for a decrease in muscular strength. Often, an elevated resting heart rate is seen with those who suffer this condition. Although two types of overtraining exist, it is believed that the majority of afflicted athletes suffer form a combination of excessive volume and intensity, presenting an extremely complex physiological scenario in the human body.

“It is critical to understand that the “more is better” mentality will, eventually,

lead to burnout and compromise one’s fitness goals.”

Although periodization, proper nutrition, ample sleep and stress management are the best ways to prevent training burnout, a promising new and simple technique for early detection has been developed by famed Finnish researcher, Heikki rusko, called the “orthostatic test.” To perform this test, an athlete would lie still on her back for 10 minutes at the same time every day while monitoring her heart rate, which should remain unchanged for the duration of the test. Following each of these occasions, she should stand up and check her heart rate exactly 15 seconds after standing, and again 90 to 120 seconds after standing. A heart rate monitor works best because it will calculate the average heart rate during the period 90 to 120 seconds after standing. According to Rusko, when an athlete is not on the edge of overtraining, the 15-second and average 90- to 120- second heart rates are constant from day to day. Rusko, however, reported higher standing heart rates prior to overtraining syndrome, most severely in the 90 to 120 second heart rates, which increased by more than 10 beats per minute. This rise, usually, isn’t sudden, but often takes place over a four-week period, conveniently allowing an athlete to back off and avoid the pitfalls of overexertion.

TREATMENT

PASSIVE: The treatment for overtraining syndrome is rest, with two options. Passive rest consists of nothing more than light stretching and is usually implemented for more severe cases. Three to five days of passive rest is usually sufficient for short periods of overtraining lasting roughly three to four weeks.

ACTIVE: Active rest involves decreasing the volume and intensity of exercise, and often includes changes in exercise modality. For example, a jogger might perform low impact training for twenty to thirty minutes every other day, such as swimming or riding a bike, in order to allow the overstressed joints to heal. An alternate day recovery schedule usually lasts for two to three weeks until an increase in volume is permitted. In some cases, it may take months to recover and training must be interrupted for several weeks.

It is critical to understand that the “more is better” mentality will, eventually, lead to burnout and compromise one’s fitness goals. Never forget the story of the tortoise and the hare, and be mindful of the signs and symptoms of your body. When it comes to designing a fitness regiment, less can definitely be more.

Matthew Tanner has dedicated his skills and energies to professional fitness training, specializing in weight reduction and management, “square one” (getting back to exercise), home gym design and programming, and core strengthening. Matthew is currently enrolled in the Contemplative Psychology department at Naropa University and is certified with the International Sports Sciences Association.

matt@privatefitnesscoach.com

303 241 5447

www.privatefitnesscoach.com

We Need Fat – Oh Yeah

tFat has a some what undeserved bad rap: let’s set the record STR8 – you need fat in your diet. Only fat can preform some very important functions: * Some important nutrients can only be absorbed with the help of fat: vitamins A. E, D and K * Fat is used in connective tissue throughout the body * Fat aids in building out healthy skin and Hair

The Good VS Bad – Fat ThrowDown

The issue is more then unsaturated fat, the good guys VS saturated Fats, the bad guys. Some saturated fats are really good for you, like – coconut oil and butter. More importantly it is how the fats are processed or not processed. Hydrogenated oils or processed oils are the real culprits, a lot of good stuffed is destroyed in the processing like vitamin E. Natural fats in moderation are the ticket to good health and being satisfied when you eat.