Fit Communications

Today I read an e-book (The Secrets Of Fighting Female Flab Over 40 With Master’s Fitness Champ Maxine Johnson, available free on Tom Venuto’s Inner Circle) in which Anja Langer and Gladys Portuguese were mentioned. I hadn’t thought about them in forever, but after seeing their names, I spent some time googling for images. Quite a few are available on Anja Langer’s website. Her story is intriguing because although she had a bodybuilding career in the 1980s, she is still stunningly fit. Check out the shots from 2001.

I couldn’t find a single image of Gladys. She was a beautiful competitor as well.

Here’s a site with photos of a number of female competitors from the ’80s and ’90s. See what you think.

Images can be highly motivating.

MSNBC.com’s fitness section recently ran an article that caught my eye by referring to the Presidential Physical Fitness Award of bygone days. I well remember my disappointment at not earning a badge. The problem? My softball throw. It was terrible. I scored very well on the strength measures–things like sit-ups, push-ups, and being able to hang from a bar. Alas, I threw “like a girl.” What can I say? I wasn’t working on arm strength at age 14, nor have I ever had anything like hand-to-eye coordination.

But if I felt the need to redeem myself I could take the government’s new Adult Fitness Test. The promotional site, unveiled May 14, offers instructions on measuring aerobic fitness (with a 1-mile walk or 1.5-mile run), muscular strength and endurance (with “half sit-ups” and push-ups), flexibility (with a sit-and-reach test), and body composition.

This last is problematic, as it infers body composition from body-mass index (BMI), a measure that in fact relies only on weight and height. In other words, it says zip about body composition–how much of that weight is fat and how much is lean tissue. If you’re muscular, your BMI may falsely indicate that you’re “overweight.”

The January 2008 issue of the research journal Obesity included a fascinating article that documented the activity patterns of obese and lean women. I won’t summarize all the details because you can read the entire article online.

In short, obese women sat for two and half hours more than lean women and stood for two hours less than lean women each day. Obese women also spent about half as much time each day in activity of all sorts (walking, climbing stairs, etc.).

The upshot was that obese women burned about 300 calories fewer each day than lean women.

If you eat tuna fairly often, you’ll be interested in the results of this review by Cook’s Illustrated magazine. (Cook’s, if you’re not familiar with it, is the best cooking magazine around. Foodies will love it. Just be aware that you’ll be trying these recipes on maintenance day.)

Cook’s asked its panel of tasters to sample various kinds of tuna from cans and pouches. Fortunately for your pocketbook, two inexpensive canned tunas stole the show. I don’t buy tuna in a pouch very often because of its significantly higher cost, and now I see there’s no reason to switch from cans.

The top two tunas, in order of preference were

Raise your hand if you’ve ever read an article in a women’s fitness magazine that recommended a daily weight-loss diet that provides around 1,300 calories. Yeah, I thought you had.

This afternoon I paged through the latest Oxygen magazine—or maybe it was Oxygen’s annual glutes special—and found sample menus for such a diet. Keep in mind that Oxygen promotes intense physical activity—both weights and cardio. Keep in mind that these far-too restrictive diets are often said to be the food plans followed by female fitness athletes.

That is simply impossible unless the women in question are anorexic.

One of the things I forget about starting over in the gym: how fatigued I feel. I don’t mean fatigued while in the weight room. There I tend to feel energized. It’s how tired I feel a couple of hours later. Of course, that passes as one’s fitness level increases, and it doesn’t take long to start adapting to the increased demand.

Musing on this has made me think of Get Buffed, the first in a series of self-published volumes by Australian strength coach Ian King. These books aren’t cheap. Current price on King’s website is $49.95, although I don’t think I paid that much for it in 2004. King says a lot of intelligent things about lifting, one of which is that older people benefit from brief, intense workouts but need more time to recover than younger people

I loved hearing the part about shorter workouts and fewer sets because I’ve always hated long, drawn-out sessions in the gym. I’m glad to be there, I work hard while I’m there, and then I want to get on with my life.

In any case, I’m wasted today after popping in to the gym for 25 minutes on the elliptical trainer. No weights today, just stretching afterward. I’ve lifted twice this week and will probably lift again on Monday.

I just came across an article on post-menopausal weight gain on the Mayo Clinic’s women’s health page. The upshot is that–surprise!–gaining fat is not inevitable.

Here’s why the weight gain occurs:

[C]hanging hormone levels associated with menopause aren’t necessarily the cause of weight gain. Aging and lifestyle factors play a big role in your changing body composition, including

• Exercising less. Menopausal women tend to exercise less than other women, which can lead to weight gain.

• Eating more. Eating more means you’ll take in more calories, which are converted to fat if you don’t burn them for energy.

• Burning fewer calories. The number of calories you need for energy decreases as you age because aging promotes the replacement of muscle with fat. Muscle burns more calories than fat does. When your body composition shifts to more fat and less muscle, your metabolism slows down.

Here’s what to do about it:

• Increase your physical activity. Aerobic exercise boosts your metabolism and helps you burn fat. Strength training exercises increase muscle mass, boost your metabolism and strengthen your bones.

  You can become more physically active even without starting a formal exercise program. Just spend more time doing the things you love that also get you moving. Do more gardening and dancing. Take longer walks or try out a bike. Make it your goal to be active for a total of 30 minutes or more a day on most days.

  Increased physical activity, including strength training, may be the single most important factor for maintaining a healthy body composition — more lean muscle mass and less body fat — as you get older.

• Reduce calories. Pay attention to the foods you’re eating and slightly reduce the amount of calories you consume each day. By choosing a varied diet composed mainly of fruits and vegetables, you can safely cut back on calories and lose weight. Be careful not to cut back too drastically on calorie intake, or your body will respond by conserving energy, making extra pounds harder to shed.

  Because your metabolism slows as you get older, you need about 200 fewer calories a day to maintain your weight as you get into your mid- to late 40s. This shouldn’t be a problem if you eat only when hungry and only enough to satisfy your hunger.

• Decrease dietary fat. Eating large amounts of high-fat foods adds excess calories, which can lead to weight gain and obesity. Limit fat to 20 percent to 35 percent of your daily calories. Emphasize fats from healthier sources, such as nuts and olive, canola and peanut oils.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that if lots of fat is bad, zero fat must be better. That’s the false assumption we bought in the ’80s. I vividly remember preparing for bodybuilding competitions by trying to eat as little fat as possible. I ate all day long: dry salad, tuna from the can, dry chicken breasts, steamed broccoli, dry baked potatoes . . . And I was always hungry.

Fat adds flavor and also increases satiety.

A recent Reuters story covers a scientific literature review proving what we already know: that movement keeps us young(er).

Aerobic exercise helps turn back biological clock

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Maintaining aerobic fitness through middle age and beyond could delay the aging process by more than a decade and prolong independent living, according to a new review of research on aerobic fitness and dependency in old age.

One caveat: if you’re also interested in your shape and appearance, you also need weights. Weight training offers scads of health benefits: increased bone density and muscular strength, improved balance, healthier joints, and so on. There’s also research indicating that it improves cardiovascular health.

Ideal combination: aerobic exercise plus weights.

From msnbc.com:

Cutting calories helps people lose weight, but doing so by filling up on whole grains may be particularly heart-healthy, new research suggests.

In a study of obese adults at risk of heart disease, researchers found that those who trimmed calories and increased their whole-grain intake shed more belly fat and lowered their blood levels of C-reactive protein or CRP.

CRP is a marker of chronic, low-level inflammation in the blood vessels, and both abdominal fat and CRP, in excess, are linked to heart attack and stroke.