Live A Longer Life By Doing Strength Training.

Hi All, 

Mark here from Alltone Fitness and BNG Boot Camp & Personal Training Greensborugh. Any of you that know me, have heard me constantly going on about the health benefits of strength training. Its great for fat loss, joint health, and the list just goes on and on. Well here's a fantastic one, strength training can actually help you live longer! Wow! That's great news!  Enjoy this nice little article I came across in regards to strength training and living longer. Courtesy of Health.com and written by Don Rauf. 

By Don Rauf

HealthDay Reporter

You probably already know that strength training, such as lifting weights or doing pushups, is good for you, but now new research suggests it may help you live longer, too.

When people 65 and older did strength training twice a week, they lowered their odds of dying from any cause by almost half during a 15-year study.

“The secret to a longer and healthier life may not be available in pill form, but it may look like a barbell,” said lead study author Dr. Jennifer Kraschnewski. She’s an assistant professor of medicine and public health sciences at Penn State College of Medicine, in Hershey, Pa.

“Strength training can substantially decrease mortality risk, and more importantly, some of our other work demonstrates the impact of strength training on improving functional limitations [in older people],” she added.

The study included data on more than 30,000 adults, all 65 and older. Information was collected from 1997 through 2001 through the U.S. National Health Interview Survey.

Nearly 10 percent of the adults in the study reported strength training at least twice a week. That’s consistent with guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine/American Heart Association (ACSM/AHA). Kraschnewski said this training included muscle-strengthening activities for the legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms.

While the study didn’t prove cause-and-effect, it found that people who did strength training at least two days a week were 46 percent less likely to die from any cause. And they were 41 percent less likely to die from heart disease, Kraschnewski said. She added that seniors who did at least two days of strength training were also 19 percent less likely to die from cancer compared to those who didn’t do the training.

Responding to the study findings, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Brad Thomas said, “Strength training has been well identified as a means to strengthen our bones and joints, but with this study we have a new benefit of longevity.” Thomas, who was not involved with the study, is an associate professor at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.

Previous studies have shown that strength training may improve muscle mass and chronic conditions such as diabetes, osteoporosis, lower back pain and obesity. Stronger muscles may also result in better stamina, physical function, and balance, according to background information in the study.

ACSM/AHA guidelines also recommend that adults participate in moderate-intensity (such as brisk walking) aerobic activity for 150 minutes each week. That’s 30 minutes a day, five days a week. If you are performing vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (such as jogging or running), the guidelines suggest 75 minutes each week.

Kraschnewski urged older adults who have not been active to talk with a doctor before starting an exercise program.

“In general, there are safe exercises for everyone, but it may require tailoring for your specific conditions,” she said. “Strength training can be done at home and many exercises don’t actually require equipment.”

A few of her suggestions include doing pushups, abdominal crunches and leg squats, all of which use one’s own body weight.

Kraschnewski said resistance bands are another great option for home-based programs. These inexpensive bands or tubes provide resistance when stretched and can be used for strength training exercises in all major muscle groups, she said.

If you feel that you could benefit from additional help, consider joining a gym that offers coaches to help create an exercise regimen, she suggested.

“Typically, two to three exercise sessions a week for 20 to 30 minutes are enough for most people to develop results,” said Kraschnewski. “Our studies have demonstrated older adults can double their strength in just 12 weeks.”

Both Kraschnewski and Thomas said there’s no age cutoff when it comes to getting benefits from aerobic exercise and strength training.

“Older adults have the ability to achieve strength similar to those decades younger by engaging in simple strength training routines,” Kraschnewski said.

The study findings were published recently in the journal Preventive Medicine

Have a Great Week  - Mark Frangiosa 

My top 5 exercises you must be performing.

Hi all. Mark here again for this week's blog installation. 

I hope everyone is looking forward to the Easter break.  Alltone Fitness Studio will be closed over the easter break and will re open on Tues 29th March.  BNG Boot Camp and group fitness will not be running over Easter and will recommence indoors at Watsonia Primary School, 240 Nell Street, Watsonia on Tues 5th April. Happy Easter!

This week I will be sharing with you my top 5 exercises and explaining the benefits and why you should be performing them in your exercise programs. Most of you that know me well, won't be surprised to find out that all 5 exercises are full body movements. 
What are full body exercises I hear you ask? Well let me explain. Compound exercises (full body movements) also known as multi jointed exercises, burn more fat, use multiple muscle groups and build the most strength and muscle. Examples of compound exercises are push ups, squats, chin ups, medicine ball slams and burpees just to name a few. Some compound exercises can be difficult to learn while some may be more effective than others. In this blog I will explain why my top 5 full body exercises will give you maximum results in the shortest amount of time. 

5 Burpees ( Insert evil laugh here )

Used by fitness boot camp instructors and personal trainers world wide, burpees are one of those full body exercises most people love to hate. This high intensity exercise will give you a entire full body workout in just minutes. A high level of focus and intensity is required to be able to push through a set of 15-20 repetitions. Here's how to perform a burpee. 

From a standing position, squat down, put your hands on the ground, kick your legs out behind you, do a push-up (optional), then kick the legs back up into a squat position, stand and jump as you swing your arms overhead. If you’re an advanced exerciser or want to add even more “oomph” to this exercise, you can wear a weighted vest as you do your burpees. Good luck! 

4 Medicine Ball Slams 

Not only is this exercise fantastic at building upper body, core and leg strength, it is also fantastic for stress relief. Best of all though, it is quite easy to perform. 

To do a medicine ball slam, you simply get a medicine ball (those big heavy balls you can often find in the corner of the gym), raise it overhead, then swing your arms down as you release the ball and slam it into the ground as hard as possible. Keep your spine in a neutral position thorough the entire move, abs are tight and slight bend in your knees as you slam the ball into the ground.

3. Push Ups 

Push-ups are one of the oldest and most basic of exercises for a simple reason. They work! The exercise positions all the muscles in our upper body and builds optimal strength in the forearms, shoulders and chest. Performed correctly, you will also target your core and glute muscles. 

To do a pushup get into a high plank position. Screw your hands firmly into the ground directly under shoulders. Keep you abs and glutes tight throughout the movement. Lower your body by bending your elbows back on a 45 degree angle and keep your forearms vertical. Keep your back flat and eyes focused about three feet in front of you to keep a neutral neck—until your chest grazes the floor. Push back up

2. Barbell Squats 

It is one of the most primitive movements known to man and without doubt one of the best exercises for lower body muscular and strength development. Barbell squats will increase your core strength. This is because through the entire movement your core muscles need to work hard to keep your body upright and support your lower back. 

Begin with the barbell supported on top of the traps. The chest should be up and the head facing forward. Adopt a hip to shoulder width stance with the feet turned out as needed. Keep your abs and glutes tight.  Descend by flexing at the knees and hips while pushing your hamstrings back. Keep the knees tracking in line with your feet and avoid them tracking too far forward over the toes. The goal is to keep the torso as upright as possible. Continue all the way down, keeping the weight on the front of the heel. At the moment the upper legs contact the lower legs reverse the motion, driving the weight upward.

1. Deadlift to Overhead Press

The premise of the deadlift-to-overhead press is fairly straightforward: you pick a heavy object off the ground and lift it overhead. The object can be a dumbbell, barbell, kettlebell, medicine ball or sandbag. However, the following people who display poor mobility/stability, are inexperienced or have lingering injuries should seek advice on properly performing this exercise before attempting it.

When youpick the object off the ground, which is called a deadlift, you’ll need to have good form: looking forward with your knees bent, butt out, and back straight. You then stand by extending your hip forward, as you stand or after you are in a standing position, hoist the weight overhead – using your hip and leg muscles to assist your upper body with driving the weight up.

What you need to know about your pelvic floor...

Hi all, Mark here again from Alltone Fitness personal training studio and BNG Boot Camp Greensborough.

Did you know that a large number of exercises can negatively affect your pelvic floor, and some of these can actually harm these muscles? This can lead into bladder or bowel control problems. This is very common amongst men and women however most people are too embarrassed to talk about it or believe as we age that it is normal. Well it's not, and fixing this problem could be as easy as strengthening your pelvic floor. Women on average suffer more than men, with one in three who have ever had a baby experiencing urinary incontinence. Over half the people with bladder problems don't seek help from a health care professional.

The pelvic floor muscles form the base of the group of core muscles known as the core. The pelvic floor work with these deep core and lower back muscles along with the diaphragm, to stabilise and support the spine as they maintain pressure within the abdomen. The pelvic floor muscles support the bladder and bowel in men, and the bladder, bowel and uterus in women.

People who are more at risk of pelvic floor problems are, pregnant women, women who have had a baby, women who are going through or gone through menopause. For men, any surgery undergone for prostate cancer can make them more at risk. Other factors that put people at risk include those with a history of lower
back pain, an injury to the pelvic region, suffer regular constipation, being overweight or regular heavy lifting. Individuals with pelvic floor problems can experience the following symptoms, leaking urine when they exercise, constantly needing to go to the toilet. finding it difficult to empty their bladder or bowel, pain in their pelvic area and accidently losing control of their bowel.

Safe cardio and resistance exercises for the pelvic floor.

Certain exercises place greater stress on the pelvic floor and should be avoided. There are a number of safe exercises which can be performed and are considered safe without placing excessive downward pressure on the pelvic floor.

Safe cardio exercises:
Walking, swimming, upright bike, cross trainer, low intensity water aerobics, low impact exercise classes.

Cardio exercises to avoid:
Running, jumping, star jumps, skipping, boxing, high impact exercise classes, sports that involve stop start running or sudden direction changes.

Safe resistance exercises:
Seated exercises like rows and shoulder press. Bicep curls and knee extensions. Dumbbell exercises on a swiss ball, partial swiss ball squats, glute bridge, cable flys, leg curls, incline wall pushups.

Resistance exercises to avoid:
Sit ups, crunches, leg raises, deep lunges, deep squats, jump squats, lifting heavy weights, lat pull down with heavy weights, leg press with heavy weights, deadlifts and any exercise where there is downward pressure on the pelvic floor.

How to train your pelvic floor. 
A method of training your pelvic floor muscles is to relax the muscles of the thighs, glutes and abs, then squeeze the muscle of your front passage like you are stopping the flow of urine. Now squeeze in the muscle around your back passage as if you are trying to stop passing wind. You should now feel the muscle in between your front and back passage lift up towards your pelvis. Become familiar with the feeling of those muscles activating before relaxing and letting go. This exercise is best performed sitting on the edge of a chair slightly leaning forward at the hips. It can also be performed standing or lying down. Aim to perform 3 sets of 8 repetitions.

If this is a problem for you please feel free to reach out as we can help construct an exercise program to help strengthen your pelvic floor. At Alltone Fitness we offer personal training in the Greensborough, Bundoora, Mill Park and Watsonia area. We also run boot camps and group fitness at the most affordable prices in Greensborough.

VO2 Max And Everything You Need To Know About It

Hi all,

Mark here from Alltone Fitness and BNG Boot Camp & group fitness bundoora. In this week's blog I will be discussing what is VO2 Max and ways on improving it . VO2 max has been defined as "the highest rate of oxygen consumption attainable during maximal or strenuous exercise". Basically it is a measure of cardiovascular fitness.

As exercise intensity increases so does oxygen consumption. However, a point is reached where exercise intensity can continue to increase without the rise in oxygen consumption. Once we reach the point at which oxygen consumption plateaus we then can define this as an individual's VO2 max or their maximal aerobic capacity. Aerobic power, aerobic capacity and maximal oxygen uptake are all terms used interchangeably with VO2 max. It is usually written measured in millilitres of oxygen per kilo of bodyweight per minute: ml/kg/min. It is mostly shown relative to body weight because oxygen and energy needs differ relative to size.

Training for 30 minutes, 3 times a week over 6 months at 75% of aerobic power can increase VO2 max an average of 15-20% , Recent research suggests that genetics plays a role in how well any one individual responds to cardiovascular endurance training and weight loss. This is why we often can see bigger differences in VO2 max training amongst beginners of the same age and fitness levels.

The extent of which VO2 max can improve with fitness training also depends on the person's starting point. The fitter an individual is to start with, the less potential there is for an increase as they have most likely hit their upper limit earlier on. Resistance training has little effect on VO2 max. even when short rest's are used between sets and exercises.

A large amount of cardiovascular fitness training is needed to reach our upper limit for VO2 max. However, much less is required to maintain it. Runners and swimmers have reduced training volumes by 60% for a period of 15-21 days prior to competition with no reduction in their VO2 max.


We can determine our VO2 max through a number of physical evaluations. These tests can be direct or indirect. Direct testing requires much more sophisticated equipment which is why indirect testing is more widely used in fitness centres. Some are more reliable and accurate than others though none of the indirect methods have the accuracy of direct testing. Some indirect tests to determine VO2 max are the beep test, bike test, ( bike needs to have a test function for this) 2km row test or 12 min treadmill run.

VO2 max decreases with age. The average rate of decline is usually around 1% after the age of 25.
The decline in age-related VO2 max usually can be accounted for by a reduction in maximum heart rate. Some fantastic aerobic exercise exercise to help increase your VO2 max are, bike riding, jogging, swimming or rowing. Remember though, you don't want to spend countless hours riding, running or swimming. 15-20 min of HIIT aerobic training with a ratio of 1:4 or 1:3 would be the way to go! If you have any further questions in regards to today's blog you can email me at info@alltonefitness.com.au

Mark - Alltone Fitness Personal Training 

Why women should perform resistance training...

Hi there, Mark here from Alltone Fitness. In this week’s blog I will be covering the benefits and reasons by females should be performing resistance training.  

In the past, the general consensus was females performed cardio for fitness and weight loss and males generally hit the weights to pack on muscle mass. If I had a $1 for each time a female client said to me  - I don’t want to do resistance training as I don’t  want to bulk up, I just want to lose weight.  This couldn’t be further from the truth. Thankfully today our thinking patterns have changed and the importance of performing resistance training amongst the female population is better understood.

1.      The number one benefit of resistance training is for reducing body fat.. You might be surprised at this, though it’s true. Resistance training elevates your metabolism much higher than cardio therefore  it remains elevated for a greater period of time post training, turning your body into a fat burning machine.

2.      You will decrease your risk of osteoporosis. Research has found that weight training can increase spinal bone mineral density by 13 percent in six months. This, coupled with an adequate amount of dietary calcium can be a women's best defence against osteoporosis.

3.      Increase muscular strength. Now who doesn’t want to feel stronger? Your daily chores will become easier, from lifting the kids, to carting groceries around. You will depend less on others and feel better for it

4.      Reduced risk of heart disease. Researchers say resistance training can improve cardiovascular health by reducing LDL (bad) cholesterol and increase HDL (good) cholesterol. Couple this with cardiovascular exercise for added benefits.

5.      Reduce your risk of injuries and back pain. Resistance training not only builds stronger muscles, but also builds stronger connective tissues and increases joint stability. This acts as reinforcement for the joints and helps prevent injury.

Personal training, boot camps, or group fitness classes are great ways to include resistance training in your exercise regime. At Alltone Fitness we run boot camps in Greensborough, Bundoora,Watsonia. We also offer personal training in Bundoora, Watsonia andGreensborough. All our sessions incorporate resistance training along with cardiovascular training for optimal heart health.

Vistit www.bngbootcamp.com.au or www.alltonefitness.com.au for more details.

Take care and live life healthy

 

Mark