Want to make the time spent on cardiovascular work worthwhile? This is the incorrect way to use a Stairmaster Stepper. Most of the bodyweight is being supported by the hands, and the lower back is at risk of injury. The desired cardiovascular effect will not be achieved. If you are leaning forward like this then you are working too hard (see good news - bad news) if the exercise intensity is too high (anaerobic) you are not burning fat, you are burning glycogen (high intensity fuel).
This is the correct way to use a stepper, your legs should be doing all the
work and your hands should only be used for balance - don't grip too tightly
or you will stress your shoulders.
Good News - Bad News
You go to the gym, you huff, you puff, but you don't feel any better. You finish your session looking like a sweaty beetroot, go home and collapse on the couch. Isn't this supposed to be doing you good??? Depends how hard you exercise - this could answer your question…..
Is intense exercise hard on the immune system?
Does exercise, help, hurt or have no effect on the immune system? Experts have debated that question over the last few years with no firm answers. Some fitness advocates claim that regular training improves resistance to infections and prevents tumour growth, yet athletes and coaches often report that strenuous training actually seems to produce a higher risk of respiratory infections. Published studies have shown that marathon runners have a much higher than normal chance of developing a cold during the week after a marathon, suggesting that vigorous exercise may open the door for opportunistic pathogens.
The final word on the link between exercise and health is not in yet, but there's now evidence that exercise intensity may be a key factor. Specifically, new research from Denmark suggests that light to moderate exercise boosts immune-system activity, while intense exercise may depress it.
In the Danish research, six healthy individuals exercised on a bicycle for one hour on three different occasions, separated by two-week intervals. In one instance, the subjects cycled at a low intensity of only 25% V02max (just 45-50 per cent of maximal heart rate). On the other occasions they pedalled at either a moderate intensity of 50% V02max (65 per cent of maximal heart rate) or a relatively high intensity of 75% V02max (84 per cent of max heart rate). After each ride, immune-system status was evaluated.
The most dramatic changes in immune-system activity occurred after the high-intensity ride. Blood concentrations of monocytes - a type of white blood cell - were above normal, but the activities of two key types of white cells which destroy invading pathogens - natural killer (NK) cells and Iymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells - were suppressed following the high-intensity exertions. The Danish researchers suggested that the surplus monocytes which appeared during and after the high-intensity ride released chemicals called prostaglandins which inhibited NK- and LAK-cell activity. That's an undesirable response, single immune-system strength declines as NK and LAK activity ebbs.
Meanwhile, concentrations of white blood cells increased during both light and moderate exercise, as did NK cell activity, and there was no suppression of NK cells. The Danish researchers concluded that light and moderate exercise tends to boost the immune system, while intense exercise has some potentially negative effects.
The Danish cyclists were previously untrained, but the strong observed link between hard training or racing and illness suggests that the relationship holds for more experienced athletes, too. It's apparent that sports-active people should consider cutting back on their high intensity training at times when the risk of infection is high (for example, in the winter, when athletes tend to be cooped up with lots of coughing, sniffing people). In addition, when athletes are under increased physical or emotional stress or are getting less rest and sleep than usual, it makes sense for them to temporarily bias their training towards moderate- or low-intensity efforts in order to lower the risk of illness.
("The Effect of Light, Moderate and Severe Bicycle Exercise on Lymphocyte Subsets, Natural and Lymphokine Activated Killer Cells, Lymphocyte Proliferation Response and Interleukin 2 Production". International Journal of Sports Medicine, vol 14(5), pp 275-282, 1993)
Exercising at the correct intensity which is beneficial to the immune system is a fundamental part of the Bodydoctor programme. Click to order the programme.
Client Archive
Suzy Sotirias
4th December 2000
I bought your book after reading an article about Bodydoctor fitness in the Sunday Times. I decided to try the programme because you just made so much "SENSE" in your book... after all, what did I have to lose but all my fat clothes?
Well, I am delighted to tell you that after 6 weeks at the Bodydoctor gym I have lost more than 13 inches all over and dropped 2 dress sizes!!! I never expected to do so well in such a short period of time. The most dramatic improvement is my vastly reduced tummy and back of my arms.
More importantly, I feel stronger, healthier and I have more energy than I know what to do with !
Thanks to everyone at Bodydoctor fitness, I'm no longer stressed about how I look and I feel great. The only thing I'm stressing about now is spending a fortune on new clothes!
Best, Suzy
Click here for client archive
Herbal Juice Treatment
Echinacea- The Immune system booster
The Sioux Indians of North America have extremely good knowledge of the medicinal properties of Echinacea - commonly called Purple Coneflower. Besides applying this herb as a first aid for snake bites, the Indians scraped the fresh root and used it for treating blood poisoning, infectious conditions and hydrophobia. In North America, Echinacea has a long folk medicine history and inhibiting inflammation. It is also effective in the treatment of diseases due to blood impurities, for example, boils, abscesses and carbuncles. Even treatment of acne with Echinacea has been recorded.
These are two different species of echinecea that the Indians regard as sacred: Echinacea purpurea and E. angustifolia. The latter of the two varieties has a deep penetrating taproot, while purpurea's root is shallower. From a medicinal point of view both are of equal value.
Echinacea is native to the prairie of North America, west of Ohio. This common perennial plant with beautiful blooms is a popular medicinal herb on this continent, but only recently has it come to be appreciated on Europe. It only occurred there as a rare, cultivated plant until this century, when it was introduced to Dr. Alfred Vogel by Black Eagle, a tribal chief in South Dakota. Dr Vogel recognised immediately the potential healing power of the plant, and started cultivating echincea as a medicinal herb in Switzerland.
Echinacea has stimulated keen interest among modern researchers who have worked to isolate the active ingredients. What they found, other than the volatile oils and resin, were two polysaccharide components, insulin and echinasin, which, as they discovered, have the ability to reinforce the body's own defence mechanisms. Medical science began to realize that Echinacea was a very remarkable plant indeed. The two polysaccharides are primarily responsible for the immunostimulatory activities of Echinacea. These actions make it especially effective in fighting viral infections and, to an even greater extent, in stimulating the immune system for cancerous conditions.
A properly functioning immune system is vital; without a good defence mechanism we could not survive. As the immune system is weakened by our unnatural, modern way of life it is good to know that Echinacea juice as a herbal remedy can play an important role in keeping us healthy. Echinacea activates and strengthens the immune system and is therefore a tremendous aid in increasing the body's resistance to micro-organisms and all other infections - viral, fungal as well as bacterial. It also strengthens the lymphatic system, and it helps those who suffer constant attacks of colds and catarrh.
With the first signs of an oncoming illness a tablespoon of Echinacea juice is recommended. Take four to five times daily, as long as the condition persists. Echinacea, like any other herbal remedy, should be discontinued once health has been restored.
The Science of Exercise
This is the first in a series of articles that will explore ideas about how we move and train.
Over the years that I have known the Bodydoctor I have developed an understanding of exercise that draws on the disciplines noted above. David and I have worked together to reduce injuries and develop a rational approach to training. In these articles a theoretical framework about how muscles cooperate in movement will be presented.
That framework is termed 'contractile fields'. As an osteopath I am well versed in musculoskeletal anatomy but in all honesty it is of little use in treating injuries.
Last week I talked about an approach to the anatomy of movement (Contractile Fields) that draws on a wide knowledge domain. That domain will include evolutionary anatomy and embryology.
Contractile fields are patterns of contraction that move throughout a living person, as seen in walking. A field is how patterns of movement interact across time. I'm suggesting that by understanding how are bodies have evolved over time and how our bodies transform in embryology from a sphere, to a flattened disc shape and, then folding the disc to make a recognisable embryo - we can develop real insight into how to move and train.
A 'Dorso/Ventral contractile field' - what on earth is that! Lets start with the contractile field bit. Imagine you are an embryo of about 4 weeks post conception. You'd have a huge frontally bulging head, a series of arches and crevices instead of a neck, behind a primitive nerve/spine area that is divided into about 28 segments, a massive heart - your head nearly touches it!, a stalk to mum and a narrowing of the distal body to a tail like end.
With time lapsed photography you can see the embryo flexing over the heart and then later in development arching backwards - this core pattern of bending forwards, called flexion, and its opposite, extension. You cannot bend forwards without the back muscles elongating, and vice-versa. A ring of contractile tissue encircles us that that flexes and extends the body, the ring lies in two bands that lie on either side of the bodies mid line.
Imagine you where on the ground, belly down with your legs splayed out, a bit like a frogs. A babies posture. Now lets think about lifting our heads. If this was me I'd move my eyes upwards (superior rectus of the eyeball), my nasal orifices would tend to dilate (Nasalis), my forehead skin would tend to corrugate (Fronto-Occipitalis) and my head and neck would extend. These head/neck extensors are called the cervical erector spinai, starting on the back of your neck they pick up muscle from the vertebrae and course down to the area between your shoulder blades.
Still splayed like a frog leave your head down and this time try to lift you bottom upwards, i.e. pelvic extension. The back muscle would contract and this time the sacrum is lifted up via the flexibility of the lumbar spine. Muscles act this time from the end of the spine, the coccyx, up in layered groups to the same area between the shoulder blades. The thoracic spine from T3 to T7 is the most fixed part of the body because the ribs here encircle the heart and lung to brace themselves on the sternum. These organs demand their space not be compromised, for obvious reasons.
So far this Dorso/Ventral contractile field has been traced from the nose to the eyes, to the back of the head and hence on to the T3-7 region. It is conceptually sound to then imagine the pelvis lifting upwards with again T3-7 being the anchor region for the extension.
Next week the Ventral aspect of the field will be discussed. We will need to consider how the organs of the embryo come to shape the front muscles of the body.
Phillip Beach D.O. D.Ac
David's are the only exercises I've ever been able to stick to. Rachel Weisz
