Bogus BMI Numbers

Take two numbers, height and weight, and come up with another number, Body Mass Index (BMI), and as an indicator of good health you have next to nothing.  The BMI fails to take into account physical features - as an example those with broad shoulders will have a higher BMI compared to those with narrow shoulders. There is no differentiation between fat, muscle, and bone, and it does not account for gender.

The BMI often changes as we age. For some it is lower, but that does not necessarily mean better health. Thirty years ago I was in peak physical condition and had more muscle mass than I do today; I regularly played rugby, two 40 minutes halves of pretty much non-stop strenuous exertion with no substitutions.  According to this BMI chart I would have been bordering on obesity and classified as unhealthy.

Today I have a lower BMI number, but I also have less muscle than I did 30 years ago. Losing muscle is part of the aging process; it happens to all of us.  I suppose I could sit back in comfort and point to my lower BMI number as an indicator of good health.

The BMI statistic is negatively biased against those who have more muscle, and the BMI statistic does not capture the positive health factor of strength. It is absolutely essential for good health to remain as strong as possible we age. Fortunately with a proper personal training program like the one we offer at Austin Personal Trainers and New Orleans Fitness Training those who are younger will increase strength and muscle mass, and those who are older can remain strong, slow down age-related muscle loss, and even reverse it.  When you add muscle your BMI number will rise, but you will be better for it.

More BMI posts here.

Leveraging workouts for more safely and productivity

Demanding exercise is what stimulates positive change. Well designed exercise equipment will often use changes in leverage to make exercise more demanding and, interestly at the same time, safer.  

Wedge a crowbar under a heavy object and apply pressure at the very end of the crow bar. Your leverage decreases and difficulty level rises as you place your hands closer and apply pressure to the heavy object. MedX exercise equipment (the kind we use at our Austin Fitness Training facility) utilizes the same principle; while the weight stays the same throughout the range of motion, the leverage and difficulty level change.

Throughout a muscle's range of motion there will be points where the muscle is weaker and other parts of the range where the muscle is stronger. A muscle is more effectively fatigued when it works against a resistance it can barely handle at every part of its range of motion.  MedX equipment is engineered so that the resistance increases when you are in the strongest part of your range of motion and decreases when you are in the weakest part (the sticking point).  As a result you can eliminate thedangerous acceleration needed to get past that sticking point and complete the movement. It's a safer way to exercise.

The elimination of explosive accelerating movements obviates the need for warm-up sets. Demanding work produces change not warm-up sets. With MedX equipment you can confine your workout to safe, efficient, productive, demanding work. If you exercise in such a manner with minimal time between exercises you will find that in 20 to 30 minutes your muscles will be totally exhausted and your heart will be pounding. It produces an endorphin-inducing natural high. You’ll feel better, and with rest and recovery, you will come back stronger with more endurance.

A year after hitting bottom

The persistent aches and pains from old injuries were my excuse for not exercising. Not exercising led to more aches and pains, less activity, weight gain, and weakness. In a weakened state illnesses are likely to be more frequent and protracted. I got pneumonia and bronchitis, and my asthma flared up. My blood oxygen absorption rate fell to the low 80s. My heart had to work harder to get the oxygen I needed. As a result my blood pressure rose, and my resting pulse was twenty beats per minute higher. I was listless and constantly tired. My cardiologist was concerned that I may have had a silent heart attack, so he conducted a series of tests.  I passed.

That was almost a year ago, the bottom of a negative cycle. They say you have got to hit rock bottom before you commit to making a change. Since that time I have changed my eating habits. I have not missed a strength training session regardless of the aches and pains. Funny thing is, the exercise made the aches and pains go away. Pain-free, I was able to add other activities. I began biking a couple times a week. Results: Thirty-seven pounds lighter, greatly reduced blood pressure, blood oxygen absorption level in the high 90s, pulse more than 20 beats per minute slower, and no aches or pains.

Recently I went riding bikes with my tireless daughter. We spent 3 1/2 hours riding bikes one day and an hour and 45 minutes the next day through the hills of Austin where deer abound. That would have been unthinkable a year ago. As reassuring at the positive numbers have been what is most gratifying is to be able to do things you have not done in years with greater ease and to be able to get out of bed the next day and do it again - a positive cycle. This positive cycle begins with increasing one's strength.

At Austin Fitness Training and New Orleans Fitness Training we use MedX medical rehab equipment that is better tolerated by those with pain and joint problems. Our personal trainers can set up a program that will increase your strength and endurance, eliminate pain, and dramaticallyincrease your quality of life.

The resistance increasing throughout the range of motion - a demonstration

With free weights and most exercise equipment resistance is constantthroughout the range of motion. You are limited to lifting whatever amount you can lift through the sticking point, that point where you are at a mechanical disadvantage. That will be the hardest part of the movement; the reminder of the repetition will be relatively easier.

With variable resistance the weight changes throughout the range. It should be lighter at the sticking point and heavier in the range where one has a mechanical advantage. Watch the numbers on the scale change in the video. This feature makes for safer more productive exercise. MedXstrength training equipment has variable resistance. We have extensive lines of MedX equipment both our Austin Fitness Trainers and New Orleans Personal Trainers locations.

Lasting Impressions: I will never get another dog

Lasting Impressions, number two in a series. In all my years working at various health clubs, several thousand people have walked through the doors. Some become members, some not. Some become casual acquaintances, while others become life-long friends. A few make a brief appearance and are gone. One such person, I think about to this day. He came into our health club to look around; he was in his mid-fifties. He gave my dog Stella a rueful look, and after a long pause, he said he would never get another dog. I asked him why. He told me he had had a wonderful dog that died for no explainable reason when the dog was five years old. He said it was such a painful experience that he could not bear to go through it again. Stella was two at the time. The guy’s words haunted me. I thought about what he said with the passing of each of Stella’s birthdays, especially on her fifth birthday. Stella turns 12 in a couple of days. For the first five years New Orleans Personal Trainers was located directly across the street from a vet’s office. Austin Personal Trainers is presently located in a northwest Austin strip mall along with a vet’s office. I have known clients and friends to go into both locations to have their pets put down. Fortunately Stella (red fur) along with her step-sister Bella have so far avoided that fate and still come to work. I am thankful for each day and all the joy the dogs have provided, and occasionally I still think about that guy. I think he made a mistake; he should have got another dog.

A Quarter Million Leg Lifts in a Year, the Results

In 1985 I was working at a health club, and aerobics classes were very popular. Leg lifts were a staple of the classes. Leg lifts can be done laterally, kicking backward, or forward. They can be done standing, on all fours, while doing a plank, leaning on an exercise ball, or lying on your side. There are other ways as well.

In the course of a class they are performed in high numbers. I did the math. I figured 60 to 70 leg lifts were performed a minute. There were 8 to 10 minutes of leg lifts per class. If you went to several classes in a week and showed up 50 weeks a year you would be doing close to a quarter million leg lifts. One woman did.

At the end of the year she still had substantial fat deposits on her outer thighs. In fact that was the only place she had noticeable fat on her body. Around this same time I occasionally worked out a man who liked to drink beer, and he occasionally exercised. His body fat was about 30%, much of it around his abdomen and much less around his lower body. When he did the leg extension exercise you could clearly see the four muscles of each of his quadriceps, and he had very little fat on his hips.

This woman did 250,000 leg lifts a year, and he drank beer. Why the different results? You cannot change your genetics, and you cannot spot reduce fat from your body with any type of exercise, and you cannot “tighten things up” either. You can make the underlying muscle more toned, not by lifting your legs, but by strength training. Tonus the constant low-level contraction of muscle comes with strength not repetitions. That toned muscle will not become evident until the fat comes off.

The fat will remain there until there is a caloric deficit achieved mostly through diet, but exercise has an important role. If you are dieting your body will try to compensate for those reduced calories by lowering its metabolism by catabolizing calorie-demanding lean body tissue. Exercise, particularly high intensity strength training, will counter the body’s tendency to lower metabolism.

High intensity strength training, the type of training we do at our Austin Personal Training facility effectively burns calories four ways and increases strength and tone. You will find you can spend less time exercising, have more fat loss, and not spend endless hours raising you legs.

Hitting for distance with the right exercises

A simple equation that has been proven to work for golfers: Increased strength and flexibility will result in increased club head speed, increased distance, and decreased likelihood of injury. We have all the MedX core exercise equipment used by golfers on the PGA tour at both our Austin Personal Training and New Orleans Personal Training locations.

Sleeping injuries

Yep, I hurt myself sleeping. It is a damn shame when you hurt yourself sleeping. In my defense it might be that I have lost a little padding around my hips. I am down five belt loops and thirty-five pounds.

I consulted my physical therapist, and he said it happens occasionally. From this web page, Part 6 Common Sleep Injuries: Hip Injuries, this quote:

“The trochanteric bursa is on the outside of the hip. If you sleep on one side for most of the night, you can compress it, causing swelling and inflammation, or Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome (GTPS.) You will wake up in the morning or in the night with pain and tenderness on the side of your hip, which may feel like a bad cramp. If the inflammation gets worse, any kind of walking or climbing motion will aggravate the bursa and cause more pain.”

I once had this injury twenty-five years ago and limped for days. This time there was just a bit of aggravation.  It helps if you have muscle protecting those joints. At New Orleans Personal Trainer and Austin Personal Trainer we can help you with that.

Study finds BMI to be deeply flawed measure of health

The government has proposed rules that would allow employers to penalize employees for up to 30% of their health insurance costs if they don’t meet 24 health criteria one of which is the BMI, Body Mass Index.   It turns out that the BMI is a very unreliable indicator of health.    

From this LA times article, BMI mislabels 54 million Americans as 'overweight' or 'obese,' study says:

“A team of UCLA researchers analyzed data from 40,420 individuals who participated in the 2005-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and they found that nearly half (47.4%) of overweight people and 29% of obese people were, from a metabolic standpoint, quite healthy. On the flip side, more than 30% of individuals with “normal” weights were metabolically unhealthy.

“The BMI is just a really crude and terrible indicator of someone’s health.”

This regulatory gambit would saddle employees with unfairly high health insurance costs based on a deeply flawed measure of actual health.

Another study confounding the worth of the BMI statistic found that those with more muscle live longer.  Those will more muscle will have higher BMIs, and if proposed regulations are put in place they would have the privilege of paying high premiums. Mike Tyson pictured here would be classified as obese. I don’t know; he looks healthy to me.

BMI be damned.  With proper strength training you can increase your muscle mass – even seniors,   At New Orleans Personal Training andAustin Personal Training we can help you with that.

My pain is gone

Imagine living with pain every day.  You are getting older and your life has become compromised. The prospect that the pain will always be there presents a bleak picture.  It does not have to be that way.  

At both our locations, Austin Personal Trainers and at New Orleans Personal Trainers, our trainers use MedX rehabilitative exercise equipment.  It is used by elite athletes as well as those recovering from injuries.  

Gretchen, one of our trainers, trains Larry. Larry is recovering from injuries sustained as a result of a motorcycle accident.  Prior to beginning exercise he lived in pain every day.

A quote from Larry:  

“Prior to starting at Kelly Personal Training  I was taking at between 4 and 8 ibuprofens a day just so my knees, back, and shoulder weren’t hurting. I was icing my back a couple times a week. Now I don't need anything for pain because the pain is gone. My work requires me to walk around in attics. I can tell my balance has improved as well. The slight discomfort during the workout is well worth the benefits. I have lost 32 pounds too.”

Our equipment is better tolerated by those who have physical limitations, and workout itself will alleviate pain.  Many live in a state of chronic pain.Years ago I was one of them for almost three years. With the right exercise that can change dramatically. 

Lasting impressions: In six months I'll be doing the butterfly across that pool

In 38 years working at nine different health clubs I've seen a lot of amazing, bizarre, interesting, and sometimes disturbing things. I have seen thousands of people come and go. Most do not leave a lasting impression, but sometimes, even a brief encounter will stay with me forever.

It was January 1980. The price of oil was $37 a barrel that year, more expensive than it is today. The George Foreman Grill and other astounding leaps in technology had yet to be invented. It was my third month working at my first health club. The club was awash with new members armed with their New Year’s resolutions.

There was a man there who weighed 290 pounds. He had the look of a former athlete. Under that marbling there was obvious potential to be a well-muscled fit man. He was there for hours each day for five straight days. He told me in six months he would be doing the butterfly across the pool. Given how long he was there with such regularity that was definitely a possibility. I didn't see him the next week or the week after. In fact I never saw him again. But he did continue to pay the mandatory membership bank draft.

I often think of him as a proxy for all those who come to the gym with high expectations but never follow through. Initially people are highly motivated, but working full-time along with raising a family and then coming to the gym for one or two hours is not sustainable for most people. The diminishing return for all that time in the gym is not very motivating.

At our Austin Personal Training facility we don't start from the premise of seeing how much exercise you can withstand but try to find what's the least amount of exercise that will produce the most positive change. That will give you the largest marginal return for your time spent exercising, and it will be more motivating. You will be more likely stick to it for the long-term.

Had that man committed to making modest changes in eating habits, strength trained for a half hour once or sometimes twice a week, and on the other days done something he enjoyed he would have been more likely to have stuck to it. The weight loss would be slower but more sustainable. At the end of the year he would've been 50 pounds lighter and maybe would have been able to do the butterfly. The beauty of it is he would have spent far less time in the gym than under his attempted commitment.

High intensity strength training lowers blood pressure

To lower your blood pressure do high intensity training HIT or start strength training. Better yet, do them both at the same time. High intensity training HIT consists of a series of short bouts of demanding exercise with rest or active recovery (less demanding exercise) in between each bout of exercise. HIT for strength can be done performing a series of strength training exercise with little rest in between. Evidence from two studies point to the positive effects both HIT and strength training have on lowering blood pressure. This study, High-intensity interval training and hypertension: maximizing the benefits of exercise? compared continuous moderate-intensity exercise training (CMT) and high-intensity interval training (HIT), to determine which was better for lowering blood pressure.  They presented evidence that: “HIT for several factors involved in the pathophysiology of hypertension raises the hypothesis that HIT may be more effective for preventing and controlling hypertension”. Another study, Weight Training Has Unique Heart Benefits, Study Suggests, examined the effect of strength training on blood pressure and found: When compared to aerobic training resistance training resulted in increased blood flow to the limbs and a longer-lasting drop in blood pressure after exercise. At Austin Personal Training and at New Orleans Fitness Trainers we do HIT training on aerobic equipment and HIT training for strength in our weight room.

The lady said, "We want decisive members"

Several years ago I walked into a health club; they were running a special offer. After the tour of the facility I told the lady that I wanted to think about it and that I would come back tomorrow. She told me I had to make my decision right then and there if I wanted to get the special rate. She said, “We want decisive members”. I made my decision right there and walked out. There is a reason yearly memberships are a bargain, and there is a reason they are always running specials. Many facilities bank on the fact that you won’t attend regularly. On average, only thirty percent of members attend regularly. So you take the bait and decide to join the health club. To get the discount you sign the monthly bank draft, and the automatic bank draft begins. If you are like most people your attendance is regular at first and then seldom. Cancelling your membership is expensive because there is a $200 processing fee, so you are stuck for a year. There is a reason the renewal rate at health clubs hovers around 30 percent. In many of the health clubs there are personal trainers who will offer you a free training session IF you sign up for a huge package to get the lower rate. If you are lucky you will get the personal trainer best suited for your needs, but often that is not the case. At the end of year the only thing lighter is your wallet. AtNew Orleans’s Personal Trainers and Austin’s Fitness Trainers there are no bank drafts or specials. We do offer the first two sessions free without obligations, so you can make an informed decision to see if this is something you want to pursue. It is a different business model that works for us.

Fourteen years of positive changes

I work out of our Austin Personal Training location, and I was talking to one of our New Orleans personal trainers a few years back. I asked her why there was an influx of business when we hadn’t been doing any promotions, really no marketing of any kind outside of our internet presence. I was heartened to hear her response. She said, “People are starting to know of us in the community. I think we now have an established reputation”. More than a decade ago we asked our clients if they would submit a short testimonial about their experience at our New Orleans location. The result was almost 40 testimonials, 30 of them from doctors.  We appreciate those votes of confidence and all the other testimonials made in subsequent years. One of those testimonials was from a client who works with Adam [pictured], one of our trainers. Her doctor told her, “Under no circumstances stop exercising because that is what is keeping you going” Doctors attributed her years of exercise to helping her prevail. We are fortunate to work with so many good people and to help them make positive changes in their lives.

Kelly Personal Training family 10 years and growing

Our clients and our trainers are like a big family that continues to grow. Our facility is a special inviting place where clients look forward to coming. I received an email from someone requesting Amy [pictured] to be her trainer. Amy told me that person had read a review of her on our Kelly Personal Training Yelp page. I checked the page; there were 15 reviews. I reflected back 10 years to when we first opened – no reviews, no Amy, no other trainers, just two clients, and not near enough income to make the rent. It was just my dog Stella and me. It is gratifying to see how far we have come.Kelly Personal Training in Austin now has nine trainers, two dogs Stella and Bella and an expanding client base. Our other facility, New Orleans Personal Training, is thriving as well.

Safe effective neck exercise

Safe effective neck exercise will result in stronger more flexible neck muscles. You will be less likely to have neck problems, and it will help stave off osteopenia in the cervical vertebrae.  Very few places have this piece of equipment.  We do have this neck machine at our Austin Personal Training facility but not at our New Orleans Fitness Training facility at this time.

Peak strength and endurance at the same time, Is it doable?

An active Marine who trained a lot once told me, "Whenever I do my personal best at bench press my running is way off, and whenever I am at my best at running my bench press suffers". Alan Page was a 260 pound defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings. Toward end of his career he had trained for and completed a marathon – the first active NFL player to do so. He lost a significant amount of muscle; so much so that he switched position to linebacker at 225 pounds. When you run great distances carting around more muscle is demanding. You can improve strength and endurance at the same time. Strength and endurance complement each other up to a point. At some point one is going to suffer at the expense of the other. It is best to seek a balance. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for strength will increase both endurance and strength. At Austin Personal Trainingand New Orleans Fitness trainers the trainers can put you through a series of exercises with little rest that will have your heart racing and have your muscles exhausted. Rest, recover, improve, and come back next week stronger with more endurance.

The importance of strong flexible calves

On July 30, 1924 Calvin Coolidge’s two sons, John 18 and Calvin Jr. 16 went out to play tennis. Earlier that day the family (pictured) had posed for formal pictures, and Calvin Jr. was anxious to get out of his formal clothes and play tennis. He did not wear socks that day.  He got a blister, then blood poisoning, and died July 7, 1924.

We now have antibiotics to prevent such tragedies. Even so, things can still get out of hand. Recently a friend of mine had a staph infection on his neck. He scratched it and then scratched his ankle. He developed cellulitis in his lower leg, his temperature spiked, and he ended up in the hospital taking IV antibiotics for five days. The same week, my brother had the same affliction and spent four days on an IV taking antibiotics before he got his infection under control. He had an infected blister. He has neuropathy in his feet and has less feeling to know if there is a problem. According this Medscape article those with diabetes are at increased risk for severe cellulitis, and the infection more often occurs in the leg.

This brings me to the problem that tight calves muscles present when walking. When walking the heels come off the ground early to compensate for the tight calf muscles. When the heels come off the ground early the weight of the body is not distributed over the entire foot bottom, and this stresses the foot structure causing foot problems such as neuropathy. I was told by a maker of prosthetic devices that the number one reason diabetics lose their feet is because of weak calves. Weak calves are generally tight. Stronger calves make for more flexible calves. Muscle has plasticity, tendons don’t. Also, the calves act as a secondary pump for the blood. Stronger calves pump more blood.

While it would not have changed the outcome of young Calvin Jr.'s life it is vitally important to keep the calves strong and flexible as we get older. At New Orleans Personal Training and Austin Personal Training calf exercises are a regular part of our regimen. BTW Calvin Jr.’s brother John lived a long life and died at age 93.

How to stay limber and avoid aches and pains

Injuries can happen suddenly such as a pulled muscle or can happen slowly over time such as a repetitive use injury.  Years later these injuries can come back to haunt us as the aches and pains we live with.  You can keep those aches at bay by remaining strong and limber.  The trick is to do exercises that do not aggravate those old injuries.

At Austin Personal Training and  New Orleans Personal Training  we use MedX medical rehab equipment that can be precisely customized with a premium on safety for those who have those haunting injuries. Exercise safely, release those endorphins, and the pains will go away.

Heavy Weights with Minimal Force Can Be Safer than Light Resistance with a Lot of Force

Care should be taken to minimize the likelyhood of injury when exercising. At New Orleans Personal Trainers and Austin Personal Trainers we use smooth controlled movement that minimize the ballistic forces that can cause injuries.  We also will use MedX medical rehab equipment that can be used by both athletes and those recovering from injury.