Exercising in the heat!

Heat has to factor into your summer exercise plans if you expect to do any shaping up outdoors. Heat has a big impact on you while you exercise, and it's important to listen and respond to your body's cues before you wind up with a case of heat stroke.
The details: Because your body is mostly water, dehydration impacts every aspect of your physiology, writes Jason Karp, PhD, exercise physiologist and running coach, in the most recent issue of the IDEA Fitness Journal. And when you're working out on a really hot day, the amount of water you lose can be double the amount you'd lose on a normal day. Not only does that water loss increase your body's internal temperature, which puts you at risk for getting overheated, it also reduces the amount of energy that's fed to your cells, which means your muscles aren't getting the energy they need. Adding to the stress on your body, humid air doesn't allow for sweat to evaporate from your skin and cool you off, so your internal core temperature rises even higher, putting you at risk for heat stroke. Finally, all that sweating speeds up your heart rate, causing it to rise three to five beats per minute for every 1 percent of water loss you experience. Essentially, you feel like you're working out harder than you really are.
What it means: Don't stop exercising outside this summer just because it's hotter than normal. An outdoor run, bike ride, or romp in a pool or lake can be more convenient and less expensive than hitting the gym. And being in nature is a natural mood elevator, even if it is 100 degrees and getting hotter by the minute. What's key, says Karp, is staying hydrated and being smart about your workouts.
Here are his tips for staying healthy and still enjoying the great, if steamy, outdoors:
Weigh yourself before and after your workouts. The key to staying hydrated is to match your fluid intake with your sweat loss, he says. "The best way to do that is to weigh yourself before and after your workout and see how much water is lost," he says. One pound of weight difference means you lost about 16 ounces of water.
Hydrate before your workout, and avoid the sprinklers. Running through a sprinkler or biking past a gushing hydrant may feel good, but it doesn't really cool you off. "Getting fluid inside you is what helps with thermal regulation," Karp says. Drinking water while you exercise is essential, but it's even better to hydrate before you start, he says, because it increases your body's ability to maintain a proper temperature and can help your heart maintain a steady pace so you won't feel like you're exerting more effort than you really are.
Try glycerol. It sounds like some new pharma drug, but it's really something you add to your drinks that helps your kidneys retain water, which in turn helps your body stay cool, says Karp; the idea is similar to the way that sodium functions in sports drinks like Gatorade. He recommends drinking a 20 percent glycerol solution (you can find them where vitamins and supplements are sold) no sooner than about 30 minutes before you exercise, since it doesn't always sit well on people's stomachs.
Get used to the heat first. Karp says it's important to acclimate yourself to the heat with less-intense exercise before heading out for your usual workout. Giving your body time to adjust lowers the stress on your heart and can reduce the amount you sweat. Two weeks is usually enough for most people get acclimated, Karp says, and you should do it in increments. "If you're used to exercising 30 minutes at a time, cut that by a third and then slowly increase," he says. Exercise for 10 minutes outside for the first few workouts, then add another 10 after a few outdoor sessions. If you're just starting an exercise program, on the other hand, stay in the gym to start with and begin exercising outdoors only after you've reached a decent fitness level, says Karp.
Stick to morning workouts. "Exercise performance actually peaks in the late afternoon," Karp says, "but when you add the stress of heat, that changes things." Research has shown that cool morning air boosts your endurance more so than trying to work out after the sun goes down at night, he adds.
Invest in synthetics. You'll do yourself a favor by investing in sweat-wicking synthetic shirts rather than reaching for that old cotton T-shirt, which traps sweat next to your skin and doesn't allow it to evaporate, he says. Just be sure to avoid synthetic clothes treated with antibacterial chemicals or silver nanoparticles, both of which have iffy health effects and damage the environment when you toss them in the washing machine.

CJ Senter: The Workout kid

The following is a really interesting article on CJ Senter, aka the Workout Kid. He is a 10 year old who has committed to staying fit and working out in an age appropriate manner. He has released a workout DVD and has attracted some media attention because of his committment and results without lifting weights. see below for the article:

"C.J. Senter may or may not be the next Tony Horton or the next Barry Sanders, but he is definitely the next 10-year-old to watch.

Granted, when most people hear "child prodigy," they rightfully raise an eyebrow and wonder who is pulling the strings. Add a workout DVD by a fourth-grader with sculpted muscles to the mix and "cute" can turn to "concerning." But it turns out the story behind "C.J. The Workout Kid" is a lot more inspiring than insidious.
C.J. started working out five years ago when his football coach told him and his teammates to go home over a weekend and get some exercise. He did some push-ups and sit-ups and loved it. Not too long after, he saw a P90X infomercial and loved that too. He's been working out ever since. C.J. does his own routines three times a week, after school and homework, and he's given new names to some old and boring moves, like the burpee, which involves a squat, push-up, and jump. C.J. calls that one the "shredder." He even teaches a class of (mostly older) kids at the gym near where he lives in Locust Grove, Ga.

"It feels great," C.J. says by phone from his Georgia home. "I love staying fit and healthy."

But wait a minute. Research shows kids shouldn't be touching weights until at least age 15.

"I don't use weights," C.J. says.

Not even bench press?

"I don't bench press," he says. "It's not good for kids."

Surely he's on some insane diet, right? His dad feeds him wheat grass and cow brain, perhaps?

"I'm not on a diet," C.J. says. "I eat everything."

Disbelieving? So is Carlos Senter -- C.J.'s dad. Carlos has spent most of his son's life in shock, ever since C.J. somehow climbed out of his crib -- at seven months old.

"It was two, three o'clock in the morning," Carlos says, "and boom! My wife would go look in his room and here he comes, crawling out. He would go into the refrigerator, too."

Carlos can't quite figure out how his son got to be so fit. He says his relatives put on muscle easily, but not this easily. C.J. has an older brother and a younger sister who don't really love sports as much. And Dad isn't exactly chiseled like Terrell Owens. In fact, he admits C.J.'s work ethic has shamed him and his wife into getting into better shape.

"He doesn't really eat candy," Carlos says. "I have no idea why."

And for that matter, Carlos has no idea why his son doesn't have an attitude. "This kid will score a touchdown, take the football to the ref and act like nothing ever happened," Carlos says. "If it was me, well, I probably would be a little different."

But as much as the "Workout Kid" routine is working -- C.J.'s DVDs are in so much demand that his dad hired a PR rep -- Carlos says he gives most of the DVDs away for free and the primary objective is to help kids get off the couch.

C.J.'s primary objective has always been the same thing: make it to the NFL. He's a running back and safety, modeling his game after another C.J. -- Titans speed demon Chris Johnson.

C.J.'s already been named MVP for the state of Georgia as an 8-and-under, and last year he played in the 10-and-under group as a 9-year-old. Carlos says that the team run by former NFL running back Jamal Lewis expressed interest in having C.J. commute to Atlanta to join up, but the drive was simply too far.

High school coaches are already aware of C.J., but Carlos, who runs a local barber shop, insists on not looking too far ahead.

"As long as he's happy," Carlos says, "I'm happy."

C.J. does seem happy, even though he's a little bit tired of when kids come up to him at school and ask, "Are those your real muscles?"

The next generation of Atlanta prep football players is about to find out."

Working out can prevent the common cold!

Working out regularly doesn't only help tone your body and build muscle — it could also help you avoid catching the common cold, a new study suggests.

People who exercise five or more times a week get fewer and less severe colds than those who work out one or fewer times a week, said Dr. David Nieman, director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Appalachian State University in North Carolina.

"The most powerful weapon someone has during cold season," Nieman told MyHealthNewsDaily, "is to go out, on a near-daily basis, and put in at least a 30-minute brisk walk."

Nieman and his colleagues found exercising stimulates the movement of immune cells throughout the body about three hours after a workout. The more often a person exercises, the more often their immune cells will be on high-alert for invading pathogens.

"It's the frequency, and getting the cells moving," he said. "That's what provides the top-level protection of the body."

The study was published online today (Nov. 1) in the British Medical Journal.

Fit findings Researchers tracked the respiratory health of 1,000 people, ages 18 to 85, for 12 weeks during autumn and winter, and asked them questions about how often they exercised and how fit they felt.

The researchers found the length of time cold symptoms lasted was shorter by 43 percent to 46 percent in people who worked out five or more times a week, compared with people who worked out once a week or never.

And people who felt the fittest had cold symptoms that were 41 percent less severe than those of people who felt the least fit.

"We looked at diet, we looked at mental stress, weight, education levels, gender, on and on," Nieman said. "The thing that people can do — the way they live — that's head and shoulders above all of them, is physical activity."

People who are older and married are less likely to get a cold than people who are young and single, the study found. Older people may have more antibodies than younger people, Nieman said. And married people may go out less or might have less exposure to other people and their germs, he added.

Confirming past results Previous studies have suggested a link between exercise and a boosted immune system.

A 2002 study in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found moderate physical activity reduced the risk for an upper respiratory tract infection by 23 percent, compared with low levels of physical activity.

And a 2006 study in the American Journal of Medicine found one year of a moderate-intensity exercise regimen could reduce the incidence of colds in postmenopausal women who were overweight or obese.

"From animal data to multiple human trials, we've kind of reached a point now where there's enough evidence that this has to be real," Nieman said.



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