How does your family strength train?

What does your family do to Strength Train?

Many don't incorporate strength training into their fitness routine. Children may be physical with playing soccer, basketball etc.but may not get strength training. By building muscle strength you improve the metabolism, making you less likely to gain excess weight, strengthens the bones, makes you less prone to injury.

When children are very young working with heavy weights in the past was discouraged. The thought on this is that is could hurt the growth plates of the bones, and stunt growth therefore working with heavy weights was discouraged.Research however has disproved this, and it is now recommended everyone participate in some form of strength training.

Most people think of strength training as working with weights.

In fact, the ideal weight-training program for many children need not involve weights at all. “The body doesn’t know the difference between a weight machine, a medicine ball, an elastic band and your own body weight,”   Tree climbing is a favorite in our home, as is a great arm workout. 

 Plank, lunges, push ups, chair arm dips, yoga poses such as powerful pose, boat pose, are ways of building strength without weights. If you do choose weights, start light get 3,5,7,10 lb. weights. Focus on learning technique and endurance, then gradually increase the load.
 

Don't confuse strength training with weightlifting, bodybuilding or powerlifting. These activities are largely driven by competition, with participants vying to lift heavier weights or build bigger muscles than those of other athletes. This can put too much strain on young muscles, tendons and areas of cartilage that haven't yet turned to bone (growth plates) — especially when proper technique is sacrificed in favor of lifting larger amounts of weight.

How much sodium should my family have?

We hear often in the US we consume too much salt. Recommendations on daily intake have changed over the years. On average most adults and children consume approximately 3400 milligrams of sodium each day. This is approximately three times the daily recommended allowance. The guidelines on sodium intake are as follows:

- 1000 mg for children aged 1 to 3

- 1200 mg for children aged 4 to 8

- 1500 mg for people aged 9 to 50

- 1300 mg for adults aged 51 to 70

- 1200 mg for seniors aged 70+

How Food Label Reference Values (DV) Compare to the Nutritional Recommendations for Children   Nutrient    DV  Nutrient Recommendations by Age (DRI)* 2 - 3 years 4 - 8 years 9 - 13 years 14 - 18 yr girls 14 - 18 yr boys Protein (grams) 50 13 19 34 46 52 Iron (mg) 18 7 10 8 15 11 Calcium (mg) 1,000 500 800 1300 1300 1300 Vitamin A (IU) 5000 1000 1333 2000 2333 3000 Vitamin C (mg) 60 15 25 45 65 75 Fiber (g) 23 14 - 19 19 - 23 23- 28 (girls) 25- 31 (boys) 23 31-34 Sodium (mg) 2400 1000- 1500 1200- 1900 1500-2200 1500-2300 1500-2300 Cholesterol (mg) 300 <300 for over age 2 <300 <300 <300 <300 Total Fat (g)** 65 33 - 54 (30 -35% of calories) 39 - 62 (25 - 35% of calories) 62 - 85 (25 - 35% calories) 55 - 78 (25 - 35% calories) 61 - 95 (25 - 35% of calories) Saturated Fat (g)** 20 12 - 16 (> age 2 ) (<10% calories) 16 to 18 (<10% calories) girls: 18-22 boys: 20-24 (<10% calories) 22 (<10% calories) 24 - 27 (<10% calories) Calories*** 2000  1000 - 1400 (2-3 years) 1400-1600 girls: 1600-2000 boys: 1800-2200 2000 2200- 2400 Source: 1999 - 2002 Dietary Reference Intakes, Institutes of Medicine 2005 Dietary Guidelines ©Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine               Last modified: August 14, 2007 *Sodium: The higher number in each age category reflects the Upper Limit (maximum level that is likely to pose no risk of adverse effect) recommended by the Institutes of Medicine. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines recommended Americans consumer less than 2300 mg. (approximately 1 tsp.) of sodium/day and point out that Approximately 75 percent is derived from salt added by manufacturers. The average intake in the United States is between 4,000 and 5,000 milligrams of sodium per day. Source: IOM 2004 Dietary Reference Intakes: Electrolytes and Water Also see: 2005 Dietary Guidelines form Americans: Sodium & Potassium 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Food Label Makes Good Eating Easier Food label Education Program for Teens

You are what you eat!

Vegetables

Get more out of your Walk

 Walking, seems like a no brainer right? We don’t really think about it we just do it as it is natural. There are things you can do  to get improve benefits of walking. By focusing on style and posture you can improve muscle strength and tone, improve balance, correct postural issues and burn more calories.

Engage your arms!

Make a loose fist, consciously swing your arms, bringing your fist up to the approximate level of your breast bone, and then back to the outside of the hip. Pretend you are trying to move your arms against a force to engage the muscles even more when you walk.

Notice the posture of President Bush  - Shoulders back, arms active, stomach in,  head forward. Now compare to the gentleman next to him. Who do you think is getting more from their walk?

 Forward head, not engaging arms or stomach, rounded shoulders.

I show this to make you think about your posture while on a treadmill. Fast walkers on a treadmill who hang on to the bar often have a sway back posture. Slow walkers often lean way forward – I call it the pushing the lawnmower posture. While on the treadmill, try to either not hold on and swing your arms, or hold on with only one arm.  This will help you to have a better posture. When you hold on to the rails the entire time, your upper body is stiff and doesn’t move naturally as it does with your regular walking.

Also don’t look down the whole time this leads to forward head or thoracic kyphosis postures. Try to look 15-20 feet ahead of you. Hold your head high. Try to keep your chin parallel to the floor.  Squeeze those shoulder blades together and down…this is the military posture or the busty look, tall and proud.

Some people are so stiff with walking, add a little wiggle to your walk allow your shoulders and hips to move naturally, this is very good for your spine. Being stiff and rigid isn’t helpful. Often after open heart surgery people are very stiff in the shoulders and neck. Again swinging the arms helps this.

Tighten your stomach muscles. These support your back, they provide you with core strength. If the belly sags forward it places more stress on your lumbar spine. Tuck your pelvis under your torso.

If your have back issues or balance issues I recommend walking with ski poles. They help you to stand taller, force you to engage your arms with the walk, and you burn more calories on your walk.

Compared to regular walking, ski walking  involves applying force to the poles with each stride. Walking with ski poles uses more of their entire body (with greater intensity) and receive fitness building stimulation not present in normal walking for the chest, lats, triceps, biceps, shoulder, abdominals, spinal and other core muscles. This can produce up to a 46% increase in energy consumption compared to walking without poles. It also has been demonstrated to increase upper body muscle endurance by 38% in just twelve weeks.

This extra muscle involvement may lead to enhancements over ordinary walking at equal paces such as:

• increased overall strength and endurance in the core muscles and the entire upper body
• significant increases in heart rate at a given pace
• increasing vascular pathways and oxygen delivery efficiency
• greater ease in climbing hills
• burning more calories than in plain walking
• improved balance and stability with use of the poles
• significant un-weighting of hip, knee and ankle joints
• provides density preserving stress to bones

What about walking with weights? 

If you want to walk with weights don’t use more than 1-2 lbs in your hands. Heavier weights tend to stress the neck and spine and are not recommended. Again don’t just hold the weights pump those arms, swing up to breast bone and back to hip. You engage the arms, you burn more calories.

Sugar and school lunches

Whether you pack a lunch or you purchase school lunch consider the amount of sugar you are getting with each serving.  This is a great visual display of sugar content in foods. Also the revamped school lunch program. I want to go back to school to see if it really looks like this. I sure hope so, and I hope it comes from local farms.

Sugar is the number one cause for diabetes and obesity in our youth today.