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Brain Food: The Big Yawn - What Does it Mean? By The Numbers: Prevention is Still the Best Medicine The Better Buzz: The Miracle MET What Were They Thinking? Having a Ball In the News: Plus One: We Keep Our Corporations Healthy Also in this issue: B.L.T. |
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3 - The number of patients out of 66, who had a carotid ultrasound performed by a medical screening company and found abnormal results. 5 - The number of patients out of 57, who had an abdominal ultrasound for cancer performed by a medical screening company and found abnormal results. 6 - The number of patients out of 26, who had a pelvic ultrasound for cancer performed by a medical screening company and found abnormal results. |
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20 - The number of patients out of 60, who had an echocardiogram performed by a medical screening company and found abnormal results. 0 - The number of patients out of 66, who had a peripheral vascular ultrasound performed by a medical screening company and found abnormal results. |
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| - Compiled by Liza Hall, Group Fitness
Director, Plus One, California (Source: Longevity, Inc.) |
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A MET, or metabolic equivalent, is defined as the oxygen consumption required at rest and is equal to 3.5 milliliters of oxygen (O2) consumed per kilogram of bodyweight per minute of activity (ml/kg/min). Any level of physical activity, therefore, can be expressed as a multiple of the O2 cost at rest (i.e., 1 MET, 2 METs, etc). If while during your treadmill run you get a readout of 6 METs, for instance, you would be consuming six times the amount O2 you would at rest, or approximately twenty-one milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of your bodyweight per minute (21 ml/kg/min) you ran at that level of intensity (speed and incline). This method of measuring exercise intensity has predominantly been used in cardiac rehabilitation, but has begun to gain popularity in the exercise physiology realm where traditionally exercise loads have been expressed in terms of power output (e.g., watts or kg/m/min). |
Maximal oxygen consumption, or VO2 max, on the other hand has always been considered the best indicator of one's overall cardiorespiratory endurance capacity (what you and I call "aerobic fitness"). VO2 max is defined as the highest volume of oxygen that can be consumed per minute, and is a good criterion of how well various physiologic functions can adapt to the increased metabolic needs of work or exercise. The highest value a person is able to attain is definitely responsive to exercise, but ultimately dependent upon a number of factors including lung ventilation and diffusion abilities, the ability of the blood to transport O2 and carbon dioxide, various cardiac functions and vascular adaptations, along with the physical condition of the involved muscles. The method of measuring VO2 max involves working subjects at increasing aerobic workloads, during each of which a steady level of O2 consumption is measured. When an increase in workload fails to elicit a significant increase in oxygen consumption, the highest value attained represents the maximum O2 consumption or VO2 max. Today's machines estimate your VO2 max by taking into account your heart rate at various workloads. Lastly, there is no one "best" number of METs at which one should exercise. To guide your workout, determine your aerobic target heart rate range, then monitor your heart rate and determine a corresponding MET value for that range. There should be a minimum value attained in order to obtain an aerobic benefit, but there is really no one optimal number of METs as long as you remain in your target heart rate zone. The higher the MET value the more oxygen one is using at a particular workload, which in turn is indicative of an increasing degree of aerobic fitness. James Craft - Asst. Manager/Plus One Fitness, California |
 
I exercise at home using my stationary bicycle, a mat, and a pair of 5 & 10 lb. Dumbbells. After 12 weeks of workouts with my Expert at www.PlusOneActive.com, I felt stronger and that I needed to develop abdominal strength and better balance to improve my tennis game. When I asked my Expert what she recommended that I buy, her response was a stability ball. What does this have to do with my request and what was she thinking when she made this recommendation? When you workout at home, you need equipment that is versatile as well as safe. First of all by having a cycle, a mat, and some dumbbells, you are already off to a great start. You have all three categories of equipment for the three primary fitness goals; aerobic endurance (your bike), flexibility (the mat), and strength (the dumbbells). So why did your Expert recommend that you buy a stability ball? |
1. Versatility & abdominal strength: by using the stability ball you can perform several exercises with and without your free weights to strengthen your entire mid-section including your stomach and lower back. Because your core muscles must remain engaged to keep you balanced on the ball, research has indicated that exercises performed on a stability ball are more effective than performing an equal number of the same exercises on the floor. In addition to strengthening your abs, back, sides and rear, the constant adjustments you make while exercising with a stability ball also improve balance and coordination. 2. Sport specific training: tennis is a game that requires independent action of both arms and legs oftentimes with only one foot planted and most all of the time with torso rotation in many directions and angles. It requires total body balance and superior core strength. Your Expert at www.PlusOneActive.com can teach you several exercises using the stability ball to work on all of these areas to help your fitness and your game. Regardless of what exercise equipment you have, the pros at www.PlusOneActive.com can help you create a workout that works as hard as you do. With small but significant additions to your equipment inventory we can take your workout to the next level.. - Mike Motta is President of www.PlusOneActive.com |
In The News Did you Know... - Plus One has saved corporations millions of dollars with our fitness and wellness programs. We can provide your company with information and consulting on the feasibility of providing fitness and wellness programs to you and your fellow employees. To learn more about how we can help your company, contact Tom Maraday at 800.518.9083 - DeNelle O'Connor, R.D is a Plus One Registered Dietitian providing her nutritional services at many of New York's Plus One locations. DeNelle graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Alabama with a B.S. in Food and Nutrition, as well as maintaining a 4-year Division 1 scholarship Athlete position on the women's soccer team. She has continued her education at Columbia University where she completed the Graduate Post Baccalaureate Premedical Program. DeNelle is just one of the 700 Plus One employees that we are proud to have on our team. To find out more about Plus One's nutritional programs, contact Neal Pire at 646.312.6258. |
Give your poor spinners a break! Yawning isn't always about boredom. If it was, Olympic athletes would not yawn prior to an event as the entire world watches. Yawning while working out is not uncommon, although the research as to why is mixed and limited. Along with hiccups and blushing, the mystery of why we yawn has not been definitively unraveled. Scientists do agree on one aspect, talk about yawning, think about it, and/or see someone else yawn and we will also. Blind people yawn if they hear yawning. Humans are social creatures, and we're instinctive copycats. Dogs and wolves yawn in times of stress, perhaps to signal to pack mates that they need a break, also maybe to say, "see how big my teeth are? Don't try to eat me when I am asleep". Behaviorists believe a dog's yawn might be a signal to coordinate the activity of his pack, a message along the lines of, "Gee, I'm sleepy. Let's all curl up and take a nap". There's some research that says that primitive man yawned to show it was time to move on to the next activity. Something along the lines of, "Let's stop beating these bones together and make jerky out of the sabertooth we bagged this morning". |
Most animals with backbones yawn, rats, cats, dogs, fish, birds and snakes yawn. So do fetuses in utero. Back to the yawning Spin students. The most reasonable theory for yawning during exercise could be that yawning increases respiration when levels of oxygen to the brain are low. According to the University of Cincinnati, men are more likely than women to yawn during heavy exercise because of their larger muscle mass which would require more oxygen. The respiration theory was tested by an expert on yawning who found that adding additional oxygen does not decrease yawning, nor does increasing carbon dioxide increase the need to yawn. So whether the theory is true or not is debatable, but it would follow that exhaustive exercise would make one yawn more frequently. If one is yawning constantly, it's a good idea to get checked out, since yawning does seem to be connected to the respiratory system. By Liza Hall - Group Fitness Director, Thousand Oaks |
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