Can you tell how long you’ll live? For seniors, how fit you are may offer a clearer forecast of life span than traditional markers such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and smoking, a new study suggests. It included more than 6,500 people, age 70 and older, who had an exercise stress test between 1991 and 2009. The test measured their fitness by having them exercise on the treadmill as hard as they could. After the test, participants were tracked for an average of just under 10 years. During the follow-up, 39 percent died. Researchers found that the people who were most fit were more than twice as likely to be alive a decade later than the least fit. Surprisingly, the number of heart disease risk factors was not associated with odds of death. Participants with no risk factors had about the same chance of dying as those with three or more risk factors, according to the study, though researchers only found an association between fitness and life span. “We found fitness is an extremely strong risk predictor of survival in the older age group — that is, regardless of whether you are otherwise healthy or have cardiovascular risk factors, being more fit means you’re more likely to live longer than someone who is less fit,” said lead author Dr. Seamus Whelton. He’s an…  read on >

When you’re diagnosed with diabetes, your doctor is likely to start you on a program to lower blood sugar and help insulin work more efficiently — a regimen that may include a modified diet, exercise and possibly medication. Starting (or ramping up) an exercise program can be the hardest of all these lifestyle changes. Typical exercise guidelines to help manage type 2 diabetes recommend 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise, plus strength training on two or three days. Meeting these goals, especially exercising for 30 minutes on most days, is a stumbling block for people who aren’t used to working out. And, unfortunately, many people with diabetes stay sedentary. But a study published in the journal Diabetes Care found an alternative that may be less taxing and more effective. The study looked at whether short but very frequent bouts of walking or strength training — three minutes every half-hour during an eight-hour workday — could improve the health of diabetics. For the walking study, participants walked on a flat treadmill at a pace of two miles per hour for each of their 16 daily three-minute stints (roughly 1/10 of a mile or 200 to 250 steps, depending on your stride). For the strength training, each three-minute stint included 20-second segments alternating half-squats, calf raises, glute contractions and alternating knee raises, using…  read on >

“Athlete’s heart” — an enlarged heart created by intense physical training — is a common and often brushed-off condition within elite and professional sports. But a new study of National Football League players is raising concern about the long-term consequences of athlete’s heart when it comes to retirees who have long left the field. These retirees are as likely to have an enlarged heart as those who’ve recently retired, according to a Tulane University study sponsored by the NFL Player Care Foundation. This runs counter to previous assumptions that an elite player’s enlarged heart would return to normal after stopping the intense training associated with his sport, researchers said. “I think we anticipated as these guys got older, they would actually change from having the enlarged heart back to a more normal-sized heart,” said study senior author Dr. Gregory Stewart, co-director of the Sports Medicine Program at Tulane University in New Orleans. “We didn’t see that.” The researchers are to present their findings at the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) annual meeting March 16-18, in New Orleans. Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. Dr. Matthew Martinez, head of the ACC’s Sports and Exercise Cardiology Council, expects the findings to be “provocative.” “You’re seeing bigger and bigger folks running faster and faster,” said Martinez, a cardiologist in Allentown,…  read on >

Playing singles tennis is a great way to have fun and exercise, and if you have access to an indoor court, it can be a year-round workout option that builds camaraderie along with muscle tone. But before you hit the court, it’s important to get your game on safely. By practicing a pregame plan for these strenuous workouts, you’ll be less likely to experience injuries that could leave you sidelined. Tennis prep steps are simple — warm up and then stretch. First, take five minutes to jog, walk briskly or do jumping jacks to raise your body temperature and prepare your heart and lungs. Next, do a series of dynamic stretches. Dynamic stretches incorporate movement, and research shows they are beneficial to do before play. Start with 10 arm and wrist circles and then move to arm rotations, all for the upper body. For the lower body, try movements like cross over hip stretches and alternate side toe touches, 15 to each side. For the core, do 10 each of standing rotations and diagonal chops to the knees. What you do after play is just as important. As you leave the court, bring down your heart rate with five minutes of walking, jogging or side shuffling. Follow with static stretches — these are no-movement stretches that are held for 15 to 20 seconds each. Start…  read on >

Exercise has countless benefits, even in small doses. And new research suggests the payoffs might extend to colon cancer patients. Short sessions of intense exercise may slow the growth of colon cancer, Australian researchers report. “We have shown that exercise may play a role in inhibiting the growth of colon cancer cells,” said lead author James Devin, from the University of Queensland. The report was published Feb. 27 in the Journal of Physiology. “After an acute bout of high intensity exercise, there were specific increases in inflammation immediately after exercise, which are hypothesized to be involved in reducing the number of cancer cells,” Devin said in a journal news release. Devin and his colleagues at the University of Queensland worked with researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. The team took blood samples from 10 colon cancer survivors who had one session of intense exercise, and 10 survivors who had 12 exercise sessions over four weeks. Analyzing the samples for the growth of cancer cells, the researchers found that even one session of high intensity exercise appeared to reduce the growth of colon cancer cells. These short exercise bouts are as important as longer regular exercise, they said. The findings also suggest that continued exercise may aid in the “fight against cancer.” Moreover, they highlight the importance of regular exercise and leading a…  read on >

Sweating it out on a treadmill is great, especially when the weather is bad. You might even be motivated by watching exciting vistas on an interactive panel. But to keep a walking or running routine from becoming stale, kick it up a notch by taking your workout outside. Running or walking in the great outdoors can burn more calories, because you have to work against the wind and you don’t have a moving tread to keep you going. If you’re used to monitoring the length of your treadmill workouts on a built-in screen, stay motivated by finding other ways to track your output. If you already have a smartwatch, there’s a good chance it has a step counter app already installed. If not, you can download any number of fitness apps that count time and distance, calorie expenditure and more. If you don’t have a smartwatch and are on a tight gadget budget, you can buy an inexpensive pedometer to count your steps. Remember that it takes about 2,000 to 2,500 steps to make a mile, depending on the length of your stride. Now you’re ready to rev up your walking/running. Here are four ideas you can mix and match. To add intensity to your outdoor workout and increase your cardio effort, choose a route with some hills. Pick up the pace with interval training.…  read on >

If you’re bored with doing squats for a better bottom, it’s time to vary your workout. For a study sponsored by the American Council on Exercise (ACE), scientists at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse evaluated popular exercises for the glutes to find the ones that are most effective. Popular Glutes Strength-Training Exercises Four-way hip extensions Horizontal leg press Lunges Quadruped hip extensions Single leg squats Step-ups Traditional squats Vertical leg press The traditional squat is still a great choice, but not the only one. In fact, if you want to target the hamstrings along with the glutes, quadruped hip extensions and step-ups are very effective. So are lunges, single-leg squats and four-way hip extensions. To get started, the experts at ACE recommend a super set of quadruped hip extensions followed by the step-ups. First, you do both exercises with one leg, and then you repeat them with the other leg, without any rest in between. For the hip extensions, get on hands and knees and contract your abs a bit to stabilize your core. Next, keeping the right knee bent at a 90-degree angle, lift your right leg until your thigh and the sole of your foot are parallel with the floor. With control, return to the starting position. Do eight to 12 reps. Immediately move to the step-ups. Stand behind a 15-inch-high step with…  read on >

FRIDAY, Feb. 22, 2019 (American Heart Association News) — Jog for long enough or engage in just about any physical activity that gets the heart pumping, and the result can be a feeling of euphoria commonly known as a runner’s high. Sure, it feels good, but does higher-intensity exercise lead to better health? It can. Recently released federal physical activity guidelines emphasize the importance of any movement, but optimal health benefits require a little more effort. For adults, that means at least 75 to 150 minutes per week of vigorous activity, or 150 to 300 minutes per week of moderate-level physical activity. What constitutes high-intensity versus moderate exercise? It’s all about the heart rate relative to your fitness level, said Dr. Meagan Wasfy of the cardiovascular performance program at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. “With low-intensity activities, most people will still be able to sing and converse,” Wasfy said. “At moderate intensity, you can still speak but can’t sing, and at high intensity, you can’t speak in full sentences anymore.” The new guidelines reflect a large and growing list of studies suggesting physical activity of any kind is healthyl. In a JAMA Internal Medicine study, researchers pooled data from six studies and found that over a 14-year period, people who never exercised were at the highest risk of death. But it didn’t take much activity to…  read on >