Wellfie Wednesday Tip #149: Get Outdoors for Your Health!

Happy Wellfie Wednesday! Welcome back!

This week we want to share some recent data that supports spending time outdoors. A study out of England found that spending at least 120 minutes per week in natural environments was associated with better health and well-being. And that threshold of 120 minutes came from self reported health status and perceived well-being. Though that does create some limitations when it comes to research, a perception of being healthier goes a long way, especially acting as an internal motivator to continue healthy behaviors.

But it makes sense, spending time outdoors can be associated with increased physical activity, whether walks, runs, biking, hiking, or having fun, like spending time on the beach or tending to a garden. So I think a lot of that natural environment exposure does come with increased movement, which as we know is known to have tremendous health benefits.

Though a bit of caution, some of us have been experiencing very HIGH temperatures that may make it unbearable to be outdoors. So if you are out in those temperatures, be sure to stay hydrated! And if you have a choice when to spend your time in nature, shoot for early morning or late afternoon.

Take advantage of Mother Nature as much as you can! Thank you for all of the #WellfieWednesday support, be sure to post your pictures this week that demonstrate your active patriotism and tag the WW crew members in your post (@TheFuelPhysio, @Eric_in_AmERICa, @AaronPerezPT, @DianaKlatt) and keep the wave of healthy change going!

-WW Crew

Source:

White MP, Alcock I, Grellier J, Wheeler BW, Hartig T, Warber SL, Bone A, Depledge MH, Fleming LE. Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing. Scientific reports. 2019 Jun 13;9(1):7730.

Wellfie Wednesday Tip #148: Our Patriotic Duty

Happy #WellfieWednesday! And Happy Early Fourth of July!! This week’s post is a re-post brought to you by Aaron (@AaronPerezPT). Enjoy! 

     On the 4th, we often celebrate our Patriotism with brats, burgers, beers, and things that go BOOM! Tomorrow, I encourage us all to embrace another form of patriotism, Physical Activity. That’s right, #Activity4America, or if you’re a millennial you might prefer #Movement4Murica. It may seem strange to think of exercise in this way. But truth be told, being physically active and living a healthy lifestyle is incredibly patriotic. Our previous U.S. Surgeon General agrees. In a 2014 interview, Rear Admiral Dr. Boris Lushniak proclaimed, 

“I think we’re on the cusp of actually taking health and wellness seriously. I think for the longest time it’s been on the back burner. The time is right, right now. We have to treat health as a natural resource. We have to put it up on the same level as the economy. When the economy goes sour, all of a sudden there’s reaction. There’s the sense of somebody has to do something if the economy is bad. Guess what, folks? The economy doesn’t do anything without a healthy workforce. It doesn’t do anything without healthy people.”

  Indeed, the health of any nation is only as great as the health of its people.  Health is our greatest natural resource. Protect it. Nurture it. If for no other reason, it is our patriotic duty to do so. Wishing us all a happy and healthy 4th of July! 

     Thank you for all of the #WellfieWednesday support, be sure to post your pictures this week that demonstrate your active patriotism and tag the WW crew members in your post (@TheFuelPhysio, @Eric_in_AmERICa, @AaronPerezPT, @DianaKlatt) and keep the wave of healthy change going!

-WW Crew

Wellfie Wednesday Tip #143: Feeling Uninspired? Try a New Fitness Class

Happy Wellfie Wednesday! Welcome back! This week is brought to you by Diana (@DianaKlatt)!

Recently felt uninspired to get to the gym? Feel like you keep doing the same exercises over and over again? We’ve all been there. It can be hard to keep pushing forward when we feel like we are plateauing and we don’t know where to go from here. Here’s a simple way to get over this hump - mix it up!

There are numerous types of different exercise classes and outlets out there now, HITT (High Intensity Tactical Training), TRX, aerial/anti-gravity yoga, pilates, bouldering, rowing, skating, barre, kickboxing, swimming… the list can go on and on. It’s likely that you may be doing a couple of these already but are you doing them regularly? And are you basically hitting autopilot? If so, maybe you should try out a new exercise class!

You may feel like it’s hard to try something new, especially if it’s something that is completely new to you. So bring a friend! It’s a great way to try new things while spending time with a friend and having the motivation to complete your workout.

If you’re looking to try something new, I highly recommend bouldering and aerial silks/yoga.

1. Bouldering can be equal parts fun and a good life skill to learn (or it can be your start into recreating the documentary Free Solo…). Rock climbing is a great workout that uses muscles in your arms, core, and lower body. Your back and arms are engaged with pulling yourself up the wall or mountain and your core, quads, and calves are used to help stabilize your body while you climb. (Note that this activity frequently results in dry hands from applying chalk, so maybe don’t try it out if you have somewhere to be where you may shake a lot of hands.)

2. Aerial silks/yoga, while much less of a life skill, is quite fun and is an amazing workout for your core and upper body. Aerial yoga takes the movements and efforts of normal yoga and adds more of a full body aspect due to the nature of utilizing the silk hammock. You spend a lot of time getting yourself up into the silks and holding static poses or you use the silks to help suspend various limbs while also holding static poses. Aerial yoga acts as a method of cross-training as it incorporates both strength and flexibility, as well as having a strong core focus. It heavily focuses on core strength as well as spinal and shoulder flexibility.

If you do try something new, let us know! Especially if it’s uncommon, we’d love to hear about all the different things you’ve all tried.

Thanks for all of the support, be sure to post your pictures this week and tag the WW crew members in your post (@TheFuelPhysio, @Eric_in_AmERICa, @FreestylePhysio, @DianaKlatt) and keep the wave of healthy change going!

- WW Crew

Wellness Wednesday Tip #49: Personalize Your Fitness

Welcome back! Happy Wellfie Wednesday! 

     Following last week's post, Fitness vs Fatness, we wanted to keep the theme of Fitness going and highlight the benefit of choosing to do something you love. This week is brought to you by Aimee.

     All too often we have some new fitness trend or workout that makes its way through the ‘inter-webs’ that claims to have helped a person lose 10 pounds in one week (okay so maybe I’m exaggerating a bit but you know what I mean!) The reality is that while this might have worked for one person, or even a few hundred people it doesn’t mean that you have to do it, especially if you’re not the slightest bit interested!

     I think it’s safe to say that we know fitness is important for our health, but the question always remains “what should I do?” The answer here is: Do What You Enjoy! I cannot stress enough how important it is to find some sort of activity that you love because you are much more likely to stick with it!

     This is not to say that you should disregard weekly recommendations for strength training and aerobic exercise, but more to promote that if you can find an activity that meets some of those requirements, it bodes well for your long term success!

Here are 10 of my favorite activities:

1. Walking

2. Running

3. Hiking

4. Yoga

5. Basketball

6. Soccer

7. Golf

8. Obstacle course racing

9. CrossFit

10. Stand up paddle boarding

     My challenge to you this week: find an activity you love, take a picture of you doing the activity, and post it with #WellfieWednesday in hopes that we can inspire the masses to personalize their fitness!

     Thanks again for all of the #WellfieWednesday support, be sure to post your pictures this week and tag the WW crew members (@PBernerSPT, @Eric_in_AmERICa, @AaronPerezPT, @fitnerdaimee, @DianaKlatt) and keep the wave of healthy change going!

- WW Crew

Wellness Wednesday Tip #48: Fitness vs Fatness

Welcome back! Happy Wellfie Wednesday!

This week's tip is brought to you by Aaron Perez (@AaronPerezPT)

     Today, I’d like to share some good news. At times that seems rare in a fitness industry and “health care” (sick care) system that frequently sells us on everything “wrong” with ourselves.  

Warning: We’re about to talk research. Bear with me while I nerd out. 

     I recently learned about this study looking at the relationship between physical activity, body mass index, caloric intake, and heart disease mortality. The researchers followed nearly 10,000 people over a 17 year period. Least physical activity and obesity were independently associated with higher heart disease mortality. Interestingly, those who ate the most calories had reduced heart disease mortality, but this was not significant after adjusting for physical activity and obesity. This graph from the article summarizes the info nicely. 

View fullsize

     The bars represent groups of people based on physical activity, BMI, and percentage of people with the lowest calorie intake. The lower the bar, the less heart disease mortality seen in those groups of people. Compare the bar on the lower left (skinny but unfit) to the bar on the upper right (fat but fit). The rate of heart disease mortality was about equal for those two groups. Several more recent studies (link, link, link) support these findings.

WTF is the point, Aaron???

     We’re getting there! The authors conclude the greatest practical advice from their findings is this: focusing on calorie burning via exercise, rather than reducing caloric intake, may offer the most productive strategy to avoid falling victim to the number one killer in the world, heart disease. In other words, being fat and fit is better than being unfit, period. This is an uplifting message for those exercising diligently to lose weight, but not seeing results on the scale. If you are working to improve your fitness, your body is likely becoming healthier…regardless of what that stupid scale might say…So keep going!

     Please, don’t hear what I’m not saying. Obesity is still a very important risk factor to address for your health. But, if weight loss is your goal, you cannot neglect nutrition. Combining exercise with good nutrition is essential for substantial and sustainable results. Media such as the T.V. show “The Biggest Loser” have popularized exercise for weight loss. However, it is much more difficult to burn calories off than to not consume them in the first place. To their defense, it probably wouldn’t make for a great T.V. show to just see clip after clip of folks consistently not overeating. 

I leave you with this. A nice short summary of all the above. 

     Thanks again for all of the #WellfieWednesday support, be sure to post your pictures this week and tag the WW crew members (@PBernerSPT, @Eric_in_AmERICa, @AaronPerezPT, @fitnerdaimee, @DianaKlatt) and keep the wave of healthy change going!

- WW Crew