If Not Now, When?

THIS ISSUE: This Ruins the Efforts of Many Exercisers

Table of Contents:

1) Editor's Note
2) Food for Thought
3) Feature Article: This Ruins the Efforts of Many Exercisers
4) Teleclasses
5) Question & Answer
6) Our Services

Editor's Note

Hi,

First, let me apologize for the late delivery of this newsletter. I was a little pressed for time in getting ready to go to my aikido tournament, so I didn't get a chance to finish my article before I left. This is one of the reasons I put in my newsletter that it would be “usually published the first Wednesday of every month”. I do procrastinate occasionally.

Well, we are now in the most uncomfortable part of the year here in the desert southwest as far as weather. We still have the extreme heat (100+). And, we are getting our monsoon rains with high humidity. What a great combination. Now I have to get out even earlier for my exercise walks to try to beat the heat and humidity of later in the day.

July had a very good moment, and a very low one for me. On the plus side, my fifth grandchild, Elisabeth Anne, was born on July 20 to my son and his wife. Elisabeth is their third child, and their first daughter. To say the least, we are all very excited. As far as grandchildren go, we now have three boys and two girls.

On the negative side, my oldest and dearest friend, Tom Muttini, died on July 18 from colon cancer, at the age of 64. We knew each other for 52 years. We met the summer after sixth grade and remained steadfast friends all these years. To give you an idea how close we were, Tom was best man at my wedding, and I was his best man. We were also god fathers to one of each others children. Tom and I started in the martial arts together when we were 19. Thirty two years ago we started our first aikido dojo, which was in existence until 2008.

I flew home to Chicago on July 19 for Tom's wake and funeral. The good thing was, I was in Chicago for the birth of my grand daughter. Yes, my wife was envious. But, we are flying home together in the middle of August to see Elisabeth and visit with other family and friends.

I just got back from my aikido organization's biannual, national tournament in California. I took two of my students with me. One of them has never been to a tournament before. He has been practicing for months to get ready for several events he has signed up to participate in. He actually won two out of three of the competition events he was in. That's a great showing for a first time. We had a great time.

This month, in my main article, I will be discussing the negative effects that sitting for extended periods of time can have on your overall health, even if you exercise regularly. I hope you find the information useful. As usual, if you have any questions, let me know.

Good luck, keep exercising, and remember – "If not now, when?".

Best Wishes,

Tom Manfredi


Send any comments you may have to tom@fitness-after-50.com

My site fitness-after-50.com

Food for Thought

Feature Article - This Ruins the Efforts of Many Exercisers

Here's an eye opener for you: Working out may not help you live any longer if you spend the rest of the day sitting. There are recent research results that show that the amount of time spent sitting is linked to an increased risk of death, even if you work out.

One of the findings is that people who sit for six or more hours a day outside of work, versus those who sit for less than three hours, have a greater risk of death. And female couch potatoes had even worse results.

In one study, Americans who didn't exercise regularly, and sat on their bottoms for more than six or more hours per day were 50% to 100% more likely to die during the study period (which covered 14 years and over 123,000 people). Those who spent six or more hours sitting, but got some form of exercise daily, lowered their chances of dying by about two thirds.

The researchers in this study speculate that the increased risk of death has to do with how metabolism changes when we sit for long periods of time. These prolonged periods of sitting can also negatively affect our triglycerides, cholesterol levels, blood sugar levels, and blood pressure.

Another study looked at the TV viewing habits of over 8,00 Australians over a six and a half year period. The people who sat and watched more than four hours of television a day have an 80 percent higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease. Of course any sedentary activities would probably give similar results.

So, even if we get 60 minutes of exercise per day, if we sit for the remaining 15 waking hours in a day, that sitting may override the good benefits derived from the exercise.

So, what can we do? We need to make movement a constant habit. If you look back through my articles to the one I did about exercises for couch potatoes, you'll get some ideas of things you can do while watching TV.

Here are some other ideas that you might consider: