Treadmill Desk vs. 10,000 Steps to Avoid the Sitting Disease
It’s time to see how a treadmill desk stacks up to the traditional 10,000 steps a day pedometer plan to offset prolonged sitting. (more…)
Should Men Do Walking Dumbbell Lunges?
Are walking dumbbell lunges great for building a man’s legs or is this exercise only good for toning a woman’s legs?
Men shouldn’t write off an exercise just because women are often seen doing it with small dumbbells or no extra weight for that matter. (more…)
Is There a Such Thing As Nail Cancer?
Can cancer or melanoma actually develop in a fingernail, of all places?
Perhaps you’ve seen photos of what appears to be melanoma in a nail—either a toenail or fingernail.
You may wonder, how can a cancer grow inside a nail which is dead tissue?
Nails are dead; this is why when you clip them or one breaks, there is no pain.
How does dead tissue, then, support the uncontrolled growth that is cancer?
There Is No Such Thing As “Nail Cancer”
What’s actually happening is that the melanoma begins developing in the nail bed or matrix, which is beneath the nail.
“The nail matrix, which produces the nail plate, can develop cancer,” says Janet Prystowsky, MD, a board certified dermatologist in New York, NY, with 30+ years’ experience.
Dr. Prystowsky adds, “A brown stripe will often grow through the length of the nail as a result.”
Sometimes the dark area is thicker, like a band or can fill up much of the nail space over time.
You can see what’s going on under the nail, which means you can see the cancer. The dark spot appears to be IN the nail — but it’s underneath.
Laypeople, however, think of this cancer as occurring within the nail, due to its appearance. There are three types of this malignancy.
• Subungual melanoma (originates in the nail matrix)
• Ungual melanoma (starts beneath the nail plate)
• Periungual melanoma (starts in the skin beside the nail plate)
The nail matrix and plate are not the same as the nail—the tissue that you clip, paint or accidentally break.
This malignancy can occur in people of any race, and it’s not brought on by sun exposure.
It comprises one to five percent of all melanoma cases, making it quite rare.
Everyone should conduct monthly exams of their skin for suspicious new growths or changes in long-time moles.
This includes areas that don’t get much sun such as between the toes, the soles of the feet, the groin, behind the ears, in the ears, the scalp and the eyelids.
And don’t forget to check your nails. If melanoma in this location isn’t caught early, the end of the finger or toe may need to be amputated.
In combination with her focus on early skin cancer detection and removal, Dr. Prystowsky provides a wide range of revitalizing and rejuvenating treatments.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
Is the Hip Abductor Machine a Waste of Time for Men?
What are men who use the hip abductor machine hoping to achieve?
I doubt it’s fat loss in the legs because none of the men I’ve ever seen on this apparatus had saddlebags or chunky outer thighs.
Another name for the seated hip abductor machine is the “outer thigh” machine, and most women I’ve seen on this equipment had excess fat in their legs.
But there’s that small percentage who don’t, and like the men, they are using the hip abductor machine for some other reason.
Will the hip abductor equipment waste a man’s time?
Depending on a man’s reason, the hip abductor machine is a waste of time.
• If he’s trying to build big muscles, forget it.
• If he’s trying to burn more calories, forget it.
What if he wants to get his abductor muscles ready for inline skating which he hasn’t done for months?
Well, this makes sense, because the muscles used in inline skating, especially up hills, are the same (abductors) that this machine isolates.
However, if he’s moving his thighs out to only partial motion because he has the peg at the bottom of the weight stack, this won’t domuch to prep his legs for inline skating.
He’d have to use a lighter weight to allow full range of motion and do many repetitions; this protocol more closely simulates inline skating (rep after rep after rep of hip abduction).
I’m not a skier, but I’ve heard that tiresome sets on this equipment help with skiing.
I’m not going to assume that most of the men who use the hip abductor machine are inline skaters or skiers.
I’ll assume they believe it’s an exercise to well-round out their leg-muscle building regimen — hit the abductors last after slamming the quads, hams and glutes.
But when you see photos of male physique athletes, you don’t see developed hip abductors; you really can’t “see” these muscles like you can the quads, hams, glutes and calves.
So why bother working them?
As for a supplemental and meaningful calorie burn, don’t bother.
If you want an extra calorie burn, jump on a treadmill and do three rounds of 15-second sprints, or toss in some finisher squats followed by squat jumps or burpees at the end of your heavy squat routine.
I take it that men who use the hip abductor machine, in general, are trying to build muscle, because in nearly every single case, the pin is at or near the bottom of the stack.
It’s so heavy that they can’t complete the range of motion, usually going only half-way.
Now maybe if they trained to utilize a maximum range of motion (as far as their legs can move apart) in combination with heavy resistance, this may trigger visible hypertrophy in the abductor region.
But again, the typical scenario is that a man is using heavy resistance with shallow range of motion.
Hip abductor muscles are not major force production muscles; we don’t use them to rise up from a deep squat to pick a heavy box off the ground or sprint up a hill or down the street.
They’re small muscles that do have a job, but major force production is not one of them.
Men (and women) can develop the body they want and the desired body fat percentage without using the hip abductor equipment.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: Shutterstock/Comeback Images
How Many People over 65 Have Aortic Valve Stenosis ?
A predictable percentage of the elderly population (over age 65) has a potentially life threatening condition called aortic stenosis.
Aortic valve stenosis means narrowing of this vessel, which branches out into smaller and smaller arteries to feed the entire body with oxygenated blood.
“Aortic stenosis is a disease of the elderly,” says Asim Cheema, MD, who’s board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular diseases and interventional cardiology by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. Cheema is with Your Doctors Online, an online doctor chat site.
“It is present in 2-9% of the general population over 65 years of age. However, 4-8% of those over 85 years have aortic stenosis.”
An echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) or X-ray will detect this condition, which means diminished blood flow to the body.
Symptoms may be chest pain, dizziness, fatigue, fainting, poor kidney function, stroke and heart failure.
Half of paitnes will die if aortic stenosis goes untreated. A heart specialist must evaluate the patient to determine the best treatment options.
How is aortic valve stenosis treated?
Traditionally, treatment consists of invasive surgery to replace the aortic valve, or a symptom-relieving balloon valvuloplasty. However, there’s also TAVR.
TAVR is transcatheter aortic valve replacement and is minimally invasive.
There’s also TAVI: transcatheter aortic valve implantation.
TAVI involves a prosthesis called a Medtronic CoreValve. A surgeon delivers the prosthesis through the femoral (thigh) artery, or subclavian (beneath collar bone) artery, and the device expands into the area of the stenosis (narrowing).
This eliminates the need to remove the diseased structure, and the prosthesis can even be repositioned.
“Both CoreValve by Medtronic and the Sapien valve by Edwards Life
“Sciences are FDA-approved percutaneous valves to be used for the treatment of aortic stenosis in the U.S.,” says Dr. Cheema.
Your Doctors Online offers a free 7 day trial where you can ask a doctor questions online and get answers in minutes from anywhere 24/7. Learn more here. Dr. Cheema teaches and provides supervision to graduate students at the Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: Shutterstock/Martina Ebel
Home Remedy for a Dull Coat on a German Shepherd
A German shepherd has perhaps the most luxurious coat of all dog breeds–but it’s not immune to becoming dull and losing its luster. (more…)
Who’s Most Likely to Get Stockholm Syndrome?
Is a certain personality type more likely to develop Stockholm syndrome if that person is abducted and held hostage? (more…)
HIIT Guidelines for Very Overweight People
High intensity interval training (HIIT) isn’t reserved for just thinner people; obese or very overweight women and men are much capable of employing this method of exercise. (more…)
Lifting Weights or Fish Oil to Prevent Muscle Loss in Old Age?
Which should the elderly do to prevent muscle loss: rely on strength training (weightlifting) or fish oil supplements?
Most elderly people have significant muscle loss, and omega 3 fish oil can actually help — according to studies. But sometimes you have to be really careful where you put your faith.
My elderly father has been taking fish oil gel caps faithfully every day for years, but as time marches on, he continues to lose muscle.
I can’t believe how thin his upper arms have gotten. He doesn’t strength train!
Lifting Weights to Keep Muscle
An elderly person’s first line of defense against muscle loss is weightlifting.
In fact, strength training should be started in younger adulthood for the greatest positive impact. But even when it’s begun in middle age, the results will be extraordinary for those who take it seriously.
So what, then, about fish oil supplements?
Fish oil pills are no replacement for weight-bearing exercise, but research indicates that they will make a difference.
- Insulin sensitivity means that muscle cells have well-functioning insulin receptors, in that these receptors welcome insulin, a hormone.
- Insulin brings to the muscle cells fuel in the form of glucose (blood sugar).
- A well-functioning insulin receptor uptakes the glucose from the insulin, and hence, the muscle cell is supplied with energy.
What is insulin resistance?
Insulin resistance, like the name implies, means that the receptors resist this hormone.
This is a serious problem because the cells end up shorted of their energy source.
Aging cells are more likely to become insulin resistant; being elderly is a risk factor for this problem.
Insulin is necessary for growth of muscle tissue. This is why savvy bodybuilders will consume a meal high in “quick acting” carbohydrates immediately after a weight workout, to spike an increase in insulin!
Insulin boosts synthesis of muscle protein. Increased insulin resistance in the elderly is a key player in loss of muscle strength, says research from University of Texas Medical Branch.
The researchers increased levels of insulin in elderly study participants, and this restored their hampered muscle-building mechanism. “… when we gave seniors double the insulin they would normally produce after eating, their muscles were stimulated like those of young people,” says Dr. Elena Volpi in the paper, and senior author of the study (Diabetologia , Sept. 2009).
The insulin was given intravenously to 14 elderly subjects. Dr. Volpi clarifies that the insulin “resistance” that comes from old age is not the same as the insulin resistance of type 2 diabetes.
Another study shows that omega 3 fish oil enhances muscle protein metabolism.
Omega 3 fatty acids help improve glucose metabolism in people with insulin resistance.
The researchers gave omega 3 fish oil to steers, and the results were that these animals had improved muscle protein metabolism.
The research was headed by Carole Thivierge, Université Laval’s Institute of Nutraceutics and Functional Foods, and she concludes that supplementation with omega 3 fish oil pills can help prevent muscle loss in elderly people.
And yet another study on fish oil suggests the same conclusion. This study, headed by Vera Mazurak, PhD, of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, examined the role of omega 3 fish oil on muscle loss caused by cancer.
The results were very favorable, and she deduces that elderly people who are at risk for losing muscle should be able to benefit from two grams a day of omega 3s from fish oil.
What does a personal trainer think?
As a former personal trainer at a gym, I stand by my opinion that weight-bearing exercise is the best fountain of youth for the elderly and will go a long way in aiding prevention of muscle loss, and will even restore some lost muscle.
But I just can’t believe that we can preserve muscle mass by ONLY taking a supplement, and doing NO strength training. It can’t be this easy. Because it isn’t.
You must bear weight, like the woman pictured on the left above at age 74.
But whether an elderly person lifts weights or not, the research on fish oil omega 3 supplements can’t be ignored.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Sources:
sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110228090202.htm
sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090925115457.htm
sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070509161106.htm
How to Keep Your German Shepherd Very Busy
