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Exercise ETC's
Review of Exercise Related Research
July 15, 2009

Compiled by Chris Marino, MS, CSCS
Director of Education, Exercise ETC

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CDC Reports Higher
Obesity Numbers for 2008

Despite wide-reaching public and private efforts to curb overweight and obesity in America the trend continues to worsen. In the first week of July the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released new statistics indicating that Americans are heavier than ever.

Presently, more than 26% of Americans are obese, 26.1% to be exact. This represents an increase of ˝% over the previous year, 2007.

Additionally, there are six states in which 30% or more of residents are obese. They include Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Sadly, only the state of Colorado can boast that fewer than 20% of residents are obese.

The CDC tracks body mass index (BMI), amongst other variables across America annually through the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Over 400K Americans participate in a telephone survey for this purpose. Obesity is indicated using a body mass index (BMI) of over 30 whereas a BMI of 25-29 identifies one as overweight.

Reuters Health. July 8, 2009. More Americans than Ever are Obese: CDC

Aerobic Training Inhibits Strength Performance in Elderly Women

Although a well-rounded conditioning program is advised for all individuals, deficiencies in muscle strength & power that coincide with advancing age have been found to impair function more significantly than poor cardiovascular fitness or flexibility. Therefore, a conditioning program for the elderly would do well to emphasis the former components. Because most avid exercisers use concurrent exercise in which strength and cardio are performed in the same workout, researchers have questioned whether exercise order affects performance and benefit from training. A recent study published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research found that strength performance is impaired in the elderly when preceded by aerobic exercise.

Researchers studied the effects of low and high intensity aerobic exercise on the performance of strength exercises in 25 women over age 70. All participants had a minimum of 5 years training experience.

The participants completed two training sequences within 72 hours of one another. During the first session, participants complete 20 minutes on a treadmill achieving 60% HRmax. They immediately performed three sets with a 10RM load on three different exercises: leg press, leg extension, and leg curl in that order. Participants achieved concentric failure on each set, resting 90 seconds between sets and 3 minutes between exercises. During the second training session participants followed the same protocol, this time achieving 80% HRmax on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Researchers quantified the total number of repetitions completed during strength training exercises along with RPE measures both during and after aerobic exercise, and during strength exercises.

Although both protocols appeared to inhibit performance of the strength exercises, the higher intensity aerobic session did so more significantly. Moreover, the participants experienced greater fatigue as indicated by fewer repetitions and perceived exertion when performing strength training after treadmill walking.

The practical implications of this study suggest that trainers prioritize strength if the elderly client’s objective is to optimize function. This means encouraging separate strength and cardio training days, or at a minimum performing strength exercises first in a combined session.

Lemos, A. et al (2009) The Acute Influence of Two Intensities of Aerobic Exercise on Strength Training Performance in Elderly Women. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 23(4): 1252-57.

PNF and Static Stretching
Affect Running Mechanics

Flexibility training in relation to athletic performance is a complicated subject. Fortunately, there are some areas in which researchers and coaches agree. For example, stretching chronically reduces injuries by maintaining optimal joint range of motion, or that active forms of stretching appear to better prepare athletes for sport when compared to static variations. Regrettably, few studies have uncovered direct benefits of stretching on biomechanical factors associated with improved performance.

In a recent study published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, British researchers compared the effects of static and PNF stretch protocols on sprint running mechanics.

Eighteen young adult Rugby players were assigned to either a static stretching or PNF stretching group. Participants completed supervised stretching sessions following general Rugby practice 4 times a week for 5 weeks. Pre-testing included three 30-meter sprints to calculate velocity after which participants ran at 80% pace on a treadmill for stride analysis.

The Static Stretch protocol incorporated three 10-sec hamstring stretches in supine. The PNF protocol added a single contract-relax stretch followed by a 10-sec static hold repeated three times.

Stretching resulted in a 4.9% to 7.6% improvement in hip flexion range of motion for static and PNF stretching, respectively, which was not significantly different. Although ground contact time was unchanged for both groups, there were improvements in both stride length and rate. Both groups experienced an increase in stride length, 7.1% to 9.1% for SS and PNF, respectively. As expected, increased stride length resulted in decreased stride rate for both groups, 1.9% and 4.3% for SS and PNF, respectively.

Running performance is said to be directly affected by two mechanical factors, stride length and stride frequency. When working with athletes who require high velocity running integrating stretching exercises to improve hip flexion range of motion should consequently improve stride length and sprint performance.

Caplan, N. et al (2009) The Effect of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation and Static Stretch Training on Running Mechanics. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 23(4): 1175-80.

Being Overweight Increases
Knee Joint Degeneration

Although being overweight or obese has been suspected to result in increased risk for arthritis especially at the knee, limited research exists that links weight to increased degenerative change. Until next month when, according to HealthDay News, a study will be published in the journal Radiology implicating excess body weight in the rapid progression of knee osteoarthritis.

Researchers tracked 336 overweight patients previously identified as “at risk” for osteoarthritis of the knee over 30 months. None had significant loss of knee cartilage at the outset of the study, however more than 20% presented with progressive loss of cartilage, while just under 6% were diagnosed with rapid loss of knee cartilage over the course of the study.

The researchers identified 5 factors that appear to have significantly increased risk of developing osteoarthritis, excess weight having the greatest association with rapid degeneration. Statistically, the researchers found that every increase of BMI by one factor increased the likelihood of cartilage loss by 11%.

The other four include cartilaginous tears (i.e. meniscus) or other pre-existing cartilage damage, severe lesions on MRI, inflammation and fluid collection in the knee.

Although exercise training may not completely prevent osteoarthritis it has been found to improve pain and slow progression. Weight loss, however, might be the primary mechanism by which fitness professionals can improve osteoarthritis risk and quality of life amongst people with the disease.

Steven Reinberg (2009) Excess Weight Speeds Up Osteoarthritis. HealthDay. July 14.

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