Geelong's Gym

Physical inactivity is as hazardous to your health as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. This quote is by Lawrence Golding Ph.D. when he was Editor in Chief of the American College of Sports Medicine’s Health and Fitness Journal.

Wouldn't it be good to have that kind of flexibility at that age?!

Yes, I know, that’s a pretty bold statement.  But here are his reasons for making it:

• Hip fractures are associated with more deaths, permanent disability and medical institutional care costs than all other osteoporotic fractures combined.
• Even small increases in bone mass gained from endurance or resistance training can help prevent or delay the process of osteoporosis.
• Physical activity, including muscle-strengthening (resistance) exercise, appears to be protective against falling and fractures amoung the elderly due to increased muscle strength and balance.
• One in two women and one in eight men over 50 will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime.
• An average of 24% of hip fractures in patients aged 50 and over die in the year following their fracture.

Exercise and increased physical activity are an intrinsic part of any comprehensive preventative or treatment regimen for osteoporosis.

And it’s never too late to start… research proves regular exercise, even initiated late in life, can help fight the effects of aging!  So get started NOW and don’t let your physical inactivity be hazardous to your health.

I’m sure everyone’s heard of diabetes and then probably dismissed it from their mind, thinking it’s not really a serious issue for them.

But, did you know, in 2006 1.4 million Australians had diabetes?  In fact, it has been rated as the fifth leading cause of death in the world.  Now that’s serious.  And, guess what?  Those figures are rising dramatically and, before you get too complacent, a recent study has found 1 in 4 Australians over 25 have some sort of glucose control problem.  1 in 4!!!!

So, what is the result of excess glucose?  It puts you at greater risk of:

• Heart attack, heart disease and stroke
• Amputation of limbs, particularly lower limbs
• Blindness
• Kidney disease
• High blood pressure
• Loss of nerve sensation and feeling in feet and hands
• Obesity
• Impotence
• Depression
• Decreased life expectancy of up to 15 years

Wow!  So what can you do about it?  In a way, it’s simple – it’s all about lifestyle changes.  Increasing physical activity and improving what you eat has shown massive improvements in insulin sensitivity and glucose control.

I know what you’re thinking – it’s expensive to join a gym.  However, an Italian study has found that simply walking every day has SAVED people with diabetes a whole swag of money:

• A person with diabetes who doesn’t change their lifestyle has to spend $828 a year in direct medical and social costs
• Walking 30 minutes a day reduces their costs by $386 a year
• Walking 45 minutes a day reduces their costs by $1452 a year
• Walking 1 hour a day reduces their costs by $2000!!!

There are a number of ways Type II Diabetes can be prevented and controlled and I’m going to look at a few of those ways in future blogs… so stay posted.

Information in this blog has been sourced from “Sugar Daddy“ by Dr Adam Fraser and Christine Armarego.

I’m sure we all know by now how special our frienships are, but did you know they are the key to greater health and wellness?

Yes, it’s true.  Studies show that having a positve support system around you when you’re pursuing optimum health and wellness actually increases your likelihood of sticking to new healthy habits and behaviours.  PLUS, it reduces stress, increases energy and improves your relationship!

Don't panic - exercising with friends doesn't mean you have to wear matching workout outfits!

Why is this?  Well, it’s largely because to make a significant change in our lives we need to change our mindset, attitude and behaviour first and a positive, strong support system can be a hugely helpful tool in making that happen.  And chances are, that what you’re struggling with is something they’re struggling with too, or have struggled with in the past, so you can actually support each other.  It doesn’t have to be a one way deal.

Friendship is such a powerful tool and it can be a negative influence just as much as a postive one.  For example, in 2003, Nicholas Christakis, a social scientist, and James Fowler, a political scientist, researched how relaitonships directly influence behaviour and therefore health and happiness.

Their study found that behaviours, either positive or negative, are highly influenced by the people around you.  For example, when they looked at the growing rate of obseity, this is what they found:

• Obesity radiates outwards from clusters of overweight people
• Having an obese spouse raises the risk of becoming obese by 37%; but, if a friend becomes obese the risk skyrockets by a shocking 171%!!!  Yikes!
• Lean individuals surrounded by obesity were rare.

Don’t worry though, there were also some positive findings.  Christakis and Fowler found that happy people have happy friends and each happy friend increased a person’s probability of being happy by 9%!

The simple conclusions is, people need people!  So if you’re trying to make some positive changes in your fitness, health and wellbeing (or even some other area of your life), gather your friends around you as a support team and I’m sure you will reach your goals much more easily than if you try to go it alone.

I’m sure you know that eating before exercise helps significantly with energy and endurance.  But the most important thing to remember is you shouldn’t eat just anything.  To get the most out of your body, you need to provide it with the best fuel.

A yummy cake is NOT good pre-exercise food! Sorry folks!

This means NO fried food, cheesey pizza or soft drinks!  I know, I’m spoiling all your fun.

So what should you eat?

To give your muscles a quick energy boost before exercising, feed up on quality carbohydrates such as bread, cereal, pasta, rice, fruit and vegetables.

Protein is also important, because not only does it build and maintain muscles but it also ensures healthy blood cells which are responsible for delivering nutrients and oxygen to working muscles.

Here are a few tips for the ideal pre-exercise meal:

• Low fat
• Moderate intake of carbohydrates and protein
• Low fibre
• Contains fluids
• Familiar, well-tolerated foods (i.e. dairy is usually not a good idea right before an intense exercise session!)

The best I can suggest, is experiment with quantities and particular foods to figure out what works best for your body.  Once you find out the best combination for you, stick with it.

Happy Birthday!  It’s hard to believe a year has passed and my cheeseburger has turned 1 today, 9th August!

Yes, you read that right.  My cheeseburger has turned 1!  You see my son, Germain Spriet, and I were watching The Bionic Burger a year ago.  It’s a three minute YouTube clip explaining how a lot of fast foods today have so many preservatives in them that if you don’t eat them they’ll still look the same five years later.

Happy Birthday to our 1 Year Old Cheeseburger

Naturally, we had to test it.  We bought a burger and the photo shows what it looks like today, after 1 year.

Which begs the question, what’s it REALLY made of?  What’s been added to it to preserve it?  And more importantly, the bigger question is, what’s it doing to us when we eat this stuff?

Germain hasn’t had a cheeseburger or hamburger from ABC….# since.

It might seem like a strange thing to do, but it’s worked for me.  It’s caused my son and I to question what most people take for granted and eat every day.  In fact, today we’re going to buy from two other fast food brands and add them to the shelf.  It will be interesting to see what happens.

Take three minutes and watch this video and maybe question what you’re putting in your body.

Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, new research pops up to change the way you should eat, drink and cook.  Let’s take a look at some of the old thinking and what the latest is…

• 

  Yes it’s true, you now have permission to chew!

  Eating Fat Makes You Fat.  The Mayo Clinic in the US has found people who increased their intake of monounsaturated fats actually lost weight without decreasing their kilojoules.  Plus, olive oil, nuts, olives and avocados reduce stomach fat.

• Chewing Gum Makes You Hungrier, So You Eat More.  Not so.  A study has found people who chew gym for an hour a day are more likely to eat less kilojoules at lunch, feel less hungry during the day and use 5% more kilojoules.
• Room Temperature Water Is Best For Rehydrating.  A new study says to keep it chilled.  According to Dr Jason Lee, cold water could be the most direct way to reduce core body temperature, therefore taking you longer to heat up and slow down.
• After A Tough Workout Take Nurofen To Offset Soreness.  Popping anti-inflammatories actually reduces production of the chemicals needed for muscle growth and repair.
• Steaming Is The Best Way To Cook Vegies.  These days, the microwave does a much better job of retaining the most recovery-boosting antioxidants.  Put your vegies in a bowl with a small amount of water and cook for 2-3 minutes.

This information was sourced from Australian Women’s Health magazine.

What a fantastic week it’s been!  I had the awesome privilege to be part of an event where AFL Legend, Tom Hafey, shared his secrets to great health.  And boy, does this guy walk what he talks…

Every single morning he gets up at 5.20am and runs 6-7 kilometres along the beach.  When he returns home he does 200 push ups and 700 sit ups!  So it’s no wonder he’s got the strength and fitness of a man half his age!

Tom Hafey with event organisers Gerard Spriet from Geelong's Gym, Ross Hultgren from Chapman Welsh Financial Services and Rob Claridge from Claridge Naturopathics

I, along with Ross Hultren from Chapman Welsh Financial Services and Rob Claridge from Claridge Naturopathics, wanted to actively promote good health and wellbeing in the Geelong community.  We invited Tom because he has such a strong link to Geelong and, of course, because he’s such a fantastic example of what can be achieved with a healthy, fit lifestyle.

Incorporated into the evening was the introduction of our new BioAge Program at Geelong’s Gym.  We are thrilled to have this cutting edge technology which allows us to accurately measure a person’s biological age in comparison to their chronological age.

Unfortunately, a huge number of Australians have a biological age significantly higher than their chronological age.  But the good news is, now that we can accurately measure it we can improve it!  If you want to know more about this revolutionary program, click here.

All proceeds from the evening were donated to local Geelong charity, Our Women, Our Children.

Geelong’s Gym is excited to announce Tommy Hafey will be speaking at an event, organised by Geelong’s Gym, Claridge Naturopathics and Chapman Welsh Financial Services, about his secrets to great health.

Tom Hafey

We figured he was the ideal person for the job because not only does he have a strong connection to the people of Geelong but he also has a pretty spectacular qualifying resume!  Here are just a few highlights:

• He’s coached FOUR AFL teams – Richmond, Collingwood, the Sydney Swans and, of course, Geelong
• He’s coached over 500 VFL/AFL games for a 66% win record – oh and, in that time his teams have made TEN grand finals, resulting in  FOUR Premierships and a tied Grand Final
• In his first year as Collingwood coach the team rose from wooden spooners to be in the Grand Final
• He has never been beaten as a coach of the Victorian State Teams
• Only once in 22 years coaching football did a Hafey-coached team finish lower than seventh

Pretty impressive isn’t it?!

So okay, he’s got the credentials… but I’m not really that interested in hearing how to become more healthy.

Can I be blunt?  Good.  Here’s the thing, if you’re not a bouncing ball of energy who looks a good 10 years younger than you actually are… you need to take a good hard look at your health.

Let me ask you another question.  Does your biological age match your chronological age?  And I’m not just talking about how you look on the outside, although that’s part of it. 

Do you look older than you are?  Do you feel older than you are?

For the majority of Australians, what’s going on inside us is pretty scary and our bodies are actually functioning (or perhaps more accurately, not functioning) at a biological age greater than our chronological age.

That’s pretty alarming – especially if you’re wanting to live a good long life with a body that can keep up with you.  But here’s the good news, your biological age can actually be reversed!

So why not come along and hear Tom Hafey speak.  And while you’re there, you’ll learn how you can utilize the Bioage Program to measure and improve your biological age.

When: Wednesday, 14th July at 7.00pm

Where: Newtown Event Centre, 40 Read Street, Newtown

Entry: Gold coin entry to be donated to Geelong Charity “Our Women, Our Children”

RSVP: By Wednesday, 7th July to Geelong’s Gym

For more information, click here.

Today we have some tips from Rich Barretta, who has helped sculpt the bodies of Naomi Watts, Pierce Brosnan and Naomi Campbell, on the four rules for healthy eating which his clients swear by.

Naomi Watts swears by these four rules

1.  Cut back on Alcohol.  Alcohol is loaded with carbs and calories and, on top of that, it tends to cause people to make bad food choices.  Just a couple of sugary cocktails can add up to 1000 calories – half an average person’s daily need.  Avoiding alcohol altogether is best, but if you do indulge, opt for a glass of wine or slim down your drink with tonic instead of soda.

2.  Say “No” to fried food.  You can grill, bake, steam or broil, but just don’t fry!  Frying takes away the nutrients of healthy food and adds fat and calories.  Plus, many restaurants use trans fats, which increase your risk of raising artery clogging bad cholesterol and lowering fat-clearing good cholesterol.

3.  Avoid carbs at night.  You don’t have to completely deprive yourself of carbs, despite popular belief, but you should be conscious of when you eat them.  Consuming high-carb foods, such as potatoes, rice, pastas and breads, early in the day allows your body more time to burn them off.  Whereas carbs eaten at night are more likely to go unused and be stored as fat.  Barretta’s rule: stick to lean protein and vegetables after 6pm.

4.  Choose unprocessed foods.  Out of convenience we often reach for processed products, even though we know fresh unprocessed foods are better for us.  While it can be difficult to cut out processed foods entirely, there are certain ingredients you should steer clear of, such as high-fructose corn syrup, MSG, white flour and processed sugar.  Here’s a tip: shop around the perimeter of the supermarket, where all the fresh meats and produce are.

The good news is you don’t have to follow a strict diet plan.  If you adopt these four nutrition rules you’ll see a vast improvement in the way your body feels and looks.  And they’re really not that hard to follow.

A new challenge has been issued by the Cancer Council to men, to start looking at their lifestyles and the cancer risks they may be running as a result.

Why men in particular?  Well, according to an article in the Business Review, men are more fatalistic in their approach to health.  Bascially they think when their number’s up, it’s up.  So they don’t really make an effort to change.

But it’s not all bad news.  Smoking rates have been rapidly declining which instills confidence that men can change when they choose to.

Maintaining the correct body weight is a key factor in reducing cancer risk

And change is what men need to do.  Cancer Council research shows that 1 in 3 men’s cancer deaths are preventable through lifestyle choices – an important statistic considering men are 60% more likely to die from cancer than women.

Top 3 Tips For Reducing Cancer Risk:

• Quit smoking permanently
• Achieve and maintain normal body weight, i.e. take a good hard look at your diet and make the necessary changes, then get into a gym and start working on your fitness
• Moderate alcohol intake

No one knows if they’re going to get cancer or not.  So why not start working on your health and fitness now and put yourself in a better position to avoid this deadly disease.