It isn’t exactly a news flash that staying fit keeps your body in better working order than those who just lie around all day. But a recent article in the New York Times tells us now we have research that shows us why it also keeps us younger: exercise keeps your cells living longer!
In a recent study, German scientists formed four groups: young (in their 20s) and sedentary, young and active (running at least 45 miles a week), older (average age of 51) and sedentary, and older and active (running at least 50 miles a week. *Editor’s Note: Whoa!*) and examined their white blood cells. What the researchers discovered was some pretty amazing stuff.
If you know more than one or two female athletes, more than likely you’ve probably heard the words “I tore my ACL.” Why? Well, research has shown that young female athletes are three to times as likely as boys to tear an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
To help combat this seemingly growing epidemic, Balance Gym Kalorama recently launched a class for a traveling girls soccer team who wanted to learn how to propely protect their knees.
The girls are now strengthening their legs with resistence belts, toning their core through sit-ups and learning to land softley by jumping off truck tires.
This unique way of training caught the attention of the Washington Post, which recently profiled the class. The article says that “girls who take part in such programs can reduce their chances of injury by as much as 88 percent compared with those who don’t”
If you’re looking to strengthen your ACL, The American Council on Exercise (ACE) suggests performing closed-chain exercises (for example, leg presses, squats, lunges) as part of your strength-training program. Also, do some cross-training in your cardiovascular workout using the stairclimber, stationary bike, elliptical trainer or ski machine.
For ACE’s Top Six Exercises for Preventing ACL Injuries, click here.
Good news for all those women who aren’t afraid to do a little heavy lifting. British Columbia researchers released a study recently, which found that older women who did an hour or two of strength training exercises each week had improved cognitive function a year later.
The researchers formed two groups of women between the ages of 65 to 75. One group performed strength training exercises with dumbbells and weight machines, while the other stuck to balance and toning exercises. Those that did the strength training improved their scores on executive function tests by 10.5 to 12.6 percent. The other group’s scores were actually lower!
At Balance Gym Kalorama, we know the importance of keeping fit by using weights, no matter your age. Which is why we offer a Senior Fitness class on Monday and Wednesday mornings at 9:30 a.m. For more information call 202-797-0021 or email Ori Gorfine at ori@balancegym.com.
Another new year, another outrageous new diet claim. This time the culprit is Taco Bell with their “Drive-Thru Diet.” You’ve probably already seen the commercials about Christine who wanted to lose weight but wanted to keep eating fast food. So she turned to the Taco Bell Fresco menu, which offers items ranging from 150 calories to 340 calories and 4 to 8 gms of fat. All in all she was eating about 1,250 calories a day and lost 54 pounds over the last two years.
So of course this has many people asking: Is it possible?
So it’s been long known that blueberries are chock full of antioxidants such as Vitamin C and E, which helps protect the body from many chronic diseases. Though that should be enough to make them part of your daily protein shake, new research shows yet another fantastic benefit, they help improve your memory.
A new study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry investigated the effects of daily consumption of wild blueberry juice in a sample of nine older adults with early memory changes. A control group drank a beverage without blueberry juice. The blueberry juice group showed significant improvement on learning and memory tests, the scientists say. “These preliminary memory findings are encouraging and suggest that consistent supplementation with blueberries may offer an approach to forestall or mitigate neurodegeneration,” said the report. The research involved scientists from the University of Cincinnati, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Canadian department of agriculture.
Want to add more blueberries to your diet? Check out the recipes at U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council.
Martha Stewart and Sexy. We bet those are two words you never expected to put together!
Well, yesterday on The Martha Stewart Show, she took a break from decorating impossible to make cakes and dedicated her show to all the newest (and fun!) ways of getting in shape. Some of the show’s highlights include Punk Rope (would anyone be interested in this at Balance?) Boot Camp, and Pole Dancing! That’s right, even Martha Stewart couldn’t resist the lure of wiggling your hips and taking a spin around the pole. Check out the video below:
This just goes to show that women (and men!) of every shape, size and age can have fun learning sexy dance moves, while sculpting and strengthing the entire body.
Looks like DC’s fitness community is trying to follow Balance Gym’s lead by starting to focus more on functional training and less on isolating muscles via weight machines.
This week, Washington Post fitness columnists Vicky Hallett and Lenny Bernstein wrote about the “latest trend” in personal training: functional training.
“That liberation is happening more, according to the American Council on Exercise, which named functional training one of the top trends of 2010. The group specifically called out the rise of the TRX suspension training system, which involves a set of straps with handles that affix to a ceiling (or tree, or anything).”
Of course, this style of training is nothing new for Balance Gym, Hallet and Bernstein acknowledged. “In Washington, that boom [functional training] started four years ago at Balance Gym in the District’s Kalorama neighborhood, which Mark Crick and Graham King founded with just $3,000 in equipment in the hopes of focusing on machine-free, athletic-style training. They soon opened their doors to CrossFit DC, the area’s first CrossFit affiliate. (There are now nearly 20 in the region.)”
It’s true, at both Balance Gym Kalorama and Balance Gym Thomas Circle, we focus on movements, not muscles. With our personal training we integrate high intensity cardio with functional strength training. We use total- body movements that are challenging and tailored for each client. But we don’t just do that one-on-one, we also stick to that motto in our classes, such as Strength Class at Balance Gym Kalorama, Balance Boot Camp at both Kalorama and Thomas Circle location, and our newest CrossFit affilate, CrossFit Balance.
I am very excited to participate in the Balance newsletter and join this premier team. Starting this month, I’m heading physical therapy services out of both Balance Gym locations and SomaFit.
Not only can you stop in one of our locations for group classes, gym memberships, personal training, Pilates training, CrossFit, Pole Pressure, massage therapy and spa services, but now you don’t have to call the doctor or to ask about that “pinching pain I had today when doing an overhead press” or “muscle spasm in my back during spinning”. You can walk in my office and we will take a look immediately. If I don’t know the answer, then I will send you to a physician. If I do, then I will make sure your instructor, trainer or massage therapist knows what specific aspect you might need to work on so it doesn’t happen again. I also get to help you find the right classes, trainers, and instructors for you. It’s an all around package deal and I am excited to make it part of our DC community.
Jay Mathews, author of the Washington Post column “Class Struggle” recently informed his readers of a bill that would increase the time DC students would spend in P.E. Much to our surprise, however, Mathews seems to actually be against D.C. council member Mary M. Cheh and Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray’s proposal that would require every public school student in kindergarten through fifth grade to have 150 minutes of P.E. (30 minutes a day). Sixth- through eighth-graders would be required to take 225 minutes (45 a day). (Read the column here)
Though Mathews admits that “in a perfect world” our kids would get more exercise, he says that adding more physical education into the school day would take away from students’ studies. “Nowhere in her press release does Cheh address the key issue–the fact that the D.C. schools need to do a better job using the limited time they have, about six and a half hours a day, to address students’ weaknesses in reading, writing, math, science and social studies,” he says.
Well, we here at Balance Gym know how important physical fitness is for a person’s (especially a child’s) overall health and well-being. Which is why owner and personal trainer Graham King felt the need to defend this bill to Mahews by writing a response to the Washington Post.
“We owe it to our children to provide them with chances for writing and running — and fit all of it into a standard school day,” King writes.
Washington Post blogger, Jennifer LaRue Huget, recently posed the question “Is it possible to incorporate cocktails into a healthy lifestyle?” in her “Eat, Drink and Be Healthy” column. To find the answer, Huget turned to someone who is not only passionate about fitness, but also values his social life outside the gym — Balance Gym owner, Mark Crick.
Crick advised, if you’re trying to lose weight or are aiming for a particular goal, you should probably forgo drinking on a regular basis. However, he says, you don’t have to abstain from alcohol completely, as long as you keep things in check. “We’re a very social gym. We do have happy hour, we do have alcohol,” he said.
It isn’t exactly a news flash that staying fit keeps your body in better working order than those who just lie around all day. But a recent article in the New York Times tells us now we have research that shows us why it also keeps us younger: exercise keeps your cells living longer!
If you know more than one or two female athletes, more than likely you’ve probably heard the words “I tore my ACL.” Why? Well, research has shown that young female athletes are three to times as likely as boys to tear an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
recently, which found that older women who did an hour or two of strength training exercises each week had improved cognitive function a year later.
Another new year, another outrageous new diet claim. This time the culprit is Taco Bell with their “Drive-Thru Diet.” You’ve probably already seen the 
chronic diseases. Though that should be enough to make them part of your daily protein shake, new research shows yet another fantastic benefit, they help improve your memory.
training.
services out of both 
student in kindergarten through fifth grade to have 150 minutes of P.E. (30 minutes a day). Sixth- through eighth-graders would be required to take 225 minutes (45 a day). (Read the column 