Cardiovascular Exercise: Are You Getting Your METs?

To reap all the benefits cardiovascular exercise (walking, cycling, swimming etc.) can provide, you need to be sure that your fitness routine is providing you with the right number of METs. Group walk

METs are the rate at which our bodies use oxygen (metabolic equivalents). If you accumulate >15 METs every week, then you get significant benefits in terms of fighting cancer. Studies have shown as little as 9 MET/hrs of physical activity over a seven day period increases survival rate for breast and bowel cancers.

Your fitness level has a direct impact on how many METS you expend per minute. So let’s say it take you 16 minutes to walk a mile, your pace is 3.75 miles per hour, which corresponds to 4.3 METs per hour. If you walk 3 ½ hours over a seven day period you will accumulate 15 METs for your week.

I will be giving exercise and nutrition talks for patients, families, survivors and health professionals during breast cancer awareness month as part of my pro-active educational programmes  One of these talks will take place Thursday, 16 October 7:30pm–9:00pm at Good Counsel G.A.A. Club Davitt Road, Drimnagh, Dublin 12.  This event is special for me because it takes place in my own home town.

Hope to see lots of familiar faces 🙂

FREE EVENT – ALL WELCOME Marie Murphy_Breast Cancer Awareness Month_Save the date

Please contact Marie at marie@mariemurphyhealthfitness.com if you would like a customised training programme.

Ireland’s 2014 Report Card

Based on the results from Ireland’s 2014 Report Card on physical activity in children and youth, physical activity levels remain low in Ireland.Running on sand dunes

  • Overall Physical Activity Levels D-
  • Organized Sport Participation C-
  • Physical Education D-

The estimated contribution of physical inactivity to the burden of disease in Ireland was estimated at 8.8% for coronary heart disease, 10.9% for type 2 diabetes, 15.2% for breast cancer, and 15.7% for colon cancer.

To see change in these types of statistics we need to have Physical Activity part of our National Schools curriculum.  All children and youth should have the opportunity of a ‘quality’ experience of school-based physical activity and sport.  At least 4 hours/week of sport and physical activity during school PE would be acceptable.

During my eighteen years coaching high school track & field and cross country in California; students joining my team first needed to pass the ACSM’s (American College of Sports Medicine) guidelines in prevention. If they did not pass first time out they trained with the team until they accomplished the goal and then they competed for their school.  At the same time I had concerns for the students who did not participate; who I knew at 15-17 years of age were not in a state of prevention of disease. It took five years in gathering data on my teams before my school changed its curriculum and physical activity became mandatory.

We have many of these types of students here in Ireland that need to meet the recommended guidelines for lowering their risks later in life.  It is up to us to give our children and youth the best possible outlook for their future.  As we all know Health is our Wealth

Let’s get moving!

 

 

Breast Cancer Awareness: 10 Tips in Starting an Exercise Programme after Treatment

  1. Get clearance from your Doctor before starting any fitness programme.
  2. Have a qualified Fitness Instructor design/guide your fitness programme.IMAG0226
  3. Walk a minimum of 3 days a week (advancing to 5 days).
  4. Incorporate resistance training 1 day a week (advancing to 2 days).
  5. Set a goal of 15 weeks to maintain consistency and see improvements in your fitness.
  6. Aim to achieve 15-20 MET/hrs/week within one year of starting your programme.

    Example:

    5-10 MET/hrs/week 1-4 months

    10-15 MET/hrs/week 5-8 months

    15-20 MET/hrs/week 9-12 monthsIMAG0290

  1. Eat a healthy diet: high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, low in fat and high in fibre.
  2. Drink a minimum 1.5 litres of water a day (water is the most important nutrient).
  3. Keep a record of your training to see your improvements and help motivate you.
  4. A little a lot, is better than, a lot a little.  (To do something often you have to enjoy what it is you are doing).

How to avoid fatigue during training

Glass of water plus jug

Your daily intake will have a big impact on how you feel. Without a proper, balanced diet you can start to feel sluggish and are likely to become fatigued- so ensure that you eat healthy meals at the correct times as well as fueling before, during and after your workouts. Keep in mind high water-volume foods also pro­vide your body with flu­ids.

Poor hydration can adversely affect your mental as well as your physical performance. Staying hydrated helps prevent tiredness as well as lower your risk of injury. Have a water bottle within arm’s reach at all times.  Drink at least 1.5 litres of water daily.

To avoid tiredness ensure you get enough sleep. Your body needs sleep to recharge and allow you to continue with your training schedule as well as repair and rebuild your muscles.

Caffeine can cause restlessness and sleeping difficulties. Cutting down on the amount of caffeine you drink in the evening will help avoid a restless night’s sleep.

Stress is one of the most common reasons for feeling tired — so the most important thing to do is identify what is causing your stress in the first place. Taking a few days off or using different muscle groups, can make a big difference to your overall energy levels.

Fatigue is usually a temporary situation brought on by overdoing it on a particular day or group of days. Good lifestyle choices that include a healthy diet, exercise, and sleep management should eliminate long-term tiredness, but if fatigue persists then seek advice from your doctor.

Exercise & Nutrition Workshop

This past week I was asked to deliver a workshop on Exercise & Nutrition for teachers of SICCDA’s Afterschool Programmes which provide daily afterschool childcare to approximately 150 children living in the Liberties area of Dublin 8.

picture of woman's feet walking

Their programmes provide participants with homework support, nutritious snacks and enriching extra-curricular activities in a warm, caring, child-centred environment. Camps during school holidays provide participants with fun, meaningful activities which provide continuity for children, and facilitate childcare needs.

The sixteen teachers who attended my workshop operated from the following schools;

  • Scoil San Seamus CBS, Basin Lane
  • St Enda’s National School, Whitefriar Street
  • Francis Street CBS, Francis Street
  • Warrenmount Primary School
  • Scoil Treasa Naofa

It was a very positive experience engaging with the teachers over the course of the day. They found learning about the METs very interesting. All teachers took part in doing a fitness evaluation (1 mile walk) to see how their own fitness level measured up to the guidelines for prevention of disease. The sun was shining as we walked along the canal from Basin Lane to Rialto Bridge; all completing the course within 14 to18 minutes. So if you see a large group of children walking briskly along the canal over the coming weeks you’ll know teachers are measuring their METs.

Changing your exercise routine

It’s a good idea to change your exercise routines because your muscles get bored with the same repetitive exercises.

As an athlete I’ve spent a great number of hours running.  One of the key elements to my training is keeping a variety to my workouts.  When travelling I generally stay at hotels that accommodate a gym.  Not that I use the gym on every occasion but I like the idea of having the choice.

Marie in Co.Clare small

Checking out the weights in my hotel.

I recently traveled to Co. Clare and while I spent most of my time outdoors sightseeing I did avail of the gym in the evening.  I changed my mode of exercise to the stair climber machine, and decreased the duration which allowed increasing my intensity.

I followed the climber by doing free weights, a shorter version of my regular routine finishing off with light stretching before heading to relax in the jacuzzi.

By changing things up, you stimulate muscle growth. Muscles get jump-started by new routines and you’ll see differences immediately.

You discover an entire range of new exercises when you change your routine, which also keeps you from getting bored. With the Easter break here take the opportunity to change your exercise routine and feel the benefits!

10 Minute Fitness Workout

Get moving with this 10 minute workout

Are you looking to ease into getting in shape? This 10 minute resistance training routine can start you on the path to better health. But before starting this training plan, talk with your doctor if you’ve been sedentary for a long time or you have serious health issues.

The 10 exercises below (5 upper body and 5 lower body) are an introduction to the Murphy (MET’s) Programme. When starting this training plan you first need to learn the proper technique for each exercise. Choose weights that are light enough that you can lift 10 repetitions for each exercise (example 500ml water bottles or 2 cans of Heinz soup).

The first 3-6 weeks you are conditioning your body, working on bringing each muscle group through their full range of motion. Again, you are mastering the proper technique for each exercise. Once you have accomplished the first six weeks weights can be applied to the lower body routine.

For best results, try to do this training plan twice a week.

For more information on the Murphy (METs) Programme please see here or call 085 196 5468 to schedule a consultation with Marie.

MMP 10 minute workout

Older woman holding weights

 

Sports Nutrition: Optimize Your Performance

Over the past 20 years, research has clearly documented the beneficial effect of nutrition on athletic performance. Proper nutrition is critical not only to your athletic success, but also and more importantly to your growth, development and overall health. Inadequate nutrient intake deprives your body of the energy needed to perform an event, the carbohydrates necessary for glycogen replacement, the protein needed for tissue building and repair, and the micronutrients necessary for normal metabolism and maintenance of body homeostasis. IMAG1760

Energy balance for the athlete is the amount of energy the athlete consumes (food calories) necessary to balance the amount of energy the athlete expends (activity). Physical activity does influence the amount of specific nutrients required and the optimal timing of their intake. The athlete, who is engaged in heavy training, will have higher energy and nutritional requirements. Total energy intake must be sufficient to offset the energy expended during athletic training and performance.

Energy Availability

Many athletes spend a great deal of their time and effort maintaining and manipulating energy balance. Manipulating energy balance has extremely important implications that affect not only your body weight, but also your proportion of fat mass and fat-free mass, carbohydrate stores, bone health, vitamin and minerals status, and menstrual status in women. Energy availability = total energy – energy cost of training/competition (ideally this should be >30 kcal/kg FFM/day).

Pasta with tomato sauceYour energy requirements are influenced by the energy expenditure of your training load (intensity, frequency and duration) along with your body size, growth and pursuit of weight loss or gain. The role of your nutritional regimen is to supply you with the fuel and nutrients needed to optimize the adaptations achieved during your training and to ensure recovery between your workouts. Low carbohydrate intake can result in inadequate glycogen stores, premature fatigue and possible utilization of the body’s protein stores for energy. It is important that you have adequate fuel stored in your muscles (muscle glycogen) and adequate hydration to optimize your performance. Arguably, carbohydrates are the recommended source of energy needs from intense training.

 

Christmas Exercise

Christ­mas is the time of year to catch up with fam­ily and friends (so less time to exer­cise). Unfor­tu­nately, temp­ta­tion is at its high­est at this time so exer­cis­ing is usu­ally left on the back burner and the weather can some­times make out­door exer­cise dif­fi­cult. Addi­tion­ally, the increased con­sump­tion of food and/or alco­hol can leave you with very lit­tle moti­va­tion to workout.

Here are some sim­ple tips to help you with exercise over the hol­i­day period:

Whilst you may not be able to stick to your nor­mal exer­cise rou­tine over the hol­i­day period, you can still fit some exer­cise in. For exam­ple, if you nor­mally walk/run out­doors but find the weather too cold, try work­ing out indoors. Walk­ing up and down a flight stairs once is equal to one minute of weight bear­ing exer­cise. Stair climbing is also excel­lent for increas­ing your bone strength (bone den­sity) in your hips; it works on the main mus­cles for walk­ing and is very good for your over­all health. While watch­ing your favourite TV pro­gramme or lis­ten­ing to your favourite radio pro­gramme march­ing on the spot or any form of danc­ing are additional choices.

You may not have an hour to spare to com­plete your reg­u­lar work­out however, short reg­u­lar bursts of activ­ity can help main­tain your fit­ness level and reduce the chance of an extended period of time going by with­out exer­cis­ing (it is always eas­ier to main­tain then to gain back).  5 min­utes walk­ing, jog­ging or march­ing on the spot on and off through­out the day all adds up and con­tributes to bet­ter health.

Lastly, it may be eas­ier to keep to an exer­cise rou­tine when you share it with some­one. Walk with a friend, walk your dog, jog along­side your child while they cycle their new bike from Santa. It’s all about stay­ing active, get­ting your MET’s and reap­ing the benefits.

Hope you find the above tips help­ful and I would like to wish you a very Merry Christ­mas and Peace­ful New Year,

Marie