HealthFitness has posted a new item, 'Fitness wearables market keeps ticking'
If you are planning to add wearables to your corporate wellness program,
you're in good company. The number of companies expected to use wearables for
corporate wellness is projected to skyrocket in the next several years. In
fact:
Employers will integrate more than 13 million wearables into their employee
wellness programs by 2018.
Three out of four [...]
You may view the latest post at
http://healthfitness.com/blog/fitness-wearables-market-keeps-ticking/
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
HealthFitness
socialmedia@hfit.com
Friday, April 24, 2015
Monday, April 6, 2015
Health and fitness orgs unaware superior Non-Kinetic adult exercises exist
Non-Kinetic exercises do not use the skeleton to carry exercise forces, they instantly oppose muscle contractions. The resistance to Kinetic exercise typically compress joints and spinal disks first
According to virtually all leading health and fitness organizations, including the National Academy of Sports Medicine and Livestrong. com, “all muscle and heart exercises (wet or dry) are Kinetic”.
These health and fitness organizations teach that all exercises fall into one of two “kinetic chain” categories. One is for weight bearing, like weightlifting, and the other is non-weight bearing, covering most everything from push-ups to swimming, to dancing, to climbing and running.
Either way, all Kinetic exercises still use the skeleton to send and receive the powerful exercise forces (muscle effort and motion resistance) to and from the muscle contractions that they target.
Today (April, 3, 2015) engineer James R Farrow, from the Adult Exercise Project, the first group to use Bio Force Mapping (BFM) to trace and measure exercise forces through the human body, explained exclusively to examiner.com, how many of today’s most common exercise methods force hundreds of times more force through adult spinal disks and joints than they can physically aim against the muscle contractions they target.
He explained “First, because Kinetic exercises drive all effort and resistance energy through joints and spinal disks, they are unable to drive more force that the weakest link in their ‘kinetic chains’ can tolerate. Just approaching their first skeletal weakness is extremely painful for most adults and seniors, so most will never even do stout kinetic exercise regularly”.
He explained this limited to first weakness kinetic problem has kept it impossible for adults, even the strongest athletes, from building core strength even remotely close to their full potential.
He continued, “Genetics are a good start, but all of the strongest and fastest adult athletes built far stronger joints and disks during their childhood (than average adults), by frequently overworking these parts before they hardened into adulthood”.
“Because great athletes are able to exert their muscles much harder than average Joe’s, they look as if they have come close to maximized strength. However, their much stronger than average weakest links, still ‘plateau’ their muscle strengthening, long before their full potential can be reached”.
Kinetic exercise appear to be all people have used for thousands of years, so today's health and fitness experts and organizations remain unaware that far superior Non-Kinetic adult exercises can even exist.
Next he offered some obvious evidence to prove his point. “If a full sized adult athlete tried to run with all the range their core running muscles (their largest group) could swing their hips, they would instantly destroy a knee. This is a simple to see example of how the first skeletal weakness, along a kinetic chain, massively limits targeted muscle exertion. This also exposes that a massive amount of core running strength has never been exercised, when running is used as a running exercise”.
Than he explained, ” Non-Kinetic Exercises end almost every problem that Kinetic exercises cause for adults, because they only use external sources, to move motion resistance and muscle effort forces directly to and from targeted muscle contractions, instead of the skeleton. Since Non-Kinetic Exercises do not create kinetic force transfer chains through the skeleton, they are the first fitness science that will allow almost any average to older adult to exert their targeted muscles up to hundreds of times harder than they can while doing virtually anything else, including all traditional (kinetic) exercises”.
He ended by explaining the first physical law of Non-Kinetic exercise methods, “The external motion resistance always moves across the extremities and spine, this direction naturally drives the resistance against contractions first, exerting muscles up to hundreds of times harder, because this direction also totally prevents joint and disk compression.”
To finish his point, Kinetic exercises drive their forces parallel (up and down) the spine and extremity bones, which uses immensely more exercise energy by smashing and torquing joints and disks, than is aimed against targeted contractions. Virtually all of the External Motion Resistance force from a correctly engineered Non-Kinetic exercise method only opposes targeted contractions.
Craig Wise, the National Health and Fitness method reporter for Examiner.com, has been involved with this adult exercise methods efficiency study for years, and so cannot discuss its methods or manual of Non-Kinetic Exercises for adults, as that could be considered self-promotion.
As more non-promotional information about Non-Kinetic Exercises is released, look for it here at examiner.com.
To insure you learn it first, subscribe on this page.
According to virtually all leading health and fitness organizations, including the National Academy of Sports Medicine and Livestrong. com, “all muscle and heart exercises (wet or dry) are Kinetic”.
These health and fitness organizations teach that all exercises fall into one of two “kinetic chain” categories. One is for weight bearing, like weightlifting, and the other is non-weight bearing, covering most everything from push-ups to swimming, to dancing, to climbing and running.
Either way, all Kinetic exercises still use the skeleton to send and receive the powerful exercise forces (muscle effort and motion resistance) to and from the muscle contractions that they target.
Today (April, 3, 2015) engineer James R Farrow, from the Adult Exercise Project, the first group to use Bio Force Mapping (BFM) to trace and measure exercise forces through the human body, explained exclusively to examiner.com, how many of today’s most common exercise methods force hundreds of times more force through adult spinal disks and joints than they can physically aim against the muscle contractions they target.
He explained “First, because Kinetic exercises drive all effort and resistance energy through joints and spinal disks, they are unable to drive more force that the weakest link in their ‘kinetic chains’ can tolerate. Just approaching their first skeletal weakness is extremely painful for most adults and seniors, so most will never even do stout kinetic exercise regularly”.
He explained this limited to first weakness kinetic problem has kept it impossible for adults, even the strongest athletes, from building core strength even remotely close to their full potential.
He continued, “Genetics are a good start, but all of the strongest and fastest adult athletes built far stronger joints and disks during their childhood (than average adults), by frequently overworking these parts before they hardened into adulthood”.
“Because great athletes are able to exert their muscles much harder than average Joe’s, they look as if they have come close to maximized strength. However, their much stronger than average weakest links, still ‘plateau’ their muscle strengthening, long before their full potential can be reached”.
Kinetic exercise appear to be all people have used for thousands of years, so today's health and fitness experts and organizations remain unaware that far superior Non-Kinetic adult exercises can even exist.
Next he offered some obvious evidence to prove his point. “If a full sized adult athlete tried to run with all the range their core running muscles (their largest group) could swing their hips, they would instantly destroy a knee. This is a simple to see example of how the first skeletal weakness, along a kinetic chain, massively limits targeted muscle exertion. This also exposes that a massive amount of core running strength has never been exercised, when running is used as a running exercise”.
Than he explained, ” Non-Kinetic Exercises end almost every problem that Kinetic exercises cause for adults, because they only use external sources, to move motion resistance and muscle effort forces directly to and from targeted muscle contractions, instead of the skeleton. Since Non-Kinetic Exercises do not create kinetic force transfer chains through the skeleton, they are the first fitness science that will allow almost any average to older adult to exert their targeted muscles up to hundreds of times harder than they can while doing virtually anything else, including all traditional (kinetic) exercises”.
He ended by explaining the first physical law of Non-Kinetic exercise methods, “The external motion resistance always moves across the extremities and spine, this direction naturally drives the resistance against contractions first, exerting muscles up to hundreds of times harder, because this direction also totally prevents joint and disk compression.”
To finish his point, Kinetic exercises drive their forces parallel (up and down) the spine and extremity bones, which uses immensely more exercise energy by smashing and torquing joints and disks, than is aimed against targeted contractions. Virtually all of the External Motion Resistance force from a correctly engineered Non-Kinetic exercise method only opposes targeted contractions.
Craig Wise, the National Health and Fitness method reporter for Examiner.com, has been involved with this adult exercise methods efficiency study for years, and so cannot discuss its methods or manual of Non-Kinetic Exercises for adults, as that could be considered self-promotion.
As more non-promotional information about Non-Kinetic Exercises is released, look for it here at examiner.com.
To insure you learn it first, subscribe on this page.
The Dark Side of Your Fitbit And Fitness App
Tracking steps and inputting calories into your smart phone drown out the conversation we should be having with our bodies.
We don’t trust ourselves anymore. The act of exercise is no longer a mind-to-body experience but rather a mind-to-fitness-tracker-device-to-body phenomenon.
Instead of listening to our bodies—when we need a glass of water instead of food, need a nap instead of a coffee, or become suddenly hangry after processing the 42 grams of sugar from a Starbuck’s classic chai tea latte (inducing a severe attack of hypoglycemia)—we turn to our Fitbit, Garmin, Nike Fuel Band, Jawbone or one of the many other fitness trackers, or MyFitnessPal.
For the record, I’m not telling you to trash your Jawbone or delete your MyFitnessPal app. As a personal trainer, your use of a fitness tracker or food app means one thing to me: you are somewhere on the spectrum of behavior change for health, you’re curious about health, and if you sport the fitness tracker on your wrist in a pink coral color, you just love fitness jewelry.
Here’s my problem with fitness trackers and food calorie counting apps: They all rely on very limited metrics (steps taken, movement when you sleep, calorie tracking, heart rate monitor in some, and distance traveled with the movement) giving you a very skewed analysis about your health. Your health, however, is not so black and white, just like the colors of your fitness tracker. Two hours on the row machine, like Frank Underwood does, will not cancel out the pizza you ate during your House of Cards binge.
Your health depends on so many factors—cultural, genetic, whether your cat lets you sleep at night—that I find it really interesting our fascination with the extraordinary simplicity of the fitness tracker and food app scene. Yet, nearly half of all smartphone users indulge in some form of health app according to the American Journal of Medicine (and half of all Americans adults have a smartphone). That’s a lot of people using insufficient forms of data feedback to make big assumptions about their health.
When David Sedaris purchased his Fibit last summer, this small piece of technology inspired him to walk after dinner instead of sitting on the couch. When his Fitbit died, however, walking became pointless without the steps being counted or measured. Sound familiar?
Two hours on the row machine, like Frank Underwood does, will not cancel out the pizza you ate during your House of Cards binge.
I equate using a fitness tracker or food calorie tracker as a marker of dishonesty with ourselves. We are missing a pivotal step: self-reflection. It’s really easy to buy a Nike Fuel band and wear it. It’s much harder, however, to get deep with yourself.
Fitness apps are a flawed, abbreviated version of this self-reflection process. They focus too much on the number of steps, calories, or distance traveled. Fitness tracking devices distract us from what really needs to happen: we need to look at ourselves naked in the mirror and have an honest conversation with our naked self about the status of our health. From a weight-loss standpoint, it’s critical. Then let’s unplug the TV, peel ourselves off the couch (if not get rid of both the TV and couch), and buy a few free weights and a yoga mat before throwing down for a fitness tracker. The cost is about the same, but the impacts couldn’t be more different.
The quest to “knowing thyself” is distorted, not enhanced, when we let the fitness trackers and food calorie apps take over. Take the MyFitnessPal app, which scans and tracks calories. Here’s the conundrum: Our bodies do not interpret all calories to be created equal, just like legislators in Indiana don’t believe their residents are created equal, but that’s another story. Point being, tracking the calories is not going to make you any healthier because the body metabolizes calories from say, one gram of sugar, differently than it does from, say, one gram of fat. Yet, our American culture wants to simplify this concept. I recommend using the time spent logging your calories by reading Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss and learning about the plotting of the food industry instead of pretending to be a nutritionist. Better yet, use the time you spend scanning your food by watching this violent salad video and getting inspired.
I have not bought a fitness tracker to be an iconoclast. Honestly, I hear the Jawbones get smelly, break after six months, and I don’t believe the metrics will make me any healthier. The snap bracelet fad of the ‘90s is also the extent of my career wearing plastic or nickel so that I can avoid getting the cancer as long as possible. I also don’t need a device informing me of my restless nights of sleep. I can infer that by my baggy eyes in the morning. In a way, using a fitness tracker is like going to the revered and intimate Lambeau Field and being glued to the pixels of the Jumbotron instead of watching the beauty of an Aaron Rodger’s touchdown-throw from afar. The technology is eschewing the overall experience.
The battle between listening to your own body’s needs versus letting technology tell you what your body needs has begun. Call me a Luddite, but I side with your inner voice. When was the last time you wrote in a journal—dear diary—how you felt physically (energy levels), what you ate and your mood two-three hours later; or what you did for exercise (walking included) and used complete sentences? It sounds cheesy, but I’m serious. You owe it to yourself. Tracking calories from your Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup addiction in a food app is not going to solve your problems. Reflecting on how groggy you felt after eating the sugar bomb will.
Alas, a beacon of hope shines through with the Apple watch. Reason being, the Apple watch reportedly blends the quality of the movement (heart-rate?) paired with personalized reminders based on the S.M.A.R.T method. You set the parameters. The watch also relies on a larger variety of metrics and these data points could cultivate a better mind-to-body connection. Only time will tell, I’m still doubtful, but as my favorite Styx song suggests, “The problem’s plain to see: too much technology. Machines to save our lives. Machines dehumanize.”
We should be pursuing fitness activities not for the sake of pleasing the fitness app and hitting the numbers (nor to share the length of our run in Central Park) but because exercise makes us feel better, look better, and be better.
Put another way, occasionally cover the treadmill screen with your towel at the gym and listen to your body, not your app.
We don’t trust ourselves anymore. The act of exercise is no longer a mind-to-body experience but rather a mind-to-fitness-tracker-device-to-body phenomenon.
Instead of listening to our bodies—when we need a glass of water instead of food, need a nap instead of a coffee, or become suddenly hangry after processing the 42 grams of sugar from a Starbuck’s classic chai tea latte (inducing a severe attack of hypoglycemia)—we turn to our Fitbit, Garmin, Nike Fuel Band, Jawbone or one of the many other fitness trackers, or MyFitnessPal.
For the record, I’m not telling you to trash your Jawbone or delete your MyFitnessPal app. As a personal trainer, your use of a fitness tracker or food app means one thing to me: you are somewhere on the spectrum of behavior change for health, you’re curious about health, and if you sport the fitness tracker on your wrist in a pink coral color, you just love fitness jewelry.
Here’s my problem with fitness trackers and food calorie counting apps: They all rely on very limited metrics (steps taken, movement when you sleep, calorie tracking, heart rate monitor in some, and distance traveled with the movement) giving you a very skewed analysis about your health. Your health, however, is not so black and white, just like the colors of your fitness tracker. Two hours on the row machine, like Frank Underwood does, will not cancel out the pizza you ate during your House of Cards binge.
Your health depends on so many factors—cultural, genetic, whether your cat lets you sleep at night—that I find it really interesting our fascination with the extraordinary simplicity of the fitness tracker and food app scene. Yet, nearly half of all smartphone users indulge in some form of health app according to the American Journal of Medicine (and half of all Americans adults have a smartphone). That’s a lot of people using insufficient forms of data feedback to make big assumptions about their health.
When David Sedaris purchased his Fibit last summer, this small piece of technology inspired him to walk after dinner instead of sitting on the couch. When his Fitbit died, however, walking became pointless without the steps being counted or measured. Sound familiar?
Two hours on the row machine, like Frank Underwood does, will not cancel out the pizza you ate during your House of Cards binge.
I equate using a fitness tracker or food calorie tracker as a marker of dishonesty with ourselves. We are missing a pivotal step: self-reflection. It’s really easy to buy a Nike Fuel band and wear it. It’s much harder, however, to get deep with yourself.
Fitness apps are a flawed, abbreviated version of this self-reflection process. They focus too much on the number of steps, calories, or distance traveled. Fitness tracking devices distract us from what really needs to happen: we need to look at ourselves naked in the mirror and have an honest conversation with our naked self about the status of our health. From a weight-loss standpoint, it’s critical. Then let’s unplug the TV, peel ourselves off the couch (if not get rid of both the TV and couch), and buy a few free weights and a yoga mat before throwing down for a fitness tracker. The cost is about the same, but the impacts couldn’t be more different.
The quest to “knowing thyself” is distorted, not enhanced, when we let the fitness trackers and food calorie apps take over. Take the MyFitnessPal app, which scans and tracks calories. Here’s the conundrum: Our bodies do not interpret all calories to be created equal, just like legislators in Indiana don’t believe their residents are created equal, but that’s another story. Point being, tracking the calories is not going to make you any healthier because the body metabolizes calories from say, one gram of sugar, differently than it does from, say, one gram of fat. Yet, our American culture wants to simplify this concept. I recommend using the time spent logging your calories by reading Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss and learning about the plotting of the food industry instead of pretending to be a nutritionist. Better yet, use the time you spend scanning your food by watching this violent salad video and getting inspired.
I have not bought a fitness tracker to be an iconoclast. Honestly, I hear the Jawbones get smelly, break after six months, and I don’t believe the metrics will make me any healthier. The snap bracelet fad of the ‘90s is also the extent of my career wearing plastic or nickel so that I can avoid getting the cancer as long as possible. I also don’t need a device informing me of my restless nights of sleep. I can infer that by my baggy eyes in the morning. In a way, using a fitness tracker is like going to the revered and intimate Lambeau Field and being glued to the pixels of the Jumbotron instead of watching the beauty of an Aaron Rodger’s touchdown-throw from afar. The technology is eschewing the overall experience.
The battle between listening to your own body’s needs versus letting technology tell you what your body needs has begun. Call me a Luddite, but I side with your inner voice. When was the last time you wrote in a journal—dear diary—how you felt physically (energy levels), what you ate and your mood two-three hours later; or what you did for exercise (walking included) and used complete sentences? It sounds cheesy, but I’m serious. You owe it to yourself. Tracking calories from your Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup addiction in a food app is not going to solve your problems. Reflecting on how groggy you felt after eating the sugar bomb will.
Alas, a beacon of hope shines through with the Apple watch. Reason being, the Apple watch reportedly blends the quality of the movement (heart-rate?) paired with personalized reminders based on the S.M.A.R.T method. You set the parameters. The watch also relies on a larger variety of metrics and these data points could cultivate a better mind-to-body connection. Only time will tell, I’m still doubtful, but as my favorite Styx song suggests, “The problem’s plain to see: too much technology. Machines to save our lives. Machines dehumanize.”
We should be pursuing fitness activities not for the sake of pleasing the fitness app and hitting the numbers (nor to share the length of our run in Central Park) but because exercise makes us feel better, look better, and be better.
Put another way, occasionally cover the treadmill screen with your towel at the gym and listen to your body, not your app.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Take part in free fitness classes through No Sweat York
By Caitlin Kerfin
ckerfin@ydr.com @ckerfin on Twitter
Community members gather for a free pilates class as part of No Sweat in the Park at the York Daily Record/Sunday News in West Manchester Township. No Sweat York offers a free fitness class each Tuesday beginning in May through the summer. (File)
You know warmer weather is on the way when you get the No Sweat in the Park schedule. So here it is, a promise that summer is not too far ahead.
If you don't already know, the York Daily Record is committed to helping our community get stronger and feel better, and we do that with our No Sweat, York initiative.
Along with the blog that we feed with healthy things all year, we hold free and open community fitness classes during the summer on our lawn. We call it No Sweat in the Park.
We've had great participation in previous years, which included classes like yoga, Zumba, Pilates and boot camp. But we are expanding our class offerings this year and getting more of the fitness community involved.
Alysia Dickens with Lifestyles Fitness & Weight Loss Studio leads a No Sweat in the Park boot camp class outside of the York Daily Record/Sunday News building in West Manchester Township. (File)
We will have 11 different fitness experts and organizations involved, bringing you a variety of activities to try Tuesdays at 6 p.m. from May through September on the lawn behind our building, at 1891 Lucks Road in West Manchester Township.
Without further ado, here's what we have lined up for May:
Lotus Moon Yoga: May 5 and 12Owner and yoga instructor Megan Donley will be teaching an all-levels class to make sure to include everybody. If you have practiced yoga before, she will give you options for advanced postures, and if you're new, there will be various modifications.
The class will be a mix of Hatha and Vinyasa, meaning different poses will be held with a flow between. There will be a focus on mindfulness and practicing relaxation.
What to bring: A yoga mat or towel/blanket if you would like, although some people just practice on the grass without one. Bring water, and wear comfortable clothing. It may still be chilly, so bring layers if you need. Shoes will be taken off for practice, and bring an open mind.
Kickboxing with Jen Kuhn: May 19 and 26Kickboxing is designed to push your cardio and strength into overdrive, Jen Kuhn said in an email. She is a group fitness instructor at My Fitness Quest, Heritage Hills Athletic Club and York College.
Kickboxing is a martial arts training format designed to give you a simple workout with fantastic results. But don't be scared, no experience is necessary, the class is for all fitness levels, she said.
For more information about the season schedule, check our blog at www.yorkblog.com/nosweat, and follow us @NoSweatYork.
What to bring: a mat or towel, plenty of water, and dress in appropriate workout clothing and sneakers.
TipsHere are some tips for taking part in yoga or kickboxing.
Yoga:1.Listening to your body. Make sure that whatever you're doing isn't hurting or straining the body. The purpose of yoga is to be in an aware relationship with our bodies, so honor the body and back off or work harder if you need to.
2. Breathe. Keep a steady, even breath and practice deepening your breath more than you normally do. Doing so calms us down and keeps us focused.
3. Have an open mind. Bring a sense of playfulness, it should be fun, too, so tension can be released.
Kickboxing:1. Be willing to try new moves and be patient with yourself.
2. Give the class a couple of tries to decide if it's something you like to do.
3. Be sure that the instructor is visible to you. Never hesitate to ask the instructor for help before or after a class.
4. As you are punching and kicking, imagine you are actually connecting with an opponent.
5. Relax and have fun!
Related No Sweat York: Freestyle swimming
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)