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BLOOMINGTON Here are tips for people starting outdoor exercise programs this summer:

Adjust for the outdoors

Running outside is different from a treadmill. The changing environment and terrain means you need to make adjustments in your running, which makes the workout more difficult but better for you, said Allison Wholf, Advocate BroMenn wellness specialist. Because you arent just zoning out on an exercise machine, you are keeping boredom at bay and using all your senses.

Start slowly

Everyone even people who have exercised indoors should pull back when they begin outdoor exercise, advised Barb Wells, Bloomington superintendent of recreation. Weather especially heat and humidity will affect every workout.

Dont start out by exercising five days in a row, said Mitch Hobbs of Often Running and the Lake Run Club.

Get good shoes

No matter what your outdoor activity, make sure you have a good pair of shoes for that exercise, which can reduce the risk of all sorts of aches, pain and injuries. If your shoes are more than a year old, you probably need a new pair, Hobbs advised.

Hobbs suggests that people bring in their old shoes and be fitted by a professional because most people buy shoes that are too small.

A $100 pair of shoes is a minimal investment to reduce the risk of shin, knee, hip and back pain, he said.

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Tips for running outside

A local effort to reinvent community exercise programs eventually could improve the health of Columbians.

For now, however, the major benefit for local runners and walkers is they can get free use of the Drew Wellness Center indoor track for a few weeks during the heat of summer. To gain that access, they have to participate in the test run of EnduringFX, which uses computer chips and software to record exercise data.

The concept of EnduringFX is to allow participants to compare their running time and distance against their own previous outings and against those of other participants, said Jim Stritzinger, the software entrepreneur behind the idea.

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Stritzinger hopes to raise $125,000 to pay for a large-scale manifestation of his idea in Riverfront Park, complete with small video screens at each mile-marker along the paved trail and a video scoreboard people can check as they head back to the parking lot.

City parks officials approved a test run this month on the indoor track at Drew Wellness Center, 2101 Walker Solomon Way. Through June 24, anyone willing to attach the tracking chip to their shoelaces and participate in the trial can use the indoor track without having to pay admission.

Stritzinger sees his program as an innovative way to attack the countrys obesity problem. The core idea is that we have all of these community parks that are conveniently located and probably the most under-used assets in America, he said.

The EnduringFX scoreboard and website can keep cumulative data on participants to determine who has been fastest over a certain distance or run the longest distance any day, week or month. There are lots of ways to slice the data, Stritzinger said.

The scoreboard feature incorporates an extra sense of competition or accomplishment that might draw more runners or walkers to the parks. Well be successful if we get a lot of people moving who have never moved before, Stritzinger said. We want to create a social network experience for exercise.

Initially, there will be no fee for participants, though the long-range plan calls for charging for extra features on the EnduringFX website. The city has made no financial commitment. Stritzinger plans to cover the $125,000 startup with grants or sponsorships.

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Innovative exercise program gets tryout in Columbia

PHILADELPHIA, May 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Covenant Security Services (CSS) has been contracted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to create a National Security Seminar and Exercise Program focused on Active Shooter awareness and proper response.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120530/CG16014LOGO)

The Active Shooter program addresses the importance of having an incident management plan for an active shooter or hostage situation at critical infrastructures, corporations, and other similar organizations. During these one-day seminars all around the country, facility owners and operators will learn the critical components of a healthy response plan: communication with employees; employee accountability; familiarization with local emergency responders and the services they offer; coordination and communication with first responders; and public affairs.

CSS Vice President of Training James E. McGinty provides an in-depth history and analysis of active shooters with ample insight into tendencies and lessons learned. Following the seminar portion of the program, attendees participate in an Active Shooter Tabletop Exercise, administered by Covenant. The interactive exercise provides a window into the first critical moments of responding properly to an active shooter situation.

Upcoming Active Shooter Seminar and Exercise Programs:

June 12, 2012 Detroit, MI June 20, 2012 Chicago, IL June 21, 2012 Chicago, IL July 24, 2012 San Francisco, CA July 26, 2012 Seattle, WA Aug. 7, 2012 Orlando, FL Aug. 8, 2012 Tampa, FL Aug. 10, 2012 Miami, FL Sept. 17, 2012 Denver, CO Sept. 18, 2012 Salt Lake City, UT Sept 19, 2012 TBD

For more information, please contact William Alton at william.alton@covenantsecurity.com.

About Covenant Security Services, LTD Founded in 1992, Covenant Security Services (CSS) is an American Women-Owned security services firm that partners with Fortune 500 companies. As the 7th largest American-owned security company, CSS delivers high quality, multi-site national programs for commercial clients like Air Products & Chemicals, Praxair, and Kimberly-Clark. CSS also manages sophisticated protective force operations for the U.S. Government such as The Department of Labor Headquarters and the U.S. Navy's Naval Support Activity in Philadelphia. CSS delivers professional security teams focused on safety and customer service.

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Covenant Security Services Contracted by the Department of Homeland Security to Provide Nationwide Training on Active ...

The summer break just started, but instead of relaxing and hanging out at the mall, many children are back at school, working hard and getting in shape for fall.

Classes may be out for the summer, but a lot of Montgomery County schools are offering organized strength, exercise, weight training and sports camps over the summer months for seventh-graders through seniors in high school.

Were starting the kids off with a mile run and then move on to conditioning exercises, said John Cicherski, a football coach at Peet Junior High. We teach them about weigh training and do some light drills all without pads, helmets or contact.

More than 50 seventh- and eighth-grade students showed up for the first summer weight training and conditioning program offered at Peet Monday morning. The supervised sessions are free for incoming and returning students, although participants must be cleared by a physicians examination before they are allowed to participate.

Its getting warm outside, acknowledged Cicherski, so we have lots of breaks and lots of water.

Peet, like many schools, makes its athletic fields, equipment and staff available to students who want to stay in shape over the summer or work on their athletic abilities for team sports in the coming year.

Clint Heard, athletic director for the Montgomery Independent School District, said the high school weight room is available from 8 a.m. to noon and 6-8 p.m. for students in seventh grade and above.

We also offer a special program managed by Cap Elite for more structured exercise, condition and cardio workout, Heard said. There is a fee, but its a program managed locally so kids can participate without leaving the district.

Evan Stone, a coach with the Willis Independent School District, said several programs are available for boys and girls. Specific schedules are available at http://www.willisisd.org.

University Interscholastic League regulations allow up to two hours of supervised athletic activities each day, but the programs are strictly voluntary and cannot include specific skill instructions for any sport, according to the UIL website. The optional programs can last no longer than six weeks and are limited to strength and conditioning regimens.

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Area schools offer organized exercise programs

We've long known that exercising and eating fruits and veggies can, over the long-term, help improve both the quality and quantity of our years. But the effect of healthy behaviors on longevity among those who have already reached senior citizen status may also be strong. That's especially true when a produce-heavy diet and exercise routine have been combined, according to new research.

A study in this month's Journal of the American Geriatrics Society finds that women in their 70s who live in senior citizen communities may still be able to improve the length of their years with an exercise and healthy eating plan. The researchers studied the exercise and eating habits of 713 women, aged 70 to 79, as part of the Women's Health and Aging Studies.

They found that women with both the highest level of physical fitness, as measured by survey responses, and the highest consumption of fruits and vegetables (measured via a blood test) were eight times less likely to die than the women who performed the worst in both of these categories.

Each category, individually, was also effective. All told, women who were in the most active group at the start of the study were 71 percent less likely to die over the five-year period of study than the least active group. And among those who survived, their average serum carotenoid levels -- the compound researchers looked for in the blood tests to gauge high-produce diet -- was 12 percent higher than in the group who died.

So what's the takeaway? It's never too late to up the veggie, fruit and exercise quotients in your life -- and to great effect. This study proves that the returns to women in their 70s are significant, and that could be a good impetus for improved programming at senior facilities and among geriatric doctors.

Programs and policies to promote longevity should include interventions to improve nutrition and physical activity in older adults, lead author Dr. Emily J Nicklett, from the University of Michigan School of Social Work said in a statement.

Inspired? Check out this list of exercises that have been found to increase longevity.

In 2008, a small Swiss study found that sedentary people who switched from taking escalators and elevators to taking the stairs cut their risk of dying prematurely by 15 percent.

"This suggests that stair climbing can have major public health implications," lead researcher Dr. Philippe Meyer, told the BBC.

An earlier look at data from the Harvard Alumni Health Study also found that climbing 35 or more flights of stairs a week significantly increased longevity when compared to people who climbed fewer than 10 stories a week.

Flickr photo by mariachily

Biking to work is a great way to squeeze exercise into your day, spend some time outside and even save on gas money. But a leisurely ride, while it might leave you less sweaty upon arrival at the office, won't do as much for your lifespan as if you really ride it out.

A study of Copenhagen cyclists found that men who pedaled the fastest lived more than five years longer than slower cycling men, and the fastest women cyclists lived almost four years longer.

Flickr photo by terren in Virginia

A 2009 analysis of data from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study found that men who swam regularly had about a 50 percent smaller risk of dying than sedentary men -- but swimmers also had a lower mortality rate than men who walked and ran for their exercise.

Flickr photo by West Point Public Affairs

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Exercise, Diet Improve Longevity For Older Women

The Dover Public Librarys summer reading program is moving beyond the bookshelf, with crafts, gardening, wellness and exercise programs along with reading incentives for children ages 3 to 12 who participate in the six-week program.

Pat Rombach, childrens library, said the staff wanted to expand the program to include more than just reading.

With all the discussions about childhood obesity, we tried to think of a fun way to get children involved with good eating habits, fun exercise and reading, she said.

The reading portion of the program requires participants to read or be read to for 90 minutes each week through the six-week period. Children who complete the program will receive a certificate, a new paperback book, an invitation to a party at the Dover Pool on Aug. 10 and a chance to win a new bicycle provided by the Tuscarawas County Dairy Farmers Association.

Story and craft times during the summer program will run July 20-25 for children 5 months to 6 years. Infant time is 10 a.m., toddlers at 10:30 a.m., 3- to 4 year-olds at 11 a.m. and ages 5 to 6 at noon. Children ages 6 to 8 can join the Primary Club, and those 9-12 are invited to the Tween Club.

Registration for the reading programs start Monday and runs through June 16.

The library is sponsoring a community pizza garden in conjunction with the wellness portion of the program. The pizza garden will feature plants used in pizza and salsa. Planting will begin at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, with a talk by Heather Parsio from Stutzman Lawn & Garden. Planting will continue at 2 p.m. Thursday if necessary. Families looking to participate in the community garden must register by Monday. Participation is open to children 3-12 and their families.

The library will also be revamping the grounds with the help of local children. From 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. June 13, children ages 3 to 12 are asked to bring an old pair of shoes or boots to the library and plant flowers in them. One shoe will go home, and the other will stay on the library grounds. Registration for this program is open through Friday.

The exercise program will run 10 to 11 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays June 22-July 28 on the front lawn of Dover High. Children will work with hula hoops, balls, jump ropes and more, take a walk around the school, and then return to the library for a snack. Friday mornings are reserved for children ages 3 to 7, while those ages 8 to 12 are welcome Saturday mornings. Registration for this program runs through June 16.

The library is also sponsoring two healthy eating programs. The first, featuring Linda Krupa from the Ohio State University Extension, is open to children ages 5 to 12 and their families. Get Your Plate in Shape will run from 2 to 3 p.m. June 15. Registration runs through June 13.

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Dover library offers variety in summer reading program

June 1, 2012

Walking the dog. Skipping. These are all exercises that incorporate steps, something that is especially necessary for older adults. A new study by researchers at the University of Western Sydney, published in the journal Annals of Family Medicine, found that pedometers could possibly encourage the elderly to mix in more physical activity in their daily schedules.

The findings showed that giving older adults a pedometer motivated them to seek exercise and was more successful than simply giving them advice to follow. They participated in more leisurely walking. The participants also tried to complete more daily tasks with walking, such as walking to the store for groceries instead of driving there.

Leisure walking is seen as a manageable form of physical activity for older adults, and hence should be more actively encouraged, noted lead author Gregory S. Kolt, a professor at the University of Western Sydney in Australia, in an article by Reuters Health.

Pedometers are devices that count the number of steps a person takes. It can be worn at the waist and can be used throughout the day or during a particular activity. Experts advise people to take 10,000 steps a day, which is equal to a 20-minute walk made up of 2,000 steps.

However, there arent many people who reach the recommended goal of 10,000 steps a day. Past studies have showed that Americans takes about 5,000 steps a day and those in other countries are more successful at reaching the 10,000 steps goal. Furthermore, getting older adults to increase the number of steps they take a day is even more difficult task to accomplish. In the study, Kolt and other researchers examined how giving pedometers to older adults could inspire them to increase their walking.

In the project, researchers randomly assigned the 300 participants, who were 65 or older, to two different programs. In one program, the participants were given pedometers to use and asked to walk more. In another program, the participants were asked to be more active and were given follow-up calls that tracked their progress with exercise counselors; this particular program was inspired by a program called Green Prescription in New Zealand. After a year, those who were in the pedometer group increased their physical activity to 50 more minutes a day while those in the Green Prescription program only increased their physical activity to 28 minutes more a day. The increase in exercise also improved blood pressure levels in both groups; older adults decreased their systolic pressure, the top number in blood pressure readings, by 10 points.

Pedometers, in this study, likely improved the efficacy of the activity prescription by providing regular objective monitoring and feedback to assist motivation. The function is achieved through participants ability to see the number of steps attained through particular activities and throughout the day. It could be that the pedometers encouraged more achievable and sustainable increases in habitual physical activities that are not necessarily supported by a time-based prescription, wrote the authors in the report.

Based on the research, pedometers could be an inexpensive, easy way for older adults to increase their physical activity and meet or exceed their health goals.

Leisure walking is an important component of overall physical activity especially in older adults, Kolt explained to Reuters Health in an email.

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Pedometers Motivate The Elderly To Exercise

Australian researchers found that pedometer-wearing seniors exercised more than twice as much as a control group given identical counseling and instructions.

The benefits of exercise for seniors have been well described. They include improvements in physical, emotional and cognitive health, as well as better quality of life.

We know exercise positively influences the course of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, depression, and even some cancers. Yet as seniors age, their exercise routines often suffer and they engage in less physical activity. What strategies can be used to motivate seniors to increase rather than decrease the time they spend in exercise? A recent study by Australian researchers offers one answer.

The 330 seniors (over the age of 65) recruited were each enrolled in a program which included training, motivational counseling and follow up. Enrollees first met with their primary care doctor who outlined the exercise program, explained its medical benefits and gave a prescription for physical exercise. The researchers then divided the participants into two groups.

In the first group, researchers asked everyone to track and hopefully increase their exercise by simply reporting the actual time they spent. Members of the second group were additionally asked to use a pedometer to count the number of steps they took. Goals were set to increase either steps taken or time spent in exercise incrementally over time.

Over the course of the study, physical exercise counselors made three follow up phone calls to support and encourage the patients' exercise programs, identify barriers and find ways to increase exercise. For example, both groups were encouraged to walk to perform local errands and social visits rather than drive. In addition to total exercise time for each group, researchers compared blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), number of falls and quality of life between the two groups. The period of intervention was three months and the study goals were reassessed 12 months from the onset.

Based on previous research, the investigators expected that the pedometer group would be more motivated to increase their daily steps and therefore spend more time exercising. Indeed, by the end of three months, the pedometer group had increased their exercise time by 63.0 minutes per week compared to the reported time-only group whose exercise time expanded less than half as much, 30.9 minutes.

By the end of a year, the pedometer group was still ahead, though the number of minutes of added exercise had dropped to 49.6 while the results for the reported time-only group, 28.1, was only slightly lower. This was the only significant difference between the two groups but both showed lowered blood pressure, supporting the important role of exercise in the management of hypertension. Neither group showed a difference in BMI and neither group experienced more falls.

The researchers concluded that the pedometer was an effective motivator for increasing the amount of time seniors spend exercising. They speculated that it provided a visual monitor which gave positive feedback as the pedometer clearly showed seniors how simple changes in habits can add up to large changes in total daily/weekly steps. Regardless of the intervention type, the improved exercise regimen persisted for at least one year from the start of the program.

The study was reported in the May 2012 issue of the Annals of Family Practice.

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Want the Simplest Way to Exercise More? Count Your Steps

New York, May 31 : A well-known group of researchers have found that exercise could actually be bad for few people and might even trigger problems related to heart and blood pressure.

By studying the data from six rigorous exercise studies involving 1,687 people, the group found that about 10 percent actually got worse on at least one measure related to heart disease: blood pressure and levels of insulin, HDL cholesterol or triglycerides and about 7 percent got worse on at least two measures.

But the researchers don't have answer to such peculiar finding.

'It is bizarre,' the New York Times quoted Claude Bouchard, lead author of the paper and a professor of genetics and nutrition at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, part of the Louisian State University system as saying.

While many researchers have applauded the study, there are many who are worried about the consequences.

'There are a lot of people out there looking for any excuse not to exercise,' said William Haskell, emeritus professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center.

'This might be an excuse for them to say, 'Oh, I must be one of those ten percent,' said Haskell

But counterbalancing the 10 percent, who got worse were about the same proportion who had an exceedingly good response on at least one measure.

Others had responses ranging from little or no change up to big changes, seen in about 10 percent, where risk factor measurements got better anywhere from 20 to 50 percent

'That should make folks happy,' said Dr. William E. Kraus, a co-author of the study who is professor of medicine and director of clinical research at Duke.

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Exercise may up heart risk for some

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Sports Medicine / Fitness Also Included In: Cardiovascular / Cardiology;Diabetes Article Date: 31 May 2012 - 2:00 PDT

Current ratings for: 'Exercise May Be Bad For Some'

3.5 (2 votes)

Claude Bouchard, a professor of genetics and nutrition in the Human Genomics Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the US, was lead author of the study, which was published online in PLoS ONE on 30 May.

Bouchard and colleagues write in their background information that public health guidelines suggest adults should do 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity physical activity, or 75 minutes a week of vigorous intensity activity.

However, it is now well established that different people respond differently to exercise in terms of cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiometabolic and diabetes risk factors.

But the question that still remains, is whether there are people for whom the effect of regular exercise on these risk factors could be harmful.

For their study, Bouchard and colleagues analyzed data from six rigorous studies that looked at the effect of exercise in a total of 1,687 adults.

These studies were the HERITAGE Family Study, the DREW Study, the INFLAME Study, and the STRRIDE Study, plus cohorts from two other studies, one from the University of Maryland and another from the University of Jyvaskyla.

They looked to see how many of the participants experienced an adverse response to exercise, which they defined as an "exercise-induced change that worsens a risk factor beyond measurement error and expected day-to-day variation".

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Exercise May Be Bad For Some

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