Image by Mitch Mandel (September 2010 Runners World)

Exercising while barefoot is a good way to work on your balance, proprioception (joint position sense) and lower leg strength. Runners World has a fine short article on Barefoot Exercise written by Adam Bean (which I was interviewed for) in the September, 2010 issue and online.

Several Videos of an agile athlete demonstrating the exercises are online and on the iPad app.

The wobble board exercise is particularly good for many ankle injuries as part of a recovery plan. The toe curls and toe pickups can be helpful in conjunction with an overall plan for plantar fasciitis. Overall the series of exercises was set up for a healthy runner. In you have an injury, check with your sports doc or PT for advice specific to your injury.

Toe Curls

Toe Pickups

Wobble Board

One-leg Hops

One Leg Squats

The Future: A Pill To Prevent Cognitive Decline?
Why not exercise?

For many years scientists believed that the adult human brain was not able to make new cross connections. Neurons were thought to stop functioning and die at a high rate as one aged. Altman, in 1964, hypothesized that vertebrates could create new neurons, but this did not become a prevailing view until much later. Neural plasticity, the ability of

Andrew Pieper, M.D., Ph.D.

the brain to change and respond to conditions and experiences was believed to get worse and worse each year. This is not the case. A number of studies have shown that the brain continues to be active, nerves can “learn” and cross connect actively, and aging doesn’t inevitably lead to a severe cognitive decline. Dementia also, is not inevitable. And exercise makes it significantly less likely.

Science Friday recently interviewed researcher Steven McKnight and reported on a new study that came up with what may be the first pill to lessen cognitive decline. The study was performed on rats and looked at the impact of P7C3 on the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. The authors conclusions were:

• P7C3 stabilizes mitochondrial membrane potential and inhibits newborn neuron apoptosis (programmed cell death)
• P7C3 corrects hippocampal deficits in mice devoid of adult neurogenesis
• P7C3 preserves cognitive capacity in aged rats

But, just as studies have shown that for many cases exercise can help with depression and sometimes be better than the “pills”, exercise has already been shown to be a good inhibitor in humans of both cognitive decline and dementia. The authors of the P7C3 study even noted that rats who perform voluntary exercise have a lower cognitive decline associated with aging. And social integration of the rats is another “environmental” factor associated with a decreased risk of cognitive decline.

While you are waiting for clinical trials and FDA approval of P7C3 and the “lose weight magic pill” you can take action today. Besides, the active ingredient of the pill already has a patent pending. So, get out there and exercise. Exercise should be a life long activity. If you find as you age that you can no longer do the same exercise you were doing before, it isn’t hard to find other activities to substitute. Run, walk, swim, bike, elliptical, rowing machine are all fine ways to get aerobic exercise. Body weight exercise, dumbbells, or machines all work well for strength training. The exercise recommendation is:

30 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise – 5 days per week
(or 20 minutes vigorous aerobic exercise – 3 days per week)
2 days of strength training each week

Related:

What Made The Brain Get Bigger: Exercise and Evolution

References:

Altman J. Are new neurons formed in the brains of adult mammals? Science. 1962 Mar 30;135:1127-8.

He XZ, Baker DW. Body mass index, physical activity, and the risk of decline in overall health and physical functioning in late middle age. Am J Public Health. 2

Laurin D, Verreault R, Lindsay J, MacPherson K, Rockwood K. Physical activity and risk of cognitive impairment and dementia in elderly persons. Arch Neurol. 2001;58(3):498-504

McKnight, S.L., Pieper, A.A., Ready, J.M., DeBrabander, J. July 2010. Proneurogenic compounds. U.S. patent 2010/020681.

Piepersend A, Xie S, Capota E, et. al. Discovery of a Proneurogenic, Neuroprotective Chemical. ell, Volume 142, Issue 1, 39-51, 9 July 2010 10.1016/j.cell.2010.06.018

Strawbridge WJ, Deleger S, Roberts RE, Kaplan GA. Physical activity reduces the risk of subsequent depression for older adults. Am J Epidemiol. 2002;156(4):328-334.

Smith et. al. Aerobic Exercise and Neurocognitive Performance: A Meta-Analytic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials. Psychosom. Med. 2010;72:239-252.

van Praag, H., Kempermann, G., and Gage, F.H. (1999). Running increases cell proliferation and neurogenesis in the adult mouse dentate gyrus. Nat. Neurosci. 2, 266–270.

Yaffe K, Barnes D, Nevitt M, Lui LY, Covinsky K. A prospective study of physical activity and cognitive decline in elderly women: women who walk. Arch Intern Med. 2001;161(14):1703-1708.

Each year the calendar starts afresh, but hangovers linger from the last year. What you are right now, you’ve been building to, or fallen to by virtue of what you’ve done over the last year. This holds for you as an individual, and for bigger things like the economy.

Many say it is not good to make resolutions at the start of the year. And it is true that most resolutions are broken. In fact, many may be broken before the sun sets at the end of the day, or within a week at best. But, this is a fine time for re-evaluation, for setting a plan, and for determining your goals. So off we go, we’ll set goals and not make any resolutions.

Goal Setting

This year then, rather than resolutions, we will be setting goals. Then we’ll go for those goals. If you don’t achieve them, re-evaluate and reset your goals. Evaluate your goals regularly and set up weekly and monthly reviews.

Goal setting is an excellent concept. Set near term, intermediate term and long term goals. You now have something to measure and chart and can observe your progress. Make certain to set short term, achievable goals also.  If you only set long term goals, you are likely to get discouraged and give up. Start now and set up achievable short term goals, so that when you accomplish them within the next 4 weeks you’ll be encouraged to continue.

In sports and fitness, this holds for both the experienced, well conditioned athlete, and for the lapsed out of shape, determined to come back one. It is important for both, but definitely more important for the out of condition athlete. The experienced athlete likely already has goals. The experienced, well conditioned athlete must be prepared to modify their goals based on daily and weekly changes that they need to carefully monitor. They must guard against injury, as in reality we all must do.

The beginning athlete, or those of you starting up, determined to whip yourselves into shape need to exercise caution and realistic goal setting. Your ideal, dream fitness accomplishments and body weight and composition can be a long term goal. Realistic improvement, changes in activity level by increasing 5-10% per week with drop backs every third week  can be a short term goal. Setting up a plan with a trainer, or following suggestions from the many helpful websites, books, and plans available can help you get started. Of course the usual caveat applies, if you have or have had a serious medical condition or if you are over 40 years old, have a physical before starting a vigorous physical fitness program. But realize that sitting on a couch watching tv, or sitting on a comfy chair surfing the web can also be dangerous activity.

As you start off the year, make plans to improve in all of what I call the 3 Pillars of Fitness: Cardiovascular (CV), Musculoskeletal (MS), and Physiological (PY).   There is overlap within these categories.

Goals 2009:

Cardiovascular Exercise:

Walking: Increase amount to ___________ steps per day. (Goal – minimum of 10,000)
Running: Weekly range _____ to ______ miles per week
Other: Elliptical

Racing: Event 5K, 10K, 10 mile, Half-marathon, Marathon, Ultra

Musculoskeletal (MS)

Setup a strength (resistance) training , conditioning, and a gentle stretching program to do at a gym or at home. You can use body resistance, dumbbells, combination free weight, or machines.

A certified trainer can help you get started. But don’t be ignorant of what they are doing. Learn the exercises, learn good form, learn how to modify your program. Check your budget, but at least get started and have a form check with a certified trainer. Make sure your trainer understands your medical conditions. Discuss your goals. If you have osteoporosis, osteopenia, and a history of stress fractures, you don’t want your trainer starting you off with jumps onto and off of high objects. If the trainer is aware of this and leads you down a dangerous and high impact path, for your medical condition, your best exercise will certainly be running. Running away. There are many good certified trainers around. Seek them out.

Physiological

Physical examination for evaluation of blood pressure, blood chemistry, lipid measurements, etc.

Make certain your blood pressure and cholesterol and lipids are at good levels. Make certain everything else that needs to be controlled, corrected also is acted upon.

Improve your diet.  Evaluate it thorougly and realistically. Determine to eat healthy 95%, if not 100% of the time. Follow a rationale and balanced plan. Avoid fads. Understand that caloric balance is the key to successful weight loss.

Set your goals for body weight and composition changes (fat loss, muscle gain, etc.) if needed. Short term, intermediate, and long term. Most authorities recommend losing 1 pound per week, with some allowing more than that for a limited time period. Start working on it immediately. You should have been working on this one already, but yes, most people do put weight on over the holidays. In fact, most put weight on, and more than the need over their lifetimes. All of these areas of fitness complement each other. By improving your cardiovascular fitness, getting aerobic exercise, and improving your muscular strength and fitness you’ll also be assisting your diet. In fact they are all connected. Eating properly will improve your workouts also.

Get Going Now

In short, now (and always) is a time to set goals, evaluate progress, and move ahead. Have hope and a plan for the future. Reach for it, run for it, train for it. Get there, where you should be!

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