Physical fitness exercise

Posted: Jan. 9, 2010 10:40 p. m.

Depending on your point of view, it was the best of times or the worst of times Saturday afternoon at the U. S. Cellular Arena, where the UW-Milwaukee Panthers were superb in a 71-51 victory over UW-Green Bay in a physical Horizon League matchup.

For Green Bay, it will go down as its worst performance of the season so far.

The Panthers (10-7, 2-3) jumped on Green Bay (11-6, 4-2) early, taking a 17-4 lead 6 minutes into the game, then held off determined Phoenix comebacks in both halves to emerge with their second straight victory.

Panthers coach Rob Jeter saw a lot of good things.

"I guess I"m just excited for this group because they"ve really battled all year," said Jeter. "And we just seemed to never really make it over the hump or had that one game that could really bring some life into people and life into us and life into all our fans and everyone who sticks with us.

"I think this game here definitely put a lot of life into everybody. I"m just excited for a lot of reasons, but it"s just good to see the excitement back here in the Cell, and our guys played well in front of our fans. "

It was quite a different story from the other locker room.

"Obviously, anybody that"s played or coached at a high level or at a relatively high level has had their rear ends kicked," said Green Bay coach Tod Kowalczyk. "And tonight we got our rear ends kicked. We didn"t play well. I don"t think we competed. I don"t think we played with our Green Bay passion or team grit because we got exposed. It was clearly our worst performance of the year. "

Forward James Eayrs turned in a big game, leading the Panthers with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Guard Ricky Franklin sank a couple of big three-pointers in the second half and added 14 points, while Jerard Ajami made all four of his three-point shots and scored 12 points.

Guards Bryquis Perine and Troy Cotton led Green Bay with 15 and 14 points respectively.

It was an intense game that included a couple of brief scuffles, one in the first half that resulted in technical fouls against Franklin and Green Bay"s Randy Berry.

"There were a lot of tussles out there," said Eayrs. "It was a physical game. We knew it was going to be a physical game, with them being our rivals. I thought we played well and kept our composure. "

The Panthers got off to a great start, scoring 14 straight points to take a 17-4 lead. Ajami sank a pair of three-pointers during that stretch, taking a nice pass from Anthony Hill in the low post on the second one.

"We played well to start with," said Kowalczyk. "And then they made some shots and I don"t think we responded. That put us on our heels a little bit and then we were trying to dig out of the hole ever since. "

But UWM turned cold and began to turn the ball over as Green Bay rallied to tie the game, 21-21, on a three-point play by Rian Pearson with 5:43 left.

But a rebound basket by Eayrs off a missed free throw began a run of seven straight UWM points, and the Panthers held a 35-28 halftime lead.

The Panthers went low to Hill for the first basket of the second half, and Ajami and Jason Averkamp then hit three-pointers to push the Panthers" lead to 43-28.

Green Bay came back again as 3 three-point baskets by Cotton helped the Phoenix cut the lead to 47-43 with 11:54 left. But Eayrs then hit a big three-point shot and then added a layup for a 52-43 lead. A pair of three-pointers by Franklin helped UWM extend its lead to 60-47 with 5 minutes left.

"It was very satisfying," said Eayrs. "I"m happy. "

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Police chief nixes paid workouts for officers

WINNIPEG - Giving police officers paid time for physical fitness is not an option, police Chief Keith McCaskill said today, following the police union"s calls for the city to consider the idea.

Earlier this week, Winnipeg Police Association president Mike Sutherland called on the city to pay for officers to have 20 to 30 minutes of exercise each day, which the officers would match with their own time.

McCaskill said about 1,036 officers successfully completed mandatory physical fitness testing last year, of about 1,400 eligible.

Officers receive 20 hours of time off annually if they successfully pass the test, and are eligible for pay increases and promotion.

However, McCaskill said giving officers daily paid time off for physical fitness would mean there would be less officers available to answer calls, which he said is the forcersquo;s number one priority.

He said it would be "difficult" to schedule physical fitness time so it wouldnrsquo;t reduce the number of officers on the street.

"Our main job as police officers is to be able to provide the services as necessary to the citizens we serve," he said. "And I think that means (getting) officers out on the street as much as they possibly can to be able to answer those calls."

McCaskill classified the issue of paid time for exercise as a collective bargaining issue. The next round of collective bargaining begins next year.

Sutherland said the issue of paid time for fitness was dropped during the last round of collective bargaining.

McCaskill acknowledged that offenders are "bulking up," and said officers are dealing with more firearms on the street. He said the force encourages its members to stay in shape.

"I think most officers realize they have to be physically fit," he said.

He said the force is trying to protect officers with initiatives including the recently launched Tactical Support Team and plans to bring in a police helicopter.

Pedometers can motivate users to get in step

If the journey toward fitness begins with a single step, make sure it"s counted with a pedometer.

These little step-tracking gadgets now have a solid track record when it comes to motivating people to exercise. And their popularity is growing.

Inside this small-as-an-egg device are the keys to exercise success that have eluded far more complex and expensive fitness programs: accountability, goal-setting and being able to monitor progress. If the objective is to reach 10,000 steps in a day (the recommended amount), seeing a tally of 4,000 steps at 3 p. m. is a wake-up call to start walking.

"When we ask people to start an exercise program, it"s important to have measurable, achievable goals, and adding this self-monitoring component is very critical," says Simon Marshall, associate professor of exercise and nutritional science at San Diego State University. "We don"t know why exactly, but keeping a number, a prompt, in our consciousness on a regular basis is important, and that"s why pedometers are superior to other methods. It"s on you all the time. "

The fact that nothing has to be written down -- no fitness diary needs to be kept, no information must be logged on a computer -- makes pedometers easy to use day after day in various settings, none of which has to be a gym.

Perhaps better yet, the average cost is around $20.

"People describe them as being like little personal trainers," says Catrine Tudor-Locke, associate professor and director of the Walking Behavior Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La. "They provide ready, real-time data so you can make decisions about how you"re going to spend the rest of your day and make adjustments as needed. "

Los Angeles-based personal trainer Harley Pasternak has been studying the health habits of various cultures for his latest book, "The 5-Factor World Diet. " He says, "What I found was that in the 10 healthiest countries in the world, they all have different dietary habits. But one thing they all share is that they all walk way more than we do in America. For those in these 10 countries, being fit and healthy is about having an active lifestyle, while here in America, being fit is about performing an exercise in a room designated for fitness. "

Pedometers can create that lifestyle balance that many Americans otherwise would lack.
Fits any lifestyle
At 12:30 on a recent afternoon, Dr. Kathy Magliato"s pedometer already reads 19,000 steps for the day. "I"m a cardiothoracic surgeon who"s also a busy mommy with two small kids, so I run around quite a bit," she says. She typically gets her steps in while doing rounds at St. John"s Health Center in Santa Monica or Torrance Memorial Medical Center. On days when she"s in surgery for 10 hours, she takes her children for a walk when she gets home.

Magliato clipped on her first pedometer six years ago after the birth of her first child. With 10 pounds to lose and no time to go to a gym, she had to do something to stay in shape -- both for herself and as a role model for her patients, many of whom have heart disease. Through walking and watching her diet, she dropped the 10 pounds and realized that walking provided the activity she needed, which some fitness experts and researchers say is the key to true health.

"When my patients tell me they can"t work out because they don"t have time, I say, "Look at my lifestyle. " "

Pedometers have even made their way into the White House. In October, Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, issued a pedometer challenge through the end of 2009 to all willing agency employees. In an office blog post, Orszag (a runner and marathoner) wrote: "This year, as part of their budget submissions, federal agencies have been asked to report on their efforts to improve the health and wellness of their employees. I want to make sure that the staff at OMB doesn"t just talk the talk on wellness, but that we also walk the walk -- literally. "

With approximately 115 to 200 men and women taking part, weekly step averages went from 10,871 the first week (beginning Oct. 4) to 13,000 in early December. (Final tallies aren"t yet available. )

Research confirms that monitoring daily steps helps people get the recommended amount of exercise, bolsters their cardiovascular system and often contributes to weight loss.

A 2007 study in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. analyzed data from 26 studies assessing pedometer use among adults and found the device to be linked with considerable increases in physical activity and decreases in blood pressure and body mass index. In a 2004 study in Medicine Science in Sports Exercise, 27 people were assigned to a pedometer-based exercise group with an emphasis on daily steps and 33 people to an exercise program emphasizing time spent exercising.

At the end of the study, the pedometer-based program proved to be more effective in increasing daily activity than the time-based program.
Set a goal
Clipping on a pedometer and counting steps -- even brisk ones -- isn"t the end of the fitness story. "It"s one thing to wear a pedometer, but it"s another to have a goal in mind of how many steps you want to get," says Karen Croteau, a professor in the department of exercise, health and sport sciences at the University of Southern Maine. "These gadgets are effective when serving as a cue, but that has to be in conjunction with setting goals. "

She suggests that new users monitor steps for a few days to find a daily average before upping the amount. Some fitness experts recommend adding 5% to 10% of the starting average per day, but Tudor-Locke believes that fitness levels and daily routines should be taken into consideration. "One person has to juggle child rearing while another has different lifestyle impediments," she says. "People should find out where they are and realize that more is better. "

And while walking 10,000 steps a day is admirable, reaching that goal every day over a long period of time may cause a fitness plateau, in which cardio gains stop and weight sneaks back on. In that case, users must increase both steps and intensity.

(But keep in mind, walking shouldn"t be the only exercise in the repertoire. Strength training for both the upper and lower body prevents muscle loss and helps stave off bone deterioration, both important as people age. )

Choosing a pedometer can be challenging, considering how many models are on the market. Some are equipped with accelerometers that record movement and intensity. Others tally weekly steps, have calorie counters and come with software to track progress. Some cellphones now come with a pedometer, but since the devices track steps by monitoring hip movement, they won"t work if left on a table or in a purse on the floor.

Many exercise physiologists and trainers generally recommend starting with a basic model that just counts steps and costs about $20. To ensure accuracy, count out from 20 to 50 steps a few times, checking the pedometer. If the count is within a few steps, it should be adequate. You can always upgrade later to a model with more bells and whistles.

Says Marshall, "You"re only limited by how creative you can be. "
.

Paying Winnipeg cops to bulk up is a matter of survival, union says

ince the dawn of the doughnut, portly police have been the brunt of jokes and jibes, their soft waistlines and predilection for pastries best lampooned in the poster-boy image of Clancy Wiggum, Springfield"s inept chief from TV"s The Simpsons.

But in a city where many gang members have recently embraced martial arts, police fitness could be a matter of survival, according to the city"s police union, which this week launched a controversial push to have the city pay officers for pumping iron.

“More and more, the gang members are working out in the gym, getting bigger, stronger, faster,” said Mike Sutherland, president of the Winnipeg Police Association. “When you"re fighting back, you hope you are fit and up to the task, especially if you"re fighting someone who has spent a lot of time working out while they were in custody. ”

It"s safe to say that the Wiggums of the world wouldn"t last long on the Winnipeg beat. The city tops the country for murders and auto thefts on a per capita basis. Last year, Maclean"s magazine ranked it the second-most dangerous city in the country after Saskatoon.

Recently, the job has become even more perilous.

“We have well-known gang members that are training at martial-arts gyms throughout the city on an almost-daily basis,” he said, referring to a host of clubs that teach techniques employed by Ultimate Fighting Championship stars to break bones and tenderize faces.

Mr. Sutherland is proposing that every officer take upward of 40 minutes a shift to work out. The city would pay for 20 minutes. Officers would donate the other half.

So far, Winnipeg"s police chief seems reluctant to go along with the plan. In a press conference on Wednesday, he said he"d rather see police fighting crime than lifting weights.

“We want to be physically fit and we encourage that, but our main job as police officers is to be able to provide the services necessary for the citizens we serve,” Keith McCaskill said, who added that it was a matter best addressed by collective bargaining teams.

The chief also stressed that the force lacks the funds to backfill the three or more cars that such a program would remove from the streets.

The city maintains nine fitness facilities for officers throughout the city and provides free gym passes. It has also administered a mandatory fitness test since 1989. Around 1,030 of the force"s 1,300 officers took the test last year. More than 900 passed, according to Mr. Sutherland.

All police who fail the test forfeit the opportunity for promotions and certain pay hikes.

In several other jurisdictions, including Calgary and Victoria, officers who clock 12-hour shifts get as much as one hour to work out. “We were worried that, with our membership working longer shifts, fitness would go by the wayside,” said Calgary Police Superintendent Richard Hinse. “So we struck a gentleman"s agreement. ”

“This was a made-in-Calgary solution. Ultimately, Winnipeg will have to come up with a made-in-Winnipeg solution. ”

.

Paul S. Manning of Renaissance Fitness Studio and Wellness Center is Proud to ...

Newport, RI, January 09, 2010 --(
)-- Catherine J. Rowe CFT, LCMT-Catherine has always had a strong interest in fitness, health and wellness. Realizing the benefits a healthy body and mind can bring Catherine became a Certified Fitness Trainer through The International Sports and Science Association so she could help others on a better path to good health through fitness.

With a deep admiration for the human body, spirit and mind Catherine furthered her knowledge and attended The Bancroft school of Massage Therapy. Although her focus is fitness and health oriented she feels her education there enhanced her life both personally and professionally. She also received a Phase I Tai Chi Certification through the American Aerobic Association International and International Sports Medicine Association.

Catherine has also taken classes in both Muscle Mastery and Wellness Coaching through the nationally recognized New York Strength, Inc. on Long island, New York.

Owner Paul S. Manning states, "I am happy to be able to provide diversity and talent at Renaissance Fitness Studio. Catherine posesses both."

She will continue to further her education absorbing information that she can share with her clients and colleagues. Catherinersquo;s goal is to help and encourage her clients at Renaissance Fitness, one step at a time, bettering their lives through fitness and good health.

Catherine may be reached by phone or text at 401.835.2559