What clients are saying - "amazing and remarkable”

Number nine in a series about what clients have to say about their workouts. A recent email from a client:

John,

I just got back from my appointment with the ortho surgeon. The last time I saw him was about 6 weeks before we started in September. His response to the movement in my arm was "amazing and remarkable". He thought I'd be doing well if I could just reach the top of my head. I gave him your name and will take a couple of cards by his office if you'd like. Thank you!!! See you on Wednesday.

Tom

Tom severely injured his shoulder, and as a result he has prosthetic parts in his reconstructed shoulder. He was out for six months before he could resume exercising. When he first started back he would routinely use his good hand to position his bad arm into place to do certain exercises. He could not lift his arm up to shoulder level. After his last workout, I asked him to reach up and touch the chin-up bar overhead. He did it with ease.

Another client who comes in the same day has just started back as well. He broke his arm in nine places and has metal in his arm. I did even know you could break a bone in nine places without being in a motorcycle accident. He is very happy with his results. His wife informed him that he “could never stop doing this” – doing this meaning strength training.

We use MedX rehabilitation exercise equipment at both our locations - at Austin Personal Training and at New Orleans Personal Trainers. The unique patented design of our equipment allows us to safely address problem areas like the back and shoulders. The equipment can be finely adjusted to any condition, weak or strong – the weight stacks go up to 1000 pounds. Weight changes can be made with increments as small 1/20 of those of most other equipment, and adjustments for range of motion can be made for those with limited mobility. People of any age or condition can benefit for this exercise program. Our oldest client is 92 years old. The best part is that it doesn’t require endless hours in the gym.

We are convinced that strength training is essential for a higher quality of life as we age. It is our good fortune to be able to play a small part in helping people make positive changes in their lives, and we appreciate their kind words. Seeing clients make positive changes is what makes our jobs worthwhile.

Previous blog entries in the series What Clients Are Saying:
1. @#%& incredible
2. Seems too good to be true, but it actually is that good
3. After each session, I always felt better on all levels.
4. This would not have happened to me if I had a personal trainer
5. This affects all aspects of my life.
6. I saw a remarkable change in my body
7. A Radical Transformation
8. I don’t think I would be alive today

Exercise Reduces Fatigue In Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

From this Science Daily article, Exercise Reduces Fatigue In Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy:

“Supervised exercise programs that include high and low intense cardiovascular and resistance training can help reduce fatigue in patients with cancer who are undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy or treatment for advanced disease. The exercise training also improves patients' vitality, muscular strength, aerobic capacity and emotional well-being, according to research published on bmj.com.”

At  Austin TX Personal Trainers and at New Orleans Fitness Trainers we have had success working with recovering cancer patients. The recovery systems of these patients are fragile. They cannot stand long bouts of exercise. Our personal training sessions are short and designed to efficiently stimulate a change; we then give them plenty of time to recover.

I worked with one client through two bouts of cancer. When she first came in I told her we would build up slowly, but eventually she would be asked to do very demanding work. She replied, “If I can handle chemo I can handle this workout”. She handled it well, and became very strong. I think the fact she was strong helped her when she faced down cancer a second time. As Lance Armstrong once said, “Before I just lived now I live strong”.

This blog has also dealt with this subject in these blog posts:
Exercise for Women Living with Lymphedema
Weightlifting helps breast cancer survivors
Fatigue, Pain Affect All With Breast Cancer, Exercise After Diagnosis Helps
Healthy Diet, Exercise Might Lower Chances of Cancer's Return

Are bone loss drugs a good idea for those with osteopenia?

From this NYT article Splits Form Over How to Address Bone Loss:

“Millions of people worldwide, most of them women, have been told they have osteopenia and should take drugs to inhibit bone loss. But the drugs carry risks, so many public-health experts say the diagnosis often does more harm than good.” 


The World Health Organization has developed an online tool, called FRAX, meant to help doctors and patients determine when treatment for deteriorating bones is appropriate. Some say the tool is faulty and does not take into account normal aging. Another quote:

“It was a W.H.O. panel financed by the pharmaceutical industry that in 1994 defined normal bone mass as that of an average 30-year-old woman. Because bone naturally deteriorates with age, anyone much older than 30 is likely to qualify for a diagnosis of osteopenia; using similar logic, a middle-aged woman might be said to have a skin disorder because she had more wrinkles than her 30-year-old daughter.

And this:

Dr. Steven Cummings, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco, said it was also important to understand when medication was likely to help. “The drugs work if you have osteoporosis,” Dr. Cummings said. “But some studies suggest there is little benefit, if any benefit at all, if you take these drugs when you have osteopenia.”


There is presently no cure for osteopenia. There are two treatments often mentioned – exercise and osteoporosis drugs. When comparing the side-effects of the two treatments exercise is clearly a much better choice.

The exercise protocol used by the personal trainers at Austin Personal Training and New Orleans Fitness Trainers was derived from a study working with osteoporosis patients. Researchers found that joints hurt less, bone density increased and muscles were stronger and more toned with minimal time exercising. It has been shown effective for men and women of all ages.

Previous blogs posted on the subject of bone loss:

The under appreciated role of muscle in health and disease
High-intensity strength training effective for osteoporotic fractures
High intensity strength training preserves bone density

Exercise Recommendations for Chronic Fatigue Sufferers

From this article, Exercise Recommendations for Chronic Fatigue Sufferers Spark Debate:

A study by British researchers suggests that exercising beyond the point of fatigue is one way for people who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) to build strength and feel better.

And this:

"Whatever the mechanisms underlying fatigue," he notes, "exercise therapy is likely to become ... increasingly important ... particularly in the management of chronic fatigue syndromes."

The article states that there is no unanimity on the role of exercise and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but one can conclude that strength is good forCFS sufferers and too much exercise is bad. A stronger body tires less easily. The catch 22 is that the exercise necessary to induce strength gains might result in greater fatigue for CFS patients.

At Austin Personal Training and at New Orleans Personal Training in New Orleans the personal training sessions are short (25 to 30 minutes) and infrequent (once or twice a week). You won’t spend hours in the gym several times a week, and you will be less likely to feel rundown. Our personal trainers here in Austin and in New Orleans guide you through a brief but demanding workout. Yes, it is demanding; that is where the results come if given plenty of rest and recovery afterward.

The article mentions exercising beyond the point of fatigue. That is precisely what stimulates the body to change. After such exercise the body, as a form of self protection, becomes stronger if given plenty of time to recover. We place a premium on recovery to avoid the possibility of over-training. Some with superior recovery ability do workout twice a week, but most do it once. One personal training session a week is all you need to stimulate improvement. Come in each week, improve each week, and in a few months you will be significantly stronger and far less likely to fatigue as easily.

Strength Training for Those Who Have Had Rotator Cuff Injuries and Back Problems

The overhead press can be a very productive exercise. Like any exercise, if it performed with improper form or to excess injuries may result. For those who have shoulder or back problems it might be best to avoid this exercise altogether.

To perform the overhead press with a barbell the bar has to pass in front of your face. It has to pass sufficiently close to your face in order to keep your center of gravity directly above your feet; otherwise you will fall forward. To keep your center of gravity above your feet it is necessary to arch your back. It also requires you to move your arms through a range of motion that could potentially cause a rotator cuff injury. In the finished locked out position the back is arched and exposed to vertebral compression from the weight baring down over head.

For those who have experienced shoulder and back injuries there is an alternative. One could use exercise equipment designed to support the back, and one that requires a motion that is more easily tolerated by the shoulders. At Austin  Personal Training and at New Orleans Fitness Trainers  we use MedX rehabilitative exercise equipment. The equipment is designed to follow the natural arching movements of the body.

When using the shoulder machine clients have back support and in the finished or locked out position the weight will be out in front of him and not directly overhead thus eliminating significant vertebral compression. The arms move in front of client in a natural arching motion and the machine movement arm follows the same path. The end result is an exercise that has the desired affect of putting more stress on the muscles around the shoulder, and it is far less stressful to the rotator cuff and the back.

One of our trainers, Kyle, had had two rotator cuff surgeries by age 24 – one on each shoulder. The countless hours in the gym had taken their toll on his shoulders. He could not lift weights overhead in the conventional manner without causing pain to his shoulder. Using the MedX overhead press he is able to workout with significant weight – 316 pounds – with no aggravation to his shoulders. His training regime consists of one full body workout a week. He reports that he is stronger now than when he was spending hours in the gym, and his shoulders are pain-free.

For those who have had injuries they often do little or no exercise. This creates weakness and a greater likelihood of re-injury and chronic pain. It is important to remain strong to avoid re-injury. The catch-22 is that the exercise necessary to increase strength might also cause injury. The equipment we use more effectively stresses the muscles and is more easily tolerated by the joints thereby lessening the change for injury. We have worked with many who have had shoulder problems. After a few months they forget they even had a problem. Their range of motion increases, their strength increases, and most importantly, they acquire a measure of protection from additional injury that they did not have before.

Strength Training for Those Who Have Heart Conditions

From this study, Strength Training Early After Myocardial Infarction, comes this quote:

“In selected patients, low-to-moderate intensity strength training performed early after infarction is effective and may have lower rates of cardiovascular problems than aerobic exercise.”

The selection of those patients as candidates for strength training is will beyond the pay grade of personal trainers and falls under the purview of a doctor. Once a doctor clears the patient for exercise special care is given to bring the client up to speed slowly.

At Kelly Personal Training in Austin and at Ultimate Fitness in New Orleans our personal training sessions follow a simple dictate: Perform a little more exercise than one is used to handling and then rest and recover adequately. This applies to recovering patients and advanced athletes. For the advanced trainees doing a little more than they did last time will be difficult but doable. For the recovering patients it will not involve much to take them to a point of exercise they are not used to handling.
 

Both groups will improve but the recovering patients often show the most profound improvement, as they start at a much lower base line. Each week they come in a little stronger and each week we progressively increase the weights lifted by small increments. After a few months they are dramatically stronger.

Aerobic activity has been stressed as necessary for cardiovascular health. This cannot occur if the muscles are too weak to allow adequate aerobic activity.

Another quote from the study:

“For the three treatment groups, 30 of 42 subjects had one or more cardiovascular complication (arrhythmias, angina, ischemia, hypertension, hypotension) during the aerobic exercises as compared to only 1 subject with complications during the resistive exercises.”

An interesting result that speaks for itself.

Exercise for Women Living with Lymphedema

From this New York Times article, Balancing Painful Swelling with a Desire to Exercise, come these quotes:

Some women living with lymphedema have managed to do repetitive upper-body exercise in a way that doesn't aggravate their symptoms.

And this quote:
In the last decade, Linda Miller, the director of the Breast Cancer Physical Therapy Center in Philadelphia, has found that patients who strengthen their arms controlled their lymphedema symptoms better than those who didn't lift weights. "For years, I was spitting in the wind," said Ms. Miller, a physical therapist. "This study is going to rock the lymphedema world."

And lastly:
The ordeal left Ms. Warren, 55, so devastated that she stopped lifting even the lightest weights. Her weakened upper body eventually became a problem. "Because I lost muscle tone," she said, "I kept hurting my arm." She now practices slow, progressive weight lifting, but she laments not being advised to do so earlier. If she had, Ms. Warren said, she might have avoided lymphedema or at least better managed her symptoms.

At Kelly Personal Training in Austin and at Ultimate Fitness in New Orleans we have had success working with recovering cancer patients. The recovery systems of these patients are fragile. They cannot stand long bouts of exercise. Our personal training sessions are short and designed to efficiently stimulate a change; we then give them plenty of time to recover.

The equipment we use is MedX medical rehab equipment that is more easily tolerated by the joints. We can restrict the range of motion to a pain-free range of motion, and we use controlled movements to minimize forces that could aggravate pre-existing conditions.

Lance Armstrong once said. “Before I just lived now I live strong”. The catch 22 is doing it without aggravating pre-existing conditions. As NYT article reports; it can be done.