The Ups and Downs of Arthritis

Arthritis (from Greek arthro-, joint + -itis, inflammation; plural: arthritides) is a group of conditions involving damage to the joints of the body. Arthritis is one of the leading causes of disability in people older than fifty-five years
There are over 100 different types of arthritis however the two most common forms of the condition are:
Osteoarthritis – is a condition where the cartilage within the joint affected deteriorates. Symptoms of osteoarthritis include may include joint pain, tenderness, stiffness, inflammation, and creaking of joints.
Rheumatoid Arthritis – is a chronic inflammatory disease where the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues in the joints. The trigger for this condition is not yet known. Symptoms of this disease include fatigue, warm joints, joint pain, stiffness, swelling and tenderness of the joints and general aches and pains all over.
While arthritis can be a painful condition, it is important to stay positive and not let the ups and downs restrict your lifestyle. Physical exercise can be one of the best treatments for arthritis as it can help improve flexibility, strengthen the heart, decrease pain, improve mood and wellbeing and promote physical fitness!
The following tips will help you overcome the ups and downs of arthritis:
Know your condition! – There are over 100 forms of the condition so therefore it is important to know what you are dealing with before you can successfully manage it. Consult your doctor to get an accurate diagnosis so you can then exercise in accordance with your level of ability.
Chin up! – It’s vital to keep a positive attitude when dealing with a condition like arthritis. Exercise is well known for keeping people motivated and promotes a well being and satisfaction.
Keep at it! – Regular physical exercise helps build and maintain strong healthy bones, muscles and joints and can help in controlling joint swelling and pain.
Go all the way! – Exercise should focus on improving the range of motion your joints have or at least preventing further reductions in range of motion.
You’re not alone! – It is important to remember that you have a variety of outlets for aid with your exercise needs. Physiotherapists can provide training in the use of walking aids if required to help maximise your independence. Your trainer is also there to provide you with any assistance they can give you in exercise prescription.
No need to overdo it! – Be aware that there are other forms of exercise than weights and running ona treadmill. Weight bearing exercises can become difficult so seek out althernatives like cycling or swimming as they are not weight bearing.
Know your limits! – If pain is worse than normal for two hours post-exercise, either the exercise was too intense or the duration was too long. Don’t confuse this with general muscle soreness resulting from exercise though!
Stay Strong! – By doing strengthening exercises, this will minimise the losses in strength associated with lack of msucle use.
Watch your flare ups! – Exercise will be limited if you are experiencing a flare up of arthritic symptoms. If this occurs, rest up and stay positive!
Take a chill pill! – It is a good idea to complement your exercise with supplements that can reduce the symptoms of arthritis. Omega 3 oils can reduce inflammation and glucosamine can help with the regeneration of joint cartilage. Speak with your trainer, doctor or pharmacist for more information.

Curried Turkey Mince

When it comes to cooking, I certainly am no Nigella Lawson. I mean she is practically tanked by the time her meal is cooked. Actually she is probably tanked before she even begins. Maybe being a drunken lush who is also a goddess in the kitchen is where I fail and fall into obscurity but hey – I’m okay with this. Nigella can continue to be awesome and I will make simple, quick meals that fuel my body for the training I need to do! This is an excellent source of protein with a good number of vegetables in the mix too.
This meal is something my mum showed me how to make and like most recipes, I have added a few bits and pieces in to make it more in line with training! The chicken stock is optional and if you aren’t too bothered about your Sodium intake it does give it a better flavor but it does bump the sodium levels up to around 324mg. If watching your carbohydrate intake, don’t add the potatoes. As to what you decide to drink while preparing and enjoying this meal is your choice but I’d suggest doing it sober because if you set yourself on fire while cooking, chances are you won’t have a camera crew there to put you out.

Ingredients

500mg of Turkey Mince
2 Carrots
1 stick of celery
1 teaspoon of crushed garlic
1/4 of a Cabbage
1 Brown Onion
2 Medium sized Potatoes
1 1/2 Heaped Table spoons of Mild Curry Powder
1 Tablespoon of Chicken Stock (optional)
250ml (1 cup) of water

Preparation Time (20 minutes)

1. Turn your stove on and set it to HIGH and place a your saucepan or wok on the element

2. On a separate element, place a small saucepan filled with water. Set the stove to HIGH on this also.

3. You may splash a dash of virgin olive oil in to get things started but if you are seriously watching your fat intake, you can splash in some water. Fry up the Garlic, celery, carrot and onion until they are softened. You can see this happening as the onion will start going translucent.
4. Once softened up, place the mince in a large saucepan or Wok. Cook until the mince goes to a light brown colour.

5. While allowing the mince to brown, peel your potatoes and then cut them into cubes. Once cubed, place them in the small saucepan filled with boiling water for approximately 5 minutes so they can soften.

6. Cut up brown onion into tiny pieces and add to the mince and stir through. Enjoy the yummy aroma of the onion and mince as it smells glorious.

7. While allowing the mince and onion to get their cooking on together, slice up the cabbage and add to the mince.

8. Stir contents to achieve a good even dispersal of vegetables and mince.

9. Once the cabbage looks like it is wilting a little bit, you can now add 1 cup (250ml) of water to the mince and vegetables.

10. Add two heaped tablespoons of the mild curry powder and 1 tablespoon of chicken stock (optional) and stir it through the water so it is evenly mixed in with the mince and vegetables.

11. Take the potato cubes off the stove, drain the water from the saucepan and then add cubes to the mince and vegetables and try to immerse the cubes in the curry/stock water.

12. Periodically stir to move things around.

13. Once the water has been absorbed and somewhat evaporated from the pan, this signifies that the meal is complete and ready to be served. The cabbage should be nicely wilted by this stage and everything should have absorbed the mild curry flavour.

14. Enjoy!

Here is the PDF version of the recipe!

Avoiding The Slump

As with anything in life, there comes a point where certain things may start to lose their shiny appearance and become a chore rather than something to look forward to and enjoy. There are also things that simply put – we hate doing.

When it comes to health and fitness, it is no different. So as a personal trainer, it is important for me to find ways to keep the interest and motivation levels up for clients and find ways to ‘reprogram’ clients into enjoying health and fitness.

To me personally, the idea of not enjoying the chance to do something active and physical is bizarre but some people just don’t like it. A good friend of mine hates exercise and has stated to me that he’d “rather have his spleen ripped out with a rusty coat hanger.” I didn’t question his preference over rusty or non rusty coat hangers because I got the gist that he didn’t like exercise and preferred organ extraction to maybe a simple walk with his dog.

So what does one do from here other than having someone exercise at gun point? Finding something they DO like doing and mixing it in with exercise so it CAN be enjoyable! Stepping outside of the box of conventional ideas of exercise can be the key. In the example of my friend, I recalled that while they hated exercise, they are a bit of an adrenaline junkie and liked gadgets of sorts. As it happened, I had recently purchased 2 pairs of Power Bocks or spring shoes. Super amazing fun plus they are fantastic for your stability. I had my friend partake in an afternoon of power bocking and he loved it. Not only that but I loved how excited and suddenly motivated he was in relation to how it made him feel and how it got his heart rate up. Suddenly keeping his spleen in its usual location seemed like an okay idea.

Now power bocking isn’t for everyone but the idea of finding something that your client may enjoy is integral to keeping the interest levels there or in the case of a new client that doesn’t like exercise; finding activities that pique their interest. This could be playing trivia with a client, renaming exercises or somehow working in technology with your exercises. I have one client who doesn’t like warming up on the cardio equipment but she LOVES warming up to Dance Central on the Xbox 360 Kinect. Learning about your client and their likes and dislikes can be the key to improved rapport and customer service. The more we know and understand, the better chance we have of avoiding them slipping into a slump with their health and fitness!

KINECT – Valid Form of Exercise Or An Exercise In Wankery?

In years gone by, the concept and method of getting fit in your living room was left to watching morning aerobics on TV and if you were that motivated – buying dodgy exercise equipment and Videos to assist in shedding the kilos. I personally would never consider buying anything from someone who has that much fake tan on and let’s be honest – the fitness models they hire to demonstrate the equipment? You can be guaranteed that they didn’t use it to get the body they have now. The Big three Video game empires of today (Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo) have recognised the niche market for health and fitness in videogames and have all released their versions of movement based gaming products.
The product that has garnered the most attention most recently has been the Microsoft Kinect. It was confirmed that the Microsoft Kinect is the fastest selling electronic consumer device by the Guinness Book of World Records. In a time where consumer electronics are big business, this is no easy feat but what easily topples that achievement in terms of difficulty is the challenge Microsoft has set developers in making valid forms of entertainment that are based around getting the player to get up and get active in order to play.
There are a number of games out for the Kinect and I will be quick to point out that most of these games are flat out rubbish. Unresponsive controls and completely gimmicky in that they rely on some poor dill just blindly buying it rather than put in a worthwhile gaming experience. There are some games that have been released that do make the grade in relation to being fun, engaging and also a workout to boot.

Kinect Sports, Fitness Evolved and Dance Central are 3 titles that could be seen as legitimate forms of exercise. All three get the player moving by requiring them to compete in sporting events, Exercise and dance routines. While rough around the edges, they do manage to get your heart rate up and in some sections parts of these games, you will raise a sweat. This is an excellent way to assist with burning off energy which can assist in weight loss. Dance Central in particular is a LOT of fun and you will find yourself replaying songs to improve on your last attempt and BAM – before you know it 40 minutes have ticked by.

These games are not without their faults however. All three do have issues here and there with regards to correct tracking of movement. I recall a few dance moves that the Xbox 360 insisted I was not completing correctly even though I knew I was (I mean how hard is step bump step to do anyway?). While this is more frustrating than anything else, the issue of the Kinect not correctly tracking your movements becomes a bit more serious when it comes to Fitness Evolved and any other fitness specific Kinect game. Doing lunges is not as simple as just doing lunges. Correct technique is required to ensure there is a reduced risk of injury to the knees. Fitness Evolved just didn’t quite get that right which leaves the player open to injury. This comes down to an accuracy issue with the game as there were times it was correcting me on lunges and I can tell you know – my form with lunges is bang on. Bang ON I tells you. This is fine for me as I am a PT however for your Joe Bloggs who is using this is an introduction to getting fit, this is a concern. Accurate correction of form is one of the main reasons for having PT. Further to this, there did not seem to be any sort of progression in relation to the exercise intensities that are programmed into the game.

I think it is great that there are games now being released that encourage people to be active but the technology still is in the early stages and has a fair way to go before becoming a replacement for the gym or seeing a Personal Trainer.
Would I recommend getting a Kinect? At the present time? No. There are more terrible games than good ones. Granted Dance Central is a fun and stealthily cardio laden game but a sequel is on the way which will hopefully improve on the tracking issues of the original. The Fitness specific games like Fitness Evolved are good in the theory but again, they have a way to go before they become a worthwhile purchase when considering your fitness.