SportsGeezer

Wii Fitness Gets Real, Kind of, (watch video)

The market for home exercise gear is set for what dot.com business pundits used to call "a major paradigm shift."  And while few people had any idea what in the world dot.com pundits were talking about, this likely shift is very clearly rendered in a New York Times video clip, in which two women allow Nintendo’s latest brainchild, Wii Fit, to put then through their paces. Lots of paces. Geezer is definitely intrigued. Check out the video here. And the Times article, in which many people offer their assessments of Wii Fit, here.

Breast Practices: Exercises to Keep Up Appearances

Now you know: Geezer is not above putting the word "breast" in a headline to build a more inclusive readership--inclusive of people who respond to well, you know, you responded. Editors at the L.A.Times are, it turns out, similarly welcoming of new readers. In this recent piece, the paper recommends "exercise moves to make your breasts stand out." Here are two:
Bench presses (in the regular, incline or decline position) and "flys." Chest flys are performed lying on the back, preferably on a bench, starting with arms straight up, a dumbbell in each hand. Arms are slowly lowered to the side, until they are on the same plane as the bench or floor.
Want your breasts to stand out even more? Read more in the L.A. Times.

It's Official: Exercise Lifts Spirits

Geezer suspects that regular readers have long been on to something that researchers are just figuring out: exercise does as much for your head as it does for your body. The Boston Globe reports on continuing documentation of the mood boosting effects of pumping up, or running, or just moving around. The newspaper cites a recent study conducted at Duke University that found that three sessions of vigorous aerobic exercise a week proved about as effective at beating back depression as daily doses of Zoloft, when the effects were measured after four months. In another study, the Globe reports, depressed patients who got better with exercise were less likely to relapse after 10 months than those helped by antidepressants. And patients who continued to exercise after the four-month mark were 50 percent less likely to be depressed months later than those who were sedentary. Other studies suggest that exercise may be about as effective as psychotherapy, the other main tool for alleviating depression.
Read more about pumping up your head in the Boston Globe.

Chris Carmichael on How to Stay Fit While Traveling

Six exercises. Thirty-five minutes. No weights. Some stairs required. Chris Carmichael, Outside magazine's fitness answer man, author, and creator of Carmichael Training Systems, gives us his recipe for fitness on the road. Ready, here comes;
Push-ups Do as many as you can in 30 seconds. Rest for one minute and repeat twice.
Reverse Crunches Lie on your back and bring your knees to your chest as many times as you can in 30 seconds. Rest for 30 seconds and repeat twice.
Windshield Wipers Lie on your back and raise your legs straight up. Lower them to the floor on one side, then raise them over your center and down to the other side. Continue for one minute. Rest for 30 seconds and repeat twice.
Forward and Side Lunges Start at one end of a hallway, step forward into a lunge, and lower your hips until your front thigh is parallel to the ground. Bring your back leg forward until you're standing, then lunge with that leg. Continue until you reach the far wall. Turn 90 degrees to your right and side-lunge back to your starting point, leading with your right leg. Do another length of side lunges back to the far wall, this time leading with your left leg. Turn and do one more length of forward lunges.
Stair Bounding Start at the bottom of a staircase of any size and bound up two stairs at a time (three if possible). Turn and descend as quickly as you can. Continue without stopping for two minutes. Rest for one minute and repeat twice.
Stair Sprints Start at the bottom of the stairs and sprint to the top, hitting every step this time. Walk back down at a moderate pace. Continue without stopping for two minutes. Rest for one minute and repeat twice.

Think you're fit now? Read Chris Carmichael on how to train for the Tour de France.

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7 Things to Check Out Before Joining a Gym

A curious reader of the L.A Times asks the newspapers' fitness answer man what to look for when choosing gym. Jay Blahnik comes up with seven areas of investigation:
location
hours
reputation
class schedule
contracts and fees
personality
cleanliness and maintenance
and one very useful piece of advice: Most gyms with any self-confidence will let you try out the place, gratis, for a week or so.  Take them up on this. You will never regret it.
Read more about how to choose a gym from Jay Blahnik in the L.A. Times.

Ibuprofen Appears to Help Build Muscle

First, a study that measured muscle protein synthesis suggested to researchers in the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana that ibuprofen and acetaminophen had a negative impact on muscle by blocking the COX enzyme. So when the same researchers decided to measure the changes in muscle mass in a group of healthy older adults lifting weights regularly, for 3 months, who were taking recommended daily doses of ibuprofen (like that in Advil) or acetaminophen (like that in Tylenol) they expected to see less muscle growth in the drug takers than in the control group. They were wrong.
The Scientific American reports on the surprising results of the Ball State study, which found that  taking recommended daily doses of ibuprofen (like that in Advil) or acetaminophen (like that in Tylenol) led to substantially greater increases over inactive placebo in quadriceps muscle mass and strength. In fact, Sciam reports that the muscles of the ibuprofen and acetaminophen users got 40 to 60 percent bigger than the placebo group and their muscle strength also increased more than the placebo group.Muscle volume increased 11 percent in the ibuprofen group and 13 percent in the acetaminophen group, compared with 9 percent in the placebo group. Muscle strength increased 30 percent in the ibuprofen group and 28 percent in the acetaminophen group, compared with 23 percent in the placebo group.                                
Read more in the Scientific American.

And Now: Fast Fitness. Does 20 Minutes Twice a Week Really Do It?

Can twice-weekly 20 minutes workouts really keep a person fit? Jorge Cruise thinks so. Cruise, author of "8 Minutes in the Morning," "The 3-Hour Diet," and "The 12 Second Sequence: Shrink Your Waist in 2 Weeks," is also a columnist for USA Today, the newspaper that takes four minutes to read.  Cruise recently gave the L.A Times three minutes of his time to answer questions about fast-fitness. Read the interview in 30 seconds.

Drugs, Vanity, and the Infinite Droits du Seignors

Is it true that the droit to seignor actually refers to the unbounded rights of all baby boomers, including the right to eternal youth, beauty, and yes, vanity. This mildly discomfiting New York Times story about aging body builders appears to support that thesis. The newspaper of record describes "a small but growing number of 60- and 70-year-old bodybuilders stripping down to Speedos, slathering on bronzer, and strutting their stuff onstage in natural, or drug-free, competitions." Then, as perhaps a word of warning, the Times advises that "The season for amateur and pro-level events begins this month."
Few readers will be surprised to learn that body builders of a generation that was never exactly drug-averse make ample use of whatever chemicals will help them achieve their goals. The Times quotes Scott Hults, a 64-year-old retired Naval officer-turned-bodybuilder, saying that he personally knows several senior athletes now on steroids, human growth hormone or testosterone replacement therapy.
Read more in the New York Times.

Video: Eli Manning on Working Out

Who works out more: Eli Manning or Peyton Manning? In this video from the Washington Post, Superbowl- winning New York Giants quarterback Eli talks his way around that question and a few others. His best advice? "Stay away from the cheese fries."
Watch the video.

How Sensual, Exactly, Is the Bollywood Workout?

A curious reader wants to know: How sensuous, exactly, is the Bollywood workout?  To  answer that, Geezer directs readers' attention to this helpful L.A. Times Q&A, with the queen, originator, and possibly only practitioner of the the Bollywood workout, Hemalayaa.  Much like Prince, Hemalyayaa wears exotic clothing, seems to be in constant motion, and has no last name. And like Prince's performances, as Hemalyayaa herself puts it, Bollywood is all about being over the top.
Read more in the L.A. Times.