That's Fit

My last vivid memory of the beach dates back to March 2005, just after I was discharged from the hospital. I'd been hospitalized for five days for chemotherapy-induced low blood counts and a fever. It took antibiotics, a blood transfusion, and a lot of rest to help me recover, and I celebrated my homecoming with a family trip to the beach. I felt generally well for the duration of my ocean getaway, but I was weak. It took every ounce of my strength just to hold my hat and wig on my head when winds threatened to take it for a spin -- which it did on one occasion. Less than two weeks later, I was back in the hospital.

This past weekend, I was back at the beach. Now, I have a new vivid memory.

The weather was perfect, with temperatures ideal for running. The sand was a little sloped, a little soft, and a lot bumpy but I didn't mind. Equipped with my MP3 player and five of my favorite songs, I ran. And ran. When my songs ended, I turned around and ran back. I felt strong, alive, invincible. Later in the day, I ran again. I even did some sprinting. It was invigorating.

There are no visions of cancer that accompany this memory. No hospital stays. No wigs and hats. Just the way I like it.

Memories are powerful. So is the passage of time.

Studies that track the injuries of runners found those who got hurt most were the ones with the weakest cores. That's why strong cores are key if running is your exercise of choice.

This just scratches the surface of what I learned Tuesday night at a free seminar aimed at prepping Gainesville marathoners for a 26.2 mile jaunt in February. Three more workshops will follow. Before I attend the final trio, though, I'm trying to process the nuggets of knowledge thrown my way during the hour I spent with a few fitness experts and a room full of practicing runners. Here's a mini rundown on what I learned:

• The core -- made up of the butt, belly, back, and side butt -- is the body's engine block. It's like the hub of a bicycle wheel. If that hub were made of tin foil with strong spokes all around it, it would be crushed. Same goes for the core. It doesn't matter how strong our arms and legs are. If our core is weak, our body cannot endure sports like running.

As the large population of Baby Boomers grows older, and as all ages of Americans become more interested in exercise and activity, a new challenge is being created for fitness companies to create equipment that will not only work for the previously common "average" customer, but for newly growing "aging" group as well.

Recently companies from all over convened in Las Vegas to show off what they've done to make fitness machines not only challenging and effective, but also sensitive to older users and adjustable for things like achy joints. There are all kinds of new ideas out there, click here to see a few examples of what the Vegas trade show had to offer.

Osteoporosis and weak bones are generally thought of as a women's issue, and although women are 4 times more likely to suffer from "brittle bones," with 1 in 12 men getting the disease it's a serious issue for them too.

A common culprit for women who have weak bones is the decline in estrogen after menopause, but what about for men? Surprisingly, most men have higher levels of estrogen than most post-menopausal women, which may be why they generally have lower risk. But those men who have a lower number of active estrogen metabolites also have a correspondingly higher risk of developing lower bone density (low -- high -- low -- did that make sense?).

But don't worry guys, there are no plans yet to start generally prescribing estrogen hormone replacement for men. Not yet anyway...

There have been concerns regarding aging, dieting, and decreased muscle mass: that weight-loss later in life could make women in particular much weaker. But thankfully new research is showing that although some muscle is lost when aging women diet and lose weight without exercising, they show no decline in strength or general fitness. And not only was there no decline, but fitness was almost on the way up for the women in the study.

The slight improvements in fitness were so small they weren't statistically important, and the researchers are attributing them to the weight loss and the fact that the women are just less heavy overall. But although this study did not take into account situations of unintentional weight loss, this is still awesome news to support the fact that it's never to too late to make an effort to get healthy.