Exercise!

Get Up and Get Moving. How could I pass on this article? It just could not happen. Newsweek has several articles on diet and exercise, which are available on MSNBC.com. I will review the diet article either later today or tomorrow. But first the exercise article. I love the title. Have you planned your exercise activities for this week? That is the key for me. I know when I will exercise each day this week. It is part of my weekly plan!

We all know we should exercise. But we?re too busy and too tired. And we?re also increasingly confused: How much is necessary? Is it 60 minutes (gasp!) most days of the week, as the Institute of Medicine suggested last fall? Or 30 minutes? Three days a week or five? Running or mall walking? Researchers are attacking those questions and they?re delving even further into how physical activity affects our bodies at the molecular level. No matter how far the science goes, though, there?s one finding that will remain indisputable: any amount of exercise is better than none. ?Being active and fit is good for you whether you?re young or old, man or woman, tall or short, skinny or fat,? says Steven Blair, president of the Cooper Institute in Dallas, a health-research group.

Research suggests that both greater duration and more rigorous give better results. One should not start with long runs and heavy weight. Rather one should strive to increase duration and intensity slowly over time.

So where does the 60-minute recommendation fit in? When it was issued in September, the Institute of Medicine report seemed to fly in the face of the surgeon general?s guidelines, but the two may not be quite as incompatible as they seem. The 30 minutes is aimed at reducing the risk of chronic disease in the future. The 60 minutes, on the other hand, is paired with dietary recommendations and focuses on weight control in the present. Researchers found that among healthy people with a body mass index (a ratio of weight to height) of less than 25 (with 18.5 to 25 being desirable), 60 minutes of physical activity was necessary to maintain body weight and avoid excess gain. But the finding should not negate what the CDC recommends, says Dr. Ben Caballero, who was a member of the Institute of Medicine panel and is director of the Center for Human Nutrition at Johns Hopkins school of public health. The two ?guidelines, he says, ?are complementary.?

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Any exercise program should also include resistance training for 20 minutes three times a week, using weights or exercise bands, or doing push-ups or squats. Weight training increases muscles and improves bone density?critical for baby boomers who?d rather bungee-jump than use a walker. ?There?s no other way you retain muscle mass and strength,? says William Haskell, an exercise specialist at the Stanford School of Medicine. Better strength also means fewer falls, which are the leading cause of death from injury in people older than 65. And new research suggests resistance training can even be good for the ticker, too: the Harvard runners study found that men who trained with weights for 30 minutes or more per week cut their risk of heart disease by 23 percent.

So when will you exercise this week. Make a plan and stick to it. You owe it to your body.