Promoting Physical Activity

Video fun

2011-12-19T15:49:00.002-07:00

It could be considered common knowledge that physical activity is very important to maintaining and improving our health.

As practitioners we know this, and most of the public has a pretty good idea they should.

That being said, it's nice to be reminded of the heath benefits. It reminds me why I care about my work and why I choose this field in the first place.

I first saw this on Facebook and then of course it got passed along via blogs and emails. So I am just continuing the love. Oh, don't worry, the video fun does not stop here.

I appreciate videos. They are (usually) more entertaining then reading a document or paper. They can be a great way to share information and inspire folks, and with the help of technology they can reach a lot of people.

Now the next video is a bit longer... its from TED.

This one discusses the concept of public health. Though the speaker's references are NOT about physical activity, I think her point is important to the physical activity field. "People do stupid things" (i.e. not be active), "for perfectly rational reasons."

We may know the benefits and all the reasons why we should be more active, yet most of us are not active enough. Why? To help answer this question we need to look beyond the individual and understand how society and policies shape behaviour.

Enjoy!!

Step counts and cadence

2011-11-07T12:20:00.003-07:00

I had the absolute pleasure to meet Dr. Catrine Tudor-Locke last week. For those of you who may not be too familiar with her work, she does a lot of research regarding walking and pedometers.

I wanted to share a couple items of her latest research which I thought was quite exciting and practical.

Step count recommendations:

All too often in my work I am asked about the 10,000 steps count “target” for adults. Interestingly enough there is not much research supporting it as a target itself. The 10,000 steps was basically a number that was develop out of best practice and fit well with public health and physical activity promotion needs. Dr. Tudor-Locke recently published three reviews, which are open to the general public that have recommendations with step counts for children/youth, adults and older adults. In these reviews she has looked at the research to help develop step count recommendations.

Basically, she debunked the 10,000 step “target”, indicating that for adults there may be health benefits with daily step counts at around 7000. Of course there is nothing wrong with aiming for 10,000 steps, however it should not been seen as the only target. In fact, researchers have also shown that increasing your step counts above what you normally do may be more important than achieving a set target.

Cadence:

The other item Dr. Tudor-Locke is researching is the importance of cadence, i.e. how fast we walk.

It makes sense to think about our walking speed. When we look at the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines we are encouraged to be active at a moderate-vigorous intensity. Therefore by looking at our cadence (i.e. our steps/min), we can get an idea of intensity.

In her work she has shown that about 100 steps/min is equivalent to 3 METS. For those of you who don’t have a background in exercise physiology, this could be interpreted as moderate intensity.

So what does this all mean for us practitioners? Well, pedometers are still a great tool to get people moving more and hopefully moving more regularly.

Encourage the people you work with to increase their step counts above their typical levels. Don’t worry as much about them achieving 10,000 steps, but perhaps encourage them to set step counts for themselves. For example, if a person you work with gets on average 6000 steps/ day, perhaps a meaningful and realistic goal for this person is to increase their step count up to 7000-8000 steps/day.

Use cadence as a learning tool for your clients. For example, have them try walking at least 100 steps/minute for a few minutes. This allows them to get an idea of what their pace should be at when walking at a moderate intensity. Have them try different cadences to see which one they feel comfortable with. The idea of doing this is help create a sense of how fast they should be walking to get more benefit out of their steps.

So how have you used pedometers and walking in the programs you run? I would like to hear your stories and ideas.

Tudor-Locke, C., Craig, C.L.,, Beets, M.W., Belton, S., Cardon, G.M., Duncan, S., Lubans, D., Olds, T.S., Raustorp, A., Rowe, D.A., Spence, J.C., Tanaka, S., & Blair, S.N. How many steps are enough? For children and youth. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2011, 9:78.

Tudor-Locke, C., Craig, C.L.,, Brown, W., Clemes, S.A., De Cocker, K., Giles-Corti, B., Hatano, Y., Inoue, S., Matsudo, S.M., Mutrie, N., Oppert, J.-M., Rowe, D.A., Schmidt, M., Schofield, G.M., Spence, J.D., Teixeira, P.J., Tully, M.A., & Blair, S.N. How many steps are enough? For adults. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2011, 9:79.

Tudor-Locke, C., Craig, C.L., Aoyagi, S., Bell, R.C., Croteau, K.A., De Bourdeaudhuij, I., Ewald, B., Gardner, A.W., Hatano, Y., Lutes, L.D., Matsudo, S.M., Rogers, L.Q., Rowe, D.A., Schmidt, M.D., Tully, M.A., & Blair, S.N. How many steps are enough? For older adults and special populations. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2011, 9:80.

Active Canada 20/20: Speak up now!

2011-10-21T11:00:00.006-06:00

Last week I had the honour to help facilitate a consultation on the Active Canada 20/20 National Physical Activity Strategy at Alberta’s Action on Wellness Symposium. For those who may not be familiar with Active Canada 20/20, I would definitely encourage you to check out the website.

This strategy is being developed by a steering committee of organizations and stakeholders around the country who feel that Canada needs a physical activity strategy. Other countries have strategies (e.g., USA, Scotland) and we need one too.

The goal is to provide clear direction and vision on helping to increase physical activity opportunities and reducing sedentary behaviours. It is planned that this strategy will be presented to the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers responsible for physical activity in their jurisdiction in April 2012.

During the summer months there was an online survey to gather feedback on the Strategy. Now the steering committee is taking the consultation process further by hosting facilitated consultations in many of the provinces and territories. Alberta was fortunate enough to host the 3^rd consultation just last week in Banff.

As you might guess, the purpose to the consultation was to get some direct feedback from practitioners and decision makers in the physical activity field on the Active Canada 20/20 strategy. It was a very busy three hour facilitation process, but fantastic to hear all the ideas and suggestions that emerged.

By chance or luck, there was a large group of high school students who were able to participate. What a fantastic addition to the process! Even though some of the concepts being discussed were at a policy and organizational level, many of these students were able to provide clear and original suggestions.

Currently the Active Canada 20/20 is in draft format, so this is the perfect time for YOU to provide some feedback of your own. So, even if you did not make it to the consultation process, I encourage you to review the strategy and share your ideas and suggestions.

You can access the most current draft here: http://www.activecanada2020.ca/home/documents

And you can provide feedback to this email: info@activecanada2020.ca

Exploring walkability solutions in not-so walkable places

2011-09-09T11:03:00.009-06:00

I had a delightful conversation not long ago with a reporter from Calgary. He was working on a series about walking and walkable communities. Of course a good part of our conversation was about the built environment and how it influences walking, in particular active transportation.

We know that mixed-use neighbourhoods, with residential, businesses and services, encourage walking.

We also know that street connectivity also increases walkability (i.e. how easy is it to get from point A to point B). For example, the traditional grid system street layout often proves to be more walkable than the cul-de-sac and lolly-pop layouts.

However, when we focus on just these two items when discussing the built environment we tend to get a bit negative about finding solutions. Tearing down and re-building communities are just not an option. My reporter asked the perfect question to help look for different solutions.

“What should be done in the neighbourhoods that are classified as not very walkable to make or improve the walkability? What a fantastic question.

This means we need to look beyond street connectivity and mixed use and explore some other options.

Providing a safe place to walk.

- Pedestrians need a place to walk. If there are not any sidewalks this really deters walking. So what should we do in a neighbourhood that has no sidewalks? First, the city or town council needs to be approached and convinced to address this issue in the future planning for that neighbourhood. However, this could take many years. An example of an interim solution is to actually dedicate a portion of the road for pedestrians. Using road paint can help make this clear.

- Consider extending your sidewalks so they are wider. Wide sidewalks encourage walking and at the same time may help to slow traffic.

- Consider adding barriers in between the pedestrians and the vehicles, this could be green space, trees and plants, park benches.

- Keep sidewalks well lit at night.

Here are some examples and other ideas about sidewalks and walkways.

Look at ways to slow or calm traffic.

- Speed bumps, chockers, mini circles, or even gateways into your community are a few examples.

- Check out this website for images and explanations of many great ways to calm traffic.

- Pushing for lower speed limit in your neighbourhood .

Crosswalks that are safer and put pedestrians first

- Make crosswalks as visible as possible to vehicles. Use of lights, signs and paint can help with this.

- Ensure crosswalks are visible in both day and at night.

- Make it easier to cross by adding curb extension (this decreases the area a pedestrian has to actually cross on the road.

- Check out this page for some fantastic examples.

Of course some of these ideas need the city or town to be involved, which can take time. Plus some of these ideas may still be costly.

However, inexpensive and time efficient solutions also do exist; it just means putting on the creativity thinking cap.

One example of an inexpensive solution was creating curb extensions with gigantic flower planters and some road paint. The community placed 2 gigantic planters a couple feet out from each side of the crosswalk. They then painted cross walking lines. It was aesthetically pleasing, and it worked.

Have you seen some neat ways communities have helped make their neighbourhood more walkable?

What about winter? How can we keep our neighbourhoods walkable in our cold and snowy Canadian winters?

I would love to hear your suggestions or thoughts.

Physical Activity Counselling Toolkit

2011-07-29T12:33:00.003-06:00

So I feel a little like blowing my own horn today.
As some of you may know, the Centre here has launched the new Physical Activity Counselling Toolkit.

I can proudly say I headed up this project, and had some fantastic help from my co-workers and from the advisory committee. I encourage you to check out our new toolkit... but also to keep an eye out for our translated versions, likely coming this fall.

The Alberta Centre for Active Living had been approached by various practitioners (e.g., exercise physiologist), requesting a need for resources and tools that would help them do physical activity counseling. So this project came out of a direct need from practitioners.

This was tough, but rewarding project. I was shocked at how much time each resource took to create. We wanted to make sure the content was based on the latest research. Plus we wanted to ensure that the information was written to best promote behaviour change ( this meant I had to brush up on my behaviour change theories- no easy feat).

We also wanted to make sure that each resources was written in very plain language and actually useful to practitioners. To achieve this, it required evaluating the readability of each resources and subsequent drafts. It also meant having the resources evaluated by practitioners and the clients they work with.

So, yes a lot of work. But the feed back we have been getting from across Canada and even around the world (that's right, folks in UK, Australia and South Africa have contacted us), has been outstanding.

This basically shows that resources like these are needed. The sweat, blood and tears that went into these was definitely worth it. Now... we just need to hunt down further funding so we can add to this collection.

I encourage you to check out our toolkit and please feel free to share your comments with me.

Moving little ones. Part 3

2011-07-20T10:46:00.004-06:00

Interestingly there has been some international activity on this topic, so I have a short "part three" for you.

The UK just released their physical activity guidelines on for children under 5.
These guidelines recommend that children under 5, who are walking, should be active at least 180 minutes (3 hours) spread throughout their day.

They also provided guidelines for children under 5 who are not walking. For this group the focus seems to be on infants, and floor play time and water based physical activities are encouraged.

So what about Canada?
Well according to CSEP, Canada will have its own guidelines most likely in Spring of 2012.
Though I suspect they will not be much different from what UK has provided. We shall see.

In the mean time, we know the little ones need physical activity... so lets get them moving :)

Moving little ones. Part 2

2011-07-05T09:35:00.003-06:00

As promised in my previous blog, I have dedicated this entry to posting about some neat and useful resources that exist.

The good news is, even though we lack specific Canadian guidelines on physical activity for children younger than the age of five, we actually have a plethora of resources out there about getting this age group moving.

First I would encourage you to check out the Canadian Sport for Life (CS4L) website. Part of this movement is to encourage strong physical literacy in younger children, before they even try sports. They have a whole staged devoted to children from 0-6 titled “Active Start”.

The focus of this stage is to simply encourage these kiddies to learn to move their body in different ways and in different places, especially during unstructured play. The goal is to help these children learn to control their body, develop locomotor skill (i.e. rolling, crawling, and catching and rolling a ball). Basically to help lay the foundation for strong physical literacy.

You can also refer to the Active for Life website, which I believe is a dedicated spin-off from CS4L to focus on physical literacy. This website is focused towards parents, but also very useful for those working with children as well. You will find the website fun and easy to use.

Another great resource that is full of ideas is A Hop, Skip and a Jump: Enhancing Physical Literacy. This resource will give you ideas of games and activities to lead kids through. What all these resources emphasis is that with younger children physical activity is all about learning to move their body. So when they are old enough to plays sports, the emphasis should never be on competitiveness but rather on skill development.

All resources encourage a blend of structured (i.e. playing sport) and unstructured (active play which does not adhere to rules, time lines), although most put an emphasis on unstructured play.

Also, all the resources encourage adults to be involved (even during unstructured play), to help provide feedback, to model the physical movement, and to help make the activity enjoyable.

To wrap up, I encourage you to watch this video on Active Play.

Moving little ones. Part 1.

2011-06-16T13:46:00.005-06:00

When I encounter toddlers and pre-school aged children I am often very overwhelmed by the amount of activity and movement that is going on around my knees (and also by the increase in noise). These kids move… they like to move… and in some cases they like to move loudly.

However, are they moving enough? We know that children in school are definitely not active enough. According to the Canadian Health Measures Survey (direct measure using Accelerometers) only 14% of boys (aged 6-10) and 7% of girls (aged 6-10) are meeting the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines.

So what about the younger kids, the noisy ankle biters, are they active enough? Well to answer that we need:

Guidelines or recommendations on how active they “should” be…

Statistics /research that has measured whether these guidelines are being met in this age group.

I decided to do some investigating to see if I could answer this question for you. Not to spoil the anticipation for you, but I didn’t find that much.

Currently in Canada we do not have national physical activity guidelines for children aged 0-5, however CSEP (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology) has indicated they hope to develop them. The biggest issue is lack of research done for this age group. There is not enough knowledge around how much physical activity is beneficial. We know it’s important; we just don’t have the details yet. Therefore, we may have to wait a while until guidelines are developed.

That being said, there are some guidelines that are out and available.

Many researchers and organizations have referred to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), which provides physical activity guidelines for the 0-5 age range. This is an organization based in the USA. Here are their guidelines.

Some of their key points are listed below:

Toddlers:

Toddlers should engage in a total of at least 30 minutes of structured physical activity each day.
Toddlers should engage in at least 60 minutes -- and up to several hours -- per day of unstructured physical activity and should not be sedentary for more than 60 minutes at a time, except when sleeping.
Toddlers should be given ample opportunities to develop movement skills that will serve as the building blocks for future motor skillfulness and physical activity.

Pre-schoolers:

Preschoolers should accumulate at least 60 minutes of structured physical activity each day.
Preschoolers should engage in at least 60 minutes -- and up to several hours -- of unstructured physical activity each day, and should not be sedentary for more than 60 minutes at a time, except when sleeping.
Preschoolers should be encouraged to develop competence in fundamental motor skills that will serve as the building blocks for future motor skillfulness and physical activity.

Other recommendations I have encountered in the literature (Timmons et al 2007) are:

Physical activity promotion with this group needs to their natural activity patterns, which are very spontaneous, and intermittent. They are not going to be active like adults or even older children.
The focus should be on gross motor skills and learning to simply move around. Many refer to this as fundamental movement skills.
The activities should be fun and not a task they are “required to do”.
Adults modeling the skills and providing feedback may help the learning process and make it more enjoyable.
Whenever possible they should be outside and given opportunity to explore outdoor play spaces and equipment.

As for finding research on whether or not children were meeting these guidelines I was not too successful in finding a clear answer for you. The one issue researchers are running into using the NASPE guidelines is they are open to interpretation with regards to intensity.

So this leaves the guidelines open to interpretation by the researcher, or in some cases by the parent or the caregiver reporting on the physical activity. Plus, keeping track of how active a child is at this age is…well tricky.

So the answer remains the same. We don’t really know how active this age group is. But, I think we can be safe to assume they can be moving more.

In my next blog I hope to track down some resources and practical tips on physical activity for this age group. Until then - Cherrio!

Reference:

Timmons, BW; Naylor, PJ and Pfeiffer, KA. (2007). Physical activity for preschool children-how much and how? Canadian Journal of Public Health. 98(2). doi:10.1139/H07-112

The baby boomers are coming... are you ready?

2011-04-21T15:56:00.011-06:00

“Canada is about to face an unprecedented era of population aging. From 8% fifty years ago, it is projected that Canadian seniors will comprise 23-25% of the population in 25 years time.” Health-promoting factors and good health among Canadians in mid to late life. July 2010 Statistics Canada

In the next two decades, a larger portion of our populations will be older. So what does this mean for those promoting health and physical activity?

Well, as many of us know, the “not-so-fun-side” to aging is typically experiencing more health issues. Heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis all seem to creep more readily into our lives as we age. In fact as we get older we are more likely to develop more than 1 health condition.

Physical activity can help to manage these health concerns and in some cases it may be able to prevent or delay the onset of health issues. Promoting physical activity and ensuring this generation remains active will be key to help maintaining the quality of life as this generation gets older.

So how do we get boomers active? As with any age group or segment of the population we need to learn how to adapt our efforts to best suit their needs, interest and maximize their engagement.

Good examples of things to consider:

* The word “seniors” may not be well received with the baby boomer generation. This generation has a tendency to see themselves as youthful. Plus, who wants to admit they are getting old!
* Many plan to still work in some capacity after they have retired. Or they simply see retirement as a phase of life to try something new or explore new interests. So the typical early morning classes may not work for this crowd.
* They likely have many family responsibilities. They may still have a parent that is living. They also may still provide support to their children.
* They have survived without the internet for decades, but most have embraced it.
* Often those in this generation are considered optimistic and proactive. Therefore, maintaining their health can be a big motivator for some people in this generation

Basically, we may need to rethink about the physical activity promotion and programs we offer.

Perhaps getting rid of the word “senior” in your program description, may help to make a class program or initiative more inviting.

Targeting the workplace may be a great way to engage many in this generation.

Examining multi-generational opportunities and promotional material, as this generation may want to do stuff with their parent, their kids and even their grand kids!

Using the concern for their health and the proactive nature of their generation, and to help motivate them to try a new physical activity.

Bottom line, is this generation will shape how we promote physical activity. We just need to be ready and willing to go along for the ride.

Canadian Sedentary Guidelines for Children and Youth-helping us to work across the “movement spectrum”

2011-04-08T12:45:00.010-06:00

We know that most of our waking day is primarily sedentary activities. We also know that too much sedentary time has negative consequences on our health. In fact I have blogged about sedentary behaviour before… and the importance of trying to limit our sedentary time or activities.

Well, the good folks at CSEP were able to review current research connecting the health of children and youth to sedentary behaviours.
From this review they were able to provide the Canadian Sedentary Guidelines for Children and Youth. I encourage you to check them out.

So how do the Sedentary Guidelines differ from the Physical Activity Guidelines? What does this mean to us, as practitioners?

Both guidelines want children and youth to be more active. However, each guideline is addressing a different behaviour. The best explanation I have heard, is that by having both guidelines allows us to promote and encourage behaviour change along the “movement spectrum”.

The Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines address increasing physical activity behaviours in order to see health benefits. They provide recommendations regarding how often, how long and how intense children and youth should be physically active. These guidelines look at adding a positive behaviour.

The Sedentary Guidelines however, are looking at the other end of the “movement spectrum” (inactivity). They provide recommendations on limiting sedentary behaviours, such as watching TV, video games, driving to school. They indicate that sedentary behaviours not only need to be limited but also replaced with more movement orientated activities, such as active play with family and friends and walking or cycling to school. These guidelines look at limiting a negative behaviour.

In a perfect world both guidelines should be met. But in the practical world, you and I know that it may not always be that easy.

So what does this mean for us as practitioners? Well, I would consider the Sedentary Guidelines as another tool in your tool box. There may be times when trying to “add” in more physical activity is not necessarily helpful in creating change. What may be more appropriate is to focus on the behaviours we want to reduce (sedentary activities).

For example:
Perhaps you are working directly with kids who are not physically active. It may be difficult for them to meet the physical activity guidelines, and it may be hard for you to get them excited about being more active. If this is the case, you could take a different approach and use the Sedentary Guidelines as your goal.

Or, perhaps you are working with a youth program and the leaders who run it, where sports and fitness are not a key component (such as computer, music, arts and crafts etc). Instead of trying to push physical activity on a program which may not want to incorporate it, you could advocate the program to limit sedentary time as much as possible. Such as, limiting how long the students spend sitting.

I can think of many more examples where the Sedentary Guidelines may be more appropriate, but I would rather hear your ideas. When do you focus on limiting sedentary behaviour?

The bottom line, the Canadian Physical Activity and Sedentary Guidelines allow you to alter your approach to best suit the needs of the people you are trying to reach.

Physical Activity Forum: Bringing worlds together

2011-03-25T11:04:00.004-06:00

I am pumped for May 10th and 12th (bear with me, I am about to do a little bit of promotion).

Every year my organization holds a Physical Activity Forum in Edmonton and Calgary. This year the topic is on motivating physical activity.

I am very excited for this event. We have a great speaker coming (Dr. Phil Wilson), who is lively and engaging... and more importantly, very knowledgeable about human motivation and behaviour change. His main goal is to help us understand between fact and fiction when it comes to motivation and physical activity.

I am also excited about the panel discussion we will have after Dr. Wilson’s presentation. The panel consists of local practitioners. They will have the opportunity to respond to Dr. Wilson’s presentations with their own experiences and insights.

The idea is to have them share with us: What works? What doesn’t work? And how might they apply what Dr. Wilson presents.

The really exciting part of this event is bringing the world of research and the world of the practitioner together for half a day.

I encourage you to check out our website for information about the event. And… if interested, to register.

Understanding how health can influence physical activity

2011-03-09T12:18:00.011-07:00

Health is a bigger motivator for me to be active. My family history is chock full of heart disease and cardiovascular issues, which I would like to fight off as long as I can.

When your health motivates you, it may be easy to assume it motivates others. This is not always the case.

Research has shown that a person’s health can be both a positive or negative influence on participation in physical activity.

We must remember that physical health, mental health, and perceptions of health all play an important role in an individual’s ability or willingness to participate in physical activity.

It is easy to forget that being active is not always easy, especially if they already have health issues.

As practitioners, we must be aware of how people’s health will affect their physical activity participation.

Things to consider:
- Whether or not their bodies can handle the activity. Such as: going for a walk but not having a park bench to rest on; being asked to sit on the floor to do exercises, but not given supports to help stand back up.

- Many medications can cause weight gain or other health-related side effects that may affect physical activity participation. For example, some blood pressure medication makes it more difficult for a person to regulate their core body temperature when they are active.

- Symptoms of a physical health condition that might make it difficult to participate in physical activity . For example, adults with Type 1 diabetes might not participate in physical activity because of the possibility of experiencing a low blood sugar level.

- Symptoms of a mental health condition that might make it difficult to participate in physical activity. For example, a person with an anxiety disorder may find it impossible to attend a group program.

Finally we also need to be aware of people’s perception of physical activity and their health. Concerns or fears about their health condition (whether they are based on fact or not) may actual deter people from participating.

* Fear that their existing health conditions might be made worse by becoming physically active or by doing too much.
* Fear of getting injured or re-injured.
* Fear of experiencing pain.
* Fear of participating in activities that aren’t appropriate for their age or, in some cases, for their health condition.

As practitioners, we need to be careful to listen and not belittle these fears.

That being said, promoting and educating the health benefits of physical activity is till important. We can help to motivate folks to move more, as long as we recognize their health situation and status. I believe, the key thing is taking the time to listen and understand the people we work with. How does their health currently influence them? How can you adapt your class, education, work, environment to better suit them?

For some other strategies on this topic check out this section of our website called Physical Activity for All:

Once again, I am open to hearing your ideas and experiences on this topic….

I wish good health to all of you!

Picking on weight loss challenges

2011-02-10T12:10:00.009-07:00

In our field we often hear about physical activity challenges/competitions as a tool to get people's attention and to help provide some initial (external) motivation.

For example, I hear of workplaces hosting their own Biggest Loser, or running a pedometer step challenge. Here in Edmonton there is the Edmonton Journal and YMCA At Home Health Club Challenge. Nationally there is the CBC Live Right Now.

Often communities, workplaces, recreation facilities may offer similar challenges. The goal, is often to offer a competitive environment in hopes of inspiring people to take action, whether it is to eat healthier, be more active… or lose weight. We must remember that these challenges offer external motivation (read my earlier blog on motivation).

Challenges have their place for sure. However, many use the focus of weight loss as the main goal. This has many concerns for me, which I thought might be good to discuss.

Physical activity promoted as the major tool for weight loss. In some challenges physical activity is promoted as the main method for successful weight loss.

We must remember nutrition, eating habits and overall lifestyle changes (such sedentary behaviours) play a VERY large role.

As professionals in the field, we must remember losing weight is a complex issue and involves many different behaviour and lifestyle changes.

So why are picking something so difficult for our participants?
Will participants see long term success once the challenge is over?
Are we supporting the typical yo-yo dieting and weight loss cycling that we know is so unhealthy?

How Physical Activity is Portrayed. Often in these challenges (especially the ones on TV) we see physical activity being portrayed as gruelling and the awful component of the weight loss story. I am not convinced that this is the correct or an effective message we want to send.

I have a few questions about how this messaging may affect people.

If people are so focused on the weight loss do they miss seeing the other benefits they get from being active?
Are we installing the fear that physical activity has to be hard and brutal in order to benefit from it?
Are we encouraging the notion that it is only worthwhile to be active if you are on the ground sweating and moaning afterwords?

Some people may find this type of activity fun. But I suspect most don’t. Most people will likely not work that hard when on their own. So, once the challenge is over, what happens to the physical activity participation? It will likely decline.

Bottom line, physical activity should be fun, appropriate and sustainable for the person even after they complete the challenge.

Focus too much on the numbers. Often the success of weight loss challenges is based on the numbers on the scale or the inches lost with the tape measure.

I wonder if we are not setting people up for failure or disappointment. Yes, there will be the people who see success with changes on the scale. What about those who do not see changes in their numbers, or those who only see change at the beginning? Does that mean their hard work and effort to change their lifestyle should go unrewarded?

Those who promote physical activity know (or at least we should) that the behaviour change needs to happen before we can see significant physiological changes (especially weight loss).

So why not start using the behaviour as a marker for success? Such as:

Did you increase how often you were active this week? Yes! Success!
Did you reach Canada’s Physical Activity guidelines this week? Yes! Success!
Were you able to be consistent doing the same amount of physical activity each week for the last month? Yes! Success!

This can allow people to focus on the doing, rather than the outcome.

Using numbers of course is a form of external motivation, and can help get people started… but should the focus be only on weight loss?

Why not focus on some of the other benefits of being active:

Are you sleeping better (more hours, better quality)?
How is your energy during the day?
Can you walk longer? Faster?
Are you getting stronger?
Is your blood pressure lower?

So what about you? What are your thoughts on these kinds of challenges? Have you seen some great challenges? How about some ‘not-so great’ challenges?

I would love to hear your stories.

Hot off the Press: Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines

2011-01-25T10:37:00.013-07:00

So after much anticipation the new Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines were officially released yesterday by the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology.

You can check them out here.

Their release has sparked a lot of discussion. So I thought I would share some of it with you.

So what is good about the new guidelines:

They are based on science and research. The previous guidelines were only based on expert opinion.
They are less confusing than the previous guidelines. The old guidelines could be a bit tricky to understand fully. With the new guidelines the message is quite clear: Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate -vigorous physical activity each week (for adults).
They are more realistic and achievable. The 150 minutes can be accumulated in at least 10 minute bouts (or more). Ten minutes littered throughout the day may seem more achievable to those who struggle to be active.
They are more inclusive with regards to different ages. The old guidelines were missing ages.
The new guidelines make is easier to measure physical activity levels. This is a good thing if you want to track the physical activity levels in your community!!!

Moving away from the good news, I want to chat a little about one aspect that has raised some questions and concern: What happened to flexibility and stretching?

Currently the literature on flexibility and stretching is very thin. Since the new guidelines are based on science and research, stretching recommendations needed to be left out.

Only in the older adult guidelines is there still a hint of the importance of flexibility. The new guidelines recommend that "Those with poor mobility should perform physical activities to enhance balance to prevent falls." So, some stretching exercises would fit under this recommendation.

Part of me understands completely why stretching was left out of the new guidelines. Recently I had to write a short article on stretching. Finding research and information that provided clear definitive answers on flexibility and stretching was very hard. In most cases I came up empty.

But on the other hand, I have seen what flexibility can do with the people I work directly with. It helped increase the mobility of a woman's arthritic knee. It helped improve the stride length of a runner, it helped a new mom bend down so she can pick up her baby. Stretching helped all these people in their own individual way.

And maybe that is the issue with doing research on stretching and flexibility. The benefits of stretching is so individually based (age, gender, injury, joint health, activity level, personal goals) that perhaps it is too hard to measure.

So... what does this mean to you? At the end of the day you know your participants, you know their goal's and their abilities. If stretching is going to help them then what is the harm of still encouraging them to do it?

Finding Time

2011-01-11T14:39:00.005-07:00

I can’t believe its January.. and almost the middle of January!

December seemed to come and my time to do the fun tasks (like writing this blog) seemed to evaporate.

Ah- time, the fleeting entity we want to have more of, but simply can’t. This is why I am dedicating some of my blogging power to it.

As many of us know, lack of time is the most often cited barrier with regards to physical activity and exercise participation. Even for folks who believe physical activity should be a priority, who enjoy it and want to do, can often struggle finding time to be active.

Where does our time go??

* Work
* The commute to work
* Family
* Friends
* Commitments and responsibilities
* Watching TV
* Playing on the computer- ha!

The interesting thing with Lack of Time as a barrier is that is can be an actual REAL barrier. A person literally may not have any time to spare. However, it can also be a PERCEIVED barrier. This is when we believe we don’t have time, but in actuality it may have more to do with finding the time and prioritizing.

As leaders in our community and in the physical activity field, we need to be sensitive to both. The bottom line to individual, time is a barrier and we can help them address is.

One way that may help is by encouraging and promoting some of the new messages that are coming out of the updated Physical Activity Guidelines.

The research behind the PA guidelines has shown that even short bouts of physical activity (10 minutes) can still provide some benefits.

The new physical activity guidelines (for adults) are (and I quote directly from the Fact Sheets provided by CSEP)

" Adults should get at least 150 minutes/week of moderate intensity physical activity (such as brisk walking, swimming or raking leaves). This can be achieved in a variety of ways, for example 30 minutes 5 days a week. Activity can be broken into smaller bouts at least 10 minutes long. If activity is vigorous (such as jogging, hockey or aerobics), health benefits can be achieved with 90 minutes/week. In general, the more time spent being active and the more intense the activity, the better. are 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a day… which can be broken down to 30 minutes 5 days a week."

Even though the benefits are not as great, I think the message that physical activity can be done in shorter bouts is an important one to share.

In some ways it makes the guidelines seem more realistic and achievable. Aiming to fit 3, 10 minute sessions of physical activity throughout the day may seem more possible than a longer 30 minute session.

It may also help boost a person’s confidence in doing at least some amount of physical activity. Especially to those who are sedentary, and may not be able to tolerate long sessions of activity.

However (and this is the exercise physiologist in me speaking out) … we do still need to be careful with this message and how we explain it to the people we are trying to reach. The time, whether it is 10 minutes, 15, 20 or 30 plus, when we are active needs to be meaningful. It needs to be at a moderate intensity.

A 10 minute light stroll is very different from 10 minutes walking a quicker pace. The time when people are active they do need to be increasing their heart rate. This needs to happen so those benefits can actually be enjoyed.

Now.. go.. take a 10 minute walk!

Try a new approach: Step Away From The TV

2010-11-30T11:51:00.008-07:00

Discussions about sedentary behaviour seem to be growing in the physical activity field.

Focusing on sedentary behaviours does make some sense. Obviously, when we are busy being sedentary, we are not being active. So perhaps the sedentary behaviour is one we should tackle.

Some researchers are even looking at the health risks of being too sedentary (Check out this Research Update). Other researchers have even examined interventions which focus on decreasing sedentary time, especially with children and youth.

So what are examples of sedentary behaviour?

Driving our cars.
Watching television.
Playing video games (though there are now some which require some movement)
Working or playing on the computer (which is what I am doing right now).
Time at work. More and more jobs are sedentary. Sitting (and in some cases standing) in one place pretty much all day.
Anything that prevents us from moving.

Many professionals in my field spend time and effort promoting and creating opportunities for physical activity. We often talk about how people can and should fit activity into their lives. Cycle to work! Go for a walk! Play a sport! Take a fitness class! Move more!

It seems simple when we say these things, but in reality it isn’t simple to achieve. Most of Canadians are not physically active to see any benefits.

Well, what if we threw in another approach? What is we spent some time on the actual behaviour we want to get rid of- the sedentary behaviour. Perhaps we could encourage people to find ways to be less sedentary during their day.

The theory of this logic: If people reduced their sedentary time, they will create more time to be active.

So what do I mean by reducing sedentary time?
• Reduce how much TV you watch
• Decrease your leisure time on the computer.
• Find ways to not be sitting all day at work. (Standing meetings, place your garbage can on the opposite side of the room, walk to your colleagues desk instead of sending an email).
• Limit the time we are in the car (i.e. try to walk more from store to store rather than drive to each one)

Perhaps re-framing the physical activity discussion to include examining our sedentary behaviour may in fact help some people to ultimately move more.

Now get away from your computer!

The "fun and geeky" details about physical activity and high blood pressure

2010-11-10T10:29:00.011-07:00

Even after all these years in the physical activity field, I am continually fascinated by how amazingly good physical activity is for our body and overall health. So, I feel the need to share my thoughts and energy about this!

For a project that I am currently working on, I have been reading some of the latest research regarding the effects that physical activity has on people with certain chronic diseases. In particular, I have learned quite a bit about hypertension (high blood pressure).

For those who want some basic facts on hypertension, I encourage you to check out the Heart and Stroke Foundation's website.

It is well known that regular physical activity can help to prevent many chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure. Given that "the average adult Canadian" has high blood pressure already, I think it's important for all of us to be talking about the benefits of increased physical activity for this segment of the population.

What have I learned? What news or information should we share with others?

1. You get immediate benefits!
Researches have found that immediately after physical activity (in particular, any aerobic activity) a person's blood pressure decreases for a period of time. The higher the resting blood pressure, the more noticeable the decrease after being active.

So, someone who is in a healthy (resting) blood pressure range may not even notice a drop in their blood pressure after exercise (i.e., if they were measured their blood pressure before and after the physical activity).

For those with high blood pressure, a decrease in blood pressure after being physically active can last anywhere from two to seven hours. The duration of the decrease depends on how long the activity session was, and the intensity level of the session, e.g., at least moderate intensity.

The decrease in blood pressure after being active is a prime example or reason why daily physical activity can be so beneficial for someone with high blood pressure. Just from being active, your arteries will get some relief for a period of time. How fantastic is that!

2. You don't have to work at a hard intensity to see benefits!
I also learned that moderate intensity aerobic activity is best. Vigorous activity does not seem to be as beneficial as moderate intensity, in regards to achieving a decrease in blood pressure. (Of course, depending on the person, vigorous activity certainly has numerous benefits – but that's a topic for another day!)

When it comes to intensity, what this all means is that even just walking at a brisk pace (something a lot people can do), can be enough activity for someone who does have high blood pressure to see some changes with their blood pressure and achieve health benefits.

3. You will still see some benefits in 10 minutes block of physical activity
Also, based on the research; it is recommended that those who have high blood pressure try to be physically active 30 minutes a day. The longer a session is, the more benefits a person can see.

However, the research I read also suggested that if the 30 minutes is broken into three 10-minute blocks throughout the day, people will still see some benefits. Knowing that three 10-minutes sessions can be beneficial can definitely make achieving the 30-minute recommendation more "doable" or manageable for many people.

4. You may actually lower your blood pressure with regular physical activity!
Finally, those with high blood pressure who become active regularly may actually achieve a consistently lower resting blood pressure. In some cases, the decrease will be enough to bring a person back to a healthy range, or enough for the person's physician to take the person off their medication for high blood pressure.

Enough said?!? Thanks for allowing me to unleash my "geeky physiology side”.

For those that are like me and get a kick out of this topic, I have included some good resources below that you can dive into for more "fun stuff" on your own time.

For those who are not so keen on reading reams of research, I hope I gave you enough information and inspiration for you to share these facts and findings with others and perhaps spark some wider appreciation of the sometimes complex benefits of physical activity.

Pescatello, L. S., Franklin, B. A., Fagard, R. Farquhar, W.B. Kelley, G. A. and Ray, C.A., (2004), American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand: Exercise and Hypertension. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Special Communications.

Warburton DER, Katzmarzyk PT, Rhodes RE, Shephard RJ. Evidence-informed physical activity guidelines for Canadian adults. Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism. 2007;32 (suppl.2E):S16-S68.

Kokkinos, P.F., Gianneloi,A., Manolis,A., & Pittaras, A. (2009) Physical Activity in the Prevention and Management of High Blood Pressure., Hellenic Journal of Cardiology., 50 52-59

Coming Soon!! New Physical Activity Guidelines

2010-10-25T19:10:00.020-06:00

For those of you who have not heard, Canada will be getting some new physical activity guidelines- hopefully in the next year. I suspect this development will have many people (like me!) who work in fields related to physical activity literally jumping for joy. The guidelines have needed to be revisited for a number of years. Previous guidelines were released in 2002 (Children and Youth), 1998 (Adult) and 1999 (Older Adult) .

The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) has been leading the charge -hoping to update the guidelines based on current research. They have been reviewing the current guidelines and analyzing current research to determine what the new recommendations should be. They have done a fantastic amount of work.

In May 2010 they released their recommendations for updating Canada's Physical Activity Guidelines. You can see their news release, fact sheet and a plethora of academic articles on the CSEP website: http://www.csep.ca/english/View.asp?x=587

I suggest you take the time to read the fact sheet. It is nicely layed out and directly compares the new recommendations to the current guidelines. This allows you to see the changes made. I was very happy to see that the age ranges were expanded upon. (I still wonder how was that, before now, the Guidelines did not specifically address teenagers aged 15-19 have had no physical activity guidelines??!!).

One interesting difference can be found in their recommendations for children and youth. CSEP's new recommendations suggest at least 60 minutes of moderate-victorious physical activity for children and youth. The current Physical Activity Guidelines for children and youth recommend 90 minutes of moderate-vigorous physical activity.

This decrease in the amount of time recommended has caused quite a stir and debate. The main argument (that I have heard) for the change from 90 minutes to 60 minutes is that is would make this aspect of the Guidelines consistent with other countries and with the World Health Organization. Interesting, eh?

Will this change affect how we encourage our children and youth to be active?
Hmmmmm...what do you think? What does your experience tell you?

Beside this "hot button" issue, there is still much work that has to happen before the new physical activity guidelines are released. The Public Health Agency of Canada and CSEP will hopefully be formulating appropriate messaging, dissemination and other supporting resources. (Personally, I will not be sad to see the cartoons images go).

Currently PHAC has an online consultation available. This is an opportunity for anyone who is interested in how the physical activity guidelines are developed, to have their say. Even folks who may not be well-versed in the field should have a chance to say their piece.

So, whatever your interest or experience, I definitely suggest you take the time to complete the survey. This is the time to speak up!
http://www.physicalactivityguidelines.ca/home.html

Stay tuned for more developments.

Policy change- ensuring legacy

2010-10-13T09:35:00.005-06:00

At the end of September I attended a meeting where organizations who received funding could share their successes. It was an interesting day- and I was able to hear a lot about some of the great work that is happening in our province.

One of the keys things I heard that day came from 3 of the funded projects. Two of these projects involved working with the schools and school district and another project was with the Edmonton Boys and Girls club. The school projects were working towards a comprehensive school health, while the Boys and Girls club was running an after school program that had healthy snacks and physical activity. It was neat to hear about their success and also how they often had similar difficulties. As with all funding projects, the money comes to an end. We often hear that an excellent program disappears once the money is gone, which often leaves us questioning what impact does this kind of funding have.

These groups all discussed the importance of planning for sustainability of the project. From the very beginning of the project they were planning for when the money was coming to an end.

When asked how they worked to ensure sustainability, all three projects discussed the importance of policy being involved.

A good example was with the Boys and Girls club and their Healthy for Life-Cool Moves project. This project ran a program where they encouraged healthy eating, participating in physical activity and empowered the kids to make changes in their life, their families and in their community.

After some initial struggle to get Cool Moves working, the Boys and Girls club decided that in order for this program to be successful organizational policies needed to change. They decided that healthy food and regular physical activity should be a PART of ALL their programs events and activities (regardless of funding). This became part of the policy of the club.

They also decided that how staff was trained needed to change. Now, all staff (regardless of the program or event they ran) received training regarding healthy food choices and providing physical activity opportunities.

By having these changes occur at the policy level- providing healthy food and physical activity became the norm- no the exception.

Now, as the funding for the project has drawn to a close, the Cool Moves program is still operating. Yah! Even if this particular program does struggle to live, it has left a legacy with the whole Boys and Girls Club. In its wake it has ensured that all current and future programs will only provide healthy food options and to include physical activity. And that is something to be very proud of.

Happy Memories

2010-09-14T14:42:00.007-06:00

Dancing, skating, swimming, tobogganing, pick-up hockey, hiking.....(the list can go on and on) all have potential to get you moving, but also help to create a lasting, and hopefully, fun memory for most of us.

Adding some physical activity.... well it can make things fun. It can make things memorable. It can turn a typical day, event, gathering into a memory that connects people for years.

For example, at a BBQ many years ago, myself and two others were waiting for the rest of our friends to show. I didn't know these two people very well and conversation was awkward. As we got bored waiting we decided to cross the street to the park. We brought along a soccer ball and Frisbee. To make things more fun (or simply more complicated) someone had the brilliant idea of passing the soccer ball and throwing the frisbee at the same time. Soon we were running, kicking, tossing and laughing our heads off. We were good friends from that day forward. And, to this day, we still talk about that afternoon... usually with a big grin on our faces.

Another example given to me from a neighbor. He talked about how some his best memories as a kid was swimming and playing in the lake with his dad. Those memories mean a lot to him, so much so, he wants to create them for his own kids as they grow up. The are often at the local pool on the weekends.

BBQs, family gatherings, neighborhood get- togethers, special events at work or school are all perfect opportunities to add some physical activity and some fun. Being active adds to the event, helps to establish and create stronger bonds between people. They also help to create lasting memories.

So perhaps at your next event leave the camera at home and bring some ideas to be active... I bet you the memory of the day will stick around a lot longer.

Beyond workplace challenges

2010-08-30T12:19:00.006-06:00

Lately my mind has been thinking about physical activity promotion in the workplace. So I thought I would write a little about it.

In order for workplaces to see success in physical activity promotion is by getting management buy in and support. Without management behind initiatives the ability to “change the culture” of the workplace will be lot harder.

Also, physical activity in the workplace does need to be more than simply an event or activity challenge. These events and activities are important plus can be a lot of fun and a great way to improve moral. But other initiatives (less exciting, unfortunately, than a 10,000 Steps challenge) need to take place if you want workplace to fully support physical activity.

For example, one level where change should be conducted is with the workplace policies. Long term changes and on- going support can occur if employers look to change or add policies and strategies that do promote physical activity. The nice thing about addressing policy changes is that both small to large companies are able to do this.

What might strategies, at a policy level, that promote physical activity look like? Well here are some examples for you taken from our Physical Activity @ Work website. I hope they can offer some inspiration.

·Offer flex time for physical activity. Invite employees who actively commute to work or exercise at lunch to make up any missed time later in the day.

·Allow staff to work part time, so that they can participate in physical activity.

·Include a physical activity account in your benefit plan to pay for or subsidize fitness memberships, assessments, classes, counseling or instruction.

·Provide interest-free loans for employees to buy bicycles or good walking shoes/runners.

·Recognize employees who participate in physical activity. Survey employees first to determine how they prefer to be recognized, e.g., through company newsletters, appreciation lunches, rewards and/or thank you notes.

·Provide child care and other family-friendly amenities during physical activities that occur after work.

·Avoid scheduling meetings over lunch.

·Encourage active breaks instead of coffee breaks.

·Have active fundraisers rather than bingos. For example, employees might climb the Calgary Tower stairs or take turns riding a stationary bike for 24 hours.

·Make birthday celebrations active times. Instead of a lunch, invite the birthday person to choose an activity. Options could include a session with a yoga instructor or an evening ski trip.

·Promote a casual dress day. One study found that employees who dress casually were more physically active.

Children's Fitness Tax Credit: improvements required

2010-08-20T09:21:00.011-06:00

There has been a lot of talk about the Children's Fitness Tax Credit the last couple of weeks. All this talk has been spurred on by a recently published study which looked at this credit.

Dr. John Spence, from the University of Alberta, conducted this study which examined the awareness, uptake, and perceived effectiveness of this tax credit among Canadian Parents. He also looked to see how household income affected these results.

Among parents surveyed:

54.4 % said their child was enrolled in an organized physical activity program;
55.5% were aware of the Childrens' Fitness Tax Credit Program;
26.1% made claims for the tax credit in 2007,
33.1 % planned to do so in 2008.
15.6 % reported that it had increased their children’s participation in physical activity programs

The survey found that parents in the low income category were significantly less aware of the tax credit program, and less likely to claim the Children's Fitness Tax Credit when compared to other income groups.

Originally this tax credit was created by the federal government to help address the financial barrier to physical activity participation. However, this study confirms our intuitive assumption with a program like this. A tax credit is not really going to financially help the segment of the population who really needs it. In fact it will on serve to aid those that already have advantages.

A tax program, such as the Children's Fitness Tax credit will only benefit those who can actually afford to register their children in the program. For example, Dr. Spence reported that 63% of low income parents spent between 0-$100.00 on their child's registration. You compare this to the highest income group- and 76% spent more than $100.00 and 31% over $500. Disparity much??

An interesting side note: When this tax credit was first conceptualized, panels of experts were formed to provide feedback to the federal government. Many of those experts expressed concerns that the tax credit would not reach the segment of the population in most need. Basically they predicted what Dr. Spence's found. Now that there is actual research backing up these concerns, I hope the government listens to experts out there.

Dr. Spence- presented a couple recommendations in his paper... which I think the federal government should carefully consider:

Increasing awareness of the tax credit to low income families: as awareness of this tax credit was lowest in the low-income families targeted marketing to this segment of the population is needed.
Support Subsidy programs: The government should also support organization (municipalities and not-for profits) which offer subsides to low income families. A good example would be KidsSport Canada

As for us... community leaders... we need to speak up! Armed with this knowledge- and research backing us up- we need to start advocating to our Member of Parliament, that this tax credit needs to be improved and additional options for support should be explored.

After you have done that- get outside and go for a pleasant walk!

Dr. John Spence's paper: Spence JC, Holt NL, Dutove JK, & Carson V (2010). Uptake and effectiveness of the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit in Canada: the rich get richer. BMC public health, 10 PMID: 20565963

Plus size yoga

2010-08-10T13:31:00.008-06:00

So I was chatting with a woman this weekend. We had a great conversation about yoga and fitness class. Why some are good and why others are not so good. Interestingly she mentioned she recently signed up for a Plus Size Yoga class, which was offered in a private studio.

I thought this kind of class was great… what a fantastic idea. Definitely the instructor is finding a niche and hopefully filling a need. But as with any class there is good and there is the bad. So bear with me as I discuss both.

I think a class like this is good for a couple of reasons:

1. Its unique- yah for the instructor to think outside the box!

2. Shows the instructor is willing to educate themselves to accommodate to this population groups.

3. It is reaching an important portion of the population. According to the statistics about 50% of the populations is either overweight or obese.

4. It is a place of belonging where those who consider themselves to be plus size can be active and feel more comfortable.

This woman emphasized how important it was to feel that she was safe there, not judged, and that the instructor understood the issues she faced. For many of us, regardless of our size, being physically active can make us feel vulnerable, uncomfortable and exposed- especially in classes. And for those who look physically different or even move differently , this can even be more of a negative expereince.

When you think about it… really it can be a courageous thing to start and stick with being active- especially if we feel very uncomfortable while doing it.

So kudos to the instructor who is willing to take a risk and offer a different class. Creating a place where people can come together to be active and feel that they belong.

Okay... but now I need to at least get you thinking about the bad:

In order to take this class, a person not only must identify themselves as plus size, but admit it to others as well. This in itself can be a barrier to participation and takes a certain amount of courage to overcome.

So as leaders, we need to be careful with how we label/name our programs. We may have all the great intentions in the world to reach out to different segments of the population… but if folks in the population group don’t like seeing themselves there- we may have an empty class.

Negativity aside, I think more programs like this should materialize. And I certainly hope this one is a hit. Thinking out side the norm when it comes to programs and opportunities in our community is key… especially when we want to reach everyone.

What are our messages???

2010-07-22T14:23:00.009-06:00

So...
What do you think of these pictures?

How do they make you feel?

Who relates to them?

Why do we use them?

Should we be using them?

What is our message? Part 1

2010-07-15T15:34:00.013-06:00

I am not sure about you, but I know I get annoyed when I see happy, thin, young women (usually with non-sweaty hair, non-red face and excellent make-up application) running on the treadmill, usually sporting the form fitting outfits that seem to be all the rage.

These images often make me feel inadequate, that there is something wrong with me and that I should be looking like them when I exercise. I feel this way and I like to be active... how do pictures like this sit with those who aren't active?????

Exercise has gotten a bad label... usually created through the horrors of archaic structured gym classes and other unsuccessful bouts into the fitness world. The unfortunate things is that the fitness industry in some ways continues this negative label.

TV advertisements, infomercials are often bombarded with very "fit " looking individuals. Often with wearing tight fitness clothing with excellent muscle definition (that would take years of dedication to achieve). They are often beautiful, young and in many cases Caucasian.

We also see these images in magazines, newspapers and yes even in our community programming.

How often have we heard (and in some cases felt) " I need to get in shape before I can go to the gym...." Is this the message we want people to have? Is that not the message we may be sending when we use similar images.

What if a person does not like the gym, or they fear treadmills, or the idea of weights is as boring as watching paint dry. What do these images mean to these folks?

My beef with these images is who do they speak to? Who do they represent? Who feels they can belong alongside those images? I for one don't. The speak to a small segment of the population, and definitely not to the parts of the population we want to reach.

When it comes to physical activity for our community members we need to look at differentiating ourselves from the fitness industry. Don't get me wrong. They offer a service and are of value- but to only some of our community. As leaders in this field and in our community we must be careful with our messaging. What are the images we use? Who do we want to reach? Can these people see themselves in the images we use?

Images are just a small part about messaging.. but they also attract attention. If a person can identify themselves in an image they are more likely to relate to the material being present. They feel more like they belong and they may perhaps are more inclined to consider the programs or services being offered. Which is important when we are trying to get people moving.

Now go out and enjoy some sunshine...I'll chat more about this later.
Angela

Glorious glorious paths

2010-07-12T16:13:00.006-06:00

I was able to go back to my home town, Lethbridge for some holiday time. The unique thing about this visit was it not being rushed. Normally I am running around visiting people and then hustling back up to Edmonton.

The nice thing about taking the extra time is I got to explore some of the changes that have been happening in the city- especially in the area of town I grew up in as a teenager, which is the west end. For those of you familiar with Lethbridge you know the city is divided in half by the river valley, the west end being on one side and the rest of the city on the other.

When I was in high school and did not have my drivers license (and even after I got it too) I heavily relied on my bike to get me to my friends house. We would often bike to each other’s house, or bike to the university (we liked to pretend to be university students- bizarre I know). We would bike to get slurpes and bike down into the river valley and even all away across the big bridge to downtown. I have very fond memories of scooting along the streets and paths in the west end of Lethbridge.

So on one beautiful day, when I had not much planned I borrowed a bike and off I went to retrace some of my youth. First- I was shocked by how much the area I grew up in has grown. New schools, tons of new houses and shopping centers. I was sad to see the farmers fields replaced with cul-de-sacs and condos. I became fearful that my hometown has fallen into the trap of urban sprawl.

Those concerns aside my real reason for this blog today was to talk about the glorious path system I encountered on my bike ride. I was blown away with the trail system they have built for pedestrians, cyclist, dog walkers and skateboarders to use. It was one of the best bike rides I had gone on in a very long time. The trails kept going... and when needed allowed you to loop back… no cars to content with. Just smooth sailing for as long as I wanted. Wonderful.

Honestly a-round-of applause-goes to the Lethbridge planners for including this in their plans. The new paths seemed to play an integral part in the new neighborhoods, and well integrated with the paths I used when I was a kid. Not only did I hardly have to go near streets or have to stop at street lights, I got to enjoy some of the aesthetics that Lethbridge has to offer.

The one key thing I liked about the path system is the multiple entry/exit points to get on it. I also liked how it was wide and, for the most part, well paved. The fact I was able to go from the north end all the way to the south end with little disturbance made the trip a pure joy.

Paths like this don't happen. They take foresight and planning. It also takes a lot of work on those who are advocating for these kinds of changes. Planning for this type of infrastructure should always be mandatory with new communities. And expansion of path an trail systems should be part of the municipality's long term planning. So hats off to the folks in Lethbridge who made the path system happen in the west end.

What I don’t know is how well this system is on the other side of the river or even down in the river valley. Hmmm... perhaps something to look forward on my next visit home.

"I need to be motivated...."

2010-06-23T14:12:00.008-06:00

Overall I think those of us in the physical activity field have done an okay job on creating awareness. Canadians are aware of the importance of physical activity. I am not even just guessing on this statement! Back in 2007, CFLRI conducted research and found that most of Canadians believe that there are benefits to being physically active. They also found Canadian’s attitudes about physical active to be positive. For example, 92% indicate that physical activity is pleasant. Pretty positive right?

So… If the majority of Canadians believe there are health benefits to being physically active and they view physical activity as positive- why are do we have low physical activity participation? It does make you stop and scratch you head.

Of course the answer is complex and laden with many issues and barriers. One key issue, I suspect, is motivation.

Ahhhh motivation... this fleeting entity that so many want but cannot find when it comes to physical activity.

In fact one of the most sited barriers to physical activity is lack of motivation. The same series of surveys done by CFLRI also found that the Canadians who are the least active report their top barrier is a lack of interest/motivation to being physically active.

Do I hear the word 'duh' coming from the crowd? This fact comes as no surprise to many folks who have been in the physical activity field. We hear about this all to often. So, as practitioners and community leaders, we often wonder how we can influence motivation. And in some cases, the people who want to influence also look to us to provide motivation as well. Yikes!

A little unfair isn't it? Especially since motivation appears to be a complex mystery to most of us. In fact, it is such complex huge issue there are in fact researchers who study motivation. A colleague of mine, here at Centre, is very familiar with the psychological side of physical activity and motivation. I encourage you to check out this link. She wrote this piece on our website about motivation and I think it’s excellent.

To summarize one of her points: There are different sources of motivation. Some come from within the person (internal) and some come from outside sources (external)... and often what really influences a person is a mix of both.

As well, what motivates a person will vary from person to person. What motivates me to drag my butt off the couch may not be what motivates you.

I suspect us practitioners may often focus on the external motivators when we are trying to influence others. This can be risky, as we may end up doing more damage than good. For example focusing on guilt and fear.

That being said, I don’t want to be a negative ninny about external motivation. In fact, in many cases it can help encourage someone to try a new activity out for the first time.

The important thing to keep in mind is that for an activity to stick and behaviour change to happen (i.e. being physically active regularly) the motivation has to primarily be internal.

So, what are we to do??

We need to keep in mind it is okay to provide some external motivation- initially. But we must recognize that for this behavior to stick, the folks we are working with, need to find the internal drive to continue.

Along the way we can provide them guidance to help them discover what their motivation is, and how they may in fact harness it. If you have time, check this article out on motivational interviewing.

We can also look at how we can shape our programs and the social and physical environments that people may experience. We know people like to have fun, socialize and feel safe. So lets make it that way for them.

Finally, we need to allow ourselves not to feel responsible for another persons' source of motivation. I know, I know- sometimes easier said than done.

Growing more than vegetables

2010-06-14T10:17:00.009-06:00

Sometimes, we forget that physical activity is really just our body moving. We tend to always think about planned physical activity such as a walking club, being in a fitness centre or riding a bike in the park. Of course these are important, however, any opportunity for people to move, can be beneficial. And sometimes we can find opportunities to do this not in traditional physical activity programs or activities.

Here is an example for you.

I have the immense pleasure with being involved in a community garden in my neighbor hood. A lot of blood, sweat and tears has gone in to make sure the garden was open for its first year this May. So far things have been going pretty smoothly.

I got involved in the garden because I love plants, and I have this itch to dig around in the earth. I get rather excited to watch things grow.

I have learned rather quickly that a community garden it 80% dealing with logistics and people and only 20% gardening.

One of the issues we have struggled with (and I assume many other gardens do too) is water. We have two gigantic water barrels, and we collect water off the roof of a neighboring church. This however means that to water one’s plot you have to walk back and forth with your watering can at least 3 times to sufficiently water your plot. Perhaps more if it’s been super dry.

So of course, as humans do best, we look at ways to make this easier… "Let’s try a hose!" Oh, hmm, a hose doesn’t reach all the plots, and the water pressure is horrible. "Perhaps we can move the rain barrels?" Oh, hmm, they are ridiculously heavy and really there isn't better spot to collect as much water. "Hmmmmmm…" And debate rages on.

Of course being the “active living “person in the crowd I began pondering the logic in trying to make things easier. Our inconvenient watering system is actually a perfect opportunity for some accidental exercise.

Accidental exercise?? Well I am referring to the exercise the pops into your day- not from plans of going for a workout… but simply through living. It may be walking to and from work. It may be while you are shopping. It may be house chores, it may be shoveling snow… and it may be while you lug watering cans back and forth from your garden plot to the rain barrels that are 50 feet away.

So.. .why do I tell you all this? Consider some of your community initiatives and programs. They may not have anything to do with physical activity… but… perhaps there are some ways you can incorporate or keep some “accidental exercise” hidden in there. How, can you help people move just a little bit more?

Yup.. I think I am going to encourage us to keep the water system as is.

Sidewalks that stop

2010-06-08T13:44:00.006-06:00

How annoying are sidewalks that just stop?

You are out enjoying a pleasant walk in the evenings- especially now since it’s lighter out… and then boom… no more sidewalk.

Well, as an able bodied person.. I do have some options…

I can:
1. Turn around
2. Cross the street, where I might find the sidewalk does continue over there…
3. Walk on the grass/gravel/mud
4. Walk on the road

Now… What if I was out pushing my kid in the stroller... or what if I have bad knees and hips.. or what if I rely on a walker or even a wheelchair. How does this affect my options?

We can make the mighty step to go outside for a walk...whether it is for our health, stress relief, or for the health of our dog… but we need a place to walk or wheel, safety and comfortably. Bottom line is we are all pedestrians.

We also need to all be advocates. How many of us call up the city/town.. .and let them know of our abruptly ending sidewalks? Let them know that our sidewalks have mutated and parts of it are being overtaken by roots and cracks? Or that we simply need a sidewalk put in place.

If you do anything this spring/summer season, take the time to let your town/city know about at least one area where the sidewalk and trails could perhaps continue or be improved.