Never too old or young to exercise
Health and fitness can save you money
By CHRIS CLINE
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Published: Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Updated: Sunday, January 17, 2010 4:07 AM CST
Updated: Sunday, January 17, 2010 4:07 AM CST
If there is one thing Jerry Toler emphasizes to his clients, it’s that you are never too old or too young to start exercising. The personal trainer at Better Bodies preaches that the only true fountain of youth in life is through exercise.
According to statistics released by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Missouri had a 28.5 percent obesity rate in 2008. Toler said Americans spend about $147 billion on obesity and related illnesses. In comparison he said Americans spend about $90 billion on cancer. Toler said he got his statistics by researching various health and fitness journals.
“People that are obese actually earn less money each year on average than people that are healthy,” he said. “This is due to medical bills and sick time lost from work.”
Toler claims a person can save on average $1 million over the next 40 years by going from being obese to being healthy.
“That’s a lot of money,” he said. “I’m talking about medical costs and all the negative effects that go along with being obese. The bottom line is that exercise is good for everyone. It doesn’t matter how old you are or how much you weigh. Exercise will keep you healthy and will keep you strong.”
Matt Weber has seen firsthand the health problems that are often times associated with obesity. Weber is the lead exercise specialist at the Huckstep Heart and Lung Center located inside Parkland Health Center. Weber specializes in rehabilitating people who have had heart and lung disease.
“We help them get back their health through exercise,” Weber said. “Most of the people we see haven’t exercised in the past. I always tell my classes the one thing I have seen as a common denominator is a lot of people I see as patients haven’t done a lot of exercising in the past. Generally, exercising keeps them (patients) out of this program because they don’t have the health problems.”
Weber said most of the same risk factors are associated with both heart disease and obesity.
“The key is to exercise and address these problems before they happen,” Weber said. “The people that I see are already having problems and we try to build them back up.”
Weber puts his patients through a 90-day program. He said the first step is a treadmill test to see what the patient’s level of fitness is. He said that is followed up with a meeting with a nurse. Then the real work begins. Weber’s patients exercise three times a week for 12 weeks.
“We focus mostly on cardio,” he said. “After about four to six weeks we might start some light weight training depending on the patient’s medical history. Once a person has a heart attack, they often think that their life is over. That’s not true. Through exercise and a lifestyle change, people can get stronger and live long healthy lives.”
In addition to the exercise program, Weber also has his patients attend educational classes once a week.
Toler’s approach at Better Bodies attempts to head off some of the health problems Weber helps his patients recover from. He takes a more proactive stance and said there are two main types of exercising he teaches his clients, resistance training or weightlifting and cardio.
“Resistance training can reverse muscle loss in older people,” he said. “As we get older, muscle loss starts occurring at about 45. We lose about 1 percent of muscle a year from that point on. Weightlifting can help maintain muscle mass and recover from muscle loss.”
Toler said there are five areas of improvement people can achieve with weight training.
“The first being muscle strength,” he said. “Followed by muscle endurance, body shape, cardiovascular endurance and flexibility.”
Toler recommends resistance training at least three times a week.
“When you are first starting out it doesn’t matter what order you work specific muscle groups in,” he said. “After you get in better condition, the routine that you use will become more important.”
Toler suggests doing a cardio workout four to seven times a week. He said a beginner’s workout for both weightlifting and cardio might take 45 minutes.
“As you become more conditioned the workout might stretch into an hour and 15 minutes,” he said. “If you have been thinking about getting healthy, now is the time to get into the gym. If you can hire a personal trainer, do it. The thing is people get disgusted and quit because they don’t think they are getting the results they want. A trainer can keep you on track and help you get those results.”
Chris Cline is a reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact him at 573-431-2010, ext. 114 or at ccline@dailyjournalonline.com.
According to statistics released by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Missouri had a 28.5 percent obesity rate in 2008. Toler said Americans spend about $147 billion on obesity and related illnesses. In comparison he said Americans spend about $90 billion on cancer. Toler said he got his statistics by researching various health and fitness journals.
“People that are obese actually earn less money each year on average than people that are healthy,” he said. “This is due to medical bills and sick time lost from work.”
Toler claims a person can save on average $1 million over the next 40 years by going from being obese to being healthy.
“That’s a lot of money,” he said. “I’m talking about medical costs and all the negative effects that go along with being obese. The bottom line is that exercise is good for everyone. It doesn’t matter how old you are or how much you weigh. Exercise will keep you healthy and will keep you strong.”
Matt Weber has seen firsthand the health problems that are often times associated with obesity. Weber is the lead exercise specialist at the Huckstep Heart and Lung Center located inside Parkland Health Center. Weber specializes in rehabilitating people who have had heart and lung disease.
“We help them get back their health through exercise,” Weber said. “Most of the people we see haven’t exercised in the past. I always tell my classes the one thing I have seen as a common denominator is a lot of people I see as patients haven’t done a lot of exercising in the past. Generally, exercising keeps them (patients) out of this program because they don’t have the health problems.”
Weber said most of the same risk factors are associated with both heart disease and obesity.
“The key is to exercise and address these problems before they happen,” Weber said. “The people that I see are already having problems and we try to build them back up.”
Weber puts his patients through a 90-day program. He said the first step is a treadmill test to see what the patient’s level of fitness is. He said that is followed up with a meeting with a nurse. Then the real work begins. Weber’s patients exercise three times a week for 12 weeks.
“We focus mostly on cardio,” he said. “After about four to six weeks we might start some light weight training depending on the patient’s medical history. Once a person has a heart attack, they often think that their life is over. That’s not true. Through exercise and a lifestyle change, people can get stronger and live long healthy lives.”
In addition to the exercise program, Weber also has his patients attend educational classes once a week.
Toler’s approach at Better Bodies attempts to head off some of the health problems Weber helps his patients recover from. He takes a more proactive stance and said there are two main types of exercising he teaches his clients, resistance training or weightlifting and cardio.
“Resistance training can reverse muscle loss in older people,” he said. “As we get older, muscle loss starts occurring at about 45. We lose about 1 percent of muscle a year from that point on. Weightlifting can help maintain muscle mass and recover from muscle loss.”
Toler said there are five areas of improvement people can achieve with weight training.
“The first being muscle strength,” he said. “Followed by muscle endurance, body shape, cardiovascular endurance and flexibility.”
Toler recommends resistance training at least three times a week.
“When you are first starting out it doesn’t matter what order you work specific muscle groups in,” he said. “After you get in better condition, the routine that you use will become more important.”
Toler suggests doing a cardio workout four to seven times a week. He said a beginner’s workout for both weightlifting and cardio might take 45 minutes.
“As you become more conditioned the workout might stretch into an hour and 15 minutes,” he said. “If you have been thinking about getting healthy, now is the time to get into the gym. If you can hire a personal trainer, do it. The thing is people get disgusted and quit because they don’t think they are getting the results they want. A trainer can keep you on track and help you get those results.”
Chris Cline is a reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact him at 573-431-2010, ext. 114 or at ccline@dailyjournalonline.com.
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Article Comments (2)The comments below are from readers and do not represent the views of the Daily Journal.
farmingtongal posted at Sunday, January 17th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
I love this article because what he is saying is true. If you exercise it changes your metabolism. Problems are though is having time to go and exercise and balancing that with work and taking care of the kids. Swimming is an all time favorite of mine. Obesity is a problem all throughout the United States. Obesity is also caused by genetics or just repeating the lifestyle that your parent taught you when you were little and eating the same foods. Exercise is the answer though and it will definately help your health.
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Better Bodies is so expensive. One can get as good a workout at the civic center in Farmington for less.