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Other/Mixed Strength for the masses

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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DavThew

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So Australian public health guidelines released in 2014 advised that all members of the general public should be attempting to do resistance based exercise at least twice a week. According to a recent study (BMC Public Health) less than 20% of Australians manage this.

Obviously talking about strength training and its carry over to health would be preaching to the choir here.

I was quite suprised to find that this was a reccomendation, as in the UK public health seems to be very focused on cardio still.

So here's what I'm asking to my brothers and sisters in strength around the world: are your countries public health departments promoting this? As a UK doctor (primary care training) my collegues still have very cardiocentric views for health promotion. Is strength training promoted more in fairer climes? Does anyone have any better ideas how to start promoting it?

I would honestly be much more in favour of seeing some of my patients deadlift a 16kg kb for 5×5 than destroy their knees trying to shed the pounds. Cardio is hard, especially for the obese, and downright unpleasent if you decide to use traditional (tredmill etc) forms. I know I would be able to convince the odd person to go rucking, and many people manage half an hour walking a day, but clearly more is needed.

On another note I long for the day when nutritional advice catches up to the 21st century.
 
Well being in the USA it is confusing mess but mostly outdated and cardio and small meals a day are still the "IN" thing.

Glad I found Pavel through my Karate practice so I could learn a better way for me.
 
From a Health care view there isn't done anything here in the Netherlands. If there is, yes it is cardio minded. Because lifting weights is dangerous of course.

It boggles my mind really. Our society is bent on putting the horse behind the carriage. We only focus on treating symptoms when it comes to health instead of focusing on exercise and good food. But there is no money to be made off of healthy bodies.
 
@Rayhzel yes I think the unfortunate economics of the situation really mess up the whole system. When it's costing £400 a night to look after someone in hospital with preventable lifestyle based illness the idea of keeping people healthy gets lost at the wayside. There is a move in certain small populations such as the Downtown Project Los Vegas which aims to treat a family doctor like a gym - i.e. you pay an affordable membership and health promotion and illness prevention can then be the priority, thereby keeping the system ticking over and your patient's healthier. One of the guys involved with it gives a good TED talk touching on it here:

I can say at least in the UK system there is almost no money in primary care, and much of the money coming in is for treating chronic disease, and identifying it. Prevention again takes too much of a back seat. Education in schools is also severely lacking I think for health promotion.


Not that I'm venting or anything....
 
Here in Finland both cardio and resistance training are promoted. Cardio should be at least 150 minutes of light exercise, such as walking, or at least 75 minutes of heavier exercise, like running, a week. Resistance training should be done at least twice a week. Joint mobility and balance exercises are also recommended but without any specific minimums.

This looks identical to some recommendations in the US. I do not know about the sources for either of the recommendations.
 
If they did make a recommendation for people to do weight training in Aus. they managed to keep it under wraps. I never heard anything about it. We do get generic advice to exercise but it's not very specific and it's not very common.
 
That CDC description is pitiful. What a lousy mindset... it basically says, for the "why" of physical activity, to maintain weight, and reduce the risk for disease. Avoidance of the negative, in other words. What about the positive? Like, to be the person you were meant to be - strong and capable? That is the mindset we are sorely lacking, at least in America.

Edit: Actually if you look elsewhere on the site (that part is about maintaining weight), there is a better section: Physical Activity Basics | Physical Activity | CDC
 
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That also got me wondering, "Who is the guiding authority for the US government on physical activity guidelines?" Because the CDC is (understandably) more about disease prevention. So, maybe this is it? Physical Activity Guidelines - health.gov
 
Very interesting these guidelines are out there...and yet both those in an out of the medical profession are pretty unaware. Well I guess I've found something that I can work on as a quality improvement project "How to increase public engagement in resistance exercise and reduce frailty related illness".

I'll just get my personal trainer certification and SFGI and SFGII and I'll be all set to make some extra pocket money whilst making my day job a little easier ;)
 
Maybe some of our early experiences with overzealous school teachers contributes to the problems to some degree too.

At the school where my kids go some bright spark thought it would be appropriate to have all the 6-12 year old kids train for a cross country running competition the day before the race. Up until that point many of the kids had never done anything more strenuous than x-box or playstation. This was a 39 deg C day too, so all the kids came home fried.

The next day it was 43 deg C and they made the whole school do the cross country race after the previous day's torture test. Many of the kids were physically ill and my kids had all the signs of heat stroke.

So they got thrown in the deep end for a 2 day torture test with no base fitness for some reason that eludes me.

When they get that all or nothing approach and are expected to perform almost superhuman feats once in a blue moon it's no wonder many of the kids are averse to any form of physical activity for the rest of their lives. Our teachers are contributing to their exercise anxiety and creating a situation where any sane person would equate physical activity with pain and suffering forever.

I saw a similar thing when I went to High school, I could take whatever was thrown at me and not miss a beat because I was fit from football, karate and BMX etc. but the unfit kids were made to do the same workload as myself and other fit kids and it really knocked them about. Coincidently many of the kids that didn't fare well at Phys Ed at school turned out to be the overweight ones in later life. I'm sure the field marshal approach to training turned them off exercise for the rest of their lives.

I'd much rather see kids doing some supervised gymnastics or trampolining etc scaled to their ability, where they can have a bit of fun while exercising. That way they'll be setting up the neural pathways for pleasure/reward rather than pain/suffering during the early stages when their brains are getting hard wired.
 
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The Canadian federal government *sort of* hints at strength training, but doesn't get too specific:

Physical Activity Tips for Adults (18-64 years) - Tips to Get Active - Physical Activity - Public Health Agency of Canada

I have to admit, I found the phrase in the above website:

"Get stronger by adding activities that target your muscles and bones at least two days per week."

A little funny. What exercise doesn't 'target' muscles and bones? Staring contests?


I should also mention our provinces are usually in charge of healthcare, and they all have different exercise guidelines too. A mess really.
 
The .gov, via our schools, does have a large influence on our children and their attitude towards exercise and fitness. We watch one of our granddaughters after school, and her school does a pretty good job of it. Awesome playground and track where the kids play during recess. They have "Field Days" and sponsor a 5k. When picking the gd up, I saw a group of girls (4th grade or so) doing pull up competition and were competing to see who could hold the top of a muscle up the longest. Many schools are moving away from an active recess though, and that is a shame.

The larger influence on our children is the family. Granddaughter started doing pull ups when she saw me working towards my first one, has ran two tough mudders and 5k's. She has no interest in kb's, but really enjoys bodyweight. A friend's 4 yo daughter does a mean kb deadlift. If we sit on our butts and eat pizza, our kids will also, no matter what the .gov recommends.
 
So Australian public health guidelines released in 2014 advised that all members of the general public should be attempting to do resistance based exercise at least twice a week. According to a recent study (BMC Public Health) less than 20% of Australians manage this.

Obviously talking about strength training and its carry over to health would be preaching to the choir here.

I was quite suprised to find that this was a reccomendation, as in the UK public health seems to be very focused on cardio still.

So here's what I'm asking to my brothers and sisters in strength around the world: are your countries public health departments promoting this? As a UK doctor (primary care training) my collegues still have very cardiocentric views for health promotion. Is strength training promoted more in fairer climes? Does anyone have any better ideas how to start promoting it?

I would honestly be much more in favour of seeing some of my patients deadlift a 16kg kb for 5×5 than destroy their knees trying to shed the pounds. Cardio is hard, especially for the obese, and downright unpleasent if you decide to use traditional (tredmill etc) forms. I know I would be able to convince the odd person to go rucking, and many people manage half an hour walking a day, but clearly more is needed.

On another note I long for the day when nutritional advice catches up to the 21st century.

I wish you were my doctor! Or my chiro or PT! I have just about giving up talking to health-/sickcare professionals who don't lift heavy things in a way similar to the S1 methods. Should be mandatory to pass a deadlift standard of some kind if you want to work with people. Hell should be mandatory for accountants as well. But that would require whole societies to rediscover physical culture, instead of what passes as fitness these days.
 
"Should be mandatory to pass a deadlift standard of some kind if you want to work with people. Hell should be mandatory for accountants as well."

Isn't that the truth...
 
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