Adam’s journal
For me, 2011 will go down in the fitness annals as the year my treadmill broke and nearly killed me.
Well, not really, but the pop one of the bolts made when it snapped startled the heck out of me.
Thankfully, it was an easy (and inexpensive) repair, and my daily fitness routine is again up and running.
As we prepare to pop the cork on the New Year, any predictions for health and fitness in 2012?
Dr. Prescott prescribes
OK, let me get out my crystal ball. Here are my Top 5 prognostications for the coming year:
5. Barefoot is out: Spurred by Christopher McDougall’s “Born to Run,” runners across America shed their cushioned training shoes in favor of “minimalist” footwear or, in some cases, no shoes at all. But with many of those fitness rebels now suffering from sore shins, aching calves and Achilles injuries, don’t be surprised to see a migration back to traditional running shoes.
4. Gluten is out: Thanks to rising awareness of celiac disease and its cousin gluten sensitivity, a protein found in wheat, breads and cereals is rapidly becoming diet enemy No. 1. And with the marketing muscle of companies like General Mills now squarely behind this movement, you can bet this rapidly expanding sector of the food market (estimated now at $6 billion or so) will continue to grow.
3. Protein is back in: When Kate Middleton reportedly dropped two dress sizes before her wedding to Prince William, a new high-protein, low-carb craze was born: the Dukan diet. Yes, the British Dietetic Association recently named this eating plan one of its “Top 5 Worst Celebrity Diets to Avoid in the New Year.” But so long as our waistlines keep expanding, so will the list of dubious fad diets.
2. There’s not an app for that: There are more than 10,000 health and fitness apps for the iPhone, and that number is expected to grow in 2012. But don’t expect them to have a visible impact on the nation’s obesity epidemic. No matter how nifty the technology, it’s simply not going to get you out of bed and into the gym on a cold winter’s morning.
1. Older is better (and fitter): Exercise used to be seen as a young person’s game, but no more. Runners 60 and older are the fastest-growing segment of the sport. And a study of runners at the New York City Marathon shows that the fastest finishing times in this age group dropped by 7 minutes among men and 16 minutes among women. With Baby Boomers now pushing what used to be retirement age, expect to see the ranks of senior athletes continue to swell.
