Safer Exercise for the Overweight : Stair-Climbing Machines Garner Mixed Reviews
Overweight exercisers should sidestep stair-climbing machines and opt instead for swimming or cycling workouts, a Texas researcher says.
In his study, most obese individuals could not work out on a stair-climbing machine (at a relatively slow pace of 40 steps a minute) longer than five minutes without reaching maximum heart rate and becoming exhausted, found Dr. Marque Hunter, a pulmonologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
He studied 20 normal weight individuals and 10 obese subjects, all 40% above ideal weight. “The normal weight exercisers all went five minutes (and longer) without exhaustion or reaching maximum heart rate,” he notes.
Hunter conducted the study on the StairMaster 6000, which he concedes may provide a tougher workout than some of the company’s other models.
Stair-climbing machines “are a great workout for normal-weight, conditioned people,” adds Hunter, who presented his findings at a recent meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
Not everyone agrees that stair-climbing machines are only for the svelte. Susan Johnson, director of continuing education for the Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas, Tex., recommends overweight exercisers adjust the machines to the lowest speed.
Michael Hoffman, spokesman for Life Fitness, an Irvine manufacturer of a stair-climbing machine and other exercise equipment, adds: “A stair-climbing machine should provide a wide variety of programs, from easy to strenuous so the majority of de-conditioned people can select a level low enough for them to work safely within their target heart range.”
Other StairMaster models may provide a more effective workout for obese exercisers than the 6000 model, says Jim Peterson, physical education professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a consultant for StairMaster. Newer designs allow feet to remain in contact with the pedals, Peterson notes, “thereby eliminating stress on the joints and reducing the workload.”
Encounter Group Critic
Some intensive encounter groups--intended to boost self-esteem, reduce job stress and foster optimism--may do more harm than good, says an Oakland psychologist.
“Mass marathon psychology training programs” use an “iron fist-velvet glove approach,” says Philip Cushman, who interviewed 18 participants of one such intensive training program and published his findings in the current issue of the journal Psychotherapy.
A close examination of the program, which he declined to name for legal reasons, reveals “deceptive recruitment techniques and authoritarian, restrictive indoctrination processes that are exploitive, psychologically brutal and potentially damaging,” writes Cushman, who teaches at the California School of Professional Psychology and has a Ph.D. in psychology from Saybrook Institute in San Francisco.
Trainers for the program controlled room temperature, lights and even participants’ bathroom breaks, he claims. Further, Cushman contends, such programs create psychological crises that some participants believe can only be alleviated by joining the organization.
“I would say there was psychological abuse, deceit by the organization and psychological manipulation. The study raises the question, ‘Is this psychotherapy without a license?’ ”
Says Pamela Munter, a Beaverton, Ore., psychologist familiar with such programs: If there are any positive effects, they are short-lived.”
“Most of the people felt it helped them,” Cushman admits. Before enrolling in a so-called self-improvement program, experts suggest examining the agenda in detail and talking to participants six months after the course.
Real Taste-Spoiler
Antitine, an herbal mix in tablet form intended to help smokers kick the habit, is selling well in the Los Angeles area, several pharmacist report.
But does it really work?
Smokers are advised to take two tablets four times a day and cut down by five to seven cigarettes a day, says the product’s developer, Palm Desert psychologist Susan Caulfield.
The tablets work by reducing physical withdrawal symptoms, says Caulfield, who couldn’t explain exactly how. “It makes cigarettes taste pretty bad,” she adds, like rotten eggs or burning hair, according to some users. Cost is $19 for 112 tablets.
“Generally, over-the-counter smoking deterrents are not very successful,” says Steve Sussman, assistant professor of preventive medicine at USC’s Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research. “There’s a tendency for people who use ‘taste-spoiler’ smoking deterrents to stop using them. They’re not fun.”
The best stop-smoking programs address behavioral changes to help people cope without cigarettes, he notes, adding, “Generally, when people smoke more than 12 cigarettes a day, they’re using them as a coping mechanism.”
