Even if the sun is shining and the sky is blue, if it rained recently, water quality at your favorite beach might have a high bacteria rate due to stormwater runoff. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, storm runoff is the main reason American beaches saw a 29% increase in closings last summer. Last week, the NRDC came out with its water quality ratings for 200 of the country’s most popular beaches. They include four beaches that have been given “Superstar Beach” status due to perfect test results the past three years. Those beaches are Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Dewey Beach, Delaware, and Park Point Lafayette Community Club Beach in Minnesota.
 

Last week in San Francisco, the National Park Service brought together more than 100 leaders in health care and the environment to host a forum called Healthy Parks Healthy People US. America is following a successful Australian initiative to promote the positive connection between the health of the natural world and the health of humans. By introducing more people to America’s state and national parks, the National Park Service hopes to instill a healthier lifestyle that leads to reduced health care costs. The NPS is expanding First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move program to create Let’s Move Outside Junior Rangers and is also introducing other health-conscious programs like Food for the Parks and my favorite title, No Child Left Inside. Any program that helps reconnect people with nature is a winner in my eyes, whether it’s for physical or mental health reasons or simply the chance to be lost in a stunning locale.
 

New York’s

is best known for getting professional athletes and Broadway casts in shape. Now the fitness center is honing in on the lucrative bridal trade. They have just introduced “The Bridal Body Shop,” a boot camp designed to prepare brides-to-be and their wedding party for the big day and beyond. The program allows future brides to train in their own home with one of Physical Advantage’s personal trainers. Workout sessions are comprised of cardio activity, free weights, floor work, and kettle balls, depending on the individual. The Bridal Body Shop also has workouts designed for the soon-to-be groom and his wedding party.

This seems rather intuitive but researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have found a correlation between walking at a brisk pace and living longer. Studying data from nine studies involving some 35,000 people, they found that only 35 percent of the slowest walking 75 year-old women made it to their 85th birthday. Males did even worse, with only 19 percent of slowest walking men reaching 85.  Bottom line: try your best to maintain a good brisk pace throughout life.
 

Three times a week at 6 am, a select group of runners head to Boston Common to work out. One day, it could be sprints, the next day a long jog. The one thing these folks have in common besides a good sweat is that they are all homeless participating in the Back on My Feet program. Launched in 2007 in Philadelphia, the nonprofit organization has become such a success that it has already moved on to Baltimore, Washington, DC, Chicago, and this past May, Boston. Obviously, the program is much more than a good run on an often chilly morning. Back on My Feet builds self-esteem and confidence through leadership training. Though it doesn’t provide shelter or food, the organization does help with connections to housing, job placement, and self-sufficiency. All you have to do is be present at least 90 percent of the workouts to show your commitment. As I always say to my kids, strong body, strong mind.
 

One of my favorite books to read to my children when they were young was the poignant “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein, about a relationship a boy has with a tree over the course of his life. In the final pages, an older man returns, cane in hand. As Silverstein writes:

And after years the boy came back, both of them were old.
“I'm nothing but an old stump now. I'm sorry but I've nothing more to give.”
“I do not need very much now, just a quiet place to rest,”
The boy, he whispered, with a weary smile
“Well,” said the tree, “An old stump is still good for that.”

Well, so much for resting. Seniors these days are returning to their youth. London just announced it was building a playground in Hyde Park that caters not to kids or their parents, but aging baby boomers. “Every park has a children’s playground, very few have playgrounds for adults, and none have playgrounds for the elderly,” said Madeline Elsdon, head of a local residents’ association, in a recent AP article. Catered to the over-60 crowd, the playground will feature exercise equipment to help seniors with balance, flexibility, and muscle toning. I just hope they swing and ask their grandchildren for a push!
 

There’s an interesting story in the latest Archives of Internal Medicine, which I read religiously (just kidding), that talks about a recent Canadian study involving older women. Over the course of a year, The University of British Colombia divided 155 women in the 65 to 75-year old range into three groups—resistance training (lifting weights, using weight machines, or doing squats and lunges) once a week, resistance training twice a week, and a Tai-Chi based balance and tone training twice a week. The results: cognitive scores for the women who went to resistance training twice weekly were up 12.6 percent, once weekly up 10.9 percent, while those who only did Tai Chi fell 0.5 percent. So start pumping the iron!
 

According to the latest Pentagon figures, 35 percent of the roughly 31.2 million Americans aged 17 to 24 are unqualified for military service because of physical and medical issues. Curt Gilroy, the Pentagon’s director of accessions was quoted in Army Times last week, stating that “the major component of this is obesity. We have an obesity crisis in the country. There’s no question about it.” When I was in the Marine Corps ROTC in the 80s, statistics showed that less than 5 percent of my age group was obese. Then came the arrival of the internet, video games, and far too much unhealthy eating. I think kids these days need a gunnery sergeant like I had in ROTC, the one who did four tours in Vietnam and spewed expletives in your ear if you couldn’t do 40 push-ups in a minute. Twenty years later I can still do 40 push-ups in one minute, scared that my ole sergeant will come around the corner and kick my ass if I don’t (he also smoked two packs of Marlboros a day and could outrun anyone in the weekly 7-mile run). Have a Happy Thanksgiving this week, but do your family a favor and take a group run or walk together and stay active! I’ll return next Monday with a new blog.
 

Hitting the beach this week for a nice long walk? If Mark Fenton has his way, all walkers would bend their arms at the elbow, much like joggers do when they run.  “There’s nothing wrong or goofy if you walk with your elbows at a 90-degree angle. In fact, it will take a minute off each mile you walk,” says the author of The Complete Guide to Walking: For Health, Weight Loss, and Fitness. Fenton also suggests a good tall, relaxed posture, with chin parallel to the ground and shoulders down in back. 

“Imagine a string coming through the top of your head, pulling you up and lengthening you,” says Fenton, adding that it’s easier to take quicker rather than longer strides and you should think consciously about pushing off your toes to propel you forward. Hand weights are out (bad for posture), and walking poles are in (good for balance and an upper-body workout). And the most overlooked piece of apparel is not a good walking shoe, which Fenton buys new every six months on average, but an athletic sock specifically made for walking that adds extra cushion to your sole. 

“Your goal should be 30 minutes of walking a day,” says the walking guru. “That can be cumulative, with a 10-minute walk to and from work and another 10 minutes, say, to grab lunch.  This will maintain your cardiovascular health.”
 

Now and then, I’ll dabble into the healthy aspects of living an active lifestyle.  According to a new study from the University of Vermont, a mere 20-minute workout helps people feel upbeat for the next 12 hours.  That’s right, 12 hours!  Researchers say the workout acts as an antidepressant alleviating anger and anxiety and putting you in a good frame of mind.  So if that spectacular mountain vista, sweeping singletrack ride, or salt water splashed on your face while sea kayaking doesn’t do the trick, those endorphins zipping through your body will certainly help.  get up & go this weekend!