6 Ways to Build a Better Body on a Budget

6 Ways to Build a Better Body on a Budget
Lean times don't mean you have to skimp on fitness. Try these suggestions for workouts and home gym equipment on the cheap.
By Colette Bouchez

FeatureReviewed by Louise Chang, MDGym memberships, personal trainers, pricey equipment for the home gym - all these expenses can make it tempting to use tough economic times as an excuse for avoiding exercise. But the truth is that you can build a better body on a budget. From simple workouts with no equipment, to getting some of the benefits of a trainer for free with the click of a mouse, there are lots of ways to stay in shape and still save money.

To help point you in the right direction, WebMD asked the experts for advice on how you can get fit for little or no money.

6 Ways to Build a Better Body on a Budget
1. Schedule Your Workouts
When you've got a membership to a high-tech gym or a standing appointment with a personal trainer, the expense means you're less likely to skip out on workout time. Experts say it's essential to approach your "no frills" workout with the same convictions.

"This means putting it on your schedule, making a specific time for when you're going to do your workout, and it means doing all you can to limit interruptions -- like turning off the phone, making sure the dog is walked before you start, and, if necessary, letting family members know that for 30 minutes or so, they are on their own," says Susie Shina, director of FitnessOneEighty.com and author of 60-Second Circuits: 1,000 Easy Exercise Combos You Can Do Anywhere.

You can also help keep your workout on track by laying out your exercise clothes the night before, says Shina. "This acts as a reminder that you don't want to skip out on your session."

What can also help: Choose a playlist of your favorite exercise songs and load them into your mp3 player, or create a workout CD. Timing the music to fit the length of your workout will help keep you on track for the whole routine.

"Motivation and music go hand in hand, so again, it's another way to ensure you stay motivated," says Shina.

2. Choose Workouts That Work at Home
When you're starting a workout program, it can be hard to figure out what exercises you should be doing -- particularly if you don't have the budget for pricey equipment or personal training advice.

But all you really need to do, says Charla McMillian, JD, CSCS, is follow a few simple guidelines.

"You have to ensure that all your major muscle groups are targeted at least once each week -- and no more than three times a week, and your program has to include 30-60 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise three to five times a week," says McMillian, creator of FitBoot.com, a training program for fitness professionals.

And don't forget to stretch, which helps with both strength and flexibility.
2. Choose Workouts That Work at Home continued...
"Always begin every workout with a few simple stretches, and always end with at least two to three minutes of stretching," suggests Adrian Garce, a Greenwich, Conn.-based personal trainer.

McMillian and Garce suggest these basic, no-equipment exercises to get you started:

Squats. Standing upright, feet wider than shoulders apart, with arms extended forward or hands on hips for balance, squat down. Push knees outward as you descend, until thighs are parallel with the floor. Continue pushing knees outward as you stand.
Partial-body push-ups (with knees on the floor).
Modified jumping jack. Instead of moving your arms over your head, do these while pressing the palms of your hands together at chest level, with elbows out to form a straight line.
Chair crunches. Sit on a chair with hands under your behind, arms straight, and fingers facing inward toward one another. Contract your pelvis and lower abs, and, keeping your knees bent at a 90-degree angle, lift your feet off the floor and tuck your knees in toward your chest, bending the upper body slightly toward your knees. Do as many as you can until you reach fatigue.
Chair dips. Place your hands on the side of the chair and wrap your fingers around the edge. Scoot forward until your bottom is on the edge of the chair and your arms are fully extended. Keep your feet about 3 inches apart with legs extended, so knees are at approximately 150 degrees with your heels grounded. With elbows pointed back and tucked in tight alongside the body, do 15-20 dips, 3 seconds down and 1 second up. Keep your chest up and your shoulders back.
3. Turn Your Housewares Into "Gymware"
Your home may already be a home gym. Experts say if you think outside the (treadmill) box, you'd be surprised at how many household objects can be substituted for fitness equipment.

Here are few suggestions:

Use soup cans for weights. Janet Lee, deputy fitness editor of Shape magazine, says that any triceps or biceps exercise you'd do at the gym with dumbbells, you can do at home using cans of soup. To properly gauge the weight, don't go by the ounces listed on the can -- that's liquid weight. Instead, weigh the cans on your scale to figure out the poundage that's best for you.
Use jugs as weights.Fill a household bucket or jug with water (or sand, rock salt, or powdered detergent), secure the top with duct tape. Lift it up and down in front of you as you do squats.
Substitute paper plates for body sculpting equipment. The key here, says Lee, is to use the plates to help your body slide on a carpet. This allows you do body sculpting moves that would ordinarily require workout equipment. You can do the sliding lunge (put the paper plate under one foot and lunge forward). Try stimulating skating to work your butt and thighs: Just attach the plates to your feet with rubber bands and slide away. Or, get down on all fours, put the plates under your hands, and use them to work your chest by sliding your arms back and forth.
Substitute a countertop for a push-up bench. In most homes at least one countertop, in the kitchen or bath, is the right height for a push-up. Put both hands on the countertop, extend your legs behind you at an angle, lean down into the counter and then push back up.
Substitute pantyhose for resistance bands. Almost any exercise you can do with a resistance band, you can do with old pantyhose or tights. For example, sitting on the floor with legs straight, loop a pair of pantyhose around the balls of your feet and pull back with both hands as if you were using a rowing machine.
4. Use Your Computer for Motivation and Help
Do you tend to work out better when someone is setting goals for you? Then don't overlook the power of your computer - and many free applications that can provide some of the stimulation you need.

You can find exercise-tracking tools and spreadsheets on a number of websites. Use them to create and maintain a training regimen, keep track of your progress, and even to share online with friends, family members, and fellow exercisers.

For how-to instructions for specific exercises, check out WebMD's fitness slideshow, including those illustrating a 30-minute workout and abs exercises.

Further, video sites like YouTube.com are full of free videos from exercise gurus willing to share their know-how. Some other sites offer free workouts to download to your mp3 player. However, the experts warn, you shouldn't take advice from just anyone.

"Make sure the fitness instructor is qualified. There is a lot of questionable advice out there, even on DVDs you purchase, so always make sure the advice is coming from someone certified by a reputable fitness organization," says Therese Pasqualoni, an aerobics instructor and director of StrikeItHealthy.com.

5. Take a TV Exercise Break
Here's a no-excuses, no-expense workout: Instead of going to the kitchen for a snack during TV commercials, exercise instead.

"Pick a different activity for each commercial and do it till the show comes back on," suggests Shina. "During one commercial, do crunches; during another, do squats; during another, march in place. The longer you watch TV, the more exercise you'll get in, and before the night is over you've got at least 15 to 20 minutes of workout time."

6. Spend a Little, Get a Lot
If you do have a few dollars to put toward building a better body, here is the fitness equipment experts say can give you the most benefits for the least amount of money:

A dumbbell set that represents a realistic range of what you need to lift (5-30 pounds for most women, 10-50 pounds for most men)
An adjustable weight bench (one that goes from flat to incline or decline)
A mirror for the wall so you can see your technique
Kettle bells -- hand weights that can be used to tone your entire body
Resistance bands, a type of rubber tubing that creates resistance for your muscles
Instructional DVDs
Stability ball
Step bench for step aerobics

SOURCES:

Susie Shina, personal trainer; founder and director, FitnessOneEighty.com; author, 60-Second Circuits: 1,000 Easy Exercise Combos You Can Do Anywhere.

Charla McMillian, JD, CSCS , NSCA-certified strength and conditioning specialist; director and founder, FitBoot.com.

Adrian Garce, personal trainer certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and International Fitness Professionals Association (IFPA) for functional training; Bosu integrated expert certified by ECA World Fitness.

Janet Lee, deputy fitness editor, Shape Magazine.

Therese Pasqualoni, fitness trainer; director, StrikeItHealthycom.

Reviewed on October 15, 2008

Bipolar Disorder: What you Need to Know

8 Myths About Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is on the rise, yet myths persist. Experts separate the facts from the fiction.
By Kathleen Doheny

FeatureReviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MDBecause of increased awareness and diagnosis, more people than ever before have a basic understanding of bipolar disorder, the condition formally known as manic depression.

Yet myths persist about this mental disorder that causes mood shifts from depression to mania and affects a person's energy and ability to function.

WebMD asked five bipolar disorder experts to help unravel what's myth and what's fact. Read on for the eight common myths about bipolar they often hear from patients and the public.

(What myths have you had to deal with while living with bipolar disorder? Talk with others on WebMD's Bipolar Disorder: Support Group board.)

Bipolar Myth No. 1: Bipolar disorder is a rare condition.
Not so, according to statistics and research. In a given year, bipolar disorder affects about 5.7 million American adults, or about 2.6% of the U.S. population 18 and older, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Estimates for children and teens vary widely, partly because there is debate about the criteria for diagnosis, say Thomas E. Smith, MD, a research scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York.

But the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation estimates that at least three quarters of a million American children and teens may suffer from bipolar disorder, although many are not diagnosed. A recent study by researchers from Columbia University and elsewhere showed the diagnosis of bipolar disorder is up dramatically in children and teens and is also on the rise in adults.

When the researchers looked at the number of office visits with a bipolar disorder diagnosis in 1994-1995 and 2002-2003 in the U.S., they found that the number of office-based visits increased 40-fold for children and nearly doubled for adults from the first time period to the second.

Bipolar Myth No. 2: Bipolar disorder is just another name for mood swings.
Not so. The mood swings associated with bipolar disorder are very different than those of people without the condition, says Matthew Rudorfer, MD, associate director of treatment research in the division of services and intervention research at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md.

"The mood swings of bipolar [disorder] are more severe, longer lasting, and maybe most significant of all, they interfere with some important aspect of functioning, such as ability to work at one's job, or manage one's home, or be a successful student," he says.

The mood swings of a person with bipolar disorder, experts agree, are far more severe than, say, a person without bipolar disorder being bummed out because rain spoiled the weekend plans or weight loss efforts aren't showing the desired results.
Bipolar Myth No. 3: People with bipolar disorder shift back and forth from depression to mania very often.
The Jekyll-Hyde personality, the type that can turn on a dime from sad to euphoric, is a myth about bipolar, says Gary Sachs, MD, director of the Bipolar Clinic and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. ''The average bipolar patient will be depressed more often [than manic]," he says.

There are people with bipolar who will shift back and forth more quickly than others, Sachs says. But that's not the typical pattern, he says. "For the most part what is typical is to have an abnormal mood state colored by a predominance of high or low.''

What's an abnormal mood state? Something intense or unexpected in relation to a situation, such as giggling instead of crying when you find out your home will be foreclosed, Sachs says.

Bipolar Myth No. 4: When they're in the manic phase, people with bipolar disorder are often very happy.
True for some, experts tell WebMD, but not for others. And a person with bipolar disorder may enter the manic phase happy but not stay that way. "The hallmark of mania is a euphoric or elevated mood," Smith says.

But, he says, "a significant number of people become edgy and irritable as the mania progresses."

"Many people are actually frightened when they go into mania," says Sue Bergeson, CEO of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance in Chicago, a patient-run mental health organization. "When you are moving into mania, you are losing control of your actions and thoughts," she says. Patients often complain they can't sleep, too.

A person in a manic phase may go on spending sprees, use poor judgment, abuse drugs or alcohol, and have difficulty concentrating. Sexual drive can be increased and behavior can be "off" or out of character for what is normal for them.

It's crucial, Smith says, to treat a manic phase (typically with mood-stabilizing drugs). If untreated, it can progress from an elevated mood to euphoria to extreme disorganization and other common signs of mania -- lack of sleep, increased energy, and disorganized behavior that interferes with relationships, he says.

"I don't think people look forward to manic episodes," Smith says. "When you are not manic, you can look back and see how disruptive your life became."

Smith advises bipolar disorder patients to know their early signs of a manic or depressive episode so they can get additional treatment promptly.
Bipolar Myth No. 5: There is a bipolar test.
Not true. In early 2008, an at-home bipolar test, sold over the Internet, made headlines. But the test only tells users whether their genetic makeup puts them at higher risk of having or getting bipolar disorder.

The bipolar test evaluates saliva samples for two mutations in a gene called GRK3, associated with the disorder. But it can't tell users for sure.

Today, a diagnosis of bipolar disorder depends on a doctor taking a careful patient history, asking about symptoms over time. A family history of the disorder increases a person's chances of getting it.

Bipolar Myth No. 6: Bipolar disorder can't be diagnosed until age 18.
Not true, says Sachs. But it is true that it's more difficult to diagnose it in some people than in others, because of varying patterns of the disorder.

And typical childhood behavior -- such as having a tantrum and recovering quickly to go to a birthday party -- can also make it difficult to diagnose the condition in children.

"There are clearly cases of children who have classic presentation in the early childhood years," he says. But if a child does not have a classic pattern, it's usually more difficult to make the diagnosis.

Even so, the disorder may be present but not diagnosed until later, he says. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the median age of onset for bipolar disorder is 25 years old (half are older, half are younger).

But Sachs says many adult patients report having symptoms before age 18, whether they were officially diagnosed or not.

Bipolar Myth No. 7: People with bipolar disorder should not take antidepressants.
Not true, says Smith, who explains where the myth originated. "There's a concern, and it's valid, that some people who are depressed and bipolar, if they take antidepressants ... could flip into a mania."

The thinking, however skewed, is that the mood will be elevated too much and mania will result. Although the concern has some validity, Smith says, "that does not mean you should always avoid antidepressants." Sometimes, he says, people need the drugs, especially if the depression persists.

In a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Sachs and his colleagues randomly assigned 366 patients with bipolar disorder to a treatment of mood stabilizer drugs and placebo or to mood stabilizer drugs and an antidepressant, following them for up to 26 weeks.

They found no differences in adverse effects, including a shift from depression to mania, between the two groups.

Bipolar Myth No. 8: Aside from taking medication and engaging in psychotherapy or "talk therapy," a person with bipolar disorder has few options for controlling the condition.
Not true. "Medication and therapy are important," says Ken Duckworth, MD, medical director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. But paying attention to lifestyle can help, too, he says.

"Active" strategies, such as getting regular aerobic exercise, keeping a regular bedtime, eating a healthful diet, and paying attention to personal warning signs that a shift to depression or mania is coming can all help a person manage bipolar disorder, he tells WebMD.

"If people know their warning signs, they can stave off disaster," Duckworth says. For instance: If a person with bipolar knows he starts to wake up at 4 a.m. when he is shifting to mania, he can pay attention to that pattern, Duckworth says, and promptly seek medical help.

Sources:

Ken Duckworth, MD, medical director, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Arlington, Va.

Matthew Rudorfer, MD, associate director of treatment research, division of services and intervention research, National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.

Gary Sachs, MD, associate professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; director of the Bipolar Clinic and Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

Thomas E. Smith, MD, research scientist, New York State Psychiatric Institute; associate professor of clinical psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York.

Sue Bergeson, CEO, Depression and Bipolar support Alliance, Chicago.

National Alliance on Mental Illness: "True or False? The top 10 Myths About Bipolar Disorder."

National Institute of Mental Health: "Bipolar Disorder."

WebMD Feature: "At-Home Bipolar Disorder Test: Help or Hindrance?"

Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation: "Pediatric Bipolar Disorder Fact Sheet."

Reviewed on August 01, 2008

The Faces of Brain Cancer

The Faces of Brain Cancer
Three survivors of brain cancer similar to that affecting Sen. Edward Kennedy tell how they're coping.
By Kathleen Doheny

When doctors announced that Sen. Edward Kennedy had a kind of brain cancer called malignant glioma, many people hearing the news had probably never heard of the cancer.

For some, however, the diagnosis was painfully familiar. WebMD talked to three survivors of brain cancer similar to that affecting the senator, including two who have survived it for more than 10 years. Their advice to Kennedy: Don't listen to statistics, and don't give up hope.

Here are their stories:

Jim Owens
Jim Owens, 46, Minneapolis, vice president of an engineering and construction firm for air conditioning and heating. Diagnosed originally with oligodendroglioma of the right parietal lobe in 1998; five recurrences since then, with diagnosis revised to a mixed or malignant glioma.

A long-time athlete, Jim says his love of sports, as well as his love for his wife and young son, now 8, keeps him fighting.

The first symptom came out of the blue. "I was training for a marathon and had a seizure at the end of a workout," he says of that day in 1998, right before the tumor was found. "I had no idea what it was. Half my body went numb."

Thankfully, friends who were with him insisted he go to the hospital immediately, despite his protests that he was fine and it was nothing. After a battery of tests, Jim was told nothing that night. "It wasn't until early the next afternoon the doctor said, 'It's bad. You have a brain tumor.'"

He was taken into surgery, but then there was more bad news: "The tumor was wrapped around the motor strip," says Jim, referring to the band running down the lobe of the brain that controls bodily movements.

So they presented the next options: radiation and chemotherapy.The tumor began shrinking, and Jim kept fighting. He got married. A year after the diagnosis, he competed in the Ely Wilderness Trek, a 15-kilometer cross-country ski race. "I finished, but it wasn't pretty," he says, laughing.

He and his wife, Barb, welcomed a son, Max, in August 1999.

Jim has had multiple recurrences, beginning in January 2003, fighting each time by seeking out multiple opinions, agreeing to join a clinical trial, and taking drugs approved for other cancers that might help his."Every time I would have a recurrence, it would take a couple days to get myself standing up straight again," he says.

He found renewed resolve each time."The cancer is not going to run my life. I am going to reclaim my life and live my life."

"I'm having the best spring I've had in years," he says. With his brother, he is training for the Ride for Roses in Austin in October, an event sponsored by the Lance Armstrong Foundation. In 2004, he rode with Armstrong, a cancer survivor, on a coast-to-coast benefit bike tour.
To help others, he blogs and posts info on his own web site, Jim's Journey.

This spring is especially sweet because of his latest MRI results, Jim says. "I've had two MRIs in a row and we have heard the word 'reduction,'" he says, meaning the tumor is shrinking again. "We haven't heard that word since 2003. I'm so thrilled and so happy."

To Kennedy, he would say: "Have hope. You are going to have a lot of statistics thrown at you. Don't listen to the worst-case scenario. Look at all your options, including new drugs. The biggest thing is to really have hope."

Maria Hartmann
Maria Hartmann, 59, Miami, Fla. Diagnosed in 1998 with malignant glioma.

"I was at my house, with my mother-in-law, and the World Series was on. My husband was at the game."

The seizure hit."I was convinced I was epileptic," Maria says. The battery of tests run on her once she was rushed to the hospital suggested otherwise. The doctor told her she had a glioblastoma.

The surgeon at the University of Miami removed what he could and inserted a thin wafer to deliver chemotherapy.

"After that came conventional chemo and radiation twice a day," Maria says. "I was 49."

"I told myself, either I live or I die. I knew I was not going to die. I had a lot of faith. I am very strong. I said, 'I am not going to let this get me.'"

Part of that strength, she says, comes from her immigrant parents. "I was born in Cuba, and I came with my parents as a political refugee. It took a lot of guts for my family to leave everything and come here. I say, for my sister and myself, that was our first lesson in courage. My parents were very strong; I never heard any complaints in our house. They gave us strength."

At the same time as she was fighting her brain cancer, her brother-in-law was fighting stomach cancer. "My sister kept saying, 'I cannot lose my sister and my husband at the same time.' My surgery was in January 1998. I went with him to all his chemo and radiation. He died in May 1998."

When Maria's 25th wedding anniversary came around, she was still in chemo. She told her husband where she wanted to go -- Lourdes, a Christian pilgrimage destination. Her son, now 30,and daughter, now 28, went along.

"It's a place of inspiration," she says. "Everyone is looking for a cure.The waters are cold. There is nothing in the water, it is just our faith. There is a big tank of water where you submerge. I couldn't go in beyond my knees. '''

"I only wanted strength -- strength to endure whatever I had to endure."She has had good news. "It's been five years or more that the MRI came back with no change."

"I would tell Sen. Kennedy not to give up. I wrote him a note, [advising him] not to listen to statistics. Because many things can happen."

"I believe my recovery is a miracle."
Sara Bennett
Sara Bennett, 60, office supply store employee, Elyria, Ohio. Diagnosed May 7 with left temporal lobe glioblastoma.

In her work for a large chain office supply store, Sara shows customers how the machines work. "I never had any problem when a customer was coming in to make a purchase. I could tell them anything about the product."

Suddenly, that changed. "I'd be explaining a printer to a customer and halfway through the conversation, I'd lose my thought, I couldn't explain it."

Beginning in March 2008, she began to notice daily headaches, not typical for her.

By early May, she took a week off and got herself a thorough physical, a CT scan, and an MRI.

Her doctor then sent her to the Cleveland Clinic, where she got the bad news.

She underwent surgery in early May, and then during a checkup in the doctor's office had seizures. Looking back, she realizes she had suffered seizures while working at the computer.

Soon, she will start radiation and chemo.

A widow who lost her husband in 1999 and has eight grown children, she is still in good spirits."I don't get down, I don't let myself get down. It's like I have an inner peace. The doctors and everyone I have talked to have been very honest. They have explained things 100 percent."

Her religious faith helps keep her calm, she says. What also helps? She is convinced that "my husband has been watching out for me. That may sound strange to some people."

But she believes it is true.

Kennedy's strength -- some of it, unfortunately, from dealing with so many family tragedies -- will keep him going, Sara says. "He seems to have a very good outlook."