Everyday we’ll suggest original stocking fillers for the active person in your life.

Today show them you care with a Road ID.

There’s no better way to show you care than to provide someone the gift of safety and peace of mind. Road ID is the perfect training partner for runners, cyclists, triathletes or active people in general. If you have an accident on the roads or trails, your Road ID may be the only thing you have to guarantee proper medical treatment and immediate contact of family members.

Road ID products come in a number of versions, to be worn on your ankle, wrist, shoe or simply round your neck and it is laser engraved with your emergency contact information.

A Road ID is not only useful for athletes. As someone who does a lot of travelling, I have an interactive ID which has my name, my serial number and pin, and details of an international freephone number and website. This allows me to update my profile with my relevant travel insurance details and the contact details of the people I am visiting or staying with. Also if I’m travelling alone its reassuring to know if something happened to me people would know who I am to contact my family quicker.

If you don’t know which Road ID to purchase as a gift or what details to include on the ID you could just order a Road ID Gift Card or for a last minute present, an online eCard. www.RoadID.com also sell lights, clothing and reflective products so there is plenty of choice.

Submit your order by 21st December to receive your order by Christmas. eCards are emailed immediately after purchase. Use the code pcLastChance2 for a 10% discount off your entire order, valid  till 12th December 2010.

Whilst visiting the site you can find out how to enter RoadID’s Holiday Give away to win over $10,000 of prizes from Trek, LIVESTRONG® Fitness, HED Cycling, Garmin, Oakley, Newton Running, and Giro helmets.

More Christmas Gift Ideas >>>Charitable Gifts and Cards>>>

Whilst exercise while young positively affects peak bone mass, exercise during adulthood can maintain bone mass and can potentially prevent women from osteoporosis.

In particular, impact exercise that induces high strains at high rates in the bone has been found to promote bone strength.

Research published in November’s BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, studied how bone changes over time during a 12 month course of exercise.

The aim was to evaluate the association between exercise intensity at 3, 6 and 12 month intervals and changes  in the Bone Mineral Density (BMD) of the femur (thigh bone), during high-impact exercise in premenopausal women.

• The subjects were 35 healthy women (age 35-40 years, average BMI of 25.5). Before the study began they were not participating in impact-type exercises or long-distance running more than three times a week.
• Accelerometers, (portable, cheap, light-weight machines, worn on the waist) were used to continuously measure daily physical activity.
• The subjects were supervised during a 60-minute training workout, consisting of a warm-up period, high-impact training and a cool-down period. The progressive high-impact period included versatile movements, such as step aerobic patterns, stamping, jumping, and running, three times a week for 12 months.
• The programs were modified bimonthly to become progressively more demanding by including higher jumps and drops.
• The participants were also given a home program (10 min daily), which consisted of patterns of exercise similar to those in the supervised sessions.
• The BMD of the femur, and the trochanters (the projections from the femur where the hip and thigh muscles attach), were measured using x-ray absorptiometry and activity data was correlated with changes in bone density.

The researchers from Finland found that the average daily number of high impacts during six months of training was significantly associated with 12-month positive BMD changes at the femoral neck and trochanter area.

These results agreed with many previous studies, in which only five to six months of high-impact exercise were needed to increase BMD in the femoral neck and trochanter and the greatest changes were seen on this time period, than during 12 or 18month interventions.

Lead author Riikka Ahola, suggests these results provide new information for designing optimal and feasible training programs that can prevent bone loss in premenopausal women

Because bone cells adapt to regular loading, one important feature that the researchers recommend is for an exercise program to be progressive. ‘A progressive exercise program sustains overload and the bone adaptation process. ‘

‘Loads should be increased with time to produce a sufficient stimulus. An exercise program that maintains the same loading for many years would stimulate bone formation only during the first months of training.’

Aerobic exercise is effective in improving our cardiorespiratory fitness whilst  improving the burning of fat and overall energy use. Weight training or resistance work acts as a stimulus to the muscularskeletal system to increase muscle size and strength. It is therefore recommended that a training routine combines both types of exercise as each has its own advantage. Normally aerobic or resistance exercises are performed in a single training session and if are combined aerobic exercise is often completed first as it is seen as a warm up of the muscle prior to resistance training.

A group of researchers from the College of New Jersey however wanted to examine the impact of resistance training prior to aerobic exercise. The study published in European Journal of Applied Physiology involved 11 males and 21 females who ate a moderate (50%) carbohydrate diet. Six static weight machines were chosen for the resistance exercises: Leg press, lat pull down, leg extension, seated row, shoulder press and chest press. For each subject their 8-RM was determined. This being the maximum amount of weight that could be lifted through a full range motion 8 times. Each subject completed each one of the following trials on different days

1. Aerobic exercise only (C) (cycle for 20mins at 50% maximum oxygen uptake (VO₂max))
2. High intensity resistance training (HI)  (3 sets of 8 reps at 90% of 8-RM) followed by aerobic exercise
3. Low  intensity resistance training (LO) (3 sets of 12 reps at 60% of 8-RM) followed by aerobic exercise

Throughout each aerobic activity the researchers looked at oxygen uptake and also the oxidisation of carbohydrate and fat. Oxidisation is when the fuel source ie, fat or carbohydrate, combines with oxygen to provide energy.  They found that fat oxidisation  and oxygen uptake was higher in the HI group than either LO or C in both males and females. Prof Kang, the paper’s author suggests that whilst fat oxidation following LO training was itself higher than aerobic exercise alone it is the intensity of the resistance exercise that is more important than the total volume of exercise completed.

Interestingly after the first five minutes of aerobic exercise they found no difference in carbohydrate oxidation rates. Prof Kang suggests that it appears in training that combines both aerobic and resistance exercises, performing a comparatively higher intensity resistance exercise first would boost the use of fat and energy during any subsequent aerobic activity.

He suggests that the metabolic effect of the resistance work is due to an increase in lipolytic hormones, which may have a short time before they revert back to their resting levels and that the aerobic exercise should ideally start within 5mins of resistance exercise, but after no more than 20mins.

So according to Prof Kang’s research if you really want to burn fat quicker get to the gym half an hour before your aerobics class or run and lift some weights.

As I have mentioned before, I have recently injured my knee and through physiotherapy and exercises I am trying to rebuild the muscles and strength in my leg. My local beauty salon offers a range of electrical body treatments but I was interested in the Electrical Muscle Stimulation described as a passive form of exercise where specific areas are stimulated, improving muscle tone and condition. As someone who enjoys an active life passive exercise isn’t normally my thing but I thought it could be a way to stimulate the muscles in my leg without putting strain on my ligaments. The added bonus was that 12 pads are used over your body so I also got to tone my stomach, arms and chest.

As I had used a TENS machine before I wasn’t nervous about using the machines, the sensation is just unusual and different not uncomfortable. The pulsing current causes your muscles to contract, mimicking the bodies natural movements. The intensity goes up to level 12 and I only managed level 3 on my leg before I got serious contractions and any higher was unpleasant. My arms managed level 7 and my abs which are protected by a good layer of fat was around 5. My technician suggested that I shouldn’t push myself too far on my first visit and said that the layer of fat around my stomach was probably absorbing the current to my abs allowing me to tolerate the higher intensity and as my arms are more toned and defined their muscles need even more stimulation to make them contract.

After 20mins of stimulation, increasing slightly as my tolerance improves, my passive exercise was over. I was warned I would feel like I had done a hard work out and, but in fact I felt the complete opposite, I feeling like I had just been to bed. No part of me ached or felt like it had been trained. Perhaps I should have pushed myself to a higher intensity and a regular course maybe needed but I am now sceptical about using a product such as Slendertone. The adverts suggest that its for someone who is already enjoying a healthy diet and active lifestyle but just needs some extra help toning their abs. From my experience in the salon you do need a fairly low fat level covering your abs to cause contraction of your muscles so it may have good effects on such an lean person. However it claims only 20mins is needed to have the same effect as 120 crunches. I think I could do 120 crunches by the time I could get the product out the box and on to me, as I imagine could many active people. Therefore I wonder who the product is aimed at. Lean, active people who can’t spare 2 minutes to do 120 crunches?

As I mentioned before, I have only experienced EMS in a salon and haven’t used a Slendertone itself. Nevertheless, combining my salon experience and the info on their website I think I may save my money and get up 2 minutes early each day to get my 120 crunches in. However, there is also version to be worn as a pair of shorts, to tone your bottom and thighs. Could this work to strengthen and rehabilitate the muscles in my upper leg?

Have you used EMS to tone your body? Did you experience good results? Have you found it useful for rehabilitation? Let us know your experiences.