Dr. Terry Rondberg: Up Close and Personal

As the new Jackie Chan/Jaden Smith version of “The Karate Kid” sweeps the world’s multiplexes, a new wave of karate kids is expected to sweep into studios and rec centers. At least that’s the prediction of Lou Illar, screenwriter and associate producer of “Sidekicks,” the classic ’90s martial arts movie.

“Karate is tailor-made for the movies. It’s exciting to watch, and involves personal and spiritual components that make great story-telling devices,” he explains. Illar, in pre-production for “Sidekicks II,” is witnessing firsthand the resurgence of martial arts from his Louisiana Dojo. “Plus, it doesn’t need to have winners and losers like Western sporting activities do; and the character building aspect for young people is key. At their heart, martial arts are about discipline and humility. The best part is that anyone can do it and excel. There’s a reason they’ve been around for centuries.”

As a holder of a black belt in karate, I can attest to the fact that it’s a very healthy sport. The combination of mind-body training, self-discipline, and aerobic exercise makes it an ideal choice for any fitness program.

The University of Houston’s campus karate club touts the physical benefits to students.

“The obvious benefit from learning karate is the improvement of physical health,” stated Krassimir Doynov, PhD. “The student learns to exercise regularly several times a week, which is one of the most useful lifetime habits. This results in balancing blood pressure and circulation, lowering the cholesterol level, and reducing the number of visits to the doctor and all medical expenses. Moreover the student gets flexible muscles and joints, which increases the chances for surviving car accidents with fewer injuries when compared to a person who does not train karate.”

The experts over at karate.com agree.

“Karate is a physical exercise that will improve cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health. By practicing karate regularly, you exercise your heart, muscles, and bones for a stronger body. Karate will help build muscle, stamina, and strength. Regular exercise has long-last positive effects on overall physical health… Karate is one of the best ways to promote overall health. By finding a strong balance from within, and using that in coordination with a stronger body, karate creates a healthier person. ”

It’s definitely something I can recommend to anybody looking for a more interesting and fulfilling way to exercise the mind and body. Sure beats doing pushups!

I’ve always loved exercising, working out, doing yoga, and practicing martial arts. But there are times I’d much rather roll over and stay in bed, sit in front of the computer, or do just about anything but move my body. While I’ve come up with some incredibly inventive excuses, “I don’t have time” and “it’s not a priority right now” are two of my best standbys. And, in the last few years, I’ve added another good one to my repertoire: “I’m getting too old to exercise like I used to.”

Most people over 50 (or even over 40!) use the “I’m too old to exercise” excuse and it’s the worst thing they can do for their health.  Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the guru of aerobics, put it this way: “We do not stop exercising because we grow old, we grow old because we stop exercising.”

It’s not just an astute observation; it’s a proven fact. A recent study at Ohio State University focused on yoga, but we’d probably see the same results from any similar type of exercise. The researchers found the regular practice of yoga exercises may lower a number of compounds in the blood and reduce the level of inflammation that normally rises because of both normal aging and stress.

The study, reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, showed that women who routinely practiced yoga had lower amounts of the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) in their blood. They also showed smaller increases in IL-6 after stressful experiences than did women who were the same age and weight but who were not yoga practitioners.

IL-6 is a normal and important part of the body’s innate inflammatory response — but too much stress (and/or too little exercise) causes it to elevate to a level where it can contribute to heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, arthritis, and a host of other age-related debilitating diseases. Reducing inflammation may provide substantial short- and long-term health benefits, the researchers suggested.

“We know that inflammation plays a major role in many diseases. Yoga appears to be a simple and enjoyable way to add an intervention that might reduce risks for developing heart disease, diabetes and other age-related diseases,” wrote co-author Ron Glaser, a professor of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics.

“In addition to having lower levels of inflammation before they were stressed, we also saw lower inflammatory responses to stress among the expert yoga practitioners in the study,” explained Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, professor of psychiatry and psychology and lead author of the study. “Hopefully, this means that people can eventually learn to respond less strongly to stressors in their everyday lives by using yoga and other stress-reducing modalities.”

Bill Malarkey, a professor of internal medicine and another of the project’s researchers, pointed to the inflexibility that routinely comes with aging. “Muscles shorten and tighten over time, mainly because of inactivity,” he said. “The stretching and exercise that comes with yoga actually increases a person’s flexibility and that, in turn, allows relaxation which can lower stress.”

Prof. Malarkey sees the people’s adoption of yoga or other regular exercise as one of the key solutions to our current health care crisis. “People need to be educated about this. They need to be taking responsibility for their health and how they live. Doing yoga and similar activities can make a difference.”

Since I can’t use the “too old” excuse, I guess I’ll have to either rely on the “too busy” one or, better yet, stop making excuses and drag out the yoga mat!