Brookhaven National Laboratory -- Genetic Link to Alcohol Response

A year ago I attended an event with other science writers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Since then I have been getting emails about new discoveries and developments.  A few days ago I received one about how genetics affects reaction to alcohol. Specifically,
dopamine receptor deficiency leads to significant brain changes in response to drinking. Two genetic variants of mice were used to compare the brain's response to long-term alcohol drinking in two genetic variants of mice. One strain was genetically normal, and another lacked the gene for dopamine D2 receptor, the brain's "feel good" chemical, that produces feelings of pleasure and reward. In the dopamine-receptor-deficient mice (but not the genetically normal strain), long-term alcohol drinking resulted in significant biochemical changes in areas of the brain well know to be involved in alcoholism and addiction. The scientists were interested in the dopamine system research, which  suggests that deficiency in dopamine D2 receptors may make people (and animals) less able to experience ordinary pleasures and therefore more vulnerable to alcoholism, drug abuse, and gluttony. The scientists were able to breed mice deficient in the D2 gene. Each of the groups were divided in half: One-half had water, while the other half had a solution of 20% ethanol to simulate heavy drinking.



The scientists observed the levels of brain receptor cannabinoid type1 (CB1) after six months in the four groups of mice. These receptors are located near dopamine receptors and are known to influence dopamine receptors and alcohol consumption and addiction. The water-drinking mice without D2 receptors had increased levels of CB1 receptors in brain regions associated with addiction, compared with water-drinking normal control animals. Thanos explained that this may indicate that D2 receptors inhibit the growth of CB1 receptor gene. However, in the mice with D2 receptors which ingested ethanol, this possible effect was negated: These mice had about half the CB1 levels compared to the D2-deficient water drinkers.

In 2005, Houchi et al. had found that CB1 knockout mice had an overexpression of D2 receptor. This increase in humans may decrease their desire for alcohol. The study was published in Neuropsychopharmacology. Thanos said:  "This down-regulation of CB1 after alcohol intake in the D2-deficient animals could underlie the lower reinforcing effects of ethanol in these mice," he added. In other words, fewer CB1 receptors may eventually increase D2 receptors, which may steer humans away from desiring a lot of alcohol.
 
This was an example of an epigenetics sutdy. The alcohol is the environmental factor influencing existing genetics. The main researcher, Panayiotis Thanos Ph.D., will conduct future studies with female mice to see if gender changes results.

Cable Rack for Biceps

This is a variation for your biceps. Usually, the little rope extension is used to do triceps on the cable rack. Put the part of the machine where you attach weights at one of the lowest holes. Attach the little rope attachment. Stand with legs shoulder width apart. Use a weight that gives you a workout and is doable. Grab the end and perform a biceps curl. Exhale when you lift and inhale when you return to the starting position. Do not extend your elbow fully and lock it. Keep your elbows to your sides, under your ribs, for steadiness. Do four or five sets of ten repetitions, depending on the weight and your fitness level. Do not bop forward and backward. Keep your body steady, especially your back.

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

NYU Physician John Iofantis Finds Protein Link to Childhood Leukemia

New York University Langone Research Center physician John Iofantis found a link between t-cell acute lymhoblastic leukemia, and protein NF-κB. Several hundred children are affected annually by leukemia, which can be fatal within weeks. Dr. Iofantis says that the chemotherapy is not targeted and can come with serious side effects. The NYU team focused on genomic and animal studies, while a team at Institute Municipal d'Investigaciones Mediques tackled different facts of the disease.
The protein makes tumor cells live longer and become more resistant to treatment. When activation of the protein was targeted, tumor cells began to rapidly die. Dr. Iofantis is hopeful that new drugs to target the protein will be developed.

Harvard Public Health Review Article on Epigenetics

The article expressed the passionate interest of scientists to find out how genes interact with each other and the environment, thereby affecting genes and proteins expressed. For instance, redheads, even ones with olive skin, tend to have a higher-than-average predisposition to skin cancer. This may be in part due to how the gene or hair interacts with the environment, and the consequences of this interaction. Epigenetics refers to how the environment affects genes and causes traits that may be inherited. According to the article, this may be one perspective from which to look at the question of why about 80 to 90 percent of heavy smokers do not get lung cancer.
Usually epigenetics has referred to radiation or pollution changes. They are expanding it to mean other factors that cause changes: chemicals, diet, exercise, workplace hazards and more. For instance, manganese, found in welding fumes, some wells, fungicides and pesticides, is a neurotoxin that can lead to manganism, a Parkisonian-type disorder. Environmental factors often increase genetic risks. For example, a March 2010 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed the importance of the effect of environmental factors for those with a genetic predisposition to breast cancer. Therefore, it is important to maintain a healthy weight, eat a balanced, diet, and limit alcohol intake.
One researcher, James Mitchell, is studying in fasting in animals to see if this will protect them (and humans) before surgery or chemotherapy. He will study if deficiencies in amino acid tryptophan will confer resistance to malaria. Epidemiologists David Christiani found that a common gene variant made Shangai textile workers more vulnerable to lung disease.
More research will shape public health policy. A danger is that genetically-screened people are charge higher for or denied health insurance.

Are Diseases Manufactured?

Some fellow science writers from the American Medical Writers' Association started a series of posts on whether or not pharmaceutical companies manufacture diseases, such as the female sexual dysfunction? I wonder if children or other people had different diagnoses before autism or attention deficit disorder were coined. I am usually middle of the road in most topics. I think that disease if often a result of a schism in the spirit-mind-body connection and that some drugs are not tested or screened enough by companies, and the FDA, and may cause so many side effects, it is best not to take them. Medication, thoughts, exercise, kind friends and more may help in disease more than medication.many people who follow an oncologist's advice by the letter do not get better, and some hospitals integrate "Eastern practices". Other times, you need medication and or surgery. Many natural path followers end up using them.

this is an interesting discussion,though, and I'd love to hear your views. One writer wrote that pharmaceutical companies target mostly physicians, so they need to do their work in reading and discussing the latest studies so they don't get duped -- interesting! maybe they are too busy with insurance companies. Another writer recalled a book "Manufacturing Depression".

There is a book and blog on selling sickness: http://sellingsickness.blogspot.com.

There is also a film on selling sickness: http://icarusfilms.com/new2005/sell.html.

Here is the Web site for the Amsterdam 2010 Selling Sickness Conference
http://www.gezondescepsis.nl/conference-2010/conference-programme.html

What are your thoughts?

Disclaimer: This is not a very scientific post. More information on this may follow. None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional, such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.  The second edition of Pocket Guide to Fitness will be out soon!

Massage Article in New York Times

New York Times ran an article about a study on the benefits of massage.I have already written about massage on another post. I would not mind having two or three a week. You need a massage after you work out or dance for several hours. The study was published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. The lead author was Dr. Mark Hyman Rapaport, chairman of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. A total of fifty-three adults were randomly assigned: 29 of them to a 45-minute session of deep-tissue Swedish massage and 24 of them to a session of light massage. Blood samples were taken before and up to an hour into the massage intravenously. 

Each massage had its benefits. The Swedish group experienced significant decreases in levels of  stress hormone cortisol in blood and saliva, and in arginin vasopressin, a hormone that can lead to increases in cortisol. Their number of lymphocytes increased. The light massage group experienced greater increases in oxytocin, a hormone associated with contentment and larger decreases in adrenal corticotropin hormone, which stimulates the adrenal glands to release cortisol.

See http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/health/research/21regimens.html?_r=1

Katherine Schwarzenegger's Body Image Book

Katherine Schwarzenegger wrote Rock What You’ve Got: Secrets to Loving Your Inner and Outer Beauty. Even she could not escape feeling bad about herself. Maybe she was self-conscious knowing her Dad's training history. She thinks that being close to one's Mom fosters high self-esteem and it is important to appreciate and be proud of what you have.

Million of Americans have eating disorders. Most of them are young women. They hear other women complain about their bodies, and see skinny, touched-up magazine photographs. The author gives examples of her life and those of others where they were dissatisfied with their bodies, and turned it around. Katherine inspires woman to see beauty in and to rock what they have!

British Reality Television Show

In the October/November issue of Metro Source New York, Paul Hagen writes about a new London reality show on diets. I like some reality shows, like of course Dancing with the Stars :), but others seems to have us be voyeurs in the calamities and miseries of others. That is how this show sounds. People are put on three extreme diets ad endure things like freezing showers, in attempts to lose weight. As I have written, you don't need to be on a diet to lose weight. This is often extreme to yo-yo dieting and to really knowing how to eat a healthy, balanced diet.

This show may lead to the impersonalization that sometimes occurs from too much violence on television, emailing or texting instead of calling and getting together. It also done nothing for the participants or audience to learn to have a healthy lifestyle.

The diets are: a. A Victorian diet of protein that includes weird animal body parts; 2. a 1920's diet of severe caloric restriction; and c. a Edwardian era diet where you have to chew each bite 30 times, lift their heads back and swallow what goes down, and the spit out the rest. The bites and spitting out are counted. This is insane, and more a means to humiliate people and for those, perhaps with low self-esteem, to earn a little cash.

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS)

I read another great article in Yoga Journal (October 2010, Issue 232). The author is Roger Cole, PhD, a certified Iyengar yoga instructor and research of sleep in Del Mar, California. This one is about thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS), when pain spreads for the neck to the arm and hands. It is caused by compressing or overstretching nerves or blood vessels near the top of the rib cage. This usually develops form repetitive action such as playing a musical instrument or using the computer. I was surprised to see that the top rib attaches to the first thoracic vertebra. The magazine advocates certain yoga movements and an emphasis on good posture. For instance, when typing, do not put your head forward.

The thoracic outlet is the oval space atop the rib cage. It is bordered by: the breastbone, the uppermost ribs, and the first thoracic vertebra. The subclavian artery and vein, and the nerves that serve your hand cross over and through the thoracic outlet, between the first rib and clavicle on the way to the arm. Tight muscles, misaligned bones or scar tissue cause TOS when they squeeze or pull o blood vessels or nerves enough to cause pain or numbness. Yoga can loosen the scalenus anterior and scalenus medius, the muscles that connect the sides of the neck to the top of the rib cage. Here is a stretch to loosen up these muscles, open the thoracic space and alleviate pain.

There is an interesting stretch:

Lie down on a mat. Put open wooden block under your pelvis and open under your shoulder girdle. Place your head on a folded towel. Turn your head to the right so that your chin touches (or tries to touch) the towel. With your hands, push down on the left side of your upper rib cage. Hold for a minute. Breathe. This loosens your left scalenus muscles. Do the same for your right scalenus muscles. Turn your head to the left so that your chin touches (or tries to touch) the towel. With your hands, push down on the right side of your upper rib cage. Hold for a minute. Breathe.

Disclaimer: This is not a very scientific post. More information on this may follow. None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional, such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

What You Want

I recently read Lynn Grabhorn's Excuse Me Your Life is Waiting: The Astonishing Power of Feelings. She writes about how feelings ad the thoughts attract what we want - or not. I do not believe this 100 percent. I think some things just happen and we do to know why. But I have see how my being and feelings attract people or things to me. There are signs you are coming close to getting what you want.

You must know what you want, or have your intuition know where you are going. Part of this is feeling better as you get closer. If you get what you don’t want, feel how you would feel if you had it, at least for 16 seconds and say "not that" without making it wrong. If you are being all this and inspired, versus fix it, action, and you don’t see results yet, keep the faith ad trust in God and the Universe, and sit back, relax and have fun.

Often people say "I want more money" This implies lack. "I want to be skinny" implies not loving or accepting your miraculous body. Feel healthy, fit, thin or however you want to be, for at least 16 seconds according to her. Appreciate yourself and whatever steps you take in fitness. Observe the difference this makes in several weeks' time. Share your goals with a trusted friend. Listen to each other. Get out your bad emotions and complain to get to what you want. Have your goal in fitness, do what you have to do, have fun, love yourself and see the results unfold.

Disclaimer: This is not a very scientific post. More information on this may follow. None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional, such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com, www.BarbesandNoble.com and http://www.Amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

Is Soy Not Healthy?

I read an article by Kaayla T. Daniel, Ph.D., C.C.N. that recent studies have shown that soy does not lower cholesterol, prevent heart disease or deserve and Federal Drug Association-approved heart-health claim. This announcement came from the American Heart Association (AHA). University of Colorado researchers reported in a January issue of Clinical Investigation that soy worsens cardiomyopathy, which affect 1 in 500 Americans. It is the leading cause of death among young athletes. High levels of flavones found in soy put women at risk for cardiovascular disease, according to a study reported in the May 2007 issue of the Journal of Women's Health. Dr. Daniel points out that pro-soy articles are prevalent in journals with a lot of soy advertising.

Disclaimer: This is not a very scientific post. More information on this may follow. None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional, such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.LouizaPatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.BarnesandNoble.com and http://www.Amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

Variations on Abdominal Crunchs

I am really good at abdominal exercises. However, in Vic Dimonda's Theater Dance class at Alvin Ailey in Manhattan, I feel when I do these two variations:

1. Lie down on your back with not more than an inch and a half of space under your lower back. Do abdominal crunches with your legs open: Have the soles of your feet touching while each knee is out in the opposite direction. In other words, with your hips, knees and feet, make a diamond shape. Keep your chest and back steady. Keep your elbows open and do four sets of ten repetitions of abdominal crunches as per my abdominal crunch blog post. Exhale when you go up, and inhale on your way down. Do not touch the floor; go up to about an inch above the floor steadily and slowly.

2. Repeat the above while keeping your knees and legs to the right. Your left hip is facing the ceiling. Do the same with the knees and legs to your left and your right hip facing the ceiling. Do four sets of ten repetitions for each side.

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional, such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com, www.BarnesandNoble.com and http://www.Amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.
Posted by Louiza Fitness Tips for Life at 8:17 AM

Being Afraid of Food

As a personal trainer, I will make sure a client is healthy before training them, and ask them how they want to look. It is about health and energy, then how you look. I think that was is healthiest and most attractive for most, especially women, is o have a balance of being thin, muscular and curvy.

An acquaintance once told me he heard Deepak Chopra, M.D. talk about food: What we think about what we eat affects our health. I believe this I think The Secret and other such thought processes of thinking all you believe comes true have some Truth in them. I don’t' believe them 100%: No one knows the mysteries of the universe, and we should not keep paying them like they do. Ultimately, you want to elf and intuition to where it's usually on the dot correct, and trust yourself.

But I do think that those that worry too much over what they eat actually come out of fear and may create disease. You are not going to develop high cholesterol if you eat red meat or fast food once in a while. And some choslesterol is good and is needed for processes such as making the hormones estrogen and testosterone. It is not good to eat junk all day, mostly processed food, and no salt or sugar. Out bodies need sugar, salt and fat. Most of our food gets reduces to sugar, and n if you eat little fat, you go into a "starvation" state and burn fat slower. I recently dined with a friend who could not believe I had pancakes and bacon. (I usually don’t eat the fatty part of the bacon, and pick at it.) He is a vegetarian, but flab than tone. I believe exercise is even more important of health that what you eat: You work o your cardiovascular health and burn many calories. Usually your body gets rid of what it does not need. Your body, unless you are a couch potato, will constantly be processing food and have a good rate of metabolism. After a while, especially if you read Pocket Guide to Fitness, you may be able to have a strong mind-body connection and be healthy and fit, even if you eat some sugary, salty or fatty food in balance. It is one of those 80:20 rules. (Again, you want to avoid too many processed chemicals.)

Having dessert or McDonald's or some salt is too bad unless you mostly eat this, don’t' work out, and don't eat a well-balanced diet. You dot' want to live in fear and be obsessed about what to eat or not. You will probably end up yo-yo dieting. You want to be at a point where you know when your body may "need" a chocolate bar, some extra salt, or to rest and not work out. Sometimes good things happen to "bad" people and "bad" things happen to "good" people. There are no guarantees. I believe, if you keep trying to avoid sickness or disease, you may be creating it in your subconscious and then life
Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician. javascript:void(0)

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

Web Sites That Promote Eating Disorders

Today on the Today Show, Dr. Nancy Sniederman talked about these Web sites. People should not give them out to those they suspect of having eating disorders. But we can write to Congresspeople to talk about them. You can easily (unfortunately) find the links. Here is one:

http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/08/03/websites-that-encourage-anorexia--amp-other-eating-disorders-for-girls-popular--and-controversia.htm

Teenagers and others actually use them to promote and write about their and others' anorexia and bulimia.

Spiderman with Weights: Overall Workout

Several posts ago, I wrote about the great exercise of "walking" across the floor and back as many times as you can. You can accentuate the difficulty of this exercise by holding free weights, and - or by adding ankle weights. Keep your head, neck, back and hips in line. Do not lit your pelvis above your back. Move on the palms of your hands and balls of you feet for as long as you can. You may need to rest every 10 yards or so. Then take a warm bubble bath to soothe your muscles!

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician. javascript:void(0)

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

Your Brain and Exercise

Bone-morphogenetic protein, or BMP, is found in the brains of laboratory mice and throughout the body and keeps brain stem cells from dividing into additional stem cells or baby neurons that make one more alert, and more quick to learn and remember. At Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, exercise was found to possibly decease BMP levels in mice. Noggin a brain hormone which inhibits BMP activity, had similar effects as exercise. Exercise may increase Noggin levels or decrease BMP levels. there is a concern that too much exercie, low levels of BMP or high levels of Noggi, may not regulate stem cells enough. But stem cells seem to wear themselves out if too many or too active. More neurons are not formed. Further studies are needed.

Find out more by reading the New York Times article Phys Ed: Your Brain on Exercise by Gretchen Reynolds. at http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/your-brain-on-exercise/or by looking up BMP and other key words at www.pubmed.gov.

Find my book Pocketguide to Fitness and my other books on https://www.authorhouse.com/Bookstore/BookSearchResults.aspx?Search=louiza%20patsis and https://www.amazon.com/s?k=louiza+patsis&ref=nb_sb_noss_2 .

Killer Exercise for the Obliques

Lie down on your left side on a mat. Place your hands behind your head, arms out. Keep your neck straight. Face forward. Use your right oblique muscle to bring your right elbow closer to your waist. Simultaneously lift your legs, the right on top of the left leg, to your right elbow. Repeat for four sets of ten repetitions. Place your hands behind your head, arms out. Keep your neck straight. Face forward. Use your left oblique muscle to bring your left elbow closer to your waist. Simultaneously lift your legs, the left on top of the right leg, to your left elbow. Repeat for four sets of ten repetitions.

Stretch each oblique for at least 10 seconds: Sit with your legs in front of you or in a lotus or modified lotus position, or stand. With your arms over your head,bend in one direction. Repeat for the other direction.

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician. javascript:void(0)

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

Use Your Rib Cage for Your Abdominals

Vic Lamonda uses this, as many others do, in his Broadway Dance class at Alvin Ailey Dance Center.

Stand with legs shoulder width apart. Place the palms of your hand on your hipbones. Thrust your ribcage forward in one controlled motion, while keeping everything else steady. Go back to center. Repeat three times, for four total repetitions. Now thrust your ribcage backward. Repeat three times. Do the same for each side. Repeat three times. Now circle clockwise four times using all four positions. Do the same counterclockwise.

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

Two Magazine Articles: O Magazine and Bazaar

Hey All,

There is an interesting article in June 2010 O Magazine by Martha Beck on vision boards. It's about how visualizing is not the same as the goal (I'd say mostly yang) energy of work-reach goals. I'd say she is talking about the yin-yang balance being in the zone. She said she'd rather not choose the usual: cute man, mansion, etc. But I see nothing wrong with that. She did say to choose just random shots like a beautiful leaf, because that connects to your subconscious...interesting. I'd say do both types. She said to let go of the goal after you do it, which is great and very difficult i.e. don't be attached. The third "stage" is be in action when an opportunity arises (be present). Unattached action can be tough.

I do believe you can cause what you think of. I've seen it. I liked Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. I tried to move things with my nose and by nodding when I was little. LOL. She goes over a contraption where brain waves change results. As usual, I do see the dual side. Sometimes stuff happens, and if we also think your subconscious/conscious causes stuff, then the danger is you view those with bad circumstances (even earthquake or flood or war victims) as causing it, and I do believe there is also God, destiny, and randomness...just keep inquiring.

Well, I did not get a return (yet) on a coffee (won't get into the story) at one store uptown, and went downtown where I saw a new coffee shop with 50% off coffee at the time I was there...so I did get it back. Then I saw in Bazaar May 2010 with three gals, one being Kim Kardashian, doing nude shots celebrating curves...Well, duh, women have a chest and hips and it's about time that fashion and fitness magazines reflect that, within the parameters of being fit. There is no excuse for not being fit (except severe injury temporarily): You only have to enroll yourself. However, women can be that with muscle and fat within certain parameters as shown by science. So here is yet another article that has to do with my fitness promise....hahaha....putting it out there and letting go as O's article said.

Ab Coaster

I saw a woman on the Ab Coaster yesterday at the New York Sports Club by Union Square (cute club). I tried it. It is an easty-way-out machine. I don't have a burn today after doing five sets of 25 repetitions with 10 pounds on each side. But maybe I will have one tomrorow. You hold onto handles and just use your lower abdominal muscles to bring up your hips and legs. it's harder to do this on teh stand-up machine with handles or even to lay on the floor and bring up your hips in pulses with your lower abdomiaml muscles. But for a change I suppsoe doing the Ab Coaster may be good. It may work out different muscle fibers. i'll see if I have a burn tomorrow! The more fit you are, the more it takes to give you a burn. ;)

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.