A few weeks ago we ran a series called "The Fat Wars" that looked at the way we talk about obesity in this country, and whether our current methods of fighting the war on fat were working. Within the course of the articles, we made a few unsubstantiated remarks about fat people being just as able to run or bike as thin people. (Unsubstantiated because we wrote them as fact, without citing backup evidence.) In doing so,  the article generated lots of comments from people basically calling it bull. This was expected: a point we researched but didn't articulate in the article about why America is so darned angry with fat people is that the anonymity granted by the Internet tends to bring out the worst in people; the points we did articulate argued that fat people are easy targets for rage, which people like expressing, and projected self-loathing, since we all worry about weight. Still, it seemed like what President Obama refers to as "a teachable moment," an excuse to solicit reader participation, and also a chance to do a photo gallery, which are fun and pretty and get lots of clicks. 

With that in mind, we solicited photos of healthy, heavy readers─an exercise that was not without its own controversies. Some fat people were energized by the chance to disprove stereotypes, while others felt like they shouldn't have to prove anything to anyone, nor should they have to strap on climbing gear or a bike helmet to "earn" a little human kindness and respect. (I believe "dancing monkey" was the term one reader of Shapely Prose used when discussing our request). 

Nevertheless, we received a lot of great submissions, and picked some of the best images (and by best, we mostly mean "best photographic quality") for our Happy, Healthy, and Heavy gallery.

by Ian Yarett

People who hate big thighs may have to take back the terrible things they’ve been saying about them. According to a study appearing today in the British Medical Journal, folks with skinny thighs may be at greater risk of heart disease and premature death than their chunkier brethren.

Experts say the results are preliminary and remain to be validated by further study, yet this research is intriguing. “We’re all looking for ways to get more precision, to find other markers, other descriptors that really help identify those at greatest risk,” says Dr. Clyde Yancy, president of the American Heart Association and medical director of the Heart and Vascular Institute at Baylor University Medical Center.

The study looked at about 2,800 initially healthy Danish people, half men and half women. Researchers measured thigh and waist circumference as well as weight and height (used to calculate body mass index), then tracked the health of the subjects over the next 12.5 years.  

After accounting for known risk factors like BMI, blood pressure, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, cholesterol, and blood triglycerides, they ran statistical models to determine whether thigh circumference helped to further explain which people survived.  

The researchers found that thigh size was an independent predictor of heart disease and early mortality, for men and women. People with thigh circumferences lower than 60 cm (23.6 inches) had an increased risk of cardiac disease.

According to Dr. Berit Heitmann, lead author of the study and research director at the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Copenhagen, the observed benefit of thicker thighs might be due to the health benefits of muscle and/or fat located in the lower body. Earlier studies have indicated that lower-body muscle may be important for insulin sensitivity, and that lower-body fat may produce anti-inflammatory, hormonelike substances. Although this hasn’t been confirmed, it could have some interesting implications if it proves true, since it is possible to increase lower-body muscle with targeted exercise.

It’s important to note that this research applies to groups and may seem to overemphasize the risk to the individual. “Like with body mass index, you have to look at the individual as well,” says Heitmann. “So if you have somebody who is [shorter] or something, obviously you would expect them to have a smaller thigh size than you would somebody who is [taller].” In other words: the 60 cm dividing line is an average that doesn't take into account body proportions, so don't be a slave to the tape measure. (A good rule in any case.)

More after the jump:

Tyler before and after, courtesy of 344pounds.com

Last week was not a good week for Tyler.

Tyler, a 24-year old from South Carolina, writes the blog 344pounds.com,which documents his progress as he tries to lose weight. Sincebeginning the site in January, he’s lost 109.8 pounds, thanks to anintense exercise regime. (As part of a blog promotion, for instance, heperformed over three hours of cardio one Friday night).But last week—his birthday week—he gained weight for the first timesince beginning his blog, a fact he chalked up to lowered standards:watching TV, indulging on his birthday, and skipping the gym in favorof surfing the web. “This week should show to you that if you don’t putin the work, you won’t lose the weight.  It’s not rocket science.  I’velost weight 26 weeks in a row without fail—the first week I give just alittle bit of slack I gain half a pound,”

The author, and her shapeless ankles (Courtesy Kathleen Flynn)

 

by Kathleen Flynn

I have cankles.

There, I said it.

Disparage me as you will—it’s currently all the rage to poke fun at cankles. That's the term, of course, for the strange disorder of the lower body where one's calf descends into one's foot without narrowing. (The effect is that of giving it the appearance of a doughy peg leg.

Last week, Gold’s Gym announced that July is National Cankles Awareness Month. “By the year 2012 Cankles will surpass Love Handles as the number one aesthetic affliction in the world,” Gold's states on its new Web site, Saynotocankles.com. The Wall Street Journal followed up with a front-page story, fully exposing the phenomenon of cankle-bashing. Good Morning America even ran a story about it, coyly titled “The New Muffin-Top?” It’s the worst thing that’s happened to big-ankled women like me since Hollywood debuted the silly, hybrid word “cankle” (calf-plus-ankle) in the 2001 movie Shallow Hall. (Before that, my fat ankles were my own secret shame.)

Now ankleless women everywhere are being told that we either have to get in shape or hide our mutated stumps under loose jeans and long skirts.

Along with Gold’s Gym, personal trainers throughout the blogoshpere are currently writing posts on “cankle-busting moves!” such as squats, calf raises, and walking.

I’m all for exercising, and I work out regularly. But I want to set the record straight: I'm a size zero. Cankles are not necessarily the result of eating too many snickers. For many women, they are a genetic mishap and criticizing them is akin to kicking a little person in the shin.

More on Kathleen's life with cankles, after the jump...

(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Editor's Note: Since posting this article on Friday, Watson played some more fantastic golf, coming from behind to finish the Open tied for first with Stuart Cink, a 36-year old America. After missing a 10-foot putt in the playoffs, Watson placed second—not bad for a man who will be kicked off the tour next year, when he turns 60, but not enough for me to win the bet I made with my editor. Tom Watson, you owe me a dollar.  

Tiger who? For most of yesterday, the British Open was dominated by Tom Watson, the 59-year-old American who has been playing professional golf for 38 years. (Watson ended the day one stroke behind the leader, and was in an eight-way tie for fourth place as play continued today.) While hitting the links is sometimes unfairly maligned as a hobby for retirees, competitive golfers usually hit their stride before 40. Older golfers have had their moments: at 53, Greg Norman held the lead for most of the 2008 British Open before tying for third place, and Jack Nicklaus continued to excel professionally until he was 60, then played another five years on the Senior Tour.

“Golf is much more of a lifetime sport; one that relies on technique and tactical ability,” says Mark Verstegen, founder and chairman of Athlete's Performance, a strength and training facility for professional athletes. “You can constantly improve your tactical ability and get smarter about how you play the game. With age, you may continue to improve on a technical and tactical level at a greater rate than your physical strength decreases.” Golf relies on precision and consistency, skills dependent on a cooler head that can come with age. The longer professional golfers play the best courses, the more they become familiar with each green’s idiosyncrasies, which can be more advantageous than a 20-year-old’s upper body strength. Still, 59? Pretty impressive. So in honor of Watson’s stellar performance yesterday, we collected a list of some of the greatest older athletes in their fields.

 See the list, after the jump: 

Find out more, after the jump: 

Last week, we interviewed Stuart McGill, a professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo, in a piece about the dangers of sit-ups and crunches.

McGill, author of Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance (Stuart McGill, 2004) was kind enough send us a video demonstrating a better way to work your abs—including a modified move, called the "McGill crunch" by school children all over Canada. Take a look and adjust your workouts accordingly. For more information, visit McGill's site, backfitpro.com

Since I am broad-shouldered and have somewhat of a sturdy gait, people tend to mistake me for an athlete. While I played my fair share of sports growing up, I never had the requisite grace, coordination, or speed to be anything other than a steady member of the JV squad. (My sister, the college swimmer, got those genes: she did her first triathlon on a whim and returned home with the third-place medal. She also won the mountain bike being raffled off, because her athletic prowess is so great that it extends even to games of chance.)

So when we heard Reebok had designed a trapeze-based course with Cirque du Solei being offered at Equinox, it seemed like the perfect chance to make a fool of myself on camera in the name of investigative reporting and blog hits. Fitness classes—especially the seemingly fun, trendy ones involving dance or stepping or synchronized movement of any kind—have previously translated into about 60 minute of stumbling and humiliation for me, neither of which burn too many calories.

Find out if I flew through the air—or landed on my butt—after the jump. 

Hey Slackers! Getting ready for the weekend? Big plans? Maybe eat some barbecue, hang out with the fam, hit the town?

Meet Dr. Dale Hull. Tomorrow morning, while we're sleeping off our Friday night festivities, he'll be running a marathon. Some of our readers who have similarly athletic plans may wonder why Dale Hull gets recognition and they do not.

After the jump, NEWSWEEK's Rebecca Shabad talks to Dr. Hull today about his recovery, his work, and his big day tomorrow:

This video has been making the blog-rounds for a few weeks now; I'm totally late to the bandwagon. But I'm posting it anyway because:

1) My love for Miss Julia Sugarbaker is real and true, and that love extends to posting excerpts from Dixie Carter's late-80s yoga video.

2) Much of the reaction to this video has been of the "God, what a loon!" variety, which totally misses the point. Yes, the pose looks ridiculous, which she admits straight away.  But she doesn't care, because doing "The Lion" makes her feel good, and she wants her viewers to get the same energy boost. While haters are snickering about how silly she looks, she (or at least, the digitally archieved version of Ms. Carter) is happy, smiling, and content.

A big reason people are reluctant to start working out is their fear of looking stupid. And let's face it—exercise of all varieties often requires a lot of goofy faces, awkward body positioning and uncouth grunts and groans. Most of the time, no one notices, because they're too busy concentrating on their own workout (at the gym) or life dramas (everywhere else).But slap a few isolated moments of an exercise video on YouTube, and it's suddenly comic fodder.

That doesn't mean it's not ok to laugh."The Lion" is more than a little silly, which is why Carter's husband, who perhaps anticipated the mass market for video humiliation that is the Internet, recommended she leave it out of the video. But she didn't—she roared like a loud, proud, yoga-happy crazy woman, and for that, I salute her.

Everyone knows that road to flat, tight abs is paved with crunches. Lots and lots and lots of excruciating crunches. Or is it?

As it turns out, the exercises synonymous with strong, attractive abs may not be the best way to train your core—and may be doing damage to your back.  

“We stopped teaching people to do crunches a long, long time ago,” says Dr. Richard Guyer, president of the Texas Back Institute.

So should you abandon crunches as well? Read more after the jump to find out.