RENT A TROWBRIDGE APARTMENT AND WE'LL THROW IN A CHEF, A MAID AND A DRIVER. Ski Machines Vs. Treadmills ±4 toori' .t.31i JACK WILLIAMS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS W ♦ DINNER SERVED NIGHTLY • PROFESSIONAL TRANSPORTATION ♦ SPACIOUS ONE AND TWO BEDROOM APARTMENTS ♦ RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS ♦ INDEPENDENT AND ASSISI ED LIVING ♦ 24-HOUR CONCIERGE THE TROWBRIDGE 24111 CIVIC CENTER DRIVE SOUTHFIELD, MI 48034 (810) 352-0208 THE DETRO hanges Single, whether by choice or by chance, you face unique challenges and opportunities. We understand that your personal goals and needs are as unique as your finger prints. Like financial success, a life plan may require charting a special path to lifelong social, intellectual and spiritual growth. At THE FOUNTAINS, our neighbors are creating special places to be. As you plan for life's changes, THE FOUNTAINS is a great place to live your dreams and be all you can. *A unique rental community for Shattering Expectations 74 sO individuals age 62 and up. 28301 Franklin Road • Southfield, Michigan 48034 • (810) 353-2810 THE AT FOUNTAINS FRANKLIN hen a widely cited study last May identi- fied the treadmill as the best machine for getting lean, devotees of a cer- tain cross-country ski device were sort of stopped in their tracks. Now, though, scientific argu- ments from the people at Nor- dicTrack are beginning to snowball. All of them, carefully docu- mented for media consumption, seem to support the manufac- turer's long-held claim: A cross- country ski machine can provide a better total workout than mo- torized treadmills, stationary bikes or stair-steppers. The latest study, conducted at the University of Pittsburgh, found that exercising on a ski machine at levels from "light" to "hard" burned the same amount of calories as working out on a treadmill. When exercise subjects in the Pittsburgh study rated their ex- ertion levels as "light," the per- centage of maximum heart rate achieved on the ski machine and treadmill differed: 85 percent on the ski machine, 79 percent on the treadmill. The higher heart rate at this level of exertion shows that the ski-machine workout was more demanding without necessarily being perceived as such by the exerciser. "With a cross-country ski ma- chine, people exercise both their upper and lower bodies instead of isolating one part or the oth- er," pointed out Dr. Paul Thomp- son, director of preventive cardiology at the University of Pittsburgh. "Subjects in our study pro- duced more lactic acid (a fatigue producer) in cross-country ski- ing than on the treadmill, sug- gesting that the skier produces a greater metabolic demand," Thompson said. Thompson's research was in response to a study published last May in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That study compared calorie expenditure at various levels of exertion. Conducted at the Med- ical College of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee VA Medical Center, it found that an hour on the treadmill burned 40 percent more calories than a stationary- bike workout of the same dura- tion. No surprise there, inasmuch as walking and jogging are weight-bearing, gravity-chal- lenging activities. The surprise was that the same level of effort —"somewhat hard"—resulted in a calorie expenditure of 700 on the treadmill, compared with 595 on a cross-country ski ma- chine. Could it be that the treadmills were more user-friendly? And that the 13 young volunteers in the Wisconsin study had diffi- culty mastering the technique of the ski machines? Those factors can influence not only a study, but a potential consumer as well. While you can pretty much walk and jog mindlessly on a treadmill, ski machines require a certain degree of timing, con- centration and coordination. As your feet glide back and forth on roller-mounted boards or foot pads, your hands grip poles that pivot or handles that are con- nected to a rope and pulley. In any event, the Pittsburgh research involved performing two maximal exercise tests on each machine in order for study participants to better evaluate perceived rates of exertion. This procedure was not per- formed before the JAMA study, said the Pittsburgh researchers. To what extent this validates either study is open to debate. But Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the famed founder of the Institute of Aerobic Research in Dallas, is partial to the ski machine. "Cross-country skiing is with- out a doubt the best cardiovas- cular exercise," says Cooper. "Because the NordicTrack total- body workout so accurately sim- ulates this superior exercise, it provides the same unequaled aerobic benefits." II Copley News Service Publicity Deadlines The normal deadline for local news and publicity items.is noon Thursday, eight days prior to issue date. The deadline for out-of- town obituaries is 10 a.m. Tuesday, three days prior to issue date. All material must be typewritten, double-spaced, on 8'/2 x 11 pa- per and include the name and daytime telephone number of sender.