Tai Chi is, for my money, THE BEST way to keep your mind focused and "in the moment". This study shows what happens inf your mind wanders:
'Wandering minds' make people unhappy:
WASHINGTON (AFP) - – A US study out Thursday suggests that people spend about half of their time thinking about being somewhere else, or doing something other than what they are doing, and this perpetual act of mind-wandering makes them unhappy.
"A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind," wrote psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert of Harvard University in the journal Science.
"The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost."
The study tracked 2,250 people via the trendy iPhone gadgets using an application, or app, that contacted volunteers at "random intervals to ask how happy they were, what they were currently doing, and whether they were thinking about their current activity or something else that was pleasant, neutral or unpleasant."
When the results were tallied, people had answered that their minds were wandering 46.9 percent of the time.
Subjects reported being happiest while having sex, exercising or having a conversation. They reported being least happy while using a home computer, resting or working.
By examining the mind-wandering responses, researchers found that "only 4.6 percent of a person's happiness in a given moment was attributable to the specific activity he or she was doing, whereas a person's mind-wandering status accounted for about 10.8 percent of his or her happiness."
The study said "time-lag analyses" suggested that "subjects' mind-wandering was generally the cause, not the consequence, of their unhappiness."
Subjects tended to be most focused on the present, and least prone to mind-wandering, during sex, the study noted. During every other activity, minds were wandering no less than 30 percent of the time.
Seventy-four percent of those followed in the study were American, the researchers said, adding that the subjects came from a "wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds and occupations."
"Mind-wandering is an excellent predictor of people's happiness," said Killingsworth.
"This study shows that our mental lives are pervaded, to a remarkable degree, by the non-present."
The application is available at www.trackyourhappiness.org.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Personal Trainers How Don't Train Correctly
I was just working out in the gym and saw a trainer working with somebody whom I know. They were doing abs. It was a poor work out by my standards in both technique and methodology. But to make it (FAR) worse, I was leaving the gym and saw the person again and told her that I would call her to give her some pointers. She told me that she was going back in to do legs. This AFTER doing abs!!! This is TOTALLY horrible. Abs should ALWAYS be done LAST in your workout...PERIOD!! They are the support system for everything that you do. If you are going to do squats with fatigued abs...I smell potential injury!
Another day I saw a client doing her abs with a trainer and she had a towel around the back Of her head and to her hands. She was pulling on the towel to aid in her crunches. The potential for injury here is ridiculous! How a trainer could do such a thing is beyond me.
People, PLEASE do your own research and go into your work outs with some knowledge of hwo to train. Don't take these 'experts' for everything they say. Unlkike medical (where there is a bit more professional standards) these trainers do what they want and don't always follow BASIC principles.
FIRST- BIGGEST MUSCLES to SMALLEST. Legs, Back, Chest, Shoulders, Arms, Abs.
Second- Don't support your head doing abs. If your neck muscles aren't strong enough to do this don't you think they should be?
There are more things that I could go on about but keep these in mind for a much SAFER work out!
Another day I saw a client doing her abs with a trainer and she had a towel around the back Of her head and to her hands. She was pulling on the towel to aid in her crunches. The potential for injury here is ridiculous! How a trainer could do such a thing is beyond me.
People, PLEASE do your own research and go into your work outs with some knowledge of hwo to train. Don't take these 'experts' for everything they say. Unlkike medical (where there is a bit more professional standards) these trainers do what they want and don't always follow BASIC principles.
FIRST- BIGGEST MUSCLES to SMALLEST. Legs, Back, Chest, Shoulders, Arms, Abs.
Second- Don't support your head doing abs. If your neck muscles aren't strong enough to do this don't you think they should be?
There are more things that I could go on about but keep these in mind for a much SAFER work out!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Dont Just Take My Word on Tai Chi
Here's another article about the benefits of Tai Chi Practice:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/health/28brody.html?_r=1&ref=health
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/health/28brody.html?_r=1&ref=health
Friday, September 17, 2010
Exercise for Children
As many times as I have said it, now it is PROVEN!!! WHY, then, are they continuing to remove Phys Ed from schools?
Children’s brain development is linked to physical fitness
University of Illinois psychology professor and Beckman Institute director Art Kramer and his colleagues found differences in the brains of physically fit children and their less-fit peers.
Photo by
L. Brian Stauffer
University of Illinois psychology professor and Beckman Institute director Art Kramer and his colleagues found differences in the brains of physically fit children and their less-fit peers.
CHAMPAIGN, lll. – Researchers have found an association between physical fitness and the brain in 9- and 10-year-old children: Those who are more fit tend to have a bigger hippocampus and perform better on a test of memory than their less-fit peers.
A bigger hippocampus in nine- and ten-year-old children appears to boost their performance on a relational memory task, said University of Illinois doctoral student Laura Chaddock
A bigger hippocampus in nine- and ten-year-old children appears to boost their performance on a relational memory task, said University of Illinois doctoral student Laura Chaddock. | Photo courtesy Laura Chaddock
The new study, which used magnetic resonance imaging to measure the relative size of specific structures in the brains of 49 child subjects, appears in the journal Brain Research.
“This is the first study I know of that has used MRI measures to look at differences in brain between kids who are fit and kids who aren’t fit,” said University of Illinois psychology professor and Beckman Institute director Art Kramer, who led the study with doctoral student Laura Chaddock and kinesiology and community health professor Charles Hillman. “Beyond that, it relates those measures of brain structure to cognition.”
The study focused on the hippocampus, a structure tucked deep in the brain, because it is known to be important in learning and memory. Previous studies in older adults and in animals have shown that exercise can increase the size of the hippocampus. A bigger hippocampus is associated with better performance on spatial reasoning and other cognitive tasks.
“In animal studies, exercise has been shown to specifically affect the hippocampus, significantly increasing the growth of new neurons and cell survival, enhancing memory and learning, and increasing molecules that are involved in the plasticity of the brain,” Chaddock said.
Rather than relying on second-hand reports of children’s physical activity level, the researchers measured how efficiently the subjects used oxygen while running on a treadmill.
“This is the gold standard measure of fitness,” Chaddock said.
The physically fit children were “much more efficient than the less-fit children at utilizing oxygen,” Kramer said.
When they analyzed the MRI data, the researchers found that the physically fit children tended to have bigger hippocampal volume – about 12 percent bigger relative to total brain size – than their out-of-shape peers.
The children who were in better physical condition also did better on tests of relational memory – the ability to remember and integrate various types of information – than their less-fit peers.
“Higher fit children had higher performance on the relational memory task, higher fit children had larger hippocampal volumes, and in general, children with larger hippocampal volumes had better relational memory,” Chaddock said.
Further analyses indicated that a bigger hippocampus boosted performance on the relational memory task.
“If you remove hippocampal volume from the equation,” Chaddock said, “the relationship between fitness and memory decreases.”
The new findings suggest that interventions to increase childhood physical activity could have an important effect on brain development, Kramer said.
“We knew that experience and environmental factors and socioeconomic status all impact brain development,” he said.
“If you get some lousy genes from your parents, you can’t really fix that, and it’s not easy to do something about your economic status. But here’s something that we can do something about,” Kramer said.
Children’s brain development is linked to physical fitness
University of Illinois psychology professor and Beckman Institute director Art Kramer and his colleagues found differences in the brains of physically fit children and their less-fit peers.
Photo by
L. Brian Stauffer
University of Illinois psychology professor and Beckman Institute director Art Kramer and his colleagues found differences in the brains of physically fit children and their less-fit peers.
CHAMPAIGN, lll. – Researchers have found an association between physical fitness and the brain in 9- and 10-year-old children: Those who are more fit tend to have a bigger hippocampus and perform better on a test of memory than their less-fit peers.
A bigger hippocampus in nine- and ten-year-old children appears to boost their performance on a relational memory task, said University of Illinois doctoral student Laura Chaddock
A bigger hippocampus in nine- and ten-year-old children appears to boost their performance on a relational memory task, said University of Illinois doctoral student Laura Chaddock. | Photo courtesy Laura Chaddock
The new study, which used magnetic resonance imaging to measure the relative size of specific structures in the brains of 49 child subjects, appears in the journal Brain Research.
“This is the first study I know of that has used MRI measures to look at differences in brain between kids who are fit and kids who aren’t fit,” said University of Illinois psychology professor and Beckman Institute director Art Kramer, who led the study with doctoral student Laura Chaddock and kinesiology and community health professor Charles Hillman. “Beyond that, it relates those measures of brain structure to cognition.”
The study focused on the hippocampus, a structure tucked deep in the brain, because it is known to be important in learning and memory. Previous studies in older adults and in animals have shown that exercise can increase the size of the hippocampus. A bigger hippocampus is associated with better performance on spatial reasoning and other cognitive tasks.
“In animal studies, exercise has been shown to specifically affect the hippocampus, significantly increasing the growth of new neurons and cell survival, enhancing memory and learning, and increasing molecules that are involved in the plasticity of the brain,” Chaddock said.
Rather than relying on second-hand reports of children’s physical activity level, the researchers measured how efficiently the subjects used oxygen while running on a treadmill.
“This is the gold standard measure of fitness,” Chaddock said.
The physically fit children were “much more efficient than the less-fit children at utilizing oxygen,” Kramer said.
When they analyzed the MRI data, the researchers found that the physically fit children tended to have bigger hippocampal volume – about 12 percent bigger relative to total brain size – than their out-of-shape peers.
The children who were in better physical condition also did better on tests of relational memory – the ability to remember and integrate various types of information – than their less-fit peers.
“Higher fit children had higher performance on the relational memory task, higher fit children had larger hippocampal volumes, and in general, children with larger hippocampal volumes had better relational memory,” Chaddock said.
Further analyses indicated that a bigger hippocampus boosted performance on the relational memory task.
“If you remove hippocampal volume from the equation,” Chaddock said, “the relationship between fitness and memory decreases.”
The new findings suggest that interventions to increase childhood physical activity could have an important effect on brain development, Kramer said.
“We knew that experience and environmental factors and socioeconomic status all impact brain development,” he said.
“If you get some lousy genes from your parents, you can’t really fix that, and it’s not easy to do something about your economic status. But here’s something that we can do something about,” Kramer said.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Why NOT to Stretch Before Exercise
While I have been saying and practicing this for years, it is very nice to see that somebody did a study that backs me up:
Phys Ed: Does Stretching Before Running Prevent Injuries?
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
Angela Jimenez/Getty Images
Should you stretch before a run? That question, which has prompted countless academic studies, debates and inter-running-partner squabbles, is now at the heart of a notable new study published in August on the Web site of USA Track and Field, the sport’s national governing body. The study, one of the largest of its kind, involved almost 1,400 runners, from age 13 to past 60, who were assigned randomly to two groups. The first group did not stretch before their runs, while otherwise maintaining their normal workout routine: the same mileage, warm-up (minus any stretching) and so on. The second group stretched, having received photographs and specific instructions for a series of simple, traditional poses, like leaning over and touching toes, that focused on the calf, hamstring and quadriceps muscles. The volunteers were told to hold each stretch for 20 seconds, a technique known as static stretching. The entire routine required three to five minutes and was to be completed immediately before a run.
Phys Ed
The volunteers followed their assigned regimens for three months. Predictably, since running, as a sport, has a high injury rate, quite a few became injured during the three months. About 16 percent of the group that didn’t stretch were hobbled badly enough to miss training for at least three days (the researchers’ definition of a running injury), while about 16 percent of the group that did stretch were laid up for the same amount of time. The percentages, in other words, were virtually identical. Static stretching had proved to be a wash in terms of protecting against injury. It “neither prevented nor induced injury when compared with not stretching before running,” the study’s authors concluded, raising the obvious corollary, so why in the world do so many of us still stretch?
Stretching is, of course, a contentious issue in sports. The bulk of the available science strongly suggests that static stretching before a workout not only does not prevent overuse injuries but also may actually hinder athletic performance. “There is a very important neurological effect of stretching,” said Ross Tucker, a physiologist in South Africa and co-author of the Web site The Science of Sport. “There is a reflex that prevents the muscle from being stretched too much,” which is activated by static stretching, inducing the muscle to become, in effect, tighter in self-protection. Past studies have found that athletes’ vertical jump is lower after a bout of static stretching than with no stretching at all. They can’t generate as much power. Meanwhile, other studies have found, like the new track and field association report, that static stretching seems to have little benefit in terms of injury prevention, particularly against the overuse injuries common in running. “The findings of this present study are totally in line with the existing literature,” said Malachy McHugh, the director of research at the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma and the lead author of a comprehensive new review of decades’ worth of stretching research published in April in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports.
Related
* More Phys Ed columns
* Faster, Higher, Stronger
* Fitness and Nutrition News
But many people remain fiercely attached to their stretching routines. “It was really hard to recruit runners” who, used to stretching, would agree to be randomly assigned to the nonstretching group, said Alan Roth, a former board member of USA Track and Field and coordinator of the study. Once they understood that they might be required to not stretch for three months, they declined to participate. It took the researchers more than two years to coax enough runners to join and complete the study, generating enough data for meaningful results.
And the results are “meaningful,” according to Dr. Dan Pereles, an orthopedic surgeon in the Washington area who originated and led the study. “I had gone into this thinking that stretching would prevent injuries. I was fairly sure of it. But that’s not what we found.” Instead, static stretching provided no particular benefit. On the other hand, it didn’t cause harm, either.
One anomalous finding of the USA Track and Field study was that runners who were used to stretching and were assigned to the nonstretching group became injured at a disproportionately high rate. Almost 23 percent of them wound up hurting themselves during the three months. But no experts associated with the study or who have read the results believe that this finding intimates that stretching had been keeping them uninjured in the past. More likely, Dr. McHugh said, they fell victim to a training error, which, he explained, “in reality can mean any abrupt change in training patterns. Your body adapts to its routine, and if that routine is monotonously habitual as with many runners, it doesn’t take much of a change to cause an injury.”
So is the primary takeaway of the USA Track and Field study that, whatever you’re doing now in terms of stretching or not stretching, don’t stop? Possibly, but most physiologists, taking a broader view of the available science, would probably say no. “In all our involvement with elite athletes now, we don’t do this kind of static stretching anymore,” Dr. Tucker said. Instead, the best science suggests that an ideal preworkout routine “consists of a very easy warm-up, followed by a gradual increase in intensity and then dynamic stretching,” he said. Dynamic stretching, or exercises that increase your joints’ range of motion via constant movement, does not seem to invoke the inhibitory reflex of static stretching, Dr. Tucker said. When “you stretch through movement, you involve the brain much more, teaching proprioception and control, as well as improving flexibility.”
In practice, dynamic stretching would mean that, instead of leaning over and touching your toes or pushing against a wall to stretch your calves before running, you might raise your leg before you in a marching motion, and then swing it back, in a well-controlled arc, suggested Phil Wharton, a neuromuscular therapist and founder, with his father, Jim, of the Wharton Performance clinic in New York City. Or lift your leg to the side and scissor it in front of you to warm up the hip joint.
But make any such alterations to your routine gradually, with circumspection. If there’s one lesson from the USA Track and Field study, said Dr. Pereles, it is that “sudden changes are probably not a good idea.”
Phys Ed: Does Stretching Before Running Prevent Injuries?
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
Angela Jimenez/Getty Images
Should you stretch before a run? That question, which has prompted countless academic studies, debates and inter-running-partner squabbles, is now at the heart of a notable new study published in August on the Web site of USA Track and Field, the sport’s national governing body. The study, one of the largest of its kind, involved almost 1,400 runners, from age 13 to past 60, who were assigned randomly to two groups. The first group did not stretch before their runs, while otherwise maintaining their normal workout routine: the same mileage, warm-up (minus any stretching) and so on. The second group stretched, having received photographs and specific instructions for a series of simple, traditional poses, like leaning over and touching toes, that focused on the calf, hamstring and quadriceps muscles. The volunteers were told to hold each stretch for 20 seconds, a technique known as static stretching. The entire routine required three to five minutes and was to be completed immediately before a run.
Phys Ed
The volunteers followed their assigned regimens for three months. Predictably, since running, as a sport, has a high injury rate, quite a few became injured during the three months. About 16 percent of the group that didn’t stretch were hobbled badly enough to miss training for at least three days (the researchers’ definition of a running injury), while about 16 percent of the group that did stretch were laid up for the same amount of time. The percentages, in other words, were virtually identical. Static stretching had proved to be a wash in terms of protecting against injury. It “neither prevented nor induced injury when compared with not stretching before running,” the study’s authors concluded, raising the obvious corollary, so why in the world do so many of us still stretch?
Stretching is, of course, a contentious issue in sports. The bulk of the available science strongly suggests that static stretching before a workout not only does not prevent overuse injuries but also may actually hinder athletic performance. “There is a very important neurological effect of stretching,” said Ross Tucker, a physiologist in South Africa and co-author of the Web site The Science of Sport. “There is a reflex that prevents the muscle from being stretched too much,” which is activated by static stretching, inducing the muscle to become, in effect, tighter in self-protection. Past studies have found that athletes’ vertical jump is lower after a bout of static stretching than with no stretching at all. They can’t generate as much power. Meanwhile, other studies have found, like the new track and field association report, that static stretching seems to have little benefit in terms of injury prevention, particularly against the overuse injuries common in running. “The findings of this present study are totally in line with the existing literature,” said Malachy McHugh, the director of research at the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma and the lead author of a comprehensive new review of decades’ worth of stretching research published in April in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports.
Related
* More Phys Ed columns
* Faster, Higher, Stronger
* Fitness and Nutrition News
But many people remain fiercely attached to their stretching routines. “It was really hard to recruit runners” who, used to stretching, would agree to be randomly assigned to the nonstretching group, said Alan Roth, a former board member of USA Track and Field and coordinator of the study. Once they understood that they might be required to not stretch for three months, they declined to participate. It took the researchers more than two years to coax enough runners to join and complete the study, generating enough data for meaningful results.
And the results are “meaningful,” according to Dr. Dan Pereles, an orthopedic surgeon in the Washington area who originated and led the study. “I had gone into this thinking that stretching would prevent injuries. I was fairly sure of it. But that’s not what we found.” Instead, static stretching provided no particular benefit. On the other hand, it didn’t cause harm, either.
One anomalous finding of the USA Track and Field study was that runners who were used to stretching and were assigned to the nonstretching group became injured at a disproportionately high rate. Almost 23 percent of them wound up hurting themselves during the three months. But no experts associated with the study or who have read the results believe that this finding intimates that stretching had been keeping them uninjured in the past. More likely, Dr. McHugh said, they fell victim to a training error, which, he explained, “in reality can mean any abrupt change in training patterns. Your body adapts to its routine, and if that routine is monotonously habitual as with many runners, it doesn’t take much of a change to cause an injury.”
So is the primary takeaway of the USA Track and Field study that, whatever you’re doing now in terms of stretching or not stretching, don’t stop? Possibly, but most physiologists, taking a broader view of the available science, would probably say no. “In all our involvement with elite athletes now, we don’t do this kind of static stretching anymore,” Dr. Tucker said. Instead, the best science suggests that an ideal preworkout routine “consists of a very easy warm-up, followed by a gradual increase in intensity and then dynamic stretching,” he said. Dynamic stretching, or exercises that increase your joints’ range of motion via constant movement, does not seem to invoke the inhibitory reflex of static stretching, Dr. Tucker said. When “you stretch through movement, you involve the brain much more, teaching proprioception and control, as well as improving flexibility.”
In practice, dynamic stretching would mean that, instead of leaning over and touching your toes or pushing against a wall to stretch your calves before running, you might raise your leg before you in a marching motion, and then swing it back, in a well-controlled arc, suggested Phil Wharton, a neuromuscular therapist and founder, with his father, Jim, of the Wharton Performance clinic in New York City. Or lift your leg to the side and scissor it in front of you to warm up the hip joint.
But make any such alterations to your routine gradually, with circumspection. If there’s one lesson from the USA Track and Field study, said Dr. Pereles, it is that “sudden changes are probably not a good idea.”
Friday, August 6, 2010
Cardio Myths!!
Here's an article that is on the money regarding many of the myths regarding Cardio work-outs and their 'fat burning' abilities:
Posted: August 5, 2010 07:00 AM
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Debunking Cardio Myths for Weight Loss
Numerous myths surround cardiovascular exercise and its ability to burn fat, such as, "You only burn fat when you exercise in the fat burning zone," and "You don't begin to burn fat until after 20 minutes into a workout." Instead of looking at cardio's ability to burn fat, shift your focus to how many calories it burns. Because a pound of fat equals about 3,500 calories, the more calories your cardio workouts burn, the more fat you'll lose. Boost the calorie burn by adding intensity and interval training.
Types
Running delivers an effective fat-burning cardiovascular workout, but cycling, swimming, hiking, tennis and inline skating offer equivalent cardio benefits. But why limit yourself? Choose any other exercise performed at a high intensity with minimal rest for a potent fat-burning cardio workout.
Intensity
Although walking provides a light to moderate cardiovascular workout that may keep you from gaining weight, you need greater intensity to lose weight, according to a study in the October 2005 issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology. Researchers from Duke University Medical Center studied overweight adults and found that only jogging 20 miles per week -- equivalent to four, one-hour workouts at a pace of five miles per hour -- burned belly fat when compared with a walking workout of only 12 miles per week -- equivalent to four one-hour workouts at a pace of three miles per hour. So, for the most effective cardio workout, step up your walk to a run.
Interval Training
The Journal of Applied Physiology published a study in its Dec. 7, 2006, issue indicating that the most effective fat-burning cardio exercise utilizes interval training. After two weeks of seven workouts, study participants' fat oxidation increased by 36 percent during exercise. Incorporate interval training into your workouts by sprinting for two to four minutes followed by a recovery period of equivalent duration. Do this for an hour every other day, and within two weeks your body will have increased its cardiovascular capacity and fat-burning ability.
Benefits
To increase the effectiveness of your cardiovascular exercise, perform a circuit training workout. The Journal of Sports Science and Medicine published a study indicating that concurrent cardio and weight training resulted in a significant reduction in total calories consumed, about 500 each day.
Misconceptions
The mythical "fat-burning zone" persists because of a kernel of scientific truth: Fat oxidation requires oxygen, which is available at lower intensities. However, when you're working above 75 percent of your maximum heart rate, your body receives energy from stored carbohydrates, according to the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Regardless of the source, burning energy creates a calorie deficit. The greater the deficit, the greater the fat stores used to replenish it.
References
Posted: August 5, 2010 07:00 AM
BIO Become a Fan
Get Email Alerts Bloggers' Index
Debunking Cardio Myths for Weight Loss
Numerous myths surround cardiovascular exercise and its ability to burn fat, such as, "You only burn fat when you exercise in the fat burning zone," and "You don't begin to burn fat until after 20 minutes into a workout." Instead of looking at cardio's ability to burn fat, shift your focus to how many calories it burns. Because a pound of fat equals about 3,500 calories, the more calories your cardio workouts burn, the more fat you'll lose. Boost the calorie burn by adding intensity and interval training.
Types
Running delivers an effective fat-burning cardiovascular workout, but cycling, swimming, hiking, tennis and inline skating offer equivalent cardio benefits. But why limit yourself? Choose any other exercise performed at a high intensity with minimal rest for a potent fat-burning cardio workout.
Intensity
Although walking provides a light to moderate cardiovascular workout that may keep you from gaining weight, you need greater intensity to lose weight, according to a study in the October 2005 issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology. Researchers from Duke University Medical Center studied overweight adults and found that only jogging 20 miles per week -- equivalent to four, one-hour workouts at a pace of five miles per hour -- burned belly fat when compared with a walking workout of only 12 miles per week -- equivalent to four one-hour workouts at a pace of three miles per hour. So, for the most effective cardio workout, step up your walk to a run.
Interval Training
The Journal of Applied Physiology published a study in its Dec. 7, 2006, issue indicating that the most effective fat-burning cardio exercise utilizes interval training. After two weeks of seven workouts, study participants' fat oxidation increased by 36 percent during exercise. Incorporate interval training into your workouts by sprinting for two to four minutes followed by a recovery period of equivalent duration. Do this for an hour every other day, and within two weeks your body will have increased its cardiovascular capacity and fat-burning ability.
Benefits
To increase the effectiveness of your cardiovascular exercise, perform a circuit training workout. The Journal of Sports Science and Medicine published a study indicating that concurrent cardio and weight training resulted in a significant reduction in total calories consumed, about 500 each day.
Misconceptions
The mythical "fat-burning zone" persists because of a kernel of scientific truth: Fat oxidation requires oxygen, which is available at lower intensities. However, when you're working above 75 percent of your maximum heart rate, your body receives energy from stored carbohydrates, according to the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Regardless of the source, burning energy creates a calorie deficit. The greater the deficit, the greater the fat stores used to replenish it.
References
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Lost Life
It has been a while since i have posted but this one is, possibly, the most important and disturbing post that I have.
It starts with a client who was training with a few associates when I had my original school. She was over weight and very deconditioned. Her training lasted only a few months. She called me a year or two later and asked me to start training her again. She had put on a few pounds. This time she was "serious" and had me go to her office where she had limited equipment but felt that it would be better since she had less excuses if I was there. This lasted, again, only a few months. Once more a few years passed and she called me to have her go to her home which she had just purchased and had a full gym. Now we were "Serious!" She had the cardio equipment and weights and all that was needed was me to push her. Again, she lasted only a few months. And she put on more weight.
This January she called, once more. I was going to her house regularly and she was more determined. Her knees were hurting, she had a hard time setting out of a chair and going up stairs was nearly impossible. We were going well but she was frustrated. She wasn't eating well, getting enough sleep and only seeing me twice per week. Hence, no results. She started deliberating on getting a 'tummy tuck' procedure. My recommendations were against it but she felt that she needed to; Her research told her that once the procedure was done, her metabolism would increase and the lower body weight she had would make her exercise program easier so she would hasten her results. She didn't feel great about doing it but...
She had the procedure scheduled for the Friday before Memorial Day. I asked her to call me after and let me know how she was doing and when she would be able to start up training again. She told me that it would be only one week! PLUS, she would have some of her workers training with her. She was "Serious!"
By the Wednesday AFTER Memorial Day I still hadn't heard from her. I was getting concerned since she was a bit more professional not to call me. I called and got no answer. Left various texts and email...still nothing. Finally, this morning I got an answer on her cell phone but not from her. The person who answered informed me that she passed away 24 hours after the procedure. I didn't bother asking the cause since it was obvious.
The point of this is that it is up to you..EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU.. to maintain your health and not let ANYTHING prevent that. Don't fool yourself and say that you are happy with who you are, even if that "who" is 50 pounds too fat. Your, as a person, might be great but your BODY ISN'T!!!! DON'T continue those bad habits that got you there. DON'T continue to make excuses; I have to work, I can't make the time, exercise bores me...and countless others.
THERE IS NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT IN YOUR LIFE THAN YOUR HEALTH!!!!
Don't end up like my client and make excuses until you have a lost life, too!!!
It starts with a client who was training with a few associates when I had my original school. She was over weight and very deconditioned. Her training lasted only a few months. She called me a year or two later and asked me to start training her again. She had put on a few pounds. This time she was "serious" and had me go to her office where she had limited equipment but felt that it would be better since she had less excuses if I was there. This lasted, again, only a few months. Once more a few years passed and she called me to have her go to her home which she had just purchased and had a full gym. Now we were "Serious!" She had the cardio equipment and weights and all that was needed was me to push her. Again, she lasted only a few months. And she put on more weight.
This January she called, once more. I was going to her house regularly and she was more determined. Her knees were hurting, she had a hard time setting out of a chair and going up stairs was nearly impossible. We were going well but she was frustrated. She wasn't eating well, getting enough sleep and only seeing me twice per week. Hence, no results. She started deliberating on getting a 'tummy tuck' procedure. My recommendations were against it but she felt that she needed to; Her research told her that once the procedure was done, her metabolism would increase and the lower body weight she had would make her exercise program easier so she would hasten her results. She didn't feel great about doing it but...
She had the procedure scheduled for the Friday before Memorial Day. I asked her to call me after and let me know how she was doing and when she would be able to start up training again. She told me that it would be only one week! PLUS, she would have some of her workers training with her. She was "Serious!"
By the Wednesday AFTER Memorial Day I still hadn't heard from her. I was getting concerned since she was a bit more professional not to call me. I called and got no answer. Left various texts and email...still nothing. Finally, this morning I got an answer on her cell phone but not from her. The person who answered informed me that she passed away 24 hours after the procedure. I didn't bother asking the cause since it was obvious.
The point of this is that it is up to you..EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU.. to maintain your health and not let ANYTHING prevent that. Don't fool yourself and say that you are happy with who you are, even if that "who" is 50 pounds too fat. Your, as a person, might be great but your BODY ISN'T!!!! DON'T continue those bad habits that got you there. DON'T continue to make excuses; I have to work, I can't make the time, exercise bores me...and countless others.
THERE IS NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT IN YOUR LIFE THAN YOUR HEALTH!!!!
Don't end up like my client and make excuses until you have a lost life, too!!!
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