Archive for the ‘Fitness’ Category

Do You Want to Lose Weight?

Posted: January 17, 2012 in Fitness, Health, Nutrition, Performance, Running, Sports
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 Do You Want to Lose Weight?

Break away from bad eating habits and find new ways to shed pounds for good. By Nicole Falcone Image by Ann E. Cutting Published 11/29/2010

Q: How can I benefit from a session with a regular dietitian, and how do I find a good one? A: A registered dietitian (R.D.) can help you whether you need a few nutritional pointers or you want a complete diet overhaul. To be an R.D. one must have a college degree in dietetics, as well as clinical experience, and must be certified by the American Dietetic Association. Many R.D.s are well versed in sports nutrition, but they often also specialize in such areas as diabetes, weight loss, or heart health.
In one or more sessions with an R.D., you should be provided with eating plans and specific food guidelines tailored to your dietary needs. Some dietitians may even join you in the grocery store to teach you how to shop for optimal health.
To find a dietitian in your area, go to eatright.org. Call a few dietitians and discuss their rates (which can range from $75 to $250 per hour), as well as their views on eating, foods, and supplements. I suggest you avoid dietitians who push supplements over food. Also be wary of “food cops” who exclude food groups or pit good foods against bad foods.

Q: Neither my weight nor my diet nor my running habits have changed for 20 years—but my waist measurement has steadily grown. What gives? A: Even runners who stay in top shape as they age may see their waistlines expand due to declining levels of “youth” hormones, such as growth hormone, which alter where body fat is stored as well as declining muscle mass. While your diet may not have changed much, certain foods can have a bigger impact on weight gain as you age. Keep your belt buckle in the same hole with these strategies:
Pack in produce. Studies show that people who eat ample fruits and vegetables have smaller waists than those who skimp on produce. Researchers theorize a diet rich in fruits and veggies helps curb blood-sugar swings, which can influence the hormones that make fat.
Keep it whole. Eating whole-grain over refined-grain products keeps waistlines trim. Research reveals refined-grain eaters have larger waists, which may be related to a lower fiber intake and its impact on controlling body fat.
Easy on the alcohol. Studies show heavy alcohol consumption leads to fat accumulation around the middle. Women should drink no more than one drink daily, and men should limit themselves to two drinks per day.
Stay fit. Studies show people lose specifically from their waist when exercise is part of their weight-loss program. Upping your mileage or occasionally adding other cross-training workouts may help shave off inches.

Q: What’s the best race distance to train for to lose weight? A: Many runners assume marathon training is the fastest way to lose weight, because all those extra miles add up to lots of burned calories. But the additional miles will also increase appetite, leading some runners to eat too many calories to lose weight.
So rather than running longer, I suggest concentrating on pace. Specifically, try speeding up on one to three of your runs per week (alternating your faster days with easy days). Running faster burns more calories and helps you lose weight in three ways.
(1) You burn about 100 calories for every mile you run. But as intensity increases, so does calorie burning—up to 10 calories per minute per mile. That may sound like a small difference, but it adds up. (2) After a run, you burn additional calories as your body recovers. The harder you run, the more energy you’ll expend post-exercise. One study showed that a high-effort exercise session boosted the “afterburn” by more than double compared with a low-effort session. (3) High-intensity running puts a damper on your appetite. After a longer, slower jog you may well be hungry, while after a hard run, you usually don’t feel like eating. Researchers theorize that a high-intensity effort heats up the body more, which affects temperature-sensitive appetite controls in the central nervous system.
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7 Ways to Eat Better and Be More Successful In Business

Posted: January 4, 2012 in Fitness
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Nearly everyone has the desire to be more healthy. No big secret that one of the principle elements to this is how you eat. Eat better, and you’ll feel better. Feel better, and you’ll be more on top of it. Be more on top of it, and you’ll perform better at work. Perform better at work, and you’ll succeed more. This isn’t rocket science folks…which leads us to the first point….

1) Don’t treat eating better like it’s rocket science. KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid. Stay away from complex diet plans. Eat simple quality. Avoid elaborate calorie counts, carb counts, special meal timings, etc., as all make staying on course difficult.

2) No Franken-foods. Author Michael Pollan put it best with a few simple adages: “Don’t eat anything that your great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food,” and “Is it food, or is it food-like?” Go deeper with Pollan’s easy guide Food Rules http://michaelpollan.com/books/food-rules/

3) Eat Only Ethical Meat, And Eat Less Of It. Corn-fed beef is like “fine Corinthian leather,” in that it’s an attribute manufactured by an ethically-challenged marketer. Corinthian leather, was a term that was both meaningless and harmless. In the case of corn-fed beef, it is neither. Actual cows were designed by mother nature to eat grass, not corn, and have to be pumped full of antibiotics to keep them alive on such an unnatural corn-based diet. The factory-based system of meat production has countless other challenges. Eat only naturally-raised, grass fed/grass finished beef, and other “ethical meats.”

4) Give up soda. Start today. All soda, including energy drinks. Not just that bad HFCS stuff, but also the stuff that contains the ‘natural’ sugars and sweeteners. Diet stuff too. Quick, before you tell yourself you can’t, resolve to chuck it, and chuck it now. Cold turkey. You are stronger than it, and you know it. So prove it. So, now where to get the caffeine? For some, black coffee is love at first sight. For others, it’s an acquired taste. So acquire it already. Or, go for alternatives that many folks feel are superior for you and the environment, specifically teas, or my preference yerba maté. With any of the above, treat yourself to quality. Don’t sweeten it. In just a few days, you’ll acquire the taste and enjoy it for the rest of your (now longer) life. Do NOT replace your soda with nearly-equally-iffy substitutes like flavored waters, and pre-sweetened bottled coffee/teas/mate.

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The 25 Most Significant Health Benefits of Physical Activity & Exercise

Posted: December 1, 2011 in Fitness
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Common health issues that can be positively affected, prevented or controlled by exercise.

People of all ages can improve the quality of their lives and reduce the risks of developing coronary heart disease, hypertension, some cancers and type 2 diabetes with ongoing participation in moderate physical activity and exercise. Daily exercise will also enhance one’s mental well-being and promote healthy musculoskeletal function throughout life. Although habitual physical activity is an attainable goal on the path to a healthier life, more than half of U.S. adults do not get ≥ 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per day at least 5 days per week (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] 2007a).

A formidable challenge facing many personal fitness trainers (PFTs) and other health and fitness professionals is finding new ways of motivating people to improve their well-being through consistent participation in physical activity and exercise. As indicated, significant health benefits can be obtained by engaging in moderate amounts of physical activity on most, and preferably all, days of the week (American College of Sports Medicine [ACSM] 2006). Fitness programs involving progressively increasing intensities of exercise will elicit even greater cardioprotective benefits (Swain & Franklin 2006). There is a growing understanding of how certain levels of physical activity may positively affect cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, respiratory and endocrine function, as well as mental health. This article sums up the evidence on 25 significant benefits linking physical activity to health enhancement. Some of the benefits have been grouped together because of their physiological or metabolic associations.

1. Cardiovascular Disease

The leading health-related cause of mortality for men and women in the U.S. is cardiovascular disease (ACSM 2006). Meaningful cardiovascular health benefits may be attained with long-term participation in cardiovascular exercise. How much exercise is enough? ACSM sought to address that question properly last year when it updated its stance on the recommended quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, and flexibility, in healthy adults (ACSM 2006) (see the sidebar “New 2006 ACSM Position Stand on General Exercise Programming” below). Higher levels of cardiovascular fitness are associated with a 50% reduction in CVD risk in men (Myers et al. 2004). Myers and colleagues demonstrated that increasing physical activity to a total of at least 1,000 kilocalories per week is associated with a 20% reduction of mortality in men. Hu and colleagues (2004) showed that physically inactive middle-aged women (engaging in less than 1 hour of exercise per week) doubled their risk of mortality from CVD compared with their physically active female counterparts. It should be emphasized that Haskell (2003) notes that CVD is a multifactor process and that “not smoking, being physically active, eating a heart-healthy diet, staying reasonably lean and avoiding stress and depression are the major components of an effective CVD prevention program.”

2–4. Diabetes, Insulin Sensitivity and Glucose Metabolism

Diabetes has reached endemic proportions, affecting 170 million individuals worldwide (Stumvoll, Goldstein & van Haeften 2005). One unfortunate health consequence of physical inactivity is the weakening of the body’s insulin regulatory mechanisms. Elevated insulin and blood glucose levels are characteristic features involved in the development of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. When insulin function starts breaking down, the body’s blood sugar levels rise, leading eventually to the onset of “prediabetes” and then type 2 diabetes. Diabetes incidence is growing among youth and adults, largely as a result of obesity and inactivity. Regular aerobic exercise meaningfully increases insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism, which means the body’s cells can more efficiently transport glucose into the cells of the liver, muscle and adipose tissue (Steyn et al. 2004). Improvements in glucose metabolism with strength training, independent of alterations in aerobic capacity or percent body fat, have also been shown (Pollock et al. 2001). Although the mechanisms for improvement are not fully understood, it appears that both resistance training and aerobic exercise offer a strong protective role in the prevention of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

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5 Health Myths That Cost You Money

Posted: November 27, 2011 in Fitness, Health, Money, Nutrition
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Committing to living well does cost more money than swooping through the drive-thru for a $1 burger. Nevertheless, when it comes to improving your health, shelling out extra money is worth the long-term benefits–unless you’re paying for healthy benefits that you’re not actually getting. Here are some healthy moves, that while well-intentioned, might be a waste of your money.

Buying Foods Labeled Antibiotic-free

According to the site Greener Choices, the food label “antibiotic-free” is completely meaningless. In fact, the USDA has banned its use on meat and poultry products. While similar labels with terms such as, “no antibiotics administered” or “raised without antibiotics” are allowed, there is no USDA verification system in place to ensure that the claim is valid. A better bet for your budget is to stick to meats labeled as “Certified Organic.” You may pay more for these foods, but producers go through a stringent process to earn the right to use the label.

Splurging on 100% Vegetarian

According to the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), “flexitarians” (consumers who are have not completely resolved to a vegetarian lifestyle, but make an effort to reduce their consumption of animal derived products) make up a quickly growing consumer group.  To target this demographic, mass-market producers such as Kraft, General Mills and ConAgra foods have launched their own vegetarian lines that carry a label indicating as such.

The problem? Vegetarian lifestyles come in many forms: Some avoid meat, fish and poultry, but eat dairy and egg products. Others avoid all animal products, including honey. Furthermore, there is no governing body that regulates the “vegetarian” claim. Unless you buy products labeled “Certified Vegan,” which are verified by Vegan Action (a company that certifies vegan products based on documentation from manufacturers), the “vegetarian” label can mean any number of things.

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5 Tips For Training Your Tummy

Posted: November 2, 2011 in Cycling, Fitness, Health, Nutrition, Performance, Running, Swimming, Training, Triathlon
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This piece first appeared in the September issue of Competitor Magazine.

If you’re only focused on race-day nutrition, you’re missing the big picture, says Littleton, Colo.-based Bob Seebohar, the personal sport dietitian for the 2008 Olympic Triathlon Team and author of “Nutrition Periodization for Athletes: Taking Traditional Sports Nutrition to the Next Level.”

“You have specific physiological goals associated with each training cycle, such as increasing endurance, speed, strength and power, and improving technique, tactics and economy,” Seebohar said. “You should have specific nutrition goals as well.”

Those goals might include losing or gaining weight, losing body fat and increasing lean muscle mass, reducing inflammation and improving overall health. To achieve your goals, Seebohar recommends periodizing your nutrition plan just as you would your training.

“Look at your nutrition as a function of your energy expenditure and physical goals associated with each training cycle to guide your nutritional choices,” Seebohar said.

Seebohar shares five tips for fueling during your competitive season, when you have the highest energy expenditure needs.

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Foam Rolling-The Basics

Posted: October 26, 2011 in Cycling, Fitness, Health, Running, Swimming, Triathlon
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Foam Rolling – The Basics

By Nicole Drummer

As a coach, I encourage all my athletes to utilize a foam roller in their training — the recovery part of training. Many of you have probably heard of foam rolling and have certainly seen these dense foam cylinders in your favorite running or cycling store, and perhaps also at the gym. This article will take a quick look at the purpose of foam rolling and how a triathlete can use it to aid in recovery. Let’s start with the basics:

What is a foam roller?
A foam roller is a foam cylinder, approximately 6 inches in diameter. They vary in length and density. They can be purchased online or at running/cycling/tri or other sport specialty stores.

Why do you want to foam roll?
Getting a regular massage is something a lot of us know we should do, but don’t. Foam rolling is an inexpensive way to provide self massage. It’s not as good as a “hands-on” massage from a  licensed massage therapist, but proper utilization of a foam roller to break up adhesions in the muscle tissue and/or fascia can help you recover faster and keep your muscles ready to train. In layman’s terms, breaking up the adhesions in the soft tissue aids in decreasing trigger points from forming and brings blood flow to the area. Increased blood flow will bring nutrients and assist in repairing damaged muscle that your last workout may have caused.

How do you foam roll?
There are several methods to foam rolling – you can find a trigger point (tight, painful spot) and just apply pressure there, or you can roll along the muscle (like the sweeping strokes of a massage therapist). You can also do a combination of the above. One thing to note — don’t foam roll joints or injured tissue.

How often should you foam roll?
Athletes training 5-6 times a week can probably foam roll daily, and right after a workout if possible. If you can spend 15-20 minutes foam rolling and 10-15 minutes stretching before bed, you’ll probably sleep better, feel better and recover faster, which means your next workout will be more effective. Note: foam rolling might be painful on chronic tight spots, but listen to your body as it shouldn’t feel like injury pain. If it does, go see a physical therapist!

Now that the basics are covered, here are some major muscle groups triathletes should consider foam rolling:

 

 

Glutes: One of the largest muscle groups and a primary driver in our sport, having a healthy gluteus maximus, minimums, medius is important.

This position helps isolate the piriformis.

 

 

 

IT Band: While Illiotibial band (a thick section of fascia from the hip to knee) issues usually stem from a muscle imbalance somewhere, keeping the ITB and the muscles around it loose is quite helpful to our running and cycling performance.

 

 

 

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3 Ways to Run a Better Fall Marathon

Posted: September 20, 2011 in Fitness, Running, Sports, Training
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3 Ways to Run a Better Fall Marathon

By Matt Fitzgerald
For Active.com

The marathon is a tough nut to crack. Twenty-six miles is a long way to run, let alone to race for time. Few runners master the distance on their first try. Most of us need to gain experience with the runner’s ultimate challenge before we are ready to run the best marathon we are capable of. But that’s what makes the marathon so intriguing. Your first marathon puts a stake in the ground. You come away from it knowing you could do better, so you take what you learn and apply it to the pursuit of a new PR in the second…and so on.

Individual runners make different mistakes, or are limited by different factors, in their first marathons. Some don’t train hard enough. Others make nutritional errors. Still other don’t do all they could to arrive at the start line healthy. Nevertheless, there are some very common training-based limiters to performance in first marathons. These limiters can be flipped around to become training-based opportunities to improve in subsequent marathons.

Are you running a marathon this fall? If so, let it be more than just another marathon—make it a better marathon by incorporating these three simple changes into your training.

Do a second weekly longer run.

Marathon training for many runners is all about the long run. Done once a week, usually on Saturday or Sunday, the long run, which becomes progressively longer from week to week, is held responsible for yielding the majority of the fitness gains a marathoner needs to achieve his or her goals on race day. The other runs in the week provide a foundation that enables the runner to tackle those long runs.

There’s only so much a long run can do to improve your fitness, however. Elite marathon runners typically don’t run any farther in their long runs than everyday marathoners do. The difference is that the elites run a lot more than the rest of us throughout the week.

Studies have shown that weekly mileage is a better predictor of marathon performance than the distance of the longest training run. In other words, given equal ability, a runner who runs 45 miles a week with a longest run of 18 miles will probably run a faster marathon than one who runs 35 miles a week with a longest run of 22 miles.

To increase your weekly mileage, and thereby improve your marathon performance in a manageable way, try doing a moderately long run each week in addition to your long run. For example, suppose a hard week of marathon training for you currently looks like this:

M         T          W        Th       F          Sa        Su        Total
Off       6 mi     6 mi     6 mi     Off       20 mi  Off       38 miles

Try doing this instead:

M         T          W        Th       F          Sa        Su        Total
Off       6 mi     12 mi  4 mi     Off       20 mi  Off       42 miles

Run more hills.

Running uphill is a great way to build specific strength and aerobic capacity in marathon training. Another virtue of running uphill is that it allows you to attain intensities similar to running fast on flat ground without the pounding that comes with doing so. Many runners try to avoid running uphill, precisely because it is harder than running on flat ground, and especially if they are training for a marathon on a flat course. But if you want to run a better marathon, you need to do some hard running, and going uphill may serve you better than running intervals at the track, which aren’t any easier.

There are various ways to incorporate hill running into your training. I recommend that you do some of your long runs on relatively hilly courses. This will toughen up your legs more than a run of equal distance of flat terrain. In addition, run a set of uphill intervals once every 10 to 14 days. Start with shorter intervals—for example, 8 x 30 seconds—at a very high intensity. Gradually increase the duration—up to 5 x 3 minutes—and lower the intensity of these intervals as your marathon draws closer.

Finish fast.

When runners fail to achieve their goals in marathons, the last 5 miles are usually to blame. Most runners have little trouble maintaining a reasonable marathon goal pace for the first 21 miles, but then they slow down inexorably in the last few. To prevent this from happening to you in your next marathon, include some fast finishes in your long runs.

Instead of running the full 15 or 18 or 20 miles at a steady, moderate, pace, run all but the last 1 to 3 miles at that pace and then increase your tempo to the end. Challenging yourself to run faster when you’re already fatigued will stimulate physiological and mental adaptations that will enable you to avoid slowing down in the last miles of your next marathon.

7 Ways to Improve Your Half Marathon Training

Posted: August 5, 2011 in Fitness, Running, Sports, Training
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Runners TrainingIn case you’re wondering if half marathon training is easy, it isn’t. In fact, it isn’t considered a training season until you’ve had some tough, humbling runs. But before you start asking yourself, “Why did I sign up for this?,” there are little things you can do along the way to improve the journey.

Personalize it. There are lots of ways to prepare for a half marathon, but the plan that will work best for you should line up with your goals, interests and life schedule. Your program may look a little different than your friend’s, but when it aligns with the things you enjoy, you’ll stick with it, have more fun and are more likely to succeed. Do you like pilates? Blend it into your training plan twice a week to stay happy and balanced. Only have time for four days of training a week? No worries. Follow or find a program that fits your schedule.  Make your own recipe to the half marathon start line, and you’ll look forward to the next workout and many more.

Mix and match.  Burn out and lack of motivation can arise from doing the same thing over and over again. Keep your program fresh by finding a new trail or running your normal route backwards. Toss in some of your favorite cross-training activities (cycling, stand-up paddle boarding, yoga, Zumba) a few times a week to work a variety of muscles, decrease the wear and tear on your body, and refresh your running spirit. A simple change of scenery can renew your motivation for the program.

Invest in rest. The difference between running for fitness and for a long-distance event is the former remains similar in terms of workouts week to week and the latter continues to progress in mileage and intensity.  Rest days and cutback weeks are woven into the program to give you time to recover from the demands of training and adapt and grow stronger. Rest is to training as sleep is to life. Invest in the down time and your body will reward you with stronger performances down the road.

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Slim Down and Speed UP

Posted: July 27, 2011 in Fitness, Health, Nutrition, Running, Sports, Training
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hydration Sports Nutrition Tips to Help You Lose Weight and Perform Better

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is the world’s largest organization of sports medicine and exercise science professionals. At ACSM’s annual meeting in Denver, more than 6,000 exercise scientists, sports dietitians, physicians and other health professionals gathered to share their research. Here are a few of the nutrition highlights.

• Looking for a way to get fit quickly? High intensity interval training (HIIT) is effective, though it’s hard work. Once you are fit, you can then reduce the exercise intensity to a more enjoyable (sustainable) level. Dr. Martin Gibala of McMaster University in Ontario does not believe HIIT is a heart attack waiting to happen, but recommends untrained people first get a proper medical check-up.

• HIIT can be an effective part of a weight reduction program. Overweight men who did 20 minutes of HIIT (8 second sprints with 12 seconds recovery) three times per week for 12 weeks achieved a 7 percent drop in body fat. In another study with untrained, slightly overweight women ages 30 to 45, those who did high intensity exercise lost more weight and body fat than those who did lower intensity training. One benefit of high intensity exercise is it can suppress the appetite (temporarily) compared to lower intensity exercise.

• HIIT can create a significant afterburn. Men who expended roughly 500 calories during 47 minutes of vigorous exercise continued to burn 225 extra calories in the next 18.5 hours.

• When athletes lose weight, they lose muscle as well as fat. For example, soldiers during nine weeks of combat training lost 9 lbs (4.2 kg) body weight, of which one-third was muscle loss and two-thirds fat loss. They consumed about 15 percent fewer calories than required to maintain weight.

• Even bodybuilders and figure competitors do not lose just body fat when they “lean out.” In the 12 weeks pre-competition, male bodybuilders lost about 4 lbs (1.8 kg) lean body mass and 11.5 lbs (5.2 kg) body fat. The female figure competitors lost about 5.5 lbs (2.6 kg) lean and about 6.4 lbs (2.9 kg) fat.

• Why do women struggle harder than men to lose undesired body fat? Perhaps because they are women. In the animal kingdom, female animals generate less body heat after overfeeding compared to the males. Research with humans suggests similar energy conservation. When four men and four women were overfed ice cream for three days (150 percent of energy balance needs), the men burned off some of the extra calories while the women conserved energy.

• Should you believe the calorie estimates displayed on exercise machines? Not necessarily. The Precor EFX556i overestimated energy expenditure, particularly with women.

• A novel way to burn a few extra calories is to sit on a stability ball while you are at work. At a call center (where 90 percent of the time is spent sitting), employees who sat on the stability ball for five hours during the workday burned about 260 more calories per eight-hour shift. Theoretically, that could lead to loss of 26 pounds in a year! They burned about half a calorie more per minute sitting on a stability ball than sitting in a chair. The biggest barrier to using the stability balls was aggravation of pre-existing back pain.

• Trained cyclists who consumed equal calories of either a sports drink or banana chunks during a 75-kilometer cycling time trial performed similarly. The banana, however, offered a beneficial anti-inflammatory response. Natural foods generally offer more benefits than engineered sports foods.

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Older People Must Work Out More to Keep Muscles

Posted: July 8, 2011 in Fitness, Training, Weight Training
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Older Man MusclesThe older you get, the more you may have to work to maintain your muscles, according to a new study.

Researchers report that men and women over the age of 60 have to lift weights more often than younger adults to maintain muscle mass and muscle size.

“Our data are the first to suggest that older adults require greater weekly maintenance dosing than younger individuals to maintain resistance-training-induced increases in muscle mass,” study co-researcher and physiologist Marcas Bamman, PhD, of the University of Alabama, Birmingham, says in a press release.

The study is published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
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