Aerobic training for specific needs

We already know that regular aerobic training brings us many great advantages, but to reap the best benefits, we must first know what we are training for.

Training for optimal physical health

The Surgeon General of America recommends regular moderate activity of 150 calories per day or 1000 calories per week. The American College of Sports Medicine suggests 50 more calories per day which adds up to 200 calories per day. Other authorities suggest a weekly activity of 1500-2000 calories.

Training for fat loss

The USDA recommends 60 to 90 minutes of daily moderate physical activity. Some studies suggest 30 to 45 minutes, but for optimal weight loss or weight management, you really can’t go wrong if you do your own calculations and just stick to those numbers.

Training for cardiovascular fitness

For best results a varied heart rate between 55 and 90% is recommended. I know this is a realy rough number, but if you want to get the maximum out of your workouts then I would suggest you would do a high intensity interval training of 4 minutes and 30 seconds at around 60-70% of the maximum heart rate, followed with a 30 second, high intensity interval. As you get better then you can shorten the time between high intensity intervals to one minute or even 30 seconds.

Training for sports performance

The best exercise for a specific sport is the sport itself. Any additional exercises, if not planed or executed correctly, pose a great risk of interfering with your sport performance. For instance, a runner would do better if he has a good training planed, but would actually do worse in races if he over trained his muscles. Periodization can be applied for long distance sports like marathon training or triathlon training. Look at the picture at the beginning of this post and tell me which one is the sprinter and wich one the marathon runner.

Until next time stay strong and be kind. 

Plateau is just a myth

I would like to think, that during me writing and you reading my blog, you have realized, that weight loss is nothing more than simple math. Adition and subtraction are the only two functions that you need to know to lose weight. If that's the case, then can someone please explain to me why is my mailbox filled up with questiona on how to break a weight loss plateau?

After being in this business for as long as I have I can honestly say that you can’t hit a weight loss plateau because such a thing does not exist. At all!

Let’s start with the only way a plateau would even be possible. I was once training someone who was obese. This person had more than 50kg to lose and whatever we did, the weight just wasn’t coming off. His electrolytes were completely balanced, his diet was perfect and I switched up his exercise routine every week, to keep his body in a constant state of wander (and as far away from adapting to exercise as possible). 3 weeks into the program he lost about 0.5kg in total so I told him to go and see his doctor to get his blood tested for any abnormalities. It turns out that this man had a horrible hormone imbalance and that this was the cause of him not being able to drop the weight. A year has passed after this. During this time he was (and still is) working with his endocrinologist and a registered dietitian as well as a few trainers. He managed to lose 30kg of pure fat and is on his way to achieving his goal weight.

Apart for that, there are three other reasons why people perceive that they have reached a plateau.

1)      Vanity kilo

2)      Attention to detail

3)      Water retention and electrolyte imbalance

Vanity kilos are those last five to ten kilos that everyone struggles with at the end of their weight loss journey. At this point the body thinks that it is healthy, and let’s be honest, the person with this little kilo is a completley healthy individual, but they want to drop the weight only for the esthetic reasons. He or she will try and eat less than recommended and will burn more and more calories as his frustration grows. Remember when I talked about starvation mode? Well, this is essentially it. For an example a person has an active metabolic rate of 1900 calories and is eating 1400 calories per day, creating a daily 500 calorie deficit. On top of that, he/she is exercising 6 days a week and burns about 800 calories per session. Now if we take these numbers and look at how much of a deficit this individual is creating on a daily basis we see that he/she is creating a deficit of 1300 calories on the day they are working out and 500 calorie deficit on the day they aren’t working out. A prolonged deficit of 1300 calories will surely cause your metabolism to slow down substantially!

The solution is simple. Your daily calorie deficit, when it comes to vanity kilos, should no smaller than 500 and no greater than 1000 calories (around 700 is ideal if I’m judging from my experience). So, this plateau myth is debunked.

Lack of attention to detail is the most common problem with almost everyone I have ever met. They either don’t count their calorie intake or they don’t count how many calories a day they are burning with activity and exercise.

The solution here is simple: COUNT YOUR CALORIES! Look at my previous posts about how to calculate your BMR, AMR and how to track your calorie expenditure (calories you burn with activity) and be consistent with it. Don’t forget, living healthy is not a 2 month plan or idea. It is a way of life!

Water retention and electrolyte imbalance are the last piece of the puzzle. I have seen people who didn’t lose weight like they were supposed to due to an illness (a cold, flu or something more severe) because they were retaining water in their bodies. When we are sick, our bodies are fighting off an infection and we do retain a lot of fluid due to the drugs we are taking and the electrolyte imbalance.

Stress is also an important factor that inhibits weight loss. When we are stressed our adrenal glands release cortisol (stress hormone). Cortisol promotes weight gain by storing fat in our bodies.

Until next time, stay strong and be kind.

Picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/tv11hw

"Fat makes you fat" debate.

I have recently had a lunch meeting with a perspective new business partner who wanted to share some ideas with me about a new product he was planning to put on the market. We sat down in this restaurant and after a few minutes we ordered food. Our orders were as different as night and day. Mine was a chicken salad with avocado, a very balanced and filling meal. He ordered stake with extra butter on the side and nothing else. I tried to keep my question to myself, but my curiosity got the better of me and I asked him about his order. His response? “Carbs make you fat. Everyone knows that.” For a second there I was dumbfounded.

Every generation has their own hype about food and weight loss. I guess our generation pulled the shortest straw in this department. We were raised to believe that fat makes you fat, what with all the low fat or even zero percent fat foods in our supermarkets. We have low fat cheese, milk, meat products, beverages and well… you can get everything in a low fat option nowadays.

In my weight loss journey I was a victim of sorts of this idea and I’ve even experimented with some “no fat” diets. I did achieve some success and but mid way through I gained every kilo back, and then some! I have never been fatter in my life! And I guess that most of the people, who tried this kind of regimen had the exact same experience.

Then came the great fear of carbohydrates or carbs in short. Everybody and their mothers got on this train and we are beginning to see a great rise in low carb or even zero carb foods (which can be seen in almost every health magazine, usually next to someone with a perfect figure).

And this all had me thinking about why do we continue to believe, like food, or more specifically, a single nutrient in food is the greatest enemy in our diets. I mean, have we forgotten that a balanced diet is all that we need to be healthy and that we won’t be healthy if we take out even one single nutrient from our food? I mean, first it was the fat, now it’s carbohydrates, well then next on the chopping block must be protein, right?

But I can understand why fat and carbohydrates became the scapegoats of our poor nutrition. If you can, just for a moment, put all of your knowledge about nutrition in a box and throw it in a corner, and really get into the mindset of the people living in the seventies, you’ll see what I mean. Food is abundant and more and more people are spending less and less time being active and more time in front of their TV sets. Imagine If you are bombarded from everywhere that all fats cause a number of different diseases like coronary problems, hypertension or even a higher risk of a stroke. And on the other hand you have some skinny model telling you, that the fat in all of the food is causing your body to store extra fat, of course you are going to believe it.

The same goes with the great fear of carbohydrates. This one came a bit later, after more research was done and we saw that not all fat was bad fat (actually, there are only 2 types of fat that are bad for you and those are trans fat and the bad cholesterol, but more on that in another post) and more and more people on low fat diets got heavier and heavier, so people needed someone else to blame. The best and safest bet was to turn their attention to carbohydrates, which they could find everywhere in great abundance. Not to mention the implementation of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in, well, everything. On top of that, we have artificial sweeteners, excitotoxins and all other kind of crap in our food, that makes it taste good, but it wrecks havoc in our bodies.

Thankfully, because of the further research in the field of nutrition we know that not all carbs are bad for you. Just like fat we have good carbs, bad carbs and deadly carbs, but I’ll explain more on that in another post.

Fat does not make you fat and neither do carbs. Excess calories and a sedentary lifestyle make you fat. Don’t blame a single nutrient, which is in every natural food on the planet, on your excess kilos. Take some responsibility and really think for yourself.

When in doubt you can always ask yourself this: Were our ancestors ever overweight or obese during their hunting-gathering days?

Until next time, stay strong and be kind.

Picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/tg11hw

Aerobic exercise - Tips

As you know regular cardio exercising brings a whole array of positive things from reducing your weight, preventing diabetes, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, it boosts your immunity, reduces stress and it can really lift your spirits when you’re down. It’s kind of like a magic pill filled with health. Unlike strength training, that most of us can only picture doing in a gym, cardio exercise can be done by anyone anywhere. I’ve compiled a list of 10 tips to help you start and stick to whatever suits you best.

1)      There is more to cardio exercise than just running and cycling. There is virtually an unlimited number of options for you to chose from. Finding the right one for you might seem a bit tedious at times, but once you have found it, you have a partner for life. At the gym you can chose from elliptical trainers, stationary bikes, rowing machines, treadmills, stair steppers, circuit training or even some interval training or plyometrics during your strength training. Why not join a zumba course, bootcamp, aerobics or a martial arts class? Some people find it easier and more motivating to work out in a group instead of doing it themselves. And even if you are not an “indoors” type of person you can always go out for a walk, jog or run. You can cycle, rollerblade, swim or do about anything.

2)      Have some good equipment. Proper shoes are a must for almost anyone. Find the right pair that will keep your foot stable and in place.

3)      Start small. Don’t push yourself too hard in the beginning. If you can, do a 30 minute jog with 5 1 minute running intervals.

4)      If you plan to join the gym, don’t be afraid of the more experienced people there. 95% won’t be mean and almost everyone will lend a helping hand should you need one. Don’t forget, everyone started somewhere.

5)      Not big on the outdoors? Or being in the room filled with sweaty people? Try out some work out DVDs. They are really cheap and will last you a lifetime.

6)      Invest in some new music. Research has shown that the right kind of music for you can help your performance, making you go longer and faster.

7)      Make it social and not a chore. You would be surprised at what some good company can do for you. And I’m not talking just about the social aspect. A partner can motivate you on the days when your performance is lacking.

8)      Switch your routine up. Everyone gets bored of repeating the same thing over and over again. Try something new and exciting.

9)      Get plenty of sleep. 6 to 8 hours per night are best. A well rested body is a regenerated body. If you don’t sleep enough, your performance will suffer, you will be cranky and you will probably overeat due to the hunger hormone – grelin.

10)   Drink plenty of water. Enough said!

Until next time, stay strong and be kind.

Picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/j0c2hw

The slim on fiber

Recently I have had a conversation with a friend of mine, who was complaining about being constipated regularly. She was sluggish, light headed and bloated like a balloon. After examining her diet it was clear to me, where the problem was. Her diet was lacking in fiber and that is why she was feeling like a slow train.

Unlike other carbohydrates, unsoluble fiber can't be broken down into molecules and our bodies can't digest it. In our nutrition it has no caloric value and it doesn't nourish the body. Soluble fiber has around 2 calories per gram, but dietitians are still uncertain what the real ammount is. But fiber is vital in our diets because it promotes health in numerous ways. It reduces the risk of developing heart disease, diabetes and constipation. Studies suggest that a sufficient amount of fiber in our diet can reduce the chance of colon cancer development. Unfortunately this has been debunked

Like I've said before, there are two types of fiber: Soluble and insoluble fiber. The first dissolves in water and the second doesn't. Soluble fiber binds to fatty substances, lowers LDL cholesterol (the bad type of cholesterol) It also helps to regulate the body's use of sugar. And like insoluble fiber it adds bulk to our food, thus keeping us fuller for longer periods of time. Insoluble fiber also pushes food through the intestines and it prevents food from staying there for too long. If we don't eat fiber, the food would just stay and rot in our intestines.

There is a myth, that fiber increases transit time of our feces. This isn't true. It does however affect the weight of our feces and it might increase the number of trips to the bathroom.

When taking fiber, be sure that you aren't taking in too much, because it might inhibit calcium absorption. It is still unclear weather this is because of the fiber or because of certain phytonutrients in plants (studies suggest that it is the latter and not the former). A good rule of thumb is to take around 12 – 15g of fiber per 1000 calories.

Great sources of fiber are most vegetables (spinach, salad, carrots, cucumbers…), fruit, lentils, whole oats, barley, couscous and seeds.

Until next time, stay strong and be kind.

Picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/x561hw

References:

Nancy Clark, Sports nutrition guidebook (2007)

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/carbohydrates/

http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/carbs.html

Park Y, Hunter DJ, Spiegelman D, et al. Dietary Fiber Intake and Risk of Colorectal Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies. JAMA. 2005; 294:2849–2857.

Mellen PB, Walsh TF, Herrington DM. Whole grain intake and cardiovascular disease: A meta-analysis. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2007.

Aldoori WH, Giovannucci EL, Rockett HR, Sampson L, Rimm EB, Willett WC. A prospective study of dietary fiber types and symptomatic diverticular disease in men. J Nutr. 1998; 128:714–9.

How to track your progress.

By now you should have the basics on weight loss memorized, but there is still something that I’d like you to keep in mind. No program is good if you don’t monitor your progress. If you go on a trip to France, you will make a few stops and look behind to see how far you have come. You will analyze the terrain and all the speed bumps during your journey and you will do your best to keep the tank filled up and the oil in check.

Just like your car on a long drive, you need to monitor how your body is doing if you are embarking on losing or gaining weight.

The cheapest way to track your progress is to weigh yourself on the scale at home. This must be done once per week at the same time in the day (it’s best to do it in the morning, after going to the bathroom). This will give you a rough idea, if you’re making progress and if something needs to be changed. Just remember that your weight can vary daily due to the type of foods you’ve eaten the previous day, if you’ve gone to the bathroom and how well hydrated you are. But keep one thing in mind. The number on the scale will only say how much you weigh. It will never tell you how your body is built.

Next is the picture comparison test. Once per week (or if you are in the process of building muscle mass, once per month) take your clothes off (you can leave the undergarments on) and take a picture of yourself from the front, side and back. Be sure, that both you and the camera are always in the same spot. Keep doing that for a longer period of time and after about a month or so, just look at the first and the last picture. This method will tell you exactly if you are losing weight/gaining muscle. And on the plus side, you’ll have something to brag with after you’ve finished your journey.

Measuring your body fat percentage is a great tool to monitor your progress and you can read all about the pros and cons in one of my previous blogs titled “How to measure your body composition”. Just to share a little trick with you: If you know your weight and your body fat percentage, you can actually calculate the weight of your body fat. Just multiply your body weight by the percent (where 1 equals 100%, 0.50 is 50%, 0.16 is 16%... you get the idea) and you’ll get the number.

Another way is to use a measuring tape and measure yourself every week. You’ll be surprised on how much the numbers can change. But like with the scale and the caliper method, do this once every week or every two weeks. And be sure, to do it in the morning. The best method is the waste to hip ratio.

Belt holes. Compliments. BMI. Body fat measurements on scales. All of these things are pure rubbish. If you want to know the truth, you will need to have some proof, right? The best bet is to take at least two of the ways of tracking your progress. That way you will get the most accurate results.

Until next time, stay strong and be kind.

Picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/mzjnhw

Aerobic exercise guidelines

Now that you've decided to change your life, wether to lose weight, get a leaner physique or to be healthier, aerobic exercise is a must when it comes to reaching those goals. Wether you are a novice or a competitive athlete you need to know how to train. This is why I have compiled a few short tips on how to get you started.

Stretching is something we usualy start with. DON'T DO IT RIGHT AWAY! Stretching a cold muscle is like stretching a rubber band. If the rubber is cold it will stretch only a little and then snap, but if you preheat it in your hands, then it can stretch a bit more. The same goes for muscles. Stretching a cold muscle is like begging for an injury!

Instead do a light warmup on the stationary bicycle (just a sugegstion) for 5 to 10 minutes before stretching, and don't forget to do a light cooldown and stretch your muscles after the workout to minimize muscle soreness and to prevent muscle injury.

Frequency and duration are an issue for most people. Every time we go to see our doctors they instruct us to be active for 3 – 5 times per week for 30 minutes and that will help us to lose weight. In my 26 years, this is the only advice that I got from doctors regarding disease pervention. Don't get me wrong, being a doctor is a fine profession, but they don't know a lot about pervention.

Being active 30 minutes for 3 – 5 times per week is a good start and will definitly get you some results, but it will take you a very long time to lose weight or get lean. You need to know what your goals are. In my experience it is best to exercise (and not just to be active) 5 – 6 times per week for AT LEAST 20 minutes if you want to lose body fat (45 minutes or more is best). Keep in mind that the seventh day is not ment for you to just relax on your couch. Be active, play with your kids, take the dog out for a walk or join a hiking group. You also need to be mindful, that you aren't creating too much of a calorie deficit. If you are preparing for a marathon then you need to eat as many calories as you burn, so that you you have enough energy to continue training.

Intensity is key! I always tell my clients that if they ca neven think of reading a magazine, while training on the eliptical or any other cardio machine, then they aren't working hard enough. You have two options to monitor this. You can monitor your hear rate with a heart rate monitor so that it is in the targeted zone of 60 – 85% of your maximum heart rate (low intensity > 60 – 70%, moderate intensity > 70 – 80%, high intensity > 80 – 85%).

Another way is to do the talk test. Your workout should be so intense that you can breathe deeply and that you can still finish one sentence. If you can't even talk, then you are training too hard and if you can talk normaly then you aren't working out at all.

Switching up your routine is extremly important. If you train for a longer period of time then your body will adapt to the exercise. This will result in a lower calorie expenditure andd a slower fat loss. The rule of thumb is to shake up your routine every 1 or 2 weeks. So let's say that you started jogging and after 2 weeks of that you take up cycling. 2 weeks into that you can do the eliptical, swimming, rowing machine, walking… Whatever you like.

Again, let me warn you, that if you are training for a marathon or another sport, you need to follow the program that your personal trainer told you to do.

Drink plenty of water so that you dont dehydrate. A well hydrated body can do a lot more than a dehydrated one. If your sweeat doesn't taste salty then you can always drink something with electrolytes in it like coconut water. Just be sure to avoid sports drinks that are loaded with artificial colors, sweetners and sugars (those things are usualy loadded with sugar).

If you are someone who is just starting to get into this whole regime of exercise, the safest wayy for you to do so is to just walk. A lot.

Until next time, stay strong and be kind.

Picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/s291hw

References

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/physical-activity-guidelines-for-adults.aspx

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/aerobic-exercise/EP00002/

Carbohydrates

It seems as everyone in the world is afraid of something connected with food to the point that it becomes a debate of what will make you fat and what won’t. Before I begin with the explanation of macronutrients let me make one thing 100% clear. Nutrients don’t make you fat, excess calories and a sedentary lifestyle make you fat.

With that said, let me start with a brief explanation of our generation bad boys, the carbohydrates. They gained this reputation with the emergence of low-carb diets such as the Atkins and south beach diet.

Carbohydrates are organic compounds made out of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen and they provide 4 calories of energy per gram. In chemistry as in nutrition we divide them into two separate groups: Simple and complex carbohydrates. Mono and disaccharides are simple while polysaccharides are complex carbohydrates. Monosaccharides are the simplest carbohydrates and are the building blocks of di and polysaccharides.

Mono and disaccharides are commonly known as sugars, with glucose being the best representative of mono and sucrose (table sugar) representing disaccharides. Polysaccharides are made out of long chains of sugars like starches or long and branched chains such as fiber.

The main role of monosaccharyes is that they are the main fuel for our bodies, as well as the main fuel for our daily functions. If there are too many of them in the blood they get stored in the form of glycogen (polysaccharide) in our muscles and liver. In plants they are converted to starch. Apart from their role as storage, polysaccharides also give structural support in the form of cellulose in plants and chitin in arthropods.

A green banana has 80% starch and 7% sugars, while a ripe, spotted banana has 5% starch and 90% sugar.

The main role of fiber in our bodies is to add bulk to our food and to help with our bowel movements (it helps us to go to the bathroom).

Our digestion processes all carbohydrates in the same way, with fiber being the only exception. All the carbohydrates are broken down and converted into single sugar molecules - glucose, that can cross into the bloodstream. Simple carbohydrates enter the bloodstream very fast, while complex carbohydrates need to be broken down first, before they can freely enter our bloodstream. Fiber, like I’ve said before, helps with digestion and it adds bulk to our food. It increases our satiety, which is just a fancy way of saying that it keeps us fuller for longer periods of time.

A diet of a healthy individual should have anywhere from 30 – 70% of carbohydrates, but a question arises. What are the best carbohydrates?

The best sources of carbohydrates are definitely not white bread, white rice sugared sodas, and other highly processed/refined foods, that have been linked with weight gain, obesity and even type 2 diabetes. This is because they have a large portion of sugars, are easily digestible and have no fiber, so we tend to eat more of them. On top of that, they spike our insulin, which can lead to type 2 diabetes. Refined foods, such as pastry and sweets tend to have monosodium glutamate (MSG), flavors, preservatives, hydrogenated oil, fillers and artificial sweeteners in them, giving them a longer shelf life. Unfortunately, foods like that tend to have next to no vitamins, minerals or other health promoting nutrients. But the worst kind of carbohydrate must be high fructose corn syrup, to which I will dedicate a whole post somewhere in the future.

The best forms of carbohydrates are vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grain foods. They have a lot of minerals, vitamins, fiber and phytonutrients that promote good health.

Whole grains have all of the parts of the grain seed, while the grains in refined foods have been stripped of their bran (their protective coating which contains fiber, minerals and most of the phytonutrients).

Until next time, stay strong and be kind.

Picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/t311hw

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/carbohydrates/

http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/carbs.html

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/focus/nutrition/facts/lifestylemanagement/carbohydrates.htm

http://kidshealth.org/kid/nutrition/food/carb.html

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/161547.php

BMI or something else?

Like you already know, the body mass index or BMI is a way to determine if an individual is in a healthy weight range. It can be calculated with a simple equation:

BMI = weight (kg)/height² (m)

By the US standards set by CDC the number that we get falls into one of these categories:

Very severely underweight: < 15.0

Severely underweight: 15.0 – 15.9

Underweight: 16.0 – 18.4

Healthy weight: 18.5 – 24.9

Overweight: 25.0 – 29.9

Obese: 30.0  – 34.9

Very obese: > 35

And if take a look at Japan:

Healthy weight – 18.5 – 22.9

Overweight – 23.0 – 24.9

Obese - > 25.0

Last but not least, the ranges for Slovenia:

Healthy weight: 18.5 – 24.9

Overweight: 25.0 – 29.9

Obesity, stage 1: 30.0  – 34.9

Obesity, stage 2: 35.0  – 39.9

Obesity, stage 3: > 40.0

The BMI range is country specific, because of the different race, lifestyles and other.

You can calculate your BMI here. http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/metric_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html

But unfortunately the BMI has a few major flaws. It doesn’t take into account that our bodies are made out of different ratios of 4 components. Water, lean mass, bone mass and fat mass. So an individual, who has a high lean mass (a lot of muscles), can appear to be overweight or even obese by BMI standards while having almost no subcutaneous fat on their body (bodybuilders). If we compare a professional bodybuilder, who is 180 cm tall and weighs 95 kilo to an untrained individual with the exact same numbers and a high percentage of body fat, their BMI is the same, even though the obvious difference in their physical appearances.

Thankfully there are a number of other techniques for measuring your body composition, which will give you a more detailed result, like the 3 fold caliper measure or waste to hip ratio.

Waste to hip ratio is a more accurate method of measuring the health of a person, and determining the risk of developing serious health conditions such as heart disease.

With a measuring tape measure the hip circumference and the waist circumference at the widest parts. After that just calculate the waste to hip ratio with the following equation:

WHR = Waist/Hip

In men abdominal obesity is defined as a WHR of above 0.90 and 0.85 for women. If your numbers are lower than that you have a reduced chance of developing all sorts of diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart problems, hypertension (increased blood pressure) and other.

You can calculate your waste to hip ratio here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/tools/hip_to_waist/hip_to_waist.shtml

Picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/2n8mhw

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/metric_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html

http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

http://cindi-slovenija.net/index.php?option=com_bmi&Itemid=36

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waist%E2%80%93hip_ratio

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/waist-to-hip-ratio-calculator/

Anaerobic fitness

So let’s look at what happens, when there isn’t enough oxygen.

If there isn’t enough oxygen, the body can’t sustain the aerobic metabolism and it goes into the anaerobic metabolism, creating an oxygen debt. Anaerobic means, that all the processes function without oxygen and it can be further divided into anaerobic glycolysis and creatine phosphatase system.

They both use glucose for energy, but they don’t produce ATP . Both systems produce huge amounts of heat, hydrogen ions and lactic acid, created due to the oxygen debt. Most people believe that lactic acid is the main cause for immediate and prolonged muscle soreness (because it accumulates in the muscle), but some studies suggest, that even though this might be true, the main cause for muscle soreness are micro fractures, or microscopic tears, in the muscle. This is explained that 80% of the lactic acid created, diffuses into the blood stream and is transported to the liver, where it is converted back to glucose.

The body will try to adapt to this kind of training immediately by hyperventilating (faster and deeper breathing). But unfortunately, this is a futile process, because the main reason for an oxygen depleted state is not in the lung capacity, but in the rate at which the oxygen from the blood is absorbed by the cells.

Anaerobic training is really strength training. It lasts for a shorter amount of time (up to 2 minutes), with high intensity such as lifting weights, sprints and others.

But don’t think that our bodies use only one or the other metabolic pathway. Like all things in life, both aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms are in balance. You can read more about that here.

So now you might be thinking, what exactly are the advantages of strength training? I mean, it doesn't burn fat, right? That's a big and determined NO! Strength training should be an equal part of any fitness program together with good nutrition and aerobic exercise.

Allow me, to give you a few benefits of strength training:

1.       It reduces body fat

Strength training increases muscle mass, thus increasing your metabolic rate and the amount of calories you burn per day even while resting. Plus, if you train hard enough, you will create the “after burn” effect, that will continue to burn calories a few hours after you’ve finished exercising.

2.       It builds and maintains muscle mass

As we get older, our bodies start to decay slowly and muscle tissue is a lot easier to dispose of than fatty tissue. Strength training prevents the loss of our muscle mass, and if we train harder it can actually increase it.

3.       It helps to prevent heart problems and other diseases such as type 2 diabetes, lower back problems and it strengthens your immune system (because of the increased blood flow).

4.       It increases bone density

Strength training increases blood flow to the bones and it keeps them well nourished.

5.       It reshapes the body

This one is really self explanatory, right?

Untill next time, stay strong and be kind. 

Picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/8rvmhw

Water. It isn't just a drink!

What are the main things that we need to live? Food and water? Are you sure, that those are the only things that we need for our bodies and mind to function properly? Well, in a nutshell, yes, but I’ll get into the detail another time.

The most basic thing that our bodies need to function properly is water. Our bodies are 46-61% made out of water and the amount of it varies between age groups and sexes. Women do tend to have more adipose/fat tissue then men, and that tissue is more hydrophobic. That means, that it does not like water, to put it simply (adipose tissue contains only 10% of water). Men, on the other hand, have more muscles than fat, which means, that they have more water in their bodies (water makes a 65-75% of muscle)1,3. A study made in 2006 states, that the bodies of infant boys had a greater percentage of water than the bodies of infant girls2 A study published in 2002, where over a course of an eleven day hike they observed nine young people (age 24 ±3 )and eight older people ( age 57 ± 3) they found out that “The finding that the older group had both higher levels of dehydration and impaired psychomotor functioning and jump performance tests is an important consideration«6. Also »Both groups showed a marked slowing of choice reaction time after the 10 days of walking«6 which clearly means, that in order to have your metabolism running optimally, you need to be well hydrated. Proper hydration not only improves your concentration and gives you more energy, but it also helps you to burn more calories while resting by up to 3%.

Nevertheless, both men and women need water to live. Period! Water transports nutrients, gasses, waste, hormones and ions thorough our bodies. It plays a big, if not the biggest part in almost all bodily functions, not to mention that it helps to regulate our temperature, it helps us to have regular bowel movements thus helps our bodies to detoxify themselves and it lubricates our joints.

It is said that a grown adult loses around 2,2 liters of water per day, just by living and breathing. Now, the thing with water is that you do need to drink it, but how much is kind of a problem. I usually instruct my clients to drink around 20 ml per kg if they are exercising regularly and around 30 ml per kg if they have very hard and long workouts (like preparing for a marathon). Just a 2% loss of water can drastically impact our ability to exercise right and a 5% drop can reduce our exercise performance by a whooping 30%5.

But the rule of thumb is much simpler. Drink fluids until your pee looks like lemon juice. If your pee looks like apple juice, then you need to drink more water. But if it looks like water, then you need to cut back on your water intake, because you might wash out a lot of essential salts from your body4.

A great source of water is… well, no need to reinvent the wheel… A good source of water is water. Actually it is the best source of water. Green tea is also a great option, just be sure not to overdo it, because it has caffeine in it. Whatever you do, just be sure to avoid juices and drinks with artificial sweeteners and coloring in it. You do not need the extra sugar juices have and especially not the extra artificial sweeteners.

Until next time, stay strong and be kind.

Picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/0qvmhw

Links:

1.http://www.tkevinwilsonlawyer.com/library/gender-differences-and-body-water.cfm

2.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1963.tb15806.x/abstract

3."Exercise Physiology: Energy, Nutrition, and Human Performance"; William D. McArdle, Victor L. Katch, Frank I. Katch; 2009

4.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urine

5."Sport Nutrition"; Asker Jeukendrup, Michael Gleeson; 2004

6.http://www.jappl.org/content/93/2/714.full

Fitness in the media

In the past couple of decades every fitness expert, dietitian, nutritionist, doctor and just about everyone who has 5 minutes of their time to spare, has tried to reinvent the easiest way to lose weight and to enhance their clients fitness level with as little trouble as possible. The market today offers all sorts of different machines that will “guarantee you to shed every excess kilo/add muscle mass/improve your wellness in just 3-10 minutes a day.” And don’t even get me started on diets which claim that they do almost everything for you, even clean your kitchen and take care of your kids, if you ask hem nicely. Everyone is boasting how their product or idea is the only thing you need to achieve that “body that you have always wanted.” Not wanted, deserved!

But why is that? Why have we, the consumers, become so blind that we believe every half cooked claim that we hear? When has the industry become so powerful and why? Quick, cheap and easy results are the answer. Don’t forget, we live in a high paced and high stressed world that teaches us, that if we want to be successful, we need to not just act the part of a successful individual, but we also need to look the part. Making money is easy, but improving your health and losing weight is hard. If you want more money, you just need to work harder. Sure, you do become fatigued, agitated, irritable, lack nutrients and dehydrated and chronically lack sleep, but there is always a pill for that, right? That is what our society teaches us.

Let me be the spokesperson for a little bit of common sense here and let me help you on your journey, be that weight loss, enhancing your fitness abilities or achieving a little bit more mental health and foremost balance in your life.

Weight loss is hard, but it is simple. It’s nothing more than simple math consisting of addition and subtraction. You don’t need any expensive diet programs, products or special “super foods” (though there are a few foods that I do like to call super foods, but I will get into more detail another time). The same thing applies to exercise, but you do need to be cautious about one thing. Balance. Balance is in my opinion, the key to living a full life.

Until next time, keep strong and be kind.

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Aerobic fitness

I can still remember the first time that I went running. Imagine a 120kg person, who has been a smoker for 7 years and in his 21 years the biggest part of his physical activity was moving from the bed to the couch and on rare occasions to go to the bathroom. Well, needless to say I managed to run for about 5 minutes and during the time I felt like I was going to cough up a lunge and that my heart was going to jump out of my chest. And the next few days, my legs were so sore I could hardly stand, yet alone walk. Thankfully my body has adapted to running and I’m now able to do a 15km run for 6 days per week.

Last week I told you all about how our bodies adapt to cardiorespiratory exercises. Let’s not forget, that any physical activity is considered as stress, as far as our bodies are concerned.

Let me recap what I already told you:

The benefits that enhancing your cardiovascular fitness level will bring:

-          It lowers your heart rate and it lowers your blood pressure,

-          In increases the size of your heart and improves your cardiac output,

-          It increases the number of capillaries in muscles and tissues like lunges,

-          It increases energy production in muscle cells,

-          It gives you more energy in your daily life.

Now, there are a few things that I want to add to this list.

Our bodies have two major energy systems. One is called aerobic (with oxygen) and the other anaerobic (without oxygen), the first one produces and uses adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and the other one uses it. ATP is an energy dense molecule and is an energy source for our body, just like gasoline is an energy source for cars. The dividing line between both systems is a really thorny issue with fitness experts. Some claim, that you only need to work up to 50% of your maximum effort, before you switch from aerobic to the anaerobic cycle, while others claim, that the bar can be raised as high as 85%. But it is generally believed, that an untrained individual has an anaerobic threshold of 55% and a trained one at 85-90%.

Maximum effort is nothing more than max heart rate, and can easily be calculated with the following formula; MAX HR = 220 – AGE. Of course, this is not the only way to determine your max heart rate. This site has a calculator, where you can do the math yourself, if interested. 

Advising people, where their heart rate should be is a tricky thing, because you need to keep in mind the clients goals, their physical fitness, age and sex. The max heart rate for an occasional male jogger and that of a female bodybuilder are completely different and need to be adjusted to their needs.

So, while you are training in the aerobic zone, most of the energy comes from blood and muscle glucose and after that from the fatty acids stored in the adipose tissue (fat cells) that are metabolized in the presence of oxygen. The body produces water and carbon dioxide, both very easy for the body to get rid of. This type of metabolism is active while you are walking, jogging, running, swimming, cycling or doing some other form of a low intensity exercise. Sure, after training you will be a bit sore and tired, but if you continue with your training on a regular basis, your body will adapt to it, and the pain will be gone. Aerobic training does not leave the muscle tired and sore and it will increase the capacity of the aerobic system.

Don’t forget, this metabolic pathway is only active, when there is enough oxygen!

And what are the other great advantages you get with doing aerobic exercises?

It reduces body fat, helps you to control weight, decreases total cholesterol and increases HDL (good) cholesterol, increases maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max), Increased threshold for muscle fatigue and it makes you feel good with all of the chemicals that are releasing in your brain.

So, this was just a brief explanation on how the aerobic system works. Next time I’ll give you tips on how to start if you’re just a beginner or how to improve your anaerobic fitness level, if you already are a trained individual.

Until next time, keep strong and be kind.

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How to determine your daily calorie needs #3

Let’s review everything I’ve told you up until now.

We have a female teacher, who is 30 year old, 156cm tall and weighs 70kg. Her BMI is 28.76 and her BMR and AMR are 1476.8 and 1772.16 kcal respectively.

To lose 9 kg of body fat she needs to create a calorie deficit of 69300 kcal during her weight loss journey, with as little loss to the lean body mass as possible. If she creates a 500 kcal deficit every day, she will lose the weight in 138.6 days or roughly 5 months. But if she creates a deficit of 750 calories she will achieve her goal in 92.4 days or roughly 3 months.

But how can she create a calorie deficit? Think of calories as a currency. You have 1400 calories you can spend each day. If you spend more than that, you’ll be in a calorie debt to your body (you’ll fain fat) and if you manage to save a few calories, the bank (your body) will reward you with interest in the form of a slimmer and a healthier body.

For that she has 3 options and all three of them are very specific.

1.       Reduce her calorie intake

2.       Increase her physical activity

3.       Reduce her calorie intake and increase her physical activity

Let’s look at how to reduce your calorie intake.

You can reduce it simply by knowing how much energy your body needs during the day with your basal metabolic rate (BMR) and active metabolic rate (AMR).

If you don’t move around the whole day and just stay in bed, you need to consume the exact amount of calories as your body burns to keep your weight the same. If you consume more than you need, you will gain weight, but if you consume any less, your metabolism will start to slow down and your body will be in a state of shock. This happens with most people on diets. In this case the body shuts down and stores every calorie that it can get, because the metabolism switches to “survival mode”.

If our teacher eats 1476.8 calories she won’t gain weight, if she has more, she’ll gain weight in the form of fat. And if she has, let’s say, 1000 or even less calories, her whole metabolism will slow down and go into “survival mode”

[IMPORTANT NOTE: The lowest calorie allowance I would even dare to put a client is 1600 for men and 1200 for women. Still, this is done only for a short period of time and for clients that have a lot of weight to lose.]

If she is active that day, her calorie allowance is 1772.16 calories. If she eats more than that, she will gain weight. If she eats that exact amount she’ll stay the same and if she eats less than that, she’ll lose weight.

Simple isn’t it.

Onto the other option. What should her calories be, if she decides to move more during her day and decides to burn 500 extra calories with jogging?

In this case if she eats the same amount of calories as her AMR every day she will definitely lose weight on the days when she is running, because she has created a 500 calorie deficit.

And if she decides to watch what she is eating and is physically active with jogging and a bit of weightlifting?

In that case we add those 500 extra calories burned to her AMR (2272.16) and we get her modified AMR during the days when she works out. The same rule applies here, if she wants to lose weight, she needs to create a calorie deficit. If she wants to maintain her weight she needs to eat exactly that amount and if she wants to gain weight, she needs to eat a lot more.

But this option is the best and you know why? A part of her calorie intake goes to muscle repair and it also helps to build her muscle, which increases her lean body mass while decreasing her fat body mass (but only if she is doing some anaerobic training).

This last part is a bit trickier for people with about 5kg or less to lose, but for people with a lot of kg, regular physical activity combined with good diet is a way to go.

Until next time, stay strong and be kind. 

Picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/pgcnhw