Hey Gang, Just a short note to wish everyone a great weekend and hope you enjoyed todays workout. Each week foward will get more difficult but seem easier. Have fun enjoy yourself get fit and be happy. I tip my weekend Corona to all of you. Thanks for making my job fun and rewarding.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
BENFITS OF STRENGTH TRAINING
Stronger connective tissues to increase joint stability and help prevent injury
Increased functional strength for sports and daily activity
Increased lean body mass and decreased nonfunctional body fat
Higher metabolic rate because of an increase in muscle and a decrease in fat
Improved self-esteem and confidence
A recent piece in The Sydney Morning Herald called “Anti-ageing – get with the strength” attempted a more cosmetic approach to why women benefit from weight training, and then add in some of the more physical/medical benefits of weight training for women:
Skin treatments like Botox and retinol might be high profile anti-agers, but they don’t tackle the pointy end of ageing that’s tucked away in nursing homes – the muscle wasting that leads to Zimmer frames and loss of independence. It’s not just the wrinkling of the outer skin that makes a 60 or 70 year old body look older than that of a 30-something. It’s also what’s happening to the stuffing inside – when muscles start shrinking, bodies sag and posture droops. This doesn’t just affect how a body looks, but how it functions – ever-weakening muscles make it harder to get up the stairs or out of your chair.
That’s the bad news. The good news is there’s an antidote – strength training. It was great to hear Professor Hal Kendig, head of the ageing, work and health unit at the University of Sydney, spruiking strength training in the Sydney Morning Herald last week when he said that if older women want to stay out of nursing homes, they should lift weights. He’s right. But wouldn’t it be better still if women got the strength message earlier, say, in their 40s when creeping muscle loss begins? It’s not like men don’t need this message too – they do. But women need it more because they generally have less muscle to begin with and get frailer faster than men. Women also put less value on strength. If you were to guess which physical feature would be high on most women’s wish lists, you can bet strong muscles wouldn’t be up there. All our lives we learn we need good hair, good skin, good boobs and good legs, but strength? Not really our department.
Yet muscle is a real asset and building it has anti-ageing benefits for women, in how they look and how they function. Let’s count the ways.
Regular strength training helps your body look younger. It fights the sagging, ageing effect of dwindling muscle and gravity, and makes it easier to stay at a healthy weight. Cardio exercise is important too for both general health and weight management, but it can’t boost muscle in the same way as strength training so you need a combination of both. And it’s a myth that working out with weights makes women bulky – women don’t produce enough of the male hormone testosterone to grow muscles like a man.
Strong muscles make you less accident prone. We hear a lot about preventing osteoporosis, but hands up who’s heard of sarcopenia? It’s the medical term for loss of muscle and preventing it is as important as preserving bone. After all, it’s the unsteadiness caused by dwindling muscle strength that leads to falls – that lead to fractures.
Regular strength training helps prevent diabetes. To get the link between muscle and diabetes, it helps to know that muscles soak up blood sugar to use as fuel, The more muscle you have, the more blood sugar they take up and the lower the risk of high blood sugar levels that lead to diabetes.
Stronger muscles give you more energy. How’s this for sad news? A study of 34 to 58-year old women by the University of Michigan found that those who’d lost around 2.5 kilos of lean muscle walked more slowly and had less strength in their leg muscles. These women were hardly ancient, yet muscle loss was already eroding their strength.
Dont let this happen to you. Add strength training into your life and you quality of life will improve. I guarantee it
Increased functional strength for sports and daily activity
Increased lean body mass and decreased nonfunctional body fat
Higher metabolic rate because of an increase in muscle and a decrease in fat
Improved self-esteem and confidence
A recent piece in The Sydney Morning Herald called “Anti-ageing – get with the strength” attempted a more cosmetic approach to why women benefit from weight training, and then add in some of the more physical/medical benefits of weight training for women:
Skin treatments like Botox and retinol might be high profile anti-agers, but they don’t tackle the pointy end of ageing that’s tucked away in nursing homes – the muscle wasting that leads to Zimmer frames and loss of independence. It’s not just the wrinkling of the outer skin that makes a 60 or 70 year old body look older than that of a 30-something. It’s also what’s happening to the stuffing inside – when muscles start shrinking, bodies sag and posture droops. This doesn’t just affect how a body looks, but how it functions – ever-weakening muscles make it harder to get up the stairs or out of your chair.
That’s the bad news. The good news is there’s an antidote – strength training. It was great to hear Professor Hal Kendig, head of the ageing, work and health unit at the University of Sydney, spruiking strength training in the Sydney Morning Herald last week when he said that if older women want to stay out of nursing homes, they should lift weights. He’s right. But wouldn’t it be better still if women got the strength message earlier, say, in their 40s when creeping muscle loss begins? It’s not like men don’t need this message too – they do. But women need it more because they generally have less muscle to begin with and get frailer faster than men. Women also put less value on strength. If you were to guess which physical feature would be high on most women’s wish lists, you can bet strong muscles wouldn’t be up there. All our lives we learn we need good hair, good skin, good boobs and good legs, but strength? Not really our department.
Yet muscle is a real asset and building it has anti-ageing benefits for women, in how they look and how they function. Let’s count the ways.
Regular strength training helps your body look younger. It fights the sagging, ageing effect of dwindling muscle and gravity, and makes it easier to stay at a healthy weight. Cardio exercise is important too for both general health and weight management, but it can’t boost muscle in the same way as strength training so you need a combination of both. And it’s a myth that working out with weights makes women bulky – women don’t produce enough of the male hormone testosterone to grow muscles like a man.
Strong muscles make you less accident prone. We hear a lot about preventing osteoporosis, but hands up who’s heard of sarcopenia? It’s the medical term for loss of muscle and preventing it is as important as preserving bone. After all, it’s the unsteadiness caused by dwindling muscle strength that leads to falls – that lead to fractures.
Regular strength training helps prevent diabetes. To get the link between muscle and diabetes, it helps to know that muscles soak up blood sugar to use as fuel, The more muscle you have, the more blood sugar they take up and the lower the risk of high blood sugar levels that lead to diabetes.
Stronger muscles give you more energy. How’s this for sad news? A study of 34 to 58-year old women by the University of Michigan found that those who’d lost around 2.5 kilos of lean muscle walked more slowly and had less strength in their leg muscles. These women were hardly ancient, yet muscle loss was already eroding their strength.
Dont let this happen to you. Add strength training into your life and you quality of life will improve. I guarantee it
Thursday, April 8, 2010
IS EVOLUTION MAKING US FAT ?
Dear Evolution (I’m gonna call you E.)
So E, I have some tough things I need to discuss with you. This might be hard for you to hear, but it is important that you listen with an open mind.
Before I get into it, I’ll start by saying some nice things.
So I’ll being with this: Opposable thumbs rock. Let me just say how much I enjoy my thumbs. I use them almost daily. Being able to easily grab stuff really makes my life much easier. It is almost effortless!
I cant imagine how hard it would be to text while driving with no opposable thumbs. I’d look like a real idiot!
I even have fond memories of being a a young boy and thinking how much I like thumbs. I’m not even exaggerating, here’s proof…
To sum up: Opposable thumbs = Major Awesomeness. So good job E.
I would also like to say how much I enjoy walking upright. Bipedal motility has proven to be quite a convenient mode of transportation over the years. It is yet another anthropological benefit that I use on almost a daily basis. (I’ll admit there was a time when I tried moving around on all fours, but I quickly gave that up when I saw how ultimately limiting it was.)
Having a pelvis that allows for this elegant upright movement was really a stroke of pure genius. Speaking for bipeds everywhere: Job well done E.
So E, above are 2 really cool things that I would like to thank you for. So thanks.
Now for the tough love (because you really screwed the pooch on this next one.)
Turns out it is largely your fault I have such a problem losing fat.
And I hate being fat, E.
Over 10,000 years ago we humans switched to a largely agricultural carbohydrate rich diet from our previous hunter / gatherer roots. This has led not only to us being shorter in stature, (average heights dropped from 5-foot-9 to 5-foot-3 for men) but we got fatter as calories went up and overall nutrition went down.
This was 10,000 years ago, E! 10,000 YEARS! C’mon! Can’t you make a few adjustments to compensate?
Then there’s the issue with leptin. You know, the hormone that signals the body that it is ok to lose fat. Nowadays when we diet to drop some fat this leptin hormone drops like a stone which signals our body to stop losing weight.
THAT JUST SUCKS E! Losing weight is a pain in the ASS and you’re not making it any easier.
I get it, I get it. I know that back in the day when there was potential famine around every corner this leptin body fat regulation thing was WAY dope (keeping us alive and stuff), but not anymore. I mean just look at what has become of us…
Do you realize how hard it has become to drop fat and get in shape? We have to work out several times per week (with a significant amount of intensity) plus watch what we eat. I know that we can trick leptin levels back up by incorporating a pre-planned cheat into our diets but still – would it kill you to help out a bit here? Again, it’s been 10,000 years since we started eating this way. Isn’t it about time?
Ok, that working out and eating right stuff is not ALL that tough, and I do not mean to fullyAll I’m looking for is a little help. Is that too much to ask?
So for now I guess I’ll stick with my brief yet intense workouts. I’ll watch what I eat and plan intelligent cheats to keep my leptin up. I can handle that.
That is until you get off your ass and fix things.
Thanks again for the thumbs and the walking upright though.
These are the thoughts of a frustrated trainer. Not me
So E, I have some tough things I need to discuss with you. This might be hard for you to hear, but it is important that you listen with an open mind.
Before I get into it, I’ll start by saying some nice things.
So I’ll being with this: Opposable thumbs rock. Let me just say how much I enjoy my thumbs. I use them almost daily. Being able to easily grab stuff really makes my life much easier. It is almost effortless!
I cant imagine how hard it would be to text while driving with no opposable thumbs. I’d look like a real idiot!
I even have fond memories of being a a young boy and thinking how much I like thumbs. I’m not even exaggerating, here’s proof…
To sum up: Opposable thumbs = Major Awesomeness. So good job E.
I would also like to say how much I enjoy walking upright. Bipedal motility has proven to be quite a convenient mode of transportation over the years. It is yet another anthropological benefit that I use on almost a daily basis. (I’ll admit there was a time when I tried moving around on all fours, but I quickly gave that up when I saw how ultimately limiting it was.)
Having a pelvis that allows for this elegant upright movement was really a stroke of pure genius. Speaking for bipeds everywhere: Job well done E.
So E, above are 2 really cool things that I would like to thank you for. So thanks.
Now for the tough love (because you really screwed the pooch on this next one.)
Turns out it is largely your fault I have such a problem losing fat.
And I hate being fat, E.
Over 10,000 years ago we humans switched to a largely agricultural carbohydrate rich diet from our previous hunter / gatherer roots. This has led not only to us being shorter in stature, (average heights dropped from 5-foot-9 to 5-foot-3 for men) but we got fatter as calories went up and overall nutrition went down.
This was 10,000 years ago, E! 10,000 YEARS! C’mon! Can’t you make a few adjustments to compensate?
Then there’s the issue with leptin. You know, the hormone that signals the body that it is ok to lose fat. Nowadays when we diet to drop some fat this leptin hormone drops like a stone which signals our body to stop losing weight.
THAT JUST SUCKS E! Losing weight is a pain in the ASS and you’re not making it any easier.
I get it, I get it. I know that back in the day when there was potential famine around every corner this leptin body fat regulation thing was WAY dope (keeping us alive and stuff), but not anymore. I mean just look at what has become of us…
Do you realize how hard it has become to drop fat and get in shape? We have to work out several times per week (with a significant amount of intensity) plus watch what we eat. I know that we can trick leptin levels back up by incorporating a pre-planned cheat into our diets but still – would it kill you to help out a bit here? Again, it’s been 10,000 years since we started eating this way. Isn’t it about time?
Ok, that working out and eating right stuff is not ALL that tough, and I do not mean to fullyAll I’m looking for is a little help. Is that too much to ask?
So for now I guess I’ll stick with my brief yet intense workouts. I’ll watch what I eat and plan intelligent cheats to keep my leptin up. I can handle that.
That is until you get off your ass and fix things.
Thanks again for the thumbs and the walking upright though.
These are the thoughts of a frustrated trainer. Not me
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