I always knew that it sucked getting old but I never knew exactly how much.  Now that I’m essentially there, I’m more determined than ever to fight the effects of it for as long as I’m physically able!

Losing Fat Is Not Always a Good Thing

One of the more insidious tricks that old age plays on your body as you age involves fat.  Yeah, I know that we spend most of our lives fighting the accumulation of it but fat plays a very important role in how our bodies function.

The type of fat I’m talking about here is called subcutaneous fat.  This is the fat that’s right below the surface of our skin.  Subcutaneous fat acts like a “shock-absorber” protecting bone and muscle tissue from the usual bumps and grinds of daily life as well as the typical exercise routine or one-on-one game of basketball.  It also acts as an insulator helping our body regulate temperature.

As we age, the amount of subcutaneous fat steadily decreases, especially on our face and hands, the elbows and lower arms, as well as the knees and lower legs.  This is the reason that as you age, you tend to look gaunt or even bony,  especially around your face and joints.

The problem with this is that as you lose more and more subcutaneous fat, your muscles and joints become much more susceptible to bruising and injury.  It also means that your body has a harder time regulating it’s temperature – one of the reasons many elderly are always feeling cold.

So losing subcutaneous fat is not a good thing and one of the things you’ve got to compensate for as you age.

The Worst Part of It

Although the effects from the loss of subcutaneous fat is bad enough, it’s not the worst part of the story.  As you age, Father Time throws you a “1-2 punch” composed of the two following facts:

First is the fact that as we age, our body increases it’s accumulation of body fat to our upper arms, upper legs, and torso.  Remember that the rest of our body is actually getting skinnier as we loose subcutaneous fat from the face and extremities.

Second is the fact that aging generally reduces the size of muscle tissue.  As you age, you’re not as strong as you used to be in addition to having less endurance.

“But wait a minute,” you say.  “That can’t be right.  I can’t be accumulating more body fat because I still weigh the same!”  Sorry, but the cruelest trick of all is that as we age, our body increases the amount of body fat it stores at the same time that our muscles are shrinking.  Your weight may stay exactly the same but your proportion of body fat vs. lean muscle slowly and consistently increases until about age 70.

Now, you tell me – does that really suck or what?

Getting Old Sucks!

The more I read, the worst the story got.  Aging essentially slows down, reduces, or in some cases, begins to shut down essentially all of our physical and “life support” systems.  Everything from the loss of your sex drive to the creation of brittle bones.  From your digestive system to your heart, everything begins to lose strength, endurance, and efficiency.  “Geez!” I thought. ”Why not just shoot me now!”

But There is Hope

I was really depressed at this point.  Why would anyone want to watch their body slowly deteriorate day by day?  Why would you go through that?  All of a sudden,  the movie “Soylent Green” didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

But the chapter did end with some hope and since the focus of my blog is fitness, I’m pretty sure you’ve already guessed what it is.  It turns out that in study after study, moderate exercise has been shown to delay – in many cases significantly delay – the physical effects of aging.

More specifically, it appears that resistance training tends to create a wider range of positive benefits than does endurance training.  It’s not that cardio isn’t important, it is.  But resistance, or strength, training positively affects a number of things (other than building strength) including balance and flexibility as well as increasing the production of essential hormones that normally decrease with age – and maintaining strength, balance, and flexibility are the keys to staying independent as we age.

No Magic “Youth” Pill

Sorry, regardless of what you might see on the late-night Infomercials, there is no “fountain of youth” pill, elixir, injection, or supplement.  Nothing that “works while you sleep” to turn back time.  The only proven method that delays the effects of age, the ONLY PROVEN method, is exercise.

So it turns out that the only way to beat Father Time is to literally beat Father Time.  Punch him in the face with your kickboxing gloves.  Smash his foot with a dumbbell after working out.  Tie him up with your resistance bands after your routine.  Every time you engage in any kind of physical activity – taking a brisk walk, lifting weights, doing pushups, whatever – you’re taking a punch at Father Time.

Yeah, I know that Father Time always wins in the end but I’m determined not to give him an easy fight.  I’m determined to go the full distance and give it all I’ve got until the Good Lord rings the final bell.

How about you?

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach andPersonal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

P.S.  Be sure to get my latest Fitness Blueprint called “Little Things That Improve Your Health.”  This ebook is packed with loads of helpful information on how to build a better body and you can get it FREE – no email, no cookies, no catch.  Download and enjoy!

Email Me:  Hiram Perez   

Technorati Tags: aging, getting old, exercise, health, fitness, muscle, father time, hormones, fat, resistance, cardio

Related posts:

1. Top 10 Exercise Mistakes: Number 5

Mistake Number 5:  Not Properly Adjusting Exercise Machines

Most exercise machines are designed to accommodate a variety of body types and provide a wide range of resistance or weight settings.  Unfortunately, most people never return the machines to their “neutral” setting when they finish with the machine.  Unless you properly adjust the machine before you begin your workout, you won’t get the most benefit from the machine and in some cases, you might actually injure yourself.

Properly adjusting an exercise machine includes paying attention to the following:

1.  Making sure the machine is clean and in good working order. Yes, I know that maintenance is “not your job” but you’re the one that’s going to get hurt if the machine is not working properly so you need to give each machine a critical “looking over” before you get on it.  In addition to making sure the machine isn’t covered in sweat from the guy that just finished using it, you need to also look for obvious mechanical stuff like jammed, frayed, twisted or broken cables, weight plates that look like they might fall, missing or broken parts, and so on.  If you notice something obviously wrong, get the attention of the gym staff so they can put an “Out of Order” sign on the machine.

2.  Making sure you know how the machine moves. If you’ve never used a particular machine before, get one of the gym staff to show you how to use it.  Make note of how the machine moves – especially note the pinch points, where the weights or bar hit, and so on.  You want to make sure that you keep your hands, fingers, and feet away from those areas when you’re on the machine.

3.  Adjusting the machine to your body type. Most machines can be adjusted to fit a wide variety of body types, from tall to short.  Make sure you adjust the seat and the arm or leg rests to your body size and type.  You should be comfortable moving the muscle group that the machine targets through its full range of motion.  If you don’t adjust this properly, your workout won’t be very effective or you’ll run the risk of injury.  A little time spent adjusting the machine can really make a difference in the quality of your workout.

4.  Alignment, alignment, alignment. Make absolutely sure your body is aligned properly on the machine.  If you adjusted it properly in the previous step, it should be.  There should be no sideways motion or pressure on any joints.  Keep in mind that even though the machine might be adjusted properly, your body type might still have problems maintaining proper alignment.  For example, when I was significantly overweight, I used to try to exercise on a stationary bike.  As soon as I got on the bike and bent over to grab the handle bars, the flab around my gut would drop down between my knees preventing me from keeping my legs aligned properly.   The only way for me to pedal the bike was to push my knees out to the side.  Instead of pedaling straight up and down, I was literally pedaling out to the side.  After a couple of minutes, my knees were killing me.  If you can’t physically keep your joints in alignment – for whatever reason – don’t use that particular machine.

5.  Exercise or Weight Level. The last thing to check is to make sure the machine is on the proper exercise level or that you have the right amount of weight on the machine.  You can injure yourself if you assume that there’s a lot of weight on the machine and there’s actually very little.  The same applies if you assume there’s very little weight and there turns out to be a lot.  In both cases, you’re not prepared and can easily sprain or strain something.  If you’re on a treadmill, you can easily get knocked off your feet if the machine unexpectedly starts off at a fast pace.  Make sure you check what exercise or weight level the machine is at and adjust it to where you need it to be.

By keeping these points in mind, you’ll be able to maximize your workouts in addition to reducing your risk of injury.

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

P.S.  Be sure to get my latest Fitness Blueprint called “Little Things That Improve Your Health.”  This ebook is packed with loads of helpful information on how to build a better body and you can get it FREE – for a limited time.  Just click on the title to be taken to the download page.  Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: exercise, fitness, machines, health, balance, alignment, joints, muscle, workout, exercise mistakes

Related posts:

1. Top 10 Exercise Mistakes: Number 4
2. Top 10 Exercise Mistakes: Number 3
3. Top 10 Exercise Mistakes: Number 1

Sorry.  There’s no such thing.  Let me say that again so you can stop your frantic searching — there is no secret way to losing weight.  All you have to do is eat less, way less as it turns out.

I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking, “But I already cut out eating bread with my meals” or “I already skip dessert and I STILL can’t lose weight.”  The problem is that you haven’t cut enough.

That lesson was brought home to me in an interesting way.  I’m reading a fascinating book titled, “Physics for Future Presidents: the Science Behind the Headlines,” by Richard A. Mueller.  In it, this Physics Professor takes much of the hype out of many of the issues that crowd today’s headlines.  In a very straightforward way, he tackles issues such as “dirty bombs,” terrorism, energy, climate change, and so on.

It was on his chapter on energy where he’s talking about how much energy a gallon of gasoline contains that I found, of all things, a comparison to the energy content of food.  Mueller states that “food is almost as good as gasoline” in terms of energy content.  He goes on to say that,

“If you find this high energy content implausible, watch a hummingbird.  It uses enormous energy to flap its wings just to sip a tiny amount of nectar.  Clearly the energy in the nectar must be more than enough to cover the work being done by those rapidly beatings wings that hold the bird in front of the flower.  It is.  Food is almost as good as gasoline.”

Because food has such a high energy content, it actually takes very little of it to completely nourish our bodies and fuel our daily activities.   The problem is that we’re typically greatly overloading our bodies with way more food than what we actually need.  Professor Mueller goes on to say that,

“On the downside, the enormous energy content of food is what makes it so difficult to lose weight without serious dieting.  One 12-ounce can of soda contains, typically, 150 food calories.  A person can work that off with a half hour of vigorous exercise (running, not jogging; basketball, not baseball; swimming, not golf), provide, of course, that he doesn’t reward himself with a can of soda.  The best way to lose weight is to eat less, not to exercise more.“

Make sure you pay particular attention to that last line:  “the best way to lose weight is to eat less, not to exercise more.”  It’s simple physics.  To eliminate 150 calories from your diet, you can do half an hour of hard exercise, or you can simply pass on the soda and drink water instead.

Now, to be clear, note that he didn’t say that you didn’t have to exercise at all or that exercise isn’t important or that it doesn’t help you lose weight.  He didn’t say any of these things.  All he said is that from a physics standpoint, it’s easier to lose weight by eating less than by exercising more simply because food has such a high energy content.

So let me summarize:

1. If you want to lose weight, eat less – way less. Although when you first start a diet it feels like you’re dying, your body will actually adjust after a couple of days.  Your stomach will get smaller so that small portions will be more filling and your digestive system will get more efficient since you’re not constantly overloading it anymore.  If you can make it past the first week, it really does get easier.
2. Yes, I did say “eat way less.” Just making token cuts like skipping the bread or desert isn’t enough.  Not eating bread reduces your total calorie count by what, maybe 250 calories?  Big deal.  That’s not nearly enough.  You need to cut your total caloric intake by 1/2 to 2/3.  No, this is not a typo.  Cut your meals by one half to two thirds of what you’re eating now.  Unless you make really radical changes to your diet, your body simply adjusts to not having bread or not having dessert and you end up weighing the same.  IMPORTANT NOTE:  radical changes to your diet does put a strain on your body at first so make sure you’re in good health to begin with and that you’ve discussed your plans with a healthcare provider.
3. Exercise is still important. Physical exercise still plays an important part in your weight-loss plans.  You still have to keep your metabolism rate at a high level, you still need to keep your muscles toned, and you still have to encourage your body to burn fat instead of muscle.  Exercise does all these things so it’s critical that you work in as much as you can.

How have I used this information?  Well, here’s the diet that I try to follow (notice I said “try” because honestly, I do occasionally cheat).  I try to follow the “reduced calorie” routine for as many days as I can during the week.  It doesn’t always work out that way but I try to follow it as many days as I can.  On weekends, I eat whatever I want but obviously try to keep from undoing all my progress.

My “Reduced Calorie” Diet

Breakfast:  One 8-oz Protein Shake (I use Syntha-6) with one small banana or 2-3 strawberries mixed in.  Calories:  about 150

Lunch:  One cup (about 8-oz) of soup.  I love Campbell’s Chunky Healthy Request (not the “condensed”) soups, especially the Beef Barley.  Keep in mind that most cans of soup contain 2 portions so make sure to read the label!  Calories: about 150

Dinner:  Another protein shake.  Calories:  about 150

So during the week, I try to get by on around 500 calories per day (more or less).  Am I always successful?  Of course not.  I occasionally throw in a snack in between lunch and dinner that probably adds another 100-150 calories.  The key is to make sure that your “snack” is a wise choice like a piece of fruit, some nuts, or a granola bar.  It’s critical that you stay away from sugary “empty” calories.

Again, this diet is not for everyone – and not everyone will be able to stay on it for long.  Make sure you are in good health before starting ANY diet (or exercise) plan and discuss your plans with your doctor or healthcare provider.  That being said, use your head and take things slow and easy at first.  Like I said earlier, it does get easier once you get past the first week.

Now 500-600 calories per day isn’t much, but then, I’m a little guy (5′ 10″) so don’t take the actual number of calories as gospel.  Simply take what your normal diet is and try to get buy on half.  Do that as many times as you can during the week.  If that means you do it every other day, that’s fine.  If you can only do it on Wednesdays, that’s a good start.  The point is to start.  Once you do, you’ll find that adding an additional day gets easier and before you know it, you’ll be getting by on much less food.

Make sure you keep up your exercise routine.  In fact, when you start getting hungry, go out for a brisk walk instead of reaching for the chips.  Drinking lots of water will also help to keep your stomach from grumbling.

So to sum up, “token” dieting doesn’t work since your body simply adapts to the slight changes in food intake.  The end result is that you end up weighing exactly the same.  To lose weight, you’ve got to make a radical reduction in the amount of food you eat – on the order of 1/2 to 2/3 of what you’re eating now.  Drink plenty of water, get plenty of exercise, and above all, use common sense and check with your doctor along the way.  I think you’ll be pleased with the results you start getting.

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

P.S.  Be sure to get my latest Fitness Blueprint called “Little Things That Improve Your Health.”  This ebook is packed with loads of helpful information on how to build a better body and you can get it FREE – for a limited time.  Just click on the title to be taken to the download page.  Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: diet, weight-loss, nutrition, balanced health, fitness, muscle, protein, weight, calories

Related posts:

1. New Study Reveals “Secret” to Weight Loss
2. Weight Loss: Diet or Exercise?
3. Why It’s So Hard to Lose Weight

Mistake Number 2:  Unbalanced Strength Training Programs

An “unbalanced strength training program” is a weight or resistance training program that concentrates on only 1 or 2 areas of the body and ignores the rest.  It’s only natural, I guess, that most people tend to focus their training on the muscles that they think will make them look younger, leaner, stronger, or sexier.  These muscles most often include the biceps, abs, and legs.

Do a quick Internet search and you’ll find all kinds of “miracle-get-fit-quick” programs that supposedly “target” these specific areas.  Take a close look around the gym and you’ll find people spending the majority of their time primarily working these muscles -  guys trying to do 200-pound-bicep-curls and women working nothing but the leg-press and the “butt-buster.”

The results, like the guy in the picture, can sometimes look unnatural and downright freaky.  However, how things look is pretty subjective (some people think looking like Popeye is cool – whatever) so let’s put looks aside for a moment and only talk about whole body health effects.

The muscles of your body are designed to work in unison, with each muscle playing an important part of whatever motion you’re engaged in. Whether it’s shooting hoops or lifting weights, for any type of movement, your muscles create the movement together by playing one or more of the following roles:

• Agonist or “Prime Mover”:  This is the muscle that acts directly to bring about a desired movement through contraction.  If you’re performing a dumbbell bench press, for example, the agonist is the Pectoralis Major (or “pecs”) which contract (shorten) to raise the arms as you press the weights upward.
• Synergist or “Assistant Mover”:  As the name implies, this is the muscle (or muscles) that indirectly assists in creating the desired movement.  In the dumbbell bench press, the synergist is the Anterior Deltoid (or “front delt”).
• Antagonist:  The antagonist is the opposite partner of the agonist.  It’s job is to return the limb to the starting position by creating  a force that’s directly opposite to the Prime Mover.  In our bench press example, the antagonist is the Posterior Deltoid (“rear delt”).
• Stabilizer:  This muscle (or muscles) are responsible for stabilizing and supporting the muscle next to it.  In a dumbbell bench press, the stabilizers are the Rotator Cuff muscles.
• Neutralizer:  Similar to the stabilizer, the neutralizer is a muscle (or muscles) responsible for eliminating or canceling out an undesired movement.  In our example, the Rotator Cuff muscles also act as neutralizers acting to cancel out any sideways or unstable movement as the arms press up.

Developing one muscle to the exclusion of the other creates an imbalance between that muscle and it’s paired antagonist frequently leading to injury.  For example, overdeveloping the pecs by doing dumbbell bench presses all day long can lead to muscle stain or tearing of the Posterior Deltoid, the antagonist muscle.

Why does that happen?  Interesting story that most people don’t consider.  When you’re doing a bench press, for example, most people are surprised to learn that the Posterior Deltoid is the muscle most susceptible to injury, not the Pecs.  Why is that?  Because when you press up (using the Pecs), you’re lifting a weight against gravity and your movement tends to be slow, measured, and controlled.  However, when you go back to the start position, most people tend to simply let the weights drop back down to chest level without taking into account that gravity is now pulling in the same direction as the weights.  Unless you’re careful, the movement back down tends to be faster, less controlled, and end with an abrupt stop.  That puts a lot of strain on the Rear Delts.  If you’re going to get injured doing this exercise, that’s where it’s going to happen.

Same scenario applies to your legs.  If you spend enough time in a gym, you might have heard the advice, “strengthen the glutes and stretch the quads.”  The reason is that most people are “quad dominant.”  In other words, their quads are already much stronger than their glutes making it much easier to strain or tear the glutes when they try to develop their quads even further.  If you’ve ever injured your legs doing a leg press, it’s almost always on the return when your glutes are straining to slow the weights quickly.

The key to building a stronger body is to make sure that your weight or resistance training program is balanced and incorporates ALL major muscles groups, not just the “sexy” ones.  That means following a workout that includes the chest, the back (upper and lower) and shoulders, the arms (biceps, forearms, and hands), the core (upper and lower abs, obliques), as well as your legs and hips.  It’s important to strengthen not only the big muscles, but the supporting ones as well in order to prevent injuries.

The end result is that you’ll not only look and feel better, you’ll move better with increased coordination and balance.  Isn’t that why you work out in the first place?

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

P.S.  Be sure to get my latest Fitness Blueprint called “Little Things That Improve Your Health.”  This ebook is packed with loads of helpful information on how to build a better body and you can get it FREE – for a limited time.  Just click on the title to be taken to the download page.  Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: fitness, weight lifting, exercise, balanced health, bench press, dumbbell, ACE, muscle, strength training, resistance training

Related posts:

1. Top 10 Exercise Mistakes: Number 1
2. Combining Weight Lifting with Isometrics
3. Isometrics Better Than Weight Training?

Agility is composed of several components, each of which needs to be developed in order for your agility to improve overall.  These components include:

• Speed
• Balance and Coordination
• Strength

Remove any one of these and you get left in the dust as your opponent scores.

Developing Agility

Researchers reporting in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research have found that a modified version of the “T-Test” we all used to run in High School gym class is a pretty good way to not only test agility, but to develop it as well.

In the Modified Agility T-Test, or MAT for short, 4 marker cones are set out at the intervals indicated.  You start at A and then:

• Sprint from cone A to cone B as fast as you can.  Reach down and touch the top of cone B.
• Immediately shuffle sideways from cone B to cone C.  You should still be facing forward and shuffling sideways WITHOUT crossing your feet.  Touch the top of cone C.
• Immediately shuffle sideways to the right to cone D.  Again, you should be facing forward and shuffling sideways without crossing your feet.  Reach down and touch the top of cone D.
• Shuffle left back to cone B.  Reach down and touch the top of cone B.
• Run BACKWARDS back to cone A as quickly as you can.

Throughout the test, you remain facing forward, even when you’re running backwards back to the starting line.  It’s also important not to cross your feet when you’re shuffling to the side.

Here’s a training video from the University of Wisconsin showing how it’s done:

Looks easy?  Give a try.  It’s harder than you think.  But this exercise builds the ability to move quickly, stop, change direction, and move quickly again.

The need for speed should be obvious.  Coordination and balance?  That’s what will keep your two left feet from running into each other as you’re shuffling left and right and running backwards.

Where does the strength come in?  Think of the stress your joints undergo when you change direction at full speed.  The muscles around the joints – especially the knee joints – need to be strong enough to handle that kind of stress without injury.  You therefore need to be start this exercise slowly, and then build consistently as your leg and knee muscles strengthen. Otherwise, you’re going to be sitting on the sidelines with a sprain, strain, or tear.  Don’t say I didn’t warn ‘ya.

From the stats I’ve seen, members of college sports teams can finish this test in under 10 seconds.  However, your starting numbers really don’t matter.  What matters is that you’re making consistent improvement every time you train.

Spend time mastering this and the next time your opponent tries to fake left and break right at the company basketball game, you’ll be all over him.

Hiram
Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: t-test, agility, fitness, exercise, running, sprint, basketball, tennis, racquetball, shuffle, joint, muscle, strength

No related posts.

There are routines for:

• “6-Pak Abs”
• “Ripped Abs”
• “Killer Abs”
• “Ultimate Abs”
• “Contour Abs”
• “Sexy Abs”

…and a whole host of others.

And Oh My God, the EQUIPMENT and GIZMO’s!!  There are:

• Ab Belts
• Ab Toners
• Ab Conditioners
• Ab Flex
• Ab Chairs
• Ab Rockets

I even found an electronic gizmo that stimulates your abs so that they tense up in response to an electric current.  In short, there’s no shortage of ab routines and equipment designed to tone your midsection.

But my question is more basic.  Are the abs really that important?  Let’s start there.

Anatomy of the “Abs”

The abdominal muscles, or “abs,” are a series of muscles that surround the abdominal area.  As you can see from the diagram, these typically include:

• Rectus Abdominus. This is the muscle that develops  a “6-pak” look and is the one primarily worked when you do crunches.  It’s responsible for flexing the spine although it doesn’t actually attach to any vertebrae.  It also tilts the pelvis and protects the stomach and intestines.
• Internal and External Obliques. These muscles stretch around the side of the body and are what allow you to rotate or twist your body.  They also help to protect the abdominal organs.
• Serratus Anterior. You’ll find some disagreement whether this muscle is part of the abdominal group.  My NESTA manual lists it as part of the shoulder girdle.  However, it’s location is such that any ab movement usually triggers this muscle as well.
• Transverse Abdominus. Arguably the most important in terms of movement, this muscle connects directly to the pelvis on all sides as well as to the spine making it the biggest stabilizer of the spine.  It wraps around the core of the body like a corset helping to maintain vertebrae alignment.  This muscle is the first to fire, or contract, with ANY movement of the body.  Since this muscle plays such a significant role in any movement of the body, it’s important that it be properly strengthened and that strength maintained.

What you quickly find when studying even a little anatomy is that the abdominal muscles are essential to almost all body movements:  standing or sitting up straight, bending, stooping, balancing, or twisting.  They also help support the work of the back muscles.  Their “core” role in movement is the main reason they’re called “core” muscles.

So the first part of my question, “are abs really that important?” is a big “Absolutely!”

Which brings up my follow up question:  “What’s the best way to strength the abs?”

Best Ab Routines

You’ll find no shortage of exercises and fitness routines to work your abs.  Which are the “best?”  In my opinion, whatever routine you enjoy and stick with is the “best” one for you.  Someone else might find a different routine they enjoy better.  It doesn’t really matter – what matters is that you pick one and stick to it.

All routines work the abs in more-or-less the same way so there’s usually very little difference between the effectiveness of one routine over another.  Whether you work the abs with a crunch done on the floor or by using an “Ab Rocket,” the important thing is to work the abs.  If you have a phobia about doing crunches on the bare floor and would rather sit on a “Ab Chair,” then go right ahead.  What’s critical is the consistency of the load on the muscle, not the particular “gizmo” you happen to be using.

For those of you that absolutely need a routine to follow, here are two I found that I think are worthwhile (again, don’t get hung up on one routine over another – just do something!):

(Britney Spears Abs Routine. Find more fitness videos at diet.com Exercise like Britney Spears with this workout celebrity personal trainers have prescribed for the mother of two. This quick and easy ab routine will have your core and stomach looking flat and toned in no time. Fit fitness into your daily routine for best results. Check Out Diet.com Video! Diet.com: www.diet.com Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel – www.youtube.com Go behind the scenes w/ Sarah’s Blog- www.diet.com Twitter …)

Six Pack Abs Workout: Quick Abs Routine with NO Equipment

(www.undergroundwellness.com Want six-pack abs? First, you need to eat right! But you can also add these exercises to your routine and feel the burn! Anna Renderer of http takes me through a grueling abdominal circuit. Contact sean@undergroundwellness.com for your FREE consultation. Personal Training with Sean available at Fit Athletic San Diego: fitathletic.com www.undergroundwellness.com)

How Often Should You Work Your Abs?

You’ll find fitness trainers split on how often you should work your abs.  Some will tell you that since most of the abs muscles are not thick muscles like biceps, you can do your ab routine every single day.  Others will tell you to alternate days just like any other muscle.  Personally, I’m in the second camp.  I believe that even though your ab muscles are not as thick as some of the other muscles in your body, they’re still muscles.  They still tire and need time to rebuild.  Therefore, my advice is to do your ab routine on alternating days.

Don’t Forget the Back Muscles…

Lastly, don’t forget that the stronger you make your abs, the easier it is to strain your back muscles (the antagonist muscles).  You’ve got to keep both groups in balance.  A good exercise program will include back exercises as well as ab strengthening exercises on alternate days.

…Or The Diet

Keep in mind that no one is going to see your “6-pak abs” if they’re covered under a layer of body fat so proper diet and nutrition is also critical to your fitness routine.  You can’t exercise away bad eating habits or poor food choices.  ‘Nuff said.

Conclusion

The abdominal muscles are core to most of your body’s movements and should therefore be core to your exercise routine.  Pick a routine that appeals to you.  Whether it appeals to you because of the jazzy equipment or the celebrity endorsement doesn’t really matter.  What matters is that you pick something you’ll actually do consistently.

All that’s left then is that you do it!

Hiram
Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: abs, abdominal, exercise, fitness, health, crunch, routine, 6-pak, flexing, muscle, health

Related posts:

1. Combining Weight Lifting with Isometrics
2. Using FITT to get Fitter

The Problem with Lifting Weights

Here’s the main problem with traditional weight lifting…

The main problem with traditional weight lifting is that during most of the range of motion, the weight is being carried upward by momentum, not by your muscles. Most of us were taught to lift the weights in a smooth, controlled motion.  However, once the weight begins to move, most of your muscles take a back seat and are no longer working as hard as they were when you were first trying to get the weight to move from a static position.

Watch most people at the gym and you’ll see what I mean.  When most people do a chest press, for example, they’ll push the weight up as far as they can and essentially lock their arms to hold the weight there for a second or two before bringing the weight back down to the starting position.  Once you get the weight moving, pushing it the rest of the way up actually requires less force with momentum making up the difference.  When you bring the weight down, gravity is doing most of the work and your muscles are simply guiding it down in a controlled manner.

So basically, your muscles are actually working (or “loaded”) for only a short period and not during the entire technique, like many people think.  That’s why most of us tend to reach a plateau where you just don’t seem to build any more muscle even though you might be lifting regularly.

How to Really Build Muscle

We all know that to really build muscle, you have to keep the muscle “loaded,” or under a constant strain, throughout the entire range of motion, not just at the beginning.  Unfortunately, most weight training routines are performed way too quickly pretty much guaranteeing this doesn’t happen.

The solution I found is to combine Isometrics with my weight routines.  Isometrics are static strength-building techniques where a muscle is required to hold a weight load for a period of time without moving.  Here’s a great video that shows how isometrics work:

How Isometric Training Works

www.animal-kingdom-workouts.com – This video explains how isometric exercises are able to build muscle and strength so effectively in so little time.

The “Power-64″ Workout

So here’s what I call my “Power-64″ Workout (yes folks, you heard it here first!) that combines Isometrics with traditional weight training techniques.  Ready?  Here it is:

First, take the length of an exercise’s full range of motion and divide it into 4 parts or stops.  For example, if you can lift a barbell off your chest and fully extend it for about 2 feet, then your 4 stops are going to be about 6″ apart.  Do NOT get too hung up on exact measurements.  Just observe how much distance a single rep covers and divide it into 4 parts by eyeballing it.

Second, lift your weight to the first stop and hold it there for a count of 8 before proceeding to the next stop where you’ll do the same thing.  So during a full rep, you’ll press to each of the 4 stops and hold for a count of 8 at each stop, and then you’ll lower the weights the same way – lower to each stop and hold there for an 8 count before lowering to the next stop.

That’s it!  You’ve got a total of 8 intermediate stops and you’ll hold the weight for a count of 8 at each stop.  8 times 8 equals 64.  Power-64.  Get it?

OK, maybe an example would help.  Let’s take a basic chest press.

In the diagram, I’ve noted the approximate location of the 4 stops between the rest position ( 0) and full extension.  From the starting position (0), press the bar to position 1 (note that this is also position 8 on the way down) and hold for a count of 8.  Next, press to position 2 and hold for an 8 count before pressing to position 3 and holding for another 8.  Finally, press to position 4 and hold for an 8 count.

Now begin the concentric phase by noting that you’re already at position 5 so you’ll hold for another 8 counts.  Yes, that means that you’ll hold the same position (4 and 5) at the top of the exercise for a total of 16 counts.

Next, lower the bar to position 6 and hold for 8.  Then lower to position 2 and hold for 8 before lowering to position 8 and holding for a final 8.  Take the bar back to the position 0.  That’s 1 complete rep.  Try to work up to a set of 10 reps.

Holding the bar at each stop for an 8 count means that 1 rep should take you around 64 seconds to complete.  Your arm and chest muscles should be vibrating at this point.  Because performing 1 rep this way is roughly equivalent to performing 1 SET of chest presses the traditional way.  You’ll be shocked how exhausted your muscles will feel – which means you’ll also be shocked at how much muscle your body will build in response!

Helpful Hints

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind:

• You can apply this technique to all weight lifting exercises. Once you get the idea behind this, it’s really easy to apply it to any other type of exercise.  Whether you’re exercising arms or legs, simply divide the full range of motion into 4 stops.  Then start your exercise and pause at each stop for an 8 count (remember that positions 4 and 5 are the same).  The same applies to bodyweight exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, or pull-ups.
• Hold the top of the technique (positions 4 and 5) for a total of 16 counts (8 for position 4 and 8 for position 5). If this is too difficult, then combine the two positions into one 8 count and work up from there.
• Use light weights to begin with. I know all you guys (and some gals) can bench-press several hundred pounds — but not this way.  Reduce the amount of weights you normally train with by at least half and work up from there.  Remember, lifting weights this way will work your muscles 2 to 3 times harder so start out easy.
• Shoot for one set of 10 reps. I know it doesn’t sound like much but I guarantee that it will take everything you’ve got to complete 1 set.  If you need to rest between reps, take no more than 1 minute.

Try this for a couple of weeks and let me know what you think by leaving a comment.  I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the results.

Hiram
The Balanced Health Guy
Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: weight training, weights, isometrics, exercise, fitness, muscle, health, building muscle, strength, power, power-64

Related posts:

1. Isometrics Better Than Weight Training?
2. Will Eating More Often Really Cause Weight Loss?
3. Weight Loss: Diet or Exercise?

A 2007 study performed at Louisiana State University and published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that there was essentially no difference in the amount of weight loss between two groups of subjects, one group that had dieted only, and one that had both dieted and exercised. Both groups lost about the same amount of weight at the end of the study. So what’s the bottom line? According to lead author Dr. Eric Ravussin, “It’s all about the calories.”

The Nitty-Gritty Details

The first group reduced their caloric intake through dieting alone, cutting their food intake by 25%. This should be pretty straightforward. If you reduce the amount of food you eat by 25%, the total number of calories your body has available also falls by 25%. At the end of the 6-month study, the members of this group lost about 10% of their starting body weight.

The second group cut their caloric intake through a combination of dieting and exercise. First, they reduced the amount of food they ate by 12.5%. At the same time, they increased the amount of calories they normally burn by 12.5% through exercise. When you add the effects of the diet (12.5% reduction in food) and exercise (12.5% increase in metabolism), you end up with the same 25% reduction in total calories as the first group. The members of this group also lost about 10% of their starting body weight.

Since the amount of total calories for both groups was reduced by the same amount, they lost the same amount of weight. Big shock, right? Well, here are some of the less-than-obvious points that you can use in your fitness plan.

What This Means

What this study shows is that there is only one way to loose weight: you have to reduce the total number of calories that your body needs to maintain it’s current state, creating what Dr. Ravussin calls an “energy deficit.” There are two ways to do this:

1. You can reduce the amount of caloric intake. In other words, dieting. Reduce the amount of food and drink calories that you take into your body.
2. You can increase the amount of calories expended. You do this by raising your metabolism. Although there are several ways to do this, exercise is typically the best since it provides other benefits, such as aerobic fitness, at the same time.

The study also found that both groups lost weight in the same areas. According to Dr. Ravussin, “So long as the energy deficit is the same, body weight, fat weight, and abdominal fat will all decrease the same way.” This tends to debunk the idea that you can “spot reduce” abdominal fat.

Since the distribution of the weight loss was the same for both groups, the study also put a big hole in the idea that dieting alone causes you to lose muscle mass. The researchers found no evidence of this.

Why Not Do Both?

Why didn’t Group 2 reduce their food intake by 25% like Group 1 did, AND then exercise? Well, they obviously wouldn’t have been able to compare the two groups if they did that. But there’s another factor you have to take into consideration: your appetite increases when you exercise. This makes it all the more difficult to stick to your diet.

However, doing both is a very effective way to lose weight as long as you balance the two.

The Balanced Way

So how can you use this information in a healthy and balanced way? Here are some tips to keep in mind when you’re designing your weight-loss program:

1. If you choose to diet, you’ll be eating less so make sure that your food choices are nutritional.
2. If you choose to exercise, be aware that the more you exercise, the more your appetite will increase. It’s your body’s way of trying to compensate for the increased expenditure of calories. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that just because you’re working out, you can eat whatever you want. It’s way too easy to burn 100 calories through exercise and then gain it all back and then some by eating a 200 calorie hamburger. Remember, it’s all about total calories.
3. For my money, I’d recommend a plan that incorporates both diet and exercise. However, keep in mind that what you eat has the largest impact on total calories. It takes a lot of effort to burn 100 calories during a workout session but you can reduce your caloric intake by 100 calories (or more) by simply drinking water at lunch instead of your usual Big Gulp.
4. Stay away from diet pills, teas, supplements and other items that contain ephedra, including such natural remedies as Chinese ma huang or “Mormon tea.” All of these claim to raise your metabolism so you can “loose weight while you sleep” or something similar. There are documented health risks with these so don’t use them.
5. Don’t fall victim to diet or fitness plans that claim to “spot reduce” areas. You’ll lose weight the way your body is genetically programed to do so.
6. Don’t try to lose a lot of weight too quickly. The participants in this study lost 10% of their body weight over a 6 month period. If you lose weight too quickly, you’ll simply gain it all back with a couple of extra pounds thrown in.

Remember, in order to lose weight, reduce total calories. Keep this basic fact in mind when you’re designing your weight-loss plan.

Hiram

The Balance Health Guy

Technorati Tags: diet, nutrition, weight loss, exercise, muscle, fat, balanced health, calories, metabolism

Related posts:

1. Want to Lose Weight? Don’t Just Lift Weights.
2. You Are What You … Drink?
3. Isometrics Better Than Weight Training?