If you are afraid to exercise because you think that after you stop, your muscles turn to fat, you are out-of-shape for the wrong reason.
Quick Gym’s program burns fat and builds, not turns fat into muscle.
Muscles can’t possibly turn to fat. When you exercise, your muscles become larger and stronger because exercise causes extra protein building blocks, called amino acids, to deposit in muscles. All day long, amino acids pass from your muscles into your bloodstream and then back into muscles, with exercise as the major stimulus to force amino acids back into muscles. When you stop exercising, fewer amino acids go back into muscles and they become smaller. Amino acids that do not go back into muscles, are picked up by your liver. Since your body has no way to store extra protein, your liver uses them for energy or converts them into fat. So if you stop exercising, you have to eat less or you will become fat, but muscles never turn into fat.
Gabe Mirkin, M.D.
The three most nutritionally beneficial omega-3 fatty acids are eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). Research suggests these omega-3 fatty acids are BETTER ABSORBED BY THE BODY WHEN OBTAINED FROM FOOD rather than omega-3 supplements. Although fatty fish is known as the best source of omega-3s, there are many other foods that contain these health boosting fatty acids.
Adding omega-3 fatty acids to the diet not only promotes heart health by lowering cholesterol levels and high blood pressure, but also may help: reduce blood clotting in the arteries and protect from hardening of the arteries; reduce inflammation and stiff joints in those with arthritis; improve symptoms of depression; improve blood sugar levels in those with diabetes; and reduce the risk of developing certain diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s.
Food Sources of EPA and DHA
EPA and DHA omega-3s are mainly found in fish, especially cold-water, high-fat varieties such as:
Albacore tuna, Sardines, Salmon, Mackerel, Atlantic herring, Swordfish, Lake trout
Sources of Alpha-linolenic Acid
Since the body cannot make ALA, this fatty acid must be consumed in the diet. Approximately 35 percent of ALA found in food is converted to EPA and DHA. Good sources of ALA include:
Flaxseeds and flaxseed oil, Soybeans and soybean oil, Walnuts, Brazil nuts, Soy nuts, Olive oil, Hemp seeds, Pumpkin seeds
Omega-3 fatty acids are not only found in fish, nuts, seeds and oils. Fruits and vegetables that are good sources of omega-3s include:
kidney beans, navy beans, tofu, winter and summer squash, certain berries such as raspberries and strawberries, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, romaine lettuce, and collard greens.
Wheat germ and free-range beef and poultry are also good sources of omega-3s.
If foods rich in ALA are the only dietary sources of omega-3 fatty acids, it is important to limit saturated and trans fats in the diet as both can interfere with the conversion of ALA to EPA and DHA.
Daily Recommended Intake for Omega-3s
The Institute of Medicine suggests an Adequate Intake level of ALA at 1.6 grams per day for men and 1.1 grams per day for women, and 0.11 to 0.16 grams per day of EPA and DHA. The American Heart Association recommends 0.5 to 1 gram per day of DHA and EPA. The National Institute of Health recommends consuming at least 2 percent of total daily calories from omega-3 fatty acids; based on a 2,000 calorie diet, this would be at least 2 grams of omega-3 fats daily.
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There are two distinct methods to increase calorie consumption through exercise. The one method that is known by most people is to engage in long duration repetitive motion work. The other method is to increase muscle metabolism. A pound of muscle can metabolize an average of about 55 calories per 24 hours but it will not do that unless stimulated to do so. The muscles can be stimulated to metabolize by stretching them under resistance. The larger the range of motion of the exercise, the larger the amount of muscle cells stimulated. That is exactly what happens during Yoga or Pilates exercise, stretching under resistance through long ranges of motion. People who practice yoga on a regular basis will always be lean. If you find a fat person who professes to do yoga on a regular basis, you found a liar who is talking yoga and who does not practice it. Most yoga practitioners are also vegetarians, but that is not the reason why they are lean. There are many fat vegetarians, but those fat vegetarians do not practice yoga. Practicing yoga or Pilates requires many hours per week and therefore it is as impractical for the average public as 30 to 90 minute exercise routines. The ROM is the 4 minute solution to stretch all your muscles through long ranges of motion and in addition it increases muscle strength and it yields significant cardio benefits. Below is a comparison of calories burned during and after exercise from a 60 minute treadmill workout and from a 4 minute ROM workout:
A regular exercise program helps to lower high blood levels of homocysteine, according to a recent study from multiple medical centers (European Journal of Applied Physiology, November 2006). Everyone agrees that high blood levels of homocysteine increase your risk for heart attacks, but at this time, nobody knows why. More than 200 papers show high blood levels of homocysteine are associated with increased risk for heart attacks, strokes and dementia. However, three recent studies show that lowering blood levels of homocysteine does not prevent these conditions. This has disturbed many researchers because they cannot explain how lowering a risk factor for a disease does not help to prevent that disease.
It may be that homocysteine does not cause heart attacks, strokes or dementia, but is just a marker associated with them. For example, homocysteine comes from methionine, an essential amino acid found primarily in meat. Meat is also a rich source of saturated fats which are known to increase risk for heart attacks and strokes in people who ingest too many calories. So, lowering homocysteine does not prevent heart attacks, strokes and dementia because homocysteine does not cause these conditions. However, lowering saturated fats does help prevent heart attacks and strokes.
Saturated fats are harmful to a person when he gets too many calories. Dietary saturated fats go to the liver where they are broken down to 2-carbon units. If the body has enough calories, the liver uses these 2-carbon units to make cholesterol. On the other hand, if the liver does not get enough calories, the 2-carbon units are burned for energy to carbon dioxide and water and never form cholesterol. Exercise helps to burn calories. So exercise uses up calories that would other wise have been used to manufacture cholesterol. Stay tuned; the issue is not settled.
We know that regular exercise helps to prevent heart attacks and strokes. Researchers at Michigan State recently showed that high-intensity exercise may prevent these diseases more effectively than low intensity exercise (Thrombosis Research, August 2006).
Most heart attacks and strokes occur when plaques lining the arteries break off and pass down the artery to form a clot that completely blocks the flow of blood to the heart or brain. Intense exercise helped prevent clotting by increasing tissue plasminogen activator and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 far more than low-intensity exercise did. Other studies show that vigorous exercise also more effective in helping people lose weight. However, vigorous exercise can precipitate heart attacks and strokes, so it’s a good idea to get a stress electrocardiogram before you start a new exercise program or increase the intensity of your current regimen. If your doctor agrees, gradually work up to the point where you can increase the intensity of your workouts once or twice a week.
January 15, 2007
How much do you need to exercise to lose weight? In one study, researchers asked people to walk and count an extra 2000 steps each day (Journal of Human Nutrition & Dietetics, August 2006). This is really a minimal amount of exercise. They also kept complete food diaries. They lost weight and did not increase their food intake. When you start an exercise program, your appetite may increase, but this will not increase your caloric intake to equal the extra calories that you burn. For example, if you burn 600 calories with added exercise, you may take in 200 calories extra and you will lose weight.
Exercise helps you lose weight by raising your metabolism so you burn more calories for several hours after you finish exercising. However, ONLY VIGOROUS EXERCISE ( such as HIIT) that increases body temperature and causes you to sweat will increase your metabolism enough to continue burning more calories after you finish. Overweight is a major cause of premature death and increases risk for heart attacks, strokes, cancers and arthritis. If you are out of shape and want to lose weight, get a stress cardiogram and ask your doctor to clear you for an exercise program. Start slowly and then gradually increase the intensity of your exercise over several months.
A slow pulse rate in athletes usually means a strong heart, but in non-athletes, it can mean heart damage.
Athletes often have pulse rates below 60 because their hearts are strong enough to pump large amounts of blood with each beat and therefore don’t have to beat as often.
But non-athletes with slow heart rates often have damage to their electric conduction system. An electric impulse starts in the upper part of the heart and travels along nerves down the heart, causing the heart to contract and squeeze blood from its chambers to your body. If the nerves in the heart are damaged, electric impulses can be blocked and the heart can miss beats. This is called heart block and is a sign of heart damage. If you are an athlete with a slow heart rate, you are probably healthy, but if you do not exercise and have a pulse rate below 60, check with your doctor.
Airplanes cause problems when somebody has to land one on the road, or the Hudson river. Because they are not designed to drive on the rd or stream down the river. Cars and boats were designed for that. An Harley-Davidson cruiser won’t go up mt passes designed for an off rd bike (Man alive do I know! I tried driving a cruiser up to Bridal Falls in Teluride. That dog wont hunt).
The truth of the matter is Dr Kenneth Cooper (A US Air force Doctor & a fine Doctor he is) originally designed aerobics over 40 years ago for Astronauts. That’s right. Astronauts. Tractors don’t cross ponds, cows don’t make steers, polecats don’t go with bob cats, boy’s don’t go with boys & girls don’t go with girls. IT’S AINT THE DESIGN.
BUT. With each of the situations in its rightful place everything works fine and dandy but when they are applied out of their element it’s like drinking down stream from the herd, it aint gonna taste good. The same with Aerobics. With very little gravity (in Heaven) aerobics work fine. But where there is tremendous gravity (on earth) therein lies the trouble. The pounding on the joints and stressing the body for long periods of time aint like milk. It DON’T do a body good. It causes shin splints, wearing of the cartilage in the knees making for bone on bone. Kinda like a cow licking a babies rear, it’s a bit rough. I met a gal, late 20’s, already had a hip replacement from running. I talked to a man that said “I have a friend that has had 3 heart attacks while running marathons. He’s still running them”. I know countless people that can’t run “any more” because their knees are shot and walking hurts, especially stairs. Jumping in place is hard on you so usually you have mats and high dollar shoes to lessen the impact.
Aerobics in Heaven and High Intensity Interval Training (according to your fitness level) on earth, is like biscuits and gravy, possem-n-taters, crawfish and onions, you get the picture. It’s the design.
DL
Use Interval Training to Improve Your Fitness
You have probably heard that you need to exercise continuously for 30 minutes to
become fit. Almost 80% of adults can’t exercise vigorously for that long, so many
people won’t even try to start an exercise program because they feel that exercising
would just be a waste of time. However, according to the American College of
Sports Medicine, you don’t have to engage in vigorous exercise for sustained periods to
gain substantial health benefits. If you exercise for 30 seconds, rest for 30 seconds
and alternate exercising and resting, you should be able to increase your exercise time
without much discomfort and without injuring yourself.
This is called interval training, and top athletes in all sports use it. More than 35
years ago, the Swedish physiologist, Per Olof Astrand, showed that you can increase
your exercise load markedly by alternating exercise with rest periods. He showed that
you could exercise for up to 30 seconds intensely and continuously without
accumulating much lactic acid in your bloodstream. Lactic acid makes muscles hurt
and feel tired. However, the amount that accumulates in 30 seconds of hard work is
quickly cleared from your bloodstream. Then you can exercise for another short
burst. Your muscles get stronger as you build up the number of intervals you can
complete. An example of a typical workout is to start off by pulling on a rowing
machine for 30 seconds, resting for 30 seconds and then alternating rowing and
resting for several minutes. Stop when your muscles hurt or feel heavy.
www.DrMirkin.com