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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.

Many body builders and weight lifters are overly concerned about what they eat and what food supplements they take. If you want to grow larger and stronger muscles, you should concentrate on lifting weights, but you can help muscles grow larger by understanding how what you eat affects how you recover from hard exercise. Just exercising will not make you strong and it will not help you to grow large muscles. If exercise made you strong, marathon runners would have the largest muscles. The only stimulus to make muscles larger and stronger is to stretch them while they contract. When you lift a heavy weight, your muscles start to stretch before they start to contract. This tears the muscle and causes soreness on the next day and beyond. If you rest and let the muscle heal, it will be stronger than before you stretched it lifting weights.

The training principle of stress-and-recover is so strong that you can enlarge a muscle by lifting weights even if you are fasting, losing weight and all your other muscles are getting smaller. In one study, obese, un-athletic women were instructed to restrict food and lift weights. They averaged a weight loss of more than 35 pounds in three months and gained a lot of muscle.

Training for sports is done by taking a hard workout and then having sore muscles on the next day. Then you take easy workouts or you take off until the muscle soreness disappears. You improve by taking hard workouts and your muscles grow and heal while you recover on your easy days. Of course, if you could recover faster from a hard workout, you could do more work and be a better athlete. Scientists have known for years that you recover faster by eating carbohydrates immediately after you finish your hard workout (2). Other studies show that eating extra protein on the day that you take hard workouts helps you recover even faster. Eating extra protein reduces muscle damage during hard exercise (3). Eating carbohydrates along with a protein building block called leucine helps you to recover even faster (4).

Chronic muscle fatigue in athletes can be associated with low blood levels of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins (1). The sooner you eat protein after you finish your hard workout, the quicker you will recover. The benefits of eating protein soon after you lift weights does not apply just to elite athletes. A study from the University of Arkansas showed that eating meat helps older people grow large muscles when they also lift weights(5). Muscles are made primarily from protein building blocks called amino acids. Muscles heal from a hard workout when amino acids and other nutrients travel from your bloodstream into the muscles. Eating food, particularly protein, immediately after you finish your workout helps muscles heal faster. This study showed that men between the ages of 51 and 69 recover faster and grow larger muscles when they include meat than when they eat only dairy, fruits, vegetable, whole grains, beans, seeds and nuts.

1) JE Donnelly, T Sharp, J Houmard, MG Carlson, JO Hill, JE Whatley, RG Israel American Journal of Clinical Nutrition OCT 1993;58(4) .

2) KJ Kingsbury, L Kay, M Hjelm. Contrasting plasma free amino acid patterns in elite athletes: association with fatigue and infection. British Journal of Sports Medicine 32: 1 (MAR 1998):25-32.

3) Nancy Rodriquez. The Journal of Nutrition July, 1999.

4) Hayward R et al. Effects of dietary protein on enzyme activity follwoiing exercise-induced muscle injury. Med Sci Sprts Exerc. March, 1999. 31(3):414-420.

5) WW Campbell, ML Barton, D CyrCampbell, SL Davey, JL Beard, G Parise, WJ Evans. Effects of an omnivorous diet compared with a lactoovovegetarian diet on resistance-training-induced changes in body composition and skeletal muscle in older men. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1999, Vol 70, Iss 6, pp 1032-1039.

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:

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

Injuries often occur when you start a new sport or a new piece of exercise equipment, or when you return to exercise after a long break. In your enthusiasm to get started, it’s easy to overstress muscles that have not been used before. That’s why “background before peaking” is one of the most important principles of training. It takes several weeks or even months to build up strength and endurance.

Start your new exercise program at low intensity and low volume. Gradually increase your workload for several months before you try to run fast, lift heavy or exercise intensely. If you are just beginning a new exercise program, start out at a relaxed pace until your muscles feel heavy and then stop. For the first several days or weeks you may be able to exercise only for a few minutes. If your muscles feel sore the next day, take the day off. Increase the amount of time gradually until you can exercise 30 minutes a day at a relaxed pace and not feel sore. You may progress rapidly to the 30-minute goal, or it may take you two, four, six weeks or more. No matter how long it takes, don’t get discouraged. Exercising too much or too hard, too soon will set you up for injuries.

Athletes in all sports use this principle. First they spend many months in background training, working out for long hours, mostly at low intensity, followed by a shorter period of peaking training in which they do far less work, but at a much greater intensity. A few months before an important race, they reduce the workload but go as fast and hard as possible two or three times a week.

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

The key is blood flow.

Short bursts of exertion ramp up blood flow far beyond anything you could get from aerobic exercise.

Here’s how:

The University of Rochester reports that vigorous exercise causes an increase in blood flow, boosting the supply of nitric oxide in your body.1

Nitric oxide is critical for a marriage relationship*. It causes your arteries to relax and decreases inflammation.

When you become aroused your body boosts its levels of nitric oxide. It relaxes the delicate lining of your blood vessels, allowing blood to flow where it’s needed.

For men, releasing enough nitric oxide is important. That’s exactly how many of today’s most popular prescription drugs work. By boosting the amount of nitric oxide that flows to the right places and fighting back the enzymes in your body that try and limit the amount of nitric oxide that’s produced.

But many men suffer from a lack of this key chemical, because it declines as you age, causing problems in the certain areas.

As you age, you may just need a boost of nitric oxide.

A single good workout can prime your body, says Jim Pfaus, PhD, a professor at Concordia University in Montreal, who studies the biology of desires. “When you increase your blood flow, you have a much easier time getting excited.”

One of the best ways to get more nitric oxide is with a short, high-intensity workout.

But c’mon, who wants to do aerobics for 45 minutes a day? It’s not pleasant, and it’s not safe. It causes more harm than good. If pounding on the pavement or in an aerobics class for hours at a time sweating and gasping for air doesn’t have you thrilled about exercise, you’re not alone. Most of my patients aren’t going to put themselves through that type of high-intensity torture.

The good news is you don’t have to.

You can get the benefits of a high-intensity workout with my PACE (Progressive Accelerated Cardiovascular Exertion) program, without having to strain yourself. Over time you will accomplish the same benefits without stressing yourself unnecessarily.

PACE helps you by boosting the amount of exercise incrementally through time. You control your progression and can even alter the type of workouts you do to keep it fun and interesting.

During my research I came across a study showing that an incrementally intensive workout program like PACE increased blood flow levels by more than 400 percent.2

Nitric oxide can help improve your marriage life. But before you turn to drugs, I recommend you try to boost your flow naturally with a regular, high-intensity workout program.

Here’s an easy PACE outdoor running workout you can start right now.

You can even try it as a walking program if you haven’t exercised in awhile. It only takes a few minutes a day, and you can try it out around your own neighborhood.

(Note From Quick Gym. The workout below is only for cardio, no strength training or flexibility involved. Having some light hand weights or doing strength training separately is recommended for upper and lower body)

1. Warm up. Warm up for about one or two minutes.

2. Start. Once you’re warmed up, start at low to moderate intensity, and increase the level of intensity after each set. Start first by running for two minutes.

3. Recovery. Now relax. Notice your heartbeat, and keep track of how long it takes to get back to normal.

4. Repeat. Then run for 90 seconds, followed by rest. Repeat this and decrease the exertion period each time from 90 seconds, to 45 seconds, 30 seconds, then 20 seconds for a total of six sets. This shouldn’t take you more than 8-10 minutes.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

1 Zheng-Gen Jin; “Ligand-Independent Activation of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 2 by Fluid Shear Stress Regulates Activation of Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase” Circulation Research. 2003;93:354-363.
2 Adapted from: von Ardenne M. “Oxygen Multistep Therapy,” Thieme, 1990, p144.

If you eat a low-fat, high-fiber diet and exercise at least three times a week and are
still overweight, you probably need to pick up the pace (International Journal of Obesity,
June 1998).  Hard exercise burns more calories while you exercise.  It also gives you
larger muscles that burn more calories at rest, and it increases your metabolism so
that you burn more calories after you finish exercising.  You do not increase your
metabolism with slow, relaxed exercise.
Some books recommend that you should exercise at a slow rate because you burn
a greater percentage of fat when you exercise slowly than when you exercise intensely.
This is foolish because when you exercise at a low level of intensity, you burn fewer
calories during and after exercise, so the total number of calories you burn in a 24-
hour period is far lower. Burning fewer calories causes you to lose less weight.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin’s Fitness and Health E-Zine
April 4, 2010

Benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training.

http://bloghealthwolrd.blogspot.com/2010/04/drmirkins-ezine-intense-intervals.html

To be competitive, all athletes must train very intensely
some of the time. New research from McMaster University in Canada
shows that short term, high-intensity interval training on a bike
can also provide you with all the health and fitness benefits of
exercising less intensely for a much longer period of time (The
Journal of Physiology, March 2010). Subjects used a standard
stationary bicycle and performed a workout of ten 1-minute sprints
with a 1-minute rest between each at 95 percent of their maximal
heart rate, three times a week. This takes less effort than an
all-out sprint at close to 100 percent of maximal heart rate.
The study supports other research that shows that high-intensity
training improves speed and endurance far more than long slow
distance and is necessary for training for athletic competition.
The same authors showed that a similar short workout of
all-out sprinting at maximal heart rate took about 90 minutes per
week (three workouts of 30 minutes each) and was as effective in
achieving fitness and health benefits as many hours of exercising
at a much more leisurely pace (The Journal of Physiology,
September 2006). High intensity, short-interval training improves
fuel and oxygen delivery to muscles, helps the removal of waste
products, and increases the number and efficiency of mitochondria
that help muscles use oxygen to burn food for energy. These
changes have been shown to reduce risk for heart attacks, strokes,
diabetes, weight gain and even some cancers.
The authors make no mention of alternating intense stress
and low-intensity recovery workouts, in which you spend more than
80 percent of your exercise time going at a very low intensity.
Training intensely without recovery workouts markedly increases
your chances of injuring yourself.
High-intensity training can cause heart attacks in people
with blocked arteries and muscle injuries in anyone. Before
starting, a) check with your doctor to make sure your coronary
arteries are open and b) you should be able to pedal on a
stationary bicycle slowly for at least an hour a day for several
weeks. A program of high-intensity intervals:
* will improve speed and endurance much more than slow long-
distance workouts
* should not be done when muscles feel sore or you feel sick
because it increases your chances of injuring yourself
* should be part of a “stress and recover” program in which you go
intensely never more often than three times a week and spend far
more time exercising less intensely.
High-intensity interval training causes muscle burning and
severe shortness of breath, so don’t do it unless you enjoy the
thrill of competition.