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July 13, 2010

Misconceptions About Muscle and Fat.

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.

May 2, 2010

Part 1 of 4:TWO METHODS OF METABOLIZING CALORIES

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:

April 26, 2010

Exercise lowers homocysteine Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

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.

Vigorous exercise to prevent heart attacks Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

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

Exercise for Weight Loss, (But not as much as you think) Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

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.

April 14, 2010

Slow Heart Rate Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

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.

April 7, 2010

Dr. Coopers Original Purpose of Aerobics.

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

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

April 6, 2010

Better Blood Flow, Not Drugs, For Men!?

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.

April 5, 2010

Intensity of Exercise and Weight Loss

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.

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