Recently, researchers in Finland made the discovery that some people’s bodies do not respond as expected to weight training, others don’t respond to endurance exercise and, in some lamentable cases, some don’t respond to either. In other words, there are those who just do not become fitter or stronger, no matter what exercise they undertake. To reach this conclusion, the researchers enrolled 175 sedentary adults in a 21-week exercise program. Some lifted weights twice a week. Others jogged or walked. Some did both. Before and after the program, the volunteers’ fitness and muscular strength were assessed. At the end of the 21 weeks, the results, published earlier this year in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, were mixed. In the combined strength-and-endurance-exercise program, the volunteers’ physiological improvement ranged from a negative 8 percent (meaning they became 8 percent less fit) to a positive 42 percent. The results were similar in the groups that undertook only strength or only endurance training. Some improved their strength enormously, some not at all. Others became aerobically fitter but not stronger, while still others showed no improvements in either area. Only a fortunate few became both fitter and more buff. As the researchers from the University of Jyvaskyla wrote with some understatement, “large individual differences” exist “in the responses to both endurance and strength training.”
Hidden away in the results of almost any study of exercise programs is the fact that some people do not respond at all, while others respond at an unusually high rate. Averaged, the results may suggest that a certain exercise program reliably will produce certain results — that jogging, say, three times a week for a month will improve VO2max (maximal oxygen capacity) or reduce blood pressure; and for almost any given group of exercisers, those results are likely to hold true. But for outliers, the impacts can be quite different. Their VO2max won’t budge, or it will fall, or it will soar.
The implications of such wide variety in response are huge. In looking at the population as a whole, writes Jamie Timmons, a professor of systems biology at the Royal Veterinary College in London, in a review article published last month in The Journal of Applied Physiology, the findings suggest that “there will be millions of humans that cannot improve their aerobic capacity or their insulin sensitivity, nor reduce their blood pressure” through standard exercise.
But what is it about one person’s body that allows it to react so vigorously to exercise, while for others the reaction is puny at best? One answer, to no one’s surprise, would seem to be genetics, although the actual mechanisms involved are complex, as a recent study by Dr. Timmons and others underscored. In that work, researchers accurately predicted who would respond most to endurance exercise training based on the expression levels of 29 different genes in their muscles before the start of the training. Those 29 genes are not necessarily directly associated with exercise response. They seem to have more to do with the development of new blood vessels in muscles; they may or may not have initiated the response to exercise. Scientists just don’t know yet.
In other words, this issue is as intricate as the body itself. There is a collection of compelling data that indicate that about half of our aerobic capacity “is genetic,” Dr. Timmons wrote in an e-mail. “The rest may be diet,” or it could be a result of epigenetics, a complicated process in which the environment (including where you live and what you eat) affects how and when genes are activated. “Or it could be other factors,” he said. Although fewer studies have examined why people respond so variously to strength training, “we have no reason to doubt,” he said, that genetics play a similar role.
But none of this means that if you once took up jogging or weight lifting and didn’t respond, you should take to the couch. It may be that a different exercise regimen would prompt beneficial reactions from your particular genome and physiology, Dr. Timmons said. (Although scientists still have a long way to go before they can say, definitively, who needs what exercise, based on genetic and other differences.) In the meantime, Dr. Timmons stressed, even low responders should continue to sweat. Just as scientists don’t yet understand the complicated underpinnings of the body’s response to exercise, they also don’t necessarily understand the full range of exercise’s impacts. Even if you do not increase your VO2max, Dr. Timmons said, you are likely to be deriving other benefits, both big and small, from working out. Exercise does still remain, “on average,” he said, “one of the best ‘health’ treatments we have.”
via NYtimes.com
Here's my take:
Interesting article, however, I would have assumed that would happen. It's nearly impossible to monitor nutrition and hard to get people to push themselves. Most of what this study shows is there is a vast difference in will-power. For example, if i workout just twice a week lifting weights or endurance training according to ACSM I wont see positive change at all. In my case I'd decline my fitness level rapidly. For a sedentary person they may improve, but they may also not want to push themselves since they aren't accustomed to doing so, nor want to.
Did this study take into account; exercise history, medical history, age, desire for positive change, nutrition, injuries???
Just food for thought.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
The dark side of caffeine and alcohol
By Amanda Gardner
Now, a new study suggests that combining caffeine and alcohol can pose a risk to young people even when the substances aren’t mixed in the same can or cup. College students who consume nonalcoholic energy drinks such as Red Bull at least once a week are more than twice as likely as their peers to show signs of alcohol dependence, including withdrawal symptoms and an inability to cut back on drinking, according to the study.
“The odds were fairly strong, especially when you look at the dose of energy drink used,” says the lead researcher, Amelia Arria, PhD, director of the Center on Young Adult Health and Development at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, in College Park.
The study, which appears in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, was based on interviews with about 1,100 college seniors. The findings do not show cause and effect, and it’s unclear whether energy-drink consumption is directly linked to alcohol problems.
Another possibility is that energy drinks actively contribute to problem drinking. If mixed with alcohol—a common practice among college students—caffeine-laden energy drinks can prolong drinking sessions and mask the feeling of drunkenness, potentially raising the risk for dangerous binges and behavior. (This has been the main concern with caffeinated alcoholic beverages, including Four Loko.)
“Caffeine keeps you awake but just as impaired,” Arria says. “You may feel as if you can get into a car or play a risky game. That’s why this feeling of wide awake drunkenness is more dangerous.”
A similar dynamic can exacerbate alcohol problems over the long term, says Jeffrey Parsons, PhD, a professor of psychology and public health at Hunter College, in New York City. Consuming energy drinks “masks the extent of the drinking in such a way that it can sneak up on people,” he says. “They don’t realize that they’re developing the problematic patterns that are characteristic of alcohol abuse and dependence.”
Nearly two-thirds of the students in the study reported having an energy drink in the past year, and just over half said they consumed the drinks about once a month or less. About 10% of the students consumed the drinks weekly, and roughly 3% did so daily, or almost daily. Red Bull was the most popular drink.
Compared to those who consumed energy drinks rarely or not at all, students who consumed them at least once a week drank alcohol more frequently and in greater amounts, on average. They were also more likely to experience blackouts, skip class or other activities due to hangovers, be involved in a fraternity or sorority, and meet the criteria for alcohol dependence.
The researchers took into account a number of other student characteristics, including sex, race, socioeconomic status, depression symptoms, and total alcohol consumption. Factors such as depression were associated with alcohol problems, as expected, but energy-drink consumption was independently linked to alcohol dependence even after controlling for all risk factors.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Challenge
When is the last time you really challenged yourself?
Pushed yourself outside of your comfort zone?
With the New Year approaching quickly can you set out to do something you haven't done before?
My challenge comes in adding a new hobby to my existing ones. I'm going to take some time away from my workouts and DJ'ing to do something I've never done, but have always wanted to do. What is that exactly?
You'll have to wait to the New Year to find out, but my question to you is what are you going to do?
Pushed yourself outside of your comfort zone?
With the New Year approaching quickly can you set out to do something you haven't done before?
My challenge comes in adding a new hobby to my existing ones. I'm going to take some time away from my workouts and DJ'ing to do something I've never done, but have always wanted to do. What is that exactly?
You'll have to wait to the New Year to find out, but my question to you is what are you going to do?
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Weeks End
Take a minute to reflect on your week; your high, lows, and everything in between. Is there something great you accomplished this week, or left on the back-burner for another day? Don't fret, just plan ahead!
"Failing to plan is planning to fail"
...Can you make a short, doable list for this coming week?
Need help to get started?
Saturday, November 13, 2010
The 3 R's for your body this weekend - Respect, Rest, Recover
"Healthy mind in a healthy body. You’ve worked and worked out really hard this week but also clogged your mind and body with lactic acid and stressful thoughts. Have a relaxation party this weekend and do nothing, which can have wondrous health benefits!"
From Fitness Guru Angie Lee
Friday, November 12, 2010
Stress Management
Article written by, Dr. Richard Palmquist
In 1981, I sat quietly at the table in our favorite hangout bar in Fort Collins, Colorado, the blonde across the table smiled. My heart sped, the blood vessels in my face dilated and a feeling of warmth filled my whole body. I didn't know it then, but the woman across from me would eventually become my wife. Remembering that day still makes me smile and flush. My office manager thinks it's cool that I light up when she drops by our office for a quick visit even though we have been married three decades.
Romance is fun, but this story makes me acutely aware of how subtle changes can have powerful effects in our body, mind and spirit. Sometimes, a very delicate communication is far more powerful than a much more forceful one. We see this in dosing herbs, homeopathics and drugs, as well as in our relationships with other people and animals.
This really isn't a surprise. The body works naturally on very small levels of chemical mediators. Here are a few of those:
Here are some simple ways to handle stress in our lives:
And that all begins with a smile, a caring, healing touch, a gentle conversation that effectively conveys how the body works, how powerful and amazing life's systems of repair truly are and a realization that we can do simple things to improve health. And simply realizing that there is SOMETHING that can be done actually reduces stress and helps us transition from stress and anxiety to more constructive emotions and actions.
If we seek truth we find healing. Bodies like that. So do I.
In 1981, I sat quietly at the table in our favorite hangout bar in Fort Collins, Colorado, the blonde across the table smiled. My heart sped, the blood vessels in my face dilated and a feeling of warmth filled my whole body. I didn't know it then, but the woman across from me would eventually become my wife. Remembering that day still makes me smile and flush. My office manager thinks it's cool that I light up when she drops by our office for a quick visit even though we have been married three decades.
Romance is fun, but this story makes me acutely aware of how subtle changes can have powerful effects in our body, mind and spirit. Sometimes, a very delicate communication is far more powerful than a much more forceful one. We see this in dosing herbs, homeopathics and drugs, as well as in our relationships with other people and animals.
This really isn't a surprise. The body works naturally on very small levels of chemical mediators. Here are a few of those:
- A tiny amount of thyroid hormone brings about vast changes in the condition of the tissues. A small fluctuation in blood sugar changes the actions of the pancreas as it secretes insulin to regulate the uptake and usage of sugar.
- When one of the body's immune cells -- called a macrophage -- ingests a foreign protein, it secretes a few molecules of powerful substances known as cytokines. Cytokines act as communication particles which direct a host of immune responses. A storm of cytokines can kill a patient rapidly. A few of them direct and bring about healing.
- A single tiny puncture of the intercellular matrix triggers an instantaneous response involving the entire body. That tiny reaction rapidly amplifies into the response that is one reason why acupuncture works in assisting healing.
- The miniscule alteration in electrical potential leads to cellular electrical changes that allow the immune system to function, the heart to beat, the brain and nervous system to function, and as Huffington Post blogger Dana Ullman recently wrote, modern science is just beginning to discover how to measure and research how subtle energies are part of the normal functioning of our bodies. Without these subtle energies the entire body may not function optimally. And we can use this information to create health and support healing.
- By simply shining a red light on a small spot of skin can bring about changes in blood supply and cellular repairs. Fibroblasts move and change their action quickly when exposed to pulsing light. Those photons from the light cause effects that no drugs can.
Here are some simple ways to handle stress in our lives:
- Associate with people who help us live better, understand things more clearly and who don't sell things that depend upon our fear but rather on our improved awareness and ability.
- Search for data that supports the natural, biological mechanisms of the body. Things that are toxic or suppressive may have therapeutic use, but healing comes from cooperating with biology, not by fighting it.
- Stress is part of life, but be aware of your emotional state and the fact that you can change it by choice. If you find yourself afraid or worried, seek out correct information and understand the area more completely. Relax and smile joyfully for your breath and then once you note your breathing, then proceed with whatever you are working on.
- Realize that the larger part of damage from stress comes from feeling there is nothing you can do about a situation. This is rarely true, so if you are stressed smile and state, "I will learn more about this and take steps to improve the condition." The moment you stop worrying and begin acting effectively your stress levels begin to fall, and your chances of being effective increase.
- Separate your emotions from outcomes. Be happy because you are alive. Be happier when you are moving towards your goals but realize that your goals are not you, but rather the results of your decisions and actions. These can always be adjusted to improve your survival potential.
- Connect with others spiritually, mentally and emotionally. Take those connections as your most valuable and cherished treasure. You are never alone if you have these connections. There is a reason that those who pray experience less stress. Spiritual health creates ease and relieves "dis-ease" (dis-ease -- meaning "not at ease."). Many of my clients find this simple prayer is helpful in reducing stress. Simply ask, intend or command, "Divine Intent Manifest," then relax and see what happens.
And that all begins with a smile, a caring, healing touch, a gentle conversation that effectively conveys how the body works, how powerful and amazing life's systems of repair truly are and a realization that we can do simple things to improve health. And simply realizing that there is SOMETHING that can be done actually reduces stress and helps us transition from stress and anxiety to more constructive emotions and actions.
If we seek truth we find healing. Bodies like that. So do I.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Athletic vs. Functional ? ? ?
Focus on function
by Frank Forencich on October 23, 2010
Why Athletes Should Avoid The Bars (An intemperate look at barbell-centric training)
Steve Myrland
“Get out of the weight-room boys. I don’t need you weight-room strong . . . I need you farm-strong.”
Irving “Boo” Shexnayder LSU Track & Field Coach (to his team)
Perhaps the most persistent blunder athletes and coaches make in training to compete is regularly mistaking “strength” for “athleticism,” so let’s clear this up right away: Athleticism—the ability to express one’s physical self with optimal speed, agility, strength, balance, suppleness, stamina and grace while avoiding injury—is the goal. Strength, as you will note by re-reading the sentence, above, is a single element of the collective term: athleticism. You cannot be athletic without being strong; but you can be strong without being athletic.
Peek into any high school weight-room and you will see big, slow guys lifting weights under the misguided notion that strength is the holy-grail. It isn’t. Big strong guys are a dime-a-dozen. Big strong guys who can move get recruited . . . get scholarships . . . get drafted . . . get rich. Therefore, the strength you create in training must necessarily be strength that augments the whole, rather than constrains it. It must be athletic strength; that is, it must always promote better movement.
Strength and stamina are among the easiest athletic qualities to improve— provided you disconnect both from all other athletic qualities (speed and agility, for instance). Absent any connection to those genuine game-breakers, it is not at all difficult to create stronger muscles and bodies that are conditioned to work for longer and longer periods of time. Creating better athletes, however—athletes that are able to project the qualities most rewarded in competition—requires a more refined approach to training.
In the quest for athletic strength, the lines of the argument are generally drawn between the free-weight advocates and the health-club machine crowd. I tend to fall in with the free-weight folks in this but such a simplistic line of separation gives a free pass to one particular piece of equipment that is every bit as non-functional as any chrome-plated, stack-loaded, one-plane-wonder health-club machine: the barbell.
On a “functional continuum” of training equipment, I would place machines well down towards the non-functional end of things and I would place the venerable Olympic bar right next to them, even though it sails under the free- weight banner.
Here’s why: When you grab hold of a barbell with both hands, you are virtually locking yourself into the sagittal plane. Movement in the other two available planes of motion, frontal and transverse, is theoretically possible, but it is unlikely, at best; and if you are doing a traditional barbell exercise (squat, deadlift, snatch, clean, bench press) your body will do all it can to minimize any potential movement in those two unwanted planes. Effectively, the bar locks you into one plane and out of two. It restricts—not unlike health-club machinery.
Unfortunately, the neural patterning that results from this kind of training is decidedly unfriendly to a body that will be regularly required—in competition and life—to move; to react, stop, start, twist, generate speed and withstand impact. Strength-training programs based primarily on barbell lifts do a poor job of preparing bodies for the competitive environment because they “teach” the body to be stiff and unyielding—brittle—rather than strong and supple.
If you think of the spine as a length of chain, with each link making its individual contribution to movement in three planes, you get a sense of what a wonderfully elegant, supple design the human spine is. If several links in that chain are (effectively) fused together, all flexion, extension, leaning and rotation that would normally come from those links will necessarily be handed on to the nearest available segment of the chain where the links are still able to move.
Moreover, with the exception of back-squats, a barbell puts the resistance on the front of the body, contributing to the development of shoulders that round forward. This front-emphasis affects all bodies differently because of individual differences in lever-lengths (arms, legs and torsos). Big-chested, short-armed power-lifters always have the advantage when it comes to bench-pressing. Short-legged, short torso, long-armed lifters make the best squatters and deadlifters.
Barbells are an insult to the inherent “uniqueness” of human beings. A bar treats all bodies as if they were the same by limiting things to the sagittal plane and by requiring loads to be carried either in front or behind, not where an individual’s own center-of-gravity is optimized. This requires all manner of nasty postural compensations that are directly or indirectly related to many athletic deficiencies and (even) injuries. After all: a barbell is designed to accommodate the load rather than the lifter; while dumbbells and other similar resistance tools both require and allow bodies to be wholly integrated, connected and self-organizing.
I have trained two high level hockey players in the past few years (one male and one female) who are both strong, but who suffer from significant movement impairments and all the recurring pain that generally attends dysfunctional athletic bodies. I realize that two athletes hardly constitute a reliable research cohort; but even so, both of these athletes share one significant training detail: both relied (heavily!) on the barbell as their primary off-ice training tool. I believe this to be a major mistake.
The female hockey player competed in the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, and was desirous of competing in the 2010 Games as well, but she was struggling with chronic back pain and feared it would end her playing career prematurely. Her strength-training and strength-testing were predominantly barbell based.
In watching this athlete move, it was evident that a large segment of her spine didn’t (move, that is). Her thoracic spine appeared to be a single undifferentiated mass, never contributing its share of rotational or lateral movement. There didn’t (even) appear to be much flexion and extension in that part of her back; so even in the sagittal plane, she struggled. Her lower back-pain was a constant constraint on her ability to perform—in training and on the ice. She worked with a chiropractor/active-release therapist, a physiatrist and me, and we all combined efforts to try to re-mobilize her thoracic spine and provide her with training strategies that would permit her to maintain and enhance that mobility, herself. Prominently included in that sackful of strategies was the admonition to “STAY AWAY FROM THE BAR!”
The male hockey player left college early, a high draft-choice; but he spent three years in the up-and-down (minor-league – NHL) holding pattern that is often a frustrating feature of the professional experience. When I first worked with him, he weighed 205 lbs, and he moved pretty well. Two years later when we trained together again, he weighed 215 lbs and he did not move as well as he once did. His additional ten pounds wasn’t fat; but neither was it muscle that enhanced his movement capability. In fact, it detracted from it.
In both these cases, I believe the problem was far too much emphasis on barbell generated strength. I know the female player agrees; I hope the male player does too—but male athletes (and male coaches) are far more easily seduced by the charms of the bar than females.
For both athlete and coach, the bar offers the ripest, low-hanging, easily quantifiable fruit. It is so simple to measure barbell progress. You can do absolute one-rep max-testing and force your athletes to be power-lifters and Olympic lifters for one day each month (a risky idea!); or you can project 1RM’s using any of a number of mathematical models. I learned this one from Jerry Martin (U-Conn) when he was the head Strength & Conditioning coach at Yale:
(.03 x reps [failure]) x weight + weight
so: (.03 x 7) x 200 + 200 = .21 x 200 + 200 = 42 + 200 = 242.
An athlete who “fails” at seven reps using a weight of 200 lbs has a projected 1 RM of 242 lbs. I found this formula to be acceptably accurate—for barbell lifts. (Still do; I just don’t have much cause to use it, these days.)
It is probably the ease with which strength can be quantified that makes the bar so irresistible to athletes and coaches. Walk into any weight-room and ask any male in the place: “Who benches the most? Who squats the most? What’s your max in the deadlift?” You will get quick answers to all your questions. Or: you can simply consult the inevitable “record board” listing the top bench- pressers, squatters, deadlifters etc., etc., etc..
The bar is an easy way to measure strength and (I believe) easily measured strength is the first refuge of a poor coach. We can happily report strength- gains to convince sport-coaches that we are doing our jobs in the weight-room and that the coach’s athletes are benefiting from the time they spend with us.
Unfortunately, easily measured strength is rarely competitively useful strength. That is something far more difficult to quantify in the simplistic terms of pounds lifted. Better measures of the efficacy of any strength program would be such things as acceleration speed; multi-directional speed and agility; vertical / horizontal jump and lateral bound; balance; speed-stamina; and the real holy- grail of all evaluative criteria by which any training program ought to be judged: injury rates.
It is my contention that if more athletes were as devoted to gaining true athleticism as they are to enhancing their numbers in the weight-room, we would have more good athletes and fewer injuries.
The strength-training required to build bodies that are adaptable rather than simply adapted—bodies able to survive and thrive in the wholly unpredictable (and therefore dangerous) competitive arena—cannot be done using a steady diet of restrictive barbell lifts. Rehearsing single-plane movements with an awkward, restrictive tool does not provide performance benefits or insurance against injury when the ball is snapped, the pitch is delivered, the puck is dropped, the serve is struck or the gun goes off and chaos reigns. A barbell tells a body what it can do rather than asks a body what it can do, and that is the real line of functional differentiation.
“Simplicity yields complexity.” I heard Vern Gambetta say that in the first seminar I ever attended as a young coach and the statement hits the bullseye. Equipment that poses genuine physical puzzles for bodies to solve has a far greater chance of being useful in creating truly athletic athletes than equipment that “dumbs ‘em down” as the saying goes.
We work, after all, with people who are generations removed from naturally physically challenging childhoods. Movement for all young people is now entirely optional throughout the childhood years. Indeed, movement is now the least likely choice for children and adults, which partially explains our current health crises of obesity and diabetes. We must coach physically inarticulate people to be able to perform physical tasks that were once taken for granted in all young people (like the ability to skip!) but which are often maddeningly beyond reach for many these days.
Our job, as coaches charged with improving the performance capabilities of athletes, requires that we be prepared to continually evaluate and re-evaluate our tools and methods and jettison all those that fail to achieve our desired objectives, even if the tools we must jettison include a few sacred-cows like the much revered—and still ubiquitous—barbell.
We have so many excellent ways to impose athletically appropriate resistance challenges. Dumbbells, medicine-balls, kettlebells, stretch-cords, water, sand and hills all share performance enhancing advantages that barbells lack. All are (relatively) inexpensive and most are also portable, as well, adding a huge measure of program versatility into the bargain. Why not choose and use them?
Sunday, November 7, 2010
BOOTCAMP
Need fitness and can't get to a gym?
http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/fitness/exercise/2010-10-28-fitnesstrends28_ST_N.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/fitness/exercise/2010-10-28-fitnesstrends28_ST_N.htm
Post-Exercise Tips
Do you know what to do after exercise to speed your recovery from a workout? Your post exercise routine can have a big impact on your fitness gains and sports performance but most people don't have an after exercise recovery plan.
Most people exercise for the benefits they get from their workout: improved sports performance, better endurance, less body fat, added and even just feeling better. In order to maintain an exercise routine it's important to recover fully after exercise. Recovery is an essential part of any workout routine. It allows you to train more often and train harder so you get more out of your training. Do you have a good after exercise plan?
Why Recovery After Exercise Is Important
Recovery after exercise is essential to muscle and tissue repair and strength building. This is even more critical after a heavy weight training session. A muscle needs anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to repair and rebuild, and working it again too soon simply leads to tissue breakdown instead of building. For weight training routines, never work the same muscles groups two days in a row.
10 Ways To Recover Quickly After Exercise
There are as many methods of recovery as there are athletes. The following are some of the most commonly recommended by the experts.
The most important thing you can do to recovery quickly is to listen to your body. If you are feeling tired, sore or notice decreased performance you may need more recovery time or a break from training altogether. If you are feeling strong the day after a hard workout, you don't have to force yourself to go slow. If you pay attention, in most cases, your body will let you know what it needs, when it needs it. The problem for many of us is that we don't listen to those warnings or we dismiss them with our own self talk ("I can't be tired, I didn't run my best yesterday" or "No one else needs two rest days after that workout; they'll think I'm a wimp if I go slow today.").
via Sportsmedicine.com
Most people exercise for the benefits they get from their workout: improved sports performance, better endurance, less body fat, added and even just feeling better. In order to maintain an exercise routine it's important to recover fully after exercise. Recovery is an essential part of any workout routine. It allows you to train more often and train harder so you get more out of your training. Do you have a good after exercise plan?
Why Recovery After Exercise Is Important
Recovery after exercise is essential to muscle and tissue repair and strength building. This is even more critical after a heavy weight training session. A muscle needs anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to repair and rebuild, and working it again too soon simply leads to tissue breakdown instead of building. For weight training routines, never work the same muscles groups two days in a row.
10 Ways To Recover Quickly After Exercise
There are as many methods of recovery as there are athletes. The following are some of the most commonly recommended by the experts.
- Rest. Time is one of the best ways to recover (or heal) from just about any illness or injury and this also works after a hard workout. Your body has an amazing capacity to take care of itself if you allow it some time. Resting and waiting after a hard workout allows the repair and recovery process to happen at a natural pace. It's not the only thing you can or should do to promote recovery, but sometimes doing nothing is the easiest thing to do.
- Stretch. If you only do one thing after a tough workout, consider gentle stretching. This is a simple and fast way to help your muscles recover.
- Cool Down. Cooling down simply means slowing down (not stopping completely) after exercise. Continuing to move around at a very low intensity for 5 to 10 minutes after a workout helps remove lactic acid from your muscles and may reduce muscles stiffness. warming up and cooling down are more helpful in cooler temperatures or when you have another exercise session or an event later the same day.
- Eat Properly. After depleting your energy stores with exercise, you need to refuel if you expect your body to recover, repair tissues, get stronger and be ready for the next challenge. This is even more important if you are performing endurance exercise day after day or trying to build muscle. Ideally, you should try to eat within 60 minutes of the end of your workout and make sure you include some high-quality protein and complex carbohydrate.
- Replace Fluids. You lose a lot of fluid during exercise and ideally, you should be replacing it during exercise, but filling up after exercise is an easy way to boost your recovery. Water supports every metabolic function and nutrient transfer in the body and having plenty of water will improve every bodily function. Adequate fluid replacement is even more important for endurance athletes who lose large amounts of water during hours of sweating.
- Try Active Recovery. Easy, gentle movement improves circulation which helps promote nutrient and waste product transport throughout the body. In theory, this helps the muscles repair and refuel faster.
- Have a Massage. Massage feels good and improves circulation while allowing you to fully relax. You can also try self-massage and Foam Roller Exercises for Easing Tight Muscles and avoid the heavy sports massage price tag.
- Take an Ice Bath. Some athletes swear by ice baths, ice massage or contrast water therapy (alternating hot and cold showers) to recover faster, reduce muscle soreness and prevent injury. The theory behind this method is that by repeatedly constricting and dilating blood vessels helps remove (or flush out) waste products in the tissues. Limited research has found some benefits of contrast water therapy at reducing delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). How to use contrast water therapy: While taking your post-exercise shower, alternate 2 minutes of hot water with 30 seconds of cold water. Repeat four times with a minute of moderate temperatures between each hot-cold spray. If you happen to have a spa with hot and cold tubs available, you can take a plunge in each for the same time.
- Get Lots of Sleep. While you sleep, amazing things are taking place in your body. Optimal sleep is essential for anyone who exercises regularly. During sleep, your body produces Growth Hormone (GH) which is largely responsible for tissue growth and repair.
- Avoid Overtraining. One simple way to recovery faster is by designing a smart workout routine in the first place. Excessive exercise, heavy training at every session or a lack of rest days will limit your fitness gains from exercise and undermine your recovery efforts.
The most important thing you can do to recovery quickly is to listen to your body. If you are feeling tired, sore or notice decreased performance you may need more recovery time or a break from training altogether. If you are feeling strong the day after a hard workout, you don't have to force yourself to go slow. If you pay attention, in most cases, your body will let you know what it needs, when it needs it. The problem for many of us is that we don't listen to those warnings or we dismiss them with our own self talk ("I can't be tired, I didn't run my best yesterday" or "No one else needs two rest days after that workout; they'll think I'm a wimp if I go slow today.").
via Sportsmedicine.com
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
3 steps to post-workout recovery
The calm after the storm
Get more from every session with these must-do recovery tips.
By Joe Warner
November 2010
3 steps to post-workout recovery
1 - Do a proper warm-down
After your last set, spend five minutes on a proper warm-down, focusing on the muscles you have just put through the mill. This will signal to your body that the session is over so that the recovery process can begin. A report in the journal Medicine And Science In Sports And Exercise found that a warm-down done at 30 per cent of the intensity of the session led to greater strength and power output later on. A decent warm-down also helps flush lactic acid from your muscles, which can help reduce aches, pains and stiffness.
2 - Drink a shake with protein and carbs
When your session ends you have a 20-minute window to get some high-quality nutrition into your muscles to help them recover and grow stronger ahead of your next workout. Research from the University of Texas found that downing a carb and protein-based drink immediately after a workout helped subjects restore muscle energy levels far faster than those who took on either just protein or just carbs. Aim for a mix of 4g of carbs to every 1g of protein.
3 - Power shower
Once in the shower, alternate between hot and cold water in 30-second bursts. A study in the International Journal Of Sports Medicine reported that cyclists who alternated between bursts of hot and cold water performed better in subsequent sprint and time trials compared to those subjects who recovered with hot water. So next time you hit the showers don't be scared of the cold tap.
via mensfitness.co.uk
The calm after the storm
Get more from every session with these must-do recovery tips.
By Joe Warner
November 2010
3 steps to post-workout recovery
1 - Do a proper warm-down
After your last set, spend five minutes on a proper warm-down, focusing on the muscles you have just put through the mill. This will signal to your body that the session is over so that the recovery process can begin. A report in the journal Medicine And Science In Sports And Exercise found that a warm-down done at 30 per cent of the intensity of the session led to greater strength and power output later on. A decent warm-down also helps flush lactic acid from your muscles, which can help reduce aches, pains and stiffness.
2 - Drink a shake with protein and carbs
When your session ends you have a 20-minute window to get some high-quality nutrition into your muscles to help them recover and grow stronger ahead of your next workout. Research from the University of Texas found that downing a carb and protein-based drink immediately after a workout helped subjects restore muscle energy levels far faster than those who took on either just protein or just carbs. Aim for a mix of 4g of carbs to every 1g of protein.
3 - Power shower
Once in the shower, alternate between hot and cold water in 30-second bursts. A study in the International Journal Of Sports Medicine reported that cyclists who alternated between bursts of hot and cold water performed better in subsequent sprint and time trials compared to those subjects who recovered with hot water. So next time you hit the showers don't be scared of the cold tap.
via mensfitness.co.uk
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Eat when you are stressed?
what?
why?
check out this great article from stressfocus.com
http://ping.fm/cAFnK
what?
why?
check out this great article from stressfocus.com
http://ping.fm/cAFnK
Getting back into the swing of things
Remember it is never too late to start back on the path. I'm taking a new step myself down an old path by putting my mixed music online. Who knows if it will get me anything, if people will like it. None of that matters because it's a passion of mine and if you can put your heart into something it will lead you right.