Top 5 Reasons to Strength Train
March 22, 2010
1. Builds Muscle – Muscle is metabolically active tissue and is the most expensive tissue in the body to preserve.
2. Reduces risk of Osteoporosis – Weight loading will increase of bone density. The constant loading will stimulate bone cells to lay down more bone tissue which will prevent brittle bones.
3. Builds Confidence – The sense of achievement when you are able to move weight and be able to conduct certain activities without the fear of your muscles giving way will boost your confidence and give you a ‘Can-do’ attitude.
4. Increases Metabolism – Strength training increases your caloric burning capacity by up to four times after you have stopped weight training or cardiovascular training. Gilette et al (1994)
5. Enhances Functional Strength – Functional strength allows you to perform every day activities like lifting boxes of the ground, shelving boxes and pushing carts and trolleys. These daily activities will become much easier and also a lot more safer if functional strength is enhanced.
How much more reason do you need to exercise? The science is there, the research is there. The only thing that is not is your body. So it is time to get a move on and start lifting.
Benefits of Interval Training
March 20, 2010
Exercise less with interval training March 3, 2010
Cycling and running are two common ways to undertake interval training but rowing and swimming may also work. People who complain they have no time to exercise may soon need another excuse. Some experts say intense exercise sessions could help people squeeze an entire week’s workout into less than an hour. Those regimens – also called interval training – were originally developed for Olympic athletes and thought to be too strenuous for normal people.
But in recent years, studies in older people and those with health problems suggest many more people might be able to handle it. If true, that could revolutionise how health authorities advise people to exercise – and save millions of people hours in the gym every week.
It is also a smarter way to exercise, experts say. “High-intensity interval training is twice as effective as normal exercise,” said Jan Helgerud, an exercise expert at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. “This is like finding a new pill that works twice as well … we should immediately throw out the old way of exercising.”
Studies on intense training have been published in sports medicine journals and have largely been based on young, healthy people. Experts say more studies are needed on how older and less fit populations handle this type of exercise before it can be recommended more widely.
Intense interval training means working very hard for a few minutes, with rest periods between sets. Experts have mostly tested people running or biking, but other sports like rowing or swimming should also work. Helgerud recommends people try four sessions lasting four minutes each, with three minutes of recovery time in between.
Unless you’re an elite athlete, it shouldn’t be an all-out effort. “You should be a little out of breath, but you shouldn’t have the obvious feeling of exhaustion,” Helgerud said. The Australian health department recommends about 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on most, preferably all days. Those guidelines target a mostly sedentary section of the population and are intended to help with weight control and heart health, not boosting fitness levels, increasing strength or endurance. Some experts have cautioned that ordinary people shouldn’t substitute their regular exercise routine for intense training.
“There isn’t enough evidence to say people should do one or the other,” said Gary O’Donovan, a sports and exercise expert at the University of Exeter. “Any bout of exercise has the potential to improve your blood pressure or lower your cholesterol, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be intense.” Still, O’Donovan said more intense exercise would probably produce better benefits. Helgerud says the time people spend in the gym could be slashed dramatically if they did interval training instead. He said officials have been too afraid of recommending intense training for fear it would be too much for some people. “I’m much more afraid of people not exercising at all,” he said. “Inactivity is what’s killing us.” When compared to people on a normal exercise routine, like jogging, research has shown those doing interval training can double their endurance, improve their oxygen use and strength by more than 10 per cent and their speed by at least 5 per cent.
Even studies in the elderly and in heart patients found they had better oxygen use and fitness after doing interval training. Still, experts advise people to consult a doctor before starting any fitness program.
For Adamson Nicholls, a 36-year-old Londoner and martial arts enthusiast, interval training is a way to boost his endurance so he can outlast sparring opponents. “It’s a shortcut to explosive fitness,” he said, adding the training resulted in snappier and heavier punches. Using interval training, Nicholls got into top shape last year in about six weeks with weekly 45-minute sessions. He estimates the same level would have taken about three months via regular training. Experts say that’s because intense bursts of activity are precisely what the body needs to build stronger muscles.
Traditional workouts lasting an hour or more simply don’t push the body enough. “A lot of the (benefits) from exercise are due to a stress response,” said Stephen Bailey, a sports sciences expert at the University of Exeter. “If you disturb your muscles, there’s an imbalance created and your body will start signaling pathways that result in adjustments.” Bailey said intense bursts of exercise help the body to convert one type of muscle fibre into another type that uses oxygen more efficiently and is capable of exercising a lot longer.
Even though interval training only takes a few minutes, its effects last for hours. “You’ve exercised at such a high intensity that you’re going to create a massive disturbance in your muscles,” Bailey said. That creates a higher metabolism for several hours afterward, which the body will bring down by burning fat and carbohydrates. “This is definitely the way forward to save time on your exercise,” Nicholls said. “The results are worth it.”
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Interval training is not a new concept. It has been around for ages. It is highly effective and will promote strength and cardiovascular fitness if the programs are designed accordingly.
I use concepts of interval training all the time with my clients and it is the most effective and quickest way to shift weight and improve fitness.
Long gone are the long hours in the gym working out to burn off that cake or beer. In is the more fast and effective way to get everything in in under one hour.
Save yourself some time. Get in, get out, get worked.
Interval Based WorkoutsTry them out.
Overweight Cops Getting Lap-Band!?
March 19, 2010
TAXPAYERS are helping to pay for overweight cops to have radical gastric-banding stomach surgery as part of a WA Police fat-busting initiative.
The Sunday Times can reveal that top brass and the Police Union have agreed to pay up to $2000 towards lap-banding operations for obese officers in a bid to counter chronic illnesses.
Several officers, mostly frontline and traffic police, have already undergone the surgery, the WA Police Union confirmed yesterday.
The expenditure coincides with drastic State Government ordered belt-tightening, which has seen frontline officers stripped of 115 mobile phones, more than 80 police motorcycles sold off and the police fleet slashed by 50 vehicles after a directive to reduce car costs by 10 per cent.
Under laparoscopic gastric banding surgery, a band, similar to the size of a wristwatch, is fastened around the upper stomach to create a small pouch which restricts the amount of food that can be consumed. Operations generally cost about $6000.
Public Health Association of Australia president Mike Daube slammed the move, saying he was shocked that police, who were meant to be among the fittest and most active members of society, would be candidates for obesity surgery.”If police officers are so obese that they need gastric banding surgery, they’re not going to be very effective coppers,” said Prof Daube, a former WA Health Department director-general. “We need our police to be fit, not fat.”
But WA Police executive director Greg Italiano defended the initiative, saying the subsidy was a worthwhile investment in improving the health of police officers who were suffering obesity-related chronic illness and would inevitably save the force money.
Under the new agreement, the force will reimburse half the cost of the procedure, to a maximum of $2000. If the officer has private health insurance cover, the gap between any refund or reimbursement up to $2000 will be paid.
To qualify for the subsidy, a comprehensive health or treatment plan must be established by the officer’s doctor and provided to the WA Police health and welfare department.
WA police officers are not subjected to compulsory or regular fitness tests, although most major police stations have gyms.
“Under the current EBA WA police officers are entitled to up to 168 sick leave days a year (with a medical certificate) and the agency also bears the cost of work and most non-work related medical expenses,” Mr Italiano said.
“If we can assist in improving the health of officers suffering from obesity-related health problems, we believe we will ultimately reduce total sick leave days, decrease overall medical costs and maximise the number of operationally deployable police officers.”WA Police Union president Russell Armstrong yesterday applauded the initiative.
“We are extremely happy,” he said. “There have been people who have had the surgery and they have lost a huge amount of weight.
“Some people have said to me: ‘They should go out and go to a gym or whatever’, but these people just can’t diet, they just can’t lose weight. Some people will criticise, but there’s not that many (officers) who are obesely overweight.”It’s a certain few and they’re the ones who have obviously tried to diet over the years and just can’t do it and as a last resort they go to their specialist and they have the lap-banding done.”
Treasurer Troy Buswell declined to comment, but Police Minister Rob Johnson said: “Anything that can improve the health of our police officers and return them to the frontline is a step in the right direction”.
“I think there will be a cost benefit as it will reduce the number of officers on sick leave and return them to the frontline, where they will be more productive.”
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There is a serious problem in the mix of things if we are going to have to pay for this. Short cuts should not be taken with this surgery. A more long term solution should be sought with proper lifestyle modifications and at the workplace as well.
Get them active and exercising again. It is that simple.
A majority of us in the fitness indsutry are giggling about how this matter has been resolved, particularly because it is a joke.
Is it logical to take the short cut?
Can we have more of a say of how our tax dollars are being spent?
Is this ‘band-aid’ over the solution the best action to take?
Start trainin’, stop complainin’.
Bjorn Voon
