Strength Training #2

A little more about endurance versus strength. Muscle are made up of different fibers, two of which are what are called fast twitch and slow twitch.

Fast twitch fibers can exert a great amount of force (needed for muscle strength). However, these fibers lack endurance, they fatigue easily. Just to give you the idea, someone who is a competitive power lifter, can lift a weight so heavy that only 1 rep can be performed.

Slow twitch fibers are those needed for endurance. While these fibers are not capable of exerting a great amount of force, they can sustained repeated contractions over a long period of time. An example of the use of this fiber is the long distance runner, or someone who is lifting a very light weight and can do a very high number of reps.

So the bottom line is to vary your exercise routine - one day use lighter weights and go for endurance. The next time use heavier weights and go for strength.

Strength Training

I'll be giving your a few tips about strength training over the next few days.

To get the most out of your workout, more is not necessarily better. To obtain the best results in strength training, chose a weight that fatigues the muscle by the time you reach the end of the set. The higher the number of repetitions the greater the muscular endurance, while the lower the number of reps the more strength is gained.

My formula for a simple set is to start with 12 reps, wait 1 minute then do 10 reps, wait 1 minute then do 8 reps, wait 1 minute then do 6 reps, wait 1 minute then do 24 reps. At the end of the 24 reps the muscle should be fatigued if the weight if heavy enough.

Birth Control Pills and Muscle

If you're on birth control pills and trying to build muscle, you might want to consider the following. Researchers found that women taking birth control pills had higher levels of catabolic hormones which tend to destroy muscle. The anabolic hormones are the ones that build muscle. Women not taking the pill and put through identical 10 week courses of resistance training added more than 60 percent more muscle mass than those on the birth control pill.

So if you are working on building muscle and not seeing much result, are you taking birth control pills?

How the Nutrients Work When Your Engine is Running #1

Normally the nutrients that I mentioned over the past week circulate in the blood stream and go where they are needed. One of the things that we require to do anything is power or energy. When your muscles start to work, they require energy. Energy can be supplied by glucose which is either stored in your muscles as glycogen or it can be brought to the muscle via the blood.

In order for your body to convert the glucose into energy, the body must also supply oxygen, which comes via the blood stream.

Nutrients That Make Your Body Work #2

The second important nutrient for your body to hum along in good shape is protein. Proteins are the primary building blocks of the blood, skin, hair, nails, organs, and muscles. We require 22 different amino acids, eight of which our bodies cannot produce and we must ingest these in order to have them available in our systems.

Proteins are essential for growth, body building and tissue repair. We also use proteins for fuel when carbs and fat supplies are inadequate. Proteins are what help us maintain and repair muscles and bones.

Exercise Muscle and Fat

So if you stop exercising does muscle turn into fat? Understand that muscle and fat are two entirely different tissues and one cannot become the other. What does happen when you stop exercising is that the caloric intake of food that is not needed to sustain the current demand for energy is stored in the fat cells. Muscles that are not worked regularly, will begin to atrophy or decrease in size, requiring less calories to maintain them.

Your goal is to maintain a higher ratio of muscle to fat. To do this, you need regular activity or exercise that is consistent and has an intensity to maintain the muscle mass. To increase intensity, increase the work load, the number of repetitions or the speed of the movement. You can also try some new type of activity. Most important is to find an activity or exercise that you enjoy, or you will not stay motivated to do it.

From a diet perspective, eat more fruits and vegetables. These are ususally the lacking components in most diets. Remember to get some protein with every meal, but really increase fruits and vegetables.

Fitness Myths and Facts

There are some myths out there around diet and exercise. One of these myths is that we gain body fat as we age and that this is an inevitable fact. While our metabolism does slow down slightly after age 40, the reason that we see people gaining weight after age 40 is not because they are aging. The reason is that those who are gaining weight after 40 do so because they decrease or have no exercise in their life. This will lead to a decrease in muscle mass and an increase in fat mass over time. Incidentally, this decrease in muscle mass and exercise also resulting in a decrease in bone strength as well.

The less muscle mass and bone mass that we have, the fewer calories that we need. Most people do not decrease their caloric intake until they reach their late 80s or 90s. It's interesting, that most people who live into their 90s are not particularly obese. This is because if they were obese earlier in their life and did not do anything about it, they don't live into their 90s.

So to live longer, you want to live stronger. Start now to increase your metabolism with some resistance training at least 2-3 times a week. This will help ward off the osteoporosis issue and increase the muscle mass. Be sure to work all the major muscle groups, legs, arms, back chest and shoulder. Remember that the area that the body tends to deposit fat as we age is in the middle or abdominal area, so keeping this area strong will do a great deal to help you live long and strong.

Exercise and Insulin

Whether you are a diabetic or not, one of the things that you may not be aware of is the effect of exercise on insulin. Exercise increases the bodies sensitivity to insulin. In Type I diabetics (these folks are insulin dependent because their pancreas has stopped working to produce insulin), the more you exercise the less insulin you will need to inject. Part of this is in fact due to the amount of muscle in comparison to fat. The more muscle the more efficient the body is with it's use of insulin and the less you will need. In Type II diabetics (these are folks who may become insulin dependent, but usually start out on oral medications), the same is true, but the difference is that Type II diabetics are over weight and need to lose some weight. As they begin to exercise and change the amount of muscle in comparison to fat, they become less dependent on medications. Type II diabetics can often get off of oral medicines and regulate their disease with diet, once they lose weight.

Even if you are not a diabetic, exercise does increase the sensitivity to insulin. This is a good thing not a bad thing. It will just help you metabolize glucose more efficiently.

Bounce in Your Life

I've talked about bouncing before, but there is evidence that supports why bouncing is important to the health of your body. Bouncing exercises not only strengthen muscles, but also strengthen organs and all cells in the body.

Bouncing works against gravitational pull and creates a G-force that is 2-3 times that of you standing still. This results in every cell having to lift more weight. If you are using a trampoline (not required, used as a demonstration here), the weight of a 200 pound man doubles when he startes upward in the bounce. At the top of the bounce the weight is 0. But you're doubling the weight in the upward movement. This was demonstrated with astronauts who were going to be going into weightless situations and needed to maintain their muscle mass and strength. The extra weight causes all of the cells to react and work harder. Breathing is critical here because the cells will also have an increased demand for oxygen. Increasing the oxygen through deeper breaths also assists organ to be healthier by providing more oxygen so that they can become more efficient in their function.

Muscle and Cortisol

There has been a lot of talk about cortisol and how it increases fat stores, especially in the abdomen. What you may not know is that cortisol can actually destroy muscle fibers. A study done with women taking contraceptives and those not, completing 10 weeks resistance training with an exercise physiologist, demonstrated a significant difference in these 2 groups. The women who were taking contraceptives, showed higher levels of cortisol and gained far less muscle mass.

Women who were not taking contaceptives had 60% more muscle mass. So if you are taking contraceptives and wondering why you are not gaining muscle mass, are you taking contraceptives?

Building Muscle

To build muscle you need to be eating some protein. The form of the protein is not as important as you just getting the protein. For example, a great source of protein is eggs, especially eggs from free range chickens. This particular source of protein contains conjugated linoleic acid(CLA) which is necessary for the body to form good muscle.

I know I've written about this before, but I think it never hurts to hear it again. If you are beginning an exercise routine, then be sure that you are getting adequate amounts of protein which contains CLA. The best source for supplemental CLA is here.

Eventhough you may take a supplemental CLA, it is still important to eat protein. This doesn't have to be beef, but be sure that you have a good source.