Is Aerobic or Anaerobic Training Best For Getting Rid of Belly Fat?
Lose belly fat fast and improve your health by doing strength training and high-intensity intervals. Compelling research shows that the BEST way to get rid of the belly fat is to train with hard but short bursts of exercise, a style that taps into the anaerobic energy system more than the aerobic.
There is overwhelming evidence that belly fat loss is best achieved when exercise is with a high, but varied intensity, and a relatively large volume. However, this does not mean you have to spend hours and hours a day killing yourself in the gym. Less than an hour a few days a week can produce dramatic fat loss if you do it right.
This article will tell you why you burn more fat when you favor anaerobic-style training and give you eight reasons to favor this style of training by lifting weights and doing sprints rather than spending hours on aerobic exercise.
#1: Burn More Belly Fat with Sprint Intervals
A large number of convincing studies show that high-intensity interval training is the best conditioning strategy for losing belly fat. In contrast, one research group that has conducted a number of experiments comparing aerobic and anaerobic training for belly fat loss write, “Disappointingly, aerobic exercise protocols have led to negligible fat loss.”
The reason anaerobic interval training works so much better is that it requires the body to adapt metabolically—your body is forced to burn fat to sustain the level of intensity being asked of it. It also elevates energy use for more than 24 hours post-workout, which has a dramatic effect on belly fat loss.
For example, a 2008 showed that a 6-week program increased the amount of fat burned during exercise by 12 percent and decreased the oxidation of carbohydrates—obviously, a favorable result for losing fat. More impressive, a 2007 study showed that in as little as 2 weeks, active women who performed interval training experienced a 36 percent increase in the use of fat for fuel during exercise.
Interval training is so effective for fat loss because it taps into different energy pathways than aerobic exercise. Simply, aerobic exercise tends to burn carbohydrates first and activate pathways that are degrading to muscle, whereas high-intensity exercise such as weight lifting and sprinting will burn a greater percentage of fat, enhance the body’s production of enzymes involved in fat breakdown, and activate pathways that lead to muscle development.
The other reason anaerobic intervals are superior for belly fat loss is that they increase excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) a huge amount. A 2006 review showed that protocols that are more anaerobic in nature produce higher EPOC values than steady-state aerobic training because the trained muscle cells must rest restore physiological factors in the cells, which translates to a lot of energy expenditure.
#2: Lose Belly Fat With Sprint Intervals: The Proof
The following are examples of the superiority of anaerobic interval training for belly fat loss from the research:
• A 12-week high-intensity interval training program produced a 17 percent decrease in belly fat in overweight young men. Subjects lost 1.5 kg of belly fat and 2 kg of total fat, while building 1 kg of muscle. Fat burning was increased by 13 percent due to the 3-day a week program of 20-minutes of cycling in which the subjects sprinted for 8 seconds and then did 12 seconds of recovery, repeating these intervals for a total of 60 sprints.
• The same 20-minute cycling interval program produced 2.5 kg of fat loss in young women in 15 weeks, and the majority of the fat loss come from the legs and abdominal area. The sprint intervals were compared to a steady-state aerobic program that produced no fat loss.
• A 16-week study had trained athletes perform either a sprint interval protocol or steady-state running four days a week. The sprint interval protocol varied each day, but an example of one of the workouts used was 10 intervals of 30-sec sprints with 90 seconds rest. The sprint interval group lost 16 percent or 1 kg of visceral fat as well as 2 kg of total fat, compared to the endurance group that lost no belly fat, but did lose 1.4 kg of lean mass. The belly fat loss appears to be small, but be aware that subjects were lean, trained athletes to begin with and had less belly fat to lose than overweight subjects.
• An 8-week interval program using both high- and moderate-intensity intervals decreased belly fat by 44 percent in middle-aged men with type 2 diabetes. Subjects increased quad muscle size by 24 percent and improved insulin sensitivity by 58 percent—a dramatic improvement that highlights the other mechanisms involved in belly fat loss (muscle building, insulin health & blood sugar management).
#3: Sprints Take Less Time than Aerobic Exercise
Not only do sprints help you lose MORE belly fat, they help you lose it FASTER and with LESS training time. Repeatedly, studies show that more fat loss is achieved in high-intensity programs that use 20 to 25 minutes of training time than those that use 45 or 50 minutes of aerobic training time.
Scientists write that anaerobic intervals are overwhelmingly preferable to aerobics for producing belly fat loss, and that the estimated optimal dose of aerobic exercise necessary to lose belly fat appears to be 3,780 calories expended per week. This is an enormous volume of exercise that would require 1 hour of moderate intensity aerobic cycling 7 days a week to burn 550 calories a day so that you could lose even a pound a week!
In less than half the time you can get better results with anaerobic training. A 1994 study is indicative of this: Participants did either 20 weeks of aerobic training or 15 weeks of intervals (15 sprints for 30 seconds each) and lost nine times more body fat and 12 percent more visceral belly fat than the aerobic group.
What is so interesting about this study is that the energy cost of the aerobic program over the whole study period was 28,661 calories, whereas for intervals it was less than half, at 13,614 calories. In less time, the interval group lost much more weight—nine times more weight. How do researchers explain it?
Aside from greater fat oxidation and higher EPOC, hormone response plays a major role…
#4: Sprints Improve Hormone Response for More Belly Fat Loss
Sprint intervals and anaerobic exercise in general improve your entire endocrine system. Both training modes enhance the cells’ sensitivity to insulin, making anaerobic training a successful treatment for diabetes.
Perhaps most important, anaerobic exercise also elevates growth hormone (GH) —a powerful fat burning hormone that helps restore tissue and build muscle—much more than aerobic training. GH is released by the body in greater quantities in response to physical stress above the lactate threshold, which is the reason heavy, sprints are so effective.
Another hormone called adiponectin that is released from fat tissue during exercise also helps burn fat. Emerging scientific evidence shows that any time you perform forceful muscle contractions, adiponectin is released, and then your body produces a substance called PGC1 that is like a “master switch” that enhances muscle and metabolic functions, thereby burning belly fat. Naturally, anaerobic training is most effective for increasing adiponectin and PGC1 to burn fat since sprints and especially weight lifting require extremely forceful muscle contractions.
#5: Strength Train to Lose Belly Fat
To get a lean, trim your midsection and lose belly fat, you need to strength train with a high volume, using large muscle groups, and short rest periods. This metabolically intense type of training is fantastic for increasing GH and aiding belly fat loss. This doesn’t mean you have to spend hours and hours a day killing yourself in the gym!
You will get results from a resistance training program that includes the following components:
• Multi-joint lifts such as squats, deadlifts, lunges, split squats, step-ups, chin-ups, and chest presses in every training session. Add isolation exercises only if you have extra time.
• Train with a higher volume—work up to more than 4 sets per exercise. Shoot for 24 to 32 total sets per training session.
• Train with a higher intensity—include some training in the 70 to 85 percent of the 1RM range.
• Include short rest periods (30 to 60 seconds) and always train a “finisher” that requires near maximal effort for more GH response (25 reps of squats or 2 minutes of leg presses, for example).
• Count tempo for every lift so that you apply a specific amount of tension to the muscles. In general, opt for longer (4 second) eccentric tempos and short or explosive concentric tempos.
• Shoot for 3 to 4 hours of total training time per week, which includes resistance training and a few short sprint sessions.
#6: Anaerobic Training Produces Less Cortisol For More Belly Fat Loss
Cortisol is the stress hormone that is elevated when you are under both physical and psychological stress. Research shows cortisol is chronically higher in endurance athletes—one study found that aerobic athletes had significantly higher evidence of cumulative cortisol secretion in their hair than controls.
In addition, cortisol is generally elevated more following aerobic training than anaerobic training. Part of this has to do with the fact that strength training and intervals do elevate cortisol, but they also elevate anabolic hormones such as GH and testosterone that counter the negative effects of cortisol.
If GH and testosterone are not elevated, cortisol overwhelms tissue, having a catabolic effect that leads to gradual muscle loss and fat gain. By doing aerobic training without strength training, you will lose muscle, lower your metabolic, rate, and gain fat. Worst of all, high cortisol causes chronic inflammation, which lead to belly fat gain over time—all-around bad news!
#7: Anaerobic Training Is More Fun & Less Boring than Aerobic Exercise
Intervals and strength training take less time and provide much more variety than aerobic training. Not only are you doing many different exercises in a strength training session, but you are pushing yourself to reach new personal bests. When you see how it can transform a fat belly into a lean, cut midsection, you will be that much more motivated to continue!
In addition, although sprint interval training can be mentally challenging, it only requires a short workout and many trainees find intervals less boring than endurance exercise. Plus, most people enjoy feeling powerful and fast from going all out. Get a training partner to help push you through the hard parts and know that by working hard but smart, you will reach your fat loss goal.
#8: Mix It Up with Modified Strongman, Varied Strength Protocols & Sprints
A few more anaerobic training suggestions include the following:
• Try modified strongman training: Do sled training, tire flips, and a heavy farmer’s walk to lose belly fat fast.
• Mix up strength training protocols with circuit training and supersets that use very short rest periods. For example, do supersets with 10 seconds rest when switching from the agonist to the antagonist exercise and 60 seconds between sets. Or, do a “death circuit” of heavy, high volume deadlifts followed by split squats followed by lighter high volume squats with 10 seconds rest between exercises.
• Try a sprint training workout in which you do 20 second all-out sprints with 10 seconds rest in 4 sets of 4 intervals. Rest 3 to 4 minutes between sets.
• Try hill or stair running in which you sprint up as fast as possible and jog down—repeat immediately. Do 8 to 16 reps.
• Try a sprint-endurance workout with six to eight 200-meter sprints (about 30 seconds each) with a 3 to 4 minute recovery.
Three Tips to Solve Obesity
Americans are some of the fattest people in the world with 33 percent considered obese and 68 percent classified as overweight, but obesity is a problem in many industrialized countries. The UK, Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand all have obesity rates over 20 percent.In the U.S., a quick snapshot of obesity trends show that women are slightly more likely to be obese than men, and 33 percent of children are classified as overweight before they reach the age of 5. People living below the poverty level are more likely to be obese than those above it, and people of color are more likely to be obese than Caucasians.
Why Are They Fat?
You Can’t Out-Train A Bad Diet
1) Aerobic exercise is not the ideal exercise mode for fat loss because it doesn’t increase muscle mass and does not raise metabolism significantly. The common policy solutions promoted by government health organizations to perform aerobic training will not solve the obesity epidemic.
3) Strength training is well known to improve the body’s sensitivity to insulin. Making the body more sensitive to insulin improves energy use, enhancing the metabolism.
Tip #1: Avoid A Calorie Approach to Fat Loss
Avoid the calorie approach to fat loss in favor of a lifestyle in which you eat a diet with a macronutrient profile that improves hormone and chemical transmitter response in the body so that you achieve optimal body composition. By eating more protein and fewer carbs you will increase metabolism, elevate hormone levels that keep your appetite in check, and help you feel physically and mentally sharp. There’s research to prove this, which I’ll get to below, but let’s get the calorie issue out of the way first.
Tip #2: Eat A High-Protein, Low-Carb Diet
Tip #3: Eat Smart Fats and Protein for Better Body Composition and Health
Obesity Statistics by Country. Nation Master. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
Vary the tempo of your lifts for maximum fat burning and strength results.
Vary the tempo of your lifts to lose fat and get more powerful. Manipulating tempo is an easy way to modify the amount of time your muscles spend under a load, making it one of the best tools to help you break through plateaus and drop a few pounds of fat.
A fascinating new study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research shows how varying tempo and load will produce very diverse physiological results. This study compared the effect of performing the upright seated bench press on power, work output, exercise time, energy burned, and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) using the following four protocols performed to failure:
• Muscular endurance, 55 percent 1RM with a 4141 tempo
• Fast Force endurance, 55 percent 1RM with an explosive tempo
• Maximum Strength, 85 percent 1RM with an explosive tempo
• Hypertrophy, 70 percent 1RM with a 2121 tempo
(Here is a quick description of tempos :
The first and third are the amount of time it takes you to perform the eccentric and concentric portions of the exercise, respectively. The second and fourth are the number of seconds you are advised to pause after. So 2010 requires a 2 second eccentric portion (lowering the weight), no pause at the bottom, a one second concentric portion and no pause at the top.
the ‘X’ implies you perform the action as fast as possible with good form. You typically see this on the concentric (raising the weight) portion of an exercise. )
Results showed that the Fast Force protocol resulted in the greatest power output, followed by the Maximum Strength protocol—a finding that is not surprising since those exercise trials were performed explosively and the others used a controlled, deliberate tempo. Maximum possible velocity and loads in the 30 to 60 percent of the 1RM range will always produce greater output than restricted lifting speed or heavy loads. Still, the fact that the Maximum Strength trial produced the second greatest power output also supports the inclusion of heavy load training for power—it’s not that one tempo is always best, but that you must vary tempo to achieve optimal results.
The Fast Force protocol also resulted in much greater work to be performed than all other protocols. The Maximum Strength protocol was second in work output, but this protocol took the shortest amount of time to complete (only 30 seconds) compared to the Muscular Endurance, which was longest in 105 seconds. The Fast Force and Hypertrophy trials both took about 64 seconds.
Considering that energy is related to the ability to perform work, it can be concluded that the Fast Force protocol requires the highest energy cost, or for practical purposes, it results in the greatest calorie burn. However, the Maximum Strength protocol provides the greatest energy burn for the amount of time spent lifting, again highlighting the value of tempo variation.
One interesting point made by the researchers is that in the Hypertrophy protocol, the amount of work performed was similar to that of the Maximum Strength trial, but the Hypertrophy protocol took much longer to complete, indicating that building muscle is a result of longer exercise duration and the subsequent physiological and metabolic responses produced, rather than mechanical work.
The last thing you should be aware of is that all the tempo protocols produced similar EPOC, which refers to the amount of calories burned following the workout due to an elevated metabolism. Although EPOC was similar, you would achieve best fat loss and body composition by using similar time under tension as with the Fast Force and Maximum Strength protocols since these used the most energy during training, and EPOC can be maximized with higher loads or greater work.
Reference
Buitago, S., Wirtz, N., et al. Mechanical Load and Physiological Responses of Four Different Resistance Training Methods in Bench Press Exercise. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2012. Published Ahead of Print.
Why the Calorie Approach to Weight Loss Doesn’t Work
Restricting calories to lose weight over the long term is more detrimental to your metabolism because it will turn your body into a hormone-induced hunger machine. A study in the New England Journal of Medicinefound that after putting overweight individuals on a ten-week calorie-restricted diet of 550 calories a day, they experienced elevated levels of the hormones ghrelin, which stimulates hunger, and gastric inhibitory polypeptide, which promotes fat storage. Leptin, a hormone that suppresses hunger and boosts fat burning, was profoundly reduced after the ten-week diet and stayed that way for the duration of the one-year study.Take note that after the ten-week diet, participants lost 30 pounds, but due to the way they had severely altered their metabolic hormone responses to food by restricting calories, they regained an average of 15 pounds in the next year.
The Thermic Effect of Food: Calories Are Stupid
A number of mainstream media outlets incorrectly (or stupidly) took the results of a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association proclaiming, “It’s the calories, stupid” that dictate body composition and weight gain. A close look at the study clarifies the misinterpretation and tells us exactly the opposite: it’s primarily the macronutrient content of the food you eat that dictates body composition, but if you overeat every day, then you will get fat.
The study compared the effect of overeating on body composition and fat gain from diets with three different protein contents. The thermic effect of the different diets was also measured, which is the amount of calories required to break down food, synthesize enzymes, and perform metabolic processes.
Participants ate either 5, 15, or 25 percent of their diet from protein with a whopping extra 954 calories a day for eight weeks. All the diets consisted of well over 3,000 calories a day and the macronutrient content was as follows:
All three groups gained the same amount of fat from the overeating—about 3.5 kg. The normal- and high-protein diet groups actually gained 0.2 kgs less than the low-protein group, but this was not statistically significant. What was most interesting was that the low-protein diet group gained the least total body weight because along with the 3.5 kg of fat gain, they lost almost a kilogram of muscle mass. The lack of amino acid building blocks in the diet put them into a severely catabolic, fat-storing state.In comparison, the normal-protein diet group gained 2.9 kg of muscle mass and the high-protein diet group gained 3.4 kg of muscle. Therefore, along with the nearly 3.5 kg of fat they gained, the normal- and high-protein diets did produce more weight gain. But, from a body composition viewpoint, the normal- and high-protein diets were better even though participants gained more total weight than the low-protein group because their percentage of body fat went down.
Most significant, this study shows the extreme variation in the amount of calories burned on a daily basis from eating different proportions of macronutrients. The resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the amount of calories burned at rest during the day, and it’s highly influenced by dietary makeup and the thermic effect of food. The group that ate the low-protein diet experienced a 2 percent drop in their metabolic rate, meaning they burned less calories each day just from eating a low-protein diet.In contrast, the normal- and high-protein diets increased RMR by 11 percent in response to the higher protein intake. This meant that by eating more protein, more of the energy consumed was turned into lean mass, and only about 50 percent of the energy consumed was turned into fat. Researchers estimate that more than 90 percent of the energy consumed in the low-protein group was turned into fat.
Whole and Processed Calories Aren’t the Same Either
A second study shows that the RMR and the thermic effect of eating whole foods is much higher than if you ate the exact same amount of calories from processed foods. This study compared the effect of a whole foods meal with a processed foods meal that contained equal calories and equal macronutrient content.
The thermic effect of the whole food meal was almost double that of the processed food meal. Participants burned 50 percent more calories after eating whole foods! Equally significant is that the participants who ate the processed food meal had their metabolic rates drop below their average RMR during the fourth hour after eating, while the whole food meal group never fell below the RMR. Also the duration of elevated energy expenditure from digestion in the whole food meal group lasted an hour longer than the processed food group.
Still Not Convinced? Check Out What Happened to the Pima Indians
The Pima Indians, natives of Arizona, provide a classic example of how body composition is affected by much more than just the amount of calories ingested each day. The Pima Indians have genotypically evolved eating a low number of calories, primarily from fish, small game, and foods they gathered. As early as 1901, a new “obesity epidemic” was evident among the Pima.
Local scientists who lived in the region were stumped as to why this indigenous group that had previously been “tall and sinewy” were now plagued by widespread obesity. More recent analysis has shown that shortly after the Pima came in contact with white settlers and adopted their foods—both foods that they began to grow such as corn, beans, potatoes, and processed foods like sugar, bread, and eventually soda—obesity became very common as did type 2 diabetes.
Analysis of changes in the Pima diet shows that the Pima were not overeating or ingesting more calories than previously when they adopted the “white man’s” diet of sugar, bread, starchy foods, eggs, and beef rather than fish and small game. Nor was their caloric intake greater than the amount of energy they burned on a daily basis. Rather, the Pima were eating the wrong type of calories for their genotype and it was causing a hormonal response that led to fat gain and diabetes.
For optimal body composition, the solution to any remaining confusion about how to adopt a diet for fat loss is to understand the following:
Christmas training calender: 19th December 2011, Day 18
Flaming carol singers everywhere….AGGGHH!!!
If i hear ding dong merrily again, I’m going to go crazy…these songs are in my head continuously!!!
Therefore I’ve had to and I’m sorry but today’s session is based on the 12 days of Christmas….cheesy i know but i have to get this out of my system.
Warm up:
5 – 10min: be as dynamic as possible, work through all your joints, moving in as many planes of movement as possible.
i.e multi-directional lunges, some jops (cross between hop and jogging, google it), some press ups, chin ups and ab work.
The 12 Days of Christmas Main session:
1. Bear Crawl (about 30-40 feet and back)
2. Inchworms (with push-ups)
3. Renegade Rows (3 on each side)
4. Russian Twists (4 per side)
5. Floppy Burpees
6. Double Unders (or 18 single jump ropes)
7. Pullover Sit-ups
8. Dips
9. Box Jumps (or 9 step-ups per side as a mod)
10. Walking Lunges (10 per side- optional with weight)
11. Suicide Push-ups (11 total, not per side)
12. Weighted Squat Jumps (weight is optional)
Then…after the 12-Days of Christmas, there is a one mile run to top it off!
Please feel free to sing this out loud when your training today…..it will help cleanse the soul!!!!
oh and by the way……
Boring disclaimer part.
Here at RE:Born we advise everyone before entering a new exercise programme to get a full health assessment and sign off by the GP, reborn also accept no responsibility of anyone suffering from injury, illness or shear stupidity to hurt themselves with these basic exercises)
Pure water, as NATURE intented…WHY YOU MUST FILTER YOUR WATER.
WATER WATER EVERYWHERE…..should you drink it, or should you despair?
Well if its regular tap water or most bottled waters then the latter is the option every time.
Today is rest day from training, so i thought it apt to have a chat to you guys about hydration, and yes i know you have heard it probably a thousands times… so here it is for the thousand and first.
You NEED to stay hydrated… Most people are grossly dehydrated, and not only are people grossly dehydrated but also as a general public we are taking in over 40 harmful chemicals everyday from their tap water.
The tap water supplied to us today may have been treated to avoid contamination by certain water-borne organisms, but could also contain a whole host of potentially toxic chemicals as well as chlorine- resistant parasites. In fact, apart from chlorine addition and in some areas, fluoride, drinking water is often treated with other chemicals such as salts of aluminum, and may also contain other heavy-metal deposits.
This does not include the hundreds of tons of drugs that are flushed away every day in our toilets from urine only to re-emerge in our recycled drinking water system. It is estimated that the average glass of London drinking water has already passed through at least 15 other human bodies! Pharmaceutically manufactured drugs such as Prozac and the contraceptive pill are two of the most common organic compounds which may be found in city tap water, the effects of which have already been reported in the press.
Here also is a list of some of the other chemicals found in UK tap waters.
Aluminium Sulphate - Aluminium Sulphate can sometimes be found in tap water.
Heavy Metal Deposits - Small levels of metals such as Mercury, Cadmium and in some areas Arsenic & Lead can sometimes be found in tap water. These are leftover contamination from industrial effluent, leakages, spillages and left over from The Industrial Revolution.
Nitrates - especially in agricultural areas, the high levels of chemical fertilisers used on crops can enter local water supplies.
Herbicides & Pesticides - These are freely sprayed on crops and can leach out of soils into underground water sources.
Chlorine Resistant Parasites – Some Cysts including Cryptosporidium & Giardia can be resistant to the low lever of Chlorine in Tap Water. They can cause diarrhoea and vomiting as in the Cryptosporidium Outbreak in Northampton 2008.
Recycled pharmaceutical drugs - Hundreds of tons of drugs are flushed away every day in our toilets in urine, only to re-emerge in our recycled drinking water system. It is estimated that the average glass of London drinking water has already passed through at least 15 other human bodies! Pharmaceutically manufactured drugs such as Prozac and the contraceptive pill are two of the most common organic compounds found in city tap water.
Hormones – With millions of women on the pill and HRT relieving themselves into water supplies, and little attention paid to filtration of the hormone, recycled tap water has become a very risky.
Plastic bottled water doesn´t help either. Indeed, plastic packaging on all drinks and food stuffs leaches phthalates, which are ´oestrogen mimics´ into the food and drink in varying quantities. Plastics can also leach BisPhenol A, a chemical now banned in certain countries – it comes in bottles, dummies, babies´ feeding bottles and even plastic toys.
Chlorine – Chlorine is found in tap water as a means of water treatment. Chlorine can also react with organic compounds in tap water to produce THMs (trihalomethanes). It can vaporise in hot water to become steam during bathing & showering.
Fluoride. – Sodium Fluoride (Hexafluorosilicic Acid – H2SiF6) is added to tap water in large parts of the UK.
So now that I’ve scared you all, let me highlight a few reason why you should stay hydrated.
Energy: Suboptimal hydration slows the activity of enzymes, including those responsible for producing energy, leading to feelings of fatigue.
Digestion: Our bodies produce an average of 7 liters of digestive juices daily. When we don’t drink enough liquid, our secretions are more limited and the digestive process is inhibited.
Regularity: As partially digested food passes through the colon, the colon absorbs excess liquid and transfers it to the bloodstream so that a stool of normal consistency is formed.
Blood Pressure: When we are chronically dehydrated, our blood becomes thicker and more viscous. Additionally, in response to reduced overall blood volume, the blood vessels contract.
Stomach Health: Under normal circumstances, the stomach secretes a layer of mucus (which is composed of 98 percent water) to prevent its mucus membranes from being destroyed by the highly acidic digestive fluid it produces.
Acid-Alkaline Balance: Dehydration causes enzymatic slowdown, interrupting important biochemical transformations, with acidifying results at the cellular level.
Weight Management: Feelings of thirst can be confused with hunger.
Dehydration a sure recipe for muscle tears and dysfunction.
Hydration is paramount to achieving healthy muscle tissue because a dehydrated muscle is like a piece of beef jerky, it has no elasticity and it had lost it’s suppleness and pliability.
Optimal hydration makes us not only feel and perform better, but I believe the muscular challenges we face today would probably not exist if we were optimally hydrated each and every day.
So what must we do?
Well there is only one option i believe, and that is to invest in a reverse osmosis water filter, i believe the best ones on the market are supplied from “THE WATER FILTER MAN“. Not only do these supply you with pure CLEAN drinking water, with the ability to remove chemicals as per the list below, but they also add alkalising salts, therefore giving you an anti-aging, anti-oxidant, oxygenating health drink and giving you body pure, filtered tap water daily.
Please take time to read my blog on alkalising and the importance of balancing your PH levels, to understand more on why this type of water filter is light-years ahead of the rest.
Here is the difference between your water and the water from a reverse osmosis water filter, clearly demonstrating the contaminated water we drink everyday in the uk.
I challenge you to start the day with a big glass of water, from a reverse osmosis filter, yes before your morning coffee and note the differences after 21 days!
BUY one of these filters today!!!!
Christmas training advent calender: 15th Dec 2011, Day 14
Time for a huge session I think….
Today you’re going to need to brace yourself for a full body, muscular endurance session.
We’ve got some running, some squatting, some pressing, some burping oh yeah some more running and some AB work…
So here goes.
Warm up:
5 – 10min: be as dynamic as possible, work through all your joints, moving in as many planes of movement as possible.
i.e multi-directional lunges, some jops (cross between hop and jogging, google it), some press ups, chin ups and ab work.
Main Session:
1/4 mile run
50 press ups
1/4 mile run
50 squats
1/4 mile run
50 burpees
1/4 mile run
50 jack knifes (25 each side)
1/4 mile run….by this time, if you’ve trained hard enough your legs should be something like this:
Boring disclaimer part.
Here at RE:Born we advise everyone before entering a new exercise programme to get a full health assessment and sign off by the GP, reborn also accept no responsibility of anyone suffering from injury, illness or shear stupidity to hurt themselves with these basic exercises)
Christmas training advent calender: 12th Dec 2011, Day 11
Time to get outside again and hit a tempo run, and why not, its absolutely gorgeous in Poole, Dorset.
So what is a Tempo run, also known as an anaerobic threshold (AT) run or lactate-threshold run, the tempo run was popularized by Jack Daniels, Ph.D., about a decade ago. Here’s his definition, taken from Daniels’ Running Formula (Human Kinetics): “A tempo run is nothing more than 20 minutes of steady running at threshold pace.” (He goes on to say that 20 minutes is ideal, but may be varied to suit the needs of a particular course.) Without getting too technical, threshold pace is the effort level just below which the body’s ability to clear lactate, a by-product of carbohydrate metabolism, can no longer keep up with lactate production. Daniels states that this pace is, for most people, about 25 to 30 seconds per mile slower than current 5K race pace.
Exercise physiologist and coach Pete Pfitzinger adds: “For very fit runners, the pace is between 15K and half-marathon race pace.” For those fond of using heart rate monitors, Daniels notes that tempo runs are done at 90% of maximum. However, most runners seem to find it easier to use running speed as a guide.
For those who have neither HRMs nor marked courses at their disposal, Daniels stresses that the effort associated with a tempo run should be “comfortably hard”—one that could be maintained for an hour in a race.
So bearing that al in mind, find your runners, hoody and ipod and get moving…….RUN HARD!!!!
Boring disclaimer part.
Here at RE:Born we advise everyone before entering a new exercise programme to get a full health assessment and sign off by the GP, reborn also accept no responsibility of anyone suffering from injury, illness or shear stupidity to hurt themselves with these basic exercises)
Christmas training advent calender: 10th Dec 2011, Day 9
Saturday afternoon its really cold, but very sunny in Sandbanks, Poole
So what better way to spend our time, but to bash out some serious full body, dynamic, plyometic work!!! OH yeah, bet you did think that was coming.
Today we’re just going to do two exercises (Well maybe three, if you count the first exercise as two)
So here goes, today session……..
Warm up:
5 – 10min: be as dynamic as possible, work through all your joints, moving in as many planes of movement as possible.
i.e multi-directional lunges, some jops (cross between hop and jogging, google it), some press ups, chin ups and ab work.
Main session:
27-21-15-9 reps of:
Burpee Pullups
Plyo Pushups
20″ box jumps.
AGGHH, burning quads and massive pump on lats, chest and arms….love it!!
Now time to stretch, go through a whole body stretch routine, inc. tris, bis, quads, hams, hip flexors, claves, lats etc etc, hold each stretch for a 90sec period.
All the best, see ya tomorrow.
Boring disclaimer part.
Here at RE:Born we advise everyone before entering a new exercise programme to get a full health assessment and sign off by the GP, reborn also accept no responsibility of anyone suffering from injury, illness or shear stupidity to hurt themselves with these basic exercises)
Christmas training advent calender: 7th Dec 2011, Day 6
On the 7th day of December my true love gave to me…….A brand new lovely foam roller!!!
Hooray to that, therefore today’s workout is all about spending some time mobilizing, flexing and releasing any tension and stresses in your body.
A quick note before we start on why we need to rid ourselves of stresses.
When you are mentally stressed and you keep trying to push your body physically during workouts (which is therefore applying more stress to your body), the straw that can break the camel’s back will eventually happen (please read drop a dress size re. Cortisol levels).
“Don’t train unless you can gain.”
This means that unless you can give 100% to your training session, you are wasting your time.
Remember this: you either get better or worse, you never stay the same. If this session is not going to make you better, then you need more rest and you should go for a massage, swim or walk along the beach, get fresh air and sunlight. I do anything to de-stress. Then when you arrive at your next session, you can then truly give it 100% and stimulate a result.
If you are going to be able to give 100% to the training session and get the results you deserve for your efforts, you must make sure you work at reducing stress in your life and improve your health.
AS you can see if it vital that we de-stress and relax as well.
OK lets get going, first all you guys need to do is, stay inside (thank god for that, its freezing in Poole), clear some floor space and get ready for a great mobility and flexibility vitalizer. follow this video, move by move, step by step.
WOW, i know i feel better now and ready for another training session tomorrow.
Boring disclaimer part.
Here at RE:Born we advise everyone before entering a new exercise programme to get a full health assessment and sign off by the GP, reborn also accept no responsibility of anyone suffering from injury, illness or shear stupidity to hurt themselves with these basic exercises)
Christmas training advent calender: 4th Dec 2011, Day 3
Unleash the animal within.
No not the roast dinner you’ve just munched through, your primal animal….primal movements is where its at.
So lets combine a couple for a great all body workout.
This routine assumes some serious base strength, so here are a couple of easier options to the below circuit. Substitute a plyo pressups (any pop of the hands off the ground is awesome) for the Aztec. You can do handstand push ups instead of the handstand walking (or wall holds). If you can’t do one arm push ups than you can use a standard press up.
Most important aspect though, is to let go of all inhibitions…be an animal, go on ROAR!, i know you want to.
Warm up: 5 – 10 minutes, taking it easy (run, skip, stair climb, get in the sauna, move move move!!!)
Main Session:
Rest as little as possible between exercises and rest 30-60 seconds between sets.
A1: Sprint – 3 x 50ft
A2: Aztec Push Up – 3 x 10
A3: Handstand Walk – 3 x 20ft
A4: Burpee – 3 x 10
A5: Headstand – 3 x 30-60sec
A6: Alternating 1-Arm Push Up – 3 x 5-10 each side.
Please post your time below in comments.
Boring disclaimer part.
Here at RE:Born we advise everyone before entering a new exercise programme to get a full health assessment and sign off by the GP, reborn also accept no responsibility of anyone suffering from injury, illness or shear stupidity to hurt themselves with these basic exercises)