Anaerobic Exercise and Metabolism

1. The King and Queen of Health and Fitness:
Nutritional and physical activity go hand in hand. The working body demands energy-yielding nutrients in order to build lean tissue.
Exercise requires the body to dip into its stores of fuel - namely, fat, and glycogen (sugar). By using up fat and building lean tissue, exercise pushes body-composition toward lean and thus, raises the body's rate of energy expenditure (metabolism).
To the contrary, a lack of exercise, or an "exercise deficiency" can lead to accelerated development of the diseases associated with sedentary life - cardiovascular disease, obesity, intestinal disorders, apathy, insomnia, accelerated bone loss, etc.

Make your exercise enjoyable.
Don’t know how? Have a fun custom designed program made just for you.
You will be much more likely to find time for things you enjoy.

Take a couple of days to write down how you spend your time everyday, and then determine how you can better use your time to fit in exercise. Don’t know how? Ask our life coach Jill, it’s what she does.

Visit with your spouse or friend while walking around the neighborhood rather than sitting on the couch. Taking a class or group coaching together is a great way to spend some quality time.

Muscle Tightness:

Muscle tightness, which has been associated with an increased risk of muscle tears, can be reduced before of after training or competing in sports with dynamic stretching. Competitive sport can have quite an unbalancing effect on the body. Take racket sports for example. The same arm is used to hit thousands of shots over and over again. One side of the body is placed under different types and levels of stress compared to the other. The same is true for sports like soccer where one kicking foot usually predominates. A flexibility program can help to correct these disparities preventing chronic, over-use injury.
Of course, a more flexible person is a more mobile person. It allows enhanced movement and dexterity. Some other benefits may include an increase in body awareness and a promotion of relaxation in muscle groups stretched - both of which may have positive implications for skill acquisition, performance and everyday movement.

Will I get bulky muscles if workout?

This is difficult to answer. Much depends on the nature of your workout and the parameters. Much will depend both on your genetics and the amount of testosterone in your body. Generally, if you do not want bulky muscles, it is easy to participate in a muscle toning program rather than a muscle building program.

Spend 30-45 minutes or so exercising on your lunch break. Pack a lunch, or better yet we can order one from many of the local restaurants around here and have it waiting for you after your shower.

Wake an hour earlier in the morning to exercise.
Try going to sleep a little earlier and getting up a little earlier to get your exercise done first thing in the morning.

Can I Touch a Calorie?:

Here's another confusing issue. Calories. Some think calories are something you remove or add to the diet. It's as if a calorie is an entity all in and of itself. This is false.
A calorie is a unit of measure. It's used to designate the body's energy requirements. The word calorie relates to the "combustion" or, to produce energy. By definition, a calorie is: The amount of heat required to raise a temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius.

Turn off the television at home and watch it here during your cardio.
The average adult spends 16 hours per week watching television. One of my clients told me that she resolved to only watch television while she was exercising.

The Role of Hormones and Nerves:

Throughout your body, all processes are precisely and automatically regulated by hormones and nerve activity. It is done so without conscious effort. The central nervous system acts a control unit. It evaluated all activities both inside and outside your body to monitor and adjust to changing conditions.
The stress response illustrates how the entire body reacts to anything perceived as a threat to your stability or equilibrium.
Both physical and psychological stressors elicit the body's stress response. Major physical stressors include, surgery, burns, and infections. Other major physical stressors include, an extreme hot or humid climate, toxic compounds, radiation, and pollution.
Also, chronic "little stresses" or hidden day-to-day issues can lead to real physical ailments.
Good examples are:
1. Family conflicts;
2."I hate my job";
3. Lack of time, or lack of organization;
4. Too much responsibility;
5. "No one understands why I'm stressed";
6. Rush hour traffic.

And then there are major life changes such as:
1. Death or loss of a loved one;
2. Serious illness or accident;
3. Divorce or separation;
4. Death of a close relative;
5. Getting fired or laid off from work;
6. Marriage;
7. Major personal property loss (fire, theft, vandalism);
8. New household member.

Stress response begins when your brain perceives a threat to your equilibrium. The sight of a car hurling toward you; the terror that an enemy is concealed around a nearby corner, the excitement of planning for a party, the feeling of pain; a snarled traffic jam or any other such disturbance perceived by the brain serves as an alarm signal. 

Block out the same time period everyday for exercise.
This way it becomes part of your daily routine just like brushing your teeth. Guard this time period because you are worth it. It is your time to take care of yourself.

Make exercise a priority.
We all make time in our lives for the things that are most important to us. If I told you I'd give you a million dollars if you exercised everyday for the next 30 days, would you do it? Sure you would, because it would suddenly become a priority. If you're serious about finding time for exercise, then it must be a priority in your life. It has been shown that people that exercise are on the whole 20% more productive in day to day life.

Cardiovascular Exercise: The Truth About Fat-Burning

For activities more than three minutes, continuously, the body will continue to burn sugar (carbohydrate). However, it will begin to burn and breakdown the sugar in the presence of oxygen. This is known as aerobic glycolysis.
There is only one difference between the anaerobic glycolysis and the aerobic gylcolysis. Lactic acid does not accumulate in the presence of oxygen.
In other words, the presence of oxygen inhibits the accumulation of lactic acid.

Cardiovascular Exercise: "I'm Melting Away My Fat"

Unfortunately "spot-reducing" exercises don't work. If they did, then everyone who chewed gum would have a skinny face. Doing hip and thigh exercises will not take the fat off of them. Hundreds of crunches will only help tighten and strengthen your core, not flatten the fat.

The fact is, stomach and thigh exercises (and their related machines) are not aerobic or fat burning exercises. That's because they fail to meet one essential requirement. The activities do not last for more than three minutes in continuous duration. Therefore, the exercise remains anaerobic. The burning sensation is not fat being burned or "melted away." Instead, it's the muscles storage of lactic acid as glycogen (not fat) that has been used for energy during anaerobic metabolism.

Fitness Terminology: A Rate and A Negative

Rate is the speed you perform a repetition. It is usually expressed in reps per second. A rate of one rep every 2 seconds with a bicep curl would mean that you would lift up in one second and lower the weight in one second.

Working the Negative is the motion that is done when you lower the weight or load to its original starting position. As indicated above in the rate description, usually the negative lift is done at the same rate as the lift portion of the rep.

Weight Training and Fat Loss

A structured weight training program is the most effective way to increase and improve the quality of muscle. This should be of particular importance to anyone interested in achieving optimal fitness and health. It should particularly be of interest to anyone interested in losing body fat.

Cardio: "How Long Do I Do It?"

In general, the longer the duration of exercise, the greater the percentage of energy produced by fat. Keep in mind however, that during the first 20 minutes the body is merely preparing to burn fat at a more efficient rate. After the 20 minutes the body will start to metabolize stored fat at a more efficient rate. Therefore, if you wish to burn fat by exercising, you should know that patient, persistent, consistent low intensity training is the road to maximum use of fat and conservation of glycogen. It is agreed, then, that frequent hours of long and consistent exercise is the preferred methodology to optimize a fat burning metabolism. In other words, your personalized program should include exercise as much and as often as possible.