Archives for April 2010

Interval Training Can Cut Your Exercise Time

In the past when I’ve tried to lose weight I’ve found that one of the things that works best for me is when I workout using high intensity interval training in combination with some form of resistance training (along with eating healthier of course).

Now they’re finding that by using interval training you may be able to cut the amount of time that you’re exercising as well!

From MSNBC:

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. Intense exercise regimens, or interval training, was 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 revolutionize how officials 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.

One of the most common excuses that I hear people make for not exercising is that they don’t have enough time. I may have even used that excuse myself from time to time. High intensity interval training can help you to cut down the amount of time you’re exercising, and jump start the weight loss!

“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.”

Intense interval training means working very hard for a few minutes, with rest periods in 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.

In Britain and the U.S., officials recommend that people get about two and a half hours each week of moderate exercise.

My favorite way of engaging in the interval training is by running. Normally I’ll run for around 20 minutes, starting with a warmup and then doing several sets of varying intensity. I’ll start out with a slow jog and continue for five minutes increasing my intensity and speed with each minute, ending each cycle by running fast. I then go back down in intensity to a jog and work back up to a sprint by the time the five munites is done. I repeat the cycle 4 times.

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 fiber 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.

I think I’m going to re-start my workout regimen tonight because I’ve been letting myself slide over the past year. Time to get back into the interval training, and working off some of my excess weight!

Have you tried interval training? If so, what type of exercise do you do? How has it worked for you? Do you do it in combination with anything else? Tell us your experience in the comments.

photo credit: jontunn

Manual Muscle Testing For Core Stability

By Kevin Leave a Comment

Manual muscle testing is a skill that takes time and practice to perform with reliability. However, it is a valuable tool for fitness professionals.

There are visual and verbal cues that can be used to perform an exercise properly but looks can be deceiving.

Let’s use the squat exercise as an example.

If you were to instruct a client on how to properly perform the squat you would probably explain the proper stance width, foot, trunk and head position, staying back on the heels, etc.

And, from what you can see, it appears that they’re doing the exercise correctly but they feel lower back pain. Now, you could simply modify the exercise or substitute an alternative.

But, what if the pain wasn’t caused by the exercise itself but from the inability to activate the core stabilizing muscles?

Since this isn’t something that can actually be seen, and verbal feedback from the client can be misleading at times, manual muscle testing can help to determine whether or not an exercise is achieving its main purpose.

This is particularly true when performing core stabilization exercises for the abdominals because many times the client will recruit the rectus abdominis but fail to recruit the deep abdominal stabilizing muscles (ex: transverse abdominis).

The client might feel their abs working however without manual muscle testing it’s difficult to know if the right muscles are being activated.

Below are 2 manual muscle tests for assessing core stability:

Modified Deadbug:

deadbug manual muscle testing

Instruct the client to try to hold this position for 30 seconds and ask them what area or part of the body they feel most. If they feel it in the thighs and/or just below the ribcage the abdominal stabilizers are weak or inhibited

Sitting ‘V’ Position

abdominal manual muscle testing

Instruct the client to hold this position for with a slight backward lean of the trunk for 60 seconds and notice any changes. If the chest drops, they feel burning in the thighs, cramping in the hips and/or the lumbar extensors this indicates weakness or inhibition of the abdominal stabilizers.

These tests take time and practice to learn but manual muscle testing is a valuable skill for fitness professionals that can help correct muscle imbalances, prevent injuries and improve the effectiveness of an exercise program.

Unfortunately, muscle testing isn’t taught in most personal training certification courses however there are some excellent resources available on muscle manual testing and core stabilization exercises.

Does The Bowflex Treadclimber Really Back Up Its Bold Claims?

By Kevin 24 Comments

The other night I saw an infomercial for the Bowflex Treadclimber TC5000 which is like a combination of a treadmill and elliptical machine in one that helps reduce joint stress and claims to burn 2 x the calories than on a regular treadmill due to their 3-in 1-technology (which I’m still not sure what that means but it sounds pretty cool doesn’t it?) and that you’ll get more results with less effort in less time…

Now, I’ll admit that I’m all for time efficient workouts that produce better results than traditional high volume training. However, at times during the infomercial I noticed a block of fine print that quickly flashed on screen.

The fine print is so small you practically need a telescope to read it and the text is white which they cleverly blend into a white background making it barely legible…Also, that fine print is on and off the screen in the blink of an eye so unless you’re one hell of an amazing speed reader with the vision of the bionic man you probably won’t even notice it.

But, thanks to the creation of the DVR I was able to take a closer look and I was shocked at what the fine print said…

So, here’s a summary of the Bowflex Treadclimber TC5000 fine print facts:

Fact #1: Studies were performed with the Treadclimber at 3.2 mph and at level 12 intensity versus a regular treadmill at 6.2 mph and 0% incline

Now, I’ve never actually used a Bowflex Treadclimber but I have used an elliptical trainer at a level 12 intensity and I’m willing to bet that level 12 intensity on the Treadclimber is pretty darn difficult to maintain just as it’s difficult for most people to maintain a 6.2 mph pace on a treadmill for 30-60 minutes.

While the Treadclimber allows you to move at a comfortable walking pace the reality is that you are simply substituting speed for resistance. This is the same thing you can do using an elliptical machine.

Fact #2: The Treadclimber infomercial shows a chart revealing you burn 321 calories on the Treadclimber (at 3.2 mph and level 12) over a 30-minute period which is more than on the treadmill (at 6.2 mph and 0% incline).

However, I’m curious as to how they came up with this number since calorie expenditure is largely dependent upon how much you weigh.

Another thing to consider is that at most only 60% of those calories burned actually come from fat.

So, if we do some quick math we can see that out of 321 calories burned x 60% of those calories come from fat = 186 calories from fat burned…

1 lb of fat = 3,500 calories

This means that you would have to perform about 9 hours on the Treadclimber just to burn 1 measly pound of fat…Coincidentally, this is about the same amount of time it would take to burn 1 lb of fat using a treadmill

Maybe it’s just me but trading 9 hours for 1 lb of fat just doesn’t seem like it backs up their claim of more results with less effort in less time.

Fact #3: The participants in the Treadclimber study lost a significant amount of body weight and body fat.

However, the participants used the meal plan that comes with the Treadclimber which goes to show that you cannot achieve your weight loss goals without controlling your calorie intake.

And, since we now know that it takes about 9 hours to burn 1 lb of fat using the Treadclimber this suggests that a large contributor to the weight and body fat loss is due to proper diet.

The bottom line is that the Bowflex Treadclimber has some advantages versus a regular treadmill (and a hefty price tag) but when it comes to losing weight and reducing body fat cardio just isn’t a very effective option.

While the Treadclimber may burn 2 x the calories versus the treadmill it’s still only slightly more than 5% of a pound of fat for 30 minutes!

The 2 most important factors for weight loss and body fat reduction are: (1) diet and (2) resistance training and you can achieve your goals without fad diets or expensive over-hyped fitness equipment.

The Science Behind My Love For Running

By Guest Contributor 2 Comments

This is a guest post by Joe over at joetherunner.com. His site is about how running can change your life; make you a better father, husband, and friend. You can check out his site at the URL above, or by subscribing to his feed here.

My love of running started off like many long lasting and fruitful relationships; rather difficultly. You see I haven’t always had the fondness for the sport that I do now. In fact at first we hated each other. There was simply no mutual respect. I used running as a way to lose some much needed weight and running used me as a moving symbol of how not to run.

However, for one reason or another I kept at it. I did lose some weight but the best outcome of our new relationship was the respect I gained for the wonderful aspects of the sport that were hidden beneath the surface. After years of using running it has become my favorite tool to deal with grief, purge stress, stay lean, maintain a positive attitude, and boost my confidence; and there seems to be a genuine scientific explanation for it.

The Science Behind The Love Of Running

The most popular explanation for my near dependency on running stems from a runner’s favorite little compound – the endorphin. Produced by the pituitary gland endorphins are proven to produce a natural feeling of well being and pain relief, and even in name have a chemical relationship to the morphine family. And though they are proven to have very powerful effects on the human body, there has been some speculation over the notion that running produces enough of them to have a measurable effect.

However, in 2008 the New York Times reported on a study done by researchers in Germany. The published findings were that running does in fact produce a surge of endorphins in the brain. Backing up the study were leading scientists, who were not directly involved, also accepting the researcher findings.

I am glad the debate seems to be satiated, but to be honest I wish they would have come to me first. I don’t know if my personal experience would have been sufficient to warrant publication in neurological journals but I would have let them study the life changing benefits running has had on me, for a fee of course.

Here is what I have discovered. First, running has the ability to do all the things you have heard. It can alter your mood in the most positive ways and has lasting effects. I also attribute it to helping me establish healthy sleep patterns, not something I see mentioned in many discussions. Also, the harder you push yourself the more endorphins are released. This was proven by the same study referenced above and backed up by yours truly.

Not Only Running Can Give You The Runner’s High

It should be mentioned that running is not the only exercise that produces these benefits. It just happens to be the only one I know how to do well. My love of running came when I embraced it for its mental as well as physical benefits. Any fitness quest comes with it fair share of challenges; embracing exercise on multiple levels delivers much needed motivation for the bumps in the journey.

Have you experienced the release of endorphins, and the runner’s high? Tell us why you love running in the comments!