Strength Training= Stronger, Leaner and Healthier
November 30, 2009
(MayoClinic.com) You know exercise is good for you. You look for ways to incorporate physical activity into your daily routine, and you set aside time for longer workouts at least a few times a week. But if your aerobic workouts aren’t balanced by a proper dose of strength training, you’re missing out on a key component of overall health and fitness.
Despite its reputation as a “guy” or “jock” thing, strength training is important for everyone. With a regular strength training program, you can reduce your body fat, increase your lean muscle mass and burn calories more efficiently.
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Use it or lose it
Muscle mass naturally diminishes with age. “If you don’t do anything to replace the lean muscle you lose, you’ll increase the percentage of fat in your body,” says Edward Laskowski, M.D., a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and co-director of the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center. “But strength training can help you preserve and enhance your muscle mass — at any age.”
Strength training also helps you:
* Develop strong bones. By stressing your bones, strength training increases bone density and reduces the risk of osteoporosis.
* Control your weight. As you gain muscle, your body burns calories more efficiently — which can result in weight loss. The more toned your muscles, the easier it is to control your weight.
* Reduce your risk of injury. Building muscle protects your joints from injury. It also helps you maintain flexibility and balance — and remain independent as you age.
* Boost your stamina. As you grow stronger, you won’t fatigue as easily.
* Improve your sense of well-being. Strength training can boost your self-confidence, improve your body image and reduce the risk of depression.
* Get a better night’s sleep. People who commit to a regular strength training program are less likely to have insomnia.
* Manage chronic conditions. Strength training can reduce the signs and symptoms of many chronic conditions, including arthritis, back pain, depression, diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis.
Consider the options
Strength training can be done at home or in the gym. Consider the options:
* Body weight. You can do many exercises with little or no equipment — use your body weight instead. Try push-ups, pull-ups, abdominal crunches and leg squats.
* Resistance tubing. Resistance tubing is inexpensive, lightweight tubing that provides resistance when stretched. You can choose from many types of resistance tubes in nearly any sporting goods store.
* Free weights. Barbells and dumbbells are classic strength training tools. You can also try homemade weights, such as plastic soft drink bottles filled with water or sand.
* Weight machines. Most fitness centers offer various resistance machines. You can also invest in weight machines for use at home.
Getting started
When you have your doctor’s OK to begin a strength training program, start slowly. Warm up with five to 10 minutes of stretching or gentle aerobic activity, such as brisk walking. Then choose a weight or resistance level heavy enough to tire your muscles after about 12 repetitions.
“On the 12th repetition, you should be just barely able to finish the motion,” Dr. Laskowski says. “When you’re using the proper weight or amount of resistance, you can build and tone muscle just as efficiently with a single set of 12 repetitions as you can with more sets of the same exercise.”
To give your muscles time to recover, rest one full day between exercising each specific muscle group. When you can easily do more than 15 repetitions of a certain exercise, gradually increase the weight or resistance. Remember to stop if you feel pain. Although mild muscle soreness is normal, sharp pain and sore or swollen joints are signs that you’ve overdone it.
When to expect results
You don’t need to spend hours a day lifting weights to benefit from strength training. Two to three strength training sessions a week lasting just 20 to 30 minutes are sufficient for most people. You may enjoy noticeable improvements in your strength and stamina in just a few weeks. With regular strength training, you can increase your strength 50 percent or more within six months — even if you’re not in shape when you begin.
Strength training can do wonders for your physical and emotional well-being. Make it part of your quest for better health.
©1998-2009 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER)
5 Burgers that can make you FAT
November 25, 2009
Too many hamburgers are made with cheap meat and come topped with calorie-laden cheeses and fixings. But burgers can actually be great muscle fuel. “Beef has protein, iron, and other minerals, and vitamins, too,” says Jeffrey Hampl, Ph.D., R.D., Associate Professor of Nutrition at Arizona State University. The key to a healthy burger is selecting the right meat, then topping it wisely so neither the burger nor you is weighed down.
The only problem with trying to make healthy choices when eating out is most fast-food chains pack on massive amounts of calories and fat with an abundance of condiments. Here are six of the heaviest hitters.
McDonald’s
Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese
Ingredients: Two quarter pound 100% beef patties, sesame seed bun, American cheese, ketchup, mustard, pickle slices, slivered onions
740 calories
42 grams of fat
Calorie equivalent = 6 1 oz. Slim Jim Beef Jerky sticks
Sonic
SuperSonic Cheeseburger
Ingredients: Two beef patties, crinkle-cut pickles, chopped onions, shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, choice of mustard, mayo or ketchup
898 calories
53 grams of fat
Calorie equivalent = 4 Hershey chocolate bars
Wendy’s
3/4 lb. Triple with Cheese
Ingredients: Three hamburger patties, two slices of American cheese, four strips of Applewood smoked bacon, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, honey mustard, four dill pickle slices, four onion slices, 1-2 tomato slices, lettuce and a bun
970 calories
60 grams of fat
Calorie equivalent = 18 Oreo cookies
Carl Jr.’s
The Guacamole Bacon Six Dollar Burger
Ingredients: Charbroiled 100% Black Angus beef patty, guacamole, two strips of bacon, two slices of melted pepperjack cheese, lettuce, two slices of tomato, red onions, and Santa Fe sauce on a toasted sesame seed bun
1040 calories
70 grams of fat
Calorie equivalent = 1 pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream
Burger King
Triple Whopper
Ingredients: Three flame-broiled beef patties with two slices of American cheese, lettuce, mayo, tomatoes, pickles and onions—all on a toasted sesame seed bun
1,160 calories
76 grams of fat
Calorie equivalent = 4 Snickers bars
Hardees
2/3 lb. Monster Thickburger
Ingredients: Two 1/3 lb. charbroiled 100% Black Angus beef patties, four strips of bacon, three slices of American cheese and mayonnaise on a sesame seed bun
1320 calories
95 grams of fat
Calorie equivalent = 4 Dunkin Donuts Jelly-Filled donuts
If this doesn’t scare you off think of the fries and the large, possibly super-sized drinks you get on top of all that. People can’t complain about not losing enough weight when these items are part of the weekly diet. Imagine if you fed your dog or pet these items. Wouldn’t you feel horrible? You would be leading it to obesity, heart disease, cancer, Type II diabetes, depression, and the list goes on. If you simply cut fast food out of your lifestyle that is an improvement on its own.
Step away from the scale
November 13, 2009
Just as being fixated by a number on a scale can distract you from enjoying your physical progress and maintaining a smart lifestyle, being focused on the other numbers in our lives distracts us from enjoying everyday life and acknowledging progress made towards a goal. It deprives us of the satisfaction of enjoying the small victories, and makes us fret too much over the ultimate goal. Ultimately, it stifles us.
You should definitely stay competitive. Keep stoking the fire that drives you towards your new goals, new levels of achievement in the gym, in your relationships, in your career. You wouldn’t be reading this article if you didn’t desire to get fitter, stronger, faster, better.
But goals—whether weight loss or financial—shouldn’t be the end game. Think about what you’re learning along the way. Think about what you’re learning about yourself, about how you’re testing yourself, stretching yourself, challenging yourself.
Whether you reach your exact goal or fall a bit short, that knowledge should make you feel good about your new self and take you further than you thought before.
It happens too often that people will say, ” I’ve been doing this for three months now and I’ve only lost 12 lbs.” This result is obviously positive, but in some cases people have trouble realizing that. That 12 lbs. is pure FAT! That comes out to 42,000 calories of adipose tissue! These results were from someone who ate fast food on the weekends as well!(Not Good) Imagine the possibilities if they ate well!
Processed Foods linked to Depression
November 3, 2009
LONDON (AFP) – A diet heavy in processed and fatty foods increases the risk of depression, according to British research published on Monday.
Researchers at University College London also found that a diet including plenty of fresh vegetables, fruit and fish could help prevent the onset of depression.
They compared participants — all civil servants — who ate a diet largely based on “whole” foods with a second group who mainly ate fried food, processed meat, high-fat dairy products and sweetened desserts.
Taking into account other indicators of a healthy lifestyle such as not smoking and taking physical exercise, those who ate the whole foods had a 26 percent lower risk of depression than those who ate mainly processed foods.
People with a diet heavy in processed food had a 58 percent higher risk of depression.
The researchers put forward several explanations for the findings, which are published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.
Firstly, the high level of antioxidants in fruits and vegetables could have a protective effect, as previous studies have shown higher antioxidant levels to be associated with a lower risk of depression.
Secondly, eating lots of fish may protect against depression because it contains high levels of the sort of polyunsaturated fatty acids which stimulate brain activity.
And they said it was possible that a “whole food” diet protects against depression because of the combined effect of consuming nutrients from lots of different types of food, rather than the effect of one single nutrient.
The researchers concluded: “Our research suggests that healthy eating policies will generate additional benefits to health and well-being, and that improving people’s diet should be considered as a potential target for preventing depressive disorders.”
The study was carried out on 3,486 people with an average age of 55, who worked for the civil service in London.
Each participant completed a questionnaire about their eating habits, and a self-assessment for depression.