The Body is a Wonderland...

muffintop-less:

“In this day and age of health and fitness, women everywhere know the benefits of strength training. We all know that thrice weekly strength training sessiosn can improve our fat loss benefits, bone density, metabolism, and self-esteem. And I want to cheer all the women around the world who have stepped away from their mega-marathon cardio sessions and adopted this new way of thinking in the gym. You are on the right track! But now I want to encourage you to take it one step further.

Yes, ladies put down those 5 pound weights and instead pick up some heavier ones! That’s right, we are talking the 15 pounders, 20 pounders and even 25 pounders. The very thought of this may be scaring some of you away and believe me I was in that same group a few years ago. I have been a religious gym-goer for years-namely since my 20′s. And believe me when I say I have tried it all from cardio classes to step to turbo kick-box, but the one thing I always shied away from was lifting heavier weights.

Like many woman out there, I was under the impression that it would bulk me up too much. I carried this belief with me for years and it took me a long time to change my mind about this myth. Quite honestly, I can’t really recall when the shift happened….I suppose it was a gradual one, but either way, it has changed the way I approach my fitness, my training, and the look of my body. And now I am firm believer. I lift heavier weights and I like it. I notice a ton of benefits too. I am firmer, more toned, leaner, thinner and stronger. All plusses in my book. For those of you who still need some convincing here are 5 more reasons why you should lift heavier during your workouts.

• It promotes more calorie burning. The more muscle you have the more fat you burn. 
• It is a better use of your time at the gym. Or in the other words, you can more bang for buck. 
• It is measurable and easy to track your performance. 
• It makes you feel strong and confident. 
• You will have stronger bones. 

And if you are still on the fence, I encourage you to do some research on your own.” - Jenn Fitzpatrick

(via justonebreathatatime)

How many of these do you do? I think I do about half of the them! However, the suggested alternatives are not only better for you (bio mechanically) they look

(Source: 135toscrewthescale, via iruntobehealthier-deactivated20)

The benefits of interval training don’t stop at torching calories and burning more fat. Intervals are also an effective tool for increasing lactate threshold, the exercise intensity at which lactate begins to accumulate in the bloodstream, a success-determining factor for distance runners and cyclists, says Tom Kelso, strength and conditioning specialist for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the author of The Interval Training Manual: 520+ Interval Running Workouts for All Sports and Abilities.

During anaerobic exercise, when the bloodstream can’t supply oxygen to muscles fast enough, muscles turn to glycogen for backup fuel. When glycogen breaks down, the by-product is lactic acid, which can cause muscle soreness and fatigue once it hits the bloodstream. In a way, interval training tricks the system. It allows the body to alternate between exceeding its lactate threshold and recovering, all the while working below lactate threshold and sidestepping the negative side effects of lactic acid buildup.

Chances are, if you run or cycle, you’re probably already doing some form of interval training without even realizing it, says Raffle. Running or peddling uphill raises your heart rate, while downhill portions of your workout allow your heart rate to lower again.

The classic interval training technique used for increasing speed is known as the fartlek, which is Swedish for “speed play.” Raffle provides this sample routine:

Following a 5- to 10-minute warm-up, increase speed so that you are running at 80% of your maximum heart rate and run for 1 to 2 minutes.

Recover with 1 to 2 minutes of running at 65% of your maximum heart rate.

Alternate high- and low-intensity intervals for a minimum of 20 to 30 minutes.

End with a 5- to 10-minute cooldown.

Keep in mind that periodization is important to interval training, notes Raffle. For example, after 2 weeks of practicing 2 minutes on, 2 minutes off intervals, your body will adapt to the routine (and you might be getting bored, too). Mix things up by switching to 1 minute on, 1 minute off or 3 minutes on, 3 minutes off intervals, advises Raffle.

Or build on a standard interval training model by structuring your running or cycling workout as a pyramid, starting and ending with short bursts of speed and peaking with longer bursts of speed midworkout. Here’s an example:

3- to 5-minute warm-up
30 seconds at high intensity, 1 minute recovery
45 seconds at high intensity, 1 minute recovery
60 seconds at high intensity, 1 minute recovery
90 seconds at high intensity, 1 minute recovery
60 seconds at high intensity, 1 minute recovery
45 seconds at high intensity, 1 minute recovery
30 seconds at high intensity
3- to 5-minute cooldown

“The whole idea is to be progressive. When you repeat a previous workout, you want to feel like you’ve improved,” says Kelso, who suggests increasing work effort or repetitions and/or decreasing rest intervals to make your routine more challenging.

Besides working out hurts so so good! You may not be skinny right away but you definitely do get stronger before you know it!

watchmewinthin:

healthylivinhereicome:

Working out doesn’t even suck. It hurts, but it’s awesome. :)

^^ I second that!

(via healthandcoffee)

Cooling the palms of the hands while working out helped obese women exercise longer, reports researcher Stacy Sims, a research scientist and exercise physiologist at Stanford University School of Medicine.

“If you think about adipose [fat] tissue, it’s a great insulator,” Sims said. For people who are obese, that means they often get too hot while exercising.

“It would be like Lance Armstrong wearing a wet suit for the entire Tour de France,” she said. “We’re trying to address those barriers.”

Sims wanted to see if cooling off the hands of the women she studied might help them overcome fatigue and overheating while exercising.

The device she used is already in use by some professional athletes, according to Sims who decided to test it on obese women, who she finds often abandon working out due to overheating and fatigue.

In the study, Sims evaluated 24 healthy women, aged 30 to 45. None had exercised long-term in the past. They were obese, with a body-mass index (BMI) of between 30 and nearly 35. (BMI is a measure of body weight in proportion to height, and obesity begins at a BMI of 30).

She assigned the women to one of two groups: both held the cooling device in their palms, but only one group had cool water running through the device; the other had water that was body temperature running through the device.

Both groups participated in three exercise sessions a week for 12 weeks. Each session included 10 minutes of body weight exercises, 25 minutes to 45 minutes of treadmill walking with the cooling device and 10 minutes of core-strengthening exercise. They worked up to the time they could handle on the treadmill.

On the first day and last day of the study, the women did a 1.5-mile walk that was timed.

The cooling group shaved more than five minutes off their time for the 1.5 mile treadmill test. They averaged 31.6 minutes at the start and 24.6 minutes at the end.

Their exercising heart rate went up, too, 136 beats per minute to 154 beats per minute — a good thing.

The cooling group also took more than two inches off their waist by end of the 12-week study. That improves not only appearance, but health, since big waists are linked with heart disease. Their blood pressure also went down, from 139/84 to 124/70. (Below 120/80 is the goal.)

In contrast, the comparison group didn’t show any substantial differences in any of the measures, Sims found.

The cooling group also stuck with it more, Sims said. “The controls dropped out early, and skipped a lot of sessions,” Sims noted.

The cooling group seemed to get into the regimen, she said. “At the end, some women were running [on the treadmill],” she said.

“If you reduce the heat stress, you reduce fatigue, sweating and discomfort,” she explained. “You reduce a lot of the physiological barriers that [make] people say, ‘I don’t want to continue.’”

The finding that the comparison group had no substantial effects after 12 weeks  “is a bit strange,” said Duck-chul Lee, a physical activity epidemiologist at the Arnold School of Public Health.

He added that “the results may not apply to people exercising in a cold condition, for example, outside in winter.”

Sims wants to do a study of the device with more people. Meanwhile, she says, it won’t hurt to try it at home: “Take a water bottle, freeze it and take that with you in your bare palm [as you work out]. As it melts you drink the cool water. It’s worth a try.”

(Source: Yahoo!)