Exercist Tales Workout Music

I'm not a big fan of hours and hours of aerobic exercise. 15-20 minutes at 75-85% of max heart rate [220-age] three times a week is sufficient. At that rate you will be utilizing some intermediate and fast twitch fibers. The first 15 minutes you primarily breakdown triglycerides into free fatty acids to utilize as an energy source. Longer period of aerobic exercise can break down muscle. If you are doing an hour of aerobics, you are going to lose muscle mass. And, muscle mass determines your basal metabolism. Muscle requires about 75 calories per pound per day. So if you lose 5 pounds of muscle, you are reducing your metabolism about 375 calories, just about what you lost while exercising. So you do not lose wait!   

If you participate in strength training utilizing machines set to 75-85% of your maximum capability on the machine for three sets til muscle failure with 2 minutes between sets, you can do 3-4 machines once per week for upper body and 3-4 machines once per week for the lower body. Don't overdo it and add extra sessions. Exercise each area only once per week. You will be surprised by how your strength increases from week to week. After about 6-8 weeks you can expect to see a reduction in body fat, increase in strength as wells as reduction in cholesterol and triglycerides. 

Anyway, hope you like this music during your workout. PLAY IT LOUD!

Skeletal muscle glycogen and insulin sensitivity

The role of skeletal muscle glycogen breakdown for regulation of insulin sensitivity by exercise.

Jensen J, Rustad PI, Kolnes AJ, Lai YC.

Source

Department of Physical Performance, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences Oslo, Norway.

Abstract

Glycogen is the storage form of carbohydrates in mammals. In humans the majority of glycogen is stored in skeletal muscles (∼500 g) and the liver (∼100 g). Food is supplied in larger meals, but the blood glucose concentration has to be kept within narrow limits to survive and stay healthy. Therefore, the body has to cope with periods of excess carbohydrates and periods without supplementation. Healthy persons remove blood glucose rapidly when glucose is in excess, but insulin-stimulated glucose disposal is reduced in insulin resistant and type 2 diabetic subjects. During a hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp, 70-90% of glucose disposal will be stored as muscle glycogen in healthy subjects. The glycogen stores in skeletal muscles are limited because an efficient feedback-mediated inhibition of glycogen synthase prevents accumulation. De novo lipid synthesis can contribute to glucose disposal when glycogen stores are filled. Exercise physiologists normally consider glycogen’s main function as energy substrate. Glycogen is the main energy substrate during exercise intensity above 70% of maximal oxygen uptake ([Formula: see text]) and fatigue develops when the glycogen stores are depleted in the active muscles. After exercise, the rate of glycogen synthesis is increased to replete glycogen stores, and blood glucose is the substrate. Indeed insulin-stimulated glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis is elevated after exercise, which, from an evolutional point of view, will favor glycogen repletion and preparation for new “fight or flight” events. In the modern society, the reduced glycogen stores in skeletal muscles after exercise allows carbohydrates to be stored as muscle glycogen and prevents that glucose is channeled to de novo lipid synthesis, which over time will causes ectopic fat accumulation and insulin resistance. The reduction of skeletal muscle glycogen after exercise allows a healthy storage of carbohydrates after meals and prevents development of type 2 diabetes.

Found on http://www.bodybyscience.net

Japanese Subway Stations, Insulin Resistance & Muscle

Click here to watch a video to better understand the relationship between muscle and insulin resistance

• Subway cars = Muscle fibers
• People = Blood glucose
• Subway attendants = Insulin

Most of the sugar is [people are] cleared from the bloodstream [subway platform] by muscle fibers [subway cars]. Normally [in between meals or fasting], little insulin is required, but after a large carbohydrate meal [rush hour] the bloodstream [platform] is filled with sugar [people]. More insulin [subway attendants] are required to clear the sugar [people] from the blood [platform]. In this video they are ultimately successful, but if there are simply too many people, some won't get into the subway car and will be turned Free Fatty Acids and stored as Triglycerides. Alternatively, you can eat smaller amounts at more frequent intervals rather than three large meals a day. The subways/muscles should be able to handle the load. Alternatively, you can exercise and increase your muscle mass [simply add more cars to the train] and reduce the risk of insulin resistance and obesity.  

Researchers find a hormone link between exercise and diabetes reduction.

An international team of scientists has isolated a natural hormone or chemical messenger in muscle cells that triggers some of the important health benefits of exercise. read more

Beating Fat

NY Times Magazine has an interesting article about beating fat."Anyone who has ever dieted knows that lost pounds often return, and most of us assume the reason is a lack of discipline or a failure of willpower. But Proietto suspected that there was more to it, and he decided to take a closer look at the biological state of the body after weight loss." Read More

Does your exercise regimen increase the risk of injury?

Zumba’d: A fitness craze can lead quickly to the ER by Monica Hesse

The patient was a healthy young woman who came into a Washington area emergency room this year because of severe heel pain, which turned out to be a potentially serious injury known as “compartment syndrome.” The syndrome is typically caused by high-impact accidents, like something involving a motor vehicle. The patient had not been in a car accident. The patient had been in Zumba.

“I have seen some interesting things,” says David Pontell, the podiatrist who ultimately treated the injury. “That was one of them.”

People can get injured doing a lot of things that are dangerous or physically punishing. Or they can get injured doing Zumba. Zumba is not inherently dangerous. Its injuries are not any more prevalent than those from any other physical activity. They are just more embarrassing.

“By the end of the class, I was on fire, and not in a ‘Hoo-hoo — I’m hot and sexy!’ kind of way,” Tonya Green, 32, says ruefully. She discovered, through a Zumba class, that she had something called snapping hip syndrome. “It was a salsa movement. I Zumba’d my hip out, real good.”

Some 12 million people worldwide now do the cardio dance bonanza that is Zumba. You know who they are, because they are everywhere. Also, because they talk about it all the time. Also because they are all infused with a golden glow, a healthy bounce, a Zumba smug. Zmug. Zumba has become like yoga or “Game of Thrones” — a hobby that is deeply enlightening and life-changing to the people who practice it. To everyone else, it’s just weird. In 20 years, nobody is going to be talking about tennis elbow. Everyone is going to be talking about reggaeton ankle. 

Read More

Feeling Alright

I'm happy with my results after 7 weeks. Lab tests showed a 30-40 point drop in cholesterol and triglycerides without medication. My body fat has dropped about 2-3% and weight is down 3 pounds which suggests about 2-3 pounds of muscle gain. Both weight and number of reps are up dramatically. Endurance has benefited from the increasing time and effort on the treadmill with heart rate drop of 20 with a more intense workout. 


Working with JC at LA Fitness, we've set a goal of increased flexibility, increased endurance, increased strength as well as improvements in metabolic status demonstrated on lab tests. So in as little as 7 weeks, a 60 year old who could not remember the last time he exercised has made incredible progress. The best part is all the people who commented that I look much slimmer. 


If you wish to learn more, JC and I will be doing a seminar on health and fitness at the Perimeter LA Fitness, January 7th at 11am. If you are a member, come join in on the discussion.