Articles

Fitness and Exercise

A. Benefits of Interval training

B. Benefits of Resistance Training

C. 51 reasons to be active

D. Exercise Myths exposed

 

A. Benefits of interval training

What is “interval training?”

Origins of Interval Training:
Interval training had its beginning in the 1930s in the medical practice of German cardiologist, Dr Heinz Reindell and his cardiac patients. Dr Reindell found that the most effective way of improving his patient’s cardiovascular fitness (VO2max, heart size and the stroke volume) was about of exercise until the heart rate reached 170 to 180 beats per minute, then resting until the heart rate dropped to about 120 beats per minute before the starting the next cycle of exercise. In 1935, due to its effectiveness in improving cardiovascular conditioning, German coaches adopted the method to condition their Olympic track athletes. Today, world-class athletes regularly use interval training in their conditioning routines.

Benefits of Interval Training:
The brief periods, where the heart rate is elevated higher than comfortable, provides important advantages over continuous moderate intensity exercise.

Advantages of interval training are:

During the last decade, several research groups have studied interval training to determine the optimal amount, duration and frequency of intervals to maximise physical capacity. Their findings have helped many athletes reach their true potential, and at the same time demonstrated that many of the methods currently used by coaches and trainers could be much more effective. Researchers have found that two, at the most three, intense interval sessions per week is sufficient to significantly enhance performance. More than two or three interval workouts per week can be detrimental and lead to over-training! Interval training can help you achieve your goals more quickly and effectively, so talk to your trainer and find out if this strategy is appropriate for you at your stage of conditioning.

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B. Benefits of Resistance training

Resistance training (weight training) has previously been considered a male dominated activity for those who wanted to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Studies have shown that sensible and regular strength training produces many health and fitness benefits.

Reduced muscle loss We lose approximately
2.2kg and 3.2kg of muscle every decade without strength training. Muscles are the engine of your body. Muscle loss has a major impact on your physical
and functional ability. It is absolutely true that if you don’t use it you lose it! Between the age of 20 and 40 the average female loses 3.6 kg of muscle and
gains 10kg of fat. Between 20-80 the average male loses one quarter of his muscle mass. Running, cycling or other aerobic sports will not prevent this loss.

Increased Cardiovascular Capacity
In a recent study, researchers at the Mc Master University, USA, compared a 10-week program of weight training plus aerobic exercise against aerobic exercise alone.

Improves Metabolic Rate
Because engine size is closely correlated to fuel consumption, it is easy to understand why less muscle leads to a lower metabolic rate. Age related muscle loss is largely responsible for the 2% to 5% reduction in our metabolism per decade. In essence, we go from an eight-cylinder engine to a six-cylinder to a four etc.

Increases Muscle
Research shows that a standard strength-training program can increase muscle mass 1.4kg over an eight-week training period. This is a typical response for men and women who do 25 minutes three days per week of resistance training.

Reduces Body Fat
In the early nineties, studies found that after three months of resistance training individuals in the program on average lost 1.8kg of body fat even though they were eating 15% more calories per day. A representative study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition compared the level of body fat in groups of women. Sedentary women had 21% body fat, aerobic exercisers had 16% body fat, and resistance exercisers had 14% body fat.

6. Increases Bone Mineral Density
A study of bone density compared weight lifters in 14 different countries with healthy subjects who didn’t lift weights. On average the weight lifters bones were 46% denser and about 50% stronger. The effects of progressive resistance training are similar for muscle tissue and bone tissue. The same stimulus that increases muscle strength also increases bone density and mineral content. A study of the upper leg bone (femur) demonstrated significant increase of bone and mineral density after only four months of resistance training. A new study, reported in February 2000, in the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows that elderly women who completed a one-year weighttraining program increased their strength by 19-29% with comparable increase in bone density.

Improves Blood Pressure
Resistance has been shown to reduce resting blood pressure significantly. A study in 1995 revealed that combining strength and aerobic training lowers the systolic blood pressure (exercising heart rate) by 5mm Hg and the diastolic blood pressure (resting heart rate) by 3mm Hg over two months. Research has proven that weight training causes fewer heart symptoms than traditional rehabilitation exercises like fast walking, jogging or cycling. It also yields better coronary flow, greater muscle strength, greater sub-maximal endurance and less fatigue. In a new study, a 12-week weight-training program was added to a conventional heart rehabilitation aerobic exercise program. The group who completed weights plus aerobics developed much greater increases in strength (90% as opposed to 9% on aerobics alone). They also lost more body fat (2.8kg as opposed to 1.3kg) and showed a greater increase in endurance.

Combats Diabetes
Studies published between 1995 and 1999 showed, an unexpected benefit of weight training, an improved glucose tolerance in patients with Type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes. In another study, post –menopausal women with diabetes followed a weight-training program for four months. Their glucose sensitivity, when compared to a non-weight training group, improved by an average of 29%.

Improves Immunity
Immune system health depends on the availability of the amino acid glutamine. Your muscles have to supply glutamine to the immune system. The more muscle you have the more abundant the glutamine supply and the better your immune system works.

Helps Arthritis
Tufts University researchers gave patients, with rheumatoid arthritis, 12 weeks of high-intensity weight training. Results showed significant reduction in joint
pain and a big gain in strength. Another study at the University of Nebraska gave a group of patients, with osteoarthritis of the knee, an 8-week
strength-training program. Another group of patients, with the same type of arthritis, was used as a control group. Results showed the group doing the weight
training had a significant decline in arthritis growth and symptoms.

Reduces lower back pain
Research, into strength training and back pain, conducted by the University of Florida Medical School showed individuals who had strong lower back muscles
were less likely to be injured than people with weak lower back muscles. A recent study also found a significant decrease in back pain for patients that
strength trained with specific (full range) exercises for the lumbar spine muscles, after only after 10 weeks.

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C. 51 ways being active is healthy

Need a good reason to build a regular physical activity routine?
Here are 51 great benefits from regular physical activity. Circle the ones that are most important to you and they will give you the greatest benefits.

  1. Burns calories.
  2. Maintains your metabolism.
  3. Boosts fat burning.
  4. Tones your body.
  5. Improves weight loss and maintenance.
  6. You can eat more and still maintain calorie balance.
  7. Helps you wear the clothes you want to wear.
  8. Reduces fatigue.
  9. Boosts your fitness.
  10. Gives you more energy to achieve the things you want.
  11. Makes it easier to do household chores.
  12. Increases enjoyment of recreational activities.
  13. Gives you the energy to enjoy play time with the kids.
  14. Makes active holidays more enjoyable.
  15. Lowers your resting heart rate.
  16. Enhances your endurance and stamina.
  17. Increases muscle strength.
  18. Preserves lean muscle tissue.
  19. Improves balance.
  20. Enhances muscle and joint flexibility.
  21. Improves your posture.
  22. Boosts your immune system.
  23. Improves sleeping patterns.
  24. Assists efforts to stop smoking.
  25. Reduces lower back pain.
  26. Reduces risk of varicose veins.
  27. Helps relieve constipation.
  28. Helps alleviate menstrual symptoms.
  29. Strengthens your bones.
  30. Improves circulation.
  31. Increases your lung capacity.
  32. Enhances glucose tolerance.
  33. Increases good cholesterol.
  34. Reduces hypertension.
  35. Cuts the risk of type 2 diabetes.
  36. Reduces the risk of heart attack.
  37. Helps manage asthma.
  38. Reduces the risk of osteoporosis.
  39. Reduces the need for some medications.
  40. Reduces medical expenses.
  41. Improves your mood.
  42. Helps you relax.
  43. Enhances stress management.
  44. Keeps you alert.
  45. Increases productivity.
  46. Helps you stay independent.
  47. Boosts your creativity.
  48. Improves your self-esteem.
  49. Boosts the feeling of being in control of your lifestyle.
  50. Sets a good example for family and children.
  51. Provides more and better quality “me time!”
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D. Exercise Myths exposed

Separating the fact eparating from the fiction At one time or another you will likely come across the following myths related to exercise and fitness. Let’
separate the fact from fiction.

Fiction: Strength training will make women too muscular.
Fact: Many women are afraid that strength training will make them bulky. However, women don’t have enough testosterone to create big, bulkymuscles.

Fact is they naturally have less bone and muscle than men, which explains why women are at greater risk of developing osteoporosis than men. Another
fact is, women should do strength training to keeping their bones and muscles strong, it will decrease their risk of osteoporosis and disability as they age.


Fiction: You can boost your exercise benefit with weights on your arms or legs.
Fact: Unfortunately, light hand held weights are not heavy enough to provide the benefits of strength training. Instead, these weights will slow down your
training, alter your natural gait and decrease the over all benefits received from the exercise activity.


Fiction: Certain exercises will rid us of trouble spots.
Fact: Some people believe that if they exercise one particular area, it will cause fat to be removed from that area. In the gym you often find men who store
their fat in their abdomen, are on the ab machines, and the women with larger thighs are on the hip machines for hours in hopes of ‘spot reducing’. However,
while these abdominal and hip exercises can strengthen and tone the muscles of those regions, those muscles are actually located underneath the
‘subcutaneous’ (deep) layer of fat; this means, we must lose the excess fat that is covering up the muscles in order to discard that ‘flabby’ appearance.
When you exercise, areas where you lose weight is determined mostly by your genes.


Fiction: If you don’t lose weight, there’s no point in doing the exercises.
Fact: It’s not uncommon for people who don’t see immediate weight loss to consider giving up their exercise routine. Remember that exercise gives us
benefits that we might not be able to see. By exercising we reduce our risk of developing diabetes and heart disease, we reduce our triglyceride level,
raise our HDL (good) cholesterol and benefit from the psychological boost, which includes both depression and anxiety relief. So even if you are not losing
weight, remember that many improvements are occurring internally.


Fiction: You can’t be fit and fat.
Fact: The notion, that all fat people are unfit and at high risk of developing health-related disease, is not true. Overweight individuals, who are fit, do not have
elevated mortality rates. It has actually been shown that low fitness level is as good a predictor of dying as other risk factors, like high cholesterol, high blood
pressure and diabetes. Fitness is such an important predictor of mortality that it is essential to assess it as part of a person’s general health risks as part of
their medical check-ups.

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