The three enemies of our health have traditionally been the following:
1. Fat (causes cholesterol)
2. Salt (causes hypertension)
3. Sugar (causes diabetes)
Of the three, the first has begun to take less heat. The second continues to be a threat, but we now know that it’s not so serious. And the third (sugar) is indeed very dangerous to our well-being.
We must understand that all carbohydrates (cereal, pasta, potatoes, rice, fruit, candy, soda, honey, sugar) get converted to glucose in the body.
Glucose is a major fuel, but it’s toxic in high amounts. When large glucose concentrations are detected, the pancreas secretes a hormone called insulin, which removes the extra glucose from the bloodstream. Insulin’s job is to store glucose in the liver and in muscles (as glycogen) and in fat cells (in the form of saturated fat).
However, if these storages get full, they become less receptive to further storage. That’s exactly what the term “insulin resistance” means, and it’s the first stage of diabetes. Unfortunately, fat cells are excluded. These can grow forever, as we all know too well.
Anyway, the body detects that the extra glucose was not removed, and thus more insulin is secreted – but this measure isn’t effective either. The result is that both glucose and insulin increase continuously, and both substances are toxic in high amounts. This causes inflammation, triglycerides, heart disease and other problems.
Finally, the pancreas gets depleted and can’t produce any more insulin. Thus, external insulin is required (by injection). The rest is history.
Don’t get fooled, glucose is essential for the body, but this doesn’t hold true for carbs. That’s why we have four mechanisms to create glucose (glycogenolysis in muscles and the liver, and gluconeogenesis in the liver and kidneys). On the other hand, there is only one mechanism to remove the extra glucose (insulin).
What you have to do is very simple:
1. Reduce all carbohydrates
2. Increase your activity levels, in order to constantly use up your glucose reserves
That's all there is to it!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
The paralysis of analysis
The title is stolen from a favorite writer, who deals with a whole different subject. However, I believe that this issue occurs very frequently in fitness too.
In plain terms, it means that too much analysis leads mostly to inactivity. How many people spend countless hours reading about training/nutrition and constructing the perfect program, down to the finest detail, and in the end don’t do a single thing. As a matter of fact, the usual victims of this phenomenon are intelligent people. They are certain (rightfully to some extend) that before starting anything they should know everything about it. And in the end they don’t get past the theory.
Then we have another close relative, the “all or nothing” mentality. We believe that we must do everything perfect, or else there is no reason to do anything. Since we sidetracked from our precious program by missing yesterday’s workout, we can skip today too. Since we had a bagel for breakfast, it’s ok if we go to MacDonald’s for lunch.
But it doesn’t have to be that way! Everything counts. And especially in fitness, it’s better to do anything than do nothing.
Both of these mentalities are part of human nature. I am also a frequent victim. For example, I don’t post on the blog unless I have the “perfect” subject. And as a result, I don’t write anything.
Consciously try to fight them.
When all is said and done, the basis of both is laziness. As soon as you are finished reading this article, stand up and do something for your body. Because no matter how much you read, in the end you must act.
In plain terms, it means that too much analysis leads mostly to inactivity. How many people spend countless hours reading about training/nutrition and constructing the perfect program, down to the finest detail, and in the end don’t do a single thing. As a matter of fact, the usual victims of this phenomenon are intelligent people. They are certain (rightfully to some extend) that before starting anything they should know everything about it. And in the end they don’t get past the theory.
Then we have another close relative, the “all or nothing” mentality. We believe that we must do everything perfect, or else there is no reason to do anything. Since we sidetracked from our precious program by missing yesterday’s workout, we can skip today too. Since we had a bagel for breakfast, it’s ok if we go to MacDonald’s for lunch.
But it doesn’t have to be that way! Everything counts. And especially in fitness, it’s better to do anything than do nothing.
Both of these mentalities are part of human nature. I am also a frequent victim. For example, I don’t post on the blog unless I have the “perfect” subject. And as a result, I don’t write anything.
Consciously try to fight them.
When all is said and done, the basis of both is laziness. As soon as you are finished reading this article, stand up and do something for your body. Because no matter how much you read, in the end you must act.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Cheat days
Summary: If you are dieting in any way or form, it’s useful to take a break once per week, and eat whatever and as much as you like. By doing that, you prevent your body from entering starvation mode (in which it tries to maintain its weight), and you also enjoy psychological benefits.
In a previous article, we have discussed how the body functions in periods larger than one day. In plain English, this means that if once per week you break your diet, the world will not come to an end.
On the contrary, days such as this (which are called “cheat days”) are beneficial! We will explain right away.
The body is designed to be resilient in periods of starvation, or reduced food intake. To achieve this goal, it employs several mechanisms, one of which if fat storage. Another mechanism is the detection of starvation periods, and the subsequent adjustment of all metabolic functions. That is, when the body detects a reduction in food intake, it does its best to become thriftier and maintain its current weight.
The hormone that regulates this mechanism is called leptin. When food intake is high, leptin levels are also high. Whenever a food shortage is detected, leptin falls and the body becomes resilient in weight loss (leptin is well-named: ‘leptos’ means ‘thin’ in Greek).
That’s exactly what happens when we diet for too long. Our body doesn’t know that we are doing it on purpose, and believes that it’s a starvation period.
However, if you stop your diet once per week (let’s say every Sunday), you effectively prevent leptin from falling. This way, when you resume the diet on Monday, your body is again primed to lose weight and fat.
Apart from that, cheat days are obviously good for you psych. Every Sunday then (or whatever day is practical for you), eat to your heart’s content!
In a coming post, we will learn about ways to take advantage of the days before and after a cheat day, in order to maximize results.
In a previous article, we have discussed how the body functions in periods larger than one day. In plain English, this means that if once per week you break your diet, the world will not come to an end.
On the contrary, days such as this (which are called “cheat days”) are beneficial! We will explain right away.
The body is designed to be resilient in periods of starvation, or reduced food intake. To achieve this goal, it employs several mechanisms, one of which if fat storage. Another mechanism is the detection of starvation periods, and the subsequent adjustment of all metabolic functions. That is, when the body detects a reduction in food intake, it does its best to become thriftier and maintain its current weight.
The hormone that regulates this mechanism is called leptin. When food intake is high, leptin levels are also high. Whenever a food shortage is detected, leptin falls and the body becomes resilient in weight loss (leptin is well-named: ‘leptos’ means ‘thin’ in Greek).
That’s exactly what happens when we diet for too long. Our body doesn’t know that we are doing it on purpose, and believes that it’s a starvation period.
However, if you stop your diet once per week (let’s say every Sunday), you effectively prevent leptin from falling. This way, when you resume the diet on Monday, your body is again primed to lose weight and fat.
Apart from that, cheat days are obviously good for you psych. Every Sunday then (or whatever day is practical for you), eat to your heart’s content!
In a coming post, we will learn about ways to take advantage of the days before and after a cheat day, in order to maximize results.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Looking for energy
In the past, we have seen that one of the best ways to burn fat is to do cardio in the morning (before breakfast). However, there is a “risk” in this approach, which I will use as an excuse to give you the general theory.
Put simply, aerobic activities burn fat for fuel, while the anaerobic ones (like weight training) “prefer” carbs (glucose). Apart from the foods we have recently consumed, the body also maintains reserves for these nutrients. The carb storage is the glycogen found in muscles and in the liver, which the body converts to glucose. As for the fat storage, we all know where that is.
So, cardio is preferred to burn fat (through a process called Krebs Cycle). There is one issue though: fat burning doesn’t commence immediately. The body burns carbs first, and only when they are depleted, it will move to burning fat.
In the morning, all carb storages – stomach, muscle glycogen, liver glycogen, blood sugar (glucose) – are relatively empty. Thus, the body will start burning fat more quickly. Roughly speaking, this will take 5-10 minutes, so the rest of the time the main energy source will be bodyfat.
There is however an organ that can’t use fat for energy (not even the fat byproducts, called ketones). This organ is none other than the brain, which demands glucose to function properly.
The body doesn’t have a mechanism to make glucose from fat. In the absence of carbs, this glucose must be created from protein – meaning your muscles!
You can deal with this problem in two ways. First, you should limit your cardio to 45 minutes tops. Second, you should have a small protein source before exercising – for example, put some milk in your coffee, or eat an egg white.
Besides, as we have already discussed you should limit your carbs all day long. That’s why your weight sessions should be infrequent and short.
In this way, you will slowly transform your body to a muscular fat-burning machine.
Put simply, aerobic activities burn fat for fuel, while the anaerobic ones (like weight training) “prefer” carbs (glucose). Apart from the foods we have recently consumed, the body also maintains reserves for these nutrients. The carb storage is the glycogen found in muscles and in the liver, which the body converts to glucose. As for the fat storage, we all know where that is.
So, cardio is preferred to burn fat (through a process called Krebs Cycle). There is one issue though: fat burning doesn’t commence immediately. The body burns carbs first, and only when they are depleted, it will move to burning fat.
In the morning, all carb storages – stomach, muscle glycogen, liver glycogen, blood sugar (glucose) – are relatively empty. Thus, the body will start burning fat more quickly. Roughly speaking, this will take 5-10 minutes, so the rest of the time the main energy source will be bodyfat.
There is however an organ that can’t use fat for energy (not even the fat byproducts, called ketones). This organ is none other than the brain, which demands glucose to function properly.
The body doesn’t have a mechanism to make glucose from fat. In the absence of carbs, this glucose must be created from protein – meaning your muscles!
You can deal with this problem in two ways. First, you should limit your cardio to 45 minutes tops. Second, you should have a small protein source before exercising – for example, put some milk in your coffee, or eat an egg white.
Besides, as we have already discussed you should limit your carbs all day long. That’s why your weight sessions should be infrequent and short.
In this way, you will slowly transform your body to a muscular fat-burning machine.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Melt the fat!
In the previous post, we discussed ways to burn fat through nutrition. The main point is changing the caloric balance, either by decreasing food (as explained here), or by increasing activity. Today, we will be talking about the latter.
My recommendation as you might know is: three weight sessions and three aerobic (running) sessions weekly. These activities burn a lot of calories of course, but they also have many other benefits that contribute indirectly to fat loss.
Weight training builds muscle (to be precise, in periods of diet and fat loss, it doesn’t build muscle but helps maintain it). This fact, along with profound changes in appearance, helps in another very important aspect: it improves the metabolism. That’s because muscle is active tissue. It constantly burns calories, either during work or during rest.
Aerobic training improves endurance and makes the body more efficient in burning fat. In addition, this activity relies mostly on fat for fuel, and thus we hope it will directly burn bodyfat (especially if we follow these guidelines).
For all these reasons, I recommend you do an aerobic activity every day. However, since this would be tough on the body (and the risk of overtraining higher), intense sessions should be limited to 4-5 weekly, and the rest should be devoted to fast walking. An example follows:
Monday: running
Tuesday: running
Wednesday: fast walking
Thursday: running
Friday: fast walking
Saturday: running
Sunday: fast walking (or rest)
This technique is called active rest and it’s immensely effective. The key is to avoid exertion on the walking days, i.e. don’t come to a point where you are breathing heavily. You should however take more time. If you run for 20 minutes, you should fast-walk for 30-45 minutes.
Weight sessions remain at three per week. This number is ideal for muscle maintenance.
Hurry up, two months left!
My recommendation as you might know is: three weight sessions and three aerobic (running) sessions weekly. These activities burn a lot of calories of course, but they also have many other benefits that contribute indirectly to fat loss.
Weight training builds muscle (to be precise, in periods of diet and fat loss, it doesn’t build muscle but helps maintain it). This fact, along with profound changes in appearance, helps in another very important aspect: it improves the metabolism. That’s because muscle is active tissue. It constantly burns calories, either during work or during rest.
Aerobic training improves endurance and makes the body more efficient in burning fat. In addition, this activity relies mostly on fat for fuel, and thus we hope it will directly burn bodyfat (especially if we follow these guidelines).
For all these reasons, I recommend you do an aerobic activity every day. However, since this would be tough on the body (and the risk of overtraining higher), intense sessions should be limited to 4-5 weekly, and the rest should be devoted to fast walking. An example follows:
Monday: running
Tuesday: running
Wednesday: fast walking
Thursday: running
Friday: fast walking
Saturday: running
Sunday: fast walking (or rest)
This technique is called active rest and it’s immensely effective. The key is to avoid exertion on the walking days, i.e. don’t come to a point where you are breathing heavily. You should however take more time. If you run for 20 minutes, you should fast-walk for 30-45 minutes.
Weight sessions remain at three per week. This number is ideal for muscle maintenance.
Hurry up, two months left!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
How the body stores fat?
We have already discussed that if we consume more calories than needed, the body puts on weight, while if we consume less than needed then we lose weight. We have also made clear that the key for changing our bodies is to know what exactly the weight we are gaining or losing is. The goal should be the following: when we gain it must be muscle, and when we lose it must be fat.
To achieve this goal, it is essential to learn the mechanisms with which the body develops muscle and stores fat. Today we will talk about the latter.
The fat stores of the body are mainly two: right under the skin (subcutaneous fat) and internally between the organs (visceral fat). Subcutaneous fat is the well-known fat that you can grab with your hands. On the contrary, visceral fat is internal. That’s why some men have big bellies, which are also hard.
At this point, let me repeat the following: everything that will be said below holds true only if we eat more calories than needed. Otherwise, fat storage is unlikely.
Let’s start with the excessive dietary fat. All of this will get stored, as you might expect. The reason is that the body doesn’t need to do any complicated conversion in order to store it. I repeat that we are talking about excessive dietary fat.
Let’s move to excessive carbohydrates. These can also get converted to fat and stored, but this is not as easy. The following is much more likely: when we consume excess carbs, our body learns to burn carbs for fuel. Thus the excess fat mentioned above will surely not be used for energy purposes, and will get stored.
The same holds true for protein, which is even more unlikely to get converted to fat.
In the case you are consuming zero dietary fat, but also excess carbs and protein, your body will again store fat, converting the carbs and protein. This conversion is difficult, but not impossible.
As a result, whatever you do, if you eat more than you need you will put on fat.
Following the reverse logic, in order to lose fat here is what you should do:
- burn more calories than the amount consumed, either by lowering your food intake, or by increasing your activity level (or both)
- cut the carbs drastically, to educate your body to burn fat for fuel
- eat only as much dietary fat as necessary (i.e. not much) and not more
Start now!
To achieve this goal, it is essential to learn the mechanisms with which the body develops muscle and stores fat. Today we will talk about the latter.
The fat stores of the body are mainly two: right under the skin (subcutaneous fat) and internally between the organs (visceral fat). Subcutaneous fat is the well-known fat that you can grab with your hands. On the contrary, visceral fat is internal. That’s why some men have big bellies, which are also hard.
At this point, let me repeat the following: everything that will be said below holds true only if we eat more calories than needed. Otherwise, fat storage is unlikely.
Let’s start with the excessive dietary fat. All of this will get stored, as you might expect. The reason is that the body doesn’t need to do any complicated conversion in order to store it. I repeat that we are talking about excessive dietary fat.
Let’s move to excessive carbohydrates. These can also get converted to fat and stored, but this is not as easy. The following is much more likely: when we consume excess carbs, our body learns to burn carbs for fuel. Thus the excess fat mentioned above will surely not be used for energy purposes, and will get stored.
The same holds true for protein, which is even more unlikely to get converted to fat.
In the case you are consuming zero dietary fat, but also excess carbs and protein, your body will again store fat, converting the carbs and protein. This conversion is difficult, but not impossible.
As a result, whatever you do, if you eat more than you need you will put on fat.
Following the reverse logic, in order to lose fat here is what you should do:
- burn more calories than the amount consumed, either by lowering your food intake, or by increasing your activity level (or both)
- cut the carbs drastically, to educate your body to burn fat for fuel
- eat only as much dietary fat as necessary (i.e. not much) and not more
Start now!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Weight training: the next steps
(Δείτε αυτό το ποστ στα ελληνικά)
When you have a month of three full-body sessions per week under your belt, it’s time to graduate to the ‘split’ system (named that way by the father of modern bodybuilding Joe Weider). This means that you will split your body, so as to devote more time to each bodypart.
Your first split should be in two, and you have the following options:
- upper and lower body
- push/pull
In the first option, one session is devoted to chest, back, shoulders, arms, and the other to legs: quads (the front of your thigh), hamstrings (the back), calves.
In the second option, one session consists of pushing movements (chest, shoulders, triceps, quads) and the other of pulling movements (back, biceps, hamstrings, calves). This is the split that I recommend.
In any case, the program will be like that:
Tuesday: Session A
Thursday: Session B
Saturday: Session A
Tuesday: Session B
Thursday: Session A
Saturday: Session B
Thus, the two workouts are alternated.
As I already mentioned, the advantage is that you can train your bodyparts for longer. Make use of this fact, by adding an exercise for each large bodypart, as follows:
Chest: add incline dumbbell presses or dips
Back: add barbell rows
Shoulders: add dumbbell lateral raises
Quads: add leg extensions
Hamstrings: you didn’t train this bodypart up to now, so now do leg curls
Calves: you didn’t train calves either, so now do standing calf raises
Sets and reps remain the same.
This program will suit you for at least six months. After that, you can further split your body like that:
Tuesday: Chest, arms (biceps, triceps)
Thursday: Back, shoulders
Saturday: Legs (quads, hamstrings, calves)
At this point, you will be able to add an exercise to small bodyparts too:
- dumbbell curls (for biceps)
- overhead dumbbell extensions (for triceps)
- standing leg curls (for hamstrings): these can be done on the leg extension machine, if you stand facing the machine’s back
- seated calf raises: they can be done with a barbell on your knees, or using the Smith machine (which is the barbell that is fixed on the two vertical poles)
This program will get you through another six months or more.
However, the final goal (and the ultimate program, which was preferred by the great Dorian Yates) is the following:
Tuesday: Chest, biceps
Wednesday: Shoulders, triceps
Friday: Back
Saturday: Legs
Here you can do three exercises for large bodyparts, and up to four for back. We will talk extensively about this program in the future.
You may have noticed that as time goes by, the frequency with which we train each bodypart is reduced. In the first program (with the three full-body sessions per week), every bodypart is obviously trained three times per week. In the second, each bodypart is trained three times every two weeks. And in the last two programs, each bodypart is trained only once per week.
There is a reason for this. As you get more experienced, you will be able to train your muscles much harder, and thus deplete them and wear them out a lot more. However, your body’s ability to repair them is not developed equally. We remedy this fact by training less frequently.
Time to go, off to the gym!
When you have a month of three full-body sessions per week under your belt, it’s time to graduate to the ‘split’ system (named that way by the father of modern bodybuilding Joe Weider). This means that you will split your body, so as to devote more time to each bodypart.
Your first split should be in two, and you have the following options:
- upper and lower body
- push/pull
In the first option, one session is devoted to chest, back, shoulders, arms, and the other to legs: quads (the front of your thigh), hamstrings (the back), calves.
In the second option, one session consists of pushing movements (chest, shoulders, triceps, quads) and the other of pulling movements (back, biceps, hamstrings, calves). This is the split that I recommend.
In any case, the program will be like that:
Tuesday: Session A
Thursday: Session B
Saturday: Session A
Tuesday: Session B
Thursday: Session A
Saturday: Session B
Thus, the two workouts are alternated.
As I already mentioned, the advantage is that you can train your bodyparts for longer. Make use of this fact, by adding an exercise for each large bodypart, as follows:
Chest: add incline dumbbell presses or dips
Back: add barbell rows
Shoulders: add dumbbell lateral raises
Quads: add leg extensions
Hamstrings: you didn’t train this bodypart up to now, so now do leg curls
Calves: you didn’t train calves either, so now do standing calf raises
Sets and reps remain the same.
This program will suit you for at least six months. After that, you can further split your body like that:
Tuesday: Chest, arms (biceps, triceps)
Thursday: Back, shoulders
Saturday: Legs (quads, hamstrings, calves)
At this point, you will be able to add an exercise to small bodyparts too:
- dumbbell curls (for biceps)
- overhead dumbbell extensions (for triceps)
- standing leg curls (for hamstrings): these can be done on the leg extension machine, if you stand facing the machine’s back
- seated calf raises: they can be done with a barbell on your knees, or using the Smith machine (which is the barbell that is fixed on the two vertical poles)
This program will get you through another six months or more.
However, the final goal (and the ultimate program, which was preferred by the great Dorian Yates) is the following:
Tuesday: Chest, biceps
Wednesday: Shoulders, triceps
Friday: Back
Saturday: Legs
Here you can do three exercises for large bodyparts, and up to four for back. We will talk extensively about this program in the future.
You may have noticed that as time goes by, the frequency with which we train each bodypart is reduced. In the first program (with the three full-body sessions per week), every bodypart is obviously trained three times per week. In the second, each bodypart is trained three times every two weeks. And in the last two programs, each bodypart is trained only once per week.
There is a reason for this. As you get more experienced, you will be able to train your muscles much harder, and thus deplete them and wear them out a lot more. However, your body’s ability to repair them is not developed equally. We remedy this fact by training less frequently.
Time to go, off to the gym!
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