Category Archives: Exercise

Body composition, Exercise, Health & Fitness

I’m over 50 years old. Isn’t it too late for me to start weight training? The ‘Can I…?’ series

Leave a comment

I have several well-meaning relatives, especially female, who, whenever they meet me after a long interval, never miss a chance to comment on whether I’ve gained or lost ‘weight’. After having used the ‘lost’ version too many times consecutively, they finally decided to ask me what they should do to get slimmer.

Many of these relatives are middle-aged, between 40 and 60 years old (DISCLAIMER – I don’t subscribe to this dictionary-definition of middle age, which suggests that one becomes ‘old’ at age 60.) The moment I mention to them that apart from adopting an appropriate diet protocol, they should incorporate resistance training into their exercise regimen, they are visibly flummoxed. Isn’t weight training for young persons and bodybuilders, that too, males? Why don’t you tell us how many kilometres to walk or how often to do Yoga?

It is a far too common misconception that resistance training, particularly the kind done in a gym, is not meant for people above a certain age. I would argue, in fact, that it is the one form of exercise that older persons MUST incorporate into their exercise programme. 

One of the surest signs of body aging is the loss of muscle mass. Due to changes in the nature of physical activity, diet, metabolism and hormonal profile (especially for women), one starts to lose muscularity in the absence of a concerted effort to maintain lean mass.

Engaging in regular strength training can help avoid muscular atrophy, or loss of muscle. This, in turn, helps to:

  • avoid loss of strength, which allows one to do simple day-to-day functions, as well as the difficult or occasional ones, easily and effortlessly
  • protect the joints from injury, especially weight-bearing ones, which are essential for independent hassle-free locomotion
  • enable quick recovery in the case of any injury
  • retain good posture, which is especially useful for keeping the spine healthy
  • maintain a strong core, which helps keep up stamina
  • maintain a toned look, which keeps one looking younger than one’s chronological age

Additionally, strength training encourages and sustains fat loss, which is usually considered impossible in the middle age. Music for your ears?

The only caveat would be to test for any chronic medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, post-surgery issues, or orthopaedic issues and get a professional practitioner’s clearance before embarking on a resistance-training programme. Also, as for any other age group, one should begin a strength-training programme under the supervision of a qualified instructor.

Here’s some more motivation to try out a gym for the first time – At your next birthday party, expect people to tell you that you look younger this year than at your previous birthday!

PC: Next Avenue

Exercise, Health & Fitness

I have never been to the gym before. How do I start a weight training programme?

1 Comment

The first time I stepped inside a gym was when I was 14. I recall examining each piece of equipment like it was a curious artefact. The equipment at that school gym was new, shiny and inviting. The only problem was that I had no idea how each was supposed to be used, leave alone what it was meant for. However, my youthful ignorance lifted any barriers to experimentation and I went ahead and tried my hand (and legs) at the various machines anyway.

For slightly older newbies at a gym, though, I understand that the sense of awe and hesitation could be more pronounced. Hence, most people who join a gym for the first time make straight for the treadmill – no one has to be taught how to walk or run, after all. And, yet, including weight training in your exercise regimen is the best insurance you can get for maintaining and improving your fitness.

As a novice at the gym, there are three goals you should be striving towards.

Those with more gumption typically either look at other gym members around them, decide that they like one of the many actions that are being performed, and proceed to go ahead similarly, or head towards the dumbbell stand and pick up a couple to crank out repetitions (reps) of that all-too-familiar and over-endorsed gym exercise – the bicep curl – with poor form.

Even if you do not always remember the three goals, you MUST remember the three rules!

Getting started on a weight-training programme, however, is a decision that requires a little more planning. As a novice at the gym, there are three goals you should be striving towards and, as a corollary, three rules that you must bear in mind.

The three goals for a newbie are:

  1. To learn how your exercise card is programmed (an exercise card is a quick reference schedule that the Training Programmer at a good commercial gym will prepare for you when you join the gym) – it tells you which body parts are to be trained on which day of the week
  2. To learn which exercise is targeted at which group of muscles
  3. To learn the correct form and technique of each exercise in your schedule

 

Even if you do not always remember the three goals, you MUST remember the three rules!

The first rule is not to do it without appropriate supervision, i.e. a qualified trainer. Manufacturers of gym equipment use concepts from anatomical, physiological and kinesiological science to design machines and even free-weights. The purpose of this thoughtfully driven process is that there is maximum benefit with minimum risk to any person working with these machines. However, to make exercise effective, one must know the correct form and technique for using them. Without the right knowledge on form and technique, one is setting oneself up for failure on two counts – not being efficient in terms of time and effort, and, far more critically, risking injury due to poor form.

[Secret tip: A good trainer will insist on a warm-up before and a cool-down after your workout. Stay away from anyone who ditches the warm up and directly puts you under a barbell.]

The second rule is not to try everything at once. Gym equipment manufacturers have outdone themselves in designing multiple machines for training each body part. A good trainer will tell you which ones are critical and which are only good-to-use or even non-essential. However, as a beginner, you need more practice to learn the correct form and technique of each exercise. Hence, your exercise card should cater for targeting all the main muscle groups at least twice each week.

[Secret tip: Beware of trainers who put you through a circuit that includes every machine installed at the gym on your first day.]

The third, and most important rule, is to listen to your body. For anyone trying weight training for the first time, soreness, technically known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or simply DOMS, is a given. This is because untrained muscles could suffer inflammation quickly when exercise-driven micro-trauma (micro tearing of muscle fibres that eventually helps build stronger muscles) occurs. The tricky part about beginner soreness is that you feel it only about 24 hours after exercise, typically after you’ve had a full night’s rest. Hence, it is a good idea to take it slow.

Again, beware of trainers who make you do more than 20-25 reps of any exercise in their enthusiasm to get you to perfect your form at your very first session. A good rule of thumb is to do no more than twelve to fifteen sets of all exercises put together, with 15-20 reps each. You will still not be able to avoid soreness but hopefully you will still be functioning well enough not to swear off weight training forever.

[A not-so-secret tip: The best way to deal with DOMS is to continue with your exercise programme despite the dull pain. You will find at each successive session that the soreness decreases as your muscles become familiar with the exercises.]

Feel better about signing up at a gym?

 

 

PC: mensxp.com

Exercise, Health & Fitness

Which is the best cardio exercise? The one that gets you closer to your goal!

2 Comments

I am a big believer in productivity. In my own (elusive) vision of the ‘perfect’ me, I am this highly efficient, multi-tasking, fast-moving, super-worker who gets things done on time, every time, all the time. During one of those eureka moments, when you suddenly hit upon the most elegant solution to not one or two, but half a dozen problems, I realised that I must run a marathon.

The main challenges to which it was an elegant answer were:

  1. Getting enough exercise on a regular basis
  2. Improving my stamina
  3. Gaining a sense of accomplishment
  4. Doing something to show off about to friends and family
  5. Losing weight (I was not aware of the concept of ‘fat loss’ as distinct from ‘weight loss’ then) – secretly the most important reason for signing up!

During one of those eureka moments, I realised that I must run a marathon.

And, thus, I signed up for one of the earliest Goa River Marathons. The name was somewhat misleading because it was actually a Half Marathon then, but daunting, nevertheless, to the cardio-challenged me. I did my research on viable training programmes, and, as always, trusted my own instincts on creating one to work on. I embarked, in earnest, on the three-month run-up to the marathon, crossing one milestone after another. From being able to trot barely 3K at the start of the programme, I was running over 10K nonstop a couple of months in, that too within a respectable number of minutes.

I ran 17K of the 21K on the final day and walked the rest. Not bad, I thought. When the soreness had worn off after a couple of days, I stepped on the scale. I had lost a grand total of 1100 grams, at the end of three months. Umm… something wrong with the scale?!

LISS can lead to some weight loss and fat loss but not if you’ve overcompensated for the calories you burned running by eating them back.

If that’s ever happened to you, you’d know the disappointment it brings. But if you knew the science behind this inadequate result, you’d realise that you could not have expected anything different.

Long distance running is, in essence, low intensity steady state (LISS) cardio work, where your heart rate remains within the range of 40% to 70% of your maximum heart rate. What it prepares you for is exactly that, long distance running, which builds your stamina or endurance. It CAN lead to some weight loss and fat loss depending on how your diet has changed, but not if you’ve overcompensated for the calories you burned running by eating them back. Walking is the most common example of LISS cardio.

If, however, your goal is to lose fat, then you would be better served by indulging in HIIT.

If your goal is to be a long distance runner, with endless stamina, or if you simply enjoy running, go for it. You will be training completely in the aerobic zone, building your cardio-respiratory endurance as well as muscular endurance in the lower body (the weight-bearing joints and muscles in the hips and legs).

If, however, your goal is to lose fat, then you would be better served by indulging in High Intensity Interval Training, popularly known as HIIT. As the name suggests HIIT workouts have periods of highly intense cardio exercises interspersed by intervals of low intensity exercises or full recovery. This mechanism raises your heart rate, within the range of 75% to 90% of your maximum heart rate, for short bursts of time. It targets body fat stores long after the workout since it has a great after-burn effect. The higher the intensity and shorter the interval, the shorter the workout. There are as many adaptations of HIIT programmes available as there are sports – running, spinning, functional training, circuit training, Crossfit, even swimming. Those with cardiac problems should, perhaps, refrain from HIIT.

Other than intensity, an important principle to bear in mind is whether the chosen cardio activity is high-impact or low-impact.

If your goal is general cardio-respiratory endurance to maintain your level of fitness, then moderate intensity training should be your choice. You would be training at an intensity where your heart rate remains within the range of 60% to 75% of your maximum heart rate. Examples include step-aerobics, Zumba, Power Yoga, dancing, swimming, trekking, etc. Those with cardiac problems should get clearance from their healthcare provider before starting such a programme.

Other than intensity, an important principle to bear in mind is whether the chosen cardio activity is high-impact or low-impact. The ‘impact’ here refers to the stress put on weight-bearing joints, your hips, knees and ankles. Those who have never or rarely been on an exercise programme, those with high levels of obesity, those with orthopaedic problems, and those with back/ spinal injuries should ideally begin with no/ low impact cardio exercises such as swimming, training on an elliptical machine, cycling, rowing, light to moderate Yoga, Pilates, or functional training not involving plyometrics. Most other cardio exercises are high-impact, including walking, all types of jogging or running, climbing stairs, skipping, aerobics, Zumba, dancing, plyometrics, etc.

With so much choice out there, it would be hard not to find a cardio workout that works for you. Go for it!

 

PC: http://www.health.harvard.edu

Body composition, Exercise, Health & Fitness

I train with weights regularly. Why do I need to do cardio? 6 Key Benefits of Cardio Exercise

Image 3 Comments

My eyes light up each time I visit a gym the same way a child’s do when she sees a toyshop. I love to check out the equipment, the freeweights, the pull-up bars, the benches, the power cages, and cables & pulleys, etc. It is almost therapeutic for me to see how different gyms are laid out and the type of exercises they cater for.

Because I know how addictive ‘gymming’ can be, I understand when I see some people training religiously in the weight room, to the exclusion of all other forms of exercise. The category of young men especially falls within this group (their favourite body parts being the arms and chest – to be trained everyday!) Yet, there is so much variety in terms of exercises that even watching a weight training session in progress can be entertaining.

In contrast, the cardio sections of gyms could seem monotonous and boring. The so-called ‘serious’ fitness freaks, especially among men, stay away from cardio exercises because they seem too ‘feminine’. It is no wonder that all classes for aerobics, Zumba, Bollybics, and other variations of the same thing, have an overwhelming proportion of females in attendance as compared to males. Just as women don’t want to ‘bulk up’ by training with weights, men do not want to appear feminine by doing cardio work.

I see some people training religiously in the weight room, to the exclusion of all other forms of exercise.

But ignoring cardio exercises simply means that you are overlooking a crucial component of fitness – your cardiorespiratory health – the health of your heart, which you will literally need for a lifetime to pump blood through your body; your blood vessels, which carry the nutrients your organs need for various functions; and your lungs, which oxygenate the blood from the air you breathe.

Let us understand why cardiorespiratory endurance matters. Put simply, it is the ability of your heart, blood vessels and lungs to function adequately for a prolonged period of time while carrying out any aerobic activity, i.e. when your body can use oxygen in the air to generate energy. You are in this aerobic zone over 99% of the time – while carrying out all day-to-day activities. The aerobic zone is heightened when doing cardio activities such as walking, jogging, running, cycling, swimming, rowing, stair-climbing, dancing, step aerobics, etc., which is why it counts as exercise, popularly known as ‘cardio’.

Cardio offers six key benefits for health and fitness:

  1. Improved heart health – The word ‘cardio’ literally means ‘heart’. Cardio helps to regulate and enhance the capacity of the heart to pump blood through the body, thus, reducing your Resting Heart Rate (RHR), which is a measure of the fitness of a person’s heart. In practical terms, it means that the lower your RHR, the greater your stamina when it comes to cardio/ aerobic activities that last for a long duration, ranging from a few minutes to even a few hours. A healthy person’s RHR is typically between 60-80 beats per minute. A healthy person with a lower RHR than 60 bpm shows positive adaptation to cardio exercise and will likely have greater endurance or stamina than a person with a higher RHR.

Do you know people who get out of breath after walking just a few tens of metres or climbing a short flight of stairs? They likely have a high RHR, i.e. over 80 beats per minute

  1. Lowered recovery time – A lowered RHR means that you can recover quickly from any strenuous activity and, thus, you would feel less tired than before. Also, the cardio training stimulus leads to a process called ‘neocapillarisation’, i.e. formation of new capillaries, through which nutrients are transported to different organs in the body via the blood. With a greater number of capillaries available for this job, recovery time is further reduced.
  1. Reduced risk of heart disease – With an improvement in heart health, the risk of disease automatically goes down, as it normalises blood pressure, helps to manage insulin response to glucose (the key marker for ‘diabetes mellitus’), and, hence, reduces risk of atherosclerosis.
  1. Improved skin health – Cardio increases the circulation of blood through the body. The nutrients in the blood reach skin cells too and drive toxins & dirt out of the body through sweat. This helps to keep your skin healthy.
  1. Accelerated fat loss – Aerobic exercise of any kind draws upon your body’s fat reserves for providing energy for long periods. Hence, cardio can help accelerate fat loss and improve body composition.
  1. Reduced stress – While exercise of any kind helps alleviate stress, cardio work especially releases endorphins into your blood that activate your mood sensors and reduce stress by increasing the blood circulation to your brain.

With a wide-ranging menu of cardio activities on offer, one may wonder which one to invest time and effort in. More on that soon.

PC: Essentrics with Betty

Body composition, Exercise

I am a woman and don’t want to bulk up like a man. Why do I need to train with weights?

3 Comments

I saw the inside of a gymnasium for the first time when I was 14. My school was rather avant garde when it came to sporting facilities and the brand new gym was the latest addition to its repertoire for physical training. A friend and I were so enthused by the various types of equipment, that we would sneak into the gym after the Games session every evening to crank out some reps on the leg press machine or pec dec station (I didn’t know what the equipment were called until many years later).

One day the Sports Teacher saw us doing some lifting and hastened to warn us. I believe he said something to this effect, “That machine is not meant for you. Girls should not use it or they’ll grow disproportionately.” Alas, the teacher was not avant garde enough. So that was the end of my gym exploration. And it remained that way until a scientifically better informed trainer cleared the cobwebs in my head about why ‘girls’ should, in fact, train with weights.

“That machine is not meant for you.”

Today, despite the updated awareness among the trainer community about the benefits of resistance training for women, the lack of awareness among women themselves remains high. Have you seen how the cardio sections of most gyms are packed with women sweating it out on the treadmills or elliptical trainers while the weight rooms are almost devoid of women?

My own perception of weight training changed only when, about a decade ago, an enthusiastic trainer encouraged me to complement my marathon training with some strength training. I did not fully comprehend why he thought it was important for improving my running but I agreed to give it a shot anyway. And that became the turning point in my fitness journey.

 

It is close to impossible for women to look like men because they are governed by different hormones.

Let’s first look at why women are resistant to resistance training (oops, I did it again!) Most women who shy away from weight training think they’ll end up looking grossly muscular, too manly for comfort. In truth, it is close to impossible for women to look like men because they are governed by different hormones. The predominant male hormone, testosterone, which makes men looks like men, is what promotes muscle build-up. Women have very low levels of testosterone and could only look like men if they underwent hormonal intervention (read steroids). The female hormone, estrogen, on the other hand, helps fat build-up, among other things. That is also the reason that women have a relatively higher percentage of body fat than men. So that should put to rest any doubts a woman has about looking manly or unfeminine.

But are there any special benefits for women to engage in resistance training apart from those available to men such as fat loss, muscle definition, and increased strength and functionality? Several!

Because weight training enables hypertrophy, i.e. growth, of muscles, it accentuates the natural human form. In the case of women, the improved muscle tone helps to show curves where they matter – shoulders, arms, buttocks, thighs, and calves. Training the muscles of the back and core helps to taper the waist, giving the illusion of the hourglass to the entire female form. As a woman, wouldn’t that be something to strive for?

Women tend to be more prone to bone-related troubles than men due to the effects of childbirth and age-related degeneration following menopause. Osteoporosis and osteopenia, thus, affect women a lot more frequently than men. Resistance training, supported by adequate nutrition, is the only form of exercise that can help to strengthen the joints and bones, thus, reducing the risk of these maladies. For the cardio-lovers, weight training complements high-impact cardio activities by improving bone density and preparing the joints for sustaining high-impact work.

The improved muscle tone helps to show curves where they matter – shoulders, arms, buttocks, thighs, and calves. 

For women of childbearing age, weight training can prove to be highly beneficial in all phases of making a baby – during pregnancy, delivery and post-natal recovery (this has been my own experience too). Women who lift weights on a regular basis have fewer pregnancy symptoms and are able to deal with them better than those who don’t – little or no water retention, swollen ankles, backache, nausea. They have a higher chance of delivering a baby naturally, i.e. through a normal vaginal delivery, versus women do not train with weights. They are also much better placed when it comes to post natal recovery, easily regaining their pre-pregnancy weight, and resuming their exercise form. The training also naturally helps with all the lifting that a new mum has to do – a baby, nappies, wipes, bottles, bags, mats, toys and what have you!

So, woman, the next time somebody tries to tell you that you shouldn’t train with weights, do yourself a favour and find a different fitness advisor!

Body composition, Exercise, Health & Fitness

I do Yoga each day. Why do I need to train with weights?

1 Comment

I became a yogini over two decades ago, quite by accident. A college-mate of mine had enrolled for a class on her parents’ recommendation. She suggested I check it out. It was the first time I had tried any activity like it. I discovered not only that I enjoyed the experience but also that I was rather good at it.

Once a month, the 60-something Yoga teacher would invite other Yoga teachers from his matth, which practised the Iyengar style, to break up the monotony. On one such occasion, the invitee teacher led us through a particularly complex routine of yogasanas. As the complexity grew with each pose, more and more participants started to stall. To my surprise, I was among a handful that could complete all the poses as directed. The teacher beamed at me as I arched my back in a perfect Kapotasana, the pigeon pose, and said encouragingly, “Now, strive to maintain this flexibility throughout your life.” So that is what I did.

I am grateful for the day that my friend convinced me to go to that class with her. Yoga has been a constant companion in my life ever since. (My love for it eventually translated into a certification as a Yoga teacher following the Ashtanga philosophy a few years ago.) My belief in Yoga as a way of life has only solidified further.

Around me, I’ve noticed that the attendees in Yoga classes typically span a gradient from middle-aged women (especially homemakers), senior citizens (primarily interested in Pranayama), or exercise-starved corporate employees in a corporate-sponsored class, on one end of the spectrum, to young adrenaline-seeking enthusiasts of Power Yoga and passionate believers of the Yogic philosophy on the other. However, I see people attending Yoga classes to the exclusion of any other form of exercise. And that’s where the disconnect occurs.

Yoga, undoubtedly, has holistic benefits for not just health but also life in general. I would be amongst the first persons to attest to its importance in health and fitness. Among the benefits from Yoga are improved flexibility, which reduces risk of injury; improved breathing, which enhances cardiovascular health and stamina; improved posture and balance, which improve spine and bone health; and relaxation and stress-relief. A highly advanced practice can even improve muscle tone and strength.

I would venture as far as to say that among all types of exercise, the practice of Yogasanas is perhaps the only form to enable improvement on all five components of fitness. And, yet, it has limitations when it comes to progressive overload, a key requirement for developing musculoskeletal strength, the main antidote to aging, which I discussed in detail in my last post.

‘Progressive overload’ simply means giving your body a greater training stimulus once it gets accustomed to a particular level of training. For example, the veteran jogger who runs the same 5 kilometres every day is not progressing in his cardio training while the newbie who adds five more minutes to his ten-minute jog, or adds half a kilometre to his 2-kilometre run, or takes two minutes less to run the same 2 kilometres, is increasing the load and intensity.

Similarly, while training with weights, one might add a few repetitions to a set, or a whole set to an exercise, or increase the weight for a set, or do the same number of sets in less time than before, as a way to increase the load. The idea is to go beyond your comfort zone and push your body to do a little more once a particular training level is reached. For example, a novice to weight training might be able to do 15 reps of an exercise in her first week before experiencing fatigue. Once she finds that she can go up to 20 reps without fatigue, she could increase the weight or resistance to deliver 12 reps. As her muscles gain strength to perform 15-18 reps of the same exercise at the new weight, she can move to a higher weight again.

While doing yogasanas, there is sufficient progression until you learn the correct posture, balance, form, technique, and how to handle your own bodyweight. You might even gain some load by increasing the duration of your practice or adding variations of an exercise to target the same muscle group multiple times. However, it is impossible to add further resistance to such practice once bodyweight training comes within your comfort zone. For example, a person who can perform an Adhomukh Vrikshasana, a handstand, even when adding pushups to the handstand, will need to resort to external weights eventually to seek hypertrophy and further strengthen her shoulders, arms and forearms.

Weight training provides your body with the training stimulus to first break down muscle tissue and then build it up larger to be stronger than before. If fat loss is your goal, then the greater muscle mass means that you carry more metabolically active tissue, which revs your metabolism and increases your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Also, resistance training has the greatest after-burn effect among all types of exercise.  Hence, you burn more calories even when you are at rest and not only during exercise.

So the next time you face a dilemma as to whether to sign up for resistance training despite the daily Yoga class or not, don’t choose. Go for it!

 

PC: The Big Yogi

Body composition, Exercise, Health & Fitness

I walk 30 minutes each day. Why do I need to train with weights?

8 Comments

I was 11 when I learnt for the first time that ‘walking’ was a cure for all obesity-related maladies. A neighbour, the mother of a friend of mine, had, I’d heard, been denied a reservation on a US-bound flight by an airline because she was overweight. Now I don’t know about airline norms existing at the time, but I do recall that that lady walked about ten kilometres everyday for the next three months to whittle down her 96-kilo frame to a 78-kilo one. When she tried to book her ticket again, the airline had no cause for complaint. On my following term break, I heard that the lady had had to extend her sojourn in the US due to a knee fracture she suffered from a fall on the pavement.

I’ve seen this story repeat itself several times since then (newly minted middle-aged marathoners who literally break a leg, come to mind). ‘Walking is the best exercise.’ This apocryphal piece of advice is dished out to so many so often without the slightest thought for long-term health.

Well-meaning relatives and friends, who oftentimes are the biggest defaulters where exercise is concerned, seem to proffer this advice left, right and centre. Mothers-in-law of expectant brides encourage their daughters-in-law to ‘simply walk’, all as part of the ante-natal care-giving for the mothers-to-be. Doctors of obese diabetic patients prescribe ‘walking for 20-30 minutes a day’ as part of the treatment. Parents of obese teenagers tag the children along with them on their own morning walk ritual.

‘Walking is the best exercise.’ This apocryphal piece of advice is dished out to so many so often without the slightest thought for long-term health.

Now, I have nothing against walking as a form of exercise. In fact, it is an inseparable part of my own regimen. It is convenient, cheap, does not need to be learnt, and does not require any special gear or equipment except a good pair of shoes. But to say that it is the ‘best form of exercise’ only explains the ignorance of the person saying it.

A person may be motivated to take up exercise for a variety of reasons, mostly reactively, unfortunately, rather than proactively. But if the goal is to seek long-term sustainable health and fitness, then depending on walking alone is investing your time in a severely lop-sided exercise programme.

If you break down the physiology of walking, you’ll realise that it is primarily a lower body workout, which engages your core. It is a high-impact activity that causes a great amount of stress on your weight-bearing joints, the hips, knees and ankles. Since it is a low intensity steady state activity (walking fast would still qualify as low intensity if you are able to do it for tens of minutes), walking engages your aerobic energy system (more on this later), necessarily involving your cardio-respiratory apparatus to provide a constant supply of energy.

The reason that long-time joggers look very lean – they lose the defining muscle along with the body fat.

As a cardio activity, then, walking depends on the carbs immediately available in your system in the form of glycogen stored in muscles, the fat stored in your body as adipose tissue, and the protein from muscles, which can break down to create glucose for energy, in that order. This implies that a cardio activity will eat through your muscle (presumably precious) if it is not able to generate enough energy quickly from the body fat (presumably dispensable). That’s also the reason that long-time joggers look very lean – they lose the defining muscle along with the body fat, unless their nutrition super-compensates for it.

When you let go of muscle, you allow for the weakening of your joints and, hence, bones. So, while your cardio-respiratory endurance improves, resulting in greater lung capacity and a lower resting heart rate, your muscles atrophy and your joints become feebler. How do you then spare the muscle and avoid risking a joint/ bone injury? By doing two things – ensuring appropriate nutrition (a protein-rich diet to repair the muscle tissue) and training with weights.

If fat loss is your goal, then you absolutely must make weight training a part of your fitness regimen.

Weight training provides your body with the training stimulus to first break down muscle tissue and then build it up to be stronger than before. It also prepares your joints and bones for dealing with high-impact activities such as walking or jogging.

If fat loss is your goal, then you absolutely must make weight training a part of your fitness regimen. A larger muscle mass means that you carry more metabolically active tissue, i.e. lean body mass, which revs your metabolism and increases your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Also, resistance training has the greatest after-burn effect among all types of exercise. Hence, you burn more calories even when you are at rest and not only during exercise, as is the case with a cardio activity.

Here’s a bonus: weight training helps muscles to hypertrophy, i.e. grow larger, giving your body a complementary anti-aging lucky charm. It tones the body because muscles add definition to the limbs. You’ll love the compliments that come your way. (See what I did there?!)

Despite all these benefits to resistance training, there is a lot of resistance to training this way. (Okay, now I’m overdoing it…backing off!) I’ll explore other myths on this soon.

 

PC: shutterstock

Body composition, Exercise, Health & Fitness

Will exercising more help me lose weight?

1 Comment

It was a memorable summer. For all the wrong reasons. While I had just returned from a great vacation and was mentally recharged, physically I was in the doldrums, inside and outside. In the three months prior, I had had a super hectic work schedule (which made the vacation that much more gratifying), as a result of which, my lifestyle had suffered in every way possible – food-wise, exercise-wise, rest-wise, family-time-wise, and personal-time-wise.

I felt drained, sluggish and apathetic most of the time. 

I’d developed a chronic lumbar pain, which made sitting for any period longer than 10 minutes painful. My immunity system had taken a hit, and I was struck by long bouts of cold and cough that lasted several weeks. An old shoulder injury had made itself apparent again. Horror of horrors – I’d gained over 3 kilos within a short period of four weeks! And they refused to budge. I wasn’t sleeping well (the cough and the bad back contributed to that equally). I felt drained, sluggish and apathetic most of the time.

But I’m a fighter. I fought back with all I had. I had to get fit. Three days after I returned from vacation, I hit the gym with a vengeance. I briefed my personal trainer about the new health goals I’d set for myself – get my back functioning normally again, drop all the excess weight and then some, and gain meaningful muscle, over the next three months. The almost threatening tone in my voice told him I meant business.

I thought I was killing it. But, alas! 

And business it was – functional training three mornings a week, strength training three evenings a week, yoga twice a week, and a walking routine every weekday. I also downloaded a calorie-tracking app and tracked everything I ate for two months straight. I thought I was killing it. But, alas!

In truth, I was killing myself. I had become a victim of overtraining. I felt worn out and tired all the time. The thought of another early morning HIIT session, another turn at the power cage in the gym, or another walk, put me in a lethargic state of mind immediately. I strengthened my back and lost the extra weight all right, but overall I was drained of energy.

Have you ever gone or seen a friend go through a similar experience? Did the extra exercise ‘work out’ in the end?

Too much of a good thing can also be bad for health.

Exercise has several benefits for the body and should be a regular ritual for everybody, regardless of age or gender. At an overall level, it improves heart health, energy levels, immunity & mood, strengthens bones & muscles (depending on the type of exercise), and helps to manage weight and stress.

However, too much of a good thing can also be bad for health. Your body needs a certain amount of stimulus to allow for removal of waste tissue and generation of new tissue. Exercise provides that stimulus. A well-rounded exercise programme will lead to improvement on all five components of fitness, including an ideal body composition, which addresses fat loss.

But, one must bear in mind that exercise is only one leg of the health tripod, the other two being nutrition and rest. Give yourself less energy than it needs, through a calorie-restricted diet (as I did), and your body will not have enough resources to regenerate its tissues, which break down or get depleted during exercise. Give yourself minimal time for rest and recovery (as I did too) and your body will not have the time to use those resources even if you eat well. The result will be a body worse for the wear.

Exercise is only one leg of the health tripod.

So, to answer the original question, exercise, at the right intensity, does help to streamline your metabolism by providing a stimulus for growth and repair, thus, assisting in weight loss or fat loss. However, simply adding more exercise time to your schedule without appropriate nutrition and rest is only a recipe for disaster.

What other myths/ dilemmas do you face when it comes to exercise?

Body composition, Exercise

I’m not overweight. Why do I need to exercise?

5 Comments

A very close relative, a contemporary of mine, let’s call her P, was a skinny child and a slender teenager. I envied how she never had to care whether any of those cute prom outfits would look nice on her or not. She was decidedly a mesomorph. Her lifestyle allowed enough room for culinary indulgences without causing a large change (pun intended) in how she looked. While I was always goaded by my parents to exercise, she was hardly ever at the receiving end of such parental concern. Luck favoured her well into her twenties. Then, it ran out.

She was decidedly a mesomorph.

A dramatic change in her lifestyle and diet, when she relocated to another city, first started to show up on the scale – she gained over 10 kilos in a single year. A demanding and erratic work schedule aggravated the issue, bestowing digestion problems in parallel. The stress soon began showing on her face in the form of unsightly eruptions. When she got married a few years later, it was as if P had left all cares for her health behind. Five years and a child later, P weighed a full 30 kilos more than she did when she was 22, with her body fat percentage having doubled from 20% to over 40%. She also had severely weakened knees and the beginnings of hypertension.

Luck favoured her well into her twenties. Then, it ran out.

P’s story is not out of the ordinary – this is an eventuality that most women, especially in India, take for granted. Childbirth and raising children are, in fact, considered a licence for letting oneself go and not have to answer for one’s health. The same goes for many men who seem to expand at alarming rates after marriage, all their indulgence justified in the name of love and appreciation for their wives’ cooking. Really? Whom do they think they are kidding? What about the accompanying diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, you-name-it-lifestyle-disease?

I believe this complacency begins early in life, when age, hormones, and the relative lack of responsibilities are all on our side. As children or teenagers, nobody holds it against us if we look a little heavier than average. At that age, the body is so forgiving and supportive that even the most half-hearted exercise regimen can right a lot of dietary wrongs, thanks to a relatively faster metabolism. That’s also when one starts to believe that exercise is not required if one is not fat.

Childbirth and raising children are, in fact, considered a licence by women for letting themselves go and not have to answer for their health.

However, fitness is much more than just about carrying excess body fat. It involves four other critical components too:

  1. Cardio-respiratory endurance – the ability of your heart, blood vessels and lungs to function adequately for a prolonged period of time while carrying out any aerobic activity (recall how some friends of yours quickly get out of breath with the slightest cardio activity?)
  2. Muscular endurance – the ability of your muscles to adequately support your cardio-respiratory system for a prolonged period of time while carrying out any aerobic activity (remember the time you had to cut short your dance class because of the catch in your thighs and shins?)
  3. Musculo-skeletal strength – the ability of your bones, tendons, ligaments and muscles to exert maximum force against any form of resistance (the time when you had to move a heavy log of wood out of the driveway comes to mind?)
  4. Flexibility – the ability of the body to achieve maximum range of motion around joints (recall the moment when you not only managed to touch your toes but also wrap your fingers around the soles of your feet when your Yoga teacher led you through the Pashchimottanasana, the seated forward bend?)

Fitness is much more than just about carrying excess body fat.

Now, two important things to remember where exercise is concerned:

  • No single type of exercise can lead to improvements in all four components of fitness. Hence, depending solely on the ‘30-minute walk everyday’ or ‘Yoga three times a week’ or even ‘Crossfit five times a week’ cannot help you improve on all four counts simultaneously.
  • Having said that, however, any form of exercise is better than no exercise at all, since it will positively affect at least one component of your fitness.

So, which exercise should you do and why? I’ll get to that in a bit.

PC: Height And Weight Tips