October 2006 Archive
October 31, 2006
Weight Lifting to Lose Weight
By Ingfei Chen Frustrating as it may seem, banishing extra fat isn't impossible. Study after study has shown that the clincher, after cutting back on calories, is exercise. But as you charge into the gym toward the stairmaster, don't forget to enlist one of your best fat-fighting allies: your own muscles.
If you want to get into shape, aerobic workouts can't be beat for their power to tune up the heart and lungs. Aerobics will also tone the muscles you're using. But pumping iron can be another potent weapon in the battle against the bulge. Weight training will not only shore up your bones, build additional muscle mass, and make it easier to heft grocery bags or firewood, it can also help hold the line on your waistline.
Lose what you don't need
If you're dieting, weight lifting can help you lose fat instead of muscle and bone. Most people don't realize it, but when they diet, only about 60 to 75 percent of the weight they lose is actually fat. So if you shed 20 pounds, five or six of those pounds are from nonfat tissue, including muscle, bone, and water -- leaving your body weaker. But exercise, particularly the iron-pumping kind, can preserve muscle and bone, so that up to 85 percent of what you trim is fat, says Dale Schoeller, a nutrition researcher at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
We all tend to fatten up as we get older, and one key culprit is the dwindling of muscle mass that begins in our 20s or 30s. After 40, we lose roughly a third of a pound of brawn a year. And since muscle burns more calories than fat does, our metabolism slows down. In women, who start out with proportionally less muscle than men, this process takes a bigger toll on the waistline. The average female gains around 20 to 25 pounds of fat between the ages of 20 and 50.
Weight training can also raise a person's metabolic rate for as long as 12 hours after exercising. That means that if you lift weights your body will burn calories faster. But whether regular exercise generally increases your metabolism over the long-term remains controversial, says Glenn Gaesser, an exercise physiologist at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
One study in the Netherlands found that 18 weeks of weight training by young men sped up their metabolism by 9 percent. Other studies haven't found such a benefit. Nonetheless, Gaesser and others believe that by maintaining muscle, weight lifting can help minimize the metabolic downturn that occurs as you get older.
Here's the math. A pound of muscle burns five to 10 calories daily, even if you're lying on the couch. With a moderately strenuous weight-lifting regimen, women can gain one to two pounds of muscle after three months; men rack up about twice as much. Two extra pounds of brawn would thus consume 10 to 20 calories daily. That seems like small change, but over months and years, it can really add up. "Ten calories a day is 3,650 calories a year, which is equivalent to about a pound of body fat," says Gaesser. Over 20 years, that extra bit of muscle could keep you from putting on 20 pounds. "So it can make a rather sizable difference in the long term."
Indeed, nutrition researcher Miriam Nelson, director of the Center for Physical Fitness at Tufts University, often sees weight lifting open the door to a trimmer body. In one study, she put 10 overweight women on the same diet, but half of them lifted heavy weights twice a week. Both groups ended up around 13 pounds lighter on the scale. But that wasn't the whole story. On average, the diet-only crew lost only 9.2 pounds of fat, whereas the lifters actually lost 14.6 pounds of fat and gained 1.4 pounds of muscle.
Which points up a neat thing about strength training: You may not necessarily lose more weight, but you can still gradually slim down as you trade fat for brawn. Contrary to female fears, crunching dumbbells won't turn women into the Incredible Hulk. If anything, it'll make them smaller as they replace jiggly fat with compact muscle, says Nelson. Even more gratifying, people who pump iron notice striking improvements in strength fairly quickly, giving them more stamina for walking or biking. Two more major long-term bonuses, especially for older women: You get stronger bones and better balance.
Getting going
Based on her research, Nelson lays out a program of diet plus aerobic and strength exercise in her book, Strong Women Stay Slim, and on her Web site, StrongWomen.com. The regimen has won glowing praise from readers. One 49-year-old battled weight all her life until she tried Nelson's plan a few years ago. "I wear clothes two sizes smaller than I used to wear at this [same] weight," she wrote in a message posted at StrongWomen.com. "... I have run and done aerobics for years, and nothing compares to weight lifting!"
While that's inspiring, other experts caution that not everyone will get such fabulous results. "For some, it's going to be a lot harder," warns Gaesser. For those people, it's helpful to remember that any kind of exercise will earn you a big payoff -- in better health. Working out can do more than improve strength and endurance; it also helps to lower blood pressure and cholesterol and stave off diabetes. Even strength training can help protect the heart, though to a lesser degree than aerobic exercise. And perhaps most important, staying active will do wonders for your self-confidence. As Gaesser puts it, exercise simply makes you feel good.
To get started, Nelson recommends doing five essential weight-lifting exercises three times a week, and walking or biking at least three times a week. Can't fit all that exercise into your life? Check out Gaesser's book, The Spark. Breaking up your workout time into 10-minute sessions, he explains, is just as good as doing it all at once.
-- Ingfei Chen, a writer in Northern California, has written for Health magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other publications.
Spinach E-coli Worries
In our house, spinach is a staple food, especially when it's fresh, at least once a week. It is a staple in any healthy diet!
Tonight, as my husband rummaged through the freezer for some frozen vegetables, he came across 2 packages of frozen spinach. He anxiously asked how long these items have been in the freezer. Because we sometimes keep foods in the freezer for too long, I assumed he was concerned about its use-by date
As the conversation progressed, I realized that, like many Americans, he was concerned about the recent e-coli outbreaks that have been tied to spinach.
While the risk of e-coli from eating raw spinach is not new, most consumers are only aware of the risk of e-coli from undercooked beef, not from leafy green vegetables or un-pasteurized milk or juice. Cooking will help destroy e-coli in infected foods and in the case of spinach it should be cooked to a temperature higher than 160 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 15 seconds.
The following tips from the Web site of the Centers for Disease Control at cdc.gov can serve as a guide on whether to add spinach to your plate for dinner tonight:
* Eliminate all traces of e-coli by cooking all parts of the spinach to at least 160 degrees.
* Avoid cross contamination between the spinach and other foods by using clean utensils and clean hands for each item prepared.
* Avoid salad blends that may contain spinach.
* Frozen or canned spinach are safe to eat.
* Avoid fresh spinach grown in the three California counties recently implicated in the e-coli outbreak: Monterey, Santa Clara, and San Bonito
October 26, 2006
Cybergasm! Tech and Sex
Technology and sex make for wonderful bedfellows. The adult novelty market is booming with the synergy of the digital age. Some say technology has tainted us sexually, what with online porn, affair-friendly chat rooms and unprecedented access to sexual information in general; however, for all of the innocence that's been lost, we've gained some real advances, too.
Here are some digital developments in the world of sex. Do any of them tickle your fancy?
iBuzz: Now you can rock out to your favorite music and come to the same rhythm. The iBuzz from Love Labs connects to your MP3 player, so it can vibrate to everything from Al Green to Notorious B.I.G. to Sade. The vibrating bullet stimulates your or your partner's most sensitive parts. The louder the music, the more powerful the vibrations. A soft silicone cover encases the bullet and a silicone attachment allows you to go hands-free during intercourse. Air guitar, anyone? It also works without music when you just need some peace and quiet (and orgasms). Visit http://www.lovelabs.co.uk/.
Happy Kitty: If you think sex toys are the same old, same old, you may feel hopeful again with the Happy Kitty. Veteran vibrator users will notice a totally different kind of sensation and new users may find it's a good place to start. Rather than vibrating, the Happy Kitty uses "Flo Vibe technology," or a gentle suction motion that is made for the clitoris. The inventor says it's a lot like oral sex. Sorry guys, right now it only works for simulating on the ladies! Visit http://www.kittymassager.com/.
Teledildonics: In a long-distance relationship? Then teledildonics may be just what the doctor ordered. Forget phone sex. Teledildonics allow you to hook up a sex toy to your computer that is remotely controlled by someone else-someone at another computer, far, far away (or close, if you want to spice things up a bit with your live-in love). Teledildonics provide the benefits of cyber sex, in that you are using words to turn each other on. But you also get to control each other's physical stimulation. The future has arrived! Check out the Sinulator, http://www.sinulator.com/.
Virtual-reality sex: Monkeys are learning about "brain orgasms"-literally. Researchers are working on simulating sex, without another monkey or any genital stimulation at all. It all takes place inside the brain and is as close to the real thing as you can get. Experiments on humans may be in the future. Sex without people? Or touching the genitals? Hmmm, that might be taking it a bit too far. It's a little too Woody Allen and his Orgasmatron, in the movie Sleeper. We still need each other, digital age and all.
October 25, 2006
Healthy Halloween
Halloween is by far the most sugar-laden holiday in the United States, and candy sales surpass even Easter. This week, as I searched for a Halloween costume for my son, it was hard to escape aisle upon aisle of Halloween candy. There's nothing wrong with a little Halloween sugar, but what healthy choices are available for parents who want to offer alternatives for their little ghosts and goblins, or even for themselves?
Here are some nutritious ideas you may want to consider:
* Mini-packages of trail mix
* Cereal bars
* Boxes of raisins
* Bags of mini rice cakes
* Jelly beans
* Gummy worms
* Gum
* Granola bars
* Fruit roll-ups
* Teddy grahams and other pre-portioned bags of cookies and crackers
If your child is not excited by some of the healthier items they receive, consider using the more healthy options as monotony breakers for school lunch the week after Halloween, or to help make the candy last longer.
You can even spice up the evening for your children with non-food items like stickers, pencils, toys, and trinkets. Sometimes the non-edible choices are just as well received and add some welcome variety to the trick-or-treat bag.
October 23, 2006
Fitness Competitor tracey greenwood
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The Training Room - Noisy Bones and Joints
I serve as an expert and/or adviser for a variety of well-known health and fitness publications. I often help with reader questions, and we cover a wide range of topics. Recently several publications simultaneously asked me to answer questions related to snapping, popping, or cracking noises that can happen around your bones and joints. Pretty odd, but it reminded me that this is something often asked, even by my own friends and patients.
When bones and joints go snap-crackle-pop, it can be quite disturbing, not only for the person involved, but also those nearby. As my knee has gotten more damaged over the years, from an old high school football injury, it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to quietly go upstairs. Even my children ask "What's that funny noise?"
Most of the time the snapping or popping sensation around joints is nothing to worry about. This is especially true if it occurs pretty equally on the right and left side of your body and has been there for a long time, without symptoms. This is usually due to a tendon snapping across a bony prominence, resulting in a noise. It is fairly common around the shoulder, wrist, hip, and ankle.
Another type of noise that is not uncommon, is a grinding crunchy sound and that can be both heard and sometimes even felt. It is called crepitation or crepitus. It is very common in the patella or kneecap area. It is usually a sign of some early softening of the joint surface, or even arthritis. If it is asymptomatic, that is without symptoms, then it is usually nothing to worry about, but should be monitored. As time goes on, the wear can worsen, and symptoms develop. I have found that individuals with patellar crepitus are at higher risk to develop patellar pain syndrome and/or even patellofemoral arthritis.
That same crunchy sensation can occur in individuals with bursitis and/or tendinitis. One common location is in the shoulder where rotator cuff tendinitis or surrounding bursitis can cause a crunchy grinding type sensation especially with use of the arm overhead. The shoulder joint can also be an area where normal tendons can snap and pop as mentioned above. This also occurs in the shoulder blade or scapular area when tendons can snap across adjacent ribs.
Obviously, there are both minor and more serious reasons that your muscles bones and joints can play a symphony. If there's any pain, swelling or limited function, get it checked out by a sports medicine or orthopedic specialist, who can usually pretty quickly determine the cause of the noise and let you know if it is anything to worry about. Also, any sudden change in noise, especially if it was associated with an injury or obvious overuse, should prompt a visit to your doctor.
Are your muscles, bones and joints a little louder than they should be? What caused it? And what do you do about it? Does it worry you, or those around you?
October 18, 2006
Miss Fitness Israel 2006
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Miss Fitness Israel 2006 - GILI TRAISON
Aphrodisiacs: Do Women Respond to Chocolate?
Chocolate is one of the most alluring and desirable foods ever created. Chocolate, especially the dark variety, contains antioxidants that have heart-healthy benefits.
It's also a powerful mood booster that appears to work like some mood-enhancing drugs. Perhaps most importantly for readers of this blog, chocolate has consistently been identified as an aphrodisiac linked to increased sexual desire and pleasure, particularly in women.
Some people who fall victim to chocolate's attraction refer to themselves as "chocoholics" - there is almost nothing they enjoy more than chocolate. Although the mood and heart benefits are backed up by research, the same hasn't been true for chocolate's powers as an aphrodisiac.
In an effort to try to scientifically evaluate chocolate's aphrodisiac powers, researchers from the University of Milan in Italy surveyed 163 Italian women, assessing their chocolate consumption and their levels of sexual functioning. The results were reported in the May 2006 issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
These researchers found that the women who consumed chocolate every day reported significantly higher sexual desire on a standardized measure than those who did not report eating chocolate regularly. On further analysis, the group that ate chocolate daily was significantly younger (with an average age of 34 years) than the non-regular chocolate eating group (with an average age of 40 years).
But when age was taken into account, the differences in sexual functioning between the two groups were only marginally statistically significant.
Although far from definitive, these results are intriguing enough to warrant a larger, more comprehensive study that may resolve once and for all what we've all been wondering. Whatever the final result, it seems that chocolate and love will always be connected.
October 17, 2006
Melissa Dettwiller
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Click HERE from more Melissa
MBURRZ NIKA tonight on talk live
Her name is " MBurrz" She is smoky and hot! With amber eyes circled
with black.
5'8"
185 pounds
16 inch biceps
40 ich chest C cups
27 inch waist six pack
24 inch quads
16 inch calves
ALSO MISTRESS NIKA EXT. 906
October 16, 2006
Sheryl Crow:Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Daily Tips: Your Food and Drink We are very lucky to have a wonderful chef named Pia cooking for us on tour. She met with my nutritionist, Rachel Bellar, to find out some great ways to fortify the body, and at the same time, incorporate cancer preventative measures.
My oncologist set me up with Rachel shortly after I was diagnosed. Rachel is at the forefront of nutritional studies in the area of disease prevention and overall wellness. Here are some good tips you guys can incorporate into your daily living:
--Don't drink water from a bottle that has been sitting in your car. Heated plastic will bleed toxic substances that can be carcinogenic.
--Don't heat or freeze in plastic for the same reason. Heat in glass containers.
--Do not cook in olive oil at high heat. This, too, is carcinogenic. It is fine to saute in olive oil but if you are browning or frying, use canola oil.
--Cinnamon and tumeric are spices that are cancer preventatives, particularly for prostate and colon cancer.
October 12, 2006
October 10, 2006
Drink Cola? Weak Bones...
Women who want to keep their bones strong may want to keep their cola consumption to a minimum, a new study suggests.
In a study of more than 2,500 adults, Dr. Katherine L. Tucker of Tufts University in Boston and colleagues found that women who consumed cola daily had lower bone mineral density, or BMD, in their hips than those who drank less than one serving of cola a month.
"Because BMD is strongly linked with fracture risk, and because cola is a popular beverage, this is of considerable public health importance," the authors write in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Studies in teen girls have tied heavy soft drink consumption to fractures and lower BMD, the researchers note, but it is not clear whether this is because they're drinking less milk, or if it is due to any harmful effects of soda itself.
To investigate this question in adults, the researchers measured BMD in the spine and at three points on the hips in 1,413 women and 1,125 men participating in a study of the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis.
While there was no association between soft drinks in general and BMD, the researchers found that women who drank the most cola had significantly less dense bones in their hips. The greater their intake, the thinner the bones, and the relationship was seen for diet, regular, and non-caffeinated colas.
Cola consumption had no effect on BMD in men.
Women who drank more cola did not drink less milk, but they did consume less calcium and had lower intakes of phosphorus in relation to calcium. Cola contains phosphoric acid, the researchers note, which impairs calcium absorption and increases excretion of the mineral. Caffeine has also been linked to osteoporosis, they add.
"No evidence exists that occasional use of carbonated beverages, including cola, is detrimental to bone," they note. "However, unless additional evidence rules out an effect, women who are concerned about osteoporosis may want to avoid the regular use of cola beverages."
October 09, 2006
Backstage at the Arnold Classic
Some great backstage shots from The Arnold 2006!
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Time to Wake Up and Smell Your Life
by Gabrielle Reece
Sometimes life just feels like one big Groundhog Day. All right, already with the grocery store, making the beds, going to work, hitting deadlines, cooking, finding time to have and enjoy sex, always trying to get time in to exercise, and getting "ready for the Holidays." Some times I feel like I want to say STOP...can we get to the point?? The true essence of life? The moral of the story. The punchline:
We all feel like this.
That's when we have to make an effort to zoom in and out of our lives. There are times for micro-inspection, and then there is a time to get really wide with your vision. See the whole picture.
My husband hates the routine of day-to-day living. He tries to mix it up as much as he can from one day or week to the next. Repetition is like a prison for him. Unfortunately, life does require a certain amount of repetition to live, eat, get the kids to soccer, pay the bills, to get it all done.
Between the natural repetition of life, TV, crappy food, no exercise, high stress, and no breathing, we are all getting rocked to sleep.
That zombie state is the only way to really deal with the monotony at times. This is where the in-and-out focus comes into play.
Let's all wake up. Let's live this life. Live it to the fullest of each repetitive day. When you are doing something you "have to," then get wide. Just see its place in the scope of your life and don't let it get you down. It's just got to get done. When you're having little moments during the day that are what life is really about (smelling your kids hair when they give you a hug), then get super-zoom micro. For if we stay too wide, then we're missing the point. I know there are days I'm on automatic pilot and I'm just going through the motions, including with my family and my workouts. There are even times I'm not tasting my food because I'm already on to the next thing.
Everything isn't grey, and we should be practicing how to recognize the colors. Those moments make up our rainbow of life that can shine bright in our hearts and minds. That gives us purpose and meaning. Otherwise, we're just like that hamster going round and round.
Let's talk about you. Taking care of you. Don't make exercise and eating a long focus. Get in there with the zoom. When you have time to work out, be present. Feel your body moving. Notice which muscles work with which exercises. Connect your mind to the physical motions. If you think about it, it's easy to just spin and spin and spin. The gym has three machines I can think of that people go on and just spin. Read the paper, watch TV, and spin. No wonder they hate it.
When you are eating, don't just scarf it down, but ask yourself, "What am I putting into my mouth?" Notice how the food makes you feel. Do you feel good? Or did it taste great and then make you feel like crap 20 minutes later? Food is meant to nourish you. Give you power and sustenance.
Remember food and exercise don't just effect the size of your butt, but your state of mind. If you're trying to fight the humdrums, use exercise and food to help you in that crusade.
I need all the help I can get to battle Groundhog Day.
If you are in shape and eating well, you have an easier time shifting gears through out the day. Hey, who wants to miss the good stuff that gets squeezed in between all the "have tos" in life? Maybe the "have to" is the classroom that is testing and teaching us. Don't miss out on enjoying recess.
October 04, 2006
Olympia 2006 Fitness/Figure Gallery
Adela Garcia, Kim Klein, Jen Hendershott, Tanji Johnson, Tracey Greenwood, Julie Palmer
Julie Childs, Angela Monteleone, Mindi O'Brien, Regiane Da Silva, Deana Lee, Amy Haddad,
Heidi Fletcher
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Olympia 2006 - More Ronnie Coleman
8-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman
Click here for Ronnie Coleman gallery Olympia 2006
He takes his routine to the Promised Land
Mr Olympia 2006 - Jay Cutler
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MS olympia 2006 Gallery 3
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1 Iris Kyle
2 Dayana Cadeau
3 Annie Riveccio
4 Bonny Priest
5 Lisa Aukland
6 Betty Pariso
7 Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia
8 Helen Bouchard
9 Gayle Moher
10 Jitka Harazimova
11 Tazzie Colomb
12 Heather Foster
13 Colette Nelson
14 Dena Westerfield
October 02, 2006
From Mr Olympia 2006 - Ronnie Coleman Gallery
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MS olympia 2006 Gallery 2
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1 Iris Kyle
2 Dayana Cadeau
3 Annie Riveccio
4 Bonny Priest
5 Lisa Aukland
6 Betty Pariso
7 Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia
8 Helen Bouchard
9 Gayle Moher
10 Jitka Harazimova
11 Tazzie Colomb
12 Heather Foster
13 Colette Nelson
14 Dena Westerfield
MS Olympia 2006 GALLERY 1
1 Iris Kyle
2 Dayana Cadeau
3 Annie Riveccio
4 Bonny Priest
5 Lisa Aukland
6 Betty Pariso
7 Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia
8 Helen Bouchard
9 Gayle Moher
10 Jitka Harazimova
11 Tazzie Colomb
12 Heather Foster
13 Colette Nelson
14 Dena Westerfield
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October 01, 2006
Ms olympia 2006 results
| Place | Name | Country | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iris Kyle | USA | 38 |
| 2 | Dayana Cadeau | Canada | 40 |
| 3 | Annie Riveccio | USA | 52 |
| 4 | Bonny Priest | USA | 90 |
| 5 | Lisa Aukland | USA | 92 |
| 6 | Betty Pariso | USA | 97 |
| 7 | Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia | Venezuela | 110 |
| 8 | Helen Bouchard | Canada | 116 |
| 9 | Gayle Moher | USA | 137 |
| 10 | Jitka Harazimova | Czech | 165 |
| 11 | Tazzie Colomb | USA | 167 |
| 12 | Heather Foster | USA | 172 |
| 13 | Colette Nelson | USA | 184 |
| 14 | Dena Westerfield | USA | 210 |
Mr Olympia 2006 results
2006 Mr Olympia Contest Results photo gallery click here
September 30, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
New Mr Olympia: Jay Cutler
| Place | Name | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jay Cutler | USA |
| 2 | Ronnie Coleman | USA |
| 3 | Victor Martinez | USA |
| 4 | Dexter Jackson | USA |
| 5 | Melvin Anthony | USA |
| 6 | Gustavo Badell | Puerto Rico |
| 7 | Toney Freeman | USA |
| 8 | Markus Ruhl | Germany |
| 9 | Dennis James | Germany |
| 10 | Gunter Schlierkamp | Germany |
| 11 | Vince Taylor | USA |
| 12 | Branch Warren | USA |
| 13 | Johnnie Jackson | USA |
| 14 | Darrem Charles | Trinidad |
| 15 | Troy Alves | USA |
Olympia Fitness/Figure 2006 Results
2006 Fitness Olympia Results
| Place | Name | Country | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adela Garcia | USA | 35 |
| 2 | Kim Klein | USA | 41 |
| 3 | Jen Hendershott | USA | 70 |
| 4 | Tanji Johnson | USA | 89 |
| 5 | Tracey Greenwood | USA | 106 |
| 6 | Julie Palmer | USA | 125 |
| 7 | Julie Childs | USA | 160 |
| 8 | Angela Monteleone-Semsch | USA | 162 |
| 9 | Mindi O'Brien | Canada | 175 |
| 10 | Regiane Da Silva | Germany | 185 |
| 11 | Deana Lee | USA | 201 |
| 12 | Amy Haddad | USA | 222 |
| 13 | Heidi Fletcher | USA | 256 |
2006 Figure Olympia Results
| Place | Name | Country | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jenny Lynn | USA | 10 |
| 2 | Amber Littlejohn | USA | 25 |
| 3 | Monica Brant-Peckham | USA | 30 |
| 4 | Christine Pomponio-Pate | USA | 37 |
| 5 | Mary Elizabeth Lado | USA | 49 |
| 6 | Gina Aliotta | USA | 70 |
| 7 | Amanda Savell | USA | 73 |
| 8 | Gina Camacho | USA | 76 |
| 9 | Jennifer Searles | USA | 88 |
| 10 | Latisha Wilder | USA | 101 |
| 11 | Jessica Paxson | USA | 107 |
| 12 | Valerie Waugaman | USA | 120 |
| 13 | Michelle Adams | USA | 135 |
| 14 | Inga Neverauskaite | England | 146 |
| 15 | Andrea Dumon | USA | 147 |
| 16 | Jane Awad | USA | 160 |
| 16 | Michelle Flake | USA | 160 |
| 16 | Nina Luchka | Canada | 160 |
| 16 | Tara Scotti | USA | 160 |
| 16 | Chastity Slone | USA | 160 |
| 16 | Julie DJ Wallis | USA | 160 |
Sets and Reps Part 2
Posted by Nicholas DiNubile, M.D
In my last blog entry, I talked about weight training and how one should think about "sets and reps" when they design their fitness program. Here's some further thoughts after reading some great comments.
With age and/or injury I believe it is much more important to warm-up on lighter sets and not so much focusing on working one set "to failure." Rather you should still be working somewhat harder...
to get the last few reps in good slow form. If it is too easy, increase the reps, slightly increase the weight, or try another set till some fatigue sets in.
For muscles to grow (or to avoid muscle atrophy from injury, disuse or aging), you must work the muscle relatively hard, at least till some fatigue sets in, and then allow for adequate rest. It is during that rest and repair time (also fueled by proper nutrition) that growth and gains actually occur. This is why more is not usually better. Working biceps or chest every day, like some guys are prone to do, can result in losses, not gains, or even worse, an overuse injury with unnecessary down time. It's like watering your plant too much- you know what happens then. A little water, and the right amount of sunshine, and watch them grow (flowers, not biceps).
Also remember, with age, we lose significant muscle mass starting around age 40 (earlier if you are sedentary). This muscle loss occurs at about 1% per year or 10% per decade. The result is slower metabolism (with tendency toward weight gain), weakness and loss of function (which is often not noticed until significant muscle tissue is lost- somewhat like bone loss in osteoporosis- it sneaks up on you), and tendency, especially as we get even older, to fall. Also, there is a decline is sports related performance. Much of this is preventable with strength training.
Need I say more? Strength training must be part of everyone's fitness and extended health program (or I should say "extended warranty" for your frame program). We all may need to approach it a little differently, but we shouldn't dare go without it!
