Day 316 - Body Beast Days 64-70

Quote of the day:
"Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you miss them."
-Author Unknown

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Day 244 - Fountain of Youth Part 3

The last few blogs, I have been starting my milti-part blog on how to stay young, even as you age. The first blog, I discussed the notion of regular intense exercise to keep your hormones flowing, and yesterday I discussed the topic of proper, restful, restorative sleep.

This blog's topic is all about consumption, or more specifically, how we are all over-consumers. This goes beyond just what you are probably thinking about, food, and into the idea that we, as humans, seem to over consume a lot of the things we experience in life. Let me explain.

There are more and more studies being released lately regarding a direct correlation between the amount of time people spend watching television and specific diseases such as heart disease. This really is not all that alarming considering that people, on average, spend many hours a day watching the boob tube. What is surprising, however, is the fact that these studies include people that exercise. That's right, just because you hit the treadmill for 45 minutes this morning means squat diddly if you plunk your keester down in the evening and watch 4 hours of American Idol, House, CSI, and Friends (or whatever you watch).

The key point to these articles is that, yes, exercise and a good diet help, and yes, everyone should exercise and eat as healthy as possible. But outside of exercise, you should still be trying to stay as active as possible. Take the dog for a walk, vacuum your bedroom, go to dance lessons, mow the lawn, shovel the snow, etc. etc. We all collectively need to consume less tv, and consume more activity.

On a similar note, many of us consume too much content. In content I mean internet, e-mail, text messages, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Spending countless hours every day is not only hurting our postures (head down, staring at our smart phones has been shown to cause neck and back pain) but our brains and our moods too. I am even guilty of it myself, checking my e-mail multiple times a day, or logging into Facebook. I think it is time for all of us to start re-evaluating our current situations and coming up with better ways to spend our time. Rather than walking in the door when you get home and heading straight for your computer, go outside and spend some time with your kids, or pet, or spouse, or sibling, etc.

Of course I cannot have a "over-consumption" blog without discussing what we eat. I am not even going to call it food because there are a lot of things in this world that people consume way too much of, that I don't even consider food.

Food, under my definition, is an item that is edible and positively contributes something to your body. For example, eating an apple gives your body carbohydrates for energy, fiber to aid digestion, vitamins and nutrients to keep the body running happy and healthy, and of course water to hydrate you for the countless number of processes water participates in. What in the world does a can of cola have to contribute to your body that is beneficial in any way, besides maybe spiking your blood sugar so high that it causes you to crash and crave more carbs?

Now I don't mean to get all preachy on you here, because let's face it, I can everyone now, "Well everything is bad for you these days!" No, you are wrong, there is a lot of good still out there, people just choose to consume too much of the bad crap.

Take, for example, alcohol. Alcohol, in moderation, has been proven time and time again to have restorative effects on the body, can improve mood, release stress, and even improve blood pressure! Unfortunately, once you start consuming too much of it, these positive effects turn negative very quickly. Moderation, people!

One last thing I will leave you with. There was a study done once, where two monkeys were studied side-by-side. One monkey was fed a filling diet (not overeating), whereas the other monkey was calorie deprived. The surprising result from this study was that the monkey that always stayed full, aged much quicker than the calorie-deficient monkey. Not only that, but the calorie-deficient monkey was much more vibrant and energetic into old age.

How does this study relate to humans? Well, most research into this field of study is still relatively young, but what science is starting to show us is that lower calorie diets create less free-radical damage to our proteins, lipids and DNA.

I by no means advocate starving yourself, because I too like to eat. However, as we age, our metabolisms do slow down, that is a fact, yet most of us seem to increase our calorie intake. The better approach would be to eat less. Try snacking in small portions several times a day and see how you start to feel!
Quote of the day:
"Time is the coin of life. Only you can determine how it will be spent."

~ Carl Sandburg
Check out my new Website: tylerrobbinsfitness.com

Day 242 - Fountain of Youth Part 2

Last blog I posted part one of my multi-part Fountain of Youth series. I discussed the importance of not only exercise to age gracefully, but intense exercise to slow down and even reverse the effects of aging. This blog I will discuss the importance of sleep.

More and more studies are showing that people are sleeping less and less these days. Whether it be due to the fact that we watch too much tv, spend too much time on the internet, or just plain old insomnia, human beings are sleeping far less than we should. This can lead to a myriad of health problems over a long period of time as we need our sleep to rejuvenate and restore our bodies.

Not only that, but everyday life, and especially exercise, causes bodily wear and tear that needs to be rebuilt while we catch some z's. Sleep has been shown to increase levels of growth hormone which helps to rebuild and restore those tissues that have degenerated throughout our daily lives.

Now, the question is, how much sleep does one need? There are those that claim that they can run on just a few hours every night, and those that claim that they, "NEED 10 hours or I am a zombie!". For the most part, everyone should aim for 7-9 hours of sleep every night.

Many people interpret sleep as a passive action, because we need to be relaxed, etc. But actually, sleep is very active. As I said earlier, our bodies restore and rebuild while we are sleeping so as soon as we begin to doze off, the brain sends out waves of hormones that take the body through several sleep "stages", each having its own purpose.

Drugs such as alcohol can help initiate sleep, but actually make it more difficult to progress into a deep sleep, leaving you feeling tired and cranky when you wake up the next morning.

Diet and exercise can also effect our sleeping patterns. What we eat and when can cause different mood and energy levels that can either inhibit or completely prevent a good night's sleep. Exercise can have a beneficial effect as not only does it tax the body and make you sleepy, but studies have shown that the improved circulation and hormone distribution allows for an easier time falling asleep and also staying asleep.

When it comes down to it, a balanced diet and a lifestyle enriched with regular bouts of intense exercise will help the body initiate and follow a healthy sleeping pattern. I think of sleep like the porridge temperature from Goldilocks and the Three Bears though, as not enough, and too much sleep over a period of time can have negative effects. You are better off sticking with your 7-9 hour range with naps when needed (and appropriate) to keep your body aging gracefully!
Quote of the day:
"To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities."

~ Bruce Lee
Check out my new Website: tylerrobbinsfitness.com

Day 240 - Fountain of Youth Part 1

Nobody likes getting older. Yes, it is inevitable that we all age, but that doesn't mean we have to get old  - if you catch my drift. There are a number of lifestyle changes and improvements that everybody can make to delay the onset of aging and help you feel youthful and energetic for years to come! Over the next few blogs, I am going to detail a number of ways that you can improve your life.

Exercise

Far and away, the best thing you could ever do for your body is exercise 5-6 days a week for the rest of your life. No questions asked. Yes, there will be times when you are sick, pregnant, injured, etc. and you absolutely cannot exercise, but a few days off here or there won't even make a noticeable effect if you are consistent the other 300+ days of the year.

There are of course many different ways of exercising. We have all heard of cardiovascular exercise, such as light jogging, brisk walking, etc. This is fine, and is definitely a great way to stay active and MUCH better than the alternative, i.e. sitting on your rump. Just fine you ask? Yes, I will explain more in a bit, but aerobic exercise is the type that you can do for prolonged periods of time keeping up with your energy demands by oxygen alone, hence the name aerobic exercise.

Aerobic exercise is the kind that is good for your heart and circulatory system to keep the pipes clean (arteries, veins), and has its place in a training regimen, especially for those that wish to go and run a marathon or something, not to mention the ability to burn some calories along the way, great!

However, a far more beneficial type of training is pushing yourself into and past your lactate threshold. Let me explain. Most people are at least fit enough to walk at a normal pace and can meet these energy demands by their body by breathing alone. As explained above, this is aerobic exercise. Some people can even jog at a decent to extremely fast pace and still fulfill their energy demands by breathing alone. The human body is designed this way to burn body fat (adipose) along with oxygen in its energy systems for a long period of time. No matter how fit (or unfit) you are, most people could at least walk for hours at a time without needing a rest.

So back to the lactate threshold thing. Let's say you are walking along for an extended period of time, maybe breathing a little heavier, but not having any problems, fine! Then you come across a steep hill. Walking up that hill suddenly starts to cause your muscles to burn and your breathing rate to increase. You may even get to the point where your muscles are burning so badly that they either move slower or stop working all together. This is caused by a buildup of lactate in your muscles. I am sure many people have experienced this before.

The benefits to this, is that you are causing damage to your muscles. This damage causes a huge wave of hormonal response in your body that is initiated to repair this damaged tissue. That, right there, is the real fountain of youth. You see, as you age, your body produces less and less hormones, and your bodily tissues are used less and less, so you begin to decay and eventually die. I know, I sped up the process there a bit, and not everyone likes the word decay, but it's the truth. Your body lives by a "use it or lose it" mentality.

As kids, we would run around and play, climb trees, etc. This would send a message to the rest of our body to be better and to grow. As people age, they become less and less active, causing their brain to take notice and basically "pack it in" by lessening our muscle tissues, using our brain less, etc. We can slow that trend, and even reverse it to live many, healthy years!

Alright, back to the lactate threshold thing. If you are training for a marathon, or a triathlon or some similar type of event where you actually want your body to have more aerobic stamina, then fine, go and practice that and run or swim or bike a bunch of miles every day. But, if you want to simply improve your overall health on a day-by-day basis, about 20-30 minutes of intense, hard exercise is all you need!

I can hear what you're saying now, "This can't be true! I need my fix on the treadmill or else I am not myself!" Well, if you wish to use a treadmill, fine, go right ahead, I am not stopping you, but keep this in mind; running on a treadmill may burn a couple hundred (200-300) calories in a half an hour. An equal amount of time spent pushing yourself to your limits using a combination of resistance training and cardiovascular training can burn twice that! Not to mention the fact that you are pushing yourself to your limit, which is causing that flood of hormones which increases your metabolism for 24-48 hours post-workout so you will continue to burn calories at an increased rate. Simply running on the treadmill won't do that much for you!

The key here simply is quality over quantity. You do not need to be spending hours in a gym, period! You need to be making your time more efficient, pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, that is what causes positive changes throughout your body. Within as little as 20-30 minutes a day, 5-6 days a week, you are maximizing your potential.

Some of you may ask, "Well, can I exercise intensely for an hour and a half then?" When you push your body outside of its comfort zone, aka, into your anaerobic training zone, you are burning stored glycogen in your body. (Refer to my previous posts regarding this) If you are pushing yourself properly, trust me, you will not be able to exercise at this level of intensity for much more than an hour!

"What do I do about cardio then?" Cardiovascular training is simply elevating your heart rate to a specific level for an extended period of time. By exercising at near-maximum heart rate levels, the point at which your muscles are burning and eventually fail out, is your lactate threshold, or in other words, using your anaerobic energy systems.This is where your body simply cannot meet the demands of clearing away lactate fast enough, and causes something known as oxygen deficit.

Think of oxygen deficit as your body's transport system failing to meet its needs during strenuous exercise. To use an analogy, think of oxygen, carbon dioxide and lactate (the burning acid in your muscles) as commuters waiting for public transit. As you exercise more and more intensely, there simply is not enough subway cars to meet the demands of all of the commuters. So, as the commuters start to build up on the subway platforms, once rush-hour is over, these commuters still need to reach their destination, so even though an exercise may be done, subway trains will continue to try and catch up to the strained demands of the system.

If you are pushing your anaerobic energy systems, even after your exercise is done, you will continue to breath heavy and your heart will be pumping fast to try and clear away all of that excess lactate and feed oxygen to your muscles, mimicking cardiovascular exercise!

When it comes down to it, doing something is always better than doing nothing. You are far better off to go and exercise as you see fit (like my pun?). But if you are going to be working out, wouldn't you much rather maximize your benefits and make your workouts that much more efficient by pushing yourself to your limits for short bursts of intense effort? I guess that is for you to decide!

Quote of the day:

"Don't make the sky your limit... Make it your starting point."

~ Unknown


Check out my new Website: tylerrobbinsfitness.com