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Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Looking For a Fun Way to Get in Shape for 2009
Try giving an outdoor fitness class a try. Jon and I have started a class in Clovis with several times and locations available. We, of course are certified, experienced trainers with degrees in Exercise Science and will lead you through fun and challenging workouts lasting roughly one hour.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Super Fat Loss
When most people think of fat loss, their minds immediately turn to steady state aerobic workouts. Today I'm going to teach you a method of stripping away unwanted fat, The Tabata Method. Dr. Tabata is a Japanese researcher that authored a study in 1996 in the Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise that described the benefits of high-intensity intermittent training. The participants in his study showed fantastic results; in 6 weeks of testing, Dr. Tabata noted a 28% increase in anaerobic capacity in his subjects, along with a 14% increase in their ability to consume oxygen (V02Max). The interesting thing about this way of exercising is that it can be performed in only four minutes! How hard can four minutes be... extremely! What you do is pick an exercise, try to pick one that uses the greatest amount of muscle: squats, thrusters, sprints, jump ropes, etc. Now perform that exercise as fast as you can for twenty seconds, then rest for ten seconds, repeat seven more times, now... pass out of exhaustion. That's it just eight reps of do much as possible in twenty seconds followed by ten seconds of rest. It's easiest with a partner telling you when to start or stop, but I've used a wall clock with a large second hand, or a good watch with an interval timer. There are different ways of "scoring" or progressing yourself. If your using a stationary exercise then count your reps during each of the eight sets; the total is your score. Next time you do that exercise try to improve on it. Another way of progressing, if your doing a mobile exercise, which is pretty simple is to track how far you go, and then try to go farther on your next attempt. Lastly, try messing around with the times, if twenty seconds is too easy try twenty five seconds with ten seconds rest, or twenty seconds on with five seconds of rest. While this may sound easy, don't underestimate it, it is extremely difficult! If you are not in good shape you may want to modify it to make it easier. I would start it off by increasing the rest intervals to twenty seconds, and maybe only do six sets. As this becomes easier decrease the rest intervals by five seconds, and then when you are comfortable with that decrease it by another five seconds. When six sets become easy, increase it to seven sets, but also increase the rest to twenty seconds. Then start decreasing the rest interval just like before, and again when this gets easy add the eigth rep in. Try the Tabata Method a couple times a week in addition to your normal stregth training, and you start to see some of that extra fat burn right off! Contact me at info@180ft.com with any questions.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Apple Muffins
Looking for some yummy muffins that fit your low carb lifestyle? Give these a try.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
1 and 1/4 cup flax seed meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
Artificial sweetener equal to 3/4 cup sugar (1/2 cup can be flavored sugar-free syrup)
4 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup liquid (flavored syrup or water)
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 medium apple, chopped fairly finely
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Preparation:Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 12-muffin tin very well.1. Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the rest of them.2. Let batter stand 10 minutes, then put into the muffin pan and bake for about 18 minutes until toothpick comes out clean and muffins just barely start to pull away from the sides of the tin.
Nutritional Information: Each muffin contains 2 grams link ecc effective carbohydrate plus 5 grams fiber.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Stretching: The Truth
Here's a recent article from the New York Times about stretching. If you already know about the benefits of a dynamic warm-up then you can skip it. However, if your trainer (I'm talking about the guy at GB3's) is still prescribing a 20 sec static stretch or a 10 min jog around the block it would be a good idea to read the article.
I have been incorporating dynamic stretching in my client's warm-ups as well as my own for at least three years now. It does a much better job getting me ready for a workout than just doing a lap around the block. If you would like some more information or some dynamic stretching exercises, send me an email: info@180ft.com
I have been incorporating dynamic stretching in my client's warm-ups as well as my own for at least three years now. It does a much better job getting me ready for a workout than just doing a lap around the block. If you would like some more information or some dynamic stretching exercises, send me an email: info@180ft.com
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Race for the Cure
Another running event is coming to town. This one is the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure, it takes place at The Satellite Student Union at Fresno State. The course includes a 1- mile run/walk and a 5k run/ walk. This is a great run filled with a ton of great people all running for a good cause, to end Breast Cancers, and support victims and survivors. Go here to register for the event, and learn more about the Komen organization.
The course itself is pretty flat and is a certified USA Track and Field course the only thing that'll slow you down will be all the participants.
While your signing up for this race don't forget to sign up for the Trail of Two Cities Marathon and Half.
The course itself is pretty flat and is a certified USA Track and Field course the only thing that'll slow you down will be all the participants.
While your signing up for this race don't forget to sign up for the Trail of Two Cities Marathon and Half.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
CORTISOL, STRESS AND ADAPTATION DURING EXERCISE
CORTISOL, STRESS AND ADAPTATION DURING EXERCISE TRAINING
Journal: "Education. Physical Training. Sport"
Antony C. Hackney, Claudio Battaglini, Elizabeth S. Evans;
University of North Carolina, USA
ABSTRACT
Cortisol is a corticosteroid hormone produced by the zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex in the adrenal gland. It plays vital roles in the bodyfs defense mechanisms when dealing with stress, as well as being important in blood glucose regulation. Regrettably, misconceptions regarding the actions of this hormone have been created around the sports and exercise arena. For example, cortisol most often is viewed as having a counter-productive role in exercise that can lead to a mal-adaptation to the exercise training process, due to the catabolic nature of this hormone with respect to protein turnover. Therefore, the intent of this article is to present an overview and to offer commentary on the necessary and critically important functions of cortisol during exercise, and in the adaptation process associated with exercise training. This is being done to specifi cally correct several of the misconceptions and misunderstandings that are portrayed within some literature (in particular on the Internet) regarding endocrine responses to exercise and exercise training.Stress has been a topic of study for over 100 years. It is well accepted that the paramount early leader in such study was Hans Selye. Classic observations and studies by Selye during the early part of the last century lead to the development of the gGeneral Adaptation Syndromeh theory of stress response (Selye, 1950). This theory proposes an intimate involvement of the adrenal gland, specifi cally the cortex, in the adaptation and mal-adaptation process to all forms of stress. Exercise and the exercise training process are classified as a stress to the human body (Hackney, 2006). Specifically, for sedentary individuals, exercise is a distress (negative), but as the body accommodates and adapts, exercise transitions to a eustress (positive) (Selye, 1950; Viru, 1976; Hackney, 2006). Selye viewed the adrenal cortex response (i. e., in humans the primary adrenal cortex hormone is the glucocorticoid cortisol) as critical to the positive adaptation to stress.The view by some exercise specialists that increases in cortisol can lead to a predominance of catabolism in the body which results in undesirable aspects within the adaptation of athletes in sports training is an over-simplifi cation of the hormonal rolesactions of cortisol. This simplified and incomplete notion regarding the role-action of cortisol during exercise training has even resulted in the development of nutritional-pharmaceutical supplements and dietary strategies which attempt to suppress cortisol levels at rest and in response to exercise(Duclos et al., 2007; Viru A., Viru M, 2001, 2004). Such actions may in fact actually compromise the ability of select physiological systems to respond and adapt to the stress of exercise.A. Viru and M. Viru (2004) report that this misconception of the role of cortisol seems rooted in the research focusing upon the testosterone/ cortisol ratio and how it changes in response to exercise training. In the 1980s, Adlercreutz and associates were the fi rst to focus attention on the testosterone/cortisol ratio, proposing its use as an indication of excessive stress in athletes during their training (Adlercreutz et al., 1986). These authors actually suggested the use of the ratio based upon free testosterone, not total testosterone, to cortisol. This latter fact seems to have been lost to some researchers who have calculated the ratio using the alternative testosterone value (Kuipers, Keizer, 1988; Viru A., Viru M., 2001, 2004).Cortisol plays such a role physiologically by stimulating several processes that are instrumental to increasing and / or maintaining blood glucose (i. e., euglycemia) (Bender, 1993; Brooks et al., 2005; Tortora, Derrickson, 2006). These processes include:œ Stimulation of gluconeogenesis particularly in hepatic tissue. This pathway results in thesynthesis of glucose from non-carbohydrate substrates such as amino acids and glycerol from triglyceride breakdown.œ Enhancing the expression of enzymes involved in the gluconeogenesis pathway is a key metabolic function of glucocorticoids.œ Mobilization of amino acids from extra-hepatic tissues: These serve as substrates for gluconeogenesis (see later discussion on the free amino acid pool).œ Inhibition of glucose uptake in muscle and adipocytes as a glucose and glycogen sparing action.œ Stimulation of lipolysis in adipocytes. Glucocorticoids, specifically cortisol, are considered stress response hormones, which in an overly simplified view, are often portrayed as being entirely negative in their infl uence on physiological function. The glucocorticoids are in fact vital hormones in the normal physiological functioning of humans and are necessary in dealing with different stress challenges to the body. With respect to exercise, they play an important regulatory role in metabolic responses. Additionally, the regulation of protein turnover during the recovery from exercise, which is instrumental to the myo-plasticity response of skeletal muscle in training, is dependent upon appropriate glucocorticoid actions. In other words, cortisol and the other glucocorticoids are not the gbad guysh of exercise endocrinology as some have made them out to be. Researchers, athletes and sports coaches need to be aware and conscious of the critical nature of glucocorticoids to normal health and development, especially relative to exercise training adaptations.
Journal: "Education. Physical Training. Sport"
Antony C. Hackney, Claudio Battaglini, Elizabeth S. Evans;
University of North Carolina, USA
ABSTRACT
Cortisol is a corticosteroid hormone produced by the zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex in the adrenal gland. It plays vital roles in the bodyfs defense mechanisms when dealing with stress, as well as being important in blood glucose regulation. Regrettably, misconceptions regarding the actions of this hormone have been created around the sports and exercise arena. For example, cortisol most often is viewed as having a counter-productive role in exercise that can lead to a mal-adaptation to the exercise training process, due to the catabolic nature of this hormone with respect to protein turnover. Therefore, the intent of this article is to present an overview and to offer commentary on the necessary and critically important functions of cortisol during exercise, and in the adaptation process associated with exercise training. This is being done to specifi cally correct several of the misconceptions and misunderstandings that are portrayed within some literature (in particular on the Internet) regarding endocrine responses to exercise and exercise training.Stress has been a topic of study for over 100 years. It is well accepted that the paramount early leader in such study was Hans Selye. Classic observations and studies by Selye during the early part of the last century lead to the development of the gGeneral Adaptation Syndromeh theory of stress response (Selye, 1950). This theory proposes an intimate involvement of the adrenal gland, specifi cally the cortex, in the adaptation and mal-adaptation process to all forms of stress. Exercise and the exercise training process are classified as a stress to the human body (Hackney, 2006). Specifically, for sedentary individuals, exercise is a distress (negative), but as the body accommodates and adapts, exercise transitions to a eustress (positive) (Selye, 1950; Viru, 1976; Hackney, 2006). Selye viewed the adrenal cortex response (i. e., in humans the primary adrenal cortex hormone is the glucocorticoid cortisol) as critical to the positive adaptation to stress.The view by some exercise specialists that increases in cortisol can lead to a predominance of catabolism in the body which results in undesirable aspects within the adaptation of athletes in sports training is an over-simplifi cation of the hormonal rolesactions of cortisol. This simplified and incomplete notion regarding the role-action of cortisol during exercise training has even resulted in the development of nutritional-pharmaceutical supplements and dietary strategies which attempt to suppress cortisol levels at rest and in response to exercise(Duclos et al., 2007; Viru A., Viru M, 2001, 2004). Such actions may in fact actually compromise the ability of select physiological systems to respond and adapt to the stress of exercise.A. Viru and M. Viru (2004) report that this misconception of the role of cortisol seems rooted in the research focusing upon the testosterone/ cortisol ratio and how it changes in response to exercise training. In the 1980s, Adlercreutz and associates were the fi rst to focus attention on the testosterone/cortisol ratio, proposing its use as an indication of excessive stress in athletes during their training (Adlercreutz et al., 1986). These authors actually suggested the use of the ratio based upon free testosterone, not total testosterone, to cortisol. This latter fact seems to have been lost to some researchers who have calculated the ratio using the alternative testosterone value (Kuipers, Keizer, 1988; Viru A., Viru M., 2001, 2004).Cortisol plays such a role physiologically by stimulating several processes that are instrumental to increasing and / or maintaining blood glucose (i. e., euglycemia) (Bender, 1993; Brooks et al., 2005; Tortora, Derrickson, 2006). These processes include:œ Stimulation of gluconeogenesis particularly in hepatic tissue. This pathway results in thesynthesis of glucose from non-carbohydrate substrates such as amino acids and glycerol from triglyceride breakdown.œ Enhancing the expression of enzymes involved in the gluconeogenesis pathway is a key metabolic function of glucocorticoids.œ Mobilization of amino acids from extra-hepatic tissues: These serve as substrates for gluconeogenesis (see later discussion on the free amino acid pool).œ Inhibition of glucose uptake in muscle and adipocytes as a glucose and glycogen sparing action.œ Stimulation of lipolysis in adipocytes. Glucocorticoids, specifically cortisol, are considered stress response hormones, which in an overly simplified view, are often portrayed as being entirely negative in their infl uence on physiological function. The glucocorticoids are in fact vital hormones in the normal physiological functioning of humans and are necessary in dealing with different stress challenges to the body. With respect to exercise, they play an important regulatory role in metabolic responses. Additionally, the regulation of protein turnover during the recovery from exercise, which is instrumental to the myo-plasticity response of skeletal muscle in training, is dependent upon appropriate glucocorticoid actions. In other words, cortisol and the other glucocorticoids are not the gbad guysh of exercise endocrinology as some have made them out to be. Researchers, athletes and sports coaches need to be aware and conscious of the critical nature of glucocorticoids to normal health and development, especially relative to exercise training adaptations.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Lance Armstrong IN Clovis!
Well it is official, Lance will be coming to Clovis next February. He made his announcment after finishing the 22nd in the CrossVegas ride. He will be racing with team Astana which has a couple of his old teammates already riding for them.
Armstrong's comeback is to provide awareness to cancer, and raise money to help find a cure.
Go ahead and read the article from VeloNews here.
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