The Facts

                  “Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are”

                                                                                      ~ Soren Kierkegaard

 

The Facts:

1. Intake.   You are what you eat.

Your body is a reflection of your caloric intake.  Right now…whatever you weigh…whatever your body fat….you are eating a diet that supports you.

2. Expenditure.  You can never outwork your mouth.         

It’s easy to eat 300 calories…it’s hard to burn 300 calories.

3. Muscle.  Muscle makes up the greatest percentage (60-75%) of your metabolism.  The more muscle you have, the greater the caloric expenditure.

(Ladies….keep in mind, one pound of fat takes up three as much space as one pound of muscle.   As you increase muscle mass you become smaller…more tone.  So get in the weight room, and get off of the treadmill)

4. Nutrition. (Let’s keep this simple) Eat a diet composed of Complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, and unsaturated fats. These macronutrients must be consumed together, and eaten every three to four hours. This method ensures blood sugar stabilization and fuels the muscles for growth.  It also increases the (TEF).  See above

5. Exercise.  You become what you do.

SAID Principle (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand)

Cardiovascular Training: 

Adaptation…. Increase mitochondria and capillaries…increase utilization of the slow twitch muscle fibers…decrease the size of the fast twitch fibers.  Decrease size of the fast twitch fibers leads to lowering of the metabolism.  One of the main adaptations to aerobic training is caloric efficiency. The body begins to burn less calories to become more efficient at aerobic training. 

Strength Training: 

Adaptation…. Increase size of the fast twitch fibers... increase caloric expenditure... strengthen the cardiovascular system... increase bone density... increase joint mobility... increase proprioception (balance)... increase cognitive functioning.

Strength training has "muscled" its way beyond the realm of bodybuilding and is now encouraged for everyone to partake in.

A growing body of research shows that working out with weights has health benefits beyond simply bulking up one's muscles and strengthening bones. Studies are finding that more lean muscle mass may allow kidney dialysis patients to live longer, give older people better cognitive function (neurogenesis), reduce depression, and boost good cholesterol (HDL).

"Muscle is our largest metabolically active organ, and that's the backdrop that people usually forget," said Kent Adams, director of the exercise physiology lab at Cal State Monterey Bay. Strengthening the muscles "has a ripple effect throughout the body on things like metabolic syndrome and obesity."

When we hit middle age, muscle mass gradually diminishes by up to about 1% a year in a process called sarcopenia. Women also are in danger of losing bone mass as they age, especially after the onset of menopause. Some studies have shown that moderate to intense strength training not only builds skeletal muscle but increases bone density as well.

Strength training often takes a back seat to cardiovascular training, but it can benefit the heart in ways that its more popular cousin can't. During cardio exercise, the heart loads up with blood and pumps it out to the rest of the body: As a result, Potteiger said, "the heart gets better and more efficient at pumping."

"But during resistance training, muscles generate more force than they do during endurance exercises, and the heart is no exception”, Potteiger said. During a strength workout, the heart's muscle tissue contracts forcefully to push the blood out. Like all muscles, stress causes small tears in the muscle fibers. When the body repairs those tears, muscles grow. The result is a stronger heart, not just one that's more efficient at pumping.

Another big advantage of working out with weights is improving glucose metabolism, which can reduce the risk of diabetes. Strength training boosts the number of proteins that take glucose out of the blood and transport it into the skeletal muscle, giving the muscles more energy and lowering overall blood-glucose levels.

"If you have uncontrolled glucose levels," Potteiger said, "That can lead to kidney damage, damage to the circulatory system and loss of eyesight."

The benefits don't end there. A 2010 study in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology suggested that people on dialysis can benefit from building muscle. Researchers found that kidney dialysis patients who had the most lean muscle mass — a measurement derived from the circumference of the mid-arm muscle — were 37% less likely to die than the patients who had the least.

"This is something that has an impact on survival," said Dr. Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh, a principal researcher at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute and coauthor of the study. "It's not just about having more muscle and looking better — we're talking about life and death."

The brain may get a boost from the body's extra muscle as well. A 2010 study in Archives of Internal Medicine found that women ages 65 to 75 who did resistance training sessions once or twice a week over the course of a year improved their cognitive performance, while those who focused on balance and tone training declined slightly (So called “Functional/core training” is not as productive).
One reason for the improvement, researchers believe, may be that strength training triggers the production of a protein beneficial for brain growth. These studies are also promising for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients. Over a 6 month period of strength training, research showed a 10 to 15 % increase in neurons in the hippocampus area. This area is associated with memory and learning.

 

The Problem… (To be continued)