Why Weight Training

Why does Time for Change Fitness promote resistance training?

Many people focus on calories alone. The slash and dash mentality develops destructive patterns, like extreme calorie cuts and/or excessive aerobics. This sets off an alarm-state in the body where the body sheds muscle tissue to lessen energy demands, and stores body fat as a survival response. Once this physiological state is reached, it becomes nearly impossible to lose any more weight no matter how many calories you cut or how much aerobic work you add. What you end up with is a person who is on a starvation level calorie count and performing excessive exercise, yet is still flabby.

The calories burned during an exercise session are relatively small compared to the amount burned during the other 23 hours of the day. Most fat oxidation occurs between training sessions, not during. This means your exercise sessions should primarily be geared towards building muscle and boosting your metabolism.

After a strength training session, the metabolic rate raises (the after-burn effect) for longer periods of time than after aerobic work (up to 48 hours). This is because all of the steps involved in the recovery process from strength training (satellite cell activation, tissue repair, protein synthesis, etc.) require energy (calories).

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

2. Swiss Chard

SWISS CHARD

A relative to spinach, Swiss chard is an excellent source of vitamins A, C, E, and K, as well as magnesium, manganese, potassium, iron and dietary fibers. Swiss Chard is also loaded with two classes of antioxidants: carotenoids and anthocyanins (the latter denoted by its fiery hue).

HEALTH BENEFITS

While carotenoids and other plant pigments help attract various rays of light to the plant for photosynthesis, anthocyanins act as sunscreen, protecting the plant from too much light and stress. in your body, anthocyanins, along with carotenoids and vitamins C and E, act as powerful free-radical scavengers, mopping up potential invaders to thwart the aging process and, as it is believed, fight certain forms of cancer.

*Personal note: There is no such thing as anti-aging. What we can do is try to slow down the aging process and improve quality of life, or what I like to call "compressed morbidity"; meaning that we are actively making an effort to delay our own decay. Not the most pleasant term in the world, but our earthly bodies were built to fade away, and it is a process that even the most stubborn among us cannot stop.

TRAINING BENEFITS

By reducing free-radical muscle inflammation, the anthocyanins found in Swiss chard can aid your recovery from exercise.
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