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).

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Go Green For More Power

NOT ALL GREENS ARE CREATED EQUAL. HERE ARE SIX OPTIONS THAT WILL POWER YOUR TRAINING AND YOUR HEALTH.

Source: Elizabeth Brown, MS, RD (2010) Maximum Fitness

With leafy greens, you get macronutrients like protein, complex carbohydrates and even those essential inflammatory-fighting omega-3 fats. Then there is the plethora of energy-converting nutrients, such as B-vitamins, manganese, magnesium, iron, and copper. These nutrients help ensure that complex carbs are used for energy instead of being stored as fat – an ideal scenario if you are looking to carve down the waistline and shrink that behind a bit. As well, other nutrients actually allow you to train longer and harder, which leads to more rapid muscle gains.

Additionally, your immune system gets a boost with more than 600 types of carotenoids, vitamin C, and thousands of phytonutrients in every bite of the green stuff. Translation: You get protection from diseases and an improved quality of life.

Research has also shown that leafy greens may protect bad cholesterol from being oxidized. Keep in mind that cholesterol has a purpose in the body: as a component of cell membranes, which regulate the flow of nutrients in and out of cells. Cholesterol helps your body make steroid hormones like sex hormones, cortisol and vitamin D, which are, in part, responsible for the synthesis and development of muscle cells. Cholesterol only becomes “bad” when oxidation sets in – and it’s those good greens that help keep it from turning bad.

Leafy greens are not only dirt-cheap – in today’s world, that’s a good thing – but they also provide the highest quality of nutrients for the least number of calories of any other food group you choose to throw down your gullet. The following six blog posts will showcase 6 greens – along with their health and exercise benefits – that you simply have to include in your daily meal plans. And the great thing is; you can buy them year round. No matter what your health and fitness goals are, these 6 greens can help you get there faster.

Now let’s get there together!

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1 comment:

  1. patrick and roseFebruary 27, 2011 at 8:28 AM

    Patrick and I really like your blog, it has a lot of really great insight!

    ReplyDelete

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