Important training principle

Most of us know that if we want to improve, we must stress ourselves in some of our training sessions. Exercise stresses the muscles, stimulating them to grow stronger and work more efficiently. Without enough rest after the stress, however, the muscles are driven to exhaustion or injury. Stress must be balanced by rest in sufficient quantity and quality for adequate growth.

Hard or long runs must always be followed by several easy days in which the pace or distance is reduced. In addition, you must build rest weeks into your program: every second or third week, you should automatically reduce total mileage. This gives your muscles the extra time to “catch up.”

Improvement is based upon the quality of your speedwork and the length of your long run. By taking a day off and then running easily between these two “quality days” you will recover, rebuild stronger and reduce the chance of injury. Common mistakes that lead to injury are:

1) Trying to attain a high mileage level week after week
2) Running daily runs too fast
3) Not enough rest

Interesting Fitness Facts

1. Carbohydrates, protein, fat, and alcohol have 4, 4, 9, and 7 calories per gram respectively.
2. It takes a 3500 calorie deficit to lose 1 pound.
3. Insulin and growth hormone have an inverse relationship.
4. The average person can store 500 grams of glycogen.
5. Only fat and protein are essential macronutrients – carbohydrates aren’t.
6. Muscle glycogen is about 3 parts water to 1 part glucose.
7. You burn more calories during the 23 hours you don’t exercise than the 1 hour you do.
8. You don’t need to do cardio to lose weight.
9. The fat burning zone does not burn more total fat calories – only a higher percentage of calories from fat.
10. You’re never too old to do squats.
11. Weight loss is not a physical challenge – it’s a mental one.
12. The scale cannot measure body fat percentage.
13. You can eat anything you want and still lose weight – but weight doesn’t always equal fat.
14. You can’t target fat loss – fat loss is systemic.
15. Muscle does not weigh more than fat – it’s just denser than it.
16. 0 grams of fat on a label doesn’t always mean there’s no fat in the food product.
17. Whole grain bread is still a processed food.
18. Eating healthy is not more expensive than a junk food diet.
19. You can’t calculate body fat percentage from height and weight alone – you need to physically measure it.
20. You can get glucose from both protein and glycerol – not just carbohydrates.
21. Just because a box says “whole grain” on it, it doesn’t make it healthy.
22. You should never attempt weight loss at the expense of your health.
23. Being vegetarian doesn’t just mean you don’t eat meat – it means you follow a plant-based diet.
24. Workout times and negative side effects are positively correlated.
25. Gym membership prices are negotiable.
26. Cooking your food can both lower some nutrient content, and make some more bioavailable.
27. There’s a high correlation between the fitness level of the people close to you, and your own physical fitness.
28. It’s harder to put on 10 pounds of muscle than it is to lose 10 pounds of fat.
29. Once an adult, fat cells can be created, but they cannot be lost – only shrunken.
30. Eating at night does not make you fat – overeating does.
31. You don’t need to do curls to get good biceps.
32. Being skinny does not automatically mean you have a low body fat.
33. The perimeter of the grocery store is where 90% of the healthy food is.
34. If bad food is in the house, you’ll be more likely to eat it.
35. Thyroid hormone output and exercise intensity are positively correlated.
36. Healthy levels of testosterone are good for both men and women.
37. You don’t need a gym membership to strength train.
38. Unless you weigh less than 100 pounds, it’s unlikely you need less than 1000 calories to lose weight.
39. Workout intensity is positively correlated with the degree of EPOC – the afterburn effect.
40. There are 3 types of skeletal muscle fibers – type I, type II-A, and type II-B.
41. 80% of people who begin an exercise program will quit.
42. The body has 3 energy systems – ATP-PC, anaerobic glycolysis, and aerobic.
43. Strength gains come from muscle hypertrophy and improved muscle fiber recruitment.
44. Dehydrating a muscle by 3% can cause a 10% loss of strength.
45. The thermic effect of food (TEF) is highest for protein.
46. Lactic acid is not the cause of delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
47. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn at rest.
48. Direct abdominal exercises are not necessary to get good abs.
49. You can lose weight and still gain muscle; likewise, you can also gain weight while still losing fat.
50. Consistency and patience are key to long term successful weight loss.

Now what?

My country Cyprus has the lowest newborn mortality rate worldwide

As proud as i feel for the fact that Cyprus  tied with Sweden for the third best rate, with a low newborn mortality rate of 1.6 per 1,000 births, so sad i feel for the fact that at the age of 12 Cypriot boys and girls has the highest diabetes and obesity rate between European countries. We literally kill our children with the way of life that we provide them.

You can check the best and worst countries for babes here

Image via Wikipedia

Boost Your Turnover Rate For Quicker Swim Splits

• 

By Paul Regensburg and Alister Russell

Looking for ways to increase your swim speed? How about moving your arms faster? It sounds ridiculously simple; however, we tend to deemphasize arm turnover in our training, focusing instead on such aspects as body position, the catch and the kick. Not that there’s anything wrong with working on such things, but increasing and maintaining arm turnover is the next step for increased speed in the water. By boosting your turnover, you can:

• Maintain more effective propulsion if you bump into other swimmers, as you can get your arm back into contact with the water sooner

• Maintain better momentum through waves and swell

• Sight more easily without reducing your speed

The challenge is that swimming with a higher stroke rate is a learned neuromuscular skill and must be practiced, and you have to be careful not to sacrifice efficiency or technique for the sake of quicker turnover.

A little help:

You can count your strokes each length to determine your stroke rate; however, doing so may interfere with your mental focus. Enter the swim metronome. A swim metronome is an electronic stroke rate-pacing device that attaches to a goggle strap or is placed under your swim cap and creates an audible beep to help develop stroke-rate consistency, just as musicians use a metronome to maintain a specific tempo. You can change your rate of strokes per minute by adjusting the beep tempo and synchronizing the beeps with each hand entry into the water.

The advantages of using a swim metronome are as follows:

• You no longer have to count strokes per length

• You can adjust your stroke rate based on type of training or distance of interval you are completing

• Your stroke becomes more rhythmic and symmetrical

• You can maintain your stroke rate and speed even as you become fatigued

• You can use the device in the open water and still be aware of your stroke rate.

Your baseline stroke rate

In order to use a swim metronome you need to determine your baseline stroke rate (BSR), a value that corresponds to the number of seconds it takes you to perform one stroke, as calculated over a longer-distance swim rather than a short sprint. BSR is displayed in a tiny LCD window on the front of the metronome. You can use either of two methods to determine your BSR:

1. Swim 400 meters continuously at your race pace (ideally in a 50-meter pool) and have a friend or coach count your number of strokes (left arm = 1 stroke, right arm = 2 strokes, left arm = 3 strokes . . . etc.) for 30 seconds. Ideally this 400 should be done at race pace for your target distance (i.e. 750m, 1500m, 1.9km or 3.8km), and your stroke rate should be assessed in the latter half of the 400 after you have settled into your natural rhythm. Have your partner take your stroke count twice, ideally after 200m and then again after 300m so turns are not included in the 30-second sample:

Then use this simple formula:

Number of strokes for first 30-second interval = X (e.g. 34)

Number of strokes for second 30-second interval = Y (e.g. 36)

Add these two numbers together to get your stroke rate per minute: X + Y (e.g. 34 + 36 = 70)

Divide your stroke rate per minute into 60: 60/(X + Y) = N (e.g. 60/70 = 0.86)

N = your baseline stroke rate (0.86 = number of seconds per stroke; this number will be your beep setting on the swim metronome)

You may want to repeat this exercise a few times and take an average value to give you a better reflection of your typical stroke rate. You might find that your BSR ranges from an already high value of 0.70 to very slow value of 1.20.

2. A second method of determining your BSR is to set the metronome on 0.90 (0.9 seconds per stroke) and adjust the setting up or down manually to match your natural rhythm. This is more difficult to do, however, because, as stated earlier, the best indication of your stroke rate is calculated in the latter stages of a longer interval.

Stroke-rate workouts

Now that you’ve calculated your baseline stroke rate you can utilize the metronome for some stroke rate-specific swim sets. When completing these sets, remember some key factors:

• Maintain and emphasize your rotation (from the hips)

•  Try not to shorten your stroke. Be long in the water

• Focus on your catch and feel for the water

• Don’t over-kick to meet the stroke-rate setting

Swim workout #1: Developing your rhythm:

The purpose of this set is to familiarize yourself with the audible beep of the metronome. The workout should start at your predetermined BSR (no higher, no lower). It may take a few lengths to get used to synchronizing your stroke with the continual beeping sound of the metronome, especially when the turn at the end of the pool disturbs the flow of your stroke. You may find that the stroke rate seems very slow at the beginning, but it is in the second half of the interval where it should feel like the right pace.

Warm-up: 2 x (100 free/100 kick/100 pull)

4 x 50 choice drill

8 x 25 fast

Main set: 4 x 400 on 45 seconds recovery as, 2 x 400 at BSR, then 2 x 400 at BSR minus 0.02 on the metronome’s setting.

Cool-down: 400 mixed stroke

By working on your rhythm, you are developing new neuromuscular patterns and a more efficient stroke over distance. Keep a record of the setting on the metronome, and as you become more efficient and improve in your ability to maintain a stroke rate you can perform this workout at a slightly faster stroke rate.

Swim workout #2: Improve your stroke rate

Once you have mastered swimming with the metronome at and just below your BSR you can explore raising your stroke rate. Note that this should be done in very small increments. Raising your stroke rate too much too quickly will cause your technique to break down, resulting in a loss of efficiency. This workout increases your stroke rate in a controlled manner.

Warm-up: 400 choice, easy and loose

6 x 50 as 25 drill/25 free

6 x 50 as 15 fast/35 easy

Main set: 3 x (3 x 200 freestyle on 20 seconds recovery) as first set at BSR minus 0.05 on metronome, second set at BSR minus .010 on metronome, third set at BSR minus 0.15 on metronome. Rest 60 seconds between sets

Option: Finish your main set with a 400 backstroke at your BSR

Cool-down: 400 mixed stroke

If you notice your stroke begin to become inefficient (e.g. you start thrashing), revert back to your previously efficient stroke rate and get comfortable there. Remember, the aim is to become more efficient, not less.

Variations

Once you have mastered swimming at your BSR you can experiment with variations to your stroke to see how each might affect your stroke rate. For example, if you breathe with a three-stroke pattern, experiment with a five-stroke pattern, which may help increase your stroke rate. You can also use a slower, steadier stroke rate (increasing the seconds per stroke on the metronome from, say, 0.86 to 1.05) to build strength and efficiency, which will help you master an efficient body position and propulsion system.

Remember: Looking for ways to increase your swim speed? How about moving your arms faster? By boosting your turnover, you can:

•  Maintain more effective propulsion if you bump into other swimmers, as you can get your arm back into contact with the water sooner

• Maintain better momentum through waves and swell

• Sight more easily without reducing your speed

 

 

The 10 Fitness Commandments

Thou shall…

1. NEVER let yourself get starved. “Starved” takes away all fitness- sense.

2. Set your workout days at the beginning of the week and schedule everything else around them, not the other way around.

3. Prepare your food in advance. Don’t wait until you’re hungry or there’s a good chance you’ll grab what you shouldn’t grab.

4. Know what you’ll snack on and keep food with you always. Keep it in your purse, at your desk, and in your car. See commandment #1.

5. Stay off the scale (as much as possible). It can be a motivation buster. As you gain muscle and lose layer, your weight may stay the same or even go up. Don’t let numbers stop your momentum. They don’t tell the whole truth.

6. Eat a nutritious breakfast. It’s true what they say – breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It gets the metabolism moving, and gets the brain and body rolling for the day. When you skip breakfast, you usually make up the calories later in the day anyway.

7. Have a treat meal. The key word is “meal”. Don’t have a treat day or worse a treat weekend. One over-done meal can set you back days which means you never move forward.

8. Find supportive friends. That means one or two. Don’t tell Aunt Mary who loves to cook and makes you eat. You need close friends to cheer you on, not the jealous friends who thinks all your working out is “weird”.

9. Drive past the drive-through. No more fast food. Not only is it just bad for you, it’s high in fat, salt, calories and chemicals, and can actually alter your mood and trigger other not-so-good cravings. It’s a goal-buster.

10. Your fitness is an everyday-thing, not just a weekday-thing. BUT, you should absolutely take rest days and absolutely have some food-joy, but plan it into your week, don’t cram it all into one weekend.

-Heather Frey

Runner’s diarrhea: How can I prevent it?

from Edward R. Laskowski, M.D.

Runner’s diarrhea is characterized by frequent, loose bowel movements during or immediately after a run. Runner’s diarrhea is most common in long-distance or marathon runners.

The cause of runner’s diarrhea isn’t clear. One theory is that extreme exercise directs blood flow away from the intestines — contributing to diarrhea.

Often, simple dietary changes can help prevent runner’s diarrhea:

• At least one day before running, limit or avoid high-fiber and gas-producing foods, such as beans, bran, fruit and salad. If you run every day, experiment to find a tolerable level of fiber. Otherwise, simply eat those foods after you run.
• At least one day before running, limit or avoid sweeteners called sugar alcohols — most often found in sugar-free candies, gum and ice cream.
• For three to six hours before running, limit or avoid caffeine and high-fat foods.
• For at least two hours before running, don’t eat anything at all.
• Before, during and after running, drink plenty of fluids. Dehydration can lead to diarrhea. Avoid warm liquids, however, which can speed food through the digestive tract.
• While running, use caution with energy gels and energy bars. In some people, these products can contribute to diarrhea.
• If you’re lactose intolerant, switch to lactose-reduced or lactose-free milk and milk products.

In addition, wear comfortable, loosefitting clothing when you run. Clothing that’s too tight around the waist may aggravate diarrhea. You might also consider reducing the intensity or distance of your runs until the diarrhea improves. Then gradually increase your activity as your signs and symptoms allow. If these tips don’t seem to help, consult your doctor for additional suggestions.

Exersices:Body-Weight Squat

Body-Weight Squat

 

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Lower your body as far as you can by pushing your hips back and bending your knees until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Pause, and slowly stand back up.

 

A Circuit Training For the Whole Body In Just 15 Minutes

The beauty of this circuit is that it can be done pretty much anywhere, in 15 minutes, with nothing more than your body weight.  It hits the slow twitch muscles that build endurance.

300 muscles – in three moves

Do 10 reps of each exercise, and complete as many circuits as you can in 15 minutes. Rest briefly when you need to, and resume working until the time is up. As your conditioning improves, increase reps or decrease the amount of rest.

Body-Weight Squat

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Lower your body as far as you can by pushing your hips back and bending your knees until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Pause, and slowly stand back up.

Judo Pushup

Begin in a pushup position but move your feet hip-width apart and forward, and raise your hips so your body almost forms an upside-down V. Lower the front of your body until your chin nears the floor. Then lower your hips as you raise your head and shoulders toward the ceiling. Now reverse the movement and return to the starting position.

Note on the Judo Pushups it is an ancient Indian exercise also mentioned in Yoga called : SURYA NAMASKAR.

SURYA = Sun
NAMASKAR = Bowing down in greeting someone.

“Suryanamaskar” and its not straight down and straight up its actually a circular movement, you go down and (almost nose touching the ground) and with the same pace stretch up, this exercise tones up every muscle in your body.  Strive for a full extension at both ends of the movement.  Most of the strain you will feel on the negative portion of the move.  Throughout the move you will be placing your body under tension.  It should be noted your not racing against anyone who is working out with you.  Do not sacrifice form for speed.  Be honest with yourself and do the full movements.

 

Sprinter Sit Up

Lie on your back with your legs straight and arms at your sides, keeping your elbows bent at 90 degrees. As you sit up, twist your upper body to the left and bring your left knee toward your right elbow while you swing your left arm back. Lower your body to the starting position, and repeat to your right. That’s 1 rep.

Find it on “train my fingers for battle”

 

You Don’t Need A Gym To Be Strong And Fit: Body Weight Exersices

Image via Wikipedia

Few men believe it, but you don’t need barbells, dumbbells, or machines to build muscle; in fact, weight-training equipment often inhibits the process. That’s because it requires you to be in a specific location, which might explain why more men consider themselves runners than lifters. After all, running is the most accessible form of exercise anywhere you go, there’s your gym. But learn a little bit about physics and the same can hold true for your muscle workout.

Consider the pull-up: It’s the standard by which all body-weight exercises are measured. And even the most hard-core lifters will agree that there’s no better muscle builder for the upper body with or without weights. The reason for its effectiveness: It takes full advantage of the scientific laws of motion and leverage, placing your body in a position that forces your back and arms to lift your entire body weight. Call it applied science at its finest.

Now imagine if all body-weight exercises were as challenging as the pull-up. You’d be able to build muscle anywhere, anytime at home, on the road, or even in a public park. Physical science makes it possible. So with that said… the Five Laws of Body-Weight Training:

Law #1: The longer your body, the weaker you become.

The Science: By increasing the distance between the point of force (your target muscles) and the end of the object you’re trying to lift (your body), you decrease your mechanical advantage. Think of it this way: An empty barbell is easy to lift off the floor if you grab it in the middle. But try moving a few inches in one direction and it instantly seems heavier even though its weight hasn’t changed. The same is true of your body: Lengthen it and every exercise you do becomes harder.

Apply it:Raise your hands above your head so your arms are straight and in line with your body during a lunge, squat, crunch, or situp. If that’s too hard, split the distance by placing your hands behind your head.

Law #2: The farther you move, the more muscle you work.

The Science: In physics, “mechanical work” is equal to force (or weight) times distance. And since your muscles and bones function together as simple machines they form class 1, 2, and 3 levers the same formula applies to your body. It’s the most basic of principles: Do more work, build more muscle. Of course, in a weight-free workout, you can’t increase force (unless you gain weight). But you can boost your work output by moving a greater distance during each repetition.

Apply it: Each of the following three methods increases the distance your body has to travel from start to finish, increasing not only the total amount of work you do, but also the amount of work you do in the most challenging portion of the exercise.

Hard: Move the floor farther away. For many body-weight exercises lunges, pushups, situps your range of motion ends at the floor. The solution: Try placing your front or back foot on a step when doing lunges; position your hands on books or your feet on a chair when doing pushups; and place a rolled-up towel under the arch in your lower back when doing situps.

Harder: Add on a quarter. From the starting position of a pushup, squat, or lunge, lower yourself into the down position. But instead of pushing your body all the way up, raise it only a quarter of the way. Then lower yourself again before pushing your body all the way up. That counts as one repetition.

Hardest: Try mini-repetitions. Instead of pushing your body all the way up from the down position, do five smaller reps in which you raise and lower your body about an inch each time. After the fifth mini-repetition, push yourself up till your arms are straight. That counts as one repetition.

Law #3: As elastic energy decreases, muscle involvement increases.

The Science: When you lower your body during any exercise, you build up “elastic energy” in your muscles. Just like in a coiled spring, that elasticity allows you to “bounce” back to the starting position, reducing the work your muscles have to do. Eliminate the bounce and you’ll force your body to recruit more muscle fibers to get you moving again. How? Pause for 4 seconds in the down position of an exercise. That’s the amount of time it takes to discharge all the elastic energy of a muscle.

Apply it: Use the 4-second pause in any exercise. And give yourself an extra challenge by adding an explosive component, forcefully pushing your body off the floor into the air as high as you can during a pushup, lunge, or squat. Because you’re generating maximum force without any help from elastic energy, you’ll activate the greatest number of muscle fibers possible.

Law #4: Moving in two directions is better than moving in one.

The Science: Human movement occurs on three different geometric planes:
the sagittal plane, for front-to-back and up-and-down movements,
the frontal plane, for side-to-side movements,
the transverse plane, for rotational movements.

Most weight-lifting movements the bench press, squat, curl, lunge, and chinup, to name a few are performed on the sagittal plane; the balance of exercises for instance, the lateral lunge and side bend occur almost entirely on the frontal plane. This means that most men rarely train their bodies on the transverse plane, despite using rotation constantly in everyday life, as well as in every sport. Case in point: walking. It’s subtle, but your hips rotate with every step; in fact, watch a sprinter from behind and you’ll see that his hips rotate almost 90 degrees. By adding a rotational component to any exercise, you’ll automatically work more muscle since you’ll fully engage your core, as well as the original target muscles and simultaneously build a better-performing body.

Apply it: Simply twist your torso to the right or left in exercises such as the lunge, situp, and pushup. You can also rotate your hips during movements such as the reverse crunch.

Law #5: The less contact your body has with the floor, the more your muscles must compensate.

The Science: The smaller the percentage of an object’s surface area that’s touching a solid base, the less stable that object is. That’s why SUVs are prone to rolling, and tall transmission towers need guy wires. Fortunately, humans have a built-in stabilization system: muscles. And by forcing that internal support system to kick in by making your body less stable you’ll make any exercise harder, while activating dozens more muscles.

Apply it:Hold one foot in the air during virtually any exercise, including pushups, squats, and deadlifts. You can also do pushups on your fingertips or your fists.