It turns out that among nutritionists water is actually considered a nutrient. Some people swear it’s a diet elixir, and studies show it helps your skin as well. Certainly anyone who’s ever gone to the beach all day in the sun knows how drained you’ll feel later in the day. A lot of this is due to dehydration too.
If you’re exercising in the summer months, you have to be particularly aware and careful about hydration. In direct sun, heat exhaustion and heat stroke become risks. I try to run along routes where there are water fountains. Spraying some cold water on yourself every 15 minutes or so does wonders. I also run with a water pack which is easier than carrying a water bottle, and is always available. Plus the weight sits nicely distributed around your core, where it’s easiest to balance.
I would recommend some specifics about how much water if it were a simple matter. But the truth is each persons body is different, based on size, weight, age, and exercise intensity. So the best way, as I’ve mentioned before is to monitor your urine color (should be clear) before and after workout.
It is especially important not to just wait until you’re thirsty. This happens after the body has already become dehydrated, and even then is not consistent in all people. Another method to monitor your fluid intake is to weigh yourself before and after your workout. If you have significant weight loss, this is most likely from liquids lost. Over time you should learn to gauge your own body. Monitoring is the best way to get better at this.
About.com has a pretty good article on the topic. Read here.
People often ask me about exercise without using weights and weight machines. What exactly is weight bearing exercise?
The bones in the human body are as alive as any other tissues. Bone is laid down in the same direction as mechanical stress. In other words, as you use your body, your skeletal frame, your bones build, and become more dense. Just like muscles, if you don’t use them, they will weaken.
In fact, interestingly enough, this is a big problem for astronauts. When they are exposed to the weightless environment of outer space, their bones actually shrink up to 2% per month, and they return brittle and weak. They actually develop Osteoporosis over a very short period of time.
Why do I mention astronauts? Well because people that are bedridden because of an injury, or just people who don’t exercise much, tending more towards the sedentary lifestyle, exhibit these same symptoms of Osteoporosis, albeit over many years.
So weight bearing exercise, opposing the force of gravity, is an important part of your fitness routine, be it running, rowing, or lifting some weights. My personal favorites are body weight exercises, that use only the weight of the body to stimulate and build muscle and bone.
In researching for this article, I found a very good piece on the subject What’s G Got To Do With It? You can all search google for terms like “astronaut osteoperosis”, “astronaut bone mass”, “exercise bone density”, etc.
I keep seeing a lot of studies suggesting that regular exercise, and in particular cardiovascular exercise such as running, have as much benefit on the brain, protecting against depression and anxiety, as they do fighting cardiovascular disease.
A recent issue of ACE’s “Fitness Matters” featured an article titled “This Is Your Brain On Exercise” by Jim Gerard, they talk about this affect…
”People who exercise more have a lower risk of developing depression and anxiety. Brain imaging techniques show that when we’re exercising, parts of our brains are consuming more oxygen and are more metabolically active.
In Fact, the shield that exercise puts up against depression and anxiety is just as strong as its long-renowned protection against cardiovascular disease. Studies suggest that people who exercise regularly and have a stroke later in life might suffer less damage because they’re able to utilize cellular stress proteins developed from exercising.”
You’ve probably heard it, you’ve probably had a conversation about it, or maybe you asked the question… How do I keep my butt firm, or the back of my arms? The ladies ask, how do I keep my tummy firm, or my boobs?
Or maybe you’ve wondered, is there a certain diet or exercise regimen that is good for my skin?
There are a couple of points to keep in mind here. First off, the good news. Cardiovascular exercise is great for your circulation, and as such is great for your skin. Think: it removes toxins & improves blood flow, etc. Also, if you’re smoking, this is bad news for your skin, so stop, or at least cut down. And here’s another little gem, drink lots of water! Dehydration is bad for your skin. Don’t know if you’re dehydrated, well if you’re thirsty, you’re more than likely long since dehydrated. Better yet check the color of your pee. That’s right, yellow means your dehydrated, clear means you have plenty of fluids.
What else? How do I lose fat in this one location? Unfortunately it doesn’t really work that way. Your body distributes your fat exactly how it sees fit to. It does this by concentrating fat around your center of gravity. That is slightly different in men than women, but on the whole, what you need to keep in mind is that exercise overall reduces your overall bodyfat content, which reduces it everywhere at once. That’s right ladies, as you probably already know, when you lose weight, your breasts get smaller too. Less fat means firmer. One caveat to all of this though, as you gain muscle mass, the fat you do have sits better on your body too, so that is a small added benefit. In general try to do a combination of cardiovascular training such as running or other sport that gets your heart rate up, and on alternate days resistance training, which builds muscle mass. These two in combination will increase your metabolism, improve your overall body composition (or body density) so that your burn calories more efficiently.
Last but not least, don’t forget your diet. As my favorite write/speaker on nutrition Michael Pollan says “Eat food, mostly plants, not too much”. Check out his video below.
This has to be the number one universal question I hear people ask. When I start working out, do I need to eat a lot of protein??There are so many myths around diet, it’s hard to know where to start.
So instead I’ll cut right to the chase. These are the basic recommendations from American Council on Exercise:
Protein: 12-20% caloric intake
Carbohydrate: 55-65% caloric intake
Fat: 25-30% caloric intake
Vitamins: see RDA
Minerals: see RDA
Water: 2-3 quarts per day
Increasing the protein intake from 12% to 18% when doing resistance training, is recommended.
Note that the former “meat” group on the food guide pyramid is now called the meat and beans group. For 2200 calorie diet:
2 cups fruits
3 cups veggies
7 oz grains
6 oz meat or beans
3 cups milk/dairy
6 tsp oils
Here’s some more good news. Even if you don’t think about protein, there are lots of ways to get it. Not eating a lot of meat or fish? No problem, our omnivorian bodies can make it. Here are a few ways:
rice + sesame seeds = complete protein
sunflower seeds + peanuts = complete protein
milk + legume soups = complete protein
macaroni + cheese = complete protein
cereal + milk = complete protein
peanut butter sandwich = complete protein
rice + bean casserole = complete protein
My conclusions (note these are mine only, for official word on the topic, please talk to a registered dietician): 12% of protein is so low as to not even have to think about it. Most americans eat a huge amount of protein, and many have to worry about REDUCING their protein intake. Too much protein actually taxes the body, as the liver has to convert it to carbohydrate energy. So what most people really have to concentrate on, and worry about is eating enough fruits and vegetables.
Here’s an interesting article that appeared on BBC news in December. It talks about the diet of Medieval people. These heavy laboring peasants would have done 12 hours of heavy labor per day, consumed roughly 30-50% more calories, nearly two loaves of bread, and three pints of beer. Those are pints, or roughly five 12oz servings! They also consumed only 8oz of meat, which by proportion to their total calorie intake would be 4-5oz by todays calorie standards. They make a strong point that they did not consume much in the way of our modern demon, refined sugar. Say goodbye to heart disease and diabetes. About a year ago Michael Pollan wrote an article for the Times which talked about eating and diet. His conclusion: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. This article more than most others I’ve read, puts debates to rest, and simplifies the debate to the essential concepts which are often lost to nitty gritty details that are in the end irrelevant.
I was talking to a friend recently and they were saying how they tried to do some jump roping, and how quickly they got winded. They explained how they remembered it being so easy in high school, and how many reps they could do, and how fast. And they were only 25.
The truth is we’ve all felt the affects of aging on our health, which is obviously the reason why a lot of us, myself included, are so into training, and fitness. Anyway, I thought it might help to mention a few points from my personal training textbook on this topic. Firstly the obvious:
“the rate of strength gain appears to be greater during the years of normal growth and development, generally considered to be from the ages of 10 to 20″
but goes on to say:
“recent research has revealed that men and women of all ages can increase their muscle size and muscle strength through progressive strength training.”
But in terms of being realistic about our goals, this point puts that in perspective:
“Muscle mass declines with age, resulting in decreased muscular strength and endurance. For each decade after the age of 25, 3 to 5% of muscle mass is lost. This is primarily attributed to changes in lifestyle and the decreased use of the neuromuscular system.”
A similar affect is felt in the bone density of the bod:
“With age, bones become more fragile… With age the loss of calcium results in decreased bone mass, but weightbearing and resistance training exercises are known to help maintain bone mass.”
Loss of bone mass eventually leads to osteoperosis, but…
“The greater the physical stress and compression on a bone, the greater the rate of bone deposition (this is why weightbearing exercise is recommended).”
Running is a weightbearing exercise for example, and swimming is not. This is why folks who are older and have joint problems, are recommended swimming or walking, over running. Keep in mind that running also causes tightening of the hamstrings, and tendons around the knee joint, so more stretching is required to avoid the potential downside of running, which puts weightbearing stress on the knees and hip joints.
