I found a couple of posts around the internet that spoke of a study at McMaster University that showed that hard exercise for a shorter period of time is better than a long workout at a lower level of intensity. I found the article at the Journal of Physiology but you really need to be a scientist to decipher what they have to say.

When it comes to cardio exercise, less appears to be more.

That’s the conclusion of researchers who discovered that extremely short bouts of high-intensity exercise produce the same improvements in muscle health as longer, more moderately paced workout sessions.

In the two-week study, published in this month’s issue of the Journal of Physiology, 16 college-age men, all recreational exercisers, were asked to exercise on stationary bicycles three times a week. One group cycled for 30 seconds all-out, followed by four minutes of recovery, or pedaling at a slower speed while keeping the heart rate somewhat elevated. They repeated that several times for a total of about 20 minutes a day. The other group cycled at a moderate pace for 90 to 120 minutes a day.

At the end of the study, the men’s muscles were tested for an enzyme that’s “an indicator of the muscle’s ability to use oxygen,” says lead author Martin Gibala, associate professor of kinesiology at Canada’s McMaster University. In both groups, the enzyme level increased by about 25% to 30%. He adds, “You can think about that as being able to produce energy more efficiently, being able to go at a faster pace and exercise longer.”
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Tags: cardio equipment, energy, football, hockey, Institute for Hockey Research, Martin Gibala, McMaster University, Michael Bracko, same principles to cardio equipment, sports physiologist and director, sports physiologist and director in Alberta, volleyball

Many people have a vision of what the word fitness means. With so many advertisements and promises of a physically fit body, it can become difficult to determine and define what fitness is. It’s definitely a multi-million dollar per year industry, but sadly many Americans don’t know what it means to truly be fit.

Different people have different definitions and limitations on what fitness means. For example, a long distance or marathon runner might define it as having a strong lung capacity and good leg muscles. A bodybuilder or a weight lifter may say that fitness is in how many pounds one can bench press, or the amount of muscle mass one has. The reality is that fitness is determined by each individual person’s definition of what fitness truly is for them and their needs.

True physical fitness is the ability to have endurance, strength, flexibility, and stamina all in one. It also includes speed and balance. While no one will be perfect in all of these areas, just being able to maintain them all at a reasonable level is sufficient to be deemed physically fit.

Some athletes excel in certain areas, while they might fall back on others. But they should be able to at least perform all skill sets in a minimal way without too much difficulty. This is the real definition of someone who is fit. The ability to perform all of these physical tasks in a way that a person can go from one thing to another without any problems is considered fit.

For the “average Joe,” physical fitness might not be as easy as it sounds. It takes hard work and determination to get someone’s stamina, speed, and muscle capacity up to par. Training on a daily, if not weekly basis can help tone someone’s body and get it trained into a working machine that will be able to run, jump, throw, and stretch much further than ever before. Come up with a plan and a program that will be easy to perform, and then expect to increase the difficulty as time goes by.

If you don’t notice a change within the first few months, your fitness plan may need to be revised. With time and patience, anyone can be fit and healthy. You do not have to be an Olympic swimmer or a famous football player to be physically fit and able to perform physically challenging tasks. Training the body to work harder and smarter is something anyone can do, and the rewards are amazing.

Tags: football, football player, marathon runner, Olympic, Olympic swimmer, USD

You know why people make excuses? Whenever the mind figures out that it needs to do something different than the routine, it is filled with doubts, fears and apprehensions, which in turn culminate into excuses. If you are excusing yourself from buying a home fitness equipment, you are not alone.

However, you need to understand that excuses won’t take you anywhere. I can give you a variety of reasons why you should buy an exercise equipment, but unless you really go and buy the equipment and do that damn workout, you are neither going to lose weight nor acquire a toned-up body as per your desire.

Here are some of the common excuses people make for not buying a home-based exercise equipment.

1. Lack of company: There are many people who quickly get bored of workouts if they have to exercise all alone, day after day. Such people prefer to hit the gym simply because there is some company for them. However, you don’t need to workout alone even if you use home fitness machine.

Convince your family regarding the importance of fitness, then buy a couple of extra fitness equipments for your other family members. This way, you won’t have to workout alone and at the same time, it would help keep your family members fit and healthy.

Another way is to let your family play their favorite sports while you workout in the background. For example, if your family members are interested in table tennis, buy them a table for playing tennis. On the other hand, if football is their passion, you can buy them a football goal instead.

2. Insufficient space: Are you worried about space for setting up the fitness equipment at home or storing it for later use? If the former is the case, then it might be a valid reason for not buying the equipment. People living in small flats barely have any space left after installing tables, beds and large couches; if that is the case with you, you either need to get rid of the couch and setup your fitness equipment in its place, or forget about buying a home-based equipment.

If however, you have enough space for setting up the fitness equipment at home but are worried about where to store it after the workout session is over, there is good news for you. Most manufactures today understand the needs and demands of the common man. They know that not everyone who buys a fitness equipment lives in a king-sized flat.

Modern exercise machines are becoming more and more portable and compact than before, so as to make it easier for you to store them after use. Most fitness machines can be folded and tucked away safely at a corner of your house after you are done with them. As such, you don’t need to worry about it.

3. Absence of professional guidance: Many people excuse themselves from buying a fitness equipment because they feel they won’t be able to make proper use of it in absence of professional guidance. While this is a true and valid objection, it is equally true that if your workout routine begins at early dawn or late night, you are not going to get a fitness trainer who would be at your beck and call.

So your best option is the internet. You may or may not be aware of it, but these days you can get custom workout and diet plans tailor-made to your needs and equipments, all for a small monthly fee. If you subscribe to any such program, you would get professional guidance not only on fitness but also diet and nutrition; let’s face it, every one knows how important dieting is in the sphere of weight loss.

Tags: exercise equipment, favorite sports, Fitness Equipment, football, home fitness equipment, home-based exercise equipment, table tennis, Tennis

There are many reasons why a person might want or need to start a program of neck exercise for strengthening the neck. If you are bodybuilding, a strong neck is important for prevention of injuries in this vital and vulnerable area. It is also important for appearance, being even more visible than the arms when fully clothed.

Neck strengthening is particularly important for sports players, especially in contact sports such as boxing, wrestling, football, etc. Neck injuries in these sports can be disastrous, causing paralysis or even death. You might also want to strengthen the neck because of a previous neck injury.

The neck is a complicated area of human anatomy and there are four main muscle groups which both support the head and allow it to move in all directions. These are:

- Rotators, so that you can turn your head and look over your shoulder

- Flexors, so that you can look down, moving your chin toward your chest

- Extensors, so that you can tip your head back, looking up at the ceiling

- Lateral Flexors, so that you can tilt your head sideways, moving your ear toward your shoulder

The action of all of these together means that you can move your head around in any direction that you want. They all need to be flexible to maintain your range of movement, and strong to help prevent potentially fatal injuries.

Before trying any neck exercise keep in mind that the neck is a very delicate area and you must take care not to strain it. Start with very low resistance in each case. You should always consult with a doctor before starting any exercise program and check that the exercises are suitable for you.

Rotators can easily be strengthened by simply placing the hand against the head to provide resistance while you turn your head to the limit of your range of motion, first to one side then the other. Keep the head straight. Slowly increase resistance when your head is turned as far as it can.

The easiest way to strengthen the other 3 muscle groups together is to use a 4-way neck machine which you can find at many gyms. Other gyms have a simple headstrap device which is not so effective because the headstrap generally only works the extensor muscles.

If your gym does not have a 4-way neck machine you can use the headstrap for the extensors. Most gyms will have a headstrap or you can purchase one. You can also find exercises for the flexors and lateral flexors using the headstrap or a towel etc to provide resistance.

The secret in each case is to find an exercise that provides resistance while you move your head in the appropriate direction. Remember always to start with low resistance when you begin any neck exercise.

Tags: Boxing, contact sports, fatal injuries, football, head, headstrap device, neck injuries, paralysis, sports players, wrestling

Stretching is a great way of stopping or at least doing a large part in the prevention of sports injuries. The simple act of stretching will give you more benefits than simply cutting your risk or injury it will also help you to gain muscle, agility and coordination. I have stressed in the past that stretching is very useful but here is an article that I found that gives you even more reason to stretch everyday.

Overcoming & Preventing Sports Injury

If you’re involved in the health & fitness industry, whether it be participating in your favourite sport, coaching, training or just keeping fit, you’ll know how annoying and debilitating a sports injury can be. In reality, when you have a sports injury you’re actually losing on two fronts. Firstly, you’re losing simply because your body has been hurt and now needs time and care to repair itself. And on top of this, you’re also losing the time you could have been putting into training and improving your sporting ability. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Author, average sports, contact sports, energy, football, protective equipment, rigors, sports injuries, sports injury, Sports Medicine, sports people, waste products

If you take a closer look at your obese neighbors, that is, if you have watched them grow from children into teenagers and finally adults, you would find that many of them didn’t become obese adults overnight. Most probably they were eating junk and processed foods since their childhood.

Those habits followed them when they grew into the puberty stage. Today, as adults, they would probably like to kick off their bad habits and lose weight, but since they have never followed healthy eating habits as children, they now find it difficult to adopt them.

As you can understand, if we can put a rein on childhood obesity and teenage obesity, much of the present day’s obesity problem could be solved. A lot of it depends on parents. They should the ones teaching their kids the benefits of healthy eating and healthy living.

They should be the ones to teach their kids how harmful it would be for their health if they become fat. I have actually found that when it comes to kids or teenagers, the fear of social disgrace usually influences them much more than the fear of diseases.

You see, it is no secret that:

a) Kids are very sensitive by nature and don’t take offences kindly

b) Almost in all societies, fat kids are abused and taunted at by their peers

Therefore, inculcate the fear of imminent social disgrace in your kids, and see if they don’t follow healthy eating habits. This is a psychological trick which almost always works for teens, and to some extent, over-sensitive kids too; however, it won’t probably work for adults.

The genetic factor is there to consider as well. If a teen’s parents are obese, he would have to fight harder than usual to keep himself from getting overweight. Studies point out that a teenager can, if he wants to, keep himself healthy and fit even if his parents are not healthy. However, if a teen doesn’t follow a healthy lifestyle during his adolescence, he would find it difficult to keep the weight away in his adulthood.

While working out in the gym is an obvious option, teenagers shouldn’t be doing workouts which are too strenuous, as they can injure themselves badly. From my experience, I can recommend two good activities that would help your teenage child keep obesity away without harming him in any way:

1) Outdoor sports: Right after finishing their academic activities, teens should engage themselves in some form of outdoor sports. Afternoon is usually the best time for playing sports such as cricket, football, basketball, tennis, etc. Make sure that you do not force your kid to play any particular sport. Almost all kids are interested in one of these sports, and since all of them are good for weight loss, it doesn’t matter which sport he picks up for himself.

2) Swimming and dancing: Many kids take interest in these activities. They are good choices since they keep your kids healthy, both physically and mentally. Yoga is yet another good choice.

Tags: basketball, cricket, football, obesity, outdoor sports, Swimming, Tennis

Biggest Loser Couples starts next week on NBC just a couple of weeks after the fourth season of hte Biggest Loser ended. I was up early this morning and finally got a chance to look at some ofthe articles and pages from the Biggest Loser site to see what this will be all about.

Biggest Loser Couple format

First of all it looks like the show will be a bit shorter then a regular season of the Biggest Loser, there are only 10 teams instead of what we would expect 18 or so. I have not looked at any kind of scheduling except for the first episode being right on New Years day for two hours. There will be no show competition I would expect that day and everyone with a weight loss New Years resolution would be a prime candidate to watch the two hour premiere. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: allison sweeney, Biggest Loser, Bill, bob harper, football, jillian michaels, Jim, kim lyons, NBC, new years resolution, prime candidate, Weight Loss

Everyone wants better abs and here is a bunch of great info on getting better abs now. I have just got this interview that Tom Venuto of Burn the fat feed the muscle fame, did with David Grisaffi. David Grisaffi has just created a kick ass workout system called flatten your abs that is designed to give you much better abs and I thought I would share this with you now to learn more about ab training.

The Abdominal Training Secrets Interview
With Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.BurnTheFat.com
And David Grisaffi, CHEK, CFT, PN
www.FlattenYourAbs.net

TV: Hi David, thanks for taking the time for this interview because I know how busy you are and that, among other projects, you run a training studio in Tacoma, you’re a wrestling coach and you keep a full client load. I’ve known you for a couple years now through the Internet and the emails we’ve sent to each other and you’re very well known within the fitness industry – especially in the sports training field. But on the off chance that some of the people listening to this interview don’t know who you are, would you give us a quick introduction and tell us little bit about your background, how you got started in this field and how you spend your time now?

DG: Well I was always a sports enthusiast my entire life. I can remember I was the only 9-year-old watching Monday night football and taking stats. I did all the usual sports – football, soccer, wrestling, swimming, baseball and tennis. Never did much with basketball. Being a genetically “blessed” Italian, I didn’t think the height requirement was going to be on my side. I excelled at wrestling. That sport alone taught me about nutrition, supplements, work ethic etc. I really have to thank wrestling for getting me into this field. I now coach high school wrestling, baseball and youth football. I keep really busy with my 3 children, Addision (13) Garrison (10) and my little man Carson (7). I taught school for a couple of years and then decided to go into personal training.

TV: You have quite a few certifications, one of them is certified personal trainer, one is certified golf trainer  or golf biomechanic to be exact – but what is a Corrective High Performance Exercise Kinesiologist?

DG: That’s an intense certification program where you learn from one of the foremost experts in the conditioning field, Paul Chek, who personally developed and cultivated the program. The certification revolves around the dynamics of kinesiology, physiology, functional anatomy and mind  body – spirit relationships. The program has four levels and I’m currently a level II, where we learn physical assessment, posture analysis, gait analysis, primal movement patterns, length-tension testing and range of motion testing. My Golf biomechanic certification is also from the CHEK institute. This is where we learn how the relationship between muscles and muscle groups affect the golf swing and how to improve it. In the winter of 2002 I also became one of the first Nutrition and Lifestyle Coaches from the CHEK institute. This program was developed to help practitioners deal with nutritional and lifestyle needs of their clients. The certification teaches how symptoms of disease and stress can be prevented through diet, exercise and stress management. I’m currently a level II Nutrition and lifestyle coach.I can’t say enough about how Paul has helped me become a better trainer and person. There is more to this than just exercise.

TV: And I understand that there’s only a small handful of people who have those credentials, is that right?

DG: Yes, I think, at last count about 1000 have received a CHEK certification but there are only about 35 in the world with all three certifications including the level two’s. So it all costs time, energy and brain work Tom, but for someone who wants something different and out of the box thinking, it’s great. Not to take away from any other certification programs; heck, I love the ISSA, Ian King, Charles Poliquin and many others

TV: That’s impressive, congratulations. So if I understand your philosophy correctly, the big difference between you and other trainers and especially trainers who only do bodybuilding and nothing else, is that you help your clients not only look good, but also with functionality, performance and correcting existing injuries or potential problem areas or imbalances that could lead to injuries in the future. Did I miss anything or would you say that’s a pretty good description?

DG: That’s right you have to evaluate your client thoroughly for strengths and weaknesses to get the best results. Sometimes without a good evaluation you can miss something that could help prevent or fix an injury or cause someone not to excel.

TV:I think it’s really important what you’re teaching people because as a bodybuilder myself, when I first started many years ago, the ONLY thing I cared about was looking good and having muscles and abs and low body fat, but true fitness is a lot more than just looking good. For one thing it’s health above all else. In addition to that, if you don’t have strong, flexible and balanced development, then sooner or later, you’re going to get injured or you’re going to find that you can’t enjoy the sports or recreation activities you want to, and ultimately you might even find yourself restricted from normal daily activities like squatting, bending and lifting things around the house, which is exactly what happens to most people when then get older. But still, the fact is, everyone wants to look good, they want the six pack; they want muscle definition. So how do you balance the form aspect  the looking good part  with the function aspect  which is the strength, flexibility, balance and performance part?

DG: I believe we develop from the inside out. If you have good insides, you will have a good outside. What I mean is that diet, nutrition and water intake have a great deal to do with how good you look on the outside. So to look good – the form part – I start with overseeing my client’s dietary intake. I don’t go as far as telling them exactly what to eat, but I give a lot of suggestions. As for the function, I always think of the body as a whole, not as parts. Yes, if you’re a bodybuilder and that is your gig, then heck yes, think in parts. This really depends on the client and their goals, but you always need proper flexibility, strength and balance in the whole body as a unit.

TV: You train regular people and you also train professional athletes, especially boxers and golfers. Is there a big difference in how athletes and regular people should train?

DG: Each of them has distinct differences. So to plop down a canned program for everyone would lead to failure and would reflect poorly on me. I take each client one at a time. In my Flatten Your Abs e-book, I provide many different levels so each individual can pick the level that fits them best when they start out. Everyone is not equal. The boxers in general, are more athletic, so one big difference is that I change their program more often to keep them fresh. Let’s say I have 6 weeks before a tough fight, I may change the workout 3 – 4 times. Their nervous systems are highly adaptable and need the change. Someone who just wants to start a basic weight-training program could stay on the same program for the entire 6 weeks and get results. This is because their nervous systems are not as highly developed.

Read the rest of this interview on my next Ab workout interview post!

Click here to visit David Grisaffi.s Flatten Your Abs Website to see what this great program has to offer you this year.

Tags: Addision, baseball, basketball, Carson, Charles Poliquin, coach, David Grisaffi, David Grisaffi.s Flatten, e-book, energy, existing injuries, football, Golf, Ian King, King, nervous systems, Paul Chek, personal trainer, soccer, sports enthusiast, sports training field, Swimming, Tennis, tom venuto, usual sports, wrestling, wrestling coach, www.burnthefat.com, www.flattenyourabs.net

I have two kids and my wife and I love our kids but they can wreak havoc on a workout schedule.

Men who hit the couch instead of the gym lose about seven pounds of muscle a decade. In other words, if you don’t stay active you may soon look like that guy at work who hasn’t seen his toes in 20 years.But with work and raising a family, finding time to log those miles and rack up those reps can seem impossible. Here are some tips on how you can fit an excellent workout into your hectic lifestyle:

Remember: Less Is More…. Or At Least Enough.
It used to be that you’d have to spend hours a week at the gym to get a buff bod. The good news is studies show you can get nearly the same results with a third of the work.

“If you’re training to increase your health and to optimize your fitness, you certainly can have a very focused workout that makes the most of your time,” said Richard Cotton, chief exercise physiologist with First Fitness Inc. in Salt Lake City.

So say goodbye to those multiple sets of arduous pumping, and instead choose just ten exercises, and do one set of ten reps each. Devote a full minute to each set, concentrating on the major muscle groups, and in ten minutes you’re pumped.

Gain With Less Pain.
Not only can you reduce your number of sets, you can cut your weekly workouts from three to two, said Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., fitness research director at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Mass. Men who workout twice a week using the above regimen get 85 percent of the benefit as men who hit the iron three times weekly, shedding fat and packing on the muscle as they do it, he said.
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Tags: Avon, chief exercise physiologist, coach, David Goodwin, director at the South Shore YMCA, First Fitness Inc., fitness research director, football, Glenn Gaesser, home fitness equipment, Less Is More, Massachusetts, owner, pain, Phoenix Academy, professor of exercise physiology, Quincy, Richard Cotton, Salt Lake City, stair climber, University of Virginia, USD, Virginia, Wayne Westcott, www.trazer.com