Jul
30
Increasing Difficulty By Decreasing Speed
Filed Under Work Out | 2 Comments
I’m always looking for ways in which I can improve. That could mean running faster, lifting more weight or doing more reps. However, I’m sometimes limited by my own body or the equipment around me. For example, I’m love doing dumbbell presses but there’s only a certain amount of weight I can do before I start running into problems. I can press more than I currently am but I don’t because it’s hard for me to walk to the bench holding those weights and then lie down with them. So here’s a little trick I’ve been using for the past few years.
Drum Roll Please!
Rather than increase the weight or the number of reps, decrease the speed at which you’re working out.
If you’re currently doing 1 press every 3 seconds, try doing 1 press every 5 seconds. Don’t use those extra two seconds to rest. Instead, just move slower throughout the exercise. If you’re doing one push up every 2 seconds, try doing a push up every 6 seconds by using slow, controlled motion. The end result is a great workout with increased difficulty and better form.
Actually…
I think everyone should try a “slow” workout every once in a while. First of all, they’re a nice change of pace (sorry for the horrible pun) but they’re also a wonderful way of working on proper form. It’s much more difficult to have bad form when you’re doing a single exercise over 10 seconds rather than a single exercise over 2 seconds.
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You don’t need to pile on the weight to get a good workout. Sometimes, all you need is to slow down a bit.
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Jul
28
A Day At The Gym
Filed Under Editorial, Gyms | 2 Comments
I worked out at the big gym close to my house this weekend. It’s a 24 hour fitness and I think I got there at peak time because the place was packed. I used to work out at this gym a couple of years ago but I would usually get there much later when the place was less occupied. Since those times, I’ve been working out at a small gym in my office complex.
I have to admit that my first idea for this post was a little bit of a rant against the people at the gym who made my workout a less than stellar experience. You know who I’m talking about, the people who don’t put equipment back, the people who won’t let you work in and so on. However, on second thought I realized this was a bad idea. Ultimately, I got a good workout at this gym and I did enjoy my time there. So rather than being negative about my experience, how about a little thank you to all the folks there who helped me enjoy my time?
Thank You
Thank you to the gym employee at the front desk who greeted me with a smile and then looked me up in the computer when I realized I forgot my wallet in the car. I know you didn’t have to do this and you didn’t have to be so cheerful about it, but you did and that made me feel better.
Thank you to the gentleman who saw me looking for that other 45lb dumbbell. He not only told me where he saw the other one, he also went over there and got it for me. He even apologized along the way, telling me it was him who forgot it there. You know what? That’s ok, we all make mistakes and forget things, but you owned up to it and helped fix things, which really saved me a lot of time.
Thank you to the couple working out on the weight bench who saw me standing around and told me they’d be done in just one more set each. I didn’t even have to ask. They told me it would be a couple of more minutes which is fine, it let me do another set of another exercise while I waited. When I came back they were wiping down the bench and getting it ready for me. That’s great and it makes my experience much better.
Thank you to the personal trainer who agreed to spot for me even though I wasn’t his customer. His customer and I were alternating bench press sets on the same bench. Both the customer and the trainer were nice and considerate. The client was pretty new but she seemed like she was enjoying herself, which is always nice to see. I remember when I was that new.
Thank you to the pregnant woman on the elliptical machine next to me. She chatted with me for 30 minutes as we both exercised on the machines. It was a good change from listening to my iPod or watching the news while I workout and it made the time go by faster. Before I knew it I was done with my workout. I think we both kept going for a few extra minutes just to keep chatting.
It All Counts
All of these people made a difference. It may have been a small difference but it matters. It made my day better and it sure made my workout more enjoyable. Sure, I would have gotten a good workout even without them and I would have kept working out even after one bad experience, but that’s not true for everyone. There are many people who go to the gym once and then never return because of a bad experience. So please, take note of what these people do and if you’re at the gym, try to be more like them. The gym doesn’t have to belong to over muscled men and women in too much makeup and too little clothing. It can belong to us, people who want to enjoy a good workout with good company. All it takes is a little bit of friendly attitude.
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This post started out as a rant but I’m glad it didn’t end up that way. Thank you to everyone who has made a difference, at the gym and in the rest of my life.
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Jul
27
My father is visiting from Israel and, as he usually does, he brought with him a bag of Israeli chocolate. It’s a real tempting treat, the kind of candy I grew up with. Still, I’m focusing on my goals and not giving in to temptation. I will say this, it was nice to eat one candy bar last night and not feel guilty at all. I’m in great shape and the rare unhealthy treat isn’t going to change that. That’s a big difference for me from the days of eating too much and then constantly feeling guilty about it.
And now, on to some interesting articles:
You know, I think I’ve posted articles like this next one dozens of times already, and yet, people still don’t get it. Well, here’s yet another article that shows that a sensible and permanent eating plan along with some exercise is the best way to lose weight. Note that the study did cut down people’s diet to only 40% carbs. However, before you go Atkin’s crazy, please remember that 40% carbs is still a lot. These people didn’t go on an Atkin’s diet, they simply cut down the unhealthy, high sugar, processed carbs that no one should be eating.
@Red Orbit
It’s a beautiful summer day here in California, and I think I smell at least 3 or 4 barbacues going on in the neighborhood. So it’s probably a good time to share the following article from Consumer Reports. It talks about the danger from over charring your BBQ meat and then gives some good advice on how to avoid it. This is why I like Consumer Reports. They don’t try to panic people, they just provide news and then some great tips. I wish all news media was like this.
@Consumer Reports
I usually link to text articles, but here’s a YouTube video that caught my attention. It’s a beautiful way of showing the obesity epidemic in the US and some of its causes. You will need sound to fully appreciate the video and, as usual, some YouTube commentators are a bit out of line, but that shouldn’t detract from the video itself.
@YouTube/ZackingTV
Last but not least, here’s some golf news! Ok, so I’m not the biggest golf fan and I never really understood the allure of the sport, but hey, if it gets you outdoors and walking, then it can’t be that bad. Just remember, walk, not ride in the golf cart. If you’re spending your whole day driving from hole to hole then you might as well be home watching golf on TV.
@Ars Technica
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Jul
25
Vegetarian Does NOT Mean Healthy
Filed Under Eating Healthy, Nutrition | 6 Comments
As most 60 in 3 readers know, I’m a vegetarian. However, I want to make one thing clear, being vegetarian does NOT automatically make you healthy.
But All The Studies Show…
Yes, there are many studies that show people who eat a vegetarian diet are in better health. However, I would argue that this is because they are more aware of what they eat and select healthy food as opposed to the simple fact of eating no meat. Let me give you an example. I can survive for the next 30 days on a diet of nothing but twinkies and coke. Technically I would be eating a vegetarian diet. In fact, I think this would be a vegan diet although I’m not 100% sure of that. However, would it be a healthy diet? Not even close.
Can Meat Be Healthy?
The answer is absolutely. In fact, it’s not that meat CAN be healthy. Meat IS healthy. Meat contains a lot of nutrients that are difficult to find elsewhere. Not impossible, but difficult. Meat can also be a great source of healthy fat and protein.
So What The Heck Is The Problem?
The problem is that we eat too much meat and too much of the wrong kinds of meat. Industrially processed meat is NOT good for. Eating large quantities of it three times a day is even worse. Eating small portions of healthy meat like wild caught fish, free range turkey and chicken or even grass fed beef is healthy.
So Why Are Vegetarians Healthier On Average?
My theory are that people who limit themselves to a vegetarian diet are, for the most part, the kind of people who pay more attention to what they eat than the average person. They are consiously choosing to be aware of what they put into their bodies and this leads them to select healthier foods. If you have the same kind of attitude but are NOT a vegetarian, I think you’ll be just fine.
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Healthy eating is not about overly restricting yourself to one type of food or another. It’s about being aware of what you eat and making a consious decision to eat better.
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Jul
23
What’s A Calorie?
Filed Under Nutrition, Research | Leave a Comment
Sometimes, after living something for years, you forget that you once were a beginner who knew virtually nothing. That happened to me yesterday when I saw an email from a reader. The email had a very basic question in it which was “what is this thing we call a calorie?” My first thought was, “oh wow, how could anyone not know this.” Then I remembered that not too long ago, I didn’t know this myself. So my apologies to the sender of this email and my thanks to her for allowing me to post the response.
What Is A Calorie?
A calorie is a unit of measurement, like a yard, meter, gram or gallon. More specifically, it’s a unit of measurement for energy. So if yards and meters measure length and gallons measure volume, a calorie measures energy. Even more specific, a calorie is the amount of energy required to heat 1g of water by one degree celsius. By the way, that’s a very broad definition right there, since the amount of energy required to heat up water varies by air pressure, water purity and a few other factors. However, for our purposes, stating that a calorie is the amount of energy required to heat up one gram of water by one degree celsius is close enough.
Wow, I Must Be Burning Thousands Of Calories Just Standing Here!
When I first learned this I did a quick calculation in my head. Let’s see, I weight about 100 kilo grams which is about 100,000 grams. My body temperature is about 37 degrees Celsius. So if I just stand outside on a cold day I’d be burning thousands of calories an hour as my body raced to keep me warm, right? Yah, not so much. Unfortunately, in an attempt to confuse you even more, a calorie used for food is actually 1,000 of the original calories. So a food calorie is actually the amount of energy required to heat up 1 kilo gram of water by 1 degree Celsius. For your non metric folks out there, that means a food calorie is the amount of energy required to heat up 2.2lbs by about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
So now when I look at the energy requirements to keep my body warm, they don’t sound so high. They’re measured in the 100’s and not in the 1000’s. Plus my body doesn’t lose enery very quickly since I don’t typically go outdoors on a cold day wearing no clothes, which also reduces the energy requirements.
By the way, our bodies don’t use calories just to keep warm, that’s just one way in which this energy could be used. For example, moving a part of the body also uses up energy, which can be measured in calories. That’s why a lot of gym equipment can show you how many calories you’ve used up in your current workout. It’s basically figuring out how much energy you’ve spent and then translating it into this standard unit of measurement.
So How Do We Get Calories From Food?
So if the previous section explained how we used calories, then how the heck do we get calories out of food? Well, that’s a more complicated explanation involving a lot of chemistry and biology. I’m sure that some scientist out there is going to cry when he reads my amazingly simplified explanation but hey, I’m not trying to teach biology here. Essentially, the bottom of the food chain are plants, who take energy that they absorb from the sun and store it as chains of carbon molecules. As animals eat plants and we eat both plants and animals, these carbon chains are broken down to release the energy stored there by the plant. If we can’t use the energy right away, we store the energy in various forms, one of them being fat and another being various sugars. That’s why foods that contain sugars and fats are so high in calories, because we’re basically eating something else’s energy storage.
It’s Good To Know What A Calorie Is
By understand calories and what they represent, a lot of things about fitness and health make more sense. For example:
- Now it makes sense why turning the thermostat down a bit in our homes would help us burn more calories. The room temprature is lower which means our bodies have to spend more calories trying to keep us warm.
- Negative calorie foods also make sense. It’s not that these foods somehow grab calories and go hide them somewhere. Negative energy foods like celery still have some calories in them, it’s just that the energy required to chew and digest them is more than the energy we get out of them.
You can even use this knowledge to understand a few more things about your body. For example:
- Why do we sweat? Well, because your body is trying to keep cool. So it puts out moisture. The body then uses up extra heat energy to evaporate this moisture, causing your to be cooler. (and yes, that’s a very simplified explanation of perspiration).
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Fitness is part art and part science. The science part tells us the basic facts. The art part is how we apply those facts to our daily routines. The art is important, but it’s also important to educate yourself about the science underlying all this art.
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Jul
21
Are Personal Trainers Worthwhile?
Filed Under Exercise, Motivation, Work Out | 3 Comments
One of the most common questions I get on 60 in 3 is a variation on “Are personal trainers worth while?” Now, I think I’ve discussed this topic in the past, but only in passing, so it’s worthwhile to spend a bit more time on it.
What Is A Personal Trainer?
A personal trainer helps you with your work outs by telling you what to do and providing encouragement and support as you work out. A good trainer will work with you by asking about your goals and then designing a workout meant to achieve those goals.
A personal trainer will not help you with your eating. They might provide some nutriutional advice, but that’s not really their job. If you need help with eating then you should be talking to a nutritionist or dietician. By virtue of their long association with the health and fitness industry, a trainer may have some of their own ideas about what constitutes healthy eating, but they’re not really professionals in this area.
A personal trainer is also not a medical professional. They should not diagnose medical conditions nor can they tell you what to do about medical conditions. There are some personal trainers that work at hospitals helping patients recover, but even they are not usually medical professionals. If you need someone to help you with a medical problem, you should go see a doctor.
Do Personal Trainers Really Help?
That depends on what you’re looking for. A personal trainer provides you with the following:
- Work out plan
- Support and motivation
Do these things help? Well of course they do, but are they worth the money you’re going to spend on the trainer?
Workout Plan
This is worth it but only if you’re new to working out and only if the trainer is a good one. A good trainer will spend some time with you discussing your goals, your past workout experience and your likes and dislikes. Based on this, they will come up with a detailed workout plan that’s very tailored to you. A bad trainer will ignore your specific needs and see you as just another hour long appointment to get through. They will have you do some general exercises and then completely forget about you.
If you’re new and if you can find a good personal trainer then this workout plan can be incredibly worthwhile. The exercises will be ones that are specifically meant for you and for your goals. The trainer will take the time to show you how to properly do them and should explain what the goal of each exercise can do. They can also educate you about exercise in general, enabling you to modify and develop your workout on your own in the future.
For people with more experience, this workout plan isn’t really worth it. I know what I like and dislike, I try out new things all the time and I understand how exercise relates to my goals. Therefore, I don’t really need a personal trainer to design a workout plan for me. It’s nice to talk to trainers occasionally and get their opinions on various things, but it’s not worth my money to actually train with them if all I get is a workout plan.
Support and Motivation
Luckily for trainers, a detailed workout plan isn’t the only thing they offer. A less obvious but more important benefit of training with a trainer is the support and motivation you get from them. Again, this varies from trainer to trainer, but the good ones will support you through the rough times and motivate you to keep going. They’ll provide an incentive for you to go to the gym, they’ll keep you interested, entertained and focused as you workout and they’ll keep you motivated through all those times when you just want to quit and go home. That right there is a priceless benefit.
Most people aren’t unhealthy because of a lack of education. We all know that we need to eat healthier and be more active and, with a little bit of research, it’s not hard to educate yourself about what that means. So if we all know how to be healthy, why are so many of us unhealthy? Well, it’s mostly about motivation. Yes, we all know what we need to do, but it’s really hard to actually go ahead and do it. It’s hard to avoid that last piece of cake and it’s hard to motivate ourselves to go to the gym when our favorite show is on and it’s cold outside and why the heck to I need to do cardio anyway!???!
That’s the real benefit of trainers. The workout plan is a nice bonus, but a good trainer, one who can keep you motivated, is worth his or her weight in gold.
So How Do I Find A Good One?
Talk to people. Ask your family, friends and coworkers if they know a good trainer. Ask them if the trainer they worked with really paid attention to them or if trainer saw them as just another job. Ask them if the trainer kept them interested in working out and motivated them to keep exercising. Check to see if the people you’re talking to are still keeping healthy and fit since healthy long term customers are the hallmark of a good trainer. Once you find a trainer, see how they treat you during the first few sessions. Do they seem interested in what your goals are? Are they listening to you? Are they explaining what various exercises are and why they’re having you do them? Or are they just standing there with a bored expression telling you to do another set of lunges?
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If you need motivation and have a bit of money to spare, a good trainer can be a priceless asset. Just make sure you get a good one since a bad trainer can sap your will to exercise.
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Jul
20
I’m finally back home after a week in New York City. It was a combination school and work trip, which was a lot of fun but also kept me really busy. I didn’t have much time for scheduled workouts but I managed to make up for it in other ways. I walked from School back to the hotel twice, about a 4 mile walk. Both times managing to share the walk with someone else from school. It was a really great way to get to know people, see the city and get a bit of exercise. I also got in some shorter workouts and just kept active in general. It all adds up, and along with controlling my overeating, it made me feel a lot better at the end of the week.
And with that, here are some articles from this week which I thought you might find useful:
My top pick for this week was from the Virtual Medical Center. It talked about the results of a study comparing weight watchers and working out at the gym. Weight watchers, which some people say is the most effective diet system, did help weight loss, but much of the weight loss was muscle tissue and not fat. Not unexpectedly, the study concluded that a mixture of the two is the best recourse. Seems obvious to me, control your eating and exercise. Those are the two keys to maintaining a healthy body.
@Virtual Medical Center
In sadder news, here’s an article from the Chicago Tribune citing the CDC’s announcement that 1 in 4 Americans is now obese. It’s a sad statistic folks but one that we can change rather easily. Take note of the end of the article and the story of Stephanie Salas. It’s not fad diets or pills that help, it’s healthy eating exercise and changes in lifestyle.
@The Chicago Tribune
And if you needed even more reasons to eat better and exercise, here’s an article from Bloomberg citing several studies showing that people from Alzheimer’s benefit from better fitness. Regular exercise led to less brain damage in people diagnosed with the disease.
@Bloomberg
And hey, being healthy isn’t all work as this USA Today article shows. Taking time off and relaxing for a bit can be very beneficial for your health. It lowers your stress levels and lets you focus on the things that really matter. You come back feeling energized and refreshed, easily making up for the brief break from productivity.
@USA Today
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