High intensity exercise is believed to improve congnitive function

A study  presented to the Canadian Cardiovascular congress has discovered that high intensity training on a regular basis can improve cognitive function. The discovery found that improved blood flow to the brain through exercise improves the function of the brain, this can include improved memory and sharpness. This links into a previous post i did focusing on energy drinks to overcome tiredness, instead of consuming an energy drink, do some brisk exercise to get blood flowing to the brain. Hopefully this discovery can help open more research into  how a physically active lifestyle can improve our over all health, as appose exercise being one of its more well known uses of being a vanity thing to look like a celebrity or to get in shape for you next vacation.  

Bare foot running with Vibrams

The Vibrams I purchased

Bare foot running with Vibrams. So, after some persuasion from my friends and co workers I have invested into some Vibrams (Pictured left). When I first plucked them out of the box they look like the most uncomfortable pair of footwear I have ever looked at. However when I managed to slip my feet and toes into the individual toe compartments I was pleasantly surprised. My first few steps outside were interesting feeling the small contours in the tarmac and the firmness of the floor was strange to begin with. After a few steps my feet adapted to the change and it felt like my feet for the first time in their 27 year history, were actually being worked and it felt good. Also the design of vibrams allow the shoe to snug the foot giving them a comfy feeling that you don't get with ordinary trainers.


The Bare foot runner

Diagram of how bare foot running benefits the foot.

So now what is the fuss about Vibrams and what do they offer that you don't get with regular running trainers. Their main and most obvious difference is the sole of the shoe, unlike normal running trainers the sole is completely flat with no padding, just  the rubber part of the sole. To some people, including myself at first, the idea of no padding in the sole sounds uncomfortable and some what dangerous. The makers of Vibram believe that the padding in trainers is what causes the feet to get injured as the feet become weak from constant protection from the padding, along with the unnatural heavy landing heel strike that we do whilst running with padded soles. The lack of padding allow runners to land softer on the heel and roll through to the ball of the foot, allowing your toes to do the thing there are designed to do and push your foot off the floor. The separate toe compartments of the Vibram also helps with the toes being involved in the push forward phase of the run.

Things to watch out for.

The bads news is that you do have to go back to the start when running or even walking for that matter. As your feet are not use to the force of the floor from the lack of padding the foot needs time to adapt in strength. For the first two days I have been just walking with the Vibrams and then gave myself a day with out them and now I plan to do a run alternating with a five minute walk. The best approach as like with any training is to listen to your body, if you begin to get pains then lay off the running and allow time for the feet to get use to the change. So far I am really feeling the benefits, my feet already feel stronger and more stable. Will keep you updated on how I get on in the future with  the new change in foot wear.

Lose weight by eating soup

Bowl of Carrot and Coriander soup

Lose weight by eating soup

Lose 50% more weight by eating  soup

By consuming two bowls of soup with a calorie controlled diet  (300 grams; 10.5 fl. oz. per serving) will cause you to lose 50% more weight than eating just one bowl, or consuming small amounts of high energy snacks such as potato chips. This is according to a research carried out at the Department of Nutritional Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, USA. The reason behind this is that foods like soups provide high density and  low calories per serving, which decreases calorie intake and increases satiety (decrease hunger or filling).

How about Pumpkin soup for Halloween.

All subjects were instructed to follow a calorie restricted weight loss program. Subject's were assigned to one of four groups, (1) a dry snack diet with restricted calories, (2)  one soup a day and restricted calories, (3) two soup meals a day and restricted calories or (4) could choose their foods but still had to stick to the restricted calories set out by the nutritionist. The main finding of the trial demonstrated that consuming two servings of soup daily led to greater weight loss than consuming the same amount of energy as two servings of a dry snack food daily; after 1 year, weight loss in the two-soup group was 50% greater than that in the snacks group (7.2 vs. 4.8 kg). Substituting a type of food that was low in energy density for one that was high in energy density increased the magnitude of the weight loss.


Healty explorer doesnote that calorie control is the key to any weight loss program, however believes the soup diet is a great way to off set hunger as it is high in fibre, which takes longer to digest and releasing energy slowly into the body. This finding is something i am going to try out so i will be adding some recipes and how affective they are.

Let me know what soups you have tried and how you rate them on flavour and health.

Two bowls of soup a day study

Motivational Monday

Hi everyone, hope you all had a great weekend and now it is Monday we have another week of work and exercise to endure and good motivation will help us through that. Motivation can be triggered by almost anyone or anything, and it does not just have to relate to exercise. Motivation provides us with elevation to continue to grow, or to help us overcome day to day problems. One of my personal favourite is movies, and its one particular scene in a movie called "Any Given Sunday" staring Al Pacino and Jamie Fox. Check out the four minute you tube video below. The film is about American football and how the team is struggling. Some may think it sounds a little cheesy but it gives a great account of the struggle of the politics, commercial and fame sides of the game. Being English myself i don't understand American football at all but still enjoyed the movie and would consider it on of my favourites.

What is so great about this is the build up, they are all in a bad place and sometimes this is what bring the best out in us, makes us take ownership to seek a better future. Over all this is a great movie to watch if you feel training is going down hill or you need that extra spur to get you to where you want to go.

Motivation is such vast thing and can be found from a variety of sources, and the only thing is certain that motivation is very strong factor behind success.


Where do you get your your motivation from?, leave comments below. And will see you next week for more ideas for motivation

Do sports drinks make you fitter or fatter

When we feel like we are lacking energy, how many of us turn to a sports/energy drink for the cure, I know I am one of them and I am sure there are many more. In a recent review in the British Medical Journal which has been exploring the truths about energy drinks, an interesting topic in this journal is the link between obesity and sports drink, especially amongst children. It is well known that sports drinks are either aimed at one or two things, one is to give us extra energy, or give supposedly better hydration than water to get us to exercise for longer.  
One of these energy drinks typically contain 30 Grams of carbohydrates so it is not a surprise that they do promote obesity. If you are trying to lose weight I would say run a country mile away from sports drinks and not be fooled by there clever advertising, as they are only going to make your already difficult challenge harder. Consuming a sports drink you are adding an extra 120 Kilo Calories to your calorie intake and this will mean you have to spend roughly 15 minutes longer on the treadmill to burn it off. If you drink sports drinks and don't exercise your are in bigger trouble, in one month you could potentially gain around 1 pound in weight (0.5 kg)  as one drink a day will add more than 3000 Kilo calories to your monthly calorie intake.

Healthy Explorer tips on how to aviod energy drinks.....

Exercise

The most bizzare one is to actually start exercising, yes you heard that right lack of energy is a sympton of fatigue and fatigue can be caused by lack of movement. The reason for this is that if you have been sat down or standing for a long time the Heart struggles to pump blood to the brain by itself causing tiredeness. When you start moving the muscles in your body improves circulation and blood flow to the brain.

Hydration

 Dehyradtion can cause fatigue so have a small drink of water, cooler water is a good recomendation as the cold will shock the body causing you to be more alert as appose to a warmer drink that may cause you to feel more tired. Also you can make your own isotonic drink. A simple recipe is to get a 500 ml glass half fill with water half fill with oranje juice then mix in a quater of a tea spoon of salt. The salt acts as elecotolyte that will help with hydration.

Hope this will help you to beome a more energetic, slimmer and hydrated person.

World health and fitness- Meal replacements used to maintain weight loss

Meal Replacements help with maintaining weight loss.

A study carried out by scientists from the University of Ulm, Germany and UCLA Los Angeles California, USA has discovered that by consuming one meal replacement product a day promotes weight loss maintenance.  The four year study of weight loss believes the success of meal replacements is that it makes people follow a more structured diet and following structure helps with behavioural change. The journal goes onto say that this strategy can have beneficial health factors as well, the average weight loss of 3.4 kg of the participants showed improved fasting glucose and insulin levels which are used as biomarkers to determine diabetes.

Even subjects that dropped out from the study during the four year period, showed no significant increase in weight gain. It is believed that the reason for this is that meal replacements offer a convenient and cost effective choice as appose to high calorie meals that take time may also influence an individual’s eating pattern.

Source

Metabolic and Weight Loss Effects of Long-Term Dietary Intervention in Obese Patients: Four-Year Results

1. Marion Flechtner-Mors¹,
2. Herwig H. Ditschuneit MD^1,*,
3. Timothy D. Johnson²,
4. Mark A. Suchard^2,3,
5. Guido Adler¹

Article first published online: 6 SEP 2012

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1038/oby.2000.48/full

Is body combat better than Boxercise

Is body combat better than boxercise

After being a diehard Boxercise and or boxing training type of person I would refuse to go anywhere near a Less Mills Body Combat class, however today I thought I would be a  more open minded person on this subject and get myself along to the body combat class.

The first thing that I loved about this class was how pure it is, in fact it is as pure as running or dancing as its just you moving your body with non contact kicking and punching, crouching, lunging, jumping mixed in with some upper body spider press ups. The difficult part of this class is getting your head around the choreography but I was assured by Sue the instructor that after a few classes you will pick it up and after talking to some of the more regular class goers they were very much of the agreement. Another light hearted tip was that just imagine the person in front is someone you really hate and you want to hit, aim for their head (not literally punch them) to get full range of motion on kicks and punches. Like any martial art or combat class it’s a great stress relief good fun and you feel like you have worked hard. One thing with this class like a lot of Less Mills classes, the class structure will always remain the same and the music will change every quarter year (3 months). One thing i would recommend is that get your self a decent pair of tennis trainers, the reason being there is a lot of agility involved and changing direction and jumping, tennis trainers as appose to running shoes will protect your ankle from twists or strains.

Example of Plyometric Training

Lets take a look at the benefits of this class, first thing I noticed was the heavy breathing indicating this a great cardiovascular conditioning. This exertion on the cardiovascular system is subject to the plyometric exercises. Plyometric is shortening and lengthening the muscle contractions quickly and reversely, so for example the landing phase of the jump. Any form of plyometric exercise is great for improving running and sporting performance. The resistance strain of the lunging crouching and squatting is a great work for the legs, working on the muscle tone, also it’s a good thing to remember that any resistance will increase your metabolic rate for 48 hours.

Any form of combat, martial art or self defence class is a great all over body work out improving your range of movement and it’s a great confidence booster knowing that you can complete the moves. The pondering question that do you like the contact or non contact, some people don’t feel comfortable hitting an object like a punch bag or Mitt and other people love it. This class is a great alternative if you want to get the benefits of combat exercises without actually hitting anything or anyone.

Exercise to Take Your Breath Away- Exmoor

After a hectic few weeks a much needed getaway  to North Devon was much overdue, of late I have been complaining to myself and others about the rat race of England and that I would love to move away to warmer climates. However this weekend gave me something to think about my opinions on beloved England, strolling or rather hiking at times through the vast country side of Exmoor, along the Lynmouth to Porlock coast line of North Devon, I was not sure what took my breath a away the most, the long hilly walk or the fanatstic views that  I did not think existed in this country, were only less than a 2 hour drive from where I live.

A View of Lynmouth from the Beach

North Devon Coast Line, a view from Countisbury Hill.

We Started out at Lynmouth, before hand i invested in a pair of Wellington boots as i know from my childhood living on a farm that they are cheap, durable and great for walking across muddy terrain. Then the hike to Porlock Began, after the the first hill walk I was rewarded with a breath taking scene of the coast of North Devon. (Picture below)

Porlock Weir

In my profession I come across the question of "whats the best type of exercise?" I simply reply "the type you enjoy, and the exercise you enjoy will simply feel like you are not exercising at all as it is so exhilarating", this for me was undoubtedly one of those occasions . Hiking/hill walking is the type of exercise that almost anyone can do, costs little money and great stress relief. This type of exercise can be shared with many or enjoyed alone.



After around 6 miles hiking we ended up at Porlock weir, which is a small fishing harbor with some quaint cafes and restaurants.As much as we would have loved to have walked back as well, we decided to catch the bus back to the hotel as we had plans for more hiking the next day. This work out was a great cardiovascular workout along with targeting the thigh and bum, walking these hills will soon get you in shape because you have the advantage of slight altitude training when you reach the peaks of Exmoor.

Waters Meet

The next day we decided to do one more smaller but steeper hike before the weekend came to an end. There are some breath taking view and walks here where the East Lyn valley and Hoar Oak Valleys meet. The river offers many over activities such as Kayaking and if you like to do a more relaxing activity why not try a spot of Salmon or Trout fishing. What this weekend has shown me there is a different side to exercise than attending classes and hitting the gym. Sometimes we just need to open our eyes take a few steps away from the norm and experience something new. This weekend will inspire me to continue to search for ways of improving our lifestyles, fun ways, relaxing ways and much more. This has shown that healthy living is not all about strict diets and heavy exercise but rather we must look at our lifestyles in a more holistic manor to achieve good health, happiness and fulfillment.

A few more photos of Watersmeet and Lynmouth to inspire you to hike

Sporting my new Wellington boots

Picture of the two rivers joining

Riverside walk  and view of the National Trust cafe/shop

A view from the top of the valley on the way back (legs were very tired by then)

A few of Lynmouth from Countsibury hill

Cliff railway from Lynmouth to Lynton, been running since 1809 (not one for people scared of heights)

Body Pump and the benefits of weight training.

Body Pump and the benefits of Weight training.

An interesting fact about body pump is that it is the most attended class worldwide, and there are many reason to why this class has taken the world by storm. When planning this post I thought it would be appropriate describe the benefits of body pump with weight or resistance training, to help you achieve extra results by not wasting more time on the treadmill or struggling on with a strict diet.

 Body pump, an all over body work out, using a barbell and  your body weight as resistance to focus on 6 areas, (1)leg squats, (2)chest, back/gluteals/hamstrings, (3)triceps and biceps,(4) legs/lunges, (5)shoulders/arms and (6) abdominal s. The first thing I noticed was the firmness in my muscles along with tiredness like I have done a lot of work.

 This firmness in the muscles is the “pump affect”, there are two possibly know affects for this. One is increased blood flow to supply energy for the work out and recovery.  Secondly is that there is a swelling (inflammation) in the muscles which is caused by the breakdown of tiny muscle fibers by the resistance training.  A benefit that comes with resistance training is an increased metabolic rate 48hours, as the body gets to work, repairing the muscle fibers. This makes the muscles stronger, more defined and more importantly your body will require around 800kcals of energy to complete the muscle repairing process. This increased metabolic rate is why some people can get away with eating more or doing less aerobic training such as running. This 48 hour increase is not seen with aerobic training due to the lack of muscle fiber damage.

This class can be as easy or hard as you wish and the instructors are great believers in getting participants to increase their resistance load as they get used to the weight to really gain the benefits of this class. Doing weights with an instructor in class like body pump or with a personal trainer is a great way to make sure your training is safe, beneficial and motivational.

Can You Really Be Fat and Fit ?

Can You Really Be Fat and Fit  ?

Does the media affect our attitudes to Healthy Living.

In the media there have been articles referring to a study claiming that obese people can be as fit as someone who is classified as normal weight. Some of these headlines have included People can be fat yet fit, research suggests. BBC News, September 5 2012,Never mind the fat. It's being fit that matters. The Independent, September 5 2012,People can be fat and fit as study finds obesity doesn't automatically lead to ill-health. Daily Mail, September 5 2012

 This is nothing new, me like everyone else have seen people who are obese who are fit and healthy. There are prime examples of these running up and down rugby pitches of the United Kingdom, The Sumo Wrestling rings of Japan and slugging it out for twelve rounds in the bright lights of La Vegas.

Really the headline should be boasting “ Fit people can be obese” as it is the “being fit” is what makes an individual “metabolically healthy” (Metabollically healthy is term used to define a person who 1 or less risk factor that classes someone metabolically abnormal) and not the the body weight making people healthy. The intriguing thing about the headlines is how they all start with “Fat” as the main subject, which is already misleading by placing “Fat” as the important subject. This already gives the reader comfort through subliminal messaging that being obese/overweight is ok. It seems that the media is focussing on trying to get society accept this new way of life, as appose to trying to encourage people to focus on the benefits of exercise and healthy living.

The best approach sometimes is to be on the fence about health related issues, I have seen people die an early age from chronic illnesses even though they lived a healthy lifestyle, and I have seen the opposite side of someone neglecting their health living to a grand age.  The point is that we need to accept that exercise and healthy living will not guarantee life nor will unhealthy living will guarantee a premature death. We should focus on what healthy living can bring to use now and the benefits are vast, you just need to experience them.

Links

If you want to read a good analysis on the article done by the National Health Service, check this link out. http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/09September/Pages/Can-you-really-be-both-fat-and-fit.aspx

RPM or Spinning , which is better?

RPM                                                                                        Spinning

 

Versus

What is the difference between RPM and Spinning.

Both classes are high intensity endurance classes on a static bike aiming to increase cardiovascular fitness along with leg strength and power. The main and arguably the only difference is that RPM is set music, done by the Les Mills brand of fitness classes, like all of Les Mills’s classes the music and class structure will be the same where ever you do the class. Spinning will be different as the structure and the music is chosen by the instructor. Both classes are likely to cover the interval, hill climb (seated and standing) and sprinting elements of normal cycling.

RPM is a 50 minute indoor cycling work out to the rhythm of powerful music, taking on a terrain of hill climbs, flats, mountain peaks over the equivalent of a 25km ride. The class is structured to a warm up, pace (speed and intensity increased to your personal pace), hill climbs, mixed terrain, intervals, free spin (quick pace low resistance), mountain climb, ride home (recovery) and finally stretching. RPM offers continuity in your training, if you like doing the same thing week in week out then RPM is a good class, and the only thing that will change is the music every quarterly year (3 months). The down side to RPM is that  your body may become use to this type of training other time, like with any exercise program if you keep doing the same thing the body no longer can make adaptations to the training. An easy way to overcome this would be to include a new type of training alongside RPM.

Spinning also known as anything but RPM, will be a completely different structure to RPM in terms of training type and music. Most classes will instruct you in their class time table what the class will involves, so it is advisable you get hold of this before going into the class.  Classes can range from beginner to advance, or set as a sprint class, hill climb, interval, and all terrain. This class can give the instructor the chance to be creative with their class an.  The lack of continuity is a good thing as the class should be challenging every time you go as a good instructor will make sure the class is challenging and different each time you come.  Sometime instructors can go a little over the top, brining triceps and press up workouts onto the bike whilst cycling and a lot of repetitive standing up and sitting down whilst cycling. All thought this may make the class more challenging, serious questions must be asked to whether this has any relevance to cycling as if you attempted to do that on a normal bike ride you would either be in the circus or in hospital.

Both classes will bring the same benefits as normal cycling the thighs and the bum will get a good work out, along with your core muscles. The cardiovascular workout is arguably second to none.  The biggest question is that it does not replace the beauty of heading out on your road or mountain bike and taking in the terrain yourself. However it is a great replacement for when you have a puncture or the wonderful British weather puts a holt on that desired bike ride you had planned.

Does Age and Gender make a difference to your fitness levels

Does Age and Gender Make a Difference to your fitness levels

Healthy Explorer.... Further to metabolic rate I am now going to review what factors may affect the results we achieve from participating in physical activity. I have heard from many that age maybe an issue, their gender and their struggle to exercise. These are all valid points but with a little understanding and knowledge they can all easily be overcome.

Gender....... Yes it is a proven fact that that women will naturally have lower fitness levels than men, this is due to naturally having a slightly higher body fat composition, lower Haemoglobin content (Red Blood cells carrying oxygen) and smaller size heart. This disadvantage can be reduced through training but there will always remain a  difference.

Age....... Older age has been associated with a 25% decrease in muscle capillarization and mitochondrial enzyme activity, meaning that every 10 years you age, the body’s ability to generate energy for exercise decreases by around 5% from the age of thirty. Also it does take the body longer to recover from exercise. Additional sources of inefficiency with age may include changes in cardiac function, skeletal muscle blood flow from a decrease in both capillary density and capillary-to-fibre ratio with age.

The Training effect........ Any age or gender is able to improve their cardiovascular function through training to some extent. Interestingly after around six months of regular exercise the body can reverse the effect of time.  For example studies have shown that exercise efficiency can be as good in an elderly person (67-77year olds) as younger people (20-30 year olds). This improved efficiency from training has also allowed improvements in their recovery rate. Also elderly people have been able to increase their muscle Oxidative capacity by 128%(Oxygen consumption correlates with muscles producing energy for movement)  and younger sedentary adults only increasing by 28%. This could suggest that it’s not the aging causing the decrease in aerobic but rather leading an inactive life could cause the decline aerobic capacity and metabolism in people.

One Last Thing.......  From exercise and metabolism we are aware that gender does make a difference, as for age we can be sure that our ability to exercise will decrease the slowing down of metabolism. But we must also remember that the body does not last forever, we just have to do our best to look after it.

A good article to read. http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1137355

Kettlebell Training "From Russia with Love"

KettleBell training is possibly the best exercise out there to get a combination of both cardiovascular and resistance training combined into one. The session involves swinging the kettle bell in a variety of ways. The swing is generated by getting your hips to “snap forward” to generate swing on the Kettle Bell, which engages the use of the thigh muscle, buttocks and core muscles. The session can be done as a group or an individual session, individual sessions are recommended to gain good form and technique. The exercise originated from Russia use as an exercise to train there soldiers, helping them reach to their peak physical condition,

What do the Members Say.....  Joe Kipling “All over workout, really good back strength, haven’t had back pain at work (nursing) since doing Kettle Bells”.  Liam Jones “ Overall good workout, high tempo in short space of time” Tanvir Bush “ Feel fully worked out! Excellent, relaxed atmosphere, tough workout”.

What does the instructor say......... Toby said that this class is great workout if you only want to work out for 30-45 minutes as its high intensity and you use almost every muscle in your body.

The science behind Kettle Bells.......... With the intense repetitive movement of swinging a metal ball, this will activate the use of high intensity aerobic pathways, allowing the body to use up its sugar stores. This will help with stabilising blood sugar levels as it improves the take of sugar from blood to muscles as the body realises that it needs the extra sugar to carry out these movements. The recovery from this high level of exercise will elevate your metabolic rate for about 48 hours, due to the repairing of muscle tissue. An interesting fact pointed out by a class participant saying that they no longer get back aches since doing Kettle Bell, this is could be down to the lower back muscles being more mobile from the swings and/or the core muscle (muscles below the abdomen muscles) being more active and supporting the spine more.

One Last Thing...... A Kettle bell is a great bit of kit as it can be used anywhere with room to swing it. It is recommended you get tuition on how to swing it correctly to get the most out of this exercise and to avoid injury.  As Toby the instructor pointed out, this exercise is great for a quick all over body workout. Its important to get the right size kettlebell too if you want to train at home on your own.