A recent report published in the Journal of Applied Physiology reports that the health benefits of aerobic exercise are determined by our genes. They found that 20% of the people in their study improved their aerobic fitness by less than 5% and that in 30% of people it had no difference on their insulin sensitivity.
The press obviously jumped on this and ran all kinds of headlines saying Aerobic exercise is a waste of time. I thought I'd do a bit of research to find out exactly what this all means.
With any study you need to look at exactly what was studied and what was measured, in this case the aerobic exercise the participants undertook was vigorous exercise for 30 minutes five times per week. Now after the study was finished 80% of people showed a significant increase in their aerobic fitness but 20% showed an improvement of less than 5%
Two things to consider here. First of all 30 minutes of vigorous exercise is one of the least effective ways to increase your fitness. Any fitness professional will tell you that doing 30 minutes as hard as you can is a particularly ineffective way to increase your fitness. Interval training has be shown to be a far more effective training method.
The other factor is how did the scientists determine if the participants had improved their fitness? In this case they measured the VO2max of each person before and after the study. It is well known that VO2max (the maximum amount of oxygen a persons body can process)has a large genetic component. It is estimated ( depending on what study you read) that you can improve your VO2max by around 10-20%. People who are already fit will find it much harder to improve as they have already used up some of their possible 10-20% improvement. Also consider that even the 20% of people who improved by less than 5% in the study they still improved and remember that VO2max can only be improved by 10-20% anyway so a 5% improvement is not to be ignored
I was unable to find the exact details of the participants in the study but one hopes that the people used had not been exercising regular before the study started otherwise they may have already improved their VO2max making more difficult to make any further improvements.
VO2max is not the be all and end all of aerobic fitness, it is still possible to increase your fitness without an increase in your VO2max by increasing the efficiency of your body when it performs that exercise.
So from a fitness point of view if you have an exercise program that in more than 80% of participants ( the other 20% improved but less than 5%) you see an improvement in aerobic fitness then I would say that actually proves aerobic exercise is not a waste of time.
To say that 20% do not receive any health benefit's at all is extremely misleading in a time when we should be encouraged to exercise , not given reason not to.
They also found that aerobic exercise did not increase insulin sensitivity in 30% of people. This is also very misleading. What they actually mean's is that if you perform 30 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise 30% of people will not see an increase in their insulin sensitivity.
This doesn't mean that a long walk wont improve insulin sensitivity in those people or interval training wont improve it. They only tested one method of aerobic exercise.
What it does mean is that exercise professional's should give their clients a variety of different aerobic training regimes to maximise the chances of improving aerobic fitness and insulin sensitivity. What we shouldn't be doing is promoting the idea that some people wont have any benefit from aerobic exercise and should look to medication instead!
Read more!
Saturday, 6 February 2010
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Another year passes, will this year be any different?
So 2009 has finished and we set out on another year. Another year of new years resolutions that we forget about by February. Another year, which at the end of, looks very similar to the one just gone. If you had the perfect year then another year like that would be fantastic. Most of us however didn’t have a perfect year and given the chance would change a few things about it. Many of us would like to have been fitter, healthier, leaner, stronger and injury free.
The funny thing is at the start of last year thats exactly what we said we were going to do. 2009 was going to be the year we lost that weight, exercised more, stretched regularly, ate healthily and generally got ourselves to a point where we could look in the mirror and be happy with what we saw and be happy with how we felt. What happened? Why didn’t we get to that point in 2009. Actually didn’t we say that in 2008 and 2007 .... and 2006 .... !
You can see a pattern emerging can’t you.Dont let 2010 be another year that passes by to find yourself in the same condition as you were at the end of 2009.
Of course if you are fit and healthy and happy with the way your body looks and feels then congratulations. You’ve achieved something that many haven’t. You will have realised it actually wasn’t that hard once you got into the swing of it. Eating healthy and exercising regularly is something you look forward to and you find it easy to motivate yourself because you not only enjoy the benefits but you also enjoy the process.
If you are one of those people no need for you to read on. Keep up the good work and may you be an inspiration to your friends and family.
Ok so all of you still reading aren’t happy with certain aspects of your health and fitness and want to make this year the time that something actually changes, permanently, not one of those short term weight loss things where you end up putting it all back on again.
Be a Different Person
So how is this year going to be any different to last year? Well the usual approach is to tell yourself to try harder. Whilst thats admirable it is not very effective.
The secret to making big changes to your health and fitness (or any aspect of your life for that matter) is to start thinking differently. To start being a different person.
There is a saying in sport that if you want to be an elite athlete you have to think like an elite athlete and train like an elite athlete. If you want to be fit and healthy then you need to think like a fit and healthy fit person and train like a fit and healthy person.
Start thinking your way to a fitter healthier you
A fit and healthy person doesn’t think “I wish I could have that bit of chocolate cake”. They don’t make excuses why they cant get to the gym they make excuses so they can get to the gym. They don’t look at a menu and think “I really want the fish and chips but I suppose I should have the salmon” They choose the salmon because it tastes better and they feel good after they’ve eaten it instead of bloated and fat.
They place a high priority on exercise, eating healthily and getting 8 hours sleep. They aren’t afraid of saying no to people every now and then. “No I cant go out drinking on a Monday night- thats my gym night “, “No I’m sorry I cant take on that extra job as I am already very busy and if I take on anything else I’ll have to give up my exercise for this week”.
I think you get the idea. They place a very high priority eating well and exercising.
Changing the way you think is not as hard as it sounds. To start thinking like a fit and healthy person you simply have to ask yourself what a fit and healthy person would do in a particular situation? So there you are at the coffee shop and the cake selection looks very tempting, what do you do? Well ask yourself what would a fit and healthy person do in this situation? Would they pick out the best looking piece of cake and have a cappuccino with two sugars or would they skip the cake altogether, have a herbal tea and buy some nuts and seeds to snack on? Maybe they might have a skinny late and a low fat muffin every now and then but you get the idea.
The more you do this the easier it becomes until one day the thought process becomes automatic.If you want to be a new person then you have to change the way you think to that of the new person.
Make it Permanent
People who are fit and healthy see healthy eating and exercise as a permanent way of life and not a short term thing.The only way it can become a permanent way of life is if you can enjoy the process of getting fit and healthy. To many of us are so focussed on the goal we lose sight of the journey.
There’s another saying that goes something like “When you are climbing a mountain don’t forget to stop and enjoy the views on the way”. If you look at food for example, a chef enjoys the process of preparing food just as much as eating the finished product. If you talk to any elite marathoners the one thing they have in common is they all love to run. Sure it’s great to compete and win medals etc but essentially they all just love to run. How else could you motivate yourself to run over 120miles per week if you only liked racing and didn’t actually enjoy running in training.
If you hate running for example but have taken up running to lose some weight I would recommend that if after a month or two you still hate running then you should give it up and find some other way to lose weight as it is very difficult to motivate yourself to do something you hate doing for the rest of your life.
Enjoy your Exercise
Finding an exercise routine that you enjoy is the key to making permanent changes to the way you look and feel. Obviously there are some days where you are going to struggle to motivate yourself. We all have those days but if you have created a habit then it creates a momentum which is hard to resist. Even though you feel really tired you find yourself walking through the doors at the gym out of habit.
So this year teach yourself to think like someone who is already fit and healthy and find food and exercise that you enjoy and see what a difference it makes.
Read more!
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Is ageing inevitable?
As I turned 40 this year I contemplated the effect getting older would have on me. Previously I'd completely ignored age and treated my body as if it was 30. Through either luck or good training or a bit of both I've managed to get to 40 in reasonable shape. Having turned 40 I begin to wonder if every new ache or injury I have is a sign of age. I question whether my 30 year old body would feel the same. A part of me refuses to use age as an excuse for anything but the more scientific part of me is coming to terms with the fact that there are facts about ageing that can't be ignored. If I want to continue to life the full active and physical life that I currently live then I need to change the way I train to compensate for the inevitable changes that will occur I my body as I age.
Age has many affects on the body but the main ones I am concerned about are muscle mass, strength , endurance, aerobic capacity and flexibility .I know I don't look like Brad Pitt so a few wrinkles aren't going to affect me and I have hardly a hair on my head so it doesn't matter what colour it is or if any more falls out – although I did make one concession to age and shave of a goatee which was going grey, I might have turned 40 but there's no need to advertise the fact! Anyway enough about me and back to getting old.
I'd like to give you a few tips on how to ensure the so called inevitable effects of ageing can be reduced.
For those of you who like your articles short and sweet here's the article in a nutshell.
As we age, we lose strength, flexibility, muscle mass and aerobic capacity . The good news is that no matter what the age we can still improve on all of those. The other good news is that most of us are nowhere near our physical potential so there is a good chance you can be fitter, stronger and more flexible at 50 than you where at 25 . This will however require some hard work!
Ok those of you who prefer the longer edition read on.
Muscle Mass and Strength
As we age our muscle mass decreases by 0.5% per year. This is not set in stone. Muscle requires energy to keep alive so if it is not used the body breaks it down to reduce the body's energy costs. The key to keeping your muscle mass is to keep using your muscles. Simple.
Resistance training becomes more important as we get older not less. You may think doing weights is for the 20-30 year olds and not for the 40+ but the opposite is true. Resistance training is more important the older we get. The good news is that even if you start resistance training in your 70's you can still make large gains in strength. You might think that you are not interested in lifting heavy weights but resistance training doesn't have to be about lifting heavy. Do you want to be able to get up out of your chair by yourself at the age of 80! Do you want to be able to lift up, hold and play with your grandchildren, spend time in the garden, go for long walks in the country side? Any of these tasks involve a certain strength that can be trained for in the gym.
Flexibility.
As we age our muscles start to reduce their ability to stretch so our potential to stretch decreases. By potential I mean that the muscles will have less natural elastic properties but this does not necessarily mean we lose flexibility. Flexibility is a bit more complicated than thinking of your muscles like an elastic band that stretches. What we are really concerned with is the range of movement each of our joints have.
This is determined by a number of factors including the natural elastic properties of the muscle but also by the innervation of the muscles around the joint and the strength of the muscles to control the range of movement. We may not be able to control the loss of elasticity of our muscles but we can have a great affect on the other two variables.
So using age as an excuse for not being able to touch your toes or squat down is not valid at all.
If you have a good range of movement already then keeping it is the aim. All you have to do is continue to move the joints through their complete range of movement every day and you will be able to move through that range for the rest of your life. Have you ever wondered why older people in places like China and India can spend hours squatting on their heels with no problems at all? Their bodies are exactly the same as ours but because they squat down to their heels every day of their lives , several times a day their body's are continually reminded of the need to preserve that range of movement.
If we dont use a particular range of movement very often we lose it!
A regular stretching program is essential if you want to move like a 40 year old when you are 60!. Whether it is doing yoga, stretching at home or performing exercises that stretch and strengthen the body at the same time, whatever you do do it regularly
Endurance
The good news on endurance is that it takes a little longer to notice the effects of ageing. With regular aerobic training you can maintain high levels of endurance well into your 60's. A race I did in France a few years back involving 100miles and 9000m of ascent descent with 2500 athletes which was won buy a 59 year old! In fact many endurance records are held by athletes well over 40.
Aerobic Capacity
The news is not so good here. Aerobic capacity or VO2 max as it is commonly referred to is the maximum amount of oxygen our bodies can process during exercise. This decreases with age for a number of reasons which get a bit technical so I wont bore you with them but the good news is that you can slow the decline by performing high intensity interval training.
Like everything else in the body if you dont use it you lose it. So if you dont use your maximal aerobic capacity you will lose it. Why does that matter you ask? Well think of a car that you can comfortably drive at 60mph that has a top speed of 100mph. What would happen if for some reason it's top speed was reduced to 65mph? You can imagine that cruising at 60mph would put a lot more strain on the car.
Using running as another example , if your VO2max is say 10mph you might be able to run comfortably at 7mph for an hour. If your VO2max dropped to 7mph then your comfortable pace will drop to say 4 mph. This is now a fast walk not a run so you will no longer be able to run comfortably. Unfortunately your VO2max has a large genetic component to it but you want to at least maintain what you have for as long as possible.
I have seen people who reach their maximal aerobic capacity walking up a flight of stairs. You want to keep you maximal aerobic capacity well above the intensity of any exercise you usually perform.
So if you want to feel younger than you are make sure you add a couple of resistance training sessions a week, perform some high intensity intervals once a week and add a daily stretching routine to your schedule.
Read more!
Age has many affects on the body but the main ones I am concerned about are muscle mass, strength , endurance, aerobic capacity and flexibility .I know I don't look like Brad Pitt so a few wrinkles aren't going to affect me and I have hardly a hair on my head so it doesn't matter what colour it is or if any more falls out – although I did make one concession to age and shave of a goatee which was going grey, I might have turned 40 but there's no need to advertise the fact! Anyway enough about me and back to getting old.
I'd like to give you a few tips on how to ensure the so called inevitable effects of ageing can be reduced.
For those of you who like your articles short and sweet here's the article in a nutshell.
As we age, we lose strength, flexibility, muscle mass and aerobic capacity . The good news is that no matter what the age we can still improve on all of those. The other good news is that most of us are nowhere near our physical potential so there is a good chance you can be fitter, stronger and more flexible at 50 than you where at 25 . This will however require some hard work!
Ok those of you who prefer the longer edition read on.
Muscle Mass and Strength
As we age our muscle mass decreases by 0.5% per year. This is not set in stone. Muscle requires energy to keep alive so if it is not used the body breaks it down to reduce the body's energy costs. The key to keeping your muscle mass is to keep using your muscles. Simple.
Resistance training becomes more important as we get older not less. You may think doing weights is for the 20-30 year olds and not for the 40+ but the opposite is true. Resistance training is more important the older we get. The good news is that even if you start resistance training in your 70's you can still make large gains in strength. You might think that you are not interested in lifting heavy weights but resistance training doesn't have to be about lifting heavy. Do you want to be able to get up out of your chair by yourself at the age of 80! Do you want to be able to lift up, hold and play with your grandchildren, spend time in the garden, go for long walks in the country side? Any of these tasks involve a certain strength that can be trained for in the gym.
Flexibility.
As we age our muscles start to reduce their ability to stretch so our potential to stretch decreases. By potential I mean that the muscles will have less natural elastic properties but this does not necessarily mean we lose flexibility. Flexibility is a bit more complicated than thinking of your muscles like an elastic band that stretches. What we are really concerned with is the range of movement each of our joints have.
This is determined by a number of factors including the natural elastic properties of the muscle but also by the innervation of the muscles around the joint and the strength of the muscles to control the range of movement. We may not be able to control the loss of elasticity of our muscles but we can have a great affect on the other two variables.
So using age as an excuse for not being able to touch your toes or squat down is not valid at all.
If you have a good range of movement already then keeping it is the aim. All you have to do is continue to move the joints through their complete range of movement every day and you will be able to move through that range for the rest of your life. Have you ever wondered why older people in places like China and India can spend hours squatting on their heels with no problems at all? Their bodies are exactly the same as ours but because they squat down to their heels every day of their lives , several times a day their body's are continually reminded of the need to preserve that range of movement.
If we dont use a particular range of movement very often we lose it!
A regular stretching program is essential if you want to move like a 40 year old when you are 60!. Whether it is doing yoga, stretching at home or performing exercises that stretch and strengthen the body at the same time, whatever you do do it regularly
Endurance
The good news on endurance is that it takes a little longer to notice the effects of ageing. With regular aerobic training you can maintain high levels of endurance well into your 60's. A race I did in France a few years back involving 100miles and 9000m of ascent descent with 2500 athletes which was won buy a 59 year old! In fact many endurance records are held by athletes well over 40.
Aerobic Capacity
The news is not so good here. Aerobic capacity or VO2 max as it is commonly referred to is the maximum amount of oxygen our bodies can process during exercise. This decreases with age for a number of reasons which get a bit technical so I wont bore you with them but the good news is that you can slow the decline by performing high intensity interval training.
Like everything else in the body if you dont use it you lose it. So if you dont use your maximal aerobic capacity you will lose it. Why does that matter you ask? Well think of a car that you can comfortably drive at 60mph that has a top speed of 100mph. What would happen if for some reason it's top speed was reduced to 65mph? You can imagine that cruising at 60mph would put a lot more strain on the car.
Using running as another example , if your VO2max is say 10mph you might be able to run comfortably at 7mph for an hour. If your VO2max dropped to 7mph then your comfortable pace will drop to say 4 mph. This is now a fast walk not a run so you will no longer be able to run comfortably. Unfortunately your VO2max has a large genetic component to it but you want to at least maintain what you have for as long as possible.
I have seen people who reach their maximal aerobic capacity walking up a flight of stairs. You want to keep you maximal aerobic capacity well above the intensity of any exercise you usually perform.
So if you want to feel younger than you are make sure you add a couple of resistance training sessions a week, perform some high intensity intervals once a week and add a daily stretching routine to your schedule.
Read more!
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