Friday, May 25, 2012

Fitness News #63 - Winter Hibernation


Bears seem to do the opposite of what comes natural to us, in that they fatten up over summer and slim down over winter.  However that's a natural process for bears, as over winter they don't eat.  For humans unfortunately it doesn't work that way 

Human Habitation

Historically food was scarcer over winter, one of the strategies humans used over winter was to reduce energy output, it comes naturally to us.  Another is to eat eat eat, which was fine when food was scarce, it was all about survival.

Hibernation in the Concrete Jungle

We live in a world of unlimited food supply and a lack of incidental exercise, but our heads still contain the survival rules of our forefathers.  In summer when the alarm goes off, we can look out the window and say "its a beautiful day", where in winter when the alarm goes off, we often look at the alarm and think  "WTF" and that's because we are trying to conserve energy till later in the morning when it warms up even though the modern hunt consists of walking from the bedroom to the kitchen.

So back to our friend the bear, why is mr bear doing nothing and loosing weight?  I'm doing nothing and gaining weight....  Well you know the answer to that one....

What you should do

  1. Realise that your body is going into survival mode, preparing you for the scarcities of winter food shortage, which will only happen if you can't remember where the supermarket is.
  2. Keep your summer exercise routine continuous thru winter.  Yeh it can be difficult, but in the long term you will be a winner.
  3. Don't let the good eating slip off the rails.  It can be tempting to switch to the easy options like takeaway.  Just think how much work will be involved to burn that junk off.

What if you did nothing

Remember how good you feel after a workout, well your going to miss that.  Add to that the reversal of what you have achieved.  Do you really want to do nothing?

See you at the gym

Classes

Fitness First 
Rockdale Mon 6.00am Ride
Five Dock Mon 5.45pm RPM
Rockdale Tue 6.30pm RPM
Top Ryde Wed 5.45pm Ride
Walker St Thu 6.00am RPM
Rockdale HiPf Sat 8.15am RPM
 
YMCA
Riverwood Mon 7.30pm RPM
Riverwood Tue 6.15am RPM
SCG
Stadium Fitness Centre Friday 6.15am RPM

Sleep Ride Eat Repeat
 

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Fitness News #62 - Exercise excuses

As ridiculous as this picture may look, it does depict one person using the situation as an opportunity to exercise while the other person does nothing.

How many times have we heard excuses from those who don't exercise 

Insufficient time to exercise

"I haven't got time to exercise"
This is got to be the most common one used.  In reality busy people seem to be able to find the time.  According to Think TV the average Aussie spends 3hours 10minutes watching TV.  Now if someone said that they exercised for 3hours 10mintues a day, you would think wow, that's a hell of a lot of exercise, but yet that time is available, all they need to do is exercise while watching TV.


Sore Finger 

OK, I'll be serious, if you have an injury, then you should seek expert advice.  I've had my share of injury's and speaking to the experts I've come upon how many don't even do the exercises they are allocated to do, to help them recover from the injury.  So why would they even be looking for an alternative

Can't afford gym membership

There are plenty of exercise options that cost hardly anything and some even save you money, such as walking to the shops, instead of driving.  Odd's on the person with this excuse is bleeding money somewhere.  For example the average aussie spends $1612 a year on booze, so there's your gym membership and some change.

What you should do

  1. Continue to do whatever you think is best for you, just because they want to be stupid or use excuses to justify their own inaction, doesn't mean that you have to be stupid, just carry on doing the exercise you love doing, the reward is yours.
  2.  If they seek your advice then provide it, but let them own their own initiative
  3. When you are injured, do the right thing to assist the recovery and ask the expert what alternate things you can do, during the recover period

What if you did nothing

Ultimately we are all responsible for our own health, its up to them to find their own destiny.  If they haven't invited your advice, then don't bother.

Classes

Fitness First 
Rockdale Mon 6.00am Ride
Five Dock Mon 5.45pm RPM
Rockdale Tue 6.30pm RPM
Top Ryde Wed 5.45pm Ride
Walker St Thu 6.00am RPM
Rockdale HiPf Sat 8.15am RPM
 
YMCA
Riverwood Mon 7.30pm RPM
Riverwood Tue 6.15am RPM
SCG
Stadium Fitness Centre Friday 6.15am RPM

Sleep Ride Eat Repeat
 

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Fitness News #60 - Mothers Day Chocolates

Chocolates are a popular gift on Mothers Day and as we love Mum, chocolates are often on the shopping list.

Of course we are concerned about the health impact to Mum caused by excessive chocolate, by eating a haul of these chocolates before giving Mum a kiss and heading home.

But have you ever wondered why chocolate makes you feel good.  Part of the answer is due to the large quantities of sugar included in the product, see

Fitness News #59 - Why our food is laced with sugar

However to make chocolates you still need to include some chocolate and chocolate contains chemicals

Chemicals in chocolates

  1. Theobromine.  Have a similar effect to Caffeine
  2. Caffeine.  Do I need to describe this one?  If so what rock have you been hiding under?
  3. Phenylethylamine. Makes you feel good
Source:  Chocolate and Your Brain


What you should do

  1.  Advise Mum that she should eat a small portion of chocolates at a time, say 2 blocks and that way she can appreciate your gift many times before they are all consumed.
  2. Give Mum regular visits to assist her with the chocolate consumption

What if you did nothing

Mum will scoff all the chocolates and you will get none

Classes

Fitness First 
Rockdale Mon 6.00am Ride
Five Dock Mon 5.45pm RPM
Rockdale Tue 6.30pm RPM
Top Ryde Wed 5.45pm Ride
Walker St Thu 6.00am RPM
Rockdale HiPf Sat 8.15am RPM
 
YMCA
Riverwood Mon 7.30pm RPM
Riverwood Tue 6.15am RPM
SCG
Stadium Fitness Centre Friday 6.15am RPM

Sleep Ride Eat Repeat
 

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Fitness News #59 - Why our food is laced with sugar

Came upon an article about how some yoghurt was laced with sugar.  I eat a lot of yoghurt, so I went and checked the sugar contents.  The ones I ate had between 5% and 8% sugar content.  But it didn't take me long to find one that had 30% sugar content. The marketing on the outside gave you the appearance you were eating something really healthy,  after all, it was yoghurt with strawberries.  Looking further it appears that the average Aussie consumes 42kg of sugar per year.  That's 160,860 calories, which could potentiality convert to a hell of a lot of extra midriff.

So why do manufactures put so much sugar in the products that fill our supermarkets?

Well the primary objective of most companies is to drive maximum profit and the food industry is no different

The Sugar situation

Why its there

  1. It's incredibly cheap, a quick look on the web shows a price of 50c a kilo [source].  Big companies can drive even lower prices.  Overseas they even go to the extent of using corn sirup to cut the price further.
  2. Can I emphasis the price again, adding sugar can lower the overall price, as it can reduce the quantities of more expensive ingredients and/or allow the use of lower quality products as it masks the taste.
  3. Sugar is addictive, yes addictive.  Wanna read over the studies on this till your eyes glaze over, then check Wikipedia.  The web is full of articles such as Beat your sugar addiction. And this crucial fact leads to their deal closure;
  4. To make you buy their products, they need them to be highly desirable and what not a better way but to reward your sugar addiction.  Don't you feel good after a sugar hit.


What you should do

  1.  Figure out how much sugar and of what type you are currently consuming.
  2. Determine how much and what type of sugar should be in your diet.  What's the difference between sucrose and fructose?  Good knowledge = good decisions
  3. Determine how you can migrate from where you are to where you want to be.  For some this is a simple switch, but for most, we will need to phase out the bad things over a period of time.

What if I did nothing

 The major food manufacturers will love you, your contributing to their profits.  Isn't that what they want you to do.

Classes

Fitness First 
Rockdale Mon 6.00am Ride
Five Dock Mon 5.45pm RPM
Rockdale Tue 6.30pm RPM
Top Ryde Wed 5.45pm Ride
Walker St Thu 6.00am RPM
Rockdale HiPf Sat 8.15am RPM
 
YMCA
Riverwood Mon 7.30pm RPM
Riverwood Tue 6.15am RPM
SCG
Stadium Fitness Centre Friday 6.15am RPM

Sleep Ride Eat Repeat