One-legged squats for the rest of us
For anyone not up to the level of the woman in the above video, you can do one legged squats by lowering yourself to a chair and rising on one leg. If that's too hard, start by standing on both legs to sit, raise one leg to stand. And maybe once you can do it, you can try a step stool or something lower than the chair.
Another variation is stepping up sideways onto a stool at your side, then crossing the other leg behind and down on the other side is. If I described that right. Like curtsy lunges, but stepping up onto a stool. Keep repeating the same leg, then switch.
Yeah, the one legged squats are going to be impossible for many people, but it gives you an idea of simple workouts that can be done by picking some basic movements and just stringing them together without much equipment. Plus, she has dozens and dozens of videos and different workouts, but anyone can construct their own depending on their level of fitness.
More claims from other sources on how intervals are a better more effective way to work out:
Some kind of walking interval training program from Prevention magazine:
http://www.walkoffweightbook.com/uof/walko...ok/ra/info.html Claiming that with it you 'walk as little as 20 minutes but get the benefits of a much longer workout while burning 6x the fat as 'regular walkers.'
http://www.prevention.com/health/fitness/w...012281eac____/2 .
Apparently there's a free itunes podcast of 16 minute interval walking workouts:
http://www.the-fitness-walking-guide.com/i...al-walking.html
And here's a link to 14 variations to the duration, intensity, distance, etc which could give ideas on ways to vary whatever type of activity you do to keep things more fun, to fit the amount of time you have at that moment, etc: http://online.prevention.com/walk-it-off/list/9.shtml
There's some good things in this, even for more active people:
One of the first steps is to time yourself walking as fast as you can for one mile which is to be your benchmark to check your progress periodically. It's the only time you will go at a rapid pace that long. Then you do your interval workouts and every few weeks or so, you test yourself by timing yourself going as fast as you can for one mile. Because you can increase your speed and endurance, i.e. ability to keep up a rapid pace, without having to actually do such a boring thing as your workout. That's one of Mark Sisson's points.
I just came across this at MDA so thought I'd post it. It's Sisson's suggested method for bodybuilding, for those that insist on it, as opposed to just wanting to be strong and healthy.
Recent story on the Today show: Sally Gordan, 101-year old assistant Sergeant at Arms at the Lincoln Nebraska state. She got the job in her 80s. And one of her 'secrets' is that she walks to and from work every day. In other words, she engages in moderate-level physical activity every day. I couldn't find a link to any article that expanded on that.
http://www.buzzbox.com/news/2010-12-30/ret...usterId=2832929
I'd love to have a heavy workout with her. Here's a different article from MDA explaining the Primal Blueprint, listing the kind of behaviors early humans engaged in that shaped how our bodies function, then listing suggestions for on how we could mimic them. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-...imal-blueprint/
List of behaviors:
1) Eat a lot of plants and animals
2) Move around a lot at a slow pace
3) Lift heavy things
4) Run really fast once in a while (or charge up a hill or stairs)
5) Get lots of sleep
6) Play
7) Get sunlight
8) Avoid trauma
9) Avoid poisonous things
10) Use your mind
I would differ on the suggestion of 2-5 hours of low-level activity per week. You should move around everyday so I don't see how 2 hours would cut it. I'd say a minimum of 7 hours per week, not that you should track it. You should just move. Quit avoiding a little effort. This means moving around at work or home, doing chores, taking stairs, getting up to go to the printer, not searching for the closest parking space or any of the other things people do to avoid a little walking.
And I think he suggests spending more time 'working out' only because many of us are unable move around every day as much as we should. So, say, my mail lady who does her route on foot so is walking all day every day, should sprint a couple times and a little resistance training, but doesn't need to work out 3 times a week.
can anyone post any quick 30 min. weight lifing workouts? about 2 or three would be good since i would do the stationary bike in between the resistance training?
I'm not the right person to respond, but I would recommend you pick 3 exercises focusing on upper body one day, lower body the next time. Do 3 sets with fewer reps in the first set which is your warmup, more reps in the last set which should involve some intense effort at that point to finish because you want to fatigue the muscle. That's the Body for Life method, or at least the most useful part of the program, imho.
Or check out the Workouts of the Week at MDA for something that appeals to you.
Something else to check out: CrossFit.com
Mentioned in an MDA article:
real muscle growth will come from the short anaerobic bursts like sprints, intervals or weight-training. Iall do a piece on this later, but check out my friends at http://www.crossfit.com . They get more done in 20-30 minutes than most of the gym rats doing 90 minute weight sessions. And because itas a aoecircuit traininga concept, they get plenty of heart-training (cardio) as well. And growth hormone release and insulin sensitivity, anda.you get the point.
4-hour body
Something to check out if anyone has the time, to see what might be useful to us. This guy also wrote a book called something like the 4-hour work week. The idea is to concentrate on the things that take the least time but provide the most results.
There's a book and a blog: www.fourhourbody.com/
I only looked at it briefly, but spotted an article on the kettlebell swing as the most effective exercise for women's typical trouble areas--butt, thighs, etc. And I have to agree. I hadn't been doing them in favor of deadlifts since I can incorporate an upper body exercise as well, which I can't with the kettlebell swing, but I just did a few sets for the first time in a while, and yeah.
4-hour body
Something to check out if anyone has the time, to see what might be useful to us. This guy also wrote a book called something like the 4-hour work week. The idea is to concentrate on the things that take the least time but provide the most results.
There's a book and a blog: www.fourhourbody.com/
I only looked at it briefly, but spotted an article on the kettlebell swing as the most effective exercise for women's typical trouble areas--butt, thighs, etc. And I have to agree. I hadn't been doing them in favor of deadlifts since I can incorporate an upper body exercise as well, which I can't with the kettlebell swing, but I just did a few sets for the first time in a while, and yeah.
Note that I think it's probably a whole lot of BS and the guy seems quite obnoxious, but that doesn't mean he hasn't hit on some good things.
Two things mentioned on the Dr Oz show appearance:
-He thinks you should binge eat once a week. Saying that it helps boost the thyroid?? Something to look into.
-And when you binge eat, shortly afterwards do some resistance training like squats to get the glucose out of the blood into the cells in the muscles.
Also, there's a discussion on it in the forum at MDA. I was hoping they would point out what is of value in the book, but so far, it's mostly talk about the kettlebell swing, (the book has instructions on making your own, btw) and what a self promoter the guy is.
MDA article on boosting Testosterone. For those that find working out causes them to break out, perhaps you'll find some things to not do here.
For one thing, it mentions that increased testosterone levels coincide with increased lactate levels, so maybe you want to be careful with workouts that cause high levels of lactate: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-incr...rone-naturally/
Article about benefits of sprinting and kettlebell swings (the 2 things I do most) for the butt.
http://www.waisthipsandthighs.com/exercise...t-butt-exercise
From Dr Mercola: Useful articles on the
- benefits of working out on an empty stomach http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/a...-breakfast.aspx on fat burning and insulin sensitivity. Cites the study Training in the fasted state improves glucose tolerance during fat-rich diet. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20837645
- after consuming some caffeine <a href='http://www.acne.org/messageboard/redirect.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Farticles.mercola.com%2Fsites%2Farticles...-on-coffee.aspx' rel='nofollow' target="_blank"> http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles...-on-coffee.aspx </a> to boost metabolism and reduce post-workout soreness, (but no caffeine after as it inhibits mechanisms that builds your muscle)
-Intense interval workouts http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/a...ur-muscles.aspx Primarily about anti-aging benefits of boosting HGH along with reduced age-related telomere shortening. But also because you accomplish more in less time. Describes what he calls the Peak 8 workout which involves 20-30 second sprints with 90 seconds of slower activity alternating 8 times, causing your heart rate to peak 8 times in the approx 20 minute including warmup workout. (Somewhere in the MDA articles, there's something about it being the burst, not the duration of the burst that matters most. so lots of sports like tennis, racquetball, are especially effective).
All include references and links to studies.
Also mentions that if you can't workout on an empty stomach, then the ideal preworkout food is whey protein.
In addition to the intense interval workout Mercola recommends three additional types of exercise that will turn your peak fitness regimen into a truly comprehensive exercise plan:
QUOTE
1. Strength Training: Rounding out your exercise program with a 1-set strength training routine will ensure that you're really optimizing the possible health benefits of a regular exercise program. Do enough repetitions to exhaust your muscles. The weight should be heavy enough that this can be done in fewer than 12 repetitions, yet light enough to do a minimum of four repetitions. It is also important NOT to exercise the same muscle groups every day. They need at least two days of rest to recover, repair and rebuild.
2. Core Exercises: Your body has 29 core muscles located mostly in your back, abdomen and pelvis. This group of muscles provides the foundation for movement throughout your entire body, and strengthening them can help protect and support your back, make your spine and body less prone to injury and help you gain greater balance and stability Watch these sample videos for examples of healthy exercise routines you can do with very little equipment and in virtually any location.
3. Stretching: My favorite types of stretches are active isolated stretching (AIS) http://www.stretchingusa.com/ developed by Aaron Mattes. It's an amazing way to get flexibility back into your system, and it's completely different from the traditional type of stretching.
In order to better grasp the benefits of peak fitness exercises, you first need to understand that you have three different types of muscle fibers:
1. Slow (red, oxygen-rich muscle)
2. Fast (also red muscle that oxygenates quickly, but is five times faster than the slow fibers)
3. Super-fast (white muscle fibers that contain far less blood and mitochondria)
The super-fast muscles are the only muscle fibers that have any major impact on your production of HGH.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of people, including many athletes such as marathon runners, only train using their slow muscle fibers, which can actually cause the super-fast fibers to decrease or atrophy.
It's important to understand that neither traditionally performed aerobic cardio nor strength training will work anything but your slow muscles.
Power training, or plyometrics burst types exercises will engage your fast muscles, but still will not affect HGH production to any great degree.
The super-fast muscles, which are ten times faster than slow fibers, are what you use when you do Peak 8 anaerobic, short burst exercises, and these are the muscle fibers that will affect HGH production.
Tabata Training
Tabata intervals follow this structure:
Push hard for 20 seconds
Rest for 10 seconds.
Repeat this eight times.
So it's more intense than Mercola's Peak 8 and it's recommended that you do this no more than once a week. If you can do it daily or several times per week, then you aren't doing it right. Not intensely enough. You can do a variety of exercises but you want things that use big muscles like squats, kettlebell swings. Or you can walk/sprint.
More info: http://www.intervaltraining.net/tabata.html
4-hour body
Something to check out if anyone has the time, to see what might be useful to us. This guy also wrote a book called something like the 4-hour work week. The idea is to concentrate on the things that take the least time but provide the most results.
There's a book and a blog: www.fourhourbody.com/
I only looked at it briefly, but spotted an article on the kettlebell swing as the most effective exercise for women's typical trouble areas--butt, thighs, etc. And I have to agree. I hadn't been doing them in favor of deadlifts since I can incorporate an upper body exercise as well, which I can't with the kettlebell swing, but I just did a few sets for the first time in a while, and yeah.
Note that I think it's probably a whole lot of BS and the guy seems quite obnoxious, but that doesn't mean he hasn't hit on some good things.
Two things mentioned on the Dr Oz show appearance:
-He thinks you should binge eat once a week. Saying that it helps boost the thyroid?? Something to look into.
-And when you binge eat, shortly afterwards do some resistance training like squats to get the glucose out of the blood into the cells in the muscles.
Also, there's a discussion on it in the forum at MDA. I was hoping they would point out what is of value in the book, but so far, it's mostly talk about the kettlebell swing, (the book has instructions on making your own, btw) and what a self promoter the guy is.
This is one of the better books I have read in a long time. I have read through it about twice. I would highly recommend it. The biggest take home message is the willingness to experiment and RECORD everything so people can make determinations on what works for them, and what does not. Makes things measurable.
MDA article on boosting Testosterone. For those that find working out causes them to break out, perhaps you'll find some things to not do here.
For one thing, it mentions that increased testosterone levels coincide with increased lactate levels, so maybe you want to be careful with workouts that cause high levels of lactate: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-incr...rone-naturally/
I have seen that mentioned by Poliquin and other trainers on the outer edge of the fitness world. Lactate is the preferred method of getting lean, instead of marathon sessions of cardio.
RealAge.com, site affiliated with Dr. Oz, recently posted about this type of exercise regimen.
http://www.realage.com/tips/get-active-to-...onger-healthier
Here's a fitness plan that will help emulate the hunter-gatherer way:
Hit the trails. Researchers estimate that hunter-gatherers walked between 4 and 10 miles a day just to find necessities! While you might not be able to hit that lofty mark, you could probably do a lot more than you're currently doing. Find ways to walk more during everyday tasks, and bake a daily walk into your schedule as well. Try these three tricks to boost walking benefits.
Lift things. At least two to three times a week, you should do some strength training. Instead of carrying logs, carry groceries, laundry, kids, and pets. Instead of stacking rocks, lift weights at home or at the gym. Watch this video to see why strength training is so good for women's weight.
Get your flex on. Activities like yoga, dancing, tai chi, and gardening can help improve your flexibility -- something that hunter-gatherers had in spades. Here's an easy 12-point yoga pose you can do every day.
Do it outdoors. Exercising outside on natural surfaces (the ones we evolved with, like grass and dirt) works more muscles and boosts your balance.
Work out with a buddy. You'll get the added benefit of mood-boosting social interaction.
Mix it up. Once or twice a week, alternate short bursts of moderate- to high-intensity physical activity with periods of rest and recovery to challenge your heart and lungs. Follow harder workout days with easier workout days. Hunter-gatherers got lots of rest, relaxation, and sleep when recovering from physically demanding days. Here's another good reason to stay in bed.
Another Mercola article on the benefits of combining intermittent fasting with high intensity interval training.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles...ally-young.aspx
It's about the recycling of tissues and damaged cells. Both IF and HIT boost this. Along with whey protein at the right time, according to him.
Fasting promotes muscle breakdown along with the removal of broken proteins and damaged cells towards recycling. Nonetheless, to fully rejuvenate your muscle, you need to grant regeneration of new muscle cells. And that's where the short intense exercise comes into play. It turns on the mechanism that converts muscle satellite cells into new muscle fibers. And it targets your fast neuro-motors and helps keep your fast muscle fibers intact.
But that's only the first step!
The second step is to stop the catabolic process in your muscle and promote recovery. For this you need to feed your muscle with fast assimilating protein right after exercise.
Quality whey protein is your best bet.
Right after exercise there is a two hours period called "window of opportunity" in which your muscle is most recipient to assimilate protein and nutrients towards recovery and growth. To take advantage of this opportunity you must feed your muscle right then with fast assimilating protein such as from quality whey. Slow assimilating proteins won't do the job. Meat, poultry and fish are too slow assimilating and therefore don't fit post exercise recovery.
If you miss this window and simply forget to eat or for whatever reasons chose not to you may actually waste and even damage your muscle tissue.
That sounds like bullshit to me. Back when we hunted animals we didn't leave them to the side and snack on some whey protein after all our hard work. We ate the animal.
Does he have any science to back it up? Mercola is a great guy but he gets carried away sometimes.
Exercising on an empty stomach though I agree with. I've always done it because it felt right anyway.
That sounds like bullshit to me. Back when we hunted animals we didn't leave them to the side and snack on some whey protein after all our hard work. We ate the animal.
Most likely we carried it back to the campsite. At a walk. And we are most likely talking about young people.
I think making the extra effort to time these things is of more import to older folks as HGH production starts slowing down in your 30s.
Plyometrics is another thing to look into for a source of moves to use for your high intensity intervals. Some of the moves look like fun.
i thought some other people that sit at a computer for much of the day might be interested in these:
Chiropractors and Exercise Are Better than Drugs Says New Study
This article includes a list of helpful exercises specifically for the neck and shoulder pain people get from commuting and then sitting all day. And it might not be the main reason, but my neck and shoulder pain seems much better since I started doing some of them a couple of days ago. Particularly the Upright Row. It just feels like it's fixing something. http://articles.merc...20224_FNL_art_2
And this article about fixing your posture to stop the pain: http://www.drbookspa...ainArticle.html Because it doesn't work to just do a few exercises and then go back the the same posture and habits that caused the pain.
Good article on how conventional exercise methods such as prolonged aerobic activity and body building age your body, while the right kinds of activity keep muscles (and brain) young. About chronic vs acute stress, free radical damage, recycling of old and damaged tissues, etc. Written by the Warrior Diet creator.
http://articles.merc...ally-young.aspx
Chronic oxidative stress such as due to chronic infection, chronic overtraining or chronic dietary abuse has shown to overwhelm the muscles' defenses and increase the risk of damage to the mitochondria, neuro-motors and muscle fibers. This type of oxidative stress obviously contributes to muscle degradation and aging. But this is not the case with acute oxidative stress....
Acute oxidative stress such as due to short intense exercise or periodic fasting, actually benefits your muscle. In fact, it's essential for keeping your muscle machinery tuned. Technically, acute oxidative stress makes your muscle increasingly resilient to oxidative stress; it stimulates glutathione and SOD production in your mitochondria along with increased muscular capacity to utilize energy, generate force and resist fatigue.
Fasting, muscle injury and short intense exercise are all catabolic events which force your body to break down its tissues' protein and move it towards recycling. When your body is forced to break its tissues, it always prefers to sacrifice first its damaged proteins and old or sick cells. Technically all damaged proteins and old, sick and cancerous cells are tagged by immune cells to be digested by the body's ubiquitine enzymes and the nitrogen byproducts are then recycled back into new cells and tissues. Ubiquitine enzymes are your body's demolition force when called to act they search and destroy broken, damaged or sick cells to keep your tissues' integrity and protect against abnormal growth and tumor formation.
Growing evidence indicates that fasting and exercise trigger genes and growth factors which recycles and rejuvenates your brain and muscle tissues. These growth factors include brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) and muscle regulatory factors (MRFs); they signal brain stem cells and muscle satellite cells to convert into new neurons and new muscle cells respectively. Incredibly, BDNF also expresses itself in the neuro-muscular system where it protects neuro-motors from degradation.