What Percentage of Women Strength-Train?

According to the Centers for Disease Control’s survey in 2004, only about 17.5% of women strength trained two or more times per week. That’s lower than 21.9% of men who strength-trained during that time period. The good news is the numbers increased slightly for women from 1998 to 2004. Hopefully, more women get the message that strength-training is vital for maintaining muscle mass and bone density and for warding off the effects of aging.

What determines whether or not a woman strength trains? Age is a factor. Based on this study, women over the age of 65 were least likely to do any form of strength training, although the number of women who did rose from 1998 to 2004. Unfortunately, this is a group that may need it the most. As muscle mass declines with age, the risk of falls goes up. Strength-training helps to prevent age-related decreases in functionality and helps to maintain a more youthful body composition but it’s never too late to start. Research shows that even the elderly can improve strength and increase lean body mass through strength-training.

How Do You Compare?

Of course, you’re only competing against yourself but it’s still nice to know how you compare to other women, both trained and untrained. Keep in mind the figures below are for a single maximal repetition or one-rep max.

How strong is your lower body? A 132 pound woman who has never trained should be able to squat one time with 59 pounds of resistance. A “novice” who’s trained for more than 3 months but less than 9 should be capable of squatting with 110 pounds of resistance. At the intermediate level, after training regularly, for a year or two, that number rises to 127 pounds. After a year or two of training, you should almost be able to squat with a resistance equal to your body weight. An elite female of this weight who competes should be able to squat around 211 pounds.

How do you compare on bench press? If you weigh 132 pounds and are untrained, you should be able to bench press around 64 pounds. Once you’ve trained for a few months, around 82 pounds. At the intermediate level, you should be able to press around 95 pounds. Compare that to an elite 132 pound female who would be expected to bench press around 110 pounds. At the ultra-elite level, Jennifer Thompson, a 132 pound powerlifter, broke her own bench press record and set a new record by bench pressing 300 pounds, almost 2.3 times her body weight.

When it comes to the deadlift, an untrained 132 pound woman should be able to lift around 74 pounds. After training for 3 to 9 months, about 137 pounds. At an intermediate level after a year or two of training, 159 pounds. How about at the highest level of training? Elite women at that weight can dead-lift 273 pounds.

 Are You Strong Enough to Pass the Marine Corps Initial Strength Test?

To be in the marines, you have to maintain a certain level of fitness. How fit must you be? You’ll need to pass the USMC Physical Fitness test every six months. This series of three tests are designed to measure strength, muscular endurance and speed. Here’s the minimum you need for a passing score:

• Run one mile in 10:30 minutes
• Do 35 sit-ups in 2 minutes
• Hang by flexed arms for 12 seconds

 How about Push-Ups?

Push-ups measure muscle strength and endurance. According to The American College of Sports Medicine, here’s how many MODIFIED push-ups you should be able to do based on age:

Age             Push-Ups

20 -29          17-33

30-39           12-24

40-49           8-19

50-59           6-14

60+               3-4

How do you compare? For full push-ups with toes on the ground, not knees, the average would be lower, but, hopefully, you’re working towards doing full unmodified push-ups. If you can do 8 to 10 unmodified push-ups, you’re doing better than the overwhelming majority of women. The ability to do push-ups is an excellent indicator of overall muscle strength and endurance.

The Bottom Line?

It’s not a contest, but it’s always fun to know where you fall on the strength and fitness scale and what you can aspire to. The good news is you can improve over time with focused training. Keep working towards improving your strength and muscle endurance by challenging your body to do more – and be prepared for positive changes to happen. They will.

References:

Centers for Disease Control. “Trends in Strength-Training: 1998-2004”

ExRx.net. “Weightlifting Performance Standards”

American College of Sports Medicine.

What Exactly is a Metabolic Workout?

Metabolic training can take a variety of forms. High-intensity interval training, a type of training that alternates period of maximal work with recovery periods, is a form of metabolic training, but so is a kettlebell workout and circuit training that alternates strength-training with short periods of cardio. Metabolic training can take a variety of forms. Some of my DVDs that utilize this fat burning principle are: After Burn, Cardio Supersets, HiiT, Tabatacise, CrossFire and To The Max.

What makes metabolic training so special? It helps your body adapt to using anaerobic energy pathways. There are three primary energy pathways your body uses during exercise. When you do a short sprint or do a power exercise that lasts 10 seconds or less, your body gets ATP to fuel muscle movement from the creatine phosphate pathway. When a powerlifter lifts a weight, he or she is using primarily the creatine phosphate pathway.

For exercise that lasts longer than this, in the range of 1 to 4 minutes, the primary energy pathway your muscles use for fuel is an anaerobic pathway called the glycolytic system. This pathway can operate in the absence of oxygen but it fatigues your muscles rapidly. This system primary burns carbohydrates to produce ATP and, due to the fact that it operates under anaerobic conditions, lactate builds up. As a result, your blood becomes more acidic and you start to feel tired. That’s why you can only do very high-intensity exercise for short periods of time. Your body needs time to flush out some of the lactate and your blood pH needs to normalize somewhat so you can do it again.

For longer duration exercise, your body uses oxygen to generate ATP, the energy currency your muscles need for movement. This is the system your body primarily uses when you do moderate-intensity exercise. It’s this system that’s operating maximally when you take a long, slow run, cycle on an exercise bike or do other exercise at a relatively comfortable intensity. This energy system uses fat as fuel, and most people have plenty of that to fuel their workouts! This energy system can fuel a steady-state workout for hours.

Keep in mind that all of these energy systems operate together to some degree when you work out, but the primary energy system you tap into during moderate-intensity, steady-state exercise is aerobic, using oxygen, and fueled mostly by fat. During high-intensity exercise, fuel usage switches mostly to anaerobic pathways that burn carbohydrates and can only be sustained for short periods of time.

Metabolic Training Taps into Anaerobic Pathways

With metabolic workouts, you challenge your body and force it to use anaerobic pathways. Why is this important? You train your body to better handle the build-up of lactate and blood pH changes that occur with intense exercise. As a result, it adapts and is able to recover more quickly. That means you can do high-intensity exercise longer before becoming fatigued. Ask a long-distance runner to do a few sprints and you’ll see how quickly they gasp for air and drop to the ground. Their anaerobic energy systems aren’t as highly trained as a sprinter who works out at a high intensity.

The other advantage of forcing your body to use anaerobic pathways is it creates an after-burn effect. When you work your body hard enough, significant amounts of lactate builds up, your core body temperature heats up and a variety of physiological changes take place that prolongs the time it takes to recover. That means your metabolism is higher for hours after a workout as your body has to work harder to return to its pre-workout state. Plus, periods of intense exercise increases levels of hormones like testosterone and growth hormone that boost fat-burning. That additional calorie burn is partially what makes metabolic workouts more effective for fat loss even when they’re shorter in duration.

Metabolic Conditioning: There Are a Number of Ways to Do It

High-intensity interval training is one form of metabolic training. With this type of workout, you push your body into the anaerobic zone, let it partially recover and repeat until your workout is complete. Metabolic circuits combine resistance training with cardio. Here you would do a resistance exercise, preferably using large muscles groups, followed by a segment of cardio. Alternate back and forth without resting between exercises. The key is to move quickly from exercise to exercise with no rest in between.

This is the most efficient way to train when you’re limited for time since you get cardiovascular and resistance training benefits, mostly muscle endurance since you won’t be able to use heavy weight. Intense strength-training sessions using large muscle groups and compound movements with minimal rest between sets is also a form of metabolic training since it creates an after-burn effect.

Are Metabolic Workouts Really Better?

In a study published in the journal Metabolism, researchers compared the benefits of a high-intensity interval training program with a moderate-intensity endurance training program. Participants who did high-intensity interval training experienced greater fat losses even though they burned fewer total calories WHILE working out. You might expect that these participants burned more calories after they stopped than those that did moderate-intensity exercise due to the after-burn effect.

Are Metabolic Workouts for You?

With metabolic workouts, you can work your entire body in a short period of time and boost the amount of fat you burn for hours afterwards. It’s time expedient and never boring because you’re always changing the pace or type of exercises you’re doing. Metabolic workouts are challenging so you’ll need more recovery time between them.

Several metabolic workouts a week are all you need to get the benefits. By scheduling them into your regular workouts, you’ll get variety, reduce boredom and challenge your body in a different way. Adding variety will keep your workout from becoming stale and help you avoid a plateau.

References:

Metabolism. 1994. Jul; 43(7): 814-8.

Exercise Physiology. Fifth edition. McArdle, Katch and Katch. (2002)

The ability to drop to the ground and do push-ups says a lot about your fitness level. The first time you were able to do them from your toes instead of your knees was a defining moment. From there, you were able to increase the number you could do in a single session and begin to feel yourself getting stronger and more confident in your fitness ability. That’s the power of the push-up. Being able to do them puts you in a special class. That’s because not everyone can. In one study of middle-school students, 75% of the girls and 50% of the boys failed the push-up test. What makes push-ups such an important exercise and how can you maximize the benefits you get from doing them?

Push-Ups Target All the Muscles in Your Upper Body

Push-ups work your triceps, pectoral muscles and your core while working stabilizer muscles. These are muscles that help other muscles execute a movement. These auxiliary muscles serve as the underlying foundation that stabilizes and holds everything in place, allowing you to move a weight through its full range of motion. For example, when you do a squat, your thigh and glute muscles are the primary muscles doing the work but you’re getting support from the muscles in your spine and core. Push-ups strengthen the stabilizer muscles in your back and trunk so you can do upper body strength moves like chest presses more easily with less risk of injury.

It’s the Most Versatile of All Exercises

You can vary the arm position of push-ups to change what muscles you emphasize and change the speed with which you go down and up – but that’s only the beginning. You can modify the exercise by doing them against a wall or with your hands on an exercise ball. Turn it into an isometric move by holding the push-up position as long as you can or make it dynamic by doing plyometric push-ups where you push up with enough force that your hands leave the ground. Here, you’re developing strength and power as well as getting your heart rate up.

Then there are spiderman push-ups and decline push-ups where your feet are elevated above your hands on a bench or chair. If you’re ultra-fit, you can challenge your strength and balance by doing hand-stand push-ups or one-arm push-ups. With so many ways to do this versatile exercise, you’ll never become bored or complacent.

You Can Even Modify Push-Ups to Improve Your Balance

With a few modifications, you can use push-ups to do balance work. Grab a stability or med ball and place your hands on it while doing push-ups. Hand-stand push-ups are another way to work on balance. To work up to doing a hand-stand push-up, start by doing decline push-ups and gradually raise the height of your feet as you progress. Once you can do them with your feet maximally raised, you’re ready to tackle a hand-stand push-up. Hand-stand push-ups work your back, shoulders, triceps and core.

How Many Push-Ups Should You Be Able to Do?

How many push-ups can you do? Based on national averages, the average 30 year old female can do 21 while a 40 year old woman, on average, can do 16. These are MODIFIED push-ups. The numbers would most likely drop significantly for unmodified ones.

How much easier is a modified push-up than a full one? According to the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, when you do a regular push-up you’re lifting 64 percent of your body weight. When you do a modified one, about 41%. Age isn’t necessarily a barrier since fitness inspiration Jack LaLane was able to do finger-tip and one-arm push-ups at the ripe, old age of 93.

Push-Up Tips

If you don’t think you can tackle push-ups on your toes quite yet, try them with your upper body elevated above your lower body by putting your hands on a bench. This makes it less difficult. You’ll gradually progress to the point you can do some on your toes on level ground. As these become less difficult, increase the challenge by raising your feet. If you’re trying to build muscle strength, keep making push-ups harder by modifying them rather than doing more of them. Once you get past 15 to 20, you’re working on muscle endurance, not strength.

As with any exercise, you have to continuously challenge yourself to see change. One way to do that is to add new push-up variations to your routine regularly. Variations like plyometric push-ups and one-arm push-ups are a way to add new challenge to your routine so you can keep progressing. It’s one exercise that belongs in your routine.

References:

New York Times. “An Enduring Measure of Fitness: The Simple Push-up”

ExRx.net. “Push-Up Test”

Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. (2011) 25(10). Pages 2891-2894.

Commitment to fitness is a good thing as long you keep the bigger picture in mind – your health. Some people become so committed to their workout that they exercise when they’re sick or exhausted after a night of too little sleep. To be fit AND healthy, it’s important to strike a balance. That means making rest a part of the equation – and know when rest is the best option. Here’s the question. If you’re exhausted from lack of sleep – should you work out when you’re tired? Find out why a rest is the best option.

 Your Performance Will Be Sub-Par

Even one night of little sleep can affect your workout. A study published in the International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health showed that reaction times decrease and performance on tasks like driving and operating machinery declines. Cognitive function suffers too. It becomes harder to make decisions and memory is impaired. Plus, sleeplessness increases sensitivity to pain. That means your workout will feel all the harder even when you aren’t working as hard as usual.

Another study showed that one night without sleep decreased performance during endurance exercise and participants had a higher perceived level of exertion. In other words, even though they ran a shorter distance than usual, it felt harder.

The take-home message? If you work out when you’re sleep-deprived or very tired, it’s unlikely to be a productive session.

Your Risk for Injury Goes Up

With your reaction time being slower and thinking skills and judgment clouded by fatigue, your risk for injury goes up when you’re tired or sleep-deprived. Why risk an injury just to say you worked out? Better to rest and approach your workout with fresh enthusiasm because you’re rested and operating at peak efficiency.

It Negatively Impacts Your Immune System

It doesn’t take much sleep deprivation to cause problems. Even one night of poor or inadequate sleep raises cortisol levels. This puts a damper on your ability to fight off infection. Combine that with the added stress of a hard workout and you put yourself at greater risk for whatever virus happens to be making its rounds. When you’re exhausted, you need rest to lower your cortisol levels and get your immune system back up to snuff.

The Effects of Inadequate Sleep Are Cumulative

If the time you’re using to work out in an exhausted state cuts into your sleep time the next night, you’ll feel even less “perky” the next day. After being sleep-deprived for a few nights, your performance, cognitive function and reaction time declines even more. That means you could end up having several days of less productive workouts and be more likely to injure yourself.

It Interferes with Tissue Repair

When cortisol levels are high, it interferes with tissue repair and growth. In addition, anabolic growth hormone is released primarily during the deeper stages of sleep. When you’re sleep-deprived, it creates an unfavorable metabolic environment for growth and repair. Better to rest and get a good night’s sleep than further stress your system with a workout. This will only raise your cortisol levels further.

Other Reasons Sleep is Important

Sleep doesn’t just impact your workout and ability to build muscle, sleeping less than 7 hours a night has been linked with a greater risk for health problems like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hyptension, an increased risk for weight gain and higher mortality. Plus, it has a negative impact on mood. Who doesn’t feel grouchy and a little anxious when they haven’t slept?

The Bottom Line?

When you’re exhausted and slept very little the night before, take a rest day and let your body recover and stress hormones normalize. If you work out in an exhausted state, your workout won’t be as productive, tissue repair will be compromised and you’ll increase your risk for illness due to decreased immunity. Plus, you probably won’t work have a very productive workout. Maximize your nutrition and give yourself a day to rest and recover. It won’t negatively impact your fitness level. It’ll help you be fitter and healthier in the long run.

References:

Int. J. Occup. Med. Environ. Health. 2010: 23 (1): 95-114.

Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. 2009 Sep: 107(2): 155-61.

Washington State University. “How sleep affects sports performance”

Medscape.com. “Insufficient Sleep Thwarts Weight Loss Efforts”

Sleep. 2010 May 1; 33(5): 585–592.

What Causes Muscle Soreness after a Workout?

When you feel sore after a workout, you’re experiencing a phenomenon called DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness). DOMS happens when you stretch a muscle under enough tension that small micro-tears occur in the muscle fibers you worked. The amount of micro-trauma a muscle is exposed to is greatest during the eccentric phase of a movement, the movement you use to lower a weight. You don’t just encounter this type of stress during strength-training, running, especially downhill, when you aren’t conditioned can traumatize muscle fibers and lead to DOMS.

As a result of micro-trauma and microscopic tearing of muscle fibers, your body mounts an inflammatory response. This brings in cellular “reinforcement” to help repair the damaged tissue. This usually occurs between 24 and 72 hours after a workout and usually lingers for several days up to a week. It’s this repair process that some experts believe leads to muscle growth. The inflammatory process also causes fluid retention and swelling. One explanation for the pain is swelling puts pressure on nerves surrounding the muscles, leading to soreness.

Because the inflammatory response to stretching a muscle under tension leads to repair and repair leads to growth, you may think a lack of soreness means your muscles aren’t being challenged enough to grow. Inflammation does play a role in muscle growth. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications like Ibuprofen block enzymes involved in inflammation and at higher doses some studies show they reduce muscle growth. This doesn’t appear to be a problem at lower doses.

Can Muscle Hypertrophy Occur without Inflammation?

Although inflammation may be linked to the muscle growth, it appears that muscle protein synthesis and muscle hypertrophy can occur even in the absence of inflammation. At the same time, you can have muscle inflammation without feeling sore. So even if it doesn’t hurt when you move a few days later, it doesn’t mean you haven’t worked your muscles hard enough to induce micro-trauma and inflammation. Likewise, just because you don’t feel the effects, it doesn’t mean your muscles aren’t growing. The take-home message is this. You can get muscle growth in the absence of pain and soreness. The converse is also true. You can have muscle tissue damage that doesn’t lead to growth. This is more likely to occur if you overtrain by repeatedly working the same muscle fibers without giving them adequate time to recover. When you overtrain, it increases muscle protein breakdown and interferes with muscle growth. Muscle soreness can also be a sign that you’re performing movements incorrectly and that’s certainly not optimal for muscle growth. It also increases your risk for injury.

DOMS is Most Pronounced When You First Start Working Out

In general, you experience the most soreness when you first start a new workout program or challenge your muscles in a new way. Over time your muscles “adapt” and you stop getting sore even though you’re gradually increasing the tension you place them under. Does that mean your muscles aren’t growing? Nope. If the workout feels challenging and you’re pushing hard enough that the last rep or two is difficult, you’re still giving the muscle the stimulus it needs to grow. If you feel sore after every workout, you’re probably pushing yourself to the point that your muscles aren’t recovering fully. That can make it harder to build lean body mass.

Reasons Monitoring DOMS Can Be Useful

Even though not being sore is not an indicator that you’re not working hard enough to build lean body mass, you can use muscle soreness to “fine-tune” your workout. If you’re not new to resistance training and you feel sore after every workout, you’re probably pushing too hard. Some degree of DOMS is normal when you start a new routine or push harder than you normally would but daily DOMS isn’t. It means you’re not giving your muscles enough recovery time.

The other way monitoring DOMS is useful is it tells you if you’re doing the exercise right. If you’re performing exercises that target your shoulders and you’re experiencing muscle soreness in your triceps, you may be using incorrect form. Where you’re sore gives you a general idea of whether you’re targeting the muscles you’re trying to target.

How Much DOMS You Experience is Dependent on a Number of Factors

If you’re eating an anti-inflammatory diet, eating foods rich in omega-3, drinking tart cherry juice, sipping lots of green tea or chocolate milk, you may experience less DOMS due to the anti-inflammatory effects of this type of diet. That doesn’t mean you aren’t experiencing muscle growth. These foods help to block inflammation. Plus, we all have a different tolerance to pain, what’s significant soreness to one person is barely noticeable to another. Pain and soreness is a subjective thing and not feeling it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not working hard enough.

The Bottom Line?

Don’t use muscle soreness or DOMS as an indicator of whether you’re working hard enough to get muscle growth. Focus on progressively overloading your muscles so they have to adapt. With adaptation comes growth. If you’re experiencing soreness every time you work out, give your muscles more time to recover. Your muscles need the right combination of stimulus and recovery time to maximize your gains.

References:

Appl. Physiol. Nutr. Metab. 2008 Jun; 33(3): 470-5.

University of New Mexico. “Preventing and Treating DOMS”

Sports Med. 2003;33(2):145-64.

Carbohydrates Are a Major Energy Source during High-Intensity Workouts

Your body can use carbohydrates and fats as energy depending upon the intensity of your workout but it increasingly taps into carbs as exercise intensity increases. A very low-carb diet makes it more challenging to get through a high-intensity workout without feeling fatigued as a result of low muscle glycogen stores. You may find yourself “hitting the wall” quickly on a low-carb diet, making it hard to maximize the intensity of your workout.

If you work out at a moderate or low intensity, your body can easily tap into fat stores as fuel and you won’t feel the same degree of fatigue, especially after your body adapts to a low-carb diet. Still, research shows that higher intensity workouts have a metabolic effect, activating hormones that boost fat burning. Plus, they gear up your body to burn calories for hours after you finish. If you go too low-carb, you won’t be able to push yourself to an intensity that’s high enough to give you these benefits.

Carbohydrates Help to Preserve Lean Body Mass

Most people think of protein as being the anabolic macronutrient, but carbohydrates have anabolic properties too. That’s because they preserve lean body mass during periods of long or intense exercise and during periods of low calorie intake or starvation. When blood sugar levels start to drop, your liver has the ability to make glucose from other components through a process called gluconeogenesis. One of those components is amino acids from the breakdown of proteins.

What happens if you don’t get enough? If you do a long workout in a carb-depleted state, your blood sugar levels will begin to fall after a period of time. This activates a hormone called cortisol. In turn, cortisol turns on a protein called myostatin that breaks down muscle tissue so your liver can use some of those amino acids to make glucose. Eating carbs before a workout blunts the release of cortisol and has a protein-sparing effect. That’s important if you want to hang onto your lean body mass.

Your Brain Needs Carbs

Your brain can’t use fatty acids from fat directly as fuel. It needs glucose. As an alternative fuel source, it can use ketone bodies your liver makes from breakdown of fats when it’s in a carb depleted state but it’s not your brain’s preferred energy source.

According to research published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, your brain needs 200 grams of carbs a day or more for optimal functioning, although there’s a lack of consensus on this. It may depend upon the individual and the ability of their brain to adapt to ketones. The brains of people on a low-carb diet adapt to variable degrees to being on a low-carb diet. If your brain hasn’t adapted, you can experience brain fog, memory issues and fatigue on a very low-carb diet.

Very low carb diets have been linked with mood swings and change in levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that impacts mood. Plus, it can interfere with your workout. Research shows when blood sugar levels drop, your brain reduces muscle activation during exercise. That means your performance will suffer. Just remember, your brain loves glucose and functions best when it has enough of it.

Too Many of the Wrong Carbs Isn’t Good Either

What happens if you eat a diet high in processed carbs? It increases insulin levels. This suppresses fat oxidation or the breakdown of fats for fuel and increases conversion of carbohydrates to fat. It also raises triglyceride levels.

The key is to consume high-fiber carbs like vegetables, low-glycemic fruits and modest amounts of whole grains. If you’re limiting the amount of carbs in your diet, at least make sure you’re not carb-depleted before going into a workout. The more often you train and the harder you train, the more important it is to consume carbs. Volume and intensity should impact the percentage of carbs in your diet. Another way to do it is to consume carbs before and after an exercise session, along with protein, and limit them the rest of the time. This will help reduce the catabolic effects of exercising in a carb-depleted state.

The bottom line? If you’re making healthy, fiber-rich carb choices, you can be more liberal with the amount of carbs you eat. Where you’ll get into trouble is eating too many processed carbs. Don’t train in a carb-depleted state and choose your carbs wisely.

References:

Eur J Clin Nutr. 1999 Apr;53 Suppl 1:S101-6.

Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 35: 589-594.

Exercise Physiology. Fifth edition. McArdle, Katch and Katch. (2002)

Not Working Hard Enough During the Hard Portion

Interval training alternates periods of intense, all-out exercise with recovery periods. During the intense phase of the interval, the key is to work hard enough so your body has to use the anaerobic energy system for fuel. Because lactic acid builds up when you enter the anaerobic zone, you can only sustain this kind of intensity for short periods of time. During the recovery phase, your heart rate comes down and lactic acid levels fall, and you’re able to repeat the interval. Most people don’t push themselves hard enough during the active phase of the interval to reach the anaerobic zone, so they don’t get the full benefits.

So how can you do intervals properly? When doing intervals on a track, sprint during the active phase of the interval. The active portion of an interval is kept short, usually around 30 seconds, because you can only sustain maximum intensity for brief periods of time. At the end of an interval, you should feel winded and almost completely wiped out. It’s this type of intensity that creates the oxygen deficit that keeps you burning more calories for hours and even days after your workout. The active portion of an interval should be an all-out effort, not a fast jog.

Looking for indoor interval workouts that are not machine based? DVDs like my Tabatacise, HiiT and CrossFire videos are just some of my high intensity interval workouts that will push you into your anaerobic zone in the comfort of your own home.

Not Recovering Adequately During the Recovery Phase

Most people work too hard during the recovery period and not hard enough during the active phase of an interval. During recovery, your heart rate should come down so you can maximize your effort during the next active interval. The recovery phase also allows you to remove some of the lactic acid that’s built up in the muscles. This is why you bring the intensity way down. Many people jog at a slower rate during the recovery phase when they should be walking to allow their heart rate to drop. If you’re able to jog during the recovery phase, it may mean you’re not working hard enough during the active intervals.

Doing Interval Training Too Often

When you do it right, interval training is a tough workout that puts substantial stress on your body. That’s why you should limit interval workouts to no more than three times a week, to give your body a chance to recover. If you do them more than this, you run the risk of overtraining.

Interval Workouts Can Be Varied

You can do an interval workout on any cardiovascular machine at the gym including a treadmill, elliptical machine or a cycle. The key is to work as hard as you can during the active intervals and allow your body to recover between intervals. You can vary the length of the intervals, but 30 seconds is about the longest you’ll be able to sustain an all-out active effort. The recovery can be anywhere from 10 seconds to 3 minutes.

Interval workouts offer excellent fitness benefits but make sure you’re in good health before doing one. It’s a challenging workout – and one that gives results.

References:

Exercise Physiology. Theory and Application to Fitness and Performance. Seventh edition. 2009.

You’ll Be More Focused and Motivated

You might think your brain would function best if you eat a diet high in sugar. It’s true that the brain quickly sucks up glucose to use as fuel. The problem is a high sugar diet triggers the release of greater amounts of insulin. This leads to a more rapid drop in blood sugar, the so-called “sugar crash” that leaves you feeling tired, unmotivated and unfocused.

To maintain your energy level without those crashes, it’s best to eat high-fiber carbohydrates along with a source of protein to slow down absorption and reduce insulin release. Eating small meals more frequently helps to prevent a drop in energy level and focus too. Will you accomplish more if you eat a low-sugar diet? You’ll certainly have more energy and motivation to get things done.

You’ll Get More Vitamins and Nutrients

Sugar is a source of empty calories. That’s because it has no vitamins, minerals and nutrients. When you remove it from your diet, you can “fill in” with more nutrient-dense alternatives that are better for your health. By simply eliminating most sugar from your diet, you’ll improve the quality of what you eat.

You’ll Have Fewer Cravings

How are most people doing when it comes to controlling sugar in their diet? Not very well. The American Heart Association recommends that women limit sugar in their diet to 6 teaspoons a day or less. How many is the average American getting? A whopping 22 teaspoons! Most people aren’t dipping a spoon into the sugar bowl 22 times a day. They’re getting it from packaged foods. Many are completely unaware of how much sugar they’re getting from packaged foods because they don’t read the label.

How does sugar contribute to cravings? It sends blood sugar and insulin levels on a roller coaster ride. When your blood sugar drops quickly after a high-sugar snack, you crave more sugar. It’s a vicious cycle and one you’ll want to break if you’re trying to control your weight – and your health.

Younger Looking Skin?

Can sugar prematurely age your skin? Research shows that sugars bind to collagen fibers, the protein in the dermal layer of your skin that keeps it firm and youthful, and form crosslinks. These crosslinks destroy the integrity of collagen so it can’t do its job of supporting your skin and keeping wrinkles in check.

Fructose seems to be the form of sugar most adept at doing this based on animal studies. This crosslinking phenomenon is an example of glycation, a process thought to damage not only collagen but other proteins in your body as well. That’s why a high-sugar diet has been linked with aging. A high-sugar diet also decreases skin’s elasticity or the ability to “bounce back.” You want your skin to be resilient, don’t you?

It May Reduce Your Risk for Heart Disease

A diet high in sugar elevates triglycerides, a type of fat that circulates in the blood. High triglycerides are linked with a greater risk for heart disease. Diets high in sugar also lower HDL-cholesterol, the kind that’s linked with a lower risk for heart disease. Plus, diets high in sugar are pro-inflammatory. That’s not good for your heart or your blood vessels.

Higher Dental Bills

You already know that diets high in sugar are linked with tooth decay. Reducing sugar in your diet could reduce the number of times your dentist has to turn on the drill when you drop by for a check-up. Less discomfort and a lower dental bill? That sounds like a winning combination.

The Bottom Line?

For reducing the amount of sugar in your diet, the take-home message is read the label. Don’t assume because something doesn’t taste sweet that it’s not high in sugar. Even better – stick with unprocessed foods. Just as importantly, watch what you’re sipping. Many people get a substantial amount of sugar from beverages like soft drinks and fruit juice. If you like your beverages flavored, try iced herbal tea instead of fruit juice. When you’re sipping and eating your sweets, the sugar grams add up quickly.

Keep a record of how much sugar you’re consuming each day. Don’t forget to include condiments and beverages. Prepare to be surprised – and to make changes. Don’t worry it. It’s worth it. Once you’ve reduced the amount of sugar in your diet you’ll crave it less. In fact, items that once tasted good to you will taste too sweet.

Don’t forget that rapidly absorbed carbs from white foods such as white rice, white flour and pasta have the same disadvantages as sugar since they’re rapidly absorbed and raise your blood sugar level quickly. Think high-fiber and you’ll usually make the right choice.

References:

Science Daily. “Fructose Consumption May Accelerate Aging — Skin’s Elasticity And Softness May Be Affected”

Heart Wire. “Added sugars” in diet linked to higher triglycerides, lower HDL-C in NHANES data”

Circulation. 2002; 106: 523-527.

Ingredients

Steel-cut oatmeal, red quinoa, coconut oil, goji berries, mulberries, almonds, pumpkin seeds, cacao nibs, chia seeds, hemp seeds, black sesame seeds, cinnamon

Directions:

TO PREPARE OATMEAL AND QUINOA:
The night before, measure out 1/4 c total of steel-cut oatmeal and red quinoa; rinse in a fine sieve. In a small pot, bring 3 oz of water to a boil. Turn off the flame. Put in oatmeal and quinoa, cover pan, and let sit overnight. (In a pinch, this step can be done in the morning 1-2 hrs before cooking.)

TO COOK OATMEAL AND QUINOA:
Add 3 additional oz of water to the pot (more if you prefer a less firm oatmeal), turn on flame, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer and cook for 5 mins, stirring occasionally, till most of the water is gone and the consistency is of thick rice pudding. Turn off flame. Let sit for 1-3 mins. Remove from heat. Transfer to a serving bowl. Add toppings.

TOPPINGS:
Stir in 1 tbsp each of (your choice):
coconut oil
goji berries
mulberries
almonds
pumpkin seeds
cacao nibs
chia seeds
hemp seeds
black sesame seeds

Sprinkle cinnamon to your liking, and dig in!

In about two weeks we will begin to take you behind the scenes of the filming of our 8 new workouts! Our updates will start in the evening on June 25^th and will continue almost daily for several weeks.

Our updates will begin with photos from the filming along with descriptions of each image as well as more details about each workout. Videos of the workouts will come last because we have to finish editing the workouts before we can make and show video clips from the workouts.

Our updates will be posted in our Blog (http://cathe.com/category/blog/newest-workouts ), Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/catheFriedrich/ ) and on our Facebook Fan Page ( http://facebook.cathe.com/ ).

Once these 8 new workouts + premixes are released they will only be sold individually and we will no longer offer a discount bundle for the set, so, if you’re considering ordering do it now before our presale ends and save over $60.  You can Pre-Order or learn more at:| Pre-Order Now |