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Books + Exercise: Why Research is your Friend

Learn to hit the books once in awhile and you will reap the benefits!

If you have been participating in a certain exercise for a while now (eg. yoga, martial arts, running, archery, boxing, etc.), consider heightening your understanding of its history or inner-workings to find more fulfillment within the practice and to even improve the physical aspect of the activity itself.

Some examples of this include:

Runners - Learn the history of marathons. It's fascinating.
Dancers - Take music theory lessons. Learn rhythms and melodies.
Cyclists - Learn how to fix/tune up your bike or even build one from scratch.
Martial Arts - Learn the history of your and other disciplines.
Weight Lifters - Teach yourself about anatomy and psysiology.
Yoga - Learn the benefits of each posture, the history of yoga and the different disciplines of yoga (breathing, meditation, and so forth).

Deepening an activity with some history and theory will turn a simple exercise from a hobby into a lifestyle.

Sample Books if you are into Archery: 'Precision Archery' is a great practical advice book about everything from equipment maintenance to cross-training exercises to proper form. 'Zen Bow Zen Arrow' gets more into the mental discipline of archery, but is also great for motivation to get you out on the archery range and practicing regularly.

Why Crazy Crash Diets Don't Work

You've probably noticed in the past how quite a few fad diets out there are based on the concept of a "crash diet". Meaning you go on the crash diet for a few weeks, lose weight, and then go back to your normal routine.

That is the theory at least.

The reality however is that it creates people on Yo-yo Diets wherein their weight goes up and down constantly, often gaining more weight each time the end a crash diet... and ultimately ending up being fatter than when they started.

There is a lot of articles available by diet industry professionals who are constantly promoting their weird diets. Its nothing new. People have been doing this for decades. And it keeps adding to the confusion and misinformation within the industry.

Some people in the industry (reporters...) will even misquote experts on purpose, just to push their own agenda. eg. An expert says cardio is good for losing weight and weightlifting is good for toning up muscles. Completely accurate. But the reporter instead writes that weightlifting is good for both... Which isn't wholly true or untrue. Yes, you could lose weight via weightlifting, but you would need to do a lot of repetitions and most people are not doing that. Ergo, the reporter is stretching the truth and misquoting the expert just because they want to push their own agenda.

Thus it becomes more important than ever to stress the old hallmarks of weight loss: Exercise and a Balanced Diet.

The problem however is that so many people are too lazy to exercise, and love instant gratification too much (junk food/fast food/processed foods) to eat a balanced diet. Toss in people binging on too much food and you have a recipe for gaining weight in a hurry.

It stands to logic then that the only true tried and tested method for losing weight is a balanced (and stable) diet combined with regular exercise. It really comes down to just doing cardio and proper nutrition.

It's not hard even. It's not complex either. It's just common sense. Eat sensible, smaller portions. Stop eating when you are full and don't deprive yourself. Eat junk food on special occasions but don't make a constant habit of it. Eat vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean proteins. Avoid fried fatty foods.

It really is just simple science and math: Cut down on calories intake. Increase calorie usage. Result: Weight loss.

However some idiotic and self-proclaimed fitness pros are complicating and muddying the waters by spreading misinformation just so they can sell their book or DVD promoting their crazy Crash Diet... and hoping to become the newest diet fad so they can make a fortune.

The tried, tested and true "cardio and a balanced diet" won't sell any books because it sounds too normal, boring and like hard work.

But seriously, it works.

Burning Calories via Household Chores

You are burning calories while you're doing household chores and the numbers can really add up. In fact, some household chores burn just as many calories as a gym workout does.

Here's how some of your household chores stack up in terms of burning calories.

Yard Work

Yard work offers some of the most labor intensive household chores. Tasks like digging and raking the leaves not only burn a lot of calories but can help tone muscles in your arms and legs. Here are some statistics:

30 minutes of digging in your yard will burn about 315 calories, the same amount burned by 45 minutes of bicycling on flat terrain. Digging tones the muscles of your calves, thighs, arms and shoulders. If you do it vigorously enough and continue the activity for 20 minutes or more, you can raise your heart rate and strengthen your cardiovascular system.
Washing your car works your arms and abdominals. For every 30 minutes of car washing, you'll burn 143 calories.
Weeding for 30 minutes burns 115 calories, the same amount you'd burn in 15 minutes of weight training. Weeding tones your thighs and buttocks. Just be careful to bend with your legs while keeping your spine straight, or you could hurt your back.
Raking leaves for 30 minutes burns 225 calories. The resistance offered by the leaves makes this chore a type of weight training. Raking leaves tones all the major muscle groups in your body.

Indoor Chores

Chores you do inside the house also help to burn calories. Here's how many calories are burned in the course of performing your daily tasks:

Scrubbing the bath for 30 minutes burns 200 calories. Removing that stubborn soap scum from your tiles is a great way to tone the muscles of your arms and shoulders.
Carrying shopping bags for 30 minutes burns 190 calories, and maybe more if the bags are particularly heavy. Distribute the weight evenly on each hand, or swap back and forth at regular intervals. Carrying too much weight on one side won't just overdevelop those muscles, it could injure your spine.
Making beds for 30 minutes burns 130 calories, the same number you'd use if you jogged on a treadmill or on flat terrain for 15 minutes.
Cleaning windows for 30 minutes burns 125 calories, the same number used in 20 minutes of power yoga (about one-third the length of a typical power yoga class).
Loading the dishwasher for 30 minutes burns 105 calories, which is less than the 160 calories burned when washing them by hand.
Vacuuming for 30 minutes burns about 90 calories, the same amount you'd burn in 15 minutes of kick boxing.
Dusting for 30 minutes burns about 50 calories.
Ironing for 30 minutes burns about 70 calories and tones the muscles of the upper body. Stand up straight at the ironing board and press down firmly. Switch hands periodically so you don't overdevelop one arm.

Other Calorie Burners

Here are some other activities that burn surprising amounts of calories:

Climbing stairs for 30 minutes burns about 285 calories.
Painting and decorating your home burns about 160 calories.
Showering and toweling off for 30 minutes burns about 70 calories.

Cardio? What is Cardio? Can it make me fattter?

Cardio? What is cardio?

Cardio is short for Cardiovascular Exercise - Basically any exercise which uses the whole body and get your blood pumping hard (hence why it is "cardiovascular"). Examples include jogging, running, swimming, cycling, aerobics, rowing, hiking, walking, climbing, including various sports such as basketball, javelin throwing, wrestling, boxing, shot put, etc. It even includes sex.

Will Cardio Make Me Fat?

No. Cardio exercises burns a lot of calories (usually from sugar, fat or carbohydrates). CARDIO BURNS FAT.

What kind of Cardio Exercise is Best?

There isn't one. Indeed, I question overconfident trainers who think that only one form of exercise is right for every person, especially with the industry's habit of changing its mind and all the new exercise fads that come out each year. There isn't one type of cardio exercise that is good for everyone. What is more important is finding cardio exercises that you enjoy doing on a daily basis and will give you a broad range of ways to exercise your whole body.

Fitness isn't black or white and if there is one thing I have learned it's that every answer comes with a big fat "but" and several exceptions.

Now some people in the exercise industry like to argue (and spread misinformation) that cardio can make you fat. Here is the 3 reasons why they think that:

1. Exercise raises cortisol (a stress hormone)

Cardio raises cortisol in the body because physical stress releases this hormone from the adrenal gland, which in turn makes it more difficult to burn fat. However, every exercise does this, not just cardio. You get out of your bed in the morning and take the dog for a walk and this happens. Should you stop exercising? Heck no! BUT (there's the keyword) you have to know how to manage exercise and balance your nutrition to control the release of cortisol.

What has been happening in the fitness industry is that weight trainers have been spreading misinformation that strength training will achieve every result that you could ever want instead of cardio and are trying to argue that weight training is the be all and end all of fitness. And they are omitting the fact that weight training also releases cortisol.

2. It makes you hungrier

Yes, you will feel hungrier after you exercise. That is why diet and discipline is so important. You can go to the gym, burn 300 calories, and then eat a 1,000 calories worth of bacon afterwards. You're not going to get thinner that way.

When we exercise we burn through our lunch first (carbohydrates, sugar, glycogen) and then we burn through fat (after about 20 minutes after exercise) which is our body's primary fuel source. So yes, you will feel hungrier if you exercise for over 20 minutes.

3. It causes you to lose muscle

Pff. All exercises help you to tone and strengthen muscles. Yes, weight training will bulk you up faster in specific muscles, but its not very good at burning fat. Exercising will never cause you to "lose muscle". If your arms, legs and belly are looking thinner because you're doing cardio... that isn't muscle you are losing, its a layer of fat under the skin that has become thinner.

If you are super thin (anorexic) and you don't have any fat stored up your body will burn protein, otherwise known as muscle, as an energy source. However, the metabolic and fat burning process is not simple. To burn muscle you would have to do cardio for a very long time and burn off all of your most recent meal and all of your fat stores. So yes, it is possible to burn muscle doing exercises (any exercises, not just cardio), but you would have to be thin and starving to do it.

When you look at groups of exercisers as a whole (not on an individual basis) different exercises produce different body types:

People who don't exercise enough and eat too much end up looking rather chunky around the middle. It just works that way.

People who only do cardio look a little like noodles.

Weight lifters have muscle but also tend to look stocky and have a hard time losing stomach flab.

Dancers and Martial Artists have very well-balanced body types with strong, long limbs and amazing flexibility and balance BUT they practice highly technique-based art forms, which require professional instruction. However, these activities incorporate all of the components of fitness to achieve these overall results.

Ideally what you want is a mix of both worlds, cardio and strength training together. Cardio is by far the easiest for most people to do whereas weight training requires finding yourself something heavy to lift on a regular basis (this is why mothers often develop what some people call "mommy arms" that are surprisingly strong because they're lifting their kids up regularly).

The fundamental components of fitness (cardio, weights and stretching) work together to build your strength, endurance and flexibility. In theory gymnasts and decathlon athletes have the best mix of all three, but not everyone is cut out to be a gymnast or a 'decathlete'. People who train in such disciplines have been instructed on ways to prevent repetitive strain injuries, muscle tears, etc and they've been doing it for many years. Do not think you can surpass this step and just become a gymnast or decathlete over night.

Many body builders are afraid of losing the muscle that they have worked hard for. Unfortunately many body builders place so much emphasis on muscular aesthetics that they have terrible cardiovascular health (meaning they have a weak heart).

This explains why Arnold Schwarzenegger had a heart attack in 1997 at the age of 50. He might be "The Running Man", but he wasn't doing enough cardio to make his heart stronger.

No one should ever blindly trust their doctor, personal trainer, nutritionist or the guy that looks good in the weight room. Read, research and experiment with different types of exercise. Find a balance that works for you.