Weight Control
The body is a collection of bones and they are tied together with ligaments much like rope binds materials together. Muscle shortens when it contracts and linking each end of a muscle to bone allows the two bones to be pulled together as the muscle shortens. This is the basis of all movement. There are many bones in the body and a great number of muscles - big and small. It breaks down to this fact though - muscle shortens and so pulls body parts towards each other. Every muscle is made up of thousands of small fibres though not all of these fibres are used. The training effect can recruit more fibres to assist in an action. It explains why strength can be greatly increased without affecting body size in the early stages of a strength improvement plan. The brain simply uses more of what it already has. Fibres will be increased in size with the correct training and diet, but it is not necessary unless you are into a higher level of bodybuilding.
The structural strength (scaffolding) comes from muscle and its hardness and shape resulting from being well conditioned. Lack of conditioning is the basis of cellulite formation: considerable subcutaneous fat deposits (adipose tissue) over poor muscle form, but without the scaffolding.
Lipotherapeia (cellulite examined in more depth)
It is not how big the muscle may be, but how efficient it is that matters. Increased size gives increased power and a training effect is to improve the blood supply and the removal of byproducts of exercise. It just depends what you want and how you train. Don't be concerned that weight training will lead to large muscles. It takes a lot of training and considerable effort to make muscles big. The actual doing is complex though the principle appears to be straightforward: train right and harden up with great strength improvements without becoming big. This can make the body look terrific without looking grotesque, though it all takes considerable effort and dedication. None of it comes easy, but it is definitely worth the effort to engage with the feeling of power and fitness. A reduced level of training can be followed that tones and trims the physique, but without the muscle building changes. It's important to recognise that although individual muscle (groups) can be targeted for improvement, body weight losses as a result of diet and exercise are non-specific. Weight loss is over the entire body and training specific body parts will only improve the muscle quality. Any adipose tissue (fat) is general since the source (from everywhere) is used for energy. Fat is a very compact form for energy and weight loss purely through exercise is very difficult and takes a long time. Combined with diet, exercise has a more symbiotic nature. The two work together and the combination is better than each by itself.
Muscle should be stretched properly as it is trained. It all adds to the efficiency. Longer muscle that is strengthened is so much more relaxed, efficient and smoother working. A longer muscle has a greater distance to contract than a short one. It just means more power or force can be generated. Muscle gives structure and hardness. It can only pull: it cannot push. To do this it requires energy and this comes from food to start with. Energy cannot be provided from nothing and the fuel comes from food. You get what you eat. You are what you eat. Eat the wrong stuff and you get less of what you need and more of what you don't.
Fat has no structural strength and the old phrase 'my body is my temple' has a lot of meaning really. The body is a remarkable biological machine. It is so complex it's almost unimaginable. It's the reason why great care should be used before you introduce unknown elements into it. It is also a remarkable feature how the body can deal with these unwanted substances. I have great personal respect for the body as I recognise how complicated it all is. The more I discover about it the more I realise there is to know. This is the key to wisdom: knowing what you don't know and being aware of a lack of knowledge. An apparent paradox: wisdom by virtue of the awareness of ignorance.
Back to fat. Some of this body chemistry needs to work in fat and doesn't happen in water. Much of it does, but fat is an essential. The problem for most people is they have too much of it. Competition bodybuilders can go too far and have dangerously too little with literally skin covering muscle without any fat deposits under the skin. This makes the muscle visibly more obvious and is specific only for professionals. Most body fat either surrounds vital organs acting as a shock absorber or more commonly under the skin in special fat storage cells. Fat is a very compact form of energy and weight for weight, the same amount of fat has over twice (2.25 = 9/4) the energy (calorific value) of that weight of either carbohydrate or protein. Calories exist in only how the body uses food sources. You don't eat calories. You eat food. Calories come from the conversion of foodstuffs into energy. The body can only store surplus food in the form of fat. Lots and lots of it.
Muscle and the liver store very limited supplies of glucose (as glycogen). These are quickly used up as work is performed. It is why you can only perform so much work before becoming exhausted as the limited carbohydrate store is consumed. Totally. It's the body's way of stopping you working so you don't destroy yourself - literally. Everything shuts down to protect itself. The body uses carbohydrate as an energy source and must be continuously supplied to continue training. Under certain conditions fat can be used and also a mixture of both. If the demand for energy is great, it is needed quickly by the body: running a fast pace race, for example, then the energy must come from carbohydrate: anaerobic (without air or oxygen). To consume fat the pace must be slower, as in a jog, so the conversion from fat to provide energy because it is slower has a chance to provide it. To burn fat carbohydrate is still necessary to enable the intensity to be raised sufficiently high (around 60-85%). The aerobic process is more efficient, just much slower and efficiency is measured here by the amount of work that a given amount of fat can do. A relatively small amount of fat can do a lot of work. It's the reason that exercise alone will not reduce fat levels by any appreciable amount. High energy demand needs carbohydrate, which is more immediate though less work can be done g/g. Carbohydrate is a requirement to burn fat. Slower energy demands can be met from fat to supply the energy, though never from fat by itself. Fat needs carbohydrate as effectively a cofactor.
The terms aerobic and anaerobic mean, respectively, with air or without air. Aerobic work is of less energy demands than the high impact and explosive anaerobic work, like heavy weight, large muscle group, training or any aggressive sprint. High impact anaerobic work will burn some fat even if it is too slow to supply the total energy requirement, but the converse is not true. A low impact, low intensity level of work (purely aerobic by definition) will not consume much fat as the intensity may be too low. If insufficient air is present then energy can still be generated. However, there is a cost. Mostly muscular stiffness and exhaustion. The stiffness is caused by lactic acid not being washed away efficiently from muscle because of an insufficient blood supply. Lactic acid is a product of anaerobic energy production. Trained athletes have a more efficient blood flow and so are less prone to the build-up of acidic products than untrained individuals. It is always a good idea to warm down with low impact exercises to use up this lactic acid instead of it creating more or leaving it to remain inside the body causing problems. Residual acidic products considerably impair muscle function causing pain and damage.
Too much of a potential energy source won't be wasted by the body. Extra carbohydrate is not lost. Remember though that only so much can be stored in body muscle and the liver. This stored glucose is the instant energy, the fuel in the tank. Extra sugar is converted by the body into fat which can be stored. This explains why eating too many sugary things ends up in fat gain. It's also a probable reason that sugary 'foods' are more likely to become fat than simply eating fatty foods directly! The body doesn't waste anything, but simply converts carbohydrate into fat and then stores it in specialised adipose cells. It is all to do with balance. For the amount of exercise you do, you must adjust something. Either eat less or do more exercise.
To lose weight you step up your work rate while limiting the intake of new food. Not necessarily easy to do, but quite straightforward in principle. Eating too much is the equivalent to drinking too much: there are consequences. The important feature is to ensure you consume enough good quality food which contains vital minerals (vitamins). Wholemeal bread has all the essential impurities that are normally removed in the refining process to form white flour. Unrefined is good. Refined is bad. A lot of the natural good content has been refined out to leave mostly carbohydrate and not much else. Cereals like bran are an excellent energy source, but also contain fibre and other minerals and vitamins. Skimmed or at least semi-skimmed milk have all (or most) of the fat removed, but most of the water soluble products in tact. Greasy foods: chips, roasts should be avoided. Potatoes are an excellent food: very low fat and packed with goodness. It is the butter or margarine added to potatoes that is fattening, not the potato itself. However, as a source of carbohydrate, the potato is potentially the source of sugar, that if unused, will be converted to fat for storage.
Glycemic Index
Cottage cheese maybe dull, but it is fat free. Fresh fruit is beneficial, but be aware of fruit juices. Manufacturers make claims of sugar-free drinks. What they mean is that it is glucose free. Natural fruit contains the sugar called fructose: almost the same thing, but is still not glucose. It's the sort of thing the food industry can get away with as it's legal to misinform. Not actually a lie, just not the complete truth. Clever wording (sometimes not so clever), but nonetheless misleading if you're not alert. The labelling on foods is very cynical and you should familiarise yourself with how to read food labels. The body converts fructose to glucose so it can be used. Consumption of fruit juices without exercise will result in extra (fat) weight being gained. The industry will try all sorts of tricks to confuse you and lead you to believe something is what it actually is not. Remember that the industry, like the human body, wastes nothing. If a food is produced that has been processed to give a low fat or fat-free something, then this fat ends up in something else, by the back door. You can be sure that any cheap variety of food or inexpensive choices on menus have high fat content. Not always, but very common. Salt effectively disguises the flavour of fat.
- One day they'll tax fat - a waste product. They did it on petrol (They = government). The invention of the petrol engine was a really masterful stroke. Petrol would have no other practical large scale use were it not for the petrol engine. It is the end product of oil refining only to be burnt off!
Muscle moves the bones and allows us to move. Carbohydrate is only one energy source, albeit the most important. Fat, although an energy source under certain conditions is mostly important for body chemistry to work properly. Muscle is made up of special proteins. You don't need to know or understand the mechanism of action, but just accept that protein foods allow growth and repair. When the body is damaged or tissues are replaced as they wear out, protein sources provide the building blocks to make anew. The correct stressing training will make muscle grow, but only if the diet provides a source of protein. The body cannot store protein for later use. You must continually supply protein in your diet. This is part of the nutrition programme.
NB: Protein formation is dynamic and protein is constantly broken down and resynthesised by the body.
To readjust the body weight from surplus fat to more protein, the work rate must be adjusted at the same time as eating habits. Protein and fat are different chemically and the one can never make the other. It is a physiological impossibility. Even though water and petrol may both be liquids, they are very different. Similarly, fats exist in a huge range and all are different 'fats'. There are thousands of different alcohols, yet only one ethyl alcohol that is consumed by humans in alcoholic beverages. Less fatty or sugary foods are essential, but you must balance this with more sugary food for energy supply if your training demands it. To get the balance right is somewhat by trial and error. Obvious things are take your tea without sugar. You'll soon get used to it. Taste will change as you start to reduce or limit certain food groups you are used to. When people come off cigarettes the taste of food returns. It is usually why people appear to put on weight when they stop smoking. They eat too much because they have rediscovered the taste in food. And like it. Some begin smoking again to 'lose weight'. Illogical so be aware. Eventually, stability of a new way of life takes effect. Stay with it. Nutrition is a science in itself, but a lot of it is just common sense.
Be realistic in setting yourself a goal of 4-6 months' time for review. Allow your body to adapt slowly. It's permanent then. You will have begun the process of changing body composition. Replacing a little extra fat you may have to be replaced by new muscle if you want, but the start is to make what you have more efficient. It means training hard, but to firm up. Stretch marks are the fat cells under the skin containing too much fat. The skin has lost it's structural firmness. Lessen this and harden up the muscle and it will all readjust. Start your training now with modified eating habits and look at yourself in the mirror (it's not always vanity). Throw out your scales. Use what you see as your guide and how you feel. Scales tell the wrong story, unless you are grossly overweight and even then they only tell about body weight loss not what has been lost. In fact, a carefully constructed weight (loss) training program can put extra weight on. The paradox is answered by recognising that fat is lost at the same time that protein is added. The weight may remain the same or appear to not move particularly much. Stronger, improved shape. Firm. Not loose and 'flabby'. Visibly noticeable. Be careful, though that it is very easy to be deluded by water loss as being a weight loss caused by loss of fat. Definitely not: the loss of water is immediate, but the loss of fat takes time. The illusion of weight reduction by not considering the loss of essential water is dangerous.
In around three months or so and you won't recognise yourself if you take any weight control method very seriously. If you don't you will possibly be giving yourself a lot of grief for no purpose. You will see yourself shaping up and feeling the difference and this will spur you on. You should train everything. It sounds a lot but needn't overwhelm you if exercises are carefully selected. If you are not into bodybuilding many of the exercises can be ignored. Just use the basic ones. Shoulders, arms, back, front (abs/chest), gluteals (bum), legs - back and front and calves. It does sound a lot but needn't take as long as you may imagine. Be aware that training the small muscles does not achieve much. Big upper arms are formed by training the triceps and they have twice the physical bulk of the bicep.
Include in this some stretching and done in the right way can become part of your strength training. Remember, no one else can get fit for you. No one can stretch for you, eat for you. You have to do it all. But then you are personally responsible for any of the improvements. It motivates you. Makes you feel happier with yourself. It can provide you with amazing new insights to confidence. Do the things you didn't think you could, although you may have wished for it. No longer the wannabe like so many remain all their lives. Doing it. What you want. One of those things you most desire. To look and feel great. Fitness can lead onto many things. Fitness is only a part of it. You can include strength and suppleness.
Fitness is a biproduct of (any) training. You don't train to get fit, it just happens when you train at whatever you do.
posted by Louis Brothnias @ 7:50 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home