valshealthblog.com

Hi,

So just how often should your exercise?

There have been many exercise gurus that say you should exercise every day for over an hour a day. 

That is way too much for the average person and it is not necessary to build and maintain your fitness levels.

On the other hand, how long can you go without having to exercise?

Should you do something every day or every other day?  Can you skip a week or even a month?

Turns out this wasn’t really studied too much.  That is until some researchers got together and decided to figure this out.

If someone is on bed rest, how long would it take for the muscles to start losing size and strength? 

These researchers put 8 men on complete bed rest and put one leg in suspended traction. 

Every one of them had a significant amount of muscle loss and strength in just 3 days. 

Just one holiday weekend without any activity and now you have to work twice as hard just to get back to where you were. 

This signicant loss of size and strength did not all of a sudden happen on the third day.  There was a small but measurable loss happening almost from the beginning of the bed rest. 

Of course absolute bed rest is something you probably don’t do and any activity is better than nothing.

Based on these finding though you might want to consider doing some exercise at least every other day. 

It doesn’t have to be the 60-90 minute exercise sessions that are so popular. 

In fact just a few seconds several times a day will help you more than those long unproductive sessions. 

We’ll get more into this in later posts.  Stay tuned.

Thanks,

Mike Val

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Hi,

Last post we talked about the guy who exercised like crazy versus the woman (trainer) who did the slowest workout in the world.  Which one had the most productive exercise time?

Now sometimes I and others see someone working out like that and wonder why do they even bother.  It is “obvious” that they are not getting anything out of it. 

But, the real answer is they are getting something out of it.  Any exercise is better than no exercise. 

Maybe the woman trainer was coming off an injury or maybe she was trying as hard as she could.  There is no way that I or anyone could know what her motives were without asking her. 

So I don’t have a problem with people not pushing themselves like I do.  Oh, and I was the guy used in the example, but I am sure most of you figured that out. 

Let me tell you a story about a time when I couldn’t do much either. 

I was born with a deformity in my back.  It is a minor one, but it did bother me off and on throughout my life. 

However, it finally did give out and I had to get surgery.  It was a simple ruptured disc and I could have lived with it, but it affected my leg and my walking.  So I had the surgery and everything was okay.

However, when I went back to the gym, I was lifting 5 pound weights.  And it took a long time before I felt comfortable lifting heavier. 

So I am sure that those people who didn’t know me, were wondering why I bothered.  After all lifting 5 pound weights wasn’t helping me they thought.

But, it was.  All exercise helps.  Now mine was mostly rehabilitative.  And it worked.  Today, I can do the kind of exercise routine shown in the last post. 

Getting back to the woman trainer.  If that is the way she wants to workout, then fine.  My only concern is she teaches her students or clients the same way. 

And this happens a lot with trainers.  I remember one of my buddies was talking about this woman who came in and trained for over 3 years and never changed her appearance at all. 

He said, if he had a trainer that didn’t help, then he would shoot that trainer.  Now he was joking, but he brought up a valid point. 

Whether you have a trainer or not if you are not making progress – by looking better, by becoming more fit, by losing body fat, by getting stronger, etc – then you need to change something. 

If you don’t know what to change and your trainer or coach isn’t helping you, then you have to find a way to make your exercise time more productive. 

That is why I write these posts.  That is why I have been a fitness instructor and coach for years. 

If you are interested in personal coaching to ramp up your exercise time, then just contact me at: mike@valshealthblog.com

Thanks,

Mike Val

http://www.valshealthsite.com

Hi,

Last post talked about exercise time and how low intensity cardio really wasn’t the way to go. 

Before going any further I want to clarify something.  There is nothing wrong with taking a long walk or jog.

In fact, doing that does have several benefits.  This is especially true if you can take your long walk (30 minutes or so) in a park or natural surroundings. 

Taking a walk downtown during rush hour is not going to give you the benefits you need.  And breathing all that polluted air is sort of counter productive to good health. 

The other thing is, if you are just starting out on an exercise program, then starting with even short walks, is a good way to get your body acclimated to moving. 

Just build up from there. 

The same holds true for using weights in your exercise program. 

When you are starting out, use lighter weights and do less reps and sets. 

Build up from there.  You will need to get your joints, tendons, ligaments and muscles used to doing certain exercises. 

However to make real progress and get the full benefits of any weight training you will not be helping your self by using light weights.

A lot of people think you can tone your muscles with light weights and high reps.  Again, this is a fallocy. 

Your body is very good at adapting.  Once it gets used to a certain weight and rep amount, then doing the same will not help you. 

It will not even help you maintain what you have.  This is because your body adapts to the stress that lifting weights puts on it.

If you are lifting 5 pounds for 20 reps in the bicep curl, the body will adapt to that level.  If you continue doing the same weight and the same reps, pretty soon your body adapts and doesn’t use the same amount of energy to do the exercise. 

If you don’t do something to adapt to your body adapting to that level, pretty soon your body will actually get weaker. 

It doesn’t need the same amount of energy, so you are burning less calories to get the exercise done.  You are using less muscle to get the same exercise done.  You are using less mitochondria to get the exercise done. 

The list goes on and on, while you are getting heavier and weaker.

That is why you can go to the gym and exercise and not get any stronger.  That is why you can go to the gym and exercise and not lose any weight.  That is why you can go to they gym and exercise and not change your body.

Yet, people do make progress.   Some make tremendous progress with the exercise time they have. 

Stay tuned to find out how. 

Mike Val

http://www.valshealthsite.com

Hi,

Just how long should your exercise time be? 

Well, that depends upon what you are trying to do.  Are you trying to build muscle or to burn fat?

Are you trying to get in better shape or just maintain what you have?

As with most things in life, everything starts with a goal in mind.  It is no different with your fitness life. 

Most people think long term, moderate pace aerobics are the best for fat loss.  Everyone “knows” you have to walk or jog for at least 20-30 minutes to reach the fat burning zone. 

Problem is, that what everyone “knows” is wrong. 

Yes, you can burn some body fat if you walk or jog for 20-30 minutes or more.   The problem is that you will only burn fat during the last few minutes of those 20-30 minutes. 

And your fat burning will stop as soon as you stop exercising. 

So if your goal is to burn body fat, then you have to walk or jog for way longer than 20-30 minutes or you have to do something different. 

You could increase your pace so that you are running and this will help you burn more fat than a walk.  But, still it isn’t very efficient. 

And it isn’t the healthiest way to lose body fat.  Now, if you do run long distances – like a marathon runner – you will lose fat and weight over a period of time.  

This will also increase your risk of developing all kinds of runner’s problems.  Like shin splints, sore ankles, sore knees, sore hips and back pain. 

If you are older, this is not the way to go. 

Not only that but there are other adverse health problems that people develop with long distant running.  That is another story though.

For now we are still concerned with fat loss. 

If you do stop this long term running, or jogging or walking, you will be more inclined to regain the weight you lost faster. 

The reason is that this type of aerobics does nothing for your muscles.  So the weight loss is not only body fat, but also muscle loss. 

You will be just a smaller image of yourself. 

Tommorrow we well talk about how to cut your exercise time way down, develop muscles and fuel your fat burning furnace 24-7. 

Stay tuned,

Mike Val