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Myth about Spot Reduction

Myth about Spot Reduction
One of the common questions as a fitness trainer I have encountered is if spot reduction- reducing fat from a particular area is possible or not?

If a gym client has a problem collecting more fat around the abdominal area or generally a woman collecting more fat around the lower body they always request the trainers to give them more exercises for the abs or the lower body. But, is spot reduction actually possible? or is it a myth?

As a teenager we collect less amount of fat despite eating all the junk food. One major reason for this is while in the youth, the amount of muscle mass that we carry is more as compared to an elderly person. Hence, the BMR of a youth is quite high when as a teenager and it remains high up to the age of 24 or 25 years of age. Post 25, the degeneration sets in and the muscle mass starts to decline. Muscle being a metabolically active tissue contributes towards increasing the BMR. With the muscle mass degenerating, the BMR also drops and the individual starts collecting fat all over the body. But, in every individual there is a spot where he/she collects more fat then the other parts of the body.

The collection of fat in particular spots is dictated by an individual’s genetics. When, I say pre-decided by genetics, it means that it runs in the family. It is now important to understand how this happens?

Here we need to understand the role of 2 important hormones in our body

1)      Insulin and 2) Glucagon.

Insulin acts like a transporter of micro and macro nutrients into the liver and muscle cells. Insulin also plays a role of maintaining the blood sugar levels after a high carbohydrate meal by lowering the blood sugar levels and avoids a person from going into Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar levels).

Glucagon on the other hand is a hormone that again maintains blood sugar levels by increasing the blood sugar level during long hours of starvation or when an individual lowers the carbohydrate intake in his meals. Here, glucagon plays the role of raising the blood sugar levels and avoids the state of hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar levels).

After having simple carbohydrates such as sugar, chocolates, white rice, white bread, some fruits with high glycemic index, potatoes and other starch, the conversion of these foods into sugar is very fast and it increases the blood sugar levels.

Please note the sugar that is stored within the muscle as muscle glycogen is preserved by the body for any high intense anaerobic activity that we perform in our day to day activity (like running fast or lifting some heavy object etc)

In order to loose fat, a person needs to cut down on simple carbohydrates and keep complex carbohydrate in a reduced quantity (as and when required) as well as start in taking good amount of fibres and protien.When carbohydrates are reduced,
the body is deprived of energy so it starts surviving on the blood sugar for energy. The blood sugar levels drop then to normal thereby leading to hypoglycemia. This activates the pancreas to release Glucagon.

Glucagon starts to maintain the blood sugar levels by raising it. Since the sugar inflex is reduced from outside, the glucagon has no option but to use liver glycogen to raise the blood sugar levels. Once, the liver storage of glycogen is over, it moves to the muscle glycogen. Muscle glycogen is not released by the body as it is reserved for a high intense activity. Now glucagon has no other option but to move towards the fat cell to get energy for survival. Here, one more enzyme known as the HSL (Hormone sensitive lipase) which is on the fat cell allows the triglycerides to exit from the fat cell in the form of free fatty acid into the blood stream and it is used up by the tissues as a source of energy.

This is already programmed by our genetics and cannot be changed through any exercise or spot reduction techniques.

Performing abdominal exercises will definitely strengthen the abdominal muscles which will help an individual to increase his or her functionality in day to day activities as well as it will also help in lifting a decent poundage in functional movements like squats, Lunges, Bendover rows, Overhead presses and Regular deadlifts. But, abdominal exercises DO NOT give you a spot reduction. Hence, the intention of abdominal workout is increasing strength of the abdomen and not spot reduction.

Fat loss is all throughout the body because it catogorized as BODY FAT and not fat of the abdomen, arms, back, chest or legs.

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One-Stop Shop Workout – Swimming

swimming
Swimming is a sport or activity of propelling oneself through water using the limbs. Swimming is an activity that burns lots of calories, is easy on the joints, supports your weight, builds muscular strength and endurance, improves cardiovascular fitness, cools you off and refreshes you in summer, and one that you can do safely into old age.

Some people who enjoy swimming want to take it to a competitive level. This can provide the health benefits of a vigorous workout as well as the fun and thrill of competition. The main strokes used in competitive swimming are breaststroke, freestyle, backstroke and butterfly. The distances swum in competition swimming can vary from 50 meters in a pool to much further distances in open water such as the sea.

Swimming can offer people of all ages a huge range of health benefits. You might just feel and look younger, have stronger muscles, and (according to a long time swimmer) better hair. Although you might not have awesome, shiny and chlorine enriched hair, you can find at least ten other reasons to swim.

Swimming gives your body the workout minus the harsh impacts. Another benefit is the living longer factor. You prolong your life and have higher brain activity with a regular swimming program. Control your weight and have a healthier heart plus lower your risk of diabetes, stop asthma symptoms and have a higher quality of life.

Swimming is a great workout because you need to move your whole body against the resistance of the water. There are plenty of reasons to swim! Swimming is a good all-round activity because it:

  • Keeps your heart rate up but takes some of the impact stress off your body
  • Builds endurance, muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness
  • Helps maintain a healthy weight, healthy heart and lungs
  • Tones muscles and builds strength
  • Provides an all-over body workout, as nearly all of your muscles are used during swimming.

Swimming has many other benefits including:

  • Being a relaxing and peaceful form of exercise
  • Alleviating stress
  • Improving coordination, balance and posture
  • Improving flexibility
  • Providing good low-impact therapy for some injuries and conditions
  • Providing a pleasant way to cool down on a hot day
  • Being available in many places – you can swim in swimming pools, beaches, lakes, dams and rivers. Make sure that the environment you choose to swim in is safe.

Before you dive in, Make sure you know how to swim, choose a safe environment, warm up and stretch your muscles and joints before entering the water and don’t overdo it if you’re just starting out.

There you have it. Swimming is an activity that builds strength, endurance, and tones muscles. It’s an activity that you can do all year long, inside or outside, it burns lots of calories, you can share it with your family, it’s low-impact (just in case your bones are creaky), and you can do it until you’re 100! It’s not too late to start if you never learned how (learning new stuff is cool even when you’re adult!). All in all, swimming is a winner, and if you have the inclination, I suggest that you go for it!

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No time for exercise? You need not FIND TIME for it!

Stretching-Collage

Given the fast paced life that we all lead, we seldom pay attention to our health. Our health is definitely not on our priority list. It’s an irony of life that we get so busy earning money throughout our early years of life that our health is neglected, and then we spend the rest of the life spending the well earned money on bettering our health.

What can we do about it? Of course the direct answer to it is to ‘Eat right and Exercise Regularly’.

Now when I talk about exercise, the immediate answer to this would be “I hardly find time to do it”. Some people even shell out loads of money and join a gym but invariably end up being irregular.

The question is… do we really need to spend hours on exercise every day to get fit? Not at all! Even if you extract 1 % of your day i.e. about 15 minutes and get into some quick exercises, it will do wonders to your body! Believe me, it will!

An ideal exercise schedule should include a combination of cardio and strengthening exercises. Cardio exercises are the ones which pump up your heart rate and enhance your blood circulation. Strengthening exercises are the ones which work on your muscles, breaking them down and then recuperating them at a faster rate.  It’s very essential to have a mix of both to have great fitness levels and a good body. Only cardio exercises might make you lose your muscles thus making your body flabby. Toning up is very important which is why strengthening plays an equally important role.

A simple brisk walk or a jog is a cardio exercise. You can use “walk-n-talk” method and get your 15 minute brisk walk done. If travelling by vehicle, you can park your car 15 minutes away from office and walk it up. The cab/bus travelers can get down 2 stops prior and walk it up to office. If that’s not all, you can avoid using the elevators and walk up the floors.

That’s about cardio exercises which could be done in no time and could be well adjusted in your working hours.

Now let me list down some strengthening exercises which could be done anywhere and wouldn’t consume much of your time

1)      Squats:

It’s a lower body workout and helps strengthening your core (abs and trunk from the belly all around to the back), gluteus (butt and upper back thigh) and quadriceps (front thighs)

2)     Pushups:

It’s an upper body workout that works on your chest, triceps and shoulders.

3)     Plank:

It supports both, lower and upper body and works on gluteus and core

4)     Burpees:

It’s actually a full body workout. It works on chest, shoulders, triceps, hip flexors (side hips) and core

5)     Lunges:

It’s a lower body workout and strengthens your lower back, quadriceps and core.

These are the exercises which have worked quite miraculously for many. Make sure you have no knee pain or back pain before you start with these. Moreover, it’s quite crucial to have the right posture while performing these.

So get started, get active. I am sure it’s not as difficult as it looks. And trust me, Excuses don’t burn calories… they really don’t!…..Exercises do!

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Stay Fit Stay Healthy

Stay Fit Stay Healthy
All of us are keen on being fit. Most often we keep complaining about being overweight and therefore I need to do something about it. The most common thing said is, “I am going to go for a jog every morning, so I will lose weight”.

Other common assumptions that people have is that if they walk to office or home they do not have to do any other workout, yoga is the best way of keeping fit,  I have brought dumbbells at home so I am doing workouts at home and so on…

Is this correct?  As I mentioned in my previous blog (http://goqii.com/blog/benefits-of-physical-activities-part-2/) every person must invest minimum 3 days a week in physical activities as per American College of Sports &Medicine (ACSM) guidelines.

To improve Health we must focus on basic health related components of the fitness.

Focus on basic components of Fitness

  • Cardiovascular Endurance or cardiovascular fitness

It is the major component of fitness. The word Cardio means heart. It is also known as cardio respiratory fitness and aerobic fitness. It refers to the capacity of heart, lungs and the vascular system to supply oxygenated blood to the working muscles tissue and the muscle capacity to use that oxygen which helps in producing the movements. If we involve ourselves in cardiovascular fitness regularly, the heart becomes stronger and efficient to supply oxygenated blood to the body. Cardiovascular exercise should be done for prolong period of time. These include jogging, running, cycling, swimming, skipping, aerobics and lots of exercise.

 

  • Muscular Strength

Muscular strength refers to the ability or a capacity of lifting a weight. This activity is fall under anaerobic zone because in this workout oxygen is not used .To improve muscular strength we need to do weight training.

 

  • Muscular Endurance

Muscular endurance refers to the performance of the repetitive contraction for extended or prolonged period of time. The exercise may be for the single muscle or the group of muscles. Activity which is more than fifteen seconds but less than two minutes includes in the muscular endurance training. Weight training helps to improve muscular endurance.

 

 

  • Flexibility

Flexibility refers to a range of joint motions. Stretching can help improve flexibility. Dynamic stretches are done before we start our exercises. Static stretches are done after the workout during the cool down phase. During, static stretching we need to hold each stretch minimum fifteen seconds to get maximum benefits.

 

  • Body Composition

Body composition refers to the ratio between fat mass and fats free mass in the body More the muscle and less body fat is consider a great body composition. More fats and fewer muscles indicate poor body composition. Greater body composition can be achieved with following the above basic components of fitness such as muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance and flexibility with the support of balance nutrition.

In as short if you are only jogging or brisk walking does not help. You have to look at the entire exercise components to achieve the necessary fitness and health goals. You can do alternates days of weight training and cardiovascular exercise. Following the above routine is one of the best examples of targeting all the components of the fitness.

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