Even though I rarely use the internet for surfing, I know for a fact that it is very easy to waste time on internet and television. As mentioned in some of my earlier posts I find motivation to be the number one key to getting fit. So why not join the activities that are time wasters and you find fun with activities that are not that motivational like exercise bikes fitness or jogging on a treadmill?

A simple way to spice up your exercise is to put the television in front of your exercise bike and watch your favourite sports or series while working out. Two makers, Matt Gray and Tom Scott, have brought the idea of bringing fun and dull together by conneting a computer to a microcontroller that monitors your workout. If you are pedaling slowly, the internet will also run slowly, so you better keep up the pace.

Even though the “webcycle” prototype is pretty basic, it is a good idea. You could see the webcycle in action on Matt’s homepage.

Please post me a comment if you find similar crazy suggestions for spicing up your exercise.

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I came across this nice article on eliteFTS describing a simple test that anyone can use to determine whether a day is good for working out or not. Basically you are testing your central nervous systems (CNS) responsiveness by tapping as fast as possible and recording the number of taps within a given time.

A google search suggests that 10 seconds is a good starting point. By recording the number of taps over time and checking wheter your tap rate is slower or faster than the average you should be able to find out wheter you have a fresh and ready CNS for training. The test is supposed to be a good starting point to plan your training. I will definitely check it out.

Please leave a comment if you have experiences with the finger tap test. I’m interested in learning about user experiences.

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There are at least three important reasons for finding out how fit you are:

1. For measurement of progress
2. For making programs based on your fitness level
3. To compare yourself with others

Measurements of progress is, as mentioned several times earlier, very important as a motivational tool and for making you stick to a goal. You only need to set a new goal, find a method that can measure your progress and stick with that method until your goal is met. When you are done you basically need to switch both goals and methods for measuring the progress.

When you have decided to start doing some kind of cardio fitness, for example exercise bikes fitness, you want to set a target heart rate to lose weight or get better stamina. Many programs are designed around using your oxygen uptake for setting your target heart rate. This was mentioned in my previous article “Find Your Fat Burning Sweet Spot”

Oxygen uptake is a good indicator of your current fitness level. The most common way of measuring your oxygen uptake is to put you on a treadmill, strap on a oxygen measurement mask and have you run. The equipment will measure your oxygen uptake in VO2 max, a measurement of how quick your body can use the oxygen from the air.

Having a lab at home would be very practical, but not very economic. You probably would need to share off half of your living room just to get space for a VO2 lab, too. Not to mention the medic that you would need to have an extra bed room for in order to monitor your health.

A more practical way of doing oxygen uptake takes at home is doing a simple step test. One such test is test is the Åstrand step test. Here is what you need to do:

1. Find a suitable box/chair etc that have the height of 40cm if you are male, and 33cm if you are female.
2. Bring a stop watch and (if available) a heart rate monitor. The HR monitor is not necessary.
3. Try stepping up and down the box for some times to find your balance.
4. Start stepping up and down the box at a pace of 1 second up, 1 second down.
5. Repete the stepping for a total time of 5 minutes and finish stepping.
6. Measure your heart rate within 30 seconds after finishing the stepping. You can do this by pressing your index and middle finger lightly to your neck artery and count the heart beats for 30 seconds. Multiply that number by 2 to find your heart rate. If using a heart rate monitor you get the result out directly.
7. Insert the data that you got into the calculator below to find your current VO2 max and fitness level.

You now have no excuse for not measuring your fitness level on a regular basis. So bring your stop watch now and start stepping!

Sources:

Wikipedia V02 max

The Åstrand-Ryhming test/method under the magnifying glass

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In principle 4 i mention working your muscles until you slow down and then take a short break of about 15 seconds, or 5-7 deep breaths, before continuing. This principle is called “rest pause” and will effectively work your muscles and give you what is known as “the pump”.

In principle 5 i mention working your negative (eccentric) part of the exercise, typically the lowering part, with higher tension or longer time than the pulling (concentric) part. Since you are stronger in the negative phase of the lift you are able to stress the muscle more. The slow negative phase can be used in combination with a fast positive phase to give an even harder workout.

It is possible to combine the two principles into one exercise. To stress the muscle more in the negative part you could go slower or have a helper on the positive part. If you are alone you could use two hands or feet on the positive part and only one on the negative part.

For chinups negatives is very simple: Just start at a bench or a chair. You could add weights to a waist belt if the exercise gets to easy.

I made a video showing the two techniques in combination for chinups. I start with a warm up set of 12, then continue with 3 sets of 3 followed by 3 sets of two. The whole exercise takes about 5 minutes to do.

Now you have everything you need to get a super optimized workout.

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Have you ever eaten plutonium? Me neither. But I know for sure that if I ate it my body would have difficulties digesting it and I probably would have severe health problems afterwards. The same thing goes with trans fats. Even though trans fatty acids are far from being plutonium they still cause health problems for people eating them.

Doctors, nutritionists and researchers are all agreeing that trans fats are bad for you. They are researched and linked to coronary heart disease and numerous other severe diseases as well. In 1994 it was estimated that as much as 30 000 people in the US died from heart disease related to trans fats.

Trans fats are mostly artificial fats created by bubbling hydrogen through vegetable oil. The chemical reaction causes the oil to harden and is called hydrogenation. If you hydrogenate vegetable oils completely you transform the fats from being unsaturated to being saturated, changing the chemical structure of the fatty acids. If you only hydrogenate the oil partially, creating a softer fat, you are left with large amounts of trans fatty acids.

The soft fat that you have after partially hydrogenating are attractive for the food industry as they are cheaper than butter, have increased shelf life, decreased need of refrigeration and decreased rancidity for long term use as frying oils. This in combination with the anti saturated fat craze of the nineties have made them popular substitutes in cookies, cakes, popcorn and deep fried products like potato chips and french fries.

I have made a list with data from USDA of the products with the highest amounts of trans fats:

Trans monoenoic:

1. Shortening, industrial, soy (partially hydrogenated ) for baking and confections (40%)
2. USDA Commodity Food, shortening, all purpose, soybean (partially hydrogenated) and cottonseed (31%)
3. Oil, vegetable, industrial, soy ( partially hydrogenated), all purpose(30%)
4. Oil, vegetable, industrial, soy (partially hydrogenated ), palm, principal uses icings and fillings (28%)
5. Oil, industrial, soy (partially hydrogenated) and cottonseed, principal use as a tortilla shortening (27%)
6. Oil, vegetable, industrial, canola (partially hydrogenated) oil for deep fat frying (23%)
7. Margarine, industrial, non-dairy, cottonseed, soy oil (partially hydrogenated ), for flaky pastries (22%)
8. Margarine, industrial, soy and partially hydrogenated soy oil, use for baking, sauces and candy (19%)
9. Margarine-like shortening, industrial, soy (partially hydrogenated), cottonseed, and soy, principal use flaky pastries(18%)
10. Margarine-butter blend, soybean oil and butter (14%)

Trans polyenoic:

1. Oil, vegetable, industrial, soy ( partially hydrogenated), all purpose (5%)
2. Oil, vegetable, industrial, canola (partially hydrogenated) oil for deep fat frying (4%)
3. Shortening, industrial, soy (partially hydrogenated ) and corn for frying (4%)
4. Oil, vegetable, industrial, soy (partially hydrogenated), principal uses popcorn and flavoring vegetables (4%)
5. Oil, industrial, soy (partially hydrogenated) and cottonseed, principal use as a tortilla shortening (4%)
6. Oil, vegetable, industrial, soy (partially hydrogenated), multiuse for non-dairy butter flavor (3%)
7. Shortening, industrial, soy (partially hydrogenated), pourable liquid fry shortening (3%)
8. Margarine, industrial, non-dairy, cottonseed, soy oil (partially hydrogenated ), for flaky pastries (3%)
9. Oil, vegetable, industrial, soy (partially hydrogenated ), palm, principal uses icings and fillings (3%)
10. USDA Commodity Food, shortening, type III, creamy liquid, soybean and soybean (partially hydrogenated) (3%)

I don’t know which ones are the worst of the two kinds of trans fats, but I know for sure that I will really stay away from shortenings, margarines and frying oils. This is the easy part. What is difficult are when these products are added to other products. You can not, even when reading on shortening and margarine food labels, find the amount of trans fats in the products. You think that the product is healthy as it contains plenty of mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids that you were taught were healthy.

The take home message would be – stay away from processed food at all costs and live a healthy life.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortening

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As covered in my earlier article omega 3 fatty acids are important for health. Recent research has shown though, that the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 might not be of such importance after all.

What seems to be important is whether the fatty acid is long branched or not. The short branched fatty acid ALA (alpha linolenic acid) is an essential fatty acid and could be converted in the body to more long branched fatty acids like the more known EPA (eicosapentaenoic) and DHA (docosahexaenoic). The problem is that the body can only convert a small amount of ALA to the proven healthy longer branched cousins. If this was not the problem we could have all been eating tortilla chips, which is on top of the list of ALA omega 3 sources.

Even though there are some interesting longer branched omega 3 fatty acids like ETA (20:4 n-3), the USDA only have measurements of the more studied sources, EPA (20:5 n-3), DPA (22:5 n-3) and DHA (22:6 n-3).

Here are the top 10 lists for natural sources of long branched omega 3 by content as found in the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (content per 100g is shown in parantheses):

EPA:

1. Fish oil, menhaden (13.2)
2. Fish oil, salmon (13.0)
3. Fish oil, sardine (10.1)
4. Oil, bearded seal (Oogruk) (Alaska Native) (9.7)
5. Fish oil, cod liver (6.9)
6. Fish oil, herring (6.3)
7. Oil, spotted seal (Alaska Native) (3.9)
8. Oil, beluga, whale (Alaska Native) (2.8)
9. Fish, caviar, black and red, granular (2.7)
10. Fish, mackerel, salted (1.6)

DPA:

1. Oil, bearded seal (Oogruk) (Alaska Native) (5.6)
2. Fish oil, menhaden (4.9)
3. Oil, spotted seal (Alaska Native) (3.4)
4. Fish oil, salmon (3.0)
5. Fish oil, sardine (2.0)
6. Oil, beluga, whale (Alaska Native) (1.6)
7. Fish oil, cod liver (0.9)
8. Fish oil, herring (0.6)
9. Fish, salmon, Atlantic, farmed, raw (0.4)
10. Fish, mackerel, salted (0.4)

DHA:

1. Fish oil, salmon (18.2)
2. Oil, bearded seal (Oogruk) (Alaska Native) (12.4)
3. Fish oil, cod liver (11.0)
4. Fish oil, sardine (10.7)
5. Fish oil, menhaden (8.6)
6. Oil, spotted seal (Alaska Native) (6.5)
7. Fish oil, herring (4.2)
8. Oil, beluga, whale (Alaska Native) (3.9)
9. Fish, caviar, black and red, granular (3.8)
10. Fish, mackerel, salted (3.0)

Krill Oil has recently become the next big thing. There are some studies indicating that it might be better than fish oils for omega 3 uptake. I will wait until the buzz is gone before choosing a different omega 3 source than fish oils.

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I have earlier told you that I love high intensity interval training (HIIT) if you are in a hurry to lose weight and are short of time. So why should you even consider doing other kinds of fat burning activities?
 
HIIT can be quite taxing if you do it the correct way with full intensity. If you do HIIT over 2-3 times a week you have no energy left for other activities. If you have sufficient time you should seriously consider doing steady state cardio for sessions.
 
In a comparative study of traditional interval training and long run cardio, the trainees doing long run cardio lost the most fat. In a different study the training intensity was studied to see which intensity resulted in the greatest fat loss. They discovered that an moderate intensity (62-63% of VO2max or 70-75% of HRmax) gave the best results. This is a little bit higher intensity than what is usually suggested.
 
So how do you find your fat burning sweet spot?

1. Calculate your HRmax, or better, measure your VO2max
2. Calculate the intensity necessary to lose the maximum amount of fat
3. Use a heart rate monitor to stay at the sweet spot

 
All calculations can be made by typing in your age below:

So buy yourself a heart rate montitor, set the the fat shedding intensity according to the above calculations and start exercising. Exercise on a close to empty stomach, which has shown to give the best results. You could pick working out on a treadmill, an exercise bike or choose your favourite activity outdoors.
 
Now stop reading and start doing!

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There are three supplement groups that I still regard as valuable: proteins/important amino acids, omega 3s and creatine monohydrate. I have written som articles on the benefits of proteins. Creatine has a benefit for some people on the ability to lift heavier lifts, and should be considered as something extra. This article will be about omega 3s.

Imagine that there is a raging war inside your body. The war is about who is gonna win the battle between good and bad fatty acids. One one side there are the omega 6s and on the opposite side there are the omega 3s. Omega 6s are closely related to inflammations in your body and omega 3s try to fight this happening. The problem is that the omega 6s get reinforcements every day.

This is not far from the truth. Even though omega 6 is essential to your health and can only be obtained by consumption they are not difficult to get. Most foods found in the grocery store contain high amounts of omega 6, only a few are good sources of omega 3, and your body is not able to produce them by other sources. This is the reason why the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 found in the body could be as high as 30 to 1. Originally the 6 to 3 ratio was more like 1 to 2 for the early hunter and gatherer man.

So why are inflammations such a big deal? Aren’t they like the swelling that occours when spraining your ancle, you might ask. Well actually inflammations are linked to several more severe conditions:

• heart attacks
• thrombotic stroke
• arrhythmia
• arthritis
• asthma
• tendonitis

High omega 6 to 3 ratio has also been linked to:

• cancer (breast and prostate)
• osteoporosis
• mood disorders (depressions)

Omega 3 has shown to reverse many of these disorders. That is the reason why they should matter to you.

In order to balance this ratio and to obtain a better health you need to change what you eat. Cold water oily fish and grass fed beef are known to be good sources of omega 3. Don’t make the mistake of using vegetable sources like flax seed oil for omega 3. Even though they contain contain high amounts of omega 3, they are not long branched fatty acids, which are the sources shown to have a health benefit.

So now you have no exuse to not go hunting for some omega 3 the next time you are in a grocery store.

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The next day you look in the mirror again and feel a little lighter. You measure your body weight and see that it has actually gone down instead of up. That’s really strange!

In the days following the cheating you are expecting to get the punishment for your sins. But the mirror and the scale do not lie – you have lost fat.

The body is really complex. What happens if you remove food for a period is that it goes into energy saving mode. It will try to save as much muscle and fat as possible, but with no energy something has to go. So both muscle and fat will disappear, but the fat burning will go slower than usual.

If you bring back the food, and especially the carbohydrates, the fat burning will kick start. If you continue eating for more than the cheat the fat burning effect will be taken over by fat storing.

There was a buzz about cheat dieting few years ago in the fitness community. I read a nice article about Joel Marion’s book “The Cheat to lose diet” where he introduced how cheating could help you shed fat and was convinced. Many fitness nutrition experts now seem to agree that planned cheating once in a while is actually good for fat burning.

Now Joel Marrion seems to have developed a complete system called “Cheat Your Way Thin”. For those who don’t know Joel Marrion he is the 2001 body-for-life champion and a highly regarded fitness guru. His system seems to have quite a few followers. If you would like to know more about the “Cheat your way thin” diet you can find more info here.

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I see variations of this question over and over on health forums. People just don’t know what they should do to lose weight and are desperately looking for a solution. They have tried every diet there is: grapefruit diets, drop all fat, eat only two meals a day etc. Usually these diets that they have tried have done them worse than good.

People who has a considerate weight problem, who are either overweight or obese have more or less the same problem: They just are not eating correctly. You can exercise as much as you like, but it doesn’t matter as long as you are eating the wrong stuff.

When you have put on some weight your body usually have a low insulin sensitivity, meaning that when you eat something the body need to produce more insulin than normal to absorb the food. The pancreas get’s tired after a while and you are in risk of getting diabetes II. On top of that fat tissue is “hungry” for energy. If you already have some body fat, the food you are eating would rather go to your fat tissue to produce more fat than to give your muscles energy. That is the reason why overweight people seems to only get in worse and worse shape. The good thing is that this is reversible if you change your diet and start exercising.

I have touched the subject of weight loss earlier. Here are my general answers to the question of how you could lose weight:

Look at your current calorie consumption by doing a calorie count and find out what you need to eat to lose weight.

Avoid eating sugars, high glycemic index foods and saturated fats.

Do not eat 2-3 big meals a day. Make sure that the meals you are eating are smaller and contains proteins, fibers and healthy fats. Healthy fats are unsaturated fats and fish fats. You get fibers from grains, fruits and vegetables. Make sure that the foods you are eating have a low glycemic index. Look up lists of glycemic index to get an idea.

Eat as many as 6-8 meals a day. That will make you feel fuller throughout the day and keep you from getting carbohydrate cravings. Another reason for eating smaller protein containing meals is that the body has a powerful hormone called leptine. Leptine will not be produced if the body detects that there are no proteins available. That leads to bad carbohydrate cravings, muscle breakdown and production of hormones that make you easier get injured or catch an illness.

Start exercising on a regular basis. Try to involve your lower body because the biggest muscles are located there. Exercise has shown to give a great benefit to insulin sensitivity.

Here are some additional tips on how to keep the fat coming off:

• Clear the house of any junk food. You will come back to them at times when you are craving.
• Never eat in front of the television. That will lead to you eating more than normal.
• Eat at a slower pace than you are currently doing. It takes about 20 minutes for your body to recognize that the stomach is full so eating slowly will make you stop eating earlier.
• Put on smaller portions than you normally are doing. Filling up your plate is a guarantee for you to eat more than you need.

If everybody lived by these rules they would have no problem with their weight.

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