My ultimate exercise motivation

My paternal grand mother is my ultimate exercise reason. At the age of 70 she decided not to get up from her bed reasoning it would extend her years on this Earth. During my childhood and youth my grandmother, my parents and I were sharing a small 2 bedroom apartment. I don’t have to tell you how wrong that decision was for her, and how it affected the life of our family, but the direct impact on me was the decision not to be like that as much as possible for as long as possible.

The longer I live, the more this decision is being reinforced by my personal experiences, common knowledge and the new scientific discoveries.

I read the brilliant and incredibly optimistic book by a great doctor and author Sherwin B. Nuland: the Art of Aging. The author, himself in his 70es, gives an honest and encouraging view on aging with grace and wisdom. He puts a great stress on the importance of exercise. The cornerstone principle of being physically (and mentally) fit is this: you don’t use it, you lose it!

Yes, it is true says Dr Nuland that we all are given different set DNAs and that drives a lot of how we age, but all else being equal, the well oiled mechanism will last longer then the neglected one.

While explaining the complex changes that happen in the aging body, he stresses the importance of vigorous exercise as means for slowing the aging process.

Exercise improves:
1) the heart muscle: ”A heart that has been benefited by a consistent schedule of vigorous exertion can respond to stress like a heart several decades younger, not only by its added ability to beat more forcefully and faster, but also by the capacity of its muscle cells to take up the required supplemental supply of oxygen from the blood.”
(From the personal experience, I used to have a heart murmur since birth, but not even a sonogram shows it now)
2) the cardio-vascular system - by improving” the ability of the larger arteries to adapt to the heightened blood flow required by exertion, and it increases the sensitivity of certain pressure monitoring structures”
3) the appearance: ”Planned vigorous exercise is a far better anti-aging treatment then all the elixirs, creams, lotions, potions, and cosmetic surgery in the world”
4) lessens bone loss: “The more stress put on the bone by the forces of the muscle attached to it, the more its’ cells respond by doing all they can to maintain and even add to bone mass and strength, including increasing the absorption of calcium from the bloodstream. Just as sedentary life encourages the loss of bone, a vigorously active life encourages increase in bone density”

These few excerpts from Dr Nuland’s book alone should convince you that exercise is invaluable in slowing down aging and assuring your version of the 60es, 70 and beyond are a far more optimistic one then the stereotype. Dr Nuland revives a concept stated by Oliver Wendell Holmes more than 150 year ago: “Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing”. Or, as we in BeachBody land say “Bring it!”

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Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D., is Clinical Professor of Surgery at the Yale University School of Medicine and a Fellow at Yale's Institute for Social and Policy Studies. He is the author of nine books, including Doctors: The Biography of Medicine, The Wisdom of the Body, The Mysteries Within, Lost in America: A Journey with My Father, and The Doctors' Plague: Germs, Childbed Fever, and the Strange Story of Ignác Semmelweis. His book How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter won the National Book Award and spent thirty-four weeks on the New York Times best-seller list.
[exercise motivation]

Running and Weight Loss (or lack thereof) Explained

I am a runner, and at this point running became a part of my personality, something that I need to do to maintain my sanity.
I ran for almost 10 years. I completed numerous half-marathongs.

I could never lose any weight while running!

I ran 20-25 miles a week, added biking to it, all to no avail. I was still carying a spare tire around my waist. My weight stayed at the same level.
Running half-marathons sure gave me the runners high, but never made me feel good in a dressing room.

It was a kind of rediculous situation.

Dissatisfied with it, I've started Slim in 6 in November of 2007, and I put my running on hold. Now I run very little - I call it maintenance runs - and focus instead in BeachBody programs and diet.

In other words - Slim in 6 got the magic formula (see the previous post "Slim in 6 Explained").

When I go to the park where I live I see a lot of people doing aerobic exercise, especially women. I think that Team in training and other charitable walk-a-thons and initiatives and literature about the benefits of the aerobic activity must be having an effect on the health-conscious population. But when I think on my experience and that of the runners I know who remain unable to lose weight, I scratch my head and reach out to science for the explanation

Here's the exserpt from Christian Finn, TheFactsAboutFitness.Com explaines this phenomenon:

"Aerobic exercise has a small effect on the rate of fat loss
Some answers come from a recent review of several hundred weight loss studies, conducted by Dr Wayne Miller and colleagues at The George Washington University Medical Centre (Miller et al.,1997). The team examined 493 studies carried out between 1969 and 1994. Miller and his associates wanted to determine whether the addition of aerobic exercise to a restricted calorie diet accelerated weight loss. Twenty-five years of weight loss research showed that diet and aerobic exercise provides only a very marginal benefit (in terms of weight loss) when compared to diet alone.
TABLE 1. Average weight loss over a 15-week period
Method Weight Loss
Aerobic exercise 3.3kg (7.3lb)
Restricted calorie diet 7.8kg (17.2lb)
Exercise and diet 9kg (19.8lb)

This is not the only research to cast doubt over the effectiveness of moderate aerobic exercise. A study completed at Appalachian State University also showed little effect on body composition over a 12-week period (Utter et al 1998).
The research team assigned a group of 91 obese women to one of four groups. Group one followed a restricted calorie diet (1,200 - 1,300 calories per day), group two performed moderate aerobic exercise for 45 minutes, five days each week, while a third group combined the exercise and diet programme. The fourth group acted as controls.
TABLE 2. Fat loss following a 12-week programme of diet and exercise
Method Weight Loss
Aerobic exercise 1.3kg (2.9lb)
Restricted calorie diet 6.8kg (15lb)
Exercise and diet 7.2kg (15.8lb)

"Moderate aerobic exercise training," says Alan Utter, the researcher leading the study, "has a minor, nonsignificant effect on fat mass."
Despite the popular support for aerobic training, it does not appear to significantly accelerate fat loss, even when combined with a low calorie diet. When performed without restricting calories, moderate aerobic exercise has only a very small effect on body fat levels.
Why moderate aerobic exercise is so ineffective
This isn't surprising when you consider how many calories are contained in a pound of fat. Each pound of fat contains the equivalent of approximately 3,555 calories (McArdle et al., 1991).
The most fundamental aspect of any fat loss programme is to create a caloric deficit - to expend more calories than are consumed. Unfortunately, moderate aerobic exercise has only a moderate caloric requirement - around 187 calories per session (Utter et al., 1998). Based on this estimate, it could take up to 19 moderate aerobic workouts to lose just 0.45kg (1lb) of fat.
This might come as a surprise to those of you using the calorie counters on exercise machines to monitor energy expenditure during a workout. Unfortunately, these digital readouts are not always accurate. The most reliable way to assess energy expenditure during exercise is to measure oxygen consumption. Each litre of oxygen that you consume generates approximately five calories of energy. For example, if you were to exercise for 30 minutes and consume 30 litres of oxygen, you would have expended approximately 150 calories (five calories x 30 litres). Without directly measuring oxygen consumption, it's difficult to establish an accurate estimate of energy expenditure during a workout.
A second factor affecting the reliability of calorie counters is the difference between net and gross energy expenditure. Gross energy expenditure refers to the energy cost of exercise plus the metabolic rate. Net energy expenditure refers to just the energy cost of exercise. Calorie counters often display gross energy expenditure - so they don't accurately represent the additional energy that is used during exercise. In fact, during a 45 minute workout, net and gross energy expenditure can differ by almost 30% (Utter et al., 1998). The moral? Don't always believe what the machine tells you.
Another popular misconception is the idea that aerobic exercise increases caloric expenditure AFTER a bout of exercise, thus making a further contribution to fat loss. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (the name given to the increase in caloric expenditure following a workout) is more likely to occur after high intensity exercise. Moderate aerobic exercise has very little effect on post-exercise metabolic rate (Sjodin et al., 1996). Furthermore, when an increase in physical activity results in a caloric deficit (as would occur with diet and exercise), there is evidence to show that the metabolic rate does not rise at all (Sjodin et al., 1996)."
The author goes on to say that aerobic exercise has it's benefits: it reduces the risk of gaining weight and can promotes healthier patterns of eating.
But if you found this page chances are it is because you see that I was successful in LOSING weight and that's what you want to do as well. In that case BeachBody products (like Slim in 6) are your answer! Happy losing!

Slim In 6 Explained

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BEACH BODY FITNESS

Slim Training: Yes You Can Change Your Shape!

Beach Body has created a new technique for slimming the body, called "Slim Training™", which is the basis for a new program called Slim in 6™ - but it’s something you can create on your own as well. While Slim Training is not a revolutionary fitness concept altogether, it is the first time it has been tested andorganized into a system to work for everyone.

Slim Training combines many elements from traditional fitness programs into one routine that specifically targets all of your energy systems in order to slim down your body. If you have ever done basic training in the military or completed a pre-season "hell week" for a sport, chances are that you have done a similar type of program. What makes Slim Training unique is that instead of being targeted at a sport or performance-related goal, this program is designed to target the way you look and feel!

Sound science: Slim Training is, for the most part, sound science. For six weeks, six days a week, each session you should warm-up, stretch out, work out all of your muscle groups, and your cardiovascular system, then warm down. The 6-week program starts at an easy pace and increases in intensity over time until you peak around the sixth week. Then you should take a break for rest and recovery.

Revolutionary science: Slim training differs from most techniques in that you work all of your muscle groups every day for 6 consecutive days. This is in stark contrast to what most professionals say is optimum. The reason it works is that each workout doesn't totally max each muscle group. While the overall workouts should be intense, you shouldn't overload each muscle group to the point where it needs the standard 48 hours for recovery.

If you decide to use Slim in 6 to get the results of the Slim Training technique, the program's "coach" and creator, Debbie Siebers (also of "Thin Thighs Guaranteed!") is there to make certain that you don't overdo it. If you decide to construct a Slim Training™ routine of your own for six weeks - for instance combining the Sculpt and Sweat tapes of Power 90 into one daily "Slim Session", each workout should tax your system enough so that you can ensure strength gains and maximize your body's fat burning capabilities WITHOUT OVERTRAINING. Use low weight and high repetition resistance training. This allows for only very slight muscle hypertrophy (growth), which is offset by the body's fat loss over the course of the 6 week program. The result is a slimmer, fitter you.

Important: If you decide to turn your current program into a Slim Training program: If you are working your body to its maximum right now and try this, you could overload your body and "overtrain". Overtraining can lead to compromised progress, injuries, and eventually illness. When you workout hard (like in Power 90), your body breaks down. You need to wait for it to recover to train again. That’s how you get stronger. But if you work out too soon, then you will actually reduce your strength and weaken your body’s systems. You must exercise caution not to overdo it if you decide to put your own Slim Training program together!

Overtraining is why the time between resistance workouts should normally vary from a day to as many as 6 or 7 days, depending upon individual recuperative ability, size and type of muscle, efficient use of supplements, diet, rest and other restorative techniques, and the severity of the overload.

Six to seven days for recovery is for severe overload only and is in the realm of the serious athlete. "Normal" gym type workouts will not generate this much "microtrauma" to your system.

Overload is what we call intensity of the workout, with intensity meaning purely resistance training. Meaning simply that for Slim Training, the amount of weight that you push around should be reduced. You don't want to attempt to lift your maximum weight. If you ever fail at less than 12-15 reps, then lighten the load. You can recover quickly from daily aerobic exercise but resistance training (heavy weights, plyometrics, etc) will hammer you if you attempt to do it to the max each day. This doesn't mean that you don't work hard. It just means that you need to re-set your gauges for the purposes of Slim Training™. Don't attempt to lift the same weights you were lifting when you were resting a day or more between sessions. That would be a recipe for overtraining. But if you can make yourself re-adjust and go backwards (hard for some), then you can turn your current program into a Slim Training program and expect results.

Finally, remember that Slim Training was designed to only last 6 weeks. It can be a taxing program. You should back off once you peak and give yourself some time to recover while you get ready to blast away at your next program.

So if you want to change your body shape from say, a pear shape to a V shape, you’ll find this Slim Training technique is a great tool for you when utilized correctly!

Changing habits, Part2 - Negative Thinking

I have a problem.
No matter how much progress I make, every time I look in a mirror, I see the things I don't like:

-My arms and shoulders are too fat
-My belly fat will never disappear!
-I hate my posture!

On the other hand, a friend I made on the BeachBody Forums gives herself a positive review every time she completes a program.
She somehow finds improvements in her body almost every day, while I need others to point them out to me.

Why am I so blind?

Come to think of it, it apples not only to my appearance.
Whenever I complete a complex assignment at work, I don't feel elated, I feel exhausted.
I catch myself thinking bitterly: " If I were smart I'd have done it a long time ago and I should have done it better ... "

Well, you get the drift.

The other day I was talking to my mother who is in her 70es. We were talking about computers and she started seriously putting herself down
for her computer skills! I mean, WOW! English isn't even her first language; she had a computer for only a few years!
Let me tell you - the woman can create masterpieces using Microsoft Paint! I am not kidding! She creates amazing photo collages!
She sends the cutest self-made electronic birthday cards! And she is telling me she is no good?!?

Well, yeah, I know who I am getting that from....But weather it is in my brains chemistry or acquired second hand from the environment I grew up in, the fact is that
with anything I do I put a double shift : first - doing the thing, second - fighting my own negativity!

That's insane, is it not?

But identifying the problem is 50% of the solution. So I have a bad habit. I am going to change it.

From now on when I look in a mirror and I will force myself to notice positive things first.
And in fairness:

- I am already standing much straighter!
- My arms are stronger, therefore will get leaner soon enough!
- My belly is firmer then it was when I was 20!
- And, and, and - I will think of more good things as time goes by!

It took my body 7 months to adjust to a new way of eating, I give myself as much for changing my negative thinking.
I am in no rush!

Changing habits, Part1 - Eating

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Look, Ma, no (clock) hands!

After 7 months of eating 5 meals a day I no longer need a watch to tell me what time it is.

I have my breakfast after the workout about 8 AM.

Then if I am ready for my first snack - it must be 10:20 AM.

The thought of food enters my mind again - you better believe it is 12:30 P.M, my lunch time!

A twinge in the stomach again - I can bet it is 3 :30 P.M., time for my second snack of the day!

Later if I get restless and your watch does not say 6 PM, you need to change the battery!

This amazing feature emerged on its own, I was not living strictly by the clock, or being extremely punctual or deliberatly eat only by the strock of certain hours or bust.

I was loosely adhering to guidelines Beach Body was providing, and look, Ma, no (clock) hands!

This unintended but nevertheless welcome consiquence of change in my diet is incauraging because it makes me think what else I could change
given some length of time and a bit of attention?

Maybe my erratic sleep patterns? I still need an alarm clock to wake me up...

What habit would you like to change?

I don’t remember when I stopped enjoying my birthdays.
I think since around 35 the increasing number started to scare me. It signified aging and all the scary things that supposedly come with it. I was trying to attract as little attention to my birthdays as was possible. Once, when my dear husband sent me a wonderful flowers to my office on my Birthday, I went through a lot of effort to hide them and sneak them home in the evening so no one would notice.

How funny!

How sad!

This time it is different! The miraculous thing is that I am proud I turned a year older! With me feeling fit and trim, the birthday is an occasion to flaunt the fact that I turned a year older and I don’t feel it, and some say, I don’t look a day older ___ (fill the blank here).

This is the cause to celebrate! Here’s to feeling healthy and looking fit!
Here’s to Debbie! Here’s to clean eating!

Happy birthday, me!

About perfectionism.

So you are eating clean and exercising regularly, for a week, two, three. Everything is perfect.
Then something gets in your way. Let's say, it is a piece of chocolate, your favorite, and this one proved to be irresistible, unlike all the ones you saw in the 3 previous weeks.
You have the piece of chocolate.
You blame yourself for having a piece of chocolate.
You get in a bad mood...
You miss your work out.
It is all downhill from there...
Sounds familiar?
Why does this happen?
You do it 100% or don't do it at all? You are that kinda guy/gal, right?

" I am a perfectionist", you say.

Well, perfectionism is not good when it comes to fitness.

To tell you the truth, I don't really know when it is good.

I 've been trying to break myself off the perfectionist way of thinking for the most of my adult life - thanks, mom!.

So, what is happening here?

By setting perfect goals we set ourselves for disappointment. Life isn't perfect! So many things are out of our control!
And yet we expect a perfect performance out of ourselves? That makes no sense, if you think about it for a moment.

The perfect version of me would freak out and give up at the first sign of things not going my way.
In the imperfect version of me, when things don't go "according to the plan", I get myself up, dust myself off and tell myself "Move on!!!"

Since I adapted the "imperfect" way of thinking, I've been able to start things and stick with them. When I was doing Slim in 6,

I did not expect 100% out of each work out, or 100% of scheduled work outs. I accepted 90%, 80%. And yet, I got results!