Understanding EPOC

Posted by Susan - 09/09/08 at 10:09:01 am

Often referred to as “after-burn”, EPOC stands for excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. It is the actual amount of energy (calories) that the body continues to burn post-exercise.

I am a big fan of high intensity interval training (HIIT).  HIIT is done by alternating brief periods or high intensity work (85% or more) with a brief recovery period. HIIT is an example of an anaerobic exercise, which means that an inadequate amount of oxygen is being delivered to working muscles during the course of the exercise.

When inadequate oxygen is available lactic acid is produced. Lactic acid is what gives you that burning feeling during a workout. It leads to muscle fatigue and must be burned up by the body during a recovery period before another anaerobic bout of exercise can be attempted. This recovery period also allows the muscles to use oxygen to replenish the energy used during HIIT.

Conversely, aerobic or “steady-state” exercise uses oxygen as a constant rate with no accumulation of lactic acid.

While both anaerobic and aerobic exercise burn calories and create some EPOC effect, EPOC increases dramatically with intensity thus making anaerobic exercise a more effective means for fat loss.

A commentary in the December 9, 2005 of the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition ( http://www.jissn.com/content/2/2/32) examined aerobic and anaerobic energy expenditure for two exercise tasks of equal work using a treadmill.

The results of the study showed that the steady-state exercise tends to burn more calories during the actual exercise than interval training, while interval training generates a higher EPOC leading to a much larger number of total calories burned.

Measure	Steady-State Cardio	Intermittent Sprints
Exercise O2	28 calories	4 calories
Exercise O2 + EPOC	35 calories	39 calories
Anaerobic Energy Expenditure + Exercise O2 + EPOC	39 calories	65 calories

Ultimately, HIIT results in significantly more calories burned in a much condensed period of exercise.

This is not to say that steady-state cardio does not have a place in your workout routine. Interval training should be limited to 2 – 3 times per week to lessen the risk of injury and allow for an adequate recovery period.

Steady-state cardio on the other hand can be performed daily, depending on duration and intensity level.

Gyminee provides an excellent HIIT program by Shawn Phillips that can be done using either a treadmill or exercise bike.

Hopefully you can use this information to maximize your workouts and turn your body into a fat burning machine!

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan

www.catapultfitnessblog.com

Fitness Deals – Part 2: Online Deals

Posted by JuryDuty - 09/08/08 at 09:09:04 am

We recently looked at the best places you can find deals for exercise equipment locally. There are also great deals-maybe better deals-online. Of course, one of the best deals is “going Pro” with Gyminee for only $5/month!

Never pay full price. Here are the best places to find new and used gym items online at bargain basement prices:

• craigslist-If you’re looking for a Bowflex or a mountain bike, Craigslist may be your best friend. You can search for sellers around your area and find gently used items for a fraction of the retail price. Of course, never commit to a sale until you’ve had a chance to see/use the item yourself.
• ebay-You can find larger items on ebay, but smaller items are where ebay really shines because shipping won’t kill you. If you want that latest P90X DVD set or the Perfect Pushup, this is the place. Make sure a user is trusted by reviewing their feedback rating before purchase. Keep in mind that you may have to wait for the best deal. I recently needed a lat bar for my home gym. They regularly sell for $40 in store, $30 on ebay. Patience got me one for $15 shipped.
• Coupons-In Part 1, we talked about the power of coupons and other discounts. When shopping online, also look for free shipping. GNC buyers may not realize they can get even better deals online. Use your GNC card on their discounted products at drugstore.com. You can get Syntrax Nectar, for instance, for $21.59-nearly 50% off the in-store price.

What are some of the best online fitness deals you’ve come across?

–JuryDuty

(Christopher Maselli at WritingMomentum.com)

Breaking A Weight Loss Plateau

Posted by Susan - 08/27/08 at 11:08:17 am

At some point in your weight loss journey you will hit a plateau. This is especially true for those who are looking to lose those last 10 - 15 vanity pounds as your body prefers to hold on to that extra weight in case of an emergency (e.g., famine).

The key to moving past a plateau is to be honest about what is going on with both your diet and exercise routine.

The Diet. Losing weight is a numbers game (pun intended!) with the focus on creating a calorie deficit, while ensuring your deficit isn’t so great that you’re putting your body into starvation mode and slowing your metabolism. It’s about eating the right amount of food for your own body.

It’s imperative that you have the ability to accurately evaluate your diet which is why I am a BIG FAN of food journaling programs such as the one provided on Gyminee.com.

Food journaling programs provide you with the tools you need to evaluate your diet in detail, which makes it easier to pinpoint possible short-falls in your eating plan.

Your diet does not need to be perfect 100% of the time in order to continue to lose weight. Matter-of-fact, I subscribe to Dr. John Berardi’s 10% factor. As Dr. Berardi points out, the difference in results between 90% adherence and 100% adherence is negligible.

Let’s take a closer look at the 10% factor. If you eat 4 meals per day, that amounts to 28 meals per week. 10% of 28 is approximately 3 meals which means you get to eat 3 “imperfect” meals per week. These imperfect meals include both “junk food” and skipped feedings. Why skipped meals? Because severe calorie restriction slows the metabolism and leads to a reduction in your body’s ability to burn calories and fat. It’s as important to ensure you’re not under-eating as it is to ensure you’re not over-eating.

The Training Effect. The wondrous thing about the human body is its ability to adapt to physical stress. In order to change our body composition we need to continually stimulate our body and take it beyond its point of adaptation or comfort zone.

I learned this lesson the hard way, achieving limited results after spending hours in the gym doing the same cardio and strength training routine week after week. Once I started studying the physiology of exercise I came to understand that to lose weight you need to

1. Change your training routine every 4-weeks and,
2. Focus on quality, not quantity. Workouts don’t need to take hours; they need to be efficient.

If you’ve been exercising and watching your diet for a while and aren’t seeing results, it is likely due to one of the above. You need to evaluate and change your program on a regular basis to optimize results.

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan

Gym Quest - Part 2

Posted by GenaM - 08/24/08 at 04:08:13 pm

Last week’s blog dealt with what to look for in a gym. This week, we’ll discuss how you can have a successful gym experience. If you are an active Gyminee member, then obviously you’re serious about making a permanent lifestyle change or at least building on what you’ve already started. You want to do more than merely lose those extra pounds, you want to keep them off and be healthier. To make your health club experience a success, try these helpful hints:

• Small Triumphs Set realistic goals and celebrate the small improvements. “Start out small, so you can set yourself up for success,” says Marsha Taplett, a certified personal trainer in Arlington, Texas.As you focus on the small successes—especially the ones not associated with pounds or inches, like improved energy, keeping your workout schedule or healthier eating—you’ll be motivated to continue your program.

• Schedule It Set an appointment to attend the gym at the same time each day—maybe during your lunch hour or directly after work. Making it a habit will help you stick with your routine.

• Buddy Up Get a workout partner to help keep you accountable and encourage you during your workout.“Having a partner to meet at the gym increases your chances of sticking with your program and seeing the results you desire,” says exercise physiologist Kelli Calabrese.

• Gotta Love It Participate in activities you like. Don’t feel pressured to do an activity just because it’s popular or because others have seen results. There are several activities to choose from—aerobics, kickboxing, cycling, walking, weight training, team sports and more. Finding one (or several) that you enjoy will keep you coming back.

Have you found ways to stay motivated at the gym or in your workout program? Let us know about them.

Gena Maselli
WritingMomentum.com

Gym Sins

Posted by JuryDuty - 08/22/08 at 02:08:50 pm

Newsweek recently reported on some of the most common Gym Sins. Two men wanted to get their true weight, so they weighed themselves in the nude…on the public scales outside the bathrooms. A woman decided to use the hot rocks in the sauna to grill her post-workout ham-and-cheese. A man gave his classmates an “uncomfortable view” when he wore shorts but no underwear in yoga class. And then there are tales of people falling asleep on the bench press between sets, talking loudly on their cell phones or singing karaoke to their iPod mix.

Proper gym etiquette is usually posted, or at least understood, in most establishments—but if someone is working out “in their own world,” that may not matter. Of course, one of the benefits of having a Gyminee Gymbuddy is that you can hold each other accountable without worrying about whether he or she wipes their sweat off the bench.

So this got me wondering, what are the funniest, most obnoxious, or downright irritating Gym Sins that you’ve experienced?

–JuryDuty

(Christopher Maselli at WritingMomentum.com)

Gym Quest – Part 1

Posted by GenaM - 08/17/08 at 06:08:14 pm

All of us want to be in shape. We want to be healthy, have energy and still fit into the jeans that were hip during our heyday. To reach that personal utopia, we may need to join a gym… and that can be scary territory for the novice gym-goer. Visions of perfect Muscle and Fitness models lifting mega weights while we schlep our way through a beginning workout invade our minds, but don’t give up. You can find a gym that helps you reach your goals.

Exercise physiologist Kelli Calabrese encourages you to “remember that a fitness center is just a building with equipment and professionals that are there to help you. Don’t join the first center you see. Explore and ask questions.”

So what should you look for?

• Location Find a fitness center that’s convenient—one that’s close to your home or work with hours and classes that fit your schedule.

• Personality Look for a health club that fits you. Just like all people are different, the same is true for gyms. Some cater to professionals. Others to a 20-something crowd. Some provide childcare. Others are for women only. As you search, Marsha Taplett, a certified personal trainer in Arlington, Texas, suggests that you “ask yourself what you’re looking for in a gym. Do you need a gym just to workout or for other reasons like social interaction?”

• Environment “The facility should look and feel as if it is cleaned several times throughout the day,” Calabrese says. “How clean a club is will give you an indication of how well the club is run.”In addition to cleanliness, take note of the condition of the equipment. It should be in good working order with clear usage instructions. Avoid gyms that have broken or out-of-order equipment.

• Staff Look for friendly, professionally-dressed employees. Then ask if the fitness staff is certified by a nationally recognized organization like the American Council on Exercise (ACE) or the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).“This would assure you that, at a minimum, the staff has completed courses in designing exercise programs for healthy adults and has an understanding of the exercise sciences,” Calabrese says.

If you know that gym life looms in your future, don’t distress. You can find the gym (or YMCA or community rec center) that fits your needs. Once you do, you’ll be on your way to getting reacquainted with those heyday jeans. Now, won’t that be paradise?

Do you have suggestions for finding the perfect gym or overcoming your gym phobia? We’d like to hear them!

Stay tuned: In next week’s blog, Gym Quest - Part 2, I’ll give tips for having a  successful health club experience.

Thinking of giving up?

Posted by Brian - 08/07/08 at 10:08:56 pm

Tired of setbacks? Beginning to think that you’ll just never be able to…
• Lose weight?
• Lower your body fat?
• Get that next lift?
• Improve your heart rate, cholesterol, or energy?

While I doubt that anyone reading this is currently in a phase where you’ve given up hope of achieving your health and fitness goals, or, let’s face it, you probably wouldn’t be logging onto Gyminee right now, I bet that most everyone has felt that way at some point in time. You wonder whether or not it’s worth it; wonder if you should just quit; think it’s just never going to happen for you.

Now, I could be wrong, but I would bet that the most widely used reason for giving up goes something like <*ahem*>, “I just don’t have time to workout or eat healthy; my lifestyle is too busy and hectic to allow for that” or the less common, but more direct, “It’s just too hard”.

Well, don’t let Melanie Roach hear you say that because there’s a good chance she could lift you over her head until you change your tune. She does hold the unofficial world record for Clean & Jerking more than twice her body weight, after all.

Melanie Roach, a 33-year-old, 5′1″, 117-pound mother of three is a weightlifting competitor for the good ol’ U S of A in the 2008 Beijing Olympics (whose opening ceremonies are tomorrow night), and if you haven’t heard her story before, she’ll make you think twice about giving up. Because until you’ve suffered from a hyperextended elbow, a herniated disk (which affected her for seven years, caused her more pain than any of her three, natural child births, left her unable to stand up straight, forced her to remain in bed for days at a time, and threatened to put her in a wheelchair if she injured it any further), depression, and dealt with the unique challenges that come with having an autistic 5-year-old son, all while running a business, I don’t think your excuses (or mine) hold a candle to the numerous ones she could have fallen back on. In fact, most of the reasons I’ve used for not aggressively pursing my next life, health, or nutrition goal sound rather stupid stacked up against Melanie’s story.

Now, I could choose to let that bring me down. I could tell myself, “Wow, if she can do all of that, how pathetic am I that I can’t…<insert goal here>”. But instead I challenge myself (and you) to let this story be a motivating factor in my (and your) life. I don’t have Olympic aspirations; I don’t have the same degree of obstacles standing in my way. So, if Melanie can earn herself a spot on the US Olympic team, against all of the odds that life stacked against her, then why can’t you or I achieve our goals as well? It should be easy in comparison, right?
…
…
OK, maybe it’s not easy, but it is, without a single, microscopic doubt, doable!

Want to know more about Melanie Roach?
Below is a link to an article written by Greg Bishop of the New York Times, which details the daily challenges Melanie and her husband face as the parents of an autistic child, Melanie’s conquest over her injuries, and the amazing comeback that led to her qualifying for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Finding Inner Strength by Greg Bishop
Note: Mr. Bishop’s article was published on May 6th, 2008. Melanie qualified for the Beijing Olympics at the trials held on May 17th, 2008.

Melanie has also been featured by ABC World News Tonight, National Public Radio, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, NBC, CNN, among others.

As an added bonus, you can follow Melanie’s 2008 Beijing Olympics experience on her blog, “Worth the Weight“, or on her fan site, MelanieRoach.com.

Good luck in your competition, Melanie…but you’re already a winner.

Do Women Need More Cardio Then Men?

Posted by Susan - 08/06/08 at 03:08:38 pm

A friend asked me this question a while back and I really didn’t know how to respond. My instinct was to immediately answer this question with a resounding “no”, but I felt that I needed to do a bit more research.

I’m glad I took my time to investigate as it turns out the answer is actually “yes”, if you subscribe to Alwyn Cosgrove’s example.

Alwyn points out that while physiologically there is no difference between men and women, because women tend to weigh less then men, they do need to find ways to a means for extending energy expenditure from exercise.

The example Alwyn gives is as follows:

Client A: 200 lb male. Maintenance calories = 2500.
Client B: 130 lb female. Maintenance calories = 1560.

Goal: To decrease body fat for each individual by 10 lbs. A typical guideline is to start with a 500 calorie deficit or 20% of maintenance, whatever is smaller.

If we cut Client A’s caloric intake by 20%, we get 2000 calories per day (and a 500 calorie deficit). When we add in the calories burned from exercising, we can expect him to reach his goal in about 5 – 10 weeks.

But, if we take our female client down 500 calories, that would be 1060 calories per day. Being that we don’t want a woman to take in less than 1200 calories, we would cut her calories by 20% to around 1250. That’s a 310 calorie deficit which means we’re looking at 12 – 16 weeks for the same results.

As such, for the female to attain the same fat loss as the male client, she would need to accelerate fat loss by including additional training, which may include cardio.

To those of you not familiar with Alwyn, he is a Tae kwon-do international champion and has worked with a wide variety of clientele including several Olympic and national level athletes, five world champions, and professionals in a multitude of sports such as boxing, martial arts, soccer, ice skating, football, fencing, triathlon, rugby, bodybuilding, dance, and fitness competition.

Time for me to hit the gym for an extra HIIT workout!

Train hard; Stay strong.

Peace.

Susan

www.catapultfitnessblog.com

2 New Challenge Types!

Posted by Stephen - 07/30/08 at 12:07:17 pm

I have some good news! We have officially added two new types of challenges: Swimming and Total Weight Lifted. Both of these were requested right away when we first released Gyminee Challenges. You will find the swimming challenge as a new option when creating a distance challenge, while the total weight lifted challenge is a completely new animal.

Some Gyminee users have been hosting their own weight lifting challenge in the forums and having a blast doing so (see here). The new weight lifting challenge allows users to see who can lift the most aggregate weight over a specific time period. It’s a great way to motivate yourself and your friends to head to the gym when you don’t feel like it, and to push yourself a little bit harder while you’re lifting.

Enjoy!

Daily Journals Improve Your Odds

Posted by Andy - 07/10/08 at 04:07:00 pm

Did anyone else see the “Keeping a Food Diary Doubles Weight Loss” story on ABC? It’s a good read that highlights a study performed by Kaiser Permanente, and I think we can all really learn from the message.

I’ve been training on and off now for over 25 years - well before the internet and all the cool applications available today, but not so far back that I missed out on all those fabulous infomercials that guaranteed rapid weight loss and chiseled abs in only 14 days! In fact, if truth be told, my mother was a significant ‘investor’ in many of those devices, yet for some reason, was not able to replicate the results of those beautifully tanned spokespeople.

Someone once told me that everything is difficult before it becomes easy, and getting in shape is no exception. There are few obvious factors but one that is often missed - the importance of keeping a journal. The Kaiser Permanente study from the article showed that participants who kept a food diary lost almost double the amount of weight of their non-journaling counterparts and more importantly, they kept it off.

The same is true of exercise. Each day our emotions, state of mind, and energy levels fluctuate so without a journal, it is difficult to monitor progress and proactively establish targets for our workouts. Repeatedly ‘winging it’, just doesn’t lead to the progress we hope for and in my case, memory is an enemy, so ‘winging it’ has an even greater impact.

So while it may seem difficult at first, it does get easier and you will achieve your goals, perhaps faster than you imagined.

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