In ‘Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It‘, Gary Tabues spends a lot of time debunking the theory that to lose weight we need to exercise more.

He details many studies conducted on unsuspecting laboratory rats, of which I’ll spare you the details. But there was one study that really resonated.

Danish researchers took a group of sedentary, overweight men and women and over 18 months trained them to run a marathon. The findings were very telling. Of the men, there was an average weight loss of something like a few pounds but the women in the study averaged no change to their weight.

Imagine running 26.2 miles (42km) and not losing anything?

This is consistent with my own experience.

A few years ago, I decided to run the Sydney marathon. At the height of my training I was running over 55 miles a week. And while I felt a lot fitter and had more energy, my appetite was enormous. So even though I tried to eat a normal amount of food, I couldn’t help myself. In the end my weight stayed about the same.

But even if exercise isn’t going to solve your weight-loss problems, there are many other benefits to getting off the couch. So don’t cancel that gym membership. Just yet.

1. Increases your energy levels
The more energy you use, the more it feels like you have.

2. Improves the quality of your sleep.
Exercise not only helps you get to sleep more quickly, it also improves the quality of your sleep.

3. Helps combat chronic disease.
Exercise helps improve your blood pressure and cholesterol levels which decreases your chances of suffering from things like heart disease, type II diabetes and certain cancers. Exercise has also been linked with a delayed onset of dementia.

4. Improves your mood.
Exercise promotes positive brain chemistry which means you’ll feel better.

5. Provides relief from anxiety and mild depression.
My Dad has suffered from depression most of his life. These days thankfully, he has it under control. And while the medication helps, he says when he is walking every day he feels so much better than if he isn’t.

6. Improves your sex life.
Both men and women experience more enhanced arousal when they are more physically fit.

7. Makes food taste better.
My boyfriend is Irish and he is always saying that ‘hunger is a tasty sauce’. There’s nothing like physical activity to stimulate your appetite. Well, apart from point number 6. ;)

If you get in your car in Los Angeles to drive to New York, do you just pull out of your driveway and start down the road? Or do you get a map and plan your route? The answer is obvious – careful planning pays off. So if your goal is to become fit, lean and strong it’s important to know exactly what you need to do to reach this goal.  Here are some valuable tips to include in any plan which will help you arrive at your goal safely and efficiently.

Tip #1: Be Alert For Opportunities All Day Long

Focus on becoming stronger because there are myriad opportunities throughout the day to strengthen your body. As simple an effort as walking up the stairs to the third floor, rather than taking an elevator, will eventually produce a noticeable effect. Yes, weights lifting, exercise machines and structured sessions are powerful – but so are simple activities carried out every day.

Tip #2: Rest Is Just As Important As Exercise

Make certain you value and allow rest and recovery time. Many believe that if an intense workout feels good and will build muscle quickly, then the smart thing to do is to exercise even more. Muscle builds when exercise tears the muscle down, because it recovers as newer, stronger muscle. Without that recovery time, your muscles absolutely cannot increase in size or strength. Beginners usually start with three workouts per week and the duration and frequency can increase as they grow in strength and power but your body will respond more quickly and more dramatically if allowed to rest during strenuous activities.

Tip #3: What’s “Best” Is What You Will Persist In Doing

There is a constant and ongoing war among fitness experts about whether free weights or weight machines are superior. As far as you are concerned, whatever works best for you is the right choice. If you love competing with the weights on a machine then by all means choose that option. If you despise machines, but eagerly grab that set of dumbbells, then go for it. There is no point whatsoever in choosing exercises that you hate and won’t stick with, no matter what the ‘experts’ say.

Tip #4: You Didn’t Arrive At Your Current Condition Overnight

If you’re flabby and overweight – in other words, totally dissatisfied with the condition of your body – always remember that you didn’t get there overnight. In other words, impatience is a huge mistake. It requires years of neglect and misuse to create problems in your body and it will take some time to repair them. Exercising for a week and then quitting because there are no visible changes is foolish and short sighted. Not only that, but more failure will further erode your confidence and increase the sad condition of your body. You can drastically shorten the time it takes to achieve superb conditioning by using wisdom and discipline but you won’t see changes by 5PM on the first day.

Tip #5: “Compound” Exercises Are More Efficient

Consider that “compound” exercises will get results faster than those exercises that use only one muscle or one muscle group at a time. Yes, your abs may be a disgrace but focusing only on an ab machine won’t pay the dividends of full body exercises. And always remember that exercises which work multiple muscle groups will build fitness much faster – and that’s what we all want, isn’t it?

Tip #6: Don’t Exercise Mindlessly

Don’t exercise of mindlessly. If you pay close attention to your muscles and your body while working out, your results will be much more powerful. On the surface, that doesn’t seem to make sense. But famous, skilled athletes and bodybuilders have stated time and again that they can literally direct their muscles as they see fit.

Tip #7: Natural Sleep = Health and A Fit Body

Get as much ‘natural’ sleep as possible, meaning that drugs and sleeping pills interfere with the natural repair of the body that occurs every night. When we sleep, growth hormone, or HGH. is released into our bodies. HGH stimulates healthy growth, cell repair and the regeneration which is necessary for muscle development. Growth hormone is naturally produced by the body and many athletic scandals have occurred because athletes were building their bodies with the use of artificial HGH. Synthetic growth hormone, even when legal and prescribed by a doctor, can have dangerous side effects. You want to maximize your production naturally and this is done while we’re asleep.

Tip #8: Pepperoni Pizza Is NOT The Perfect Diet Food (Sorry!)

The perfect diet for an athlete or body builder centers around proteins, certain fats that include essential fatty acids (EFAs) and complex carbohydrates like vegetables, fruits and whole grains. Most fitness experts recommend eating multiple small meals rather than three larger ones. This keeps the metabolism working constantly and is less likely to result in fat or overweight.

Tip #9: Water, Water and More Water

Drink lots and lots of water. Water keeps your muscles hydrated which makes them work more efficiently and helps them recover more rapidly. It’s important to know that soft drinks, tea and coffee generally dehydrate the body so don’t assume they are helping your muscles. They’re not.

Superlative fitness requires self-discipline and long term dedication to your goal. Anyone who is going to make this kind of serious commitment naturally wants to reach their goal as quickly as possible and to do this we must be efficient. Following these rules will speed you to your ideal body as quickly as possible.

It’s May, and for most people that means its time to get serious about getting your body into better shape. Prime beach weather is closer than you think, and you’re probably starting to get serious about hitting the gym regularly. But overdoing your workout can do more harm than good. In fact, your athletic performance starts to suffer once you lose about 2 percent of your body weight due to profuse sweating…and that takes less effort than you might think.

If you plan to work out for over 60 minutes, you need to drink something more substantial than water afterwards. Lose too much water from exercising, and you can start to experience cramps, dizziness, and headaches as your body has to go into overdrive to keep your core temperature stable and your heart functioning normally as your blood begins to thicken to dehydration. And if you don’t rehydrate properly, you might find that your muscles are weak the next day, impairing your ability to lift weights.

If you’re trying to sculpt a beach body, it’s important to drink the right post-workout beverage to rehydrate, replenish lost nutrients, and consume adequate protein to promote muscle growth. Plain water is good, but some other product might be better. But the diet aisle of your local supermarket has got dozens of post-workout hydration beverages to choose from. So which one is right for you?

NOTE: The assessments below are based on my own opinions, personal experiences, and research. None of the products/companies mentioned below provided samples for review or have otherwise influenced the content of this article.

Milk

Okay, so maybe suggesting milk after a workout makes you think of Will Ferrell in “Anchorman,” moaning “Milk was a bad choice!”

And while the idea of chugging milk after a hard workout on a hot day might sound miserable, it has been argued that milk is a great beverage to quaff after hitting the gym. In a lot of ways, milk has it all: carbohydrates, electrolytes, calcium and vitamin D…and the all-important protein.

According to Emma Cockburn, a lecturer at Northumbria University in northeast England, “The damage caused by exercise leads to a breakdown of the protein structures in your muscles, but that doesn’t happen until 24 to 48 hours later.” If you drink milk right after training, it will be digested and absorbed by the time your body needs it to repair muscle damage. It’s worth remembering that Michael Phelps famously chugged milk between events at the Beijing Olympics.

Sports Drinks

There are as many types of fruity flavored sports drinks as there are brands of soda, and sadly, they both often have similar amounts of sugar. While they can replenish vital electrolytes, vitamins, and fluids, all that sugar post-workout can leave you feeling more jittery. Whenever possible, opt for a reduced calorie sports drink over the regular kind, as this will have less sugar, and therefore fewer calories.

Cheribundi

Cheribundi’s “Whey Cherry” tart cherry juice contains phytonutrients, anthocyanins, phenolic acids…in other words, compounds that refuel a tired body, reduce inflammation from over-exertion, and aids in muscle recovery. Whey protein is added for an extra muscle building benefits, and the cherry juice gives you 100% of your daily needs for a number of B vitamins. An 8 oz. serving has 160 calories. The taste takes some getting used to, as it is very tart, but the health benefits are worth it.

SmartWater

If you want electrolytes after a workout but are trying to reduce your caloric intake, consider zero calorie SmartWater, which consists only of vapor distilled water and electrolytes (Calcium Chloride, Magnesium Chloride, and Potassium Bicarbonate, to be specific.)

It doesn’t contain any protein, as in some other sports recovery beverages, but for exercise that is less about building muscle and more about maintaining tone or losing excess pounds, it can still be a good choice for rehydration, and is still superior to plain tap water.

Beer

According to a study at Granada University in Spain, a pint of beer is better at rehydrating the body after a workout than the same amount of water. Researchers argue that the carbon dioxide in beer helps quench thirst faster than water, the carbs in the beer replace calories (generally between 90-150 calories per serving in beer) burned during exercise, and trace salts and sugars in the beer replace lost nutrients.

On the other hand, alcohol can have diuretic properties, so don’t rely on beer alone. If you want to experiment with beer as a post-workout beverage, perhaps try a beer after having a small amount of water, and follow the beer directly by an equal amount of water.

Conclusion

To stay well hydrated for exercise, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends that you:

Drink roughly 2 to 3 cups (0.5 to 0.7 liters) of water during the two to three hours before your workout.
Drink about 1/2 to 1 cup (0.12 to 0.23 liters) of water every 15 to 20 minutes during your workout. You may need more the larger your body is or the warmer the weather is.
Drink roughly 2 to 3 cups (0.5 to 0.7 liters) of water after your workout for every pound (0.5 kilogram) of weight you lose during the workout.

How you choose to hydrate is completely up to you. Whether you need low-cal refreshment, or a heavy dash of protein to aid in muscle recovery, the good news is that there are plenty of post-workout recovery beverages for you to sample.

What do you drink after a hard workout? Tell us in the comments below!

It’s the holiday season, which means those New Years resolutions are coming up fast. For those of you who are considering exercising more this upcoming year, here is a workout specially designed for the geek in you.

The Problem with Traditional Workouts

The number one problem with most workout plans for the life hacker is that they are boring. You go to the gym, lift some weights, run on the treadmill, and go home. Maybe next time you’ll run a little faster or lift a little more weight, but you’re pretty much going to do the same thing over and over. What’s the fun in that?

As a life hacker, you are creative and adventurous in everything you do, including your exercise. You should be constantly challenged both physically and mentally. Traditional workouts push you physically, while your mind remains idle. No wonder you reject them.

How to Hack Your Workout

Remember that hackers discover unconventional methods to push the boundaries of both themselves and their environment. A great tool that I’ve been using in my workouts is the aerobics step platforms. It’s like playing with giant sized legos, where I can build my own workout scenarios to explore.

Here are a couple methods that I already use:

• Hopping the Hurdles: This one is based off a gymnastics exercise I saw and is the one pictured above. I place a series of platforms at different lengths and heights and consecutively jump over them. It’s pretty fun because after the first jump, your feet act as springs, so it’s almost like being on a pogo stick. I kind of feel like Mario as I go through my level.
• The Parkour Track: The second method I use is laying out the long platforms on the floor in an oval shape and usually have one or two high obstacles that I need to either jump or climb over. I run atop the platforms, which means I need to be conscious of where I put my feet, when I speed up to jump, and even the speed taking corners (I’ve fallen over a few times as the platform slid out from going too fast).

The benefit of using these aerobics platforms is that it easily enables you to dynamically adjust the difficulty of the workout, according to your own beliefs about your abilities. It also provides great variability between workouts, so that your body is physically challenged, your cognitive awareness of your environment is enhanced, your creativity is expressed, and you get to have fun while everyone else is bored. ;)

Remember, these are only a couple methods of the vast possibilities. Unleash your creative side and see how else you can use them to be challenged.

I experiment, explore, create, and just try to figure out new ways to enjoy my life. You can read about my thoughts and adventures on my blog: WhiteHatBlackBox

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Do you sometimes wish you were fitter? And maybe slimmer? I do. In fact, I’m determined to lose 7 kg in four weeks and get really fit. But how to get fit in a hurry – without spending hours at the gym?

One of the fastest ways to get fit is to start running.

It can be daunting if you’ve never run before. Especially if you have friends, colleagues or family members who talk casually about how they run 7 miles each morning before breakfast. (Don’t you sometimes want to throttle them?)

I just spent three weeks with my family and two of them, my brother and my niece, thought nothing of running for an hour-and-a-half after spending an exhausting day stumbling through thick rain forest. It made me feel like a fitness failure…

In the end, I started to run too. Because running is great for getting fit fast. There are some important advantages of running as a fitness strategy:

1. It boosts cardiovascular fitness.
2. It tones your whole body because so many muscle groups are involved when you run.
3. Weight-bearing exercise, such as running, is especially good in promoting bone density and protecting against osteoporosis, which affects men as well as women.
4. Running is a natural movement. The body is designed to be able to run.
5. As one of the most vigorous exercises out there, running is an efficient way to burn calories and drop pounds.

Here are some tips that will help you develop running:

1. Buy good shoes

It’s worth going to a specialty shop to buy a pair of running shoes. Make sure that the salesperson looks at the shape and arch of your foot to figure out the best shoes for you. The reason good shoes are important is because it will soften the impact and protect your joints.

2. Take it slow

When you start running, it doesn’t matter how slow you go. Remember that your body needs to get used to new movement.

3. Ease into running with interval training.

The best way to get fit fast is through interval training. This means short burst of high intensity exercise alternating with recovery periods. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, more calories are burned in short, high intensity exercise.

Try alternating 5 minutes of walking and one minute of running for twenty minutes. As you get fitter, you can lengthen the periods of running. Once you get used to running, you can alternate slow jogging with fast sprints.

4. Warm up first

It’s important to warm up your body before running. Otherwise running will feel very hard and your body will moan and groan. Walking is a great way to warm up the body. Stride out and pump your arms. Start with a medium paced walk and then speed up until you start to sweat. Once your body is warm, you are ready to run.

5. Use correct running technique

Beginners like me find it difficult to relax while running. Keep your head up and your lower arms in hip height, and run without bouncing. It all helps to work your body more efficiently. Check out this video about correct running technique.

6. Run with others

A great way to keep up your motivation is to run with others. See if a colleague or a friend is willing to come running with you. Set an interval schedule for your run and stick to it.

7. Keep an exercise diary

Keep a record of your new exercise routine. Write down each day what kind of exercise you have done. A great way to track your growing fitness is by measuring your resting pulse before you get up in the morning. As you get fitter, your resting pulse will get lower.

8. Add strength exercises to the mix

Building strength in your legs will help you to run. A simple way to build your leg muscles is by doing squats. Stand with feet a little more than shoulder width apart. As you squat, keep your feet on the ground and swing your arms to the front in order to keep your balance. Start with 3 sets of 10 squats but don’t get carried away. If you do too many at one time, you might have difficulty walking the next day! As you get fitter, you can add more sets to your squat routine.

9. Add a cool-down period after exercise

It’s important for the body to cool down after running. The best way is to walk at a medium pace until your heart-rate returns to normal.

10. Stretch after running

It’s a good practice to stretch after running because it keeps your body flexible. Watch this short video on which stretches to do after running.

If you follow the ten points above, you will become a runner – without feeling like a failure. Remember that you can start running at any age. Bob Hayes took up running when he was 60. After a little while, he decided to enter a 5km fun-run and his son gave him his first pair of trainers. He said afterwards, “I wasn’t feeling as fit as I would have liked to. Perhaps age is catching up on me?” Yeah, right!

Fast forward 20 years…
At age 80, Bob completed his tenth 50-mile ultra-marathon in Montana and has made running history. He said afterwards:

“I’m in the best shape of my life.”

If you follow these 10 tips, you will get into the swing of running. Soon you will feel your body tone up and slim down in response to the exercise. Best of all, you’ll begin to feel confident, healthy, and attractive.

Mary Jaksch is an author, Zen Master, and psychotherapist who likes dancing tango in skimpy dresses. Her blogGoodlife Zen focuses on personal growth for intelligent people. Get her FREE eBook Overcome Anything: Finding Light after Darknessclick here.Mary is also Chief Editor of Leo Babauta’s blog Write to Done

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