The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

There are many different types of fasts, but the most popular and practical is called intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting gives your body more time to effectively digest what you are eating and eliminate waste. 

The most popular way to do intermittent fasting is to restrict your daily food intake to a specific window of time - typically a six to eight-hour time-frame each day.

For example, if you skip breakfast and make lunch the first meal of your day, you might restrict your food intake to the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. If you are a breakfast lover, your window could be between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.  The best results are obtained by having an early feeding window to match the bodies circadian rhythm.   Food intake is a major part of setting that rhythm along with morning bright light exposure and limiting light for 2 - 3 hours before bed.

If you choose a later feeding window make sure you stop eating or drinking anything with calories at least three hours before bedtime.   This ensures that you get a better growth hormone release during sleep and avoid heartburn.   When you eat three or more meals a day, you rarely, if ever, empty your glycogen stores (storage form of glucose – mostly in your liver), mainly because it takes about eight to 12 hours to burn the sugar stored in your body as glycogen.

By fasting about 16 to 18 hours a day, you give your body enough time to drain your glycogen stores and shift into fat-burning mode. This pushes your body to use fat as a fuel.  Because fat is a slow-burning fuel, you will not only have a more balanced energy supply, but you will also avoid the typical sugar "highs" and "lows" that come with typical diets.

While you will undoubtedly feel hungry on occasion, that is perfectly normal. Once your body adjusts, you may be surprised to discover how much less food you will consume to feel completely satisfied. In many cases your food cravings literally disappear once you have regained your ability to burn fat for fuel.

Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting provides a number of health benefits including:

• Forces the body to become efficient at burning fat as the primary fuel which helps eliminate sugar cravings
• Increases growth hormone to help build muscle and promote overall health and wellness
• Enhances brain health and helps prevent neurological disorders like Alzheimer's
• Reduces oxidative stress and fights aging and diseases like cancer
• Lowers triglycerides and reduces inflammation
• Dramatically boosts brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which activates brain stem cells to convert into new neurons.
• Dramatically increases the process of Autophagy

Benefits of Autophagy

Autophagy means “self-eating” and refers to processes that your body uses to clean out various debris and detoxify while also recycling damaged cell components.   It is quite literally like your body’s recycling program.   It improves metabolic efficiency, gets rid of faulty parts, and stops cancerous growths.   It also helps to dramatically decrease inflammation throughout the body.

During the bio-energetic challenge of exercising or fasting, autophagy is increased.   This stimulates stem-cells including muscle stem cells which can help prevent sarcopenia (muscle loss with aging).     So, intermittent fasting can help maintain the regenerative capacity of muscle stem cells.

There are three ways to boost autophagy:   exercise, fasting, and nutritional ketosis. 

Difference between intermittent fasting and chronic low calorie intake (aka dieting!)

There is a huge difference in what happens when we intermittent fast compared to eating low calorie all the time.       When we keep our daily calories low for weeks or months at a time our body compensates by slowing our metabolic rate aka our daily calorie burn.    In addition you end up losing lean mass (muscle) which is exactly what we you want to avoid as you get older!     You also end up feeling deprived, fatigued, and it is easy to not fulfill all your nutrient needs.     

Intermittent fasting does NOT reduce metabolic rate or result in loss of lean mass because of the cyclical nature of the practice.   Since calories are not chronically reduced the body does not slow down.     You can use this method for weight loss but it is easy to maintain your weight by simply eating enough during your eating window each day.

How to get started with Intermittent Fasting

There is no need to jump right into a 16 - 18 daily fast.   Start by not eating in an eight hour window then progress slowly to 10 hours then 12 and eventually 16-18 hours.      A good plan is doing a week at 8 - 10 hours of fasting then progress to 10 - 12 hours the following week then 12 - 14 hours the third week and finally 16 - 18 hours in the fourth week.     This is very easy and not a big shock for most people.

The Importance of Proper Food Choices during Intermittent Fasting

During intermittent fasting, your food choices are very important. Since you'll be eating less, it's vitally important that you get proper nutrition from your food. Healthy fats are essential because intermittent fasting pushes your body to switch over to fat-burning. Particularly if you begin to feel tired and sluggish, it may be a sign that you need to increase the amount of healthy fat in your diet.

Cutting net carbs (total carbs minus fiber) is equally important. Focus on:

• High quality fat intake in the form of avocados, coconut oil, organic grass-fed butter, organic egg yolks and nuts.
• Moderate amounts of high-quality protein from organically raised, grass-fed or pastured animals, which translates to no more than 40 to 80 grams of protein per day

• High amounts of fresh, low-net-carb vegetables, ideally organic

Contraindications for Fasting

Although most people can safely benefit from intermittent fasting, it's important to take caution if you have certain health challenges. Do NOT use fasting unless approved by your physician if any of the following are true:

• You are underweight with a body mass index (BMI) of 18.5 or less
• You are malnourished
• Children should NOT fast! They need nutrients for continued growth; if your child is obese, consider cutting him or her back on refined grains and sugar to promote weight loss
• Pregnant and breastfeeding women should NOT fast because a consistent flow of nutrients must be shared continually with the baby to ensure its well-being
• If you take medications that should be taken with food you will need to be very cautious about fasting and consult with your physician first.   This is especially true for diabetics and those with gout.

Consequences of Too Little Sun Exposure

We are constantly reminded that sun exposure is a major risk factor for skin cancer.     However, there is WAY more to this story and the details matter!    First of all, many studies show that the deadliest form of skin cancer – Melanoma – is not associated with cumulative sun exposure.    In addition, skin cancer risk is mostly about avoiding sun burn, and everyone agrees this is an important goal.

Another important consideration is Vitamin D production – optimizing Vitamin D levels is incredibly important for disease prevention and the best way to do this is with safe, sensible sun exposure.    See this blogpost for information on how to optimize your sun exposure based on your genetics and where you live:  http://workoutanytime.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-facts-on-safe-sun-exposure-and.html

Negative implications of lack of sun exposure:

Increased dementia risk - People who completely avoid sun exposure have almost a 40% greater risk for dementia as they age.   

Increase Breast Cancer Risk – Woman who avoid sun exposure have a much greater risk of developing breast cancer.    In an analysis of women in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Epidemiologic Study, researchers found that the protective effects of sun-exposure on breast cancer was simply enormous. The risk reductions were highest for women who lived in United States regions of high solar radiation, with RRs ranging from 0.35-0.75. That means, sun-exposure reduced the risk of breast cancer by three-fold; for every 100 breast cancers in women practicing sun avoidance, the sun-loving women only had about 35 cancers, an enormous reduction.

Increased Bone Fracture Risk – Cumulative sun exposure decreases risk of breaking a hip.    Fractures are significantly lower in those with high lifetime sun exposure.   

Increased Risk of Multiple Sclerosis – Many studies show that both lifetime sun exposure and current sun exposure reduces the risk of contracting Multiple Sclerosis.

Increased of Myopia (near sightedness) – according to studies, children who get a lot of sun exposure have a much-reduced risk of developing myopia.

Increase Mortality Risk – A Study that followed 29,000 Swedish women for up to 20 years showed that sun avoiders died much younger than sun lovers, and that the effect of sun avoidance on mortality was equivalent to the risks created through smoking!

CAUTIONS – As stated above getting sun-burned is a very bad idea for many reasons.      Like most things in life it is all about the right dose which is individual based on your skin type,  where you live and your age  - sunburns are particularly bad for children and children's skin is much more sensitive to sun.   Using clothing made to block sun exposure including hats is particularly important for children who will be in the sun for a long period of time!

Can Cold Showers Increase Fat Burning and Improve Exercise Performance?

The short answer is YES!   Exposure to cold is unpleasant, but used properly, cold exposure is an extremely potent tool for improving health, exercise capacity, and fat burning.

Cold causes an increase in metabolic rate to produce heat to try and counteract the effects of cold resulting in increased calorie/fat burning. However, exposure to cold has a far deeper biological and hormonal impact on the body.

Cold Therapy (CT) is proven to increase adiponectin levels. Adiponectin is a hormone that stimulates fatty acid oxidation in muscle cells by activating AMP-activated protein kinase. Or in simple terms – cold increases adiponectin, adiponectin burns fat.

CT also lowers blood sugar levels by burning glucose as heat, and increases glucose uptake into muscle helping speed up recovery times. Clearance of excess blood glucose into muscle helps prevent blood sugar being converted into fat by the liver. Meaning a cold shower after a high carb meal might prevent a lot of the negatives from high sugar intake!

CT also activates conversion of regular body fat (known as white adipose tissue or WAT) into brown adipose tissue (BAT – aka Brown Fat). BAT is very different than typical fat in that it is dense in energy producing mitochondria (hence its brownish color) and utilizes body fat (typically from the belly and back) as its fuel source.

Cold and Norepinepherine

Norepinepherine (NE for short) is an excitatory neurotransmitter that is one of the primary initiators of fat burning.  NE is the key initiator of the Sympathetic Nervous System’s (SNS) Flight or Fight Response.

The Flight or Fight Response is something we have all experienced anytime we are really scared such as almost getting into a serious car accident. If you recall an experience like that you will remember that you are often shaking after the danger has passed.

Shaking occurs because when you perceive a threat the brain pushes out high levels of NE. High levels of NE stimulate a cascade of effects including:

Increased heart rate

Increased oxygen consumption

Increased circulation

Shut-down of digestive tract while pushing more blood to muscles for action

Increased pupil dilation

Increased mental focus

Reduced perceived exertion, pain, and inflammation.

Release of fatty acids and glucose from storage to fuel high levels of muscular activity.

High levels of NE also stimulate the adrenal glands to secrete epinephrine (EP).   EP is also known as adrenaline.   NE and EP are chemically almost identical with NE being a neurotransmitter and EP being a hormonal version.     

This strong SNS response prepares you for action!

Even brief exposure to extreme cold (20 seconds at 40°F, 4.4°C) causes a 200-300% boost in norepinephrine that lasts for an hour. As stated above increased NE stimulate release of EP as well. You experience a noticeable boost in vigilance, focus, attention, and mood, along with improved oxygen delivery, blood circulation, antioxidant function, mitochondrial biogenesis, and reduced perceived exertion, pain, and inflammation.

Cold and Sleep

Although cold exposure initially causes a strong sympathetic nervous response (like what occurs during any high intensity exercise) later the body re-balances and there is an increase in your Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) response as a reaction to this stimulus.

Your PNS is basically your rest/sleep/repair mode.   So the increased PNS response to cold exposure after the acute SNS response helps with sleep quality.    

    

Takeaway – Cold Showers can be an effective tool to boost exercise performance and fat burning. for those seeking lower body fat levels. Do 5-10 minute sessions in the morning, dry off and then warm-up and exercise – you will feel rocket charged, have a better workout and burn more fat!

To learn more about all the positive effects of using cold exposure for positive health and fitness benefits listen to this great podcast on the subject:  https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/cold-stress-hormesis

Can Summer Camping Fix Sleep Problems?

The short answer is YES!    Camping is a great way to reset your daily sleep/wake cycle known as your Circadian Rhythm.  This cycle is critical for your health and longevity - everything in your body responds to this rhythm. 

Ideally your daily cycle should be in sync with the earth with wake cycles controlled by exposure to high levels of “blue light” early in the day and lack of exposure to Blue or Green light during the evening.

Many aspects of our modern lifestyle can wreak havoc on our ideal circadian rhythm with potentially deadly consequences if continued over the long haul.    Three of the biggest disrupters of a healthy circadian rhythm include:

Overexposure to blue and green light spectrum in the evening and night

Underexposure to Blue and Green light early in the day

Out of sync feeding cycles with a lot of eating occurring in the evening and night

Blue and green light are part of the spectrum of light given off by the sun, digital screens (including phones, tablets, TV’s and computers, electronic devices and fluorescent and LED lighting.      Early exposure to sunlight is the ideal source with an early walk outside.

In the normal course of human evolution prior to the advent of electricity humans got no blue/green light exposure at night and this is important because Blue and/or Green light signals “wake-up” to the pineal gland in the brain and shut off melatonin production.    

This is a very big deal because melatonin does a whole lot more than make you sleepy including supporting the healthy functioning of all our cells and specifically the energy powerhouse of your cells the mitochondria.

Out of sync prolonged eating – another key element of our evolutionary heritage is that humans rarely ate anything at night.     There was no light so people tended to eat during the day and go to sleep relatively early.      In addition, modern life includes a daily eating window that is way to long with most Americans eating during a 15-hour window of constant food/calorie intake.

This prolonged eating window coupled with late night eating is also out of sync with our genetic heritage.   Constant food supply and lights are a very new phenomenon for humans beings considering that this is only something that happened over the last 50 – 100 years whereas for hundreds of thousands of years people never at a night and consumed all their calories during a much shorter time window each day and also were forced to fast on a frequent basis.

Camping to the Rescue!

Believe or not something as simple as going camping for one week has been proven to rapidly fix all of these issues!   A 2013 Study in “Current Biology” showed that people’s circadian rhythm will synchronize to a natural, midsummer light-dark cycle if given the right stimulus (camping)/    For the first week of the study participants went through their normal routines of work, school, social activities and their normal sleep schedules.

For the second week participants camped in tents outdoors with only natural light and campfires (no blue or green light!).    No digital devices were allowed.     The response was pretty amazing:  they shifted their wake up time approximately 2 hours earlier and melatonin release and shut-off was optimized with light/dark cycles of the earth.    This was true even for self-proclaimed “night owls”. 

Needless to people almost always adjust their food intake timing while camping as well with the strong tendency to not eat during darkness.

So as we approach summer - think about a camping trip to help reset your daily rhythm!

The Health Benefits of Watermelon

Summer is almost here, and watermelon is a great tasting summer treat. The great news is that watermelon has some powerful health benefits.  It is a cousin to cucumbers, squash and pumpkins.

Watermelon contains more lycopene than tomatoes. 
     

Lycopene is a powerful carotenoid antioxidant that gives fruits and vegetables a pink or red color.       It has been proven to be excellent for cardiovascular health, prostate health, and breast health.   A half cup contains 6.5 mg.  

One study showed that men with the highest blood levels of lycopene where 55 percent less likely to have a stroke than those with the lowest levels.

A 2014 meta-analysis showed the lycopene may protect against ovarian cancer in post-menopausal woman.

Watermelon contains high levels of l-citrulline which is an amino acid.

L-Citrulline can help prevent muscle pain, boost Nitric Oxide Levels better than L-arginine and through this action can lower blood pressure and help treat erectile dysfunction.   In fact, watermelon is sometimes referred to as “Nature’s Viagra”. The rind contains even more citrulline than the pink flesh so you can grind it in a blender and add some lime for a healthy refreshing drink.

So - eat your watermelon while it is available!

The Benefits of Safe Sun Exposure

As with a lot of health advice the media tends to be very polarized when it comes to sun exposure.    While Ultraviolet (UV) exposure can cause sunburn which can lead to the development of skin cancer - proper safe, sun exposure is critical for optimal health and wellness.   

In addition proper UV exposure is critical for Vitamin D production which is by far the best way to optimize the many benefits of Vitamin D (See these previous blog posts on how to get safe sun exposure and supplement vitamin D in the winter:  http://workoutanytime.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-facts-on-safe-sun-exposure-and.html and http://workoutanytime.blogspot.com/2019/01/how-to-optimize-vitamin-d-levels-in.html )  Also, sunlight delivers more than UV light!

Sunlight exposure has many has many other proven benefits beyond Vitamin D production including:

Sunlight kills bad bacteria on the skin and is proven to improve psoriasis, acne, eczema and fungal infections of the skin.

UVA exposure from the sun causes skin to release stores of nitric oxide which is a potent signaling molecule with many benefits including vasodilation of blood vessels that can lower blood pressure and improve erectile function.     Nitric Oxide is also critical for proper immune function.

UVA and UVB exposure cause endorphin release which is relaxing and produces a strong analgesic effect helping to reduce pain.   Endorphins also act as a potent anti-depressant. 

Sunlight exposure early in the day is critical for proper sleep/wake cycle – sunlight signals received through the yes signal the master timekeeper in the brain, the suprachiasmic nucleus, that it is daytime and this keep time in all the peripheral “clocks” in the body so they function properly.   All cells express genes that keep cellular time and regular gene expression and activity.     For example skin cells exposed to UV light they expressed higher levels of two “clock” genes that control cellular circadian activity.  

Decreased sunlight exposure during daytime negatively affects circadian rhythms and night-time melatonin production so while night-time exposure to light (and blue light in particular) decreases melatonin secretion – daytime exposure (particularly early morning after first waking up) increases it later in the night!

The infrared rays of the sun penetrate the skin deeply producing many benefits including:

Increased Circulation

Helps reduce blood pressure

Helps prevent sunburns – so early morning sun exposure (when there is a high percentage of Infrared and reduced UV) can paradoxically help prevent sunburn later in the day.

Reduces pain and stiffness – this a very real benefit which is why you see animals like cats sit in the sun and stretch!

So enjoy safe sun exposure every day to reap these many benefits.   The key is pre-burn exposure.       Morning sun exposure (prior to 11am is very safe in most locations) and will greatly improve circadian rhythms and sleep while mid-day exposure is key for Vitamin D production.      To learn how to get safe sun exposure read the two previous blog posts mentioned above.

Stand-Up Paddle Boarding for Core Strength, Balance and Total Body Fitness!

Stand-up Paddle Boarding (SUP) is a fun activity that almost anyone can learn, and it is one of the best workouts available!   Stand-up Paddle Boarding is low impact and provides a combination of balance, core, strength, and endurance.     Since you are standing you have to use everything from your feet (wow do you use your feet!) all the way up through your entire shoulder girdle.    

Because you are standing your arms never have to go above shoulder height which means that there is much less stress on the rotator cuff muscles than kayaking.    You use your shoulders heavily but your shoulders are stressed in the position where they are naturally most stable and strong so much better than kayaking for those with shoulder and neck issues!

Just standing on a Paddle Board forces you to stabilize your entire body and core, and it is one of the best activities available to develop balance.   Best of all if you do fall you land in the water and getting back on the board is very easy!  

SUP Technique Breakdown

Learning to SUP is easy but mastering the stroke and maximizing your speed takes lot of practice.   The first thing to focus on is NOT pulling the water!     Instead you want to plant the blade in the water and pull yourself and the board up to the paddle blade.   Imagine that you are stabbing the paddle firmly into soft sand then pulling yourself and the board up to the paddle.     If you can clearly visualize the difference here it will go a long way to getting your stroke where it needs to be for optimum speed.   Think about grabbing the water NOT pulling the water by you!

Reach

Once you get a little feel for it start looking at how far you are reaching forward to put your paddle in the water.   You want to reach as far as possible each time you stroke, BUT there is a limit based on your particular anatomy, shoulder strength and balance.    If you reach too far you can overstress your low back, shoulder or just be off balance which is counter-productive.

Catch

This is where the blade of the paddle enters the water.    Make sure the entire blade enters the water before you begin to pull.   The catch should be as smooth and clean as possible with no splashing.

Pull

Now you are ready to apply power to the paddle.   Use your entire body for this part of the stroke.   It is NOT about using your arms.   Rather your arms merely connect you to the paddle through your hands and you use the rotation of your torso, hips, and shoulders to drive your paddle!  Try to relax your arms as much as possible to perfect this technique. Do not pull too far back as this will actually slow you down.   Once the paddle passes your hips if you keep pull you are actually pulling the paddle up meaning you are pulling the paddle board down and this only slows you down.

Release

After the pull you need to release the paddle from the water.    Like the catch you want this movement to be quick, smooth, and with zero splashing.   Feathering the blade of the paddle creates a smooth release and set-up for the next catch.   You feather by dropping your top shoulder, “breaking your wrist inward”, or a combination of both.  

Recovery

Once you release the paddle you are ready to set-up for the next catch and pull.   Try to relax during this phase – the key to optimum paddle technique is learning to set a rhythm between tension and relaxation and ultimately getting your breathing into a rhythm with the stroke.  The first time you feel this come together it is amazing – really zen!  So stay relaxed and let go of the tension you produced in the catch and pull and smoothly swing the paddle forward to prepare to drive the blade fully into the water for the next pull!

How many calories can you burn Paddle Boarding?

Obviously your actual calorie burn will depend on the intensity of effort you are putting into to paddling along with your height, weight, and the wind and water conditions you are paddling in.     However here are some estimates based on people weighing between 165 and 200lbs :

            Casual Paddle Boarding – 300 – 430 calories per hour

Yoga on Paddle Board – 416 – 540 calories per hour

Touring on a Paddle Board – 615 – 708 calories per hour

Surfing on a Paddle Board – 623 – 735 calories per hour

Racing a Paddle Board – 715 – 1,125 calories per hour

So if you have not taken the plunge yet – google “Stand-up Paddle Board Rental” and find a rental location and give it a whirl.   Rentals including paddle, board, and lifejacket are generally $25 - $35 per hour so get out there and give it a go!   

Muscle Increases Metabolic Rate and other Surprising Benefits of Resistance Training

Because the muscles function as the engines of our bodies they play a major role in maintaining our metabolic rate.    Even at rest, muscles account for almost 30% of the total calories burned because muscles require lots of caloric energy for muscle remodeling which happens 24 hours per day.    For those who do not perform resistance training exercise, each pound of their muscle uses approximately 6 calories per day.   However, for those of us who perform resistance exercise regularly each pound of our muscle uses approximately 9 calories per day because of higher levels of muscle remodeling and building stimulated by resistance training.

The key take home is that the resting energy requirements of strength trained muscles is 50% higher than the energy requirements of non-strength trained muscle!   In addition, stronger muscles allow you to perform physical activity at a higher level which increase the energy demands of exercise as well.    Actual overall resting metabolic rate increases approximately 7% for 3 full days following a strength training session!   Over the course of a year, this increase can add up to the energy contained in 10lbs of fat.   Put another way strength trained muscle can help you lose 10lbs of fat over the course of a year.

Strength training is also highly effective for regulating blood sugar.   Your muscles are your largest storage area for sugar, in the form of glycogen, so larger and stronger muscles help pull out more sugar from your blood.   Strength training also increases insulin sensitivity and glycemic control for enhanced sugar transport from your blood to your muscles.

Resistance training has also been shown to reduce resting blood pressure and decrease LDL (bad) cholesterol.   In fact, the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association both recommend regular resistance training to combat cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Used properly resistance training bands can provide a unique overload that maximizes muscle fiber recruitment, muscle fatigue and thereby rapidly increases muscle strength and hypertrophy.    Flat, circular resistance bands provide increasing resistance the more they are stretched, and this protocol takes advantage of this fact.

Key movements for maximum strength and muscle size include:

              Squats with band

              Deadlift with band

              Overhead Press with band

              Chest Presses with band

              Upright Rows with band

              Bent Over Row with band

              Bicep Curl with band

              Tricep Push-down with band

The key to this protocol is how you perform each set.   Since the resistance increases as the band stretches you start out by performing full range of motion exercise (short of lockout for squat, overhead press and deadlift) and perform smooth repetitions under control until you reach a level of fatigue where you cannot complete the full range.    Continue to perform repetitions to the farthest point possible (say 50 – 75% of the full range of motion) and keep going until you cannot reach that point and are performing reps to 25 – 35% of the possible range of motion.

The key is that you chose a level of resistance band that will challenge you to complete full repetitions after 4 – 6 reps limiting your ability to go full-range.   What you are doing is maximizing force output and muscle fiber recruitment and fatigue at portion of the range of motion.

Done properly this is an incredible stimulus for increasing muscular strength and size.

Here is how you do each exercise.   

For Squats best to use a flat, circular band – and there are several ways to hold the band:

You can step into the band with feet shoulder width apart and band looped over the top of your arms.   Bend both arms at the elbow with forearms crossed and hands on shoulder with band held over the top of both arms near the chest with elbows held high so that upper arms are parallel with the ground/foor.  Here is a great video demonstration:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNDYUhYIrTA

Using two bands looped over shoulders – see video here:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jxMPjOfMTg

Using bands with a bar and squat rack - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eDi193zFm8

Using band with bar and weight - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRjgVS6AS68

Deadlift with bands

Stand on band and put hands through both loops and peform a deadlift - https://youtu.be/TfpoYK4nCRc - you can also use the handles that attach to the flat, circular resistance training band or use bands with handles.

Using Bar and squat rack - https://youtu.be/qze4CP0f7o8

Overhead Press with bands

            Standing on band - https://youtu.be/24QR6DDWvFI

You can also attach the handles to both ends of the band standing in the center of the band and press overhead using handles.

Chest Press with bands:

              Multiple variations with bar or handles - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nMIhTGjgiU

Upright Rows with bands:

              Standing on bands:   https://youtu.be/m0hs7l2XNlQ      

Bicep Curls with bands:

Stand on flat, circular band and put both hands through the two loops on end and perform curls or attach band handles and perform

Overhead Tricep Press with bands:

              With flat circular band:   https://youtu.be/tJvXMQ5dSQs

Start by practicing each exercise and set-up and organizing the bands you will need for each exercise in the sequence.   Once you are ready perform each set to failure at multiple points within the range of motion without stepping between each range for one giant set:

              Full Range of Motion

              75% of Full Range of Motion

              40 – 50% of Full Range of Motion

              25 – 35% of Full Range of Motion

Buying Bands
A great source for these flat circular bands is either Amazon or  https://resistancebandtraining.com/ and another great option is the X3 bar.  https://www.jaquishbiomedical.com/x3-bar/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw17n1BRDEARIsAFDHFezeg-39ehieKy1MOjoqQ1DlB_GXMCQTwbnrB3Aqsu4FV0H21Iqpr74aAgZgEALw_wcB

Exercise and COVID-19

We all know that exercise can be beneficial for overall health, but what about exercise and COVID-19?    According to a new research review cardiovascular exercise may help protect people from a major complication of COVID-19 infection called acute respiratory distress syndrome or ARDS for short.

Specifically, regular bouts of cardiovascular exercise increase the production of ecSOD which is “Extracellular Super Oxide Dismutase” – a crucial antioxidant that is produced by the body to protect cells from oxidative damage.

Zhen Yan, the director of the Center for Skeletal Muscle Research at UVA’s Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center, who conducted the review recommends 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise every day to help ward off ARDS. “We cannot live in isolation forever,” he said. “Regular exercise has far more health benefits than we know. The protection against this severe respiratory disease condition is just one of the many examples.”

“All you hear now is either social distancing or ventilator, as if all we can do is either avoid exposure or rely on a ventilator to survive if we get infected.”  Yan said.  “The flip side of the story is that approximately 80% of confirmed COVID-19 patients have mild symptoms with no need of respiratory support.   The question is, ‘why?’ Our findings about an endogenous antioxidant enzyme provide important clue and have intrigued us to develop a novel therapeutic for ARDS caused by COVID-19.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated between 20 and 42 percent of all patients hospitalized with COVID-19 will develop ARDS.

Research predating the pandemic suggested that approximately 45 percent of patients who develop severe ARDS will die, according to a news release from the University of Virginia Health System.