Tag: metabolicconditioning

Fitness Trackers and The Promise of Health

Technological innovation, and the promise of making manual jobs obsolete. Including jobs like personal trainers that is. There is no doubt that some time in the future, technology would have advanced so far that a machine can scan your body, then device the most optimal diet and training regimen for you at that particular moment to ensure you reach your optimum fitness goal. That day has not arrived yet.

Its interesting that when the “fitness revolution” was first launched by fitbit and the likes, early data was very promising. Promising enough that even insurance companies would give discounts for people that uses fitness trackers. However, more recent studies have showed that on average, people that wore fitness trackers actually lost less weight than those who don’t on an average basis. So what happened?

Garbage In, Garbage Out

pedometer

As my statistics professor once said, if you feed bad data in, you will only get bad data as result, i.e. “garbage in, garbage out”. In this case, the early generation fitness trackers, these devices can only count on how many steps you take. I.e. they are basically high tech pedometer, no different than what our parents used.

In the 1960’s the Japanese company that invented the modern pedometer basically made this theory that if you took 10,000 steps a day, then you would be healthy. No actual solid research was used to draw this conclusion, it was simply something they used to market their product. Although modern research does prove that higher level of mobility (anywhere from 5000 to 8000 steps depending on your gender and age) is good for you, the comparison has always been with those that have sedentary lifestyle.

Hence it seems that the early positive result could be due to mostly health conscious people using the earlier generation product or getting people that are very sedentary to start becoming more mobile.

Joint Damage

918_Knee_InjuryMostmay not realize this, but overweight people that spent most of their lives sitting should not be forced to suddenly take too many steps. The additional weight they have will simply cause their joints to wear out faster. The lifelong habit of sitting also tend to make some overweight people to have inefficient walking gait. Due to these two concerns, forcing them to suddenly walk certain distance will increase their risk of developing joint damage on the knees and ankles, and once these joints are damaged, the wearer will inadvertently walk less, hence loosing the initial gains from more mobile lifestyle.

Metabolic Conditioning

sprint

Qualified personal trainers all knows that there are two ways for you to burn calories, one while you exercise, and the other is while you do everything else. The everything else part of the equation is more than three times that of what you burn while exercising. Hence it makes sense that you should concentrate more on the later part. You could increase your base line metabolism level (i.e. basalt metabolism) by either developing bigger muscles, or by doing High Impact Interval Training (i.e. HIIT). Both methods will increase your basalt metabolism level anywhere from 24 to 48 hours after you train. And neither of them can be detected with previous generation fitness device.

Any Hope For Future Generation Fitness Trackers?

Even the previous generation fitness generation can function as a glorified interval counter that will remind you to stand up and do a little bit of stretching if you have been sitting for too long. And as an advocate for Dr. McGill’s spine hygine, this is a very good function. Newer generation fitness trackers can already measure your heart beat, hence it can be used as an accessory while you do your HIIT training. Of course, when you do HIIT, be mindful on your joint alignments, having rest days and your choice of activity as you will be subjected to higher risk of injury otherwise.

Conclusion

Fitness trackers can definitely be used as part of the larger solution to make people be more active and healthy. However, its still just part of the equation and it should not be used as the main solution to your problem.

6 Best Conditioning for 6-pack Abs

First and foremost, I hate jogging for long periods. I think the word “conditioning” has been misused that led people to believe that its with either hour long jogging or hour long cycling and is usually reserved for fat people. The problem is that training for extended period triggers the release of cortisol, the hormone that triggers muscular protein breakdown. Hence why its very hard for long distance runners and cyclist to gain muscle mass. Not only that, long steady-state, low intensity cardio is not very efficient at burning your spare tire. So below are 6 forms of conditioning that works the whole body, does not require you to spend long period of time to get your heart rate up, increases your athletic performance, and best of all, help loose that spare tire:

Farmer’s Walk

Farmer_walk

This is probably seems like the least sexy of all exercise. You basically grab the heaviest pair of dumbbells or load the hex bar as heavy as you can, then start walking around with it. It will train your grip, shoulders, core and legs. Mind you, your core consists more than just your rectus abdominis (6-pack muscle) and obliques (the sides), it also consists of your QL (Quadratus Lumborum) that is usually neglected but essential for spine health. The farmer’s walk will help you train your QL and be more athletic. The issue I have with doing this exercise at commercial gyms are that they usually have neither a hex bar nor dumbbells heavy enough for me to use, and those that aren’t familiar with this exercise might give you a weird look. When you want to try this exercise, make sure that your shoulders are pushed all the way down (no shrugging) and your spine is in neutral position.

Sled Push

sled push

This is also a great exercise for those that wanted to loose weight as efficient as possible. If you want to increase your running speed, use less weight and push faster. If you want to increase your pushing strength for your rugby/American football game, load more into the sled. This training will build your shoulders, core and legs real fast and you will be gasping for air in minutes. One thing you must keep in mind is again, keeping the spine in neutral position and your knees in proper alignment, otherwise you will be visiting the physiotherapist real soon. No sled at your gym? Use your car!

Sled Rope Pull

So the first two exercises focused on gait and pushing, the third exercise will now focus on pull and stop-twist. Simply tie a thick and sturdy rope to the loaded sled or car, walk about 10 – 15 meters away, plant your feet and start pulling your weight. The key is to use your body twist to pull the rope instead of using your arms. Make sure your spine remains locked and the twisting is generated from the hips. If you pose like the image above, don’t blame me for the subsequent back problems. This conditioning will do wonders to your grip, lats, obliques and glutes.

Rope Slam

rope slam

A great full body conditioning for those with lower body issues (knee or ankle problem, obesity, etc). This training will do wonders to your grip, arms, shoulders, core and legs. Of course just like the great three training above, the main issue with this exercise is stupid trainers who don’t know how to do them properly, demonstrating improper technique to their clients. If you do this exercise with shrugged shoulders, or drive the energy from flexing your spine, be assured that you will be visiting a GP or physio soon.

Boxing

090814-N-1245S-007 PACIFIC OCEAN (Aug. 14, 2009) Aviation BoatswainÕs Mate (Handling) 3rd Class Hector Castro and Aviation BoatswainÕs Mate (Handling) 3rd Class Roman Vasquez train on a punching bag aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68). Nimitz and embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 11 are underway on a scheduled deployment to the western Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Gregory A. Streit /Released)

OK, so just hitting the punching bag in this case. Hitting the bag is a great way to work up your cardio and working the whole body. And the greatest knock out artists know how to use their stiffened core to fully transfer the hitting power from the hips to the knuckles. If your have pinched shoulders or weak wrist, your trainer should probably address your weak points first before allowing you to go at it.

Sprint

sprint

No, I’m not talking about a slow jog. I’m talking about a fast sprint with vigorous swinging arms. Run like you just stole something. Only by running like this would you be able to work the whole body and feel the pump in no time. Now you might say that the previous 5 conditioning exercises involved equipment you or your gym don’t have. But surely you can afford a pair of sneakers right? And compared to other forms of training above, a sprint is much safer and easier to do.

So there you have it folks, my favorite forms of conditioning that will help you loose weight, get more toned, and build whole body strength. After all, if you want to loose your belly fat, you must loose your body’s overall fat. Doing 1000 sit-ups a day will only get you spine disk herniation while these exercises above will burn far more calories in shorter time.