Nutritional Facts and Figures

The Research
In a recent study presented in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology Metabolism, the WHtR was the strongest predictor of cardiovascular risk and mortality. On the other hand, BMI was not always positively associated with cardiovascular risk. The results of this study discourage the use of BMI as a measure of health risk and encourage the use of WHtR.

BMI Flaws
BMI provides a guide to the relationship between a person’s height and weight. However, having a high BMI is not always a telltale sign that one will be at greater risk for disease. For instance, many thin people who have low or normal BMI’s still have heart attacks or die from strokes and many people who have high BMI’s are in good cardiovascular shape (as the study above indicated). BMI does not take into account an individual’s frame, gender, or the amount of muscle mass versus fat mass. For example, two people can have the same BMI, even if one is much more muscular and carrying far less abdominal fat than the other; this is because BMI does not account for differences in fat distribution.

WHR
The WHtR is calculated by dividing waist size by height, and takes gender into account. As an example, a male with a 32 inch waist who is 5′10″ (70 inches) would divide 32 by 70, to get a WHtR of 45.7 percent. The WHtR is thought to give a more accurate assessment of health since the most dangerous place to carry weight is in the abdomen. Fat in the abdomen, which is associated with a larger waist, is metabolically active and produces various hormones that can cause harmful effects, such as diabetes, elevated blood pressure, and altered lipid (blood fat) levels.

Many athletes, both male and female, who often have a higher percentage of muscle and a lower percentage of body fat, have relatively high BMIs but their WHtRs are within a healthy range. This also holds true for women who have a “pear” rather than an “apple” shape.

The following chart helps you determine if your WHtR falls in a healthy range (these ratios are percentages):

WOMEN
• Ratio less than 35: Abnormally Slim to Underweight
• Ratio 35 to 42: Extremely Slim
• Ratio 42 to 46: Healthy
• Ratio 46 to 49: Healthy
• Ratio 49 to 54: Overweight
• Ratio 54 to 58: Seriously Overweight
• Ratio over 58: Highly Obese

MEN
• Ratio less than 35: Abnormally Slim to Underweight
• Ratio 35 to 43: Extremely slim
• Ratio 43 to 46: Healthy
• Ratio 46 to 53: Healthy, Normal Weight
• Ratio 53 to 58: Overweight
• Ratio 58 to 63: Extremely Overweight/Obese
• Ratio over 63: Highly Obese

Alyse’s Advice
New research shows that the WHtR, not BMI, is the most accurate assessment tool for health risk. People with the most weight around their waists are at greatest risk of diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Therefore, since you can’t change your height, you should take special care to keep your weight and in particular, abdominal girth in a healthy range by eating nutritiously and exercising regularly.

1. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Apr;95(4):1777-85. Epub 2010 Feb 3. The predictive value of different measures of obesity for incident cardiovascular events and mortality. Schneider HJ, Friedrich N, Klotsche J, Pieper L, Nauck M, John U, Dörr M, Felix S, Lehnert H, Pittrow D, Silber S, Völzke H, Stalla GK, Wallaschofski H, Wittchen HU.

Los Angeles nutritionist Alyse Levine MS, RD, founder of NutritionBite
. Visit her profile on LIVESTRONG.COM.

• Your Family, friends, and work or school obligations

•   Don’t feel you truly have the time it takes

•   Really believe you don’t know where to start, or you feel you have failed in the past and it will only happen again

Any of these sound like your reality? not to worry OK, you’re not alone. The place to help is right here..

Yes its true, your the only one who can make the decision and the time to exercise, but since your reading this, maybe some of my information can help you to learn what to do, when you need to do it, and why the hell are you doing it.

Here are some basic steps to follow to get you started you on your way.

1. Learn about what you need to know in order to start exercising. Jump over to the “You need to know this” page, to read and understand it.
2. Learn about what you don’t need to know about exercising. Jump over to the ” ” to read and enjoy a laugh or two.
3. Learn some basic exercises and stretches that you can do right away as you get started. Jump over to the “Basic Exercises & Simple Stretches page” Read and practice these things as shown, and guess what… Your on your Way!

Don’t forget, Nutrition is your foundation, so with that in mind;

1. Stay tuned to learn the “Fundamental Nutrition Principles” and how to incorporate them in your daily life.

* Good Morning Exercise
Keep a bar with some weight on your shoulders. Bend at the waist with your knees bent a little and the back straight till the trunk is parallel to the ground. Relax in the upright position and repeat.

* Hamstring Stretch
Lie on your back and hold on the back of your thigh, lift the knee 90* above the ground and straighten it until it exerts a mild stretch on the back of the thigh. This exercise helps increase the muscle flexibility and reduce the stress on the lower back exerted through the pelvis.

* Piriformis Stretch
Lying on your back, cross the right leg over the left knee, grasp the back of the left thigh and pull the knee close to the chest. This stretch helps in the overall flexibility of the pelvic region.

* Psoas Stretch
Lying on your back, bend the knee close to the chest and clasp it just below the knee.

* Pelvic Stretch
Lying on your back, fold your arms, bend the knees and soles directed to the floor. Without supporting the hands, lift your buttocks off the floor and slowly rest them back.

* Hip Stretch
Lying on your back at the edge of the bed, hold your knees to the chest. Keeping one knee in bending position, lower the other knee till a stretch is felt on the hips.

* Abdominal Curl Ups
Three types of abdominal curls given below can be practiced separately. Lie on your back with knees bend. Lift up your trunk and try to reach below the knees, try reaching the knees with the elbows, and bending forward with the hands folded behind the head.

* Lumbar Extension Stretch
Lie on your abdomen and slowly use your forearms to raise your upper body above the ground, and then lie down again. This back arching is important to help in stabilizing the spine.

( I know this is from the Powerbar website, and I am not trying to plug them on purpose, but hey its good info so I left it intact..)

By: Fiona Lockhart, CTS Pro Coach

An abundance of information exists for endurance athletes; sometimes too much. It can become quite difficult to figure out exactly what you should and shouldn’t do in training because many sources have conflicting information. Below are some of the myths that seem to be perpetuated over and over again, even though the scientific research doesn’t back it up.

1. There’s no point in doing high-intensity workouts if you’re training for a long-distance event, like a marathon, since you’ll never be going that hard during the event.
   No matter what the event you are training for, it’s useful to change up the intensity of your workouts to make sure you work all your physiological systems, as well as to prevent physical and mental staleness. Research has shown that athletes who perform sprint workouts were able to improve their longer-term endurance performance. That doesn’t mean that you do high-intensity intervals, like sprints or hill repeats, all the time, but adding them to your total training mix will make you a better athlete.
2. If you want to lose weight, go out and ride or run for long periods of time without eating. If you train in the morning, don’t eat beforehand.
   No, no, no, no, no. Your body needs fuel in order to perform at its best. If you try to train without sufficient fuel stores, not only will you wear yourself out in the long run, but your immediate workout will have only a fraction of the quality it should have. Consume gels, sports drinks and/or bars to maintain a steady supply of carbohydrate during your workout. Make sure you also take advantage of recovery nutrition, like the POWERBAR® Recovery shake, within 30 minutes of the end of your training bout; this will maximize those glycogen stores so you can come back and train hard the next day.If you train in the morning, have something to eat before you start out. Your body burns through glycogen while you are sleeping; and your training will suffer from reduced fuel stores in the morning if you don’t refuel. If your body doesn’t tolerate solid foods before early-morning workouts, try a POWERBAR® Endurance sport drink.If you are trying to lose weight, think about cutting calories at times away from your training, not near to or during it.
3. Losing weight will always improve your performance.
   While a light, lean body is certainly a benefit for endurance events, don’t overdo it. Just because someone else can perform effectively at a given weight doesn’t mean you should be at that same weight. If you’re trying to lose weight, do it slowly and gradually so that you can continue to fuel your body sufficiently to support your training. If your weight is going down, but your power output and performance are diminishing as well, you may very well be too lean for your own good.
4. When doing strength training, always do lots of repetitions so that you don’t bulk up.
   In order to reap the most gains from a strength training program, you need to lift a significant amount of weight in a relatively short period of time. After you have done a few weeks of light weight, moderate repetitions (i.e. 12-15 reps) to allow your tendons, ligaments, and muscles to adapt to the rigors of strength training, you will need to raise the amount of weight and lower the number of repetitions in order to maximize your strength gains. Don’t worry; unless you’re spending 5 days a week, 4+ hours in the gym (and you shouldn’t be, if you’re an endurance athlete), you won’t get “muscle-bound”!
5. To really be competitive, you need to train more than 15 hours a week.
   If this were the case, there would be very few competitive athletes over the age of 30. Let’s face it, with work, family, and other obligations we contend with as we get older, it can be difficult to find many hours of training time during the week. But that’s okay, because you can still train effectively with limited time.With fewer hours available to work out, establishing a structured training program becomes of paramount importance. Figure out how many hours and days you can train, and then set specific goals for each training day (i.e. lactate threshold workouts, sprint intervals). Then be consistent with that schedule. Not only will you continue to get stronger and faster, but you may also find that your performance gains are even greater than when you had more training time, because you are now forced to work with a specific plan.

Sedentary life ’speeds up ageing’

Leading a sedentary lifestyle may make us genetically old before our time, a study suggests. A study of twins found those who were physically active during their leisure time appeared biologically younger than their sedentary peers.

The researchers found key pieces of DNA called telomeres shortened more quickly in inactive people. It is thought that could signify faster cellular ageing.

The King’s College London study appears in Archives of Internal Medicine.

This conclusion provides a powerful message that could be used by clinicians to promote the potential anti-ageing effect of regular exercise” King’s College London researchers

An active lifestyle has been linked to lower rates of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.

However, the latest research suggests that inactivity not only makes people more vulnerable to disease, but may actually speed up the ageing process itself.

The King’s team studied 2,401 white twins, asking them to fill out questionnaires on their level of physical activity, and taking a blood sample from which DNA was extracted.

They particularly focused on telomeres, the repeat sequences of DNA that sit on the ends of chromosomes, protecting them from damage.

As people age, their telomeres become shorter, leaving cells more susceptible to damage and death.

Examining white blood cells from the immune system in particular, the researchers found that, on average, telomeres lost 21 component parts – called nucleotides – every year.

But men and women who were less physically active in their leisure time had shorter leukocyte telomeres compared to those who were more active.

The average telomere length in those who took the least amount of exercise – 16 minutes of physical activity a week – was 200 nucleotides shorter than those who took the most exercise – 199 minutes of physical activity a week, such as running, tennis or aerobics.

The most active people had telomeres of a length comparable to those found in inactive people who were up to 10 years’ younger, on average.

Direct comparison of twins who had different levels of physical activity produced similar results.

Impact of stress

The researchers suggest that physically inactive people may be more vulnerable to the damage caused to cells by exposure to oxygen, and to inflammation.

Stress is also thought to have an impact on telomere length, and the researchers suggest people who exercise regularly may help to reduce their stress levels.

Writing in the journal, the researchers said: “Our results show that adults who partake in regular physical activity are biologically younger than sedentary individuals.

“This conclusion provides a powerful message that could be used by clinicians to promote the potential anti-ageing effect of regular exercise.”

In an accompanying editorial, Dr Jack Guralnik, of the US National Institute on Aging, said more work was needed to show a direct relationship between ageing and physical activity.

He said: “Persons who exercise are different from sedentary persons in many ways, and although certain variables were adjusted for in this analysis, many additional factors could be responsible for the biological differences between active and sedentary persons.

“Nevertheless, this article serves as one of many pieces of evidence that telomere length might be targeted in studying ageing outcomes.”

Earlier this month, Mountain Equipment Co-op, the “REI of Canada,” pulled its Nalgene bottles from its shelves, citing concern over potential health risks. It seems that those iconic bottles (Neat colors! Cool graphics! Originally used in laboratories!) that are ubiquitous in backpacks, dorm rooms and office refrigerators are made of a type of plastic that has been linked with infertility, lower sperm counts, enlarged prostrate glands, pre-cancerous lesions in breast and prostate tissue, and other symptoms of hormone disruption.

How many New Yorkers carry a Nalgene bottle with them wherever they go because they want a reusable, environmentally preferable alternative to bottled water? How many New Yorkers carry a Nalgene bottle for their children wherever they go because they fear that softer plastic baby bottles will leach hormone-disrupting phthalates, especially when filled with acidic juices? How many New Yorkers carry a Nalgene bottle wherever they go, just because the bottles are nearly unbreakable and are really colorful?

And, reading this now, how many New Yorkers suddenly feel like Charlie Brown does, whenever Lucy pulls the football away from him, one more time? Like Charlie Brown, how many Nalgene-carrying New Yorkers will learn about this latest health risk and want to shout ‘Aaaarrrrggghhhhh!”

The Polycarbonate Problem

Before you fill your Nalgene bottle with cement and jump in the Hudson River, here are some basics:

Most Nalgene bottles are made from polycarbonate. (You can distinguish polycarbonate from other plastics because the polycarbonate bottles have the number 7 in the little recycling triangle on the bottom). Polycarbonate is a form of plastic that is comprised mostly of bisphenol A (BPA), an endocrine disruptor that mimics the female hormone, estrogen. In animal studies, BPA has been associated with the abnormalities listed above, as well as with obesity and insulin resistance – a condition that commonly precedes the development of diabetes. If all that wasn’t bad enough, BPA also has been shown in animal studies to cause changes in behavior. (Could it have been his Nalgene bottle — and not the steroids — that caused an enraged Roger Clemens to throw a broken bat at Mike Piazza during Game 2 of the 2000 World Series?)

Not surprisingly, industry-funded studies have failed to find these same effects. And, the jump from animal studies to human impacts is an imperfect one, so there is a lot of controversy around the toxic effects of BPA. Although we can’t say with certainty that BPA causes the same problems in humans as it does in the laboratory animals, the weight of scientific evidence should prompt us to err on the side of caution and avoid BPA exposures where possible.

We also know that more than 90 percent of the general population carries residues of BPA in their bodies. How is that possible? After all, not everybody drinks from Nalgene bottles. But the BPA chemical is ubiquitous. Epoxy resins containing BPA line the cans of tomato sauce and leach into the sauce, thanks to the acidity of the tomatoes. It lines the insides of your Coke and juice cans—whoops, there’s that acid-enhanced leaching again. Canned fruits? Yup, you’ll find BPA in those cans too. Here are some other BPA sources: the insides of the cans of infant formula, some dental sealants and even that polycarbonate pitcher that came with your Brita filter.

What You Can Do

Eliminating exposure to BPA is probably close to impossible, given its ubiquity. But reducing exposure to this chemical makes sense, especially for children (their developing bodies are especially prone to the health impacts of endocrine disruptors like BPA). Avoiding polycarbonate bottles is one step in reducing exposure to endocrine disruptors. (An important note here: Although Nalgene has become the “Kleenex” of the polycarbonate world, all polycarbonate bottles contain BPA, so you should avoid bottles with that little “7″ in the recycling triangle, whether they come from Nalgene, Starbucks or your Brita filter system.) If you use these bottles, recognize that high temperatures (e.g., your dishwasher), acidic liquids (e.g., juice), and any discoloration or cracking due to age are all likely to increase BPA leaching.

There are better options for storing drinks: an unlined stainless steel container (e.g. Klean Kanteen) or another type of plastic container, such as polyethylene or polypropylene, which doesn’t contain BPA. (Look for the number 1, 2, or 5 in the recycling triangle on the bottom of the container.)

Second, recognize that more of our collective exposures are likely to come from BPA in cans especially if the contents are highly acidic such as a tomato-based product or soda. San Marzano tomatoes may be the best for cooking, but buying them in glass or those milk carton-like boxes will keep BPA out of the sauce. Likewise, canned pineapple may have been the only way to eat that fruit when we were kids, but now buying fresh is the BPA-free way to enjoy it.

Want to find out more? The Environmental Working Group, California, and a group called Environmental Defence in Canada all have good information on their websites.

Nail a goal

And make it attainable and detailed. According to a 2005 American College of Sports Medicine study, women who set smaller, specific goals are 30 percent likelier to reach them than those who shoot for big, general ones. To keep things simple, pick one of these (the three most often heard by trainers): a toned upper body; flat, bikini-worthy abs; or a strong, lean lower body. Then write down a weekly plan or register at traineo.com. This site not only helps track your workouts, it also lets you enter up to four motivators (coworker, boyfriend, whoever) who will get weekly progress reports via e-mail. If you slack, it’s their job to harass you.

PICK SIX MOVES

“Lifting weights two to three times a week is enough to get noticeable results without spending hours each day in the gym,” says Tom Terwilliger, owner of Terwilliger Fitness in Denver. “But this means you need to hit every major muscle group whenever you work out.” Aim for six moves per workout and be sure to target all your key parts (abs, arms, back, chest, glutes, and legs). Use this chart to choose your moves. In all, the sequence shouldn’t take longer than about five songs on your workout playlist.

Toned Upper Body

Work your chest – 1 move, back – 2 move, arms – 1 move, core – 1 move, lower body – 1 move

Flat Abs

Work your core – 3 move, chest – 1 move, back – 1 move, lower body – 1 move

Lean Lower Body

Work your glutes – 2 move, quads – 1 move, hamstrings – 1 move, upper body – 1 move, core – 1 move

PLACE YOUR ORDER

How many times have you saved your least favorite move for the end, only to rush through it while debating whether your postgym beer counts as hydration? In a 2007 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, researchers found that women couldn’t do as many reps toward the end of their workout. “You lose mental focus, and your muscles fatigue during a strength session,” says Jeffrey Willardson, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist at the University of Eastern Illinois. Tackle the moves tied to your goal at the beginning of your workout when you have the most energy.

Some other general rules to lift by:

IF YOU WANT A TONED UPPER BODY

Think big, then small. Do chest and upper-back exercises before targeting your smaller arm muscles, since you end up working your biceps and triceps in most upper-body moves. If you’ve already exhausted them with isolating moves, you won’t get as much out of anything you do afterward.

IF YOU WANT FLAT ABS

Squeeze them in. To get a firm, flat midsection even faster, insert a core exercise between your lower- and upper-body moves. “It will reactivate those muscles so they’re constantly engaged during the workout,” Terwilliger says. “It keeps them firing.”

IF YOU WANT A LEAN LOWER BODY

Start with your bum. Hit it first and hit it hard. Because your glutes are the biggest muscles of all, your rear end burns more calories than any other body part.

GET YOUR NUMBERS STRAIGHT

Reps The number of times you repeat a move is what strengthens your muscle fibers. How many reps do you need? That depends on your goal. If you want to…

Maximize strength Do 4 to 6 reps with a weight heavy enough that you can barely get through the last one.

Maximize power (how fast the muscle can move): Do 8 to 12 reps.

Maximize endurance Do 15 to 25 reps.

Sets Breaking up moves into groups of repetitions, or sets, allows you to get through more reps — because you can rest in between. Doing 3 sets is enough to challenge the muscle completely, Willardson says. If you’re pressed for time, do 1 set of each move rather than skipping a move or two and doing all 3 sets. Studies show that you get 50 to 90 percent of your strength gains from your first set.

Load Generally, choose a weight that makes finishing your last set with good form barely doable. But once every four to six sessions, opt for a heft that leaves you totally spent after 4 to 6 reps (and, no, this doesn’t get you out of the remaining 2 sets). This activates your fast-twitch muscles — needed for short bursts of strength. “In everyday life, they don’t get called on as often as other muscle fibers,” says Mike Godard, Ph.D., a professor of kinesiology at Western Illinois University. “So they’re especially important to pay attention to in the gym.”

Rest between sets Once a month, your body makes hormones that seem like evildoers. But every time you work out you produce growth hormone — your ally in the fight for a halter-ready body. Growth hormone levels spike following an individual set of moves and help amino acids — what protein is made of — latch on to and feed the muscle so it can grow stronger. The key to gaining strength is to keep your recovery time to 30 to 60 seconds, Willardson says, so hormone levels are consistently amped and ready to help fuel your muscles.

TWEAK AS YOU GO

Once every 4 weeks, switch up your moves, weight, sets, reps, and/or rest. This will prevent your muscles from plateauing like a crap day for the Dow.

Photo by: Nick Ruechel

Appeared in the June 2007 issue of Women’s Health

Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) is the maximum amount of oxygen that can be used by the body for maximal sustained power output (exercise). Since the body uses oxygen to convert food into energy (ATP), the more oxygen you can consume, the more energy, power, or speed you can produce. VO2max defines an endurance athlete’s performance ceiling, or the size of his or her “engine.” Research has shown that VO2max significantly determines performance in endurance-based events such as cycling, triathlon, running, and Nordic skiing.

Remember, however, that VO2max is only one piece of the rider’s performance puzzle. Ability to perform in a race also depends on lactate threshold, appropriate peaking, nutrition and tactics (to name just a few).

Let’s return to the “engine” analogy. If we were to race two cars, one a dragster with a large engine and the second a stock car with a much smaller engine, which one would win? You can’t say. If we raced them a quarter mile down a drag strip, the dragster with a larger engine would win. However, if we raced them 400 miles, the stock car would win even with a smaller engine. Why? The dragster may be fast for short bursts, but it can’t maintain its speed for an extended period of time. The same is true with two cyclists. If Bill had a high VO2max but a moderate LT, and Tom had a moderate VO2max but a ridiculously high LT, Tom would likely find himself victorious in a head to head race up L’Alpe d’Huez. Although Bill has a higher VO2max, Tom can maintain a higher workload for a longer period of time. We’ll elaborate on this more next week when we discuss lactate threshold.

How is VO2 Max measured?

Many endurance athletes already have some idea of what a VO2max test entails: an incremental increase in exercise effort until the participant is unable to continue increasing his or her workload. The athlete can perform the test using any number of exercises: running, cycling, rowing, and even swimming. Because VO2max will vary between sports for various individuals, athletes will generally perform the test in his or her preferred sport. Regardless of the testing modality used, all the tests do the same thing. They take a happy-go-lucky individual and turn him or her into a grimacing, suffering, and most importantly, gasping test subject. As exercise intensity increases, a machine calculates oxygen consumption (VO2) by collecting and analyzing the test subject’s inspired and expired air. With each incremental increase in power output by the athlete, more muscle mass is employed and more oxygen consumed. VO2 will thus increase linearly with exercise intensity until the body reaches its maximum ability to consume oxygen. At this point, oxygen consumption will level off, or plateau, when the subject reaches his or her VO2max.

Once the test analyzes the data, the athlete is given a numerical value of his or her VO2max. This number can be expressed in two forms. The first is called your absolute VO2max (liters O2/minute) and will likely fall between 3.0-6.0 l/min if you’re male, and 2.5-4.5 l/min if you’re female. The second is called your relative VO2max (milliliters O2/kilogram body weight/minute). For those who recall their science classes, the difference is in the units that follow the number. The relative VO2max takes into account the athlete’s body weight, whereas absolute VO2max does not. You can, therefore, impress you friends by quickly increasing your relative VO2max by merely losing some weight!

There are a few requirements to have a useful and representative VO2max test:

    * The test must employ at least 50 percent of the test subject’s total muscle mass. Sports such as cycling, running, swimming and Nordic skiing all qualify. (Note that VO2max values for cyclists are generally 5-10 percent lower than those of runners or Nordic skiers due to less active muscle mass being utilized.)

    * The test must be of sufficient duration to maximize cardiovascular responses. The length of suffering is usually 6-15 min.

    * Finally, a highly motivated individual must perform the test. (The more pain and suffering during the test, the better the data).

How do you measure up?

The following are examples of absolute and relative VO2max values of untrained, moderately trained, and elite aerobic individuals.

FEMALE Training Status

UntrainedTrainedEliteAbsolute(l/min)< 3.03.0->3.0Relative 26-4240-6055+

MALE Training Status

UntrainedTrainedEliteAbsolute(l/min)< 3.03.5->4.0Relative 36-5250-7060+

Source: Costill, D.L. and Wilmore, J.H. (1994). Cardiorespiratory Function and Performance. Physiology of Sport and Exercise. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Factors affecting VO2max

There are three primary factors that can affect VO2max: altitude, age and gender.

    * Altitude: An increase in altitude results in a decrease in air density and the partial pressure (or amount) of oxygen in the air. Therefore, you can expect a 5-7 percent loss in VO2max from sea level to 5,000 feet.

    * Age: Peak physiological function occurs at about 30 years of age. VO2max decreases approximately 30 percent between the ages of 20 and 65, with the greatest decline after age 40. However, decreases in VO2max can be extremely variable and can – at least partially – be offset by training.

    * Gender: In general, females tend to have lower VO2max values than males (15 percent to 20 percent less). This is primarily due to differences in body composition, hemoglobin content in the blood, and heart size. Females, on average, have a higher percentage of body fat, lower content of hemoglobin in their blood, and have a smaller adaptation of heart size in response to endurance and resistance training. It is important to note that these differences are “in general” – there are always exceptions.

What does it all mean?

Well, it depends on who you are and how much your have already been training when you take your VO2max test. Research has determined that approximately 80 percent of an individual’s VO2max is genetically determined. Depending on your current training level, VO2max may be enhanced through progressive endurance training. Untrained individuals have the potential to increase their VO2max by 15-20 percent, but well-trained athletes are unlikely to realize an increase in VO2max of greater than 3-5 percent. So, if you’ve been training well for the past year and your VO2max is in the 50’s, don’t hold your breath to be the next Lance. The good news is that your lactate threshold is highly trainable, and elevating your LT will put the hurt on your friends or fellow racers. Since many elite athletes share comparable VO2max values, lactate threshold is often a better measure of fitness and endurance performance.

1. Are you medically cleared to exercise?

Safely perform your exercises, here’s how to do just that. It does you no good to start exercising with the best of intentions if you hurt yourself right away because you didn’t know the way you were performing the exercises was wrong. Not only are you less likely to keep exercising, but you may want to give up the idea entirely.

Rule of Thumb: You must learn the proper execution of the basic exercises in order to perform them safely and effectively.

2. It is hard to do something properly, if you’re not sure where to begin.

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Make sure that step is the right one. It will save you much a great deal of time and frustration.

3. Why you are exercising? What’s your motivation?

If you don’t know why exercising, chances are are you won’t be focused on what you want to achieve. This is the by far the quickest road to failure.

Rule of Thumb: Know why you’re exercising. Write down specific goals that you would like to achieve, e.g. lose 10 pounds of fat in 8 weeks.

4. What you need to do to achieve your goals?

It is great to have goals. It is even better to know how to achieve them. Would you drive across the country without a map? Why would you embark upon something as important as your health and fitness without a plan as so many people do? Knowing this is extremely important, especially if you are older and have never really exercised before. Tell your doctor that you want to start an exercise program, ask if there is anything you need to know before you start.

Rule of Thumb: If you are a bit older, have never or rarely ever exercise, or have any pre-existing conditions or injuries that might affect you, consult your physician. When in doubt, get checked out.

But what is recovery really and how is it facilitated? There are many complex aspects of recovery, but one of the most important is nutrient transfer. We all know that weight training increases blood flow to the muscles being worked. But do we ever really think about what that means or how to maximize it to help us reach our goals? Probably not, but that’s what this article is for!

Alright, time for some very basic physiology. In regard to blood flow, the body has a network of extremely small blood vessels called capillaries. Their primary function deals with the exchange of oxygen, hormones, amino acids, glucose and lipids among other things. The exchange of certain nutrients at the capillary level is sometimes referred to as nutrient transfer. This blood flow through the capillaries remains relatively constant under resting conditions, but as soon as a muscle starts contracting, the blood flow is increased. It’s with these extremely small capillaries that the muscles are supplied with all the nutrients they need for recovery. Pretty simple, huh?

Your capillary-to-muscle-fiber ratio is expressed as the term capillary density. Obviously, the more capillaries you have within the muscular system, the better the nutrient transfer. Unfortunately, increased fiber area (hypertrophy) through heavy resistance training leads to a decrease in capillary density (1). This could be one of the reasons why weightlifters with a large amount of muscle mass take longer to recover than their less massive peers.

Based on the above information, it’s pretty clear increased blood flow within the muscle will increase nutrient transfer, thus aiding recovery. We also learned that heavy resistance training decreases capillary density by increasing the fiber area without a subsequent increase in capillaries. So, you’re probably wondering if there’s a way to increase capillary density? You bet there is. It’s called endurance training!

In volume three of The Encyclopaedia of Sports Medicine: Strength and Power in Sport, world-renowned physiology researcher P.A. Tesch makes the following statement: “Numerous studies have demonstrated that the capillary supply, either expressed as capillaries per fiber or as capillaries per mm(squared), increases in response to endurance training.” (2)

I know, I know, endurance training sounds about as pleasant to an avid iron-thrower as a 100-gram dose of soy protein. But it’s a well-known fact that endurance training increases capillary density. Don’t you worry though, ’cause this ain’t no wussified version of endurance training! This method will help you improve recovery, gain muscular endurance and increase hypertrophy. If that sounds good to you, read on.
The 100 Rep-a-Day Program

Since I’m a strength and conditioning coach, I’m constantly faced with dilemmas involving performance improvement. Since I own my training company, I can pretty much experiment with whatever I want, whenever I want. Therefore, I’ve tried many crazy schemes over the years in attempt to help solve some of the problems we all face as weight trainers. Some have worked, most have not. But I’m going to share with you one of my best discoveries so far: The 100 rep-a-day program.

Here’s how it works. First, decide which body part you feel is lagging the most (if you answer “all of them!” we have a problem). Hopefully, the incredible amount of information T-mag has provided over the years has given you a good jump on your physical goals and aspirations. Let’s say you pick calves and biceps. Yes, you can pick two muscle groups if they’re small. For instance, if you feel your calves and biceps are lacking, then you’re allowed to use the 100 rep-a-day program for both muscles simultaneously. If you choose a large muscle group like the chest or hamstrings, then use the program for those body parts independently. Here’s a list for the sake of clarity:

Small body parts (pick two if you want)

Biceps

Triceps

Calves

Forearms

Delts

Abdominals

Large body parts (pick one only)

Quadriceps

Hamstrings

Pectorals

Lats

Glutes/Lower Back

Now that you’ve chosen the muscle group(s) you want to improve, pick a single exercise for the targeted muscle group(s). Obviously, the list is endless but I’d strongly recommend an exercise that requires very little equipment, if possible. Here are a few exercises I like to use but feel free to use whatever you want:

Calves

Standing Calf Raises (1 or 2 legged)

Donkey Calf Raises

Quadriceps

Bodyweight Full Squats

Bodyweight Low Box Squats

Hamstrings

Standing Leg Curl (with ankle weight)

Lying Leg Curl (with ankle weight)

Low Back/Glutes

Reverse Hypers

Abdominals

Sit-ups (with feet hooked)

Leg Raises

Chest

Dumbbell Bench Press (flat or inclined)

Push-ups

Lats

Straight Arm Pulldowns

Pullovers

Biceps

Standing Dumbbell Curls (hammer grip or supinated)

Incline Dumbbell Curls (hammer grip or supinated)

Triceps

Pressdowns (cable or band)

Lying Dumbbell Extensions

Delts

Standing Dumbbell Side Raises

Bent Over Dumbbell Side Raises

Forearms

Plate Wrist Flexion*

Plate Wrist Extension**

*Place a small plate in your hand with your fingers on one side and thumb on the other. With the palm supinated (facing up), flex your wrist.

**Same as above except the palm is pronated (facing down) and the wrist extends back.
I don’t want you to worry about finding a certain percentage of your one rep max (1RM). If you do want to find it for the given exercise, I’d recommend 20% of that value, but I’m not requiring you to do so. As long as the load doesn’t induce excess fatigue and as long as you stop well short of failure on every set, you’ll benefit.

Now that we know the muscle groups and exercises, let’s get to the rest of the details. I want you to perform 100 reps each day for the chosen exercise(s). (This is in addition to your regular workout, but I’ll talk about that a little more later.) There are countless ways to do the 100 reps (I’ve tried them all), but I can honestly say there’s no dramatic difference between any of them as long as you avoid muscular failure. In other words, don’t do 100 reps continuously for one set each morning because the induced fatigue will halt your progress on your higher intensity weight-training workouts. Instead, avoid muscular failure like HIT trainees avoid German Volume Training! This is the most important point; you must never come close to muscular failure on any set.

Here are some rep breakdowns I found to be effective:
Method 1

Morning: 50 reps

Evening (about 12 hours later): 50 reps

Method 2

25 reps every fourth hour until you reach 100

Method 3

10 reps every hour until you reach 100

Let’s say you want to use the 100 rep-a-day program for your biceps and calves. You have a desk job and can only do exercises in the morning and at night so you pick the first method. The two exercises you chose are standing dumbbell hammer curls and standing calf raises. Like most trainees, you don’t want to take the time to find your 1RM so you grab some light dumbbells that you could curl 50 to 60 times before failure. You decide to just use your bodyweight for the calf raises off a step in your house. That plan looks good to me. Here’s the breakdown:

Morning

Exercise: Standing Dumbbell Hammer Curls and Standing Two Leg Calf Raises

Sets: 1 set of each

Reps: 50 of each

Tempo: 2010 (two seconds up, no pause, one second down, no pause)

Evening (12 hours later)

Exercise: Standing Dumbbell Hammer Curls and Standing Two Leg Calf Raises

Sets: 1 set of each

Reps: 50 of each

Tempo: 2010

Frequency: Every day that’s not part of your normal bicep/calf workout routine for eight weeks (or until necessary).

You should notice I prescribe a tempo that doesn’t emphasize the eccentric (negative) phase. Don’t discredit this very important point. I don’t want the negative phase of the movement emphasized in any way. If it is, you could easily overtrain the muscles and induce muscle soreness, something we want to avoid.

You should perform this routine on a daily basis without decreasing the bicep and calf work during the higher intensity weight-training program you’re already on. Perform the 100 reps on every day you don’t do your normal calf and bicep work. For instance, if you normally perform your biceps/calf work on Monday and Thursday, do this program on the other five days of the week. Remember, these are extra endurance workouts and should not take the place of the resistance training program you perform each week in the gym.
Key Points

• Never work to failure on any of the 100 rep exercises.

• If your performance is suffering on higher intensity days, reduce load of 100 rep scheme (in other words, use less weight).

• Try to break up the 100 reps as much as possible throughout the day.

• Use bodyweight exercises as much as possible and avoid machines.

Now, with all this talk of nutrient transfer and recovery, I must make a very important point. Without proper nutrition, nothing works extremely well. Simply put, you need a steady supply of nutrients for nutrient transfer to take place! Therefore, get well acquainted with T-mag’s articles on protein consumption and proper nutrition.
What You Should Expect

As with any program, individual results will vary, but you should expect improved recovery of your regular weight training workouts (due to increased capillary density and nutrient transfer), greater muscular endurance and increased muscle mass due to sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (i.e. growth of the interstitial fluid area).

Mr. America (1966), Bob Gajda, used a similar method to put a full inch on his lagging calves in only eight weeks. Due to my extremely poor calf recovery rates, I started performing 100 standing calf raises each day. After a few weeks, my improved recovery rate allowed me to perform high-intensity calf work every third day instead of every fifth. You can’t beat that!

If, for whatever reason, the 100 rep-a-day plan doesn’t induce hypertrophy for you, the newfound recovery rates and muscular endurance will allow you to perform your high intensity sessions more frequently. Remember, more workouts mean more progress!