|
Forget About Aerobics For Fat Loss?
Here's a great article from Dr. Al Sears "Health Confidential" e-newsletter (Issue 7, 9/06):
Beyond Aerobics – Your Native Fat Burner
Back in the late 1960s, Dr. Kenneth Cooper published Aerobics as the "perfect" way to "train" your heart. He thought that medium intensity aerobic exercise practiced three or four times a week was all you needed for heart health.
Today, we know the reality is different. A recent study by Harvard researchers shows that those who do short-duration, high-intensity workouts, reduce their risk of heart disease by 100 percent more than those who practice aerobic exercise. (see reference #1 at end of article)
A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that men and women who exercised at a higher intensity had lower blood pressure, lower triglycerides (blood fat), higher HDL (good cholesterol) and less body fat. (see reference #2 below)
What's more, medium intensity does not train your "high-energy output system" – your ability to get extra power fast. And that's exactly what we're missing in our modern world.
Forget Aerobics – Discover Your REAL Fat-Burning Zone
A few years ago, a patient of mine – BP – came to me saying that his cardiologist told him to never exceed his "aerobic threshold" when he exercised. But that's exactly what you need to do. By exceeding your aerobic capacity, you generate real heart and lung strength.
To better understand what your aerobic threshold is, we need to take a closer look at metabolism…
Aerobic means "with oxygen." So your aerobic metabolism combines oxygen with carbs, fats and proteins to make energy. Because walking is not a strenuous activity, you have plenty of oxygen available to make more and more energy. Using this model, you could walk for hours and not get too tired.
Jogging is a typical aerobic exercise because it can be sustained with oxygen metabolism (aerobic metabolism). But what happens when your body can't get enough oxygen from aerobic metabolism alone?
To answer that, let's say you start sprinting. You can't sustain that high output with oxygen alone. That's the point at which the anaerobic system starts. This is also known as crossing your aerobic threshold.
Anaerobic means "without oxygen." This system converts carbs – and some fats – into energy without using any oxygen at all. This will sustain you as you sprint. But obviously, you can't run at your peak output for very long.
When you pant after the exercise you've created an oxygen debt. This occurs when you ask your lungs for more oxygen than they can supply at that moment – like when you're sprinting.
Understanding when the anaerobic system kicks in is critical. When you're using your anaerobic system, you are training your high-energy output system.
When this happens, you are successfully building up reserve capacity in your heart, expanding your lung volume, triggering the production of growth hormone and melting away fat.
And all these years, doctors, trainers and fitness "gurus" have been telling you to never cross that aerobic threshold!
But let's take this a step further… And this is the big misunderstanding that I want to set straight: Aerobic and anaerobic can only be used to describe metabolism. Aerobic and anaerobic shouldn't be applied to exercise. This is where modern exercise science has steered us in the wrong direction. It's possible for your cells to make energy without oxygen – but it's impossible for you to exercise without oxygen.
In essence, there's no such thing as anaerobic exercise. When you're sprinting, your body will start its anaerobic metabolism, but you are still breathing – still using oxygen. In fact, when your anaerobic system kicks in, your aerobic system is still functioning. One does not replace the other.
You either go at a rate you can sustain with oxygen or you exceed that rate in which case you use both energy systems.
It's more appropriate to say that you've crossed over into your supra-aerobic zone.
By pushing yourself into your supra-aerobic zone, you're going to increase your ability to get high energy fast. This strengthens your heart, lungs and muscles.
Melt Away Extra Fat in Just 12 Minutes a Day
Remember… aerobic exercise is low to medium output held for an extended period. Supra-aerobic exercise is high output, but short in duration. Why is this important? For one thing, it restores an element of your native environment.
Our ancestors lived in a world where their food fought back. Predators attacked without notice. They had to run or fight – fast and hard. These short bursts of high-output activity fine tuned our ancient ancestors and kept them fit. We still have the same physiology yet have lost that kind of challenge.
To move your workout into the anaerobic range, the key feature is this: Create an "oxygen debt" as I described earlier. Simply exercise at a pace you can't sustain for more than a short period. Ask your lungs for more oxygen than they can provide.
The difference between the oxygen you need and the oxygen you get is your oxygen debt. This will cause you to pant and continue to breathe hard even after you've stopped the exertion until you replace the oxygen you're lacking.
Here's another example: Let's say you pedal as fast as you can on a bike for 15 seconds. When you stop, you continue to pant. This is the kind of high-output challenge you can't sustain for very long. You have reached a supra-aerobic zone. This is very different from doing an aerobic workout for 45 minutes.
This is the basis of my PACE® program. I began using most of this program 25 years ago. More recently, I added progressivity to increase the benefits.
By making small changes in the same direction, your workouts can produce remarkable results. And you only need 12 minutes to achieve the desired effect.
In a matter of weeks, you can:
Lose pounds of belly fat
Build functional new muscle
Reverse heart disease
Build energy reserves available on demand
Strengthen your immune system
Reverse many of the changes of aging.
#1: Lee I., et al. Circulation 2003 Mar 4; 1087 (8): 2220-6.
#2: Williams P. Relationships of heart disease risk factors to exercise quantity and intensity. Arch Intern Med. 1998;158:237-245.
|
|
STORE HOURS |
| Mon |
9:30 am - 6:30 pm |
| Tue |
9:30 am - 6:30 pm |
| Wed |
9:30 am - 6:30 pm |
| Thu |
9:30 am - 6:30 pm |
| Fri |
9:30 am - 6:30 pm |
| Sat |
9:30 am - 6:00 pm |
| Sun |
Closed |
| | |
|
|
 |
|
Back
