Photograph by Christine Van Dusen
We are so proud of your hard work and dedication, Christy!
The Studio Team
Check out Brad’s interview with Megan Kober, known for “The Nutrition Addiction,” by clicking the photo below:
For more on Fitter Faster, check out FitterFasterPlan.com
Make sure to check out this amazing article below, The Sneakiest Strength Exercises to Do at Your Desk, by Elizabeth Millard, adapted from MyFitnessPal.
By Elizabeth Millard
In many workplaces, being sedentary is the default. Even with standing desks, parking at the other end of the lot, walking to meetings and trying to walk at lunch, most people still spend the majority of their workdays sitting.
Fortunately, there’s a way to sneak muscle-building exercises into your 9–5 — even if your day is packed with meetings. The trick is using isometrics — moves that use contraction and relaxation to engage muscles.
On a basic level, muscles contract in three main ways. Concentric contraction happens when a muscle tenses as you’re shortening it. Eccentric contraction occurs when that muscle tension is prompted through lengthening — such as resistance or lowering a weight.
For example, with a bicep curl, you’d have concentric action as you bring the weight toward you, and eccentric contraction as you lower the weight.
With isometric contraction, muscles tighten without changing length, and there is no movement in a joint, according to Australian-based strength and conditioning coach Andrew Read. He notes that examples include pushing against an immoveable object like a wall or holding plank pose — you’re in one position without movement, but still doing plenty of work.
Sometimes called “static strength training,” isometric exercises can be so effective they bring muscles to fatigue quickly, Read says. The effects last long after they’re done. “Isometrics work, just use them like any other high-intensity method,” Read says. “A little goes a long way.”
Try peppering these isometric exercises into your workday. Although they seem like modest moves, they can help to keep your muscles working:
HAND PRESS
Clasp your hands or press your palms together in front of your chest, elbows bent, exerting equal pressure in both arms. Hold each press for 10 seconds, then release. Repeat 5–6 times. This will work your biceps, chest and triceps — perhaps while you’re reading emails
AB HOLD
Sit up straight in your chair, with shoulders relaxed. Breathe deeply and engage your abs as if you’re bracing for a punch. Hold for 5 seconds, then breathe out while “crunching” your abs upward as if you’re doing a sit-up. Exhale completely, take a few breaths, then repeat. This can be an especially good exercise during boring meetings, since the action is subtle and no one will know you’re doing a major ab workout while you’re taking notes.
GLUTE SQUEEZE
Strong glutes help to protect your back, especially when you’re chair-bound for most of the day. A simple isometric exercise is to squeeze your glutes and hold the contraction for 10 seconds, then release.
WALL PRESS
To get some movement in your shoulders and engage your core, stand about 3 feet from a wall and place your palms against it at shoulder height and width apart. Press firmly against the wall for 10 seconds, then release. You can also make this into a push-up by lowering your torso toward the wall and pressing back up.
PUTTING ISOMETRICS TO WORK
Keep in mind that the main benefit you’ll see is stabilization of the muscles, according to Edward Laskowski, MD, of the Mayo Clinic. “Since isometric exercises are done in a static position, they won’t help improve speed or athletic performance,” he says. “Isometric exercises don’t effectively build strength but can help maintain muscle strength.”
He adds that isometrics are often used in physical therapy to rehab injured muscles, so if you’re trying to bounce back after injury or other issues, putting some isometric exercises into your everyday schedule can be useful.
There’s also another advantage, especially for work: Isometric exercises can help lower blood pressure, Laskowski notes. That means you might de-stress and sneak in some workout moves at the same time.
Read’s recommendation is to incorporate a few exercises per day, and do them at about 30% of your max effort. From there, you can start to build more into your workdays and increase intensity over time.
Adapted from http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/sneakiest-strength-exercises-desk/
Check out FitterFasterPlan.com for more on FITTER FASTER.
Below, we have included one of the three flexibility tests found in CHAPTER 07: Stretch Out of FITTER FASTER. Make sure to give it a try and find out your score!
For more, make sure to check out FitterFasterPlan.com
Check out our video of Mandy for an example of how to perform this test: IMG_2208
Some people do aerobic exercise first thing, before they’ve eaten, because they think it will help them burn more fat. There is some evidence that this practice, sometimes called “fasted cardio,” may boost fat burning — but only fleetingly. Over the course of days or weeks (which is what counts), research shows that it doesn’t seem to offer any advantages. For example, in a four-week trial that randomly assigned young women to either fast or drink a 250-calorie shake before their aerobic workouts (while otherwise eating a low-calorie diet), both groups lost the same amount of fat and weight. Similarly, a study involving overweight women who did high-intensity interval workouts for six weeks after either fasting or eating found no differences in fat loss.
All in all, the best time to work out is whenever you can. If you exercise at different times of the day, be sure to note the hour as you’re tracking your progress. That way, you’ll know when your body clock may be to blame for a less-than-optimal workout.
— Robert J. Davis
Adapted from “Fitter Faster: The Smart Way to Get in Shape in Just Minutes a Day.”
Adapted from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/what-is-the-best-time-of-day-to-exercise-its-not-when-you-think/2017/06/16/2020c3ba-51cf-11e7-be25-3a519335381c_story.html?utm_term=.65bc4f5ef6f2
By Robert J. Davis, Special to CNN
(CNN) – For some people, summer is the time to head indoors to exercise. But others welcome the heat as a way to sweat more and get a better workout.
Indeed, I’ve long regarded the sweatiness of my exercise sessions as a sign of how hard I was pushing myself. But it turns out I’ve been wrong: How much you sweat doesn’t necessarily correlate with how intense your workout is or how many calories you burn.
When your body temperature rises, your eccrine glands secrete sweat, and the evaporation of moisture from your skin helps you cool off. Of course, sweating can occur for other reasons, such as stress or fear.
That type of sweat comes from the apocrine glands, which are located mainly in the underarm and groin.
How much we sweat during exercise is due to a number of factors, including gender (men tend to sweat more than women) and age (younger people sweat more than older people) as well as genetics, temperature and humidity.
Weight plays a role as well. Larger people tend to sweat more, because their bodies generate more heat.
Another contributor is fitness level. Surprisingly, fit people tend to sweat sooner during exercise and more copiously than those who are less fit.
Research suggests that as your fitness level improves, your body’s heat-regulating system becomes more efficient, cooling you down faster and allowing you to work harder.
Don’t be misled by the loss of a few pounds after a high-sweat workout. This is simply water weight that you gain back when you rehydrate and doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve burned lots of calories.
On the flip side, don’t assume that a low-sweat workout means you aren’t working hard enough or burning enough calories. It could be that your sweat evaporates quickly because you’re exercising in air-conditioning, near a fan or outdoors on a windy day. Or, unlike me, you simply may not sweat much.
Whatever the case, wearing clothing made of synthetic fabrics such as polyester or Lycra can help you feel less sweaty. These pull (or wick) sweat from your skin to outer layers of the clothes, where the moisture evaporates.
Cotton, on the other hand, absorbs moisture but doesn’t promote evaporation. As a result, your shirt or other clothing can feel soaked and heavy after a workout.
A drawback of polyester is that it tends to stink more than cotton after exercise. In one study, researchers collected the sweaty shirts of 26 subjects after an hour of intensive spinning. The next day, trained sniffers determined that the polyester shirts smelled worse than the cotton ones. (It’s unclear who exactly agreed to do this job or why.)
Micrococci, a type of bacteria that break down sweat and cause unpleasant odor, were found to grow only on the polyester garments. That’s important because sweat itself is generally odor-free; it’s the combination of sweat and certain bacteria that literally raises a stink.
You can find “odor-resistant” synthetic fabrics, which are treated with various antibacterial compounds. Among the most common is silver, typically applied in tiny amounts known as nanoparticles.
But some research suggests that silver-treated clothing may not work as well as promised to reduce bacteria and odor. What’s more, a significant amount of the silver may come out in the wash, reducing the effectiveness of the garments and potentially harming the environment.
There are also concerns that exposing our skin to silver nanoparticles may pose a health risk, though there’s no direct evidence for this.
Adapted from “Fitter Faster: The Smart Way to Get in Shape in Just Minutes a Day” by Robert J. Davis with Brad Kolowich Jr.
Adapted from http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/13/health/sweating-workout-fitness-exercise-davis/index.html
