Thursday, October 29, 2009

Women and weight training, THE BEST TOOL FOR FAT LOSS...



->Weight training is always ignored by womens as it is thought to be a mens sports of body building, but on the countary I would suggest that womens should get involved in weight training more than mens as the benefits from the training are outstanding from all perspective.

Traditionally , women relied on cardiovascular activity and a low calorie diet to change the physical appearance. Unfortuantely, low calorie diet merely punishes the soul and metabolism plummets. Without including consistent strength training in a program, effecting change can be IMMPOSSIBLE GOAL. Also, aerobically overtraining can lead injury, especially knees.

Womens dont understand that merely walking, strolling, running can't lose weight at any cost, infact given a stress on the activity done, walking, running comes under cardio activity [cardiovascular (cardio - heart, vascular - veins)], means we increase the capillarys in our body, which helps to keep heart in a good condition, as overall blood circulation flow through out the body increases. Due to excessive FAT presence in our body we need to pump more blood for proper circulation and that needs more stamina and more energy. How are you going to reduce FAT from body ? The only way to lose FAT is to use FAT for energy purpose, during strength training (weight training), strength training causes microtrauma to muscle cell and provided good protein nutrition post workout, helps to increase muscle cell size (also called HYPERTROPHY) and in turn lose FAT. Simple right ! It is not complicated if followed proper regime, nutrition and rest.
My suggestion would be come out of this Myth and erase wrong impression about weight training for women...
One of the most important thing to understand is women maintain lower levels of male muscle building hormone known as testosterone, dominant hormone in female is estrogen (which helps build adipose tissue (fat)) [so are womens after age 35-40 appears to be PEAR SHAPED]
Women if enrolled in strength training activity wont be mascular due to hormonal incapability.
To have all Strength training benefits, womens above 40-45 should indulge in the activity, get ready before it is too late.

Following are significant advantages of women weight training : -
-> Increase in BMR (Basal metabolic rate) which helps in fat loss
-> Increase in functional strength (strength used in day to day activity)
-> Improvement in overall body tone and shape to increase muscle mass
-> Anti aging and better posture
-> Easier child birth
-> Less stress during menopause

Following are Myths about women weight training :-

Women’s Weight Training Myth #1 -
Weight training makes you bulky and masculine : -Due to the fact that women do not, and cannot, naturally produce as much testosterone (one of the main hormones responsible for increasing muscle size) as males do, it is impossible for a woman to gain huge amounts of muscle mass by merely touching some weights. Unfortunately, the image that may come to your mind is that of professional female bodybuilders. Most of these women, unfortunately, use anabolic steroids (synthetic testosterone) along with other drugs in order to achieve that high degree of muscularity. In addition, most also have good genetics coupled with an unbelievable work ethic that enable them to gain muscle quickly when they spend hours in the gym lifting very heavy weights. Believe me when I say that they do not look like that by accident. Women who conduct weight training without the use of steroids get the firm and fit cellulite-free looking body that you see in most fitness/figure shows these days.

Women’s Weight Training Myth #2 -
Exercise increases your chest size:-
Women’s breasts are composed mostly of fatty tissue. Therefore, it is impossible to increase breast size through weight training. As a matter of fact, if you go below 12 percent body fat, your breast size will decrease. Weight training does increase the size of the back, so this misconception probably comes from confusing an increase in back size with an increase in cup size. The only way to increase your breast size is by gaining fat or getting breast implants.

Women’s Weight Training Myth #3 -
Weight training makes you stiff and musclebound: -If you perform all exercises through their full range of motion, flexibility will increase. Exercises like flyes, stiff-legged deadlifts, dumbbell presses, and chin-ups stretch the muscle in the bottom range of the movement. Therefore, by performing these exercises correctly, your stretching capabilities will increase.

Women’s Weight Training Myth #4 -
If you stop weight training your muscles turn into fat:- This is like saying that gold can turn into brass. Muscle and fat are two totally different types of tissue. What happens many times is that when people decide to go off their weight training programs they start losing muscle due to inactivity (use it or lose it) and they also usually drop the diet as well. Therefore bad eating habits combined with the fact that their metabolism is lower due to inactivity, and lower degrees of muscle mass, give the impression that the subject’s muscle is being turned into fat while in reality what is happening is that muscle is being lost and fat is being accumulated.

Women’s Weight Training Myth #5
Weight training turns fat into muscle:- This is the equivalent of saying that you can turn any metal into gold; don’t we wish! The way a body transformation occurs is by gaining muscle through weight training and losing fat through aerobics and diet simultaneously. Again, muscle and fat are very different types of tissue. We cannot turn one into the other.

Women’s Weight Training Myth #6 -
As long as you exercise you can eat anything that you want:-
How I wish this were true also! However, this could not be further from the truth. Our individual metabolism determines how many calories we burn at rest and while we exercise. If we eat more calories than we burn on a consistent basis, our bodies will accumulate these extra calories as fat regardless of the amount of exercise that we do. This myth may have been created by people with such high metabolic rates, that no matter how much they eat or what they eat, they rarely meet or exceed the amount of calories that they burn in one day unless they put their mind to doing so. Therefore, their weight either remains stable or goes down.

Women’s Weight Training Myth #7 -
Women only need to do cardio and if they decide to lift weights, they should be very light:-
First of all, if you only did cardio then muscle and fat would be burned for fuel. One needs to do weights in order to get the muscle building machine going and thus prevent any loss of muscle tissue. Women that only concentrate on cardio will have a very hard time achieving the look that they want. As far as the lifting of very light weights, this is just more nonsense. Muscle responds to resistance and if the resistance is too light, then there will be no reason for the body to change.

Atlast, please beleive in science and some facts and womens get ready to lift weights to lose FAT...

Monday, October 19, 2009

Supplementation needs for every Individual - Most important topic !


ABOVE INFO IS SHARED FROM RUJUTA DIWEKARS BOOK, ALSO READ MORE CLARIFICATION ON FOOD (ESPECIALLY DAILY PROTEIN REQUIREMENTS) BELOW
Covered from basics, just read through for healthy life style and for update of your knowledge....

Food plays very imp role in our daily life. Human beings need adequate food for growth, devlopement and to lead a healthy and active life.
Functions of food :-
> Promoting growth & repair for body tissues
> Providing energy for work
> Regulating specific cell functions

Foods that perform above functions and are life sustaining substances are called Nutrients.
Nutrients are 3 types :-
1. Macro - Carbs, Proteins, Fats
2. Micro - Vitamins, Minerals
3. Fat

Amount of nutrients required varies from person to person, depending on their individual needs and lifestyles, however RDA(Recommended dietary allowance) that can be followed by normal, healthy adults of average size who engage in any physical activity.
Some nutrients like essential nutrients (eg, Amino acids) cannot be manufactured in body and needs to be taken externally. In the absence of these nutrients body is not capable of carrying out certain bodily functions, body needs aprox 40 essential nutrients.

Recommended dietary intake:- (Varies depends on individuals level of activity)
Carbs - approx 125-350 gms or 55-65% of caloric intake
Proteins- approx 50-60 gms or 15-20% of caloric intake
Fats- approx 30-60 gms or 25-30% of caloric intake

All about PROTEINS
Classifications :
1. Complete Proteins - Contains all required essential amino acids in required proportion
2. Partially complete proteins - Contains essential amino acids but not present in right proportions, cannot aid in promoting growth
3. Incomplete proteins - These lack in few essential amino acids

-> In spite of consumption of sufficient quantities of protein in your diet, the total quantity of 8 essential amino acids may not be optimal, which would mean a less than optimal absorption and hence less protein efficiency

-> Thus, protein is rated as per means of protein efficency ratio (PER). The PER is what reflects the quality of the protein. Egg protein contains all essential amino acids in proper proportions all has all the highest PER availiable

High Protein food--> Biological Value (BV)
Whey--> 104 (BV)
Egg --> 100
Casein --> 88
Chicken, fish, mutton --> 80-85
Soya --> 65
Dal --> 33

Biological Value (BV) : - BV of protein is a value that measures how well the body can absorb and utilize a protein. The higher the BV of protein you can use, the more nitrogen your body can absorb, use and retain, As a result, proteins with the highest BV promote the most lean muscle gains.
Passing grade is 70 used for muscle tissue repair after its breakdown. Even soya does not qualify to repair the breakdown of muscle, which appears due work-out or any other stress on body.

Protein requirements for following individuals :-

Typical Indian diet will give not more that 15-20gms of first class proteins, through break fast, lunch and dinner. To maintain lean body mass, and combat ageing process as age increases, supplements and anti-oxidants are mandatory.

Lean body weight = Weight of muscle, bones, tendons, ligments

Sedentary lifestyle (No excercise): 0.8-1 gm per lean body weight.
Eg – weight of person – 80kgs, fat -25%, lean body weight – 60 kgs,
Protein requirement – 0.8 or 1gm X 60 = 48-60gms/day (first class proteins)

Active Individual (Little exercise everyday or if jobs involve lot of traveling etc): 1.2–1.5 gm per lean body weight.
Eg – weight of person – 80kgs, fat -25%, lean body weight – 60 kgs,
Protein requirement – 1.2 or 1.5 X 60 = 72-90gms/day (first class proteins)

Very active Individual (Intense weight training): 2 gm per lean body weight.
Eg – weight of person – 80kgs, fat -25%, lean body weight – 60 kgs,
Protein requirement – 2 X 60 = 120gms/day (first class proteins)