Tag: metabolism

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday tip: Finding time to workout

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday tip: Finding time to workout 🏃🏼‍♀️

I understand being busy – and I understand how it can feel like you barely have time to eat and sleep let alone workout but we’re rarely actually as busy as we think we are and you can probably find time to workout – you just need to be a bit creative! You won’t regret it.

Here’s some ideas.

# 1 Something is better nothing

5-10 mins while you’re waiting for dinner to cook, or between chores etc is enough – so a few mins skipping, some squats, jump jacks, push ups? Or do a mini circuit as you get out of bed in the morning? Push ups, squats, lunges, sit ups – done!

# 2 Social media time

I bet you spend at least 20 mins on social media a day? And much of that is mindless scrolling. Replace that time with a short workout instead.

# 3 Work it in to your day

Just ramp up your daily activities – walk instead of driving, speed walk instead of ambling, dance while you clean the house, take the stairs instead of the lift, do a few squats while you’re on the phone, march up and down while you brush your teeth..

# 4 Use your break time

Studies have shown you’re most effective when you focus intensely for 25 mins and then take a 5 min break. So in that break take a walk around the halls or a quick one outside if you can. In your lunch break take a slightly longer walk if possible.

# 5 Analyse your time

If you really can’t use any of these tips then make a detailed, honest, log of your time for an average week. Is there anywhere you could be more efficient or something you could cut or do differently to enable you to make some time to get active? This is a great exercise anyway to make your life a happier, healthier and more balanced one.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Bigger weights aren’t always better

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Bigger weights aren’t always better 🏋🏻‍♀️

If you want to get stronger and fitter you have to lift heavy weights in the gym, right? Wrong! Several recent studies have shown this isn’t the case at all. You may have seen mention of this on the TV last week, I’ve had a look into the study behind the story.

Recent studies in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that lifting light weights (30 -50% of 1 rep max) for more reps, was just as effective as lifting heavy weights (up to 75-90% of 1 max rep) for 8 – 10 reps both for increasing strength and muscle size. Participants took part in a 12 week program of total-body resistance training (leg press, bench press, shoulder press, leg extension, bicep curls) – half used light weights, half used heavy, all lifted until failure. After 12 weeks, both groups made equal gains in strength and size, except for the chest press, where in fact those lifting lighter weights showed greater gains! Muscle strength increased 25-30%, and both groups put an average of 2.4 pounds of lean muscle on. In addition, biopsies of the muscles showed there was no difference in the growth of muscle fibres in either group (type I and II).

If you want to get stronger then you need to increase your muscle mass (don’t confuse this with getting “bulky”) by activating as many muscle fibres as possible. Day to day activities use the type I fibres first. As demand on muscles increase (more reps, or more weight) you recruit type II fibres – which is what you want. Conventional wisdom states that you can ONLY recruit type II fibres by lifting big weights for fewer reps, but what these studies show is that you don’t need to do that. The key is lifting to fatigue – with whatever weight you choose.

Great news for anyone who wants to get fitter and leaner but doesn’t fancy lifting heavy weights in the gym. You CAN still get strong by doing things like body pump, or workouts with smaller weights IF you are reaching fatigue by the end of the set or track. Lift to the point of exhaustion and it doesn’t matter whether the weights are heavy or light.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Understanding Metabolism

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Understanding Metabolism🤓

Despite what you might think most of your daily calorie burn doesn’t come from gym workouts. Calorie burn is driven by your metabolism (converting food cals to energy for your body). Your metabolism determines the number of cals you need to maintain your weight.

Your calorie burn consists of:

#1 60-70% Basal metabolic rate – the cals you need at rest, to survive; breathing, digesting, filtering waste, nothing more. It varies with body size (bigger = higher bmr), composition (more muscle = higher bmr), age (younger = higher bmr), genetics, hormones (thyroid hormones) and health (ill = higher bmr).

#2 10% is from food thermogenesis (digesting food). Protein requires the most to digest. 0-3 percent of fat cals are used to digest it, 5-10 % for carbs and 20-30 % for protein. But as food thermogenesis only accounts for 10% of daily burn, eating more protein will only have a small effect on your metabolic rate.

#3 20% is from physical activity – walking, workouts, and day to day activities; typing, carrying heavy loads, standing, fidgeting, shopping, singing etc.

So if you aren’t seeing the results you want, but are tracking your food right, then maybe you’re overestimating your calorie burn? There’s lots of tips out there to boost metabolism e.g. eating more frequently, or not eating late at night etc but few have studies to back them up.

Some tips which are backed by science include:

# including strength training in your workouts. Boosting your muscle mass increases your BMR and burns more calories at rest. You don’t have to lift big weights – pump classes or body weight exercises are also effective.

# increase intensity in your workouts; short bursts of intense effort increase afterburn e.g. intervals when running, swimming or cycling, or doing workouts that naturally include it like hiit/ bodyattack/ circuits etc.

#3 Eat enough protein. You’re still only contributing a little extra burn, but by ensuring you have protein with every meal you will not only burn a little more digesting, but more importantly you’ll feels fuller for longer, and you’ll have amino acids to support muscle recovery and repair.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx