Alternatives to Dumbbells and Stationary Bikes

originally published 2009 by John Kuzora

If you bore yourself to death walking on a treadmill or pushing weights up and down, we have the answer you need to breathe new life into your workout routine. Our personal training studio specializes in unconventional yet highly effective alternatives to traditional workout routines.

Typically, people view working out as something they have to do. We strive to make working out something you want to do. To accomplish this, we use specific exercise tools and techniques to keep workouts fun and productive.

For example, as an alternative to traditional cardiovascular workouts which usually consist of a steady, boring hour walking on a treadmill or pedaling on a stationary bike, we do General Physical Preparedness workouts. These workouts consist of short bursts of cardiovascular exercise alternated with bodyweight calisthenics and low intensity plyometrics. A workout structured in this manner will consistently challenge both the mind and body.

Another important factor in getting results from your workout routine is variety. Any workout done more than four or five times loses is effectiveness. The body adapts to the stress and the mind grows bored with the stimulus. This is a surefire recipe for failure and one of the main reasons people don't last long on an exercise program. They do the same workout over and over again, and the progress they initially noticed grinds to a halt. In our studio, we use medicine balls, kettlebells, jump stretch bands, and even sandbags to provide the variety needed for continual progress.

Another primary factor that determines the effectiveness of an exercise program is the structure of components within the workout. The proper placement of the strength, cardio, flexibility, and stability portions is of tremendous importance.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is to stretch before they workout. Stretching is a passive activity. It calms the mind and the nervous system. To jump from a static stretching routine right into a weight or treadmill workout is asking for injury.

A more effective approach is to begin a workout with a general warm-up consisting of 5-10 minutes of low intensity cardiovascular training. This should be followed up by some muscle activation movements and dynamic flexibility work for tight muscle groups.

After the warm-up, high skill activities should be performed while the mind and body are still fresh. These activities include dynamic stability work, compound weight training movements, and high intensity plyometric drills. Once these are completed, you should move on to exercises that target specific problem areas on your body. This segment might include some elements of yoga or Pilates and single joint exercises performed with dumbbells, rubber bands, or exercise machines.

In addition, cardiovascular training should always be done after weight training. Performing your cardio after a weight workout is far more effective than doing it first. When you begin exercising, your body will use stored sugars and carbohydrates as a fuel source before tapping into body fat. By doing a weight workout first, you deplete stored carbohydrates before ever stepping on the treadmill. This burns significantly more fat than if you do cardio first.

After you have finished your cardio, we suggest some easy stretching to cool down. You need to gently bring your body from an excited state to a relaxed condition, and easy static stretching is the perfect way to do this.

The Science behind Low Carb: How it Works.

Check out this great explanation of the science behind a ketogenic (i.e. low carb) diet and why it is so effective for fat loss.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ketones-and-ketosis/metabolism-and-ketosis/

Saturated Fat vs Industrial Seed Oils: a Meta-analysis

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2010/12/diet-heart-controlled-trials-new.html

Top Five Reasons to Lower Your Blood Glucose Levels

“A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion"

Chinese Proverb

Introduction

For the past thirty years the nutritional advice given in this country has focused on reducing cholesterol and blood pressure. We have been told to reduce total fat in general and saturated fat specifically. The Food Pyramid suggests we eat a diet of mostly whole grains high in unrefined carbohydrates. Following such a diet will reduce total cholesterol, although not always by that much and often at the expense of HDL or "good cholesterol." But will it really help you live longer?

Not likely. For example, over half of the people who have heart attacks do not have high blood pressure, high LDL's, low HDL's, high triglycerides, or any other recognized risk factor! (6) So what should we look at instead?

Blood Glucose 101

Blood glucose level is the amount of sugar in the blood. Physicians use fasting blood sugar to diagnose diabetes. "Normal" is typically defined as levels between 70 mg/dl and 100 mg/dl. Blood sugar levels are also often also taken after ingesting a glucose syrup. This is called a glucose tolerance test and reflects your postprandial (following a meal) blood glucose concentrations.

Glycalted hemoglobin (HbA1c) is another blood glucose test included in routine blood panels. In effect, HbA1c reflects "average" blood glucose concentrations over the past month. It is used to show how well a diabetic person is controlling his or her blood glucose.

A fasting blood glucose level of over 126 is the diagnostic cut-off for diabetes. Additionally, a blood glucose level of 200 mg/dl or more at any time is considered a diabetic blood sugar and would warrant further testing. But levels far below the diabetic level have negative health consequences.

Five Reasons to Lower your Blood Glucose

5) Postprandial blood glucose levels accurately predicts coronary atherosclerotic progression in non-diabetic, post-menopausal women.

4) HbA1C predicts heart disease and mortality even in individuals below the diagnostic threshold for diabetes.

3) Two hour glucose tolerance test (GTT) result above reading of 83 mg/dl increased the risk of stroke in a linear fashion. Notice how much lower this is than the diagnostic criteria for diabetes (126 mg/dl).

2) Researchers in Sweden found that there was a significant increase in cancer risk irregardless of body weight in people who had fasting blood sugar levels over 110 or scored over 160 in a two hour glucose tolerance test.

1) Increases in fasting glucose levels and HbA1C levels increased the risk of heart failure, mortality, myocardial infraction (MI), and stroke independent of diabetes.

Best Ways to Lower your Blood Glucose

The best way to lower your postprandial blood glucose levels is to reduce your intake of carbohydrates, particularly processed carbs such as pastas, breads, desserts, and sugar drinks. And yes, even whole grains significantly increase blood sugar, usually to almost the same level as there "white" grain counterparts!

In addition, make sure you eat enough fat. Meals containing higher amounts of fat also lower postprandial blood glucose. For example, a bagel with butter will not raise your blood sugar as high as a plain bagel and whole milk raises your blood sugar less than skim milk.

A highly effective way to add some healthy fats to your diet is to supplement before meals with a tablespoon of fish oil and a tablespoon of coconut oil. Both will lower blood glucose levels. In addition, the fish oil improves glucose tolerance and the coconut oil speeds up your metabolism. And please don't worry about the saturated fat in coconut oil! It IS NOT bad for your heart. (for more information on saturated fat check out my previous blog posts here)

Conclusions

Everyday there is more and more evidence refuting the lipid heart hypothesis and supporting carbohydrate restriction for weight loss and overall health, even though "conventional wisdom" might tell you different.

References

1) Fasting Glucose Predicts Heart Failure, Death Rate, MI and Stroke, Independent of Diabetes

2) Prospective Study of Hyperglycemia and Cancer Risk. Pär Stattin, MD, PHD, Ove Björ, BSC, Pietro Ferrari, BSC, Annekatrin Lukanova, MD, PHD, Per Lenner, MD, PHD, Bernt Lindahl, MD, PHD, Göran Hallmans, MD, PHD and Rudolf Kaaks, PHD. Diabetes Care 30:561-567, 2007

3) Post-challenge blood glucose concentration and stroke mortality rates in non-diabetic men in London: 38-year follow-up of the original Whitehall prospective cohort studyG. D. Batty et al.Diabetologia.Vol 51, Num, July, 2008.

4) Association of Hemoglobin A1c with Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality in Adults: The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer in Norfolk. Kay-Tee Khaw, MBBChir FRCP; Nicholas Wareham, MBBS, FRCP; Sheila Bingham, PhD; Robert Luben, BSc; Ailsa Welch, BSc; and Nicholas Day, PhD.Annals of Internal Medicine, 9/21/2004, Vol 141, no 6, 413-420

5) Post-challenge glucose predicts coronary atherosclerotic progression in non-diabetic, post-menopausal women P. B. Mellen, V. Bittner, D. M. Herrington Diabetic Medicine 24 (10), 1156-1159.

6) Fifty percent of patients with coronary artery disease do not have any of the conventional risk factors. Futterman LG, Lemberg L.Am J Crit Care. 1998 May;7(3):240-4

Eat Less Carbohydrate to Reduce Hunger

For most people, eating a high carbohydrate diet will lead to blood sugar peaks and valleys throughout the day. And every time your blood sugar drops you will be hungry and low energy. Even whole grains will cause blood sugar spikes so don't be fooled by a so called healthy breakfast like this:

One cup Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal

1/2 cup skim milk

One slice seven grain bread with one teaspoon Smart Balance Omega plus buttery spread

Eight ounces orange juice

While most people, including the FDA, might consider this a "healthy" breakfast, nothing could be further from the truth! What little fat is in this meal comes from processed industrial seed oil. The orange juice, skim milk, and cereal are all loaded with sugar and there is less than ten grams of protein to slow down the absorption of the nutrients.

Eat this breakfast at 8am and you are sure to need coffee and a doughnut at 10am!

Instead, try starting your morning off right with a meal like this:

Three whole, pastured eggs scrambled and fried in one tablespoon butter

One medium avocado

Tomato slices drizzled in EVOO

After a breakfast like this you will be satisfied and full of energy for hours.

The Cholesterol Controversy

Found an old Time Magazine article discussing cholesterol and health. Interesting stuff.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,827421,00.html

Functional Training Exercises

Originally posted September 1, 2009 By John Kuzora at www.kuzora.com

Most trainers out there don’t understand functional training. They believe that if a movement is done on a BOSU or with a resistance band it somehow magically becomes “functional” and is better than the same movement performed in a more traditional manner. Sometimes I think they might be confusing the word “functional” with “inflatable.” Or maybe they just need to find a use for all their pool toys during the winter months.

BOSU Pool Toy

Strictly speaking, something is “functional” if it serves a purpose, role, or function. In terms of sports performance, I label an exercise as functional if it improves an athlete's ability to function in their chosen activity. This can be very sport-specific. For example, if you play tennis a chin-up is a highly functional exercise. Within a few weeks of beginning a chin-up program you will add significant speed to your serve and significantly improve your ability to “function” on the courts. For long distance road cyclists the same program of chin-ups would likely be very counter productive as the upper body hypertrophy could decrease performance.

If you train for general fitness and your sport is life, than evaluate things activities are challenging for you and determine what exercises can help improve your function in those particular activities. If you are eighty years old and have trouble getting up from a seated position a heavy dose of bench squats would be highly functional. If you travel for work and carry a heavy suitcase all over the country, farmer’s walk and suitcase deadlifts would be more functional choices.

That being said, certain tools are extremely versatile and can be used to improve function for many types of athletes and regular people alike. The following are some of my favorites in no particular order:

Kettlebells

The five minute kettlebell snatch test (along with hill sprints and Tabata protocol rower intervals) is one of the most demanding and time efficient anaerobic workouts one can perform. And life is an anaerobic sport. Think about it: running up the stairs, sprinting with you luggage in an airport to try and make it to the gate on time, moving furniture in your new house, even carrying your laundry basket from your laundry room to the bedroom are all anaerobic activities.

Swings, cleans, & snatches also increase glute strength and psoas flexibility, both common problems in our country. Correcting these common weaknesses can improve running speed, jumping ability, and lower back health.

Kettlebells can also be used to provide variety on almost any basic movement such as front squats and military presses.

Hex Bar

A Hex bar is an indispensable tool that will allow almost anyone to deadlift with proper technique. The deadlift is one of the most functional movements around. Everyone needs to pick something up off the ground at some point, and learning how to do this with proper technique and in good position to protect your back is crucial.

The unique shape of the bar helps keep the load centered through body’s midline, reducing stress on the lower back. And the two-handle option helps to accommodate taller people and people with poor calf, hamstring, and hip flexibility.

As either a tool to teach proper deadlifting technique or as a source of variety for a more advanced athlete, the Hex Bar can’t be beat.

Dragging Sled

The dragging sled is a particularly useful tool for increasing work capacity and rehabbing injuries. Because exercises performed using the sled involve only concentric muscle contractions there is virtually no soreness associated with sled workouts.

People with knee pain on squats and lunges can easily perform a backwards sled drag pain free. Most of the work is handled by the vastus medialis, the chronically underdeveloped head of the quadriceps muscle.

Some other more specialized tools we utilize at Kuzora Fitness are sand bags, strongman logs, an atlas stone, thick handled barbells, and my personal favorite, the half filled keg. Watch this video and you can easily see how lifting that over you head will build significantly more functional strength and core stability than the contra-lateral single arm DB overhead press standing on one leg on the BOSU!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q9-N_zNZlw&feature=player_embedded