Choose the Right Exercise For You

Ever wonder which exercise is right for you? Or what exercise would benefit you the most? The fitness world can be difficult to navigate. Every expert claims that their way is the best. Well, I am of the mind that you should find what works for you. Certain types of exercise may offer specific benefits, but in the end it's all about what fits best with your life, your needs and your personality. So, taking into consideration things like ease of use and metabolic benefits, here's a quick list of common exercises with their pros and cons:



Yoga

Pros: Pretty much everyone can practice yoga on some level. It's especially beneficial for anyone who's burned out and overstressed, because it gives you a decent workout without overtaxing your system. Yoga can also have a lot of specific applications, such as pregnancy, recovering from injury, improving flexibility, improving digestion and a lot more. It's important to learn proper technique, but even the right yoga DVD can help you with that. You don't even have to do a lot of yoga to reap its benefits. A few minutes in the morning or evening, or one good session a week can improve your balance and flexibility by leaps and bounds.

Cons: If you like to go, go, go then yoga might not mesh with your personality. Yoga takes patience and concentration. These are good things, but I know a lot of folks who just don't feel like they're "doing" enough during a yoga session. I feel that way myself sometimes, and don't end up doing yoga half as often as I'd like.



HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)

Pros: One of the best things about HIIT is that it can fit into just about anyone's schedule. Only a few minutes of exertion a couple times a week is enough to get the benefits if you do it right. This is one crazy powerhouse of an exercise. If done progressively over time, intense interval training can offer benefits in terms of athletic ability, fat loss, muscle gains, lung capacity and more. I've been implementing the idea consistently since reading PACE by Al Sears a few weeks ago and have so far seen nothing but benefits. (Matt Stone wrote an interesting post on interval training this week. I recommend checking it out.)

Cons: It can be easily overdone. Seriously, a few minutes a few times a week is not only effective, it's also all that's recommended. It may not seem like much, but HIIT (done properly) is very intense and will tear through your energy reserves like a hot knife through butter. In fact, if you're seriously burned out and exhausted, you might want to let your health recover before jumping into HIIT. Some forms of HIIT--like sprinting--may not be wise if you're prone to injury. (But you can also do low-impact HIIT on an elliptical or stationary bike if you're worried about that.)


Strength Training

Pros: Can be adapted to most individuals. You don't have to be a body builder to strength train. You don't even need weights. Done correctly, body weight exercises can be extremely effective. Strength training is a great tool for building and maintaining lean body mass (both muscle and bone), and will give you that tone and definition you've been looking for. 

Cons: Done incorrectly, there is some risk for injury. Many people are put off by the idea of strength training because it's often associated with bulky body builders. There is also a tendency to only do isolated moves that don't allow for building functional movement and strength, but this can be overcome by simply doing more functional and compound strength exercises.



Walking

Pros: It's for everyone. Walking embraces the way body was meant to move and is one of the best ways to retain mobility over the years. Walking is also therapeutic, especially when done outdoors where you can also reap the benefits of sunlight and fresh air. The simple act of walking more is associated with a myriad of health benefits.

Cons: Not many. Most people can find a way to work walking into their lives in some way, though it does require setting aside the time to do so (making it part of your lifestyle works much better!). The main drawback would be if it turns into the next kind of exercise...



Steady State Cardio

Pros: It's politically correct and you'll impress people if you tell them you run 10 miles a day. If you really want to train for a marathon then it's probably necessary.

Cons: Too much basically sends your metabolic health through the wringer. Cardio is the ultimate stress inducer. It can be done in moderation by healthy individuals who balance cardio with other forms of exercise like strength training and HIIT. But generally it's completely overrated and basically unnecessary for health or weight loss. Do it only if you love it, and even then be careful.


What are your thoughts on exercise? Hate it or love it? What is your favorite type of exercise or are you still looking for something that works for you?

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Why Movement Trumps Exercise

There's a reason I called this month's challenge Move More in March rather than Exercise More in March. When someone talks about moving more or being more active, it's natural in our culture to just immediately leap to planning workouts and making time for the gym. But during the last few months I've been thinking more along the lines of lifestyle movement. Up until recently, it's a concept I felt was overplayed and underwhelming in terms of results. But lately I've realized that the idea of making movement part of your lifestyle may in fact be one of the more important keys to true health.


Movement (Not Exercise) May Determine Your Health and Longevity

There's been some decent research that indicates that time spent sitting down (such as at the computer or in the car) directly correlates with longevity, insulin sensitivity, heart health and more. Those who spend more time sitting down versus being up and about are more likely to experience health problems and possibly an earlier death. This is independent of exercise habits. Those who sit the most have the most health issues, even if they exercise regularly. Read more about these studies here.



Redefining Sedentary

This brings me to my next point: how we define being sedentary versus being active. Most people focus on how much and how often you exercise (i.e. go for a run, go to the gym, pop in a workout DVD, etc.). If you work out for 30-60 minutes, 3-5 times per week, most health professionals would consider you an active person--even if all you do the rest of the time is sit in the car, at the computer, or in front of the television.

And the person who never does any formal exercise, but walks to work, gardens regularly and plays dodge ball with the kids outside every evening, may not be considered active at all because they don't log the hours at the gym or on a treadmill.  

So it really comes down to common sense when defining whether you're active or sedentary. It also requires some self-awareness, because you have to honest about the amount of activity you really do in a day. I'd thought I was moderately active in my everyday life, but upon closer examination I realized I'd started to become far more of a couch potato than I'd been willing to admit. Hey, sometimes the truth hurts.


Movement and Exercise in Perspective

Don't get me wrong: I'm not bashing exercise. If you like to do weight training, yoga or even Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred workouts, there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, I've exercised regularly for years (doing everything from elliptical workouts to yoga to high intensity interval training). I think it's a great way to target your particular fitness goals and shake things up a bit. (The only thing I don't recommend is a boatload of steady state cardio, but that's a topic for another post.)

Also, I realize that some people are in a situation that makes lifestyle activity difficult to include in their everyday life. Sometimes that's just the way it is. In those cases, formal exercise is way better than nothing. We all have to do what we can with what's available to us at the time.

To be honest, when it comes to a long term perspective, my lifestyle activity has had the most substantial impact on my health and even my waistline--far more than traditional exercise. That's why I picked up a brand new pedometer at the beginning of this month: I want to see if I can be more active in my daily life (yeah, parking far away from the store, taking the stairs and all that). So far, this little gadget has been an enormous wake up call for me. I realize that I'm not in the habit of moving much in my daily life. And that's something I want to change. 

How about you? Do you feel like you get enough activity into your daily life, or do you find yourself sitting down too much?

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday.

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New Challenge: Move More in March!

I don't know about you, but I've felt quite a bit like I've been hibernating all winter. There's been a whole lot of sitting going on... and not too much else. Sad, but true. Since spring is on its way and most of us (hopefully) are seeing some warmer days here and there, I think it's just about time to do something useful with that springtime itch. Time for a challenge!


Move More in March!

Sometimes we need a little kick in the pants to remind us that we need to get up and get moving. A few decades ago this wasn't a problem for most folks--there was plenty of work around the house or on the farm to keep us moving from pretty much dawn till dusk. But today we've got everything from cars to dishwashers to elevators to remote controls to make sure we can stay nice and comfy in our chairs as much as possible. Heck, with online shopping you don't even have to walk around the pesky mall searching for the perfect cardigan anymore! Just click away on that mouse.

Well, unfortunately, our bodies weren't made to sit in a chair tapping at the keyboard or pushing buttons on the remote all day. But for a lot of us, that's what it's come to lately. Yeah, I've spent a lot of time condemning over-exercising, but you guys know I'm all about balance. And the truth is that most of us are out of balance when it comes to movement.


Stay Tuned and Win!

Need some motivation to get moving? No problem! I'll be posting about what kind of movement is most important for health, what type of exercise is most effective for your goals, and how to get more movement into your day without stressing about it.

Want even more incentive? I've got it covered. I'll be giving away some great prizes that will help you out with this challenge.


Join the Challenge!

How do you join? Just comment below about your goals for this month's challenge. Do you need to move more? What's your plan of action to get off the couch and get moving? What do you think is holding you back?

Don't miss a single post: subscribe to this blog to make sure you stay updated about the Move More in March Challenge. You can also join the discussion on The Nourished Life's Facebook fan page.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday.

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Book Review: Fat Politics by J. Eric Oliver

If you want to fire people up, try talking about fat. Not spicy enough for you? Throw in some commentary about politics, money, society, exercise, diet and health. Now you've got the perfect recipe for controversy. We're talking about Fat Politics by J. Eric Oliver. You're either going to love this book or hate it with a passion. But either way, it's sure to stir up some strong opinions.

Oliver questions the existence of an obesity epidemic and whether fat itself should be labeled as a dangerous disease. If read with an open mind, his research certainly gives you something to think about (whether or not you end up fully agreeing with him).

"Consider, for example, what an obesity epidemic means for the following groups. For scientists researching issues of weight, an obesity epidemic inflates their stature and allows them to get more research grants. For government health agencies, it is a powerful rationale for increasing their programs and budget allocations. For weight-loss companies and surgeons, it is a way to get their services covered by Medicare and health insurance providers. And, for pharmaceutical companies it can justify the release of new drugs, and help inflate their stock prices. The very same people who have proclaimed that obesity is a major health problem also stand the most to gain from it being classified as a disease. For America's public health establishment, an obesity epidemic is worth billions."

In chapter two, Oliver explains How Obesity Became an Epidemic Disease. He demonstrates how politics and the media skewed our ideas about fat and health, and why labeling obesity as a disease actually holds us back from finding real solutions for lasting health.


The Link Between Metabolic Health and Disease

Oliver rightly points to overall metabolic action as the cause not only of obesity but also degenerative disease. He questions the idea that weight itself is the cause behind our more troubling health problems, and suggests that perhaps there is a bigger picture.

"And it is these other metabolic changes that are behind many of the diseases that are typically associated with being too fat. The reason that diabetes and some types of cancer are on the rise is not because Americans weight too much, it is because their metabolisms are out of whack. Fatness may result from metabolic processes that are behind these ailments, but it is the underlying metabolic processes, and not the weight, that cause us so much trouble."

Why We Hate Fat People

Have you ever thought about it? Why our society harbors such resentment and malice toward heavier people? We are afraid of fat. This has to do with numerous factors, according the Oliver, including our modern standards of beauty and propaganda from the medical community. But wherever it's coming from, the fear of fat is very real.

"For instance, more that a quarter of college students believe that becoming fat is the worst thing that could happen to a person."

Really? That sure says a lot about our priorities in life. Oliver suggests getting some perspective about fat in his chapter about genetics and obesity:

"Fatness is not a disease or a bodily dysfunction; it is a protective mechanism that evolved to survive fluctuations in our food supply. Judging someone's health by how much they weigh is like judging a camel by how much water it has in its hump--in conditions of privation, our extra weight, just like water, may be exactly what we need to survive. Our weight is merely an expression of this adaptive mechanism at work."

What We Eat and What We Weigh

Oliver challenges many beliefs about diet and weight. He's read the work of Gary Taubes (awesome, right?) but doesn't fall into the trap of blaming any particular macronutrient for our weight and health problems. His stance is that carbs are no more to blame than fat. Instead Oliver speculates that there are a number of dietary factors that could be contributing to obesity and disease. After all, a lot has changed in the last 40 years when it comes to what (and how) we eat. Oliver discusses everything from crop subsidies to the invention of the microwave, but in the end concludes that it's most likely the combination of all these things--rather than just one of them--that impacts our weight the most.


Being Thin Versus Being Healthy

This is always one of my favorite topics. In our pursuit of being thin, many of us have sacrificed our health. According to Oliver, it is the American way.

"Although most Americans value bodily fitness as a marker of social prestige, they value thinness more. And for good reason--in a culture in which obesity is so demonized, being fit yet heavy does little to remove the stigma of a large body size, particularly for women. For instance, if a woman is incredibly fit but still bulky or heavy, she is still likely to face size discrimination. The emphasis on female fitness is primarily concerned with being thin not necessarily being healthy. Because of our cultural obsession with thinness, any discussion of exercise inevitably becomes connected to issues of weight while concerns of health fly out the window."

I mean, think about it: how many people do you know that joined a gym to get healthy? Yeah, right. Most people exercise to achieve a particular physical appearance, not to achieve better health. Which is too bad, because research shows that exercise has a far more substantial impact on our health that it does on our waistlines.


But Are There Any Solutions?

My biggest beef with Oliver's book is that you aren't left with a solid idea of what we should be doing, perhaps because Oliver believes that his research doesn't point to there being a particular solution.

"In truth, the only way we are going to 'solve' the problem of obesity is to stop making fatness a scapegoat for all our ills. The means that public health officials and doctors need to stop making weight a barometer of health and issuing so many alarmist claims about the obesity epidemic. This also means that the rest of us need to stop judging others and ourselves by our size."

I personally couldn't agree more. There's far too much hate and melodrama surrounding our weight. But considering we're in a society that puts so much focus on being thin, at the end of the book you're sort of left standing with your hands up in the air thinking, "Well, what the heck am I supposed to do now?"

The answer: simply allow yourself to focus on more important things than weight. Whether or not you are at the weight you would like to be cannot be a determining factor in your happiness. If it is, then it's guaranteed you'll be miserable. Regard health as part of the bigger picture and not just in terms of your dress size. Live to be healthy and enjoy life, rather than living to be thin.

Buy Fat Politics by J. Eric Oliver today.

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Podcast with Matt Stone: The Body Weight Set Point and Metabolism

Yesterday I had the opportunity to interview one of my favorite bloggers and health researchers, Matt Stone from 180 Degree Health, about the body weight set point. After listening to his new audio seminar, I knew this was something people needed to hear about.

What Matt and I discuss in this podcast goes against everything we're told about diet, weight and exercise. And yet I know anyone who's ever been on a diet is going to be nodding their head when they hear what Matt has to say.

• Ever feel like your body is fighting against fat loss?
• Wonder why it's so hard to stick to a diet?
• Does restrictive dieting lead you to cravings and binging on "bad" foods?
• Are you cold, tired or irritable when you're trying to lose weight?
• Are you "check" dieting?

Learn why Matt (and many other leading researchers) believe the focus should be on the weight set point, and not on weight. I personally believe this could be secret to finding a healthy, permanent weight without being chained to a life of deprivation and misery.

Listen to the podcast now to learn about the body weight set point and metabolism:

Listen to internet radio with The Nourished Life on Blog Talk Radio

You can also click here if you want to listen to an additional in-depth presentation from Matt about the weight set point, dieting, metabolism and health, or to find out more about his free e-book or the new audio seminar. You might also want to check out his blog to hear the latest on achieving true metabolic health.










This post is a part of Fight Back Friday hosted by Food Renegade.

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How Much Protein Do We Really Need? Part Two (Calculating Lean Body Mass)

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Yesterday I talked about how much protein we really need and why I feel eating 1 gram per pound of lean body weight appears to be the best starting place. I wanted to expand on that today with a little how-to:
 
How to Calculate Your Lean Body Mass

Figuring out your lean body mass and body fat percentage is something that should be simple but rarely is. There are a few ways to do this, but many of them are unreliable. I've had online body fat calculators tell me I have anywhere from 16% to 36% body fat. I know I'm really somewhere in between, so you really have to take some of these numbers with a grain of salt.

This is the free body fat percentage calculator I use. It's been the most accurate one I've found online. It takes into account waist and neck measurement (plus hip measurement for women), in addition to height and weight. It also does the lean body mass calculation for you, which is convenient. Hopefully you'll find this accurate, too, but people with different body types may have varying results. If you use this calculator, let me know how it works for you.

Tanita scales like this one boast a very high accuracy in measuring body fat. Many users report these scales are accurate within 1-2%, which is pretty impressive. However you (understandably) may not be interested in plunking $50-100 down for a scale. Neither am I at the moment.

You can also use calipers to gauge your body fat, have a water displacement test done, or head to your local gym which may have a variety of body fat calculating tools available for you. However, you don't always get what you pay for, so don't assume methods like water displacement are more accurate just because they're more expensive. In fact, some have reported wildly inaccurate results even with this method, which is often considered the gold standard of body fat measurement.

Once you know (or think you know) your body fat percentage, all you have to do is a simple calculation to figure out lean body mass:

[100 - Body Fat Percentage] x 0.01 x  body weight = lean body mass

So, for me, this would be:

[100 - 28 = 72] x 0.01 x 143 = 102.96 lbs of lean body mass

So using this method, I need roughly 100 grams of protein every day. My actual intake right now tends to fall between 80-100 grams, which feels right and isn't too much of a stretch for me.

Some Parting Words on Protein

While protein is important and we all need some, don't take these numbers so seriously that they rule your life. I recently ran across a forum post where someone was freaking out (seriously) that they'd been eating 15 grams of protein less than they figured they needed each day. They were petrified that they'd lost significant amounts of lean body mass during the previous weeks! (Which, aside from being ridiculous is also downright impossible.)

The body isn't that rigid in its requirements, trust me. Like I mentioned in my Counting Calories is Pointless post, to even assume we can figure out with accuracy exactly what our body requires is pretty off base. Numbers can be useful, but they aren't the end all be all. Learn what works for your body and your lifestyle. Pay attention to your biofeedback and use a little common sense. Think of the numbers we've talked about in the last two posts as a starting place that you can tailor to fit with what works best for your body.

Remember: As important as it is to eat enough protein, it's even more important to choose the right protein. High quality dairy, eggs, legumes, seafood and meat are among the top sources. Avoid soy like the plague: it's an anti-food.

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How Much Protein Do We Really Need? Part One

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People like to argue about macronutrients. It has to be one of the favorite hobbies of the health-conscious. How much fat? How many carbs? How much protein?

Plenty of people like to pretend there's a "magic" macronutrient composition that is right for everyone, but in my experience oversimplification leads only to frustration and could even result in metabolic damage.

Having said that, many people feel they need a guide to achieve optimum wellness. We like to see things in numbers. It helps give us a target to shoot for so we feel like we're meeting our nutritional goals.

Talk to ten different people and you'll probably hear ten difference recommendations for protein intake. I've heard everything from less than twenty grams a day all the way up to two grams per pound of body weight (whoa! that's a lot of chicken). I personally feel most people are going to fall between those numbers. But where in between? First let's briefly explore the importance of this nutrient:


Why Do We Need Protein?

In The Mood Cure, Julia Ross explains that protein contains the building blocks that make up our entire bodies--our muscles, our bones, our organs and even the brain chemicals that make us feel happy, emotionally stable and energetic. According to Julia, adequate protein intake is essential to our emotional and physical health. Dr. Diana Schwarzbein makes puts similar emphasis on protein in her books. Reading those books has helped to shape my personal views on protein intake and its importance in the modern diet.


So How Much Protein Do We Really Need?

I'd like to say there was a blanket answer for protein requirements, but there's not. People do well on varying amounts of protein, just like the other macronutrients. But since it helps to have a guide, here's a few ways to look at it:

• Julie Ross recommends 20-30 grams of protein three times a day. I think this is a reasonable figure for most people and will provide plenty of protein without too much fuss over it. However, it's a little unspecific when it comes to activity level, body weight, etc.

• Another standard method for computing protein needs is simply eating 1 gram of protein per kilogram of weight. Notice this is kilograms, not pounds. To get your weight in kilograms, divide your weight by 2.2. (So if you weigh 150 that would be about 68 kilograms.) This is slightly more tailored, since at least it takes into account your size. But I find it errs on the low side, at least for what makes my individual body happy.

• One more method (and what I personally use at this time) is 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass. This seems to work well for me. I like it because going by lean mass is even more specific than weight. Two people can be the exact same weight but have strikingly different amounts of lean body mass. Likewise, men tend to have more lean body mass than women, and generally someone who does regular resistance training will have more than someone who doesn't. So this method caters to all of those factors. It is also a little more complicated, because it involves figuring out your body composition within some level of accuracy. So tomorrow I'm going to continue this post by explaining how to do just that! Stay tuned...

Remember: As important as it is to eat enough protein, it's even more important to choose the right protein. High quality dairy, eggs, legumes, seafood and meat are among the top sources. Avoid soy like the plague: it's an anti-food. 

This post is part of Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist!

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Exercise for Detoxification: Which Exercise is Best for Detox?

The human body is designed to move. A sedentary body doesn't function as well as an active one, and this applies to the detoxification systems of the body as well. I don't advocate overtraining, but aside from times of healing when activity might be limited temporarily, regular activity is a key component in general health and detoxification.

Why? Because when the body is stagnant, its components tend to be stagnant as well. This includes the circulatory and lymphatic systems, both of which play a significant role in natural detoxification processes. The lymphatic system especially requires movement to facilitate lymph flow, because it doesn't have an organ like the heart to pump it. Exercise also encourages improved oxygen delivery and aids the elimination of toxins through the lungs.

Luckily, virtually any activity that gets your body moving--even just a little--is going to provide cleansing benefits. So you don't have to join a gym (if you don't want to) or plug in an aerobics DVD every day (if that's not your thing). Walking, biking, swimming, tennis, yoga, pilates, tai chi, strength training, roller skating or just about any activity that moves your body is going to be fine. So the point is, find out what you enjoy and do that. Then you can have fun and stick to it, and probably gain some stress-relief in the process in addition to all the physical benefits.

The Absolute Best Exercise for Detoxification

Like I said, just about any activity will facilitate detoxification. But there is a certain type of exercise that really shines in this department: rebounding. Or basically jumping on a mini trampoline. To quote Bruce Fife in The Detox Book:  

"The up-and-down motion compresses and decompresses the body tissues and fluids. Toxins are squeezed out of cells and tissues as lymph fluid is pushed throughout the body. Rebound exercise is the best lymph-pumping exercise known. As a results of this pumping action, toxins are washed out of tissues throughout the entire body and flushed out. Rebound exercise is such an effective detoxifier that it can initiate a healing crisis in a matter of days."

These benefits can even extend to the digestive system and encourage the removal of toxic waste through the colon. This can improve regularity and prevent toxins from being reabsorbed due to sluggish digestion.

Rebounding can also improve your sense of balance. When I first got on my rebounder I almost twisted my ankle pretty bad several times. I felt pretty clumsy. But after a couple sessions, I got really comfortable on it and now can do several different exercises on it that seemed impossible to do at first.

The great thing about rebounding is that it can be done regardless of your current fitness level. If you're really out of shape you can start with just 30-60 seconds at a time of gentle bouncing and work up from there. Just a few minutes a day can provide the benefits described above.

If you're a seasoned athlete you might think rebounding isn't challenging enough, but you would be wrong. Rebounding can get your heart rate up fast, especially if you incorporate some advanced moves into your routine:

*Warning: Do NOT try these if you are a rebounding novice. Seriously, you could break some bones!

And honestly, rebounding is fun. The first time I jumped for about 20-30 seconds and then hopped off for a short break. My heart was pounding and I didn't even feel like I did anything! So it really gets the blood pumping, even though you feel like you're tapping into some pleasant childhood experience rather than doing a workout.

The type of rebounder you get can impact your experience. For a lot of people, a sturdy mini-trampoline will do. These run about $40-50 for a decent one. But a high-quality rebounder will generally have better bounce and less impact. Someone who has joint issues might want to invest in a quality system to ensure a low-impact workout. Of course, the investment is more substantial, at least $90 (some are priced at well over $300!), but some say you get what you pay for.

Shop for a rebounder on Amazon here.

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High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for Fat Loss

I don't preach a lot about exercise. Why? Because I figure most of you have already heard enough about it. After all, it's half of the holy "eat less, exercise more" mantra. At some point or another, most of us have buckled down for hours of pacing on the treadmill (or at least someone has told us that's what we should be doing).

So don't worry: just like I don't support dieting, I won't say anyone should join a local gym to spend all their free time latched to exercise equipment.

That said, I think some forms of exercise are more likely to promote a healthy body composition than others. I've spoken about the benefits of strength training and resistance activity in a previous post, where I also warned against overdoing cardio.

I was a cardio queen myself in previous years, so I harbor some level of resentment toward this kind of activity. It's painful to think of all the hours I spent peddling away on the elliptical like a gerbil, thinking I was burning calories when really the only thing I burned effectively was my adrenals.

After all, who has an hour to devote to cardio every day? Many conventional experts are even recommending six 90-minute cardio sessions a week (and then resistance training on top of that!). Talk about discouraging. If you weren't motivated to exercise before, that kind of talk will send you straight back to the couch.


HIIT: More Effective than Cardio? Absolutely!

At the risk of sounding like an infomercial, you can actually lose fat exercising for only a few minutes three times a week. No, you don't have to buy any DVDs or weird dumbbells that shake. It's called high intensity interval training, or HIIT. You may have also heard of this referred to as burst training or sprints. Even Al Sears got in on the magic in his book about PACE exercise.

The basic idea of HIIT is that you exercise in short bursts of intense activity for up to 60 seconds at a time (or as little as 10 seconds). In between bursts your activity level should be easy or moderate. The rules aren't hard and fast, but usually a session lasts no longer than 20 minutes, with 8-10 minutes being more common. You can do HIIT while walking, swimming, on a trampoline, with weights, on a bike, or with a jump rope. Basically, you can do HIIT with whatever equipment you already have, or even no equipment at all.

And HIIT isn’t just a one-size-fits-all exercise. Some hard trainers like to do tabata sprints, an intense four minute workout that includes eight 20-second intense sprints. If you don’t think four minutes is a long time, try it and you’ll think again. It will seem more like four years if you're doing genuine tabata sprints.

But you can also incorporate HIIT concepts without exhausting yourself to the point of puking up your breakfast (doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of the most important meal of the day, anyway?). During a leisurely stroll or bike ride, for example, throw in a few 30-60 second bursts of intense activity with recovery periods in between. Most people can get through such a short burst of exercise. Knowing it’s over in a minute and that you’ll get plenty of recovery time afterward makes it pretty doable in you ask me.


The Benefits of HIIT

HIIT may play an important role in lowering the fat setpoint, as mentioned in this great post by Stephan Guyenet at Whole Health Source. This could be because, at some level that far surpasses calorie-counting, interval training alters the body's biochemistry to make it actually want to lose weight. This may include increasing the body's sensitivity to important weight and appetite regulators like insulin and leptin.

Short bursts of activity are also promoted by Jon Gabriel in his book, The Gabriel Method (which I'm eating up right now and looking forward to doing a review about later this month). Gabriel even suggests using visualization during sprints--such as imagining being chased by a leopard or a shark--to further communicate to the body on a biochemical level that fat loss is the way to go. After all, in caveman days you needed to be sleek and fit so you could outrun that pesky saber tooth!

Mercola also talks about the benefits of interval training in this article, where he also cites a recent study that showed just how effective burst exercise can be:

In their trial, women either exercised for 20 minutes, alternating 8 seconds of sprinting on a bike with 12 seconds of exercising lightly, or exercised at a regular pace for 40 minutes. After exercising three times a week for 15 weeks, those who did the 20-minute, alternating routine lost three times as much fat as the other women.

As a final argument in favor of HIIT over long periods of aerobic activity, check out this photo comparing the body of a marathon runner versus a sprinter. Which body would you want?

This post is a part of Real Food Wednesday.

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Does Yoga Help With Weight Loss? 5 Ways Yoga Can Help You Lose Weight

Most people don't practicing yoga to lose weight. Let’s face it: most of us don’t think exercise helps burn fat unless sweat is pouring off our brow and we’re struggling to catch our breath. After all, the mantra of the fitness world seems to be no pain, no gain.

But yoga takes a different focus: heal and balance the whole body, which in turn will promote a healthy body composition. Yoga offers a more holistic approach to weight loss, acknowledging that being overweight is more than the tired calories-in/calories-out equation. So, does yoga help with weight loss? I think the answer is a definite yes.

5 Ways Yoga Can Help You Lose Weight

#1 Yoga is a Fantastic Workout

This is only part of why yoga is so beneficial, but I want to address it first because many people tend to think yoga is just a leisurely session of stretching exercises. Let me tell you, this is not the whole picture. Yoga includes everything from twists to headstands, and while some of the poses are relatively easy, others will challenge your muscles in surprising ways. I was pretty sore after my first yoga session, and I hadn’t even felt as if I’d pushed myself very hard. So yoga is not for sissies or cop-outs who don’t want to do “real” exercise--it’s a serious activity that requires a good dose of discipline.

#2 Yoga Really is For Every Body

Yes, many professional yogis have sleek, lean figures that intimidate the rest of us, but that doesn’t mean you have to be skinny to do yoga. You don’t even have to be in shape at all. Yoga is actually perfect for those who are just starting to exercise, because it gently conditions the muscles and teaches important breathing techniques that will help you as your fitness level improves. And for someone who is used to driving themselves with high-intensity workouts, yoga offers an important lesson in challenging your body by slowing down and focusing.

#3 Yoga Aids Cleansing and Detox

While manufacturers would like you to think detoxification is something you can package in pill form and sell for $60 a bottle, there are plenty of ways to improve your body’s natural cleansing abilities without popping pills. Yoga focuses on cleansing and revitalizing the organs, the digestive system, the circulatory system and the lymphatic system. All of these contribute to natural detoxification and cleansing. This is part of why yoga is such an invigorating, restorative exercise. Detox is an important part of losing excess fat weight, and yoga offers a simple, natural and safe way of incorporating detoxification in your everyday life. (Isn't the idea of practicing yoga for weight loss starting to seem like a good idea?)

#4 Yoga Helps You Live in The Moment

A good yoga workout includes more than just rearranging your limbs into a few different poses. You also learn to free yourself from distractions and focus on exactly what you are doing in a given moment. This not only makes your workout more effective, but if you take what you learn on the yoga mat into real life, you may find your eating habits improving. We often give into cravings or overeat when we’re feeling distracted, anxious, deprived or emotional. Yoga encourages mindfulness and self-awareness, which can help you make better food choices for the right reasons.

#5 Yoga Teaches You to Appreciate Your Body

At the peak of my own dieting loop, my entire self-worth revolved around my appearance. I felt better about myself when I was thin, and hated myself when I gained weight. Many times I felt like I was at war with my body, and I regarded it as an enemy I had to outmaneuver and defeat. It was only later that I realized I needed to take care of my body and in turn it would be able to take care of me. The is central in practicing yoga: learn to listen to your body and appreciate what it does for you. Your body is a complicated piece of equipment that performs a myriad of tasks every day to keep you up and running. Give it some love!

Beginning Yoga: Where to Start?

When starting yoga to lose weight, a yoga class is a great way to begin, since you’ll have someone nearby who can help you learn the poses and make sure you’re doing them properly. However, I’m not much of a class person myself and prefer to learn at home with DVDs. Books are useful, too, but I think videos give you a better idea of how to get into and out of positions. A good yoga DVD will also show plenty of pose adaptions so you can still do the workout even if you’re at a beginner level. And once you've mastered the easier poses, yoga has plenty of room to advance so you can further condition your muscles and tone your body.

The post is part of Real Food Wednesday hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop this week!

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