Calorific Value

Some people believe that calories mean everything, and controlling that number would be sufficient to control their weight and improve their health. But of course, thats only one part of the picture. Here's some food for thought:

As an example, lets consider two meal options A and B.

Option A: Cheeseburger with fries

Option B: Grilled chicken sandwich, grated blue cheese on a watercress salad drizzled with olive oil, and an apple

Lets say hypothetically, the total calories for each option is equal at 1000 kcal. Would that mean both options are the same? Of course not! Option B will beat A anyday as it has a well-rounded nutritional content and isn't deep-fried.

People need to realize that calories is just a number, and improving their health consists of more that controlling their calorie intake. Its a combination of a good exercise regimen and an appropriate diet that meets their daily nutritional requirements.

Health and wellbeing has to be looked from a holistic point of view, considering all various aspects and for the long term. Too many individuals are concentrating too much on the short term, with their main goal of just losing weight and minimizing calories.

For instance, yes, you may be losing tonnes of weight by cutting down on calories and running for miles everyday. In the long run here are the possible problems, cutting down on calories could result in less energy for other daily activities, and you could be missing out on key minerals and macronutrients from the controlled diet. Not to mention that running excessively could result in muscles being catabolized for energy, resulting in lower metabolism and eventually you'll gain weight faster than ever before!!

For any endeavour in life, invest in the long term solution rather than just settling for the quicker benefits of the short term solution. The same applies for health and nutrition. Think about it.

Olympian Effort

If you're are looking to improve their physique, train the whole body in unison, and improve their athleticism and strength. Then read on:

I've always believed that basketball players e.g. NBA players have the greatest vertical leaping ability compared to other athletes. Boy was I wrong.....can you guess which athlete has the greatest vertical leap?

THE OLYMPIC POWERLIFTER

Never would I have envisaged that those bulky 200-300 pound powerlifters could jump higher than basketball players! NBA players on average have a vertical leap of approx. 32 inches, and powerlifters on average have a vertical leap of approx. 36 whopping inches!!!

The reason is that they trained explosively with olympic powerlifting movements e.g. snatch like below:

As depicted above, olympic lifts like the snatch works the body in unison to lift the weight. This would require the recruitment of more muscle fibers, and therefore create more potential for muscle growth. In addition to that, compound exercises like this would burn more calories as you're recruiting more muscles and therefore requiring more energy!

As opposed to conventional weight training methods, Olympic lifting trains the muscles to generate Power. By the law of physics, power is defined with the following equation:

Power = W/t = Work / Time

With that relationship, power increases when more work is performed per unit time, OR if the same amount of work is performed in less time. Therefore, if you can lift more weight in less time, your muscles can generate more power. Thats why Olympic lifts train explosiveness, as you'll be able to generate a lot of force in a short timeframe. This is akin to sprinters who can explode and accelerate instantly, and NBA players e.g. Lebron James whom just explodes 42 inches vertically for the dunk.

In addition to that, Olympic movements train Type II muscle fibers which are fast twitch fibers (shorter contraction time), and only recruited for heavier, and more taxing workouts that require the recruitment of more muscle fibers. And if you recall, Type II muscle fibers have the greatest growth capacity compared to Type I fibers.

To summarize, Olympic lifts would:

• Increase body's ability to generate more power, therefore increasing explosiveness e.g. vertical leaping ability;
• Work the entire body in unison to move the weight, therefore recruiting more muscles and therefore creating more potential for muscle growth and burn more calories;

With that, I believe that any gym-goer should not omit Olympic lifts in their workout regimen, which are incredibly beneficial for improving your body.

Below is the link to bodybuilding.com's exercise database which include steps on performing the snatch:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.php?Name=Snatch

Cardio vs. Resistance Training Part I

To all the gym-goers out there, here's a breakdown of the difference between Cardio and Resistance Training that majority of gym-goers don't know, AND should know.

1) Calories Burned

Cardio e.g treadmills are steady-state workouts, and your body eventually adapts fast as you're repeating the same motion.

Calories burned = Energy used during workout

Resistance Training e.g. High intensity training is a workout that constantly shocks your body and forces it to adapt with different movements and workloads. Its an anaerobic activity that has a Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC), requiring you to burn more calories post-workout to recover and re-attain Oxygen equilibrium. This effect can last for up to 24-48 hours.

Calories burned = Energy used during workout + Calories burned from EPOC

2) Muscle Mass

Cardio involves steady state motion that trains muscle endurance NOT strength, and mainly works the Type I muscle fibers (slow twitch) which has the LEAST growth capacity.

Resistance Training usually involves heavier and more explosive motion, and involves mainly Type II muscle fibers (Fast twitch) which has MORE growth capacity.

And remember, more muscles = higher metabolism for muscle cell maintenance. THEREFORE, more calories burned by the body's resting metabolism to maintain the additional muscle cells.

PART I CONCLUSION

• Resistance Training overall burns more calories inclusive of energy burned during workout, and post workout from Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC);


• Resistance Training builds more muscles, which equals to higher resting metabolism and burns more calories during rest for additional muscle cell maintenance;


• For Cardio, total calories you burned are all from during your workout. And trains muscle endurance with minimal muscle growth.