Phys Ed: How Caffeine Can Galvanize Your Workout - NYTimes.com
So researchers at Coventry University in England recently recruited 13 fit young men and asked them to repeat a standard weight-training gym regimen on several occasions. An hour before one workout, the men consumed a sugar-free energy drink containing caffeine. An hour before another, they drank the same beverage, minus the caffeine. Then the men lifted, pressed and squatted, performing each exercise until they were exhausted. Exhaustion arrived much later for those who’d had caffeine first. After swallowing the caffeinated beverage, the men completed significantly more repetitions of the exercises than after the placebo. They also reported feeling subjectively less tired during the entire bout and, in perhaps the most interesting finding, said that they were eager to repeat the whole workout again soon.
a cup of coffee before a workout jolts athletic performance, especially in endurance sports like distance running and cycling.
More than two-thirds of about 20,680 Olympic athletes studied for a recent report had caffeine in their urine, with use highest among triathletes, cyclists and rowers.
Bodybuilding - Size Means Strength? Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy vs. Myofibrillar hypertrophy
Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (common in bodybuilding) involves the growth of the sarcoplasm (fluid like substance) and non-contractile proteins that do not directly contribute to muscular force production. Filament area density decreases while cross-sectional area increases, without a significant increase in strength.
Myofibrillar hypertrophy occurs due to an increase in myosin-acting filaments. Contractile proteins are synthesized and filament density increases (Zatsiorsky 1995). This type of hypertrophy leads to increased strength production. Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy Muscle fibers adapt to high volume training by increasing the number of mitochondria (organelles in the cell that are involved in ATP production) in the cell. This type of training also leads to the elevation of enzymes that are involved in glycolytic and oxidative pathways. The volume of sarcoplasmic fluid inside the cell and between the cells is increased with high volume training. This type of training contributes little to maximal strength while it does increase strength endurance due to mitochondria hypertrophy. Growth of connective tissue is also present with sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.
Myofibrillar hypertrophy occurs due to increases in the number of myosin/actin filaments (sarcomeres) inside the cell. This leads to increased strength and size of the contractile unit of muscle. Ultimately this means greater force production. This is often referred to as functional muscle, while sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is referred to as non-functional muscle. ATP and Muscular Growth as we said earlier, increasing the number of mitochondria in the cell means increased ATP production. ATP is required for protein synthesis to occur. Low levels of ATP will halt muscular growth as well as inhibit other metabolic functions that take place inside the muscle cell. Siff and Verkhoshansky have shown that it is possible to increase your muscles contractile unit faster than the mitochondria’s ability to compensate for this growth. When actin/myosin filaments out grow the number of mitochondria, growth of elements besides the sarcomere is inhibited. The insufficient quantity of ATP results in the body’s inability to promote protein synthesis.
How Does Exercise Improve Sleep
Exercise improves sleep efficiency shortening the amount of time you need to sleep.
via http://www.quora.com/Is-it-possible-to-reduce-the-amount-of-sleep-I-need-every-night/answer/Mattias-Petter-Johansson#ans722575
Yes, athletes do need more protein
Vast research supports the contention that individuals engaged in regular exercise training require more dietary protein than sedentary individuals.
Protein intakes of 1.4 – 2.0 g/kg/day for physically active individuals is not only safe, but may improve the training adaptations to exercise training.
The current recommended level of protein intake (0.8 g/kg/day) is estimated to be sufficient to meet the need of nearly all (97.5%) healthy men and women age 19 years and older. This amount of protein intake may be appropriate for non-exercising individuals, but it is likely not sufficient to offset the oxidation of protein/amino acids during exercise (approximately 1–5% of the total energy cost of exercise) nor is it sufficient to provide substrate for lean tissue accretion or for the repair of exercise induced muscle damage
Relative to endurance exercise, recommended protein intakes range from of 1.0 g/kg to 1.6 g/kg per day [2,4,7,15] depending on the intensity and duration of the endurance exercise, as well as the training status of the individual. For example, an elite endurance athlete requires a greater level of protein intake approaching the higher end the aforementioned range (1.0 to 1.6 g/kg/day). Additionally, as endurance exercise increases in intensity and duration, there is an increased oxidation of branched-chain amino acids, which creates a demand within the body for protein intakes at the upper end of this range. Strength/power exercise is thought to increase protein requirements even more than endurance exercise, particularly during the initial stages of training and/or sharp increases in volume. Recommendations for strength/power exercise typically range from 1.6 to 2.0 g/kg/day [3,11-13,16], although some research suggests that protein requirements may actually decrease during training due to biological adaptations that improve net protein retention
How to select right amount of weight/sets/reps for your goal.
1RM - is the maximum amount of weight you can lift
(via Strength training - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
via quora
Variable Training goal
Strength Power Hypertrophy Endurance
Load (% of 1RM) 80-90 45-55 60-80 40-60
Reps per set 1-5 1-5 6-12 15-60
Sets per exercise 4-7 3-5 4-8 2-4
Rest between sets (mins) 2-6 2-6 2-5 1-2
Duration (seconds per set) 5-10 4-8 20-60 80-150
Speed per rep (% of max) 60-100 90-100 60-90 60-80
Training sessions per week 3-6 3-6 5-7 8-14
Exercise causes an increase in systemic mitochondrial biogenesis.
It has been known for more than 4 decades that exercise causes increases in skeletal muscle mitochondrial enzyme content and activity (i.e., mitochondrial biogenesis). Increasing evidence now suggests that exercise can induce mitochondrial biogenesis in a wide range of tissues not normally associated with the metabolic demands of exercise. Perturbations in mitochondrial content and (or) function have been linked to a wide variety of diseases, in multiple tissues, and exercise may serve as a potent approach by which to prevent and (or) treat these pathologies. In this context, the purpose of this review is to highlight the effects of exercise, and the underlying mechanisms therein, on the induction of mitochondrial biogenesis in skeletal muscle, adipose tissue, liver, brain, and kidney.
150 lb Body Builders eat 3 lbs of meat equivalent per day; wow!
It has been speculated that the minimum protein intake required to promote muscle gain is about 1g/per pound body weight. Bodybuilders often consume 2g/per pound body weight per day. This means that a 150lb bodybuilder may consume 300g protein (equivalent to three pounds of meat or 50 eggs) per day. That’s a lot of protein to shove in…
Red wine: Exercise in a bottle?
New research study published in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), suggests that the “healthy” ingredient in red wine, resveratrol, may prevent the negative effects that spaceflight and sedentary lifestyles have on people.
Scientists studied rats that underwent simulated weightlessness by hindlimb tail suspension and were given a daily oral load of resveratrol. The control group showed a decrease in soleus muscle mass and strength, the development of insulin resistance, and a loss of bone mineral density and resistance to breakage. The group receiving resveratrol showed none of these complications. Study results further demonstrated some of the underlying mechanisms by which resveratrol acts to prevent the wasting adaptations to disuse-induced mechanical unloading.
Weightlifting is GOOD for your heart IF you don’t take steriods
It’s unfortunate that weightlifting gets a bad reputation because of steroid users. Source here.
How Much Of A Person's Body Weight Should They Be Able To Bench Press?
a 22 year old man must be able to lift 106 percent of his body weight to be considered average. If he weighed 200 lbs, he would have to lift at least 212 lbs. Men between the age 20 and 29 must lift 106 percent of their body weight for an average ranking and 148 percent for a well above average ranking. Men between 30 and 39 must lift 93 percent for average and 124 for well above average. Men between 40 and 49 must lift 88 percent for average and 110 for well above average.
Women between the age 20 and 29 must lift 65 percent of their body weight for an average ranking and 90 percent for well above average. Women between 30 and 39 must lift 57 percent for an average ranking and 76 percent for well above average. Women between 40 and 49 must lift 52 percent for an average ranking and 71 percent for well above average.
I thought I was strong for being able to bench my weight. Sadly I am average.
Marathons can hurt you more than they help you...
regular exercise reduces cardiovascular risk by a factor of two or three. But the extended vigorous exercise performed during a marathon raises cardiac risk by seven-fold!
it puts an extraordinary stress on your heart, one that your body was not designed for.
A related article talks about how older marathoners develop scar tissue in their hearts.
But half of the older lifelong athletes showed some heart muscle scarring [fibrosis]. The affected men were, in each case, those who’d trained the longest and hardest. Spending more years exercising strenuously or completing more marathon or ultramarathon races was, in this study, associated with a greater likelihood of heart damage.
I believe that marathons are not the healthiest thing in the world, and I believe in doing traditional aerobic exercise and high intensity training as I posted about here.
try to “inflate” your stomach as you breathe in, while keeping your chest relatively still. Then contract your abdominal muscles on the exhale. Not only will this give you more oxygen per breath, it will eventually strengthen the diaphragm. A stronger diaphragm means you get more oxygen with each breath, so your brain won’t need to divert any away from your muscles, meaning that you get tired less easily. … A study on cardiac patients showed that this type of breathing leads to improved exercise performance and decreased shortness of breath, and it’s also been linked to lower blood pressure. This is the reason that so many coaches recommend breathing practice as a shortcut to sports-based superpowers.
When upright, most people are habitual chest breathers: We use a shallow form of respiration that makes use of only the top part of the lungs. In reality, most of the blood vessels that take up oxygen are in the bottom, neglected half. Since so much lung power is going to waste, we get less oxygen, and as a result, we’re all breathing more rapidly than nature intended us to.
Chest breathing also tends to upset the blood’s oxygen/carbon dioxide balance and can lead to headaches, fatigue, anxiety and even panic attacks. According to one expert, you’re also potentially suffering from sweaty palms, difficulty relaxing, heightened pain perception and general fatigue.
I always incorporate diamond pushups into my arm work outs (diamonds to regular to wide). This exercise fully activates the triceps, while also providing good muscle stimulation for the anterior shoulder, chest & some of the smaller muscles of the back & abs. With diamond pushups, the forces that the triceps must generate at the elbow are approximately 70% of your bodyweight. Regular pushups require 45%.
Athletes Sweat More. More Sweat is Good.
Here’s something interesting that I read on FitSugar:
“There is a myth that people who are out of shape or are just starting to exercise sweat more profusely. This is generally not true, as sweating during exercise is a sign of more efficient cooling. An athlete who has adapted to keep the body core temperature cool during exercise will move more blood to the skin’s surface quickly and thus release heat more efficiently from the body. It could be that you are working out more regularly now compared to when you were younger and thus are more efficient at cooling by sweating. However, in my research on the topic of sweating and aging, typically the number of sweat glands decreases with age, so I don’t think that age has anything to do with why you are sweating more.”
I found this comment on a BodyBuilding.com form the most interesting:
“Basically, when you exercise the main way you keep your body cool is by sweating. An athlete who has adapted (through exercise/training) to keep the body cool during exercise will shunt blood to the skin’s surface more quickly and release heat from the body. At the same time the sweat glands increase their output and so cool the body through sweat evapourating. Therefore the fitter you are the more effectively you keep your body cool = the more you sweat. Training harder, for longer, in hotter and a more humid environment, will also make you sweat more.
Genetics - some people simply sweat more than others
Body Size - larger people tend to sweat more than smaller people
Fitness - more fit people sweat more and in larger volumes
Environment - sweat losses are higher in hot, humid conditions
Exercise Intensity - as intensity increases, sweat loss increases as well”
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