Day 19...A Little Q&A

A busy day at the fire station yesterday, left me little time to sit down and blog...I did however, manage to get in a short but sweet strength session, followed later by an introduction to Yoga.  I have been wanting to take some yoga classes for some time now, so it was nice to get a little exposure to it.  I think I like it.  Today I had a great indoor training session on the bike.  One hour, fifteen minutes of moderate to difficult intervals, resulted in roughly a 1300 kcal expenditure...that's about 17 kcal per minute! 

I thought I would take this opportunity to answer some questions that were posted in response to some of my blog posts.

The first question is really a good one...one that I get asked on a regular basis.

Q:  "John tell us how you get to the point like me of running 13 miles at one setting but you still weigh exactly the same 178lbs???"

A:  The answer is really two-fold, but possibly the biggest factor is the type of workout being performed.  The body is an amazing machine, capable of adapting to almost anything we throw at it...climate, work load, nutritional intake, etc.  It is because of this innate ability to adapt, that questions such as this one are asked.  A number of basic exercise principles exist, one being the SAID Principle.  SAID is an acronym for Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands.  Very simply, it means that variances in exercise will produce equivalent variances in adaptation.  Many long distance runners train for long distance running by running long distances...makes sense right?  These same runners most often run at the same pace or intensity level each and every time they lace up their running shoes.  This is an example of steady state training, also commonly referred to as long-slow-distance training.  When the body is exposed to the same thing time and time again, at the same intensity level, it soon adapts to the 'imposed demand' and ultimately requires less and less energy (to a point) to execute the task.  Less energy demand equates to less energy expenditure, and can result in the inability to lose weight through this form of exercise.

The key to fat loss (from an exercise perspective) is interval training.  By employing intervals of high intensity work into a training program, the body must respond by utilizing different energy systems, ultimately forcing itself to use greater amounts of energy from both glycogen and fat stores.  High intensity exercise also creates 'after burn' or EPOC...excess post exercise oxygen consumption.  I'll talk more about EPOC in another post.

The second part of this answer is something that I have covered in great detail throughout my previous posts...nutrition.  It is necessary to create a caloric deficit.  It is also necessary to immediately (within 30-minutes post exercise) to replace glycogen stores following a workout in order to prevent muscle breakdown.  Both carbohydrates and protein should be consumed right after a training session.  The carbs help to replenish muscle glycogen levels, while the protein provides the necessary amino acids to facilitate the repair and regeneration of damaged muscle tissue (a normal process occurring during strenuous exercise).

The next question referred to the latest weight loss craze...hCG.  As I did not know much about this 'new' weight loss drug, I needed to do some research (and I'm not talking about Wikipedia!) before I could speak to its reported effectiveness or lack thereof.  BTW...those of you who want to do some research on things like supplements, specific forms of exercise, nutrition, etc., I commend you!  However, if you are using sites like Wikipedia to find your information, you should know that the information on these types of sites is not peer reviewed.  A wiki is simply a collaboration tool that can be posted to by anyone!  I would encourage you to use googlescholar.com to perform your research...but beware...your search will return peer reviewed studies performed by scholarly people.  My point?  They can be boring and very hard to read.  A decent understanding of research principles can help greatly when trying to determine the validity of the study, and what the outcome truly represents.

I will discuss the hCG question tommorrow.

Thanks for reading!