MOVEMENTasMEDICINE


C. Evers Whyte, MS, DC, DACBN


yourself, “Yes! Now I can really commit to starting that new fit- ness program, and wrestle my PLUS-size alter-ego, “E. Norman Ous,” into the gym. I won’t eat again till Valentine’s Day! Or, maybe, ever.” Well, maybe your thoughts


H


aren’t exactly like that, but I know most of you would like to lose any weight gained over the last 6 weeks. Good for you! But most


New Year’s Resolutions are too wimpy. You need a command- ment. Follow the 11th commandment, “Thou shalt not avoid the gym,” and you will be starting the new year with a bang! Here’s something to think about as you’re planning your strategy: New research published in the


American Journal of Physiology dem- onstrates that simply reducing caloric intake is not enough to cause signifi- cant weight loss. In fact, we tend to naturally slow down our activity follow- ing a reduction in calories. These new findings suggest that when you start to consume fewer calories, your body au- tomatically responds by reducing your activity levels. The bottom line is that diet and exercise must be combined to achieve weight loss goals, according to the study. Further, although low-calorie diets


have been suggested as a strategy for increasing longevity, if you simply reduce your calories without meeting your body’s nutritional needs, it can send you into “starvation mode.” This will actually slow down your metabo- lism and make it more difficult to lose weight.


In fact, whether or not you’re trying 28 January 2011


appy New Year! Right about now, you are probably thinking to


The 11th


Commandment &


Sprint Training


to lose weight, regular movement and exercise must be a part of your life if you want to stay healthy. This is true even if you’re eating a fantastic diet (whether you’re overweight or not). One study published in the Journal


of the American Medical Association found that women who were at least somewhat active were less likely to develop heart disease than those who were not, and this was regardless of their weight. Another New England Journal of


Medicine study also found that both diet and fitness levels are crucial for long term health. After analyzing more than 115,000 nurses, results showed that being overweight or being sed- entary increased your risk of death independently:


• Women who were obese and inac- tive had a 250% higher mortality rate (!) than women who were lean and active. • Those women who were obese and active were still 2x as likely to die a premature death than those who were lean and active.


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• Lean women who exercised (moderately) under 3.5 hours a week increased their risk of premature death by 55%, compared to those women who worked out more often. Wow! How’s that for moti-


vation to get thyself to the gym?! “But,” you say, “I can’t lose weight as easily as I used to! I can’t move into the gym, can I? How can you fix that?” Well, I’m glad you asked. If you’re over 30, one of the culprits is that your body has slowed way down on its production of GH or Growth Hormone. GH is the body’s prime fitness hormone, helping us to build lean muscle tis- sue and burn fat, which is why some people inject it illegally - a bad idea for many reasons, including: gynecomastia (enlarged breast tissue in males), carpal tunnel syndrome, joint pain, fluid retention and high blood pressure. The good news is that with the right kind of exercise, you can stimulate your body’s production of your own natural GH- without the side effects - and do it faster than a normal workout. The principle is to engage what are called fast twitch muscle fibers. The problem is that nearly ALL the exercises that we typically do as adults (whether in the gym or outside) do not gener- ate GH. This is because they are not engaging the fast twitch muscle fibers enough.


Cardio-training, most aerobic group


training, Pilates, jogging, yoga, and even most strength training do NOT increase growth hormone. The only way to increase it is by doing anaerobic exercises or speed work. You have to work REALLY in- tensely, for brief periods of between 10 to 30 seconds.


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