Can You Spot Treat Body Fat?

 

By Madeline Romeo
For Active.com

Spot reduction has become a multi-million dollar industry in this country. They promise flat stomachs, toned buns, and various other body parts tight, toned, and fabulous.

Unfortunately, no one move or machine can spot treat your body. The human body doesn’t work that way.

For example, the playing arm of a tennis player should have considerably less fat than the inactive arm.

Studies have been done to test the circumference of the playing arms of athletes. They found that they were greater due to more muscular development. However, there was no difference in the amount of fat between the two arms.

There was a great study from the University of Massachusetts in the mid-1980s. In this investigation, 13 male subjects participated in a vigorous abdominal exercise training program for 27 days. They performed a total of 5,000 sit-ups over the course of the research project. They found that body fat was reduced in three different areas. The abdomen, buttocks, and upper back areas. So, exercise in general will help you lose overall body fat.

There are five big factors why people gain or lose fat:

1. Diet
2. Hydration
3. Exercise
4. Stress
5. Sleep

One will effect the other four in a big way. Poor nutrition one day can effect how much water you drink, then no energy for exercise, which does not help you handle stress well, and in the end have a poor night of sleep.

Start with the first factor and it will help the rest fall into place.

 

 

Madeline Romeo is a Certified Personal Trainer and Corrective Exercise Specialist. Get the ultimate exercise buddy with Madeline’s fitness videos. The ultimate workout to lose weight and tone your body with Muscle Group Cycling. Learn how your body works while getting results. www.MobileWorkoutSD.com

Electrolytes 101

 

By Nancy Clark, MS RD CSSD
For Active.com

When he entered my office holding a sports drink at 9:00 a.m, and mentioned he wouldn’t be training until 2:00, I wondered why he was sipping a sports drink right then. His response “For the electrolytes—not that I even know what electrolytes are…!” Like many of my clients, this runner was confused about electrolytes: Did he need them? How to replace them? Are engineered sports foods the best sources? If you are also confused about this topic, keep reading!

What are electrolytes?

Electrolytes are electrically charged particles that help the body function normally. Some of the more familiar electrolytes include sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium. Calcium and magnesium help muscles contract and relax. Sodium and potassium help water stay in the right balance inside and outside of cells. Sodium is the electrolyte lost in the highest concentration in sweat.

Do active people need extra electrolytes?

If you are a fitness exerciser, you are unlikely to need extra electrolytes to replace those lost in sweat. If you exercise hard for more than four hours in the heat (such as triathletes, marathoners and even tennis players), you may benefit from replacing sodium losses, particularly if you sweat a lot or have been consuming only plain water or even a standard sports drink. In that case, salty recovery snacks could be a smart choice—particularly if you are prone to muscle cramps.

Potassium deficiency is unlikely to occur in athletes because the body contains much more potassium than even a marathoner might lose during a hot, sweaty race. Never the less, you can rule out this issue by enjoying potassium-rich fruits and vegetables (oranges, bananas, raisins, potato) and dairy (milk, yogurt). You can easily replace the 200 to 600 milligrams potassium you might lose in an hour of hard training by snacking on a medium to large banana (450-600 mg potassium).

To consume the electrolyte calcium, plan to include calcium-rich foods each day, such as (soy) milk+cereal, yogurt, a (decaf) latte. For magnesium, as often as possible, enjoy a pile of  magnesium-rich green leafy vegetables, as well as whole grains, nuts, peanut butter, dried beans and lentils.

Who needs to worry about replacing sodium?

Not many people! When you exercise, you lose some sodium via sweat, but you are unlikely to deplete your body’s stores under ordinary conditions. Problems arise when people overhydrate during exercise with too much plain water or standard sports drink. The very small amount of sodium in a sports drink is added to enhance fluid retention, not to replace sodium losses

The concentration of sodium in your blood actually increases during exercise because you lose proportionately more water than sodium. Hence, your first need is to replace the fluid. You can easily replace the 800 mg sodium lost in two pounds of sweat during a hard hour-long workout by enjoying a recovery snack of chocolate milk and a bagel with peanut butter.

Keep in mind, most health organizations recommend we reduce our sodium intake because the typical diet contains too much sodium for the typical person who is unfit, overfat and at risk for high blood pressure and stroke.

I am training for an Ironman triathlon. Should I consume extra sodium?

After extended sweaty exercise, you should plan to replace sodium if:

1. you are craving salt, and
2. you are covered with a layer of salt on your skin.

Many tired athletes report the salt helps revive them so they feel better. Plus, it helps with rehydration because it holds water in your body.

You can also consume salty foods, such as chicken broth or ramen noodles before extended sweaty exercise, so the sodium will be in your system, helping to retain fluid and maintain hydration. Experiment with consuming pre-exercise sodium during training. Some athletes complain of intestinal upset or heaviness. You are an experiment of one!

Assuming the longer and harder you exercise, the hungrier you’ll get and the more sodium-containing foods and fluids you’ll eat—and easily consume more than enough electrolytes during and after the workout. Standard snacks (yogurt, bagels) and meals (pizza, pasta) have more sodium than you may realize. Nibbling on olives, pickles, crackers & cheese can easily replace sodium losses. (See the table and read food labels for sodium content.) As for potassium, chugging 16-ounces of chocolate milk for a recovery drink more than replaces the potassium a marathoner might lose.

What about commercial sports foods with sodium?

If you are tempted to replace sodium losses with commercial sports foods and fluids, note that most of these engineered products are relatively poor sources of sodium. (See the table below.) Some frugal ultra-distance athletes simply lick a small packet of salt from their palm or suck on a boullion cube. Tastes great if you crave it!

Sodium in Popular Recovery Foods

 

Food	Sodium (mg)
Chicken noodle soup, 1 can Campbell’s	2,350
Pizza, 1 small Domino’s cheese	2,330
Ramen noodles, Maruchan, 1 packet	1,580
Spaghetti sauce, 1 cup Ragu	1,160
Boullion, 1 cube Herb-Ox Chicken	1,100
Salt, 1 small packet	590
Pretzels, 1 oz (30 g) Rold Gold thins	560
Bagel, 1 Thomas’ New York style (3.7 oz)	540
V-8 Juice, 8 ounces	480
American cheese, 1 slice Kraft	250
SaltStick capsule, 1	215
Cheerios, 1 cup multigrain	200
Yogurt, 6 oz Stonyfield Farms vanilla	115
Bread, 1 slice Pepperidge Farm hearty slices	190
Saltine crackers, 5	180
Potato chips, 20 Lay’s	180
Chocolate milk, Nesquik, 8 oz	150
Gatorade, 8 ounces	110
Endurolytes (electrolytes), 1 capsule	100
Powerade, 8 ounces	70
Beer, 12 ounce can	15
Coke, 12 ounce can	10
Orange juice, 8 ounces	5
Potential loss in a two-hour workout	1,000-2,000

Nancy Clark MS, RD counsels casual exercisers and competitive athletes at Healthworks, the premier fitness center in Chestnut Hill, MA (617-383-6100). Her NEW 2008 Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook 4th Edition, and her Food Guide for Marathoners and Cyclist’s Food Guide are available via www.nancyclarkrd.com. 

Sun Protection Facts You Need to Know

 

Heidi Kelchner
Her Sports + Fitness

If you’ve been less than diligent about slathering on sunscreen in the past, consider this: Melanoma is now the most common cancer in women age 25 to 29, and second only to breast cancer in women 30 to 34, according to The Skin Cancer Foundation.

Protecting your skin takes just a little planning and shopping before heading outdoors. With the number of quality sunscreens, bronzing products and self-tanners (much safer than getting a suntan) available, there’s no excuse for damaging your skin.

Here’s how to beat the sun — May is National Skin Cancer Awareness Month, by the way — this summer and for the rest of your life:

Skin Care 101: wear sunscreen or sunblock!To protect against skin cancer and premature aging, the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) recommends wearing a broad-spectrum sunscreen or sunblock that protects against both UVA and UVB rays with an SPF of 15 or higher. UVB rays pose risk to top layers of skin and lead to sunburn (think “B” for burn). UVA rays affect under layers of skin, which leads to premature aging (think “A” for aging). All sunscreens protect from UVB rays but only broad-spectrum sunscreens protect against both.

For immediate protection, go for the block. While many people use “sunscreen” and “sunblock” interchangeably, there’s a difference. Sunscreen contains chemicals that absorb UV rays before they damage the skin. Sunblock contains particles that act as a physical wall against UV rays. While sunscreen must be applied 30 minutes prior to sun exposure, sunblock begins working immediately. Dermatologists say experiment with what works best with your skin and plan accordingly.

Be an early bird or night owl. The AAD also recommends avoiding sun exposure from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., when the sun’s rays are strongest. For athletes, this means performing outdoor workouts in the early morning or evening hours. For those who must be outdoors during peak exposure, take extra precaution. If you’ll be in the sun longer than an hour, opt for an SPF of 30 or higher, since sweat can quickly dilute your level of protection.

SPF equals time to burn. The SPF, or sun-protection factor, number indicates how much additional time you can stay outside without burning. In other words, if your skin would normally burn in 10 minutes without sunscreen, wearing an SPF of 15 means you can be outside 15 times longer, or 150 minutes (2.5 hours), before your skin burns.

Reapplying is critical, but don’t be fooled. Reapplying sunscreen ensures you are getting the original SPF you desired, but it doesn’t mean you’ll get extra coverage. Using the example above, if you reapply SPF 15 after two hours, you’ll be avoiding dilution from sweat and ensuring you receive the maximum protection of 2.5 hours. Adding more sunscreen does not equal longer protection. To receive longer protection use a higher SPF to begin, or take a break from the sun and return with fresh SPF 15 applied.

The lips are skin too! Your lips can burn just as easily as the rest of your skin, and are just as much at risk for developing skin cancer. Always wear a lip balm with an SPF of 15 or higher, and reapply often.

The higher the altitude, the faster the burn. Hikers and climbers should take extra precaution against the sun. Higher altitudes lead to a faster sunburn because you’re closer to the sun’s rays and often less protected from cloud cover. When outdoors in high altitude, remember to select a high SPF (30 or higher) sunscreen and to reapply at least once per hour.

Self-tanners don’t protect you. Unlike the sun’s effects, sunless tanning lotions don’t damage the DNA in skin cells. Instead, self-tanners contain a colorless sugar called dihydroxyacetone (DHA) that stains the dead cells on the surface of the skin. But don’t think you’re adequately protected from UV just because your skin turns darker. DHA offers protection equivalent to an SPF of only 2 to 4, according to The Skin Cancer Foundation.

What to Look For in a Sunscreen or Sunblock

Again, look for both UVA and UVB protection. Check the label for ingredients such as micronized titanium dioxide or zinc oxide, which help prevent melanoma (the deadliest form of skin cancer), hyperpigmentation (dark spots), and wrinkling and aging of the skin. Sunscreens that protect against both UVA and UVB will be labeled “broad spectrum.”

While no products provide 100 percent UV protection, using a higher SPF does provide more protection, as well as longer protection. Above SPF 30 the percentage of coverage increases only slightly:

• SPF 15 = 92 percent protection
• SPF 30 = 97 percent protection
• SPF 40 = 97.5 percent protection

If you have acne, a waterproof sunscreen could lead to breakout. Use a non-waterproof version instead, but apply it more frequently than the label suggests to guard against dilution from sweating.

If you have an oily or moderately oily complexion, look for an oil-free sunscreen, and if you have sensitive skin, use only PABA-free sunscreens (most sunscreens and sunblocks are now PABA-free).

Protective Clothing

A standard T-shirt provides an SPF of just 4. Thankfully, an increasing amount of athletic apparel is being made with added sun protection. For example, Girls4Sport’s style-conscious rash guards, include an SPF of 65 and block 98 percent of UVA and UVB rays. For more information, visit www.girls4sport.com.

Heidi Kelchner is managing editor for Her Sports magazine.

The Diet Detective: Keeping Cool With Healthier Summer Drinks

 

By Charles Stuart Platkin
For Active.com

As the temperature increases so does our thirst, but picking the right beverage is not easy — especially with all the choices. Here are a few pointers to help you navigate through this maze of drink options.

Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Mocha Swirl Latte with Skim Milk vs. Coffee Coolatta with Skim Milk vs. Smoothie vs. Caramel Iced Coffee

The Coolatta with skim milk is 170 calories, and the Iced Mocha Swirl Latte is 180 calories — so they’re pretty close. Not great choices, but not the worst if you compare them with Dunkin’ Donuts Strawberry Banana Smoothie. Dunkin’ Donuts hypes the fact that the smoothie is made with “real fruit” — and a variety of other not-so-great ingredients. It also has 360 calories and 69 grams of sugar for 16 ounces. Also available is JavaPop (www.javapop.com), an organic, Fair Trade Certified coffee soda with real coffee at about 115 calories per bottle.

Among the best Calorie Bargains are the flavored coffees at Dunkin’ Donuts (www.dunkindonuts.com): about 20 calories per 10 ounces (without sugar or milk). They actually double the amount of coffee beans when they brew their iced coffee to compensate for the ice. Some of the nine flavors include caramel, chocolate, hazelnut, raspberry and blueberry.

McDonald’s Vanilla Triple Thick Shake vs. Starbucks Tazo Green Tea Frappuccino Blended Crème vs. Orange Crème Frappuccino Blended Crème

If you picked the McDonald’s (www.mcdonalds.com) thick shake as the highest in calories, you’d be wrong. The Tazo Green Tea Frappuccino (www.starbucks.com) adds up to 550 calories for 16 ounces — which is the same as the McDonald’s shake. And while the Tazo has real green tea, the shake also has some benefits (not that I’m pushing the shake), including high levels of calcium and 13 grams of protein. If you’re itching for a fancy green tea dessert, you can try Starbucks Tazo Green Iced Tea & Lemonade, which has 120 calories. Or even better, how about plain green tea, which has zero calories?

The Orange Crème Frappuccino Blended Crème with whipped cream has 430 calories (save 110 calories by skipping the cream). Starbucks does offer a lower-calorie, light version of the Orange Mocha Frappuccino for 150 calories (without whipped cream). Not a perfect choice, but certainly better than the full-calorie versions or the shake.

As a side note — kudos to McDonald’s for not listing the shake as a beverage on its menu: It shares the category with desserts, the right place for a shake or any of these beverages.

Tropicana Fruit Squeeze vs. Glaceau Fruitwater vs. Glaceau VitaminWater vs. Fruit2O vs. Gatorade.

Glaceau Fruitwater (www.glaceau.com) comes in a 20-ounce bottle and has 45-50 calories. It’s basically water and sugar — not better than plain water, but still better than a soda. The ingredient list calls the added sugar “crystalline fructose” — however, that doesn’t mean the sugar is from fruit. In fact, it’s from cornstarch, just like high-fructose corn syrup.

The VitaminWater is much higher in calories with 125 for 20 ounces and also has crystalline fructose, some food coloring and added vitamins. Keep in mind, for comparison sake, a 12-ounce can of soda, which is hard to chug because of the carbonation, has 140 calories, which is only 15 calories more than the bottle of VitaminWater. And you should ask yourself: Do we even need those extra vitamins? Check out the vitamins you need and lack here: http://www.dietdetective.com/content/view/1318/159/ and http://www.dietdetective.com/content/view/1320/159/

Also on the market is Tropicana Fruit Squeeze, which has only 50 calories per 20 ounces, with nine grams of sugar vs. almost 40 grams for VitaminWater. The Fruit Squeeze could be a nice alternative if you don’t mind the sucralose (Splenda). Fruit2O, which boasts that it contains no calories, fat or sugar (also with sucralose), is a very sweet option if you’re hankering for a diet soda replacement. Gatorade, at 160 calories for a 20-ounce bottle, is really designed to replenish electrolytes for athletes. It’s not really a run-of-the-mill thirst quencher.

Metromint vs. Hint vs. Tasmanian Rain

Now this is a category you can sink your teeth into — or your lips: tasty water without additives. Metromint (www.metromint.com), one of our favorites, is made with real mint, and it’s delicious. There’s also Hint (www.drinkhint.com), which offers purified water with natural flavors and no calories or artificial sweeteners. The flavors include lime, raspberry-lime and mango-grapefruit, to name a few. Finally, Tasmanian Rain (www.tasmanianrain.com) offers water that’s collected without ever touching the ground “from the purest skies on Earth,” according to the Australian based company. The water is sold in fancy bottles resembling fine wine, costing almost five dollars per bottle.

Another way to liven up your bottled water is by using Crystal Light On The Go (lemonade, peach tea, raspberry ice and iced tea). Each of the packets has 10 calories (sweetened with aspartame) and is designed to be poured into a 16.9-ounce bottle of water.

Enviga vs. Propel Fitness Water vs. Red Bull

Enviga (www.enviga.com) claims to actually burn calories. I’m not convinced. The good news is that Enviga has only five calories per can (sweetened with aspartame and acesulfame potassium). What about Gatorade’s Propel Fitness Water (www.propelwater.com)? It has about 30 calories per 24-ounce bottle and about 25 percent of the daily value of B vitamins (niacin, B6, pantothenic acid). Maybe so, but shouldn’t we get these B vitamins from food sources, such as bananas or turkey?

As far as Red Bull (www.redbull.com) is concerned, it is basically a souped-up can of sugar, water, caffeine and other “goodies” (such as taurine) that have very little research supporting their health claims. Each can is about 110 calories. If you really want the Red Bull effect without the calories, try the sugar-free version (sweetened with acesulfame k, aspartame) at only 10 calories.

CHARLES STUART PLATKIN is a nutrition and public health advocate, author of The Diet Detective’s Count Down (Simon & Schuster, 2007) and founder of DietDetective.com, the health and fitness network. Copyright 2006 by Charles Stuart Platkin

Uphill Battle

If the mountain won’t come to the runner, the runner must go to the mountain. Use our hill-running tips to overcome your fear of hills and increase your performance at the same time.

By Josh Clark

 

To many runners, hills spell trouble. Fortunately, much of that sentiment is more in their heads than their legs. Running hills is an acquired skill, and a little practice can give any runner the confidence to overcome a hill phobia and make peace with the dreaded incline. And not least, a consistent regimen of hill workouts goes far to build leg strength.

The rather obvious benefit of hill workouts is that they make you better at running hills. Even better, you will see benefits on the flats, too. The muscle groups you use to overcome hills are virtually the same as those you use for sprinting, so hillwork enhances your speed by building strength. This strengthening effect is supplemented by the fact that hill workouts help increase both the frequency and length of your stride — you get even faster. As a final added bonus, hill training also strengthens the muscles around your knees, helping to reduce knee injuries.

You should, however, be cautious about hillwork if you have an injury in your calf or achilles tendon. Even if you do not, you should still be sure to stretch these areas of your legs especially well before starting.

While our speedwork programs are built around running sprint repeats on one hill, there’s no particular reason that you should stick to this. Running a rolling course with numerous hills will also do the trick while adding the change of scenery that makes running so pleasurable. Wherever you choose to run, make sure that the course will give you the opportunity to run at least five or six hills 200 yards long or more.

Remember that the idea of hill work is to negotiate the hills efficiently, with as little disruption as possible to your rhythm. Think of yourself rolling over the hill, almost as if it isn’t there. Concentrate on keeping your upper body relaxed, while you let your legs do the work.

On gradual inclines, try to run a bit harder than you had been running on the flat before the hill. On steeper inclines, concentrate on lifting your knees and pushing off hard with every step. This attention to your “vertical” motion is at least as important as your forward motion up the hill. The steeper the hill, the more you should lift your knee; on the steepest inclines try to lift your knees so high that your thighs reach horizontal. The strong push-off and high knee lifts will increase both your stride length and the range of motion in your hips: voila, you’ve increased your speed.

Even for very long hills (a mile or longer), try to maintain the exaggerated knee lifts. The benefits will make themselves known soon enough. The knee lifts, incidentally, are not easy. But even with the extra workout, your legs take less of a pounding running uphill than when running hard on the flat or downhills – you’re not hitting the ground as hard.

As you reach the top of each hill, focus on running all the way over the top until your reach the flat, and pick up your regular running rhythm again. Use the flat or downhill on the other side for recovery. As always during the easy portion of any speedwork, keep running – even if at a gentle jog.

Go carefully on the downills – they can dish out a nasty pounding, particularly to your quads. The best way to run downhills is to lean into them, to the point that you feel you’re about to fall on your face. Try to get your legs turning over as fast as you can with short, quick strides. Not only does this help reduce the pounding on your legs, but it also helps you increase your stride frequency. With a little practice, you’ll find yourself running down hills with less effort, less pounding, and more speed. Not a bad combination.

Those just beginning hill workouts will likely find hills a struggle at first, but before long hills become more of a friendly challenge than a mortal enemy. The more you run hills, the more you’ll find yourself adjusting to them automatically and your stride shifting to “hill mode” without any thought or effort.

How to Make MyPlate Your Own

This is USDA’s MyPlate, which replaces MyPyramid.

By Hana A. Feeney, MS, RD, CSSD
For Active.com

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has replaced MyPyramid with MyPlate (www.choosemyplate.org).  This plate was designed to simplify complex nutrition messages and provide the general public with a basic idea of how to improve their daily food choices by presenting food groups on a plate.

USDA’s MyPlate

As seen above, “Vegetables” refers to all vegetables and legumes including beans and lentils; “Fruit” includes all fruits; “Grains” includes intact grains like oatmeal or brown rice and grain products such as breads, pasta and crackers; “Protein” includes fish, chicken, meat, legumes, nuts, and eggs; “Dairy” includes milk, yogurt and cheese.

Dietitians have been using plates for years to portray balanced food choices for clients.  However, dietitians are able to personalize a plate for an individual to fit their clients’ lifestyle. What if you are in a heavy training phase or trying to lose weight? What if you have diabetes or prefer a vegetarian diet? How would that change the balance of foods on YOUR plate? How would your lifestyle and health concerns impact your food choices?

While this article isn’t the same as a personal consultation, here are some general plates that I recommend for different groups of people, starting with some changes that I’d make to MyPlate for all of us.

A Better Way to Categorize Foods

The USDA’s “Vegetables” group needs reorganization. 

The USDA has grouped all vegetables, including starchy vegetables, beans and lentils, into one group.  While this may simplify things a bit, it’s not nutritionally appropriate. The “vegetables” group should be non-starchy vegetables only. This would include lettuce, greens, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, etc., all vegetables except starchy vegetables and beans and lentils.  Starchy vegetables, including all varieties of potatoes, winter squash, and corn, along with all beans and lentils should move over to the “Grains” side of the plate.

Let “Fruit” accompany your meal and expand the Non-Starchy Vegetable section.

Filling only a quarter of your plate with non-starchy vegetables, as pictured by the USDA, will leave you short on ever-important fiber and antioxidants.  Fill half of your plate with tasty, crunchy and colorful non-starchy veggies and add fruit to your meal as a side or a dessert.

Grains should be “Whole Grains”.

The USDA recommends that half our grains be whole. However, this advice leaves us eating a significant amount of empty calories in refined grain breads, pastas, crackers and cereals. An emphasis on making all grains choices whole is more appropriate and certainly doable for most of us. These 100 percent whole grain foods are widely available and their tastes and textures have greatly improved during the past five years.  This whole grain reference includes all 100 percent whole grain breads, crackers and pastas, and even better choices, intact whole grains, such as old-fashioned oatmeal, brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, millet and amaranth.

Get rid of the dairy group and consider those foods a part of the “Protein” category.

We don’t need dairy foods with every meal as the USDA suggests. We can get the nutrients from dairy in a variety of other foods.  Dairy foods provide significant amounts of protein and minerals, and are more appropriately categorized with Proteins.

Therefore, from a nutritionist’s perspective speaking from an evidenced base practice, I believe the plates could accommodate specific needs like this:

General MyPlate

Vegetarian or Vegan Plate

You must consider legumes (including whole soy), nuts and seeds and dairy (if included) as your “Protein” category.

Type 2 Diabetes or Insulin Resistance Plate

You should consider milk and yogurt with the other higher carbohydrate foods on the whole grain and starchy veggie side of the plate.  Consider milk and yogurt as options with whole grains, beans, lentils and starchy vegetables.  Cheese is still a part of the “Protein” group.

High Volume Endurance Training

You need more carbohydrate overall.  To accomplish this, reduce the proportion of vegetable and protein foods on your plate and increase whole grains, starchy vegetables and beans and lentils.

Weight Loss

To reduce portion size, choose a slightly smaller plate and eat proportionately more fish, poultry and eggs than whole grains, beans, lentils and starchy vegetables.

Be Flexible

These plates demonstrate how flexible your diet can, and should, be. There is no perfect way of eating and your diet should change as your lifestyle changes. Eating well is all about balancing your nutritional needs to meet your athletic and health goals.  Using an image of a plate helps with basic meal planning and understanding the general concepts of balance.  For your specific athletic and health goals there is much to learn about your body, your food choices and your nutritional needs in order to reach your personal goals.

Hana Abdulaziz Feeney, MS, RD, CSSD is a Board Certified Sports Dietitian who specializes in weight management, diabetes, celiac disease, food allergies, eco-friendly eating and sports nutrition. Visit her website for more great ideas at www.nourishingresults.com. Contact her at 520-429-3418 or nutritionist_hana@msn.com to learn more about her private practice and how she can inspire, educate and motivate you to change your life, one bite at a time.

20-Minute Workouts for Endurance Athletes

 

By Matt Fitzgerald

To most non-athletes, 20 minutes of exercise seems like an eternity. But to endurance athletes in marathon training or triathlon training, a 20-minute workout may seem like it’s hardly worth the bother.

After all, if your average workout lasts an hour, what can a 20-minute session possibly do to increase your fitness? Quite a lot, actually—even for the fittest endurance athlete.

Consider these four benefits:

1. 20-minute workouts burn a meaningful amount of calories and, thereby, help you reach and maintain your optimal racing weight. For example, a 150-pound runner burns approximately 280 calories in a moderate-intensity 20-minute run. If you normally miss a scheduled longer run roughly once every 10 days due to lack of time, you could burn an extra 10,000 calories over the course of a year by squeezing in 20-minute runs instead.

2. 20-minute workouts provide extra repetitions of the running stride, swim stroke, or pedal stroke that stimulate improvements in efficiency. A big part of what makes you a better, more efficient swimmer, runner, or cyclist is simply time spent practicing the movement. So, even short workouts count as additional movement practice.

3. 20-minute workouts can increase endurance by adding to total weekly glycogen turnover. An interesting Scottish study found that weekly training volume was a better predictor of marathon performance than the distance of the longest training run. In other words, the study suggested that marathon runners are better off running 50 miles a week with a maximum long run of 16 miles than running 40 miles a week with a maximum long run of 22 miles.

The reason is that endurance improves through the repeated depletion of muscle glycogen stores in training. And a heavy week of training will result in more total muscle glycogen depletion, and thus build more endurance, than a lighter week. 20-minute workouts can add a meaningful amount of glycogen-depleting volume to your training week.

4. 20-minute workouts can produce an excellent high-intensity training stimulus. A little swimming, cycling, or running at anaerobic threshold intensity and above goes a long way. Twenty minutes is plenty of time to get all the high-intensity work you need to take your fitness up a notch.

There are basically two ways to incorporate 20-minute workouts into your marathon training, triathlon training, or any other endurance sport training. One is to do a 20-minute workout instead of taking a day off whenever you are too pressed for time to complete a longer workout.

The other way is to add one or more 20-minute workouts to your weekly training schedule to increase your overall training volume without creating a significant risk of overtraining.

Here are some suggested 20-minute workouts:

The Filler: Simply swim, ride, or run at an easy tempo for 20 minutes. This is a great workout to do when you want to avoid the guilt of doing nothing but you’re not mentally or physically ready for anything challenging.

Tabata Intervals: Swim, ride, or run at an easy tempo for 16 minutes, then complete 8 x 20-second all-out sprints with 10-second passive recoveries between sprints.

Fartlek Intervals: Sprinkle 5 to 10 fast 30-second efforts throughout an otherwise moderate, steady-pace workout.

Threshold Session: Warm up for five minutes at a comfortable tempo, then go for 15 minutes at anaerobic threshold intensity (the fastest pace you could hold for one hour in a race).

Progression Workout: Swim, ride, or run for 15 minutes at a steady, moderate pace, then blast the last five minutes.

Time Trials:

• Swimming—Warm up, then swim 800 meters (875 yards) as fast as you can. Cool down as long as necessary to make the total workout 20 minutes.
• Cycling—Warm up, then ride 5 km as fast as you can. Cool down as long as necessary to make the total workout 20 minutes.
• Running—Warm up, then run 1 mile as fast as you can. Cool down as long as necessary to make the total workout 20 minutes.

 

3 Workouts to Strengthen Your Knees

 

By The Editors of Prevention
Prevention

Jennifer Goldstein, 32

Goal: To build muscle so she can climb Mount Rainier in September

Current Regimen: Works her legs (squats, lunges, and leg presses) three days a week; runs on treadmill 20 minutes twice a week.

Obstacles: Weakness and occasional pain from surgery last year to re-repair an ACL tear in her knee

Workout #1

Katy Bowman, MS, director of the Restorative Exercise Institute in Ventura, CA

 

Stairs & Stretches

The Plan: Running is not the right kind of cardio for someone with knee problems. Using a stair-climber will put less wear and tear on Jenn’s joints, and the vertical action will prep her glutes and quads for her Mount Rainier trek.

Jenn is now working the front of her legs, but she’ll get stronger and reduce stress on her knee joints if she targets the back of her legs too. She should do the exercises below whenever she strength-trains.

Power off pounds with this walking workout that trims and firms your hips, butt and thighs.

 

Top Toners

 

1. The Stepmill

This moving staircase—available at some gyms—is easy on joints but still a good cardio workout. Do 15 to 30 minutes two or three times a week.

 

2. Butt Builder

Hinge forward at hips, hands on wall.

Lift left leg back without moving hips. Hold for one minute.

Switch legs. Do three to five times with each leg.

3. Double Calf Stretch

Place balls of feet on rolled towel or yoga mat.

Bend at hips, lift tailbone, and rest hands on chair or thighs.

Hold one minute. Repeat after each strength move.

4 Moves to slim, sculpt and lift your lower body trouble spots in just 3 weeks.

 

Secret Weapon: The BOSU

Strengthen the small connective muscles at your knees by standing barefoot atop a BOSU, which is half of an exercise ball. Put one heel on the rounded side, the other leg lifted a few inches. Hold for three minutes per leg; do three to five times a week. ($100 for BOSU Balance Trainer and four DVDs; bosu.com)

Workout #2

Suzanne Nottingham, fitness trainer and author of Nordic Walking for Total Fitness

 

Walking Wonder

The Plan: Swapping running for pole walking will give Jenn a heart-pumping cardio workout while protecting her knees. She can also build more joint stability by trading in her machine-based strength-training regimen for the exercises below, which involve more muscles to execute each move.

 

Top Toners

 

1. Nordic Walking

Walking with poles takes pressure off knees. Train with poles at least 45 minutes four times a week, walking at a moderate to brisk pace. Two months prior to the climb, increase walking sessions to 60 minutes five times a week. Three weeks before, add in two long treks of two hours each.

2. Hamstring Curl

Lie on back, legs extended, heels atop stability ball. Press into heels and lift hips off floor.

Bend knees and roll ball in until it’s under knees. Roll out.

Do three sets of eight to 12 reps three times a week.

3. Wobble Lunge

Stand with a cushion, pillow, or pad under right foot, left foot about three feet behind you.

Bend knees and lower, keeping right knee over heel. Straighten legs.

Do 10 lunges, then switch legs and repeat.

Do three sets on each side three times a week.

 

Secret Weapon: Walking Poles

Because they engage the core and upper body for pushing off, a regular walk becomes a total-body workout. (Instructor poles by Leki, $150; leki.com)

Workout #3

Jay Dawes, MS, CSCS, clinical assistant professor of kinesiology at Texas A&M University

 

Heavy Lifting

The Plan: Jenn’s current workout has all the right moves—squats, lunges, and leg presses—but she needs to do more of them and with more weight. I also recommend that she add the step-up (below) to her present workouts. This move mimics the type of large steps she’ll take to climb Mount Rainier, which nothing in her current routine does.

Save your knees with this low-impact, do-anywhere, 10-minute workout.

Top Toners

 

1. Heavier Weights

To build muscle, choose a weight that you cannot lift for more than 12 reps while maintaining good form. You should really have to push to do the last few reps.

 

2. More Sets

Instead of three sets of eight to 12 reps of each move, do four to six sets. This will build more strength faster. Rest 60 seconds between sets.

 

3. Step-Up

Stand facing a sturdy box or bench that’s just below knee height. Hold five-pound or heavier dumbbells at sides.

Step onto top of box with right foot, then left foot. Step back down with right foot, then left.

Do eight to 10 reps. Repeat starting with left foot; that’s one set. Do four to six sets.

 

Secret Weapon: Chocolate Milk

The carbs and protein will speed muscle repair, the process that makes you stronger. Sip eight ounces of the low-fat kind after exercise.

Jenn’s Pick: Workout #1

Why She Chose It: “Substituting the step machine for the treadmill—genius. And the BOSU improved my agility and balance for my climb.”

 

 

10-Minute Plyometric Workout for Runners

 

By Matt Fitzgerald

You got home from work late. You were going to run for 45 minutes, but now you’ve only got 10 minutes before your best friend picks you up for dinner.

It’s 11:50 am. You’re in a hotel room. Checkout time is noon. It sure would be nice to have done some kind of workout before you head to the airport for a long flight home.

You’ve only got 10 minutes. What can you do?

First of all, you should do something. A lot of runners assume 10 minutes is not enough time to do anything that will make a difference to their running, but that’s not true. You can burn anywhere from 100 to 200 calories in 10 minutes of running. Do that 20 times a year instead of taking a day off because you “don’t have enough time” and you’ll prevent a pound of weight gain — or lose a pound.

Also, runners underestimate the degree to which every step they take counts as stride practice. Runners put too much stock in the metabolic element of running fitness and not enough in the neuromuscular aspect. A 10-minute run might not be long enough to stress your metabolic system and stimulate fitness improvement in that way, but it’s enough time to complete about 1,500 practice steps, which will help to refine your running coordination — and more than half of long-term improvements in running performance come from such refinements.

Finally, you can’t underestimate the mental benefits of 10 minutes of exercise. If you do that instead of nothing you will get a nice mood boost, ameliorate a bit of that cabin-fever feeling, and assuage some of the guilt of not exercising at all.

Okay, you’re convinced. You should do something. But what is the best possible use of 10 minutes for the runner? Without taking away from the value of 10 minutes of slow or fast running, I will argue that the best way to allocate 10 minutes is to perform a short plyometrics workout.

Plyometrics, or jumping exercise, is something that every runner should do and that most runners don’t do. Running is a form of jumping. Plyometrics isolates and exaggerates the jumping element in running and thereby improves running performance in a way that running itself does not. This is a proven fact. One study found that runners who replaced one-third of their normal running with plyometrics improved their race times, while runners who continued with their normal running schedule did not.

You might think that plyos improve running performance by increasing muscle power in the legs, but that appears not to be the case. Instead, plyos improve running performance by enhancing leg stiffness during running. The legs function as springs when you run. Each time a foot lands, the body sends impact forces into the ground; these forces then rebound back into the foot, propelling forward motion. About half of the energy required for running comes to us “free” from these physics. But not all of the energy that enters the ground comes back into the foot and is used for propulsion. A certain amount dissipates. The relative stiffness of the legs is one major factor that determine how much of the available free energy is captured and used. A runner who has nice, tight joints and is able to tense the right muscles to the right degree at the right time creates a stiffer spring that captures more energy. Plyometrics enhances this ability.

The great thing about plyos for runners is that it doesn’t take much to make a difference. Whereas 10 minutes is inarguably shorter than the ideal amount of time for any type of run, it’s plenty of time for a full plyometrics session. Here’s one:

10-Minute Plyometrics Workout

Warm up with 3 minutes of walking lunges, deep squats, and jumping jacks to prepare your legs for maximal-effort jumping.

Jump as high as you can off both feet. Repeat 20 times.

Rest one minute.

Assume a split stance (one foot a half-step ahead of the other), bend down, and jump as high as you can. In midair, reverse the positions of your legs and land in the new stance. Continue jumping and alternating your leg positions until you’ve competed 20 total jumps.

Rest one minute.

Stand on your right foot with your left knee bent and your left foot elevated. Bend down and jump as high as you can. Land on the same foot. Complete 10 total jumps and then do 10 more off the left foot.

 

 

Matt Fitzgerald is a senior editor at Competitor Group, with regular contributions to competitor.com, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon and Competitor. Matt has written 17 books, and counting, including Brain Training For Runners and Racing Weight.

Check out Matt’s latest book, Racing Weight Quick Start Guide: A 4-Week Weight-Loss Plan for Endurance Athletes.

Whether you’re at the front, middle or back of the pack, you can find helpful training tips, injury prevention tips and the latest product reviews on Competitor.com to help you run smarter, longer and faster.

How to Be Consistent With Your Training

By Kelli Montgomery
USA Triathlon

One of the key elements I stress with athletes that I coach is how important it is to have long-term consistency with their training. It’s basic that if you want to see the most gain or improvements in your training and racing, you’ve got to be consistent—and that’s over the long haul.

Acquiring fitness is not a short-term process. It can take at least a year and a half of consistent training to become race fit. It’s worth the wait, as you will then be able to reach your potential as an athlete.

So how do you get to be consistent in your training day in and day out?

You need to make a 100 percent commitment to train and back that up with action. It isn’t easy to be consistent and self-disciplined, and there will be times when it will be hard and it would be easier to take a seat on the couch and turn on the tube instead of lacing up your shoes. But, if your goal is to reach the next level or race your best, you’ve got to decide you really want it and fight through the tougher days and adversity—do this and you will succeed!

Once you’ve decided to commit, hiring a coach to help you plan your season and design a training plan that works with your life schedule will also help you be consistent long term. Having a coach to provide helpful feedback, positive motivation and accountability, especially during tougher periods, will help you stay on track.

Whether you decide to use a coach or plan your training yourself, it’s important to have a training plan that is realistic with your schedule. A schedule that will allow you to be successful includes adequate time for recovery, training, and is in harmony with both family and your work life. Trying to cram training in and not allowing enough time for recovery/sleep, or having a training plan that puts stress on work and family time won’t be sustainable over the long term.

Keep your training simple—to improve you don’t need a complicated training plan or complicated devices. Most of us are busy and have lives outside of triathlon, so keeping it simple allows for consistency. Put in the work long-term and you will see the rewards!

I have my athletes use repetition to build consistency. Repetition of workouts provides a number of positives to your training. It helps develop skills and a greater understanding of your training; you’ll develop awareness and intuitively feel better than if you have a plan or workouts that are constantly changing. You’ll see improvements and notice over time that you feel better and recover faster.

By repeating workouts week to week you will be able to see progress and work to get better with each training session. It also keeps training simple; for instance, knowing you will do a certain type of workout each Monday brings better time management. This all adds up to long-term consistency.

Fueling your body properly will also help you be consistent with your training. I tell my athletes to think of their bodies as race cars; to get the most from your vehicle, you want to use premium-grade fuel. Aiming for a high-quality diet will keep you healthy and recovering better. If you can stay healthy and injury free you will be more consistent over the long term.

Sleep and recovery are vitally important to success of consistency. You can’t truly train hard if you are not recovered and haven’t gotten proper sleep.  Aim for getting quality sleep each night—a minimum of seven hours.

As you plan your next racing season, think about the power of consistency and what it can bring to your training and racing…the rewards in improvement and success are worth investing in!

Choose your next triathlon.

Kelli Montgomery is a Connecticut-based USAT Level l triathlon coach and ACSM Health Fitness Specialist with over 18 years of triathlon experience. Kelli has been putting her expertise to work for over 15 years to help athletes meet their personal performance goals, while maintaining a healthy life balance. For more information, visit http://www.coachkelli.com.

This article was originally published in USA Triathlon Life magazine. USA Triathlon is proud to serve as the national governing body for triathlon—the fastest growing sport in the world – as well as duathlon, aquathlon and winter triathlon in the United States. Visit usatriathlon.org.