Sunday 13 January 2013
Are kettlebells safe?
Every exercise that is performed in an unsafe manner is potentially dangerous. It is for this reason that if you are new to exercise you should be taught by a competent instructor.
The kettlebell and in particular the kettlebell swing looks deceivingly easy however there is a specific motion that needs to be done to ensure that the lower back is not taking any unnecessary forces. Loaded lumbar spinal flexion for repetitions is asking for trouble.
Kettlebells are a great strength and conditioning tool and when the exercises are performed correctly they are no more dangerous than any other exercise.
If you are looking for a low impact strength and conditioning workout, check out my video's on correct technique before attempting these.
Should obese individuals include resistance training initially or should they wait?
The answer to this question comes in the form of another question.
Do you want to lose weight or do you want to lose fat?
There is a subtle difference. Weight loss can come from fat mass or fat free mass (FFM lean muscle tissue, connective structures etc) As we know that our BMR (basal metabolic rate) is largely comprised of our FFM it makes sense to keep as much of it as possible during a dieting period. Adding to that, it takes a long time to gain lean body mass compared to the amount of time it takes to lose fat mass. So how do we go about retaining our fat free mass?
RESISTANCE TRAINING!
Typically this is done with heavy iron but there are other alternatives like using your body weight or resistance bands etc. The reason free weights are a good choice is because it is easy to see the progressions week to week as opposed to body weight exercises. Each time you place a load on a muscle and it is forced to contract you are essentially telling your body that these muscles need to be spared.
Along with resistance training, research has shown that consuming protein at approximately 2g/kg of FFM has helped retain FFM while in a calorie deficit.
To answer the initial question, everyone who is wanting to lose FAT should be doing some sort of resistance exercise to maintain as much FFM as possible.
Do you want to lose weight or do you want to lose fat?
There is a subtle difference. Weight loss can come from fat mass or fat free mass (FFM lean muscle tissue, connective structures etc) As we know that our BMR (basal metabolic rate) is largely comprised of our FFM it makes sense to keep as much of it as possible during a dieting period. Adding to that, it takes a long time to gain lean body mass compared to the amount of time it takes to lose fat mass. So how do we go about retaining our fat free mass?
RESISTANCE TRAINING!
Typically this is done with heavy iron but there are other alternatives like using your body weight or resistance bands etc. The reason free weights are a good choice is because it is easy to see the progressions week to week as opposed to body weight exercises. Each time you place a load on a muscle and it is forced to contract you are essentially telling your body that these muscles need to be spared.
Along with resistance training, research has shown that consuming protein at approximately 2g/kg of FFM has helped retain FFM while in a calorie deficit.
To answer the initial question, everyone who is wanting to lose FAT should be doing some sort of resistance exercise to maintain as much FFM as possible.
Which foods make you fat?
Every day we see new articles in the media demonising this type of food or drink. We get conflicting advice about what types of exercises we should be doing. How is anyone to know what is right and what is wrong? Is there a right and wrong? Now obviously everyone has different goals but and we are somewhat different genetically but at the end of the day we cannot beat the first law of thermodynamics.
Energy can't be created or destroyed, but it can be changed.
So how does this relate to fitness & nutrition? Well it all comes back to energy balance. If your goal is weight loss then the energy intake must be less than the energy expenditure and the opposite is true for weight gain. Because of this no single food or drink can be considered fattening as the laws of thermodynamics explain that a calorie surplus is required to gain any weight. That is, it is the over consumption of calories in total (or under activity) that leads to weight gain not any specific food or drink.
Energy can't be created or destroyed, but it can be changed.
So how does this relate to fitness & nutrition? Well it all comes back to energy balance. If your goal is weight loss then the energy intake must be less than the energy expenditure and the opposite is true for weight gain. Because of this no single food or drink can be considered fattening as the laws of thermodynamics explain that a calorie surplus is required to gain any weight. That is, it is the over consumption of calories in total (or under activity) that leads to weight gain not any specific food or drink.
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