Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights_ - Alex Hutchinson [81]
Another low-intensity calorie-burning option is to replace your desk chair and use an exercise ball instead or even switch to a standing desk. A 2008 study by researchers at the University of Buffalo found that either sitting on an exercise ball or standing resulted in an extra 4.1 calories burned per hour compared to sitting in a regular office chair. Best of all, the typing rate of the subjects in the study was the same in all three cases. If you try either of these options, don’t go “cold turkey”—start with no more than a few hours a day. Also, be alert for signs of lower-back pain when sitting on the exercise ball, since the lack of support could expose existing weaknesses in stabilizing muscles.
None of this suggests that more vigorous exercise isn’t also important. For example, a 2010 University of Western Ontario study that compared low- and high-intensity activity found that easier exercise acts primarily on your heart, while harder exercise acts on your muscles. You need both your heart and muscles to be healthy, so don’t try to get away with just one of the options. In fact—and this is a message that applies in almost every aspect of fitness, diet, and health—the very best approach you can take to choosing your exercise intensity is to avoid doing the same thing every day.
CHEAT SHEET: WEIGHT MANAGEMENT
• Obese people who are physically fit are half as likely to die as thin, sedentary people. Aerobic fitness may be a better measure of health than body-mass index.
• When you lose weight, your muscles become more efficient and your metabolism slows down in an attempt to regain the weight. More vigorous exercise may avoid this “efficiency trap.”
• Cutting food intake or increasing exercise by the same number of calories produces the same amount of weight loss; however, some improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol, and other factors require exercise.
• Low-intensity exercise burns a higher proportion of fat than high-intensity exercise, but fewer calories overall. Weight loss depends on overall caloric deficit, because your body converts unburned carbohydrates to fat for storage.
• Losing weight through exercise alone is very challenging: middle-aged women had to exercise for an hour a day just to avoid gaining weight in a recent long-term study.
• If you’re consuming a low-calorie diet to lose weight, increasing the amount of protein you consume to 35 percent of calories helps avoid muscle loss.
• Aerobic exercise burns the most calories, but building muscle through strength training helps keep your metabolism high. Combine both approaches for the best results.
• To cover a given distance, running burns more calories than walking, which burns more calories than cycling. In a set amount of time, cycling burns more calories than walking.
• Eating slowly and getting enough sleep both help to control the hormones governing your appetite. Snacking between meals doesn’t appear to have a major effect on those hormones.
• Sitting all day at work can negatively affect your health, no matter how many hours you clock at the gym. Make sure to schedule regular breaks from your desk to stand up and walk around or stretch.
Chapter 10
Nutrition and Hydration
WHEN THE GREEK RUNNER SPIRIDON LOUIS won the first Olympic marathon in 1896, he reportedly stopped along the route to consume wine, milk, beer, orange juice, and an Easter egg. Sports nutrition has come a long way since then, but figuring out what and when to eat and drink remains challenging. There’s plenty of competing information on how to fuel up before and during exercise, how to refuel afterwards, and whether dehydration is really such a bad thing. No discussion of sports nutrition is complete without a look at some of the powders and pills that claim to (legally) enhance physical performance. Despite hundreds of scientific studies,