Prolong Life with Exercise

How does exercise prolong life? The leading theory is that exercise prolongs life and prevents heart attacks and cancers by causing the body to dispose of free radicals with increased production of antioxidants.

Exercise speeds up the reactions that turn food into energy, so exercise actually increases the production of free radicals. The body responds to this increased production of free radicals during exercise by producing tremendous amounts of antioxidants that sop up the free radicals and render them harmless.

Most cells in your body have mitochondria, very small energy-producing chambers that number anywhere from a few to thousands in each cell. As you age, mitochondria in muscles decrease in number and size. This interferes with your body's ability to burn sugar efficiently for energy, so they produce more free radicals. Anything that increases the number and size of mitochondria helps to protect you from free radicals. Exercising helps to prevent loss of mitochondria and even makes them larger (Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, April, 2007).

• Mitochondria convert molecules from the sugar in food that you eat to other molecules to release energy to power most cells in your body.
• They do this by shuffling electrons from one molecule to another.
• As electrons are shuffled to produce energy, extra electrons accumulate inside mitochondria.
• Free electrons must attach immediately to something.
• They can attach to hydrogen atoms to form water and become harmless, or
• They can attach to oxygen atoms to form free radicals that can damage cells.
• Free radicals attach to your DNA genetic material in cells to damage them which causes cells to act differently than they are supposed to.
• The genetic material in cells tells the cell what to do.
• If your genetic material is functioning properly, it directs the cell to divide a certain number of times and then die, called apoptosis.
• If you genetic material in cells is damaged, the cells can become defective and go on to live forever to become cancers. • Cells with damaged genetic material also can cause heart attacks and other life-shortening conditions.

Furthermore, a team from Yale University showed that as you age, you lose your ability to make the enzyme AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). This enzyme functions to increase mitochondria in muscles (Cell Metabolism, February 2007). Anything that reduces the number or efficiency of mitochondria interferes with your body's ability to burn sugar for energy. As a result, blood sugar, fat and cholesterol levels rise. The extra calories that are not burned accumulate in your body as fat in your muscles, liver and fat cells. This causes you to gain weight. Extra fat in cells block their ability to take in sugar from the blood stream, so blood sugar levels rise and you are at increased risk for developing diabetes. Extra fat in the liver prevent the liver from removing extra insulin, so insulin levels rise to constrict arteries and cause heart attacks. Insulin also makes you hungry all the time to increase your chances of gaining weight.

AMPK is increased by exercise and by some of the drugs used to treat diabetes, such as metformin. The best way to increase the number and size of mitochondria in your cells is to exercise. If you do not have a regular exercise program, you are shortening your life.

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Burn Major Calories With Athletic Workouts

Athletic workouts will burn major calories and help you burn fat and lose weight---sooner! If you need to ramp up the intensity and break through your weight loss plateau, athletic workouts will work.



Athletic workouts are very intense and will improve your body's composition (fat loss, more muscle). These workouts will sculpt your body without your joints taking a pounding from lifting heavy weights!

To get your muscles to improve power (how fast your muscles can produce force), do some or all of the exercises full speed. Also, you will really burn fat and shape your bulkier, fast twitch muscle fibers when doing exercises at full speed!

Athletic circuit workouts are a tried and true method to burn more fat, increase strength/endurance and improve heart health.

Do each exercise (10 repetitions) one after the other with little or no rest between exercises. Rest 2-3 minutes and do the circuit 2 more times. Here is a good athletic workout:

--Medicine ball front chops, moderate pace
--Side shuffles (pictured above), full speed
--Pushups, full speed
--Walking lunges/Side Lunges/Tranverse Lunges, moderate pace (one for each circuit)
--2-Handed medicine ball soccer throw, full speed
--Squat jumps, full speed
--Back extensions, moderate pace

Use correct form and burn calories!

If you need to know how to lose weight the right way, get My Fitness Hut's 7-Day Weight Loss And Fat Loss e-Course! The e-Course is FREE!

"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!

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Cut Calories, Eat Healthy, Burn Fat And Lose Weight

Cutting calories, eating healthy, burning fat and losing weight can be a confusing process for you. It doesn't have to be that way. You just need a plan and you need to make adjustments as you go.

First, don't think you will have it all figured out in 2 weeks time! Experts agree that you are better off making manageable changes to your diet and workout routine. Some of your eating and workout (or no workouts) habits have been developed over a lifetime.

For example, severely limiting sugars from your diet would be a great start. Drink water instead of sodas and sugary drinks. Just this one change will slash tons of calories every day. And, you will be on your way to burning dangerous belly fat.

Don't cut too many calories from your diet. Many of you have wrecked your metabolisms by eating too few calories during the day. If you have been eating 1000 calories a day for months and months, your body has shifted into survival mode and is storing body fat.

For instance, my basal metabolic rate (how many calories my body would burn if I did nothing all day) is about 2000 calories. If I eat 2000 calories and burn 500 calories through exercise and daily activity, I will still lose weight and burn fat (500 calorie deficit).

If I starve myself and eat 1200 calories (1300 calorie deficit) day after day, my body will rebel and store body fat. A 1300 calorie deficit is too large (severe calorie restriction).

You will find it easier to cut more calories by eating healthy and eating foods with high water content. You will actually be eating more while eating fewer calories. And, you will feel fuller for a longer period (thereby eating less).

The basics of it is to eat as many foods with high water content/low calories as you can. Foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables are examples. These types of foods help you to feel fuller (satiety) while eating fewer calories. For instance, grapes with the same caloric amount as raisins will provide more satiety and theoretically help you eat less the rest of the day.

Energy density of food is a key component when trying to add volume to your diet. Energy density (ED) is defined as the amount of calories of a food divided by its weight in grams.

You would basically focus on foods rich in fiber with high water content (or low ED value). Fresh fruits (apples, etc.) and vegetables (such as tomatoes and broccoli) whole grain pastas, brown rice, whole grain breads and cereals, soups, salads and skinless white chicken/turkey are some examples. Lean meats provide protein which should be eaten with every meal. Protein helps you feel fuller for a longer period.

Other dryer foods could be added to your diet on a limited basis. Dryer foods would be starchy fruits and vegetables, pizza, salad dressings, crackers, etc.

The old rule still applies: A caloric surplus (consume more calories than you burn) will cause you to gain weight! A diet high in water content will cause you to consume fewer calories while providing all the nutrition you need. Eat your meals about every 3 hours to protect against binge eating and provide needed energy throughout the day.

Cut out these types of foods: sodas, sugary fruit juice drinks, candy, cookies, donuts, fried meats and fried foods, fast foods, ketchup, mayonnaise

Add these types of foods: whole grain breads, whole grain cereals, oatmeal, almonds, nuts, low-fat dairy products, low-fat yogurt, fruits, veggies, unsweetened tea, water, lean meats (baked, broiled or grilled), olive oil, cinnamon, mustard.

Cutting calories the healthy way combined with regular weight training and interval cardio training will help you reach your goals over time.

If you need to know how to lose weight the right way, get My Fitness Hut's 7-Day Weight Loss And Fat Loss e-Course! The e-Course is FREE!

"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!

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Reach Weight Loss Goals With Focus

Begin to reach your weight loss goals with focus and smarter workouts. REFOCUS your fat loss and weight loss goals. Now is always the best time to start! If you're frustrated and overwhelmed with the whole exercise/fitness/meal plan/fat loss/weight loss puzzle, make some changes!

REFOCUS, re-evaluate and make changes! There's a reason your exercise program isn't working! Some reasons could be:

1. You have been haphazard with your workouts and eating habits.

2. You have the wrong workout routine and you're stuck doing the same workout week after week (with little or no results).

3. You're not working hard enough. It takes hard, smart work to change your body composition.

4. You're depending on a fat-burner supplement, powder or weight loss patch to change your body! Stop wasting your money!

5. You have no idea why your workout program is not working!

REFOCUS. I'm here to help you REFOCUS and RESHAPE your fitness program and goals!

If you need to know how to lose weight the right way, get My Fitness Hut's 7-Day Weight Loss And Fat Loss e-Course! The e-Course is FREE!

"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!

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Control Diabetes with Intense Exercise

"Insulin-insensitive" means that a diabetic has plenty of insulin, but lacks the ability to respond adequately to insulin that their body produces so blood sugar levels remain higher than normal. Twenty-two insulin-insensitive diabetic women participated in a supervised group endurance and resistance exercise program for six months (European Journal of Internal Medicine, October 2010). The more intensely they exercised, the better their bodies responded to insulin. Even those who did not improve their exercise capacity were able to markedly improve their body's ability to respond to insulin.

Diabetic control and cell damage is measured with a blood test called HBA1C that measures sugar stuck on cells. The more they exercised, the lower and better their HBA1C. More than 90 percent of diabetics are insulin-insensitive and have a potentially curable disease. This study shows that the harder diabetics exercise, the better their bodies respond to insulin. Insulin-insensitive diabetes can usually be cured by *losing weight, *avoiding red meat, *avoiding refined carbohydrates when not exercising, *growing larger muscles, *losing body fat, *getting blood levels of vitamin D3 above 75 nmol/L, *eating plenty of vegetables and fruits, and *EXERCISING INTENSELY. (Caution: intense exercise can cause heart attacks in people with blocked arteries. check with your doctor.)

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Blood Type Diet For Weight Loss?

Don't depend on a blood type diet to lose weight. The blood type diet has no evidence to prove that it is any better or worse for weight loss than any other diet out there. And, there's no sound research to support any correlation between your blood type and your ability to digest certain foods (allergic to certain foods). I would suggest you see your doctor to deal with your food allergies.

According to Dr. Peter DÁdamo, author of Eat Right For Your Type, a reaction happens between your blood and the foods you eat. If you eat foods that don't agree with your blood type, you may experience health problems such as allergies, slowed metabolism, cancer and heart disease.
And, if you follow a diet that agrees with your blood type, it will help you lose weight and prevent these health problems.

First, don't place your focus on weight loss when it comes to health and fitness. If weight loss is your main focus, you are more apt to believe any "new claim" about how to lose weight.

After 100 years of diet history, the consensus opinion among doctors and health professionals has not changed. Your best chance for good health, fat loss and permanent weight loss is still through healthy nutrition, regular exercise, active lifestyle habits and healthy lifestyle habits.

This requires a life-long commitment from you and many are unwilling to make this commitment. It is easier to depend on the latest fad diet or weight loss pill. I will depend on 100 years of solid evidence, research and personal experience to help me stay healthy and fit. The most basic evidence is that if you eat too much (maintain a caloric surplus), you will gain weight.

My recommendation: follow a healthy meal plan based on your basal metabolic rate and activity level (including exercise). This will help you maintain a caloric deficit, burn fat and lose weight. If certain foods don't agree with you due to allergies, don't eat them. And, if certain foods cause you to bloat or retain water, don't eat them. Regular exercise and daily activity will help you stay healthy and maintain a caloric deficit.

Now, what was your blood type?

If you need to know how to lose weight the right way, get My Fitness Hut's 7-Day Weight Loss And Fat Loss e-Course! The e-Course is FREE!

"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!

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Interval Cardio Cross Training Burns Fat

Interval cardio cross training will burn more fat and keep you from getting bored! Cardio is a naturally monotonous exercise that can bore you to tears, unless you change it up and keep it short.

The good thing about interval cardio cross training is that it doesn't require long sessions to be effective. And, it gives superior calorie-burn, fat-burn and heart-heart when compared to steady-state cardio. I usually do my interval cardio sessions in 20 minutes or 2 separate 10-minute sessions (about 5 minutes apart). Research has shown that 2 separate workouts will give you more calorie-burn and fat-burn.

How do you do regular interval cardio? Here's an example:

1. Sprint for 30 seconds
2. Walk for 1 minute
3. Repeat this rotation for 20 minutes

To do interval cardio cross training, just mix up the exercise modes to get even more fat-burning benefits. Here is an example of an interval cardio cross training workout that I do:

1. Step Ups, 15 repetitions each leg
2. Walk 1 minute
3. Jumping Jacks, fast, 1 minute
4. Walk 1 minute
5. Sprint Intervals for 6 minutes (run 1 minute, walk 1 minute)
6. Walk 1 minute
7. Repeat this circuit 1 more time

You can use any exercises you like. I like to mix in at least one strength exercise. You could do squat jumps instead of jumping jacks. Or, you could do bodyweight squats instead of step ups. One-legged exercises (unilateral) are more intense than that two-legged (bilateral) exercises. If you don't want to run on a particular day, just do all bodyweight strength exercises.

Cross training will make you less prone to repetitive stress injuries. Cross training will also tone more muscle groups, especially if you include strength exercises.

To get better fat-burning results, do interval cardio cross training.

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