I often go to the gym and find the majority of people using cardiovascular machines, and very few using the free weights or strength equipment. A lot more emphasis is placed on burning calories via aerobic activity than on preserving the body’s own muscle mass by weight training. Many people don’t understand the value of adding a weights routine to their aerobic exercise program.
Probably the most popular excuse for not weight training is that by lifting a few weights you’ll eventually turn into a muscle-bound freak. There’s no chance of that. In fact, you should be more worried about muscle loss. Adults who do not strength train lose between five and seven pounds of muscle every decade, and this is accompanied by a drop in the rate at which your body burns calories.
Weight training also plays a crucial role in reversing the effects that gravity and time have on the muscles of the body. If you don’t use the muscle, you will in turn lose the tone. Give the muscle some work to do and, hey presto, it’s back where you want it to be. Strength training can also encourage strong bones and has been shown to reduce resting blood pressure significantly, improving glucose metabolism and also increasing the speed at which food passes through the gastro-intestinal tract.
Some Tips for Good Weight Training Technique:
• Lift the weight for two seconds, lower for four.
• Keep other body parts that are not involved in the movement completely still.
• Focus on form — good form prevents injuries and maximizes results.
• Try not to stop at a pre-determined figure, such as 15 reps. Work as hard as necessary to feel the muscle fatiguing.
Recipe of the Week
Green Bean Casserole
Serves 8
Ingredients
1 pound frozen green beans, French cut
1 cup skimmed milk
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. paprika
1 can french-fried onions
Method
Reconstitute the soup with the milk and stir in the green beans and spices. Stir into the green bean mixture and place, uncovered, into a 350F oven. After 20 minutes use a spoon to push down the crust and layer onions across the top. Bake for another 5 minutes and serve immediately.
Slimming Lifestyle:
Six Deadly Sins of Barbecuing
It breaks my heart to see perfectly wonderful cuts of meat destroyed by improper cooking methods. The tips below can help you avoid barbecue disasters.
1. Use tongs for steaks (or chicken) and a spatula for burgers.
2. Over-turning: extra turning can cause dryness. Turn most cuts only once.
3. Cold grill: Always preheat the grill (at least ten minutes). Adding meat to a hot grill sears the outside and keeps flavor in.
4. Pressing burgers: This is not necessary even if you like your burgers well done. Simply move the burger to a place on the grill with lesser heat and cook it longer to achieve a medium well or well burger that still has flavor.
5. Salt and season at the end to avoid drying.
6. A hot grill can overcook meats in a matter of minutes.
Ask Alva
I keep reading about ‘good fats’ and ‘bad fats’, but I have no idea what they are or how to tell the difference between them. Amelia
Good fats are the naturally-occurring, traditional fats that haven’t been damaged by high heat, refining, processing or other man-made tampering such as ‘partial hydrogenation’. The best of these kinds of fats are found in fish, nuts, avocados, seeds and, believe it or not, fresh creamery butter. Animal fats have a bad reputation, but many professionals believe it is not animal fat, but the combination of animal foods, fats and low-fiber vegetables that is the problem. Among the worst of the ‘bad’ fats are margarine and the fats found in anything fried. And if you see ‘partially hydrogenated’ on any food label, avoid it like the plague. Refined vegetable oils are also on the ‘bad’ fats list. These oils oxidize easily and have been processed with high heat, which removes all the healthy nutrients, like Vitamin E. Extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil, however, is a ‘good’ fat. Certain essential fats such as omega-3s (found in oily fish) and the occasional omega-6 (found in evening primrose oil) are also on the ‘good’ fat list. Alva
