7/6/2010
Hope everyone is getting through these few DOG DAYS of summer! Stay Hydrated as well. We often can not always tell when we are dehydrated, mostly because many people miss read the symptoms as being hungry. Fatigued? Hmmm..my blood sugar must be low...I better eat something. Moody? God, I have to get something to eat, I'm getting cranky. Hungry? Nah, most people mistake thirst for hunger. So before you eat, drink something...drink water. Not something sugary. That only makes it worse. Have a gatorade even, but not all day.
So, why is muscle important, and how does it affect your everyday life?
Muscles are one of those things that most of us take completely for granted, but they are incredibly important for two key reasons:
* Muscles are the "engine" that your body uses to propel itself. Although they work differently than a car engine or an electric motor, muscles do the same thing -- they turn energy into motion.
* It would be impossible for you to do anything without your muscles. Absolutely everything that you conceive of with your brain is expressed as muscular motion. The only ways for you to express an idea are with the muscles of your larynx, mouth and tongue (spoken words), with the muscles of your fingers (written words or "talking with your hands") or with the skeletal muscles (body language, dancing, running, building, carrying, moving or fighting, to name a few).
But there is a third reason they are important.
They help your body stay lean (not thin, thin isn't lean. Thin or skinny people can and most times do have high body fat without training, its called skinny fat).
Muscle burns calories. Muscles need more calories (the right kinds) to function. Ever seen a lean person eat like crazy? Everyone hates them...lol. Don't hate them, find out what they do to stay so lean and eat so much. You'll usually see them eating good food as well.
Younger people normally have higher quantities of lean tissue (muscle), so eating the wrong things from time to time doesn't affect them...eating them all the time just sets them up for an unhealthy adulthood....but in general, preteens and teens burn calories due to muscle growth. When you're in your twenties, that starts to change...but you should still have a decent amount of lean tissue if you take care of yourself and eat properly. But as you hit your 30's, well, that all changes. Our bodies change, our lean tissue is wearing down...we need to grow more! 40's, 50's, 60's, we start to notice we can't eat like we did before, we become more tired much quicker and we get that GUT!
So if that is all true, then adding lean tissue to our bodies at any age not only makes us look much better, it also makes us feel better, and makes us feel younger like the kids do with such low body fat and large amounts of lean tissue...right?
Our muscles get us through everything we do. Pick up a child, a piece of wood, garbage cans, and even just ourselves. Most people today have a hard time carrying themselves around. Not just because of being overweight, but because they've lost so much muscle. Combine being overweight with lost muscle and increased body fat and it's the perfect storm for GAINING more weight, and for being tired, and for hurting our joints like our knees. (for every 1 lb overweight someone is, they put 4 lbs of pressure on their knees...you do the math).
The cycle gets worse if we don't do something about it. Say your in your 40's, and you're overweight, not even a lot! Your diet isn't as good as it should be (or downright poor), and your find it harder to do things. We chalk that up to age..."Oh, I hate getting older"! But it's not just the age. Most of those feelings, pains, aches, feeling of being tired can be reversed! Ask ANY of my clients...its amazing what happens. But on the flip side, it's predictable of what will come next if you don't do something now. You'll be more tired, you'll have more pains, you'll end up with severe knee problems like so many people are these days....but it doesn't have to be that way.
Kevin, one of my all time favorite stories to tell. He had bad knees, and a bad shoulder. He needed to lose weight as well. He loved golf, but it became hard for him each time he went out. He'd struggle through, but the back nine was hard and his weakest part of the game. He came to me with his wife. He lost 40lbs or more...he lost 13% body fat, and his game was never better. His knees still were achy from time to time, and so was his shoulder, but when we were done, he could do squats with good weight, and he could do bench pressing and pushups where he couldn't do those before. Kevin is a classic case of what can happen if you want it to happen. His life was better for it...and he had great looking muscle as well. (and by the way, one of his first golf games of that season, he shot his best game ever...I believe it was an 87).
Simply put, if you want to keep the pains away, have a better quality of life, lose weight and keep it off, and also, you'll recompose your body to look better and smaller than you ever have since muscle is smaller than fat....then weight train...resistance train! If you're not doing it, your short changing yourself, and your bodies future.
(running and walking doesn't recompose your body. Running excessively burns muscle, it doesn't build it, and walking burns calories, but if you do walk, do it in intervals.)
Your life will be so much better for it. But wait, and you'll be so much worse off...a few months makes all the difference in the world! So do it, and do it now.
I'll help you get started. You can come in and do 30 minute sessions, 60 minute sessions...you can do it with friends, husbands, wives, any significant other, or you can just do a trial and do 3 One hour sessions with a membership...but do it. You'll be glad you did!
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Personal Training - 30 and 60 minute
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Mark Falk
Fitness By the Bay
631-834-1427
www.coreybeachfitness.com
getfit@coreybeachfitness.com
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