ALL ABOUT FITNESS

1. Standard Weight for Men and Women

2. Fat storing propensity

• The reason for becoming overweight is either eating too much or exercising too little or both, but the main cause is  the internal body chemistry.
• We are not merely passive reservoirs or tanks where input is more calories and output is less calories. We are in fact, active metabolizing machines, each different in some way and each handling calories differently.
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• 60 - 70% of the energy that the muscles need when one is resting is supplied by fat. Storage of fat is a natural body function.
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• People who are over-weight have a greater propensity for storing fat and less than the normal propensity for burning it.

3. What is the maximum fat content for a fit person?

• Your weight = fat + lean body mass.
• The more fat you have, the better you will be able to float in a swimming pool! But it is of no good to your health.
• In contrast to fat, lean muscle and bone do not float. If weighed underwater, it is the lean people who weigh more.
• >People with 25% fat can float easily in a swimming pool.
• >People with 20% fat can float easily while breathing.
• >People with 15% fat will sink very slowly even with a chest-full of air.
• >People with 13% fat readily sink even in salt water.
• Maximum fat content allowable:
  • >For healthy men 15% to 20%
  • >For healthy women 22% to 25%

4. How to ascertain obesity?

Testing your body weight index (BWI)

Divide your weight (W) in Kgs (Kilograms). by the square of your height in meters:

BWI = W/H2

• Result assessment:
• BWI 20-25 - considered normal
• BWI 26-30 - considered excess weight
• BWI > 30   - considered obese

Testing your abdominal obesity index (AOl)

• 1. Measure the waist and hip with a measuring tape.
• 2. Calculate the waist to hip ratio.
• 3. For men an index of < 0.9 is considered normal.
• 4. For women an index of < 0.85  is considered normal.

Body Composition

There are several ways of having the Body Composition assessed - underwater weighing, skin-fold measurements, ultrasound testing, electrical impedance, to name a few.

But now there is a simple chart based on thousands of these tests that allows you to get an accurate estimate of your body fat percentage. To use the chart, locate your body weight on the Weight scale and draw a straight line from there to your waist size (measured at your belly button) on the opposite scale. Your estimated percentage of body fat is the point at which the line crosses the diagonal scale in the middle of the chart.

1. Walking

• The ultimate cure for obesity is exercise. Brisk walk for 30-40 minutes daily is the most efficient way of reducing fat for people.
• -> One can take a glass or two of water early in the morning, but certainly not tea or coffee before the walk.
• -> The walk has to be continuous and steady.
• -> The heart beat per minute should be increased to the “training rate”, which takes about eight minutes of warm-up.
• -> Then walk at that rate for twelve minutes.
• -> Finally cool down the heart rate for next ten minutes.
• -> Stretching exercises in the beginning help to get warmed up before walking.

2. How hard should one exercise?

• As you work your muscles, the oxygen demand goes up and the heart beats faster. The older you are, the slower your heart beats during maximum exercise. For regular, everyday, efficient exercise we should workout only enough to make our hearts beat at a maximum of 80%, for our age.
• Determine your correct exercise “Training Heart Rate” from the table and continue the steady exercise for twelve minutes. Don’t forget to warm-up and cool down.

3. How to determine your correct Heart Rate?

Resting Head Rate (HR)

• An average heart beats seventy two times per minute. Take your pulse as soon as you wake up.
• If your morning heart rate is above 85 or erratic, see the doctor before starting any exercise.

Maximum Heart Rate (HM)

• Maximum Heart Rate = 220 minus your age
• This is the fastest your heart can beat for your age.

Warning: Do not exercise beyond the Maximum Heart Rate!

Training Heart Rate (HT)

Training Heart Rate = Resting Heart Rate plus 65% multiple by (Max. Heart Rate minus Resting Heart Rate)

• HT = HR  + 65% x (HM-HR)

Example: A forty-year-old has a resting heart rate of 70. His training heart rate is 70 + 65% x (180-70) = 142.0. When this person exercises, he should maintain a heart rate of 142-144 beats per minute.

When you exercise, check your pulse immediately at the end of the exercise. Count it for 6 seconds and multiply by 10. If the beats are slower than 10 compared to your calculated training rate, your exercise is not effect enough. If the beats are over 10 or more, slow down your speed. Remember, we are working with time not racing against it.

4. Heart Recovery Rate and Health Indication

• A valuable criterion of physical fitness is heart recovery rate after exercise which is an important health indicator.
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• After a workout the heart rate slows down in two stages. First, there is a sharp drop from 140 to 100 BPM (Beats Per Minute) within a minute. It stays there for few minutes (say 2 to 3 minutes) and then gradually drops to original resting heart rate.
• The first drop in heart rate, immediately after the exercise is most significant in judging the health condition.
• Recovery rate can be calculated by taking the pulse for 6 seconds immediately at the end of an exercise and then again for 6 seconds exactly one minute later.

Recovery Rate = (Exercise pulse - 1 minute pulse)/10

1. Is Intense Exercise better than Moderate Exercise?

• Intense exercise will overheat the muscles, doing more damage than good if the body isn’t ready for that. 
• In intense exercise one is also likely to lose muscle, if not combined with a proper diet. Exercising moderately for a longer period of time is more effective than an intense exercise for shorter period.
• After the age of forty, it is recommended that exercise be changed on alternate days to involve all the muscles in the system and to avoid exercising the same muscles often. Give time for the muscles to repair between exercises.

Warning: If one is in a hurry to get in shape “Exercise longer not harder” and Never exceed your "Training heart rate"!

2. How to take an exercise pulse?

• Your pulse is a much more accurate measurement of your health than your weight. Men’s average resting pulse is about 72 and for women it is about 80.
• You can find your pulse on the thumb side of the wrist or on the side of the neck. Once you have found the pulse, count it for exactly 6 seconds and multiply by ten.
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• One can take the pulse several times during the day to get the average resting pulse.
• If you exercise correctly and long enough, the heart muscles will get stronger and it will soon pump slower, while pumping more blood at each stroke.
• If you want to take your training pulse, stop and do a quick 6 second count. When you first start any exercise, stop as many times to check the exercise pulse till you reach the right intensity of exercise, to get the correct pulse rate.

3. Which exercise to choose?

• Many people begin an exercise programme, only to give up after a few weeks. One of reasons being the selection of an exercise is not suited for themselves that results in burn out.
• Walking is an excellent exercise for all ages. It is not strenuous on the knees and joints. Just be sure the walk is brisk enough to maintain your training heart rate. If you feel brisk walking is not enough to drive your pulse to the training heart rate, try to carry some weight like a back-pack.
• Stationary cycling and swimming is also considered a good exercise for reducing fat.

4. Precautions for exercising

• Muscle and muscle enzymes can increase when a person exercises properly on a day-to-day basis. If one exercises too long and strenuously, the body will not be able to re-synthesize the protein lost.

   

  Problem	Solution
  Muscle loss will occur, if the exercise is too intense.	Exercise at the proper heart rate.
  Muscle loss will occur, if there is insufficient time allowed for recovery.	Wait 24 hours before next exercise period and switch exercise day-to-day.
  Muscle loss will occur, if illness or disease is present (including emotional problems)	Do not exercise when systemically ill; the body needs protein to repair sick tissues.
  Muscle loss will occur if dietary protein is inadequate or imbalanced.	Eat at least 60 grams of protein in a day. Have a balanced diet. When carbohydrate is low, protein will be used for making glucose instead of tissue repair.

5. Is it possible to reduce fat from particular spots?

• Most people believe that fat concentrates in specific areas and it can disappear with exercise. But this is not true.
• In women, the fat concentrates on the hips and thighs and in men, around the belly.
• Passive spot reducers include belly-belts and rollers in health clubs and in some cases heated belts, sweat-suits etc.
• Heat and pressure drive the water out of the muscle tissue and they lose inches but within a few hours the tissue gets back to their original shape.Most of the time the weight loss will actually be water loss from the body.People who do sit-ups, leg-rises and donkey-kicks beyond their capacity, with the aim of spot reduction, work their poor muscles to death.
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• When large sets of muscles of the body are exercised, fat will be drawn from all parts of the body to meet the energy requirement.

6. Work and Exercise - do they produce same results?

• Sustained exercise at 80% of maximum heart rate is very efficient at bringing about the changes. Physical work is a form of exercise but it is not sufficient to make the required changes in our body.
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• The work one does may cause the heart to beat faster, but work rarely sustains long enough to get any benefits.
• Work is non-aerobic like weight-lifting or sprinting. It is too low or too high in intensity or too short in duration.
• Work usually makes demands on only one set of muscles but aerobic walking summons all the muscles of the body, including the heart muscles. Metabolically, even the arms get conditioned during aerobic walking.Aerobic walking will get you in condition for work, but work will not get you in condition for exercise.

1. Understanding fat, carbohydrate and protein interaction

• Fat, carbohydrate and protein are the only sources of calories in any diet. The various weight-loss diets consist of an endless list of manipulations of these three components of foods. Fat cannot convert into protein or carbohydrate, whereas protein and carbohydrate can be converted to fat.The only thing the body can do with fat is burn it up in the muscle.Protein can be converted into glucose which is used by muscles. The brain mainly uses two-thirds of the glucose in the blood.
• If one endangers the supply of blood glucose in any way, for example by over exercising, the powerful body function will convert protein into glucose.High protein diet to reduce fat has the danger of overburdening the kidney. Similarly, over exercising instead of building muscles will break the muscles into glucose for blood sugar.

2. What happens when one eats too much protein?

• One cannot repair any more tissue than that which needs repair. When amino acids are not needed, they are sent to the liver where they are 'de-aminated' and then converted into fat. The process of de-amination is stressful to the body. During de-amination the nitrogen that is released from amino acids is quickly converted into ammonia. Ammonia is very toxic to the body and in turn is changed to urea. Urea is also toxic and to eliminate it from the body, it must be diluted into urine.
• If the protein content is about 12-13 percent of the total calorie intake, the body can very easily get rid of the urea.
• But if it is more, then one needs enormous amounts of water to dilute it. If adequate water is not available the body will take from its own tissue and in the process the kidneys have to work overtime to get rid of the urea. In high protein diet the weight loss is only water loss. There is no reduction of fat.

3. Balanced diet

• One can get enough protein in the diet along with a good balance of carbohydrates and vitamins.
• The thumb rule is to eat two servings (3 ounces) of protein-rich split peas, dried beans, lentils etc.
• For non-vegetarians, low fat meats such as chicken and fish may be recommended. In addition, have two servings (one cup each) of non-fat or low fat milk or a milk substitute such as yogurt or cheese.
• Balance these high protein foods with carbohydrates by eating four servings of fruits or vegetables each day and four servings of rice and cereals. (One serving of fruit is 3/4 cup filled with small size pieces).
• It is almost impossible not to find fat in the foods we eat.The essence of the whole exercise is to have a well balanced diet.

4. Do muscles burn fat or glucose?

• The muscles use mainly fat for energy. Nearly 70 percent of the energy needed by muscles is obtained by fat and only 30 percent by glucose.Glucose is like a twig, it burns easily but fat is like a log; it is hard to get started but once started it burns for a long time, giving off lots of heat. Continuous walk for thirty minutes plays an important role here. Glucose is good for quick energy which is required during a sprint or short distance running.

5. Fat storage and its advantage

• All living things, including plants, have to store a certain amount of food for the days when they cannot find or make food. Carbohydrates are stored by plants and fat is stored by animals and humans. Fat contains twice as many calories per gram as carbohydrates. Fat can be packed into a small space and the fat cell can contain up to 85 percent fat and the remaining 15 percent is used by water-based life function of the fat cell.

6. Is it advisable to reduce weight by fasting?

• If the body is stressed by fasting, it will try to hoard extra fat when it is made available.  Fasting to reduce weight will actually encourage the body to store more fat. Fasting once a week or once a fortnight or once a month will certainly help the body to cleanse the toxins and rest the digestive system.
• A diet of one meal a day (23 hour fast) is not advisable. The intake of calories should be spread over the day in five to six meals. Otherwise when you go off the diet, the body is set to gain weight.

7. Know about carbohydrates

• Recommended percentage of daily calories for good health is Carbohydrates 65%, Fat 23% and Protein 12%.
• Starch in rice, wheat is only the beginning of the complex carbohydrates. But there is cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin which are only partly digested. These form the roughage. Eating more roughage means absorbing more carbohydrates.
• All carbohydrates after intestine digestion become simple carbohydrate called glucose. Some carbohydrates break down very quickly, some very slowly and some (like cellulose) do not break down at all. Complex carbohydrates will become blood glucose very slowly while the simple sugars such as maltose, lactose in milk and table sugar will become blood glucose almost immediately.
• Avoid simple carbohydrates because it causes our blood glucose levels to fluctuate too quickly. Adding bran to the food to increase the roughage should be avoided.  

8. Benefits of eating whole grain without polishing (cooked properly, of course).

a. Calorific value is decreased by the roughage.

b. Roughage is hard to chew, thus decreasing the tendency to overeat.

c. Roughage acts as protection to the digestive tract.

d. One can eat the vitamins with their food as nature intended.

e. The simple sugars are tasteful but are delayed in their entrance into the blood stream.

9. How is energy produced inside a muscle?

• Glucose from carbohydrates, fatty acids from fats, and amino-acids from proteins are burned inside muscle cells to get energy. Cellular burning is more like taking a building apart! It is a careful procedure requiring special tools and detonators at every step. In our body, those tools are called enzymes. Literally, hundreds of enzymes are needed in each cell and each one is quite different from the other. Each enzyme is made of protein. They are large, complex molecules that cannot pass through the wall of a cell. So, the only way enzymes increase in a muscle is when the DNA makes more enzymes inside a cell. This is called enzyme biosynthesis and takes place only if you eat adequately, if your cells aren’t sick and if you exercise to stimulate the DNA to go to work.
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• DNA (de-oxyribonucleic acid) can be compared to an architect. It contains the blue print of our body and dictates the behaviour of cells. It also decides what to manufacture, what to seek, and what to avoid. RNA (ribo nucleic acid) can be compared to the builder who constructs the house.

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