Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Thoughts: Today I had the opportunity to meet someone who exercises every single day, doing this for over 50 years - for at least 30 minutes of fast heart beating action, creating a new body of cells; or otherwise called cardiovascular activity. Tony is 71. This consistent habit of his has turned out to be a healthy one as Tony looks fit, shiny and physically strong.
Tony explained to me the benefits of cardiovascular and how fitness promotes the loss of body fat and has been reported to actually decrease the appetite in many individuals. Even if it doesn't reduce appetite, the calorie-burning effects of regular aerobic exercise can allow for substantial caloric intake. Many endurance athletes regularly consume between 3,000-5,000 calories per day and remain extremely lean. Cardiovascular training, when combined with a consistently healthy diet, will definitely promote an increase in lean body tissue and a decrease in body fat percentage.
Other benefits of cardiovasuclar exercise:
-The skeletal system is also strengthened by cardio with fast walking and jogging. -Cardio Vascular is also great for diabetics whose blood sugar is well controlled. Aerobic training increases the sensitivity of the cells to insulin so diabetics who exercise regularly require less insulin to effectively regulate blood sugar levels. In addition, studies have shown that persons with adult-onset diabetes have been able to significantly reduce or eliminate medications other than insulin by following a regular exercise program combined with a healthy diet.
-Cardiovascular exercise is also a major component of the therapy for those who have experienced a heart attack and for those who are at high risk for coronary artery disease.
-Many people with high blood pressure are also overweight. Regular sessions of aerobic exercise will reduce body fat and lower blood pressure. Secondly, many people who smoke find the incentive to quit after embarking upon an aerobic exercise program. Thirdly, regular, brisk, cardiovascular training leads to an increase in the level of high density lipoprotein (HDL), also known as the "good" cholesterol.
-People with arthritis can also benefit from aerobic exercise to help them maintain an ideal body weight.
-Cardiovascular exercise has also been shown to decrease clinical symptoms of anxiety, tension and depression. Regular aerobic workouts increase blood flow and assists the body in eliminating toxins which can make a person feel clean and healthy.
-On a physiological level, cardiovascular fitness decreases resting heart rate and increase heart volume. It increases maximum oxygen consumption, capillary density and blood flow to active muscles.
-It also increases total blood volume, allows for maximal ventilation and increases lung diffusion capacity.
-Cardiovascular training also serves as the foundation for other fitness programs. The conditioning and health of the heart and blood vessels are the basis for safety and performance in nearly all athletic endeavors.
My favourite cardio vasuclar exercises,
-Dancing, Bike Riding, Surfing, Skateboarding, Swimming, Snowboarding, Running, Jumping, Boxing, Using cardio machines at the gym like the stair master ;)
Today Tony and I focused on training the shoulders -the deltoid area. He explained to me the muscle group of the shoulder, how each one does a different thing for motion of the arm, and exercises to suit each one indivially. It was all about smooth and steady weight training. Being precise and intently.
Tony who is also a supplement adivsor and encourages people off medications and onto natural supplements. Nutritional deficiency is almost impossible to avoid in these modern times. With our busy lifestyle, the ever-tempting convenience of fast food, it is now very difficult to enjoy excellent daily nutrition. Tony explains how supplements help you overcome nutritional deficiencies and that we need all the nutrients in their proper amounts for optimum health. Since our diets most likely can not provide all of them, nutritional supplements can fill in those gaps and also keep the integrity of the immune system.
Being deligent about reducing carbs in his lifestyle, Tony also promotes a carb-restricted diet. Although the word 'restricted' may sound off putting to you having to be resisted by something and that when resisted it is more of that which persists, a carb-less diet is one that replaces indigestible carbohydrates like breads and pastas with foods containing a higher percentage of proteins and fats (e.g., vegetables, nuts, meat) and often other foods low in carbohydrates (e.g., green leafy vegetables). Tony explains that to lose weight and live a consistent healthy lifestyle, you must eat less, and exercise more, it is both. The Earth Diet encourages a carb-less diet as it replaces anything processed with everything naturally provided by the earth; whole foods still containing their full nutrients, energy and intention, without being stripped of nutrition from any machinery and human processing. When you are living a carb-restricted diet you can consume more fruits and vegetables as these have less calories, your body is do longer using huge amounts of energy to digest complex carbs and so you are left experiencing new energy, new thoughts and a new world :)
You can train with Tony at Big Al's Family Fitness.
Article Source: Michael Russell
Quotes: So much of our time is preparation, so much is routine, and so much retrospect, that the path of each man's genius contracts itself to a very few hours. Ralph Waldo Emerson
What I Ate Today:
Meal 1: A beet, carrot, celery and ginger juice.
Meal 2: Chilled rockmelon (cantaloupe). A sweet purple plum.
Meal 3: Some Peanut Butter Chocolate Balls. Created with Peanut Butter or crushed peanuts, cocao powder, water, agave syrup, and whole peanuts.
Meal 4: A avocado with walnuts.
Meal 5: Lentil Veggie and Potato Pie. Created with olive oil, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, tomatoes, bay leaf, thyme, lentils, potatoes, coconut oil and egg.
Recipe: The recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Balls and Lentil Veggie and Potatoe Pie are available on The Earth Diet website www.TheEarthDiet.org
Exercise: Trainging my deltoids and abs with Tony at Big Al's Family Fitness. And abike ride to and from the gym :)
76 days to go!!!