Facts and Fallacies of Fitness – Fat Loss – The Myth of Spot Reduction
The issue of exercise of one body region to promote fat reduction locally in that area would appear to have been settled by research: local reduction of excess fat is not possible. Studies have examined the effects of electrical stimulation or low resistance, relatively high repetition exercise on certain body parts such as the trunk and the upper thighs and found that they exert an insignificant effect on fat deposits. But is this the end of the saga?
In accepting the results of research one always has to closely examine the experimental procedure, the subjects, the controls, the existence or absence of double-blind studies, the goals and prejudices of the specific researchers, the size and duration of the study, the statistical techniques and analysis of the results, and comparison with studies in the same or related fields. The realm of fitness and strength training is especially rife with limited and highly specific studies that are applied far too generally by workers or instructors who see nothing wrong in extrapolating findings to methods with very tenuous links to the original research.
Thus, over a 10 week period, ‘untrained’ subjects using a resistance training routine with free weights may be compared with another group of ‘untrained’ subjects following another routine with variable resistance machines. Changes in strength and muscle endurance may then be measured on an isokinetic dynamometer to conclude that machine Read more »
Facts and Fallacies of Fitness – Health – Losing Weight
The concept of ‘losing weight’ is central to the lives of millions of beauty conscious women and a growing following of men, yet the term is ill understood by most of them.
It is even most important to appreciate that one does not wish simply to lose weight, but excess body fat.
Some individuals are obese, others are just carrying excess body fat relative to the average person of similar physique and age in their particular population group.
Losing excess body fat or adipose tissue still fails to describe the situation accurately. Percentage body fat is measured by means of underwater weighing or mathematical computations based on measurements of skinfold thicknesses taken at different body sites. Anthropomorphic (body shape/ measurement) studies rely heavily on such techniques, and many health centres place great emphasis on clients reaching desirable percentages of bodyfat.
This is most impressive to the layperson, but often of little value to the latter. Many clients reach the target bodyfat percentage, but their overall shape is still aesthetically unpleasing. The woman who reaches her goal often finds that Read more »
Facts and Fallacies – Supplements – The Creatine Story
I first came across creatine supplementation in Russian journals translated by Dr Yessis in the Soviet Sports Review) way back in the early 1960s, though I have heard that some folk were experimenting with it before then. It was nearly three decades later when I heard about this substance being used seriously in sport.
Now it has become a very big item in the West, with pharmaceutical companies making a fortune off it, since every second athlete in any sport is using it now. Its most popular form is creatine monohydrate, with numerous firms and individuals selling it via retail outlets and via the Internet. The claims being made for creatine as a valuable ergogenic aid and as a potentially dangerous supplement, especially regarding alleged dehydration and heatstroke, now abound.
It is a perfectly natural substance, found in animal flesh in large quantities and being related to the ATP and Creatine Read more »
Facts and Fallacies – Drugs – Effects and Side-Effects of Steroids
What are the effects of steroids ?
The improvements in performance may be due to any of the following physiological effects:
• increase in bodymass
• increase in muscle size (hypertrophy)
• enhancement of recuperation
• treatment of injuries
• increase in nerve size and number
• increase in competitive aggression
• increase in muscle strength
• decrease of catabolism
• increase in blood volume
• increase in number of red blood cells
• increase in volume of red blood cells
• increase of haemoglobin, myoglobin
What are the dangers of steroid use ?
The following table (continued overleaf) summarises information obtained from research and from the information sheets provided by drug manufacturers with their packages of anabolic steroids. It does not imply that everyone using steroids will suffer from these side-effects, but it emphasizes that the regular user is always exposed to these possible Read more »
Facts and Fallacies of Fitness – Drugs – What Are Steroids?
Anabolic means ‘growth promoting’, the building up of complex substances in the body (in particular, protein), the opposite of catabolic, or breaking down of complex substances. Anabolic-androgenic (AA) steroids are substances derived from the androgenic (male producing) male sex hormone, testosterone. Some lifters use pure testosterone, in its injectable form, depo-testosterone (depo means injectable), but it is considered less hazardous to use its derivatives because of the lower risk of cancer.
All the derivatives have been manufactured from testosterone by manipulating its chemical structure to increase its anabolic effects and decrease its androgenic effects. Derivatives became necessary because pure testosterone taken by mouth is too rapidly broken down by the liver to be effective except in very large doses. This has produced Dianabol, Winstrol, Durabolin, Anavar, Primobolan, Oranabol and many other similar substances whose names can be recited by the average serious bodybuilder like a chef can quote recipes.
‘Anabolic’ steroids were originally intended to help severely debilitated patients regain muscle tissue after serious burns, long periods of bed rest, starvation, loss of appetite or general physical wasting. This debilitation is often assessed by measuring the amount of nitrogen lost from the body in the urine, Thus, if one is in positive nitrogen balance, it means that your body is absorbing nitrogen or protein. If you have a negative nitrogen balance, you are not depositing sufficient protein in your body and you are inevitably going to lose muscle mass.
The nitrogen balance of your body depends largely on the levels of hormones in the body, including testosterone, Read more »
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