Ann Cramp beside the Glass of Knowledge which looked at where men and women store fat

One of our Personal Trainer’s, Ann Cramp, has been heading up this particular area of the gym and she works really hard to find out interesting and informative facts about our bodies so we can learn to better utilise them in a healthy, safe way.

Afterall, the more we know about how our body works, the more we will get out of our workouts at the gym and the more motivated we will be  to strive for greater health and fitness in our life.

The information on this board changes regularly and has lots of different handouts alongside it which Ann has created for members to take away for free.

The current Glass of Knowledge focuses on how the knee works and functions.

The Glass of Knowledge which looks at the function of the Knee

The best way to start putting those resolutions into practice is to kick off the New Year with a full body detox.

I know it sounds scary, but you won’t beleive how amazing your body will feel with after just a few days detoxing.

There are many detoxes out there that are so complicated you couldn’t possibly keep up with them.  So here are a few simple tips on how to have a successful detox:

• Drink plenty of liquid, between 2-3 litres of water daily.  Adding fresh lemon to your water will also make it alkaline and help push out all those toxins.  (To find out more about alkalinity, check out our blog on Alkaline vs Acid foods).
• Cut out coffee and black tea and replace them with green tea or peppermint tea.  These herbal substitutes are great for your digestion and your metabolism.
• For the hardcore, eat fresh fruit and vegetables only; for those who don’t think you can manage that, eat mostly fresh fruit and vegetables and add tuna, salmon or fresh fish and brown rice to bulk things up.
• Cut out all junk food – I know that one is pretty obvious.
• If you really can’t give up dessert completely, try having fresh fruit (berries are particularly good) with low fat Greek yogurt.  It’s yummy and healthy.

Asparagus is great for a detox and can be used in lots of different ways. Try making asparagus soup - beautiful!

If you do this for a minimum of 3 days and no more than 7 seven days you will feel fantastic and you’ll be surprised at just how much energy you’ll have.

Add in regular exercise to help lift your fitness and those extra Christmas kilos will disappear faster than you know it.

There are heaps of fantastic Detox Recipes out there to help you on your way to a healthier body, both inside and out.

Please note: if you have any exisiting medical conditions, always seek a medical practitioner’s advice before starting a detox.

I’m sure you know it’s so much better for your body to eat foods which are produced without antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, irradiation or bioengineering.

Most of us would like to eat better than we do and we’d love to buy foods that actually taste the way they’re meant to, rather than loaded with chemicals and preservatives.  But the cost of organic food can be seriously off putting.

Organically grown carrots are easy to grow and taste great!

So here are a few tips on how to eat more organically without blowing the budget:

• Buy directly from the farmers – keep your food dollar in the community and cut out the extra costs of delivery etc. which Supermarkets add onto the price.  Try somewhere like Aussie Farmers Direct and they’ll even deliver directly to your door!
• Know which foods you should definitely buy organic (known as The Dirty Dozen) and which foods you don’t need to buy organic.
• Create a weekly menu before you go food shopping and use each organic vegetable in more than one meal, i.e. use broccoli in a stir fry one night and as a side on another night during the week.
• Cut down on the amount of meat you use in a dish (organic meat is very pricey) and replace it with more vegetables.  For example, add spinach and mushrooms to your lasagna and reduce the amount of meat.
• Grow your own veggies and herbs that you use the most – this is seasonal and space related.
• Buy those fruit and veggies which are in season – they have the best flavour anyway and tend to be cheaper than greenhouse grown produce.
• Where possible, buy in bulk – you can always cook up and freeze what you don’t use during the week.
• Pay in cash so you can only spend what you’ve got in your hand.

So here’s to greater health and well-being without breaking the bank!!!

Why is this so?

Well, according to The Economist, when endorphins are released into our brain they make us feel good and more endorphins are released into our brain when we train with someone else.

Two friends training together have a chat in between sets

Dr Cohen from Oxford University conducted a test to prove this. She got 12 members of Oxford’s heavyweight rowing squad to row on machines in four 45 minute sessions over two weeks.

In two of the sessions they rowed in complete isolation. In the other two sessions they rowed in groups of six, perfectly synchronized. After each session their endorphin levels were tested.

Dr Cohen discovered that the rowers’ pain thresholds were significantly higher following group sessions.

So the next time you head off to the gym to do some exercise, how about taking a friend along with you. You might just find that you’ll have a more rewarding workout, that is more effective but also easier, and that you’ll get fitter and healthier faster than if you continue to train alone.

According to this new study, Rocky Balboa may have endured less pain and done even better if he’d trained with a friend!

To give it a go, quote BAF101 to Reception to bring a friend along for FREE to your next workout.

We are delighted to announce the arrival of TWO AMT Precor Machines into the Cardio Theatre at Geelong’s Gym.

Most of you are probably asking right now, what’s an AMT machine?

Put simply, it’s a machine that is as versatile as the human body. It will move the way you want to move. Sounds pretty cool, huh?!

It’s a low-impact cardio trainer that actually adapts to your movements. Which means you can completely change the motion and path of your steps without even having to touch a button. So you can go from short to long strides, walking to running and even into deep lunges without pressing a single button! Every workout you have can be as challenging and unique as you want it to be.

So you will never get bored!

Do you want to know more about how the muscles in your body respond to different movements?

Now is your chance. You’ll learn how to use short strides to work the calves and quads, mid-length strides to hit the hamstrings and glutes, and long strides for full engagement. Can anybody see a taut, toned and amazing looking lower body evolving right before your eyes?

The more you learn the more you’ll be able to customize your workouts to target specific muscle groups. Not only will your workouts be so much more interesting, but they will also be that much more rewarding.

I don’t know about you, but the AMT actually makes exercise sound like fun!

So why not come in and have a try of this fantastic new cardio machine. The AMT is ready and waiting for you to let your

A shaky start

Lactic acid has a bad reputation. Many people blame it for fatigue, sore muscles, and cramps. They think of it as a waste product that should be avoided at all cost. Guess what? Scientists have discovered that lactic acid plays a critical role in generating energy during exercise. Far from being the bad boy of metabolism, lactic acid provides fuels for many tissues, helps use dietary carbohydrates, and serves as fuel for liver production of glucose and glycogen. In fact, lactic acid is nature’s way of helping you survive stressful situations.

But what is Lactic Acid?

Technically, lactic acid is a chemical compound produced from pyruvate, an organic acid in animals. Pyruvate becomes lactic acid during normal metabolism, but also through exercise. (Lactic acid also can be found in some sour milk products, such as yogurt, kefir, and some types of cottage cheese.)

When you exercise, your body burns sugar, fat or protein along with oxygen. This produces the energy needed to continue exercising. When you exercise so intensely your muscles can’t get enough oxygen, pyruvate becomes lactic acid, which begins to build up in the muscle tissue.

You may be asking right now, what’s that got to do with me?

Well, previously, it was believed that lactic acid made the muscles more acidic, causing them to hurt and burn and interfering with their ability to contract. Actually, muscle tissue filled with lactic acid tends to contract more efficiently.

It is an extremely fast fuel that’s preferred by the heart and muscles during exercise. Lactate is vital for ensuring that your body gets a steady supply of carbohydrates, even during exercise that lasts for many hours. Lactate is so valuable, that taking it as part of a fluid replacement drink before, during, or after exercise improves performance and speeds recovery.

As the University of Toronto’s Melissa de Souza writes in her paper “Lactic Acid: Friend or Foe,” there is no evidence that lactic acid causes muscle fatigue, only that it serves as a marker of muscle fatigue.

De Souza notes a study in which rats were infused with lactate: the result was an increased endurance of muscle contraction, as well as increased excitability of the muscle fibers.

In humans, she notes, “performing a bout of heavy exercise before exhaustive aerobic exercise increased the blood lactate concentration prior to the second bout of exercise, and this lactate accumulation was associated with longer exercise times.”

Instead of fatiguing muscles, de Souza concludes, lactic acid “primes the muscle to perform better and for longer periods of time before fatigue.”

Who’s for a better, more intense workout?  Who’s for increased energy levels and less fatigue?

Many experts now indicate that lactic acid generation is a key not only in improving muscle mass but in all aspects of exercise. An essay by the Cory Holly Institute notes that “scientists now recognize lactic acid as a major player in the way our bodies generate energy during exercise. Lactic acid is actually our friend.”

4 Things You Should Know About Lactic Acid

1. Lactic acid doesn’t cause muscle soreness and cramps.  Delayed onset muscle soreness, the achy sensation in your muscles the day after a tough workout, is caused by muscle damage and post-exercise tissue inflammation.

2. The body produces lactic acid whenever it breaks down carbohydrates for energy.  The faster you break down glucose and glycogen the greater the formation of lactic acid. At rest and sub- maximal exercise, the body relies mainly on fats for fuel. However, when you reach 50% of maximum capacity, the threshold intensity for most recreational exercise programs, the body “crosses over” and used increasingly more carbohydrates to fuel exercise. The more you use carbohydrates as fuel, the more lactic acid you produce.

3. The heart, slow-twitch muscle fibers, and breathing muscles prefer lactate as a fuel during exercise.  In the heart, for example, the uptake of lactate increases many fold as the intensity of exercise increases while uptake of glucose remains unchanged. These tissues suck up lactate at a fast rate to satisfy their energy needs.

4. Lactic acid is a very fast fuel that can be used to athletes’ advantage during exercise. Including lactate as part of a fluid replacement beverage provides a rapid fuel that can help provide energy during intense exercise. The rationale for including lactate in athletic drinks is simple- since the body breaks down so much of dietary carbohydrates to lactate anyway, why not start with lactate in the first place? Lactate in the drink can be used rapidly by most tissues in the body and serves as readily available building blocks for restoring liver glycogen during recovery.

Much of this information was helpfully provided by Dr Marc Dussault of Exponential Programs.

www.GeelongsGym.com.au

Do you have some unused equipment sitting idly at your house?

Lots of participants in the STRONG study have this same dilemma. At some point, a little voice inside their head spoke to them and said… “You need to do something!”

So off to purchase some gym equipment they went.

And tried to do some exercises.

And pulled up very sore.

And questioned if it was the right sort of exercise?

And wondered what on earth they were doing?

And challenged whether it was a good thing?  The right thing?

Every participant echoes these words… “I’m so glad I have you to guide me.”

The STRONG study is about educating the participants on exercise.

It’s about building confidence.  It’s focused on progressively increasing weights and a range of exercises so that the workouts are manageable.

The STRONG study is about commitment to improving quality of life.

www.GeelongsGym.com.au