Sweat365 » Archives » Uncategorized
Vote Early and Often!
Thanks to all of you who nominated Sweat365 for the Open Web Awards, we’ve made it to “The Final Round” of voting. Now it’s really time to stuff those ballot boxes! The rules allow you to vote once (per email) per day between now and Dec. 15th… so as they say in Chicago… Vote Early and Often! Let’s get to voting! Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Uncategorized | Digg this Story | Leave a Comment
Eat More Fat - Get a Flat Belly!
Who doesn’t wish they had a flatter, tighter, mid section? Even after losing 60lbs and transforming myself from a Fat Kid to two time Ironman, I wish I had those 6-pack abs… but I’m still soft around the middle. Counting calories, cutting out fat, that’s the approach I should take to get a skinny belly right? Apparently not! New research indicates that actually eating foods with more fats, including dark chocolate, guacamole, and olive oil, could be the key to a slimmer mid section. The trick: it has to be the right kind of fat! Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Avocado, Dark Chocolate, Flat Belly, Food, MUFAs, Monounsaturated Fats, Nutrition, Nuts, Oils, Olives, Uncategorized, diet | Digg this Story | Leave a Comment
Good Luck Boston Runners!
Tomorrow, Monday April 21st, is the 112th running of the Boston Marathon. Good luck to all of the runners as they complete one of the greatest and most historic athletic events in the world. Special shout outs to the several members of the Sweat365.com community who will be participating in tomorrows race.
Filed under: Boston Marathon, Marathons, News, Running, Uncategorized | Digg this Story | Leave a Comment
Getting Ready For Racing
You’ve spent the last few months working out and you feel fairly fit. Now you are contemplating which events you’ll do this Spring and Summer. Whether you want to compete in triathlons, road races or cycling events, it’s time to up the ante.
Step 1 Aerobic Base - Developing an aerobic base takes time. Dedicating about 3 months to aerobic training is recommended for optimal performance. When you train aerobically oxygen is transported from the lungs. It attaches to the hemoglobin in your blood. The blood transports oxygen to the working muscles. Your heart, which is a muscle like any other, becomes larger and stronger. Capillaries and mitochondria increase as the demand for oxygen increases. The heart becomes more efficient and stroke volume increases. Mitochondria produce energy from fat and carbohydrate oxidation. Capillaries transport oxygenated blood to active muscles.
Once you’ve developed a strong aerobic engine, you’ll be able to carry more blood and oxygen to the working muscles. This helps to reduce and buffer lactic acid, which causes a burning sensation and reduces your ability to perform.
The aerobic system uses fat and glycogen (carbohydrate) for energy. During aerobic exercise fat is the primary fuel source burned with oxygen. VO2 (volume of oxygen) testing measures how efficient your are at utilizing oxygen. We have thousands of fat calories stored in our bodies, but we have a limited amount of glycogen (carbohydrate) in our muscles. We can only store about 2,000 calories of carbohydrates in our muscles. When glycogen is used as a fuel source, there is an accumulation of lactic acid. The less glycogen you use during exercise, the more efficient you’ll be.
2. Introduce More Intense Work Outs
3. Time For Speed
4. Time To Peak - Training volume decreases, but intensity levels are high. Make sure there is adequate time to recover between work outs. High intensity training should be done only twice per week, once mid-week and once over the weekend. At the end of this period you’ll taper prior to racing. This period should be about 3 weeks to a month.
5. Time To Race - You’ve established a base, increased strength, power, muscular endurance and speed. Now it’s time to put yourself to the test. Make sure that you get adequate rest between races. When you are not racing, fast rides or runs with a group will maintain your fitness until the next race. Racing season may last 5 or 6 weeks.
6. Transition Time - is the time for rest and recovery. You can still work out, but keep it light. Crosstraining and easy workouts are what will allow for complete recovery and avoiding injury. Transition can be anywhere from 1-2 months.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Digg this Story | Leave a Comment
Secrets of Long-Term Weight Loss
The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) was established in 1994 by Him Hill and Rena Wing. Members (4,000) in the registry are 18 years or older and have lost at least 30 lbs. and kept it off for at least a year. Most members have lost 72 lbs and maintained this weight loss for an average of 5.7 years. The members of NWCR are volunteers, which means that they aren’t compensated for their participation. They are recruited by television, radio, magazine and newspaper advertisements. Each member must apply, fill out a consent form and a detailed questionnaire. The questionnaire includes questions about lifetime maximum weight (dates for this weight) current weight, gender, age, education, ethnicity, exercise habits, and weight loss methods used. All the members are tracked to annually to determine weight changes that have occurred because of modified behavior. 95% of the population are caucasian, 64% are married, 77% are women, and 82% are college educated. 50% were overweight as children and 75% have one or two obese parents.
55.4% of the registry lost their initial weight with a commercial diet program, physician or nutritionist. 46% lost their weight on their own. 89% used diet and physical activity to lose weight, while 10% used diet only. 1% used exercise only to lose weight. The most common interventions were a combination of restricting food (87.6%), limiting food quantities, (44%) and counting calories (43%).
Successful Strategies For Long Term Weight Loss
Research shows three common strategies that were successful among the current registry.
1. Doing high levels of physical activity
2. Consuming a low calorie, low fat diet
3. Weighing themselves frequently
A fourth common strategy was (78%) members report eating breakfast (typically cereal and fruit) every day. Also current members eat 2.5 meals/week at a restaurant, and .74 meals in fast food establishments.
Successful members weighed themselves daily (44%) and (31%) weighed themselves once a week. Successful dieters continue to monitor their weight frequently.
How Much Physical Activity Are The Members Doing?
1. About an hour a day of moderate intensity activity
2. Men burned about 3,293 calories per week
3. Women burned about 2,545 calories per week
76% of members reported that walking is their main activity. Other activities that were reported included cycling (20%), resistance training (20%) and aerobics (18%). When physical activity decreased to below 800 calories per week, members regained some of their weight.
Those who kept the weight off for 2 years had greater chances of maintaining their loss.
Winning At Losing: Secrets of Long-Term Weight Loss, Len Kravitz, PhD.
Filed under: Articles, General Fitness, Uncategorized | Digg this Story | Leave a Comment
Adding Last’s Years Workout Totals to your Blog
Did you know that you can show your workout summary from 2007 in your sidebar? It’s easy.
Here is how you do it:
Filed under: Uncategorized | Digg this Story | Leave a Comment
