Dr. Jonny Bowden

Tag: exercise

  • The Three Worst Exercise Mistakes

    The Three Worst Exercise Mistakes

    The following is a guest blog post by Dr. Jade Teta, one of my top go-to guys for exercise.

    I am going to tell you three very real stories from my clinical experience.

    Story 1:  The Marathoner

    She entered one of those marathon running training programs.  The reason?  She wanted to lose weight.  She ran almost every day for 12 weeks slowly adding time to her runs until she was doing 60 to 90 minute runs 6 days per week.

    How did it work?  She gained about 6 pounds.

    Story 2:  The Crossfitter.

    She signed up for a program called Crossfit hoping she would lose weight and tone up.  She did intense workouts 5 days a week.  These included weight lifting exercises, cardio based calisthenics, and other exercise based skills.  She did it for a year before coming to me. Her complaint. She did not lose a single pound despite exercising more than she ever had her entire life.

    Story 2:  The Gym Rat

    He was in the gym every single day.  He would do a Body Pump class three times per week. He did 30 minutes of cardio 3 times per week.  He played tennis and did yoga on the weekends.  Despite all this work he said he was 5 pounds heavier and 2% greater body fat 5 years after beginning this regime.

    —————————————–
    The 3 big exercise mistakes.
    —————————————–
    It took me many years to figure out what so many people in the same situation as those above were doing wrong.  And it was a hard won lesson. A lesson I refused to believe until I saw it play out again and again with individual after individual.

    What made it so hard to learn this lesson is that it was not a universal phenomenon. There were certainly many others who did the same types of workout regimes who seemed to get results from them.  Granted, most of these people were guys in their teens, twenties and thirties.

    So what were these people doing wrong. Three things actually:
    • Exercising too long
    • Exercising too hard
    • Exercising too frequently

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    Stress can keep you fat and make you fat
    ———————————————————–
    Exercising is a type of stress.  When just the right amount is done it is a positive stress.  Something physiologists call “eustress.”  This type of stress causes favorable adaptations in the body and usually leads to a healthier, more fit, leaner and functional body.

    Exercise that is overdone in any of the three ways above is a negative stress. And we now know that this type of stress can keep you fat or make you fat.  And I want to explain exactly why so you can stop making this same mistake.

    Stress can keep you fat or make you fat for 3 reasons:

    • It makes you hungry
    • It makes you crave
    • It turns on your fat storing physiology

    When you exercise for too long, too hard or too often you go past the tipping point of exercise benefits and several biochemical changes occur that make it difficult for you to lose fat.

    Remember, to lose weight you need two things: 1) a calorie deficit and 2) hormonal balance.

    If you achieve a calorie deficit but your hormonal system is not balanced you will be far more likely to lose muscle but not fat.  But that is unlikely to happen because hormonal imbalance is almost always associated with cravings for and consumption of highly palatable calorie dense foods.

    When stress hormones rise as a result of exercise that is too long, too hard or too frequent hunger hormones like ghrelin and leptin change in a way that make you hungry all the time.

    This same stress physiology causes the motivation centers in the brain (areas of the brain that keep you goal focused and on task) to shut down. At the same time, they turn on the reward centers of the brain.  These are the areas of the brain that make you seek out short-term pleasure.  In other words, if there is a Cheesecake factory next to your gym, exercise that is too long, too intense and too frequent makes you more likely to hit the cake bar than the weight room.

    The final nail in the coffin comes from a hormone called neuropeptide Y or just NPY.  Under normal short-term stress NPY is suppressed because cortisol is controlled. But under chronic stress your nervous system releases more NPY. My other name for NPY is the NEW PUFFY YOU hormone………because it causes immature fat cells to grow into full-grown puffy fat cells.

    This is why stress, any type of stress and even stress of too much exercise, can make you fat or at least keep you that way.

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    The Fix
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    So how do you fix this issue?  Well, the exercise junky in you is not going to like this.  I have found that many people wear the amount of exercise they do like a badge of honor. But nothing could be sillier. It is just like those people you hear bragging about not needing but 4 hours of sleep………and then when they walk away you are saying to yourself, “No wonder they look 10 years older than they actually are!”

    Why the hell would you want to keep doing all that exercise if you are not getting results from it?

    The fix is to cut back on the duration, intensity and frequency of your exercise. In each of the above cases, after much convincing and cajoling, I moved each person to a workout program that was no more than 3 to 4 days per week (plus plenty of walking and relaxation activities) and they ALL started losing weight.  EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!!

    I have rarely seen this fail. It is so successful in fact I barely have to do an intake on these people any more. And yes, it even happens with my own Metabolic Effect workout.  I remember one client looking at me in shock when I told them you are not going to get great results from doing Metabolic Effect workouts 6 days a week.  They almost fell out of their chair.

    If you want results from exercise you need to master the art of exercise efficiency, doing the amount to get the result you want and no more.

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    Enter Metabolic Aftershock
    ——————————————
    When I put together the Metabolic Aftershock program many people asked me what type of program it was. I told them it is a workout program, but at its core it is really a metabolic restoration program.

    What I meant by that is that it is a workout and diet program designed to get the exercising tipping point just right.  You train hard a few times per week.  You walk.  You eat the right things at the right times and you turn negative exercise stress into positive eustress fat burning exercise.

    That is how it works…one 9-week cycle of this program has already taken hundreds of people who were stuck in a weight loss plateau, or heading in the wrong direction, and started stripping the fat off of their bodies.

    And the program was specifically designed for the high stress, time crunched, convenience minded person.  The workout uses only body weight, takes only 15 minutes and is only done 3 times per week. It can be done by all fitness levels and physical abilities. And it works like you would not believe.

    I’d love for you to try it.  And just to give you a little extra incentive, the program comes with a 100% money back guarantee.  If you’re not satisfied just return it within 30 days to get your money back…

    To find out more about my program, Metabolic Aftershock, click here

  • Exercise: The News You Don’t Want To Hear

    Exercise: The News You Don’t Want To Hear

    My mentor, the late great nutritionist Robert Crayhon, used to say this: “The two great dangers with nutrition are thinking it does everything, and thinking it does nothing”.

    The same can be said of exercise.

    This article is about exercise. And about weight loss. And about the relationship between the two.

    Which, sad to say, is probably a very different relationship than you might think.

    Now before we get started, a disclaimer. I exercise regularly. I think you should too, no matter who you are. I think exercise is the greatest anti-aging activity on the planet. And the data are clear: exercise can help with depression, lower the risk for heart disease and cancer, reduce the risk and complications of diabetes. It can even grow new brain cells.

    What it can’t do is cause you to lose weight—at least not if you do exercise in the traditional way.

    (I told you this was news you didn’t want to hear.)

    For every person who managed to make the annual weight loss issue of People magazine, for every healthy guy smilingly holding up an old pair of pants twice the size of Cleveland, for every 100-pound lighter winner of “the Biggest Loser”, there are thousands more who lose, regain, lose, regain, give up and essentially look the same year in and year out. If exercising the traditional way could produce weight loss, we’d be a whole lot skinnier as a nation and those “success” stories would be far more common.

    A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association followed the exercise habits of over 34,000 women and concluded that it took about an hour a day of moderate (3mph walking) exercising to maintain weight. This research confirms the findings of the National Weight Control Registry which reports that 90% of people who have successfully lost weight and kept it off exercise on average for an hour a day.

    Now that sounds like a lot. But remember that nearly all of this research focuses on moderate intensity exercise like walking. And walking is fine—for all the health benefits mentioned above—but it’s pretty inefficient for weight loss.

    A much better and more efficient way to exercise—and one which research is clearly showing works a lot better—is to do high intensity circuit training. Put the beauty bells down and lift some iron. Shorten your rest periods. If you’re doing “aerobics” do some interval training where you sprint for a while then jog to catch your breath. (This is exactly what programs like Metabolic Aftershock do! )

    So here’s the strategy:

    One: Revamp your diet, concentrating on carbohydrates. Carbohydrates- particularly sugar, soft drinks and starches like potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, cereals and crackers—drive levels of insulin, your “fat storage” hormone, through the roof, which makes it brutally hard to lose body fat. Eat more protein and fat, get your carbs from vegetables and fruits, and eat less of everything.

    Two: Exercise regularly, but exercise smart. Increase the intensity and shorten the time. Circuit and interval training are the modalities that have trainers and exercise physiologists the most excited these days when it comes to both health benefits and fat burning. Pay attention—they’re right! (My current favorite exercise program is Jade Teta’s Metabolic Aftershock.)

    Three: Recognize that fitness and six-pack abs aren’t the same thing. Exercise for fitness and for health, and to maintain your gains. But don’t expect your morning walk to create a complete body transformation, especially if you don’t take serious aim at your diet.

    Eric Ravussin, professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, LA and an expert on weight loss put it best: “In general, exercise by itself is pretty useless for weight loss”.

    That’s certainly true—if you’re doing exercise in the conventional way.

    But with a brilliantly designed, scientifically based, high-intensity interval program like Metabolic Aftershock—which takes just 15 minutes three times a week—it’s a whole different story. Combine that program with a controlled carbohydrate diet like New You in 22, and you’ll be on your way to a body—and a state of health—that you’ll be proud of for the rest of your life.

  • Computer Use + Exercise = Reduced Memory Loss

    Computer Use + Exercise = Reduced Memory Loss

    A study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings  found that combining computer time with moderate exercise reduces your risk of memory loss compared with either activity alone.

    Researchers interviewed over 900 70 – 93 year olds after they completed a questionnaire about how often they exercised and used a computer.

    Just to clarify, “moderate exercise” included activities like:

    • brisk walking
    • doubles tennis
    • yoga
    • weightlifting.

    Mentally stimulating activities, on the other hand, included:

    • reading
    • social interaction
    • using a computer

    So why did researchers single out computers?

    Because so many people in this study used one on a regular basis.

    “The aging of baby boomers is projected to lead to dramatic increases in the prevalence of dementia,” lead researcher Dr. Yonas E. Geda said. “As frequent computer use has becoming increasingly common among all age groups, it is important to examine how it relates to aging and dementia. Our study further adds to this discussion.”

    Researchers found a combination of mental and physical stimulation reduced risk for mild cognitive impairment, a condition somewhere between age-related memory loss and early dementia.

    More specifically, they found:

    • For participants who neither exercised nor used a computer…
      • 20.1% had normal cognitive function
      • 37.6% showed signs of mild cognitive impairment.
    • For participants who exercised andused a computer…
      • 36% had normal cognitive function
      • 18.3% showed signs of mild cognitive impairment.

    In other words, the synergistic effects of exercise and mental stimulation best protected these participants against cognitive decline.

    51ZLpg8AQpL._SL110_
    If you’ve read any of my books, especially The Most Effective Ways to Live Longer  you know how much I value exercise and learning as critical tools to age better.

    Simply put, people who constantly challenge their minds and bodies live longer and more happily than complacent, sedentary people.

    After all, you probably saw the recent study in The Journal of the American Medical Association that showed people who sit more often have shorter life spans.

    Evolution designed us to use our bodies for physical activity and our minds for learning, and those demands don’t diminish as we age.

    In fact, a study in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise concluded that “no segment of the population…can benefit more from exercise than the elderly.”

    Those benefits go beyond physical health: a study in that same journal showed that moderate- and high-intensity resistance exercise programs both benefitted cognitive functioning.

    In other words, exercise can boost your mental power. And when your mind remains active and alert, you’re more likely to exercise than if you’re in a mental fog or TV-induced trance.

    No matter what your age, I want to propose two challenges to prevent memory loss and keep your mind and body in prime condition:

    1. Develop and maintain a vigorous exercise program. Brisk walking is good, but I want you to step it up a few notches. Try a new exercise class or sport, for instance, to boost your physical and mental skills. I never get tired of talking about my favorite exercise, burst training, which you can do in your own home and requires just minutes a day. You can devote all that time you save to learning a new language or rereading your favorite novel.
    2. Keep your mind active by always engaging in new activities. It doesn’t need to be anything rigorous: mental stimulation might include reading a new author or seeing a film outside your favorite genre. And as this study showed, online learning provides another way to keep your brain stimulated. Join forums about your favorite topics, for instance, or learn a new program.

    Harvard University made a list of seven activities you can do to keep your brain healthy and active at any age.

    Their number-one strategy is the same as mine: keep learning.

  • Diet + Exercise = Weight Loss? Not So Fast!

    Diet + Exercise = Weight Loss? Not So Fast!

    A new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine claims those battle-tested ways to lose weight usually work and allow people to meet their goals.

    You know the drill: eat less, watch your calories, exercise more, and reduce your fat intake… that sort of thing.

    Researchers here gathered information from over 4,000 obese individuals based on the 2001-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. One year prior to completing this survey, these adults had a body mass index (BMI) of at least 30.

    Many participants reportedly did lose weight in that year’s time. More specifically, about 40% lost 5% or their weight or more, and another 20% lost 10% or more.

    Impressive, huh?

    Researchers tidily summarized their results. “Those who exercised more and ate less fat were significantly more likely to lose weight,” they said. Structured programs – weight loss meetings, for instance – also helped some people meet their goals.

    I find these kinds of studies frustrating. For one, surveys aren’t the most accurate or consistent way to learn how people lose weight.  They usually provide very generalized, quantitative, sometimes-biased or confusing questions.

    I could go on, but here’s the deal. Some people lose weight just fine cutting their calories and stepping up gym time.

    These are the same people who brag they can eat anything they want in moderation and burn off that pancake and mimosa breakfast at the gym.

    Their underlying message is that if you can’t do those things, you must be eating too much or not exercising enough or just being lazy.

    You may be one of those people who tried reduced-calorie or low-fat diets on countless programs and spent hours on useless exercise equipment to burn fat.

    Hopefully, you eventually conclude it’s not your fault you keep regaining weight or can’t lose it to begin with. At some point you probably decide these are lousy ways to lose weight.

    Listen, I’m a huge fan of exercise for its zillion benefits, but unfortunately weight loss is probably not going to be one of those benefits.

    As experts like Gary Taubes point out, people who exercise often eat more because, well, exercise makes you hungry.

    People who exercise for weight loss are also more likely to overestimate how many calories they burn. You see these people at the gym huffing away on an elliptical machine while watching The View and keeping one eye on the calorie counter.

    So you’ve done an hour on the treadmill, which promises you’ve burned 500 calories, and you’re famished. You feel like you deserve a reward for your hard work. And there’s a Starbucks around the corner.

    I’ll let you predict that outcome.

    Exercise and counting calories do matter to a degree, but they’re hardly the whole story for fat loss.

    When you eat what nature intended – lean protein, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds – your body recognizes these foods. Your hormones send your body the right messages.

    Your hormone CCK, for instance, tells your brain when it’s full. You also don’t raise your blood sugar, which means you keep steady insulin levels so your body uses, not stores, fat.

    Combine these foods with the right kind of exercise (High Intensity Interval Training which takes minutes, not hours, a day)…

     

    … and you’ll burn fat, maintain muscle, and boost your metabolism.

    You don’t need to count anything or spend hours exercising. You’re getting optimal nutrients. And you’re never hungry. It’s a win-win for weight loss.

  • Physical Activity Prevents Cognitive Decline

    Physical Activity Prevents Cognitive Decline

    The next time your partner complains about washing the dishes, remind him or her doing them could help prevent cognitive decline.

    A new study in the journal Neurology found any kind of physical activity, including household chores, could reduce your risk for Alzheimer’s disease and other brain-related deterioration.

    According to lead researcher Dr. Aron S. Buchman, exercise and “other activities such as cooking, washing the dishes, and cleaning are associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease.”

    You’re probably thinking, Really, another study that shows exercise works!? After all, you don’t hear about too many studies that show exercise doesn’t work.

    But this one proves significant for two reasons. One, it was the first study to objectively measure physical activity.

    More specifically, researchers asked 716 people with no dementia to wear an actigraph, which measured their activity and non-activity for 10 days.

    The actigraph measured any kind of physical movement, including cooking, playing cards, and even operating a wheelchair. If these participants moved, the actigraph measured it.

    Participants reported their physical and social activity, but they also wore the actigraph to validate those claims, since many people overestimate or misjudge how much exercise they do otherwise.

    Over the three-and-a-half year study, 71 participants developed Alzheimer’s disease.

    The take home: movement counts, but intense movement matters more.

    • People who engaged in the least amount of physical activity were over twice as likely to succumb to Alzheimer’s than those who engaged in more physical activity.
    • People who exercised less intensely were almost three times more likely to get Alzheimer’s than people who did exercise intensely.

    Oh, the other significant detail worth mentioning: the average age of these participants was 82.

    Now, Alzheimer’s is a complex, multi-factorial disease, and experts lack any easy solutions. One thing we know for sure: a major player for any degenerative disease is inflammation.

    And exercise can reduce it. A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology for instance, showed that exercise protects against chronic inflammation and disease.

    I agree with Dr. Buchman’s conclusion that exercise is certainly a modifiable risk factor for neurological decline. You can’t change your genes, but you can certainly step up your physical activity.

    Here’s the deal:

    To be beneficial, exercise should be hard.

    For too many people, hours on elliptical machines and aerobic classes become social hour rather than a workout.

    You might as well take it to a bar and have a cocktail… at least the ambiance will be better!

    I also hear people say they walk 30 minutes a few times each week and call it exercise. Walking is good for a zillion other things, but it’s not strenuous physical activity.

    To really get exercise’s numerous benefits, including burning fat and preventing brain deterioration, you’ve got to step it up. You should push yourself to maximum intensity and be a little breathless when you’re done.

    A study in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise for instance, found intense exercise for 45 minutes boosted metabolism for 14 hours post-workout and helped participants burn an additional 190 calories after that workout.

    The good news is that you don’t need 45 minutes. After all, you could spend an hour on the treadmill and not get much of a workout.

    I often talk about burst training, my favorite form of exercise that gives you an intense workout in just four minutes a day »

    Combine burst training with weight resistance, and you’ve got the best exercise combo on the planet to burn fat, boost metabolism, build muscle, and prevent disease. In just minutes a day.

    Trust me, if you’re doing it right you will feel the burn and get results that benefit your brain and waistline.

  • A Better Exercise Routine for Fat Burning?

    A Better Exercise Routine for Fat Burning?

    Exercise scientists have recently been turning to interval training as the protocol of choice for maximum fat burning.

    But many experts are now advocating a combination approach that may have even more benefits than either interval training or weight training alone.

    In one set of studies(1,2), a typical, standard gym routine—60 minutes of weight training followed by 30 minutes of cardio- was compared with an “integrated” workout.

    The “integrated” workout alternates weight training exercises with something the researchers called cardioacceleration—high-intensity sprints on a treadmill.

    This integrated approach outperformed the typical, standard (separate weights, separate cardio) approach on every measure including muscle strength and endurance. It also produced an almost 10-fold reduction in body fat compared to the group doing the conventional workout.

    “Exercise science is undergoing a revolution”, commented Jade and Keoni Teta, two naturopathic physicians who are also certified strength and conditioning coaches. “The weight-based interval approach offers the benefits of both aerobic and anaerobic training all within one compact integrated workout.”

    1)    Davis, et al “Concurrent training enhances athletes cardiovascular and cardiovascular measures” J Strength Cond Res 2008; 22(5): 1503-1514

    2)    Davis, et al “Concurrent training enhances athletes’ strength, muscle endurance and other measures” J Strength Cond Res, 2008; 22(5): 1487-1502

  • “Should I Eat Before I Exercise?”

    “Should I Eat Before I Exercise?”

    For as long as I can remember- from the first time I set foot in a gym, actually- I’ve been listening to folks debate the question…

    “Should I eat before I exercise?”

    Now a new study may finally shine some light on the matter. Researchers found that exercising on an empty stomach has several beneficial effects, including preventing weight gain and maintaining insulin sensitivity.

    Researchers in Belgium took 27 healthy young men and fed them all a horrible diet, high in sugar and fat and calories. The particular diet was chosen because it was just about guaranteed to create both weight gain and a reduction in insulin sensitivity.

    Insulin sensitivity, you may remember, is something good- it’s when the cells respond well to insulin, meaning that insulin does an excellent job of removing excess sugar from the bloodstream and getting it into the cells where it can be “burned” for energy. When someone is said to be insulin resistant on the other hand, this system doesn’t work well, and the person winds up with high blood sugar and high insulin and is on the path to either metabolic syndrome or diabetes. Most diabetics are insulin resistant, and most people who are insulin resistant are overweight, since insulin “shuts down” the fat burning process.

    In the Belgian study, the researchers divided the men into three groups:

    1. One group did nothing but eat the terrible diet (the control group). This group didn’t exercise at all during the study.
    2. The second and third group did exercise, and did the exact same workout;
    3. but the second group did it after breakfast and the third group did it before breakfast, exercising on an empty stomach.

    The results were both surprising and dramatic.

    The control group- not surprisingly- gained a lot of weight and also saw their insulin sensitivity plunge (meaning they became much more insulin resistant). The “exercise after eating” group also gained weight, but not nearly as much as the control group. And their insulin sensitivity went down, just as it did in the control group.

    But the “exercising on an empty stomach” group was a whole different story. This group- despite eating a perfectly horrible, weight-gain inducing diet- did not gain weight. Not only that, their insulin sensitivity remained high and the bad diet did not make them insulin resistant. “This study for the first time shows that fasted (empty stomach) training is more potent than fed training to facilitate adaptations in muscle and to improve…. glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity…” said the study’s authors.

    Conventional wisdom- which is not always so wise—has held that it’s always best to eat something before working out. Proponents of this way of thinking would always point out that you need “energy” for working out, energy which comes from—what else?—carbohydrates. “Fat burns in a flame of carbohydrate” they’d proclaim solemnly.

    Problem is, the conventional wisdom is wrong.

    It’s interesting that back in the days of “Stay Hungry” and “Pumping Iron” when the big meccas of bodybuilding like World Gym and Gold’s Gym in Venice were home to such legendary bodybuilders as Arnold Schwarzenneger, Lou Ferrigno and Franco Columbo, everybody exercised on an empty stomach. Bodybuilders of that era believed that you were more likely to mobilize your fat stores for fuel if you didn’t have to burn off a whole bunch of carbs that you just scarfed down for breakfast.

    We now know that they were mostly right.

    So should you forgo eating before working out? Not necessarily. “If you’re interested in performing better- like if you’re training for an event—you might want to eat first”, says my friend exercise physiologist Liz Neporent, MS, CSCS, author of “Fitness for Dummies”. “But for weight loss, evidence does seem to be trending towards not eating before working out”.

    Neporent points out that as a practical matter, there are going to be a fair amount of people who don’t do well when they don’t eat before working out. “They get dizzy, sick, and even faint sometimes”, she told me. “But I’ve also had people eat right before working out that have felt exactly the same way!”

    Bottom line, it’s going to be- like everything else- an individual thing and no one prescription is going to work for everyone.

    But for those who want to try it- and who don’t get lightheaded or dizzy- exercising on an empty stomach might be just the thing to stop weight gain in its tracks. It did in the Belgian study, and those folks were purposely eating a really bad diet. It should work even better if you also couple it with a diet designed to help you reach your goals.

    Watch this funny little video where I reveal my 5 favorite fat burning snacks that won’t trigger a high insulin response.