7 Minutes of Exercise a Week

Some British researchers found that just working out 7 minutes a week can cause an improvement in how the body uses insulin to clear out blood sugar from the blood stream.

But the catch is that the 7 minutes had to be intense:

The volunteers, who were relatively out of shape but otherwise healthy, rode an exercise bike four times daily in 30 second spurts two days a week.

The volunteers did this for 2 weeks before getting tested again.

Although this is some good news, let's not get to excited. This study was only showing the effects of a small vigorous exercise routine on how insulin would react. This study doesn't say either way whether it had any effect on fat loss, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, etc.

It's a good place to start though. If we can get people to workout just 7 minutes a week to improve their insulin reactions, then we might be able to gradually get them up to working out even more for fat loss.

www.leanbodyfitness.com

Pasta

Back in this post I gave a link on a blog post from Mike Roussell on coffee.

Take a look at this video where he gives some scoop on pasta.

As he mentions, I don't know how practical it was to have people running for one and a half and 3 hours straight. That just seems like torture to me and I'm not sure that the vast majority of people would even have time on a regular basis to do something like that.

But, I think the conclusions that those groups didn't put any fat on by eating the pasta compared to the sedentary group was interesting and helps with the argument that carbs aren't the culprit, fat instead the culprit, and protein isn't the culprit...the culprit in fat gain is eating more calories than what your body needs.

www.leanbodyfitness.com

My Shopping List

I was out doing my grocery shopping yesterday and decide it might be a good idea to blog what my list of food was for the week. So here it is:

12 apples
7 bananas
7 oranges
3 cucumbers
1 can of tuna
package of string cheese
green tea
brown rice
liter bottle of water
1 dozen eggs
2 tubs of cottage cheese
7 yogurts (all natural)
12 pack of diet cherry coke
1 package of frozen broccoli
1 package of frozen carrots
1 package of multi-grain soft tortilla shells
2% milk

I know you're probably wondering (or at least you SHOULD be wondering) where the main protein is at. I buy chicken breasts in bulk as well as salmon so, those aren't part of the normal weekly list.

But this list above pretty much covers what my eating looks like over the course of a week. Some may say boring. And true, I guess it is. But, eating like this is what gets results. So pull this post up the next time you head to the grocery store and add some of these to your list.

Have a nice weekend.

www.leanbodyfitness.com

The Mental Part of Fitness

So I've been thinking lately about motivation when it comes to losing weight.

I had always had this breakdown in my head as to what percentage of the parts are needed for successful fat loss.

I had always said that 75% of it is eating healthy, and the other 25% is split down the middle between the workouts and motivation/drive/desire/focus, the whole mental aspect of it.

But lately i've changed my mind and was talking to a client about it today and thought I'd blog about it.

I think 90% of pie when it comes to reaching your fat loss goals is mental.

I've tried out a lot of workouts and diets out there. And you know what? They all work in some way. Maybe i didn't get the exact results that was claimed for the program but, they worked. They worked because....I stuck with them. I have the discipline and the focus to say "okay, sure, i'll try this diet and/or workout for 6-8 weeks and see how it goes." For me, that's easy. I've trained myself to be that way. I lived my life for a number of years with the drive and desire to reach various health and fitness goals. It's a complete focus.

But, obviously with the number of overweight and obese people growing in this country (and the world for that matter), most people do not have that ability to truly dedicate themselves 100% to a plan and stick with it.

Maybe that's where you start with trying to solve this problem then. Focus on why people lose interest so quickly and then figure out methods of motivation to keep people focused.

When I come up with that solution, you'll be the first to read it (although you might have to buy it in paperback).

www.leanbodyfitness.com

Lee Goes Off

Ya, I know, two posts in one day. What is this world coming to..

I had to post this though as it's a little bit of a follow up on my piece yesterday about A-Rod and steriods.

Lee Taft in his blog yesterday went off on a rant that I think bring up some great points. Take a read here.

www.leanbodyfitness.com

Bad Health Foods

How many times did you have to read that title before you actually figured it out?

A lot of food companies out there are trying to make their food sound healthy on the front of the package by using words like "low fat!" or "multi-grain" but then upon further investigation, they are telling the entire truth.

This article gives some examples of the worst offenders of trying to portray healthy food.

Remember, read the ingredients part of the package. If you see the words (High Fructose Corn Syrup, anything hydrogenated, or it claims to be whole grain but doesn't list "whole grain flour" anywhere in there, then put it back on the shelf.

www.leanbodyfitness.com

A-RoidGate

I had something else all set up to talk about today but, I needed to put in a few things about my favorite sport, baseball.

If you haven't heard, Sports Illustrated has reported that Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) tested positive for steroids during the 2003 baseball season, which is also the year he was awarded the American League Most Valuable Player.

Yesterday he came out and admitted it.

One part of me doesn't feel sorry for him for the bumps on his head that he's going to take the rest of his career. It was a bad move, a bad example to young kids, and overall puts a cloud over the entire sport.

But, on the other hand, I can't help but blame the fans. Let me explain.

Back in 1994, baseball had a strike. Fans tended to look at the strike as a bunch of whiny millionaire baseball players wanting more. So attendance when the strike was over was off the high mark of the 1990s after the 1993 season.

Attendance starting shooting up again in 1998. Why then? That's when there was the big home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.

Turns out, McGwire and Sosa are under (and always will be) suspicion for doing roids during that 1998 baseball season (although they deny it).

So although everyone in hindsight (players, the player's union, owners, managers, and, the fans) are ripping these guys for using steroids, the reality is that the Home Run race of 1998 is what brought fans back to the ballparks. Fans were still disgruntled about the strike years earlier but became fascinated with two guy trying to break a record that is considered one of the most sacred in sports.

I think it would be naive to think the owners, managers, and heads of Major League Baseball didn't know what was going on. But why would they blow the whistle when paying customers starting walking through the gates again?

In the end, it's a clear example of the saying "It's easier to beg for forgiveness then ask for permission." Fans want to be entertained. And baseball had a huge image problem after the strike and needed something to get people back in the seats.

I'm not suggesting in any way that taking steroids is appropriate. Absolutely not. If anything it should show the young people out there that no matter how sneaky you're trying to cheat in a game (and taking steroids IS cheating), at some point it's going to come back to haunt you.

How will A-RodGate affect baseball going forward? Who knows. But if I had to guess, people (like myself) will still file through those gates to watch the game they love.

Back to normal fitness blogging tomorrow for those that don't give a crap about baseball.

www.leanbodyfitness.com