Dig Deep in Omega-3

Last time we have already briefly introduced Omega-3 and its benefits:

http://urbanfitnesshk.blogspot.hk/2014/09/omega-3.html

This time we are going to dig deeper about Omega-3 and talk about how to ensure sufficient intake of this essential fatty acid.

Not All Omega-3 Created Equal

Omega-3 is in fact a group of fatty acids including alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

To reap the benefits mentioned in the previous post including proper brain development, improved cardiovascular function, and aid in muscle development, DHA and EPA are what our bodies need. ALA provides the building blocks of EPA and DHA. To utilise ALA, our bodies convert them into EPA and DHA, but not in the perfect ratio since ALA is primarily converted to EPA.

Getting the EPA & DHA

The best food source of EPA and DHA are different types of oily fishes such as salmon, mackerel, and sardines. If fatty fish is not one of your favourite foods, it is a good idea to supplement your diet with some Omega-3 supplements such as fish oil.

When choosing an Omega-3 supplement, the amount of total fat or even Omega-3 are not much of the importance, but the amount and ratio of EPA and DHA. A lot of Omega-3 supplements on the market use a lot of fillers making the amounts of EPA and DHA far less than ideal.   

The perfect ratio of of EPA:DHA should be around 3:2.

Vegetarian?

Since DHA and EPA primarily come from fatty fish, it has been a challenge for vegetarians to obtain sufficient amounts of them. EPA can be produced by our bodies with a diet high in ALA which can come from a variety of seeds such as walnuts, flax seeds, and oils extracted from these seeds.

Recent studies have discovered an alternative source for vegetarians to obtain sufficient DHA other than fatty fish. Algae is shown to be a good vegetarian source of DHA providing similar amounts of DHA to that of fatty fish. There is an array of algae-infused supplements on the market providing vegetarians good ratios of Omega-3 for its benefits!

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Why is Core Training Important

Core training has become a very popular word among the fitness industry in recent years, for a good reason! Our cores are really the core of our overall health as well as our athletic performance, and training our cores would definitely benefit every single on of us regardless of our goals. Today we are going to explain what the core is exactly as well as why is it so important.

NOT Only Your Abs

One of the biggest misinterpretations of the core is most people think the core is only the abs. This is not the case, the core muscle group actually include inner abs, outer abs, obliques, lower back, and a few other muscles. The major function of these muscles is to stabilise the spine and transfer power. Today we will be discussing the importance of working on your core for not only training but also day to day life.

Overall Wellness

The core plays a vital role in our everyday lives, not only in walking or lifting objects, but most importantly a strong core leads to good posture and this will prevent muscle imbalance, which can cause problems such as lower back pain.

Engine of the Body

Doing exercises such as deadlifts, bench press or squats we think our power is coming from the arms and legs, but the power really originates from the core. The core provides a strong base enabling us to do these exercises with better forms. A strong core also gives us more power to lift heavier weight for harder sessions and better results!

The Six Packs Look

Although abs are not all core is about, core training does lead us to those fit looking six packs we all want. Don’t limit our core training to crunches and sit-ups, there are a lot more core exercises we can do for our desired goal. The plank, twisting crunch and the V-sit hold are very good examples. All of the exercises have different intensities, so it is up to you to push yourself!

Now that you know about the importance of a strong core, starting training your core with variety to strengthen it up!

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Squat Variations

The Squat is often referred to as the king of all strength training exercises and is one compound movement that gives you the most bang for the buck. Whether the goal is to increase strength, gain mass, or lose fat, the squat definitely has a place in your training regime.

The squat stimulates a huge amount of muscle tissue from head to toe hence it is an amazing hormone stimulator in an anabolic environment. The squat also has massive impacts on our central nervous system for maximal strength gain.

We are going to introduce you to a few members of the squat family:

Back Squat

Back squat is what most people immediately think of when hearing the word “squat”. This is the variation most commonly done,  and for a good reason. The back squat allows us to hold maximal weight among all squat variations, it is the best for increasing muscle mass and stimulating fat loss.

While executing the back squat the barbell is placed on the upper back either on the traps (high bar position) or just above the scapula (low bar position).

Front Squat

The front squat is also one of the most common variations of squats done in the gym. The front squat gains its roots from olympic lifting and is very beneficial for athletes. For most people, the front squat is harder than the back squat due to the core strength it requires. The front squat also allows less room for “cheating" by compensating with the lower back, therefore reducing the risk of injury.

In the front squat position, the barbell is placed on the anterior deltoids (the front of our shoulders). This position puts the emphasis on our quads and upper back.

Overhead Squat

The overhead squat is one of the less common squat variations due to its level of difficulty. Like the front squat, the overhead squat also gains its roots from olympic lifting while putting more emphasis on balance and mobility.

In the overhead squat position, the barbell is held overhead with a snatch grip (the bar should be at our hips in a hang position). The overhead squat can be a very valuable variation working on our balance, mobility, and coordination. 

Bulgarian Split Squat

Bulgarian split squats have gained their popularity in gyms in recent years. This squat variation allows us to correct muscle imbalance since we are working each leg individually. The Bulgarian split squat also allows us to train our legs at a similar intensity to other squat variations without excessive spinal loading which is useful for individuals recovering from back related injuries.

Bulgarian split squats can either be performed with one dumbbell in each hand or by placing a barbell on your upper back as you would when preparing for a back squat. Your back foot should be placed on a bench a few feet behind you and the other foot firmly on the ground in front of you. Squat down until the rear knee reaches a point approximately an inch off of the ground. The Bulgarian split squat is great for training balance, correcting muscle imbalances between legs and increasing mobility.

Do not be rigid about training a single squat form, try out different variations to reap each of their benefits!

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Go Hard or Go Home - Debunking the Myth of Fat-Burning Zone

Most people looking forward to lose weight has probably heard of the magical fat burning zone. To target the so called fat burning zone, it takes one to engage in low intensity cardio training for a prolonged period of time. Hence, the popularity of the treadmills in a commercial gym.

Once the intensity goes too high, it is claimed that we would not be burning fat and our hard work would be in vain. But does it really make sense that harder work would not lead to better result? Absolutely not! We are going to show you how the fat burning zone is a phony and the harder we work (not necessarily longer), actually leads to better result in fat burning!

How Was the Fat Burning Zone Originated?

The basis of fat burning zone is originated from the indirectly proportional relationship between the ratio of using fat as our energy source and the intensity of activity we engage in. In human words? For very low intensity activities, our bodies almost solely rely on fat to fuel themselves. As the intensity increases, the RATIO of our bodies using fat as a source of energy decreases. The thing is, it is only the RATIO of our bodies using fat as a source of energy decreases, rather than the ABSOLUTE VALUE.

Example

For example, let’s say A burned 500 calories in total within a 2 hours jogging session, and B burned 1000 calories in total within an one hour high intensity training session. Since A was engaging in such low intensity training (you got to jog like a snail to burn only 500 calories in 2 hours), his body relied 100% on fat during his session, so he burned 500 calories of fat. On the other hand, B’s body relied on 60% fat during his session, and he burned 600 calories of fat during his one hour session! Point being, although the RATIO of fat used during higher intensity training is lower than lower intensity training, the ABSOLUTE AMOUNT of fat used can still be higher, and often times within a shorter period!

The Afterburn Effect

This is not it, when we engage in low intensity training, we almost immediately stop burning extra calories as soon as we step off the treadmill. However, after engaging in high intensity training, our bodies actually go through excessive post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), which means our bodies would keep burning extra calories after the termination of the activity due to the demand of recovery for the intense workout! This is commonly known as the afterburn, which can last for as long as 48 hours after finishing the workout! What is even better is the ratio of using fat as a source of energy can be twice as much comparing to an inactive individual. So you burn more calories, in which those calories are primarily from fat, without being mindful of it. This is the wonder of high intensity training. It is not only the calories we burn during our workouts, but also those we burn after our workouts!

From now on, feel free to train with higher intensity without worrying about the hard work going in vain! The harder we work, the better the result, as simple as that!

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Training Frequently - Debunking the Myth of Overtraining

In recent years, the fitness world has been plagued by the myth of overtraining. Why has this myth gained so much popularity? Because people want to believe it! The vast majority of people would like to believe training more than 30 minutes three times a week would not be beneficial for muscle growth. Afterall, who really wants to do more work?  Aside from fitness enthusiasts like us, people tend to steer down the path of least resistance. Learn to crave training sessions like an addiction. We always strive for ways to progress faster and better. Dedicate more hard work for better results, plain and simple.  

The good news is we are going to debunk the myth of overtraining. Training more frequently is NOT detrimental to our progressions but can be beneficial if done right!

Cavemen, warriors and gladiators were strong and athletic without a doubt. Do you think they only trained 3 days a week for a half an hour? Of course not! They had to deal with life threatening situations on a daily basis - hence their lives literally depended on how hard they trained.

Although it is rare to find yourself fighting for your life in a colosseum these days, let’s look at a more modern example. Professional athletes - not only is the level of athleticism unquestionable, their muscle development is also stunning! The quads of speed skaters, the calves of soccer players, the lats of gymnasts, and the overall appearances of Olympic weightlifters (especially those between the 62 kg class and the 77 kg class). These athletes train multiple sessions daily, yet have not become victims of overtraining.

Still not convinced that training frequently can be beneficial to your overall fitness? Read on and let’s see how we can train frequently the right way!

Variety is King

No matter what frequency we train at, sufficient recovery must be ensured for progressions. The secret to a high frequency training regime is variety.

A wide variety of training parameters (reps, sets, rest periods, intensities, movements, etc.) can prevent overtaxing particular muscle groups and movement patterns. You see, our bodies may not be able to adapt to multiple sets of heavy bench pressing daily, but they can probably adapt to a variety of stimuli across the week, for example, bench press on Monday, cable crossover on Tuesday, incline bench press on Wednesday, pushups on Thursday, and decline bench press on Friday.

Looking back to the athletes, they all train their muscle groups daily with variety. Soccer players will refine free kicks, hours on end, from every position imaginable; gymnasts perform a number of different movements on the rings; even Olympic weightlifters vary body position, technique and intensities on a daily basis.

Proper Nutritional Support

Another key when adopting a high frequency training regime is to provide your body with proper nutritional support for optimal recovery. The fact we are training more means we need more calories as well as nutrients to repair ourselves. One common fallacy of high frequency training is the programs are typically not supported by sufficient nutrition. Insufficient nutritional support is detrimental to progressions regardless of training frequency. Whilst undertaking a high frequency training regime one must increase total caloric and nutrient uptake to sustain the increased metabolic requirement.

Taking One Step at a Time

Lastly, when adopting a high frequency training regime we need to build up our capacity. Our bodies are able to adapt to high frequency training sessions (training total body daily) although it does take time to build up the capacity.This level of capacity does not necessarily take a substantial amount of time to build. However, jumping into a training regime of daily total body workouts coming from a sedentary background is rather unwise. Start by doing three workouts a week, progress by adding one workout session per week and eventually attain a capacity of training twice on multiple days within a week!

With the myth of overtraining finally debunked, we are now free to train often for faster and better results. Start training more frequently with variety accompanied by a solid nutritional diet to support our recovery and witness the difference!

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The Magical Fatty Acid - Medium-Chain Triglyceride

Remember we spoke about not all fat created equal back in our Dietary Fat 101 post?

http://urbanfitnesshk.blogspot.hk/2014/09/dietary-fat-101.html

Certain types of fats definitely have a better place in our diets just like the Omega-3 fatty acids we have been talking about in the past month. Today we are going to introduce you another very healthy option of dietary fat - Medium-Chain Triglyceride (MCT).

How is it different from other fats?

Most of the dietary fats in our food such as steak, pork, cheese, and whatnot are either short-chain, long-chain, or super long-chain triglycerides. These fats all go through a complex digestive tract for absorption. In other words, they are not able to provide us immediate energy as it takes time to absorb them. And even after these fatty acids are in the blood stream, they are usually deposited as body fat when passing around the body before being converted to energy. On the other hand, MCTs act more as a carb when going through our digestive system. MCTs are absorbed directly in our intestines to our portal vein, and go straight to our livers where they are converted to energy. Hence, MCTs are able to provide us a rapid source of energy like carbohydrates without the insulin spike, which is not preferable for most of the time during the day.

Metabolic Boost

Not only do MCTs provide an immediate boost of energy, they are also thermogenic, which means the digestion of MCTs involves increased caloric expenditure of our bodies. This is because different types of food go through different metabolic pathways during digestion, and some food cost us more energy to digest than the others. The combination of the immediate boost of energy and the thermogenic properties MCTs can provides results in a faster metabolism, which is very beneficial for weight control.

Other Dietary Fats Benefits

Although MCTs act more like carbohydrates when they are being digested, they still keep the benefits of dietary fats, which include keeping us satisfied, curbing our hunger, and helping us fight against binging and cravings. This can help us on controlling our overall caloric intake throughout the day which is critical for weight management.

Also, MCTs can also provide an environment for certain types of vitamins to be dissolved and absorbed just like any other fats. There are certain types of vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K that can only dissolve in fats before being absorbed. Without sufficient fats in our bodies, these essential vitamins would not be able to be utilised.

Where Can We Find MCTs?

Most of us have realised a popularisation of coconut oil in recent years, this is happening for a good reason. Although previous studies have shown fats derived from coconuts are mostly saturated, which was believed to be the main cause of chronic heart diseases. Recent studies have found fats derived from coconuts are mostly MCTs, although being a type of saturated fat, is an unique type that doesn’t have the harmful effects to our health like the rest of the saturated fats.

Simply increase your MCT intake by swapping your regular cooking oil with coconut oil. If you really like coconut, you can even have the “meat” of coconut straight as a snack. There are quite a lot of “coconut chips”, which are really just dried coconut sold in the market. These “coconut chips” can be a very healthy snack, just make sure we are getting the unsweetened ones to avoid the added sugar. The coconut “meat” can also be a very good topping to add a crunch to our salads. Be creative and try to incorporate more ingredients derived from coconuts into our diets to reap the benefits of MCTs!

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Omega-3

Omega-3 (aka ω-3 or n-3 fatty acid) should be something we all know about because of its health benefits. Before talking about specific classifications and supplementation of this fatty acid, we are going to introduce the reason why Omega-3 is important to our health and fitness.

Omega-3 is an essential fatty acid, which means our bodies are not able to produce it in abundance, and thus needs to be supplied from dietary intake.

Overall Health

Omega-3 has a very important role from the time we were still fetuses. Omega-3 is vital for us to develop proper brain and eye function. Moms without sufficient Omega-3 intake during their pregnancy risk their infants developing nerve and vision problems. It is also very important to have sufficient Omega-3 intake throughout childhood to sustain this proper development.

Researches have shown Omega-3 to be beneficial for our cardiovascular health as well as reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis. The anti-inflammatory property of Omega-3 also has a carryover effect to our health, and can prevent or relieve us from developing joint problems such as arthritis.

Fitness Benefits

When we are taking our post workout shake, we are trying to trigger muscle protein synthesis so we can build more muscles and burn more fat. To trigger muscle protein synthesis, we have to overcome something called “leucine resistance”. Leucine is the signalers of the muscle building process and “leucine resistance” sets the amount of leucine we need to kick start the process. Sufficient dietary intake of Omega-3 has shown in researches to reduce our “leucine resistance”, which means our muscle building mechanism can be triggered easier when we have sufficient Omega-3 intake in our diets.

In the next article we will talk about specific types of Omega-3 fatty acid, sources, and supplementation of Omega-3 fatty acid!

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Dietary Fat 101

“Eating fat makes you fat,” sounds like it makes perfect sense, right? Not exactly. People began developing an irrational fear of fat since the popularisation of low fat diets in the ‘70s.

First let’s look at the reality; obesity rates have skyrocketed! In the United States, where low fat diets began gaining popularity in the mid ‘70s, obesity is up to ⅓ of today’s population!

The truth; fat is an essential macronutrient for us to stay healthy. Consuming the right types of fat in the correct proportions can even help us on the way to fat loss and muscle gain!

We are going to run a series of articles explaining the dietary requirements of fat - today we are introducing the basics.

Not All Fats Are Created Equal

Dietary fat can be divided into three major categories - unsaturated fat, saturated fat and trans fat.

The Good

When we talk about increasing fat intake to improve our health we are generally referring to unsaturated fat. Unsaturated fat can be further categorised into monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat.

Monounsaturated fat, which is the most abundant in some nuts and plant oils, can help reduce our LDL (bad cholesterol) and blood pressure while increasing our HDL (good cholesterol).

Examples of Monounsaturated Fat Sources:
Safflower oil (NOT sunflower oil), olive oil, avocados, canola oil, and hazelnuts

Polyunsaturated fat, mostly found in fatty fish, certain types of nuts and plant oil, can reduce our triglycerides, inflammation, and tumour growth.

Examples of Polyunsaturated Fat Sources:
salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines, almonds, chia seeds, walnuts, and oil from the above list

The Bad

If unsaturated fat is the good guy, the not so good guy would be saturated fat. Our bodies do need a certain amount of saturated fat to stay healthy but an excessive amount can cause our LDL (bad cholesterol) to elevate beyond safe levels, which can cause blood pressure to increase leading to higher risks of heart diseases and stroke. Saturated fat tends to be found in animal products. Note: it is impossible and not necessarily healthy to completely eliminate saturated fat from our diets; we should however limit the intake of saturated fat to no more than 5 - 6% of our total caloric intake.

Examples of Saturated Fat Sources:
pork, beef, lamb, dairy products, and lard

The Ugly

There is also a type of fat we should avoid at all costs - trans fat. Trans fat does not naturally exist in any food but is the product of a chemical reaction called partial-hydrogenation, which makes liquid fat into solid fat. Trans fat has absolutely no place in our bodies and can increase our LDL (bad cholesterol), risk of heart diseases and stroke. The majority of trans fat exists in processed food with ingredients that have gone through partial-hydrogenation.

Examples of Trans Fat Sources:
margarine, commercial pizza and fried food, and packaged cookies

An important note is when a food product claims to be trans fat free it does not necessarily have zero trans fat (the food industry can be very confusing). What it does mean is that there is less than 0.5g of trans fat per serving and the producer can actually define the serving size however he wants! Often times those products which claim to be trans fat free are those requiring the most caution. Instead of looking at the amount of trans fat on the nutrition label, look at the ingredient list and avoid anything with the word “partially hydrogenated” in order to ditch the trans fat.

Everything in Moderation

In summary, it is important to remember that not all fat is created equal and we do actually need to incorporate the correct amounts of the right types of fat in our diets! Another thing to remember is that when aiming for specific fitness goals, moderation is key.

Stop fearing fat! We will discuss in detail specific aspects of fat next time!

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Hydration

Often times when the average fitness enthusiast talks about nutrition, they focus on the macronutrients and micronutrients - what they fail to mention is an even more important aspect of overall health - Hydration!

Our bodies are mainly composed of water, approximately 60% for an average male, and 55% for an average female - these percentages are far higher than any other nutrients in our bodies!

Hydration and Performance

A lot of people either do not realise or under emphasise the link between hydration and their athletic performance. Hydration is far more important than taking any pre-workouts/supplements for optimal sports performance! Dehydrating as little as 1 to 2% of our body weight compromises the proper physiological functions of our bodies. Dehydration of over 3% can have serious impact on our bodies, and the risk of exertional heat illness such as heat stroke, heat cramps, and heat exhaustion increases significantly.

What Dehydration Does to Our Bodies?

When our bodies are dehydrated, a series of dysfunctional activities are triggered. Our blood volume, stroke volume, and the filling time of heart decrease; on the other hand, our heart rate and core temperature increase. Dehydration also causes increased muscle temperature, rate of glycogen degeneration, and lactate levels, which directly lead to higher risk of injury and degraded performances.

Pre-Workout Hydration

Getting our bodies hydrated prior to exercising is equally, if not more important than staying hydrated during our workouts. Aim to get at least 17 to 20 fl oz (500 to 600 mL) of water into our bodies two to three hours before working out to ensure proper hydration.

Another convenient way to check if we are hydrated enough for optimal performance is by simply weighing ourselves before each working out. Determine a ‘standard’ weight and attempt to reach this weight before undertaking physical activity.   

Intra-Workout Hydration

Maintain hydration throughout each workout to ensure the activity is not compromised.  A general guideline is drinking 7 to 10 fl oz (200 to 300 mL) every half an hour during workouts.

Post-Workout Hydration

Proper hydration after working out ensures rapid and optimal recovery by increasing plasma volume. We should drink 22 fl oz (700 mL) of liquid for every pound of bodyweight loss during our sessions for our bodies to recover from the workouts.

Next time when considering nutritional intake, remember to emphasise to yourself the importance of water.

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Post Workout Nutrition - Beyond Protein

Everybody knows that post workout protein intake is vital for optimal recovery and improved performance. What may not be as commonly known is post workout carbohydrate intake is equally, if not more important, than protein intake regardless of your goal - to gain muscle, lose fat, or improve your performance.

Carbs Intake

During workouts, especially when conducting resistance training, our muscles are being torn  apart on a microscopic scale. In order to let our muscles recover and grow bigger for better performance and increased muscle mass, we need to fill those gaps with amino acids for repairing the damaged muscle fibers. Post workout protein intake gives us the building blocks to fill these gaps. Carbohydrates are responsible for transporting the amino acids into the gaps. Imagine your body as a house, the amino acids from protein are the bricks; and carbohydrates are the manpower that puts the bricks into the right pattern.

The Role of Carbs

The thing about post-workout carbohydrate intake is that the insulin spike from the carbohydrates will help you shovel nutrients from your bloodstream into your cells for optimal recovery.

Not only can simple carbohydrates provide a bigger insulin spike for better nutrient absorption into cells, simple carbohydrates also provide a more rapid replenishment of the glycogen store that we have drained during the workout. The better we replenish our glycogen storage in our muscles, the better we can recover and perform in the next workout.

Even if your primary goal is to lose fat instead of gaining muscle or improving performance (who wouldn’t want to improve their performance anyways?), post-workout carbohydrate intake is also beneficial for losing fat! You see, increased muscle mass actually boosts up our metabolism and makes our bodies better fat-burning environments! Pound for pound, the same weight from fat has more volume than muscle. So increasing our muscle to fat ratio can actually make us look slimmer and more toned! Improved performance can also enable us training harder and burning more calories in our next workout as well!

So ladies and gentlemen, next time when customising our post-workout shake, make sure to add some simple carbohydrates into the equation on top of protein to kickstart our recovery and maximise the results of our workout! Adding some carbohydrate supplements or instant oats would be two easy ways to get some quick and easy carbs in!

Post-Workout Meal Alternatives

If including some carbohydrates in the protein shake doesn’t sound like a good idea for you, you can also include some carbohydrates in your post-workout meal to reap the benefits of optimal recovery. A few slices of bread, a bowl of rice, a plate of pasta, the post-workout window is the time when the food we enjoy but usually have to refrain from can actually be beneficial for improving our fitness! So take advantage of this golden carbohydrate window and enjoy ourselves!

Not All Carbs Created Equal

Some may think since fruits are high in sugar and thus are great source of carbohydrates for the post-workout window, but that is not particularly true. Most fruits have a high ratio of fructose, which cannot be absorbed by our muscles as glycogen, and thus are not optimal for having post-workout.

Minimise Post-Workout Fat Intake

Also, we would like to minimise fat intake in our immediate post-workout meal since fat can slow down digestion in a rather significant manner, which can also slow down the process of kickstarting our optimal recovery.

With these simple, yet fundamental principles, we can now get the most out of our efforts with our next post-workout shakes to fuel our progressions!

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