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Weight Loss Exercise

AntiOxidants for sports and fitness


Here is information from eVitamins on the value of Antioxidants for sports

Why do athletes use it?*
Some athletes say that antioxidants help protect the body from free radicals.
What do the advocates say?*
Antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E, CoQ10, glutathione, and alpha lipoic acid are important supplements for everyone, but especially for those who exercise on a regular basis. The rational is that exercise is a highly oxidative process and, as a consequence, produces free radicals from aerobic metabolism. Antioxidant compounds help alleviate this process.

There is conflicting evidence whether the best time to supplement with an antioxidant is before or after a workout.

How much is usually taken by athletes?
Most research has demonstrated that strenuous exercise increases production of harmful substances called free radicals, which can damage muscle tissue and result in inflammation and muscle soreness. Exercising in cities or smoggy areas also increases exposure to free radicals. Antioxidants, including vitamin C and vitamin E, neutralize free radicals before they can damage the body, so antioxidants may aid in exercise recovery. Regular exercise increases the efficiency of the antioxidant defense system, potentially reducing the amount of supplemental antioxidants that might otherwise be needed for protection. However, at least theoretically, supplements of antioxidant vitamins may be beneficial for older or untrained people or athletes who are undertaking an especially vigorous training protocol or athletic event.

Placebo-controlled research, some of it double-blind, has shown that taking 400 to 3,000 mg of vitamin C per day for several days before and after intense exercise may reduce pain and speed up muscle strength recovery.3 4 5 However, taking vitamin C only after such exercise was not effective in another double-blind study.6 While some research has reported that vitamin E supplementation in the amount of 800 to 1,200 IU per day reduces biochemical measures of free-radical activity and muscle damage caused by strenuous exercise,7 8 9 several studies have not found such benefits,and no research has investigated the effect of vitamin E on performance-related measures of strenuous exercise recovery. A combination of 90 mg per day of coenzyme Q10 and a very small amount of vitamin E did not produce any protective effects for marathon runners in one double-blind trial,14 while in another double-blind trial a combination of 50 mg per day of zinc and 3 mg per day of copper significantly reduced evidence of post-exercise free radical activity.15

In most well-controlled studies, exercise performance has not been shown to improve following supplementation with vitamin C, unless a deficiency exists, as might occur in athletes with unhealthy or irrational eating patterns.16 17 Similarly, vitamin E has not benefited exercise performance,18 19 except possibly at high altitudes.

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Weight Loss Exercise

Carbohydrates for Energy


There are essentially three types of diets these days. There is the Atkins diet which stresses low to zero carbs. There is the low fat diet which stresses no fats and there is a vegetarian diet which stresses low fat and low protein but allows higher carbohydrates.

Today I would like to demystify the need for carbs. And then in the future we can deal with fats and protein as well as what diet is best.

Where to find Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the main component of grains, rice, fruits and vegetables. You essentially need carbohydrates for energy and fibre. When your body is looking for a source of energy it tends to use the simplest form available. The very simplest form of energy is glucose and although this is pure table sugar its next closest form is found in fruits as sucrose. These carbohydrates are called simple carbs because they are easy for your body to break down into energy.

If your body can not find one of these sources of sugar for energy it will move down the food chain and try one of the next most easily available carbs next would be grain based or what we look at as ‘white’ carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, or rice. (Chocolate bars although not an official food group are closer to sugar than veggies or other carbs). Your body will use any of the complex carbs as well as vegetables for fuel before moving to fats or proteins.

Now that we can see where our carbs site in the energy chain it is a good idea to see what happens when we eat one and what happens to our energy from them. When you eat a sugar it immediately increases your blood sugar otherwise known as your insulin level.

What happens when you rely on sugar?

When you blood sugar spikes from sugar, chocolate, or pop you will get a bit of a euphoric feeling from this extra unneeded energy but because it is quick pickup it is also a quick drop for energy and thus you will get a sugar crash 30-45 minutes after the initial energy peak, this is very bad and bad for your body. If on the other hand you only had potatoes or bread or rice for your carbs you would have no nice spikes but no crashes either and would feel after a couple days on a very more even keel, you would feel like you energy is pretty good all the time but never to low or to high. This is the key that we are looking for.

Tomorrow I will write more about bad foods just for a nice way to start minimizing them not to scare people away from them. But now you know energy wise why you would rather get you energy from more complex carbs than simple carbs.

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Weight Loss Exercise

Effective Steps to Building Muscle



I found this article at Virtual trainer.com. There is a link at the bottom of the page for the site but I thought I would let you know about it here. These are sometimes obvious but great tips for building muscle.

When you think of building muscle you tend to think of huge freaky physiques that you see in the some of the muscle mags. The years and hours of hard work these men and women have put into training their bodies to achieve these types of results is inspirational. Maybe YOU also want build massive muscles, or maybe you want to increase muscle but without getting as muscular as that. You can! There are different stages of building muscle which is what I am going to talk about today.

Building Muscle for Toning

You can build muscle for muscle tone. Using lighter weights and more repetitions you can achieve a toned appearance without bulking up. If building Muscle for Body Shaping and Sculpting your weights will need to be slightly heavier for some body parts yet lighter for others. Being able to transform your current body type by using resistance or weight training is exciting and possible.

Body Building / BIG Muscle Mass

To create large amounts of muscle growth you need to damage the muscle to a certain extreme for your muscles to respond, repair and grow into strong, healthy muscles. Using heavy weights damages the muscle sufficiently to create this type of muscle damage.

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Training to Build Muscle


This varies on your goals of what you want your body to look like. Using a program that is suited to your body type and goals is very important when trying to build muscle of any kind. Don’t expect to reach your goals by just turning up at a gym and messing around with a few weights and hoping for the best. If you want maximum results from your training program then you should get yourself a training program that will get you long-term effective results.

Eating to Build Muscle

This depends on what your goals are. If you are wanting to build huge muscles you will need to consume more calories. You will need a healthy eating program which includes all of the food groups. You will also need to make sure you have sufficient protein and carbohydrates to help you get through your training and for healthy repair of your muscles. If you were still wanting to build lean muscle and aren’t too keen on too much muscle size then you may want to reduce your calories and fat and arrange your diet to fit in with your fat burning training goals. If light toning and fat loss is what you are after then you will once again also need to carefully watch your calorie and fat intake, while still ensuring that your body gets sufficient nutrition. No matter what your training goals are never starve yourself. Regular meals through out the day are very important.

Starting Your Muscle Building Program

1. You don’t need a lot of equipment, even dumbbells on their own are great to start with.
2. Make sure you have a program to follow that suits your needs and gives you sufficient instructions on how to perform your exercises.
3. When performing your exercises keep your knees slightly bent, your back straight and your tummy firm, even when you are performing seated exercises you need to make sure you have good posture.
4. Don’t swing your weights about. If you are finding that you are swinging your body around to lift your weights then you should lower the weights until you are ready to advance.
5. Perform your exercises correctly. If, as I mentioned above, that you have to swing your body or your weights around then you are probably more likely to be giving your lower back a crappy workout rather than the body part you thought you were training. Don’t waste precious training time by not using good form while training.
6. Always keep a water bottle near by so have easy access to fluids while training. This will keep you from dehydrating.
7. Make sure you perform a warm up before training and cool down after wards. While your muscles are still warm, after your cool down, you may like to perform your stretches.
8. Sleep! You need to have sufficient sleep to ensure your body has time to repair itself and recover from your days training and general activities.
9. Organise your eating plan ahead of time so that you can have your meals on hand. This will help prevent you from consuming junk as well as keeping up with regular meal times.
10. Protein. You will need sufficient protein intake in your diet to help supplement your muscle development. Protein shakes are fantastic for this. For more info on this read my “article” on protein.

A few words before I go……
I hope this article has given you a better idea of what is involved in Building Muscle. You need to choose what you really want to gain from your training programs and then seek out a program that suits those goals. If you’re keen to get started on a training program that is suited to your body type and goals then feel free to visit my site: http://www.virtualfitnesstrainer.com

Happy Training!

Yours in fun, health and fitness
Mandy Gibbons
http://www.virtualfitnesstrainer.com

Persons who are of good health, suspect of their health or are aware of any conditions, physical deficiencies or diseases should always consult a physician before undertaking any eating or exercise program. Mandy Gibbons,Virtual Fitness Trainer, www.virtualfitnesstrainer.com.au and www.virtualfitnesstrainer.com disclaims any liability or loss in connection with the above program or advice given in this article

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