Books for the buff 
Tom Venuto: Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle
Detailed info on healthy nutrition, goal-setting and motivation, the basics of weight-training,
and cardio for fat loss. If you could
have just one volume on getting lean, this is it.
Ian
King, Lou Schuler: Men's Health The Book of Muscle
Terrific guide to weight training for
both sexes. High-quality photos, innovative exercises as well as standard
fare, good background in laymen's language.
Lou Schuler: The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess
Tells women what they need to know about lifting weights: their workouts should be heavy and intense, just like a guy’s.
Barbara
J. Rolls: The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan : Feel Full on Fewer Calories
The science of satiety. This book teaches real-world portion control and how
to make healthful, filling choices.
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Just had one of those great workouts when I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the weights. Bench press, pull-ups, dips, dumbbell shoulder presses, dumbbell pullovers–just basic stuff, but how good it feels on those days you’re in the groove.
Saw a most inspiring young woman in the weight room this afternoon. She was doing preacher curls with the EZ-curl bar and two 25-pound plates. I think the bar itself is around 12 pounds. Not bad at all. She had great-looking biceps and a very balanced, proportionate physique. Good upper body fullness and what looked like muscular, well-rounded legs beneath her tights. More power to you, honey.
I’m enjoying the combination of "real" weights two days a week and body pump (very high reps with very light weights) on Saturdays.
Here’s an interesting piece from MSNBC.com. The writer tends to downplay the role of intentional exercise, but the article includes some intriguing info about the value of fidgeting and otherwise just shaking a leg.
Everyday activity critical to weight loss
Everyday pacing, fidgeting and restlessness may play a bigger role in whether someone’s fat or thin, according to a small study of self-described couch potatoes.
Here’s what Dave Draper (a.k.a. "the blond bomber") says:
An excuse is no reason to dismiss your training. Remember the Bomber’s criteria for skipping a workout: Unless you’re unconscious or bleeding from an open wound, you don’t.
You do subscribe to his e-newsletter, don’t you?
If you’re not reading the poet laureate of weights, you’re missing a treat.
Plenty of training newsletters make their way to my e-mailbox each week, and I delete most after a cursory glance–or no glance at all. Dave’s is the one I read.
Had an interesting conversation at the office this week with our talented 20-something photojournalism intern. Somehow we got on the subject of workouts. This 20-something is very tall and lean, and he wants to add some muscle.
I asked him whether he did squats and praised the squat as the king, the queen, the No. 1 builder of strong bodies and big muscles. I leapt from my chair and said, “Now, not like this,” demonstrating a half-squat, “but like this” demonstrating a slow, controlled deep squat.
“Then if you really want a burn, try this,” I said, demonstrating what my old workout pal from 20 years ago used to call oscillations–the movement from the bottom of a deep squat to just above parallel, then back to deep, then just above parallel, etc., until you can’t stand it any more. “Those’ll burn your butt,” said I.
“How do you know about all this?” said he. “I mean, I could understand it if Name Withheld [my male assistant editor, who does not train with weights, who has never trained with weights] came out with it.”
Sigh.
Are there still people, young people, who assume weights are for men? Apparently so. Aren’t there young women, I wonder, who lift in the university facility where our intern trains?
I vividly remember young women worrying about “getting too big” in the weight-training activity course I took in college back in the late ’70s–and in the women’s weight-training class I taught at the YMCA in the mid-’80s.
But sheesh. Don’t young guys and gals know that iron is an equal-opportunity employer, as much for women as for men?
In the past 18 months I’ve read probably two dozen books related to nutrition and fitness–including library copies of most of the popular diet books. (Why buy them? Most are unscientific attempts to make the reader believe that she holds in her hand the one key to weight loss.)
In any case, in the better books I’ve often come across references to the National Weight Control Registry. Here’s how the NWCR website describes the entity:
One of the most popular myths about weight loss is that everyone who loses weight will eventually gain it back. The National Weight Control Registry is a research study which has exploded this myth and shown that successful weight loss is indeed possible. Developed by Rena Wing, PhD, at Lifespan, Brown University and the University of Pittsburgh, and James Hill, PhD, at the University of Colorado, the National Weight Control Registry has identified more than 4,000 individuals who have lost significant amounts of weight and kept it off for long periods of time.
In practical terms, that means a loss of 30 pounds or more that’s been maintained for at least one year.
The home page offers links to research, success stories, and links to other worthy sites. When I have time, I’ll investigate more thoroughly.
From what I’ve seen, though, the registry’s successful losers are predominantly those who exercised while dieting to lose their avoirdupois and who continue to exercise regularly. Those who do not exercise regularly are rarely able to maintain a lower body weight.
As one of Mary’s maxims puts it, exercise is nonnegotiable.
Much commentary has greeted the fed’s newly released Dietary Guidelines for Americans. What intrigues me is the response that the new recommendations for physical activity are “unrealistic.”
Here are the recommendations, taken directly from the executive summary:
Engage in regular physical activity and reduce sedentary activities to promote health, psychological well-being, and a healthy body weight.
To reduce the risk of chronic disease in adulthood: Engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, above usual activity, at work or home on most days of the week.
For most people, greater health benefits can be obtained by engaging in physical activity of more vigorous intensity or longer duration.
To help manage body weight and prevent gradual, unhealthy body weight gain in adulthood: Engage in approximately 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity activity on most days of the week while not exceeding caloric intake requirements.
To sustain weight loss in adulthood: Participate in at least 60 to 90 minutes of daily moderate-intensity physical activity while not exceeding caloric intake requirements. Some people may need to consult with a healthcare provider before participating in this level of activity.
Achieve physical fitness by including cardiovascular conditioning, stretching exercises for flexibility, and resistance exercises or calisthenics for muscle strength and endurance.
Some people are riled up at the idea that managing body weight might take an hour to 90 minutes of physical activity four to six days a week.
I have several responses, first of all that the guidelines weren’t constructed for convenience’ sake. Their point is to explain what it will take to achieve or maintain optimal health. They wouldn’t be worth much if scientists got together, figured out what people wanted to hear, and then fed it back to them.
Certainly some people don’t have 60 to 90 minutes to spare on an average day, particularly people with heavy responsibilities for others–small children, dependents with disabilities, etc.
But if it’s true that the average American spends a couple of hours with television each day, it follows that the average American does have the time. Certainly other factors may get in the way–e.g., unsafe neighborhoods unsuitable for walking, lack of money for gym memberships, and so on.
To me it makes sense to take the recommendations in the spirit in which they were given: they’re recommendations. They’re outlining what we need to do to help make up for all the physical labor we no longer do in the course of our day (plowing, churning butter, scrubbing floors by hand, chopping wood, carrying water, washing dishes, walking to school or to church or to the store).
They’re a challenge. And challenge, to quote our incarcerated cultural icon Martha Stewart, is a good thing.
Did I say last week that the body-pump class didn’t make me sweat or raise my heart rate?
I used a bit more weight today and did indeed sweat and feel an increased heart rate. Used more weight for the upper-body movements that were so easy last week, and the cumulative effect of all those reps, despite the relatively light weights, had the effect of whipping my butt. In a good way.
I think I like this class.
It reveals my weaknesses (not as much leg strength as I thought I had, not as much ab strength), which is a good thing. I doubt any female in the class today could bench as much as I can or do as many pullups, though many were whipping out pushups from the toes at a great rate while I stayed on my knees. All this is good for my humility, and I do love a challenge.
In other news: a regular reader reports a 13.5-pound weight loss after faithfully following the South Beach diet for a couple of months. As diets go, South Beach is sensible, although it gets tarred with the low-carb brush. It’s really not low-carb; instead, it emphasizes healthy carbs such as fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. I can’t find much wrong with that.
Best of all, any healthy food plan such as South Beach can teach 1) portion control and 2) superior food choices, both of which are essential for weight maintenance.
You go, Toni!
It’s my workout partner’s birthday today, so I wanted to post this brief tribute.
I’ve had numerous workout partners in the 20 years (off and on) that I’ve been training. It’s always great to have a buddy, of course, but people’s level of motivation varies.
Of all the workout buddies I’ve had, Anne is the best: the hardest-working, the most diligent at showing up at the gym, the most concerned with proper form, and the most tolerant of my pontifications.
Possessed of a great store of knowledge from her days as an occupational therapist, Anne is nevertheless always receptive to my suggestions (which sometimes sound a lot like nagging). She wants to be the best she can be, and I have tremendous respect for that–and for her.
On a personal level, she’s the best kind of friend a person could have: caring, honest, forgiving, brainy, eager to learn, and a heck of a lot of fun.
So here’s you, Anne. Happy birthday, buddy.
Here’s an Associated Press story published on MSNBC.com:
Cancer now top killer of Americans under 85
For the first time, cancer is killing more Americans under 85 than heart disease, health officials said Wednesday.
A quote from the story:
A third of all cancers are related to smoking, and another third are related to obesity, poor diets, and lack of exercise—all factors that also contribute to heart disease.
Here’s some progress to report toward one of my three-month goals (losing six pounds of fat while maintaining lean body mass [LBM]):
I’m about 40 percent of the way there, although progress has been slow, but my LBM is constant, which means none of the poundage lost has been muscle.
Why such a small poundage goal over a three-month period? Several reasons.
1. Slow, steady weight loss is more likely to be permanent weight loss.
2. The caloric restriction advised by most "sensible" weight-loss plans–a 500-calorie deficit per day–makes me feel as though I’m starving. I already eat a clean diet, so I’m not going to achieve calorie reduction by cutting out soda with sugar, butter on bread, desserts, chips, crackers, and fried foods. I don’t eat any of that stuff anyway.
3. I’d rather burn the calories through exercise.
4. I can afford to be patient, as my health is good and my body-mass index (BMI) below 25. (25 is considered overweight; 30, obese. Caveat: BMI doesn’t distinguish between muscle weight and fat weight, so a lean, densely muscled man or woman might well be over 25.)
That said, I do sometimes get frustrated with the pace of this process and the length of the plateaus.
I read an article not long ago that put things in perspective, though. The author said she had lost weight and although she hadn’t reached her goal, she hadn’t regained any of the weight over a period of a year. That might not seem significant, but the fact is, the vast majority of people who lose weight through dieting begin regaining it almost immediately. Not regaining is a major victory.
Some small steps that I think have helped me get off the latest plateau:
1. Replacing the coffee cream I used to buy (my one dietary vice: coffee with lots of creamy stuff) with a low-fat version. No, it doesn’t taste as good, but indulging my tastebuds was costing me quite a few calories.
2. Replacing a higher-fat protein shake with a non-fat one. That probably saves me 200 calories a day, as I tend to grab a canned protein drink when I need something to eat but don’t have time to cook a chicken breast.
3. Eating more fruits and vegetables. They’re low in calories, and they satisfy.
Enough navel-gazing for now. Let’s see how long it takes to get the next 3.6 pounds off.
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