03-21-2007, 08:19 AM
|
|
|
More Myths about Aerobic Exercise and Diet
| More Myths of Aerobic Exercise and Weigh Controll | Ok Here they are, some more myths for you myth busters. I hope that you enjoy this information. My Goal is to help everyone I can have a better understanding of Fitness and diet. Live long and healthy lives. But put God first he will be your ROCK!
Myth: You can burn fat from specific regions of the body by exercising those areas.
Fact: Contrary to what anyone may want you to believe, the phenomenon of "spot reduction" has absolutely no factual basis. When you exercise, you utilize energy produced by metabolizing fat from all the regions of your body - not just the specific muscles involved in the exercise. Performing sit-ups, for example, will not trim the fat off your abdominal region any more rapidly than off your buttocks or thighs. The exercise may firm up the area but will not make it disappear.
Myth: Eating too many dairy products causes cellulite or "cottage cheese" on the thighs.
Fact: The activity of the fat-promoting enzyme lipoprotein lipase is very high in the thighs and hips of women, resulting in a higher percentage of fat deposition in these areas. Women actually need these stores to prepare for pregnancy and lactation. In addition, the dimpling that is associated with cellulite is due to the deposit of fat and fibrous tissue. While an increase in overall body fat does play a role, it is also due to genetics. Deep massaging every night to break up the deposits of fat and fibrous tissue can help to temporarily decrease the appearance of the dimpling. The skin consists of two main layers, the outer epidermis and the inner dermis. Below the dermis lies the subcutaneous layer, which attaches the skin to the underlying tissues. This layer consists of loose connective tissue and a lot of adipose (fat) tissue. The dermis consists of dense connective tissue composed mainly of collagen fibers. Collagen is responsible for the mechanical strength of skin. Imagine the epidermis as a pair of pantihose. Now imagine a pair of support pantihose as the layer of a normal dermis. Imagine fishnets as a layer of the dermis of an individual with cellulite. If you were to take a gallon of cottage cheese (likened to the subcutaneous fat layer) and use the pantihose (likened to the epidermis) and support pantihose (likened to the dermis) to tightly wrap the cottage cheese, you would have a relatively smooth surface. This would be the example of normal skin. But if you took this same example and wrapped the cottage cheese (example of subcutaneous layer) with the pantihose (epidermis) and the fishnets (likened to the dermis of an individual with cellulite) the result would be a dimpling effect of some of the cottage cheese pushing through the openings of the fishnets and being trapped under the regular panty-hose. This would be an example of the skin of an individual with cellulite. Individuals who have cellulite have a dermis layer that has areas of less density, which results in the appearance of the dimpling. Regardless, you can still decrease the fat in your thighs and hips through a comprehensive, rational, and personalized nutritional and exercise program coupled with consistent and diligent work as recommended by the ISSA.
Myth: Muscles will turn to fat when you stop exercising regularly.
Fact: Muscles cannot turn to fat. Muscle and fat (adipose) are two separate and distinct tissues. They simply do not have the physical capability to change from one type of tissue to another. In reality, muscles have the unique property of "use it or lose it." If you do not use a muscle, it will literally waste away (atrophy). This process is perhaps best illustrated when someone has to wear a cast on a broken leg. When the cast is eventually removed, the relatively unused leg muscles are considerably smaller than they were prior to the injury. If muscle could turn into fat, you should see a veritable "fat ball" when you take the cast off of an injured limb, not a significantly atrophied set of leg muscles. Myth: Performing aerobic exercise at a low rather than a high intensity promotes a greater loss of body fat.
Fact: It is true that the lower the intensity level at which you exercise, the more the body prefers to use fats rather than carbohydrates as fuel. The major factor that determines the role of fat as a substrate during exercise is its availability to the muscle cell. In order to be metabolized, body fat (triglycerides) must be degraded into three molecules of free fatty acids and one molecule of glycerol. This splitting allows the free fatty acids to be converted to acetyl-CoA and enter the Krebs cycle. Hence, if fat is not available to the muscle cell then it can not be metabolized. Fat can only be metabolized via Krebs cycle oxidation. It is essential to recognize that a reduction in Krebs cycle intermediates: (whether it is the result of (1) low-carbohydrate diets, (2) no-carbohydrate diets, or (3) excessive prolonged aerobic sessions) results in a diminished rate of ATP production from fat metabolism. When carbohydrate stores are depleted in the body, the rate at which fat is metabolized is reduced. Carbohydrates are therefore essential in the ability to metabolize fat. It is only the free fatty acids that are metabolized via the Krebs cycle that are used in ATP production, which go toward reducing body fat levels. Unfortunately, this physiological actuality has led many individuals to mistakenly believe that because the body utilizes a greater percentage of fat as fuel during aerobic exercise at a relatively low level of intensity, such exercise is more effective for fat loss than high-intensity exercise. These individuals ignore two very important facts. First, the absolute amount of fat calories burned during high-intensity exercise tends to be equal to or greater than the number burned during low-intensity exercise, even though the percentage of calories burned from fat is higher during low-intensity exercise. Second, when you eat, you replenish both carbohydrates and fats. As soon as an excess of calories (from either fats or carbohydrates) exists, your body will begin to store them as fat. Once you eat after exercising (including exercise that burns more fat than carbohydrates), you will rapidly replenish any of your carbohydrate stores you may have used up. Once they are replenished, your body will begin to store the rest of your caloric intake as fat. The net result is that your body's fat stores will be virtually unchanged. The critical point is that low-intensity aerobic exercise does not (by itself) alter the body's overall energy balance. Keep in mind that you lose weight and body fat when you expend more calories than you consume, not because you burn fat (or anything else) when you exercise. By the same token, all other factors considered, the most positive feature of low-intensity aerobic exercise is that it is relatively well-tolerated (orthopedically) by most individuals.
| ..
|
|
Similar Threads
Latest Threads
Threaded Mode
