Loading ...Daily IssuesAre You Starving Your Muscles?
Feed Your Muscles, Not Your Waistline
Those of us who’ve ever exercised with a trainer or read magazine articles about fitness know about lactic acid. It’s the point in our exercise routine when we’ve “overdone” it and the “dreaded” stuff starts to build up in our muscles. The experts tell us that’s when we feel pain and soreness — especially after our workout —so crossing the lactic acid threshold should be avoided.
Guess what? This is another fallacy that can keep you from building up your heart, lungs and muscles.
Here are a couple of things you need to know. First, lactic acid is not your enemy. While it’s true that lactic acid begins to build up when your anaerobic system kicks in, it’s used as fuel for your muscles when they begin to work hard. Researchers have shown that lactic acid is burned by mitochondria, the energy factories in your cells.
What’s more, lactic acid cannot create the after-workout soreness because it’s rapidly removed as you burn it for fuel. In other words, it’s long gone before you get sore. The soreness you feel is your muscle fibers breaking down, which is exactly what you want. When they grow back, they’ll be stronger and more plentiful.
And along with building new muscle, an anaerobic workout, or what Dr. Al Sears calls a “supra-aerobic workout” will build reserve capacity in your heart and melt away your fat stores.
Here’s what you should do to reach your supra-aerobic level. Exercise at a pace you can’t sustain for more than a short period like pedaling on a bike as fast as you can for 15 seconds. This activity creates an “oxygen debt”. You’re asking your lungs for more oxygen than they can provide. This will cause you to pant and continue to breathe hard even after you’ve stopped the exertion — until you replace the oxygen you’re lacking.
When this occurs, you will have reached your supra-aerobic zone where functional muscle is built, belly fat is lost, and heart disease is even reversed.
But isn’t all muscle functional? Not really….
You Have to Use it or Lose it
If you want real strength that you can use, forget lifting weights. Weight lifting will enlarge your muscles, but it can also create strength, tension and size imbalances, unnatural patterns of movement, and mis-positioned joints. All this can set you up for injuries.
Functional strength on the other hand is what enables you to climb flights of stairs while you’re carrying 4 bags of groceries without injuring yourself. It propels you out of bed in the morning and helps you carry out life’s daily tasks. And as you get older, keeping your functional strength will keep you mobile, independent and out of the nursing home.
So how do you build functional strength?
Ask a Navy Seal
According to Dr. Sears, old-fashioned calisthenics is the best way to build the strength you need for normal daily activities. Believe it or not, calisthenics are at the core of the strength-training program for the Green Berets and Navy Seals. These exercises are highly effective and can be quite challenging. But if you begin slowly and practice consistently, you’ll build your stamina and increase your endurance in the process.
Your lower body is more important for functional strength than your upper body, so when you begin a calisthenics program, start with your legs. Here are three great exercises you can use from Dr. Sears’ PACE® program:
Alternating Lunges — With your hands on your hips, take a step forward with your right leg until your front knee is bent 90 degrees and your back knee almost touches the ground. Push off from your leading foot and return to the starting position. Repeat with your left leg.
Squats — With feet shoulder-width apart, squat as far as possible. Bring your arms forward, parallel to the floor. Return to standing position. Repeat.
Jump Squats — With body crouched, feet together, arms at sides, head straight and level, quickly straighten your legs and jump upward as high as you can. Simultaneously, extend your arms and reach overhead. After landing, quickly return to the original position, without losing your balance. Repeat.
As you build your endurance and start seeing results, you can add upper body and abdominal exercises which will also strengthen your lower back. With a few simple maneuvers, you can exercise multiple muscle groups. Here are just a few of the benefits you’ll see:
- Lower resting blood pressure
- Reduced body fat
- Reduced symptoms of type 2 diabetes
- Increased bone mass
- Less lower back pain
- Improved flexibility
- Improved personal appearance
- Increased muscle strength
I’d say that’s pretty darn good for an exercise program you can do anytime, anywhere with no special equipment — and takes only minutes per day.
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this is so timely!
just when i am trying to figure our how to nibble away at pace and adapt it to my overfilled days without overloading myself (i refuse to do that any more!)–here comes this excellent breakdown of what pace is really all about
(later it will be much easier to go into the entire work w/o so much assimilating and pondering)
as for doing the same thing w/pace which you already just did, i would not be prepared with time or the same background to do the same thing
in other words, i needed more than i could deliver myself from this outstanding program
it is this kind of delivery of understanding and how you arrive at what you pass on to us which makes this website so powerful
in other words, whenever possible, we want to know how you arrived at your position–everyone may not want to know everything, but we have a choice to digest more or less and still benefit from it
if we had health care like this available to us at all levels, we ourselves would know where our own gaps in understanding are–to the point of checking ourselves in and getting it from the source, like Dr. Sears himself or his staff–and gladly paying for it
this, of course, assumes that we would be capable of doing that, too
Entered: October 2nd, 2009 at 9:35 am. PermalinkI agree, Natalie. Well written. Now to get on with it !
Entered: October 2nd, 2009 at 9:42 am. PermalinkOh, yeah. Do lunges and ruin my knees. Don’t think so. Knee bends, and ruin my knees. Don’t think so. Don’t want a knee replace caused by over wear of knee exercicizes. Studies have proved that using the joints in repetitive motions, wear away bone causing need for joint replacements. walking is best. also aerobic exercise has been proven to weaken the heart not strengthen it.
Entered: October 2nd, 2009 at 9:47 am. PermalinkIn addition, lifting weights DO give you more strength. so it is not true that lifting does not give you more strength. gives me strength. gives you strength. no one can prove that is NOT true. But then, I am female, and aged 70, and I lift 10 # weights for the upper body. baby the baby weights give no strength?
Entered: October 2nd, 2009 at 9:49 am. PermalinkHave been running for more than a year on tread mill for 45 t0 50 minutes a day with an average distance covered of 3.6 to 4 km per run n a slop of 4.5 degree. Averaging 5.5 day a week. It doesn’t seem to help in my weight loss. This simple excercise may help. I would like to have trial on this .It seems simple n good. Hope it can help a 60 year old keeping fit.
Entered: October 2nd, 2009 at 10:27 am. PermalinkWell I have studied exercise physiology many years ago.
Of course, then, it was believed, as you say, that lactic acid build-up causes much of the pain … but I can certainly see what you’re getting at here - it does tend to make sense; and I can certainly follow your reasoning: I have no probs with that.
I tend to agree with this more recent notion that a period of sustained flat out exercise would be more beneficial to both - body strangth and muscle tone … and being also somewhat a Kinesiologist, I would agree with your reasoning that body section by body section weights could quite easily cause a degree of imbalance, which in turn, could affect joint alignment and stability. Yes.
Repeated max full body exercise spurts, by reason, does tend to make sense in both, working the heart muscle well and putting sufficient strain on skeletal muscle tissue so as to strengthen and enlarge it.
Entered: October 2nd, 2009 at 5:23 pm. PermalinkIt sounds pretty good to me.
hi there,
Entered: October 2nd, 2009 at 6:38 pm. PermalinkI tried weights some years ago and found it totaly
unatural
The sprints jumps and getting your heart pump faster your lungs work harder is certainly more like nature intended.
Love and Blessings
Annamarie
How about swimming? I do short bursts of energy in the pool, one or two laps, and then rest for a minute or so. Is this a recommended technique?
Entered: October 3rd, 2009 at 2:27 am. PermalinkVery good advice but unfortunately have suffered with ME for many many years and would not be able to do the exercises. My muscles are useless, can`t walk far and forget it on hills or stairs. Pain excruciating!
Entered: October 3rd, 2009 at 12:36 pm. PermalinkAnyone got any advice for someone like me to help flabby weak muscles?
“The soreness you feel is your muscle fibers breaking down, which is exactly what you want. When they grow back, they’ll be stronger and more plentiful.”
What a revelation!
At 63, my body is in terrible shape: arthritis; overweight; bad balance; need a cane to walk most times; shortness of breath when exercising only a few minutes.
A couple of weeks ago I remembered my PACE book, buried in dust on a shelf. It sat there because I didn’t have any way to do intensive exercise without injuring myself.
I’d read that rebounders are a good way to start exercising arthritic joints without injuring yourself further. My sister happened to have one she wasn’t using, so I borrowed it. It has a balance bar to hang on to.
All I do is bounce with feet still in contact with the mat. But… I’d stop and rest when the lower leg pains began, thinking that it hurt my body by pushing on.
Now as I use the rebounder in a “PACE-like” manner, I know what is happening to my body. I won’t stop till the timer goes off.
Thanks so much.
Entered: October 4th, 2009 at 12:00 pm. PermalinkThis article is a valuable tool. Excellent resoutce. A must keep piece of daly knowledge and excerise.
Entered: October 5th, 2009 at 6:04 pm. PermalinkThank you very much for this reminder. Used to do it years ago. I’ve given up
on aerobics. I’m 81.
Lorraine
Entered: October 5th, 2009 at 9:54 pm. PermalinkLorraine: good for you!
I can usually beat anybody’s age in a group; I am almost 84, so it surprises me when someone says “I am 61 and can’t do the” rudiments of Pace.
If you can take one step, then you can take two…. etc.
And Sandra, please do not ruin your knees with lunges; you will know not to do them if it is not right for you.
You adapt Pace to your own needs and preferences. I see Pace as primarily a way of understanding how movement improves our health, with specifics which can easily be implemented by any of us at the level of “one step if that’s all we can do”. Or even none.
Lorraine, You sound as if you may be able to go all the way out of the 80’s and aim for no limits on healthy aging.
Though I see Pace as primary for my health, even more so is Holosync, but now I believe that these two are at opposite ends of the same continuum.
Pace increases production of muscle energy (speeding us up?. Holosync settles us down from our fast-paced Beta activities and calms down our brain and nervous system.
Even if we went no farther than alpha brain waves with Holosync, the empowerment would be worth it–but that is nowhere near its limit. In fact, we don’t know its limits yet.
On the other hand, I sm finding that if I lack the necessary nutrients to sleep, breathe, digest, refuel and move about efficiently–no one other thing can be enough to help me.
So I am acquiring the most needed nutrients right now, and does it every make the difference!
Even my otherwise healthy dog Poocho gets his share and loves it. He may be one of the few well dogs around here, in my opinion, not to mention also the oldest. And we average two dogs per household.
Lorraine, aging is such a unique experience for me that when the word “geriatric” is used in medicine, it says nothing to me at all.
One of the problems of getting older is that we unknowingly bring so much baggage along with us. Then it drags us down faster than we can hold our own: a life-time of accumulated toxins, feelings, habits, our physical and social environments.
Then we “retire” into a whole ‘nother ball game.
We don’t realize the gradual nature of our decline until we come down to point zero. That is where I come from in the last couple of years.
I moved from a point where a friend who was in massage school and used me as her main practice subject said “there is not one place on your body that does not hurt” — to a point where I am pain-free today.
I also believe that we should not have to take pain remedies except for injuries if our bodies get the nutrients they need.
By the way, Melanie, the email from DrBernarr about movement being the top variable in longevity statistically, regardless of any other factors, was intended for your stash in case you do not get his material. It was sent for sharing if useful. (I only scanned it.)
It may say nothing new but looks at information already available by rearranging it a different way–which we need to do also.
Often, when we look at information in a different way–many others are doing the same. It is already creeping into the collective awareness and in one way or another Pace has done this a long time ago.
What I believe is new in the DrBermarr email is his shift of emphasis to the importance of movement as more primary in longevity than fasting, s mostly raw plant-based diet, no supplements (i am quite sure) and the usual emphasis on what I would call a meditative state for every malady: lie down, close your eyes, relax and concentrate on the pain and let the God within you…..heal it? (Not that he excludes exercise.)
I clicked on five stars and it did not register.
Entered: October 6th, 2009 at 2:06 pm. PermalinkI like swimming because it gives you a total workout without stressing the muscles. Ladies, it makes those flabby arms and legs disappear.
Entered: October 8th, 2009 at 12:01 pm. Permalinkyes that is a very informative article.
Entered: October 9th, 2009 at 8:50 am. PermalinkAs a professor of Ayurveda, I feel that the trend of consuming in excess anything that is good also should not be encouraged.
fat in different form also varies in its medicinal values. Butter is heavy to digest while the clarified butter-Ghee though initially may take a little longer time to digest, later improves digestion. ghee also has many medicinal properties like improving the mental functioning, enhancing the bulk of the muscle when consumed judiciously, nourishing the nervous system, good for better functioning of the sensory organ of sight perception.
Above all it is the capability of the individual to digest the fat and assimilate it.
Very good article… a caveat would be that individuals that are not in condition to perform such exercises, should not be performing such exercises; and typically they know who they are, and/or their body tells them.
Baby steps, baby steps… even individuals that are in excellent shape, should start all new excercises in moderation.
One important component that permits success in the area of physical fitness is good nutrition and the right nutrients at the right time. Most problems individuals have begin with nutrition and toxins; this includes joint problems.
This article is “right on”; but just one piece of the complex puzzle.
Entered: October 11th, 2009 at 5:17 pm. PermalinkAfter workout sorenes= muscle fiber breakdown. Is the course of the soreness the breakdown itself or the inflammation.(ODOMS) after the post event?? If short busts of exercise are more efficient at making one more “FIT”, why is it that youngsters that can run 10-12 sec 100 meters can’t last a 5.30 min mile while I an old geek (57yrs) keeps dusting them off? Who is more fit? You suggest that anaerobic training improves fitness. I thought anaerobic metabolism( old school biochemistry) was a very enefficient way of generating energy(ATP). In the future at minimum invoke true science and cite references.
Entered: October 11th, 2009 at 11:53 pm. PermalinkOgutu
This article is worth printing and keeping on my desk to make it my own.
The tips seem small but carry a big impact because they are used ongoing–all the time.
I think of it as a little companion to Pace.
The second part will have to be given a little more time to mull over–even to click on the link.
Entered: October 13th, 2009 at 10:49 am. PermalinkGood information but it is old news to me. I have been using Astragalus for several years now and I have also realised that the human body is designed to heal itself if only it is given the proper nutrients in sufficient amounts and you also stop poisoning it. Go raw or use very little cooked foods and VERY little meat, if any. If you’re worried about getting sufficient protein, just use Chia Seeds and add Bee Pollen and your nutritional profile will be complete without additional frankenfoods destroying your cells.
Entered: October 20th, 2009 at 3:35 pm. PermalinkI enjoy your newsletters very much but something that really bugs me is that any advice or information you tease the reader with usually ends up with costing money to get the report/book.
Entered: October 20th, 2009 at 4:33 pm. PermalinkI know it is to make money but that is what the drug companies do too…want to make money from us. Couldn’t these offers be given at a reduced price for your members?
My sister-in-law is suffering from colon cancer right now and altho she is on Carnivora it would be good to know of something else that would help her. So…what is Fr. Gold’s HZ? Well, I would have to buy the book to find out!
Your intro to Dr. Sear’s presentation is superb–in fact, I can’t think of words to express it–”blows pharma right out of the water”?
Nothing I have to say can add to what you have already said.
Then what follows by Dr. Sears takes my breath away.
It is what I like to call a turning point–it is going to change health care forever–and we cannot have that happen soon enough.
I already feel the difference in my life and in that of my dog Poocho.
I will have to read the comments on this article later because the day is fast getting away from me. I can hardly wait for the reactions of others.
Entered: October 21st, 2009 at 3:47 pm. Permalink