Fitness and Fasting

By Mujuthaba

I hope that this article finds you in great health and fitness during this Ramadan. Ramadan is the month of religious fasting, or in other words abstinence from food during daytime. It is during this period where a number of complications occur in our lifestyle; spiritually, physiologically and psychologically. It is this physiological aspects that I would like to explain in terms of maintaining physical fitness during Ramadan.

Biological Change

Our bodies are sensitive to the surroundings as well as to its functions influenced by chronological fluctuations. One such example is the drowsiness and sleepiness we feel via hormonal changes in the absence of sunlight. Hence our bodies are used to normal sequential events that we expose to it daily. This is also called the biological clock. For the human body, fasting is not a normal event; after the body is used to daily meals of 4 or 5. What do these biological effects have on our physiology and training?

Do we lose weight?

Chronobiological effects aren’t the only changes the body struggles to settle while we start the month of fasting. Let’s ask the big question; does it help us lose weight? Answer: of course it does but with twists. If we do a lot of low intensity walking (without going for glucose as the fuel for the activity) we would be burning our body fat. When we fast, our body start to lack so much carbohydrate that it runs on fat (mostly), which is also used to feed the brain in another form.

Training and sports

So is low intensity better than high intensity training when fasting? Yes, if you are trying to lose fat, and that’s the only reason you would want to lose weight. Submaximal exercise is preferred while fasting. If maximal exercises are taken up, the body loses so much glycogen and blood glucose that our brain starves. This lack of blood glucose brings us to limits over our temper and judgment. Drowsiness and clumsiness are also due to the lack of blood glucose. This decrease in blood glucose decreases our sporting performance as there was a decrease in our as psychomotor performance, or coordination between the body and brain.

Effects on chronically ill

Fasting increases stress hormones, which also mobilizes the glycogen stores in the muscles. Some studies found an increase in LDL (the bad cholesterol) while a decrease in HDL (good cholesterol), corresponding an increased risk for those with chronic cardiovascular diseases. Although there are other contradicting studies, which claim otherwise. For diabetics, it is quite important to take the early morning meal (‘haaru’) before fasting inorder to maintain their blood sugar. Otherwise there is a likelihood of them going into hypoglycemic state later during the day.

Diet

Breaking the fast is the tricky part. You cannot expect to have a low intensity walk during the day and burn your excess fat if your diet is filled with so much saturated fat. Well, for most of us, our meal during the breaking of fast is excess in saturated fatty food; this unfortunately won’t help and will likely reverse the effect of weight-loss. It is best to choose a lighter meal with high protein, moderate carbs and low fat with a large portion of vegetables and fruit. Try and stick with the meal later (‘Tharaaveeh’), after the intense workout. That meal should be light and specific for your training.

I hope this article was helpful to you to go along with your fasting period with a healthier and fitter mind. If you are on a competitive sport fighting for a trophy, the trick is to take a good high carb meal during early breakfast (‘Haaru’) and hopefully burn them effectively. Take good care of your mind and body and stay fit.

Six Fixes for a Six Pack Abs

By: Mujuthaba

Weight-loss and a perfect six pack don’t come easy. It takes dedication and a good reason to motivate oneself. I have decided to put up these six fixes based on my exercise science knowledge and personal experience. Hope this helps in achieving your six-pack goal.

1- Diet Diet Diet
Yep. If you pursue a dream of weight-loss and flashing your six-packs, diet is the most important factor. Then exercise would account for just 30% of your program. Exercise and diet work hand in hand. Following a good strict diet is the hardest thing for people to abide. It cannot be achieved unless you are ready to change your lifestyle. Unless you are ready to do this, I can assure you, you CANNOT lose weight.

My Advice: Get advice from a dietician if you are dead serious. They can help you with the haves and not haves from our local foods. Make the dietary change gradually not immediately.


2- Ab exercises???
No. If your wish is to scrape off the flab on your abs, crunches and sit-ups barely help. Ab exercises only help to strengthen the muscles of the abdomen, but won’t help to get rid of the fat that hides them.

My Advice: Jog, bike, swim or row at low intensity for over thirty minutes four times a week. Don’t stop those ab exercises; just mix them to the cardio workout instead.


3- Fat not muscle
I want you to lose fat and not muscle. Weight training is the way to do this. Ladies, you will not look like musculature monsters, but you will just have toned up body. The better muscle mass, the more fat you burn. The more fat you burn the quicker your six pack will show. You should not lose the muscle, they are important for the body unlike the excess fat.

My Advice: Try adding weight training sessions into your training program. Do it three times a week.


4- Expecting Results overnight
I have repeated this over and over in my blog. If you expect to see results over-night, you will end up very disappointed. If you take up a good training program and a good diet, results gradually start showing at around the first month. Before that, good things start happening inside your body, such as increase your heart size, blood volume, lung capacity and density of blood capillaries. It just takes a while for it to show on the outside.

My Advice: For the best results give your body about twelve weeks or three months. Pick a date and make this your goal date.


5-Motivation is the key
Throughout my fitness career, I have seen a number of people start training to lose weight, but just can’t keep on going. To start training, most people have a motivating factor or a goal. Once that factor is gone, so is the intention of the healthy active lifestyle.

My Advice: If your goal is to get a six-pack, remain focused and be positive. Make short-term goals to achieve your major goal. Do not get distracted by other factors.


6-Maintaining
Too often people who lose weight gain the kilos back on. It is known that among obese individuals only about three to five out of a hundred maintain their weight long-term. The rest jump on the inactivity wagon and gain the flab again. Losing weight is hard and maintaining the lost weight is harder.

My Advice: When you get your six-pack, keep on training, even if it is once a week. It is best to have competitive and consistent training partner or a group.

What Are We Made For?

By: Mujuthaba

One of the major indicators of what a training outcome is the type of skeletal muscles a body is made of. The skeletal muscles of the human body are made of two types of muscle fibers. They are categorically known as Type-I and Type-II fibers or slow twitch and fast twitch fiber respectively.

The Type-II fibers have two subtypes; Type-IIx and Type-IIa. Earlier Type-IIx was referred to Type-IIb. This specific type contains the fastest twitch characteristic of any muscle fiber and was initially discovered in animals as Type-IIb. This discovery lead to the fastest human skeletal fiber also to be referred as Type-IIb. Although, recent day laboratory studies showed the fastest human skeletal muscle fiber is Type-IIx rather than Type-IIb, which is also similar to rodents.

The distribution of the two types of muscle fibers is congenital. Humans skeletal muscles either have a higher percentage of Type-I or Type-II muscle fibers. An individual built of predominantly Type-I muscle fibers can perform well in low intensity long duration activities, such as long distance running. An individual with more Type-II muscle fibers is suited for high intensity short burst activities. Physiologically, Type-I fibers are much darker (red) in color due to a high capillary density compared to Type-II fibers.

Individuals with predominantly Type-I muscle fibers are usually lean (as in marathon runners). This is due to the small size of the Type-I muscle fibers, and its slow and ineffective adaptation to hypertrophy (increase in muscle size) training.

In contrast, Type-II individuals are quite bulky (as in sprinters). This increased size is due to the larger diameter of Type-II muscle fibers. Hence it will be much easier for individuals containing predominantly Type-II muscle fibers to build muscles and would be assumed to have a promising career as a body builder.

So how do we know what type of muscle fiber dominates our skeletal muscles? If you are a frequent exerciser, you would have an idea of what you are made of. You can either run for a longer duration or either you can do short burst sprints much better than the other. It is impossible for a 100m sprinter to compete with a marathon runner and vice versa. The other easiest way is to test both types of training modes and compare the outcome.

The most accurate way of indicating the composition of skeletal muscle is through muscle biopsies. This is a surgical procedure where a bit of the muscle is torn by a specialized needle inserted into a muscle group. This procedure is done in laboratory settings to conduct studies and on professional athletes, and is not pleasant.

Concluding the types of activity or sport that are best suited for you is not rocket science. The chance is that you already know what your skeletal muscle fibers are composed of, i.e. you know what you are good at. Just follow your instinct and your trainer on it.

DETERMINATION is Motivation for Training

By: Mujuthaba

Everyone wants to look good and be healthy. Some care about what they eat and their lifestyle is maintained in such a way. When I started training clients a couple of months ago (most of them weight-loss clients), I told them I won’t be training them unless they are determined to change their lifestyle. I found that the hardest thing is to keep them motivated into training. Although, for most of us, there are times when there won’t be a trainer present, to push you to the limit or to motivate.

A lot of times, determination for a set out goal get people to dust-off their tennis shoes and start cranking on weights. Determination can be a very important driving force for training. Someone who is determined to lose weight cannot be stopped until that goal is reached. Someone who is determined to get bigger muscles cannot be stopped until he can attain his goal weight. Although a huge percentage of initially determined people bail out of training in about six plus months. Why?

The de-motivating factor in most people is the slow resulting changes that take place in the human body. There is no way a body would change over-night. With careful training, it would take around 12-16 weeks to see a desired outcome. This is a fact that exercisers should face and a fact that trainers should educate clients about. Once changes start showing off, there is no stopping. Patience is a crucial component for exercisers who wants to reach a specific goal.

There are a lot of other factors, one such is the diet. An exercisers diet is extremely important. Diet is a major contributor to the run-up in gaining muscle or losing fat. For me, if someone needs to lose weight, their concentration should be on 70% diet and the rest on training. No matter how much you train to lose fat or gain muscle, if a special dietary change isn’t implemented, you won’t see any desired outcome from training.

Rest and sleep are other factors that an exerciser needs to be careful about. The body needs a good continuous 8-hour sleep for recovery. Sleep is the time when most of the repairing in the body takes place. Formation of new blood capillaries and increased immune function are all achieved during this very important phase.

I have seen a lot of determined people train to their limits. A tired body’s mind will advice it to stop. Although a body which is determined to push through that tiredness is the one that will make a difference. A body can go much further than what you would expect. Only a determined person can push the body to that extreme and when you’ve done the unexpected, you will feel on top of the world.

Remember, if there is no determination in training, there will be no motivation in training hence no results.

Difference in Muscular FITNESS, ENDURANCE and STRENGTH

By: Mujuthaba

It is necessary for a trainer to understand the basic functions of muscles. We all know that the combination of muscles and skeletons primarily bring movement to the body. Hence, muscular functions and capabilities should be known by the trainer.

I have come across a lot of people who confuse the terms muscular fitness, endurance and strength. When I translate these terms to Dhivehi, fitness is ‘hashiheyokan’, endurance is ‘bunvaru’ and strength is ‘baaru’. So obviously classification of the three terms should be different.

Catching up on the definitions might shed some light on classifying them. Muscular fitness is the collective term for muscular endurance and strength. They are the main functional definitions of the muscle. In which case, if you intend to test someone’s muscular fitness, s/he should be tested collectively for both muscular endurance and strength. Muscular fitness is also a component of the health-related physical fitness.

Muscular endurance is defined as the ability of a muscle group to continuously contract until it fatigues. In order to determine muscular endurance the muscle should repeatedly contract without rest. Examples are jogging, walking or running, where the muscles repeatedly contract to keep the body moving. To test someone for their muscular endurance, a one-minute push-ups test is usually conducted. The subject needs to perform the push-ups repeatedly without stopping. If the subject stops to rest, the test is terminated and the numbers of push-ups conducted are recorded.

Muscular strength on the other hand is known as the maximum force that can be generated by a muscle or muscle group. If the muscle contracts continuously (i.e. more than once), the determinant of muscular strength is lost. Strength test is usually done on a bench press, where maximal lift is conducted (1-RM test). Other modes of conducting muscular strength include the grip test and predicted 1-RM tests (for special populations and novice individuals).

I hope that this article has helped you understand and classify the difference between muscular strength, endurance and fitness. Make sure that if you are conducting a fitness test, you are able to differentiate if it is a strength or an endurance test. If unsure, just refer to it as one of the muscular fitness tests, although you need to know the difference.

BMI: Divides All, Except What it’s Supposed To Divide

By: Mujuthaba

How do I lose my weight? This is a question that is bombarded constantly towards people working in the fitness field. Don’t get me wrong, but this article is not on methods to lose weight. I just want to shed some light on the way of measuring one’s own ‘weight’. The most common of them all is Body Mass Index, or BMI.

What are we really talking about when we talk about gaining ‘weight’ and losing ‘weight’? In layman terms, ‘weight’ is the numerical value which you would see when you stand on a scale. If your ‘weight’ has increased, it’s a bad sign. Well, for some at least. If you turn out to be a body builder, gaining ‘weight’ would bring a smile to the face. In the fitness arena, ‘weight’ loss is the term used for fat loss. ‘Weight’ gain is the term referred to increase in lean body mass or bone and muscle mass.

So, what does BMI measure? This is a very popular measurement used to categorize people into being under-weight, normal, over-weight or classes of obesity. This is used by schools and various commercial businesses and even in the fitness industry. BMI is used to assess weight in relation to height of a person. It is calculated by dividing a persons’ weight in kilograms by height in meters squared (Weight-kg/height-m²). A BMI value less than 18.5 puts a person as underweight, a value between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered to be normal. An over-weight person would have a BMI between 25 and 29.9. Individuals with a BMI beyond 30 are classed under the three classes of obesity.

BMI is a method of measuring body composition, or the measurement of fat and fat-free mass of a body. Although, BMI neither measure a person’s body fat nor does it measure a person’s fat-free mass. I will give you an example. A body builder weighing 80kg with a height of 5’9” (1.75m) would be classified as being over-weight with a BMI of 26.1kg.m^-1. This is similar in cases where the person is of a large body stature. BMI itself doesn’t differentiate between fat and fat-free mass. How would you feel, when you train day and night, pick on the most careful diet for months, still end up being categorized as being over-weight or obese? That’s what BMI does in a number of cases.

BMI may not differentiate between fat or lean mass, but a higher or lower BMI than the normal value, is in fact associated with hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, coronary diseases and mortality rate. Although, these diseases are not associated with increased muscle mass, but rather associated with body fat increase. Trainers should be careful when measuring BMI to assess risk factors, as it may not apply to the population as a whole.

A number of fitness and medical practitioners are wary of what BMI interprets. The prevalence of this measurement has divided a number of practitioners, especially as it is used to classify pupils in schools, which affect some children psychologically. For me personally, a measurement should give valid results, in the case of BMI, an idea of fat mass of a body would be considered valid.

Bibliography:

ACSM (2006) ACSM’s Guidelines for exercise testing and prescription (7^th Ed.) Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, New York

ACSM (2005) ACSM’s Health-related physical fitness assessment manual. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, New York

The Repetition Maximum (RM)

By: Mujuthaba

A repetition maximum is the maximum load an individual can lift, with proper technique, for a certain number of times without assistance. The most widely used repetition maximum is the one-repetition maximum, or the 1RM. A repetition is the number of times an individual can lift a load without taking a rest. In this case 1RM would be the maximum load an individual can lift with proper technique without assistance.

If an individual can do 10 repetitions of Squats with 80kg, that individual’s 10RM of Squats is 80kg (written as 10RM@80kg). If the client can perform one more repetition (11 repetitions) with 80kg, the client’s 10RM wouldn’t be 80kg. In this case the 10RM would be more than that.

The load and repetition are always inversely related. This means is that as the load goes up, the repetitions performed will be low. If the load goes down, more repetitions can be performed. Load, in terms of exercise, is described as percentage of one-repetition maximum (%1RM), or by the percentage of an individual’s maximum lift. This description of load (1RM) is used in prescribing exercises, which differ in %1RM according to individual goals.

For example, if an athlete wants to be trained for size (hypertrophy), the athlete would be using loads of 70-80% of their 1RM as opposed to an athlete working for endurance. An endurance athlete would need to work at 20-30% of their 1RM. In these both cases, they would be adjusting their repetitions automatically to the load. 80% of 1RM would be capable of about 8 repetitions, while 30% of 1RM would give a repetition count above 15.

In this case, it is extremely important for someone, especially for beginners, to test their 1RM. This would be crucial in helping a client reach specific goals as the load would be monitored as part of the exercise testing. One-repetition maximum test should be conducted under the watchful eye of a PT familiar at conducting 1RM tests. If you are in training currently, try testing your 1RM twice or thrice a week, you maybe surprised at your training progress.