Strength Changes Everything The Exercise Coach

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn more about staying strong as you age...
 
In part 2 of this series with Dr. James Fisher, Brian and James discuss the downsides of cardio and why so many people can’t seem to resist binging after cardio exercise. Learn why cardio is important and useful when done right, and how it can lead to even worse health outcomes if not done properly.
While improving heart health is great, it’s not everyone’s goal when exercising or doing cardio. Weight loss is another major focus and cardio can certainly help accomplish that. When doing cardio and exercising at a low enough intensity we are using our aerobic energy system, and that’s reliant on our fat stores as energy. So it’s easy to think that if you do cardio you will burn fat, but the reality is that anything that raises our energy expenditure and increases our metabolism is beneficial for fat loss. Building muscle is great for maintaining a higher metabolism and burning more fat. With a low-intensity exercise, we see an increase in our stress hormones, as well as a fluctuation in our leptin and ghrelin levels. These are the hormones responsible for hunger and they regulate how our body replenishes and restores calories. When we do higher resistance training we don’t get the same hunger response. The big problem is that going for a long run or bike ride may feel great, but the following hunger response may undo all the work you just did. More movement and more steps in a day is a good place to start, but if you go out and start running, cycling, or swimming you are going to swim against the tide and your body will start to resist your efforts. Increasing muscle mass is about increasing the quality of our body composition, and that itself is increasing our metabolism. If you look at the bigger picture, cardio alone doesn’t lay the foundation for long-term weight loss. Studies generally show that the weight loss that occurs from cardio and a caloric reduction is 50% muscle, which is probably the worst possible outcome, especially as we age. Whereas if we perform resistance training and pay attention to protein intake the weight loss is almost exclusively fat. When people say they want to lose weight, they mean they want to lose fat. We need to do something that allows us to hang on to the muscle we’ve got. Starting with resistance training, and then nutrition, with cardio as a tertiary thought is the best method to achieve fat loss and optimal long term health. If we do what it takes to protect our muscle with proper nutrition and strength training, the weight that we lose leads to a better body composition since fat takes up so much space on the body. Start with resistance training and nutrition, then add cardio if you feel like it. When we think of older adults we think of frailty, despite the fact that they are often lean. The reason they are frail is because they are not carrying a high proportion of muscle mass. If we do resistance training and focus on maintaining as much muscle mass as we can when we age, we are setting ourselves up to be lean and functional as we age instead of merely frail. An epoc is Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption, it’s also known as the afterburn effect. When performing high effort exercise our heart rate is elevated for a time after the exercise is complete but with low-intensity exercise, there is almost no after-effect. The energy expenditure from prolonged low effort exercise is about the same as interval training or resistance training a third of the duration. A 20-minute high-intensity workout has the same energy expenditure as a 1-hour run.  
Link:
exercisecoach.com
 
 
This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condit

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn more about strength training versus traditional cardio...
 
Dr. James Fisher answers the question once and for all, do we really need to do exercises like running, cycling, and swimming to improve our cardio? Find out the truth about cardio exercises and cardiovascular health and why you should get off the treadmill and start doing resistance training right now.
The fundamental question is “What is cardio?” Even people who have seen the results of the 20-minute routines delivered by the Exercise Coach still wonder what place cardio has in physical fitness. Historically people have perceived exercise to be going for a run or what we think of as traditional cardio. Usually this takes the form of long duration and low intensity and focuses on aerobic energy production. The accepted wisdom is that cardio is just activities like running and cycling, but the truth is that any activity can become cardio exercise if done at the correct intensity. Cardio also raises the idea that we need to perform prolonged exercise to get the result, but that’s not necessarily the case. The trouble is that duration doesn’t necessarily translate to improved fitness. Someone going for a 4-hour walk isn’t going to see the results they would see from an activity with a higher intensity level. Cardio activities like running, cycling, or swimming improve our heart health because of the sustained elevation of the heart rate. While that’s true and that process also makes the heart and muscles more efficient, but it’s really the act of having the heart rate elevated for an extended period of time that brings those results and it’s not reserved for traditional cardio exercises. It is possible to be fit while still having an unhealthy heart due to lifestyle choices. Studies have shown that it is better to be fit and fat, than unfit. People who are overweight and exercise have better health outcomes than people with a normal Body Mass Index who don’t exercise at all. Exercises that we perform that are a high enough intensity and frequency can more than counteract any of the other lifestyle risk factors. There is growing evidence that shows that effective exercise alone and improving fitness is powerfully prophylactic in terms of health and longevity. Even if you no longer see visible fitness increases from your exercise, you are still catalysing positive changes at a cellular level and prolonging and improving the quality of your life. Traditional cardio exercises are not necessary to become healthy. Strength training exercises have similar results to traditional cardio training with similar cardiovascular health benefits. It also comes with less risk of chronic joint pain. Don’t feel tied to an exercise modality. Studies have shown that people have seen increases in cardiovascular health and efficiency with only a simple 12-week strength training program. Resistance training is the superior choice because, in addition to the cardiovascular benefits, you also improve strength, bone density, and muscle mass. Improved muscle quality is a jackpot outcome because it has a ripple effect that leads to all of the systems of the body getting better when we optimize the health of our muscles.  
Link:
exercisecoach.com
 
 
This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to a

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn more about how this smart workout program can work for anyone!
 
Brian and Amy discuss the cutting edge technology that powers the Exercise Coach and makes it possible to deliver the world’s smartest 20-minute workout. Learn the secret to maximizing fitness results in the shortest time possible and how the Exerbotics technology makes exercise more fun and effective, while being more efficient at the same time.
There are three things that make the workouts stand out at the Exercise Coach: the workouts are based on the best science, use the best technology, and are delivered by a network of professionals. “The best science” refers to the current understanding of strength, based on research that has demonstrated strength and muscle mass are the primary biomarkers for aging. Losing strength and muscle mass due to aging leads to experiencing the diseases of aging and metabolic decline. Science-based strength training can reverse decades of muscle loss in just a few short months. Focusing on exercises that build muscle contributes to a long, active, and healthy life. Exerbotics is the cutting-edge technology that powers the signature program that Exercise Coach offers. Exerbotics quantifies exercise and helps people understand the exercise that really matters. It also customizes exercise and adapts to any body, making it just right for every fitness level. It also optimizes results in the shortest amount of time and is really the foundation for the 20-minute workout. When someone becomes an Exercise Coach client, their first step is an assessment of their strength levels. This becomes the base for the exercise program and Exerbotics continues to measure and calibrate the effort they put out during exercise. Measuring effort is what matters the most since the current science of strength shows that whole effort is what triggers the results we want to get from exercise. Since the system adapts to the person, it becomes possible for anyone to do. With Exerbotics, the Exercise Coach can provide clients with extremely tailored exercise prescriptions. This ability-based approach makes the program challenging enough to get results, yet is something anybody can handle. Maximizing results while minimizing the time required wouldn't be possible without Exerbotics. There are three possible modes of resistance training: isotonic, isometric, and accommodating resistance. Accommodating resistance is the opposite of isotonic resistance, Exerbotic software controls the speed of the movement so that the muscle loading can adjust in real time through the exercise. An individual’s strength isn’t static and fluctuates throughout an exercise. It varies during a movement as the angles of your joints change. With conventional resistance we run into sticking points and the exercise needs to be tailored to the weakest point in the movement, which prevents the muscles from being fully engaged. Accommodating resistance makes it easier to deeply fatigue muscles in a much shorter time. Exerbotics delivers effective eccentric muscle loading as a part of every exercise that someone does. Strength varies during eccentric and concentric movements as well, which means that people can miss out on powerful muscle benefits when using conventional strength training. Strength varies as muscles fatigue, and conventional resistance doesn’t accommodate this change and limits how efficiently we can deeply fatigue our muscles. Exerbotics also makes exercise safer. The Exercise Coach has run millions of exercise sets with people who have run the gamut of physical fitness. Exerbotics controls the load with real time feedback based on the exerciser. The digital biofeedback makes it easier to see what you need to do in terms of effort, and this makes it easier to dig deeper than you thought you could in order to work the muscle groups that you’re trying to work. Real time feedback is a gamechanger for motiva

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn more about quality over quantity!
 
Learn about why systemic inflammation is known as the silent killer, why inflammation creates a vicious cycle that very few people escape as they get older, and how you can be one of the few who do. Brian Cygan and Amy Hudson reveal why muscle quality matters more than movement quantity and how strength training for 20 minutes at a time will transform your life, no matter how old you are.
Muscle quality matters more than movement quantity. Standard workouts and guidelines in fitness are responsible for more than 85% of people getting frustrated and staying on the sidelines. The Exercise Coach is maniacal about getting people off the sidelines and getting them results in a fraction of the time. Science shows that the ideal form of exercise is strength training, which is safe, efficient, and focused on whole body results. James Timmins, a researcher from the UK, has made the point that no long-term study demonstrates that an inactive individual will become healthier simply by becoming more active. On the contrary, brief, whole effort exercise has been shown to improve outcomes. Whole effort exercise is work that completely fatigues a muscle group in anywhere from 40 to 120 seconds of work instead of hours. Research supports the finding that time and distance are irrelevant exercise metrics. Enhanced muscle tissue and the process that brings about this adaptation is really the key to driving positive fitness and wellness outcomes, not the time you devote to activity. It’s not about spending more time exercising, it’s about applying the guide of work that generates the adaptation, which can be done in a very short period of time. It takes about 20 minutes to get a total body effect. For people who want to lose weight, strength training is still the best bet. A study showed that a simple high intensity protocol amounting to 15 minutes of work each week substantially improved insulin sensitivity. This sensitivity is central to controlling weight. Insulin is a hormone that primarily tells cells in the body to store energy as body fat. The higher the levels of insulin in your body the stronger the signal is to store body fat. Starting at the age of 30 as we begin to experience age-related muscle loss, our muscles become more resistant to insulin. As this cycle worsens with age, the problem only becomes exacerbated and measuring insulin sensitivity is a key indicator for health. Making your muscles more sensitive to insulin is the most important thing you can do to put your body in the hormonal state necessary to lose body fat. Exercise that develops your muscle tissue is the most effective way to do that. Focus on muscle strength and muscle health for hormonal results, instead of the traditional cardio regime. The other issue the majority of people deal with is inflammation, also known as the secret killer. Inflammation is seen as the root of a number of other ailments. Muscle quality has also been shown to positively impact systemic inflammation. Systemic inflammation is more than what happens when you sprain your ankle. Local inflammation is what happens when you get hurt, systemic inflammation is something that you can’t see and exists in every cell in your body.  
Links:
exercisecoach.com
 
Extremely short duration high intensity interval training substantially improves insulin action in young healthy males - https://bmcendocrdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6823-9-3
 
Strength training improves muscle quality and insulin sensitivity in Hispanic older adults with type 2 diabetes - https://www.medsci.org/v04p0019.htm
 
 
This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical con

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn more about starting and sticking with the right exercise program!
 
Brian and Amy dig into the top five reasons why people can’t begin or stick with the average fitness program and why those barriers don’t exist over at the Exercise Coach. Learn what’s holding you back from making strength training a regular part of your life and why the Exercise Coach paradigm may be right for you no matter how old you are or what fitness level you bring to the table.
Nearly 85% of the population is not engaging in meaning and regular exercise. Conventional exercise guidelines have failed for most people. Some of the main obstacles preventing people from doing what they need to do are having the time and being concerned with safety. Many people live with some sort of pain so they want to avoid exercise that they believe will exacerbate their condition, this is especially true for people over the age of 40. Roughly 1 in 2 adults are afflicted by a musculoskeletal condition and when it comes to conventional fitness it may not be a good option for those people. The Exercise Coach approach takes this into account and tailors the exercise to the person’s unique situation. Meeting people where they are is the core of the Exercise Coach and without that first step, they may never make fitness a part of their life. The top 5 reasons that people don’t start or stick with exercising begin with not having enough time. 42% of people say they don’t have enough time, the next biggest reason is a lack of motivation. A lack of motivation is understandable when you consider why someone would want to pursue the traditional exercise path that hasn’t given them the results they want. The third biggest reason is that some people just don’t like exercise. For many clients of the Exercise Coach, this belief is often flipped on its head as people achieve results and transform their bodies. The fourth biggest reason is work getting in the way. Committing to multiple hours a week to a fitness program can be daunting, which is why the Exercise Coach approach is so revolutionary. The fifth most common reason for people avoiding exercise is that they “feel” too old. 41 is the average that most Americans feel too old to exercise. Some people even believe that they need to get in shape before working out. The irony of not feeling like you belong in an exercise facility is that the older you get the more important exercise and strength training becomes for your longevity. 63% of people believe that their habit of not exercising enough will shorten their lifespan. People know they need to exercise and by not doing anything, they are adding to their stress and shame. Almost everyone can identify with one of those barriers, even if you enjoy exercise you can probably see people in your life that fall into those categories. Fitness hasn’t done much to remove those barriers over the past five decades but the Exercise Coach is working to make fitness available to everybody. The data and tracking that Exercise Coach provides to its clients is crucial to their success. Seeing progress is a huge component of maintaining motivation. Not seeing results fast enough can be very demotivating and this prevents people from sticking with an exercise program. This is why having a guide and coach to help you reach those results is so important. A bad experience exercising or an increase in pain can also be an obstacle that prevents people from staying with their program. You will be hard-pressed to find another business that cares more about your fitness results than Exercise Coach. Compare exercising to brushing your teeth. Exercising is a healthy long-term habit that changes your health trajectory for the better. Amy plays a client testimonial from Brenda and how the Exercise Coach completely changed her mindset around exercise and how the program overcame her obstacles. In terms of the fitness industry, the E

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn more about our optimal exercise program...
 
Brian and Amy break down some of the most common misconceptions around exercise and reveal how Exercise Coach clients are getting maximal results from only a couple 20-minute workouts each week. Learn the three most important aspects of exercise and why you need to think about exercise completely differently if you want to achieve the health and fitness results you want.
The manner in which we exercise really matters because what’s at stake is significant. Exercise is a strategy that people can use to improve their quality of life, so how you go about doing it matters. Many people avoid the gym because they are worried about getting hurt. This makes sticking with an exercise program especially challenging, which is where the Exercise Coach comes in. Effective personal strength training fundamentally changes what’s required to get the results people want from exercise. It changes every system of the body for the better. There are a lot of different ways to exercise, but at the Exercise Coach they’ve found that the evidence shows the superior method to be strength training. Exercise is a means to an end, not an end in itself. We need to think about what results we are trying to achieve and tailor the exercise to bring about those changes. You can exercise for health, fitness, or sports performance and they each have some overlap but are different ways to get the results you are trying to achieve. It’s important to understand what you are trying to do during a workout. Counting reps or total time moving aren’t very helpful. The real point of exercise is actually to stimulate the body’s natural ability to adapt to stress. When we exercise, there is an exercise effect that takes place which is often confused for the results of training. The results that we actually seek from exercise are adaptations produced by our bodies in response to the challenge of exercise. If we don’t exercise the way that’s appropriate for our goal, we may put in a lot of work and still not get the results that we want. The optimal exercise approach focuses on safety, effectiveness, and efficiency. This is the best way to compare the different approaches and figure out what’s appropriate for you. Exercise is nothing more than a stressor and only serves as a stimulus if it is sufficiently intense. We become stronger and fitter if the stressor is enough to force an adaptation. The stressor doesn’t produce the result, the body does when you give it the rest and nutrition it needs to accomplish that. The average amount of time it takes for your body to recover and become stronger is a couple of days which is why the Exercise Coach employs intense periods of exercise a couple of times a week. The frequency that we need to perform high intensity exercise is less when the intensity itself is higher. Muscle is the window to the rest of the body. Growing stronger makes the rest of your body more effective as well. The Exercise Coach approach is to get the maximal results in the shortest length of time. There is an inverse relationship between intensity and duration of exercise. The level of intensity required to create adaptations is high but doesn’t require much time. Studies have shown that a single set of exercises at the right level of intensity is more effective than multiple sets. Exercising intensely for 20 minutes is sufficient to achieve results. The conventional wisdom of needing to exercise more doesn’t bear out. Why not spend as little time as possible to get the best results you are looking for? Optimizing exercise allows you to enjoy more of the good things in life. Safety is essential for exercise. Many exercises can be fun but if the focus is on results, it’s better to avoid the risk. The biggest key to making exercise safe is being in control of the forces that are applied to the body. The key to reducing force in streng