1 Minute, 1 Mile

Image Found on Pixabay done by alan9187

     Running. “It’s healthy.” “It’s good for you.” “It’s not so bad once you get used to it.” These make it sound like liver. Then again, some people like liver. We know that running is an excellent exercise. We also know that, due to our increasing use of technology, we have become less active.

     I can hear you now, “What do you mean ‘we’? Do you have a mouse in your pocket?” No, I do not have a mouse, there are a heap of medical and health statistics. According to the CDC, going back as far as 1991, people ranging in age from 18 and up were found to be more and more sedentary. At a rate of 58%, people have been moving less. It has only gotten worse.

     What are we going to do? Busy schedules that are packed full. Commuting times that are unbearable. Meetings with school administrators and teachers. What can we do?

     1 minute of running per day. Really. 1 minute of running per day. According to the researchers at the University of Leicester who studied data from a variety of sources on more than 2,500 women, just one minute of running a day was beneficial. The researchers used information from the UK Biobank and the University of Exeter. Researchers found that one to two minutes of moderate to high intensity aerobic activity like running was bringing about positive results. The results showed a 4& to 6% increase in bone density and an overall improvement in bone health.

     Let’s consider what the risks of a sedentary lifestyle and benefits running just one minute a day look like:

Health Effects of Sedentary Lifestyle 

     Caloric expenditure and health outcomes 

     Contribute to anxiety and depression

     Increased risk for cardiovascular diseases

     Increased obesity

     Decreased musculature

     High cholesterol

     Increased risk of diabetes

     Increased risk of cancer

     Increased risk of stroke

Benefits of fast, short runs

     Improve cardiovascular fitness 

     Time compatible with most schedules

     Can be done daily

     Strengthens heart

     Prevents heart disease

     Less depression

     Lowers body weight 

     Lowers cholesterol 

     Lowers risk of cancer

     Lowers risk of diabetes 

     Lowers risk of stroke

     When talking about this with people, it was found that almost everyone responded with, “It takes me longer than the run to get ready for it.” That was the most common response. Another consideration is the likelihood of doing just one mile. One mile, that is all. Most people who are just starting out will be able to do a mile in about 15 to 20 minutes. While that is longer than the one minute just talked about, that is not a large amount of time invested. US Dept of Health advocates 150 minutes, 2 1/2 hours, weekly of exercise. How many people hit that goal? According to what we have seen so far, not very many.
     Running one mile can be a great workout. A beginner is going to finish that mile somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes. That time is not going to stay like that for long. Oh, no. Running one mile is short enough of a distance that, as mentioned, you can run it as hard as your body can handle it and recover enough to run it again the next day.

     In time, if you keep up with this, you will find running to have become easier. Walking around stores much easier. Your doctor will see your cholesterol levels going down, too.

     This type of running can even fit in if you are already going to the gym and working out. While it will push you and burn excess calories, it will not take too much out of you and ruin your weight lifting. You will be able to burn a few extra calories, cut some bodyfat, build your wind, and still pump up your lifting numbers. What is not to like?

     This is an ideal way to begin a running routine. Running daily becomes something you look forward to. If you are challenging yourself to go a few seconds faster each day, it becomes a game. Get your kids involved and you have a competitive game going. Set rewards or trophies for who can take the most time off their run in one week or who has the fastest mile. Have fun. Make it fun. The more you do this, the less time you spend doing it as the mile run gets faster.

     It takes about 21 days to make a new habit stick. On another blog, I’ve written about making habits stick and you can read about that here if you are curious.

     By the end of one month, you’ve built a one-mile habit. Now, harping on the creativity, make that mile into a Tabata or wind sprints. Tabatas are a form of training that was developed by a Japanese sports scientist and Olympic coach. If you want the details, this post is a good source. The down and dirty is you download a Tabata Timer. This timer will count 4-minutes off in 20 and 10 second intervals. Run like your life depends on it for the 20 seconds then jog or run lightly for the 10 seconds.

     The other easy option I’ve used for running the mile is doing it in 100-meter sprints. 

The quarter mile track is usually marked off in four 100-meter increments. Run the first 100 as hard as you can. Lightly run or jog the second 100 meters. Keep alternating 100-meter blocks until you have finished the 1600 meters. 

     Running 1 mile in as many different ways as possible will serve you well. It is short enough to not interfere with the rest of your training, get silly with it. Run it once, then beat your time. Daily.

     Do wind sprints.

     Run it with the kids and race with them. Make bets to see if they can beat “the old man.” Then win.

     Talk to your doctor about this before you start, though. Make sure that your heart can handle changes like this. You do not want to have anything seize up on you, so make sure that your physician agrees that this is safe for you to do.

     Oh, yes, both the Tabata and wind sprints will hurt if you do them right. That is what they are supposed to do.

     However you choose to add and run the Daily Mile, add it. Rain, shine, cold, or hot it’s only one mile. Anyone can do one mile. Too easy.

     Train hard.

     Train smart.

Changes

     Pressed for time? Want to work out, but not sure what to do to get the best bang for your buck? Looking to improve your muscle strength and cardio? Looking to make changes:? Changes for the better? Changes to loose that fat? Changes to get stronger?

     This week I will address these questions and provide a simple routine that will work the largest muscle groups, the greatest amount of supporting muscles, and get your heart pumping. There are two aspects to weight loss and fitness that we need to address. Those two are cardio and muscle mass and how they impact your weight loss goals.

     What is your metabolism? Your metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories. It changes its rate throughout the day and throughout our lives/ It varies also based on whether you are man or woman. Men tend to have a higher metabolic rate than women of the same age. Sorry, ladies, it's nothing personal.

     Age related changes also occur. At a point in our lives we start losing muscle mass and start putting on fat due to changes in metabolism. At around 25 our bodies change. Our metabolism does a downshift. It begins to slow down at a rate of 2%, or maybe a little more, per decade. If we do not make appropriate changes to our input or output, we will gain weight.

     That works out like this. A man eating 2,000 calories a day and maintaining a healthy weight up until 25 os going to have to make one of two changes after age 25. He will either have to take in 1,960 calories per day or burn 40 to 50 more calories per day. A woman of the same age eating 1,800 calories at the same age would need to make a change that looks like 1,764 calories or burning off 36 to 45 more calories per day.

     In a nutshell, that is how to address your weight gain by adjusting your diet. But, who really wants to eat less and less over the course of their life? I mean, really? Slowly cutting your intake down to cheese and a slice of sausage on a cracker? That's no way to live. Besides, calorie reduction sends the body into a starvation response. This response takes muscle tissue for the calories necessary to keep functioning. Not good.

Effecting Changes in Your Metabolism Through Exercise via Cardio and Building Muscle

     Essentially, we burn calories every time we move. But, I am not going to go into that minutia. I am, however, going to look at the cardio aspect of weight loss. Aerobic activity, an exercise that gets us breathing heavy and our heart pumping for an extended period of time, is going to use fat stores while exercising. Here's how that works.

     Muscle glycogen, which stores energy, is broken down into glucose. This glucose goes through the process of glycolysis, a determined sequence of ten enzyme-catalyzed reactions, that reults in pyruvate. This pyruvate then reacts with oxygen to release CO2, water, and release energy. In the case of a lack of oxygen and an increasing intensity in the workout, lactate builds up in the muscles. This causes muscle soreness and, if goes too high, can also cause vomiting.

     When glycogen levels in the blood stream fall, the liver releases glucose. Fat is then used at a higher rate in order to fuel the aerobic pathways.

     Studies show that 65% of your maximum aerobic capacity is going to use the most fat stores possible for the duration of your exercise period. Calculating your VO2, the amount of oxygen you take in compared to the amount you exhale, is beyond the scope of this particular piece. So, we will revisit that another time. Still, you should be breathing heavy, but not so much that you can not talk to your training partner. Think about singing cadence. If you are breathing to hard to sing a few lines of running cadence then ease back on the throttle, you are going to hard. If you exercise too hard your body will keep burning glycogen and not the fat.

Cardio/Aerobic For Fat Loss

     Cardio/Aerobic is no longer just running forever. Interval style training is the preferred method for fat loss. Intervals combine muscle building, intense activity, and getting your heart and lungs working well above normal. But, we'll get to that later.

     If cardio/aerobic is not the greatest for fat loss, why do it? What's in it for me? There are several reasons why this is an important activity to include in your training. It lowers your risk of cardiovascular disease. It floods your brain with chemicals that improve functions like memory, problem solving, and decision making. It spurs the release of “feel good” hormones into your brain.

     If, like me, you take part in other physical sports like grappling and kick boxing, you need that aerobic capacity to outlast your opponents. Running is still one of the best ways to get that. Jumping rope is a close second, not to mention the coordination and balance training you get with this. I love jumping rope!

     Movement is great! Keep moving and you are burning more calories with each movement. Cardio is not just laps on the track, but a mix of sprints, squat thrusts, push ups, pull ups, and other body movements that can be mixed in between the sprints. Exercises that are done in such a way so that your heart rate and respiration are elevated, hence aerobic.

     That being said, let's address the muscle building aspect of this.

Muscle Building For Fat Loss

     Resting metabolism burns 30% of the calories taken in over the course of the day. Increasing the resting rate by increasing the lean muscle mass increases the resting metabolic rate. Scientist know that a modest increase, such as 2-3%, in our resting metabolism could end up reversing the age related fat and weight gain.

     How we will do that is by improving the quality and quantity of lean muscle in our bodies. Yes, we. I have a routine at the end of this article that I am doing right now, and enjoying thoroughly. The challenge that I am inviting you to accept is to complete three months.

     Anyway, the goal is to increase our resting metabolism by increasing our quality of lean muscle and the density of that muscle. The reason is because that muscle requires more calories to exist. Muscle burns 6 calories per pound for its existence. If you increase your bodyweight by 10 pounds of lean muscle that means that you will burn 60 extra calories per day. I wish that it were more, I really do. Still, that's 60 calories right off the top. Fat, on the other hand, takes only 2 calories per pound to exist.

     What this means is more lean, solid muscle will require the consumption of more calories just to exist. This is why building muscle is so important to the weight loss process. Now, keep this in mind about fat and muscle; being denser than fat, muscle weighs more. While you train and are building lean muscles you may see an increase in weight.

     To the left you see what five pounds of fat looks like compared to five pounds of muscle. I think that clearly illustrates it.

    Below is a bodyweight routine that you can do just about anywhere that has a place to do pull ups. I use pull up handles that I an hook on a bar that is on the back of the bleachers at the local high school, there are several parks and playgrounds nearby.

Routine: Level 1 3x (24 minutes), Level 2 5x (40 minutes), Level 3 7x (58 minutes)

Each set is one cycle through. Start with Pull Ups, select one of the 3 cardio choices and stick with that choice for the duration of the workout, and do each event for 1 minute. Each cycle is 8 sets with 30 seconds rest between each exercise.

Pull Ups

Jump Rope, Jumping Jacks, or Running in Place

Push Ups

Jump Rope, Jumping Jacks, or Running in Place

Bicycle Crunches or Sit Ups

Jump Rope, Jumping Jacks, or Running in Place

Squats

Jump Rope, Jumping Jacks, or Running in Place

     The first month we are doing this challenge is Level 1. The second month is Level 2. The last month, Level 3. Time durations are listed above at 24, 40, and 58 minutes.

     There is a very specific reason behind the choice in selecting the exercises for this routine. The cardio events are outstanding at getting and keeping your heart rate at a good level. Pull ups, push up, and squats are the exercises of choice because of their being compound exercises. That is to say, they involve more than one joint and more than one muscle group.

     

These particular selections will hit practically every muscle in your entire body. We are all getting a head to toe work out that is effective and efficient. It will turn your metabolism into a fat burning furnace and give you the lean, muscled body you want.

Health Benefits of Tea

Globally there are more people drinking tea than any other beverage with the exception of plain old water.
There are centuries of anecdotal evidence claiming a wide variety of health benefits and a mix of clinical results.

Green, White, and Oolong tea all come from the same plant. That is the Camellia sinensis. From oral hygiene to fat loss tea from this plant offers a wide spectrum of benefits.

Dental Health
Tea contains a small amount of natural fluoride, with mature leaves containing as much as 10 to 20 times the fluoride levels of young leaves from the same plant.

Flat Belly There are several studies showing that the antioxidants, catechins, in green tea are being found to trigger the body's metabolic functions. This boost in metabolism means a boost in burning calories according to scientific studies.  

The Journal of Obesity published a study in 2011 concerning a high fat diet and compounds in green tea. Mice that were fed some of the compounds in green tea with a high fat diet gained weight slower than moce on just the high fat diet.

Cancer Prevention
Thanks to its polyphenols (the antioxidants found in tea), sipping on a cup may have cancer-fighting effects. Polyphenols are being shown in studies around the globe to have anti-tumor effects. The compounds are being shown in more cases to halt pr limit tumor growth.

Hydration
Was a time my senior NCOs would holler at me for drinking coffee in all weather conditions. The argument was that I was dehydrating myself with the caffeine. Tea has caffeine, too. The upside is that researchers have agreed that, in spite of the caffeine, the drinking of tea and coffee still put liquid into our bodies.
Still, I would use this as a supplement to drinking water.

Heart Health
According to a study conducted in the Netherlands and published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, drinking tea was associated with a more than 50 percent reduction in severe atherosclerosis (hardening and narrowing of the arteries) in women who drank 1 to 2 cups a day.

The journal Stroke, found that long-term consumption of black, green, oolong or white tea can cut the risk of strokes by as much as 60 percent.

Brain Health
Tea may even be effective in preventing some neurological diseases including Alzheimer's. The polyphenols are believed to protect neurotransmitters like dopamine (regulates emotional responses, among other benefits) and epinephrin (adrenalin, it is released into the blood stream as a response to mental or physical stress), There are positive indications that the polyphenols also inhibit senile plaques in the brain.

Bone Health
Green tea has been found to improve bone mineral density and strength. Studies have shown that elderly women who drank tea had higher bone density in their hips and less bone loss than women who didn't drink tea.  Researchers also say that these results confirm previous studies that have suggested drinking tea may protect against bone loss and osteoporosis. 

Eye HealthA 2010 study found that components in green tea positively affected the tissues of the eyes, especially tissue related to the retina.

Prevent Wrinkles

A recent study demonstrates that white tea inhibited wrinkle production by strengthening elastin and collagen.

Simply, the amount of clinical studies, research, and anecdotal evidence clearly show there are several benefits to drinking tea. So much so that, in the course of researching and writing this piece, I have added several different teas to my daily routine.