Created in 2008, the adult fitness test is meant to test the aerobic fitness and muscular strength and endurance of the men and women of the United States. It is pretty basic in its testing criteria and easy enough that anyone can do it at home. You could even make it a competition between you and your friends to further motivate yourself to try harder.

The program says it is for people aged 18 and older who are in good health and it also provides a prescreening questionnaire to help you assess whether or not you may be ready to take the test. Unless you have stress induced or other severe health related problems you should be able to complete the test parameters without any problem.

If you have never taken any kind of fitness test and have never really had a fitness regimen then this may be a good starting block for you. It will measure all the basics including:

• Aerobic fitness
• Muscular strength and endurance
• Flexibility
• Body Composition (though we know BMI is nonsense)

Once you complete the statistics you can keep your results and use them as a base from which you can improve. Tracking your progress and actually being able to see the numbers improve is one of the biggest motivating forces out there. It is tangible change and keeps you on track towards attaining your goal.

So, check out the program and let me know it went. If you have any questions just drop me a line in the comment box.

http://www.adultfitnesstest.org/

Before we get into the details let me say a few words. Drinking in this article will be defined as no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men. Thus, we are not promoting in any way heavy drinking. Further, if you do not already drink do not start drinking because of this article. Most of the research in this area is new, and though it comes from prestigious institutions it is still not fully understood.

A Spanish study of over 40, 000 people and lasted 10 years was conducted to determine the effects that alcohol consumption patterns have on heart health. As we discussed in a previous post on cholesterol, LDL can have detrimental effects on one’s coronary health by promoting the developments of atheromas. Well, the study concluded that the consumption of alcohol does seem to offer very concrete protection against coronary heart disease.

The reason for this protection is that alcohol seems to raise HDL levels, lower blood pressure, and helps prevent arterial damage caused by high levels of LDL. More significantly but not mentioned in the above linked article, wine is said to have a more compound effect because of its high polyphenol content. Polyphenols are potent antioxidants and as we discussed previously, this class of substances in our bodies helps to prevent premature cell oxidation which is enhanved by LDL. Wine will be covered in a later post.

Alcohol in general though lowers the size of LDL particles in general though and this is how it helps prevent coronary heart disease. Think of it this way. Our arteries are small tubes, and LDL particles being the largest cholesterol particles of the four we discussed previously, can clog these small tubes easily. The larger the particle size the easier the clogging happens. This clogging can lead to stroke, heart attack, infarction etc. So, if we reduce the size of the particles then there is a smaller chance that they will be given the opportunity to clog our arteries, oxidize, and form legions.

So, the next time you are at dinner or at home pouring a glass of wine, don’t feel as guilty. You may actually be doing your body a service by fighting LDL and lowering your blood pressure. Again, don’t go binge or heavy drinking, this will eventually destroy your liver. A glass or two is what we are after.

Be sure and check out the two links two the studies referenced in this post. They are both linked above.

Till next time, live well, be fit.

Cholesterol is a sterol, which basically is a steroid with a hydroxyl group added to it. More simply, it is a steroid alcohol if you will. It is not, as many people assume, a form of fat. It is though found in all fats and oils.

Some sources of it in our diets can include eggs, fish oils, chicken,  coconut, cream cheese, some seafood, and organ meats. Basically, the chances are that if it comes from an animal then it likely has cholesterol, most fruits and vegetables are cholesterol free. Before you run off and buy all cholesterol free foods or better yet, become vegetarian, let’s go over a few things.

Cholesterol is absolutely essential to the healthy function of your body. The myelin sheaths of our nerves are composed primarily of cholesterol, as is our brain. It is also a critical component of our cell walls as it helps to make them permeable allowing nutrients and substances in and out of them. Low cholesterol diets have been linked with stunted brain growth and a plethora of other diseases. Thus we cannot simply cut it out of our diets.

One thing you need to understand is that there are four types of cholesterol:

• VLDL or very-low-density lipoprotein
• IDL or intermediate-density-lipoprotein
• LDL or low-density-lipoprotein
• HDL or high-density-lipoprotein

The first three are related and forms of each other in various stages which we will not go into detail about. All you need to know is that they are what we call “bad cholesterol”. The reason for this is because these LDL variants can bind to arterial walls causing swelling and blockage. This swelling and blockage of an artery is called an atheroma.

LDL levels are at their highest when we eat processed and refined foods high in trans fats and saturated fats. Dietary sources of cholesterol like eggs and chicken do not have as direct a link with heart related disease, but processed and refined foods are unquestionably linked with it! It is because our livers are not designed to process these refined foods, and when it tries to metabolize the trans and saturated fats, it produces large amounts of LDL cholesterol.

Let me make sure that you understand this clearly. It is not the cholesterol in refined/processed foods that is bad for you, it is the saturated and trans fats. Your body converts these fats in your liver, into LDL, and large amounts of it! So even if a food label says it is cholesterol free, take note of how much trans and saturated fats it is serving you.

HDL on the other hand is considered “good cholesterol” as it can remove cholesterol from cells and prevent the buildup which leads to atheroma.  You can help raise your HDL levels by eating at least two servings of foods high in soluble fiber, using cooking oils high in monounsaturated fats (like olive oil). Soy has been proven to be very effective in raising HDL levels as have omega-3 fatty acids which are found in flaxseed, safflower, dark green vegetables and fish. A healthy regimen of cardiovascular activity has also been shown to lower LDL levels and increase HDL levels.

What should these levels be? For LDL you want to fall into the optimal range listed below:

• Less than 100 mg/dL       Optimal
• 100 to 129 mg/dL              Near Optimal/Above Optimal
• 130 to 159 mg/dL               Borderline High
• 160 to 189 mg/dL               High
• 190 mg/dL and above       Very High

With HDL on the other hand, the higher the better! 60 mg/dL or higher has been proven to give protection against coronary diseases. You should check your cholesterol levels at least once a year to ensure that you are staying within healthy range and to do this most outpatient clinics and now even pharmacies are offering cheap tests that give you instant results.

So, coming away from this article it is important to remember a few things. Avoid processed/refined foods if you can! Avoid trans fats and saturated fats like the devil. Try to eat dark green vegetables, flax and soy products, and healthy non-processed foods.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me via the comment form.

If you’re in the middle of a set and talking to the person next to you, you are not working out. If you are looking across the room and checking out some girl stretching, you’re not working out. And if you feel exactly the same at the end of a set as you did at the beginning, you damn sure are not working out.

Working out means training hard all the time. Not slacking off on leg days or walking on the treadmill while reading a book without a bead of sweat on your forehead. It’s pushing yourself like your life depends on it. Imagine if you knew today was the last time you’d ever be able to workout for the rest of your life – would you be taking it easy? Hell no, you’d make sure you felt like you were about to die by the time you were finished. And that’s how you should train every day.

So if you have been taking it easy, now is the time to stop being a baby and start pushing yourself. I am not saying that if you are not working out like a top athlete then you are not working out, I am saying if you are not pushing your own personal limits then you are not working out…

Push yourself towards what I like to call implosion. Ever heard the saying give it your all? Regardless of how long you are planning on being in the gym be it 5, 30 or 60 minutes, give it your all the entire time, please. Then true fitness will come.

For our purposes, fitness is the epitome of health. Now this might seem bizarre or incorrect, but a properly executed fitness regimen will provide excellent health benefits. Merely exercising and dieting by no means produce fitness though. For example, someone who runs everyday but is on a high carbohydrate, low fat and medium protein intake  diet is at risk of developing atherosclerotic disease, among a slew of other things. Fitness then is a compound measurement of many key areas.

Being fit should be understood as a function of the following:

• triglyceride levels
• body fat
• muscle mass
• flexibility, blood pressure
• cholesterol levels
• lung capacity
• bone density
• mental health

Thus, one’s fitness level is a combined measurement that represents total body health, not merely an expression of athletic ability. Physical competence incorporates other skills and areas which may associate more closely with most people’s general understanding of  what fitness is but physical competence does not correlate with being in an overall state of physical fitness.

Closing this out, it is key to realize that if one strives for and achieves increasingly healthy and fit levels of all of the previously mentioned 8 areas of fitness, then one’s body chemistry will indeed change. This change precipitates a healthier, less disease prone life. It is for this reason that we strive to achieve high levels of fitness.

Future posts will focus specifically on each of these 8 areas and how to approach each in a total fitness regimen.

What makes breakfast important is that it provides our bodies with fuel for the rest of the day, if the meal is balanced in protein, carbs and fat, curbs our appetite reducing the risk of overeating later and improves our concentration and focus. Some people tend to think that they do not have the time to eat breakfast. Just like those that believe that they cannot workout without a gym membership, this is nonsense.

You can make a quick breakfast in under five minutes with the most basic of food items. For example, you can buy a bottle of egg whites, some bell peppers, pre-sliced mushrooms and turkey or chicken slices all for under 10 dollars and it should last about a week for making egg white omelets every day. All you have to do is heat a skillet add  the egg whites and throw in the ingredients. Finish it off with Soy Milk, grapefruit juice (not from concentrate), orange juice, or good ole milk. That would make for an excellent breakfast in under 8 minutes.

Avoid the pop tarts, frozen meals with obscene amounts of sodium and ultra sugary cereals (cereals like Special K, Wheaties, Cheerios, Fiber One etc) are all fine when paired with something like a banana and juice. And again, avoid at all costs, not eating breakfast at all!

If you skip on breakfast, there is a very likely chance that later in the day you are going to be starved and thus binge eat. This might satisfy your hunger but it will likely involve eating a more unhealthy array of foods unless you had prepared before hand and brought something from home or selected a healthy food alternative. Also you will likely feel tired and run down throughout the day, having to resort to energy supplements such as caffeinated products or energy drinks like Red Bull to keep you going.

Future posts will include links to recipes but for now fitbuff has 7 simple selections to try tomorrow! The video below is my latest find, and let me say it is absolutely delicious, simple and fast.

Breakfast: It Gives You Wings

So what exactly do we do at a gym? Well, we either push something, which would be weights, pull something, or breathe hard which would be cardio. Now, unless you live in a box, I think it is impossible for anyone to say that they cannot do those three things in and around their house or place of work.

All you have to do is find 30 to 45 minutes in your day to get a good workout in. First and foremost you want to make sure that the time you do devote to exercising is quality time and so you want to try and keep your heart rate up and beating the entire workout. Ideally you want your heart rate to be  75-85 percent of its max to maximize cardiovascular and fat burning benefits. To find out how to calculate your heart rate go here.

So if you are doing multiple sets of something, instead of waiting in between sets do some jump rope, or sprint up and down your drive way. Anything to keep your heart rate up. Use youtube to find various plyometric workouts that involve nothing but your body so no other equipment is needed. I have provided a good playlist of various plyometric workouts below. Pick a couple to try and string them together, add some cardio and you will never complain about not having a gym again.

For others that just want to do cardio, you do not need a treadmill! Get outside and if you want to run, then run! Can we all just agree that gyms are not necessary they just add to a workout by providing equipment. People are innovative though, you can find alternatives to just about everything that a gym provides. Also, finding new ways to workout so that you do not get bored keeps you interested and more willing to workout, so search around! There are thousands of workouts that you can do all without weights.

BMI is calculated via the following formula:

Thus, it is merely a factor of your weight and height. 703 is a conversion factor from imperial to metric units as the formula was originally derived by a Belgium statistician early in the nineteenth century. It is incredibly accurate at predicting the overall state of health of a population, but for individuals it is terrible. Now I will say that the CDC and most physicians use this measurement as a general rule of thumb, but it is still mind boggling trying to figure out why.

What is wrong with it? Scientifically, it makes no sense. It makes no account for body composition or waist size, the primary indicators of obesity level. Using myself as an example, if I go here http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/?htf=6&hti=1&wt=192&bmi=24.4 and enter my body information, 6′0” and 191lbs, it tells me  my BMI is 25.9, overweight. Similarly, many athletes are considered overweight by the BMI calculation. It is not taking into account physiological differences between different people. Some people have more bone mass than others and fit individuals have higher levels of muscle tissue which weigh more than fat.  Back to me, I know for a fact from skeletal muscle analysis that I fluctuate between 11 and 13 percent body fat as percent total of body weight and have a 32 inch waist. Thus, I am not overweight, I am merely fit. The same would hold true for others using this system of analysis. It is a system whose basic logic is flawed. A obese person will always have a high BMI, but a high BMI does not mean an individual is overweight. Like me, they could be fit and very healthy.

It gets scary when premiums for health insurance vary according to your BMI and it makes the United States look rather outdated using a number as nonsensical as BMI. NPR reported on a grocery chain that had different surcharges for health insurance if they had high BMIs. A much more accurate way to assess obesity is by measuring waist circumference and the CDC has it listed on their page as an alternative way to assess your health risks related to obesity. More complex methods are even more accurate but are also more expensive.  These include body composition analyzers and hydrostatic weighing.

Many, including myself, believe that it is because these alternative methods cost more and involve more time and effort that they are not more prevalent in their use and that this is why BMI continues to be the most widely used measure of body health. Just do yourself a favor and if you really want to assess the status of your body either simply measure your waist circumference or buy a cheap pair of calipers or if you want to spend a little more and get a body composition analyzer. Both would give you far more accurate information than BMI can.

If you google secrets of fat loss, http://topsecretfatlosssecret.com/ is the first link that comes up. First let me say that anyone or anything that makes you buy knowledge relating to health and fitness is nonsense. This does not include trainers, dietitians, nutritionists or doctors as they are charging you more for a one on one assessment of your needs. Back to, “Dr Suzanne Gudakunst”. She is making the claim that all people who are overweight are overweight because their intestines plaque buildup that is preventing the digestion of food, but to remedy this you need to buy her secret.

First of all, if you believe that you are overweight because of something other than your lifestyle i.e genetic predisposition, hormone imbalance, or other health disorder, consult a physician. You cannot make such an assumption though without first invoking a rigorous overhaul of your diet practices and incorporating a fitness routine into your daily lifestyle. This self proclaimed doctor is not known to either the American Medical Association or any state licensing board of practicing medicine. Thus she is more like a witch doctor, than anything else. When deciding on who to take advice from, at the most basic level, take the time to do research on who exactly the person that is giving you the advice is.  And again I will repeat this, NEVER purchase “secret information” from anyone or anything. Later posts will discuss good resources for finding legitimate health information.

The AITank Team