Exercise

Secrets of the Olympic Diet
The US Olympic Team Diet Carbohydrates are a major part of any Olympic athlete’s diet, making up 55 to 65 percent of their food. Because that’s what gives them access to the immediate energy they need. Dietitians who work with the US Olympic team have created a simple plate system. On easy training days, athletes should build what they call an “easy” plate: ½ vegetables and fruit ¼ grains ¼ protein On moderate activity days, the grains increase to one-third of the plate. On hard days, the grains should be half the plate. Unless you are exercising to Olympic standards, your... Read more...
Positive Health Effects From Even Short Periods of Activity
Here’s the least amount of activity – 2 minutes – for the biggest health effect. You’ve probably seen the latest headlines – ‘Sitting is the new smoking’. It’s true – sitting really does have a negative effect on your health, as does inactivity generally. But here’s the good news for those of us whose jobs involve sitting, or whose hearts sink at yet another article on exercise. Good news 1: Two minutes is all it takes Yes, sitting for long periods does increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes because... Read more...
Sarcopenia (Muscle-Wasting) is a Top-5 Health Risk
Sarcopenia – loss of muscle mass – is a very common but surprisingly little-knowncondition related to bad nutrition and an inactive lifestyle. From early middle age on, most of us lose muscle mass. It’s not inevitable – a veryphysically active lifestyle can delay or prevent it – but people who are physically inactive lose up to 5% of their muscle mass per decade from age 30! Some estimates are as high as 1% a year. As the urban lifestyle tends to be very inactive, this age-related loss of muscle mass... Read more...
A 4-Minute Exercise Programme for Everyone
The Peak 8 regime is so-called because it involves 8 bouts of high-intensity exercise that raise heart rate to peak anaerobic threshold for just 30 seconds. You don’t need gym equipment, as you can easily perform this by walking or running on flat ground, and the pattern is: 1. Warm up for three minutes.2. Exercise as hard and fast as you can for 30 seconds. (You should feel like you couldn’t possibly go on even another few seconds.)3. Recover for 90 seconds.4. Repeat the high-intensity exercise and recovery combination 7... Read more...