Strength Changes Everything

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 motivating effort and getting people results. When athletes are provided with digital feedback that quantifies their effort, it's been shown to increase their motivation, competitiveness, mood, and performance.
• The Exercise Coach uses the data from every workout to ensure that more work is progressively applied to each workout to keep up with the client's increasing strength capabilities.
• Coaches are another key component. Coaches help clients stay motivated and achieve more than they would otherwise. They also provide accountability and keep clients on track each day.
• Coaches provide clients the confidence and encouragement they need to give it their all during a workout. They also bring a passion for education and dispelling myths about fitness that people may have believed for years.
• There are five characteristics of a stand-out Exercise Coach. The first is commitment and experience using the Exerbotics equipment themselves for their own training. The second is empathy and the ability to anticipate the needs of a client. The third is energy, since coaches need to bring energy and positivity to the client's training session. The fourth is professionalism and being respectful, kind, and taking their job seriously. The fifth is instructional skill and being able to deliver the best exercise experience for each client.

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 any podcast or blog content.

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 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 any podcast or blog content.

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 Exercise Coach is a very private and intimate program involving one-on-one coaching instead of the more common group activity that you would find in a gym. It's mainly about coaching and understanding what each individual needs to achieve their fitness goals.

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 any podcast or blog content.

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 strength training is using slow controlled movements instead of explosive movements.
• There is research that shows high intensity strength training is safe even for people with elevated blood pressure or other cardiovascular issues, and it even has beneficial health effects.
• Strength Training at the Exercise Coach is a great way to engage in exercise and improve your health even if you have orthopedic or cardiovascular concerns.
• Amy describes the story of an Exercise Coach client that lost 62 lbs in six months and achieved excellent health improvements in all areas of their life.
• The Exercise Coach can help you no matter where your current fitness level is. The coaches are very good at meeting people where they are and tailoring the program to the person's situation.

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 any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn more about our origin story...

Brian Cygan and Amy Hudson reveal the origin story of the Exercise Coach and the one book that completely changed the trajectory of Brian's life by transforming his understanding of what strength training can do in your life and how quickly you can see results. Find out how the Exercise Coach is changing lives 20 minutes at a time.

• The goal of the Strength Changes Everything podcast is to inspire and empower people to live life at their full physical potential. Simply put: strength changes everything.
• Effective personal strength training fundamentally changes everything about your body for the better. It also changes the requirements to get all of the health and fitness results that matter most to you.
• If you want to look better and feel better then this podcast is for you, especially if you're over 40 and started experiencing the effects of the aging process, even if you're not excited or interested in going to the gym.
• Brian is also going to discuss the Exercise Coach which is the application of the principles that flow out of the Strength Changes Everything philosophy.
• Brian has been in the fitness industry for the past 20 years and in the process has become pretty passionate about a few things, mainly the science and business of fitness and getting the value of fitness knowledge into the world.
• As a former athlete, Brian became very interested in the science of strength training which led to him going to school for kinesiology.
• The classical science aspects of his degree made sense to Brian, but his education left him with a lot of questions on the application of strength training.
• On the last day of his schooling, a classmate gave Brian a book to read called A Rational Approach to Strength Training, and just by reading the first few chapters, it transformed Brian's understanding of exercise.
• Brian learned an approach to exercise that was very different from the approach that he had been exposed to in school or as an athlete. The new approach can be summed up in three things: the science says that exercise should be brief, intense, and infrequent.
• Brian tells the story of how he worked with a basketball player and helped him put on over 20 pounds of muscle over the course of 12 weeks while only exercising once a week for 20 minutes to get those results.
• Brian's newfound approach caused a bit of conflict with the department he was working in and eventually, Brian decided to leave to find somewhere else he could apply those principles. He found a fitness studio that specialized in the application of those principles and after working there for a year found that he was extremely passionate about helping people of all ages and fitness levels.
• That was also around the time that Brian discovered his entrepreneurial spirit and when he and his wife co-founded a business called the Exercise Coach.
• Brian partnered up with another company called Exerbotics to launch the franchise. The technology they provided allowed them to standardize the approach and customize the plan more deeply for anyone that wanted to participate.
• Brian now has hundreds of locations of the Exercise Coach all over the country with plans to open more over the coming years.
• Amy's story started off by being introduced to Brian many years ago in the Chicago area. She had recently given birth to her second child and was trying to get back to her pre-baby weight and found herself spending hours each week exercising in the only way that she knew which were long runs.
• Brian invited Amy and her husband to try out the Exercise Coach program and within six months, she noticed an incredible shift in her body composition. For the first time in her life, she felt athletic and capable.
• At the same time, they learned about the nutrition aspects of fitness and started making healthier choices. She got so excited about healthy eating that Amy started a blog on the topic.
• Once Amy started learning about the profound health and longevity benefits of strength training she realized that it's truly a transformative thing and can change the trajectory of someone's health for their lifetime.
• Right before the birth of her third daughter Amy and her husband moved to Minneapolis and decided to open their own Exercise Coach.
• The first five episodes of the podcast are meant to be the foundational overview of the Strength Changes Everything philosophy.
• We're going to cover why not all exercise is the same, why people aren't exercising and the obstacles people face in their fitness journey, the scientific paradigm that underlies the philosophy, the problem of people's loss of health and fitness and they age, and what can be accomplished by a 20-minute workout once a week.

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 any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives to learn more about your energy systems and how effective strength training is in how they work...

Brian recently had a friend come into the Exercise Coach and he was shocked to find how quickly his heart rate went up after only 60 seconds of properly calibrated strength training exercise, despite being an avid runner. Discover how the three energy systems of the body work, and why high-intensity strength training is definitively the best way to renovate your muscles, heart, and lungs at the same time and combat type 2 diabetes and the most common age-related diseases people suffer from today.

• Brian had the opportunity to introduce a friend to the program at the Exercise Coach recently who was an avid runner, and he was quickly surprised at how effectively the program got his heart rate up despite his extensive cardiovascular training.
• Your heart and your lungs are pumps that respond to the demands being placed on your muscles at any given moment. Aerobic exercise is usually associated with a high heart rate, but that's not the only time the aerobic energy system is engaged.
• In relative terms, the most aerobic thing you can do is sit and do nothing. There are three energy-producing systems in the body, and the aerobic oxidative system uses oxygen to produce energy. When we sit and do nothing, the aerobic oxidative system produces nearly 100% of the energy the body needs!
• When we start to do something more demanding, energy production shifts to become more anaerobic which is why strength training drives that sort of increased heart rate response.
• The more demand on the muscles, the greater the cardiovascular response.
• Many new clients have never experienced that kind of workout before getting started with the Exercise Coach.
• Strength training is the best kind of exercise you can do for diabetes. Out-of-control blood sugar leads to out-of-control inflammation, which is the root cause of all the major diseases associated with aging.
• As we age and lose muscle, our body becomes resistant to the effects of the hormone insulin. Insulin is a storage hormone that removes glucose from the bloodstream and insulin resistance becomes a real problem.
• Without being able to remove blood sugar from the bloodstream, due to our muscles diminishing over time, our insulin levels rise and that causes problems in addition to the issues caused by elevated blood sugar.
• The Strength Training at the Exercise Coach targets muscles that store sugar as glycogen. It renovates your body's ability to store glycogen and reverses insulin resistance.
• This puts the body into a much better metabolic state and makes it easier to lose weight and transform your health. Stronger muscles equal stronger health.
• Type 2 muscle fibers are only used when they encounter demands that are greater than usual. Taking a walk or jogging won't activate the type 2 muscle fibers in your body but strength training will.
• Your muscles get better at storing the glycogen they need to perform the demanding work required for strength training. That type of work needs the heart and lungs to increase their output to support what is happening metabolically.
• When you feel like you're breathing hard after an intense exertion, that indicates that you're doing the kind of work needed to renovate your type 2 muscle fibers.
• Strength training and whole food nutrition are the best things you can do to ward off the risks of type 2 diabetes and other age related diseases.
• Runners often find that there is missing muscle mass in their body when they go to the Exercise Coach and that the program allows them to perform at an even higher level.

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 any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives to learn more about myths involving fitness...

Brian and Amy explore a couple of articles talking about the impacts of weight loss vs. exercise on longevity, and discuss the myths surrounding losing weight and achieving optimal physical health. Learn why focusing on losing weight is the wrong goal, and why a proper strength training program is the best way to maintain fitness as we age.

• There is a ton of information regarding health and fitness out there, and sometimes the info conflicts, so discerning the truth can be challenging.
• A recent article published in the New York Times essentially claimed that exercise is more important than weight loss for longevity. The behavior of exercising matters more statistically than losing weight, but that could be narrowed down to having a higher fitness level is more important than weight loss.
• Activity has its limitations related to weight loss and increasing longevity. Intentional exercise is a means to an end. The goal of which is to change the systems of the body for the better.
• Muscle quality is one of the #1 predictors of mortality. The exercise and muscle mass itself doesn't increase your longevity, but they are correlated to the physiological effects that are.
• Weight loss is hard. It has to be combined with nutritional changes, and if your goal is to be thinner, the optimal path is to combine exercise that maximizes muscle health and proper whole foods nutrition. However, when it comes to overall health, there are positive changes outside of weight loss.
• The research looked at overweight and obese individuals with health problems, and they found that poeple that exercised effectively saw great results, whether or not they lost any weight.
• Exercising and improving the related biomarkers leads to better longevity, even more than people that simply lose weight by dieting.
• Blood pressure, cholesterol, and insulin resistance are the measures that truly indicate someone's health and overall longevity, far more than their weight.
• There are a number of ways to lose weight that are extremely unhealthy. Cutting calories without strength training is one of the worst ways you can lose weight.
• Another study involved 81 sedentary overweight women and putting them into a walking program. At the end of 12 weeks, a few women had lost some body fat, but 55 of them had actually gained weight. Just moving your body will not cause weight loss, nor will it improve the systems of the body.
• In terms of exercise for anyone over the age of 30, we need to target the optimization of muscle mass and strength through exercise. Sarcopenia is the root cause of the deterioration of fitness as we age.
• Compared against each other, exercise is considerably more beneficial than simple weight loss. In some studies, weight loss had no improvement on mortality risk at all.
• Activity and weight loss are not enough. Even if you've had trouble losing weight in the past, you can make a huge difference in your health by starting an effective strength training program.

Links:

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 any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives to learn more about dose-response and what it means for your fitness...

Learn how a little-known principle in exercise determines whether you get the fitness results you are looking for, or you just spend some time moving weights up and down at the gym. Find out why the dose-response to exercise is what you should really be paying attention to, and how it can guide you to easier fitness gains in a shorter amount of time.

• More exercise is not necessarily better. The dose-response relationship applies not only to medication and stressors but also to exercise.
• It describes the magnitude of the response the body has in response to a stressor, in this case exercise and the response is the result that we are looking for.
• Your body is what produces the results and adaptations that you want, not the exercise. If the stress is of sufficient intensity or quality, you will get the response that you want. Just going through the motions of exercise won't necessarily produce an adaptive response in the body.
• You also need to give the body enough time and resources to produce the response you are looking for. Exercising too often is actually preventing your body from adapting and growing. This is how athletes experience overtraining.
• The adaptations occur after the exercise session is complete, and only if the stimulus is of a high enough intensity and quality.
• Exercise is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Just putting in time exercising isn't necessarily a good thing. A lot of what passes for exercise is just enjoyable activity, and it won't trigger adaptations or reverse the effects of aging.
• Exercise impacts every system of the body. For every single exercise session, you should be able to measure the improvements in fitness level. This is a key component of the program at the Exercise Coach.
• When you don't see improvements between sessions, it means one of two things. Either you need to increase the intensity of the exercise, or increase the amount of rest and recovery between sessions.
• Your dose-response is very individualized. The amount of stimulus you need to generate an adaptation will vary. At the Exercise Coach, client's individual abilities are measured and programs are designed to be just the right fit for them.
• At the end of the day, the right intensity for one is different from the right intensity for another.

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 any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives to learn more about how strength training should complement dieting for weight loss...

Dr. James Fisher answers the question "Why does muscle really matter for weight loss?" Find out why muscle mass should be a vital component of your weight loss strategy and why dieting without strength training is a recipe for long term disaster for your body.

• There is a direct connection between your body's muscle mass and its metabolic effectiveness, the ability to lose fat and keep it off, and your overall health.
• Why does muscle matter for weight loss? Muscle is metabolic reactive and consumes calories just by existing. You will burn a larger number of calories on a daily basis by having more muscle mass than someone with less.
• Instead of thinking about weight loss, we should think of it as fat loss because we don't want to lose just any kind of weight, we want to improve body composition.
• Focusing on weight loss can be discouraging when people lose less weight than they hoped without taking into account gains in muscle mass.
• Without strength training, any weight you lose with dieting or activity will not be as much fat as you could lose by incorporating strength training into your routine.
• Anyone who goes on a calorie reduction plan to lose weight will end up with about 50% of the weight loss occurring within their muscle mass, which is an absolute tragedy. We want to hang on to as much muscle mass as we can as we age.
• Diet and cardio without strength training exacerbate the loss of metabolically valuable muscle tissue.
• Protein is a great calorie to consume as it's thermogenic and used to absorb some of the protein you take in. Government nutrition guidelines should be adjusted to account for this.
• Maintaining your muscle mass has the additional benefit of preventing and reducing injuries so you can continue enjoying aerobic activities as you age.
• Weight loss without strength training results in frailty. In the older population, people who are lean are generally weak and have poor mobility. The best thing to do is to focus on strength training to build muscle and improve quality of life along the way.
• If you increase the amount of muscle mass you have, you will burn more calories by default. Muscle also stores glucose, which will help you with insulin-related conditions like Diabetes.

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 any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives to learn more about effective exercise for your lower back and what can surprisingly make lower back pain worse...

In part two of the interview with Dr. James Fisher, we explore what it takes to actually strengthen the lower back and why exercises like the deadlift are not effective in targeting your lower back muscles. Find out how some people can experience significant lower back strength gain in as little as ten weeks with only 15 total minutes of muscle tension (60 to 90 seconds per week!) and why stretching without strength training can actually make your lower back pain worse.

• The lower back is a notoriously difficult to train muscle group, which is why so many people are walking around with weak lower backs that are easy to injure and irritate.
• Fisher did some research with professional athletes to measure the effectiveness of certain exercises in strengthening the lower back and found that exercises that didn't isolate the lower back didn't make a major impact. However, lower back isolating exercises had a greater impact over more general exercises like the deadlift.
• The lower back needs an isolation exercise and preferably one that doesn't also load the gluteal muscles. These exercises are best done with lower back specific pieces of equipment.
• In terms of overall strength, people who do lumbar exercises see significant increases in strength. Dr. Fisher has seen lumbar strength increases as high as 200% over the course of ten weeks, as well as improved lifestyle function, with a training frequency of once per week.
• Lower back exercises are typically just one set and roughly 90 seconds of muscle tension.
• The lumbar muscles are an example of how you can use your muscles and still lose them due to the deleterious effects of aging. You need to use specific muscle fibers in a specific manner in order to build the strength in your lower back.
• Stretching can be taken too far if you are not also strengthening the muscles involved. Making your spine and back more mobile without making it stronger can make things worse for you in the long run. Things like yoga should be supplemental to a proper strength training regime.
• Lower back pain often restricts range of motion, but there are still opportunities to train the muscle group without a full extension. You can start small and expand the range as you get stronger.
• People with lower back pain also tend to be cautious about moving their lower back, especially during exercise. This is why lower back machines that control the range of motion are effective. They maintain safety and stability while loading the muscles properly.
• In terms of age, lower back exercises are suited to pretty much everyone in society except for certain individuals; ex. If you're pregnant, a small child, or have an injured spine. Once you've ruled out those conditions, you can safely and confidently strengthen the lower back.
• The more we know about our body, the more we know how to fix it. Helping identify the source of lower back pain, as well as what isn't the issue, is all part of the journey of alleviating pain and improving quality of life.

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 any podcast or blog content.