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What your pulse says about you!

Achieving a healthy metabolism

Developing a firm, lean body

The secret to achieving a firm, lean body is really no secret at all. It is our skeletal muscles (those muscles which give our body shape and movement) which give our bodies a lean, firm appearance. If muscles sag or are covered in fatty tissue,our bodies take on a wholly different appearance.

For a better looking body therefore, we must reduce the excess fatty deposits and tighten, tone and strengthen our muscles. This will give us better shape and eliminate the wobbly bits! One thing we clearly must NOT do is to lose any of our skeletal muscle, something it is quite easy to do by excess dieting for example. One only has to look at an anorexic to see how frail they have become.

Our muscles play a major role when it comes to burning fat! Muscles burn more calories than any other tissue in the body. That’s why an exercise programme that involves using our musculature is the most effective way to lose weight and the only way to avoid muscle loss when slimming is to exercise your muscles. Only exercise can firm and strengthen muscles and eliminate ‘sag’!

Let’s be clear on one thing here however. Not all exercise will strengthen your muscles. Many slimmers believe cardio activity i.e. aerobics, jogging on treadmills, etc., is the only way to slim down, yet nothing could be further from the truth. Cardio doesn’t strengthen muscles! Cardio will condition the heart and lungs and improve cardiovascular fitness but as a slimming regime, cardio is a waste of time and energy!

Just think about it. A full 60 minutes of jogging on a treadmill at a brisk pace will probably burn no more than 600 to 800 calories. When you consider that you would need to burn at least 3,500 calories to rid the body of just one pound of fat, it soon becomes obvious that the hour of treadmill pounding was a bit pointless.

To develop the firm, lean muscles that will burn more calories and will give us a‘dream’ figure requires an exercise programme that strengthens muscles throughout the body by working them against some form of resistance. Only Isotonic and Isometric exercise eliminates ‘sag’ – Cardio can’t do this. That’s why Gymophobics prescribe a resistance workout and do not prescribe unnecessary cardio in the way that most other gyms do.

Once we begin to strengthen muscles their elasticity (tonus) increases and they start to do the job they were designed to do. Skeletal muscles are meant to be the body’s natural corset, holding us in, in all the right places! That’s why our members start to see dramatic inch loss throughout the body within just a few weeks of starting the Gymophobics programme - without the need for cardio activity!

What your pulse says about you!

Have you ever wondered why your Instructor checks your pulse from time to time? Your pulse or heart rate, can tell your instructor a great deal about your fitness level. When your Instructor checks your pulse during your Induction, she is checking what is called your Resting Heart Rate. The best time to check this is first thing in the morning, even before you get out of bed, but as this is not practical it will be taken at the gym before you exercise. That's why she will check your pulse rate during your Induction (first visit) and at regular intervals thereafter.

Your Instructor can also calculate the optimum pulse rate for you during exercise to ensure that you gain maximum benefit. Your Resting heart rate could be anything from 60 beats per minute (BPM) to 90 BPM or above, but most people’s will be in the low 80's when they first come to us. Your Resting Heart Rate tells us how often your heart has to beat to pump sufficient blood and oxygen around the body.

As your exercise programme begins to work, your heart (which is a muscle) will get stronger and pump more blood into the arteries with each beat. We call this the stroke volume. As stroke volume increases, the heart does not need to beat as often so your Resting Heart Rate will slow down. Once you see this happening it means that your heart muscle is growing stronger and you are getting fitter. Most members find that their Resting Heart Rate has reduced by around 10 BPM over the first two to three months at Gymophobics.

Your Instructor will want to calculate a Training Heart Rate (THR) – the ideal heart rate for you during exercise. To calculate your THR she will first need to know your Maximal Heart Rate (Max HR) – the maximum heart rate you would achieve if you pushed yourself to your limit. Clearly, that would not be a wise thing to do, so we predict your Max HR instead. This is done by simply deducting your age from the number 220. So if you are 35 years old we would predict your Max HR as being 185BPM. Once your Instructor knows your Max HR she will decide your THR by calculating a percentage of your Max HR If she thinks you are healthy she will calculate a THR of 55 per cent of your Max HR In the 35 year old for example this would be 55 per cent of 185BPM, i.e. 102BPM.

There is just one more heart rate to consider. As it would be difficult to keep your pulse at exactly your THR while exercising, your Instructor will calculate a Heart Rate Training Zone for you. This is done quite simply by deducting and adding 10 per cent from your THR. In the example above your Training Zone would therefore be minus and plus 10 per cent of 102BPM, in other words 92BPM to 112BPM.

Resting HR – your pulse rate at rest.

Max HR – 220 minus your age is a prediction of what your heart rate would be if pushed to exhaustion.

THR – your training heart rate. The right heart rate for you while exercising.

Heart Rate Zone – your THR plus or minus 10 per cent.

BUILDING A BETTER BUST

We can allow our breasts to slowly head south with age, or take the other remedial options available.

Building a better bust is not just about size. More often it is about improving the shape and firmness of the breasts while ‘lifting’ them into their ideal position.

There are two muscles in the chest which need to be exercised regularly. The Pectoralis Major is the larger of the two and lies directly beneath the breasts to provide a firm ‘foundation’. If this muscle is allowed to atrophy through lack of exercise, it will shrink and become weak. At this point it can no longer give support to the breasts which will become smaller and droop. Exercising this muscle regularly will pay great dividends. That’s why the Gymophobics circuit includes a Chest Press machine. Use this machine correctly two or three times each week, and you will see a significant change to your bust within a couple of months as the Pectoralis Major grows larger and stronger.

The key to exercising this muscle effectively is a carefully designed programme of both Isotonic and Isometric exercise. Your Instructor will plan this for you.

The second muscle to concern us is the smaller Pectoralis Medius. Exercising this muscle can make an even more significant difference to the appearance of your bust. This muscle acts as the body’s natural bra strap as it lies directly above the breasts. By exercising this muscle regularly, you will not only see your bust ‘lifting’, but you will improve the appearance of the area directly above the Breast. Many women lack development in the upper chest, just below the collar bones, yet a good Bust starts in this area.

By sufficiently lowering the seat on the Chest Press machine (your Instructor will advise) you can angle your body so that you are directly activating the Pectoralis Medius rather than the Pectoralis Major and the effects will quickly be observed. Of course a drooping bust can also have a negative effect on the skin in that area which may, over a period of time, have stretched.

Stretched skin will contribute to sagging breasts as the skin that surrounds the breasts plays a vital role in maintaining their ideal position. That’s why you should consider using the Bust Lifting Cream which is part of the Donna range of specialised products and is available in most Gymophobics Gyms. Working directly to restore elasticity to the skin in the breast area, this product receives rave reports from those who have tried it. Used in combination with the correct exercise programme at the Gym, you can expect to rejuvenate your Bust without the need for surgery!

AIR RESISTANCE

Air resistance machines at Gymophobics are far more effective and much more pleasant to use than the primitive hydraulic or weight machines used in most other gyms.

The problem with hydraulics is threefold. Hydraulic equipment lacks the liquid ‘smoothness’ of ‘air resistance’.

It is almost impossible to set individual resistance levels to suit each client, and hydraulic machines make exercise hard work. They ‘resist’ your movement whether you are pushing or pulling. Unlike normal activity where the muscle contracts then relaxes, hydraulic machines keep your muscles contracted the whole time. Its supporters claim that this ‘double positive’ resistance is very effective but the evidence suggests otherwise. Muscles are designed to both contract and relax and need to be exercised in the same way. Indeed, the relaxation phase of any movement is the one which stretches out the muscle and helps to create the long, lean muscles that look so sexy on a woman.

Most gyms use weight training machines however, the kind of equipment that does allow the muscles to contract and relax during exercise. There is one major flaw however. It’s called ‘gravity’. Using weights, the muscle is only resisted while the exerciser is working against gravity. At least 20 per cent of the time however, there is little or no gravitational effect which is just one of the reasons that Gymophobics use ‘air resistance’ machines which do not rely on gravity.

Unlike weight training, with ‘air resistance’ the muscles are resisted throughout the whole of the first phase of the exercise before the muscle is allowed to relax. This means that the full length of the muscle is strengthened which helps to create the long, lean muscles that make a women’s figure look so good.

STRENGTH FOR WOMEN

Many women assume that strength means bulging muscles. In fact, women can be strong without the need for large muscles and being strong is highly desirable for all sorts of reasons. Strong limbs mean that you can 'shop till you drop' far longer and carry more shopping bags!

If that isn't enough, think about your posture. Strong postural muscles in the upper back and shoulders are required if you want to stand tall and look like a catwalk model. Weak lower back muscles will inevitably result in low back pain.

And what about your tummy? Is it flat and firm? If not, you need to strengthen the muscles that make up the abdominal wall! Convinced? Then get started now on a strength building programme and feel the difference in weeks. An added benefit is that intra muscular fat which builds up between the muscle fibres is burnt off during a strength building programme so our muscles look leaner and firmer as a result.

From time to time we monitor the effects of a Gymophobics programme by carrying out a careful study on a selected group of members. The results are impressive. Members achieve all over body strength increases of around 23 per cent over a 16 week period.

And it's not just our younger members who can benefit from a strength programme. Strength can be increased at any age! Take a study carried out in an old folks home. Twenty residents agreed to perform a programme of 'resistance' exercise using hand and ankle weights while seated in a chair.

Over a 12 week period their mean average strength increase was an amazing 20 per cent plus. The result is even more amazing when you consider that the youngest person in the group was 90 and most were over 100 years of age!

There are just no negatives about getting stronger so let’s stop leaving strength to the men, shall we, and show them who’s boss! We can all benefit from being strong and our bodies thrive on strength building exercise.

Achieving a healthy metabolism

Are you one of the unlucky ones who has to watch every grape to avoid gaining weight?

Well, it could be your metabolism...

We’ve all heard about metabolism, how it may be ‘slow’ or ‘fast’ and that speeding it up may help us lose those unwanted pounds. So what does metabolism actually mean?

When we eat, the food is converted into energy and the chemical processes within the body that make this happen is our metabolism. This can be split into three components:

Basal Metabolism – 60-65 per cent of the calories we eat each day are used up simply to keep us alive and to support basic body functions.

Physical Activity – 25 per cent of calories are used up by movement and physical activity.

Thermic Effect of Food – about 10 per cent of the calories we eat are used processing the food consumed.

The rate at which the body burns up calories is called metabolic rate. It differs from person to person. Someone who consumes 2,500 calories per day but burns 2,500 calories per day will maintain a stable weight. Another person who consumes 2,500 calories per day but burns only 2,000 calories will gain weight at a rate of about 1lb per week. So this explains why there really are ‘lucky’ people (with a high metabolic rate) who seem to get away with eating chocolate and cakes and not gain a pound, whereas others have to watch every grape in order to avoid gaining weight or to lose unwanted weight!

There is hope however for those who have tried every diet going and not found anything that works. Factors that affect the metabolic rate are age, gender, body composition (muscle versus fat), activity level and certain medical factors. After the age of 30 the metabolism may slow down but don’t panic Even though metabolic rate may be to an extent determined by genetics, you can increase basal metabolism by building muscle. The more muscle we have, the faster our metabolic rate will function. That’s why men generally have a higher metabolic rate than women. The Gymophobics workout increases metabolic rate by restoring the bodies fat to lean tissue ratio.

An efficient metabolism also requires many complex body processes that rely on sufficient antioxidant vitamins such as vitamin C, the B vitamins, and other micronutrients. Most diets restrict vitamin/mineral intake so supplements may help ensure better nutrition and a more efficient metabolism.

Dehydration can make metabolism less efficient, by affecting body temperature. When you are dehydrated, your body temperature drops slightly, and causes your body to store fat as a way to help raise or maintain the temperature. Making sure you drink two litres of water each day can prevent this from happening.

To boost your metabolic rate try making five small changes to achieve your goals.

Complete the Gymophobics circuit three times a week to build up muscle and burn calories.

Become more active in your daily life,e.g. walking more.

Eat little and often to maximise the ‘thermic effect’ component of your metabolism.

Start taking an A-Z multivitamin and mineral supplement and/or antioxidant Supplement

Drink two litres of water each day to avoid dehydration which slows the metabolism.