Your Body's Fuel

Have you ever wondered what your body is doing while you workout? Where does the food you eat go? Your body takes the food you eat and breaks it down into a usable fuel source. Let’s go over a quick and basic overview of what your body is doing while you exercise!

The food you eat can be broken down into three macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Your body will convert carbohydrates and fats into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and proteins will be broken down for use in tissue repair and the synthesizing of enzymes and hormones. ATP is what your body is using as fuel, and it has three different ways to get it which can be broken down into immediate, quick, and long lasting.

The immediate source of ATP is known phosphocreatine. Phosphocreatine is stored in your muscles and can quickly convert over to ATP as you begin your workout. This conversion happens right away, and very quick. The downside of the immediate source of ATP is storage. Your muscles cannot store an unlimited supply of phosphocreatine to fuel your workout, on average you will only have a few seconds of ATP usage from this path.

Next, your body will start using the quick source of ATP known as glycogen. This source of ATP works primarily from the carbohydrates you eat. The carbohydrates are converted to glycogen or glucose, which is turn converts into ATP. This process is relatively quick and will kick in about the time the phosphocreatine runs out. As with the first source, this source is also limited. Glycogen conversion will last about 2 min, and will also create lactic acid (lactate) which is a waste product that will fatigue your muscles.

That brings us to the final source of ATP, the long term respiration source called breathing! The oxygen brought in from breathing works with the waste from the glycogen conversion to  create more ATP. At this point, your body will start using the fats from your diet to create ATP.  Breathing also helps the first two sources to replenish, which is why you continue to breathe heavy once you finish your workout. This source will kick in after the glycogen has been depleted, but unlike the other two sources, it can last for a very long time. The amount of time you can use respiration as your ATP source depends on your cardiovascular fitness. That means you can train to improve your body’s usage of fuel!

If you are pushing your training too far and have pushed yourself past your respiratory limits or used up all your carbohydrates and fats, you will begin to use protein as a fuel source. You want to avoid getting into this state, since it will start to use the protein saved in your muscles for tissue repair. This will negatively impact your muscle recovery and muscle building.

As a closing note, eating more macronutrients than you need, like more carbohydrates, will result in the excess carbohydrates being stored as body fat. More nutrients does not mean more ATP! ATP will only be converted as you require it.

References

http://ironman.memorialhermann.org/performance-improvement/sports-science/nutrition/how-the-body-uses-energy/

http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/the-bodyrsquos-fuel-sources

Cardio for Sports Training

The type of cardio training you want to do to improve sports and athletic performance will vary depending on the sport, your goals, and your fitness. For this article, I will break down the different types of cardio and why you would or wouldn’t want to do them. In general, you want to train to mimic the requirements of your sport.

First to consider is steady state or continuous cardio. Steady state cardio is moving at a constant pace that you can maintain. The pace will be dependant on the duration you are doing. Let’s look at why you would want to do steady state cardio training. The most obvious reason for doing this type of cardio is because you are training for a marathon or another type of event that will require you to move for a long period of time. Steady state cardio is also a great training tool to improve your lung and heart capacity, which is a good base to have for any sport. Additional, this is the type of training you want to do if you are just getting into cardio. Next, let’s look over the reasons why you wouldn’t want to do this type of training. Athletics require a lot of strength and power, as well as endurance and because of this, too much steady state training can actually reduce your strength and power. If you already have a good cardiovascular base and you require bursts of speed and power for your chosen sport, then this training is not for you.

The next type of cardio training is aerobic intervals. Aerobic intervals require doing a movement at a higher intensity followed by a lower intensity. Typically you will go at a higher intensity for 1 - 3 minutes, followed by 1 - 3 minutes at a lower intensity. This type of training is great for any sport that is interval based, where you will be performing for a short period of time, followed by a short rest; hockey is an excellent example. This type of training can also be adapted for non-interval sports by having a longer rest period between high intensity intervals. Interval training helps your body adapt to increases in energy requirements that many sports need. Do not do this type of training if you are just starting out. Work your way up to interval training.

Finally, anaerobic interval training. Anaerobic interval training is doing an activity for a short duration at maximum effort, followed by a long rest. A good example is sprinting for 100m, then resting for 3 to 4 minutes. This training is obviously very good for short distance sprinters, but it can help almost any athlete. In most sports, a short burst of maximum energy is required to get that goal or push yourself into a better position. Anaerobic intervals will help condition your body for these events. This training has the added benefit of working your muscles for power as well. This training is very intense, so definitely do not start with anaerobic intervals. This training has little benefit to long distance runners, or any other sport that requires you to move at a relatively constant pace for a long period of time.

To summarize, all three types of cardio can have a benefit to your athletic improvement, you just need to review your goals and your current physical condition. No matter the cardio type you choose, an important thing to consider is over training! Over training will negatively impact your improvement, and can cause you to become exhausted and under perform during your practices or games. Go over with a trainer the amount and types of exercises you are doing as you might only need to add in 1 cardio session a week.

References

https://www.athletestrengthandperformance.com/cardio-vs-conditioning/

http://www.stack.com/a/the-best-cardio-exercises-for-athletes

Cardio for Muscle Gains

A lot of people looking to bulk up and build muscle do not do cardio. The thought is that cardio will impair or even reduce your muscle growth. Just look at marathon runners! The “no cardio” thinking is not 100% true. People looking to build muscle and make big gains should not completely dismiss cardio, they just need to approach it correctly. Let’s break down what you should be doing and how often.

An important factor with building muscle is losing fat. Let’s look at the cardio and fat burn chart from my Cardio for Fat and Weight Loss post (check it out for a breakdown of the chart below). In that post, I went over how a higher heart rate (HR) burns more overall calories, and therefore more fat. I’m going to use the same logic here, but turn it up to 11!

HR % from max	% fat burned from total calories burned
65 -70 %	60 %
70 - 75 %	50 %
75 - 80 %	35 %
80 - 85 %	20 %
85 - 90 %	10 %
90 - 95 %	5 %
95 - 100 %	0 %

An important part of adding cardio to your muscle building routine is to make sure you aren’t overworking your body and burning muscle. In order to make sure you aren’t burning off your hard earned muscles, intensity and duration are important factors. Let’s start with intensity, bring it to the max! Remember how we talked about the body type of long distance runners? Now think about sprinters. Short and intense is the type of cardio you want to aim for. A good example would be sprinting 100 m, then resting for 4 min, and repeat 4 to 10 times. With this intensity, your duration is going to be fairly short, which is good. You want your cardio to be 20 minutes or less. As for the weekly basis, 2 or 3 times at most a week is all you need.

Doing 10 sets of 100 m sprints is a lot of energy and requires a good cardiovascular base. If you are just starting to add cardio into your weight workout start easier and longer. Go with a steady state HR you can maintain for 30 minutes and build yourself up. Once you can maintain a cardio session with an HR at 80% of your maximum HR, start doing your high intensity cardio.

An important thing to remember when adding cardio into your workout plan is the additional calories burned. Make sure you aren’t over training and burning up too many calories, this will negatively impact your muscle gains. It’s a good idea to review your workout and diet with a trainer and a nutritionist to make sure you are maximizing your results!

References

http://www.muscleforlife.com/cardio-and-muscle-growth-friends-or-foes/

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ask-the-muscle-prof-best-cardio-for-preserving-mass.html

Cardio for Fat and Weight Loss

The age old idea of low impact cardiovascular exercises to burn fat is no longer holding up to new research and fitness testing. While low impact cardio is still good for you and will help in weight loss, it is no longer deemed to be the best and fastest method. So what is? What should you be doing to target fat burn, and how often should you be doing it? Let’s take a look at cardio intensity and how much you should do.

First, let’s look at some math. The chart1 below shows your Heart Rate (HR) percentage of your maximum HR (HR max), and how much fat you will burn. A quick and easy way to calculate your HR max is to subtract your age from 220. For some other methods to calculate your HR max, check out this website http://www.brianmac.co.uk/maxhr.htm. The best way to determine your HR max is to work with a trainer and do physical testing.

HR % from max	% fat burned from total calories burned
65 -70 %	60 %
70 - 75 %	50 %
75 - 80 %	35 %
80 - 85 %	20 %
85 - 90 %	10 %
90 - 95 %	5 %
95 - 100 %	0 %

The chart above just shows the percent of calories that is burned from fat, the remaining calories are mostly burned from carbohydrates. Note, it is not recommended to workout at 100% of your maximum heart rate.
Looking at the chart, it appears that the low impact HR zone burns the most fat, and thus should be the best one to do. What it isn’t showing you, is the increase in calorie burn. As you increase your HR, you will burn more calories in a shorter period of time. There is of course a limit. If you are training above 85% of you HR max, then you significantly decrease your fat burn percent. This is due to the high intensity of the training, which becomes anaerobic instead of aerobic. These intensities are also very difficult to sustain, so the amount of calories burned will be lower. This range of exercise should be done during athletic training, and not for fat burning. Summarizing the chart above, it appears that a mid-range of intensity is the best for burning fat quickly.

What exactly should you be doing in the mid range? How much should you do? The goal you should be aiming for is about 70% of your HR max. Make sure this is a sustainable range for you, you want to maintain this HR during your entire exercise. If you are struggling reaching 70%, then lower your goal to 60%, and keep going until you get to a rate that you can sustain. If you are just starting to workout, you may find that you need to start at a lower HR in order to complete the workout.
Now, how often should you do cardio? Start with 3 days a week for 20 minutes. As that gets comfortable, gradually increase by 5 or 10 minutes until you can do 45 minutes. Once you can do that, increase your intensity, you may also need to decrease the total time. Work your way back up to 45 minutes! Keep repeating this until you reach 85% of your HR max. Once this is comfortable, it is time to move on to other exercises, which will not be covered in this post.

I want to quickly go over some of the benefits of the lower range of cardio workouts, 50 - 70 % HR max. Below are a few reasons that you will want to start in this range, or even stick to this range of intensity.

• You are new to cardio exercises
• You have breathing problems
• You have joint issues, this range will have low impact activities, although there are some activities you can do to increase your HR that will not impact your joints
• You have a lot of time to exercise
• It includes activities you enjoy

In summary, using any cardiovascular exercises to burn fat and lose weight will be beneficial. In order to get the most benefit from your cardio exercise, increase your intensity but keep it at a sustainable rate. Cardiovascular exercise to lose weight should also be combined with weight training and a well balanced diet in order to maximize results. The best way to get started is to find something you enjoy and stick to it!

References

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson178.htm

https://www.verywell.com/cardio-for-weight-loss-1229851