Some people are more predisposed to fat gain than others. However you have more control than you think, or maybe than you want to admit.

Studies have shown that multiple areas on a person’s DNA (genetic loci) identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) increase the susceptibility to obesity in a cumulative manner. That means the more obesity-related factors on your DNA, the more likely you are to accumulate body fat. However, it wasn’t known whether, and to what extent, this genetic susceptibility may be influenced by a physically active lifestyle.

A recent study in Europe examined over 20000 people over a 3.6-year period showed that living a physically active lifestyle is associated with a 40% reduction in the genetic predisposition to obesity.

In this study, the researchers examined the DNA areas that increase obesity-susceptibility in a sample of 20,430 individuals (aged 39-79 y) from the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC)-Norfolk cohort with an average follow-up period of 3.6 y.

A genetic predisposition score was calculated for each individual by adding the body mass index (BMI)-increasing areas. Physical activity was assessed using a self-administered questionnaire. Statistical analysis was used to examine the effects of the genetic predisposition score and its interaction with physical activity on BMI/obesity risk and BMI change over time.

Each additional BMI-increasing area increased the risk of obesity 1.116-fold in the whole population, but significantly more in inactive individuals than in active individuals.

What does this mean?

Some people inherit a predisposition to accumulating body fat than others. Others use genetics as a reason for their excess fat. What this study shows is that even if you are predisposed to getting fatter, if you have an active lifestyle, and exercise regularly and consistently, your chance of getting fat is significantly less.

Add to this the risk-reducing effects of exercise, regardless of body fat, and it makes sense to make exercise a part of your day; every day.

Reference: Li S, Zhao JH, Luan J, Ekelund U, Luben RN, et al. (2010) Physical Activity Attenuates the Genetic Predisposition to Obesity in 20,000 Men and Women from EPIC-Norfolk Prospective Population Study. PLoS Med 7(8): e1000332. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000332

Fitness professionals and exercisers alike seem to think it is the enemy and should be avoided at all costs.

“Don’t exercise too hard, you’ll get lactic acid in your muscles and they’ll take days to recover.”

“Lactic acid will cause muscle damage and stop you from training.”

Knowing how lactic acid is produced in the body is useful to improving your fitness.

So what is lactic acid and why am I saying it isn’t your enemy?

When you exercise, glucose (sugar, carbohydrate) is broken down into different chemicals, to produce energy in a form the muscles can use. As long as your heart, lungs and blood can get enough oxygen to the working muscles, you break the glucose down completely and end up with useable energy, carbon dioxide and water. This is is called aerobic exercise.

If you exercise at a high intensity and the oxygen supply isn’t sufficient to meet the demands of the contracting muscles, glucose isn’t broken down completely and lactic acid is produced. This is anaerobic exercise.

Increased lactic acid in the muscles decreases the pH and this leads to the burning feeling that makes you slow down or stop. It’s like a built-in safety mechanism. Lactic acid can also move out of the muscles into the blood and this may be why people feel nauseous after an intense effort (e.g 400m race).

Because lactic acid causes us to slow down and results in discomfort or pain, it has been labelled as bad. However, it is when our muscles are working at the point of lactic acid accumulation that they are stimulated to “get fitter” by producing more enzymes, increasing blood vessels, producing more red blood cells etc. Up until the point at which there is sufficient oxygen to meet demand, the muscles are quite comfortable so don’t “need” to get fitter. It is at the point where lactic acid starts to accumulate that the muscles realise they need to be fitter.

How do you know if you are exercising hard enough?

You’ll know you are exercising hard enough, when you start to breath hard. When lactic acid accumulates and the pH in the muscles and blood goes down, the body responds by chemical reactions that neutralise the acidity. A by-product of these chemical reactions is carbon dioxide. It is this build up of carbon dioxide that makes us breath harder and “puff.”

So what does this mean?

Firstly, it means that lactic acid isn’t your enemy. In fact, it is your friend. Think of it as your fitness conscience that tells your muscles to get into better shape. And the better shape they are in, the higher intensity exercise you can do before you reach the point of lactic acid accumulation, meaning you are fitter.

Secondly, it means if you want to get fitter you need to train in a way that pushes you to the point of lactic acid accumulation. Now because you can’t maintain this level of exercise for very long, you have to do short bursts of exercise. This is why interval training works so much better to improve fitness. You push hard for a minute or two and accumulate lactic acid in the working muscles and blood, then slow down to let the muscles use up some of the lactic acid.

Thirdly, when you push yourself and start to breath faster, it is a good indicator that you are working hard enough. It means your body is producing carbon dioxide to buffer the lactic acid. When this happens, try to exhale strongly to clear the carbon dioxide from your body and speed up the recovery process.

Then…. when you have got your breath back to normal you can do it again!!

Five efforts (intervals)s like this during your workout is sufficient to tell the muscles to get fitter.

The good news is that the fitter you are, the better the body gets at using up the lactic acid and blowing off the carbon dioxide. It’s why athletes recover so quickly after a race and can talk to the TV person.

The best time of the day to exercise is the time that is most convenient for you and you are most likely to do. There is no point trying to exercise at a time that just doesn’t suit your routine.

When I was competing in triathlons I used to exercise after work, however once my second son arrived getting out in the afternoon became too hard. (With just one I could take him with me in a running stroller but two didn’t fit.)

I tend to exercise mostly in the morning and I often recommend people give early morning exercise a try.

Here are some reasons morning is the best time to exercise.

1. Many people believe that early morning exercise before breakfast burns more body fat than after eating later in the day.  Although there is still some debate, the evidence is growing that doing aerobic or cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach is good for fat loss. The argument is that after an overnight 8-12 hour fast, your body’s stores of glycogen are reduced and you burn more fat when glycogen levels are low.
Eating breakfast causes a release of insulin which interferes with the mobilization of body fat. Less insulin is present in the morning; so more body fat is burned when exercise is done in the morning.
There is less carbohydrate (glucose) in the bloodstream when you wake up after an overnight fast. With less glucose available, you are likely to burn more fat.

2. If you eat breakfast immediately before exercising, you have to burn off what you have just eaten first before tapping into stored body fat (and insulin is elevated after a meal.)

3. When you exercise in the morning, it raises your metabolism from it’s lowest and it stays elevated for a period of time after the workout is over. If you exercise in the evening, you burn calories during the session, but you don’t get the same advantage of the “afterburn” effect because your metabolic rate drops dramatically as soon as you go to sleep.

4. Morning exercise gives you a feeling of accomplishment and makes you more productive the rest of the day.
Morning exercise “energizes” you and “wakes you up” by turning off melatonin (the sleep hormone) and turning on serotonin (the feel good hormone).

5. There is some evidence that morning exercise may help regulate your appetite for the rest of the day. You’re also more likely to make better eating choices if you have already done your exercise for the day.

6. Your body’s circadian rhythm adjusts to morning routine, making it easier to wake up at the same time every day.
You’re less likely to skip your workout when it’s out of the way early. After work there are more demands likely to get in the way, like working back late or you just feel too tired or someone invites you for a drink!

7. You can always “make time” for exercise by setting your alarm a bit earlier in the morning.

Getting into the habit of morning exercise takes a while, and even then some mornings can be a bit of a struggle to get out of bed (especially when it is cold).  For all the reasons above, however, I recommend you give it a try.

For fat loss, fitness, lifestyle and mental health, early morning exercise is a good habit to develop.

The study led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is the first to examine these relationships in non-human primates.

While there is ample evidence of the beneficial effects of exercise on cognition in other animal models, such as the rat, it has been unclear whether the same holds true for people, said senior author Dr Judy Cameron.

Testing the hypothesis in monkeys provides information that is more comparable to human physiology.

“We found that monkeys who exercised regularly at an intensity that would improve fitness in middle-aged people learned to do tests of cognitive function faster and had greater blood volume in the brain’s motor cortex than their sedentary counterparts,” Dr. Cameron said. “This suggests people who exercise are getting similar benefits.”

To reach the conclusion, researchers trained adult female cynomolgus monkeys to run on a human-sized treadmill at 80 percent of their individual maximal aerobic capacity for one hour each day, five days per week, for five months.

Another group of monkeys remained sedentary, meaning they sat on the immobile treadmill, for a comparable time. Half of the runners went through a three-month sedentary period after the exercise period.

In all groups, half of the monkeys were middle aged (10 to 12 years old) and the others were more mature (15 to 17 years old). Initially, the middle-aged monkeys were in better shape than their older counterparts, but with exercise, all the runners became more fit. (It’s never too late to get fit!!)

During the fifth week of exercise training, standardized cognitive testing was initiated and then performed five days per week until week 24.

“Monkeys that exercised learned to do the cognitive tasks twice as quickly as control animals,” Dr. Cameron said. “They were also more engaged in the tasks and made more attempts to get the rewards, even though they made more mistakes.”

She noted that later in the testing period, learning rate and performance was similar among the groups, which could mean that practice at the task will eventually overshadow the impact of exercise on cognitive function.

When the researchers examined tissue samples from the brain’s motor cortex, they found that mature monkeys that ran had greater vascular volume than middle-aged runners or sedentary animals. However, those blood flow changes reversed in monkeys that were sedentary after exercising for five months.

These findings indicate that aerobic exercise at the recommended levels can have meaningful, beneficial effects on the brain.

It also shows that the benefits of exercise only last while the exercise is continued. After five months the benefits were lost.

So once you get fit, do enough to maintain your fitness.

Fortunately, it takes less exercise to stay fit than it does to get fit.

The alphas’ parents will predominantly come from generations X and Y and according to a leading social researcher, this could be the biggest generation to date.

The alphas are expected to have many career opportunities due to the skills shortage and starting their careers  at a time when the ageing population hits its peak and older people are leaving the workforce.

However, the alphas are also going to face the challenge of working out how best to care for the elderly in the long term.  Paying for it may fall on the alphas.

At the same time, new technology increases the risk that the alphas will lead a sedentary lifestyle with the accompanying health issues.  So not only will the health system be struggling with a older demographic, but this younger generation will put additional strain on it due to a sedentary lifestyle.

What can current generations do to give the alphas’ a chance at better health?

The greatest contribution baby boomers, gen X and Gen Y can do is to be positive role models in relation to their own health and fitness.  Each generation learns from the ones ahead of it.  If they see their parents leading healthy lifestyles, they are more likely to do the same.

If they see their parents and grandparents exercising and maintaining their fitness, they are more likely to do the same.  The choices they make are influenced by what they see generations ahead of them doing.

The biggest influence current generations can do, is to be an example of the lifestyle that will lead to better health and fitness; balancing work and family life, eating healthy foods and exercising regularly.

Do you bit and be a role model.

Your children and grandchildren are going to need all the help they can get.

Or do you find it hard to eat a healthy breakfast?

Here’s another good reason to do at least one and preferably both.

Starting your day with something healthy and good for yourself, makes you feel good about taking healthy action and, importantly, it makes it less likely that you’ll fall off the wagon and make less healthy choices later in the day.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that once you’ve started the day with a healthy choice you are less likely to undo the hard work by making a poor choice later in the day.

Whether it is exercising first thing, meditating or eating breakfast doesn’t matter. The key is to make the first choice of the day a healthy one. Such a choice gives you self-discipline that lasts well into the day.

While this is only a small thing, all the little things add up to making a life of healthy habits. And its the collection of all the little things that make the most difference in the long term.

So next time you are going out that for a meal at night, make sure you do some exercise early in the day. It might just give you the strength to hold back on that extra serve or last drink.

And why not make sure you do some exercise early on Christmas morning (if you haven’t got young children), just to give you that added will-power when you confront Christmas dinner!

Wishing you a merry Christmas.

He was always telling us to work harder at training than we had to in our games, and that the harder we pushed ourselves at training, the easier the games would be.

I don’t play basketball any more, but the principle applies equally to fitness for life.

While there are hundreds of health reasons to exercise and be fit, I believe one of the key benefits of being fit, is that it makes the rest of your life easier.

Let’s face it, just walking to the shops is hard work if you aren’t fit. Mowing the lawns and gardening can be too much for some people, and if you aren’t strong enough, carrying the shopping home can be almost impossible. Eventually for some people, just getting up out of a chair is a major effort.

Although this may seem extreme and a long way off, the more your fitness declines, the more difficult everyday tasks become.

At first you won’t notice. But gradually you’ll start to find tasks that used to be easy, gradually seem harder to do or you won’t be able to do them at all. Little things like moving something heavy or opening a jar.

Or you’ll notice that you get tired quicker than you used to. And muscles that you didn’t know you had are sore and you can’t remember doing anything that strenuous.

People, who let their fitness decline too much, lose risk losing their independence. Some can no longer stay in their own home because they can’t do everyday activities or they are at risk of falling. Obviously nobody wants to be forced from their home because they can’t cope.

So, next time you are struggling to get out of bed or to motivate yourself to do your exercise, just imagine how your life would change if you could no longer do the everyday things you enjoy doing.

Maintaining your fitness levels is the only way to prevent everyday activities becoming hard work. In fact, staying fit and strong not only prevents life getting harder, but it makes day-to-day tasks seem easy.

The harder you work, the easier life gets!

While it follows that the harder you are exercising the more likely you are to get hot and sweat, the opposite isn’t necessarily true. Just because you are sweating a lot doesn’t mean you are working hard.

I read an article in the newspaper a week ago about a form of yoga that you do in a humid 38C room. The article stated that participants, some of who were athletes and no doubt very fit, claimed it was the hardest thing they had ever done and that people often felt nauseous and dizzy. I’m sure they did find it hard and they felt bad while exercising. However I expect the heat had more to do with it than the exercise.

When you exercise blood is directed to the working muscles to supply the oxygen and fuel needed. When you get hot, blood is directed to the skin so that heat can be lost from the body to keep your internal temperature constant.

When you exercise in a hot environment, the heart and lungs have to work extra hard because they are trying to get blood to both the muscles and the skin. As a result, blood is diverted away from other organs. This means a person exercising in the heat will usually have a higher heart rate giving them the perception that they are exercising harder. People feel nauseous because blood is diverted away from the gut; this also adds to the perception of working harder.

Because we use our heart rate and breathing to ‘assess’ how hard we are working, when we exercise in the heat, it often feels like we are working harder. Add to this the feeling of nausea and it feels like we are working very hard, even if we aren’t doing any more than usual. I think this explains why the athletes doing yoga in a humid 38C room perceived it to be so difficult.

Fitness is predominantly about what is going on inside the muscles than just whether the heart had to pump faster to keep up with competing demands for blood.

What are the lessons from this for you?

• Don’t intentionally exercise in extremely hot environments unless you are training for some event that will be held in an extremely hot environment.(e.g Hawaii Ironman, a marathon in the Sahara) The added demands it places on the heart and heat loss systems and the potential risk and discomfort aren’t worth it for general fitness.

• Don’t exercise in extra clothing to “heat up” and sweat more. You might weigh less when you finish your exercise, but it will be fluid loss not fat loss and the risk of overheating for no added fitness gain isn’t worth it.

• Try to keep cool while exercising. Your heart and lungs can then focus on getting blood to the working muscles where it is needed. You’ll perform better and feel better, which means you will probably enjoy it more and do it again.

• Don’t believe that just because you feel bad while exercising it is better for you. Exercise should feel a bit uncomfortable while you are doing it but you shouldn’t necessarily feel sick.

• You don’t have to exercise in the heat to be more pliable and elastic. Being in a hot room doesn’t mean the muscles are properly warmed up with adequate blood flow. A gradual warm-up of the muscles you are using is more important than having hot skin and sweating a lot.

• Focus on improving your performance. How you feel and look is important, but they are outcomes of getting fitter.

I’m not just talking about when you don’t get there or get up because you just don’t feel like it; although I know that happens. I’m also talking about when, through no fault of your own, something gets in the way of you doing the exercise you planned to do. It can be frustrating, and in some cases be enough to get you out of your routine for a few days. It doesn’t take much to disrupt an exercise routine and change your mental focus; you miss one day and next thing you know it a week has gone by and you haven’t exercised.

I certainly recommend people stick to their routine as much as possible because we are creatures of habit. If you can’t however, having a Plan B is a good way to keep you mentally focused on getting some exercise in. What do I mean by Plan B? A plan B is an alternative exercise session that you can do when your normal activity isn’t possible. It might not be as strenuous or take as long as your normal exercise but that’s not so important. What is important is to do something so you stay in the habit of exercise.

I have a few Plan B’s, that I call on when my normal routine doesn’t happen. Here are some examples to give you some ideas for your Plan B:

• 15 minutes in the home gym (shed) doing as many different exercises as I can in that time.
• A twenty minute ride around a local park (in my case Kings Park) or any area close to home.
• Walking to the local shops and back (even if I don’t need to buy anything (I don’t recommend this one to my sister who loves to shop!))
• Push-ups, squats, shoulder presses and planks during the ads while I’m watching TV.
• Skipping for 10 minutes in the backyard.

It doesn’t matter what your Plan B is, as long as it gets you doing something and keeps you in the ‘exercise habit’. The law of inertia says that is takes a lot more effort to get something moving than it does to keep it moving. I think it is the same with regular exercise. It’s a lot easier to keep your exercise program going than it is to let it stop and try to get started again. Just doing something, even if it is only for a few minutes, can keep in the habit.
Staying fit is about being consistent; developing an exercise routine that works for you and making it a habit for life. Having a Plan B helps you stay in,or get back into, your routine quicker when other things get in the way.

Your TO DO – come up with four or five Plan B’s that you can use. Write them down and keep them ready for when you miss a session. If you have any great ideas for Plan Bs let me know and I’ll share them with others.

Note: I don’t think there is anything wrong with missing an exercise session. Certainly your fitness won’t fall apart if you miss the occasional workout. Plan B’s are designed to prevent you falling out of routine completely. They are more for your head than they are for your body!

An interesting study I read about recently gives some insight into how investing some money up front might make a difference in the long term.

The economists from the University of California, started from the premise that exercise is a habit; some people have developed the habit and some haven’t. The researchers designed experiments to find out whether financial incentives can help. They recruited 120 students and gave them each a brochure on the benefits of exercise. Forty received just the brochure, 40 received $25 if they went to the (free) gym once the following week and 40 were offered an extra $100 if they went to the gym eight times or more in the next four weeks.

The researchers used attendance records from the gym to compare all 120 students’ gym visits before, during and for seven weeks after the study finished.

The results were quite encouraging. The students who were paid to attend the gym for four weeks not only went during the study, they continued to go after they stopped being paid. They continued to attend about as often as when they were being paid.

The economists concluded that “it may be possible to encourage the formation of good habits by offering monetary compensation for a sufficiently long baseline period, as doing so appears to move some people past the threshold needed to engage in the activity.”

For many people, just feeling good and looking better isn’t enough to develop the habit. This is probably because it takes some time before you start to feel good and look different. Many people give up long before the results start to show up on their waist or in the mirror. Having a financial incentive to keep a person going until the results appear might be the answer many need.

Imagine if governments paid people to attend a gym or exercise regularly for 12 months. By then many would have formed the habit of exercising and continue to do so. The long term savings to the health system would be phenomenal. Given the current pressures and looming crisis in our health systems, it may be one way to reduce the demand for health services.  Continually trying to meet that demand is never going to work.