Hi All
Well, we’re back from our 5-week
trekking trip to the South Island and except for a few minor glitches, we
enhanced our already significant appreciation of the New Zealand flora and
fauna, and saw spectacular breathtaking scenery that may even require a second
look at some stage in the future.
We started off with the trip to Stewart
Island (after driving all the way down from Kaitaia to Bluff and stopping off
to see [5] whales at Kaikoura), and spent three days on the Rakiura Track. This
was followed by the drive to Te Anau to start the four-day trek on the Milford
Track. Once we had done this, we progressed (via the Fox Glacier, et al) to
Nelson, where we prepared for the five-day trek on the Heaphy Track.
I could not do justice to the scenery
that we saw, either with words, or with the images that we took, but if I get
interested feedback, I could insert some images in the next newsletter. At the
moment, these are still to be processed as we only arrived back home on the 5th
of February.
Although Asta and I passed through the
Buller Gorge, our timing did not permit us to witness one of our Program
Fitness members competing in her first half marathon after starting a new
exercise program just under a year ago. Over the past year, Shanna Crispin has
overcome the usual niggles and injuries that befall athletes that are starting
from scratch and ran her way to a very creditable 73rd placing out
of 207 finishers in the Open Women section of the Buller Half Marathon.
Shanna’s time of 1:56:57 shows that she still has some better performances to
look forward to as she gets stronger and faster with continued training.
We look forward to seeing how well
Shanna can really go.
Cheers
"Keep
your dream in front of you. Never let it go regardless of how farfetched it
might seem."
HAL HIGDON, Marathoning A to Z
"The
man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who
will win."
ROGER BANNISTER
"No matter how old I get, the race
remains one of life's most rewarding experiences."
GEORGE SHEEHAN
PROGRAM
FITNESS
If you should be aware of someone
who might benefit from being on a running or walking exercise program, please
get them to log on to www.profitness.net.nz
for more information on how I may be able to help. They may also wish to
contact me direct via my email address. If you wish to know a bit about our Homestay operation, the
website can be seen at www.foreststay.com
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Muscles and Diet
Many body builders and weight lifters are overly concerned about what they eat
and what food supplements they take. If you want to grow larger and stronger muscles,
you should concentrate on lifting weights, but you can help muscles grow larger
by understanding
how what you eat affects how you recover from hard exercise. Just exercising
will not make you strong and it will not help you to grow large muscles. If
exercise made you strong, marathon runners would have the largest muscles. The
only stimulus to make muscles larger and stronger is to stretch them while they
contract. When you lift a heavy weight, your muscles start to stretch before
they start to contract. This tears the muscle and causes soreness on the next
day and beyond. If you rest and let the muscle heal, it will be stronger than
before you stretched it lifting weights.
This training principle of stress-and-recover is so strong that you can enlarge
a muscle by lifting weights even if you are fasting, losing weight and all your
other muscles are getting smaller. In one study, obese, un-athletic women were
instructed to restrict food and lift weights. They averaged a weight loss of
more than 35 pounds in three months and gained a lot of muscle.
Training for sports is done by taking a hard workout and then having sore
muscles on the next day. Then you take easy workouts or
you take (time) off until the muscle
soreness disappears. You improve by taking hard workouts and your muscles grow
and heal while you recover on your easy days. Of course, if you could recover
faster from a hard workout, you could do more work and be a better
athlete. Scientists have known for years that you recover faster by eating
carbohydrates immediately after you finish your hard
workout (2).
New studies show that eating extra protein on the day that you take hard
workouts helps you recover even faster. Eating extra protein reduces muscle
damage during hard exercise (3). Eating carbohydrates along with a protein
building block called leucine helps you to recover even faster (4).
Chronic muscle fatigue in athletes is associated with low blood levels of amino
acids, the building blocks of proteins (1). The
sooner you eat protein after you finish your hard workout, the quicker you will
recover. The benefits of eating protein soon after
you lift weights does, not apply just to elite athletes. A study from the
people grow large muscles when they also lift weights. Muscles are made
primarily from protein building blocks called amino acids.
Muscles heal from a hard workout when amino acids and other nutrients travel
from your bloodstream into the muscles.
Eating
food, particularly protein, immediately after you finish your workout helps
muscles heal faster. This study shows that men between the ages of 51 and 69
recover faster and grow larger muscles when they include meat than when they
eat only dairy, fruits, vegetable,
whole grains, beans, seeds and nuts (5).
1) JE Donnelly, T Sharp, J Houmard, MG Carlson, JO Hill, JE Whatley, RG Israel
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition OCT 1993;58(4)
2) KJ Kingsbury, L Kay, M Hjelm.
Contrasting plasma free amino acid patterns in elite athletes: association with
fatigue and
infection. British Journal of Sports Medicine 32: 1 (MAR 1998):25-32.
3) Nancy Rodriquez. The Journal of Nutrition July, 1999.
4) Hayward R et al. Effects of dietary protein on enzyme activity following
exercise-induced muscle injury. Med Sci Sprts Exerc.
March, 1999. 31(3):414-420.
5) WW Campbell, ML Barton, D CyrCampbell, SL Davey, JL Beard, G Parise, WJ
Evans. Effects of an omnivorous diet compared with a
lactoovovegetarian diet on resistance-training-induced changes in body
composition and skeletal muscle in older men. American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1999, Vol 70, Iss 6, pp 1032-1039.
Muscle Cramps: No
link between hydration and cramps
The popular theory that
exercise-induced muscle cramping (EAMC) is caused by fluid imbalances,
particularly dehydration and abnormalities in blood electrolyte levels, has
been overturned by a South African study of ultra-distance runners.
Electrolyte and fluid
disturbances have been associated with muscle cramps in certain clinical
conditions, explain the researchers, and it is therefore often assumed that
exercise-induced muscle cramping (EAMC) has the same cause despite a lack of
evidence to that effect.
They set out to determine whether
acute exercise-induced muscle cramping (EAMC) in distance runners is related to
changes in serum electrolyte concentrations and hydration status. A cohort of
72 male runners participating in the Two Oceans Ultra-marathon, a 56k road race
held annually in Cape Town, were asked about their history of exercise-induced
muscle cramping (EAMC) and then followed up for the development of the
condition during the race.
All subjects were weighed before
and immediately after the race to assess changes in hydration status. Blood
samples were taken before, immediately after and 60 minutes after the race and
analysed for glucose, protein, sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium
concentrations, as well as various markers of hydration status.
Of the 72 runners in the study,
45 had a history of exercise-induced muscle cramping (EAMC), while 27 had no
previous experience of muscle cramping. In the event, 21 of the 45 runners with
a history of cramping suffered acute EAMC either during the race or within 60
minutes of completing it, while 22 of the 27 runners with no history of
cramping formed a ‘control’ group for comparison purposes.
Key findings were as follows:
- All episodes of cramping
occurred in the latter half of the race or immediately afterwards, with
most affected runners reporting three or more episodes. Most commonly
affected muscles were hamstrings (48%) and quadriceps (38%). Most cramps
were moderate-to-severe in intensity and best relieved by slowing the pace
or passive stretching;
- There were no significant
differences between the groups for pre- or post-race body weight, per cent
change in body weight, blood volume, plasma volume, or red cell volume,
indicating no difference in hydration status;
- Immediate post-race serum
sodium concentration was significantly lower in the cramp group, while serum
magnesium concentration was significantly higher. However, these
differences were considered to be too small to be of clinical
significance.
‘Furthermore,’ report the
researchers, ‘the decrease in serum sodium concentration following the race in
the cramp group is probably related to an increased fluid intake during the
race in this group. Although drinking patterns were not measured directly,
increased drinking in the cramp group is likely because of the well publicised
belief that cramping is caused by dehydration.’
This supposition was supported by
the finding that runners with EAMC were less dehydrated than non-cramping
runners immediately after the race, with per cent decreases in body weight (pre-
to post-race) of 2.9% and 3.6% respectively.
‘The results of our study,’
conclude the researchers, ‘do not support the common hypotheses that
exercise-induced muscle cramping (EAMC) is associated with either changes in
serum electrolyte concentrations or changes in hydration status following
ultra-distance running. An alternative hypothesis to explain the [cause] of
exercise-induced muscle cramping (EAMC) must therefore be sought.’
Br J Sports Med 2004;
38:488-492
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Side
Stitches
Side stitches are caused by a stretching of the ligaments that run downward
from the diaphragm to hold up the liver. You breathe
once for each two strides. You breathe out when one foot, usually the right,
strikes the ground. So, your diaphragm goes up when the force of your foot
strike causes your liver to go down. This stretches the ligaments to cause
pain. You can relieve the discomfort by
stopping running and pressing your fingers deep into your liver to raise it up
toward your diaphragm. At the same time, purse your lips and blow out as hard
as you can against the tightly held lips. Pushing the liver up releases the
stretched ligaments. Breathing out hard against resistance lowers your
diaphragm. The pain usually goes away
immediately and you can resume running.
From Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine at:
http://www.drmirkin.com
Glycogen synthesis:
your post-exercise plan
The importance of replenishing
muscle glycogen stores as well as fluids after heavy exercise is well understood
by sports scientists and coaches. But the relatively recent discovery that
muscle glycogen synthesis is more rapid if carbohydrate is consumed immediately
after exercise has focused attention on early post-race strategies to promote
recovery and enhance subsequent performance.
In a wide-ranging review of the
literature in this field, exercise physiologist John L Ivy, of the University
of Texas at Austin, points to the evidence that muscle glycogen synthesis is
twice as rapid if carbohydrate is consumed immediately after exercise rather
than several hours later, and that a rapid rate of synthesis can be maintained
if carbohydrate is consumed at regular intervals for a few hours. He explains
that the reduced rate of glycogen synthesis observed when ingestion of a
carbohydrate supplement is delayed can be ascribed to the development of muscle
insulin resistance – apparently a protective mechanism to prevent the
development of hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar level) when insufficient glucose
is available. Providing a carbohydrate supplement soon after exercise,
therefore, enhances the muscle glycogen recovery process by maintaining stable
blood glucose levels and preventing the development of muscle
insulin-resistance. ‘Moreover’, Ivy points out, ‘providing the supplement soon
after exercise maximises the time for recovery to proceed.’ When a carbohydrate
supplement is provided immediately after exercise, its effect on muscle
glycogen synthesis eventually decreases as blood glucose and insulin levels decline.
But the rate of this decline can be slowed if supplements are taken at regular
intervals for several hours after exercise.
Ivy’s key conclusions are as
follows:
- To maximise the rate of muscle
glycogen storage during short-term recovery, it is essential that a
carbohydrate supplement be ingested as soon after exercise as possible;
- Supplements should be ingested
at frequent intervals, such as every 30 minutes for 4-5 hours, and be
concentrated enough to provide 1.2-1.5g carbohydrate (CHO) per kg of body
weight;
- If less carbohydrate
consumption is required, a similar rate of glycogen storage can be
achieved with the addition of protein and amino acids to the supplement –
e.g. 0.8g CHO plus 0.4g PRO per kg of body weight.
‘Furthermore’, Ivy points out,
‘the ingestion of protein with carbohydrate has the added benefit of
stimulating muscle amino acid uptake and protein accretion. This could be very
important for rapid tissue repair and prevention of muscle soreness during
periods of intense training.’
Can J Appl Physiol 2001 26 Suppl
S236-45
Isabel Walker
******************************************All the best for the coming month.
Cheers