AFRO TIMES
Health & Beauty
June 10, 2006
21
P u m p i n g I r o n : A b e g i n n e r s g u i d e t o lifting weights BY ABIGAIL EKUESMITH
They range from one pound to one hundred pounds. Some are round, square or hexagon. They come in all colors of the rainbow, including the latest “it” color or the always fashionable and slimming Black. They’re even adjustable like the 5-way bra. As of press time, they don’t come shaped like water donuts but they should since they are lifesavers; they are dumbbells. Bodybuilders and men have long known the benefits of lifting weights. Now the latest research is proving that consistent weight training can improve overall health for the general population. Women have long been tentative to lift weights for fear of bulking up. Unless you possess as much testosterone as the Incredible Hulk, it aint gonna happen. Do not fear weights. You should fear your weight if it consists primarily of fat. Your total weight consists of your percent of body fat and lean muscle mass. The more body fat you have, the bigger your body will be. The more muscle mass you have, the heavier you might be, but the less space you’ll take up. Muscle looks better. So don’t be fooled by the scale. Gauge your progress by how your clothes fit. Think about how tight a person’s body feels when they’re muscular. Muscle tissue is dense. Fat is mushy and dimply and too much of the “bad fat” is unhealthy. For a woman between the ages 25-44, 16-25% body fat is in the healthy range. Women generally carry more fat because of our hormones and the biological need to sustain ourselves and offspring. At fitness and wellness centers, certified personal trainers can find out your body fat percentage. The two most common methods used are the skin-fold calipers and the bio-electrical impedance machine. The margin of error on the skin-fold calipers is plus or minus 4%. Often times there are new studies released that gauge healthiness based
on a person’s body mass index (BMI). The formula for that uses a person’s height and weight but it doesn’t take into account a person’s body fat percentage and does not apply to muscular individuals. The BMI should be used in conjunction with other tests. Even when a woman is at rest she is burning calories just to breath, blink and keep her heart beating. That is called the basal metabolic rate (BMR) or resting metabolic rate (RMR). A calorie is a unit of energy. The body recognizes glucose (sugar) and fat for energy. Excess calories make you fat not the calories themselves. Calories are essential to survival. Muscle burns more calories than fat, even at rest. A 155lb woman with 20% body fat has a higher resting metabolic rate than a 155lb woman with 35% body fat. After a session of strength training your metabolism increases. That is the Thermal Effect of Exercise (TEE). Up to four hours after a strength training session your body continues to burn more calories. Not only is it important how much fat you have on your body, but where the fat is on your body can have an affect on your health. Women tend to store fat in the thighs, hips and butt whereas men tend to store fat in the midsection. That’s the beer belly or pot belly some of us find endearing. Women can store fat in the abdominal area. This deep store of fat is referred to as visceral fat. Another determining factor of health is a woman’s waist circumference and the waist-to-hip ratio. A waist circumference of 39 inches or higher is unhealthy and a waist-tohip ratio of more than .85 is considered unhealthy. For example a 155lb woman who’s waist measures 32 inches and hips measure 36 inches has a waist-to-hip ratio of .89. High levels of visceral fat can lead to high cholesterol, high levels of triglycerides in the blood, hypertension, insulin-resistance or full-
Push-ups: Beginner, place hands against a wall, or chair. Step back till your body is in a straight line. Slowly lower your body and squeeze your chest to return to starting position. blown diabetes. These symptoms are called the metabolic syndrome and are risk factors for coronary heart disease. Coronary heart disease is the number one killer of women. AfricanAmerican woman are at a higher risk for this disease and the rate of mortality is also higher. By participating in a regular strength training program, many of these symptoms can be kept under control or eliminated. Your body becomes more efficient with a higher percentage of lean muscle mass. With regular cardiovascular exercise and circuit resistance training, the heart becomes more efficient as well. It doesn’t have to work as hard to pump blood throughout the body. That results in lower blood pressure. Insulin is the hormone that maintains the level of glucose in the blood. When there is too much blood-sugar, the liver releases insulin. Some individuals are resistant to insulin or do not produce enough leading to diabetes. Muscles naturally store sugar in the form of glycogen for use as energy. That storage of sugar isn’t harmful. The excess sugar in the blood is. But with regular exercise, muscles use blood glucose for energy, mimicking the affect of insulin in the body. Insulin sensitivity increases so the body can utilize blood-sugar more effectively. At any given time there is a level of fat, triglycerides, circulating
in the bloodstream. As with blood glucose levels, triglyceride levels can be harmful if they are too high. Exercise has the same affect on fat levels in the body. Regular exercise increases the ability of muscles to use fats for energy and increases the levels of HDL, the good cholesterol in the body. Strength training makes everyday activities easier for the obvious reason - you’ll be stronger. Carrying groceries, laundry, and your twenty pound baby; walking up a flight of stairs or running for the bus; all your everyday activities become easier. Below is a workout that can be done at home with little or no equipment. Perform the following exercises 3-4 times a week. Do three sets of 10 repetitions. Select dumbbells between 5 and 12 pounds. The weight you choose should fatigue your muscles by the end of the last set to see strength gains. Increase your weights as you get stronger. Squat: Beginner, wall or ball squat. Lean against the wall or exercise ball with feet out in front of you. Sit down and back as if sitting into a chair. Push through your heels as you return to standing position. Intermediate: hold on to a railing or back of a chair, sit back, push through heels to stand up, don’t use your arm to pull yourself to standing position. Advanced: Holding a pair of dumbbells, sit
Strength training makes everyday activities easier for the obvious reason - you’ll be stronger. Carrying groceries, laundry, and your twenty pound baby; walking up a flight of stairs or running for the bus; all your everyday activities become easier. back and keep your place hands against a shoulders pointing up. wall, or chair. Step back Lunge: start with your till your body is in a right foot forward and left straight line. Slowly foot behind the left hip. lower your body and Bend your left knee squeeze your chest to straight down, push off return to starting the right heel to return to position. standing position. Intermediate: start on Switch sides. your hands and knees. Bridge: This exercise Shift your weight forward works the back of the thighs. Place your feet on so your hands are under a chair or step. Tighten your shoulders. Advanced: Do a full your abs. Push down push-up with weight over through the heel and lift your hand and feet. Keep your hips off the ground abs tight. Exhale as you using your hamstrings. Advanced: Use an push into the up position. Lateral raises: stand exercise ball for an added stability challenge if you with soft knees and abs tight. Keep shoulders have one. Bent-over rows: This down to work deltoids, exercise is for your “lats”, the muscles that give the your back and your side shoulder their round under your arm, the bra appearance. Lead with bulge area. Bend forward the elbows. from the waist, keeping Bicep curls: stand with your back straight. knees slightly bent, abs Tighten your abs. tight. Keep elbows at Squeeze your shoulders sides, do not swing arm, blades together and pull and do not try to touch your elbow up close along your side in a slow- shoulder with weight, use slow-controlled controlled movement. Chest press: Lying flat movements. Tricep kickbacks: Lean on the ground, bend elbow to 90 degrees. forward from the waist. Squeeze chest and push Keep back flat and abs the weight up, keeping tight. Straighten the arm elbows soft at the end of and squeeze the back of the arm. Do not use the movement. Push-ups: Beginner, momentum.