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The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast

well.blogs.nytimes.com

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Re: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast

#81
post #74
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure aerobic exercise is better for the brain than strength training. Aerobic exercise increases oxygen flow to the brain and it directly improves creation and survival of neurons. Effectively it acts as a drug for your brain. It has the additional benefit that it alters your mood, aerobic exercise makes you happy :) Strength training may boost testosterone, but the effects of aerobic exercise is well esta…

I'm really struggling to think of a strength training scenario where your heart rate wouldn't be elevated (thus increasing blood flow). Consider a max. back squat, where all your muscles are contracting to the maximum degree that they can for several seconds. I'd say that'll make your heart pump. (Thanks for the citations. That's awesome, and I wish more people would do it.)

I've noticed that when I run my breathing speed and heart rate increase up to 5 km, then stays pretty much constant. I don't know why this is though. If you do strength training you probably stop long before this point.

Re: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast

#83
post #74
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure aerobic exercise is better for the brain than strength training. Aerobic exercise increases oxygen flow to the brain and it directly improves creation and survival of neurons. Effectively it acts as a drug for your brain. It has the additional benefit that it alters your mood, aerobic exercise makes you happy :) Strength training may boost testosterone, but the effects of aerobic exercise is well esta…

I'm really struggling to think of a strength training scenario where your heart rate wouldn't be elevated (thus increasing blood flow). Consider a max. back squat, where all your muscles are contracting to the maximum degree that they can for several seconds. I'd say that'll make your heart pump. (Thanks for the citations. That's awesome, and I wish more people would do it.)

Weight training and cardio training have different effects on the heart. Weight training forces the heart to pump against resistance, leadening to a thickening of aorta walls. Cardio requires blood to be circulated more frequently, leading to an enlargement of some heart chambers.

Re: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast

#84
post #82

For the people who do strength training: how much do you exercise and how quick are the results? (in kg of muscle/year or in strength improvement or whatever is the standard)

I train 3 to 5 times per week (Olympic lifting). Like most people I had a period of fast improvement which is tapering now.

Re: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast

#85
post #74
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure aerobic exercise is better for the brain than strength training. Aerobic exercise increases oxygen flow to the brain and it directly improves creation and survival of neurons. Effectively it acts as a drug for your brain. It has the additional benefit that it alters your mood, aerobic exercise makes you happy :) Strength training may boost testosterone, but the effects of aerobic exercise is well esta…

I'm really struggling to think of a strength training scenario where your heart rate wouldn't be elevated (thus increasing blood flow). Consider a max. back squat, where all your muscles are contracting to the maximum degree that they can for several seconds. I'd say that'll make your heart pump. (Thanks for the citations. That's awesome, and I wish more people would do it.)

The effects I'm talking about are not during the actual exercise, it's more long term. Note that even though they are long term (~12 weeks I think) they are not permanent, if you stop exercising soon there will be no benefit.

Re: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast

#86
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering how many people start dieting and exercise and then fall of the wagon a few months in, I don't buy that.

People like it, we are just lazy and so we do things like sit on the couch even though the rational self knows that exercise will make us happy.

Thats what I was aiming at: you can't get people to exercise, we have tried telling it to them in five hundred different ways, a million different slogans and insane amount of dollars have been wasted.

Where would we have been if that amount of money had instead been used for "exercise in a pill" research? Would we have it? Unlikely. Would we be able to get some of the benefits? Absolutely.

Re: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast

#87
post #57

I've dropped 20kg (44lb) since august, and I have found that eating well has a much much greater effect than exercise does. I've kept track daily of both weight and key tasks: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0ArDlY2B14P1IdFA2NElD... It's pretty easy to see the exercise has died down to just enough to keep metabalism up, but the weight loss has been very steady. There's been no difference for me between pre-bre…

Interesting spreadsheet and congratulation on your dietary improvements! Exercise doesn't really help you with losing weight, but it helps you with losing fat and/or gaining muscle. In the last few months I've exercised a lot and ate a lot. I've gained around 7kg of mostly muscles. I don't know whether losing weight is a useful goal at all. Aiming to lose body fat while keeping lean body weight (=muscles, bones, ever…

Starting from a BMI of 40 there's no way I'd attempt to put on that much lean muscle. :-)

Re: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast

#88
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting spreadsheet and congratulation on your dietary improvements! Exercise doesn't really help you with losing weight, but it helps you with losing fat and/or gaining muscle. In the last few months I've exercised a lot and ate a lot. I've gained around 7kg of mostly muscles. I don't know whether losing weight is a useful goal at all. Aiming to lose body fat while keeping lean body weight (=muscles, bones, ever…

Starting from a BMI of 40 there's no way I'd attempt to put on that much lean muscle. :-)

Yes. Have you considered also tracking your abdominal girth? I read about some studies showing that this (or the ratio of abdominal girth to hip circumference to make it work between different people) is a better indicator of health.
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