FITNESS : Establishing a workout routine

FITNESS : Establishing a workout routine

SHARON CHRISTINE RILEY

The new year is an ideal time to start or revamp your fitness programme. Although there are many things to be considered when establishing a workout routine, this week we shall focus on three main concerns - correct breathing, muscle growth, and the differences between training with heavy weights versus light ones.

As easy as breathing

Although breathing may be a natural action during normal activity levels such as walking, when we load our body to a higher level, our focus often changes. We need to breath in different ways for different activities.

Take cycling, for instance. Due to the hunched-over position you normally take for optimum riding performance and wind resistance, the lungs become partially compressed. This leads to a smaller quantity of air being taken in with each breath.

Accordingly, in such circumstances it is recommended to coordinate your breathing with your pedaling. The best method is to inhale on the upward stroke and exhale on the downward stroke on the same leg, alternating between legs now and then for variation.

Even with running, additional loading such as going uphill can challenge your breathing. Air exchange capability can be improved by concentrating on your breathing and maintaining a rhythmical breathing rate. Experts recommend breathing out on every fourth step, or every second foot strike on the same foot.

Protein's crucial role

Most of us are aware that if we wish to increase muscle mass then we need to take in more protein. But how much do you understand about the role of protein in this growth process and the best sources for it?

Protein can be found in foods such as egg whites, tuna and chicken while synthesised proteins can be found in many muscle-building supplements. If your diet contains a high level of protein in its natural form there is usually no need for supplements.

Protein is essential for muscle growth because it contains amino acids required to build muscle tissue. Therefore it is important to target your intake for the amount needed to satisfy your goals.

But it is also important not to take in too much protein. Why? Because the body will convert an excess supply of protein into - yes, you guessed it - fat!

It is only if you are targeting a high increase in muscle mass that a supplement may be of benefit. But as a rough guide, if you are consuming the equivalent of a couple of chicken breasts or two small cans of tuna per workout you are probably at, or very close to, the required levels of protein intake to allow muscle growth to the level you are aiming to achieve.

If boosting muscle mass is your goal you should also take in more vitamins and minerals along with the increase in protein consumption. This can readily be done by eating more fresh fruits and vegetables.

A reduction in the level of aerobic activity is also advisable since prolonged aerobic workouts can decrease the protein constituents of your muscles. The effect of this could mean that you start to burn muscle protein in order to supply the demands of your aerobic exercise levels.

Light or heavy?

The heavy-versus-light weights factor can be summarised very simply. If you lift heavy weights you will ultimately get stronger. If you lift lighter weights you will be able to go for longer, i.e. the duration at that workout intensity will increase. But the most common questions still remain: which is the better way to achieve the desired targets and which muscle fibres are doing what?

In answering these questions it must be remembered that different muscle tissues are employed in different ways to do different things when exercising.

The muscles are basically made up of two types of muscle fibres - slow twitch, and fast twitch. The percentage of use of each of these different fibres will be based around the type of workout you undertake, in other words, the amount of weight you lift.

If you lift lighter weights for a longer duration, a higher degree of your slow twitch muscle fibres will come into play. If you lift heavy weights for fewer reps and a shorter duration, then a higher degree of fast twitch muscle fibres will be employed.

The change-over between the use of slow twitch to fast twitch usage appears to happen somewhere around a 60 percent load factor on the muscles concerned.

But even when performing a maximum repetition lift session resulting in this change-over, the body still limits the loading on the targeted muscles to around 40 percent of the total muscular capability at any given time.

It is possible to apply a higher loading by taking a workout to the next level, one where the addition of adrenaline or high levels of stress come into play.

Due to these very specific aspects of weight training relative to the muscles employed, it is important to determine your goals and set your activities according to what you wish to achieve.

By training heavy you will develop high levels of power through the use of your high twitch muscle fibres. The results from working out at higher levels of loading will also be an increase in muscle mass.

On the other side of the equation, if you train at a lower level, employing the slow twitch muscle fibres, you are more likely to gain strength and endurance, but without the bulk. This form of exercise is typically employed to give tone to muscular structure.

Bangkok Post
Friday January 12, 2007