Health Geek

Forms of Aerobic Exercise

Good forms of aerobic exercise are: stationary bike, jogging (this can also be done on a treadmill), fast walking (also can be done on a treadmill), stair stepper, elliptical machine, rowing machine, sets of sprinting, running, or any other form of cardiovascular activity that would raise your heartbeat to the fat burning zone.

Frequency and Duration of Aerobic Exercise

As far as frequency is concerned, we feel comfortable recommending 2 to 4 sessions of 20-40 minutes each for male bodybuilders in the off-season. If a contest is approaching, then we would gradually increase the activity to no more than two sessions per day, 7 days a week of 45 minutes each on the worst case for a short period of time. Remember, it is those long hours of cardio that cause bodybuilders to look like POWs (Prisoners of War) in the bodybuilding stage the day of the show. If you are doing 2 sessions of 45 minutes of cardio every day make sure that you take plenty of glutamine (15-30 grams per day) in addition to having at least 7 meals per day.

For women, due to their higher concentrations of estrogen in the blood and due to the fact that they have less muscle mass than a male, more frequent aerobic activity is beneficial. Therefore, we recommend an off season plan of 4 to 5 sessions of 30-45 minutes and if a contest approaches, we would gradually increase the activity to no more than two sessions per day, 7 days a week of 45 minutes each on the worst case.
Cycling of Aerobic Activity

During the off season, you may choose to cycle you aerobic activity in the following manner in order to prevent your body from adjusting to a specific pattern:

1. Cycle The Kind Of Aerobic Activity Being Used: Changing up the aerobic exercises prevents the body from getting so good at a specific activity that it becomes hard for you then to raise your heart rate.

2. Cycle The Duration Of The Activity: For example, a male bodybuilder that performs 3 sessions a week may do 20 minutes of aerobics on weeks 1& 2, 25 minutes on weeks 3 & 4, and finally 30 minutes on weeks 5 & 6.

A female bodybuilder can use the same pattern as well (e.g. 4 sessions performed for 20 minutes on weeks 1&2, 30 minutes on weeks 3 & 4, and finally 40 minutes on weeks 5 & 6). This form of cycling will not only keep the workouts interesting but it will also prevent the body from permanently adjusting to a given length of the activity. Remember, that as soon as the body adapts, it will be tougher to reach the fat burning zone and therefore it will be harder to use aerobic exercise as weapon against fat.

There are about 10,000 taste buds on your tongue right now. Each one has a receptor that reacts to different substances and makes it possible for you to taste the foods you eat. There are five elements of taste: sour, bitter, salty, savory, and sweet. But did you know you can desensitize your taste buds?

It’s true! That’s why when people try and switch over to an average ‘healthy’ diet from an average American diet they can’t do it. Well, most of the people can’t do it. The reason why is that these people are so used to adding stuff to their foods, or eating highly processed, sugar-loaded, fat-loaded, grease-loaded, overall-bad-for-you types of foods. This literally is killing your taste buds!

I am a firm believer in the power of food to keep you healthy. People that eat better are healthier and sick a whole lot less. Some people just think that if they get sick they can just get a prescription and feel better—but why waste the money? Food is nature’s medicine. Don’t go messing it up with added, unnatural stuff the body can’t use.

Over the years I have developed some ways to make my food taste better, which is an important trick in eating healthy. But a lot of people think that to lose body fat, or lose weight that they need to follow a super strict diet that bodybuilder’s use to get super lean for a contest. The typical meal plan consists of plain grilled chicken breasts, steamed broccoli, oatmeal, plain lean steak, canned tuna, and protein shakes. I’ve even known some bodybuilders who eat their oatmeal dry with absolutely nothing. Yuk!

This is an absolute disaster if you are not a bodybuilder and have a life. The diet is much too boring and plain. I can’t even do it, and I have tried.

So what do you do?

Well, like anything you need to have patience when moving from a ‘crap’ diet to a natural, healthy diet. Slowly but surely you need to reduce your foods that have the extra sugars, sweeteners, high fructose corn syrups. Watch the foods that have the added trans fats (anything listed with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated). Some foods will surprise you what they have in them, so be sure to read the ingredients list.

All this extra stuff added to your food or drinks are taking away from the natural ability of your taste buds to taste real, natural, healthy foods.

I use natural peanut butter as an example. This is one of my favorite foods and I eat it everyday. It’s one of the healthiest sources of good fats you can get. But a lot of people, including me, hated the taste once I switched from the Jif/Peter Pan (fake) type peanut butters. But if you stick with it you grow to love this food. It usually only takes one jar of the natural peanut butter to get used to it, but it’s worth it. It’s just a process of re-acclimating your taste buds to natural, unprocessed foods.

Again, switching from these added flavors will take time, so don’t be all gung ho and try to make the switch in a week, or even a month. You probably grew up on these types of foods, which is why it will be harder to make the switch. But the sooner you do the better it will be for you. You will be healthier, and you will feel better– because those unnatural types of foods are slowly killing you. Food is a drug, and the food companies know what is most addictive. All that added stuff is destroying your liver and other organs, and causing a roller coaster effect with some of the hormones in your body.

Try making 1 change a week. If you are using sweetener in your coffee/tea, lighten it up a little each week until you taste the natural flavors. If you use a lot of salt in your cooking, try making the switch to some healthy spices/herbs. Make the switch from cakes, pastries and sweets to all natural tasty fruits. The hard part is starting—so just ‘go for it!’

Jason Yun, a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Sports Nutritionist, is a Columbus fitness bootcamp and weight management teacher. To book him to speak at your local Columbus organization please contact him by email at jyun@yunbootcamps.com or by phone at 614-432-9703. For a free 2-week trial to his Bootcamps go to: http://www.yuntraining.com/columbusbootcamp.html or http://www.yunnutrition.com/contact.html

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