Monday, September 5, 2011

Exercise Myths: Spot Training

Spot training, or spot reduction, is an insidious myth that we all secretly foster and want to believe in. Things would be so easy if you could get a 6-pack just by doing enormous amounts of crunches every day. I have spoken to so many female clients who desperately want to believe that they can lose weight in their stomach and arms but not in their butt. But, alas, this is yet another fitness myth.

So what exactly is this idea of "spot training?" This is the belief that you can target weight loss in one area of your body without changing other areas. This is rampant in exercise informercials where a new product is promised to give you "buns of steel" or "rock hard abs."

Let's take the example of abs. I commonly talk to people, especially young guys, who are frustrated because they do, in some cases, a hundred crunches a day and still do not have the abs they want. But when I ask them about their overall diet and exercise program it is severely lacking.

Fat makes up a layer between the muscle and the skin, meaning that it covers the muscle. Absolutely no research, as we will see, confirms the idea that muscles that are being worked consume the fat around them. Weight loss is a function of total body metabolism not individual muscles. Your body does not care where the fat that it's burning is coming from. You don't get to chose. Sometimes it all up to genetics where you lose weight. These crunch-happy guys may have gigantic, sculpted abs but until they shed the fat, the world my never know.

One study had an interesting idea. The researchers thought that, if spot reduction were true, the playing arm of professional tennis players would have much less fat than the inactive arm. While the playing arms were bigger in circumference, they had the exact same fat composition as their other arms. 

But this study was a little light and still left room for doubt.

This next one, however, did not. The University of Massachusetts had 13 male students perform 5000 sit-ups over the course of the 27 day study. Before and after the intense crunch-fest of a study, fat biopsies were taken from the stomach, back and butt of each subject. At the end of the 27 days, fat reduction was the same across all three sites.

More information on this can be found in my previous post on "toning."

Weight loss is a fantastic and essential fitness goal. But be realistic about it and know that in order to slim down your arms, legs, waist, butt or stomach, you're going to have to put the work in to lose weight all the way around.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Quick, Easy, Healthy Pancakes: Russel Farms Mix

 Disclaimer: The following represents my honest opinions of this product. I have not been compensated or solicited in any way.


"Just Add Water" is generally not a comforting slogan. We associate it with infomercials and snake oils and it really has become somewhat of a joke. Which is a shame. Because occasionally a quality product comes along in which "just add water" means fantastic things.

A family farm in Rhinebeck, NY has created such a product. Several such products, actually. While it is true that pancake mixes and biscuit mixes are nothing new, it is also true that traditionally they are considered an inferior and often unhealthy option. Russell Farms' mixes retain all of the convenience of these other mixes but replace some of the nastier ingredients with all natural products.

I recently made my first batch of pancakes, ever, in my life, with the aid of Russell Farms Buckwheat Pancake Mix and the results were stunning. The pancakes were delicious and filling. But this is a health and fitness blog so we need more substantial reasons to discuss this product.

Like nutrition facts:
Let's compare this with a popular, commercial brand which will not be named in the interest of not getting powerful people mad at me. In the same 1/3 cup serving, this "other" pancake mix contains 160 calories, 4.5g fat (1g saturated, 1.5g trans), 410mg of sodium, 40mg of potassium, 26g carbohydrates, 1g fiber, 1g sugar and 3g protein. So this other brand has slightly less calories but the calories it does have come from bad sources, like fat and trans fat, of which Russell Farms has very little. And Russell Farms is a great source of all the important breakfast nutrients discussed in the post on breakfast: Carbs, protein and fiber. Granted, this other brand does provide potassium and B vitamins, but these can be made up in other ways and are not as important as the other nutrients.

The ingredients are also note-worthy.

These are all comforting, natural things that belong in pancakes. Even the strangest of them, calcium phosphate, is a natural leavening agent. There is no soy and nothing that involves the words "partially hydrogenated." Without going into too much detail, we'll say that hydrogenation produces trans fats which are known to raise bad cholesterol levels while lowering good levels and stiffen the walls of the arteries. Needless to say, you should not eat them.

Russell Farms pancake and biscuit mixes are a healthy, fast breakfast option. Open the bag, "just add water" and toss it on the skillet. The balance of macronutrients is perfect to set the dietary tone for the day and while they are a local company, they are available online here.