The Best Health And Fitness Articles Of 2010

2010 was a landmark year!  My blog won several awards for and most importantly had an average of over ten thousand people reading my articles each month! With a tight writing schedule of one new article every week, fifty-two articles a year, it isn’t always easy. I spend a lot of time painstakingly researching each post, but it is worth it! My thanks to all of my readers for the continued support and to commemorate this successful year I have complied for your browsing pleasure the most popular health and fitness articles on our blog for 2010. Be sure to subscribe to our monthly newsletter so you won’t miss a post!

Be sure to vote for your favorite!

The Best Health And Fitness Articles Of 2010

Food And Self Control- How Do You Stop Cravings?
Self control is one of the hardest things when it comes to following a diet and research from the now famous ‘Marshmallow Experiment’ gives us some scientific insight into how we can increase our own self control.

Overcoming The Fear Of Going to The Gym
While lack of time is often cited as the number one reason why people don’t exercise- the fear involved in joining a gym is another often overlooked factor.

5 Tips For Eating Well And Losing Weight On A Budget
Can you lose weight and eat healthy while on a tight budget? Of course you can and here are five easy ways to do it!

Keeping Us Fat- Why Not Losing Weight Is Profitable
Given that we spend more money on weight loss than ever before the number of overweight people continues to climb, could not losing weight be more profitable?

Obesity And Chronic Disease- Is It Genes Or Lifestyle?
Many blame genes for the prevalence of obesity and metabolic disease in society, but research shows that lifestyle and environmental factors are to blame.

5 Reasons Why You Should Never Take Weight Loss Supplements
Here are five very valid reasons and eye opening reasons why you should never use weight loss supplements.

Being Skinny Doesn’t Mean Being Healthy
Contrary to popular belief being skinny isn’t always an indication of how healthy you are and you can be overweight and still be physically fit!

Is Exercise As Effective For Relieving Depression As Therapy and Medication?
Exercise has been proven as a preventive aid to major depression, but can it relieve depressive symptoms as well as medication and conventional therapies? Some research says it can!

You Can Eat Nuts Guilt Free And Not Gain Weight
Research shows that although nuts are high in calories, you can eat them with a very low risk of weight gain. Eating nuts also seems to help you stay on your diet!

As Little As One Drink Of Alcohol A Week Can Significantly Reduce Fat Loss
As little as one or two drinks a week can have a marked effect on your efforts to lose fat! Here is why.

The Dangers Of Visceral Abdominal Fat
Once it was thought that all fat was the same, but we know now that visceral abdominal fat can increase risk of metabolic syndrome, chronic inflammation, cancer and impair daily life.

Is It Safe To Exercise With A Cold?
A common question about the common cold- should you or should you not exercise when you have the sniffles. The answer may not be what you think it is!

Out of the 52 articles posted for 2010 there were some notable runner ups. Here they are:

The Best Health and Fitness Articles Of 2010- Honorable Mentions:

High Intensity Training Workouts For Women Increases Bone Density

The Biggest Loser- A Bad Example For Weight Loss

Does Weight Training Reduce Breast Size In Women?

Agave Isn’t A Healthy Sugar Alternative- It’s Worse Than Sugar

Short High Intensity Workouts Can Help Regulate Blood Sugar

Changing Your Diet Forever- Why Is It So Hard?

Not to forget our pick of most popular health and fitness article of 2009. With a total of almost 22,000 page views in 2010, this article tops the list as the most viewed post of the year-

Best Health & Fitness Article 2009

Is Subway Really Healthy?

Thanks again for reading and be sure to let me know in the comments which one was your favorite!

Get a copy of Kevin’s free weight loss ebook here!

Kevin Richardson- celebrity NYC Personal Trainer, is the creator of Naturally Intense™ High Intensity Training, a lifetime natural bodybuilder and arguably the most sought after personal trainers in New York City

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Source: Solimena Lab and Review Suckale Solimena 2008 Frontiers in Bioscience

Short High Intensity Training Workouts (HIT) Can Help Regulate Blood Sugar

According to a recent study extremely short duration high intensity training significantly improves insulin action in young healthy males. Type 2 diabetes is a very health problem here in the United States and in developed countries- a veritable pandemic affecting millions of children and adults alike. While it has been conclusively established that the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes can be reduced by regular exercise [1]. It is also true that most people find it difficult to consistently follow a routine due to lack of time as conventional exercise guidelines call for at least an hour of aerobic type activity five times a week. The commitment required for such training protocols are beyond the means of most living within the constraints of the very hectic realities of modern life. As many experts in the field have noted, in order for an exercise protocol to as well as a health benefit for the individual, not only should the regime reliably modify key disease risk factors, it must also be plausible to implement.”[2]

Short high intensity training increases aerobic function and insulin action

Brief high intensity training workouts (HIT) have been demonstrated to produce improvements in aerobic function, but it was previously unknown whether high intensity training had the capacity to improve insulin action and hence glycemic control. The study, done published in BMC Endocrine Disorders proves that it does just that!

For the study 16 young men in their early twenties underwent a regime of 15 minute high intensity training type workouts for a period of two weeks. Aerobic performance testing as well as an oral glucose tolerance test were administered both before and after the training period. What researchers found after the two week period was that there was a significant increase in insulin action in addition to an increase in aerobic performance.

Notably the area under the plasma glucose, insulin and NEFA concentration-time curves were all reduced (12%, 37%, 26%), fasting plasma insulin and glucose concentrations were unchanged, but there was a tendency for reduced fasting plasma NEFA concentrations after training. Insulin sensitivity, as measured by the Cederholm index, was improved by an average of 23%, while aerobic cycling performance improved by 6%.

High intensity training is a realistic training paradigm to improve insulin action

The study concluded that: “the efficacy of a high intensity exercise protocol, involving only ~250 kcal of work each week, to substantially improve insulin action in young sedentary subjects is remarkable…This novel time-efficient training paradigm can be used as a strategy to reduce metabolic risk factors in young and middle aged sedentary populations who otherwise would not adhere to time consuming traditional aerobic exercise regimes.”[2]

References: 

1. Pedersen BK, Saltin B: Evidence for prescribing exercise as therapy in chronic disease. Scand J Med Sci Sports 2006

2. Extremely short duration high intensity interval training substantially improves insulin action in young healthy males- John A Babraj , Niels BJ Vollaard , Cameron Keast, Fergus M Guppy, Greg Cottrell and James A Timmons

Kevin Richardson is the creator of  Naturally Intense High Intensity Training 10 Minute Workouts™  and one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City.

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This Father’s Day be a Healthy Role Model: Ideas for Getting the Family in Shape, Starting with Dad, from Personal Trainer Kevin Richardson
As a father of five, personal trainer Kevin Richardson knows all too well the challenges of staying in shape when there are children to care for, but with a little creativity and commitment he believes anyone can get into great shape while involving the kids and even having a little bonding time in the process…

Read more on Yahoo News

High intensity training can help reduce visceral abdominal fat.

High Intensity Training Reduces Visceral Abdominal Fat

There is an irony to our current health situation here in the United States and in developed countries. At a time in our history when more people than ever before are overweight the exercise and fitness industry is a multi-billion dollar giant that continues to grow even in times of economic contraction. We spend more money on exercise programs than ever before- most do little and some are so extreme that any weight loss derived cannot be realistically sustained so waistlines are not going down and staying down. The conventional approach to losing fat around the abdominal area has always been primarily aerobic exercises and most can attest that you don’t exactly get a six pack from running or being on the bike/treadmill/StairMaster/Elliptical Machine for hours and end. What has been proven time and time again by those in the trenches for reducing abdominal fat and creating the elusive toned and sculpted physique is weight training or more precisely high intensity training.

High Intensity Training As A Time Efficient Solution To Reducing Visceral Abdominal Fat & Improving Your Health

With an obesity rate of nearly 34% here in the United States and with most of those individuals suffering from the cluster of metabolic syndromes associated with a high body mass index and high visceral abdominal fat levels such as hypertension, Type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease, society as a whole need simple and long term solutions to being able to help people lower their body fat levels. The small time commitment of high intensity training is certainly a major part of the solution and more and more studies are pointing in that direction. High intensity training for a long time has been associated solely as a means toward increasing strength and muscle mass, but as more and more studies are conducted, researchers are discovering that high intensity training can not only help increase your endurance but also have a significant effect on the reduction of your body fat- specifically that layer dangerous layer right around your midsection. Read our article- The Dangers of Visceral Abdominal Fat.

Effects Of High Intensity Training On Body Composition & Visceral Abdominal Fat

A study published in Medicine & Science In Sports Exercise- the  journal of the American College of Sports Medicine found that high intensity training was far more effective than conventional prolonged low intensity training programs in reducing overall body fat and quite importantly- reducing abdominal visceral fat. It has been firmly established that high visceral abdominal fat levels not only present a cosmetic problem, but significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension.

The study examined the effects of exercise training intensity in middle aged obese women with metabolic syndrome. The women were split into three groups-

• Group One maintained their regular levels of daily activity with no exercise added and served as a control for the experiment.
• Group Two engaged in a conventional low intensity prolonged exercise program five days a week similar to recommended protocols.
• Group Three engaged in brief high intensity training sessions three days a week.

To accurately determine body composition changes, researchers used single slice computed tomography scans to observe abdominal fat and thigh muscle cross sectional areas. Body fat percentages were calculated using air displacement plethysmography.

Conclusions: High Intensity Training Is More Effective At Reducing Visceral Abdominal Fat

The findings from the study: The high intensity training group significantly reduced their total abdominal fat and subcutaneous abdominal fat whereas there were no statistically significant changes in any of these parameters in the control group or the low intensity exercise group.

Conclusions: Data from the study found conclusively that body composition changes are indeed affected by the exercise intensity and that high intensity training is far more effective at reducing visceral abdominal fat and subcutaneous abdominal fat.

So if you are serious about getting your midsection into shape and improving your overall health, you might want to give high intensity training another look!

Kevin Richardson is one of New York City’s most sought after personal trainers and the creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training 10 Minute Workouts. Get a copy of Kevin’s award winning free weight loss ebook here and visit his official website at www.naturallyintense.net. 

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The end of the year is upon us, and I thought, what better way to recap all the great health and fitness related articles covered in the blog this year than by having a bit of a quiz. I invite everyone to take the fitness test and see just how much you know about health and fitness.