athletics
Athletics and fitness are the essential ingredients for your body to live a long and healthy life.
The Problem with Superficial Training: Why Strengthening Deep Muscles is Essential for Peak Athletic Performance
Every athlete wants to perform at the highest level and reach the pinnacle of their game. Training the superficial muscles is one important factor in helping to achieve just that, but there is a deeper layer of muscles which must also be taken into consideration. Personal trainers, coaches, and athletes all too often overlook the crucial benefits of strengthening deep muscles for improved performance and stability.
By Kim Neilson 3 years ago in Longevity
The Lazy Person's Guide to Weight Loss: How to Burn Fat without Going to the Gym
Are you tired of dreading the thought of going to the gym and struggling to stick to a strict diet in order to shed unwanted pounds? Well, what if we told you that there's a way for you to lose weight without ever stepping foot in a gym or depriving yourself of your favorite foods? Yes, it's true! In this lazy person's guide to weight loss, we'll be sharing some simple yet effective tips on how to burn fat effortlessly. So sit back, relax, and get ready to achieve that beach body without breaking a sweat!
By Godbless Chukwu3 years ago in Longevity
Caffeine as an ergogenic aid
Logistically speaking, caffeine is likely the most easily accessible, and most prevalent, ergogenic aid for recreational consumption. Caffeine is a stimulant that itself is non-caloric, and provides no energy in the form of carbohydrate, fat, or protein. Thus, its energetic effects are not derived from the caffeine molecule itself, but are a result of the processes the presence of caffeine generates. The most regarded physiological mechanism by which caffeine enhances one's performance is its ability to block, or inhibit the action of adenosine. (Ferré, Sergi.) Adenosine is a byproduct of ATP utilization that builds up during exercise. Adenosine has receptor sites in the brain that, when bound to adenosine, downregulate one's production of excitatory and stimulating neurotransmitters. As adenosine receptor saturation increases, one will have greater perception of fatigue, and desire to sleep. Under normal conditions adenosine will progressively saturate the adenosine receptor throughout the course of the day. During sleep, the adenosine molecules that are bound to the adenosine receptors will be recycled for other physiological functions, such as the regeneration of ATP. Caffeine also has the ability to bind to an adenosine receptor, but it does not produce any action. In essence, Caffeine inhibits adenosine from binding to the adenosine receptor, thus terminating the progresive development of fatigue. Due to the limited number of receptor sights, caffeine will bind to the available adenosine receptors and block the adenosine molecule from binding and promoting drowsiness and fatigue. One caveat to the process of adenosine inhibition is that adenosine production does not come to a standstill. One will continue to create adenosine as a byproduct of ATP utilization, however the adenosine molecule is unable to bind to its receptor to downregulate one's nervous system. Consequently, unbound adenosine levels accumulate during the period of time caffeine is inhibiting the adenosine receptor, and as caffeine metabolizes there is a high concentration of unbound adenosine molecules that have accumulated in the presence of caffeine. Additionally, caffeine will increase the secretion of catecholamines, most notably adrenaline. Catecholamines are hormones that serve a plethora of effects on our body, the predominant effect being an increased tolerance to pain, an increased awareness, and a priming effect on one's muscular system. We naturally secrete catecholamines in response to pain, and they play a pivotal role in decreasing one's perception of pain and fatigue during exercise. Furthermore, an increase in catecholamine stimulates a multitude of processes that prime one for a physical exertion. For example, catecholamines can bind to cell receptors that stimulate the release of calcium located inside the cell. Calcium subsequently binds to a receptor named Troponin C, which consequently alters the potential of a cell to allow for a muscle to shorten. (Guest, Nanci S., Kuo, Ivana Y) Furthermore, caffeine increases our fuel availability in the form of fatty acids, and glucose in our blood stream. (Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Military Nutrition Research.) As mentioned, catecholamines upregulate a series of processes that prime an individual for a physical exertion. Catecholamines bind to receptor sites on adipose tissue and stimulate the release of fatty acids from adipose tissue to be mobilized, or released, into the bloodstream to make it readily available to the cell to create ATP. When fatty acids are available in unison with glucose, fatty acids can be used simultaneously alongside the available glucose for ATP production. Inevitably allowing for a certain degree of glucose preservation due to a reduced need to rely primarily on glucose for energy production during aerobic respiration. Due to the relative low intensity of endurance sports, athletes have available oxygen to undergo aerobic respiration. When energy needs increase to a level that surpasses our capacity to supply oxygen, we begin to metabolize glucose in order to fuel source anaerobic cellular respiration. Due to the duration of an endurance event, an athlete will typically have enough oxygen available to maintain a state of aerobic respiration. Anaerobic respiration allows an athlete to metabolize either carbohydrates or fatty acids to provide the energy needed for cellular respiration. Conversely, at the end of a race, in which an athlete would typically begin to sprint, an athlete loses the ability to consume enough oxygen to keep them in a state of aerobic respiration, inducing hypoxia, requiring cells to undergo anaerobic respiration. Glucose is the required fuel source for anaerobic respiration, and fatty acids cannot be used to fuel cellular respiration without the presence of oxygen. Caffeine is advantageous due to its ability to allow fatty acid metabolism during the earlier, aerobic, components of the race, thus allowing for the preservation of the glucose required for anaerobic respiration in the later components of an event.
By Calvin Scheller3 years ago in Longevity
Did humans evolve to be carnivores
Evolution of the human diet Natural selection indicates that as organisms evolve, the organisms that adapt to their environment to the greatest degree eventually reproduce, and organisms that are unable to act in congruence to their environment do not survive long enough, or healthlly enough, to reproduce. Thus, as organisms evolve they will adopt behaviors that allow for the most optimal health and vitality, and will terminate harmful and non beneficial behaviors. For example, throughout our entire evolution, humans have maintained the behavior of sleep. At face value, sleep is simply a period of time in which mammals are unable to carry out any productive behaviors. Furthermore, a sleeping organism is at a much greater risk of being killed by a predator due to unconsciousness and immobility. If sleep was not absolutely necessary for their health and vitality, the organisms that thrived throughout history would likely be the organisms that did not require sleep. Understanding natural selection allows one to look at the habits that have been consistent throughout evolution and determine the dietary behaviors that supplied humans with the most optimal mental, and physical function. The most accurate form of determining the diet throughout human evolution is through studying stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes of the bones of dead organisms. The results of isotope studies of late Neandertals indicates that humans evolved as carnivores who derived the majority of our energy from large herbivorous animals. Further, humans were likely at the top of the food chain, that is humans were the apex predators. (1) Simply put, when given the opportunity humans would hunt, kill, and eat animals to fulfill their energy requirements. It is estimated that Neandertals' diets were derived from no less than 80% of energy obtained from animals. Furthemore, the simple yearly availability of non animal products would fluctuate throughout the year. If humans were not capable of subsiding strictly off of animal nutrition, early humans would not have survived during times of extreme weather that reduced their accessibility to any nutrition other than animals. When large animals were available for consumption, that was the preferred source of energy. Fruits and vegetables were eaten for subsistence between successful hunts, and simply for entertainment. These actions were performed in the absence of scientific reasoning, rather based on what produced the most beneficial outcomes in the past. With our current availability of food, we are capable of having an abundance of animal food present whenever we need to fulfill our energy requirements, thus we have no need to use plant energy for subsistence until we can obtain animal products.
By Calvin Scheller3 years ago in Longevity
How many rest days should I take
By far one of the most common questions when it comes to exercise is, "how many rest days should I take?" By God, I wish I could answer this question accurately and tell everyone how many rest days they actually needed. But I simply cannot. Recovery is very complex, and there are a myriad of factors outside of simply the stress of training that affect one's recovery. Stress is stress. Whether it is work stress, family stress, relationship stress, training stress, it's all stress
By Calvin Scheller3 years ago in Longevity
Hacking the human mind
. Human psychology is radically complex, and I will be the first to tell you that all of my opinions are subject to change. However, I recently made a very interesting observation, it seems to have support when it is put to the test in scientific studies.
By Calvin Scheller3 years ago in Longevity
Top Weight Loss Tips for 2023
Weight loss is one of the most popular goals people set for themselves, especially at the start of a new year. In 2023, there are several weight loss tips that can help individuals achieve their goals. Here are the top 20 weight loss tips for 2023:
By John Briches - New View Dynamics3 years ago in Longevity
Hormones Released Through Exercise
Let’s talk about these magical little chemicals that our bodies produce. Hormones are like the messengers of our bodies - they travel through our bloodstream and communicate with different organs to regulate all sorts of things like growth, metabolism, and reproduction. And when we exercise, our bodies go into overdrive, releasing all kinds of hormones to prepare us for the workout ahead.
By Think Move Strive 3 years ago in Longevity
