October 23rd, 2014 Issue 16

Generally we associate exercise with something that will improve our appearance, increase fitness levels and promote health simultaneously. In reality, many traditional exercise methods, combined with a proper diet, will improve our appearance and fitness to a certain level but not always our health.

In this newsletter we will be defining health, fitness, and exercise then explore their relationship as adopted from the book Body By Science.

Enjoy the read,

NET Team

Health, Fitness, and Exercise:

Andrei Yakovenko

Health: A physiological state in which there is an absence of disease or pathology and that maintains the necessary biologic balance between the catabolic and anabolic state.

Our bodies are dynamic and constantly changing in order to adapt. There is a continuous balance between catabolism (breaking down) and anabolism (building up) which will basically determine our overall health. If we are constantly putting ourselves through demanding physical exertion we will continuously be in a catabolic state, unable to attain a level that will promote anabolic actions.

Fitness: The bodily state of being physiologically capable of handling challenges that exist above a resting threshold of activity.

We subject our body to various situations that create stress on the body physically and mentally. This can be anything from exercise, to the exposure of bacteria. Our body has the ability to overcome such obstacles and produce changes that will promote our longevity. The resiliency and recovery of the body are therefore good indicators in order to measure one's fitness.

Exercise: A specific activity that stimulates a positive physiological adaptation that serves to enhance fitness and health and does not undermine the latter in the process of enhancing the former.

In order to promote our health and fitness, we engage our bodies in exercise which is a form of purposeful physical activity. There are endless ways to perform physical activity, while some of the activities will be good for our health, others not necessarily so.

Hence, if we adopt the definition of exercise above, those modalities that undermine our health would not qualify for that definition.

Examples:

The below examples may upset some people, especially those with strong emotional connections to such exercise activities. We hope to demonstrate some popular exercise modalities while improving our fitness are not that great for our long term health.

Image courtesy www.crossfit.com

CrossFit is gaining more and more popularity. While it has a potential to increase your fitness, the fast and explosive movement of heavy weights will put a lot of strain on your connective tissues and joints. Injuries are inevitable with such training methods. People also practice CrossFit far too frequently for the body to maintain a proper catabolic/anabolic balance.

Another example is running, "studies have documented that 60%
of runners are injured in an average year, with one running injury occurring for every one hundred hours of performance." Frequent long distance running has harmful effect on our long term health. Even though running may feel like a mild activity with no ill effects, each stride takes a toll on our bodies. The small yet repetitive forces imposed on the body will lead to injuries further down the road. As a runner ages they still may be relatively fit however they are unable to run as much as they could at a younger age due to nagging pains and injuries. One may even find walking difficult because of a knee problem or bending over impossible due to a lower back pain.

NET's own Brett Short

Professional athletes are the prime example of people with high levels of fitness but are suffering in terms of their overall health. All athletes suffer numerous injuries throughout their career and often those careers come to an end as a result of those injuries.

Image courtesy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis

Even recreational physical activities can have negative effects on your health. Any repetitive activity that is performed in excess can cause "wear-and-tear" on the body (e.g., tennis elbow). The body will only be able to tolerate so much and eventually this will tip the catabolic/anabolic balance in favour of complete breakdown.

Image courtesy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overweight

On the other end of the spectrum is the lack of exercise. Our ancestors used to expend significant amounts of energy in the process of obtaining any type of sustenance. Today there is an abundance of food and technology has made it readily available, requiring minimal energy to acquire the food we eat. This represents a negative effect on our health from the other side of the spectrum. Activities that are performed at a lower intensity do not produce a strong enough catabolic reaction in the body. As a result there is no beneficial change to one's health and fitness. Combined with improper nutrition, lack of proper exercise will pose an immediate threat to anyone's health and fitness.

NET method

Let's have another look at the New Element Training method.

Our equipment is adjustable to fit every body type like a glove. This will ensure proper muscle and joint function to avoid strains and long term wear-and-tear. Our cadence (tempo) is slow, which will eliminate dangerous forces on your connective tissues and joints. We recommend high intensity, low volume and infrequent workouts. This will promote the catabolic state and allow for enough recovery time between workouts for your peak anabolic state. Such training modality allows us to achieve amazing levels of fitness while simultaneously improving our health, not undermining it. This is one of the reasons we call our strength training, proper strength training.

In summary:

Optimal health is dependent on the balance between catabolic and anabolic states in our body. Fitness is the body's ability to withstand external forces above the normal threshold of ability. Exercise is a purposeful activity that is performed in order to enhance both health and fitness. Exercise that is performed wrong, too much or too little can throw off the correct catabolic/anabolic balance and will negatively affect one's health. Through proper exercise one can achieve a correct catabolic/anabolic balance and improve their overall health and fitness.

A healthy approach to exercise:

How can we tell when a proper catabolic/anabolic state is being maintained?

For one your body will start experiencing spurts of spontaneous increases in energy. You can no longer wait for the elevator and decide to take the stairs instead. You start to engage in various sport activities that you gave up many years ago. You feel like you are in the great shape.

How can we gauge our exercise modality to achieve the above condition?

When ideal exercise volume, intensity and frequency are being maintained you should be feeling somewhat below your normal baseline of energy right after your workout, perhaps for a day or two (this depends on how intense your workout was and other factors such as: life style, stress, diet, quality of sleep etc.). You should then start feeling recovered, and allow enough time for your body to overcompensate before returning to the gym. During this period your energy levels will be above your normal base line for a couple of days (this is when you will feel like climbing the stairs as opposed to waiting for the elevator). Basically, you should live your life more above the base line rather than below it. When you come for your workout you should see improvements on most of your exercises.

If you are exercising following the NET method or similar, we recommend limiting your exercise activities to this modality until you start experiencing the spurts of extra energy in your daily life. At that point you could start incorporating physical activities that are more fun. Your body will 'tell' you when you are ready for them. When choosing those activities/sports beware of the catabolic/anabolic states. Use our training method as the base for a better, healthier life and enjoy it for many years to come.