Best method for reversing the the aging process

Our bodies undergo many changes that can be reversed with proper strength training. Wearing glasses, dying one’s hair, or applying creams for age marks have their place, but nothing compares to the long list of benefits from high intensity interval training for strength:

1. Base Metabolic Rate (metabolism) decreases. Those who are stronger can have the metabolism they had when they were twenty years younger. More muscle requires more calories.

2. Body cells become resistant to insulin. Added muscles will lower your blood sugar level and lessen the need for insulin.

3. Loss of strength, energy, and speed. Proper exercise will make you stronger, and day to day activities will be less strenuous and be less taxing energy-wise.

3. Loss of strength, energy, and speed. Proper exercise will make you stronger, and day to day activities will be less strenuous and be less taxing energy-wise.

4. Muscle mass decreases. Stronger muscles are more toned, and this requires more calories. As adults we lose about five pounds of lean muscle each decade.  Stronger toned muscles present a younger look.

5. Loss of flexibility. Muscles have the plasticity that tendons and ligaments do not. More muscle contributes to flexibility.

6. Fat increases as a percentage of body weight. A stronger leaner person will be more active and the increased activity will further enhance one's health and burn additional calories. High intensity interval training producing more excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) – the body continues to burn substantial calories after the workout is over. By increasing muscle mass, fat as a percentage is automatically less, and this extra muscle requires more fat burning calories.

7. Bone mineral density decreases. Increase the demands on the muscular-skeletal system, and as self-protection, the body responds by maintaining stronger muscles and bones.

8. Loss of aerobic capacity. Choose a strength training program that involves circuit training to get the aerobic benefits. Non-stop circuit training method has a very significant cardiovascular effect and increases both aerobic and anaerobic capacity.

9. Unsatisfactory cholesterol/HDL Ratio. Circuit strength training will improve your HDL or High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol, the "good" cholesterol.

10. Increased susceptibility to sickness and injury. This might be the most important benefit. People wait until injuries occur and then exercise becomes problematic. A stronger body is less like to get injured and will have a stronger immune system. To help avoid surgery the best thing you can do for your joints is to make the muscles supporting those joints stronger. Take the steps now to avoid herniated discs and hip and knee replacements.

Studies have shown that significant strength increases result from high intensity interval training as little as once a week.  You need not spend hours in the gym to make a profound difference.

It all starts with strength. As you become stronger you will find you will be able to engage in more activities, and this will further enhance your health. Just improve a little each week and over time you will feel years younger. High intensity interval training is the type of personal training we do at New Orleans Fitness Training and at Austin Personal Trainers.

Sticking to an exercise program for the long term

Every January health clubs are crowded for what I call the two week resolution. By the end of the month the crowds are gone. The only thing that remains constant and enduring is the mandatory monthly payment for a gym membership not used.  You go there to lose weight, and the only thing lighter is your wallet.

Seven out of 10 American adults don't exercise regularly despite the proven health benefits, a study released Sunday says - Study: Most Americans don't exercise regularly. That sounds about right. The renewal rate for health club membership is 30 percent. Of those that rejoin a small minority use the club on a regular basis.

Here just one approach for sticking to an exercise program that has worked for me and for those whom I have worked. (1) Select an exercise that produces the most benefits.(2) Commit to something you know you can maintain for the long term. Don’t set the bar too high.  (3) Select a program designed to produce the highest marginal return – the most benefit for minimal time exercising.

Regarding number one, the most benefit: High intensity strength training reverses more of the bio-markers of aging than any other form of exercise.

Regarding number two, not setting the bar too high: consider high intensity training (HIT). HIT requires as little as one 30 minute session a week. The remainder of the week do something physically that you enjoy. Ride your bike. Go for walks.

Regarding number three, for the highest marginal returning for time spent exercising nothing compares HIT for the time spent. There is a long list of benefits

Studies have shown that significant strength increases result from high intensity strength training as little as once or twice a week. Just improve a little each week and over time you will feel years younger. As you become stronger you will find you will be able to engage in more activities, and this will further enhance your health. It all starts with strength. High intensity strength training is the type of personal training we do at New Orleans Fitness Trainers and at Austin Personal Training.

Minutes a week to stay strong

One can live well without requiring hours each week engaged in monotonous exercise. Significant strength increases occur exercising as little as once or twice a week IF it's the right exercise program with the right trainer.

Such a workout can be very demanding, but people or any age or fitness level can do this and benefit from it. Clients slowly build up to a level they can handle. It is an attractive alternative for those who often don't have time for exercise.

From this Wall Street Journal article GE's Bob Wright Stays Strong By Lifting Weights Very Slowly:

“Workouts typically consist of one set of six to 12 exercises with little rest between sets…. trainers find a weight load that renders muscle fatigue in 60 to 90 seconds, and take clients through a full-body workout in approximately 30 minutes”.

Bob Wright is a very busy man. He serves as vice chairman and executive officer of General Electric Co. He injured his shoulder playing golf. To avoid surgery he began lifting weights to stabilize his shoulder. He got great results. Others with shoulder injuries have too.

The fitness trainers at Austin Personal Training and the fitness trainers atNew Orleans Personal Training can guide you through a similar personal training program that will enable you to get more out of less time exercising.

Lose weight by lifting weights

Strength training can have a positive role in fat loss. If one goes on a diet with significant caloric restriction the body's response of self preservation is accomplished by lowering it basal metabolic rate. The body does this by catabolizing lean body mass. The weight loss will be both fat and muscle. If one strength trains the body receives the message that lean body tissue is vital to survive the demands placed on it. Rather than losing lean body mass the body preserves it and adds to it.

From Men's Health magazine article 5 Reasons You're Not Losing Weight:

"In a study at the University of Connecticut, we put overweight men on a 1,500-calorie-a-day diet, and divided them into three groups — one that didn't exercise, another that performed aerobic exercise 3 days a week, and a third that did both aerobic exercise and weight training. Each group lost almost the same amount of weight — about 21 pounds. But the lifters shed 5 more pounds of fat than those who didn't pump iron".

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Austin Personal Training

New Orleans Fitness Trainers

Fat burning at a rate nine times the rate of endurance exercise

From this article, Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism, this quote:

“The metabolic adaptations taking place in the skeletal muscle in response to the HIIT program appear to favor the process of lipid oxidation”.

And this:

“Despite its lower energy cost, the High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) program induced a more pronounced reduction in subcutaneous adiposity compared with the ET program. When corrected for the energy cost of training, the decrease in the sum of six subcutaneous skinfolds induced by the HIIT program was ninefold greater than by the endurance training (ET) program”

If you want to get the most for your minimal free time or if you hate to exercise HIIT will burn more calories for the time spent. Calories are burned four ways with this workout:


*After the workout your body burns calories in the process of rebuilding and recovery - especially after HIIT.

*As you become stronger you enhance muscle tone. This burns more calories.

*You burn calories while you exercise.

*As you become stronger your body will add muscle. Muscle is metabolically active. Your resting metabolic rate will rise with the additional muscle.

HIIT is the type of fitness training we do at Austin Personal Training andNew Orleans Fitness Training. The fitness training sessions are infrequent (once or twice a week) and short (20 to 30 minutes), but the sessions are demanding especially in regard to calorie burning. For those who wish to do more ,this strength training program will free up your time to do other types of calorie-burning activities.

What clients are saying

Training more can backfire

From this NTY article Why Trainers Say, 'Slow Down':

"Of the tens of thousands of Americans who pay as much as $180 to register for marathons, as many as 25% fail to make it to the race. Injury, illness and loss of motivation as a result of overtraining are major reasons for this."

"No matter how conclusively science may prove the value of rest and recovery, the culture of endurance sports lionizes those who seemingly never rest."

"The body responds beautifully to the right schedule of training stresses," Lynn Bjorklund, who in 1981 set the still-standing female course record for the Pikes Peak Marathon, wrote in an email. "However, too much stress and not enough nutrition or recovery pushes your body toward injury and illness. You need to stay in that zone of just enough, and that takes a very high tuned and honest appraisal of yourself."

The operative words in that last quote are “Just enough”.  ParaphrasingArthur Jones: The proper amount of exercise is the amount that produces the best result; any amount beyond that point is at best a waste of time and at worst injurious.  

According to a Runner’s World article 70 percent of runners have an injury in a year of running.  Instead of seeing how much exercise you can withstand find that amount that is just enough to produce the best result.

People often hit a plateau in their training, and they try to overcome that plateau by training more - that is most often a mistake. By training too often you ruin two workouts. The first workout that stimulated change is worthless if you do not give your body a chance to recover. The second workout is worthless as well as you cannot give your best effort if you are not 100 percent.

While running can be done on a daily basis strength increases occur exercising as little as once or twice a week if it's the right exercise program. The personal trainers at New Orleans Personal Trainers and at Austin Personal Training have devised a program where the goal is not to see how much exercise you can withstand; the goal is to produce the most results in minimal time. They can guide you through a personal training program that will enable you to get more out of less time exercising and keep improving.

Muscles really do have a long memory

From this Science News article Muscles remember past glory:

"Muscles hold memories of their former fitness in nuclei (green, shown on muscle fiber) that help the muscle bounce back to fitness when training begins after a period of inactivity.

Pumping up is easier for people who have been buff before, and now scientists think they know why — muscles retain a memory of their former fitness even as they wither from lack of use.

That memory is stored as DNA-containing nuclei, which proliferate when a muscle is exercised. Contrary to previous thinking, those nuclei aren’t lost when muscles atrophy, researchers report online August 16 in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The extra nuclei form a type of muscle memory that allows the muscle to bounce back quickly when retrained.

The new study suggests that pumping muscles full of nuclei early in life could help stave off muscle loss with age."

The upshot of this research is that dividends will be paid in the future if you strength train now, not when you are old and frail. Strength train when you are younger and you'll be better off than those who opted for non-weight bearing exercises.  When you are older and stronger you will:

  • Have a stronger immune system and be better able to withstand sickness and disease.

  • Have stronger bones and less likely to have the broken bones that comes with the decalcification of bones.
  •  

  • Have more stamina and a stronger heart.  Exercising strong muscles forces the cardiovascular system to make a positive adaptation to the demands placed on it; weak muscles, not so much.

  • Have higher quality of life. Do you want to be able to play just nine of holes of golf or eighteen?

  •  

Strength effects not only how young we look, but more importantly, how we young we feel. Strength training reverses many of the bio-markers of aging. This does not require hours in the gym. With high intensity strength training you can work the whole body in less than one half hour, and it only need be performed once or twice a week to see continuing results. Your life can be transformed in just minutes a week with the right exercise program.

We have such a strength training program at both our locations - Austin Personal Training and New Orleans Personal Training. A little strength training, better eating choices, and an active lifestyle is a program most people can stick to, and it can have profound effects on one's fitness and health.

That special quality of a good personal trainer

You can have all the qualities common to professionals (honesty, reliability, etc.) and all the qualities particular to the field of exercise (knowledge and experience in the field). That is often sufficient to be successful, but it might not be enough for the more advanced client or those who want to go to the “next level”. The really good trainers possess the quality of being able to be “in the moment"; this special quality will enable a trainer to take the client to the next level.

The next level? Someone exercising is willing to exercise at a certain level by themselves. That level is less than the absolute maximum they are capable of. A good fitness trainer who is in the moment will get the subject to go to the next level - somewhere above what they are willing to do and closer to what they are truly capable of. As one of my clients once told me, “I pay you to give me a workout I could not possibly get by myself”.


What is being in the moment? The trainer will know what the client is experiencing every repetition of every exercise. To do so the personal trainer will pay close attention to cues –breathing, breaks in form, facial expressions, and what the client tells them. By paying close attention to the client the trainer will be able to anticipate the breaks in form and be able to talk them through it without an interruption in the flow of the exercise. As the set becomes difficult the trainer will be able to help the client with breathing and help the client avoid the panic that can happen when doing demanding work. Each client will respond differently on each exercise. A personal trainer should intimately know how each client will respond on each exercise or each exercise sequence. A personal trainer might ask for “one more” when the client is about to throw in the towel. The client is thinking, “OK just one more, I don’t want to quit so close to the end”.

Years ago at a health club during one set I heard a trainer tell the client “one more” six times. He had no idea what that client was capable of. He had no idea where that client was in the particular set. The trainer was constantly looking at his watch. His body language shouted out boredom. That personal trainer was not in the moment as the client was going through a difficult workout.

The trainer who is in the moment will be totally consumed with what is going on with a client during those most difficult repetitions. There is great satisfaction in taking the client to a level the client could not possibly achieve by herself. The trainer will draw upon all her knowledge of that individual client and all her past experience working with that client. She will use whatever psychological ploys she knows that had worked in the past. The client will really appreciates it, and it is anything but boring for the trainer.

At Austin Fitness Trainers and at New Orleans Personal Trainers our workout program involves high intensity interval training. It is a challenging workout, but the trainers slowly build the clients up to that workout. Our trainers have been through the same process. Our New Orleans fitness trainers and Austin fitness trainers often spend months working out and interning before they take on clients for one simple reason: Before being able to be in the moment with a client the personal trainer must first have been there themselves.

After Ten Exercise Sessions Dramatic Increases in Back Strength

We lose flexibility in our backs as we age. To avoid injury to our backs we become increasingly less inclined to go to the fully contracted or stretched position position. It's a classic case of if-you-don’t-use-it you-lose-it; we lose considerable strength in the fully flexed and extended positions.

From this study Effect of resistance training on lumbar extension strengthcome some significant results. Subjects exercised using the MedX lumbar exercise machine. Once a week for ten weeks subjects performed one back exercise of six to 15 repetitions. Subjects in the study made the following improvement:

* At fully flexed position (72 degrees) strength increases ranged from 427% to 607%

* At the fully extension position (0 degrees) strength increases ranged from 180% to 364%

The largest increases in back strength were at the fully and flexed extended positions. There were two components to the improvement:

* The newly acquired strength in excess of what had been their previous peak strength,

* The recovered lost strength.

At the mid-range there was less loss of strength, so the improvement was not as pronounced.

Subjects experienced a serious increase in back strength after just ten exercise sessions. Half of Americans will suffer back pain in the course of a year. Most wait until they experience back pain to do anything about it. A proactive program of regular back exercise can help prevent back injury. A stronger more limber back is less likely to get injured. It does not require hours in the gym. As one who has broken bones in my back on two separate occasions, I can attest to the results that come from minimal back exercise using the right equipment and the right protocol.
 

At Austin Fitness Trainers we have had success working with those who have back problems. For that purpose we use MedX strength and rehabilitative exercise equipment.

Burn calories four ways with strength training

Strength training helps you burn calories four ways:

1. Calories burned after the exercise stops. Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) occurs after the workout. After running your body replenishes sugar stores. Strength training produces a larger post-exercise calorie demand as the body replaces sugar and rebuilds muscle as a result of the micro-trauma that has been imposed on the muscles.

 

2. Added muscle burns additional calories. Muscle is metabolically expensive to maintain and will require calories 24/7.

3. The workout itself. All forms of exercise burn calories, but not really as much as people think. Those who exercise with lesser intensity will burn less calories that those who exercise with more intensity.

 

4. Existing muscle. Existing muscle regularly strength trained will experience an increase in tone and an increase in resting metabolism. You burn more calories 24/7. Running does not produce a similar result. For more on existing muscle burning more calories see this post.

Not only will stronger people burn more calories at rest, people who are stronger can engage in more activities and do them for longer periods with less chance of injury creating a beneficial cycle of fat burning. Strength training is something to consider if one is looking to lose weight.

For those will little free time you might want to consider high intensity training (HIT) for strength. One study examining the effect of high intensity strength training on metabolism showed a nine-fold improvement in fat burning. High intensity training is the type of personal training we do atAustin Fitness Training and at New Orleans Personal Training. HIT is only performed once or twice a week for about 30 minutes. This will free you up to do other calories-burning recreational activities. It is a win, win, win ... proposition.

Muscular Heart Failure Patients May Have a Better Chance at Survival

From this Science Daily Muscular Heart Failure Patients May Have a Better Chance at Survival, Study Suggests:

“University of Alberta research has discovered heart failure patients with more muscle have the potential to increase their length of life.”



I would also suggest that even those who did not experience heart failure and have more muscle will have greater potential to increase their length of life. As this blog is fond of saying people are not generally put in nursing homes forbeing out of breath; it is more likely they are too weak to handle day-to-day activities or their weakness make them prone to failing and injury.

It is never too late to increase strength and muscle. Our oldest client at Personal Training Austin TX is 92 years old. Our oldest client at New Orleans Fitness Trainers was 91 years. old. Increasing strength will reverse more of the bio-markers of aging than any other form of exercise.

Weight lifting may help to avert lymph problem

The conventional wisdom regarding the prevention of lymphedema after surgery for breast cancer is avoid lifting anything heavy, certainly no weight lifting. That depends how you lift those heavy weights. 

From this NYT article, Weight Lifting May Help To Avert Lymph Problem:

Last week, The New England Journal of Medicine reported on a study of 141 breast cancer patients who had lymphedema. Half adhered to the traditional restrictions, while the other half embarked on a slow, progressive program of weight lifting. To the researchers’ surprise, the weight lifters actually had significantly fewer flare-ups than the women who restricted their activity. 

“This is a very welcome study that very clearly shows controlled weight lifting does not make it worse and, in fact, improves symptoms. That should be a reason to re-evaluate a whole lot of things we tell people about lymphedema.” 

And this:

Corrie Roberts of Philadelphia developed lymphedema in her left arm in June 2004, about 18 months after a mastectomy. She had taken the usual precautions, but during back surgery the anesthesiologist mistakenly used her left arm to insert the intravenous line.

After taking part in the weight-lifting study, she said the swelling and discomfort were finally under control. She uses an exercise room in her apartment building and lifts weights three to five days a week.

“It sure was an improvement,” said Ms. Roberts, 75. “As long as I keep the weight lifting up, I don’t have swelling in my arm.”

This blog has already dealt with this subject in this blog post: Exercise for Women Living with Lymphedema

At Austin Personal Training and at New Orleans Fitness Training we have had success working with recovering cancer patients. The recovery systems of these patients are fragile. They cannot stand long bouts of exercise. Our personal training sessions are short and designed to efficiently stimulate a change; we then give them plenty of time to recover.

The equipment we use is MedX medical rehab equipment that is more easily tolerated by the joints. We can restrict the range of motion to a pain-free range of motion, and we use controlled movements to minimize forces that could aggravate pre-existing conditions.

Lance Armstrong once said. “Before I just lived now I live strong”. The catch 22 is doing it without aggravating pre-existing conditions. As the article points out, it can be done.

Getting it right after a hip or knee replacement

A recent NYT article (Getting a New Knee or Hip? Do It Right the First Time), as the title suggests, details the proper steps one should take if they are contemplating a hip or knee replacement – get a good doctor who has done a lot of the procedures, gather lots of data, adjust expectations, and follow doctors advice regarding recovery.

There was no mention of exercise. As personal trainers it is beyond our pay grade to prescribe and administer an exercise regime immediately after surgery, but we have worked with a large number of clients who have undergone hip, knee, and shoulder replacements once they have completed their rehab with a physical therapist.

Some examples:

• Doris aged 74 had both knees, both hips and one shoulder replaced. She exercised every week.


• Gale had a double hip replacement and had finished her therapy. When she entered our New Orleans Personal Training facility she was still using a walker. Years later she is still going strong with not a hint of a problem to her hips.


• At age 72 Jack started working out after his first knee replacement and right before his second knee replacement. A couple of months after his second surgery he was able to climb in and out of a bass boat to go duck hunting. Meanwhile his law partner who had the same operation at the same time was still using a walker.


• Tom aged 53 had a total shoulder replacement as a result of an accident. Prior to the accident he had been working out at our Austin Personal Training facility. It was seven months before he was able to return. He was told that the most he could expect was to lift his extended arm to should level. When his doctor saw him lift his arm directly over his head he said it was "amazing and remarkable” .


We follow simple guidelines. With the MedX rehabilitative exercise equipment we use we can make fine adjustments and limit the movement to a pain-free range of motion. Gradually we increase the range and make small increases in the resistance. Over time with small continuous improvements the results can be dramatic.

More information on joint replacement and exercise:
Exercise, Osteoarthritis, and Joint Replacement Part 1
Exercise, Osteoarthritis, and Joint Replacement Part 2
Exercise, Osteoarthritis, and Joint Replacement Part 3

Strength training better than aerobics for easing back pain

In a 16 week study using two different modalities to ease back pain one group performed aerobic training such as walking on a treadmill, jogging, and using an elliptical machine and another group exercised used barbells, dumbbells, and other load-bearing exercise equipment. The aerobic group experienced a 12 percent decrease in back pain, while the weight training group experienced a 60 percent decrease in back pain.

From this Science News article Use Weights, Not Aerobics, To Ease Back Pain, Study Suggests:

“Any activity that makes you feel better is something you should pursue, but the research indicates that we get better pain management results from resistance training. The extra benefits stem from using the whole-body approach required in resistance training, We tried to strengthen the entire body and by doing that, we decreased the fatigue people felt throughout the day. They were better able to perform their activities of daily living."

The researcher concludes: “People who use weight training to ease their lower back pain are better off than those who choose other forms of exercise such as jogging”

I believe that the real added value of strength training lies in the fact that a stronger body is less likely to have back pain to begin with. People wait until they are plagued by chronic back pain before they do something about. In 2005 Americans spent $85.9 billion looking for relief from back and neck pain.

We believe a better solution is to be proactive and get your back stronger and lessen the likelihood of future back pain. With the right equipment one can experience dramatic increases in back strength.

At New Orleans Fitness Training and Austin Fitness Training we have extensive lines of MedX rehabilitative and exercise equipment. It is the most technologically advanced fitness, sports and medical/rehabilitation equipment available. We work to prevent injuries as well as helping those with injuries become pain-free.

In 28 days a 67 Percent Improvement in Strength

It is rare for a woman to do a single chin-up. It is rarer still for a tall woman to do a chin-up. Years ago I began working out a 5'9" woman who could do three chin-ups. Her routine had been to do three chin-ups followed by several demanding negative reps every Friday at 5:00 for more than a year. She worked hard but she never improved. She was not remotely close to conpleting a fourth repetition.

This woman would do a whole body strength training workout once or twice week and use the aerobic equipment other days.

Her trainer resigned and I began training her. On the first Friday she insisted on doing chin-ups. It told her she had nothing to lose by taking a week off from that one exercise. She reluctantly acquiesced. She came in the next Friday with a negative mindset, fully expecting to be weaker. She did four chin-ups. She was amazed. When I asked her to forgo chin-ups the week after that she complied. Week four she did five chin-ups - a 67 percent improvement in the number of completed repetitions in 28 days by doing less. She was ecstatic; it was like magic.

There was no magic. Chin-ups followed by negative chin-ups are demanding and require time to recover. This woman was chronically over-trained, and a couple of weeks off allowed her to recover.

I told this story to another gym member. He reply, “You know women are liars. I bet she was doing chin-ups every night at home during those four weeks”. I guess I would have trouble believing it too. I took me years to understand that training less often can produce more improvement. At first I refused to believe the improvement could come from doing less, but it kept happening to me and those I trained – often in dramatic fashion.

By training too often you ruin two workouts. The first workout that stimulated change is worthless if you do not give your body a chance to recover. The second workout is worthless as well as you cannot give your best effort if you are not 100 percent.

How often you need to workout will depend on a number of factors; most important are recovery ability, duration of exercise, level of intensity, and frequency of certain exercises. It took me years of trial and error to figure out the right formula. That formula will be different for different people. An experienced trainer will know how to manipulate the variables safely to produce continuous improvement for her clients.

Strength increases occur exercising as little as once or twice a week, If it's the right exercise program. The personal trainers at New Orleans Personal Trainers and at Austin Personal Trainingcan guide you through a personal training program that will enable you to get more out of less time exercisingand keep improving.

Reverse Aging in Human Skeletal Muscle with Resistance Exercise

From this study Resistance Exercise Reverses Aging in Human Skeletal Muscle:

"Healthy older adults show evidence of mitochondrial impairment and muscle weakness, but that this can be partially reversed at the phenotypic level, and substantially reversed at the transcriptome level, following six months of resistance exercise training.”

In layman's terms: “Before exercise training, older adults were 59% weaker than younger, but after six months of training in older adults, strength improved significantly such that they were only 38% lower than young adults.”

Strength effects not only how young we look, but more importantly, how we young we feel. Strength training reverses many of the bio-markers of aging. This does not require hours in the gym. With high intensity strength training you can work the whole body in less than one half hour, and it only need be performed once or twice a week to see continuing results. Your life can be transformed in just minutes a week with the right exercise program.

We have such a strength training program at both our locations - New Orleans Personal Trainers and Austin Personal Trainers. A little strength training, an active lifestyle, and better eating choices is a program most people can stick to, and it can have profound effects on one's fitness and health.

Extremely short duration high intensity interval training substantially improves sugar levels

In a recent study 16 young men performed 2 weeks of supervised high intensity training (HIT) comprising of a total of 15 min of exercise (6 sessions; 4–6 × 30-s cycle sprints per session). The subject performed about 250 kcal of work each week compared with the 2000 to 3000 kcal a week consumed during a typical aerobic training program. The results were surprising. Sugar level was improved by 23%, while aerobic cycling performance improved by ~6%. From the study Extremely short duration high intensity interval training substantially improves insulin action in young healthy males:

The efficacy of a high intensity exercise protocol, involving only ~250 kcal of work each week, to substantially improve sugar levels in young sedentary subjects is remarkable. 

The low volume, high intensity training utilized in the current study significantly reduced both glucose AUC (-12%) and insulin AUC (-37%), with a sustained improved sugar levels until at least day three after the last exercise session. This very modest increase in calorie consumption is in stark contrast to the ~2000–3000 kcal•week-1 consumed during a typical aerobic training program. This implies, but does not prove, that the mechanism underpinning the benefits we observed with HIT, may be distinct from those responsible for the more modest improvements in sugar levels with classic time-consuming aerobic training. While much focus is being given to increasing calorie consumption to ward off weight gain, it is clear that improving metabolic fitness may be just as important as limiting gains body mass index. 

We have a client that confirms what this study suggests. He has lost fifty pounds in three years and has gone from three or insulin shots down to one a day. He does high intensity strength training once a week and does regular aerobic activity.


The personal training sessions at Austin Personal Training and at New Orleans Personal Trainers are high intensity strength training sessions. This type of workout has been demonstrated to aid in the disposition of sugar, and the workout burns more calories than other forms of exercise because of the calories burned after the workout. Combining high intensity personal training sessions with regular aerobics activity can play a significant role in controlling diabetes.

High-intensity resistance training improves glycemic control

The conclusion from this study, High-intensity resistance training improves glycemic control in older patients with type 2 diabetes.:

High-intensity progressive resistance training, in combination with moderate weight loss, was effective in improving glycemic control in older patients with type 2 diabetes. Additional benefits of improved muscular strength and LBM identify high-intensity resistance training as a feasible and effective component in the management program for older patients with type 2 diabetes.

We have a client that confirms what this study suggests. He has lost fifty pounds in three years and has gone from three or four insulin shots down to one a day. He strength trains once a week and does regular aerobic activity.


The personal training sessions at Austin Personal Training and at New Orleans Personal Trainers are high intensity strength training sessions. This type of workout has been demonstrated to aid in the disposition of sugar, and the workout burns more calories than other forms of exercise because of the calories burned after the workout. Combining high intensity personal training sessions with regular aerobics activity can play a significant role in controlling diabetes.

The benefits of high intensity interval training

A May 3, 2007 New York Times article, A Healthy Mix of Rest and Motion, suggests that for at least one workout a week it pays to alternate short bursts of high-intensity exercise with easy-does-it recovery. This type of high intensity interval training comes in many forms. Examples are running (or sprinting) the straight-aways and walking the curves for several laps or cycling hard (or very hard) for a minute and then coasting for a minute then repeating the sequence. It can also be done with strength training – a series of demanding strength training exercises with a little respite between the exercises. 

A quote from the article:

“A 2005 study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that after just two weeks of interval training, six of the eight college-age men and women doubled their endurance, or the amount of time they could ride a bicycle at moderate intensity before exhaustion'.

And this: "New evidence suggests that a workout with steep peaks and valleys can dramatically improve cardiovascular fitness and raise the body’s potential to burn fat".

Researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, had the exercisers sprint for 30 seconds, then either stop or pedal gently for four minutes. Eight volunteers in a control group, who did not do any interval training, showed no improvement in endurance.

Such a dramatic improvement in endurance after 15 minutes of intense cycling spread over two weeks was all the more surprising because the volunteers were already reasonably fit. They jogged, biked or did aerobic exercise two to three times a week.

The study focused on the improved performance resulting from interval training, but there are other benefits. Interval training offers protection against Type 2 diabetes, can help with weight loss and can lower the riskof heart disease.

It is postulated in the article that many people who are not active enough to keep muscles healthy and who are at the sedentary extreme might develop “metabolic stalling” — carbohydrates in the form of blood glucose and fat particles in the form of triglycerides sit in the blood. This could be a contributing factor to metabolic syndrome, the combination of obesity, insulin resistance, high cholesterol and elevated triglycerides that increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

The article concludes by saying: “By recruiting new muscle fibers and increasing the body’s ability to use fuel, interval training could potentially lower the risk of metabolic syndrome”.

The type of personal training we do at Austin Personal Training in Austin and at New Orleans Fitness Training is high intensity interval training. Some of the benefits of type of personal training are:

The personal training sessions burns calories at a very high rate
It has been shown effective in lowering blood pressure,
You will burn calories long after the workout is over at a rate higher that other forms of exercise.