Use it with Turbulence Training or Lose It By Dieting & Cardio

"Use it or lose it" applies best to your body. If you don't exercise, you'll lose fitness, and if you just diet without exercise, you'll even lose muscle mass - which is the last thing anyone should ever do.

Recently, a movement towards extreme dieting has sprung up (you may have heard of the "calorie restriction movement"). It has become popular because animal research shows calorie restriction improves lifespan. However, there is a down side to severe dieting. If you diet, but don't use it,
you'll lose it - specifically your muscle and fitness.

In a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, healthy men and women between 50-60 years of age went on a 1-year weight loss program. One group lost weight by diet only (Calorie restriction) while the other group lost weight through exercise.

Both groups lost a similar amount of weight and even total body lean mass (the exercise group did not do strength training, just cardio - so the exercise group still lost muscle mass from the upper body).

However, only the diet group lost lower body strength and muscle and cardiovascular fitness. On the other hand, the exercise group increased fitness while losing weight and maintained some lower body muscle mass thanks to the cardio exercise.

Obviously, the best choice for a fat loss program is a combination of diet and exercise. This study also supports the importance of a total body strength training program to help prevent muscle loss (muscle loss with age can lead to disability and reduced quality of daily living).

So don't just starve yourself thin. Focus on healthy eating, interval training, and total body strength training to build the health and fitness you need as you grow more mature.

Weiss, E., et al. Lower extremity muscle size and strength and aerobic capacity decrease with caloric restriction but not with exercise-induced weight loss. J Appl Physiol 102: 634-640, 2007.

By the way, I post a new article M-F on 3 blogs, that's right, 3.

They are...

1) http://www.turbulencetraining.blogspot.com/

2) On Menshealth.com: http://transform07trainer.menshealth.com/

3) And even on ttmembers: http://www.ttmembers.com/public/department48.cfm

Enjoy,

Craig