What happens to your body after quitting      

• Within a month your immune system begins to show signs of recovery. |

• After two months your lungs will no longer be producing extra phlegm caused by smoking and blood flow to your hands and feet improve.

• After twelve months your blood pressure returns to normal.

• After ten years of stopping your risk of lung cancer is markedly lower than that of a continuing smoker and continues to decline (provided the disease is not already present).

• After fifteen years your risk of heart attack and stroke is close to that of a person who has never smoked.

• Stopping smoking reduces your risk of developing, or worsening of, lung disease including chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

• Over time, your sense of taste and smell will slowly improve

Financial benefits of quitting

• A pack a day smoker can save around $4,000 after one year of quitting.

• You’re less likely to suffer from some illnesses, which means fewer trips to the doctor, less money spent on medications and fewer sick days.

How smoking impacts your fitness

• Smoking reduces the amount of oxygen available to your muscles, which means they tire faster than normal.

• A study conducted at the National University Hospital in Oslo, Norway, found that regular smokers experienced a greater decline in physical fitness over the course of seven years than non-smokers. As the participants aged, the smokers saw an average decline of 217 joules per kilogram — a measure of energy density — whereas the non-smokers only saw a decline of 86 joules per kilogram. Smokers had less energy available to them, thereby affecting their fitness level.

Quit support

• Call the Quitline on 13 7848 (13 QUIT)

The Quitline is a confidential telephone quitting information and advice service.  Professional telephone advisors provide strategies and support to help you quit. They really understand how hard it is to give up smoking. And all this just for the cost of a local call (higher from mobiles).

• Go online with the Quit Coach

www.quitcoach.org.au is a free online tool giving ideas and suggestions that are relevant to you  It does this after you have answered some questions about your lifestyle and your smoking. The Quit Coach can help you before, during and after you quit.

• Talk to your doctor, pharmacist or other health professional

Doctors and pharmacists are good sources of advice about quitting, especially for advice on quit smoking medications. You will need to see a doctor if you’re considering using prescription quitting medications.

It’s also important to see your doctor if you’ve suffered from a mental illness or are taking medication for one. If you have asthma, diabetes or other health problems it can be useful to discuss quitting with a health professional. See your doctor regularly while you’re quitting, and seek advice if you experience symptoms that worry you. The Quitline can also offer advice and support while you’re quitting

Special thanks to Luke Atkin of Quit for putting this article together for us and letting you know some great reasons and fantastic resources available to help you quit smoking.  

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While there are many different variations on the type of resistance training you can do, we are just going to focus on four of them: strength, hypertrophy, power, and strength endurance. This article is only a generic guide and there will be some variations needed for more advanced trainers, but have a look at these guidelines to help get you on your way.

Strength Training involves lifting very heavy weights for only a few repetitions, usually around five. This will require you to produce a maximal amount of force for a minimal period of time. This is very effective for increasing pure strength, but does not necessarily produce the best results for increasing muscle size. Try and keep your set numbers to four to maximise your strength gains.

Hypertrophy training is focused on increasing the size of your muscles. The recommended repetition amount is 10. This rep range provides your muscles with the optimal time under tension required to damage your muscle fibres, allowing them to repair bigger and stronger. Exercises can be performed in sets of three to give you the best muscle growth and development. 

Power training should only be considered by people who have a solid history of regular resistance training. The explosive movements required to train in this manner place a high stress on your body and can be potentially dangerous if your body is not ready for it, or if it is done incorrectly. It is a great form of training to improve your speed and explosiveness. The ideal repetition number for power training is six reps per set, and again three sets per exercise.

Strength Endurance is a lower intensity form of resistance training and can be used to serve as an introduction to resistance training or even a form of cross-training to get your heart pounding in a circuit. Repetition range for strength endurance training is generally 15 reps and above, obviously using a lighter load. Getting through four or more sets of this should be your aim.

So, based on your goals, find which form of resistance training is going to be best suited to you, and start getting the results you really want. 

Any individual who will be exercising continuously for over 90 minutes at a constant pace will benefit from carbohydrate loading. People involved in sports like marathon running, cycling, long distance triathlons, cross country skiing, endurance swimming and hiking, will see the value of this dieting technique.

It has been proven through many studies that increasing your muscle glycogen levels, through a high carbohydrate diet, will delay the onset of muscle fatigue by 20% and improve your exercise performance by 2-3%.

The way to carbohydrate load is to change your training and eating during the lead-up to the event. This technique was originally developed in the 1960’s and involved a depletion phase and a loading phase. The depletion phase is where you would exercise to fatigue for 1-4 days and follow a low carbohydrate diet. Then for the loading phase you would taper off your exercise or rest for 1-4 days, prior to the event, while following a diet high in carbohydrates.

The best way to increase your carbohydrate intake is to include foods that are considered high GI, like sugars, cordials, soft drinks, sports drinks, jams, honey, jellies, canned fruits and lollies. It is also important to remember to reduce your protein intake and fibre intake during this phase. Another point to remember (and not to be concerned about), is that during this carbohydrate loading phase you may increase your body weight by a few kilos, through increased food intake and water consumption. This will naturally decrease after you finish the event and return to your normal nutritional ways.

Overall, if you feel that you will benefit from carbohydrate loading before an endurance event, it is important to speak with a professional about what is involved, to prepare yourself. Ensure that you do not make these changes too close to the event, to guarantee your body will respond well to this nutritional training.

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The article is goes on to talk about exercise and weight loss and new book which claims that exercise is useless for weight loss. The article then shares a number of great points from David Driscoll an exercise physiologist and sports dietitian.

My summary of this would be that as many of you may have found when you exercise you can have an increased appetite.  Keep this in check and you will go a long way to dropping the kilos and improving more than just your weigh, as we all know exercise has vast and important benefits that are far greater than weight loss or even weight maintenance.

Another thing thing mentioned to be mindful of is the fact that many of us want to reward our hard work with a larger serving size at our meals or a treat after dinner because of how very hard we have worked! However the fact is that sometimes these rewards can actually throw us back over our calorie budget and we can many times end up doing more harm that good in the overall scheme of things. Being over our daily calorie budget we can end up actually putting on weight if we do this consistently.

So the moral of the story… Exercise can certainly help us with more than just losing weight but don’t lose sight of the simple fact that what is going into your body is key when you are watching your weight. It will determine how much out put you need to achieve to bring your body to a point of calorie deficit and therefor weight loss.

There are many positives to consuming small amounts of food throughout the day, including managing hunger pains, maintaining blood sugar levels, refuelling your body, preventing overeating at main meals, and obtaining more nutrients. Planning and choosing healthy snacks is important, because they can add fibre and essential nutrients to your diet, and help you avoid unwanted calories.

The best snacks are ones that are healthy, nutrient-dense food. There are many options for healthy snacks for both adults and children, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, high-fibre breakfast cereals, plain popcorn, canned fruit in natural juices, boiled eggs, low fat muesli bars, baked beans, low fat dips (like tzatziki), cup-a-soups, low fat dairy-based snacks (milk, cheese, yoghurt, smoothies, custards), wholemeal bread/rolls, rice crackers and natural nuts, just to name a few. If you are unprepared and need to choose processed foods for snacks, aim for low-fat, low-sugar options and low-calorie options.

There are many ways to include healthy snacking options into your everyday diet; just make sure you plan ahead, always have healthy, appropriate snacks on hand and don’t feel you always have to eat, just because its morning tea time. This will help you to lose weight, feel energised and enhance your diet.

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As crazy as this may actually sound, strength training could be the key to shaving minutes off your marathon time. One of the most neglected areas of fitness for weekend warrior distance runners is strength. Many believe that lifting weights will get them bulkier, add body weight and make running over long distances more difficult. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Before we get stuck into how strength training can help you, let’s clear the air a little. There are a few reasons why strength training won’t add a heap of unwanted body mass. Your muscle fibre type: generally speaking those of us who are capable of running long distances are likely to genetically have a larger portion of type I or slow-twitch muscle fibres. These fibres are likely to experience lower relative hypertrophy (or increase in size), compared to type II or fast-twitch muscle fibres.

Next there is the issue of concurrent training. Studies have shown that endurance training can inhibit the results of a strength training program when compared to strength training alone. So this will also reduce any increases in bulk you may have experienced since the vast majority of your training will have an endurance focus.

And lastly, if not most importantly, how you plan your sessions will influence the results that you achieve. The weight you lift, the sets, repetitions and tempo you use are also elements you can manipulate to focus on different aspects of training and attain a different set of results.

Okay, now that we have gotten that out of the way, let’s get stick into the nitty gritty. How will strength training improve your running?

Numerous studies have shown that following a strength training program can result in an increase in your running economy. One study on female distance runners found a decrease in oxygen consumption and a lower sub-maximal heart rate; this means that as you improve your strength, you will find that running the same distances and speed results in a lower oxygen and energy demands on your body, allowing you to run further and faster.

A full body resistance program will also assist in the development of core body strength. Poor core strength has been shown to be an indicator for your risk of injury. So improving your strength will not only get you running further and faster but also play a big role in injury prevention. So what are you waiting for? Get into the gym today!

References
Johnston, R.E., T.J. Quinn, R. Kertzer, and N.B. Vroman. Strength training in female distance runners: Impact on running economy. J, Strength and Cond. Res. 11(4): 224 – 229. 1997.
Leetun, D.T., M.L. Ireland, J.D. Wilson, B.T. Ballantyne, and I.M. Davis. Core stability measures as risk factors for lower extremity injury in athletes. Medicine & Sciences in Sports & Exercise, 36(6): 926 – 934. 2004
Leveritt M., P.J. Abernethy, B.K. Barry, P.A. Logan, Concurrent Strength and Endurance Training: A Review. Sports Medicine 28(6): 413 – 427. 1999.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, hope you had a big rest over the weekend because todays workout of the day is a pretty tough one. We will be doing a Kettlebell 300 workout. Make sure through all reps of each exercise before moving onto the next exercise. 

50 x Kettlebell Double Bell Swing (Start standing upright, holding one kettlebell in each hand, pull your hips back and then thrust them forward, use the momentum from your hips to raise the kettlebells up to shoulder height) See Picture

50 x Kettlebell Squat Press (Hold kettlebell in one hand in front of your chest, squat and as you come up press the kettlebell above your head. 25 each side)

50 x Renegade Row (Assume a push up position with your hand on the kettlebell handles. Do a push up, then on at a time pull the kettlebells up to touch your hip. 25 each side)

50 x Kettlebell Clean (Standing upright, hold the kettlebell in one hand. Pull your hips back and as you thrust forward bring the kettlebell up to your chest. 25 each side)

50 x Kettlebell Snatch (Standing upright, hold the kettlebell in one hand. Pull your hips back and as you thrust forward bring the kettlebell up to above your head. 25 each side)

50 x Bear Crawl (Assume a push up position with your hand on the kettlebell handles. Keeping your legs straight, crawl forward with the kettlebells on hand. 25 each side)

Got through the workout as quickly as possible and post your tim to the comments below.

Good Luck!

And a big congratulations to everyone who took part in Tough Mudder over the weekend. It was a massive effort…But that doesn’t earn you a day off. So get stuck into todays workout.

A wholesome and nutritious breakfast, containing good carbohydrates, low fat proteins and fruits, will ensure you give your body the best possible start to the day. Some examples include natural muesli with Greek yoghurt and fresh fruit, poached eggs on sourdough bread and mushrooms and grilled tomatoes, porridge with skim milk and poached fruits and almonds.

Many studies say that eating breakfast in the morning, preferably before 8am, will allow your body to harness the energy provided to concentrate at school or work throughout the morning until your next major meal at lunch. These studies also say that children or adults who don’t eat a nutritious breakfast find it hard to concentrate, lack energy and will most commonly crave sugar later in the morning, causing them to reach for that morning tea muffin or biscuit or donut.

Another benefit of eating a regular breakfast is refuelling your body and giving it the energy to function. This avoids poor food choices at morning tea and lunch as you are starving by then and your body will eat anything at that point.

Studies have also shown that people who skip breakfast regularly tend to be overweight in comparison to those people who do not. It is thought that the reason behind this is that the body has gone more than 18hours without food, and these people will then tend to overeat at lunchtime and dinnertime, causing the body to then store all of this energy.

There are many great reasons to make the time and have breakfast every morning, if not to control your weight and kick start your metabolism, then to ensure you are getting a variety of vitamins and nutrients throughout the day. There are many great ideas for what you can eat for breakfast: the possibilities are endless.

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50 x Push Ups (hands at shoulder width lower body to ground and push back up)

50 x Sumo Squats (feet out in a wide stance, squat down making sure knees track over your toes)

25 x Pull Ups (pull your body weight up to an overhead bar, make sure you get your chin above the bar)

50 x Lunges (start with feet together, step out drop back knee to ground and push back till feet are together again. Repeat on other side. 25 reps each side)

25 x Dips (using parallel bars or rings, with feet off ground and arms extended lower body towards ground and push back up)

25 x Burpees (start in push up position, jump feet up to between hands, then jump in the air, place hands on the ground and jump feet out back into the push up position)

50 x Grasshoppers (start in the push up position, remove left hand from the ground and rotate shoulder to a vertical position. Extend right leg underneath body. Repeat other side. 25 reps each side)

25 x ‘V’ Sit (lay fat on your back with hands behind your head raise arms and legs at the same time and reach towards your toes)

Good luck and be sure to post your time in the comments below.

For today’s session you will need to get hold of some battling ropes.

The workout will be 

100 Rope Waves

20 Chin Ups

100 Rope Waves

20 Squats

100 Rope Waves

20 Push Ups

Repeat these exercises reducing the number of repetitions each time, so next is 80/16, 60/12, 40/8, 20/4.

Have fun.

Post your finishing time below