Pumping iron isn't just for the guys!!

The worldwide phenomenon LES MILLS PUMP is here!  It's the first ever at-home version of BODYPUMP® - the incredibly popular series of gym classes created by Les Mills International and taught in 80 countries across the globe.

What makes LES MILLS PUMP so exciting?

Beachbody® and Les Mills International teamed up specifically to bring to the world the best trainers, the best chart - topping music, and the best body-changing PUMP moves, so the same results can now be achieved at home that millions of people get in gyms every day.

Done three times a week, this barbell-based rapid weight loss and accelerated strength-training program reshapes a person's entire body extremely fast!

Why is LES MILLS PUMP so effective?

It's all about THE REP EFFECT.  Unlike traditional strength workouts, which feature heavy weights that bulk people up, this program features light-to-moderate weights used at a higher rate of repetition.  The constantly changing tempo, body position, and speed of THE REP EFFECT breaks down more fat reserves, targets more muscle fibers, and burns morecalories than traditional weight training.  

What are the workouts like?

Muscles reach fatigue by performing 70-100 repetitions per body part. That's about 4 times more reps a standard gym workout.

Do people really have to work out only 3 times a week?

If they want, can they work out on other days too?  We encourage anyone to engage in non-resistance training workouts (such as cardio or cross-training) on days that they're not doing LES MILLS PUMP.

Who should do this program?

People of all ages and fitness levels.  Men and women who want to lose weight and get fit.  People who want leaner, stronger muscles.  Those new to working out

Visit barrywilsonbc.com for more info on Les Mills Pump (or just click on the banner at the top of this page)

 

Here's an excellent article by Whitney Provost on the benefits of weight lifting for women.

10 Reasons Why Women Need to Lift Weights

Many women believe that the only way to lose weight is to do cardiovascular (aerobic exercise). So they jog or take aerobics classes five times a week. Eventually, though, they notice that while their bodies are a little smaller, there are still a lot of flabby and jiggly bits. Sound familiar? Aerobic exercise is important for good health, but it's only half of the equation. Keep reading for the other half.

For optimal fitness, longevity, and a lean body, weight training is essential. If you avoid pumping iron because you're afraid of getting "bulky," then you're missing out on one of the best fat-burning methods around. When you're weight training, you shouldn't rely exclusively on the scale to gauge your progress. You can use a body fat tester or a tape measure to track how many inches you're losing. The size of your body will shrink as you shed fat and build muscle, but your weight may not change as dramatically as you expect. Besides, what's more important, the number on the scale or how you look in your skinny jeans? If you're still not convinced that you need to lift weights, here are 10 reasons why you should reconsider.
1. Burn more fat
Researchers at Tufts University found that when overweight women lifted heavy weights twice a week, they lost an average of 14.6 pounds of fat and gained 1.4 pounds of muscle. The control group, women who dieted but didn't lift weights, lost only 9.2 pounds of fat and gained no muscle. When you do an intense weight-training program such as ChaLEAN Extreme^®, your metabolism stays elevated and you continue to burn fat for several hours afterward. During regular cardio exercise, you stop burning fat shortly after the workout.

2. Change your body shape
You may think your genes determine how you look. That's not necessarily true. Weight training can slim you down, create new curves, and help avoid the "middle-age spread." Just look at the amazing body transformations of the women who've completed P90X®. Dropping only 3 percent of your body fat could translate into a total loss of 3 inches off your hips and thighs. And no, you won't bulk up—women don't have enough muscle-building hormones to gain a lot of mass like men do. If you keep your diet clean and create a calorie deficit, you'll burn fat.

3. Boost your metabolism
The less muscle you have, the slower your metabolism will be. As women age, they lose muscle at increasing rates, especially after the age of 40. When you diet without doing resistance training, up to 25 percent of the weight loss may be muscle loss. Weight training while dieting can help you preserve and even rebuild muscle fibers. The more lean mass you have, the higher your metabolism will be and the more calories you'll burn all day long.

4. Get stronger and more confident
Lifting weights increases functional fitness, which makes everyday tasks such as carrying children, lifting grocery bags, and picking up heavy suitcases much easier. According to the Mayo Clinic, regular weight training can make you 50 percent stronger in 6 months. Being strong is also empowering. Not only does it improve your physical activities, it builds emotional strength by boosting self-esteem and confidence.

5. Build strong bones
It's been well documented that women need to do weight-bearing exercise to build and maintain bone mass, and prevent osteoporosis. Just as muscles get stronger and bigger with use, so do bones when they're made to bear weight. Stronger bones and increased muscle mass also lead to better flexibility and balance, which is especially important for women as they age.
6. Fight depression
You've probably heard that cardio and low-impact exercises such as yoga help alleviate depression, and weight lifting has the same effect. The endorphins that are released during aerobic activities are also present during resistance training. Many women find that regular strength training, in conjunction with psychological treatment, helps lessen their depression symptoms substantially.

7. Improve sports fitness
You don't have to be an athlete to get the sports benefit of weight training. Improved muscle mass and strength will help you in all physical activities, whether it's bicycling with the family, swimming, golfing, or skiing . . . whatever sport you enjoy.

8. Reduce injuries and arthritis
Weight lifting improves joint stability and builds stronger ligaments and tendons. Training safely and with proper form can help decrease the likelihood of injuries in your daily life. It can also improve physical function in people with arthritis. A study conducted at the University of Wales in Bangor, United Kingdom, found that mildly disabled participants who lifted weights for 12 weeks increased the frequency and intensity at which they could work, with less pain and increased range of movement.

9. Heart health
More than 480,000 women die from cardiovascular disease each year, making it the number-one killer of women over the age of 25. Most people don't realize that pumping iron can also keep your heart pumping. Lifting weights increases your "good" (HDL) cholesterol and decreases your "bad" (LDL) cholesterol. It also lowers your blood pressure. The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that people who do 30 minutes of weight lifting each week have a 23 percent reduced risk of developing heart disease compared to those who don't lift weights.

10. Defend against diabetes
In addition to keeping your ticker strong, weight training can improve glucose utilization (the way your body processes sugar) by as much as 23 percent. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 weeks of strength training can improve glucose metabolism in a way that is comparable to taking diabetes medication. The more lean mass you have, the more efficient your body is at removing glucose from the blood, which can reduce complications from diabetes or even help prevent type 2 diabetes in the first place.

Tapering: When Less Is More

I am in the final week before running in the Half Marathon event at the BMO Vancouver Marathon, May 5 2013.  The final week of training before a race is referred to affectionately by runners as the "delicate taper".  Here is an excellent article by Dr. Greg Wells on the tapering for an event.

Tapering: When Less Is More by Dr. Greg Wells

 

Whether the race in your sights is a 5K walk or a marathon, the goal of your training is to be at your best when the gun goes off. To optimize your performance, you will need to have an effective taper - the final portion of your preparation where you decrease your mileage. By understanding the science of tapering, and the role that rest plays in all forms of exercise, you can achieve your goals. 

What is Tapering?

Tapering is a special training period immediately preceding the major competition during which the training stimulus is reduced in a systematic non-linear fashion to achieve a peak in performance. Optimal physiology, technique, and psychology are all outcomes of tapering. More scientifically, tapering produces a superior biological state characterized by perfect health, a quick adaptability to training stimuli, and a very good rate of recovery. The complete definition of taper is "a progressive non-linear reduction in the training load during a variable period of time, in an attempt to reduce the physiological and psychological stress of daily training and optimize sports performance." 1 Tapering has been shown to result in a performance improvement of 2-4% in most studies in laboratory and field performance tests as well as competition results.

Why Tapering Works

The thing to remember about training is that it is a continuous adaptation process. When you exercise, you cause microscopic tears in your skeletal muscles and release chemicals called "free radicals" that inhibit your body's performance. Your body interprets the damage as a sign that something has changed in its environment. From an evolutionary perspective, changes in the external setting require changes inside you, so your body repairs itself. But, just like the scientists who rebuilt the Six Million Dollar Man, your body will make you stronger and faster than you were before.
The primary objective of tapering is to decrease the training stress to allow for the body to recover and eliminate fatigue. When the training impulse is decreased, fatigue decreases more rapidly than fitness, and increased performance results from the increasing difference between the two factors. Thus, in a well-designed taper, the body becomes rested (with all the associated benefits) and the athlete's fitness level is well maintained. There are some amazing physiological adaptations that happen during a taper.
Researchers have also found increases in reticulocyte counts (new red blood cells) suggesting an increased erythropoiesis (red blood cell production) during taper. Tapering induces alterations in the contractile properties of single muscle fibres. The increased size, strength, velocity, and power of the muscle fibres results in improvements in whole body strength and power during the taper. Another interesting adaptation that has been shown in taper is the increase in eosinophils (believed to detoxify some of the inflammation inducing substances in the body and destroy allergen-antibody complexes, thus preventing the spread of inflammation) and lymphocyte (white blood cells that fight infection) cell counts. This suggests that there is an improvement in the body's capacity to resist illness during taper. And it's not just the body that is impacted. Tapering has been shown to have positive effects on the psychological state of athletes. Significant improvements in the Profile of Mood States, a questionnaire that measures tension, depression and anger, have been reported after 1 week of tapering, with significant improvements in total mood disturbance and fatigue. Other benefits include increased motivation, arousal, and psychological relaxation.
The catch is that if you don't allow for adequate rest on an ongoing basis and, in particular, at the end of your race training schedule, you will not give your body the time it needs to complete the upgrades. In effect, you will be doing the hard work and suffering the tear down process without reaping the rewards of recovery. 

What the Science Tells Us

Let's take a look at the research. In one study, scientists found that college distance runners improved their performance by 2% through an 80% reduction in their mileage.1 In another study, runners not only saw a 3% boost in performance after a three week taper, their MHC IIa muscle fibres actually grew.2 These fibres are responsible for power and speed, which means that these athletes got stronger and faster by doing less work. The body's ability to repair itself is truly amazing!
For all of us, the three stars of our training program are volume (amount of mileage), intensity (pace) and frequency (how often you train). The research tells us that athletes who decrease their training volume, maintain their workout frequency and train at or above race pace during their taper experience significant performance improvements. There is also evidence that you should decrease your volume in a non-linear fashion: large reductions in mileage early on in your taper and smaller changes near the end. Keeping in mind that reducing your volume does not include spending the week before the race on the couch. That would put you into detraining - the dreaded loss of muscle strength and aerobic fitness.

Improve your Performance

Here's a quick summary of the key ideas outlined above and some additional tapering truths that experienced athletes and geeks in lab coats have confirmed (yes, I am one of those geeks):
- A two week taper is ideal for major events.
- Train frequently but reduce your overall volume in a non-linear fashion.
- Activate all your energy systems. That means some speed work, hills and easy running. The key is to do as little total work as possible to make sure you get rested, but you keep your metabolism working.
- Get plenty of sleep. This allows time for growth hormones to be released which support proper muscle repair.
- Make sure you are well hydrated so your body has the fluid it needs for all of its critical processes.
- Ensure muscle growth by eating foods that are high in protein.
- Promote red blood cell production by eating foods that are high in iron and also by consuming Vitamin C, which helps you absorb the iron. More red blood cells will improve your body's ability to carry oxygen, making physical exertion easier and more efficient.
- Avoid stress. Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, has a negative effect on the muscle repair process.
Applying the findings of science to your physical training will improve your performance, but you also need to be prepared for the mental experience of tapering. For example, you will have to resist the urge to slip in more miles as an outlet for your surplus energy. It's also possible you will feel a bit anxious about your decreased mileage. That's when you have to remind yourself that "less is more." Not to mention that a normal part of the taper phase is an inevitable workout when you find yourself dragging heavy legs and looking at your watch every few minutes. You need to trust the science that tells us tapering is good.
So that's what you need to know.  As race day approaches, modify your training and remember to congratulate yourself on what is already an amazing achievement: living actively, working toward a goal and taking care of your body. All of which is an important part of living the vibrant and energetic life you and your body deserve.