All the things we normally say about obesity and fat loss being complicated are especially true with children. It’s even more difficult to establish a definition of what constitutes obesity, it’s even more important to avoid stigmatization, and sometimes all you need to do is wait for puberty and all the fat will disappear by …
Part of the reason that exercising your muscles and getting them to grow can be complicated is that there are different types of muscle constructed in different ways. Which muscles are you focusing on, and how can you maximize their potential? Broadly speaking, there are three types of muscle. There’s the cardiac muscle, which is …
Whether you’re eating a chili con carne from Mexico, jerk chicken with rice and peas from the Caribbean, a curry from India or a noodle dish from China, there’s a fair chance that chili is going to be a vital ingredient on your shopping list. Chili isn’t just a tasty, tongue-tingling addition, though. There has …
It’s all very well saying you’re going to work out hard until you have the strong muscles you’ve always wanted, but that’s no good if the first thing that happens when you go into the gym is you pull something and immediately have to go rest. Occasional injuries may sometimes seem unavoidable when we exercise, …
There are lots of hormones involved in how we eat and whether we gain or lose weight. There are ghrelin and leptin, the hormones of hunger and satiety; there’s insulin with its influence over blood sugar; and there are glucocorticoids like cortisol impacting your metabolism, to name just a few. A less known contributor is …
Everyone wishes they could see immediate results when they exercise, but realistically speaking, most of us realize that sustainable muscle growth is a long game. That’s why something like microloading, which allows you to push forward in smaller, more manageable increments, can be a great tool. When you first start doing strength training, it doesn’t …
For most people who are trying to lose some weight, the advice remains the same: Diet and exercise, diet and exercise. It can get a bit dull hearing it over and over again, but these lifestyle changes are generally the simplest and most effective way to manage your weight and your health more generally. They …
It’s a well-known fact that muscle loss can be a side effect of aging. No matter how much work we put in when we’re younger, certain physical changes are going to make it much harder to maintain that hard-earned muscle, let alone gain more, when we’re old. Now, that’s not the same as saying that …
There are two hormones that have a big impact on whether we feel hungry or full, which has implications when it comes to how much we eat and therefore whether we lose or gain fat. I’ve talked about leptin, the hormone of satiety, before, which must mean it’s ghrelin’s turn. Ghrelin is often called the …
Exercise and diet. Yeah, you probably know by now that those are the two most important things for trying to build some muscle. They’re not the only things you can do, however. There are lots of supplements on the market that claim to be ideal for muscle gain. Some of them are talking nonsense, but …
