Pro Athlete Body

In a long term health study of people in the America, the U.S. Health Administration has documented the risks of developing heart disease for various groups in the population.

Long before any symptoms appeared, epidemiological research was used to identify people in high risk groups.

Among the highest risk factors are males over 35 years of age, high blood pressure, cigarette smokers,  high blood fats and a family history of cardiovascular disease.

There is also another risk factor: the compulsive, hard-charging, high anxiety personality. The greater the stress, the greater the overall risk.

These threats to your “heart health” can be divided into 2 main categories:

1) Those beyond your control, such as age, sex, heredity and…

2) Those that can be avoided, controlled or eliminated through lifestyle modification.

Among those in the second category are what cardiologists call the triple threat. These are high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, and high LDL (bad) cholesterol levels.

If you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, your risk of having a heart attack is twice that of a non smoker. If you smoke, have high blood pressure and eat a diet high in saturated fats without any exercise at all, your risk is 5 times greater than normal!!

How To Get a Healthy Heart Fast!

Obviously, quitting smoking cigarettes and eating a low saturated fat diet will help. The next best thing you can do for your heart is to give it what it needs:

regular exercise which includes cardio interval training.

The heart is a muscle. It’s actually a group of muscles, similar in many ways to limb muscles of the body. And just as exercise strengthens and improves limb muscles, it enhances the health of the heart muscles as well.

Since 1943, several large-scale statistical studies have evaluated the relationship between physical activity and cardiovascular disease. One prominent survey compared 31,000 drivers and conductors of bus companies. The more sedentary drivers had a significantly higher rate of heart disease than the conductors, who walked around the buses and climbed up and down stairs to the upper level.

The results of these statistics were tested by experiments with dogs whose coronary arteries were surgically narrowed to resemble those of humans with atherosclerosis. Dogs who were exercised had much improved blood flow than those kept inactive.

The exercise seemed to stimulate the development of new connections between the impaired and the nearly normal blood vessels, so exercised dogs had a better blood supply to all the muscle tissue of the heart. The human heart reacts in the same way to provide blood to the portion that was damaged by the heart attack.

To enable the damaged heart muscle to heal, the heart relies on small, newly-developed blood vessels for what is called collateral circulation. These new branches in the arterial network can develop long before a heart attack — and they can prevent a heart attack if the new network takes on enough of the function of the narrowed vessels.

With all these facts we have, what should be done in order to improve heart health?

Some studies show that moderate exercise several times a week is more effective in building up these auxiliary pathways than extremely vigorous exercise done twice as often. Other studies show that vigorous exercise such as Cardio Interval Training is better in this regard.

The general rule is that ANY exercise helps reduce the risk of harm to the heart. Some researches further attest the link between exercise and healthy heart based on findings that non exercisers had a 49% greater risk of heart attack than exercisers in the study. The study also attributed 1/3 of that risk to a sedentary lifestyle alone.

So, by employing cardio interval training you can expect positive results not only on cardiovascular health but on your overall health as well.

This particular activity for the heart is a cycle of brief “repeated drills” of an intense nature followed by longer periods of recuperation (45 seconds to 3 minutes).

So it’s high intensity exercise for a short period (20 seconds to 1 minute)  followed by a break. Then, you repeat the cycle 2-5 times or so.

The benefits of engaging in Cardio Interval Training include:

1. Heart attack risks are lessened, if not eliminated

2. Enhanced heart function (i.e. better blood circulation, more blood vessels)

3. Increased metabolism, which increases calorie burning helping you in lose weight

4. Improves lung capacity

5. Helps lessen or eliminate stress

Indeed, cardio interval training is a fast and modern way of creating a healthy, happy heart and body in today’s hectic world.

Posted by: Bob Thomson, CPT

My absolute favorite place for cardio interval training is my local rail trail in Eastern Dutchess County, New York.

It’s along the now defunct Conrail line. I bike, hike and run here. It’s so peaceful and tranquil all my stress and worries just evaporate. I see critters such as wild turkey, deer and a variety of woodland birds. There are bear in “them thar hills”, but I have yet to see one - a good thing I guess. In these trying times, it’s nice to know I can quickly escape to somewhere peaceful to get back to the basics.

I do all sorts of body weight training exercises here, including wind sprints,  jumping jacks, mountain climbers, off trail hill walking and more. Here are some pictures from my sunrise training sessions:

The photos are copyright © Bob Thomson

Posted by: Bob Thomson

You don’t have to fear growing old when you are in great mental and physical shape. Today I turned 43 and I feel like a young 30-something. My abs are ripped. My muscles are as big and full as they’ve ever been. And I feel great!

In a few minutes I’m going to do a little exercise, a morning walk and run with some intervals thrown in to burn some fat. It’s beautiful outside today, warm and sunny with bluebird skies. It feels great to be alive!

I’m in a good mood so I may just throw up another fitness muscle building video post on YouTube today.

Posted by Bob

I recently received the following question from a 14 year old boy via YouTube, nickname Volim23:

“Hi Bob, I’m 14 and i really want to get my arms and abs ripped is there a way to get this quickly?”

My Answer:

Hi Volim23,

Thank you for your kind comments. I appreciate your interest. Since you are 14 years old you still have a lot of growing to do! I didn’t start weight training until about 15 or 16 years old. Someone your age should NOT push too hard or be too concerned with getting big or ultra ripped for example. Are you involved with school sports? If so, using basic weight training to help you perform better during sports will help you get thicker and defined.

Unless your metabolism is unusually low for a 14 year old, the cuts and definition should come from your increased exercise activity.

Whatever your activity level, if you are not well defined at this point don’t worry! At 14, you’re body is approaching the heights of its development. Hormones are coursing through your body like a runaway freight train. Pushing too hard as a teenager could be counter-productive at this point.

For anyone, the quickest way to get ripped is to do INTERVAL Training combined with good eating. Wind sprints are a great example — I used to do them each season when getting ready for wrestling, track and baseball.

Do interval training 2-3 times per week max for 20 minutes each session. Why? Because sprinting burns fat better and longer than moderate or low intensity traditional cardio like jogging.

Regarding my abs training I spend about 30-45 minutes per week on them. I like to do superset circuits with rest for abs. For example:

Example Circuit:

Lying Bent Knee Leg Lifts - Lying on back, hands and arms out resting on floor, raise your knees & thighs perpendicular to the floor with calfs/shins parallel . Do a set of 15-20 reps of lowering your legs and raising them slowly (count of 3 up and count of 3 down). Rest 45-60 seconds…. and then immediately do…

Reaching Situps - Lay on your back with feet planted firmly in front of you and knees bent pointing up toward the ceiling. That’s the starting position. Next do a slow, deliberate situp with your arms and hands reaching 45 degrees towards the ceiling. Sit up so your torso is perpendicular to floor. Then immediately go back down to starting position. 3 count on the way up. 3 count on the way down. The reaching part of this exercise places extra resistance on your upper abs. Rest for 45-60 seconds. Then do…

Bicycle Kick Situps - Lay on your back, body flat on the ground. Tuck your hands just behind your ears. Pull your knees and legs up so your thighs are perpendicular and lower legs are parallel to the floor. Raise your shoulder blades off the floor a little and begin by touching your right elbow to your left knee while extending your right leg out, followed by touching your left elbow to your right knee while extending your left leg out.
When doing this exercise correctly, you will look like you are riding a bike flat on the floor and at the same time twisting your torso up to touch your opposite elbow to your knee. do 15 Reps and Rest 1 Minute before doing a second and final circuit.

Do this circuit TWICE each session, 2-3 times per week and your abs will “pop” I assure you!

Posted by: Bob Thomson