One of my great passions (out of necessity and just for fun as well) is fitness and working out, paired with a healthy diet.
I've tried all sorts of different types of workouts from straight running to HIIT (high intensity interval training), choreographed routines, different resistance training methods and body building.
The one workout I keep going back to is the body building program by beachbody fitness called BODY BEAST coached by the amazingly massive Sagi Kalev.
I've always read that weight training was more effective than cardio, but different methods give different results.
I can tell you one thing though, this guys program is legit. He pulls out all the stops when it comes to muscle prefatigue, muscle confusion and a host of different training set types from single sets to drop sets, giant sets, and more.
Its true doing this style of resistance training burns about the same calorie amounts as a couple hours of running, all within about 35 mins.
The main reason I'm writing this article about weight training is something called DOMS or delay Onset Muscle Soreness.
Its that terrible dabilitating pain you experience the following few days after starting an intense workout. I've always experienced what I believe is extra pain compared to others who do similar workouts, so I decided it's time to do a little research to see if there's any reasoning behind it.
The conclusion? NOBODY KNOWS!!
What professional scientists do know is that the pain is not caused by inflammation and that inflammation actually alleviates the pain.
As well, it's not so much the tearing of muscle fibers that hurts, but some kind of immune chemical response to the micro ripping of muscle tissues. I equate the process to when you eat really spicy foods. You feel burn not because it's actually burning you, but because of a chemical reaction triggered by the immune system.
It turns out that DOMS is a pretty regular thing, although people experience it vastly differently depending on genetics, pain tolerance, workout intensity, immune system strength, vitamin intake etc.
This is the reason why nobody can figure out the mechanism that exactly causes the pain. There are so many possible factors that are not directly measurable in typical scientific studies.
They have figured out that 3 different chemical actions happening together cause the immune response including presence of ATP, the same waste product that causes rhabdomyolysis (toxification of the liver from muscle breakdown) and lactic acid. Each chemical was studied separately and never found to cause the pain, but something changes when the 3 things unite at once.
Either way, all I know is it hurts like hell for me, and there is not really a remedy other than time.
I did find it interesting that a new study found termeric (active chemical curcumin) to assist in alleviating this type of pain, so it seems that some kind of oxidation is happening in the muscles that causes the pain. Strong antioxidants may be the answer to DOMS but not enough information from studies is available yet to know for sure.
I hope to be back into the workout routine in another day or two once I can sit and stand easily again!
Intermittent fasting
This time around with the workout, I have also started on a new diet which isn't so much of a diet as meal timing plan called intermittent fasting.
Iay do a whole article explaining how it works and why it can help with weight loss and fat loss, but for now, just know that the whole point of it is to not eat for a 16 hour period each day (in my case no eating from 8pm to 12 noon the following day).
This fasting causes the body to start producing ketones just like when I went on the ketogenic diet. There is no need to alter food consumption type and amount with this one though, you simply eat like normal during the eating hours and do not during the off period.
I'm very interested to see the results of this over time because I did see results with the ketogenic diet, but I was not working out with it.
Wish me luck as I continue on this never ending road to optimum health and fitness!
Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
Chris