Health and Fitness Newsletter from Fit to Go, WWW.FitnessComes2You.com

1. “The most natural
food is fruit”
Fitness that comes to you
Monthly Newsletter
We are predisposed to respond to exercise in a particular way,
Hi everyone,
in large part, because of our genetics. Our genetic makeup
determines what types of muscle fibers we have and where
We have a new President. Wool!!! He said we can create our they are distributed. It determines our ratio of testosterone to
own reality. I believe that for myself and for you. It's all in estrogen, and where we store body fat. And it also determines
how you look at it. See yourself as vibrant, healthy, full of our body type.
energy and ready to ROLL. If you are feeling down and tired,
pay attention to what you are thinking. Decide to choose some
A QUESTION OF BODY TYPE
better feeling thoughts. Yea, you can do that. It's your brain
you know. Look for things that make you feel good. Before
All women (men too) fall under one of three body
you know it you will be up and at em. Ready to go for a walk,
classifications, or are a combination of types. Mesomorphs
run, hit the gym, call Rick for more sessions (smile), ride a
tend to be muscular, endomorphs are more rounded and
bike, swim, make love (not war)...whatever.
voluptuous and ectomorphs are slim or linear in shape.
Mesomorphs respond to strength training by building muscle
HAVE FUN, ITS GOOD FOR YOU.
mass much faster than their ectomorphic counterparts, even
though they may be following identical training regimens.
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Endomorphs generally need to lose body fat in order to see a
HOW WOMEN BUILD MUSCLE change in size or shape as a result of strength training.
Ectomorphs are less likely to build muscle mass but will
There are more myths and misconceptions about strength become stronger as a result of resistance training.
training than any other area of fitness. While research
continues to uncover more and more reasons why working out Building just your heart muscle
with weights is good for you, many women continue to avoid
resistance training for fear of developing muscles of herculean
One of the fundamental principles of strength training is that if
proportions.
you overload the muscle, you will increase its size. With
aerobic training, the overload is typically your body weight.
Other women have tried it and have been less than thrilled with Activities such as step/bench training or stair-stepping result in
the results. Don't worry, people say. Women can't build muscle changes in the size and shape of the muscles of the lower
like men. They don't have enough testosterone. This is , in body. Increasing the height of the step or adding power
only part true. movements increases the overload.
Many women, believing wouldn’t build muscle, hit the gym with For those concerned about building muscle, it would be better
a vengeance and then wondered why, after several weeks of to reduce the step height or lower the impact of the
resistance training, their clothes didn't fit and they had gained movements. While this may reduce the aerobic value of the
muscle weight. workout, it also will decrease the amount of overload on the
muscles, making it less likely that you will build more muscle.
The truth is, not everyone responds to training in quite the
same way. While testosterone plays a role in muscle TRAINING BY THE RULES
development, the answer to why some men and women
increase in muscle size and others don’t lies within our DNA.
When it comes to strength training, the old rules still applies: to
get stronger, work with heavier weights and perform fewer

2. repetitions. To promote endurance, use lighter weights and Overall, the former couch potatoes reported more
complete more repetitions. reliable sexual functioning, more frequent sexual activity
and orgasms, and greater satisfaction.
Understanding your body type and how you might respond to
exercise can help you set realistic goals and expectations.
Yet another study, conducted at the Harvard School of
Avoid comparisons to others you see, at the gym or elsewhere,
Public Health, revealed that men who exercised
and remember that no two people are alike.
vigorously for 20 to 30 minutes were about half as likely
to have erection problems as inactive men. The
Focus on how good exercise makes you feel rather than how
scientists in this study also discovered that as a man
you would like to look. Accepting our bodies for what they are
gained weight, he became more susceptible to
is a great way to get rid of the guilt or pressure we often feel
experiencing erectile dysfunction (E.D.).
to look a certain way.
Women's sex lives can also benefit from regular exercise.
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin studied
How do you like that?
35 women, ages 18 to 34. On two separate occasions
the women first watched a short travel film followed be
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an abbreviated X-rated film.
SEX
To begin with, the subjects cycled vigorously for 20
minutes. The second time they didn't. Researchers
Exercise is not only a well documented means of
calculated their sexual response using a device that
maintaining muscle and losing fat, recent studies
measures blood flow in the genital tissue, and discovered
propose that it can also revitalize your sex life.
that the women's virginal responses were 169 percent
greater after exercising.
In a February 1999 issue of the Journal of the American
Medical Association, scientists found that sexual
More to love
dysfunction is more likely among those with poor
physical and emotional health, and plays a major role
Doctors believe that exercise has the effect it does on
with negative experiences in sexual relationships and
increasing sexual potency because it strengthens the
with overall well-being.
cardiovascular system and improves circulation. Good
circulation is important for sexual function.
Studying sex and exercise
Other things that hamper circulation include obesity,
Sexual function is affected by general health, and the
smoking or heavy alcohol use, however losing weight
more you can do to improve your health by taking good
and quitting smoking or drinking didn't improve sexual
care of yourself, the better your sex life can be.
function the way exercise did.
Doctors at the New England Research Institute found
If exercise can do so much for your sex life, shouldn’t
that regular, vigorous exercise can be effective in
more be even better? The answer is no, according to
lowering impotence risk. The researchers studied more
the same doctors who did the studies. Heavy exercise
than 600 middle-aged men who hadn't reported any
can actually decrease testosterone levels, leading to a
problems with impotence. After eight years, the men
less-robust sexual appetite.
who exercised regularly were less likely to have
problems.
In addition, over-training can compromise the immune
system, which could also adversely affect sexual
Vigorous exercise - the equivalent of walking two miles
performance.
or burning 200 extra calories a day - was most effective.
On the opposite coast, a University of California, San
Exercise, while not a panacea can be just what the
Diego study of 78 healthy but sedentary middle-aged
doctor ordered for physical and psychological complaints.
men documented changes when the men were assigned
to exercise three to four times a week for one-hour
sessions. ___________________________________________

3. More experienced exercisers might begin an hour long
workout with a 15 minute jog to a nearby pool. After a
20 minute swim and perhaps a few minutes of
Create your Exercise
calisthenics, the can finish off their workout with a 15
minute walk jog back home and several minutes of
Tired of the same old workout? Looking for a level of
flexibility exercises.
fitness that your current exercise routine can't offer? Are
you experiencing nagging injuries that just don't seem to
Get creative with cross training
heal?
If you're looking to increase your endurance level, try
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are a
alternating low -level aerobic activities, such as 20
likely candidate for cross training. Cross training is
minutes of stationary cycling, with 10 minutes of higher
simply a way of adding variety to your exercise program.
intensity exercise, such as stair stepping or jumping
You can vary your aerobic routine and incorporate some
rope. Gradually increase the amount of time you spend
muscular strength and flexibility training as well.
on the more intense activity. These formulas can be
used with just about any type of activity as long as you
And if you think cross training is new, think again.
enjoy it. Combining a group of aerobic activities into one
Athletes have been cross training since the day of
workout at a steady or various intensities is an excellent
Olympic decathlons and pentathlons of ancient Greece.
way to fight the boredom that comes from the same
(Older still is Egypt, been doing a lot of research on
daily workout routine.
ancient Egypt lately don’t get me started) The past
decade has seen the popularity of the triathlon reach
All exercise sessions, whether they involve cross training
international proportions, introducing the concept of
or not, should begin and end with low level aerobic
cross training even to the most recreational athletes.
exercise and stretching to effectively warm up and cool
down. And remember, it's always a good idea to check
What's the point?
with your doctor before beginning a new exercise
program.
The benefits of cross training are numerous. It reduces
the risk of injury because the same muscles, bones and
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joints are not continuously subjected to the stresses of
the same activity.
If you have questions or would like a program
developed just for you give me a call.
Cross training also adds variety to your workouts, making
your routine more interesting and easier to stick with.
Ricky Martin (804) 878-0121
For the athlete, it provides a break from the rigors and
stresses of single-sport training. Cross training improves
your overall fitness and, over an extended period of time, Rickym23227@yahoo.com
may ultimately lead to improved performance.
www.Fitnesscomestoyou.com
The nuts and bolts of cross training
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Whether you are new to exercise of a competitive
athlete, the essentials of cross training are the same. This month we started two new groups around town.
You can choose to vary your routine form workout to We have a nutrition and fitness group held at Cedar St
Baptist church that meets on Sat. at 8:30am. We will
workout, or simply add a new component within your
be using a John Hopkins faith based curriculum for
existing exercise program.
nutrition.
One of the easiest ways to start cross training is to
The other group meets twice a week at the Vinings off
alternate between activities; walking one day, swimming
of Iron bridge Rd. We meet there on Mon, and Thur,
or biking the next. Or, you can alternate these activities nights at 6:30pm. We will be meeting for 5 weeks.
within a single workout, spending five minutes on a Come Join us.
treadmill, five minutes on a stationary cycle, and so on
for a total of 20 minutes.