GLP-1’s are proving themselves as medical phenoms. They have been in existence for many years in the treatment of diabetes. They have demonstrated themselves as capable of reducing cardiac events, lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, heart failure symptoms, and even strokes. They have shown themselves effective in reducing the kidney problems that diabetes can cause inRead More
resistance training
Part 1: GLP-1 Receptor Agonists: The New, Improved, and Not-Fully-Understood Weight Loss Drugs
Super-duper weight loss drugs (originally they were designed to help those with Type 2 diabetes, or T2D) like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, et al. have swamped the marketplace because of their unique pharmacologic actions compared to their predecessors. Earlier weight loss drugs and over-the-counter concoctions (like coffee and other caffeine-derivatives, as well as smoking cigarettes, forRead More
REAL News – October 2024
October 2024 To Speed or Not to Speed – Lift, That is? Read any layperson’s magazine or news article about resistance training (RT) and you’ll be cautioned frequently about doing the lifts slowly, with good form and proper breathing patterns. In other words, don’t fling the weights and don’t hold your breath. All is goodRead More
REAL News – July 2024
July 2024 What We Mean When We Say “Activate” Muscles A readily-bandied about if not overused phrase in the fitness arena is “activate your _____ muscles”. Intuitively, we understand its meaning but a recent study out of the UK will give it more currency. They studied what they call ‘force steadiness’ in subjects with andRead More
REAL News – January 2024
January 2024 Free Weights vs Machines: Is There a Difference? Ever since Nautilus gym equipment hit the market in the 1970s, the burning question among fitness specialists and researchers was, Can you get as strong and/or as hypertrophied on machine resistance (MR) devices as you can using free weights (FW) like dumbbells and barbells? WhenRead More
How Hard Do You REALLY Have to Work?
I want to discuss fitness training guidance. Long has it been that “use it or lose it” and “no pain, no gain” have anchored exercise theology. They have been the mainstay for much of modern fitness training lore. Today we still say ‘use it or lose it’ but we now say ‘no strain, no gain’.Read More
REAL News – July 2023
July 2023 Three (More) Cheers for Resistance Training A large meta-analysis of studies on resistance training (RT) exercise in adults found 16 that met the criteria. The overall conclusion was that RT conferred a “10–17% lower risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease (CVD), total cancer, diabetes, and lung cancer,” otherwise labeled non-communicable diseases (NCDs). ThereRead More
REAL News – June 2023
June 2023 How Exercise Might Delay or Prevent Cognitive Decline Raise your hand if the thought of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) scares you as much as it does me. A Journal of Physiology (Jan. 2023) article reports that short bouts of intense exercise – what is popularly known as interval training (high energy outputs followed byRead More