Group items tagged

It's a message that's got louder over the last few years: exercise doesn't work for weight loss. There was the 2009 Time magazine cover story The Myth about Exercise featuring a photo of a woman pounding a treadmill, her eyes trained on a cream-topped cupcake. It symbolised the story's thrust: research suggesting exercise won't help weight loss because it makes us eat more to make up for the kilojoules we burn. It's a message repeated recently in the new book Big Fat Lies in which author David Gillespie - a lawyer - describes exercise for weight loss as 'pointless'. But is it really true?

We all know that exercise is good for you, but how good? While previous studies have shown the link between physical activity and a lower risk of premature mortality, the number of years of life expectancy gained among persons with different activity levels has been unclear - until now. In a new study from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute, researchers have quantified how many years of life are gained by being physically active at different levels, among all individuals as well as among various groups having different body mass indexes (BMI).

People who walk or jog for just a couple of hours each week are at lower risk of heart disease than those who don't exercise, suggests a new study.

A healthy diet and the right amount of exercise are key players in treating and preventing obesity but we still know little about the relationship both factors have with each other. A new study now reveals that an increase in physical activity is linked to an improvement in diet quality.

'Josef, what is the best time of day to exercise?" is one of the top 20 most frequently asked questions I get at parties. The answer to this question is on two levels: practicality and physiology. Practicality is about what you can do - do today, do tomorrow and continue doing. Physiology is about what works best for your body. They don't always agree.

Does an empty stomach effect our workout and why? Does it improve weight loss or not?

If you are out of shape, you know it. Even climbing a flight of stairs can leave you out of breath! If you haven't been exercising regularly, even a little exercise, like going up steps, can put a strain on your body.

Which is more important in maintaining a healthy body weight? Diet or Exercise?

A PASSIVE warm-up routine before competitive team sports harms performance but athletes continue to overuse the technique, research has found. James Zois, from Victoria University's school of sport and exercise science, said too many athletes were still using static stretching techniques such as calf, hamstring, quad and hip flex stretches before competing even though it has been shown to reduce power.

There are people who will think you're somewhat insane when you tell them you get up at 6.15 am in order to go for a run each morning. They seem unable to comprehend why on earth you would want to miss staying in bed for an extra 45 minutes or so, just so you can work up a sweat.

Doing exercise you enjoy is good - it helps keep you motivated. But sticking with the same routine week after week can also slow down progress because our bodies soon get used to it, explains Alisha Smith, education manager for the Australian Fitness Network which runs education courses for fitness professionals.

The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra says a plan to extend the careers of the nation's female sports stars, could lead to more active lives for Australian women. The AIS is currently studying how to prevent excessive calcium loss when exercising, which degrades the body's long-term capacity and can lead to osteoporosis.

New guidelines for exercise in pregnancy and postpartum have been published by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. From the British Journal of Sports Medicine.