February 2025 - AMA on Exercise

Usual rules apply: you ask a question and then hold my feet to burning embers until I fess up! A little more seriously, think about which aspect of your exercise routine you need to fine tune, ask a question and I will come back with replies, studies, links to research as appropriate. Come back then with any follow-up questions you want. This thread will be open on February 7th and will remain open for two weeks until February 21st. When I see a question I will acknowledge it (usually with a thumbs up) and respond to it, usually within 24 hours. If I don't acknowledge your question and you're waiting for a reply please tag me, it means I missed it. (It's happened a couple of times in the past). If you're new to this, know that the AMA will be open in Discussion section of The Hive and then, after it's over, move to the Knowledge Base. If you're completely new and don't know what to expect know that it's easy-going and chatty. Check out some previous AMAs in the Knowledge Base to get a feel.
Soooo, until Friday, gather your firewood and practice your hold-feet-to-embers skills, prepare your questions.

 

[FlowersandPetals]

I have a question. I can’t afford to go to the gym. I have weights- up to 15 lbs (don’t know how many kg or what system you use sorry) and plenty of bands. How else can I get stronger muscles without going to a gym? I’m in my 50s, if that helps with your answer.
Thanks in advance!

 

[graoumia]

Hello Bee, i don't know if you already answered this before, i am actually wondering if it is good to do both cardio and stregnth training in the same workout, for which goals (mine is to improve my health and to loose some weight) and if yes, is there a better one to start with ?

 

[Nyther]

Does it make a difference if you eat before or after a workout?

 

[Damer]

@FlowersandPetals that is an excellent question and it reflects, probably, an issue many of us grapple with. To answer it fully I will explain, a little, how muscles work: Essentially, every time we move our body a muscle has to contract and then relax. The contraction and relaxation process engages tendons (that anchor the muscle to the bone), other muscles that contract and relax to create stability, the brain (that sends the signal through the central nervous system for the muscles to move the body) and a host of chemical pathways that are activated in response to the movement.

In theory a young person (i.e. 18 - 35) has the exact same neurobiology as someone older and that is true as far as the general picture is concerned. However, older people (35 plus) experience a number of changes in the strength of the signal given by the brain for a movement to happen and the efficiency of the chemical pathways that are activated after a movement happens that result in the slowing down of older people.

The good news is (and this is where the answer to your question comes in) that this slowing down is in play only if we let it. We know from a 2004 study (found here) that the ability of older muscles to change in size and strength as a result of exercise appears to be limited as we age but, a fresh study carried out 10 years (found here) indicates that if older muscles are supplied with enough nutrients (i.e. protein) and rest sufficiently (with good quality sleep) between exercise bouts they can still grow and become stronger though their response time will be slower than when they were younger.

You have a good set of weights (up to 15 lbs is approx. up to 7.5 kg) which means you can do all the exercises required for upper body strength, shoulders, back and core. You could pick, for instance, any of our strength workouts that use dumbbells and they would, over time, help you feel stronger and move with greater confidence. Similarly, resistance bands are like dumbbells. Any move you do using them is resistance training and it will generate strength gains and a greater sense of control of your own body.

As we age we find ourselves facing a tricky problem: in order to get stronger we need to exercise more (ideally every day) but we also need more rest for our bodies to respond to the signal to get stronger. You can get around this by using exercises and workouts of alternating intensity. You don't need to use your dumbbells every day (and you shouldn't really), you can alternate between bodyweight exercises, stretching, a little walking (if possible or indoor cardio if not) and bands.

Keep a record of everything you do each day. That way not only can you track what you did from one day to the next but you also get a feel for when you need to lay off the intensity a little because you trained hard one day and when you need to increase it.

Make sure your diet has sufficient protein to help your muscles synthesize all the nutrients they need to get stronger. Be patient. Be persistent.

I hope this helps but please feel free to get back to me with anything you think needs additional clarification or more information.

 

[Damer]

@graoumia this is a good question to clarify. Technically any exercise can be turned into a resistance, cardio or aerobic workout depending on how we choose to perform it. We have an in-depth article on this here. So, in a sense, we tend to train both in most workouts without realizing it. But you're asking, really, if we were to give emphasis on both strength training and cardio would they be effective and if so in what order?

The answer to this is provided by two recent studies carried out in 2022 and 2023 respectively that show, quite comprehensively, that combining cardio and strength training does not negate the effects of each one though it does prevent somewhat the development of explosive strength mainly, I suspect, because of the fatigue mechanisms that kick in.

The order you would engage each one in depends on which you find the easiest. If cardio is your current strength then I would start with strength training and finish off with cardio and if strength is your current best fitness attribute I would start with cardio and finish off with strength training. The reason you finish off with your strongest one is control. because fatigue is always a factor you want to finish off with the type of training you are most confident in to avoid any injuries.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to get back to me with any further questions you may have.

 

[JohnStrong]

I'm very interested in employing creativity and imagination in the context of exercise (jump like a frog, high knee like you're trying to escape, etc). The Darebee RPG programs are excellent examples. Are there any new research findings on the benefits? Also — my impression is that this imagination factor is very under utilized across the fitness and exercise world. If you agree, why do you think that's the case?

 

[Flash_Fire]

I have three questions:
first about "anti-inflammation" drugs (like voltaren gel or ibuprofen pills) for say, an injured tendon.
As I understand, that inflammation isn't anything bad, but just the body working overtime in that area to fix it. So suppressing that should be bad, shouldn't it? Additionally, when I read up on it, I found some studies indicating less collagen-synthesis when under the influence of those drugs BUT there wasn't enough human samples to be scientifically conclusive. More so on rats. Would you be certain enough to say those drugs are generally counter productive when suffering from a connective tisssue injury or that they would be helpful?

the second is about slow vs fast twitch fibers. I find the name super confusing, since it just doesn't seem to stem from the actual velocity of contraction even though it is often claimed. Slow twitch for example is said to be used more in endurance, but in split second steps you fire much quicker than in a maximal lift. What gives and what is the actual definition? Should we even be using those names or just refer to them as Type 1&2 or something entirely different.

thirdly on overtraining syndrome. As far as I know there really isn't really scientific evidence on this systemic fatigue, but at the same time we know athletes bodies tend to shut down if held at a perpetually high volume without some kind of off-season. Permanent fatigue, unable to push heart rate up... Has our understanding become more scientific or has it stayed just "common wisdom"?

 

[Flash_Fire]

and maybe adding to answering @Nyther s question. A recent study found that even a PLACEBO meal without any actual calories before training enhances performance in a workout, just because you can concentrate on your workout instead of feeling hungry and like food should be your priority.

Renaissance Periodization just brought out a video on it last week. Mind you, the nitty gritty details are spread over a much longer than necessary video because it makes for better content.

 

[JohnStrong]

Perhaps you've heard this idea about the correlation between income and happiness:

Foundational work published in 2010 from Princeton University’s Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton had found that day-to-day happiness rose as annual income increased, but above $75,000 it leveled off and happiness plateaued.

This article expands on the hypothesis, and does point out it's shortcomings, but with ^that overall premise in mind:

Has research been done to determine when happiness plateaus (edit: if it in fact does), on average, in correlation to physical exercise?

It would be nice to know if there is a clear picture out there of the minimum amount of exercise to maximize your happiness

 

[Damer]

@JohnStrong excellent question. Visualization (and RPG) has always been part of high-level athletics and it truly came into its own after the 1984 Olympics when athletes who gained an edge were the ones who most utilized the technique. Research shows that whether formally or informally every top-level contender eventually finds their own way into visualization of some kind to help them overcome the natural performance barriers they encounter. Further studies show that since 1984 RPG and visualization (which essentially is a gamification of performance) has been part of every athlete's arsenal. So, the practice is both widespread and, for top level performers, ingrained. I know from experience you just cannot overcome the natural issues of self-doubt, uncertainty and fear that undermine athletic performance if you cannot take yourself mentally to some other place.

What has changed are the scientific tools we have that allow us to better measure changes in physical performance without having to wait for high-level competitive events to take place. We know, for instance, that even relatively simple visualization techniques have an immediate and direct, positive, impact on performance. And we have a video on that:

The power of the brain to help us not just get fit but lose weight and remain fit even when we don't exercise is something we talk about in this DAREBEE guide. And the ability of simple visual cues like: "think yourself as a train coming out of a tunnel at full speed" to immediately affect performance is detailed in this research paper here.

You're right however that the concept is underutilized in the broader exercise and fitness world. Sometimes trainers and coaches are not fully aware of the latest research and at other times the more commercial settings of a gym where you go to train and expect to receive expert fitness advice in return for your money don't easily lend themselves to elements of gamification and visualization that often sound like wishful thinking and fantasy to non-experienced gym-goers, so they tend to be cast aside.

There are many excellent reasons why everyone should be using RPG fitness and gamified visualization in their training. I will list just a handful:

• Improved physical performance as the brain uses the imagery of visualization or the immersive factor of RPG fitness to reprioritize how it allocates resources to the body.
• An escape from current everyday life (we all want to be Batman for twenty or so minutes).
• A change of focus. As we pay attention to the elements of gamification and think ourselves into the role of a ninja (for instance) the brain dials down its sensations of fatigue and discomfort allowing us to exercise more easily.
• Fun. Anything that isn't fun to us we tend to avoid and exercise is already physically difficult. So, being able to enjoy ourselves while we do it helps us stay motivated.

We have a guide on RPG Fitness with some of the latest research. And there is an upcoming article that mentions DAREBEE and our RPG approach to fitness in Men's Health (publication date unknown at the moment).

These are encouraging indicators that the fitness industry is slowly changing its stance and will, in due course, incorporate more of these elements in its traditional, commercial offerings. And, as usual, we've led the way here.

 

[Damer]

@Nyther that is a really good question and the answer to this is an unequivocal "it depends". Let me explain this a little further. There are two schools of thought here.

The first one says that a fasted or at least not overloaded pre-workout state is best. Their reasoning goes something like this: If you can perform to the very best of your output in a fasted or not food-loaded state then your body is better positioned to focus on putting resources into your performance without having to worry about issues like digestion (which take up precious energy). This helps increase your abilities to the point that when you do supply it with nutrients and food before a workout your performance goes through the roof. Plus, by training at high-intensity in a fasted state there is such additional strain put on the body's processes once food is supplied after the workout it all gets used up in building muscle, repairing tissue and building new capillaries to support new muscle, instead of going into the body's fat storage.

A relatively old study (from 2010) shows that training in a fasted state increases the body's tolerance to glucose (which makes it easier for it to handle a glucose glut if you need it). A more recent study (2020) shows that training in a fasted state helps with endurance, lean mass, weightloss and overall performance.

The second school of thought says you should train in a loaded state (i.e. having eaten carbs and/or protein) as that helps you increase the intensity of your workout and bring about muscular adaptations faster. A metanalysis from 2018 showed that eating before training helped with endurance sports but not anaerobic, short-duration ones. It was backed by other research from 2020.

However, there is no definitive guide on this (hence my "it depends" answer). Coaches apply it on a case-by-case, sport-by-sport, athlete-by-athlete basis.

Coming down to more everyday training levels it depends on how you feel and what you do. If you're doing fast running and feel like throwing up because your stomach is still digesting your pre-exercise meal, then don't do it. If you find that it helps you however and allows you to train harder and longer then go for it.

I really hope this helps. Please get back to me with any questions you may have.

 

[Damer]

@Flash_Fire there's a lot to cover here Let's start from the beginning.

1. The inflammation response in the body is a biological response of the immune system that allows it to react to a stressor (environmental elements, pathogens or injury), transport and prioritize tissue changes and cellular adaptations necessary for the body to respond and get healthy and strong again. The process, by its very nature de-strengthens muscles and tendons and the swelling that is caused due to increased blood circulation can make a particular area feel overheated and painful, particularly as enlarged tissue presses against proprioceptors that send a signal to the brain which interprets it as pain; so we know there is something wrong with our body and we need to pay attention to it.

The discomfort we experience also affects mobility: enlarged muscle or tendon fibers that have been de-strengthened also have less room to move freely within their structure. We have been conditioned to expect instant relief and modern medicine, by definition, treats symptoms more than it treats root causes on non-lethal ailments so we reach for anti-inflammatory drugs which target our entire system (there is no drug that works locally) and, in the areas where there is increased inflammation they provide temporary relief by mitigating but not entirely suppressing the inflammatory response.

In most cases this will prolong the period of recovery at the cost of suffering less than we would while we recover. So it's a trade-off. In some cases where the body's inflammatory response is acute (i.e. the body overreacts) then these drugs actually help because their mitigating effect brings inflammation down to what we'd consider normal levels. So they're not entirely bad. Generally speaking however, unless there is a good reason to take them; it's best to avoid them and then help your body recover naturally. That way you monitor it better and understand in more detail the damage it has suffered and how well it has recovered.

The reason there is not a wealth of human-related studies on this is because there are strong laws (and ethics) governing experimentation on human subjects when potential harm may be caused. A meta-analysis of the data we do have however showed that when we employ anti-inflammatory medicine we may prolong the healing of broken bones.

2. There's a lot to unpack in this question. First of all when we talk about "velocity of contraction" in muscle fibers we are talking about the speed at which muscle fibers engage (i.e actin and myosin filaments bind to each other) under laboratory conditions and in your question you're referencing the speed of movement you notice as a result which doesn't always correlate - particularly if fast-twitch action fibers have been engaged to help shift a massive load which because of its weight moves incredibly slowly. The generic name for the muscle fibers is Type I (slow twitch), Type IIa (fast twitch) and Type IIx - although the more scientific way of looking at them is as: Slow oxidative, Fast oxidative and Fast glycolytic.

The only reason we can move our body is because muscles contract and relax. The contraction (and the relaxation) is the direct result of tiny cross-bridges being formed between actin and myosin, which are proteins. The speed at which these bridges are formed depends on the speed at which myosin’s ATPase hydrolyzes ATP to produce cross-bridges. Fast fibers hydrolyze ATP approximately twice as rapidly as slow fibers, resulting in much quicker cross-bridge cycling so muscles can move faster. The speed of the contraction also determines the number of cross-bridges that can be formed and the amount of power a muscle fiber can generate.

So, basically the three types of muscle fibers depend on how the body uses energy. What demands it faces each day and what demands are made on it through exercise. Every person has a combination of all three but in varying percentages depending on what they do. Marathon runners, for instance will have a very low percentage of Type IIx muscle fibers compared to martial artists and boxers who need explosive power. Powerlifters will have greater percentage of Type IIa muscle fibers compared to Tennis players.

Fast-moving fibers (typically Type IIA and Type IIx) move too fast to form many cross-bridges and while they can provide speed they fail to generate much strength. While slow-moving fibers (typically Type I) form a lot more cross-bridges and can generate steady strength but not at speed. Sitting up, walking about, doing most of your everyday activities involves Type I muscle fibers. Doing all this you're never out of breath, which is where their more formal definition comes in.

Slow Oxidative muscle fibers (Type I) use oxygen and glucose to generate ATP. Adenosine Triphosphate is the only fuel that powers our cells (your brain as you solve a problem uses the same ATP as your muscles when you lift a weight). They break down blood sugar and combine with the oxygen your lungs breathe in to create the ATP necessary. The process is thermolytic (i.e. you get warmed up which is why the human body is always at the same temperature). The cellular structure of Type I muscle fibers means they produce a steady amount of ATP but it's of a relatively small quantity. Great for our everyday needs but not enough for an emergency.

Fast Oxidative muscle fibers (Type IIa) produce fast movements for an intermediate length of time. A boxing match is a good example. So is a Tennis match. Or pushing your car to the side of the road. Whenever the term oxidative is applied we understand that oxygen ingestion and breakdown is involved. The presence of oxygen produces greater volumes of ATP from glucose allowing a lot of power to be generated quickly. This is sometimes called the Krebs cycle. If you had to run for your life in the Zombie Apocalypse Type IIa fibers are the ones that will help you survive.

When your pen falls off your desk and you just reach out and snatch it in midair you're using Fast Glycolytic muscle fibers (Type IIx). These break down glucose anaerobically which means they are a lot faster in their production of ATP since they don't have to wait for the extra step of oxygen to come in, combine and then break glucose down, but their cellular structure means that the ATP they produce is low in volume so they will run out fast.

I hope I have helped shed a bit of light on this, but please feel free to ask anything that needs more clarification.

Finally ...

3. Empirically, athletes and top-level competitors have talked of "training plateaus" and even performance losses after hard training sessions. Anecdotally we know that even average gym goers may "hit a wall" where their fitness isn't moving and their performance remains static despite their best efforts. In 2022 a study that reviewed current data determined that there was no objective evidence that Overtraining Syndrome (OTS) really existed.

Despite this, the pressure from field reports persisted and a 2022 paper formalized it a little more shedding greater understanding and, also, a number of theories trying to explain it. By 2024 we'd come to accept that it was a 'thing' even though we could not adequately explain it in a way that would cover all instances (which is what a solid scientific theory really needs to do).

If you want my personal take on it (and it comes from direct experience as well as that of co-competitors) it's basically insufficient recovery time both physical and mental between training cycles leading to increased effort for fewer and fewer gains until each individual athlete truly hist their ceiling where they experience performance loss even though they're training harder than ever.

Over the last few years we've had the portable medical equipment that allows us to observe muscles as they work. We know that inflammed muscles (because of training) are de-strengthened and training them results in reduced results from both the current performance and the adaptations that the inflammation would normally produce. So that gets us into a cycle of diminishing returns. The balance between rest, neurological reset and muscular adaptations is still a personal one at the moment. Every person training has their own limits, boundaries and trigger points. Although OTS is real the best suggestion I can put here is that we each need to learn to listen to our body.

I hope all this helps a little. Please, ask anything that crops up from all this.

 

[Blair]

I’ve always been curious why Darebee chooses the 30 day (or iterations of it - 60 Day, 90 Day) Program structure that allocates a workout for everyday of the week?

While I have some thoughts - provides structure, breaks workouts into manageable segments, ensures active recovery, etc. I’ve also seen it, at times, as counterproductive. If confidence is reinforced and built through routine and accomplishment, it grows harder to be consistent and, at least for some, to feel like the program was completed if it wasn’t done so with fidelity.

What is some of the design thinking and rationale that goes into the process?

 

[Damer]

@JohnStrong that is some question! Beyond the fact that a recent McKinsey report highlighted the fact that we spend, globally, $1.5 trillion per year in the pursuit of happiness (which kinda means we haven't quite got it) there is also the fact that psychology and philosophy have yet to agree on a definition of what it is. Nevertheless, let's give this one a shot and we will start from your own starting point which is exercise because it also coincides with the McKinsey report's approach that took in money spent to get fit, look healthy and feel well.

If we were to ask what is happiness? A transitory state or a steady state of being the answer is both (and this where Kahneman's work and his hypothesis makes sense). Neuroscience tells us that any subjective experience (like happiness) has a correlative neurobiological state that is determined by a particular mix of neurotransmitters and the activation of specific structures and centers in the brain.

Happiness, in the brain, is neurochemically expressed as a mix of four specific hormones: Oxytocin, Serotonin, Endorphins and Dopamine. Each one of these plays a very specific role in how they activate happiness and a sense of well-being in us and happiness itself tends to have a spectrum value depending on context and circumstances (which is why it is so hard to study definitively). I will focus on just two: Endorphins, that are released during exercise and Dopamine, necessary to motivate us into action.

Before I do that however I will also provide a more neuroscientific/neurobiological definition of happiness both as a transitory stage and a permanent state of being. We are designed to survive and the way our body does that is by maintaining a steady internal temperature, controlled breathing and blood pressure and the equitable, just-on-time delivery of essentials to cells to produce ATP (it's called homeostasis). Everything the outside world does to us and most things we do in the outside world unbalance that state. The body (and brain) respond through adaptations that make us more efficient (i.e. stronger, faster and smarter).

Happiness as a transitory stage is experienced when we go from one state of being where we're unhappy (or in discomfort) to another where we have resolved the issue we face. Suppose you're crossing a desert (to use an exaggerated point) and you have no water. And 50 miles into your journey, when you just about reached the maximum ability you have to get by without water, you encounter water. The extreme discomfort you felt as thirst tormented you disappears and it is replaced by a sensation that you might call relief but is actually happiness because you've satisfied a dire need. This will last only until the next moment thirst strikes you.

This is the transitory stage of happiness. It is governed by dopamine, and it basically responds to accruing discomfort as a motivator which leads to an action that generates comfort and that makes us happy for a while. The $75,000 ceiling of Penn and Princeton researchers comes into this exact example. Once you have enough water to slake your thirst and not feel thirsty for a while, excess amounts of water do not make you any happier or less thirsty.

This is the same with exercise. We engage in it because we understand that the alternatives present us with bad options we are unwilling to accept (bad health, obesity, early death), the discomfort we feel during it accumulates until we stop and homeostasis begins to take place in our body giving us the "after-exercise glow effect".

Because exercise itself is a stressor and the body is primed to mitigate stressor-responses, particularly when self-administered, endorphins are also released during exercise. The most frequent self-reported euphoria and well-being on this come from runner's talking about "the Runner's High". Endorphins are neurotransmitters released by the pituitary gland and hypothalamus in the brain. As natural hormones, they alleviate pain, lower stress, improve mood, and enhance our sense of well-being. They are pre-cursors to the release of dopamine so they work together as part of motivation by making the stressor feels less of a stressor which generates a feeling of general well-being and then dopamine allows us to feel a sense of happiness which is only further reinforced by the return of the body's processes to their baseline levels after exercise.

Since all these are transitory effects destined to wear-off the moment the exercise period is over (or shortly after) and the moment the body's internal baseline states stabilize again, can exercise make us truly happy as a long-term effect?

Having laid this foundation I will now bring up two distinct studies. The first is from 2014 and it is a review study of factors controlling happiness. It very logically pointed out that happiness has extrinsic factors (wealth, social status, etc) and intrinsic ones of which the major one is exercise and good health. It concluded it's a 50-50 split, more or less. The second study is more recent, dating to 2021. It used self-reporting and subjective measures of happiness but showed that people who are active (or people who got active) self-reported feeling happier in general.

Science cannot yet give us a definitive prescription that would say "exercise for so long" in order to feel good about yourself but this is what I will add: The brain has a single code running it: survive. And to do that it tries to predict the next moment on the basis that if we know what's coming we are better positioned to survive it. To do that it acts as a prediction machine that engages in the complex social, parasocial (and even, on occasion, anti-social) behaviors we observe that help us create groups, communities, societies and countries and generate civilization. All of this is incredibly complex and energy-consuming and if we are, on top of it, feeling unwell, stressed, over-anxious, insecure and fearful we tend to increase the energetic load that is carried by the body and increase stress and anxiety and reduce our overall chances of survival as a result (we make mistakes, make bad decisions, get into bad situations, engage in harmful lifestyles and activities and overall self-sabotage ourselves).

Having a body that is structurally sound and neurochemically balanced (which is, essentially, what fitness really is) gives us a sense of confidence in our self and our actions that stems from the fact that we feel a lighter energetic load in our everyday activities, (we are less stressed, less anxious, more confident and more optimistic and as a result make better choices, better decisions, engage in less self-harming activities and so on). So fitter, healthier people generally deal better with the complexity of life and, as a result, feel happier and more confident which then tends to reinforce everything else in a widening loop.

So is there a minimum of activity to achieve this? No. Do what you need to do within the means of time, space, equipment and energy you have to help you feel in control of your own body. That feeling then seeps into a sense of control of your own life and things 'magically' improve. Is there a ceiling to that? Yes, there would be. There is always a point where more exercise is counterproductive because there is not sufficient time for recovery and repair. So if, for our example, we say an hour a day of exercise leaves you feeling great and maybe there is a margin there where you can increase it to 90 minutes and still feel great, going to three hours is not going to do anything more and conceivably may reduce the feeling of well-being and control you have since your body will have aches and pains all the time and quite a lot of inflammation.

Finding that right balance is, once more, left to us as individuals.

I hope this helps answer your question and, as with everyone else here, if my answer sparks further questions just ask away.

 

[Pirouette7]

I am a 170-pound, 42-year-old woman in decent shape. All my life I have been active but not athletically so. I don’t enjoy team sports or working out at the gym, so my main exercise has been walking or hiking several miles most days. A few years ago, I realized I could no longer rely on my innate youthfullness and that I needed a more pro-active approach to exercise. I began taking ballet classes and discovered a new side of myself. I love it! I now take 2 90-minute classes per week plus practice/exercise at home most days. Over the course of the last few years, I realized that my whole life, I haven’t engaged my muscles efficiently. I feel like I am learning a whole new way of moving. But I have a dilemma. In order to engage my muscles, I need to HAVE muscles. Yet in the past two years, I don’t feel like I’ve made much progress in that department. I do bodyweight and resistance exercises. I am not looking for a body-builder physique, but I would like to see improvements especially in my core. After a lot of thinking and reading, I have come to the conclusion that I should eat more protein. The recommendations I have seen for my age and build are about 150g per day. When I look at food nutritional data, it seems like a 100g portion of chicken, steak, or fish, has somewhere in the range of 20-30g of protein. So, to get 150g per day I’d need to eat over a pound and a half of meat. That seems like a lot! Is my math correct? How can I increase my protein intake, preferably without protein shakes? Will I see any improvement in muscle strength if I only eat around 100g of protein per day?

 

[Tranquil_warrior]

I have been hearing from people that you need to go near failure (1 to 2 rep short of failure) to get hypertrophy. But when I do darebee, while true some exercises does take me to my limits, but other exercises don't get me near failure.

In short my questions are mainly:

1. Do I get any hypertrophy from exercises which doesn't take me to failure?
I have been doing the Total body strength program. I felt like I gained some muscle but I honestly didn't make any effort to track. I am still satisfied, coz I think the mind is very important too. And whether I feel strong probably will have much more impact in my life than if I am strong.

2. What are the benefits of the other exercises which don't get me to failure?
Some of my guess are that it lubricates the joints, increases blood flow, etc. But I wonder if there's more.
For me the main benefit I get from them is consistency. Instead of giving me rest days, I get light days. Lets pretend I don't get any physical benefits from that, I still love that it keeps me consistent.

3. Does cardio work the same way as hypertrophy? Like do you need to get failure for that too?

At the end of the day, I love darebee the way it is. I have tried different kinds of resistance training along with my martial arts. But it always felt like they were slowing me down. I love that doing darebee gives me a genuine challenge everyday and yet somehow doesn't hamper my martial arts speed.
But I am just a human, I am bound to be curious

 

[JohnStrong]

@JohnStrong that is some question! Beyond the fact that a recent McKinsey report highlighted the fact that we spend, globally, $1.5 trillion per year in the pursuit of happiness (which kinda means we haven't quite got it) there is also the fact that psychology and philosophy have yet to agree on a definition of what it is. Nevertheless, let's give this one a shot and we will start from your own starting point which is exercise because it also coincides with the McKinsey report's approach that took in money spent to get fit, look healthy and feel well.

If we were to ask what is happiness? A transitory state or a steady state of being the answer is both (and this where Kahneman's work and his hypothesis makes sense). Neuroscience tells us that any subjective experience (like happiness) has a correlative neurobiological state that is determined by a particular mix of neurotransmitters and the activation of specific structures and centers in the brain.

Happiness, in the brain, is neurochemically expressed as a mix of four specific hormones: Oxytocin, Serotonin, Endorphins and Dopamine. Each one of these plays a very specific role in how they activate happiness and a sense of well-being in us and happiness itself tends to have a spectrum value depending on context and circumstances (which is why it is so hard to study definitively). I will focus on just two: Endorphins, that are released during exercise and Dopamine, necessary to motivate us into action.

Before I do that however I will also provide a more neuroscientific/neurobiological definition of happiness both as a transitory stage and a permanent state of being. We are designed to survive and the way our body does that is by maintaining a steady internal temperature, controlled breathing and blood pressure and the equitable, just-on-time delivery of essentials to cells to produce ATP (it's called homeostasis). Everything the outside world does to us and most things we do in the outside world unbalance that state. The body (and brain) respond through adaptations that make us more efficient (i.e. stronger, faster and smarter).

Happiness as a transitory stage is experienced when we go from one state of being where we're unhappy (or in discomfort) to another where we have resolved the issue we face. Suppose you're crossing a desert (to use an exaggerated point) and you have no water. And 50 miles into your journey, when you just about reached the maximum ability you have to get by without water, you encounter water. The extreme discomfort you felt as thirst tormented you disappears and it is replaced by a sensation that you might call relief but is actually happiness because you've satisfied a dire need. This will last only until the next moment thirst strikes you.

This is the transitory stage of happiness. It is governed by dopamine, and it basically responds to accruing discomfort as a motivator which leads to an action that generates comfort and that makes us happy for a while. The $75,000 ceiling of Penn and Princeton researchers comes into this exact example. Once you have enough water to slake your thirst and not feel thirsty for a while, excess amounts of water do not make you any happier or less thirsty.

This is the same with exercise. We engage in it because we understand that the alternatives present us with bad options we are unwilling to accept (bad health, obesity, early death), the discomfort we feel during it accumulates until we stop and homeostasis begins to take place in our body giving us the "after-exercise glow effect".

Because exercise itself is a stressor and the body is primed to mitigate stressor-responses, particularly when self-administered, endorphins are also released during exercise. The most frequent self-reported euphoria and well-being on this come from runner's talking about "the Runner's High". Endorphins are neurotransmitters released by the pituitary gland and hypothalamus in the brain. As natural hormones, they alleviate pain, lower stress, improve mood, and enhance our sense of well-being. They are pre-cursors to the release of dopamine so they work together as part of motivation by making the stressor feels less of a stressor which generates a feeling of general well-being and then dopamine allows us to feel a sense of happiness which is only further reinforced by the return of the body's processes to their baseline levels after exercise.

Since all these are transitory effects destined to wear-off the moment the exercise period is over (or shortly after) and the moment the body's internal baseline states stabilize again, can exercise make us truly happy as a long-term effect?

Having laid this foundation I will now bring up two distinct studies. The first is from 2014 and it is a review study of factors controlling happiness. It very logically pointed out that happiness has extrinsic factors (wealth, social status, etc) and intrinsic ones of which the major one is exercise and good health. It concluded it's a 50-50 split, more or less. The second study is more recent, dating to 2021. It used self-reporting and subjective measures of happiness but showed that people who are active (or people who got active) self-reported feeling happier in general.

Science cannot yet give us a definitive prescription that would say "exercise for so long" in order to feel good about yourself but this is what I will add: The brain has a single code running it: survive. And to do that it tries to predict the next moment on the basis that if we know what's coming we are better positioned to survive it. To do that it acts as a prediction machine that engages in the complex social, parasocial (and even, on occasion, anti-social) behaviors we observe that help us create groups, communities, societies and countries and generate civilization. All of this is incredibly complex and energy-consuming and if we are, on top of it, feeling unwell, stressed, over-anxious, insecure and fearful we tend to increase the energetic load that is carried by the body and increase stress and anxiety and reduce our overall chances of survival as a result (we make mistakes, make bad decisions, get into bad situations, engage in harmful lifestyles and activities and overall self-sabotage ourselves).

Having a body that is structurally sound and neurochemically balanced (which is, essentially, what fitness really is) gives us a sense of confidence in our self and our actions that stems from the fact that we feel a lighter energetic load in our everyday activities, (we are less stressed, less anxious, more confident and more optimistic and as a result make better choices, better decisions, engage in less self-harming activities and so on). So fitter, healthier people generally deal better with the complexity of life and, as a result, feel happier and more confident which then tends to reinforce everything else in a widening loop.

So is there a minimum of activity to achieve this? No. Do what you need to do within the means of time, space, equipment and energy you have to help you feel in control of your own body. That feeling then seeps into a sense of control of your own life and things 'magically' improve. Is there a ceiling to that? Yes, there would be. There is always a point where more exercise is counterproductive because there is not sufficient time for recovery and repair. So if, for our example, we say an hour a day of exercise leaves you feeling great and maybe there is a margin there where you can increase it to 90 minutes and still feel great, going to three hours is not going to do anything more and conceivably may reduce the feeling of well-being and control you have since your body will have aches and pains all the time and quite a lot of inflammation.

Finding that right balance is, once more, left to us as individuals.

I hope this helps answer your question and, as with everyone else here, if my answer sparks further questions just ask away.

slowly taking it all in

 

[Damer]

@Blair thank you for bringing this up. To answer it fully we need to understand what fitness really is. The video below explains this briefly:

and the point it basically makes is that fitness, in a non-competitive context, is feeling confident in our body's ability to get us through the day without exhausting its battery. The other point made in the video is that we have evolved to move. Movement generates a cascade of neurochemical and biological events in the body and releases, in turn, many other neurotransmitters (as shown by a study carried out on rats). This is backed in humans by studies that examine the damaging effects of not moving. So, our willingness to exercise, let's say an hour a day, is just 4% of the rest of the day and, in cases of very sedentary lifestyle, cannot undo, let alone reverse, the effects of not moving. In addition, there are a number of theories that try to explain the fundamental need we have at a physical and psychological level to move our body.

All of which brings us to the answer to your question: Why 30, 60 and 90? And why every day? In asking it you gave some of the answers. DAREBEE exercise programs are the result of the same extensive field-testing and refinement that we put into our workouts. But while a workout has a turn-around time of between three and four weeks, a program may take anywhere from six months to a year to bring out fully (and Age of Pandora took almost double that).

The aim of each program is to fulfill a list of requirement:

• Create structure - you no longer need to think what you will do each day.
• Provide continuity - every day in every program builds on physical attributes and skillsets that have been built previously.
• Creates accountability - Doing a program provides a visual progression in the day-by-day workout that makes one accountable to themselves.
• Build confidence - Both in the sense of what is being achieved and also, in the daily progress made.
• Create good habits - Most people find it hard to exercise daily. A program makes it easy to do.
• Provide progression - The energetic load on the muscles applied through the exercises on the final day is significantly different from that applied on the first day. This is a tangible achievement for those who complete the program and proof of their own growing capabilities.

Programs also fast-track physical adaptations because they're designed to help trigger them faster through the persistence of their signal to muscles so they're a good way to accelerate one's fitness journey, for a while.

To achieve all this, as you noted, programs have an active recovery cycle built-in that dials down intensity without however having to pause. Your main question is what happens when someone starts a program and cannot finish it?

The same thing that happens when someone starts a workout and cannot finish it. Each day in each program, with minor exceptions, has a variable setting a person can pick (i.e. Level I, II, or III). We design the DAREBEE programs to have maximum flexibility so that a person could start one on Level III and maybe finish but doing so on Level II. This, we have found doesn't take away from the effects we mentioned above. So, when someone cannot finish a program it's because they're overestimating their own fitness level and maybe underestimating the difficulty of the program. To get round that they need to either adjust the level of difficulty or pick another program, much as they would with a workout.

One of the key failings of the fitness industry as a whole is to create a kind of leaderboard where anyone 'doing' fitness has to fit into the perception of performance metrics or visual aesthetics that are designed for and by, those who are involved in fitness at a professional level. Anything that falls short of this fabricated, artificial and wholly inadequate standard, is deemed to be a failure.

We go to extreme lengths to not do that. Fitness is being physically capable, mentally balanced and feeling good about your body. Every person does it for their own reasons and is on a personal journey and we have always said that "Fitness is a journey, not a destination" how we feel about what we do and what we do, as a result, will change as we do. And that's OK.

So, all these things go into the design of a program, in addition of course, to solid exercise science when putting the moves together each day and from one day to the next, an awareness of the need to create as accessible and fun program as possible (even when we don't go down the RPG route) and the need to ensure that what we create works equally well for someone who is 18 as it does for someone who is 58.

I hope this answers your question but please feel free to come back with any follow-up this answer may spark.

 

[facuzayas]

Hi Friend! Thanks a lot for this opportunity.

Like the question of @Tranquil_warrior I've started the total body strenght program, and I add some strenght excercices through the day, like pull ups..

My question here is, how can I add hypertrophy to my legs but without doing pistol squats (couse It causes pain in my knee), is better to do a lot of squats or add another leg oriented workout, or just simply follow the program?

I think adding the pull ups makes my upper body bigger, but I do not know what to do with my legs.

THANKS again!

 

[Damer]

@Pirouette7 first the good news. Your active lifestyle and NEAT energy expenditure have set you up with a sound cardiovascular and aerobic basis which, I suspect, you already know which is why dancing is such a pleasure. At the same time you're discovering what all of us do as we age: muscles built harder at a time when we need them the most to maintain mobility, agility and bone strength (which also impacts our brain health).

Building muscle as we age is a slower process unfortunately, primarily because the chemical pathways available for the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) are fewer. This means that the stimulus we provide to them in order to respond and adapt has to be persistent and it has to be consistent. By eating more protein you help supply some of the primary fuel the body uses to build muscle. You must also, however, make sure that you are getting enough good quality sleep as the bulk of muscle building happens when we sleep.

Your calculations for getting the protein to eat are more or less correct. We have a guide on this and I'd say you could probably get away with eating about 136g of protein per day and be fine. This is still a lot of meat to consume however and meat ingestion, after a certain point comes with its own set of problems (never mind the cost), this is why in our guide we also detail alternative protein-rich sources like Help Seeds for example which contain a significant amount of protein and can be eaten throughout the day.

Depending on your available time you could work out a varied menu that gives you exactly what you need without resorting to protein powders. If you ever decide to experiment on them however I would say always go for plant-based protein powders as they deliver a very synthetic additives-free way of getting a lot of protein quickly. Spirulina, Almond and Soy are among the most popular.

Provided you ingest the required amount of protein and sleep sufficiently for your body to carry out repairs and building you will see the changes you need to see.

I hope this has helped you. Please get back to me if there is something I need to explain in more detail.

 

[jstork]

I have a question. I can’t afford to go to the gym. I have weights- up to 15 lbs (don’t know how many kg or what system you use sorry) and plenty of bands. How else can I get stronger muscles without going to a gym? I’m in my 50s, if that helps with your answer.
Thanks in advance!

I began Darebee about six years ago at about 50. Now I am the fittest I have ever been in my life. The one minute HIIT turned out to be the program I stuck with. I have a dumbell and a resistance bending spring which I use to supplement my daily HIIT workouts. I have gained some muscle mass but am now working on becoming leaner as well. The program has helped my agility, reflex time, as well as endurance. Every time I go through the 30 day HIIT cycle, I focus more on form, and making the exercises more difficult through form and posture muscle engagement. Ii has been a journey of six years and was well worth it. Watch David's collection of videos for inspiration, hints, and extra exercises. I know I have not directly answered your question, but Darebee has given me the best of both worlds.
Take care on your journey into good health past 50.

 

[PETERMORRIS966]

@Damer, I have a question. During the summer months I find it more challenging to dedicate time to worout. Summer months just seem to be busier. If I did a full body challenge, such as Spartan or Gladiator, plus added running/walking/hiking, would this be sufficient? I would also include stretching &/or yoga as well.

 

[Damer]

@Tranquil_warrior that's a nice batch of connected questions. Let's take each one as you asked it.

1. Most of the research to date indicates that muscle size increases when trained to failure or near failure and this can be achieved using either light weights and many repetitions or heavy weights and few repetitions. A study on this can be found here. I need to point out however that hypertrophy is all about muscle size and muscle size and strength are too different things, entirely. If you're looking for strength then bodyweight and weights exercise that challenge you but do not take you to failure, repeated often as part of daily training will lead to greater strength which will also, in its adaptations, deliver an increase in muscle size. But this approach will not deliver the biggest possible increase in muscle size which is what those who chase hypertrophy look for. The best way to understand this is to think that muscle size is a physical attribute you can attain but strength is a skill you need to work for. Both hypertrophy and strength, however, to happen need good nutrition, regular training and sufficient rest (usually high-quality sleep). You're also correct that there is a strong mind/body component of strength.

2. Exercising consistently but not to failure also sends a signal from the body to the brain to trigger some adaptations. And, as 2015 study pointed out. Can also lead to hypertrophy over time. We do not yet understand the full mechanism of this and we don't truly, yet understand fatigue completely though we have a number of theories. What I will give you comes from Physics and, in particular, Thermodynamics. The body's function is to be an optimizing machine. It does that to reduce its energy expenditure. As an example, suppose you start lifting 25kg weights right now a bicep curls, and that is at the very edge of your capacity or just beyond it and you're giving it your all. You will be burning a lot of energy as you do it. If you keep on doing it the brain sends a signal to the body to change its structure. You will get thicker shoulders and bigger biceps. That's the adaptation and it will have costs some energy to achieve but now with thicker shoulders and bigger biceps you can curl 25kg weights a lot more easily which means you no longer burn as much while you do it. The energy expenditure it took to build stronger muscles reduces the long term energy expenditure required to perform an action. (Keep this in mind with your Martial Arts because the same principle applies which is one of the reasons we do so many repetitions of one technique).

3. Finally, cardio. Keeping in mind everything I said above cardio works on the same principle only now the muscles you exercise are your heart and your lungs and the adaptations you will make are in cardiac muscle and the arteries, veins and capillaries that supply muscles with oxygen and nutrients and take away the byproducts of exercise. Regular, consistent work will raise your aerobic fitness. Doing the odd HIIT session will help your VO2 Max but what it will help do faster still is lower your resting hart rate which essentially raises your physical conditioning. With a lower resting heart rate and a stronger heart muscle you do the exercises you did before they changed with a lot less energy expenditure so they appear easier to you and you appear fitter.

I hope this has helped answer your questions fully but if not or if my answers spark off something else please get back to me.

 

[sfammonius]

I've wanted to know this since I started excersizing, which was about four months ago. How do I know how much is too much?

A common situation I run into is when I focus on a specific muscle, push it to its limits, and then feel paralyzed for three or four days. When I try to excersize other muscles in the downtime, I find that I can't because it still hurts the recovering muscle (which gets slightly engaged in most of the excersizes). I know that I need to push a muscle to its limits to achieve hypertrophy (which is what I'm trying to get to), but at the same time, I feel like I could be a lot more efficient if I didn't paralyze myself every time I wanted to push myself further.

This brings me to my other question: Is it better to excersize a certain amount every day, or to excersize a muscle till it's sore for a day and then wait four days to do it again? If it is better to excersize till sore, then how do I do it strategically so that I can excersize other muscle groups in the downtime?

It seems to happen less and less the more I excersize, but I only have a few different dumbells and it happens every time I move to a heavier weight with a specific muscle. I'm wondering how I could know what the optimal amount of excersize to do is without either underachieving or leaving myself unable to excersize for a few days.

Thanks!

(PS: This is unrelated, but how good is milk powder as a protien powder?)

 

[AquaMarie]

Hi @Damer ! Question for you: What exercises do you recommend for someone who worries about being able to live on their own as they get older?

I would love to be the sprightly old biddy down the road who lives with a clowder of cats and makes a sinfully amazing rum cake every Christmas when I'm in my 80s. Which parts of my fitness can I start working on now (in my mid-40s) to help make that dream a reality? (Or, you know, just help me to be healthy and independent for as long as possible.)

Thanks so much, Damer! Always enjoy reading the AMAs!

 

[Fitato]

Thank you for starting this thread!

My question is, how important is diet when it concerns exercise? I heard that you should eat protein within 30 minutes of exercising to maximize muscle gains - is that true? Or is it good enough to just make sure you're eating enough protein that day?

Secondly - Is it okay to exercise during a fast, partcularly if you are morbidly obese? Is it safer for obese individuals to exercise on a fast than those at a healthier weight, because they have more energy stored in their body to draw from?

 

[Damer]

@facuzayas doing squats regularly will do it without having to do pistol squats or go to failure. What I will say however is that the Total Body Strength should be enough while you're doing it without you having to add extra work. Programs are designed to push you and provide progression and increased loads. They have built-in recovery days to help you recover. When you add your own stuff sometimes you subvert the program's logic and although you may end up burning more calories you may not get the results you seek.

This is because muscles that are already undergoing adaptations are experiencing inflammation as part of the adaptation process that will help them become stronger. While they experience inflammation they are de-strengthened. Even a light load which you may think you can easily do disrupts the inflammation/adaptation process and delivers diminished results both from the strength session you just did and the adaptation from the previous session that was taking place.

A study that looks at fatigue determinants highlights the need for adequate rest in order to recover and, as I mentioned to @Flash_Fire's question, while "training plateaus" are difficult to define with confidence the subjective reporting of it is widespread enough for us to know it is a real thing.

I hope this has helped answer your question.

 

[Damer]

@PETERMORRIS966 this is a brilliant question! It gives me the opportunity to explore something we barely talk about in the fitness world and that is our fluid nature. The human body is an open system. We are in a constant state of interaction with the external world which, in turn, requires us to constantly adjust our internal world. This constant back-and-forth between us and our environment is key to not just how we feel and how we think but also how active we are, with all of us exhibiting higher levels of physical activity in summer.

By increasing your physical activity in general during the summer months you are increasing by what I would guess is a sizeable percentage your non-exercise energy expenditure. If you do all the things you mention and make sure you get enough rest (because in Summer we often don't) then you'd be more than OK.

I hope this answers your question but please come back with anything else my reply may spark off.

 

[PETERMORRIS966]

@Damer Yes it does, thank you.

 

[PETERMORRIS966]

@Damer, Does your answer to @facuzayas mean if a person is doing a Darebee Program they should not do any Daily Dares or Challenges?

 

[Damer]

@PETERMORRIS966 it depends on a person's level of fitness and the program they're doing. If, doing the program is all they can do then adding more to it is counterproductive. In most cases however Daily Dares and Challenges are so short as to not have that much of a disruptive impact. My comment pertained more to adding a workout on top of whatever the Program required you to do that day.

 

[Damer]

@sfammonius this is an excellent question. Even top athletes don't always know where the limit lies for them to exercise effectively, which is why they have coaches to keep an eye on them. In my answer to @PETERMORRIS966's question, I said we're an Open System. And that should also help you understand better why the way you are currently training is not just slow in delivering the results you expect to see but it is also fairly bad for your body, as a whole.

Overworking muscle groups to the point of exhaustion creates inflammatory responses that de-strengthen them for a day or two. The exercise you do after that that recruits the de-strengthened muscle groups reduces the adaptations they experience so you don't see the results you expect and also fails to give you the intensity you need in your next session which also means you won't get the results you should.

You're exercising, and the way you're doing it is truly admirable in terms of perseverance and motivation, both of which you seem to have by the truckload. You're right however in that there is a much more efficient way. Before we get to it however I will need you to clarify in your own mind why you're exercising. The "why" is as important as the "what" because it determines intensity and the mix of exercises you should be doing. If you're exercising to lose weight, for example, it will be a totally different protocol you should follow to if you're exercising to put on weight (i.e. muscle). Once you have that worked out for you bear the following in mind:

We get fitter and stronger with a combination of three basic ingredients:

• Exercise (stimulus)
• The right amount of food (nutrition)
• Sufficient amounts of rest (good quality sleep)

If any of them are out of whack you're handicapped straightaway. Assuming that you have an adequate diet and are getting enough sleep however you should be looking to exercise every day and in order to exercise every day you should be training to about 60% - 65% of your capacity each time. That way you will avoid fatigue which can cause burnout and you will provide sufficient stimulus for strength and muscle growth.

If you do that then each time you exercise you should look to vary what you do as much as possible from the previous time. This will help keep you both interested and stop your body from overworking any particular muscle group which also means you will see results in a much more structured way.

To answer your additional question there are about 26g of protein in 100g of milk powder.

I hope this helps. Please get back to me with anything you feel needs more explanation.

 

[BeeCommando]

I would like to add a 30-minute run to my training routine. Should I do it before or after my strength training?

 

[Damer]

@Fitato this is an excellent choice of questions. Let's break them down a little to see how they fit together.

First of all, exercise is simply an energy-management system we implement today because we no longer have to run from predators or jump, kick and stalk to catch our food. This makes it one of three fundamental ingredients for health and fitness. I list them here so we can better see how they fit in with the rest of your questions:

• Exercise
• Nutrition
• Sleep

Getting just one out of three right, or even two, will fail to give you the results you expect. So diet, to return to your first question, is incredibly important when it comes to exercise. We rely on what we eat to get sufficient fuel to run our body (usually in protein, carbohydrates and fat and the quantity we get of each is determined by our individual needs and aims. When your diet is on point with your exercise you then need to dial-in your sleep to give your body sufficient time to adapt.

Your question on when to eat after exercise reflects the widely spread so called "anabolic window" which had us believing that the best time to eat for muscle growth and repair was 30 to 60 minutes after exercise. This was debunked as a myth back in 2013 with a study citing it back then and has been debunked countless times since in subsequent studies like this one from 2017. The current position of exercise science is that what matters for muscle growth is for the body to have sufficient amounts of protein in a day. This fits in with what we know about the relationship of muscle growth and strength increase and sleep. If most of the work is done when we're asleep, it doesn't matter when we eat as long as we have sufficient amount of protein in our system to help build the strength and muscle we need.

Having said that there is a good argument to be made for having a more even protein distribution throughout the day (perhaps by dividing it equally between breakfast, lunch and dinner) as opposed to the last two, which is what usually happens. The reason for this is that the presence of available protein in the body helps mediate some of the damaging effects of exercise on muscles, at a cellular level, as this 2020 study suggests which is corroborated by a follow-up study on the subject in 2021.

To put the findings of these two studies in context (and plain English): exercise is a stressor. It produces cellular damage to muscles either through mechanical tension or oxidation. The presence of available protein in the body helps reduce some of that damage, most likely because the body is not biochemically stressed (which is that happens when it lacks some nutrients) and can therefore deal with the stress of exercise better.

A 2022 study on obesity, exercise and fasting which, unfortunately, used only men; showed that exercising during a fasted state for obese individuals, over a six week period, helped bring about a reduction in weight and attendant benefits in health. A just-released similar study that focused on women showed similar results with marked improvements in body composition.

The thing to pay attention to here is consistency (as in frequency of exercise days) and intensity (as in none of the exercise protocols used were intense). When the body is in a state of obesity it is already experiencing high levels of stress with elevated inflammation markers so learning to be gentle while exercising it is key to any kind of exercise strategy you use. As for it being safer to exercise in a fasted state for obese individuals verses non-obese ones the answer is it depends. You cannot really compare them because they're like for like, both will experience internal imbalances to their system brought about by exercise and their bodies will respond as a result but the imbalances will be different and the body's response will also be different.

I hope this helps answer your questions. Anything that is sparked off by my answers, please just let me know.

 

[TopNotch]

I understand that the rest periods between sets for gains in hypertrophy and strength are different. Hypertrophy has a brief rest period while for strength gains, the minimum recommended rest period is about 2 minutes. My question: what if that rest period were significantly longer? What if, while I'm mooching around the house, I decide to lift a couple of reps heavy, then go and do something else entirely different (the laundry, reading a book, etc) for an hour or so before I do another set? Ultimately, at the end of the day, I'd have completed at least as many sets as I would have had I done the exercise within a 20-minute window (though the possibility exists that I may have performed more). What difference would there be in strength gains spreading out sets over an entire day?

 

[AquaMarie]

Hi @Damer ! Question for you: What exercises do you recommend for someone who worries about being able to live on their own as they get older?

I would love to be the sprightly old biddy down the road who lives with a clowder of cats and makes a sinfully amazing rum cake every Christmas when I'm in my 80s. Which parts of my fitness can I start working on now (in my mid-40s) to help make that dream a reality? (Or, you know, just help me to be healthy and independent for as long as possible.)

Thanks so much, Damer! Always enjoy reading the AMAs!

Sorry, @Damer , are you still pondering this one? Or is it answered somewhere and I just missed it?
Thanks!

 

[Damer]

@GladiatorTrail such an easy, short question to ask. Unfortunately there is no short reply to be had. Brace yourself because we are in freefall here.

Usually I can use the scientific evidence to explain where we should be leaning and why but here we kinda fall exactly in the middle which only goes to show the complexity of the human body. To answer your question, as best as I can, I now need to explain the science behind fatigue and why the answer is not easy to give. Bear with me.

We've all experienced fatigue during exercise. From a mechanical point of view that's the point where contraction of muscles delivers reduced power output. But there is an element of fatigue that's also subjective (the fatigue we each report feeling which is going to be different in different workouts and in the same workout but on different days).

Broadly speaking muscles are affected by three distinct elements:

• Mechanical damage (i.e. when we overload them, strain them and damage the muscle fibers through mechanical stress or oxidation)
• Metabolic load (when an accumulation of metabolites in the muscle delivers impairs function and delivers reduced maximal power)
• CNS failure (when the commands given by the brain through the central nervous system are weakened or fail to get through and therefore do not activate as many parts of the muscle as they should)

Despite us knowing this (and being able to measure each state of fatigue through experimentation that determines the chemicals at play) we still don't quite know how we arrive at each of these states and what determines which one we would arrive at in a given exercise. There are a number of theories that I will list here because we don't often get the opportunity to explore fatigue and your question opened the door.

1. Human Fatigue Theory - It theorizes that the fatigue we experience is the result of workload over time but stresses that a functional relationship between the two which would give us an equation of sorts that would allow us to predict with precision when fatigue occurs, doesn't exist.
2. Central Fatigue Theory or serotonin hypothesis - States that what induces feelings of reported fatigue and the abandonment of physical activity and exercise in humans is the accumulation of serotonin and dopamine in the brain. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that among other things regulates mood and sleep and dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a key role, among other duties, in motivation.
3. Mechanical Overload Theory - This is summarized as the idea that exercise-induced mechanical overload, on the muscles, creates muscle damage at cellular tissue level which de-strengthens the muscle fibers and reduces the amount of force they can produce.
4. Central Nervous System (CNS) Fatigue Theory - This is an extension of Central Fatigue Theory we looked at above. It briefly states that "synaptic concentration of neurotransmitters within the central nervous system (CNS; including the brain and spinal cord) which affects exercise performance and muscle function". In other words the brain's ability to send a strong enough signal to activate the muscles that are being exercises is exhausted due to neurotransmitter depletion and we are not able to deliver the full force of our muscles.
5. Integrative Governor Fatigue Theory - This states that the body's physical capabilities cannot realistically be divorced from its mental focus and psychological states and if any of those are off then our physical performance suffers. This takes a more holistic view of the mind/body connection and its effects on homeostasis and the effects of homeostasis on the brain and body. This is part of the psychobiological model of fitness.

The reason I felt we had to cover all this, above, in order to answer what appears a simple question is because now you will better understand what I mean when I say "it depends".

Whether you run first and then do strength training or do strength training first and then run will depend on why you're thinking of adding it and what your expectations are which means the intensity of your run also plays a role here. If, for instance, you want to improve the way your body handles the breakdown of glycogen in the bloodstream and even out the insulin spikes you experience throughout the day, doing strength-training first and then going running will help you achieve this, as this study shows. If you're looking to increase the strength gains you make from your strength training then running first at peak creates specific changes in the muscle-signalling pathways throughout the body that help you achieve greater strength gains, as this study shows.

Whichever combination you decide to go with however will need to take into account the exercise-induced fatigue state you will experience from whichever one you decide to start with first and how that will then impact what you do next which will severely change the results you'd get from just doing it as a standalone.

Because the pathways to fatigue differ from individual to individual and also depend on our internal states and mental health it is hard to predict what the results will be so my advice is: experiment on yourself for a period of six weeks. Record in detail for that time what you did and why each time you exercised. That should give you a good idea how you respond to each combination and it will give you the clearest path possible for making an informed choice.

I hope this helps.

 

[Damer]

@AquaMarie thank you for refreshing this, I totally missed it!

As we age, we guarantee physical independence if we have three physical attributes:

• Strength
• Mobility
• Cardiovascular fitness

All three are important to reduce all-cause mortality and provide us with a good quality of life. Of these three if you prioritize strength-training without excluding the other two, you will be in the best position possible, as you get older.

The reason you need to prioritize muscle and strength-building now is because as we age the chemical pathways available to build muscle are fewer, as this study shows. It is easier therefore to convince an older body to keep the muscle it has, more or less, than to get it to build new muscle.

If you're wondering now on the split of the exercises, I'd say you go 60/40 where 60% of your workouts are focused on building strength and muscle all over (arms, shoulders, legs, core etc) and 40% is split on cardio and mobility exercises.

Don't forget that you can also use strength exercises (like push-ups for instance or, for that matter, any strength exercise) to also induce cardiovascular gains as explained in the video below:

And our guide, here.

I hope this helps answer your question (and I'm sorry I missed it initially). If my reply sparks off anything else or if you have a follow-up question, don't hesitate to bring it up.

 

[Damer]

@TopNotch awesome question. Check out my reply to @GladiatorTrail above on fatigue mechanisms. It is basically those that send a signal to the body, from the brain, to adapt to the mechanical and metabolic load experienced. In theory, what you suggest, is an excellent way to make strength gains and see some increase in size but not a great way to go the other way around.

But, because of the uncertainty of the factors that govern the fatigue mechanism in you I will give here the exact same advice: experiment. Record what you do, when and in what intensity. Do it over six weeks and see what results it has. If it works for you and you can see measurable gains then you've got it!

I really hope this helps.

 

[BeeCommando]

@Damer Thanks for your reply! I appreciate the clear explanation and useful tips. It really helps me see the bigger picture.

 

[Fitato]

@Damer Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions (and everyone else's!) so thoroughly. Your insight is valuable.

I didn't know the anabolic window had been debunked - interesting! There is so much old information out there, it unfortunately feels nearly impossible to keep up with the accuracy surrounding exercise and nutrition. I skimmed the first study you linked and saw, "when training is initiated more than ~3–4 hours after the preceding meal, the classical recommendation to consume protein (at least 25 g) as soon as possible seems warranted in order to reverse the catabolic state, which in turn could expedite muscular recovery and growth." This is very interesting. I think I am going to do a deep dive later into all the articles you linked and find out even more about how this all works!

It's also interesting that the 2022 article mentions fasting indviduals exercising for 30 minutes were not more likely to have bad side effects. That is very interesting! I would have figured they would be more likely to experience nausea or similar symptoms. Glad to know it's safe for obese individuals to exercise in small amounts during a fast!

Thank you for the reminder to be gentle I enjoyed glancing through the studies and can't wait to learn more.

 

[TopNotch]

Thanks, @Damer I ask a question and then I get the homework! Better get down to experimenting, then.

 

[AquaMarie]

Thank you so much, @Damer!

 

[wannabeArtemis]

Thanks so much for the threat! Question: Is there a specific trick to getting explosive strength or is it just a lot of jump squats? Context I'm a cheerleader and currently trying to get into partnerstunts, so throwing/lifting another person without anyone else helping. I have the strength for it, but I'm way too slow getting out of the lowest part of my squat, so I waste energy forcing it up slowly. The moment someone else helps me even just a little bit with the inital lift off I'm fine, I just need faster/more explosive squats. So? A million squat jumps and squats in general? Or is there another magic exercise?

 

[Damer]

@wannabeArtemis the short answer to your excellent question is yeah, you need to do a lot of jump squats and plyometric training. Doing the workouts in our "Improve Jumping Collection" will definitely help you. But let's science this a little bit so we can better understand the mechanics of it and so that you, as a cheerleader, can get a better grasp of what happens when you move explosively that will give you a better long-term capability to adjust your training to improve your performance as your needs evolve. Plyometrics originated in Europe in the 1970s and was more widely known as "jump training". It basically trains specific fibers within the muscle (Type IIx) to gain power and strength.

If you look at my reply to @Flash_Fire's question Type IIx fibers are the ones that are engaged quickly by the brain and generate the kind of anaerobic, explosive power you need. To do that you need to be task-specific and work, in a structured way, with an additional load (ankle weights or a weighted vest). A 2022 study that looked at explosive power highlighted that and it was backed up further by a 2023 study that showed that weighted plyometrics produced long-lasting results as opposed to other training methods even though other training methods produced very similar results in the short term.

The basis of how long you get to keep the power you build lies, I suspect, in the strength of the signal the brain sends to the body during exercise. Weighted plyometrics generate an enhanced signal which leads the body to allocate resources for Type IIx fibers which, in turn are sufficient in volume to sustain adequate power output even in the de-strengthened states that an athlete's cyclical nature of training involves.

This means that, generally, you always need to understand when you're building a specific skill that the body doesn't see this as exercise or athletics. It makes the changes through imperatives that govern survival and it analyzes the strength of the discomfort involved when performing them and the energetic cost to it during the performance. Adaptations take place to reduce both and we see those adaptations as gains in strength, power and so on. The "specific trick" you need in your case is to figure out just how much of a load you need to safely perform the jump in your training while still challenging the body to change so it can adapt. Figure that out and that is your shortcut to doing "a million squat jumps".

I hope this helps.

 

[automata]

Hi Damer, thank you for the thread, I'm learning **a lot** by reading it!

Sharing a bit of context here: commuting to the gym is getting super annoying, leading me to skip training completely. I'm thinking about going all-in and workout from home only. I just discovered DAREBEE and loved it! I'm overweight, so my goal is fat loss and muscle building.

My question is: do I still need to go to the gym, or some adjustables dumbbells/kattlebells + HIIT/running + diet/sleep in check are enough to loose weight and build muscles? Maybe a super dumb question that you answered tons of times already, sorry about that :-D

Thank you in advance!

 

[JohnStrong]

Hi Damer — having just watched the latest [How-To] video by our fearless leader, and noticing that bee only breathes nasally (unless oxygen is optional for her, guide please) — my question is: Is inhaling and exhaling through the nose overall superior versus the mouth? I just skimmed Darebee's short guide on breathing and neither were given the blue ribbon, so to speak. Any news on the breathing front?

 

[Flash_Fire]

@Damer thanks so much! It became much clearer! I'm sorry, after having asked my question life got super stressful, so I checked outta Darebee for a while.

 

[Damer]

@Flash_Fire don't worry in the least. These days we're all fighting a daily struggle. Stay strong.