Lately we have heard a lot of good news about the health benefits of high intensity workouts.
We have pointed out in our articles what these benefits are, but now there has been advanced a real connection between HIIT and cancer control.
This simply isn't a connection about better general health, which exercise is going to give you, but how it will help your body's ability to fight cancer.
This has to do with the interplay of myokines, which are anti-inflammatory agents, and how they affect cellular structure.
Obviously diet has a lot to do with this as well.
If you load your body with highly inflammatory foods like sugar, Tran's fats and other processed foods, all the exercise in the world is not going to compensate for this.
These foods produce cytokines, which are secreted proteins released by cells that are important in cell signaling.
But if you truly give your body a chance by feeding it natural foods, preferably organic, an exercise program that involves high intensity strength workouts has been found to lessen the risk factors for cancer.
This competition is between the anti-inflammatory myokines and the inflammatory cytokines, and what properties win this battle will give us greater or diminished risk to our cellular structure, and therefore cancer risk.
We talked briefly about how diet interplays with this, but just how can high intensity training, and specifically high intensity strength training help? Myokines have a very specific impact on systemic inflammation of the cells, and as the result the risk of chronic disease.
The best way we can have the body produce myokines is with high intensity strength training.
These workouts really challenge our muscles to the point they become fatigued, and that's where we attain the extra benefits; that is, by counteracting the inflammatory cytokines and keeping our cells in balance.
So to summarize, when our diet is such that our bodies are overwhelmed by inflammation, the production of myokines through intensive strength training will not be able to compensate.
All of this is important to recognize that exercise does not cause physiologic improvements; it is merely a stimulus for your body to recoup itself.
It is your body's way of reacting to this physical stress that makes it stronger.
But the constant breaking down the body and then recovering takes a period of time.
Never believe that just by continuing to pile on the physical stress will allow you to develop your body at a faster rate.
It just doesn't happen that way.
The recovery part is in some ways more important than the actual physical training part, and just because it's the easy phase of the process doesn't make it less important.
It also means that your training will constantly demand upgrades.
As you become stronger it will take additional stress for the body to produce the necessary myokines.
Most physical trainers, however, do not advocate longer sessions, but training sessions that add more intensity as we get stronger.
This thinking now probably seems counterintuitive to the times when we had to supposedly put in so many hours in the gym in order for our training to be beneficial.
The thinking now is: more is not better, but more intensity means less time in the gym.
We have pointed out in our articles what these benefits are, but now there has been advanced a real connection between HIIT and cancer control.
This simply isn't a connection about better general health, which exercise is going to give you, but how it will help your body's ability to fight cancer.
This has to do with the interplay of myokines, which are anti-inflammatory agents, and how they affect cellular structure.
Obviously diet has a lot to do with this as well.
If you load your body with highly inflammatory foods like sugar, Tran's fats and other processed foods, all the exercise in the world is not going to compensate for this.
These foods produce cytokines, which are secreted proteins released by cells that are important in cell signaling.
But if you truly give your body a chance by feeding it natural foods, preferably organic, an exercise program that involves high intensity strength workouts has been found to lessen the risk factors for cancer.
This competition is between the anti-inflammatory myokines and the inflammatory cytokines, and what properties win this battle will give us greater or diminished risk to our cellular structure, and therefore cancer risk.
We talked briefly about how diet interplays with this, but just how can high intensity training, and specifically high intensity strength training help? Myokines have a very specific impact on systemic inflammation of the cells, and as the result the risk of chronic disease.
The best way we can have the body produce myokines is with high intensity strength training.
These workouts really challenge our muscles to the point they become fatigued, and that's where we attain the extra benefits; that is, by counteracting the inflammatory cytokines and keeping our cells in balance.
So to summarize, when our diet is such that our bodies are overwhelmed by inflammation, the production of myokines through intensive strength training will not be able to compensate.
All of this is important to recognize that exercise does not cause physiologic improvements; it is merely a stimulus for your body to recoup itself.
It is your body's way of reacting to this physical stress that makes it stronger.
But the constant breaking down the body and then recovering takes a period of time.
Never believe that just by continuing to pile on the physical stress will allow you to develop your body at a faster rate.
It just doesn't happen that way.
The recovery part is in some ways more important than the actual physical training part, and just because it's the easy phase of the process doesn't make it less important.
It also means that your training will constantly demand upgrades.
As you become stronger it will take additional stress for the body to produce the necessary myokines.
Most physical trainers, however, do not advocate longer sessions, but training sessions that add more intensity as we get stronger.
This thinking now probably seems counterintuitive to the times when we had to supposedly put in so many hours in the gym in order for our training to be beneficial.
The thinking now is: more is not better, but more intensity means less time in the gym.