12 Exercises for Building More Sensitive Ears using Hearing Exercises

I have consulted a number of sources, including audiologists, who say it is impossible to regain your ability to hear better. The vast majority of them - well nigh all of them - say that hearing loss is permanent.

However having suffered hearing loss when I was a child, and regaining some of my hearing over the past 22 years, I must affirm that I think the scientific community is WRONG when they say it is impossible to regain some measurement of hearing.

To explain this I will be doing two things: 1. I will be trying to be as scientific as I can when explaining my ideas; 2. Some of my explanations will be based on conjecture and hypothesis, so I saying this now as an informal disclaimer so that people understand that some of my ideas may not scientifically accurate, but are instead based on my first hand experience. I was also be basing some of my exercises further below upon my research into zen and yoga techniques designed to improve hearing.

When I was 12 years old a shotgun shell went by my left ear and was so loud it caused hearing damage. I was temporarily deafened in my left ear. (There is a long story about how this happened, but I will spare you the details.)

I am now 34 and during that the last 22 years I have had my hearing slowly improve over time. Initially it was very quick. I went from being temporarily deafened to simply "severe hearing loss" / almost deaf in my left ear.

By the time I reached university in 1999 my hearing had improved somewhat, to the extent that combined with my perfect hearing in my right ear I was able to function most of the time. I would regularly need to ask people to repeat themselves because of my hearing difficulties, but I was able to cope 99% of the time.

Since graduating in 2003 my hearing has continued to improve over time, to the point that I would now describe myself as having only moderate to light hearing damage in my left ear.

However several questions remain... Did my ears physically heal over the past 22 years, or did my brain simply get better at interpreting the sounds it was receiving? I think it is a bit of both. I believe there was some initial healing process, wherein part of the damage to my ears was permanent - and the other part was simply temporary. It was the temporary aspect which healed up more quickly. After that had healed however I believe my brain has learned to compensate and use what little hearing I have in my left ear and has slowly improved with time.

Which brings me to why I think audiologists are wrong when they say it is impossible to improve your hearing using hearing exercises. They are only thinking in terms of permanent hearing damage - they are completely ignoring temporary hearing damage, and they are completely ignoring the possibility that the brain can learn over time to compensate and "hear better" based on what data it is receiving from the ears.

So yes, based on my personal experience you can improve your hearing over time - the trick is to heal any temporary damage to your ears, and to attune your mind so the hearing ability you do have is used to its full potential.

12 Hearing Exercises for Building More Sensitive Ears

Note: The first three are really more maintenance issues, so you don't cause further damage to your ears over time.

#1. Routinely check for a build-up of earwax.

Some hearing loss can be caused by excess wax in your ear canal. Snap a photo of your ear with a camera, or have a friend look into your ear with a flashlight. If you see impacted wax, do not touch it. Trying to dig it out yourself will only make it worse.

If the blockage isn't severe, try to wash it out yourself. (Note: Only do this if your eardrums don't have tubes or holes in them.) Use an eyedropper to put a few drops of baby oil, mineral oil or hydrogen peroxide in your ear to "soften" the wax. After a day or two, use a rubber-bulb syringe to gently put warm water into your ear. Tip your head to the other side to let the water (and wax) drain out.

If the blockage is severe, call your doctor or audiologist and make an appointment to have it removed.

#2. Make sure you don't have an ear infection.

If your ears are in extreme pain, see a doctor immediately to make sure you don't have an ear infection or ruptured ear drum. If these conditions are left untreated, they can permanently damage the hearing in your inner ear.

#3. Take measures to stop any further hearing deterioration.

Reduce your exposure to loud, sustained noises. If noisiness like this is part of your job try wearing specialty ear plugs or changing jobs. If you wear earbuds or headphones to listen to music, keep the volume low or moderately low. When encountering loud sustained noises protect your ears with your hands and move further away from the source of the noise. Try to reduce your exposure to high volumes overall, and you'll reduce future hearing loss.

#4. Don't talk so loudly.

If you have lost a significant portion of your hearing, speak in a slightly softer tone than you think you need to. It's common to overcompensate and talk loudly if you can't hear your own voice very well, but if other people can't hear you, they'll tell you to speak up.

#5. Use your hearing more.

Your brain's pathways are like rocky trails, gravel roads and highways. If you use part of your brain more often the extra activity (traffic) on those mental pathways will strengthen and expand. This is why blind people often have very acute hearing and sense of touch - they have been forced to use their hearing more and thus their mental pathways controlling the interpretation of sound has been rapidly expanded.

This is not going to turn you into some kind of superhuman listener (like the blind comic book hero Daredevil), but it will allow you to improve your ability to hear things - even despite minor or moderate hearing damage.

#6. Learn to identify sounds / Auditory Indexing.

According to Zen monks learning to identify sounds is one of the first steps in learning to better control your sense of hearing. The practice is known as "Auditory Indexing". Without identification a person can become confused, overwhelmed or frightened by the sounds they are hearing. By learning to identify which sounds are which they can hear the sounds, but tune out those sounds they recognize as being too far away, not a threat, of little interest, etc.

An hearing exercise you can do at home is to listen for sounds you cannot identify, and once you find a sound that you don't recognize go and see what it is. Memorize that sound. Start over again and listen for other sounds you don't recognize.

#7. Learn to control your mind and avoid distractions.

A person who is distracted by random thoughts will not notice sounds that are nearby them. Learning to control distracting thoughts is a complex process and first requires a person to let go of their mind before they can learn to control it. I strongly recommend reading the book "The Unfettered Mind", which is a small collection of essays / letters by the Zen monk Takuan Soho and deals directly and indirectly with the topic of how to control your mind. In the book Takuan Soho references Japanese swordplay (kendo), but that can be used as a metaphor for any task.

#8. Listen for your own heartbeat.

This is difficult for even people with perfect hearing to do, but it can be done. The sound of heartbeat is there, but it is being muffled by numerous other sounds. Late at night, in a quiet room it is a much easier task to hear your own heartbeat - but with practice a person can listen for their heartbeat even in a crowded room.

If you get bored of listening to your heartbeat you can also listen to your breathing, your stomach/digestive organs, and even the sound of yourself blinking. If that seems like too much of a challenge try making very quiet sounds with your feet or fingers - such as rubbing your fingers together - and listening / concentrating on that sound.

#9. Extended Hearing Exercise.

This exercise has its source in tantric yoga. To do this sit comfortably with your eyes closed. Imagine a series of circular ring emanating around you at fixed distances.

First listen to all sound coming from within a 3 feet radius of you. Identify each sound that is closest to you. Ignore sounds that are further away, even if they are louder, so that they become background noises. Each time you concentrate on a new sound briefly identify what it is. Footsteps, conversations, mechanical noises, the rustle of leaves, the buzz of insects, the sound of running water, the distant roar of the city.

Next expand your hearing range to 10 feet and concentrate on the sounds found within this range. Continue expanding in circles around you to include the surrounding room, the building, your neighbourhood and the distant sounds of the world beyond.

#10. Listen to music.

When listening to music - such as an orchestra - identify which musical instruments are making what sounds. Learn to tune out the sounds of the other instruments and only listen to the one instrument. Challenge yourself to try and listen to only one of the musicians at a time.

#11. Test your limits.

The human eardrum can hear sounds anywhere between 16 Hz and 20,000 Hz. Extremely low (bass) sounds or extremely high pitched sounds cannot be heard by the human ear.  High pitched sounds like a dog whistle can only be heard by a variety of animals because the frequency is so high its beyond the range of human hearing - but that doesn't mean you cannot attempt to hear similar high pitched sounds.

Testing the limits of your hearing may require the help of an audiologist doctor, in which case I can recommend an audiologist in Vaughan who gives free hearing tests.

#12. Hypnosis.

According to a variety of researchers people in a state hypnosis can hear sounds from extreme distances, such as the case wherein a hypnotized person could hear a constant hissing sound at 230 yards (0.21 km), whereas a non-hypnotized people typically could not detect the same hissing sound until they were within 30 yards of the source.

This suggests that experimentation with hypnosis and hearing could prove to be highly beneficial for someone who wants to retrain their brain to hear noises more acutely.

BONUS: Audio Calibration!

During this exercise the listening person stands in the middle of a room and imagines him or herself to be at the centre of a clock face: directly to the front would be Twelve O'clock, directly behind is Six O'clock, ninety degrees to the right is Three O'clock and so on.

A second person moves about stopping at random and calling out “Now”. The listener must then guess the direction and distance. So for example, if the second person is standing six feet directly behind them the correct answer would be; “Six O'clock/six feet”. When a correct answer is a point is scored, if incorrect, the second person says the correct answer so that the listener can associate the correct answer with the immediate auditory experience.

Once the listener can get 9 points out of 10 then they go to the next level of difficulty, for which the listener and second person come up with a slightly more difficult task - possibly by changing the volume of the sound, the distance to the speaker, the preciseness of the distance, adding extra background noises, etc.

CONCLUSIONS

Don't listen to what the audiologists are saying that you cannot improve your hearing. If you have only minor or moderate damage to your ears then there are plenty of ways to rewire your brain so you can function without full hearing capabilities. I managed to do it and my hearing only seems to be getting better the older I get.

Customized Personal Training Programs

I think North America's obesity epidemic has started to scare people into exercising more and being more health conscious. The problem is that there is so much false information being pushed by people, often just looking to sell their book, gadget or DVD - or just trying to make a name for themselves.

Thus I have a beef with the hotshot personal trainers who are trying to push their own vision of how they think people should be exercising - pushing their own biased agenda, geared towards sales.

Meanwhile us grunt personal trainers are doing the opposite - We create personalized training programs which are customized for the individual. Each program is unique and each personal trainer will have a different approach to how they help out their client, depending on their client's needs and desires.

Yes, its true, the fitness industry has exploded in North America over the past ten years as the Obesity Monster reared its ugly head... And exercise is now considered a pillar in the average person's weekly wellness regimen. (Because apparently people before the rise of cable TV and internet didn't need to be reminded to go outside and exercise.)

But just because its so high demand now doesn't mean hotshot celebrity personal trainers should be pillaging anyone foolish enough to give them money - and to do so by spreading false information that their exercise program / routine is special and is "one size fits all".

No exercise routine is one size fits all. Want to know how I know? Test it out on teenagers and see how many of them get bored in the first 5 minutes.

Creating a customized and personalized approach to exercising for the individual client is all about what personal training is supposed to be.

And its cultural too. What works in Toronto may not work as well in a different social setting where people have different priorities and customs.

The same goes with gyms.

Gyms will look very different depending on the cultural setting. A gym in Toronto will look very different from a gym in Beijing or Sri Lanka or Athens.

Many people still picture a gym or health club with a bunch of beefcakes on the free weights, acting all macho and betting on who can benchpress more. Plus the weight loss hopefuls on the treadmill, and ladies with 2 lb dumbbells in step class at the aerobic studio. Complete stereotypes, largely fueled by the advertising industry during the 1980s.

But each gym is different. Some gyms are more like yoga studios. Some are boxing studios. Some gyms have pools and saunas. Picking a gym that is closest to you is not really making a choice. Its just convenient. A gym that has all the facilities and equipment you want however makes a big difference in how often you will go and exercise.

And by the same token, personal trainers do the same thing. If your trainer makes the activity fun for you and challenges you then you will keep coming back for more. If they don't then you will eventually quit and/or find a different trainer.

And that is really a wise thing to do. Shop around and find the personal trainer that works for you.

Times have Changed

With the implementation of age appropriate exercises, personal training, more options and better programming, fitness has finally shed its image as an activity for people who are body obsessed narcissists, and is recognized for its other benefits such as stress management, vitality and longevity.

The industry has also been helped along by a not-so-gentle push from family doctors urging their patient's into the gym, by prescribing fitness to cure everything from reoccurring colds, high blood pressure and depression.

It has reached a point that if I walk down Yonge Street in Toronto its almost impossible for me to not see someone carrying a yoga mat strapped to their back.

And thanks to higher gasoline prices the number of cyclists on the road keeps going up.

Personal trainers can customize fitness programs based on age, goals, strengths and limitations - and how much fun you want to have while exercising. Trainers will work one-on-one with couples, children, the elderly, groups of friends and even entire families.

Even though you and your family / friends may have different goals, the personal trainer can compensate by giving you exercises that work on your combined goals and different exercises you can do simultaneously or when you are not with the trainer in person.

Having a customized approach makes a big difference for whether you succeed. Don't fall for any snake oil salesman selling an "one size fits all" exercise routine because you are not "one size". You are you and you are ever changing and unique.

Weightlifting During Pregnancy + After Having Kids

Many women are now weight training seriously in ever-greater numbers. As a result it is inevitable that many will become pregnant and worry about how best to adapt their training to the demands of pregnancy and childcare.

The good news is that active women with normal, low-risk pregnancies do not have to give up their beloved weight training in order to keep themselves and baby healthy.

Years ago there wasn't much clinical research research on this topic, but there has been a lot more research in recent years and we have some good news on the topic.

The 1994 bulletin of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that there is no data to indicate that pregnant women should limit exercise intensity and lower target heart rates because of potential adverse effects.
In 2001 the Canadian guidelines were updated to indicate that regular exercise has a number of benefits and few drawbacks for pregnant women.

Ideally women should be fit and active before getting pregnant, so if you are thinking of conceiving, begin an exercise program now. Better sooner than later!

Here are some tips!

#1. Do not begin a new exercise program during pregnancy. Pregnancy is not the time to make any drastic physical changes.

#2. Stick to your current exercise routine. Don't become sedentary just because you are a few weeks pregnant.

#3. Around the 7th or 8th month you may wish to avoid highly strenuous activities. Switch to lighter weights or easier exercises.

#4. After giving birth you may wish to step up your routine to include more cardio and weightlifting, if you have the time. Ignore the old wives tales that exercise will cause you to sour the milk, your uterus will fall out, etc. Those are just nonsense.

“Muscle conditioning” exercise (i.e. weight trainng) is very low-risk and safe. Just ignore the myths.

Studies have shown no increase in acidity of breast milk after moms exercise. Regular postnatal exercise reduces or eliminates most of the unpleasant postpartum symptoms of physical and mental stress, depression, and so forth, as well as promoting a faster recovery. Postpartum exercise also helps promote insulin sensitivity.

#5. Exercise with your kids. Children of moms who exercised before, during, and after pregnancy were shown to be relatively leaner themselves five years later. Your kids are watching you and pick up your good habits.

#6. Don't Give Up After Having Kids. Many women cease exercising after having children. The two primary reasons for quitting exercise are significant weight gain during the pregnancy (which can be remedied) and the demands of care from children - who will themselves want to run around as they reach the walking age.

#7. Daddies Can Exercise Too! Your kids keep getting bigger... use them as weights! You will get stronger as they get older!

#8. Government Child Care and similar support systems for pregnant women can enable them to continue to exercise during and after pregnancy. You can find time to do these activities thanks to government help.

#9. Later in the pregnancy avoid exercises which involve lying on the back, or pressing against the stomach, or excessive bending forward. You may need to modify or eliminate those exercises.

#10. Avoid excessive head movement, such as stiff-legged deadlifts, if they cause nausea or dizziness. Avoid prolonged periods of standing. Balance will eventually be a concern, so in the second and third trimester, reduce and eventually eliminate Olympic lifts and perform demanding overhead lifts while seated.

#11. Avoid training too much. There is a lot of research into women training too much (or too little) and this resulting in a low birth weight. A higher birth weight means a healthier baby. Women who exercised more than 5 times weekly and fewer than 2 times weekly were both at risk for having lower birth weight babies. Aim for a happy medium of 3.5 times per week.

#12. Keep a Journal! Record eating, training, workout reports, notes on how you feel, heart rate, recovery, etc.

Common Concerns During Pregnancy

Joint Laxity

This is a crucial issue for weight trainers. The body “softens” connective tissue in order to prepare for delivery. Great for pelvic expansion during the crucial moments, not so great for folks trying to keep

their kneecaps stuck to their legs during training. On the plus side, strong muscles help to hold things together and improve overall stability, so strength training will be helpful as long as care is exercised.

Overheating

Another significant issue for weight trainers. Dress to stay cool, drink lots of fluids (even though you’ll feel like you have to pee every ten minutes), get a fan on you if possible, and monitor the situation

during your training sessions. If you need a break to cool down, take one. Oxygen will be less available to you, and you will find that in later months of pregnancy, the baby presses upwards on your diaphragm, making it harder to breathe deeply.

Nutrition

Good nutrition is essential during pregnancy, but hey, you knew that didn’t you? It is often difficult for female athletes to accept the inevitable weight gain that occurs during pregnancy, but this isn’t a time to diet or be nutritionally stingy. You may notice wild fluctuations in blood sugar (and sudden cravings), so try to eat at regular intervals and not go more than a couple of hours without a snack or small meal. In the first trimester you may be limited in what you can tolerate, and formerly appealing things may make you feel sick, but this is usually restricted to the first three or four months. You may experience an increase in appetite, including nearly uncontrollable cravings for carbohydrates (mmmm... donuts). This does not signify weakness or gluttony on your part; let the hormones do their work and get a balanced diet as best you can.

Don't enter pie eating contests however. That is just silliness.

Vitamin Supplementation

There is also a lack of research on the effects of Creatine during pregnancy, so don't use any.

Avoid caffeine, thermogenics and stimulants.

Hormonally-based substances, including prohormones, is a huge no-no at this time.

Fish oil is a highly recommended supplement for pregnant women, but there still needs to be more research on that topic.

NOTES

Medical supervision and ongoing monitoring = Regular checkups and keeping your doctor up to date with any symptoms.

One of the most common problems encountered by pregnant women is back pain. Their center of gravity shifts and extra weight is added over nine months. Women tend to slouch the shoulders and arch the lower back to compensate for these changes, which of course leads to discomfort due to bad posture. A strong abdominal column as well as a strong back gained through weight training before pregnancy can alleviate much of this problem, so resistance work geared to this need is helpful. Bodyweight exercises, such as unweighted squats, present a useful alternative as the pregnancy develops, as do exercises which take some weight off the joints, such as swimming or cycling.

Postpartum urinary incontinence - After giving birth, many women notice problems with mild to moderate urinary incontinence during exertion, such as squatting or deadlifting. Kegel exercises are a must during pregnancy and after delivery. Avoid caffeine, go to the bathroom before your workout, wear a pad, and remember that there are a lot of other women out there experiencing the same thing.

You may also notice hemorrhoids which are aggravated by lifting. Normal and treatable.

Sleep. Naps are good for you and your baby.

Sweating Hard + 10 Exercise Myths

Everyone enjoys a good sweat during their workout (myself included). It feels great and the sweat cools you down. but sweating doesn't necessarily mean you are getting the best workout for your body.

Sweat is simply a cooling mechanism that is designed to cool your body when your internal temperature rises. We sweat in a sauna, and when eating spicy food, but that's not a good workout, is it?

When a person exercises, the body responds to the exertion, rather than the amount you are sweating. For example weight lifting is one of the best forms of exercise for a long term metabolic increase, defining the muscles, and providing all around benefits in terms of aesthetics, practical training and prevention for injury and disease in later life. But the sweat you are sweating during weightlifting is no more valuable than sweating while suntanning yourself at the beach. Sweat doesn't burn calories.

Swimming is a great example of a high exertion, sweat-free exercise. You don't sweat while swimming because water does the job of cooling you down.

Exerting your body means challenging yourself and using functional exercises that not only gets a person in great shape but also assist with body awareness, which assists in tuning the body for daily activities. Not to mention injury and chronic condition prevention. By gaining balance, co-ordination and increasing bone density, even if you do say, slip on the ice while skating (but you won't because you have such great balance and co-ordination!) your body will be able to better handle the fall with stronger bones and connective tissue.

Some sweaty exercises like running and cycling can cause you to lose a lot of sodium in the process so remember to take an energy drink like Powerade or Gatorade with you.

Don't use energy drinks like Cheetah Power Surge and similar crap with ginseng flavouring or lots of caffeine. The caffeine just dehydrates you and the flavouring is just that - flavouring. No nutritional benefit.

10 Exercise Myths

#1. Spot Reducing Exercises Don't Work

So you want to get rid of your flabby stomach fat and you want to do it by doing sit-ups? HA! Sorry, but spot reducing exercises don't do that. Sit-ups builds muscles in your stomachs, making your stomach look even bigger. If you want to reduce fat go running, cycling or swimming. Do cardio!

#2. Your cardio machine is NOT counting the calories you're burning.

Unless the machine knows your weight, height and your body fat percentage then it really has no clue how many calories you are burning.

#3. Women will NOT Bulk Up and look like Men by Lifting Weights

Lifting weights doesn't cause women to bulk up the way men do. Two reasons. First, female bodybuilders use steroids to bulk up like that. Second, female muscle tissue is different from men's - a difference of quality vs quantity. Women's muscle tissue can lift more per gram than male muscle tissue and is more resistant to ripping. Male muscle tissue rips easily and then due to higher testosterone levels men build new muscle tissue in-between the old ripped tissue. Women who lift weights will build extra muscle, but because of the type of muscle tissue they are building they won't bulk up the way men do.

#4. Heart Rate Monitors do NOT measure Exertion

Heart rate monitors do not measure how much exertion you are doing. Various exercises effect your blood pressure less than others, despite requiring more exertion. Instead your own body is better at telling you how much exertion you are doing. One way to do this is the TALK TEST. The talk test can measure how intensely you're working out depending on whether you can talk in full sentences, short phrases or if you're barely able to muster a few words.

#5. Your Weight Fluctuates Day to Day

You eat, you drink, you sweat, you urinate, you take a #2. Your weight fluctuates a lot in a single day, and thus measuring your weight on scales every day is not going to see much in terms of change. Check your weight at a specific time of day once per week (eg. Friday morning before breakfast) and then record the changes.

#6. High Intensity Exercises still DO burn fat

There is a myth going around that it is better to do low intensity workouts because they burn more fat and less carbs. This is only partially true. It is true that the more intensely you exercise, the higher proportion of carbs you burn. You may burn less fat, but the total amount of calories burned is higher and that is the bigger picture.

And if you don't burn the carbs it just gets stored as fat anyway. So it doesn't really matter if you are burning fat or carbs, because carbs ends up becoming fat if you don't use it. So you might as well do higher intensity exercises if you have the energy / motivation to do so.

#7. Protein Shakes do NOT make a replacement for real food.

You're actually better off eating real food because you get more nutrients and vitamins from eating a normal healthy meal. Protein shakes are really just meant to be used as supplements on top of a regular healthy diet.

#8. Going to the Gym does NOT Negate eating poorly.

Its actually the opposite. Bad diet negates your efforts at the gym and will hold you back because you won't be getting the nutrients to replace muscle tissue you ripped at the gym. If you go to the gym and then pig out on ice cream later you aren't just hindering yourself, you are hurting yourself because that is muscle tissue that won't regrow properly since you failed to eat a healthy balanced meal.

#9. No Pain, No Gain is NOT a way to measure exertion.

Some people think that they have to be in pain all the time while exercising otherwise they aren't achieving anything. Complete myth. Feeling discomfort during a workout is okay. Feeling pain after a workout happens sometimes if you over-exert yourself. If you are in a lot of pain you should NOT be exercising. Stop doing that before you pass out or injure yourself.

#10. Stretching does NOT prevent sports injuries.

There is a growing body of research which shows that stretching before exercising does not prevent sports injuries. The best time to do stretches is actually AFTER a workout, or DURING a workout to relieve muscle tension.

If you want to do anything before a workout do a series of warmup exercises, such as high knee jogs, walking lunges and similar warmup exercises. Keep the stretching for your mid-workout break or after the workout.

Having better flexibility does help prevent injuries, but stretching before a workout doesn't prevent such things from happening. Stretching after a workout helps stretch out ligaments and maintain your flexibility. Its meant to be done AFTER the workout.

Do Fitness Games like Wii Fit really work?

Q

"Hello!

Do Fitness Games like Wii Fit really work? I've heard a lot of positive and negative reviews about them and I am curious as to whether its worth trying."

- Jake G.

A

Hello Jake!

Fitness games are a big trend right now both in the fitness industry and in the video game industry, so there is going to be a lot of confusing reviews / testimonials out there aimed at selling Wii Fit and video game workouts.

 

There are some benefits to using such gaming equipment to improve your fitness levels, especially if you try the yoga and lower body strength exercises, but some of the exercises use very little motion and thus barely count as an exercise.

Some games like Dance Dance Revolution will get you sweating, and games like Just Dance 2 (JD2) are fun and fast paced, and some people swear by Wii Tennis as a good cardio exercise, but overall such games are pretty hit and miss.

 

Wii Archery for example has no exercise component at all, whereas real archery is more like weightlifting because it uses resistance training, balance and you need stamina to hold the bow steady.

For beginners, you will definitely get a good workout if you really get into the more active exercises available on such game consoles. For intermediates and advanced exercise enthusiasts, playing for 30 minutes a week could be a great supplement to an already existing exercise regimen. 

 

Such games have been proven to keep seniors more active and many homes for the elderly have invested in such game consoles. Don't expect to "lose 100 lbs playing Wii Fit" like some of the reviews you will find online. To get that kind of results you would need to be playing it 10 to 15 hours per week for a year and be doing the really active exercises.

 

Thus if you're lazy about your approach to these games and you play the games which require less movement, then you won't really see much benefit. So it really does depend on how often you play it and which exercises you choose to do.

Another fitness trend you will be seeing more of is the iPhone and iPad is fitness applications, podcast workouts and health/diet organizers. Examples include: Fitness Pro, Lose It, Fitness Builder, iTreadmill and GYM Goal ABC. Downloading podcasts with full workouts or informational seminars is free and easy. Plus you can also pick out any number of fitness/diet journals, calorie counters, grocery list creators and recipe apps.

Normally advancements in technology would make us lazy. Devices that do the exact opposite is proving to be unexpectedly cool.

Bust Firming Exercises

Many female celebrities, including Marilyn Monroe (see Marilyn Monroe's Diet and Exercise Routine) are fans of bust firming exercises.

The bust also goes by the names "breasts", "chest" and a variety of derogatory slang words like "boobies". Regardless of what you choose to call them, they are an area on the body that a majority of women would like to firm up so they look more perky and less saggy. The way to do this is through some exercises that involve a variety of weightlifting and body weight exercises.

Note: Men who want larger pecs (pectoral muscles) can also benefit from these exercises.

Bust Firming Misconceptions and Myths

The breasts themselves cannot be made larger through exercise, because they consist of glands and are 80% fatty tissue - hence why obese women (and sometimes men) have larger breasts. But there are muscles underneath the breasts and above them that can be targeted - the pectorals. Working these muscles might not increase the size of your bust, but they can make your breasts firmer and more perky. Even men can benefit from these exercises by building larger chest muscles - "pecs".

Bust-firming exercises often involve body weight exercises and the weight lifting items like dumbbells, kettlebells and possibly an adjustable bench. The exercises can be done from the comfort of your own home, provided you have the tools and the space, or in the gym. Many of these exercises are very easy to learn.

BUST FIRMING EXERCISES

For best results repeat the exercises below three times a week on alternating days. Do 10 to 15 reps and 5 sets of each exercise. 

#1. Push-ups

Push-ups are a popular body weight exercise that anyone can do - and they are an excellent breast-firming exercise. To do these, lie on your stomach on the floor with your hands directly under your shoulders. Push your body straight up in the air until your arms are locked. Keep your back straight and lower yourself to the floor until your chest is about a fist-width away. Push yourself back up and repeat. If this is too difficult, you can place you knees on the floor.

If bored try doing a variety of other push-up style exercises that target the pectorals.

#2. Incline Press or Bench Press

Doing incline presses or bench presses are two bust-firming exercises that targets the upper chest muscles. It can be accomplished using either dumbbells or barbells.

To do an incline press, adjust your bench to 45 degrees. Hold on to the dumbbells, lie back on the bench and place your hands at chest level with your palms facing forward. Push the weights straight up in the air and bring them toward each other until they are about an inch away. Lower them back down by bending your elbows and repeat.

#3. Chest Flyes

Chest flyes can also be done with the bench, and you can do them at an incline position or flat. Lie on the bench with your arms straight up and your palms facing each other. Slightly bend your elbows and maintain the bend. Lower your arms to your sides until they are about parallel to the floor then bring them back up. To do chest flyes, you will need to use lighter weights.

#4. Chest Squeezes

A Swiss ball is a functional training tool that is often used to work the abs. However you can also use it to do a chest exercise called a "chest squeeze". To do this exercise lift the ball up with your hands or forearms placed right in the center. Squeeze it as hard as you can for 20 to 30 seconds and release. If you don't have a Swiss ball you could also use a football, basketball, etc.

Cold Showers Burn Calories

Q

"Hello! Do cold showers really burn calories? I've heard that drinking ice water burns calories and someone told me that cold showers burn calories too. Is that for real or is it a myth?"

- Victoria W.

A

Hello Victoria!

Yes, you are correct cold showers DO burn calories. In order to maintain a core body temperature your body uses up energy by burning brown fat to keep your body warmer and ultimately boosts your metabolism. When burned brown fat, aka brown adipose tissue or BAT, boosts your metabolism and energy levels and you end up feeling more energetic. It then kick-starts burning other kinds of fat in your body in order to maintain energy levels.

For reference see the 2008 study: "Human Skeletal Muscle Mitochondrial Uncoupling Is Associated With Cold Induced Adaptive Thermogenesis" which explains how it works.

However a better question is how much calories is being used?

While we are at it, since fat is also a good insulator, what difference does body fat make on the amount of calories being burned?

Lastly, what is the best way to get the full benefits of cold showers?

Well lets answer these questions one at a time.

#1. How much is the calories burned by cold showers?

A shower at 60 F (16 C) burns 75 calories in 5 minutes*. Initially that doesn't seem like much, but lets put it another way: That is 900 calories in one hour!

* Based on the flow of an average shower head, approx. 5 gallons per minute. Modern low flow shower heads use roughly half of that.

However being in a cold shower like that for 60 minutes will likely give you pneumonia and could even kill you since pneumonia can be deadly if your immune system is weak. So my official advice is that you limit your cold showers to 25 minutes or less.

#2. What difference does body fat make?

Because fat is a good insulator it really depends on how much fat a person has. There hasn't been any research into this topic, but what is known is that people with large amounts of brown fat won't feel the cold or start shivering very easily. Their bodies will activate the brown fat more easily and burn it at a faster rate, which implies that they are actually burning more fat than the average person would.

A fit person has a body fat percentage of approx. 12.5% (11 to 14%). A professional athlete would have a body fat percentage of around 8.5% (7 to 10%). Body fat percentage of 25% or more is considered obese.

Knowing this we can hypothesize that an obese person likely burns twice as many calories than a fit person because they have twice as much brown fat, and thus would get more of a benefit from taking cold showers than a fit person.

#3. What is the Best Way to have a Cold Shower?

You want to slowly adjust your body to the colder temperature. If you just hop straight into a freezing cold shower your natural desire will be to scream and get back out immediately.

Start with a warm comfortable shower and then turn the knob slightly to a colder temperature and wait for your body to adjust to the new temperature, wherein it doesn't feel so cold.

Then keep repeating this process until you reach a point where you start to shiver. Then back off the temperature a bit so the temperature is just above the point where you start to shiver.

If you buy and keep a thermometer in your shower try to aim for 60 F (16 C), this way you can try and accurately predict how many calories are being burned during your showers.

Also remember that since this kick-starts a fat burning metabolism boost that you will feel more "invigorated" and energetic after the cold shower, which means you will burn a lot more than the calories you burned in the shower. Thus a good time to go exercise is right after a cold shower.

For improved results you could try and take cold showers 3 times per day. Limit your cold showers to 25 minutes or less.

In theory, three 60 F showers per day at 25 minutes each can burn 1125 calories per day, plus kick-starting a calorie burn that will boost your metabolism dramatically.

In a week, assuming you have a healthy / balanced diet, you should burn 7,875 calories - just over 2 lbs of fat. Possibly more due to the metabolism boost.

However I should warn you that losing fat more than 2 lbs per week can cause loose skin, so I don't recommend doing the whole three cold showers at 25 minutes per day thing.

My recommendation would be two cold showers at 10 minutes each - 300 calories per day, or 2100 calories per week. Its just under two-thirds of a lb and it should sufficiently boost your metabolism so you can lose the remaining 1.33 lbs via exercise.

If you decide to experiment with weight loss via cold showers I recommend you err on the side of caution. I wouldn't want to start an epidemic of cold shower addicts.

OTHER BENEFITS OF COLD SHOWERS

#1. Boosts the Immune System - Increases white blood cells: monocytes and lymphocytes. While certain lymphocytes are instrumental in eliminating bacteria, viruses, and toxins; monocytes are indirectly responsible for the engulfing and consuming of pathogens and foreign materials.

#2. Improves Blood Circulation - Causes vasoconstriction, prevents hypertension, prevents hardening of the arteries, and prevents the appearance of varicose veins.

#3. Regulates Temperature - If you suffer from chronically cold hands and feet, or feel that you sweat an abnormal amount, try a cold shower.

#4. Alleviates Depression - Cold water has a stimulating effect on the brain's “blue spot”, the main source of noradrenaline for our bodies. Noradrenaline is a chemical that might be used to help alleviate depression.

#5. Boosts Lymphation Circulation

The lymphatic system is a system of tubing separate from our blood vessels that is responsible for carrying away waste from your cells as well as help fight pathogens (disease). Unlike blood vessels, the lymphatic system does not have blood, it has lymph, which carries away waste products and white blood cells which handle infection.

#6. Deeper Oxygen Intake

The stress of the cold water, vasoconstriction and the overall need for oxygen to respire and keep oneself warm opens up the lungs much like strenuous physical exercise does and results in a higher average intake of oxygen, which is good for your energy levels and overall health.

#7. Better Hair and Skin

Cold water can make our hair look shinier and our skin look healthier by tightening cuticles and pores, preventing them from getting clogged, thus reducing blemishes like acne. Cold water also contributes to detoxification which results in the squeezing of toxins and waste products out of the skin. This detoxification has a good effect on the skin which appears more clean and young. Additionally, the cold water closes the cuticle which makes the hair stronger and prevents dirt from easily accumulating within our scalp. Stronger hair, of course, prevents hair from easily falling out and it helps in slowing down overall hair loss.

#8. Higher Hormone Levels

Many different hormones are boosted by cold water, including testosterone levels, which increases muscle building. Also increases sperm count. Men who take cold showers will be more muscular and have higher sperm counts.

For fun I also tried researching "cold shower negatives". Apparently there aren't any negatives beyond sometimes shouting "Damn that's cold!" and the risk of pneumonia if you stay in there too long.

On the plus side if you ever get to bathe in a waterfalls you will be used to cold water and not that bothered by it.

Nose Exercises Vs Rhinoplasty

Q

"Hello! I recently suffered an injury to my nose during boxing and when it was healing I noticed that my nose had become crooked. I was thinking about getting nose surgery [rhinoplasty] to fix the problem, but someone told me about nose exercises you can do that can fix various problems. Does nose exercises really work?" - J.F.

A

Hello J! Good news, yes, nose exercises may be the answer to your problem if the damage isn't too severe. And judging by the number of boxing related nose injuries you won't be the only one who will be interested in this solution.

Damage to the nose muscles on one side or the other can cause the tip of the nose to go crooked. It reportedly can also be caused by sleeping on one side of the face too much, overuse of the muscles on one side of the nose, or even something simple like losing weight and the muscles in one side of your nose losing some of its muscle density... and of course getting punched repeatedly in the nose.

Regardless of the cause of the damage, if the damage is minor then it can be fixed using a variety of nose exercises.

1. Squinting the Nose

Basically all you do is smile and try to squish your nose upwards using the muscles within your nose. No hands required. This upward "squinting" of the nose will add more girth to muscles in the sides of the nose and, assuming you do it evenly, both sides of the nose will auto-correct themselves with time until they're both equally muscular.

Hold for 5 to 10 seconds. Repeat 20 to 30 times daily until your nose muscles straighten out.

2. The Nose Shortener

This exercise isn't so much to repair damage as it is to prevent long term degradation of cartilage within the nose. As you get older your nose continues to grow, and the cartilage in the lower section may weaken and then separate from the upper part of the nose. This often gives the appearance that a hump has developed on the bridge of the nose. A plastic surgeon can perform surgery to improve the shape of your crooked nose or you can do this handy "Nose Shortening" exercise which will help to strengthen the muscles in that region of the nose.

Using your index finger, push the tip of your nose up. Contract the muscle by flexing your nose down against the resistance created by your finger. Hold for 5 to 10 seconds. Repeat 30 times, each time concentrating on the muscle forcing your finger down. Keep your breathing steady while performing the exercise. To get the maximum results, perform the Nose Shortener exercise twice a day.

3. The Nose Shaper

The upper part of the nose is made of solid bone and the center part is made from cartilage, so there really is not anything that can be done via exercising. However the bottom part of the nose had several different muscles which can be exercised, and by doing so it is possible to change the general shape of your nose. The "Nose Shaper" exercise involves placing your index fingers down either side of your nose, and flaring your nostrils by using the muscles above and below your nostrils. Your fingers create resistance by keeping your fingers in place against the movement of the nostrils, sort of like weightlifting for your nose.

Repeat this exercise 30 times, twice per day. The end result will create a less droopy nose, but the nostrils will appear wider... so if you don't want wider nostrils maybe you should consider the exercise below instead.

4. Nose Narrowing

Want a more narrow nose? Lower your chin and mouth and narrow your nose in the process. This uses a different set of muscles inside your nose which will help tighten up and narrow the appearance of your nose.

Hold for 5 to 10 seconds. Repeat 30 times, twice per day, and observe the long term results as your nose becomes more narrow.

5. Nose Wiggling

This one is easier to do in front of a mirror. Wiggle your nose from side to side, without moving your lips/etc. Why? Well, if you can master it then it makes for an interesting party trick. Not sure if its useful in terms of improving your looks however, but presumably it helps build the muscles within your nose.

Update: Fixing a Crooked Nose

If you are looking for specific information on how to fix a crooked nose I recommend reading the following post: Fixing a Crooked Nose using Nose Exercises.

Maintenance

Keep doing the exercises regularly for maintenance (once per week or so). Like any muscle group, the nose muscles need regular exercise in order to keep their figure.

NOTE: For fun, make before and after photos to see the results over time.

SPECIAL NOTE: So if you thought that rhinoplasty was the only way to reshape and straighten your nose, huzzah, that myth has been busted!

PERSONAL NOTE: I did all of these exercises myself while writing this and now my nose feels sore from exercising it. Advice? Don't overdo it. Stick to the recommended 30 times, twice per day. I saw results within the first week of doing them.

FINAL NOTE: Yes, if you have severe damage to your nose then rhinoplasty is your only remaining option. But that kind of damage is more rare. You shouldn't feel self conscious about the nose you were born with just for society's unrealistic standards of beauty... And as Michael Jackson has previously proven, once you get surgery you can end up becoming obsessed with the shape of your nose and always looking to change it more and more.

PERSONALIZED HELP

I am getting a lot of requests from people wanting personalized advice about their nose and what nose exercises they should do, how often they should do them, special circumstances,  etc. My advice is to follow the instructions listed above and on other posts I have made about nose exercises.

If you are contacting me asking me for personalized help - basically asking for my services in aiding you with your nose exercises, then I will need to charge you my personal training rate ($50 per hour) for my services.

I know this is not the answer many of you are looking for. I have already answered many of the frequently asked questions below in the comments section, and answered many emails from people asking for help with their nose exercises - but I am a busy person and the emails have reached a point where I need to start charging for this service because I cannot answer all of them.

Best of luck with your nose exercises!

Lowering your Toxins and Why it is Important

You've probably heard on several occasions that people who quit smoking often gain weight. This is actually a MYTH.

What is more accurate is that people who quit smoking often experience weight fluctuations as they readjust to taste buds that can appreciate food again and a body that is shedding some of its toxins that it has stored up in their body fat as protection. Over the longer term most people who quit smoking actually lose weight as the result of this release of toxins and fat.

According to one study I found which tracked long term the weight changes over a 48 month period people who quit smoking do the following:

19% gained weight
24% weight stable
42% moderate weight loss
15% substantial weight loss

So 57% of people lose weight over the long term. It is only the rare few (19%) who replace their nicotine addiction with a sugar addiction who end up gaining weight, and that really comes down to poor willpower. So yeah, myth busted!

But back to my main point of this example. Your body stores toxins inside fat cells in an effort to protect the body. Basically its like a tiny prison cell for toxins and if you are consuming, eating, smoking, snorting lots of toxins then your body's natural reaction will be to store those toxins somewhere safe - which means you will be adding extra fat to your frame.

Fat and water storage are just two ways your body uses as a means of protecting you from poisonous toxins by diluting them and storing them in water and fat. This is often the reason why people have difficulty losing weight because our immune system tries to maintain a certain level of toxicity and it isn't going to allow the breakdown of fat cells if there is too much toxins in your blood. Our highly intelligent immune system simply won't allow the removal of excess fat if the level of toxins that is stored in the fat may put your life in jeopardy by their release into the bloodstream.

Warning Signs of Too Much Toxicity

Difficulty shedding weight
Dry, itchy, scaling or flaking skin
Soft, cracked, or brittle nails
Hard earwax
Tiny bumps on the backs of your arms or torso
Achy, stiff joints

 What you really want in your body is "healthy fat" with no toxicity in them. Healthy fat stores energy for your cardiovascular system to deliver to your cells that need them. Why does the type of fat matter? It is because building your body from the inside out is just like building a house. You can frame the house with the cheapest stuff you can scrounge. Or you can invest in quality materials that are going to be energy-efficient and last a long time. If your fat is toxic then you will end up storing lots of it and never using it, and you will feel slow and sluggish because you don't have enough healthy fats to provide energy for your daily activities.

So how do you get rid of toxins?

#1. Healthy diet. Cut out anything that is toxic or carcinogenic. That means don't eat the burnt crusts on your toast (anything burnt is carcinogenic), same goes with burnt meat and burnt marshmallows. If you are one of those people who burns their marshmallows and eats them anyway, stop that!

#2. Start reading food labels. Beware of any foods that has strange chemicals in them. Preprocessed foods are high in them.

#3. Avoid eating anything with bacteria in them. Bacteria creates toxins. So avoid eating meat that isn't well done. Indeed try to cut back on your meat consumption entirely so its at a more reasonable level.

#4. Go on a Detox Diet (eg. the Lemonade and Cayenne pepper one). This is for the more extreme detox people out there, but it really does work.

Are Food Dyes Toxic and How Dangerous are they?

There are a lot of websites out there which claim that food dyes are toxic. This is only partially true.

Part of the problem is that the websites and people spreading this misinformation are automatically assuming the worst and keep quoting nutjob websites which are far from reputable. In my effort to clear up this matter I found the following PDF:

http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/food-dyes-rainbow-of-risks.pdf

The PDF goes down a long list of studies into the dangers of food dyes and what it determined was the following:

#1. Some people have allergic reactions to food dyes. That doesn't make them toxic. Some people are also allergic to peanuts, but peanuts aren't toxic either.

#2. The dosages of most food dyes are so ridiculously low that they don't cause tumours.

#3. There are some toxic tumour causing food dyes (Orange B and Red 3), but they're either illegal and banned by the FDA or no longer used any more.

#4. There is one remaining food dye which is known to cause tumours (Citrus Red 2), but its only used on some brands of oranges. So the advice there is Don't Buy Oranges with Food Dye.

Otherwise food dyes are harmless because they're either not toxic or the dosage is so ridiculously low (and those that are tumour causing are banned by the FDA). And they're certainly way less harmful than bacteria in your meat, burnt crust on your toast and smoking cigarettes.




But if you're really worried about it then just read labels when you buy your food.

To me the really dangerous chemicals are not the food dyes. Its the man-made chemical additives found in processed foods which are designed to make foods more addictive... and throw in lots of corn syrup (aka glucose) is added to almost all processed foods. That much glucose is definitely not good for you.

If you want to cut down on your toxic intake eat only foods that have no weird additives in them.

Does Exercise Stunt your Growth?

A commonly asked question that people have when they see an image like the one on the right here (a boy who clearly does weightlifting) is how does this effect his physical growth?

Does exercising stunt his growth?

This, as it turns out, is actually a myth. Exercising actually does the opposite. It actually INCREASES growth by triggering the brain to release Human Growth Hormone...

Children who exercise and eat healthy grow up to be "big and strong". Its an old concept similar to Popeye's "I'm strong to the finish because I eat my spinach!"

Exercising, any exercising, causes the brain to release more Human Growth Hormone (HGH), which in turns triggers the body to both regenerate existing tissue, but also triggers growth spurts in children, and in adults HGH works to hinder diseases like cancer and keeps the body feeling younger.

It is one of the reasons why people who exercise are typically taller and also appear younger than counterparts in their same age group. (I am frequently told I look to be approx. 25 years old and almost no one ever guesses I am 33. That is the result of exercise and healthy eating.)

For children who are growing regular exercise needs to be part of their regular routine. Lack of exercise and unhealthy eating will result in children growing up to be "short and stout". Exercise, vitamins, calcium and a balanced diet make a big difference in a growing body.

If children excel at a particular sport, for example competitive weightlifting, it isn't going to stunt their growth and will actually make them taller. Look at the weightlifters at the Olympics. A lot of them are hovering around 6 feet tall or over. That is the result of exercise and eating their proverbial spinach.

Now lets pretend you don't believe me or don't believe in the science behind HGH.

Go ahead and ask some pro-weightlifters when they started exercising and how tall they are. The majority of them will say they started weightlifting around 11 or 12 years old and say they are between 5'9" and 6'6" tall. No shortage of tall people amongst weightlifters.

But they will also stress the importance of proper diet. Nutrition and exercise go hand in hand when it comes to growing both taller and bigger physically.

Archery as an Alternative to Weightlifting

By Charles Moffat - Archery Instructor in Toronto

One of the comments I hear regularly from archery students is how much harder archery is physically than they were expecting.

They were apparently expecting a sport which required very little muscles and was more about aim (like darts, gun marksmanship or even golf) than your ability to pull the bow and hold it steady.

Sadly this is a very common misconception amongst non-archers who make the assumption that archery is easy and anyone can do it. But they forget that in order to aim you first have to be able to pull the bow and most importantly hold it steady.

Let me put it this way... I can lift 300 lbs. But I have to struggle to string a bow that has a 40 lb draw. The bow may say it has a 40 lb draw, but that number is confusing for non-archers because they think 40 lbs isn't a lot.

Olympic recurve archers typically use 40 lb to 50 lb bows when they're in their prime. Some more extreme archers shoot 60 or even 75 lb bows, but those are exceptionally rare.

The trick about archery it is essentially weightlifting, but you are often using some of your weakest muscles to pull the bow. In my experience the average woman can only manage a 20 to 25 lb bow with ease. The average man a 25 to 30 lb bow. Anything higher and they start to struggle or had better be above average with their back, shoulder and arm muscles.

The next trick is holding the bow steady. A lot of people have underdeveloped forearm muscles and struggle to hold the bow steady with their bow arm, and their arrow arm may be strong enough to pull back the arrow, but lacks the endurance to hold it steady long enough so they can aim.

Lastly, there is the matter of repetition. If you shoot 200 arrows with a bow you can barely pull in a 4 hour period you will have a sore back guaranteed. Possibly sore arms too. It really is like weightlifting.

If you're into mythology just look at the legends about famous archers.

Hercules left his bow to the Scythian brothers and only 1 of three brothers could string his bow, thus making him the one who should be king. A different bow belonging to Hercules went to the Trojan War and was the same bow which shot Paris (and he later died from hydra poison).

Other strongmen who used the bow in history, folklore and mythology include: Abhimanyu, Apollo, Arash, Arjuna, Feng Meng, Hayk, Houyi, Jumong, Karna, Marduk, Osoosi, Palnetoke, Rama, Robin Hood, Shiva, William Tell, Zhou Tong.

If you watch all the recent movies featuring archery (The Hunger Games, The Avengers, Brave and even the recent Rambo film) and TV shows (Smallville, Game of Thrones) you might be led to believe that archery is easy.

It can be, but you need to develop the muscles by training. Its true that archery has a steep learning curve. (My students are typically hitting the target after 2 hours of lessons, wherein in comparison their first 10 or so shots were probably complete misses.)

Given lots of time, and lots of helpful tips from an archery instructor, they can learn to hit the target consistently even when distracted, tired, stressed, in poor weather conditions... but they aren't going to reach that pinnacle unless they also build up some muscle strength.

CROSS-TRAINING FOR ARCHERY

#1. Pushups - This is #1 for a reason. Pushups use your triceps and your back muscles which are the two most important muscle groups when doing archery. Pushups also develops your core muscles in your back which helps your balance. I recommend doing 100 to 200 pushups daily.

#2. Chinups - If you have a chinup bar you will want to use it daily. I recommend 100 to 200 chinups per day. It will build up your bicep and shoulder muscles, also good for archery but less important that the triceps and back.

#3. Cardio - This is to build up your endurance. Doesn't matter whether you run, swim or cycle. You need to be building up your endurance so you can shoot 200 arrows per day.

#4. Weightlifting - If you access to weights use them. Lie on your back and lift the weights above you. Stand up and do arm curls. Stand upright and lift to the side using your shoulder muscles. Do all three 50 to 100 times each.

Need more advice on how to train for archery? Hire a personal trainer to create a series of cross-training exercises specially for you!

The Fat-Burning Zone Myth

You may have heard that if you go over a certain heart rate while doing cardio or aerobic exercises that you do not burn fat.

This is however an urban myth. It is one of those misconceptions that should be put to rest once and for all when it comes to fat burning aerobic exercises. The idea got its start in the mid 1990s when scientists reported that during high-intensity fat burning aerobic exercises, the body burned mostly stored carbohydrates for fuel, as opposed to burning stored fat as it did during lower-intensity activity.

The key word is 'mostly'.

Unfortunately a few unintelligent exercise instructors took the news and ran with it, encouraging people to pay for low-intensity "fat-burning" classes... classes that ultimately didn't help people much.

It is true that the body burns a higher percentage of calories from fat during more mellow exercise like walking and easy cycling... but the actual number of calories is very little.

When you pick up the pace for a higher-intensity cardio workout you burn a greater number of overall calories of both stored fat and stored carbs... and thus burned much more fat period.

For example, say a 140-pound woman performs either a fairly easy walk or a high-intensity jog. After 1 hour, she would have burned the following in total and fat calories:

Walk = 200 calories (75% fat for a total of 150 calories of fat)

Jog = 300 calories (60% fat for a total of 180 calories of fat)

Thus the higher intensity workout always burns more fat. Its really the result of your body drawing upon all available reserves to get as much energy to the muscles as it can.

NOTE! High-intensity aerobic exercises kick your metabolism into high gear even after you're done working out. That means that even after you stop exercising you are stilling burning calories because your blood is being pumped faster for a longer period in an effort to heal muscle tissue.

"When you exercise vigorously, you get a robust hormonal change, which causes your body to burn more fat during your recovery time," says Janet Walberg Rankin, PhD, professor of nutrition at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg. Your metabolism also stays revved up five times longer after a vigorous workout than after an easy one. Over time, this can add up to burning an additional 100 to more than 200 calories a day.

High-intensity exercises are difficult to sustain, especially if you're just starting out. But practice makes perfect and you can build up more intensity and duration as you get better at it.

The easiest way to infuse intensity into your existing routine is to start adding 5 minutes of higher intensity exercises to whatever you are doing.