Introduction

An average adult consumes nearly a million calories a year. Despite this huge number, some healthy people are able to maintain a relatively stable body weight over years and decades without much conscious effort. When “calories in” equals “calories out,” a state of energy balance is achieved and body weight remains constant.

Metabolism is the process of converting food to fuel for the body. Metabolic rate is the number of calories used to fuel the body. Therefore, your resting metabolism is the amount of energy your body uses at rest.

The energy balance equation is driven by common laws of physics and thermodynamics:

• Energy cannot be created or destroyed.
• Energy is either used or stored. When “calories in” are less than “calories out,” a state of negative energy balance occurs and body weight decreases.

In contrast, when “calories in” are greater than “calories out,” a state of positive energy balance occurs and body weight increases.

Being overweight is a result of being in a positive energy balance where “calories in” is greater than “calories out”. This can be caused by:

• eating too much
• not enough exercise or activity
• having a low metabolic rate

Food provides calories (fuel) for the body in the form of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Any calories from food that are not used immediately for energy production are stored. Each source of calories is unique in the way it is used and stored by the body.

Carbohydrates are usually the main source of energy for the body. Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose (sugar) and stored in individual muscle cells in the form of glycogen. The body can only store limited amounts of carbohydrates as glycogen. Carbohydrates contains four calories per gram.

Proteins are used by the body to build and maintain body tissues and is rarely used by the body for energy. Like carbohydrates, the body can only store limited amounts of protein. Protein also contains four calories per gram.

Fat is the most calorie-dense of the nutrients. Unlike carbohydrate and protein, the body has an almost unlimited capacity to store fat and body fat stores act as the long term fuel reserves to prevent against starvation. A common misunderstanding is that you can only increase body fat by eating too much fat but studies show that an abundance of fuels, especially carbohydrates, also leads to increased body fat storage. Fat contains nine calories per gram.

Watching the number of calories in the food you eat helps manage your “calories in,” but to achieve energy balance you also need to know your “calories out.” The body uses (burns) calories in three ways: Physical Activity, Digestion of Food, and your Resting Metabolism.

In the last few months I have had a few of my students off through injury. In this blog I will share my insight into treating sprains and common injuries encountered in martial arts training. I find the classic method of applying ice every 10-15 minutes on the hour to the sore joints and elevating the limb well above the heart works wonders. This will drastically reduce swelling.

Factors that will optimize recovery are flexibility, weight training, cardio and nutrition. Injuries that commonly occur are strains and sprains. A strain is injury to the muscle whereas a sprain is injury to the ligament. When the body is injured, it bleeds internally and this is what causes the stiffness and pain. Immobilization of the limb greatly contributes to the stiffness, which is why flexibility is so important for recovery; a fully functioning joint is less likely to have underlying scar tissue and adhesion.

Approximately ten million Americans have osteoporosis, and another 34 million have low bone mass, (osteopenia). A disease without symptoms, osteoporosis affects about 20 percent of men and 80 percent of women. While the bones gradually become weaker, they are more likely to break in a minor fall or, if left untreated, even from something as simple as a sneeze. The most frequent fracture sites are hip, wrist and spine, although any bone in your body could be affected.

A diagnosis of osteopenia or osteoporosis could be scary, leading most people to stop exercisse due to fear it will cause fractures. The truth is that those with low bone mass should make a point to exercise regularly.

By Kevin Hensey

"I work all day. I don’t have time to exercise."

Core Stability is becoming a more frequently used word in the health, fitness and the sporting industries. But when I look around at the quality of training that presents its self, I can see that training the “Core” it is a very misunderstood subject.