Need To Exercise? Take A Pill?
August 4, 2008
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The pill that mimics exercise seems to have been all over the media in the last few days. Sounds too good to be true. How to get trim and buff with an exercise pill or two.
Guess there are 2 types of pills, one where you need to exercise and one that you don’t. I looked at the website of the journal where the research is being published but it was not up yet (the press gets the info ahead of the public). So I am relying mainly on the NYT for the basic info.
One drug (GW1516) makes mice that are exercising have a rapid increase in endurance. The mice on the drug for 4 weeks had 77% more endurance than mice that were not taking the drug.
Treatment with the second drug (AICAR) increased the endurance of mice that were not exercising by 44%. So even with no exercise there was an improvement in muscle structure.
Theoretically, you could take the second drug and sit at home and get more endurance as if you were exercising. It is unknown whether actually doing the exercise has all the major benefits that the pills would not have. Plus one of the drugs need exercise to be effective.
Of course if these drugs are found to consistently build muscle, and not have any serious short or long term side effects, would be very useful for degenerative diseases, after injury and in aging.
In aging it could help build up muscle in those who are frail. A strong musculature not only makes it easier opening jars, picking up groceries, and other things, but also lessens the number of falls and helps protect against injury when a fall occurs.
Even if these drugs can only be used for a short time, the hardest part of any exercise program is the first part, when very out of shape and weak. These exercise pills may provide a good way to get started and see quick results.
photo credit: Brooks Elliott
Technorati Tags: pill, exercise, aicar, endurance, aging
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Weight Training Revs Up The Body Metabolism
February 9, 2008
When weight training there is an increase in the proportion of type II fibers. A recent study showed that when there was a boost in the numbers of type II fibers in mice, that they had higher metabolic rate. The interesting thing about the finding is that the metabolic rate was not just increased in the muscles used in the weight training, but in other tissues in the body. The metabolism of fat cells and the liver was revved up too, and insulin resistance was improved in obese mice that had become diabetic.
This finding suggests that weight training will be of great benefit for anyone trying to lose weight. One of the problems for people on a diet is that the metabolism slows down, and remains at a lower level for quite a long time even after the goal weight has been achieved. It is likely with a restricted food intake that the body goes into starvation/survival mode and lowers the metabolic rate to conserve energy. Adding regular weight training sessions may well be the way to boost the metabolism at least back to the pre-diet level, if not higher. Therefore, weight training should both help with weight loss, and then maintaining the weight loss.
So yesterday, I decided to start weight (resistance) training. Today my triceps and abs, in particular, are sore. It was pretty pathetic how little weight I could lift and how few reps of the abs exercises I managed to do. I wonder if I will be inspired to keep it up this time. The book I used for the exercises (from a previous burst of enthusiasm) was Strength Training for Women by Joan Pagano.
For more information about the study, Weight Training Reduces Fat and Improves Metabolism in Mice, see Science Daily.
Technorati Tags: muscle fiber, weight training, metabolism
Popularity: 100% [?]
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