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Don’t Resist Tubing Exercises

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A few years ago, we thought nothing could beat machines to strengthen and tone muscles. Then we realized that with a set of dumbbells, barbell, and a few plates—the old school way—we could get ripped, stronger, and improve sports performance.

Today, that colorful tubing that hangs on gym walls is the “new” muscle builder. Still, men often think it is best suited for “girls” while women believe they are for stretching and nothing else.

Who’s right? None of them.

Let’s begin by ditching the idea that exercise equipments are gender specific. Men will not automatically get bigger nor will women prevent the “bulky” belief based solely on their exercise equipment of choice. (Hormones, exercise type of training, diet, among other factors determine how “big or small” you can get.) The tubing, as any other exercise device, provides different resistance. However, they do force the muscle contraction to work differently than free weights.

Tubing versus Free Weights

When you do a dumbbells bicep curls, or any free weights exercise, you begin with high resistance and end with low resistance. However, when doing the same exercise with the tubing, the effect is the opposite—you begin with low resistance and end with high resistance. And the more you stretch the tubing, the greater the resistance.

Is this good or bad? Neither. Tubing exercises are not in the fitness game to substitute what machines and free weights provide. Each exercise equipment is important to add to your overall program to keep challenging your body and avoid the worst workout enemy: the “routine” of doing the same exercises over and over, which will slow and even stop your progress.

Indeed, tubing exercises teach you how to control the weigh downward, which is an important part of muscle contraction. Many people just throw the weigh down when they finish a rep and lose the benefits of lengthening the muscle in a controlled manner, which teaches the muscle to decelerate the external load and aids in injury prevention. Most muscular injuries occur when resisting any external force whether in sports or lowering a box from atop a shelf.

Proven Muscle Benefits

To get stronger and take full advantage of a resistance training workout, you need to engage the muscle fibers while maintaining sufficient time under tension. This stimulates the metabolic pathways that can boost muscle mass and maximize caloric expenditure—increase muscle building growth hormone, testosterone, and IGF, among others.

Up to now, many people believe nothing beats old-fashion free weights to produce the best results. Nevertheless, a study in which elastic tubing—3 sets of 15 reps—was compared to heavy loading—3 to 5 reps—showed that a high level of muscle activity could be reached with a medium load using the tubing. “Strengthening exercises performed with elastic tubing seem to be an efficient resistance exercise and feasible and practical alternative to traditional resistance equipment,” concludes the study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

Whole Body Tubing Workout

The secret to a tubing workout is to keep a fast pace and engage several muscles at the same time. You should move from one exercise to another with minimal rest. Here is a simple routine to get you going. Perform 15 reps each and repeat the circuit three times. If you are a beginner, do the circuit once or twice at first. If you are intermediate or advanced, you can perform this workout by itself or add it at the end of your upper and/or lower strength workout to induce a higher muscle fatigue. Also, do not perform on back-to-back days and leave at least one day for recovery.

Squat to Upper Row: Extend your arms straight out. Perform a squat while bringing the arms at 90 degree, shoulder level (do not shrug the shoulders). Focus on the posterior part of the shoulders and upper trapezius.

Single Leg Squat to Fly: Begin from a lunge position with the arms slightly bent at shoulder height. If you bend too much at the elbows, you will lower the resistance and end emphasizing more of the biceps than the chest muscles. Next, bring the arms together as you raise your body. Keep doing this for the number of reps. Switch legs and repeat.

Cross Over Upper Back Abduction: cross the arms so the right forearm rests on the left. Extend both arms in front of you at shoulder height. Keep your legs shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent. Bring your arms out to the side without bending them, and avoid shrugging the shoulders – look at the position of the hands- . Focus on squeezing the muscles around the scapula together. Switch arm positions for the next set.

Band Pull-Over to Crunch on Ball: With your arms fully extended, bring them down using the chest muscles and upper back. Lift the upper body slightly to squeeze the chest muscles and abdominals.

 

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Not All Whole Grains Are Created Equal

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Which would you choose: washed out white bread or brownish golden whole grain bread? And more important, why? You may be part of the 72% and 73% of American who consume more fiber and whole grains respectively–according to the 2010 Food & Health Survey by the International Food Information Council—in the pursuit of satiety and weight loss and/or cholesterol reduction. But do get what you think from this dietary move?

The question is particularly relevant, when you consider 47% of people who eat whole grains rely on bread to fill their fiber needs, according to consumer research. And while numerous studies show fiber plays an important role to get the weight loss and other benefits of whole grains, not all whole grain food products guarantee a good amount of fiber, nor do all fiber sources (processed or natural) provide the same benefits.

Whole Grain and Fiber Are Not Equal

“Whole-grain” has been added to many food products labels—from baby soup and salads to side dishes and chips. However, a look at 72 nationally distributed ready-to-eat cereals with front package whole grain claims found that the fiber content varied considerably ranging from 0 to 11 g per serving, according to the recent article “The Fiber Deficit, Part II: Consumer Misperceptions About Whole Grains and Fiber” in Nutrition Today.

Indeed, nearly one-half (32) contained less than the minimum amount of fiber to be labeled as a “good source” of fiber—3 g or more. Likewise, out of 46 cereal-granola bars with whole grain claims, only 7 contained the minimum amount of fiber to be labeled as good source of fiber.

Bottom-line: Buy only food products that claim “100% whole grain” or “X g of whole grains.” Do not trust marketing phrases, such as “rich in,” “good,” or “excellent” source of fiber.

Overall, a good source of fiber provides at least 3 g or more. So to bulk up your fiber intake—which is below the recommended intake for adults—13.8 g actual versus the recommended 25 g for women and 38 g for men—switch to cereal with 6 g of fiber per serving, 100% whole wheat bread for a sandwich, and popcorn instead of chips. These three small changes can add 10 g of fiber to your daily diet.

Natural versus Fake Fiber

While not all fiber foods have the same amount, nor do they all provide the same health benefits. Joannne Slavin, Ph.D., registered dietitian and professor of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota, has conducted several studies on fiber, and has found that not all the processed fiber added to food products, such as bars, cookies, muffins, etc., may provide the satiety effect so highly claimed.

In fact, when people eat the same muffin, but with different types of fiber added like resistant starch, polydextrose, or beta-glucan, just the resistant starch showed some satiety effect. Need more convincing? When Slavin compared two chocolate crisp bars with two processed fibers—inulin and soluble corn fiber—to a bar with no added fiber there was no difference in satiety.

Bottom-line: Go for natural food sources of fiber, such as legumes, beans, popcorn, almonds, pecans, walnuts, oatmeal, baked potato with the skin, berries, and apples with the skin, to get at least 14 g of fiber per 1,000 calories consumed, says Cheryl Kapalka, MPH, RD, CNSC, CDE, Clinical Nutrition Manager, Valley Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas.

Liquid or Solid?

Imagine this scenario: you have a liquid breakfast that consists of a popular commercially available fruit juice and milk—or oatmeal topped with blueberries, bite-sized apple slices, and brown sugar. Both provide the same amount of calories and fiber: 410 Kcal and 10 g. Which one should you choose?

In a study published in Appetite, in which subjects were tested on these two breakfast options, the solid meal naturally rich in fiber (oatmeal and whole fruits) decreased gastric emptying time and decreased hunger more than the liquid meal with added fiber.

Bottom-line: If your goal is to curb hunger and control appetite with fiber then solid food may be your best option.