Lifeline: The best workout, and laptop heat
Best cardio workout?: Steady cardiovascular exercise, such as running at a constant pace for 45 minutes, has gotten a bad rap from some fitness experts in recent years. Rather than spending hours on the treadmill, they say, you get more bang for your buck with a strength-training program and interval training—short bursts of intense activity. It turns out, they may be only partly right.
As described in the Male Pattern Fitness blog, an experiment by two highly regarded fitness trainers compared three programs—strength training plus steady cardio, strength training plus intervals, and strength training plus a suspension workout using a TRX pulley system. The results? No differences in weight loss, no differences in performance.
One big difference was in the dropout rates: 80 percent in the aerobic group, 55 percent in the intervals group and 35 percent in the TRX group. Such high attrition rates aren’t uncommon in unpaid experiments conducted at a distance (via e-mail), but it definitely suggests that if you don’t like doing a given activity, you won’t do it. So other methods of exercise may be better than steady aerobics if they get you to work out when otherwise you’d skip it.
Laptops and sperm count
Just a warning for men about laptops and infertility: A Chicago fertility expert warns that along with wearing briefs and soaking in the hot tub, laptop use may diminish sperm count.
“Laptops are becoming increasingly common among young men wired into the latest technology,” said Dr. Suzanne Kavic, director of the division of reproductive endocrinology at Loyola University Health System. “However, the heat generated from laptops can impact sperm production and development making it difficult to conceive down the road.”
Kavic said when couples try unsuccessfully to conceive, males are the cause in 40 percent of cases. She offers the following tips for men:
• Exercising moderately (one hour, three to five times per week)
• Avoiding exercise that can generate heat or trauma to the genital area
• Eating well
• Taking a daily multivitamin
• Getting eight hours of sleep per night
• Staying hydrated and limiting caffeine to no more than two cups per day
• Refraining from smoking
• Avoiding drugs and excessive alcohol use
• Minimizing exposure to toxins
Compiled from News wire service sources
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