Fitness

Feeding your fitness – Harvard Health

Published

2 years ago

June 18, 2024

Diligently training for a marathon, Barbara alternated hard runs lasting an hour or two with easier jogs meant to give her muscles a break. But the 40-something woman couldn’t figure out why those short bursts proved just as taxing as the longer treks, leaving her sore and wiped out.

The pieces came together when Barbara met with Mary Ellen Kelly, a registered dietitian at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital. To promote fat loss, Barbara confessed, she usually didn’t eat after her workouts. But the zero-refueling strategy meant she was sacrificing the strength and endurance she needed to train effectively.

“Those long runs took so much out of her that the shorter runs became incredibly hard, because she was functioning at such an energy and protein deficit,” Kelly recounts.

Barbara’s example highlights a dramatic distinction between the sexes: after exercise, our bodies require an entirely different approach to replace what’s been lost and promote muscle recovery and growth. Optimally, women should refuel within 30 to 45 minutes after a workout, while men have up to three hours to accomplish the same task. Continually ignoring this need can lead to symptoms of low energy availability, such as fatigue and soreness.

As Barbara learned, “it’s really hard for the body to optimize recovery if we’re chronically under-fueled,” Kelly says.

Hormonal drivers

For both women and men, exercise is the best kind of stress, increasing our heart rate and making muscles work harder. But it does require us to nourish ourselves properly to overcome that stress.

That’s where the similarities end, however. Why is a woman’s refueling window so much shorter? Hormonal variations between the sexes underlie this difference, says Dr. Beth Frates, director of lifestyle medicine and wellness in the Department of Surgery at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

Progesterone is a primary driver, exacerbating women’s post-exercise muscle breakdown. This outcome is magnified for women who are peri- or postmenopausal. If they allow their muscles to remain in a breakdown state without replenishing with protein — and if they consume protein only at the beginning and end of the day — they’re more likely to feel sluggish, sore, and unable to exercise at their peak.

“Women need to refuel with protein more quickly to oppose this breakdown,” Dr. Frates says.

During the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle — the week or so before a period arrives — women may also crave more carbohydrates and want to eat more.

“If you feel a little hungrier, it’s not in your head — your body actually needs that,” Kelly says. “Being mindful of your cycle, listening to your hunger cues, and eating that little extra could support your training.”

Protein-packing strategies

Aim to consume at least 70 grams of protein throughout the day so that you begin any workout well-fueled. “That means your muscles have been topped off and hydrated and they’re ready to tap into for exercise,” Kelly says.

After exercise, you’ll want ingest about 20 grams of protein within 45 minutes, and pair it with carbohydrates if you don’t plan to eat again within the next hour or two.

Protein-rich food choices include

a cup of Greek yogurt

3 ounces of chicken, turkey, salmon, or steak

a scoop of whey protein powder

a ready-to-drink protein shake.

Even a big glass of chocolate milk can provide an adequate mix of the protein, carbohydrates, and electrolytes muscles should ideally receive after exercise, Kelly says.

If, like Barbara, you’re aiming for workout-driven fat loss, you can still meet your goal and refuel properly afterward. Just be strategic so you don’t sacrifice muscle strength in the process, Kelly says. How? Aim for a calorie deficit at other points in the day, not after your workout time. Kelly suggests monitoring portions and limiting alcoholic drinks.

“If someone is doing a light workout, such as a walk or 20 or 30 minutes on an elliptical machine, the principles of intentional refueling probably don’t need to be applied,” she says. “But if your workout is intense and your ultimate goal is weight loss, pay attention to your overall fueling patterns.”

Image: © Mike Kemp/Getty Images

Fitness

From Lifespan to ‘Health-span’: Use the New Year to Focus on Both Health and Fitness

Published

10 hours ago

December 24, 2025

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From Lifespan to ‘Health-span’: Use the New Year to Focus on Both Health and Fitness

Fitness encompasses cardiovascular endurance, strength training, and mobility/flexibility. These are non-negotiables for continuing to live throughout your later years with your independence and ability to move and socialize still intact.

Instead of thinking simply about living longer, let’s use the start of a new year to focus on getting healthier, so we live better. More than any other time each year, the New Year is a popular time to focus on a “fresh start.” Temporal landmarks like New Year’s Day, Mondays, birthdays and the change of seasons are standard starting lines for many of us when we have a goal to work toward and bad habits to break.

Science Says Fitness Matters (Even More than Weight)

A recent study published in the British Journal of Medicine, Cardiorespiratory Fitness, BMI, and Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, shows that, regardless of body weight (obese, overweight or normal), fitness matters more for all-cause mortality. They measured the weight, BMI and fitness of six groups: normal weight-fit; normal weight-unfit; overweight-fit; overweight-unfit; obese-fit; and obese-unfit.

The analyses revealed that individuals classified as fit, regardless of their BMI, did not have a statistically significantly higher risk of cardiovascular disease or all-cause mortality compared to normal weight-fit people. At the same time, all unfit groups across different BMI categories exhibited a two- to threefold higher risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality compared to their regular weight-fit counterparts.

About Body Mass Index (BMI)

Now, you may be saying, “But BMI is flawed!” Sure. BMI is not the best indicator for distinguishing normal weight, overweight and obesity because it is simply a height-to-weight ratio that does not account for differences in body fat/muscle composition, age, sex or other factors. Before you discredit this entire study because of the BMI issue, remember that it measured fitness levels among people of different sizes. Some had more muscle and were considered fit in the overweight/obese group, while others were deemed unfit in the normal weight group. Still, BMI helps place people of differing sizes (height and weight groups) and focuses on measuring each group’s fitness. In the end, fitness matters more than BMI, so the goal is to exercise, get in shape, build muscle and lose fat.

Set Your Training Goals to Be Long-Term

It is fine to have short-term, specific training goals, such as strength gains and endurance times, or weight gain or weight loss. However, start this year with a 10-year fitness focus, as what you do in your 40s-50s will determine how you live in your 60s-70s. Always think 10 years ahead, no matter what your age, because what you gain today and maintain tomorrow is needed to continue to live independently for a few more generations in your family’s lineage. You can focus on longevity and optimal performance for your fitness and health goals at the same time by maintaining a consistent activity level and healthful nutrition, sleep and recovery.

Try This Goal: Make Annual Physical and Blood Screening Appointments

If you have not been to a doctor in a while, set an appointment in January, and get into the habit of annual health and wellness screenings. Treat annual physicals with the doctor as opportunities to PR (personal record) common blood work results, such as cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, body weight and blood pressure. These are just the basics to help you assess how to adjust your sleep, nutrition, physical activity and stress management. These meetings are also quite satisfying when you achieve solid results that show health and wellness.

Don’t Give Up

While a large portion of us (nearly half of Americans) will create a New Year’s resolution, only about 9%-10% will achieve their goals. After a stressful holiday season, we are typically burned out in January. This may not be the best time to start a lifestyle change, complete with quitting bad habits (over-eating, smoking, drinking) and starting new healthy habits (gym membership, diet, etc.).

Instead, use the first few weeks of January to focus on stress mitigation and recovery. This should include building easy habits of walking every day, stretching, taking deep breaths and simply not overeating. This is a great way to move into a new fitness focus. Then, when feeling back to normal, focus a little harder, with more intensity, duration of training, and specificity to your fitness and health goals.

There are many ways to expand your “health-span.” Check out these options and get consistent with any or all of them:

Final Advice

If you want to get started on a focused health and wellness goal of being able to do physical activities, stay social and be independent, start with the basics of walking and stretching daily for a month. The following month, add calisthenics such as squats, lunges, push-ups and the plank pose. The following month, add weights such as dumbbells or kettlebells, or suspension trainers such as the TRX.

This steady progression helps you ease into fitness habits gently and adds a new component each month to keep it interesting. To achieve results with lifelong wellness goals, you need to keep endurance, strength and mobility/flexibility as primary focuses. Stability, durability, balance, speed and agility can also be developed once you have built the foundation. This is the beauty of long-term goals. Focus on doing something each day, being disciplined about eating and drinking healthfully, and learning stress-mitigation techniques such as breathing to take into your next decade on this planet.

There are dozens of these types of articles at the Military.com Fitness Section. Check them out for ideas on specific ways to train.

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Fitness

Exercise ‘snacks’ can keep your fitness on track when time is tight – try these 3 today

Published

22 hours ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

Exercise ‘snacks’ can keep your fitness on track when time is tight – try these 3 today

December is great for many things – socialising, scoffing, falling out with relatives – but sticking to a training schedule is not one of them.

Heading out the door on Christmas morning for a two-hour long run is likely to put anyone on the naughty list, while it takes a dedicated runner indeed to spend part of the festive period running loops of the track.

What the mere mortal needs is exercise “snacks”. These can be enjoyed/endured alongside the carb-based variety and snuck in to even the busiest Christmas schedule.

A review in Sports Medicine and Health Research confirmed that regular, short bursts of physical activity throughout the day improved cardiovascular respiratory fitness, increased fat oxidation and polished off blood sugar levels after eating.

Vigorous intermittent exercises, such as sprints, were good for building muscle strength. Meanwhile, 10-minute resistance training sessions were found to be particularly beneficial to older people. The researchers concluded that exercise snacks could be a viable alternative to longer, less frequent sessions.

Cram in vigorous bouts of stair climbing for muscle strength, or one or two sub-10 minute morsels for muscle growth as an efficient alternative to meatier long sessions. Here’s some inspo below…

3 exercise snacks to gorge on

Try these simple workouts for results on the quick

For upper-body

Press-ups: 3 x 20 with a 30-sec rest between (b/w) reps

Bench dips: 3 x 15 with a 30-sec rest b/w reps

For lower-body

Bodyweight squats: 3 x 20 with 20-sec rest b/w reps

Wall sit: 2 x 90 secs with 1-min rest b/w reps

For cardio fitness

Burpees: 3 x 20 with 30-sec rest b/w reps

Skipping: 4mins consisting of 1min normal, 1min high knees, 1min normal, 1min high knees

Fitness

Study shows the antioxidants in this tea improve exercise recovery

Published

1 day ago

December 22, 2025

Press Room

Study shows the antioxidants in this tea improve exercise recovery

I love many different herbal teas just as much as I enjoy a good old-fashioned British cup of PG tips, Earl Grey, or Glengettie — a Welsh favorite from the rolling valleys where I was born. In an interesting study, researchers explored whether drinking green or matcha tea can improve sports performance and exercise recovery, and the results might have you reaching for a vibrant green drink. If you want to get straight to the results, the short answer is that drinking green and matcha tea can support hydration, body fat control, and exercise recovery. Still, it definitely won’t be a game-changer when it comes to your performance in the gym, on the court, or on the field.

Hydrating with tea

In a study published in Nutrition and Food Technology, researchers reviewed existing studies of athletes and active adults that focused solely on drinking tea — no pills or extracts. They revealed that green or matcha tea can help hydrate the body when consumed in normal amounts. Tea counts toward your daily water intake.

Antioxidants and recovery

The research highlighted how the widely-studied antioxidants in green and matcha tea can improve exercise recovery and help protect your cells from the stress associated with intense exercise. That said, the research shows that drinking tea won’t lead to faster or better strength gains, so it’s no silver bullet for helping you achieve your fitness goals. However, they also concluded that low-caffeine green tea could even improve sleep quality, which I would argue could potentially help you power through that workout if you’re getting better sleep the night before.

Linked to lower body fat

Interestingly, the study authors also concluded that drinking around two or three cups of green or matcha tea per day was associated with slightly lower body fat and improved body composition and fat burning. While the effects weren’t overly significant, they were noted in the research. Cup of tea, anyone?