Fitness
Revolutionizing Fitness: Postbiotics’ Role in Enhancing Exercise Performance and Recovery
A recent systematic review in Nutrients journal highlights the significant impact of postbiotics on exercise performance and recovery, challenging the traditional reliance on probiotics alone. The study meticulously contrasts the effects of probiotics and postbiotics, revealing nuanced differences in their influence on health and athletic performance.
Probiotics vs. Postbiotics: Unveiling the Differences
While probiotics have long been celebrated for their health benefits, ranging from enhancing gut health to supporting mental well-being, postbiotics are emerging as a potent alternative with distinct advantages. Postbiotics, being inanimate microorganisms or their components, offer a longer shelf-life and are less susceptible to environmental changes, making them a practical choice in health and fitness regimes. This shift towards postbiotics is backed by the International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP), defining them as preparations that confer health benefits.
Insights from the Systematic Review
The review delves into several studies comparing probiotic and postbiotic supplements, revealing that postbiotics not only match but sometimes surpass probiotics in promoting exercise recovery and reducing inflammation. Notably, postbiotics such as Lactiplantibaccilus plantarum TWK10 and Lacticaseibacillus paracasei PS23 have shown promising results in improving endurance, strength recovery, and reducing muscle damage. Moreover, certain postbiotics have demonstrated potential in enhancing mental health and immunity among athletes, further underscoring their value in sports nutrition.
Implications for Athletes and Fitness Enthusiasts
The findings suggest a paradigm shift in the approach to dietary supplements for athletes, with postbiotics offering a viable alternative to probiotics. The evidence supports the ergogenic benefits of postbiotic supplementation, including improved mental health, fatigue reduction, and enhanced readiness for exercise. This review paves the way for further research and potentially redefines nutritional strategies in sports, advocating for a broader inclusion of postbiotics in athletes’ diets.
The exploration of postbiotics in the realm of exercise and recovery opens new avenues for athletes and fitness enthusiasts seeking to optimize their performance and well-being. As the scientific community continues to unravel the benefits of postbiotics, their incorporation into health and fitness regimes could revolutionize the way we approach physical training and recovery.
WHEN ERNIE HUDSON walked the red carpet at the premiere of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire—40 years after he starred in the first Ghostbusters movie—the internet could not get over how buff he looked, and had all kinds of questions about how he maintains such a fit and youthful appearance at the age of 78. In the latest episode of Gym & Fridge, Hudson invites Men’s Health into his Los Angeles home to break down the diet and training routine that keep him feeling good.
Firstly, Hudson is an intermittent faster, and won’t eat before noon. His first meal of the day tends to be oatmeal, or smoked salmon and eggs. But while salmon is an almost-daily staple, you won’t find many other varieties of fish or seafood in his fridge; he has a severe shellfish allergy. It’s so bad, in fact, that it proved to be one of the most dangerous parts of his service in the U.S. Marine Corps.
“My drill instructor made me eat a piece of shrimp. I kept saying, I’m allergic! He couldn’t believe that little piece of shrimp would be a problem,” he says. “I ate it, and I had an awful asthma attack, and I was eventually discharged from the military.”
Allergies and intolerances aside, there is not much that Hudson would 100% exclude from his diet. Similarly, he avoids fad diets these days. As he’s gotten older, he mainly tries to keep moderation in mind.
“I don’t have any rules of ‘I don’t eat.’ When I make a rule, every part of me wants to break it, so I don’t make rules,” he says. “There’s a price to pay for everything, and unless I really want to pay that price, it’s best to just leave it alone… The problem with diets is, as soon as you get off them, the weight starts to come back. The toughest diet I ever tried was called the Beverly Hills diet; grapefruit, cottage cheese. It was stupid!”
“I think as I’ve gotten older, you realize that you’re never going to do the things you know you should do,” he continues. “You’re never going to eat the way you should. I’ve done every diet you can imagine. At some point you have to just try to be a little bit better.”
Hudson hits the gym three times a week, working out at Studio G Fitness, where he’s been going for the last 25 years. “I’m not the kind of guy who can get motivated to work out,” he explains. “I need someone else to tell me what to do.”
He keeps his sessions to an hour or less, hitting strength, mobility and balance on different days, and on the occasions when he can’t get to a gym, he’ll make sure that he does at least 100 pushups.
“At a certain stage in life, it’s just common sense stuff; I don’t want to break anything, I don’t want to overpush anything,” he says. “You only get one body, so it’s very important for me to keep it as functional as possible. Also, I’ve been married close to 50 years, and I don’t want my wife pretending that I’m attractive. I want at least to have a smile when I take off my shirt!”
Fitness
I lost 80 pounds and became a fitness instructor — thanks to one piece of exercise equipment
She’s on a roll.
A New Jersey woman is revealing how she shed 80 pounds and achieved her dream of becoming an indoor cycling instructor. Amanda Hinds, 31, loved the sport but ended up taking an extended break during the COVID-19 pandemic because her gym closed and she lost motivation.
“A little after COVID, I went on vacation, and I couldn’t even walk. My feet hurt just from walking and standing. My athleticism was really bad,” she told Today.com last week. “I went to the doctor, and I saw that I had gained 100 pounds in a year. I couldn’t believe it. I was so frustrated and disgusted with myself.”
She got back in the saddle in June 2021, documenting her weight loss and confidence building progress on TikTok to her 29,300 followers.
She started on her Peloton at 300 pounds and had dropped to 245 by August 2022. “I love cycling! Find something you love and stick with it,” she captioned one TikTok.
According to Harvard University, a 125-pound person can burn 315 calories riding a stationary bicycle vigorously for 30 minutes. That translates to 278 calories for a 155-pound person and 441 calories for a 185-pound person.
Those calorie counts drop between 200 and 300 if the cycling is done at a moderate pace over the half hour.
Hinds took baby steps, focusing on getting through one song at a time until she had enough courage to audition to become a CycleBar instructor. She announced in June 2023 that she had reached her goal.
Now she’s proud to represent “plus-sized women of color” as an instructor.
“I used to think riding here, people that don’t look like me, I maybe won’t fit in, I maybe can’t do the class well… so seeing people see that I am on the podium, so now they feel inspired that they can come to take a class and they feel motivated, less afraid,” Hinds told News 12 New Jersey in February.
The Belleville resident teaches in Jersey City and Montclair, per News 12.
She’s also taken up running, even signing up for a half marathon after being able to run 4 miles at a time.
“If you told me last year I was going to be jogging for an hour, I would not believe you. I’m definitely proud of myself when it comes to my fitness level,” she told Today.com.
Indoor cycling isn’t the only way to drop pounds — others have recently credited a weighted sled and a jump rope for their significant weight loss.
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