So, you want your body to have ultimate health?
Well, you know, ....when you've got it on the INSIDE , ....it'll show up on the OUTSIDE .
BODY COMPOSITION
Muscle
Throughout your body you have muscle tissue. Each and every muscle fiber is "metabolically active" 24 hours a day. These muscle cells can help you lower the fat content of your fat cells by burning up fat as an energy source. When you weight train you can teach yourself that the more exhausted you make each and every muscle, the more it will help you lower your body fat levels. Exhaust as much muscle tissue as you can throughout your entire body. The larger the muscle mass (i.e.- Lower back, Quadriceps, Chest, etc.) the more fat reduction possible. Any muscle does NOT necessarily burn off the fat next to it. It is genetically determined which fat comes off first. You don't determine this, so forget about "spot reducing". Mentally scan your body every workout and "see" the muscle fibers you are intending to exhaust so that they will "serve" you for what you want them for.
Fat
Fat is an energy source. You need a certain level of body fat, but not as much as most people have. This excess fat is stored energy that exercise can burn up. Most physiques look healthier and muscles "show up" when the body is low enough in body fat. Instead of killing yourself with ab crunches (and possibly creating unwanted hernias) to get that "ripped" look, you should seriously consider whether or not it's excess fat in your stomach area that is keeping you from that "ripped stomach" look. Every day you can scan your body to "see" where your excess fat stores are. These areas are stored energy waiting for you to adopt a lifestyle that will "chew" this extra energy up. EXERCISE is the way to chew up this excess.
Heart
Aerobic exercises can be used by your body as fat burners. But most of your body fat won't be made available to your aerobic efforts until AFTER 30 minutes of continuous aerobic exercise. Your body is set up this way in order to "preserve" its fat levels. You see, fat is "good" as far as your body is concerned. It is food that has been "caught and consumed" waiting to be used for your body's energy requirements. In the old days of "not a store on every corner" you could depend on your excess fat to feed you in case you couldn't find food or didn't have the energy to catch it. SO ACCEPT THE FACT THAT FAT IS SEEN AS GOOD BY YOUR BODY. But your body makes NO decisions. If you present an environment (lifestyle) to your body that includes exercise, excess fat WILL be used up as energy is needed by your body.
Nutrition
Food is supposed to supply us with nutrients. Most of us use food for a variety of other reasons, but its main purpose is to supply you with the proper nutrients you need to achieve ultimate levels of health. In America we lead fairly easy lives in relation to most other countries. This "easy" lifestyle seems to lead us into unhealthy food choices. It seems rather illogical that our WEALTH has such an ill effect on our HEALTH. Want food to play a positive role in your health? Than get as close to nature as is possible and steer clear of artificial ingredients. Use food to supply yourself with nutrients so that your body has the energy to exercise, which will use up the excess fat you have. It will also firm your muscle tissue and give your joints, ligaments and tendons tensile strength. As you become healthier, disease has less of a chance to take you down. Excess fat is one form of DISease, i.e.- Lack of ease.

I am Body Composition, this is how I see the world:


I view every day as a chance to improve my body's level of health. As I make my choices for the FOOD I eat, the EXERCISES I do and the RELAXATION I enjoy, I am constantly on the search for the HEALTHIEST paths to take. It is like I am some sort of "laboratory experiment", learning every day more and more about my body. NOT gloating about how it looks, but taking an active role in supplying it with the best possible environment for it to adapt to. You see, my body makes no decisions, it merely adapts to the environment I expose it to.
       I have muscle cells and fat cells. The ratio of my muscle cells/my fat cells is the primary contributor to my body composition. If I can either densify and/or enlarge my muscle cells, that ratio renders a faster metabolism. And, if I can reduce the size of my fat cells, that ratio renders a faster metabolism. It is kind of like one army fighting against another. My MUSCLE ARMY vs. my FAT ARMY . It is up to me to supply my MUSCLE ARMY with all the resources I can to give it the best possible chance of winning the war. It is ALSO up to me to make sure my FAT ARMY has the least possible chance for victory. So, although my muscles and fat are "at war", I have the OPPORTUNITY to act as DIRECTOR of the whole affair and keep the "scales" tipped in my favor.
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THEORY OF PRIMARY RESIDENCE
"I am NOT my body, I merely live in it"


There are many "residences" we use throughout our lives. The PRIMARY residence we use is our bodies. We spend all of our time in our bodies, along with other residences. Why I differentiate between YOU and YOUR BODY is because of this: If you were involved in an accident and lost HALF of your body (maybe your legs got cut off), you could still think, converse about and have emotion towards every subject you knew of BEFORE the accident. Therefore, even though you lost half of your body, YOU are still the same . You did NOT lose half of YOU, you lost half of YOUR BODY.
Therefore, you are NOT your body, YOU ARE YOU. Other residences are your home, car, office, etc. Places you "spend time" in. Since your body is the place you spend all of your time in, it is your PRIMARY residence.
BUT, most people have 2 or 3 other "residences" in better shape when compared to their potential than their body is in compared to its potential. DOES THAT FOLLOW LOGIC? NO!
If your body is your PRIMARY residence, then logic dictates that it should be in as good of or BETTER shape than ANY other residence you have.
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Copyright © 2000 -- Barry Acquistapace, Owner of born2Bfit.com
E-mail -- SOCALXPRT@Yahoo.com
Revised -- 03/21/2000
URL -- http://www.born2Bfit.com/bodycomposition.html
Web master -- Barry Acquistapace