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I’m new to weight training. What’s better for developing muscle – machines or free weights?
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Spinach and artichoke side
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Where you store fat says a lot about your health. Find out what your fat deposits reveal about you.
| Trouble Zones |
Oxygen
#48, pg. 62 |
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By Sydney Loney
Ever since the World Health Organization (WHO) first identified obesity
as an epidemic of mass proportions in the 1990s, scientists have done a
great deal of research on the health risks associated with being overweight.
The United States Center for Disease Control estimates that 300,000 Americans
die annually from obesity-related illnesses, such as heart disease, diabetes,
high blood pressure, stroke and some types of cancer. And the weight of
the world is growing globally – according to the WHO, waistlines have
expanded well beyond industrialized countries, with 300 million adults suffering
from obesity worldwide and more than 115 million of those from developing
countries. However, recent studies show that weight distributed more locally
could have even greater health implications than general obesity alone.
A study conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota tracked
30,000 women for 12 years and discovered that those who carried excess weight
around their middles were more likely to die or develop heart disease than
generally overweight women. The study was reviewed in 2000 by Tufts University
Nutrition Commentator, which noted that the findings supported existing
views “that it is not just total fatness, but where the fat sits on
the body that makes being overweight such a health hazard.”
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Site specific fat storage
  Where
people store fat can be attributed to everything from genetics to hormonal
imbalances. In an article entitled “Obesity Begets Obesity”
the U.S. Bariatric’s Director of Research, Cynthia Buffington, Ph.D.,
writes: “Various studies, including our own, have shown changes in
the production (or clearance) of certain hormones in association with increasing
body mass and regional fat distribution. Such hormonal changes may promote
further weight gain and influence where the fat is distributed on the body.”
Some of these hormonal imbalances include high levels of blood insulin,
increased cortisol, low growth hormone levels and high testosterone for
women or low testosterone for men. In his Biosignature Modulation program,
strength coach Charles Poliquin in  Tempe
Arizona explains what fat deposits reveal about a person’soverall
health and prescribes treatment relative to the characteristics of each
site. He has identified 10 different fat storage sites on the body, which
include the subscapular, or shoulder blade area, the triceps, the umbilical,
or abdominal region, the front of the thighs, the gluteal fold and the mid-axillary
and supra-iliac areas, located on the sides of the waist. In addition to
exercise and diet, he recommends a variety of supplements to target each
trouble spot.
Triceps
“Lean triceps
are a function of higher androgen levels in the bloodstream,” Poliquin
says. “Stress levels tend to lower androgen levels by ‘stealing’
pregnenolone to make cortisol instead of making the androgen DHEA. Herbal
preparations, called adaptogens, help the body handle stress better and
thus reduce cortisol levels.” In a report on nutritional stress management,
Dr. Richard L. Shames from Florida Atlantic University writes that adaptogens
are herbs that have been clinically proven to support a healthy response
to stress. “Herbal adaptogens provide the benefit of balancing and
normalizing the physiology,” Shames says.
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