Dr Michael Mosley is a fountain of knowledge when it comes to the best diets and exercises for weight loss. He spoke to wellness guru Liz Earle for a Wellbeing Facebook Live session, and explained the best way to do press-ups and squats if you want to see results.
Liz said: “Strength training and building up muscle – having a real focus on eggs and protein and full fat Greek yoghurt and all those foods that are going to help with muscle and endurance.
“Can do your high intensity exercise as well alongside?”
“We have a full programme describing the sort of exercises, you can start from any point, from beginner to someone who is really quite advanced,” Dr Michael replied.
“I’m a fan of high intensity, and I also do press-ups and squats every morning.”
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“You’d think the hard bit, and the muscle-building bit is when you’re going up, against resistance.
“But actually it’s when you’re going down, that’s the bit you should be focusing on in the squat and press-up.”
“So going down slowly and then up faster?” Liz reiterated.
The guest said: “Absolutely. That’s where most of the benefit comes from surprisingly enough.”
There are several benefits to eccentric training.
Rep per rep, eccentric training is great for building both muscle size and strength.
It also improves calorie burning – evening when resting – and increased flexibility, thus reduces the need to perform dedicated “flexibility” workouts.
Eccentric training also results in a lower risk of injury, and produces better results in sports.
The one caveat of eccentric training is the delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) – that soreness you feel up to 72 hours after a tough workout.
Dr Michael continued: “If you can do those two [squat and press-up], then you’re onto a winner already.
“And I also encourage people to try and fit in a few squats throughout the day, so if you’re making a cup of tea, do a few squats. Just build them in.
“The real key is routine, it’s finding something that triggers it,” Dr Michael continued.
“For example I get out of bed, I open the curtains, I do press-ups and squats.
“It’s the opening of the curtains that tells me what to do. Similarly, some people what they do is when they go to the loo, they do a few press-ups and squats afterwards.”
Liz suggested: “Or brushing your teeth – you can do squats while brushing your teeth.”