Questions & Answers about the 4minuteworkout.com

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1. How can you possibly get a cardio workout in only 4 minutes per day?

TIME REQUIREMENT FOR A CARDIO WORKOUT
The time required for an effective cardio-vascular exercise depends on the degree of oxygen consumption during the workout. The greater the amount of oxygen consumption during the workout, the shorter the required duration of a cardio workout. In other words, the quality of the workout determines the time required. More muscle cells involved means higher oxygen consumption means less time required. The 4MW enables even totally out of shape people and seniors to achieve much higher oxygen consumption levels than with ANY OTHER FORM OF CONVENTIONAL EXERCISE and therefore they can shorten their exercise periods while getting superior results.

THE MYTH OF 20 TO 45 MINUTES
Most everyone believes (incorrectly so) in the myth that a cardio workout requires at least 20 to 45 minutes per day. The truth is that the volume of oxygen consumption during the exercise determines the length of time required for a cardiovascular workout. The greater the amount of oxygen consumption during the exercise, the shorter the required workout time. Oxygen consumption is expressed in milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute (mlO2/kg/min). With conventional forms of exercise it is nearly impossible for the untrained general public to reach the high levels of oxygen consumption required for a short and effective cardio workout. With the 4MW machine untrained individuals will easily reach the very high levels of oxygen consumption that require only minutes for an effective aerobic workout that yields the same or better cardiovascular benefits than the conventional 20 to 45 minute aerobic workouts practiced by the general public. To understand this, you need to read and understand the following lengthy technical explanation:

TIME REQUIRED FOR OTHER WORKOUTS
Walking at a pace of 3 miles per hour consumes a low 7mlO2/kg/min and therefore requires about 85 minutes for significant benefits to the cardio-vascular system. Sprinting at a pace of 15 miles per hour consumes a high 50 to 60mlO2/kg/min (this is a 4 minute mile pace) and therefore requires only 3 minutes for significant benefits to the cardio-vascular system . Following is a table showing different activities walking, jogging, running and their oxygen consumption rates and number of minutes required for a good cardio-vascular result.

1. Walking at 3 miles per hour 7mlO2/kg/min 85 minutes

2. Jogging at 4miles per hour 14mlO2/kg/min 35 minutes

3. Running at 5.5 miles per hour 21mlO2/kg/min 18 minutes

4. Running at 6.5 miles per hour 28mlO2/kg/min 12 minutes

5. Running at 8 miles per hour 35mlO2/kg/min 8 minutes

6. Running at 9 miles per hour 42mlO2/kg/min 6.5 minutes

f7. Running at 15 miles per hour 60mlO2/kg/min 3 minutes

The amount of oxygen consumed during any activity is determined by 4 factors:

1. Total muscle mass involved in the activity.

2. Range of motion of the muscles determines the percentage of muscle cells involved.

3. Number of repetitions of muscle movement per minute.

4. Resistance or workload worked against by the muscles.

WALKING IS VERY TIME CONSUMING
Walking involves 25% of the body's muscles and those muscles are working only through an average of 15% of their full range of motion. This means that only 25%x15%=3.75%, less than 4% of the body's total muscle cells are involved in oxygen consumption during walking. These 3.75% of all the body's muscle cells will consume more oxygen if you walk faster (or jog or run) or if you walk uphill or if you carry two 50 pound suitcases while walking. To get a high amount of oxygen consumption out of only 3.75% of your body's muscle cells those few cells would have to be extremely highly trained, such as in top athletes. To get from A to B, walking is a very energy efficient activity and therefore does not consume large amounts of oxygen. For a cardio workout you would like to engage in an energy wasting activity, an activity that needs a lot of energy to accomplish the task. Problem is that most doctors keep recommending walking as their favorite exercise prescription and they mistakenly expect their patients to follow their advice of spending 45 to 90 minutes walking. People will not do things that require a lot of time and have marginal results. If doctors were to prescribe exercise that takes only 4 minutes per day they would be vastly more successful in getting their patients to do daily exercise. Now the problem for the doctors would be to get the patients to spend $14,615 toward their health for a 4MW machine instead of spending a multiple of that amount toward their illnesses.

THE CLEVERLY ENGINEERED 4MW MACHINE
Through clever engineering the 4MW machine enables even totally out of shape people and seniors to get significant aerobic benefits from a 4 minute workout, because the 4MW engages 44% of all your muscle cells in work performance. Those 44% muscle cells are 12 times as many as the 3.75% in walking or jogging. Even if those 44% are untrained cells of 90 year old or totally out of shape people, they will far exceed the oxygen consumption those people could otherwise reach. Highly trained athletes on our 4MW machine always want to quit on our 4MW machine after only 2 minutes because their highly trained muscle cells consume so much oxygen that it maxes out their cardio capacity. They are so overwhelmed that they believe that it is impossible for them to go another two minutes and finish the total 4 minutes if they are already exhausted at 2 minutes. The 4MW however will automatically reduce the workload when these athletes have reached their limit cardio capacity. In fact the 4MW will automatically adjust the workload every second during the 4 minute workout, exactly matching the user's ability at every moment during the workout. Its 85 pound flywheel has a centrifugal brake that applies more resistance to the flywheel the faster the flywheel spins. The exercises done on the 4MW make the flywheel spin, but elderly and unconditioned people cannot make the flywheel spin very fast before they meet the braking force that matches their low level of work capacity. Highly trained athletes have enough strength to spin the flywheel very much faster before they also meet the braking force that matches their own ability to perform physical work. When the highly trained athlete runs out of steam he will no longer have the strength to overcome the resistance of the centrifugal brake at high revolutions and the braking action will automatically slow him down to lower revolutions at which the centrifugal brake will reduce the resistance to exactly match the diminished strength of the then drained athlete so he can finish the 4 minutes as well. Weak people can finish the 4 minutes with much more ease than highly trained individuals but they get a much lower performance score at the end of the 4 minutes. The 4MW gives you a score at the end of the 4 minutes based on the average RPM (revolutions per minute) of the flywheel during the 4 minutes. That score will gradually increase over time and the increase in the score reflects the improvement in your total physical condition. The score reflects the improvement of the condition of the combination of your cardio system, your muscle strength and your flexibility. When your total conditioning improves, the 4MW 4 minute workout never gets easier. It actually gets harder the more your total condition improves because you will be able to spin the flywheel faster and the centrifugal brake makes you work against higher resistance.

THE 4MW INVOLVES 12 TIMES THE MUSCLE FIBERS
The 4MW involves 12 times as many muscle cells as does walking or running. Even very out of shape and weak people can get to very high oxygen consumption rates with the 4MW because so very much more muscle cells are involved in oxygen metabolism while using the 4MW. It engages 55% of all your muscles through an average of 80% of their full range of motion. This means that 55% of 80% or 44% of all your muscle cells are involved in consuming oxygen. That is 12 times as many muscle cells as the percentage of muscle cells involved in walking or running. On the 4MW the number of repetitions and the resistance/workload are always maximum for the user's ability to perform work because the centrifugal brake on the 4MWs flywheel regulates the resistance automatically to match the user's diminishing strength during the workout. The user's strength determines how fast the flywheel spins, which in turn determines the number of repetitions per minute and the resistance/workload applied by the centrifugal brake.

TRAINED ATHLETES GET A TOUGHER 4MW WORKOUT
Highly trained athletes can of course spin the flywheel extremely fast and therefore in 4 minutes will get cardio benefits that far exceed those of conventional aerobic workout routines (except sprinters and competitive short distance runners who will get very high cardio benefit from their high intensity short distance activities). Trained athletes will get a much higher performance score on the 4MW and they will be more exhausted than totally out of shape people who get a low performance score. The better shape people are in, the harder the 4 minute 4MW workout is for them and the higher their performance score is at the end of the 4 minutes.

AEROBIC CAPACITY
A person's maximum aerobic capacity is measured as VO2max. This measurement expresses the maximum oxygen consumption a person is capable of during a maximum work demand. This measurement expresses the combined effectiveness of function of the several individual components of the body's cardio-vascular system comprising the following:

1. The effectiveness of oxygen transfer by the lungs into the blood.

2. The condition of the muscles that operate the lung breathing function.

3. The effectiveness to transfer CO2 out of the blood and to exhale it.

4. The ability of the heart to pump maximum volume of blood.

5. The condition of the blood vessels to transport the blood

6. The effectiveness to transfer oxygen and carbohydrates from the blood to the muscles

7. The effectiveness of transfer of CO2 from the muscles back into the blood.

PERFORMANCE SCORE
The 4MW machine gives a performance score at the end of the 4 minute workout and that score is a composite evaluation of the total work performed and therefore is a reflection of the average VO2 measurement over the 4 minute period. When the 4MW score increases, it is evidence that the combination of the 6 cardio-vascular performance components listed above plus muscle strength and flexibility have improved. You can see the gradual improvement of your health reflected in the gradual improvement of the 4MW scores.

HOW AEROBIC CAPACITY IS MEASURED
The testing for this VO2max measurement is done in exercise physiology labs with a person hooked up with a facemask that allows the test subject to inhale a measured amount of fresh air while the exhaled air is captured and sent through a device that measures the amount of CO2 exhaled. from the amount of CO2 exhaled the maximum oxygen consumption can be calculated during the activity. The 4MW does not measure VO2max, but it does create a score that reflects an increase of VO2max when the 4MW-score increases. The 4MW simply measures the total work performed during the 4 minute workout and expresses that into a score that reflects the ability of your body to perform work, which in turn is a direct reflection of the condition of your cardio-vascular system.

THE MERITS OF H.I.T. EXERCISE
The merits of short duration and high intensity training and high oxygen consuming exercise are being more and more recognized by trainers of sports teams everywhere. Our time has not yet come with the 4MW because as yet too many so called "exercise experts" are enduring with their mistaken beliefs. have been recognized in several scientific studies. One of these studies was conducted with our 4MW machines at the Department of Exercise Sciences at USC (University of Southern California). USC was amazed at the unique capabilities of the 4MW.
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2. How is it possible that you will burn more calories from only 4 minutes on the 4MW than from an hour on a treadmill?

TWO METHODS OF METABOLIZING CALORIES
There are two distinct methods to increase calorie consumption through exercise. The one method that is known by most people is to engage in long duration repetitive motion work. The other method is to increase muscle metabolism. A pound of muscle can metabolize an average of about 55 calories per 24 hours but it will not do that unless stimulated to do so. The muscles can be stimulated to metabolize by stretching them under resistance. The larger the range of motion of the exercise, the larger the amount of muscle cells stimulated. That is exactly what happens during Yoga or Pilates exercise, stretching under resistance through long ranges of motion. People who practice yoga on a regular basis will always be lean. If you find a fat person who professes to do yoga on a regular basis, you found a liar who is talking yoga and who does not practice it. Most yoga practitioners are also vegetarians, but that is not the reason why they are lean. There are many fat vegetarians, but those fat vegetarians do not practice yoga. Practicing yoga or Pilates requires many hours per week and therefore it is as impractical for the average public as 30 to 90 minute exercise routines. The 4MW is the 4 minute solution to stretch all your muscles through long ranges of motion and in addition it increases muscle strength and it yields significant cardio benefits. Below is a comparison of calories burned during and after exercise from a 60 minute treadmill workout and from a 4 minute 4MW workout:
BURNING CALORIES ON A TREADMILL
1. A 180 pound person burns about 415 calories during a typical treadmill workout of 60 minutes. They burn 350 calories during the 60 minutes on the treadmill (walking at 3 to 4 miles per hour). During the treadmill workout you use 25% of the body's muscles and you use them through only 15% of their range of motion. This means that only 15% of 25% or only 3.75% of the body's muscle cells are stretched and stimulated during the exercise. These 3.75% of muscle cells that have been stimulated during a treadmill workout provide for an additional 25 calories of metabolism during the 2 hours immediately after the treadmill workout and another 40 calories for the remainder of a 24 hour period. Total calories from 60 minutes walking on a treadmill then are 350 plus 25 plus 40 calories for a total of 415 calories burned as a result of 60 minutes of walking on a treadmill.
BURNING CALORIES WITH THE 4MW
2. The same 180 pound person will burn 465 calories as a result of 4 minutes on the 4MW machine. How is it possible that more calories are burned as a result of 4 minutes on the 4MW than from 60 minutes on a treadmill? During the 4 minutes on the 4MW you use 55% of your muscles and you use them through an average of 80% of their range of motion (4MW stands for Range of Motion). The total percentage of muscle cells involved in the 4MW exercise are 12 times as many as the 3.75% used on a treadmill because 80% of 55% of your muscles is 44% of all your muscle cells that are stimulated to an increased metabolism. During the 4 minute 4MW workout the 180 pound person burns only 40 calories. But those 44% of the body's muscle cells that have been stimulated to increased metabolism will burn another 150 calories in the 2 hours after the 4 minute 4MW exercise and they will burn another 275 calories in the remaining time of a 24 hour period.
MORE TOTAL METABOLISM from THE 4MW
Note: Because of the long duration 60 minutes on a treadmill those 3.75% of muscles are stimulated to about their maximum capacity to metabolize. During the much shorter 4 minute 4MW workout the 44% of muscle cells that are stimulated to a higher metabolism are stimulated to only about 50% to 75% of their maximum ability to metabolize. But since about 12 times as many muscle cells are stimulated on the 4MW, the total calories burned from the 4 minute 4MW exercise is higher than from an average 60 minute treadmill workout.

YOU CAN GET THE SAME RESULTS WITH $200 OF EQUIPMENT
You can get the same health and fitness benefits from doing various kinds of exercise with equipment costing less than $200. The only difference between the 4MW and other methods of exercise is TIME. The 4MW workout costs 4 minutes at the end of which you get a score that tells you what shape you are in and the other methods of exercise that deliver the same benefits as from a 4MW 4 minute workout cost from 45 to 90 minutes of time. The difference is also that only 8% of people have the discipline to do 45 to 90 minutes of exercise per day and with the 4MW over 85% of people have the discipline to do the 4MW 4 minute exercise. Believe it or not, there are still 10% to 15% of 4MW owners that do not have the discipline to do 4 minutes of exercise per day. But many of these undisciplined 4MW owners do the 4 minute 4MW exercise when they start feeling particularly unhealthy and it is easy for them to get back on a 4 minute per day exercise.

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3. How do you explain that the 4MW is the least expensive method to do very effective exercise?

THE EXPENSE OF EXERCISE
The expense of exercise must be measured in cost per use in terms of MONEY spent for equipment and in cost of TIME required for a complete workout. Fact is that 92% of people who own exercise equipment do not exercise and 88% of people who own health club memberships do not go to their health club. All of these people who do not exercise had no problem with spending the money toward the good intention of exercising to improve their health and fitness. The main reason why they continue to allow their health to deteriorate is the tremendous cost of TIME and SELF DISCIPLINE that conventional forms of exercise require. Many decades of media articles and television coverage on the importance of exercise to improve health and fitness have done absolutely nothing to overcome the TIME and SELF DISCIPLINE problem of exercise.

A 4MW WORKOUT IS LESS EXPENSIVE THAN ANY OTHER WORKOUT
Each 4MW workout costs less than 20 cents in terms of money and it costs EXACTLY 4 minutes in terms of time. The return on this small money and time investment is so very impressive that the 4MW is the absolute least expensive way to improving and maintaining health and fitness. How do we know that the 4MW costs less than 20 cents per 4 minute workout? ANSWER: Over 90% of 4MW machines go to private residences, but we have a few 4MW machines that have been in commercial use since 1991 and they have each endured over 80,000 uses and they are still not in need of repair or overhaul. We do not know yet how many 4 minute uses our 4MW machines will ultimately last, but dividing the $14,615 price of the 4MW by at least 80,000 uses comes out to under 20 cents per use. Of course it is a problem that it would take a single person over 250 years to use up 80,000 uses. The 4MW will become an heirloom passing from one generation to the next.

PROJECTED PERSONAL COST PER USE
The PROJECTED PERSONAL COST PER USE for the person who purchases the $14,615 4MW depends on the life expectancy of that person and the other people in the household that will be using the 4MW. If there are two people who are going to use the 4MW and their average life expectancy without exercise is another 20 years each at ever declining quality, Then the average PERSONAL COST PER USE will have been $1.17 but the 4MW will have at least another 67500 uses in it that can be used up by someone else. Of course by using the 4MW every day the quality of life during the 20 years will improve impressively and the longevity should increase several years as well. See www.ExerciseAndHealth.com . Those extra years will decrease the PERSONAL COST PER USE even further. On our free video you can see me, the manufacturer at age 60 (I am currently 62 years old), showing off how the 4MW 4 minute per day exercise has increased my strength and flexibility and has captured back a few years on the aging process.

PUBLIC 4MW FACILITIES
A couple of people have opened up a small membership QuickGym health facility that only have our 4MW machines. They charge about $50 per month membership. That makes the PERSONAL cost per use $2.50 and no big outlay of money to purchase a 4MW, but the cost of TIME per use increases by the time required for commuting and that reduces again the likelihood for a person to go and do the exercise.

OTHER EXERCISE EQUIPMENT IS FAR MORE EXPENSIVE
Buying a treadmill of medium quality costs $1500 and it will last only 2000 uses until it needs to be replaced. It costs $0.75 per use plus 30 to 45 minutes and the results are only cardiovascular benefits, no muscle toning/strengthening, no flexibility benefits. A $5000 commercial grade treadmill may last 10.000 uses and costs about $0.50 per use and 30 to 45 minutes of time. Because of the high cost of time 92% of people who own treadmills do not use them. Those treadmills of course last forever because they are not used by their owners and the owners gradually lose their health and fitness.

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4. Why is the 4MW-QuickGym so superior in result in time investment and results compared to any other method of exercise?

TOO AMAZING TO UNDERSTAND RIGHT AWAY
The 4MW combines all 3 aspects of a complete and well rounded exercise regimen, cardio training, resistance training, flexibility training, and no other exercise equipment or method of exercise does that. And then the 4MW does all of that in only 4 minutes per day and no other method of exercise can do that either.

Let us compare some of the more popular forms of exercise with:

4 minute cross-training on the 4MW:

First again a list of the results (cardio, muscle, flexibility) from a single 4 minute 4MW exercise:

1. The results are equal to those of 20 to 45 minutes aerobic exercises for conditioning of the cardio-vascular and respiratory system.

2. The results are equal to those of 20 to 45 minutes resistance training for muscle toning and strength of all the body's major muscle groups.

3. The results are equal to those of 20 minutes of conventional stretching exercises for flexibility of all major muscles, tendons and joints.

Overall evaluation: Extremely time efficient. Requires only a few minutes of initial instruction. Non-impact exercise. Total cross-training in 4 minutes per day.

Walking 85 minutes, jogging 35 minutes or running for 20 minutes:

1. No results for flexibility. Actual damage to joints and connective tissue from too much repetitive movement and impact

2. Good results for toning and strengthening in leg muscles but through only short ranges of motion.

3. Good results for heart, lungs and a small range of motion in leg muscles.

Overall evaluation: Not very time efficient and no flexibility results. Loss of upper body muscle as a result of jogging or running (look at the emaciated upper bodies of long distance runners or long distance bicyclists)

Yoga and Pilates:

1. Good results for flexibility.

2. Good results for toning and strengthening of all major muscle groups.

3. Some results for respiratory system because of breathing routines.

Overall evaluation: Very time consuming. Yoga has meditative aspects to it that cannot be expected from a 4 minute 4MW exercise. Pilates is currently the chic exercise du jour. Both Yoga and Pilates require substantial instruction. Moderate cardio benefits. Extra aerobic exercises should be added to get good overall cross training results.

Weight training with free weights or weight lifting machines

1. Limited and often adverse results for flexibility.

2. Good results for muscle toning and strengthening of the muscles that are used, but only through the ranges of motion used during the exercise.

3. Limited aerobic results if repetitions are frequent and without pauses.

Overall evaluation: Should be supplemented with stretching and aerobic exercises to get good overall cross training results.

Swimming

1. Good results for flexibility of the muscles and ranges of motions used in the different types of swimming strokes.

2. Good results for muscle toning and strengthening of the muscles used.

3. Good cardio results depending on the intensity and duration.

Overall evaluation: Good all-round cross-training results. One should alternate between various different swim strokes to condition as many different muscle groups as possible and try to use as large a range of motion of those strokes to maximize flexibility. Not remotely as time efficient as the 4 minute 4MW exercise but definitely one of the best exercises for general health maintenance and improvement.

Bicycling

1. A little more results for flexibility than walking and running. Non-impact exercise and therefore better than running for joints and tendons.

2. Good results for toning and strengthening in leg muscles.

3. Good results for heart, lungs and leg muscle metabolism.

Overall evaluation: Not very time efficient Upper body muscles will atrophy if not supplemented with upper body strength training (see upper bodies of long distance bicyclists).
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5. Can I exercise more than 4 minutes per day on the 4MW?

This is an often asked question by people who have never used the 4MW. People who have used the 4MW just once for 4 minutes do not ask that question. Most people are glad when the 4 minutes are over. Doing more than 4 minutes has only marginally more benefit. For fat loss there is some merit in doing an extra 1 minute stretching sessions at several hour intervals to re-stimulate muscle metabolism. When eventually the desired body condition has been established with the 4MW the frequency of use can even be reduced to only 4 minutes 4 days per week for maintenance only. The general 4MW exercise routine is to do a 4 minute upper body workout one day and a 4 minute lower body workout the next day, or do both upper and lower body workouts the same day and skip the next day. Muscles need 48 hour rest for recovery. Doing both upper and lower body 4MW workouts every day is overdoing it for most people, it interferes with muscle recovery and can even result in strength loss.
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6. How is it possible that the 4MW-QuickGym is excellent for very weak people as well as for highly trained athletes?

HOW THE 4MW WORKS
The 85 pound flywheel of the 4MW machine has a centrifugal brake on it. This means that even a very weak 100 year old person can get the flywheel in motion by using either the upper body workout or the lower body workout, because there is zero resistance from the centrifugal brake until the flywheel has attained a speed of around 20 revolutions per minute. The centrifugal brake gradually engages and places resistance on the flywheel, making the exercise harder the faster the flywheel turns. A very weak person cannot spin the flywheel very fast before the centrifugal brake creates resistance exactly matching their ability.

RESISTANCE MATCHES USER'S STRENGTH
The centrifugal brake always matches the users work ability every second throughout the entire 4 minute exercise. A highly trained athlete can spin the flywheel very fast and therefore will be subject to a much higher workload than a weak elderly person. No matter how strong or weak a person is, the 4MW will always apply the exact maximum workload a person is capable of. You will always meet your match and you will never be required to do more than what you are capable of. The 4MW performance computer keeps track of the total work performed during the 4 minutes and calculates a score at the end of the 4 minute exercise. The weak person will wind up with a low score and the highly trained athlete will get a much higher score. The score will gradually increase during the weeks and month following your first 4 minute exercise on the 4MW. The increase in the scores is a good motivator and an indication that you are gradually getting stronger and that you are attaining greater cardio-vascular health. And at the same time you will become more limber because of the very large ranges of motion that your arms and legs go through. The range of motion is under your complete control. The machine does not make you go through ranges of motion you are not capable of.
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7. How about people with blood sugar imbalance/diabetes?

HOW DOES THE 4 MINUTE WORKOUT AFFECT DIABETES
Most late onset diabetes results from loss of total muscle mass all over the body. Muscles act as a reservoir to absorb and store excess glucose in the form of glycogen. When the glucose level in the blood is too high they absorb and store the excess blood-sugar. They release that glucose again when the level of glucose in the blood is too low. When people gradually lose muscle as a result of a sedentary lifestyle, that glycogen storage reservoir becomes smaller and the glucose level in the blood can no longer be properly regulated with the smaller muscle mass. This results in erratic swings of blood-sugar levels. The body now must resort to emergency measures to try to balance the blood-sugar level. The body will use the insulin made by the pancreas to help restore the blood-sugar balance. When people gradually lose muscle mass the pancreas will be called upon ever more often during the course of the day and at some point will not be able to keep up with insulin production. At that point people will need artificial insulin supplementation. OF COURSE THEY COULD START EXERCISING TO RESTORE SOME OR ALL OF THE MUSCLE MASS THEY HAVE LOST OVER THE YEARS AND GET RID OF THE PROBLEM. Rebuilding the lost muscle mass will slowly and gradually improve blood-sugar imbalance problems. In Type 1 diabetes it will help balance blood-sugar but cannot solve the pancreas deficiency and all insulin dependency. In Type 2 diabetes it will gradually decrease insulin dependency and can eventually totally eliminate insulin dependency.
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8. What about bad backs, bad necks, bad knees, injured shoulders?

THE 4MW HAS REPAIRED MANY BODY PARTS
Most of these problems are as a result of lost muscle tissue and the lack of muscle assistance for the cartilage and joints in those areas. The lower back needs the abdominal muscles and lower back muscles as support for the lower part of the spinal column and its vertebrae and disks. When people do too little or no exercise to maintain their abdominal and lower back muscles, the disks must do all the load bearing of the upper body themselves and thereby they get squeezed flat to a point where they will create pinched nerves (the nerves run on top of and under the disks and get pinched by the disks if the disks alone have to do all the load bearing). Rebuilding the abdominal muscles and lower back muscles will give renewed support to the spine and take part of the load off the disks and will take the pressure off the pinched nerves. Neck problems are similar and are mainly as a result of lost neck and upper back muscles. The disks in the neck get the full weight of the head to support without help of the neck and upper back muscles. Rebuilding the lost muscles will take the load off the neck disks and that takes the pressure off the pinched nerves in the neck. Bad knees are as a result of lost muscles and too much load and impact on the knee joints and cartilage. Rebuilding the muscle and tendons around the knees with exercise will take load off the joints and will improve alignment of the knee joints. Shoulder problems are of a similar nature as knee problems in that rebuilding of shoulder muscles and tendons will align them better and take the load off the joints. The 4MW rebuilds the muscles and tendons in all areas of the body including these critical areas mentioned.