This year has been very humbling. I succumbed to injury quick into the beginning of this year, And it lasted for half of the year. I've been able to train without injury since then, and have been on a good run. I'll dive into what I think was the cause of the injury - the injury itself isn't so important - what it stands for is a roadblock. I have now been lifting for 5 years. For the first 4 of those years I wrote my own programming largely. The last year and a half I've tried 5/3/1, 8/6/3, Juggernaut Method, and GZCL. I did other training during the year, but I was mostly rehabbing and using lighter weights.
I find gauging and maintaining the recovery ability of your body difficult. Not all pains are the same, and to reach as far as you can, you will be willing to take some pain, but that very same pain could end up reversing on you and become more permanent. I think it's a case by case basis. Over the years, I've noticed that using brute strength to throw around weights does in fact injure you, and even if you can recover from it quickly, it can ultimately be your demise. I feel I started lifting weights with very proper form - and I did. As I started using my heaviest of weights though, I noticed my form slipping, but when you are dealing with very heavy weights, your ability to manipulate it will decrease.
I have found that my form in exercises and lifts will increase and decrease over time. You pick up new bad habits, and lose good instilled habits. This all sounds very synonymous with life. Coming back from a shoulder injury lasting half the year, I resumed without training my shoulders. No more raises, laterals pull-ups, rows, or overhead presses for the time being. I mostly trained the squat, and cautiously did some bench press. As time went on, my lifts were going up, but not very quickly, and I wasn't lifting that heavy. My programming had ran its run, and I needed something new. I tried GZCL, and I'm still on it, and very much so like it.
GZCL lifting routine is said to not be a program, but a method. This actually deterred me at first, because I like having linear things to follow. It is quantifiable though, and is just a matter of a 4 week cycle. I don't follow it as described as I am a rebel. I know this in turn breaks the philosophy of periodic training, but my version is just more sped up.
I'm running the program on three lifts: bench press, deadlift, and the squat. I squat and bench press on the same workout, and do it first in the week with a deadlift day following a few days after. This leaves me with 2-3 workouts a week, which doesn't sound like much, but no day is wasted and it accelerates quite quickly.
The things I think GZCL have going for it compared to other programs are that it's more simple with less things to remember and less deviance from training structure. I also think the percentages are just really dialed in greatly, and allows for your body to recover and be ready to execute. It gives mental confidence in gaining much momentum with failure. The lifts I do outside the main three lifts are not something I record. I don't think them important to even name, because I really feel each person should do the lifts that they know won't injure them, and will help sculpt or cultivate muscle in the places that are their specific goals.
I find weight lifting and training to be very different these days then years past. It's no longer a grand discipline to me. I've sort of acknowledged the limits of my abilities, and certain motivations aren't there. There is no longer a veil of incompetence in my mind about all things fitness and weight training related. I'm eager to train. It keeps me healthy.
In the next coming year/years, I'd like to help a greater amount of people in weight lifting endeavors. I think instead of just trying to come up with ideas, I need to just lay things down and let them do what they will and be what they will. So here's to productivity.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Bench Press Technique
The Bench Press seems to be quite different than the other 2 main lifts - the Deadlift and the Squat - which are like each other. Instead, the Bench Press is an outlier, and I will discuss factors which could prevent you from pressing higher weights.
The first thing to nail down on a Bench Press is the desired hand grip width. Choices range from narrow to standard to wide. A closer grip will work the Triceps more, but too close of a grip for your body's proportions will cause shoulder pain and a shoulder (or both shoulders) injury over time. Too wide of a grip is also associated with shoulder pain.
You will commonly see powerlifters bench pressing with a wide grip. This is in order to have a smaller ROM (range of motion), which allows for heavier weights to be lifted (and more records to be broken). Before you jump to conclusions that a wider bench is easier, consider bench pressing 4 or 5 plates on each side. I'm sure it's quite difficult despite grip despite huge ROM changes.
One think that I've learned through lifting over the years is that you should be able to complete high volume comfortably on any given exercise, and that by itself will mean your technique is good or decent enough. The human shoulder is incredibly fragile. If you sat at a computer and didn't use the chair (sat much lower). Your arms would be stretching up, and you might be OK for a few minutes, but then shoulder fatigue would creep in, and if you continued, you'd pop a roto cuff, and it would take a few days to a week minimum to heal. In the same sense you should know when you are damaging yourself in an unhealthy manner.
The grip I've been using on Bench Press until now was too narrow a grip for myself. I've had some chest pain in the past, and assumed a more narrow grip would take more tension off the chest, allow me to strengthen my triceps, and give me a good press. What ended up happening is that I still had chest pain, and I wasn't gaining strength very quickly.
Unfortunately when you think your form is good in a lift, you cease trying to improve it, and you can dig yourself quite a deep hole, and establish a list of bad habits you may never have had to begin with. So recently I saw an elite lifting Bench Pressing, and having seen many of them, their technique does vary but also looks similar to each other. Limb length alone makes lifts look quite different.
The thing I noticed is that although we want a back arch to hit the chest better, lift more weight via slightly reduced ROM, and to have more protected shoulders, is that these lifters don't kill themselves getting the back arch. Even though the Bench Press position prior to benching is said to be uncomfortable, and should be, that you do in fact need to be comfortable in any given lift to execute it correctly.
So a way to get the correct back arch, leg drive, hand grip, and to have your shoulders pinned there's an easy method to use. A strong setup like this will also allow you to lift weights even once you're very fatigued because of the lack of effort necessary to get into a strong position. The first step is to sit on the bench. Then grab the bar exactly where you want to and fix your grip. Now using your feet, slide your torso up the bench (towards the bar and in fact past the bar). Now your head is on the whole other side of the bar, and you can even extend your arms and feel a nice Triceps squeeze to trigger your Triceps ready to fire. Then while keeping your grip fixed, whip your body and push your torso down into the bench (basically without moving your hands, you move your body into the correct place). And as this puts you into correct leverage, lift off should be very easy as you're directly under the bar.
I usually do about 25-35 reps on Bench Press, but using this new method I can comfortably do 104 reps without injury or soreness. Grip width will vary person to person, but I'm using my middle fingers on the rings, and that fills out my chest well, and protects my shoulders and elbows.
The first thing to nail down on a Bench Press is the desired hand grip width. Choices range from narrow to standard to wide. A closer grip will work the Triceps more, but too close of a grip for your body's proportions will cause shoulder pain and a shoulder (or both shoulders) injury over time. Too wide of a grip is also associated with shoulder pain.
You will commonly see powerlifters bench pressing with a wide grip. This is in order to have a smaller ROM (range of motion), which allows for heavier weights to be lifted (and more records to be broken). Before you jump to conclusions that a wider bench is easier, consider bench pressing 4 or 5 plates on each side. I'm sure it's quite difficult despite grip despite huge ROM changes.
One think that I've learned through lifting over the years is that you should be able to complete high volume comfortably on any given exercise, and that by itself will mean your technique is good or decent enough. The human shoulder is incredibly fragile. If you sat at a computer and didn't use the chair (sat much lower). Your arms would be stretching up, and you might be OK for a few minutes, but then shoulder fatigue would creep in, and if you continued, you'd pop a roto cuff, and it would take a few days to a week minimum to heal. In the same sense you should know when you are damaging yourself in an unhealthy manner.
The grip I've been using on Bench Press until now was too narrow a grip for myself. I've had some chest pain in the past, and assumed a more narrow grip would take more tension off the chest, allow me to strengthen my triceps, and give me a good press. What ended up happening is that I still had chest pain, and I wasn't gaining strength very quickly.
Unfortunately when you think your form is good in a lift, you cease trying to improve it, and you can dig yourself quite a deep hole, and establish a list of bad habits you may never have had to begin with. So recently I saw an elite lifting Bench Pressing, and having seen many of them, their technique does vary but also looks similar to each other. Limb length alone makes lifts look quite different.
The thing I noticed is that although we want a back arch to hit the chest better, lift more weight via slightly reduced ROM, and to have more protected shoulders, is that these lifters don't kill themselves getting the back arch. Even though the Bench Press position prior to benching is said to be uncomfortable, and should be, that you do in fact need to be comfortable in any given lift to execute it correctly.
So a way to get the correct back arch, leg drive, hand grip, and to have your shoulders pinned there's an easy method to use. A strong setup like this will also allow you to lift weights even once you're very fatigued because of the lack of effort necessary to get into a strong position. The first step is to sit on the bench. Then grab the bar exactly where you want to and fix your grip. Now using your feet, slide your torso up the bench (towards the bar and in fact past the bar). Now your head is on the whole other side of the bar, and you can even extend your arms and feel a nice Triceps squeeze to trigger your Triceps ready to fire. Then while keeping your grip fixed, whip your body and push your torso down into the bench (basically without moving your hands, you move your body into the correct place). And as this puts you into correct leverage, lift off should be very easy as you're directly under the bar.
I usually do about 25-35 reps on Bench Press, but using this new method I can comfortably do 104 reps without injury or soreness. Grip width will vary person to person, but I'm using my middle fingers on the rings, and that fills out my chest well, and protects my shoulders and elbows.
Monday, August 11, 2014
How To Become Fit and Remain So
It's been 4.5 years since I've maintained a healthy fit lifestyle. It's been said that the first year is usually wasted, the second year spent learning, and the third year and following years are doing things right. I'm sure that can be said for other industries and hobbies. Ironically in the age of information, there is so much content that it becomes a skill to sift through it and find truths.
You may find many weight lifting routines online and in magazines, and you may wonder how you would fare on then and the results you'd see afterwards. Ultimately though, no program will be tailored specifically for your body, experiences, and lifestyle.
As someone who doesn't like to waste time or effort, I decided early on lifting that I wanted to do the barbell lifts, and that learning their technique would allow me to progress and continue my fit lifestyle for the rest of my life. Alternatively spending time on machines, and using too many different types of exercises will not lead to foreseeable gains from utilizing more determination and focus.
Although I'm not a powerlifter, I find the three power lifts to be the most valuable as do many others. They are the Squat, Deadlift, and Bench Press. It is more common for people to be the most proficient in Deadlifting over the other two lifts because of the nature of the lift and the leverage you are able to apply. Deadlifts are also the most taxing to the body and its nervous system. For this reason they're performed less ofter than the other two lifts.
A strong squat ultimately decides the strength, stability, and mobility of a person. I feel it's the most life enhancing out of all of the lifts, and that it's smart to program it as your first lift for every workout - if even just for a warm up. I see many people clinging to smith machines, other machines, and walls when performing squats, and I would advise against any sort of handicap if possible. The thought process is that someone will start on machines, learn form, and then transition to free weights (barbells), but that transition doesn't seem to happen with many people, leading me to believe you should never use the crutch in the first place unless you are truly injured.
Lifting is about using correct leverages, which allow you to lift more weight, which spurs even further strength and muscles gains. While on one hand you want to have the knowledge to know the correct cues and body position for each lift, you also want to simply let your body act as efficiently as possible (and simply not take the reigns, or try to force anything beyond what should happen).
You may find many weight lifting routines online and in magazines, and you may wonder how you would fare on then and the results you'd see afterwards. Ultimately though, no program will be tailored specifically for your body, experiences, and lifestyle.
As someone who doesn't like to waste time or effort, I decided early on lifting that I wanted to do the barbell lifts, and that learning their technique would allow me to progress and continue my fit lifestyle for the rest of my life. Alternatively spending time on machines, and using too many different types of exercises will not lead to foreseeable gains from utilizing more determination and focus.
Although I'm not a powerlifter, I find the three power lifts to be the most valuable as do many others. They are the Squat, Deadlift, and Bench Press. It is more common for people to be the most proficient in Deadlifting over the other two lifts because of the nature of the lift and the leverage you are able to apply. Deadlifts are also the most taxing to the body and its nervous system. For this reason they're performed less ofter than the other two lifts.
A strong squat ultimately decides the strength, stability, and mobility of a person. I feel it's the most life enhancing out of all of the lifts, and that it's smart to program it as your first lift for every workout - if even just for a warm up. I see many people clinging to smith machines, other machines, and walls when performing squats, and I would advise against any sort of handicap if possible. The thought process is that someone will start on machines, learn form, and then transition to free weights (barbells), but that transition doesn't seem to happen with many people, leading me to believe you should never use the crutch in the first place unless you are truly injured.
Lifting is about using correct leverages, which allow you to lift more weight, which spurs even further strength and muscles gains. While on one hand you want to have the knowledge to know the correct cues and body position for each lift, you also want to simply let your body act as efficiently as possible (and simply not take the reigns, or try to force anything beyond what should happen).
Monday, July 28, 2014
Lifting Routine to Maximize Strength, Muscle, and Recovery - Mercury
Having ran into injuries while strength training, I've focused more on muscle building and general health while still keeping strength, and possibly increasing strength. I've ran into recovery issues despite having a good recovery ability, and I devised a method to streamline a more consistent recovery, which allows you to keep lifting and progressing with less deloads (programmed rest weeks).
To establish an ideal intensity, it's necessary to base a routine off the 1 rep max for each lift. To calculate a percentage number (e.g. 70%) into your 1 rep max (e.g. 225lb bench press[102kg]), you can use a calculator, and type is '.7' multiplied by 225 equals 157.5lb[71kg]. So 70% of a 225lb bench press is 157.5lb.
The routine I made is a full body workout done 3x a week. It's 6 weeks long, and scales from 63-87% of your 1 rep max with sets of 5. Each workout day has the squat and bench press, and deadlifts are done 1x a week (or 1x every other week is recovery is too effected.) The deadlift sets are programmed with the squat and bench press percentages. This way the intensity is uniform across the big three lifts.
I only have 2 work sets for the three lifts, and 4 warm up sets in the same rep scheme (5). The first week, the first work set is 63% and the second set is 70%. Each following workout simply adds 1% to each set, and after 6 weeks (18 workouts), you end up at 80% and 87%, which are considerably challenging lifts, but far more doable after completing the first 5 weeks. The body works through periodization. After this routine, I'll maybe take a week off, and tweak the routine for a different rep scheme and adjust the percentages accordingly. Feel free to do other lifts while doing this routine as long as it doesn't annihilate recovery. I add dumbbell rows, calf raises, hanging knee raises, and weighted pull-ups.
To establish an ideal intensity, it's necessary to base a routine off the 1 rep max for each lift. To calculate a percentage number (e.g. 70%) into your 1 rep max (e.g. 225lb bench press[102kg]), you can use a calculator, and type is '.7' multiplied by 225 equals 157.5lb[71kg]. So 70% of a 225lb bench press is 157.5lb.
The routine I made is a full body workout done 3x a week. It's 6 weeks long, and scales from 63-87% of your 1 rep max with sets of 5. Each workout day has the squat and bench press, and deadlifts are done 1x a week (or 1x every other week is recovery is too effected.) The deadlift sets are programmed with the squat and bench press percentages. This way the intensity is uniform across the big three lifts.
I only have 2 work sets for the three lifts, and 4 warm up sets in the same rep scheme (5). The first week, the first work set is 63% and the second set is 70%. Each following workout simply adds 1% to each set, and after 6 weeks (18 workouts), you end up at 80% and 87%, which are considerably challenging lifts, but far more doable after completing the first 5 weeks. The body works through periodization. After this routine, I'll maybe take a week off, and tweak the routine for a different rep scheme and adjust the percentages accordingly. Feel free to do other lifts while doing this routine as long as it doesn't annihilate recovery. I add dumbbell rows, calf raises, hanging knee raises, and weighted pull-ups.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Bench Press Technique
I've been having a lot of success in Bench Press the past few months, and want to share the technique I've been using. The first thing I realize when I lay down for a Bench Press is that my lower back isn't warmed up enough to execute a good back arch. Leg drive is done by pushing with your feet. I like to use a close grip, which is still at least 12 inches apart. Before beginning to press the bar, or unrack it, I will grab the bar and drag my body underneath it and pin my back with my scapulas as close together as possible. The two positions that make up the Bench Press are the tucked position with the barbell at your chest and the extended position where the barbell is pressed outwardly. More simply they are the up position and the down position.
What I have found recently to work efficiently is to exaggerate the difference between the up and down positions with two horizontal points. When you tuck your arms and bring the barbell to your chest, lower the bar down your body towards your navel, and press the bar, moving it horizontally upwards over your body closer to your eyes.
What I have found recently to work efficiently is to exaggerate the difference between the up and down positions with two horizontal points. When you tuck your arms and bring the barbell to your chest, lower the bar down your body towards your navel, and press the bar, moving it horizontally upwards over your body closer to your eyes.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
How To Start Lifting Weights
Lifting weights is a lifestyle. The three most common and important lifts are the Bench Press, the Squat, and the Deadlift. There are quite a few reasons why those lifts are held in high regard. They allow you to lift the most amount of weight in an effective manner to spur muscle increase, strength increase, and mobility increase. Each of those three lifts emphasize different muscles.
The Bench Press targets the chest, shoulders, and arms. You lay on a bench and unrack a barbell, lower it to your chest, and press the bar to full arm extension. The Squat targets the legs, thighs, glutes, and works the core. You use a squat rack so that you can unrack the barbell loaded with weight directly on to your traps or lower rear shoulders. You step back, sink into a crouch with your hips below your knees, and then stand up with full leg extension. The Deadlift targets the spinal muscles, traps, lats, glutes, lower back, and hamstrings. You set up a barbell on the floor with 45lb (20kg) plates on each side, stand in front of the barbell with your shins touching the bar, bend at the knees and hips, grab the bar, and stand up with your upper back and chest leading the way, and push your hips forward into extension.
So as you can see from above that the three main lifts will cover the shoulders, arms, legs, back, hips, core, and glutes. These are the more important muscles to target for overall strength. A few muscles left out of those three lifts are the biceps, calves, forearms, inner thighs (adductors), rear shoulders, and abs. Any muscle group you would like to devote more work to in an effort to create more development, can also be isolated outside of the main lifts.
The frequency you perform your workout routine with lifting weights will determine volume of reps and sets as well as the intensity of each lift (ability to generate power and closer to maximum strength). For example, if you worked out one day a week, you would need extremely high volume to compensate for the lack of frequency. The intensity will suffer from the amount of workload on that one day, meaning the lifts done at the end of that day will not be attacked with full strength and capability.
After having experienced working out from one day to six days a week, I have found that the less frequent you work out, the less discipline needed, the higher body fat I held, less injuries, and plenty of strength. The more frequent you work out, the more aesthetic you appear from lower body fat percentage, muscle tension, mobility, conditioning, increased skill/technique and increased general health although the disadvantage remains of weaker joints from the repetitive use and lack of recovery.
As for rep ranges, it's often listed at 3-5 reps for strength, 6-12 reps for muscle, but ultimately all rep ranges are important, and you could use lower reps while increasing muscle by increasing total sets and/or lifts. To become good at a rep range, you should keep it in your routine for at least 6 weeks or longer. An example of increasing weight from workout session to workout session is that if you were bench pressing 135lb for 5 sets of 3, you can increase the weight by 5lb each time you do the lift. So the next time it would be 140lb for 5 sets of 3, then 145lb. You keep climbing linearly until you fail/plateau. At that point you can either continue lifting near your highest weight or deload to a lower weight, and climb back up.
Additional tips are to record your workout routines so that you can visibly work towards progress. Good nutrition is to eat clean (low sodium, low fat, low calorie). If you want to increase muscle size, you have to eat in an excess of your total maintenance of calories. If you want to lose weight, you must eat less than your total maintenance of calories. A high protein diet is important in keeping lean, and helping muscles repair.
Working out creates micro tears in the muscle, and resting allows for the muscles to rebuild and recover. So adequate rest is essential, meaning you should try to sleep 7-8 hours a night. Food intake is also essential for recovery. High water intake is recommended for leanness and general health. Muscles may become tight and require stretching.
To achieve progress the quickest be it strength, muscle, or aesthetics, each of your muscles should be in a state of recovery at most times. Each time the muscle is worked by lifting weights, and then recovers by allowing for rest, the muscle is further developed. As you can imagine, if you try to keep your entire body in a constant state of recovery, you will face injuries from time to time. This occurs because high frequency wears down the joints, and without sufficient time to recovery, weak joints will lead to injury, especially when using heavier weights, but the same can be said for even body weight exercises like push-ups and pull-ups.
If an injury occurs in arm or shoulder, many exercises may be off limit, but squats for example could still be trained to fully utilize those micro damage/repair cycles on the muscle to develop it the fastest. Likewise, returning to the three main lifts (Bench Press, Squat, and Deadlift), as you progress in those lifts, the muscles will develop, and the joints will become stronger (Bench Press - Elbow joint, Squat - Knee joint, Deadlift - Hip joint). Making those joints stronger will generally lead to a higher quality of life - and a longer life, and will prevent injuries. So although isolation exercises like calf raises to develop the calves are important, the three main lifts should take presidency.
Your workout routine should feature the three main lifts, and should have isolation exercises, which can be for added work, muscle development, or to have any specialty lifts you would like to include - for instance, weighted pull-ups. Some people may wonder why training your legs is important. I would say knee health and mobility are high benefits.
Hip strength is important for overall power, and both Squats and Deadlifts develop hip strength. The shoulders require proportionate development to ensure no injuries occur. There are three outer parts of the shoulder - the frontal deltoids, the lateral deltoids, and the rear deltoids. It is very common for people to over develop just the frontal deltoids and to neglect the lateral (side) and rear. This is because the Bench Press targets the frontal deltoids, but the other lifts do not target the lateral and rear delts efficiently. For the lateral delts, you can do Lateral Raise, which are standing with a dumbbell, and raising your arm out lateral, leading with your pinky (smallest finger). The rear delts can be targeted in Face Pulls, which are done standing with a cable station, and using a rope attachment from the high pullet, and pulling it towards your face, and pull so that your elbow makes a 90 degree angle.
Another note on recovery is that because we want to optimize and sustain a constant recovery, it should be known that beginners to weight lifting will not be able to being muscles as close to failure, meaning they don't need as much recovery and can train more frequently. Additionally, when you are a beginner, you are lifting lighter weights, and lighter weights allow for faster recovery versus using heavier weights.
So ideally a beginner should use a full body routine multiple days a week (like 3). The high volume will also make for plentiful time to practice the techniques of the lifts. There are three ways to increase the amount of weight you are lifting, and that is by tweaking and improving your technique, building nervous system response to the muscle, or by increasing the muscle size. The easiest of those is to tweak your technique, followed by strength training, and the slowest and hardest way would be to increase muscle size.
This is why you should generally think about your technique in all of your lifts as to how you can improve them therein increasing the amount of weight you can lift, and progress faster. Heavy weight may sound intimidating, but it is the natural progression of increasing weight poundage over time. For example, 405lb may sound impossibly heavy, but imagine lifting 415lb. What is impossibly heavy plus 10lbs? It's not much heavier. The numbers don't matter. What they represent is your ability to display technique and leverage to lift any given weight. So although we think of someone who can lift heavy objects as 'strong' like in a natural power, but heavy objects are lifted through technique
Over time (years), as muscle development becomes more complete, heavier weight is necessary to spur a growth response in muscle and strength. This complicates things because that includes needing more recovery, having a higher chance of injury, and more complicated programming to break through plateaus.
The Bench Press targets the chest, shoulders, and arms. You lay on a bench and unrack a barbell, lower it to your chest, and press the bar to full arm extension. The Squat targets the legs, thighs, glutes, and works the core. You use a squat rack so that you can unrack the barbell loaded with weight directly on to your traps or lower rear shoulders. You step back, sink into a crouch with your hips below your knees, and then stand up with full leg extension. The Deadlift targets the spinal muscles, traps, lats, glutes, lower back, and hamstrings. You set up a barbell on the floor with 45lb (20kg) plates on each side, stand in front of the barbell with your shins touching the bar, bend at the knees and hips, grab the bar, and stand up with your upper back and chest leading the way, and push your hips forward into extension.
So as you can see from above that the three main lifts will cover the shoulders, arms, legs, back, hips, core, and glutes. These are the more important muscles to target for overall strength. A few muscles left out of those three lifts are the biceps, calves, forearms, inner thighs (adductors), rear shoulders, and abs. Any muscle group you would like to devote more work to in an effort to create more development, can also be isolated outside of the main lifts.
The frequency you perform your workout routine with lifting weights will determine volume of reps and sets as well as the intensity of each lift (ability to generate power and closer to maximum strength). For example, if you worked out one day a week, you would need extremely high volume to compensate for the lack of frequency. The intensity will suffer from the amount of workload on that one day, meaning the lifts done at the end of that day will not be attacked with full strength and capability.
After having experienced working out from one day to six days a week, I have found that the less frequent you work out, the less discipline needed, the higher body fat I held, less injuries, and plenty of strength. The more frequent you work out, the more aesthetic you appear from lower body fat percentage, muscle tension, mobility, conditioning, increased skill/technique and increased general health although the disadvantage remains of weaker joints from the repetitive use and lack of recovery.
As for rep ranges, it's often listed at 3-5 reps for strength, 6-12 reps for muscle, but ultimately all rep ranges are important, and you could use lower reps while increasing muscle by increasing total sets and/or lifts. To become good at a rep range, you should keep it in your routine for at least 6 weeks or longer. An example of increasing weight from workout session to workout session is that if you were bench pressing 135lb for 5 sets of 3, you can increase the weight by 5lb each time you do the lift. So the next time it would be 140lb for 5 sets of 3, then 145lb. You keep climbing linearly until you fail/plateau. At that point you can either continue lifting near your highest weight or deload to a lower weight, and climb back up.
Additional tips are to record your workout routines so that you can visibly work towards progress. Good nutrition is to eat clean (low sodium, low fat, low calorie). If you want to increase muscle size, you have to eat in an excess of your total maintenance of calories. If you want to lose weight, you must eat less than your total maintenance of calories. A high protein diet is important in keeping lean, and helping muscles repair.
Working out creates micro tears in the muscle, and resting allows for the muscles to rebuild and recover. So adequate rest is essential, meaning you should try to sleep 7-8 hours a night. Food intake is also essential for recovery. High water intake is recommended for leanness and general health. Muscles may become tight and require stretching.
To achieve progress the quickest be it strength, muscle, or aesthetics, each of your muscles should be in a state of recovery at most times. Each time the muscle is worked by lifting weights, and then recovers by allowing for rest, the muscle is further developed. As you can imagine, if you try to keep your entire body in a constant state of recovery, you will face injuries from time to time. This occurs because high frequency wears down the joints, and without sufficient time to recovery, weak joints will lead to injury, especially when using heavier weights, but the same can be said for even body weight exercises like push-ups and pull-ups.
If an injury occurs in arm or shoulder, many exercises may be off limit, but squats for example could still be trained to fully utilize those micro damage/repair cycles on the muscle to develop it the fastest. Likewise, returning to the three main lifts (Bench Press, Squat, and Deadlift), as you progress in those lifts, the muscles will develop, and the joints will become stronger (Bench Press - Elbow joint, Squat - Knee joint, Deadlift - Hip joint). Making those joints stronger will generally lead to a higher quality of life - and a longer life, and will prevent injuries. So although isolation exercises like calf raises to develop the calves are important, the three main lifts should take presidency.
Your workout routine should feature the three main lifts, and should have isolation exercises, which can be for added work, muscle development, or to have any specialty lifts you would like to include - for instance, weighted pull-ups. Some people may wonder why training your legs is important. I would say knee health and mobility are high benefits.
Hip strength is important for overall power, and both Squats and Deadlifts develop hip strength. The shoulders require proportionate development to ensure no injuries occur. There are three outer parts of the shoulder - the frontal deltoids, the lateral deltoids, and the rear deltoids. It is very common for people to over develop just the frontal deltoids and to neglect the lateral (side) and rear. This is because the Bench Press targets the frontal deltoids, but the other lifts do not target the lateral and rear delts efficiently. For the lateral delts, you can do Lateral Raise, which are standing with a dumbbell, and raising your arm out lateral, leading with your pinky (smallest finger). The rear delts can be targeted in Face Pulls, which are done standing with a cable station, and using a rope attachment from the high pullet, and pulling it towards your face, and pull so that your elbow makes a 90 degree angle.
Another note on recovery is that because we want to optimize and sustain a constant recovery, it should be known that beginners to weight lifting will not be able to being muscles as close to failure, meaning they don't need as much recovery and can train more frequently. Additionally, when you are a beginner, you are lifting lighter weights, and lighter weights allow for faster recovery versus using heavier weights.
So ideally a beginner should use a full body routine multiple days a week (like 3). The high volume will also make for plentiful time to practice the techniques of the lifts. There are three ways to increase the amount of weight you are lifting, and that is by tweaking and improving your technique, building nervous system response to the muscle, or by increasing the muscle size. The easiest of those is to tweak your technique, followed by strength training, and the slowest and hardest way would be to increase muscle size.
This is why you should generally think about your technique in all of your lifts as to how you can improve them therein increasing the amount of weight you can lift, and progress faster. Heavy weight may sound intimidating, but it is the natural progression of increasing weight poundage over time. For example, 405lb may sound impossibly heavy, but imagine lifting 415lb. What is impossibly heavy plus 10lbs? It's not much heavier. The numbers don't matter. What they represent is your ability to display technique and leverage to lift any given weight. So although we think of someone who can lift heavy objects as 'strong' like in a natural power, but heavy objects are lifted through technique
Over time (years), as muscle development becomes more complete, heavier weight is necessary to spur a growth response in muscle and strength. This complicates things because that includes needing more recovery, having a higher chance of injury, and more complicated programming to break through plateaus.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Pull-Up Technique Tip
External rotation of the shoulder allows for the lats to be strongest. The lats are the prime movers in pull-ups. Imagine holding your arm straight out in front of you and tucking your elbow to your hip then rotating outwardly (right elbow towards the right - left elbow towards the left). This both brings your shoulders back and externally rotates them. This is where the lats are strong, and should be the movement you mimic when doing pull-ups.and other lat work (back).
Elbow position should be tucked at all times throughout the movement. If it hovers up and outwards the lats will be weaker. So ultimately this paints a picture of starting the movement with externally rotated shoulders and as you raise yourself by contracting your lats, keep your arms tucked and let off a bit on the external shoulder rotation. Sink back down and open your shoulders again.
Elbow position should be tucked at all times throughout the movement. If it hovers up and outwards the lats will be weaker. So ultimately this paints a picture of starting the movement with externally rotated shoulders and as you raise yourself by contracting your lats, keep your arms tucked and let off a bit on the external shoulder rotation. Sink back down and open your shoulders again.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
The Mind Muscle Control and Kin Shi-Hai Do
Three years ago I mentioned the Mind Muscle Control with its connection with Max Sick. Here is a chart of the exercises which help with the muscle control, which I pointed to last time. At the time, I was utilizing that list of exercises on a daily basis, and saw results. I found that it was quite strenuous as well. It was clear to me that the lats were over emphasized and the legs and arms were under emphasized. I wasn't able to utilize the ab section because it's too advanced and requires too much development. When I first started doing that type of muscle control, I stopped doing yoga entirely to focus all of my energy on it. As time went on, I did less and less of the full list, and ended up dropping it and resuming yoga.
I only practice that old muscle control style maybe 1-2 times a week. What I've found is a new list of exercises which I feel are more intuitive and easier to do, and there's a larger emphasis on arms, which I really like. Everything's more relatable with this new list. The legs again aren't explored that deeply, but the abs exercises are more accessible. This new form of muscle control comes from a Japanese system called Kin Shi-Hai Do. I found out about this via a google search on muscle control. The site was hosted on angelfire. If you're not tech savvy, angelfire was one of the original web hosting companies alongside geocities in the late 90s. And it's funny that there are gems like these throughout the net - a 20 year old relic touting basically the ultimate knowledge of the universe. Ironically, I often filter my news and information for the latest available content, yet it would seem that age pairs well with some things in life.
If I had to state one source for muscle building and general fitness information it would be the from the oldtime strongman books from lifters and authors such as Eugene Sandow, Max Sick, Arthur Saxon, etc. Interestingly enough, in the year 2014 it's impossible to be able to tell which man is or is not on a form of steroids or a performance enhancing drug. People use insulin, human growth hormone, and extra testosterone to make themselves superhuman - to recover faster and be stronger. It's often said that only the winner of competitions is remembered in history, and in the world of bodybuilding and powerlifting, none of the winners are clean and legit (non abusers of steroids). So there is a heavy distortion as to what is and isn't attainable that exists today that didn't exist 100 years ago.
I train naturally, and thus I feel I need an edge on everyone else to look my best, be my strongest, and to recover as fast as possible. That is where the mind muscle connection comes into play as well as yoga. So without further adieu, here is the newer muscle control site that has an exercise list. The exercises end with abs, and afterwards I like to use an ab roller.
I only practice that old muscle control style maybe 1-2 times a week. What I've found is a new list of exercises which I feel are more intuitive and easier to do, and there's a larger emphasis on arms, which I really like. Everything's more relatable with this new list. The legs again aren't explored that deeply, but the abs exercises are more accessible. This new form of muscle control comes from a Japanese system called Kin Shi-Hai Do. I found out about this via a google search on muscle control. The site was hosted on angelfire. If you're not tech savvy, angelfire was one of the original web hosting companies alongside geocities in the late 90s. And it's funny that there are gems like these throughout the net - a 20 year old relic touting basically the ultimate knowledge of the universe. Ironically, I often filter my news and information for the latest available content, yet it would seem that age pairs well with some things in life.
If I had to state one source for muscle building and general fitness information it would be the from the oldtime strongman books from lifters and authors such as Eugene Sandow, Max Sick, Arthur Saxon, etc. Interestingly enough, in the year 2014 it's impossible to be able to tell which man is or is not on a form of steroids or a performance enhancing drug. People use insulin, human growth hormone, and extra testosterone to make themselves superhuman - to recover faster and be stronger. It's often said that only the winner of competitions is remembered in history, and in the world of bodybuilding and powerlifting, none of the winners are clean and legit (non abusers of steroids). So there is a heavy distortion as to what is and isn't attainable that exists today that didn't exist 100 years ago.
I train naturally, and thus I feel I need an edge on everyone else to look my best, be my strongest, and to recover as fast as possible. That is where the mind muscle connection comes into play as well as yoga. So without further adieu, here is the newer muscle control site that has an exercise list. The exercises end with abs, and afterwards I like to use an ab roller.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
How To Build A Workout Routine
There a number of known preset routines that you may follow and see good results, but ultimately I've found that simply following a routine can lead to injuries, and cannot account for your individual body's past experience and current health. The first part of building a workout routine is defining your goal. The goal is typically strength, muscle increase, endurance, or athletics. Each of those goals have their own rep scheme to follow which also determines the amount of weight used, which will also determine the frequency you perform the routine, and the amount of lifts.
A full body routine incorporates enough exercises to achieve development in each limb and body part. The sport of powerlifting uses three lifts: bench press, deadlift, and the squat. The reason they are used is because they are compound lifts that can represent the maximum strength in a man or woman. An overhead press is usually recommended for being in a routine as well, but the commonality of shoulder problems can prevent people from utilizing them. The fifth most common being a type of row - be it dumbbell or barbell.
Other options include a body split, which would let you plan on diving the full body routine to days of the week. For instance, chest and triceps on Monday, back and biceps on Tuesday, Legs and Abs on Wednesday, which could be repeated for Thursday through Saturday to hit each part twice a week. If you are new to a lift and need experience in form, you may want to plan for more volume or do it every gym session. If you injure a body part like a shoulder, you may want to plan for more leg work and skip deadlifts and pull-ups. If you want to prioritize a body part because it is less developed or you have desire for more development, you could hit that body part 2x a week and others 1x a week.
Progression should alwasy be interlaced with increased poundage or more reps or sets.
A full body routine incorporates enough exercises to achieve development in each limb and body part. The sport of powerlifting uses three lifts: bench press, deadlift, and the squat. The reason they are used is because they are compound lifts that can represent the maximum strength in a man or woman. An overhead press is usually recommended for being in a routine as well, but the commonality of shoulder problems can prevent people from utilizing them. The fifth most common being a type of row - be it dumbbell or barbell.
Other options include a body split, which would let you plan on diving the full body routine to days of the week. For instance, chest and triceps on Monday, back and biceps on Tuesday, Legs and Abs on Wednesday, which could be repeated for Thursday through Saturday to hit each part twice a week. If you are new to a lift and need experience in form, you may want to plan for more volume or do it every gym session. If you injure a body part like a shoulder, you may want to plan for more leg work and skip deadlifts and pull-ups. If you want to prioritize a body part because it is less developed or you have desire for more development, you could hit that body part 2x a week and others 1x a week.
Progression should alwasy be interlaced with increased poundage or more reps or sets.
Monday, April 28, 2014
Wrecked Shoulder Training
A month has passed since I've been able to train again at some level due to the shoulder injury. At first the plan was to just focus on the lower body, but I started transitioning to light upper body training. This was a mistake in retrospect. The chin-ups felt odd on the shoulder, the overhead presses felt fine, but afterwards made the shoulder ache, but I think ultimately the deadlifts were the most punishing on the shoulder. Once my favorite lift, I strived to get back to deadlifting. Now I find myself at another standstill.
I will continue training legs through squats mostly. I do not plan on deadlifting, overhead pressing, or pull-ups for the next month. Perhaps in June I'll try those lifts again.
I learned a few things from this past month of lifting while injured. First, I like the feeling that goes along with lifting versus not lifting. When you are lifting consistently, you build some tension in your muscles and nervous system that stays with you 24/7 until it tapers off. Generally I've swapped between training for muscle or strength or both, but now I have a new goal. I've put on an ample amount of muscle and the rate at which I can build muscle has slowed, and so training for muscle is not a priority. Training for strength requires me to life too heavy to see results, and even attaining those strength gains does not necessarily translate to anything aesthetically, and all that goes along with strength training makes it not worth it (infrequent training, not building muscle, large calorie consumption, and high risk of injury).
So my latest reason to train is for aesthetics with a priority of being in the gym often. As someone who hasn't found their form of cardio in life yet, I need all the weight lifting possible to burn calories.
I will continue training legs through squats mostly. I do not plan on deadlifting, overhead pressing, or pull-ups for the next month. Perhaps in June I'll try those lifts again.
I learned a few things from this past month of lifting while injured. First, I like the feeling that goes along with lifting versus not lifting. When you are lifting consistently, you build some tension in your muscles and nervous system that stays with you 24/7 until it tapers off. Generally I've swapped between training for muscle or strength or both, but now I have a new goal. I've put on an ample amount of muscle and the rate at which I can build muscle has slowed, and so training for muscle is not a priority. Training for strength requires me to life too heavy to see results, and even attaining those strength gains does not necessarily translate to anything aesthetically, and all that goes along with strength training makes it not worth it (infrequent training, not building muscle, large calorie consumption, and high risk of injury).
So my latest reason to train is for aesthetics with a priority of being in the gym often. As someone who hasn't found their form of cardio in life yet, I need all the weight lifting possible to burn calories.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Injury Intervention - Roto Cuff Woes
After 3 years of lifting without any serious injuries, I didn't think anything would slow me down more than a few days to a week, but that time has come. I have two main injuries. One is my right shoulder, specifically the rotator cuff, and the other is my right chest, which is the source of my sternum pain. I had finished the tail end of 2013 very strong, breaking PRs in every single lift, but a sort of numbness began taking over one of my shoulders, and as someone who's experienced many a sore elbow, and have learned to deal with available ranges of motion, I figured I could continue training with the bum shoulder, but just paying attention to the ranges of motion, but at some point even that stopped working.
The thing that totally took out my right shoulder was the very first day of training on the Juggernaut Method - Military Press for 5 sets of 10. There could have been some form issues (althought my military press has been going up) or a matter of volume, but either way I decided to limit overhead pressing to two sets. This left me with focusing on bench press, squats, and deadlifts. The bench pressing didn't hurt, but also wasn't helping the shoulder. I Deadlifted 495lb (my pr) with the roto cuff still out and it had me hurting for 2 weeks. Then I Rack Lifted 405lb for 10 reps and 495lb for 10 reps. That was 2 weeks ago, and only now am I getting feeling back in my shoulder. This 2 weeks off was by far the most painful of my lifting career and has had me cast serious doubts on my future.
If and when I return to the gym, I'll be foregoing strength training for some time. My only goal at this point is to be able to lift 5-6x a week with light to moderate weight. I think my mistake and injuries have resulted from trying to progress too linearly as an intermediate/advanced lifter. I want consistency, and that's been something I've been lacking as I've been trying to progress too quickly. So I intend to tread a path of light resistance to get back to my former glory.
The thing that totally took out my right shoulder was the very first day of training on the Juggernaut Method - Military Press for 5 sets of 10. There could have been some form issues (althought my military press has been going up) or a matter of volume, but either way I decided to limit overhead pressing to two sets. This left me with focusing on bench press, squats, and deadlifts. The bench pressing didn't hurt, but also wasn't helping the shoulder. I Deadlifted 495lb (my pr) with the roto cuff still out and it had me hurting for 2 weeks. Then I Rack Lifted 405lb for 10 reps and 495lb for 10 reps. That was 2 weeks ago, and only now am I getting feeling back in my shoulder. This 2 weeks off was by far the most painful of my lifting career and has had me cast serious doubts on my future.
If and when I return to the gym, I'll be foregoing strength training for some time. My only goal at this point is to be able to lift 5-6x a week with light to moderate weight. I think my mistake and injuries have resulted from trying to progress too linearly as an intermediate/advanced lifter. I want consistency, and that's been something I've been lacking as I've been trying to progress too quickly. So I intend to tread a path of light resistance to get back to my former glory.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Juggernaut Update
The third week of the Juggernaut Method is also known as the realization week. You execute an 'as many reps as possible' for the last set, which is 10lb heavier than your prior 10rep max. I've only done the third week for two lifts so far. They are the Military Press and the Squat. I was happier with my squat performance (15 reps).
The reason I haven't been able to complete the third week is because I've given in to injury in the shoulder. It's a rotator cuff muscle that is blown out - the one you use for overhead movements. I kept lifting despite the shoulder being out because I felt strong in other planes of movement. But I've decided now to wait it out until I'm 100%. It's been a week since then, and will be about half a week to a week longer if I'm lucky. I've been working on abs and arms in the meantime.
The reason I haven't been able to complete the third week is because I've given in to injury in the shoulder. It's a rotator cuff muscle that is blown out - the one you use for overhead movements. I kept lifting despite the shoulder being out because I felt strong in other planes of movement. But I've decided now to wait it out until I'm 100%. It's been a week since then, and will be about half a week to a week longer if I'm lucky. I've been working on abs and arms in the meantime.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Juggernaut Log Update
I finished the first week of the 10 rep range wave. It's the hardest week of the program because of the massive volume. It's 5 sets of 10 with 60% of your PR. This is hard on the joints, and in each lift left me a bit crippled for a few days. The military press took out my shoulders, the squats took out my knees, the bench press took out my elbows, and the deadlift took out my shoulders.
It was a really tough week to get through, but I knew in order for the periodization to work, I had to get the workouts in. This coming week is difficult as well. I am going to take a deload on the 4th week of the program. I've found that the high volume of the first week didn't require much accessory lifting. I cut out both front squats and incline barbell bench press, and didn't even do any dumbbell benching. I found my hands were too shredded to do any other lifts. I stuck with muscle-ups and straight hanging leg raises.
I read about a version of the program called the Inverted Juggernaut, which has you doing 10 sets of 5 for the first week, reversing the sets and reps, enabling you to get the high volume without having to do sarge large sets.
It was a really tough week to get through, but I knew in order for the periodization to work, I had to get the workouts in. This coming week is difficult as well. I am going to take a deload on the 4th week of the program. I've found that the high volume of the first week didn't require much accessory lifting. I cut out both front squats and incline barbell bench press, and didn't even do any dumbbell benching. I found my hands were too shredded to do any other lifts. I stuck with muscle-ups and straight hanging leg raises.
I read about a version of the program called the Inverted Juggernaut, which has you doing 10 sets of 5 for the first week, reversing the sets and reps, enabling you to get the high volume without having to do sarge large sets.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
The Juggernaut Method
For the past six months I've been on 5/3/1, the last two of those with the incorporation of 8/6/3 on some lifts. I saw about 10-30lb increase in PRs over that time on all of my main lifts. The program was still working, but I could tell some lifts were about to plateau like Military Press, and both Squats and Deadlifts were becoming more taxing. I just came off a deload week, so I'm fresh, and decided I'd go a new route since now is a perfect time for that - it being right after a deload and the end of a month.
I like this program for its reps disparity, utilizing higher bodybuilder type numbers. There are chances to do as many reps you can with a weight, which is found in 5/3/1 too, but from the layout of Juggernaut, it looks like it sets you up more for getting a ton of reps, whereas with 5/3/1 I could get 1 or 2 extra reps if I wanted, but often opted out. I feel Juggernaut depends on those do as many as you can reps versus 5/3/1 having a structure despite it. Because depending on how many reps you achieve, the program will become more difficult to allow you to progress faster.
The only thing I'm weary of is doing high volume on shoulder work, and I may scale it back. The program runs for 4 months as one cycle, which is a long time, but also includes a deload for each month, which I plan on using.
I've struggled in the past to adhere to deloads. I've often found myself with the willpower to keep going week after week, but eventually your body gives up. The key is to know just when your body will give up, so you can stop beforehand without cutting yourself too short, which would stop gains. I've always felt best when listening to my body and not pushing it too hard, and the deloads allow for the recovery necessary to have the proper intensity throughout periodization schedules.
The program, The Juggernaut Method, looks both challenging and hypertrophy inducing (muscle building). I'll update how the program works out for me. The creator of the program is Chad Wesley Smith. I might try the Cube Method after these 4 months.
I like this program for its reps disparity, utilizing higher bodybuilder type numbers. There are chances to do as many reps you can with a weight, which is found in 5/3/1 too, but from the layout of Juggernaut, it looks like it sets you up more for getting a ton of reps, whereas with 5/3/1 I could get 1 or 2 extra reps if I wanted, but often opted out. I feel Juggernaut depends on those do as many as you can reps versus 5/3/1 having a structure despite it. Because depending on how many reps you achieve, the program will become more difficult to allow you to progress faster.
The only thing I'm weary of is doing high volume on shoulder work, and I may scale it back. The program runs for 4 months as one cycle, which is a long time, but also includes a deload for each month, which I plan on using.
I've struggled in the past to adhere to deloads. I've often found myself with the willpower to keep going week after week, but eventually your body gives up. The key is to know just when your body will give up, so you can stop beforehand without cutting yourself too short, which would stop gains. I've always felt best when listening to my body and not pushing it too hard, and the deloads allow for the recovery necessary to have the proper intensity throughout periodization schedules.
The program, The Juggernaut Method, looks both challenging and hypertrophy inducing (muscle building). I'll update how the program works out for me. The creator of the program is Chad Wesley Smith. I might try the Cube Method after these 4 months.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
How to Become Strong, Fit, and Desirable - Willpower Harnessing
Welcome to 2014, friends. With the abundance of information available at one's fingertips, the onslaught of ideas and advice doesn't leave one with definite answers, and the answers that do rise to the top - their underpinnings become lost. People walk around today wondering how to lose weight and become more attractive. I will share that answer, but the fruit I share is not always consumed. We walk around as self entities with knowledge, and a lack of knowledge is dangerous, and this can prevent us from learning new things - even if those things are things we already know. There is a power in the articulation of a concept just right in that it sparks revolutions.
In my own personal experience before I attained said knowledge of making one strong, fit, and desirable, I'd wish for strength, and although it was something I always wanted, I would have moments where the concept would flare up in my mind and these moments were crucial for me in building power. I didn't know what I was doing at the time, and so I would try ideas that would leave me injured, a lack of results, or just frustration and ultimately defeat.
If I want to write a story, and I have no materials on hand, I'm forced to just think about my ideas in a mental brainstormed web which I transverse to and fro upon. If given pen and paper, I'll scribe my story and ideas. A human body without a manual as to how to use your muscles leaves you blind. If you have an abundance of energy albeit in a good mood or with anger, you could manipulate that energy by exercising, therein recycling the energy to the body. Anatomy is a wise investment in learning as it tells you the muscles functions and allows you to comprehend how the body works as a whole and in more localized compartments.
Broadly, if you're playing a game of chess, you'll be thinking of your next move, and life is very much that way. There are seven days in a week. Accounting for each of these seven days, how will you spend your time? The more efficient you are with time, the quicker you get to your goals. As humans we want things immediately, and that means taking the straightest most efficient path. You can still stop the smell the flowers, but remaining on that path is crucial and good enough.
Muscle is shapely and provides curvature, strength, and function. It should be developed as otherwise it is atrophied. Although as a beginner you may think of training only one muscle or two or three. Of course it's fine to start anywhere, but imbalances will arise quickly. Each muscle has an antagonistic muscle that should be worked and developed. This is a matter of looking at a scale with two weights and making sure they're evenly weighted.
In a world where people complain of bad backs and bad knees, it shows how important it is to keep the body developed. The legs and lower half of the body are very important. The glutes help maintain an erect torso. The hips are the most powerful part of a human. Hamstrings are incredibly strong and can effortlessly be loaded with hundreds of pounds. For the upper body, strong shoulders and a strong back are essential for health and aesthetics.
Exercise is based off movements in which our muscles contract and stretch. Progression is what tells the muscles to grow larger, and tells our nervous system to become stronger for strength. For progression, the most efficient path is weight training. Access to weights, whether at home or at a gym are mandatory. To increase the poundage of the weight used in an exercise is to spurt more growth. It's like watering a flower and giving it sunlight.
Just as we wash our hands every day, wear clothes every day, and eat every day, we can exercise every day. It's that simple. The food we eat is like fuel in a car. We pull the nutrients through food that we require, and thus eating the right foods for ourselves is important as well as the quantity. Generally a diet of meat, vegetables, and water is healthy. Other goods may be consumed, but pay attention to nutrition and quantity. If you like chocolate and alcohol, by all means have some.
We only live once as far as know, and so we should live life to its fullest. There are a number of weight training routines that you can adhere to and see marvelous gains. Think about the number of days you're willing to attend a gym, and build your routine off that. If you only have two days available a week, I would recommend an upper body/lower body split (one day of each). If you had 4 days available, you could do a bench press day, an overhead press day, a squat day, and a front squat day. You would do more than just those exercises, but there are a few key exercises that are the most important to progress in, and you should know that not all exercises are meant to have progression (lateral raises, face pulls, good mornings).
The 4 most important exercises are the Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, and Overhead Press (or Military Press). If you were good at those lifts alone, you would be very strong and very fit. The Squat requires mobility, leg strength, and hip strength. The Deadlift requires stability and a strong back. The Overhead Press requires strong shoulders and balance. The Bench Press requires strong stable shoulders and strong elbows (triceps). So that's knees, hips, back, shoulders, and elbows. Focus on those areas and you'll be strong all over.
In my own personal experience before I attained said knowledge of making one strong, fit, and desirable, I'd wish for strength, and although it was something I always wanted, I would have moments where the concept would flare up in my mind and these moments were crucial for me in building power. I didn't know what I was doing at the time, and so I would try ideas that would leave me injured, a lack of results, or just frustration and ultimately defeat.
If I want to write a story, and I have no materials on hand, I'm forced to just think about my ideas in a mental brainstormed web which I transverse to and fro upon. If given pen and paper, I'll scribe my story and ideas. A human body without a manual as to how to use your muscles leaves you blind. If you have an abundance of energy albeit in a good mood or with anger, you could manipulate that energy by exercising, therein recycling the energy to the body. Anatomy is a wise investment in learning as it tells you the muscles functions and allows you to comprehend how the body works as a whole and in more localized compartments.
Broadly, if you're playing a game of chess, you'll be thinking of your next move, and life is very much that way. There are seven days in a week. Accounting for each of these seven days, how will you spend your time? The more efficient you are with time, the quicker you get to your goals. As humans we want things immediately, and that means taking the straightest most efficient path. You can still stop the smell the flowers, but remaining on that path is crucial and good enough.
Muscle is shapely and provides curvature, strength, and function. It should be developed as otherwise it is atrophied. Although as a beginner you may think of training only one muscle or two or three. Of course it's fine to start anywhere, but imbalances will arise quickly. Each muscle has an antagonistic muscle that should be worked and developed. This is a matter of looking at a scale with two weights and making sure they're evenly weighted.
In a world where people complain of bad backs and bad knees, it shows how important it is to keep the body developed. The legs and lower half of the body are very important. The glutes help maintain an erect torso. The hips are the most powerful part of a human. Hamstrings are incredibly strong and can effortlessly be loaded with hundreds of pounds. For the upper body, strong shoulders and a strong back are essential for health and aesthetics.
Exercise is based off movements in which our muscles contract and stretch. Progression is what tells the muscles to grow larger, and tells our nervous system to become stronger for strength. For progression, the most efficient path is weight training. Access to weights, whether at home or at a gym are mandatory. To increase the poundage of the weight used in an exercise is to spurt more growth. It's like watering a flower and giving it sunlight.
Just as we wash our hands every day, wear clothes every day, and eat every day, we can exercise every day. It's that simple. The food we eat is like fuel in a car. We pull the nutrients through food that we require, and thus eating the right foods for ourselves is important as well as the quantity. Generally a diet of meat, vegetables, and water is healthy. Other goods may be consumed, but pay attention to nutrition and quantity. If you like chocolate and alcohol, by all means have some.
We only live once as far as know, and so we should live life to its fullest. There are a number of weight training routines that you can adhere to and see marvelous gains. Think about the number of days you're willing to attend a gym, and build your routine off that. If you only have two days available a week, I would recommend an upper body/lower body split (one day of each). If you had 4 days available, you could do a bench press day, an overhead press day, a squat day, and a front squat day. You would do more than just those exercises, but there are a few key exercises that are the most important to progress in, and you should know that not all exercises are meant to have progression (lateral raises, face pulls, good mornings).
The 4 most important exercises are the Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, and Overhead Press (or Military Press). If you were good at those lifts alone, you would be very strong and very fit. The Squat requires mobility, leg strength, and hip strength. The Deadlift requires stability and a strong back. The Overhead Press requires strong shoulders and balance. The Bench Press requires strong stable shoulders and strong elbows (triceps). So that's knees, hips, back, shoulders, and elbows. Focus on those areas and you'll be strong all over.
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Why People Don't Exercise and The Solution
I've thought long and hard about this problem. It greatly bothers me as I think all should benefit from some level of fitness. If I were to ask how to set up a board game of Monopoly, the answer could be followed in these steps:
1/Unfold the board so that it's face up.
2/Deal out the money and assemble the bank.
3/Organize the land.
4/Place the Community Chest and Chance cards.
5/Choose player game pieces.
6/Roll to see who goes first.
For someone who doesn't know how to exercise, the steps they take, if they ever enter a gym, are usually to gravitate towards what looks easy, lift light weight with bad form, and leave without having hit their body significantly, and soreness and mild injuries arise, and it's the end of it.
Here are the steps I recommend:
1/Enter gym written down routine that follows a program suited to your goals.
2/Do exactly what's written down at whichever pace you desire.
3/After workout, log results to ensure consistency is met and for future use of programming routines, and to educate yourself on which weights are too heavy or too light on each exercise.
4/Eat clean and an ample amount, get rest, use recovery tools.
5/Progress your weight training by 5lb/10lb on each lift (daily{beginner}, weekly{intermediate}, or monthly{advanced}).
6/Substitute lifts periodically for variations.
7/Take a very distant perspective to fitness. A cup of coffee can be made in 5 minutes. A strong skillfull athletic body is built slower. Bone density increases over time. Muscle enlarges and provides curvature. Mobility and flexibility are attained.
A great part of fitness is the discipline required to maintain the greatest efficiency. You learn about the human body, and how the joints articulate, and how to use leverage to your advantage. The physical progress keeps you mentally focused and reinforces the discipline of living a clean life to be able to enjoy the most out of life.
The body conserves energy throughout the day, and it needs to be expelled somehow, and the greatest use of that energy is to use it to rebuild your body stronger and healthier. Once that energy is expelled, stress levels are lowered and life feels more relaxing. While you sleep, your body repairs. If there's nothing to repair, then you can consider that day lost. And those days add up, and thus utilizing your time efficiently results to an effect of time traveling as you can attain so much in such little time if all your energy and effort are directed correctly.
1/Unfold the board so that it's face up.
2/Deal out the money and assemble the bank.
3/Organize the land.
4/Place the Community Chest and Chance cards.
5/Choose player game pieces.
6/Roll to see who goes first.
For someone who doesn't know how to exercise, the steps they take, if they ever enter a gym, are usually to gravitate towards what looks easy, lift light weight with bad form, and leave without having hit their body significantly, and soreness and mild injuries arise, and it's the end of it.
Here are the steps I recommend:
1/Enter gym written down routine that follows a program suited to your goals.
2/Do exactly what's written down at whichever pace you desire.
3/After workout, log results to ensure consistency is met and for future use of programming routines, and to educate yourself on which weights are too heavy or too light on each exercise.
4/Eat clean and an ample amount, get rest, use recovery tools.
5/Progress your weight training by 5lb/10lb on each lift (daily{beginner}, weekly{intermediate}, or monthly{advanced}).
6/Substitute lifts periodically for variations.
7/Take a very distant perspective to fitness. A cup of coffee can be made in 5 minutes. A strong skillfull athletic body is built slower. Bone density increases over time. Muscle enlarges and provides curvature. Mobility and flexibility are attained.
A great part of fitness is the discipline required to maintain the greatest efficiency. You learn about the human body, and how the joints articulate, and how to use leverage to your advantage. The physical progress keeps you mentally focused and reinforces the discipline of living a clean life to be able to enjoy the most out of life.
The body conserves energy throughout the day, and it needs to be expelled somehow, and the greatest use of that energy is to use it to rebuild your body stronger and healthier. Once that energy is expelled, stress levels are lowered and life feels more relaxing. While you sleep, your body repairs. If there's nothing to repair, then you can consider that day lost. And those days add up, and thus utilizing your time efficiently results to an effect of time traveling as you can attain so much in such little time if all your energy and effort are directed correctly.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Wrist Wraps - How To Up Your Bench Press
I don't think the 'tools' of weight lifting are that well known. It seems very little information is directed their way. From what I've read on wrist wraps, they're good for injuries of the wrist, and shouldn't be used as a crutch. A similar thing is said with wearing a belt - that you should only do it on your heaviest sets. The same can be said for wrist straps, but these rules can be broken obviously, and should be. Why not explore, and see why things are done the way they are, and also see if perhaps the popular opinion is incorrect, which is common.
So far I've used the wrist wraps on Barbell Bench Press, Barbell Military Press, Standing One-Arm Dumbbell Overhead Press, Barbell Incline Bench Press, and Dumbbell Rows. I found them to create a stability that you do not ordinarily have, which is similar to a belt. I found an easier route to muscle contraction while wearing them. I've felt this way in the past while using wrist straps, but ultimately used wrist straps in a way that delayed my grip strength and technique. That said, there are still situations where the wrist straps are 100% necessary, like a Rack Deadlift with 100lb over your Deadlift PR, and you're going for sets and reps.
On Bench Press, I lifted 10lb over my PR using the wrist wraps for the first time. I think they're for real, and can even be useful for push-ups, especially if you have a weak wrist or two. I recommend the Shiek extra long wraps. They go on pretty quickly. They'll cut off blood circulation if you either wrap them too tight or have them on too long. It's easy to keep them loose between sets though. I found my Military Press especially a much tighter technique.
It doesn't matter what lifting tools you use within the gym - a belt, chalk, straps, or wraps. Outside of the gym no one knows it, and if you can increase your safety, stability, strength, and muscle mass then it's worth it at some point.
So far I've used the wrist wraps on Barbell Bench Press, Barbell Military Press, Standing One-Arm Dumbbell Overhead Press, Barbell Incline Bench Press, and Dumbbell Rows. I found them to create a stability that you do not ordinarily have, which is similar to a belt. I found an easier route to muscle contraction while wearing them. I've felt this way in the past while using wrist straps, but ultimately used wrist straps in a way that delayed my grip strength and technique. That said, there are still situations where the wrist straps are 100% necessary, like a Rack Deadlift with 100lb over your Deadlift PR, and you're going for sets and reps.
On Bench Press, I lifted 10lb over my PR using the wrist wraps for the first time. I think they're for real, and can even be useful for push-ups, especially if you have a weak wrist or two. I recommend the Shiek extra long wraps. They go on pretty quickly. They'll cut off blood circulation if you either wrap them too tight or have them on too long. It's easy to keep them loose between sets though. I found my Military Press especially a much tighter technique.
It doesn't matter what lifting tools you use within the gym - a belt, chalk, straps, or wraps. Outside of the gym no one knows it, and if you can increase your safety, stability, strength, and muscle mass then it's worth it at some point.
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