Exercises themselves are not exclusive to sex, but the goals of a person (woman) can define the program, depending on the body part you would like to develop, or if it's lower body development only, or if strength is a goal.
Here is a list of good lower body exercises:
Main Compound:
Barbell Squats
Barbell Deadlifts
Barbell Front Squats
Auxiliary:
Barbell Lunges
Barbell Standing Calf Raises
Barbell Romanian Deadlifts
Barbell Hack Squats
Barbell Bulgarian Split Squats
Barbell Good Mornings
Barbell Side Lunge
Decide how many days you're willing to go to the gym (2-5). Plan a routine with built-in progression. The first week you lift X amount of reps for 3 to 5 sets on any given main compound exercise. Afterwards, you do 2 to 3 sets on auxiliary exercises.
If you're a beginner, increase the weight by 5-10lb every week on the main compound exercises. You may raise the weight on the auxiliary exercises, but it shouldn't be the focus, and shouldn't hurt your recovery, or even be done if time is not available.
Additional mobility and balance can be attained through yoga, which can be done anywhere. An extra lower body body weight routine that can be done is as follows:
Body Weight Squats - Wide Stance (18)
Body Weight Alternating Lunges (31)
Body Weight Bulgarian Split Squat w/ No Chair (12 per leg)
Body Weight Bulgarian Split Squat w/ Chair (21 per leg)
Laying Face Up Straight-Leg Leg Raises Alternating (18)
Standing Leg Curl - Learn Forward on a Counter (20 per leg)
Kneeling Straight-Leg Donkey Kick (20 per leg)
Here is a list of good upper body exercises:
Main Compound:
Barbell Bench Press
Barbell Incline Bench Press
Barbell Military Press
Auxiliary:
Pull-Ups
Push-Ups
Dips
Crunches
Dumbbell Bench Press
Dumbbell One-Arm Rows
Dumbbell Curls
Dumbbell Lateral Raises
Dumbbell Standing One-Arm Shoulder Press
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Muffin Recipe with High Protein and High Fiber
Here is a classic recipe I've designed and refined over the years. It makes 11 muffins.
2.5 tbsp of cinnamon
2.5 tbsp of cinnamon
.75 tsp of salt
.5 tbsp cocoa powder
4 eggs (not large)
1 to the brim cup of milk
1 to the brim cup of oats
3 cups of flour (white whole wheat)
.38 cups of sugar
.5 tsp of baking soda
2 tbsp of baking powder
1 cup of frozen mixed berries (torn up strawberries), blueberries, blackberries - defrost 3 minutes
1 stick of butter (power 8 20 seconds)
.4 cups of chocolate chips
Coat muffin pan very thick with coconut oil.
Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients.
Mix ingredients by hand, place them into muffin pan so that they're just at the brim and just barely over. this makes 11 muffins.
Bake at 375 F (make sure it's all the way to the right if knob is loose).
Bake for 18:35 min, pull out of oven, let cool for 10 minutes, pop out muffins with a knife by digging into the side and crowbarring them out.
Eat with coffee or beer or water.
201.7g calories
8g protein
6g fiber
37.9g carbs
1.3g fat
7g sugar
They taste absolutely delicious, reminding me of Drake's Coffee Cakes. You can lower the amount of Oats for less fiber, or lour the Flour for less carbs..
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Are You Lifting or Are You Recovering? And Nervous System Nuisances
To maximize efficiency in the world of lifting, you must either be lifting or recovering. You can even branch that out to each of your muscles/limbs. Are they recovering? Could they be? Because of the variance of our bone length and proportions, less or more work may be necessary. Not all lifts are equal in their ability to work a muscle. Cut the filler, strategize, and execute. Every day counts. It's 24 hours. The effect of using time extremely efficiently is akin to time traveling. Four workouts a week versus two workouts a week could potentially double your gains. Do not forget that it takes desire, and 'want'. If your body fights you, and sends you signals of distress, your reaction should be to diagnose, analyze, and repair. Do not let injuries fester. Attend them and be done with it. Attack, and know that rest shouldn't be something you look forward to; it is simply a necessity that'll occur during the convenient time duration of your choice. Conquer.
I've noticed some strange happenings with my nervous system with the increased volume in push-ups and pull-ups, and the swap to the 8/6/3 routine from 5/3/1. I wouldn't say that it's fried, but it's constantly there for me. I have a constant flow of available strength through the nervous system that isn't typically there. For instance, I feel I could Deadlift 450lb with no warm-up at any point of the day. That strength is just lying in the grass waiting for me to channel the thoughts of achieving said violation. It could be a foreshadowing of overreaching coming to play, which is basically a less serious version of over-training. I can imagine this would be a good state to be in for physically fighting.
As I am battling my nervous system and joints beginning to fail, recovery has been paramount, although I never turn off the recovery switch in regular training. On a daily basis, I use tools such as a foam roller, stretch out straps (8ft long piece of material with loops along it), Theracane (for traps, lats, anterior delts), and general stretches (unconventional) throughout the day. Showers seem to help as well.
I've noticed some strange happenings with my nervous system with the increased volume in push-ups and pull-ups, and the swap to the 8/6/3 routine from 5/3/1. I wouldn't say that it's fried, but it's constantly there for me. I have a constant flow of available strength through the nervous system that isn't typically there. For instance, I feel I could Deadlift 450lb with no warm-up at any point of the day. That strength is just lying in the grass waiting for me to channel the thoughts of achieving said violation. It could be a foreshadowing of overreaching coming to play, which is basically a less serious version of over-training. I can imagine this would be a good state to be in for physically fighting.
As I am battling my nervous system and joints beginning to fail, recovery has been paramount, although I never turn off the recovery switch in regular training. On a daily basis, I use tools such as a foam roller, stretch out straps (8ft long piece of material with loops along it), Theracane (for traps, lats, anterior delts), and general stretches (unconventional) throughout the day. Showers seem to help as well.
Monday, December 2, 2013
How To Do 300 Push-Ups In One Workout - Count Master
As previously stated in an entry, the human mind is fallible to the degree where it is laughable, and thus we can predict how it'll act, and can keep our focus. Instead of counting linearly and thinking of each number either before or after the rep, I find counting only to five a much simpler task for your brain. So to count to 50, you would count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - 1, then 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - 2, etc. until you get to 10 groups of 5. It gets a little trickier counting to 100+. I will select some 'markers' (you can use any object - a few markers of different colors) and I'll denote each marker to 5 groups of 5, representing 25 reps, and thus four of these markers represent 100 altogether.
The reason I implemented the counting technique is that as I did high rep sets of push-ups, there would be a sticking point (for example say 60). If I count linearly and once I come upon 55, I know that there's only 5 more to do until I hit 60, and because of that, I'll slow the reps down, granting them more intensity, but at the same time burning out my energy and strength so that I'll feel done at 60 repetitions.
The high reps may have a few different affects on your body. The first stage is the pump, which comes after the first and second set. The muscles fill with blood, which supplies oxygen to the cells, making you feel better than fantastic. If you take too long of a break between sets, your body may go cold - at this point you would have lost the pump and you'd have a cold sweat on you. Obviously that isn't desirable, but it can easily happen if you get sidetracked in a conversation for instance. Another feeling you may experience is a sort of general fatigue setting in at the half way point to your goal. With lifting in general, I find that staying calm with a regular pulse between sets will allow you to recover faster. So if you feel fatigue, do not give up hope. Instead, keep your eyes out for your second wind, which is surprisingly common when doing any type of endurance work.
The last bodily state you may find yourself in is when you've had a good pump, and have done most of the work, but your body no longer feels strong, and your muscles feel entirely used up, but more reps are possible. Usually at this state, the amount of reps you can do per set increases. I don't know whether or not it's good to continue at that state. On one hand, you may complete the desired amount of repetitions, and so you should continue, on the other hand, you may be doing more bad than good, and an injury could show its face.
The reason I implemented the counting technique is that as I did high rep sets of push-ups, there would be a sticking point (for example say 60). If I count linearly and once I come upon 55, I know that there's only 5 more to do until I hit 60, and because of that, I'll slow the reps down, granting them more intensity, but at the same time burning out my energy and strength so that I'll feel done at 60 repetitions.
The high reps may have a few different affects on your body. The first stage is the pump, which comes after the first and second set. The muscles fill with blood, which supplies oxygen to the cells, making you feel better than fantastic. If you take too long of a break between sets, your body may go cold - at this point you would have lost the pump and you'd have a cold sweat on you. Obviously that isn't desirable, but it can easily happen if you get sidetracked in a conversation for instance. Another feeling you may experience is a sort of general fatigue setting in at the half way point to your goal. With lifting in general, I find that staying calm with a regular pulse between sets will allow you to recover faster. So if you feel fatigue, do not give up hope. Instead, keep your eyes out for your second wind, which is surprisingly common when doing any type of endurance work.
The last bodily state you may find yourself in is when you've had a good pump, and have done most of the work, but your body no longer feels strong, and your muscles feel entirely used up, but more reps are possible. Usually at this state, the amount of reps you can do per set increases. I don't know whether or not it's good to continue at that state. On one hand, you may complete the desired amount of repetitions, and so you should continue, on the other hand, you may be doing more bad than good, and an injury could show its face.
How To Do 50 Pull-Ups In One Workout - Muscle Endurance, Hypertrophy, and Heart
The first aspect of conquering said colossal amount of repetitions is to let the idea slither around your brain and solidify so that you know what will be coming in the workout. There's a different mindset for lower reps and higher reps. The more reps you choose to do, the more breathing plays a role in aiding you get those reps. In the middle of a set, it can be easy to loose focus. On each lift there is an eccentric part and a concentric part. Once you've hit the eccentric, you have no choice but to hit the concentric - but if you hesitate, you lose momentum, and it will either end the set for you, or drain your strength and energy, limiting your amount of reps.
When I Squat or Deadlift at my heaviest weights, I need to internally tell myself, "Up!". One would think that the direction to move is obvious and couldn't possibly need a cue, but when lifting your heaviest, your mind is highly fallible. There is only folly in thinking that you are perfect. Humans have demonstrated that every single one of their senses can malfunction, or pick up false senses. We tell ourselves we won't quit when things get tough, but when they get tough, you may not be able to silent the voice telling you to stop or your body will break. I don't need the "Up!" cue on pull-ups or push-ups, but you may find it useful.
One of the main components of doing this volume is knowing when you're fresh again after a set is complete. I have noticed that if you do two sets back to back with not enough rest, and it's very taxing on you, then by doing that 2nd set too soon without any rest, you may blow out a muscle, leaving you unable to get the volume you were attempting to attain. Stretching before all the reps are done is something else you must be cautious of. Too much of a stretch will almost tell your muscles that it's OK to relax, and that you no longer need them to be taut.
Just as in weight lifting the idea of keeping a vertical bar path also applies in pull-ups. Once you've grabbed the bar, you can set your back and chest to any angle you choose, and what you should be looking for is the groove that requires the least amount of effort because it is there in that groove that you'll get the most reps, and by doing more reps than you would have been able to initially, you'll experience working the muscles to a greater degree, and you'll have more muscle endurance.
Failure can play mind games on you, and can defeat you entirely. Dealing with failure is a slippery slope. You do not want to fail as it will lower your confidence, and yet never failing is evidence you never tried 'that' hard. So ideally we fail from time to time, but not too consistently or it'll drive the fire out of our bellies. To better avoid failure, taking a wide perspective of the workout and the workouts for the rest of the week will allow you to know what has to be accomplished. If you're doing a routine where there are 10 lifts in one session, you cannot drain yourself of strength and energy entirely before the 10th lift. You need to know how much fuel to keep in the gas tank.
When I Squat or Deadlift at my heaviest weights, I need to internally tell myself, "Up!". One would think that the direction to move is obvious and couldn't possibly need a cue, but when lifting your heaviest, your mind is highly fallible. There is only folly in thinking that you are perfect. Humans have demonstrated that every single one of their senses can malfunction, or pick up false senses. We tell ourselves we won't quit when things get tough, but when they get tough, you may not be able to silent the voice telling you to stop or your body will break. I don't need the "Up!" cue on pull-ups or push-ups, but you may find it useful.
One of the main components of doing this volume is knowing when you're fresh again after a set is complete. I have noticed that if you do two sets back to back with not enough rest, and it's very taxing on you, then by doing that 2nd set too soon without any rest, you may blow out a muscle, leaving you unable to get the volume you were attempting to attain. Stretching before all the reps are done is something else you must be cautious of. Too much of a stretch will almost tell your muscles that it's OK to relax, and that you no longer need them to be taut.
Just as in weight lifting the idea of keeping a vertical bar path also applies in pull-ups. Once you've grabbed the bar, you can set your back and chest to any angle you choose, and what you should be looking for is the groove that requires the least amount of effort because it is there in that groove that you'll get the most reps, and by doing more reps than you would have been able to initially, you'll experience working the muscles to a greater degree, and you'll have more muscle endurance.
Failure can play mind games on you, and can defeat you entirely. Dealing with failure is a slippery slope. You do not want to fail as it will lower your confidence, and yet never failing is evidence you never tried 'that' hard. So ideally we fail from time to time, but not too consistently or it'll drive the fire out of our bellies. To better avoid failure, taking a wide perspective of the workout and the workouts for the rest of the week will allow you to know what has to be accomplished. If you're doing a routine where there are 10 lifts in one session, you cannot drain yourself of strength and energy entirely before the 10th lift. You need to know how much fuel to keep in the gas tank.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
8/6/3 Routine For Building Muscle and Power
I've done 5/3/1 for the past four out of five months. It has been very enjoyable, and is a very clear cut program - a sort of bare-bones, but it works amazingly well. Each month is a cycle with the last week of each month being a deload (which can be skipped a few times). It has progression built in to your core lifts, so that the program can't go stale on account of lack of recovery and therefore can have a longer life than beginner programs. You can start with lower 1 rep maxes as well to get more cycles in before plateauing.
I added about 20lb to each of my lifts, and they were all about to go up with having none stalled. The program can be known as low volume, but that can be fixed through adding Joker sets, which are sets that built up to a PR breaker on any given workout. I've been breaking my PRs all through the Joker sets instead of normal planning - so you can see the potential of the program. I choose to divert from it temporarily to focus on building more muscle.
My weight has gone up as planned, and I'm 199lb at 5'11. The new routine will drop my weight due to the extra workouts, higher reps, and push-up and pull-up total volume weekly. I'll be able to cut down with more muscle than last year. I won't be cutting calories in so much that the extra exercise will eat away at the caloric expenditure.
I've also realized that in chasing my 1 rep max on a daily and weekly basis that my risk of injury was high, and although I focused on muscle contractions, I wasn't getting the volume correlated with the hard facts of higher repetitions for muscle growth. I was thinking of reenacting another of my bodybuilding routines, but I've enjoyed 5/3/1 so much. I believe in its ability to spurt progression, and I know it'll work for other rep schemes. To break an 8 rep PR is rewarding just as a much of a 1 rep max PR. I also felt the higher volume coincides well with the push-up and pull-up high volume programs I'm running. I find that when doing repetitions on any given day that you get used to breathing and counting the reps a certain way, and to change out of that rep scheme would break the flow of concentration.
It's nice running this program now because the first cycle's deload week hits along the week of Christmas. This year in lifting for me has worked out far better than I imagined or planned. In the start of November I broke PRs nonstop every week in all lifts, and have just now devised the next program at a great time as I had been strength training for half the year. I am switching between the two: bodybuilding and strength training. I hit upon 5/3/1 for strength training, and have now just hit upon 8/6/3 for bodybuilding as I was using a good program before for bodybuilding, but it didn't have the same consistently planned route of progression as does the 5/3/1 method. It's a matter of programming a routine with the amount of complexity needed for said lifter. As I look at my lifting career, I've frequently pulled back my perspective to see what I've done and where I want to go.
I added about 20lb to each of my lifts, and they were all about to go up with having none stalled. The program can be known as low volume, but that can be fixed through adding Joker sets, which are sets that built up to a PR breaker on any given workout. I've been breaking my PRs all through the Joker sets instead of normal planning - so you can see the potential of the program. I choose to divert from it temporarily to focus on building more muscle.
My weight has gone up as planned, and I'm 199lb at 5'11. The new routine will drop my weight due to the extra workouts, higher reps, and push-up and pull-up total volume weekly. I'll be able to cut down with more muscle than last year. I won't be cutting calories in so much that the extra exercise will eat away at the caloric expenditure.
I've also realized that in chasing my 1 rep max on a daily and weekly basis that my risk of injury was high, and although I focused on muscle contractions, I wasn't getting the volume correlated with the hard facts of higher repetitions for muscle growth. I was thinking of reenacting another of my bodybuilding routines, but I've enjoyed 5/3/1 so much. I believe in its ability to spurt progression, and I know it'll work for other rep schemes. To break an 8 rep PR is rewarding just as a much of a 1 rep max PR. I also felt the higher volume coincides well with the push-up and pull-up high volume programs I'm running. I find that when doing repetitions on any given day that you get used to breathing and counting the reps a certain way, and to change out of that rep scheme would break the flow of concentration.
It's nice running this program now because the first cycle's deload week hits along the week of Christmas. This year in lifting for me has worked out far better than I imagined or planned. In the start of November I broke PRs nonstop every week in all lifts, and have just now devised the next program at a great time as I had been strength training for half the year. I am switching between the two: bodybuilding and strength training. I hit upon 5/3/1 for strength training, and have now just hit upon 8/6/3 for bodybuilding as I was using a good program before for bodybuilding, but it didn't have the same consistently planned route of progression as does the 5/3/1 method. It's a matter of programming a routine with the amount of complexity needed for said lifter. As I look at my lifting career, I've frequently pulled back my perspective to see what I've done and where I want to go.
Yoga Explained and A Look at the Future
Yoga has taken the West in a very odd manner. There are hard coded associations with yoga that are entirely irrelevant. It's generally known as a slow-paced form of exercise that is spiritual and meditative, and requires either instructors, music, or exquisite scenery. None of this is essential to yoga. In fact, I would describe yoga as a series of poses which aid in mobility, flexibility, balance, and recovery.
These poses often include opening your hips, twisting your spine, and opening the shoulder girdle, which all aid in mobility. The muscles used are mainly the quads and hamstrings. An element consistent in yoga is breathing. Each pose can be considered a sort of body deformation. As it is easy to become stiff and rigid in our every day lives of having too much comfort, the mobility of yoga should be a strong appeal. To be able to breathe in the different poses, you are exercising the lungs and quickening the circulatory system and delivering oxygen to your bodily compartments via blood flow.
It's rather odd how suppressed children are raised being forced to sit in a classroom for 6 hours a day with very limited movement. It's as if we purposely attempt to diminish athletic ability. With today's technology, office jobs where people sit 8 hours a day is also become open to discussion as we don't need to be tethered to a desk to do work all day long. Software can be controlled remotely, files can be accessed in a cloud online (where it's inevitably going to end up since projects are collaborations).
Perhaps in the future when virtual reality is abound, fitness will be more important in order to have more efficient movement within the game. Or that all work is freelance completed at home in shorter duration than a work day, leaving people with the bulk of their day to enjoy the sunlight, and therein train their body to enjoy life to its fullest. Or perhaps our avatars will represent us 99% of the time, leaving our original bodies entirely insignificant.
These poses often include opening your hips, twisting your spine, and opening the shoulder girdle, which all aid in mobility. The muscles used are mainly the quads and hamstrings. An element consistent in yoga is breathing. Each pose can be considered a sort of body deformation. As it is easy to become stiff and rigid in our every day lives of having too much comfort, the mobility of yoga should be a strong appeal. To be able to breathe in the different poses, you are exercising the lungs and quickening the circulatory system and delivering oxygen to your bodily compartments via blood flow.
It's rather odd how suppressed children are raised being forced to sit in a classroom for 6 hours a day with very limited movement. It's as if we purposely attempt to diminish athletic ability. With today's technology, office jobs where people sit 8 hours a day is also become open to discussion as we don't need to be tethered to a desk to do work all day long. Software can be controlled remotely, files can be accessed in a cloud online (where it's inevitably going to end up since projects are collaborations).
Perhaps in the future when virtual reality is abound, fitness will be more important in order to have more efficient movement within the game. Or that all work is freelance completed at home in shorter duration than a work day, leaving people with the bulk of their day to enjoy the sunlight, and therein train their body to enjoy life to its fullest. Or perhaps our avatars will represent us 99% of the time, leaving our original bodies entirely insignificant.
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