Deep Muscle Soreness And Body-Shock Fatigue
September 4, 2008
In my experience there are two distinct types of muscular fatigue associated with intense progressive resistance training (only intense training is sufficient to trigger muscle hypertrophy) and these two types should be recognized and understood. The first type of fatigue is direct muscle soreness and is the result of a particular exercise targeting a specific muscle. Scientists are at odds as to the exact cause of muscle soreness but most believe that it is associated with some sort of cellular micro-trauma. Direct muscle soreness is usually the type of pain and discomfort that most folks experience when they begin serious progressive resistance training program.
There are varying degrees of muscle soreness and sometime the intensity of soreness can become so severe as to be debilitating. The muscles are actually sore to the touch. I have self-induced this type of soreness to every degree on every muscle ? once, as a 14-year old novice, I found a 10-pound solid dumbbell and proceeded to do 50-repetitions in the one-arm curl for each arm every hour on the hour for 10-straight hours. It seemed like a cool idea to my young and dumb mind but that went out the window the next day when both arms locked up to such a degree that I could not straighten my arms. Both biceps were so traumatized that they remained involuntarily contracted for the next 36-hours. My hands were held at my face and any attempt to straighten my arms resulted in excruciating pain. I had to ride it out until the biceps relaxed. This was an extreme example of muscle fatigue but extremely illustrative of this 1st type of muscle soreness/fatigue.
But I Dont Want Muscles! Part 1: What Muscle is, and how to Build (or Avoid) It
August 31, 2008
One of the common comments I hear from my female clients is, "Please don’t give me any weights work ? I don’t want any muscle, I just want to tone." The reasons differ from client to client, but it most often they seem to be based on a misunderstanding of what muscle is, how we build it, what it has to do with weight loss ? or some combination of the above. There’s a lot of misinformation outside of the fitness world about muscles and what they do, so I’d like to spend the next two articles exploring the realities behind the myths.
WHAT IS MUSCLE?
When I was younger, I’d never really thought about what the ’stuff’ between my skin and my bones was made of. I understood that muscles were what bodybuilders had, and fat was something that made you fat, and that I had some of each. I think, though, that I believed that they existed inside some kind of other substance that filled the space between my skin and my bones. Then, in secondary school, I learned that, in a healthy person, most of this magical substance was just muscle. In fact, I learned that, aside from my body’s networks of organs, blood vessels and nerves, and my skeleton there isn’t really much under my skin except for muscle and fat.
Building Better Biceps
August 27, 2008
Two of the nine pivot points - those stunning body parts located precisely where they attract the most attention - are the lower biceps and long head of the triceps. When fully developed, these muscles lend a mystical beauty to the physique that size alone can’t.
BARBELLS FOR BICEPS
To work the lower biceps, use a preacher bench that has a rounded face and well-padded corners. Place a towel over the bench so the vinyl doesn’t rub the skin off your elbows.
First, do a set of dumbbell curls with a weight heavy enough that you can do only 6 reps. Go all the way down, uncurl the wrist and then curl it again. you can cheat on this exercise, but be sure to uncurl and curl your wrists at the bottom of the movement. After completing 6 reps and 4 partial reps, go immediately to the wide-grip barbell curl. Form is critical, so follow these tips:
Select a barbell that’s about 45% of your one-rep max for standing barbell curls.
Grasp the bar with your palms up and thumbs wrapped around the bar.
Use a grip that’s about 4 inches wider than shoulder width.
Body Building Mind Games: Dont Let Your Weight Determine Your Mood!
August 24, 2008
Is the ‘I Feel Fat Day’ (IFFD) syndrome affecting your output? That extra flab can overpower you and your work. Thee feeling of being fat can morph into an emotion like ‘happy’ or ‘angry’. Days overpowered with that feeling have been designated as ‘I Feel Fat Day’ (IFFD). So don’t let your weight determine your mood.
How many times have you heard your colleague quipping, “I feel fat” or “It’s a fat day feeling?” Can’t fit into your favorite pair of jeans? How about a snide comment from a relative or colleague? That’s all it takes to turn an ordinary Monday or Tuesday into IFFD(I Feel Fat Day).
Perhaps just like the national celebrations, ‘fat’ is important enough to get a day named in its honour and it doesn’t just come one a year! Carrying extra pounds is necessary but not exclusive prerequisite to an IFFD. To have an IFFD, one must also carry an element of shame. A good IFFD is not complete without tears, self loathing and a frantic scramble for concealing clothes.
The Biggest Muscle Mass Gain Myths Exposed
August 20, 2008
Performing low repetition/heavy weight workouts will enable you to build muscle mass, however they will only do so for a very short period of time. The reason is that your body is always striving to maintain homeostasis, other wise know as the status quo, or to remain the same. Your body is not interested in building muscle mass, and in getting bigger and stronger, your body is interested in survival and in avoiding change. In order to do this your body has developed many mechanisms that allow you to quickly adapt to a host of possible stimuli’s and stresses. So by repeatedly performing low repetition/heavy weight workouts, your body will quickly adapt to this form of stress, and as a result stay the same.
Therefore, in order for you to prevent your body from adapting to the weight training you are performing, and in order to keep yourself growing and getting stronger, you must provide an ample amount of variety to your training. However, you can’t just go to the gym and do anything as long as it is different from what you did the last time you where in the gym, the variety must be cycled into your training while adhering to a system. Your system of training should incorporate such training concepts as cycling of repetitions, percentage training, your individual workload capacity, exercise selection, total number of sets, intensity techniques, body part split, and recuperation. And remember above all MAXIMUM VARIETY BUILDS MAXIMUM MUSCLE MASS.
The Default Rep Range
August 17, 2008
I had an hour long conversation with Pavel Tsatsouline on Sunday and per usual his probing questions churned up some things that I had forgotten. One thing that he asked was, “Over the years, was there a single repetition range that you preferred?” What was ‘normal’ for me? Put another way, what single rep range did I use most often in my weight training and why? Without hesitation I said 5-rep sets. I kind of surprised myself with the quickness of my reply but upon reflection thought it might be worth sharing the whys and wherefores.
As a teen, I wanted usable athletic strength ? with the emphasis on explosive power. I was isolated and took my cues from the articles of John McCallum. Mac was the first expert to make the case that high reps built muscle tissue and super low reps peaked power thus finding a rep range that split the difference would provide the balance between high rep muscle size and low rep pure torque. Since 10-reps and above were ‘normal’ and 1 to 3 reps were ‘low rep’ than 4 to 9 reps would be mid-range. Split the difference and 5-6 rep seemed the solution. Bill Pearl, another mentor, used 6 to 8 reps to build his incredible mass and Mac suggested Fives. I commenced using five reps, particularly on my squats, overhead presses and power cleans. Being determined and ambitious and having all the training time I needed, over time I developed the ability to take a triple and turn it into a five though sheer willpower and guts.
Machines VS. Free Weights II
August 13, 2008
Machines are bad, there I said it again. How many of us join health clubs or purchase expensive home exercise equipment under the notion that the machine will protect our back, make the exercise easier or guarantee your results quicker. In sports and life for that matter if you are sitting on your butt or laying flat on your back you lost! , so why do we insist on exercising that way. We spend way too much of our existence sedentary, sitting, driving, typing, talking etc..
Has anyone noticed that the commonality of back problems from doing nothing (a traumatic), joint replacements and other injuries of non-traumatic origins continue to escalate?. Did anyone ever put two and two together and realize that maybe the way we have and are exercising is precipitating the problem. My last article went into some specifics on the traumatic forces that the joints experience using common machines. Research continues to emerge validating that most machines place the body and joints in such horrible positions that injury is inevitable.
Sneak a Little Intensity into Your Workout
August 9, 2008
You know you’re on autopilot during your workouts when, halfway through you’re set on the pec dec, you realize you’re sitting on someone’s lap. It’s time to shake things up a bit. Every gym has a variety of people who come in and do the same routine time after time. The same movements, weight, reps, they even do the exercises in the same order, every workout. Three years later, their body still looks the same. If you don’t know the guy I’m talking about, you’re that guy.
My suggestion is to put some intensity into your workout. The human body adapts very quickly to whatever we throw at it. If you’re not giving your body a reason to make changes, it won’t. If your wife just kept asking you to clean the garage, it would probably never happen. But, when she introduces new tactics, like threatening to tell all your friends how you set your Tivo to tape “The Facts of Life” reruns every week, then viola. Clean garage. Your body is the same way. As opposed to the same old nagging, it responds better to variety. If you’re doing the same workout, with the same weight, over and over, you’re literally boring your body into staying out of shape.
Muscle Building Workouts and Tips: Dos and Donts
August 5, 2008
Packing on Muscle mass involves a lot of dedication and care. At times, trying too hard can have its negative effects too. Right guidance and proper techniques make the perfect recipe to MUSCLE BUILDING. Muscle Building is no joke, but at the same time, very much possible. The bottomline is to workout in the right direction and not to harm your body. Here are some Do’s and Dont’s for Muscle Building.
Muscle Building Tips: Do’s and Dont’s
1) Popping a pill to reach your health and fitness goal is not the answer! Results are temporary and effects the body adversely in the long run.
2) Remove the tag ” Short cut” from your workout schedule. There is no such thing as quick-fix. Dedication and hardwork hold the key for MUSCLE BUILDING.
3) Dietary Supplements can be helpful in achieving your goals. Supplementation is designed to supplement your healthy eating and exercise habits.
4) Dont go in for any supplement you come across. Before taking a supplement, consult your trained or a physician. Always buy supplements from a reputed DRUGSTORE. Do your research before taking in a supplement.
Bodybuilding Protein
August 2, 2008
What helps make comedy also builds muscle?
This is key to getting the most out of your bodybuilding protein intake. There’s not much point in stuffing down that half chicken and protein shake?only to roll over and have a nap.
No, we need discipline here?and that means properly timed meals to give a little helping hand to the natural processes that are stimulated by intense exercise.
After a weight training session, your muscles will have been traumatised and at a microscopic level there will be tears and damage to the tiny fibres that make up each muscle. All this means that the real muscle building happens outside the gym!
The recovery stage begins immediately after exercise and is in full effect for around 24-48 hours afterward.
By timing your intake of nutrients to key ‘windows’ it is possible to radically increase the effectiveness of each exercise session on muscle growth.
Taking a combined bodybuilding protein and carbohydrate drink or meal straight after training has been shown to kick start several well known processes that result in anabolism (or muscle growth).
