Build More Muscle and Lose More Fat by Discovering the Power of Training Variables!
April 9, 2008
Everyone will inadvertently hit a frustrating plateau in their training at one time or another. You’re cruising along for a while, gaining strength, losing fat, looking better, and then all of the sudden it hits. Suddenly, you find yourself even weaker than before on your lifts, or you find that you’ve gained back a couple of pounds. It happens to everyone. Most of the time, these plateaus occur because people rarely change their training variables over time. Many people stick to the same types of exercises for the same basic sets and reps and rest periods with the same boring cardio routine. Well, I hope to open your mind and bring some creativity to your workouts with this article!
Muscle Soreness After Exercise
April 6, 2008
Many individuals judge the quality of their exercise session from the amount of pain they experience afterwards. These individuals are convinced by the old adage "No Pain No Gain". Research on Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) has demonstrated that here may in fact be some truth to this phrase.
Recall in a previous article presented on this website dealing with Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, we discussed the high probability that muscular pain after exercise results from actual muscle damage. This damage is viewed by the immune system as would any other injury and as a result, an inflammatory response is initiated to start the healing process. Several substances and chemicals are released during an inflammatory response and are thought to enhance the sensation of pain by excessively stimulating the nerve endings in the damaged tissue. So since pain is associated with muscle damage, in some cases it may be a fair indicator of a "good workout" or running session. The repair and healing of damaged muscle allows for hypertrophy or enlargement of the muscle fiber by the addition of myofibrils, thus increasing the cross sectional area.
How to Lose the Most Fat and Build the Most Muscle in 30 Days
April 3, 2008
A lot can happen in 30 days.
The dream of everyone who trains is to lose maximum fat and build maximum muscle in the shortest period of time possible. While it is definitely possible to both lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, in my experience, the best results come from concentrating on one major goal at a time.
Let me put it this way: to lose fat, you need a caloric deficit. To build muscle, you need a caloric surplus. If you try to do both at the same time, you may just remain exactly where you are!
So the question before us is - how do we maximize both fat loss and muscle gain, two very much opposing goals, in only 30 days?
It’s simple, we focus on both goals in the same program but not at the exact same time!
By alternating rapidly back and forth between reduced-calorie fat loss training and higher-calorie mass-oriented training, you can not only accomplish both goals at the same time, you can actually use the two opposing goals to feed on each other and send your results through the roof!
Comeback Bench Program
April 1, 2008
For those who are not familiar with my name, I am a National Level Strongman competitor in the United States. I lift stones that weigh just under 400 pounds, flip a 900+ pound tire routinely, and lift logs overhead. I eat regular food and drink a protien powder, that’s it. My strength comes from my training, and that is why you can benefit from my programs. This program and the weights used are representative of my strength several years ago. Using this and other programs, my strength has soared to new heights, and so can yours!
This is a program that I have used in the past when I haven’t been lifting for awhile and I wanted to get back in benching shape as quickly as possible. It involves heavy singles 3 or 4 times a week for as long as it works, which is usually 3 to 5 weeks. If you haven’t lifted at all for a while, you will need to get a couple of lighter bench workouts under your belt before you undertake this program. With that being said, let me take you with me through the first time I used this program and show you what I learned about it.
The Dangerous Secret of Extreme Muscle Growth
March 29, 2008
You’ve decided to join a gym, but you’re not sure the best way to work out, and don’t want to pay for a personal trainer who may not really know what he’s talking about? Already an experienced weight lifter, but aren’t getting the results you want? Read on for the best tips for working out if you have a full gym facility, and the secret to extreme muscle growth.
Before and After
You should always warm up before lifting any weights. This means a light jog or other low-impact activity that will raise your heart rate and raise your core temperature by a few degrees. This should last at least 5 minutes, preferably 10 or more. After this, you should do joint rotations. This is not a stretch, it is preparing the joint for work by encouraging blood flow. Then, do the resistance training. At the end, stretch all of the joints you have worked that day. Studies have shown that stretching before weight training actually reduces the muscle’s capacity, and does not prevent injury as was previously thought. Stretching after the work out will protect the joint and prevent cramping.
Deep Muscle Soreness And Body-Shock Fatigue
March 26, 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
March 23, 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
March 19, 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!
March 16, 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
March 14, 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.
