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Exercise
March 14, 2008
Here’s a great exercise to sculpt the thighs. It’s called the sissy squat, and it is particularly good for developing the upper portion of the thighs, as it targets the rectus femoris—the only quadriceps muscle that crosses the hip joint. Perform the sissy squat as follows:
Begin by taking a shoulder-width stance. Grasp an incline bench with one hand and rise up onto your toes. In one motion, slowly slant your torso back, bend your knees and lower your body downward. Thrust your knees forward as you descend and lean back until your torso is almost parallel to the floor. Do not allow your butt to drop below your torso. Then, reverse direction and rise upward until you reach the starting position.
Want to see an animated demonstration of the sissy squat, then Click Here to visit the exercise database section of my site.
Stay Fit!
Brad
TAGS: thigh exercises, sissy squats, rectus femoris, lower body exercises
Exercise
March 3, 2008
Wouldn’t it be great if there was an exercise regimen that could change the shape of your muscles so they became long and lean? If you listen to the hype being dished by certain fitness pros, you might be inclined to believe that Pilates is just this ticket. Here’s the claim: Lifting weights is bad because it bulks up your muscles, making you tight and stiff. Pilates, on the other hand, supposedly lengthens muscles, giving you a “dancer’s physique” that is willowy and flowing.
Pretty amazing, huh? Think about it. Increasing the length of your muscles would not only make you leaner, but also taller and more statuesque. Heck, sign me up now!
One little problem…the prospect of becoming longer and leaner is a physiologic impossibility. Can’t happen. Fact is, your genetic structure is inherent. Each and every muscle in your body has a predetermined shape predicated on such factors as fiber type composition, tendon insertions, and muscle belly length. You simply cannot alter these properties unless you somehow find a mad scientist who’s invented a new form of gene therapy. Sorry, but that’s reality.
Now this isn’t to say Pilates doesn’t have a place in a workout routine. If integrated into a regimented exercise program, it can help to enhance general fitness levels, building basic strength and flexibility. But don’t fall prey to marketing propaganda. Unfortunately, there are too many people in the fitness field selling the sizzle rather than the steak. This only leads to frustration and disappointment down the road. Exercise, no matter what form, can only improve upon your inherent genetic structure. Understand your limitations and develop your body to its fullest within its genetic potential. With a little hard work and persistence, you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.
TAGS: Pilates, long lean muscles, longer muscles, leaner muscles
Exercise
February 24, 2008
As a trainer, not a day goes by where I don’t speak to yet another woman who’s frustrated with her exercise routine. She’ll invariably tell me she’s been training for years without seeing noticeable improvement in her physique. Or she’ll say she did okay at the beginning but suddenly hit a training plateau. Sound familiar?
What derails a woman’s ability to get into shape? After nearly two decades as a trainer, I’ve isolated five workout mistakes as the primary culprits. If you’re not happy with your results and perhaps are thinking of throwing in the towel, take a pause and see if any of the following mistakes apply to your situation. Remember, you can do a lot of things right, but it takes doing only one thing wrong to impair your progress…
Mistake #1: Performing cardio over weight training!
Women tend to gravitate toward cardiovascular exercises like aerobics. They often avoid weight training because they think they’re going to get too bulky or perhaps figure they shouldn’t add muscle until getting down to their ideal body weight.
Reality check: Aerobics do almost nothing to improve muscle tone. Only by lifting weights will you actually firm up your muscles and get that hard body you desire. What’s more, strength training is actually the best activity not only for losing weight, but also for maintaining your ideal body weight over time. Sure, cardio will burn more calories during the activity itself, but lifting weights does something cardio can’t: it improves your body’s ability to burn fat round the clock. Understand that muscle is the most metabolically active tissue in the body. Add five pounds of lean muscle – which any woman can do within several months – and you’ll burn as much as an extra 1,500 calories a week…even while channel-surfing for your favorite TV show!
Mistake #2: Using weights that are too light!
While men tend to lift for ego and go ultra-heavy, all-too-often women go in the opposite direction. Walk into any gym and you’ll see a woman lifting a two-pound weight while reading a magazine or talking on her cell phone. Sadly, she doesn’t realize this is just exercising in futility.
Fact is, in order to tone up you need to challenge your muscles beyond their present capacity. This is exercise 101—the general adaptation syndrome. Take home message: make sure the last few reps are difficult to complete. If you’re not struggling at the end of your set, the weight is too light! And trust me ladies, you won’t end up looking like a she-male by pushing your body a little. It’s simply not going to happen.
Mistake #3. Not having a game plan!
Training is all about strategy. Too many times, I see women walk into a gym not knowing what they want to do that day. So they end up doing a little of this and a little of that, but really not getting a whole lot out of their efforts. It’s like trying to writing a novel without having a plot in mind—you end up with an aimless journey that ultimately goes nowhere.
The important thing is to decide what you want to do before you start your workout, and then follow through on that game plan each time you train. Map out the muscles you want to work and the exercises that you intend to perform. Better yet, write down your routine in an exercise log and take it with you to the gym. Guaranteed it will keep you more focused throughout your session.
Mistake #4: Training too frequently!
Here’s something a lot of people don’t realize: when you lift weights, you’re not developing your muscles, you’re breaking them down. That’s right, each time you workout, tiny microtears form in your muscles as a result of the training process. Once you finish lifting, your body needs rest to recuperate. This is when development takes place. Your body anticipates you’re going to shock it at some point by lifting those obscene weights and reacts by getting stronger and harder.
It should therefore be apparent that training places a major stress on the body. Not only does it tax the muscles themselves but it also taxes your entire neuromuscular system while you’re training. If you train too much, you’ll short circuit the recuperation process and can actually become overtrained where results come to a complete halt. To avoid this malady, allow 48 hours rest in between weight-training sessions. This is the approximate time course of protein synthesis—the mechanism by which your muscles are repaired. Also limit intense cardiovascular activity (such as running or interval training) to no more than five days a week with two full days off.
Mistake #5: Expecting to see immediate results!
Unfortunately, exercise isn’t an instant gratification process. Results happen over time. If you expect to see change in a few days or a week or two, you’re setting yourself up for frustration and destined to end up demotivated.
What can you reasonably expect? If you exercise properly, you’ll begin to see changes in the body in about four weeks. After about 8 to 12 weeks you’ll see fairly significant changes. Keep it up for four to six months and you’ll really start turning heads. The key is to maintain perspective and follow through over time. You will see results if you have the right routine and remain dedicated.
Train hard and stay fit!
Brad
TAGS: workout mistakes, training plateau, exercise mistakes, exercise plateau, workout plateau, tone up, shape up
Exercise
February 10, 2008
It seems every year another fitness “guru” releases a book or video claiming superslow training is the best thing since the invention of the dumbbell. For those of you who’ve never heard of superslow training, it’s basically a form of resistance exercise where each repetition takes about fifteen seconds to complete. According to superslow proponents, the biggest attribute of the technique is that it reduces momentum during training, thereby increasing force to the target muscle. In addition, by reducing momentum, the potential for injury is supposedly decreased. Sounds logical, right? Well, not exactly…
The effects of momentum on training are wildly overstated. Provided that weights are lifted in a controlled fashion, the target muscles are performing the majority of work. Momentum is a non-factor. What’s more, assuming proper technique is utilized, simply slowing down the speed of repetitions will have no effect on reducing injuries. In fact, the injury rate for those who train with proper form in a traditional protocol is almost non-existent. Thus, the science behind the superslow claims simply doesn’t add up.
All things considered, superslow training is suboptimal for achieving maximal muscular development. Here’s why:
First, the weights used during superslow training must be extremely light to compensate for the slow speed of the lift. While this allows the concentric (i.e. positive) portion of the rep to be executed in the desired fashion, it takes away most of the muscular stress on the eccentric (i.e. negative) portion (muscles can handle significantly more weight on eccentric actions than on concentric actions). And since the eccentric component is perhaps the most important aspect in promoting muscular development, results from superslow simply can’t compare to performing reps at a traditional cadence.
What’s more, superslow training is extremely tedious. The excruciatingly slow tempo causes most people to become bored with the routine in a relatively short period of time. This ultimately reduces exercise adherence – and if you don’t train, you won’t get results!
Bottom line: If you’re looking to optimize muscle development, the best advice with respect to rep speed is to follow the ABCs of lifting: always be in control. As long as you lift weights in a controlled fashion, the effects of momentum are negligible. This is not to say that superslow has no place in a routine. It can serve as a good “change of pace” and, when used occasionally, might help to overcome a training plateau. But for the majority of your workouts, a traditional lifting regimen is the way to go.
Stay Fit!
Brad
TAGS: Superslow, speed of repetitions, rep speed, repetition speed, lifting speed, superslow exercise, eccentric repetitions, lifting momentum
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