Recent Blog Posts
Fitness
May 26, 2009
Just wanted to let everyone know that I posted a bunch of new reviews for supplements, equipment and books on my site. You can find them at the link below:
Fitness Product Reviews
Stay Fit!
Brad
Exercise, Fitness
February 24, 2009
The signs are clear: Winter is winding down and the first hints of warmer weather are in the air. Before you know it, Memorial day will be upon us along with outdoor barbecues, pool parties and trips to the beach. That means you’ll be wearing less clothing, showing off some skin. Is your bod ready?
All too often, people wait until the warm weather approaches before they begin exercising, only to be frustrated that there isn’t enough time shed those unwanted pounds they’ve accumulated and tone up. Realize that fitness is not an instant gratification process. If you want to want to look good in that tank-top or bikini by the summer, start training early. This means now!
Here are three tips to set you on the proper exercise path. Follow these tenets and you’ll be well on your way to a hot summer body.
Create a Game Plan
You wouldn’t embark on a road trip without mapping out your destination, right? If you did, you’d be bound to get lost. Yet, in effect, this is often the way people approach their workouts. It is all too common for a person to aimlessly wander around the gym thinking, “What should I do now?” Clearly, such an approach is inefficient. There is an old adage that states: Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. With respect to exercise, never was a saying more apropos. Without a definitive game plan, it is only a matter of time before you hit a plateau.
The first step in creating a game plan is to clarify your fitness goals. Determine what you want to get out of your training efforts. Is it more size? Better symmetry? Enhanced definition? Each of these objectives requires specific training protocols and, thus, a different game plan. By defining exactly where you want to go, you’ll have a much easier time getting there.
Once you have qualified your goals, you then can formulate a routine. It is important to plan out each workout in advance. You must know precisely what you are going to do prior to entering the gym. Decide on the exercises, sets and reps that you will perform. Write them down, if necessary. You can download a free customized exercise diary from my site by clicking on the highlighted link (just scroll down and click on the PDF icon). Account for any possible contingencies. In this way, nothing will be left to chance.
During training, avoid any interruptions or distractions that might arise. Now is not the time to socialize or daydream. Save these activities until after you’ve completed your last set. All of your energies should be focused on carrying out your game plan. Remember, your time in the gym is precious. If you want to make ongoing progress, make sure that every moment is spent productively.
Vary Your Routine
It is amazing how many people go to the gym and perform the same workout from one session to the next. Day after day, month after month, year after year, their routines don’t change. How boring! When training becomes mundane, apathy is bound to set in. Ultimately, motivation wanes and a plateau is sure to follow.
The best way to avoid complacency is by constantly varying your exercise regimen. Variety is the spice of training. Not only does it help to keep your workouts fresh, but it also fosters more complete development of your physique. You see, the human body is a very resourceful entity and readily adapts to a repetitive stress. When the same stimulus is applied on a regular basis, the body doesn’t respond as well to the stimulus. Only by keeping your body off guard will you continue to reap muscular rewards.
One way to vary your routine is by utilizing a wide array of exercises. You should strive to perform different movements every time you train. For instance, if you normally perform seated curls, cable curls and concentration curls for your biceps, change your routine to include hammer curls, preacher curls and EZ curls in your next session. In the following workout, you might employ incline curls, prone incline curls and 21’s. There are dozens and dozens of different exercises at your disposal – make use of as many as possible.
Another way to interject variety is by changing the composition of your routine. If, for example, you work your back and chest on Monday, shoulders and arms on Wednesday, and legs on Friday, switch things around so you train shoulders, chest and triceps on Monday, legs on Wednesday, and back and biceps on Friday. Or perhaps split your routine into four days, performing shoulders and triceps on Monday, back and hamstrings on Tuesday, chest and biceps on Thursday and quadriceps and calves on Friday. You could even employ a total body workout where each major muscle group is trained with only one basic exercise. As you can see, by using a little ingenuity, the possibilities for variation are endless.
Go All Out
When you first start lifting weights, results tend to come rather easily. Virtually anything you do is a new stimulus to your body and, as long as your technique is reasonably sound, you are apt to make good progress. However, after a while, your body becomes accustomed to specific load patterns and results begin to slow down (remember the adaptive nature of the human body). Hence, in order to elicit further gains, you need to train harder and harder. If you don’t, your body won’t change. It’s as simple as that.
To avoid this fate, your muscles must be stressed beyond their physical capacity. By nature, the human body strives to maintain stability – a phenomenon called homeostasis. If your training intensity doesn’t sufficiently tax your body’s resources, there won’t be enough of a stimulus to force your body from its homeostatic state. Only by progressively overloading your muscles will they be compelled to produce an adaptive response and grow beyond their normal potential.
As a rule, you need to be struggling on each set. This means the last few reps should be difficult, if not impossible, to complete. Sure, there will be some temporary discomfort associated with this type of training. However, to achieve optimal results, you must push past the pain threshold and completely fatigue your target muscles. Anything less and results will be compromised. Give it your all and you’ll be rewarded with a better body.
Stay Fit!
Brad
Exercise, Fitness
January 23, 2009
Given the overwhelmingly positive feedback on my previous posts debunking common exercise myths, here are my insights on a few more myths that continue to pervade the industry.
Hopefully by setting the record straight, we can put these misperceptions to rest once and for all and, in the process, improve your toning and weight losss results!
MYTH: Using the Stairmaster will give you a big butt.
TRUTH: This myth might be humorous if so many women didn’t accept it as fact. It came about after a popular magazine quoted a so-called fitness expert who cautioned that stair climbing was a one-way ticket to a movie screen-sized derriere. The “expert” apparently had never studied exercise physiology.
Truth is it’s virtually impossible to substantially increase muscle mass from stair climbing… or any other aerobic activity for that matter. Understand that during cardiovascular exercise the primary type of muscle fibers utilized are the endurance-related slow-twitch fibers. These fibers get much of their energy by burning fat for fuel, contracting very slowly but having the ability to endure extended periods of activity.
The kicker: Slow twitch fibers have only a limited ability to increase in size. It’s the strength-related fast-twitch fibers that have the capacity to grow sufficiently large. And since fast twitch fibers aren’t recruited to any great extent, the chances of your butt beefing up are just about nil.
Bottom Line: If you enjoy using the Stairmaster, go ahead and climb away without worrying that your booty will expand to the size of a city bus. If anything, you’ll ultimately reduce the size of your butt due to its fat-burning effects.
MYTH: Women should train with very light weights so they won’t bulk up.
TRUTH: Go into any gym and you’ll invariably notice women lifting weights that are far too light for their abilities. I’ve actually seen women talking on their cell phones while doing a set of curls or reading magazines while doing leg presses. In most cases, this is a conscious decision due to an inherent fear of looking like a she-man.
The fear, however, is completely unfounded.
Women have very low levels of testosterone — the body’s primary muscle-building hormone. On average, women produce only about 1/20th the amount of testosterone as their male counterparts. This is nature’s way of preserving “femininity.” As a result, it’s difficult for women to add a significant amount of muscular bulk to their frame.
Without an anabolic stimulus, muscle tissue simply has no impetus to grow larger (hypertrophy) and muscular growth remains modest, even at advanced levels of training.
Bottom Line: If your goal is to tone up, then you need to lift weights that sufficiently tax your body. If you don’t challenge your body beyond its present capacity, you simply won’t provide a stimulus for improving body composition. Your goal should be to choose a weight that causes you to struggle on the last few reps. If you’re not struggling, the weight is too light!
MYTH: Lactic acid causes muscle soreness.
TRUTH: Contrary to popular belief, lactic acid is not the bad boy of exercise that some make it out to be. It certainly is not involved in making you sore after a workout.
Truth is any lactic acid that accumulates in muscle is rapidly cleared within an hour or two after exercise. Since delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) doesn’t manifest until about 24 hours after a training session, it therefore follows that lactic acid cannot play a role in its origin.
So what causes DOMS? It’s actually a product of damage to muscle tissue. Intense exercise produces small microtears in the working muscle fibers, primarily as a result of eccentric activity (i.e. lengthening a muscle against tension). These microtears allow calcium to escape from the muscles, disrupting their intracellular balance. Metabolic waste is produced and that interacts with the free nerve endings surrounding the damaged fibers, resulting in localized pain and stiffness.
In response, white blood cells migrate to the site of injury, generating free radicals that further exacerbate the sensation of pain. The discomfort can last for several days or even up to a week, depending on the extent of muscle damage.
Bottom Line: Don’t blame lactic acid buildup for making you sore after a workout. It’s merely a sign that you’ve trained hard. If you experience DOMS, the best thing you can do is to stay active, enhancing blood flow to the affected area. This will expedite nutrients to the muscles, accelerating the rate of their repair and consequently reducing associated discomfort.
Until next time, stay fit!
Brad
Exercise, Fitness
January 18, 2009
I wanted to let everyone know that I’ve added a free, downloadable exercise diary on my site. The diary allows you to track your workouts on a consistent basis and thus be better able to make necessary adjustments to your routine. I highly recommend you keep a journal for optimal results. You can download a copy at the link below (the link is located at the bottom of the page–just scroll down and click on the PDF icon):
http://www.lookgreatnaked.com/services/sculpting.htm
Enjoy and Stay Fit!
Brad
Exercise, Fitness
December 26, 2008
In my last blog I covered a few of the more common fitness myths that pervade society. In the true spirit of the adage, “Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see!” here are three more exercise myths that come up again and again.
MYTH 1: You should perform cardio in your “fat burning zone.”
TRUTH: Step into any gym and you’ll hear personal trainers preaching that the best way to lose weight is by exercising in your “fat burning zone.” While this might sound good in theory, the “fat burning zone” is actually based on faulty interpretation of research showing activities performed at a low intensity (60 to 80 percent of max heart rate) burn a greater percentage of fat calories than higher intensity activities.
Fact is burning a greater percentage of fat doesn’t equate to burning more total fat calories. High-intensity exercise burns more fat calories on an absolute basis than lower intensity activities, making it the preferred choice for those looking to optimize fat loss.
One of the best fat-burning forms of cardio is interval training, where you intersperse periods of high-intensity exercise with periods of low-intensity exercise. This not only maximizes fat burning during the activity, but also increases a phenomenon called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) — the amount of calories burned once the activity is finished — which helps keep your metabolism elevated long after you’ve stopped working out.
MYTH 2: Sweat is a good indicator of exercise intensity.
TRUTH: You’ve no doubt heard fitness pros utter the phrase, “Ya gotta sweat.” Many people adopt this as an exercise mantra, believing it’s the key to a successful workout. Not!
While sweat tends to be associated with rigorous exercise, it is by no means essential to achieving results. If it was, you’d get buff lounging in a sauna!
Fact is sweat is an indicator that your body temperature is rising, not necessarily that you are exercising at an intense level. Your body regulates its temperature by activating your sweat glands, which then pores as a cooling mechanism.
Rather than focusing on how much you sweat, the best way to monitor exercise intensity is by using a rating of perceived exertion (RPE). This is a subjective scale that estimates how difficult an activity is to perform. I like to keep it simple and use a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being complete inactivity and 10 being all-out effort. If you want to exercise intensely, maintain a level of an 8 or more on the RPE scale.
MYTH 3: If you stop lifting weights, your muscle will turn to fat.
TRUTH: Some people refuse to lift weights for fear that their hard-earned muscle will simply morph into fat if they stop working out. Nonsense! Muscle and fat are two separate and distinct properties that have completely different molecular structures.
Muscle is a protein-based tissue comprised of filaments called actin and myosin. Body fat, on the other hand, consists of stored triglycerides, which are made up of a carbohydrate (glycerol) and three fatty acids. Hence, the possibility of muscle turning into fat (or vice versa) is akin to an apple becoming an orange: There’s simply no mechanism for it to happen.
Bottom line: don’t let the “muscle-to-fat myth” deter you from lifting weights. The only thing that happens when you stop weight training is that you ultimately lose the muscle that you’d developed.
On the plus side, muscle has “memory” so it’s easier to get back that muscle when you re-start your routine!
Stay Fit!
Brad
Exercise, Fitness
December 9, 2008
“Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see…”
Nowhere are these words of wisdom more apt than in the fitness field. Fact is, anyone can hang a shingle on their door and call themselves a personal trainer or fitness expert. No knowledge of exercise required.The upshot: There are a lot of people out there perpetrating fitness myths that are at best misleading and at worst potentially dangerous. Here are three of the most common.
MYTH 1. You shouldn’t lift weights until you get down to your ideal body weight.
TRUTH: This myth is based on the premise that adding muscle if you’re overweight will make you look even fatter. This has resulted in a legion of people who try to diet their way to fat loss and just focus on cardio. Bad idea.
Fact is weight training helps to promote fat loss. Muscle mass increases your metabolic rate, which directly aids in the burning of fat as fuel. Studies have shown that for each pound of muscle added to your body, you burn an additional 30 to 50 calories a day at rest. Avoid weight training and your body actually cannibalizes its own muscle, suppressing metabolism and ultimately leading to a rebound effect.
Bottom line: If you want to lose weight and keep it off, lift weights! It’s essential to sustaining fat loss and even more important than cardiovascular exercise for long-term weight maintenance.
MYTH 2. Performing abdominal exercises will give you a flat stomach.
TRUTH: Watch late night TV and you’re bound to see an infomercial for some new ab blasting device that claims to whittle away your gut. Wishful thinking.
Fact is the body can’t selectively target fat on any part of your body, including the midsection. The only way to get a flat stomach is to strip away abdominal fat. This is accomplished by having a proper nutritional regimen, performing cardiovascular exercise to help burn calories, and increasing lean muscle to increase metabolism (see Myth 1).
Bottom line: Ab training will help to develop the abdominal muscles, but you’ll never see that “six pack” unless the fat in this area is stripped away.
MYTH 3. You should train your abdominals every day to get a “six pack”.
TRUTH: This fallacy goes hand-in-hand with Myth 2. It is widely believed that the abdominals exercises can and should be trained on a daily basis to achieve maximum results.
The fact is abdominals can be over-trained just like any other muscle group. Muscle tissue is actually broken down during training, and therefore needs adequate rest and recuperation in order to regenerate. When your abs are trained too frequently, the recovery process is shortchanged, resulting in diminished muscular development.
What’s more, your abdominals are worked indirectly while training other muscle groups. They are stabilizers for virtually every movement you perform. In effect, you get an ab workout every time you train with weights!
Bottom line: Considering these facts, you need only train your abs a maximum two or three times per week. Allow at least 48 hours between ab workouts. If you do not see proper results, train more intensely and/or use weighted abdominal exercises. Remember, it’s the quality of training -— not the quantity of training -— that produces results!
Stay Fit!
Brad
Fitness
December 3, 2008
Just wanted to let everyone know I’ll be lecturing Thursday, December 4, 2008 at the Athletic Business Conference. It’s being held at the San Antonio Convention Center. The topic is “Facts and Fallacies of Fitness.” Hope you stop by if your registered…
Stay Fit!
Brad
Exercise, Fitness
November 18, 2008
Every time I turn around I see articles on the “best” exercise for (fill in the blank). It got me thinking that I never see articles on what not to do.
Poor exercise choices will not only fall short of getting you desired results — like the flexing fellow pictured here — but can ultimately lead to a debilitating injury. It’s a double whammy you want to avoid.
Here are five of the all-time worst exercises along with five super substitutes. Out with the bad, in with the good!
1. Standing Dumbbell Pec Flys
These exercises are performed in many body sculpting classes and I’ve even seen personal trainers use them with their clients. They are supposed to work the chest muscles (i.e. pectorals). The problem: they don’t work the pecs at all! In order for a move to be effective, it must oppose gravity. In this exercise, the motion is horizontal to the ground while gravity is, of course, vertical. All you end up with is a very inefficient way of isometrically work the front delts.
Super Substitute Exercise: All you need to do in order to target the pecs is perform the exercise lying down on a bench, a stability ball, or even the floor. This allows you to work in the direction of gravity and really develop those chest muscles!
2. Sit-Ups
The good-old sit-up is a staple in most gym classes from pre-school to college. It’s also one of the worst exercises for maintaining lower-back health. Forces on the lumbar region go through the roof each time you lift your lower back off the floor to a seated position. Making matters even worse, the hip flexors tend to dominate the movement, taking the focus off the abs. And when hip flexors get overly developed in relation to the lower back muscles, lumbar health is further compromised. End result: chronic lower back pain.
Super Substitute Exercise: The crunch and any of its variations are ideal for targeting the abs without overly stressing the lower back. For added intensity you can perform the move on a stability ball, which really gets those core muscles firing!
3. Behind the Neck Shoulder Presses
People often perform the shoulder press with a barbell or body bar, starting with the bar held behind the neck. Bad idea. This places the shoulder joint in a position where it is simultaneously abducted and externally rotated — a condition that can cause impingement of the rotator cuff and possibly a tear of the associated muscles and tendons. What’s more, the shoulder joint ligaments can become overly stretched with repeated use of the move. Over time, the ligaments can become so loose that surgery is required to reinstate stability, setting back your training efforts for months.
Super Substitute Exercise: Go with a dumbbell press. Dumbbells allow the shoulder to work in its natural arc, providing a safe and effective workout. As an alternative, consider the Arnold Press where you begin with your palms facing your body and then turn them as you press the weights up so that, by the finish of the move, they’re facing away from you.
4. Behind the Neck Lat Pulldowns
Go into any gym in the world and you’ll see people yanking down lat pulldowns behind their neck. This is dangerous on two levels. For one, it places a great deal of stress on the shoulder capsule, which can cause damage to surrounding connective tissue. What’s more, there is a tendency to pull the neck forward during performance, increasing the prospect of injury to the cervical spine and corresponding muscles and ligaments. There is even the danger of vertebral trauma if the bar is pulled down too hard. Ouch!
Super Substitute Exercise: Perform lat pulldowns to the front, where the bar is brought down to your upper chest at the finish of the move. Not only will this spare your shoulder joints, it has been shown to be more effective in building muscle than the behind-the-neck version. If you don’t have access to a gym, you can also perform dumbbell rows to work the back muscles.
5. Alternating Superman
You might not know the name of the exercise, but you’ve probably seen it performed countless times. A person lies face down on the floor and then lifts the right arm and left leg simultaneously, then repeats with opposite side. The problem here is that the legs are much heavier than the arms. When you lift opposing limbs (i.e. right arm/left leg) at the same time, there is a tendency to twist the torso and, correspondingly, place undue torsion on the spine. You end up doing more harm to your back than good.
Super Substitute Exercise: Simply perform The Superman with all limbs together at the same time. Alternatively, you can perform hyperextensions and reverse hyperextensions on a stability ball to really engage the core muscles.
Stay Fit!
Brad
Tags: Worst exercises, best exercises, pec flys, sit-ups, behind the neck press, behind the neck pulldown
Fitness
February 13, 2008
I was recently interviewed for an article on dietdetective.com, the popular website run by fitness expert Charles Stuart Platkin. You can check out the interview at the link below:
Interview with Brad Schoenfeld, CSCS
Enjoy and Stay Fit!
Brad
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