Nov.29.2011
Exercise
The Science of Sprinting
The slump. The plateau. The why-aren’t-I-losing-weight-like-I-used-to? It goes by many names, but no matter what you call it, it stinks. After starting an exercise regimen and sticking to it for many weeks, people are often very disappointed (to say the least) to find that they aren’t losing weight or gaining muscle at the rate that they were when the exercising started to pay off.
Many people are convinced when they hit this fitness plateau that they have simply reached the lowest weight (or maximum muscle mass) possible for them—this is just not true. The truth is that after a period of time, even if you’re working out as hard as you can, your body will acclimate to the demands you put on it if you aren’t mixing up you’re routine.
As you become more and more fit, it becomes more and more difficult to challenge your muscles and continue to burn fat using the same exercises. This means that you can’t just add more weight or make your runs longer to continue on your journey to fitness, but instead means that you have to surprise your body by doing something completely different.
So, what’s one excellent way to totally surprise your body? It’s called sprint training. Adding higher intensity periods of exertion during exercise, even if the total workout time is shorter, will give you explosive results in your training. It confuses your muscles by not allowing them to find a rhythm, and by so doing, keeps your metabolism high. It also builds muscle in a way that regular exercise won’t—and more muscle makes for a higher metabolism as well.
Researchers at McMaster University have determined that a series of 30-second sprints three days a week is as beneficial for your health as an hour of endurance training five days a week, if not more.
If you’ve hit that plateau, and are ready to keep burning fat, try this workout and you’ll be surprised by how explosive you can be. Alternate these workouts doing each only once in a week, and change the order in which you perform them every week.
Week 1
Jog 1 mile
Sprint 200 yards at 50% of your maximum pace
Jog 200 yards
Sprint 100 yards at your fastest pace (100%)
Jog 200 yards
Sprint 200 yards at 75% of your maximum pace
Jog 1 mile
Week 2
Sprint 400 yards at 100%
Rest
Lunge walk for 100 yards
Rest
Do 3 sets of 10 pull ups
Rest
Sprint 200 yards at 100%
Jog 1 mile
Week 3
Run 2 miles at your fastest jogging pace (approximately 50% of your maximum sprinting pace)
Rest
Bear crawl for 100 yards
Rest
Do 5 sets of 10 push ups
Rest
Jog 1 mile
If these exercises prove too difficult at first, cut the numbers in half, but keep the workouts the same. And, of course, if they’re too easy, you can always add more, or combine the workouts in one day. The point is: be explosive, and always keep changing your routine.
Author Bio:
Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education where she writes about education, online colleges, online degrees etc. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.
*This article was written by Maria Rainier. While the opinions
expressed are hers I would like to say that I advocate high-intensity
interval training.
Nov.16.2011
Nutrition and Wellness
Speed Up Your Metabolism
I don’t know why I haven’t written an article about this sooner. You can speed up your metabolism! I’ve discussed many exercise and nutrition topics with my friend Mike T. Nelson. He is the creator of, “Metabolic Flexibility and the Truth About Proteins, Fats, and Carbs”. The goal is simple: your body will be able to burn WHATEVER you put into it for fuel. This will increase your energy and allow you to burn more fat! (Click the link to find out HOW!)
I listened to Mike’s audio recording about metabolic flexibility (you can read it, but I chose to listen to it) and loved it. It is easily the most practical, research based, usable, and results producing program I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen many, many, many of them).
“Metabolic Flexibility and the Truth About Proteins, Fats, and Carbs“ uses intermittent fasting, correct fat choices, and minimizes unnecessary carbs among other things to help you have a faster metabolism. It’s unbelievable. (Click the link to find out MORE!)
Below you will learn of how learning to be metabolically flexible will do EVERYTHING I say it does.
Practical
You don’t have to eat something strange that you can only find at a weird health food store at certain points in the day to see results. It’s actually quite the opposite. The goal is to be able to eat whenever is convenient for you and be able to burn it. Mike’s program (I call it a program, but that’s just for a lack of a better term, it’s not really a program) makes this possible for you.
Research Based
Mike does an excellent job of understanding which scientific research is important and which scientific research isn’t. He references studies constantly and tells you exactly what it means for you. It is NOT a boring lecture.
Usable
Metabolic flexibility is a concept that is to be used immediately. It’s not just theories of how weight loss occurs. He makes losing weight and being healthy easier than any other diet I’ve ever seen.
Produces Results
“Metabolic Flexibility and the Truth About Proteins, Fats, and Carbs” gets results. Mike gets better results with clients than anyone I’ve ever known. You are bound to get the same results! If it doesn’t work for you, he promises to refund your money so you can’t lose.
Please feel free to email me via my contact form with any questions you have. I have personally used many of the concepts and methods that Mike details in “Metabolic Flexibility and the Truth About Proteins, Fats, and Carbs“. Click the link to speed up your metabolism! This is the easiest program ever to follow and it gets the best results. You may wonder if I have any incentive of this selling. Yes, I do. I do get a portion when you click on the previous links, but if you have a problem with that then click this link. I really do believe in this and I want you to get results.
Nov.1.2011
Exercise
There’s a fabulous study in the Journal of Strength Training and Conditioning. It’s about the effects of detraining (taking a break) after 24 weeks of strength workouts and 24 weeks of endurance (jogging) workouts. They didn’t workout for 24 weeks after that. The results of the study showed that strength training has more long lasting benefits. Find out what this means for you by reading my final post (for personal reasons) at ironwarriortraining.com.
Do you need to take breaks from weight training? The concept of detraining.
Oct.25.2011
Nutrition and Wellness
Pain happens to all of us. Pain is a part of life. The problem is that people often ignore pain or try to dull it with drugs and pharmaceuticals. My article on ironwarriortraining.com describes pain perfectly. You’ll learn the basic anatomy and how to use the information your body is telling you.
“Pain! Why does it hurt when I…”
Aug.3.2011
Nutrition and Wellness
Top 3 Reasons Why You Have Shaky Hands After Weight Lifting
Shaky hands are a common occurrence for many, after strenuous exercising and weight lifting. Although a frightening experience, instead of freaking out, it will be helpful for you to understand the causes of shaky hands. However, if this shaking happens quite frequently and sometimes bother you even when you are not weight lifting, you better consult a doctor to check if any underlying medical condition is the culprit for the problem in your case. Top 3 reasons for shaky hands are listed below:
1. Fatigue – In a rested position, your movements are controlled by multiple motor units that comprises of a muscle as well as a motor nerve. These units do not work in a synchronised manner. While some muscle units would be shortening and contracting inside the muscle belly, others would be getting longer and relaxing. These motor units overlap a lot, so the apparent contractions of the muscles seem smooth. But when exhausted, few motor units of these muscles stop working and drop out, as suggested by Loren G. Martin, the psychology professor from Oklahoma State University. And as all motor units do not participate well in smooth movement, it causes a trembling movement. When the muscles resume their rested state, the shaky movement withers away on its own and all motor units begin to work normally.
2. Hypoglycemia (Low blood sugar) – This is another common cause of shaky hands. Although a frequent botheration for diabetics, this can be the reason for shaky hands in your case if you do not eat properly. Blood sugar or glucose is the main source of fuel for your body. Lower blood sugar levels are likely to hamper the proper functioning of your body, and weight lifting only makes it more noticeable. Weakness, shakiness, hunger, headache, trembling and dizziness are all symptoms of low blood sugar. To cope with lower blood sugar levels, eating small proportion of a snack around half an hour before lifting weights or when your hands begin to tremble can help you get a grip over your muscles and stop them from shaking in 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Postural Tremors – Holding your leg or arm in the same position for a long time can cause postural tremors, as explained by the Medline Plus, a popular medical encyclopaedia online. For instance, holding out your arms, writing, gripping weights firmly for too long can all cause postural tremors. These tremors also usually disappear within a few minutes as your body muscles resume their relaxed state after changing the position but fatigue, stress, and anxiety often aggravate postural tremors.
Apart from the above reasons, excessive intake of caffeine or coffee, and alcohol can also cause trembling hands. Or, it can also be an alcohol withdrawal symptom, or a side effect of any drug or prescription medication. As regards the medical condition that may cause shaky hands, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease are the most suspected conditions.
Taking a good diet, watching what you are drinking, and sufficient rest can normally help you stop shaky hands. But if yours is an exceptional case where this doesn’t seem to work after trying these things for a month or two, it is advisable that you consult a doctor to find out if any prescription drugs or underlying medical condition needs to be dealt with, to cure trembling in your hands.
What’s Your Story?
Do you also have shaky hands? When and how often do you have it? Which one do you think is your reason for shaky hands? Are you doing anything to cure it? Share it all with us in the comments section.
Brenda Lyttle is a health and fitness expert who writes for the site, http://www.hghtruth.org/. I appreciate her contribution as a guest author for this site. For adults who are annoyed with their shaky hands due to their increasing age, she recommends trying hgh supplements to regain that youthful strength and vigor, however she also recommends that you must stick to lifting lighter weights.
Jul.28.2011
Nutrition and Wellness
All the time you hear this is what the scientific evidence says. You also here this is what my grandma said. How do you know what to do?! This article on ABC 4 is fabulous for helping you know how to interpret all this information.
Click here to read: “Health and Fitness: Anecdotal vs Scientific Evidence”
Jul.7.2011
Exercise
IronWarriorTraining.com has asked me to be a consistent author for their site. Here you can find my first article, “What is the ‘core’ and why is it so important?”. In this article I talk about stabilizer and mover muscles. I relate it to activities such as soccer and baseball that you can relate to. Training your core is not about just having a “sexy” six-pack. Read the article to find out what it is all about!
What is the “core” and why is it so important?
May.5.2011
Exercise, Health and Fitness Blog
Every movement has a concentric and eccentric component. Last month we talked about the concentric component. If you only focus on that you won’t get full results. Eccentric muscle contractions are essential to focus on. Because you can produce more force with an eccentric muscle contraction you can build muscle faster with the eccentric component than the concentric component.
Eccentric muscle contractions occur when the muscle is contracting and lengthening. This is the opposite of a concentric muscle contraction as discussed in the previous article.
Eccentric muscle contractions are extremely important in during competition and in training! I had a hard time figuring out whether to focus on competition or training first, but have chosen to go with competition because you will then be more interested in how to train the eccentric phase of your exercises better.
Eccentric muscle contractions in competition
Probably the most important eccentric muscle contraction in competition is slowing down. Speeding up utilizes concentric muscle contractions and slowing down (aka braking) utilizes eccentric muscle contractions. After running a race you slow down two ways. You don’t try to run any faster by concentrically contracting and you try to slow down with heavy, forceful steps. When your foot hits the ground you try to bend your knee slowly, but it still bends. The quadriceps muscles- and other muscles, but mainly the quadriceps muscles- contract, but they lengthen as the knee bends. These eccentric contractions need not be very forceful after a 100 meter dash because you don’t need to slow down quickly, but when playing a sport such as soccer that requires change of direction you often need to slow down to a complete stop very quickly.
More force is produced through your leg during eccentric contractions than concentric contractions. This is why almost all injuries occur during the eccentric phase of movement. You rarely see someone hurt themselves while speeding up or jumping up, but you more often see it when trying to stop quickly or when landing after jumping up.
Eccentric muscle contractions in training
Training eccentrically is vital, but often overlooked. One reason is that it is hard to gauge. When asking someone how much weight they can squat you really mean how much can they squat up. You aren’t asking how much weight can they put on their back and lower, but not raise. You can produce significantly more force eccentrically than you can concentrically, however (J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 1986;8(6):288-93). Think about it: Have you ever lowered a weight in the bench press or in a squat rack, but not able to raise it? Also, power is significantly increased. Power is how much work (aka weight you can move a certain distance) in a given amount of time. One way to improve power is to increase the weight you move, but often a faster way is to decrease the amount of time it takes to move that weight.
Plyometrics
You should not increase power, lowering a barbell quickly while bench pressing or squatting. Plyometrics are your answer. I have a theory that the higher you can jump off of something and land biomechanically correct, the higher your vertical jump will be. This is because you have the ability to produce greater power in your legs. The height of the box cannot be compared between two people because each person has a different body weight. This can also be applied to your pushing ability. Dropping from a kneeling or standing position into a push-up is great for increasing pushing power.
Weight-lifting
Do not neglect the eccentric portion of weight-lifting. Two ways to maximize the eccentric component of weight-lifting is to go slower on the eccentric component than the concentric component. The other is to put more weight on than you can lift concentrically so you have to work more eccentrically and then get just enough help to lift the weight during the concentric component.
If you have any questions or want to discuss this topic more with me please feel free to contact me, Nick Rainey, via my contact page. Next month: The final type of contraction: Isometric contractions.
Mar.21.2011
Exercise, Health and Fitness Blog
Do you know what a concentric muscle contraction is?
Muscle contraction happens when the central nervous system (CNS) sends a signal to a muscle that it needs to contract. Scientifically this means that molecules are released throughout the muscle and proteins in muscle called myofilaments bind together. Basically this means your muscle gets hard and often a little bigger when you contract it. There are three types of movements that can take place when the CNS signals a muscle to contract: concentric, eccentric, and isometric. This article will discuss concentric movement so be sure to check back in April and May to learn more about eccentric and isometric movements.
Concentric movement during muscle contraction means that the muscle is shortening. The easiest way to picture this is to hold a dumbbell in your hand and curl it toward your shoulder. It is easy to see the the biceps muscle shorten as you curl the dumbbell up. The muscle obviously contracted and you can see it shorten.
Where do I see this in sports or day-to-day life?
Running/Walking: Each time you push on the ground when running many muscles concentrically contract including your quadriceps, gastrocnemius, gluteus maximus, and hamstring.
Jumping: Leaving the ground requires a fast concentric contraction. All the same muscles used in running are also used in jumping, but you have to do it fast enough to create enough force to leave the ground. Otherwise you are just standing up which isn’t nearly as exciting.
Striking an object (hitting a baseball, softball, or tennis ball): Many muscles must concentrically contract quickly to hit a baseball. Here are only a few: obliques, triceps, leg adductors, and your back extensors.
Kicking a soccer ball: Kicking a soccer ball will require different muscles depending on the direction you kick it. If you kick it forward some of the muscles that must concentrically contract include your hip flexors, quadriceps, and tibialis anterior.
How do I train these muscles?
Weight training and sport specific training will train these. For example, if you run, each step you take you practice your concentric muscle contractions. Sport specific training is very important because you mimic exactly how you will do it in competition. Weight training is also important because you can target specific areas of a sports movement with a higher intensity than you can during sport specific training. For example, if you ever do a hamstring exercise such as a stiff-leg dead lift, you are working the concentric contraction movement in your hamstrings and your gluteus maximus. You may only do 6-15 repetitions which is much less than the number of steps you’ll be taking when running. This will increase your force and thus your speed when running. Another excellent example is pulling a sled. Each step is much more difficult because of the sled which decreases the number of steps you have the energy to take because the intensity of the exercise increases. This will also give you the ability to increase your speed when running because your quadriceps and gluteus maximus have the ability to produce more force.
If you have any questions or want to discuss this topic more with me please feel free to contact me, Nick Rainey, via my contact page. Next month: How to double your training results with Eccentric Muscle Contractions.
Jan.27.2011
Exercise
In “What Are Energy Systems” I describe what energy systems are. In this article I will discuss what energy systems are used in The 6 Week Workout Program.
Weeks 1-3 and 6 most often use 15-35 repetitions. A set of repetitions this great will last approximately 20-50 seconds. Thus, you will mainly use glycolysi
s when performing the lifts in these weeks.
Weeks 4-5 most often use 5-10 repetitions. A set of repetitions this few will normally last approximately 8-15 seconds. Thus, you will mainly the phosphagen system when performing the lifts in this week.
Every day I recommend cardio for 20-40 minutes. This type of cardio work utilizes the oxidative system.
Many people go to the gym and simply create workouts that are difficult. Every workout program must consciously consider what energy systems and what muscle fiber types (type I, type II, stabilizer, mover) they will target. Simply creating difficult workouts is not nearly enough. Workout programs, such as must be well thought out to ensure quality results and optimal health and fitness.
See the following for more information on: Workout program design, Why you must change your repetitions in your workout program, and the importance of rest in your workouts.
If you don’t have a copy of The 6 Week Workout Program, don’t be left out and get yours today!!!
