Archive for the ‘strength training’ Category
In the interview below, we talk in depth about the topic of abdominal training and the biggest myths and mistakes we see in this area of fitness.
Below is a copy of the abs training portion of the interview. We will talk about the nutrition details required for losing enough stomach fat to etch out those 6 pack abs in future article.
CB: Okay Mike, so where does the normal man or woman go wrong when it comes to training abdominals?
MG: Most people are going to be surprised at this answer. In their search for ’six pack abs’, the biggest mistake I see most people making is wasting WAY too much of their time working their abdominals directly… pumping away with all sorts of different abdominals-specific exercises.
I’m sure you know what I’m referring to. The person is trying so hard to get those abdominals to show visibly, that they are spending almost most of their time in the gym with tons of reps of crunches, leg raises, twisting exercises, and so on. Meanwhile, that wasted time directly training the abs could have been more effectively spent on a properly designed full body training program that would produce a much better metabolic response and increase the fat-burning hormone levels in their body in addition.
After all, losing the belly fat that is covering the abdominals is the MOST important aspect to finally be able to make your abdominals visible. Unfortunately, pumping away with hundreds of crunches, sit ups, and leg raises does NOT cause much of a metabolic or fat burning hormonal response.
This is the main focus of my Truth about 6-Pack Abs book… full body training programs and proper nutrition to slash off that stubborn abdominal fat and reveal the 6-pack that is hiding underneath!
Of course it wouldn’t be an abdominals book if I didn’t focus on abs development too, but I make sure firstly that the most important concepts for lasting body fat reduction are established.
CB: Do you see any gender differences in mistakes they make? And more importantly, do you see any gender differences in the response to various types of abdominal training?
MG: To be honest, I don’t really see any need for men or women to work out differently. Bottom line… the best exercises are the best exercises regardless of gender.
However, in regards to mistakes I see between genders… Yes, I tend to see women more often are deathly afraid to use weight training with anything but really light weights. That is a shame, because THE most effective way to gain control over your body fat for life, is to maximize your lean muscle that your body carries, as well as working that muscle hard through intense resistance exercise regularly.
It’s important for women to realize that regular strength training using heavier resistance will NOT “bulk them up” (as long as caloric intake is controlled), but rather is one of the key secrets for losing body fat and staying lean year-round. As a matter of fact, some of the leanest females that I’ve trained over the years are the ones that aren’t afraid to lift heavy with the weights.
I also notice that most women (and a lot of guys too) spend way too much time with slow cardio exercises. This is simply not necessary, and the way I combine high intensity resistance training into full body programs provides enough of a “cardio” workout in itself usually. We’ll get back to this in a minute though.
CB: What about old school sit-ups? Do you use these? Are they good, bad, or does it “depend”?
MG: Sit-ups are a controversial topic. I don’t think they are good or bad per se, but rather “in between”. I didn’t include them in my programs. I simply don’t feel they are necessary, and I think there are much more effective abdominal exercises to focus on. Personally, I almost never do sit-ups except occasionally for a little variety every now and then.
CB: Give us a weekly sample abdominal training program. How many days per week? What are a couple of the best exercises you would pick? How many sets? Reps? Rest?
MG: Well, first I would like to point out that the full body exercises that make up the majority of my training programs indirectly work the abdominals and the entire “core” area to a fairly decent extent. However, I do include abdominal-specific exercises into the routines generally about twice per week. The “abdominal-specific” portion of the workouts generally only take about 5 minutes at most with very little rest between exercises.
Once people are past the beginning phase of gaining some initial abdominal strength, I try to get them away from the exercises that are too easy, where someone can do 40 or 50 reps, as is frequently common with standard crunches or sit ups. Instead, I like to focus on higher resistance exercises that actually stimulate the muscle fibers to a much greater degree.
One example of a higher resistance abs exercise is hanging leg raises with a proper “pelvic curl up”. It’s funny but usually someone that has been wasting so much time with hundreds of reps of crunches can usually only do a few solid reps when they first attempt some of these higher resistance exercises.
We also make sure not to neglect some rotational movements, as well as some work for the deeper muscles like the transversus abdominis.
CB: What do you use for fat burning, interval training or slow cardio? Or both? Any gender differences here? Or differences between fitness levels (beginner vs. advanced)?
MG: In most cases, my answer is definitely interval training… or as I like to call it “variable intensity training”. In general, I think slow steady pace cardio is a waste of time, especially if the goal is lasting body fat loss.
I think people need to get away from this mentality about “fat burning zones” and calories burned during the actual workout, and look at the bigger picture of what they are doing in their workouts to stimulate the greatest metabolic response in the body… and the best metabolic and hormonal response is achieved through variable intensity training and strength training, not slow steady-pace cardio training.
Now I will say that if someone is really deconditioned and can’t handle higher intensity training just yet, this still does not mean that they can’t simply use lower intensity routines, but still use it in a “variable intensity” fashion, by alternating between higher and lower exertion levels throughout the workout.
That wraps up the “abdominal training” portion of the interview. We will discuss the nutrition details that are necessary for losing enough belly fat to get visible 6-pack abs in a separate article.
Mike Geary
http://www.articlesbase.com/fitness-articles/ab-workout-training-mistakes-103563.html
The Fitstar V620N offers whole body vibration on a personal level. Many professional basketball, football and baseball teams are using the WBV as an additional strength training method. While standing on the vibrating platform, your whole body vibrates, causing your muscle fibers to contract like they do when lifting weights, but at a much higher frequency. The straighter you stand the higher and stronger you feel the vibrations, but it is better to bend your knees slightly to keep the vibrations in your lower half, where they are more beneficial. The Fitstar V620 offers 8 speeds, 3 program modes and 1 manual mode, simple operation with variable time settings and adjustable handle bar heights. More Info About Fitstar V260 – Vibration Exercise Machine
Copyright (c) 2008 Nancy Rishworth
Many people overlook an important part of their exercise regime – flexibility training. People often focus on cardiovascular training or strength training. These are both important parts of the exercise process, but flexibility training combined with core stability training is the glue that holds it all together.
Cardiovascular training helps us lose weight and get fit. Strength training helps us build muscles and shed fat. So what exactly does flexibility training offer? It helps us stay limber, have greater functional movement of our bodies, suffer from fewer injuries, and improve our athletic performance. If you want to improve your golf swing or tennis game, start with a flexibility warm-up.
Are you already stretching before you exercise? It’s better to get some flexibility warm-ups into your routine than none at all, but if you merely stretch once or twice before you work out you could be limiting the benefits of stretching. Generic stretching activities aren’t as beneficial as stretches that are tailored to produce results for a specific muscle group.
In other words, it’s better to spend more time on a consistent flexibility training program. You’ll realize benefits in daily activities and improved sports performance. Simply adding it to your routine two to three days a week will yield big results.
You will see improvement in the stability of your core muscles, and adds greater range of motion to the large muscle groups that are used in almost all activities. Flexibility warm-up before activities start helps you have greater range of motion and fewer injuries. Adding a few minutes to your training at the end of your exercising helps prevent post activity soreness.
Do you experience points of your body that seem “tight”? These areas of your body are areas where you hold muscle tension. Tense areas could be a result of previous injuries or a muscle imbalance. Flexibility training helps you ease the tension in these parts of the body and correct those imbalances. It’s important to tailor your flexibility training to your body’s needs as each person is an individual.
One of the ways you can tailor your training is by paying attention to your body’s signals. Again, those tight areas are telling you that you need to spend some time stretching the muscles. Any time you experience pain, that’s a signal from your body that you’ve pushed too hard. Whenever you are working through a flexibility warm-up, be careful not to bounce. This can injure muscles – simply hold a stretch for a minimum of 10 to 30 seconds, increasing the duration if your muscles aren’t fatigued.
The secret to successful flexibility training is consistency. Add a flexibility warm-up to any exercise or task – whether it’s playing golf, or bending down to garden. Add additional stretching exercises to your daily routine – this flexibility training will pay off with increased strength and range of movement. Your body will thank you!
Nancy Rishworth
http://www.articlesbase.com/fitness-articles/flexibility-training-more-than-a-few-quick-stretches-704114.html
Build, rule, and defend As a provincial governor charged with spreading the glory of Rome your mission is clear; build cities, foster trade and industry, make money. How you accomplish this entirely up to you. Gain wealth and power, make a career out of pleasing the emperor, battle Barbarians and repel invaders or concentrate on building the next Eternal City. Fail and you’ll end up as lunch for the lions. Prove your strength of mind and spirit and you just may be crowned Caesar! Build, rule, and defend on one screen – no more switching between city, province, and battle screens. Use the City Construction Kit to build the perfect city, or climb the ladder of Roman politics with a career. Now your citizens can give you a glimpse into the life of the common man – talk to them for clues about how to improve your city. Appease 5 gods with temples and festivals. Each god has its own sphere of influence; Please Ceres and your crops will thrive. But dishonor Neptune and watch your trade ships sink into the sea. Various new structures and challenges arise throughout your governor’s career, for tremendous depth of play and replay-ability. A truly intuitive, helpful interface let’s you jump right in and start building. Players of Caesar III are immersed in a city simulation set in the age of the ancient Roman Empire. Players place buildings on previously empty terrain and construct a city. These buildings come to life, and the city begins to evolve. As the city grows, it encounters various problems which must be overcome. Players have specific objectives to achieve, although many players will not use these, but rather will content themselves in designing their idea of the perfect city. The game is structured as a career, beginning with a training mission, and then progressing through a series of ever tougher real assignments. Each mission/assignment consists of a province and set objectives. Achieving these objectives will result in promotion and an offer of a
Parisi Strength Training for Speed DVD. Game Speed Secret #9: To get really fast, you also have to get the proper muscles really strong!\r\n\r\n More Info About Parisi Strength Training for Speed DVD\r\n
So, what happens when the body you once knew and trusted not to let you down suddenly starts to show signs of wear and tear from life’s daily grind? How does it feel when it takes on a different shape that you don’t particularly like and no longer responds to activities and physical exertion like it once did many years ago?
The truth is you really can’t use age as an excuse for losing strength and fitness, gaining weight or being out of shape. Loss of youth does not have to mean the loss of these very important factors that determine your overall state of health.
But, while we may know about watching our weight, diabetes risk, arthritis and how we mustn’t fall, do we really know how to best prepare ourselves for daily life as we get older? Chances are we do not. Conflicting advice simply tells us to do something ? walk, garden or swim or something that we “enjoy!” In fact, a common phrase is “Anything that gets you moving is better than nothing”.
This may be true to a certain extent but only a proper exercise program that contains strength building exercise will even begin to make a dent in slowing the aging process and keep our body functioning properly. You see, starting at age 30 each of us will lose 6-7 pounds of lean muscle tissue every single decade of our life if we don’t work at keeping it.
Typically, researchers say, people lose about 30 percent of their muscle strength between 50 and 70, and another 30 percent per decade after that if they do nothing to stop it.
These losses trigger other systems and organs to become less efficient as well as slowing the body’s metabolism ? the rate your body burns fuel. To make matters worse, the loss of lean body mass makes people lose strength and energy and become more sedentary. Then a downward spiral continues with the unhealthy cycle further contributing to the ongoing loss of lean body mass.
Unfortunately, we cannot change the fact that we will age, but we can control to some degree the rate at which age happens. Some people unwisely decrease their exercise and activity levels as they age, assuming that it is proper to grow old gracefully. But this can cause a person to grow old very ungracefully, with substantial limits on their mobility, self-reliance and quality of life.
We need to work at keeping our strength as we get older and we can do that by spending 2-3 hours per week on a proper exercise program that will make all of our muscles stronger for everyday living. This is achieved by challenging them with a load greater than what we experience in everyday life. This is especially important now that all meaningful activity has been removed from our everyday technology driven lifestyles.
Among the many added bonuses of increased muscle strength is a boost to the metabolism which improves calorie burning efficiency. Adults who strengthen muscle tissue through sensible strength exercise use more calories all day long, thereby reducing the likelihood of body fat accumulation which can lead to other health problems such as diabetes, back and knee problems and heart disease.
You can see now that mere movement, or “any exercise is good enough”, is not really sufficient if you truly wish to be prepared for your later years. To get the very most benefit out of your exercise program seek the help of a fitness professional who will set up your program and teach you correct exercise technique. You also need to be shown what level of intensity (degree of difficulty) you need to apply to each exercise along with the right duration and frequency.
It is now known that older adults respond to appropriate exercise training by becoming healthier and stronger which greatly contributes to overall quality of life. It is never too late to get involved in slowing down your own aging process. Just get stuck in and do it right away before it is too late. It will always be a truly win-win deal for you!
Gen Wright
http://www.articlesbase.com/alternative-medicine-articles/you-need-to-make-an-effort-to-keep-your-body-strength-745058.html
Core strength training is all the rage now in the fitness world. A lot of people mistake it for just an intensive ab workout. Don’t be fooled, it’s not just about your abs, you have a whole range of muscles that make up your core. These are your torso and trunk, the cervical and top part of your spine, middle region and lower region of your spine.
Looking at the location of these muscles, you can tell that core strength training then is to support the spine, shoulders and pelvis by strengthening the surrounding muscles, and to fortify the strength of your mid-section, so that it may lend power to the rest of your body. If you didn’t have any strength in these muscles then you probably couldn’t even stand. Strong pelvis muscles helps to strengthen your legs. Strengthening the shoulder frame will give power to your arms. Supporting the spine will keep everything all under control.
Having good core strength helps prevent you from being injured as well as giving you more control of your physical actions and better balance. One such injury that core strength training is employed for is when you have a susceptible lower back. Lower back pain is not limited to athletes and fitness subscribers, it is a problem among anyone with a weak spine. Some individuals get into core strength training because they initially sought to cure their back pain woes.
Core training exercises are composed of exercises that work these parts of the body. Bridges, or exercises where you brace yourself up from the floor with your elbow and arm facing different positions. The prone bridge develops strength in your trunk and pelvis, the lateral bridge in your abdomen, while the supine bridge, where you prop your hips up diagonally to the floor, anchored by your upper body and feet, develops the gluteal muscles. An exercise called the Plank, or a hovering exercise, is similar to these bridge exercises.
use Russian Twists to help develop your upper and middle body. For abtomen and muscles in your lumbar region you can use pelvic thrusts. Core strength exercises must successfully not only develop one muscle area, but several simultaneously. Other exercises that strengthen different groups of core muscles are squats, lunges, push ups, lateral pull downs, back extensions, chin ups and different crunches.
Pilates has helped advance core strength training by bringing in more an more alternative exercises. You can train using stability and medicine balls and other products like wobble and balance boards.
Start simple with your core strength training program. Begin with the basics, crunches and push ups. If you’d like to continue a do-it-yourself program, you could also incorporate yoga into your exercise regimen, as you learn balance and centering from yoga and keep you focused on your core, what it is, what it needs.
If you would rather have guidance in core strength training, find a trainer you’re comfortable with and willing to figure out an ideal core training program for you. Now that you know what it is, it’s much easier to find what you need.
Mary Meade
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/strenght-training-anatomy-strenghten-your-core-278424.html
J-1230R-4 Radial Drill Press 5Hp, 460V The power train gears and spline shaft are made of the finest quality, heat treated and ground nickel-chrome steel, giving extra strength and smoothness to high torque loadsThe spindle is made of the finest case hardened steel for extra strength and wearThe spindle is supported by double row taper roller and thrust ball bearings at the nose, with thrust and radial axis bearings at the topThe spindle is built to withstand exceptionally heavy drilling and boring loads and to insure maximum accuracyPush button controls are all reduced to 110VElectrical circuits are located in the built-in control box at the rear of the arm- this keeps the controls dust and humidity free while making them easily accessible for maintenanceEntire frame is made of Meehanite and high tensile strength cast iron to handle the heaviest of jobsArm raising safety device prevents arm from droppingCounter balanced mechanism for spindle return12 speeds/3 feed rates make exotic materials easier to drill, bore and tapCentralized control centerAutomatic tool ejectorIndependent manual arm clamping system, which locks and unlocks the head and columnBuilt in work lightCoolant pumpTool kitBox table FREE GROUND SHIPPING 89.00 L. 80.00 W. 39.00 H.
This is one of my favorite routine for strength training at home, and these days I am following this routine only (with some changes here and there.)
You can read and get Idea how I like to structure my routines. Trust me I am on of those guys who gets bored easily and changes his routines daily. So there might be a chance by the time you read this I have made some changes to this routine.
My Goal: Loose extra pounds and Gain Strength.
Possibility of achieving: 100%
Gears You Need: You don’t need much gear for this. I am thinking of utilizing Bodyweight Exercises right now, then probably in coming week, we might head out to Gym (2-3 times /week)and train there too. Anyways you should invest in good skipping rope.
Routines: Because We are going for strength, we’ll be going for heavy duty exercises.
Write down the list and follow me
1. HandStand PushUp
2. Handstand on one Hand
3. One Hand Pushup
4. Hindu Squats (100+)
5. One legged Squats
Abs training.
1. Sit ups
2. Janda Sit ups
3. Vacuum (sucking up your stomach)
Note : If you don’t know what exactly is Janda Sit ups. Just google for more info.
Handstand pushup fires up major muscles in upper body and after than doing Pushups would be huge task. But we are going to do it with some twist to routine.
We are not going for Failure in any of those exercise. Go to 80% of your limit, and start again to go for next 80-90% limit.
For Ex. if you failure limit is 10, we’ll do 8/9, then again cut down 80% of 8 , next rep is going to be for 7/8 and so on. and we’ll increase number of repetitions… Ok
My Handstand Pushup goes like : 10, 9, 8,7,6, start again with 9,8,7,6, again 8,7,6, 7,6, 6 total of 110 push ups.
I know most people can’t go up to this, so do it until you are doing 80-90% of your failure limit, and with every set I m taking rest (rest time assume your training partner will take for doing same number of reps to do)
NOTE: if you are doing handstand on one hand, You might want to spread your legs little wide to balance. Reps are same as described above. Never go to failure. We want hardcore exercise, not failure.
This routine will fire up all the muscles in your body with pain. Use this routine to build muscles, stamina and lose all the fat in no time.
Varun Pratap
http://www.articlesbase.com/fitness-articles/examples-of-strength-training-workouts-for-men-82668.html
J-1100R 4 Arm Radial Drill Press 3Hp, 230VThe power train gears and spline shaft are made of the finest quality, heat treated and ground nickel-chrome steel, giving extra strength and smoothness to high torque loadsThe spindle is made of the finest case hardened steel for extra strength and wearThe spindle is supported by double row taper roller and thrust ball bearings at the nose, with thrust and radial axis bearings at the topThe spindle is built to withstand exceptionally heavy drilling and boring loads and to insure maximum accuracyPush button controls are all reduced to 110VElectrical circuits are located in the built-in control box at the rear of the arm- this keeps the controls dust and humidity free while making them easily accessible for maintenance.Entire frame is made of Meehanite and high tensile strength cast iron to handle the heaviest of jobsArm raising safety device prevents arm from droppingCounter balanced mechanism for spindle return12 speeds3 feed rates make exotic 89.00 L. 74.00 W. 34.00 H.
