Weight training is a slippery slope for a lot of women. Many are afraid of bulking up and skip it altogether, while others use lighter weights to avoid looking too muscular. The accepted logic is that heavier weights equal big muscles and using lighter weights is the best way to slim down and maintain "womanly" tone. Not so! using heavier weights is more slimming than you think.
First things first. The article challenges the notion that lifting big weights means you're going to get big muscles. There is a reason that bodybuilders are so fond of those mega-calorie extreme protein shakes; if you want to go big, you have to eat big. Those bulked up folks you see now and again are probably eating an excess of 3,000 calories a day.
To find out what weights you should be lifting to lose body fat, read more.
If you want to be stronger and toned but still look slim, the suggestion is to challenge yourself with heavier weights and fewer repetitions. A 2002 study that looked at women doing both low- and high-intensity resistance exercises found that those who lifted heavier weights with fewer repetitions burned more calories and had a bigger metabolic boost than the women who lifted lighter weights with increased repetitions. When deciding how much weight you should be lifting, the women with the greatest success in the study did three sets of eight repetitions at 85-percent of their maximum ability. Using this measure, you should pick a weight that you can lift eight times without straining, and whichever muscle you are working should feel tired (but not exhausted) upon your final rep of the first set.
Additional evidence supports this claim: in a study published last year, scientists followed 122 women for six years and found that those who did less repetitions with heavier weights lost the most body fat.
I hope this has helped some of you that are concerned about getting "bulky". keep your nutrition under control and challenge yourself! And most importantly..ROCK N ROLL...!!!
Friday, December 23, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
TRAIN MOVEMENT NOT THE MUSCLE!
As a fitness profesional and coach, I get questions from friends and clients all of the time about the best way to train. I find that most of the questions, though genuine in their motivation, miss the most important benefits of strength training – function. One of the most popular questions goes something like this:
“Coach T, what is the best exercise to isolate my ___________ ( biceps, triceps, abs, butt, chest, etc)?”
No matter what body part they insert into the question my response is usually – “Why do you want to isolate? Do you want to be a bodybuilder?” Most of the time the answer is no.
So the first thing that they need to understand is that our body wants to work with the greatest number of muscles possible. It is more efficient and effective. The complex movements that our muscles create are achieved through the contraction of multiple muscles at one time. Some are more dominant than others with certain movements while others serve as joint stabilizers or accessory muscles. This article is meant to show how utilizing complex (multi-joint) movements is more effective and functional for sports demands as well as every day life and activities.
Isolation exercises are meant to train the body to use only one specific muscle group. In the long run this creates a body that works in a very non-functional way. In other words, in a way that is not natural. This can lead to injury and overuse type injuries because the muscles are not working together to create a movement. Instead, you have a bunch of individual muscles that, instead of a powerful, functional movement, create a jerky motion that doesn’t work well.
Complex movements also create a more lean, muscular, and functional body that is better able to generate power and strength by working together to produce force.
If you look at any sport that requires strength, speed, power and agility you will notice that it requires complex movement patterns. Take a football or soccer player for example. They don’t train with isolation exercises. They are performing too many complex movements to waste their time doing bicep curls or leg extensions – neither of which will effectively make them more prepared for their sport.
Some examples of my least favorite isolation, non-functional exercises include:
• crunches,
• leg extensions,
• bicep curls,
• tricep extensions, and
• the worst of all the abduction / adduction machine.
None of these exercises truly prepare the body for daily movements or much less athletic demands.
Some complex exercises that I like include:
“Coach T, what is the best exercise to isolate my ___________ ( biceps, triceps, abs, butt, chest, etc)?”
No matter what body part they insert into the question my response is usually – “Why do you want to isolate? Do you want to be a bodybuilder?” Most of the time the answer is no.
So the first thing that they need to understand is that our body wants to work with the greatest number of muscles possible. It is more efficient and effective. The complex movements that our muscles create are achieved through the contraction of multiple muscles at one time. Some are more dominant than others with certain movements while others serve as joint stabilizers or accessory muscles. This article is meant to show how utilizing complex (multi-joint) movements is more effective and functional for sports demands as well as every day life and activities.
Isolation exercises are meant to train the body to use only one specific muscle group. In the long run this creates a body that works in a very non-functional way. In other words, in a way that is not natural. This can lead to injury and overuse type injuries because the muscles are not working together to create a movement. Instead, you have a bunch of individual muscles that, instead of a powerful, functional movement, create a jerky motion that doesn’t work well.
Complex movements also create a more lean, muscular, and functional body that is better able to generate power and strength by working together to produce force.
If you look at any sport that requires strength, speed, power and agility you will notice that it requires complex movement patterns. Take a football or soccer player for example. They don’t train with isolation exercises. They are performing too many complex movements to waste their time doing bicep curls or leg extensions – neither of which will effectively make them more prepared for their sport.
Some examples of my least favorite isolation, non-functional exercises include:
• crunches,
• leg extensions,
• bicep curls,
• tricep extensions, and
• the worst of all the abduction / adduction machine.
None of these exercises truly prepare the body for daily movements or much less athletic demands.
Some complex exercises that I like include:
• Lunges (multidirectional)
• Deadlifts( when done right)
• Box step-Ups
• Burpees are so great as you work so much in that one movement.
• Woodchoppers w/med ball
A variety of different exercise routines can be created around these basic exercises. Upper extremity movements can be added to create a total body workout. Just 3-5 of these exercises in a circuit routine can be a real butt kicker,(ask any of my group training clients). Basically any exercise that trains more than one muscle group at a time is a great complex exercise. Complex movements like these also train your abdominal muscles the way they were meant to be trained.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Why REST Days Improve Sports Performance
Most athletes know that getting enough rest after exercise is essential to high-level performance, but many still over train and feel guilty when they take a day off. The body repairs and strengthens itself in the time between workouts, and continuous training can actually weaken the strongest athletes.
Rest days are critical to sports performance for a variety of reasons. Some are physiological and some are psychological. Rest is physically necessary so that the muscles can repair, rebuild and strengthen. For recreational athletes, building in rest days can help maintain a better balance between home, work and fitness goals.
Building recovery time into any training program is important because this is the time that the body adapts to the stress of exercise and the real training effect takes place. Recovery also allows the body to replenish energy stores and repair damaged tissues. Exercise or any other physical work causes changes in the body such as muscle tissue breakdown and the depletion of energy stores (muscle glycogen) as well as fluid loss.
Recovery time allows these stores to be replenished and allows tissue repair to occur. Without sufficient time to repair and replenish, the body will continue to breakdown from intensive exercise. Symptoms of overtraining often occur from a lack of recovery time. Signs of overtraining include a feeling of general malaise, staleness, depression, decreased sports performance and increased risk of injury, among others.
Keep in mind that there are two categories of recovery. There is immediate (short-term) recovery from a particularly intense training session or event, and there is the long-term recovery that needs to be build into a year-round training schedule. Both are important for optimal sports performance.
Short-term recovery, sometimes called active recovery occurs in the hours immediately after intense exercise. Active recovery refers to engaging in low-intensity exercise after workouts during both the cool-down phase immediately after a hard effort or workout as well as during the days following the workout. Both types of active recovery are linked to performance benefits.
Another major focus of recovery immediately following exercise has to do with replenishing energy stores and fluids lost during exercise and optimizing protein synthesis (the process of increasing the protein content of muscle cells, preventing muscle breakdown and increasing muscle size) by eating the right foods in the post- exercise meal.
This is also the time for soft tissue (muscles, tendons, ligaments) repair and the removal of chemicals that build up as a result of cell activity during exercise.
Long-term recovery techniques refer to those that are built in to a seasonal training program. Most well-designed training schedules will include recovery days and or weeks that are built into an annual training schedule. This is also the reason athletes and coaches change their training program throughout the year, add a different style of training, modify workouts types, and make changes in intensity, time, distance and all the other training variables.
So with that, doing less is SOMETIMES gaining more! Now go GET BETTER!
Rest days are critical to sports performance for a variety of reasons. Some are physiological and some are psychological. Rest is physically necessary so that the muscles can repair, rebuild and strengthen. For recreational athletes, building in rest days can help maintain a better balance between home, work and fitness goals.
What Happens During Recovery?
Building recovery time into any training program is important because this is the time that the body adapts to the stress of exercise and the real training effect takes place. Recovery also allows the body to replenish energy stores and repair damaged tissues. Exercise or any other physical work causes changes in the body such as muscle tissue breakdown and the depletion of energy stores (muscle glycogen) as well as fluid loss.
Recovery time allows these stores to be replenished and allows tissue repair to occur. Without sufficient time to repair and replenish, the body will continue to breakdown from intensive exercise. Symptoms of overtraining often occur from a lack of recovery time. Signs of overtraining include a feeling of general malaise, staleness, depression, decreased sports performance and increased risk of injury, among others.
Short and Long-Term Recovery
Keep in mind that there are two categories of recovery. There is immediate (short-term) recovery from a particularly intense training session or event, and there is the long-term recovery that needs to be build into a year-round training schedule. Both are important for optimal sports performance.
Short-term recovery, sometimes called active recovery occurs in the hours immediately after intense exercise. Active recovery refers to engaging in low-intensity exercise after workouts during both the cool-down phase immediately after a hard effort or workout as well as during the days following the workout. Both types of active recovery are linked to performance benefits.
Another major focus of recovery immediately following exercise has to do with replenishing energy stores and fluids lost during exercise and optimizing protein synthesis (the process of increasing the protein content of muscle cells, preventing muscle breakdown and increasing muscle size) by eating the right foods in the post- exercise meal.
This is also the time for soft tissue (muscles, tendons, ligaments) repair and the removal of chemicals that build up as a result of cell activity during exercise.
Long-term recovery techniques refer to those that are built in to a seasonal training program. Most well-designed training schedules will include recovery days and or weeks that are built into an annual training schedule. This is also the reason athletes and coaches change their training program throughout the year, add a different style of training, modify workouts types, and make changes in intensity, time, distance and all the other training variables.
So with that, doing less is SOMETIMES gaining more! Now go GET BETTER!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
ARE YOU PROPERLY FEULING UP POST WORKOUT?
“Did You Know That Perfectly Balanced Electrolytes Produce A Charge In Your Body, Regulating Metabolic Functions You Need For Superior Athletic Performance and Training and Helping Decrease The Chances Of BURN OUT?”
Electrolytes are the most overlooked aspect of sports nutrition. Many endurance athletes have a misconception about how to replace electrolytes effectively, yet it’s the one KEY component to athletic nutrition!Have You Been In A Race Or A Workout And Felt God Awful?
“Burn out” can easily occur when your body is deficient in key vitamins and minerals. REAL
Electrolytes are composed of Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Chloride,
Bicarbonate, Phosphorus, and Sulfur. Individually these electrolytes cannot provide the
conductivity necessary to transmit the electrical impulses that operate our nerves, muscles and
heart. Together, in ratio, they regulate the nervous system and muscle functions, regulate the
amount of water in body fluids and cells, and balance the body’s alkaline/acid ratio which is
essential to fighting disease. Electrolytes give the body the electrical charge that can have you training harder. Diet, climate, stress, illness, medications and exercise all impact electrolyte levels. Climate such as cold weather or hot weather can upset electrolyte balance and cause dehydration.
Electrolytes Cannot Be Replaced With Water or Sports DrinksThe biggest misconception about electrolyte imbalances and treating dehydration is that you can drink lots of water or a sports drink. Plain water will dilute electrolytes, creating a greater electrolyte imbalance."Sports" drinks are missing several essential electrolytes and are used mostly for quick carb replacement. The sugar in sports drinks also kills the natural electrical charge from a real electrolyte solution. This charge is critical for absorption into the cells.
Why is A Balanced Replacement So Important?Perfectly balanced electrolytes actually produce an electrical charge! The charge regulates a host of metabolic functions your body needs for training. Electrolyte replacement is NOT just needed for the summer months. Winter can be deceiving.You think you sweat less, but you can actually lose electrolytes when you’re not sweating.Winter has a drying effect and when training or racing, it’s imperative to replace electrolytes. Electrolytes are lost through the intestinal tract, sweat and urination. Diet, drinking habits, medication, activity level, climate, stress and illness all impact electrolyte levels.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
SHOULD I JUST RUN TO WARM UP?
What's all this stuff about dynamic warm up?
Well have you ever pulled a muscle standing still?
Hopefully the answer to the above question is no!
Think about it then, does running up and down the court a few times before performing a few (static) stretches represent what happens when you start playing?
If you said NO then you would be correct, so why do I see so many players doing exactly this before they play?
Why would you want to prepare your body in that way, what is the point?
These are the main reasons you need to warm up.
• Increase core temperature and suppleness of musculoskeletal tissue
• Increase heart rate and therefore blood (and fuel) flow
• Increase activation of the Central Nervous System (improve co-ordination, skill, reactions etc)
• Increase the speed, efficiency and force of muscle contraction
The main problem with the "typical warm up" is that it does not adequately prepare you for the demands of most sports.
Jogging in a straight line is not representative of any sport and normally has minimal effect on body temperature.
Static stretching is performed slowly either standing still or sitting and whilst it can be useful at the end of a session for increasing range of motion, before you start play research has shown that it reduces power output.
It also causes a drop in body temperature (negating any gains previously made from jogging) and bears no resemblance to the very active contraction - relaxation process that occurs between muscles when you play.
So what should you do?
Well basically you need to move dynamically which means doing things on the move!
Move as you would on the courts/ fields which means moving sideways, forwards, backwards etc.
Shuffle as you would on the court/ field and don't just run!
Well have you ever pulled a muscle standing still?
Hopefully the answer to the above question is no!
Think about it then, does running up and down the court a few times before performing a few (static) stretches represent what happens when you start playing?
If you said NO then you would be correct, so why do I see so many players doing exactly this before they play?
Why would you want to prepare your body in that way, what is the point?
These are the main reasons you need to warm up.
• Increase core temperature and suppleness of musculoskeletal tissue
• Increase heart rate and therefore blood (and fuel) flow
• Increase activation of the Central Nervous System (improve co-ordination, skill, reactions etc)
• Increase the speed, efficiency and force of muscle contraction
The main problem with the "typical warm up" is that it does not adequately prepare you for the demands of most sports.
Jogging in a straight line is not representative of any sport and normally has minimal effect on body temperature.
Static stretching is performed slowly either standing still or sitting and whilst it can be useful at the end of a session for increasing range of motion, before you start play research has shown that it reduces power output.
It also causes a drop in body temperature (negating any gains previously made from jogging) and bears no resemblance to the very active contraction - relaxation process that occurs between muscles when you play.
So what should you do?
Well basically you need to move dynamically which means doing things on the move!
Move as you would on the courts/ fields which means moving sideways, forwards, backwards etc.
Shuffle as you would on the court/ field and don't just run!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
ARE GRAINS GOOD FOR US?
Boy have I been so wrong!
I took the US Government food pyramid seriously. I made sure and eat lots of whole grains every day, sometimes every few hours. I proselytized on my soapbox for over the past three years on the glorious benefits of whole grains, low fat and small portions of meat in my food column and blog. I was a stellar health nut, by conventional standards. It has been a little un-nerving and a bit humbling to find out that I have been wrong.
You see, all the craziness of our modern diet started about 10,000 years ago when our burly ancestors, who had been on earth for 200,000 years as hunters and gathers, decided to start growing things. Everything went pretty well until they started growing grains. I know, I know, it is recommended by our very own government’s health pyramid to eat 6 – 11 serving a day. But I’m here to tell you, don’t believe it. GRAINS ARE BAD FOR US.
Why? You see, grains are digested like sugars. They are just long chains of glucose that the body has to use insulin to process. Our modern diet is filled with so many grains, sugars and processed foods that we are always in the state of insulin rush. Insulin is constantly running around in our digestive system, like tidy housecleaners trying to mop up the mess of sugary carbohydrate laden foods and storing the energy into fat cells.
Insulin is such a good housekeeper that when it tidies up all the glucose in our blood, our body goes into a crash. You know what I mean, we’ve all been there. Then our brain, who loves glucose SCREAMS at us, “EAT MORE SUGAR, I NEED GLUCOSE NOW!” So we do, usually more empty calories called grains. “Modern” humans are so busy eating empty calories that they are starving for nutrition. We crave something, so we eat more and get more insulin production making us fatter. Vicious circle, I tell you!!
To make a long story short, cause I could go on forever, changing our diet to that based on fruits, veggies, nuts, good fats and lean clean meats like our hunter and gatherer ancestors, has many great benefits. I have been off grains, for the most part, for 1 month now. I can attest, that beside being pain free in my knees, an back Some of the wonderful benefits that I have experiencing are higher energy, mental well being, mental clarity, (great side benny!) need less sleep, less cravings and a lot less garbage and recycling. Oh and I have gained 3 pounds of muscle effortlessly, without counting calories. (Yippee!)
I know this will be hard for some of you to grasp so just play around with it and cut out little things here and there and pay attention to how you are feeling.
LEAVE A COMMENT!
I took the US Government food pyramid seriously. I made sure and eat lots of whole grains every day, sometimes every few hours. I proselytized on my soapbox for over the past three years on the glorious benefits of whole grains, low fat and small portions of meat in my food column and blog. I was a stellar health nut, by conventional standards. It has been a little un-nerving and a bit humbling to find out that I have been wrong.
You see, all the craziness of our modern diet started about 10,000 years ago when our burly ancestors, who had been on earth for 200,000 years as hunters and gathers, decided to start growing things. Everything went pretty well until they started growing grains. I know, I know, it is recommended by our very own government’s health pyramid to eat 6 – 11 serving a day. But I’m here to tell you, don’t believe it. GRAINS ARE BAD FOR US.
Why? You see, grains are digested like sugars. They are just long chains of glucose that the body has to use insulin to process. Our modern diet is filled with so many grains, sugars and processed foods that we are always in the state of insulin rush. Insulin is constantly running around in our digestive system, like tidy housecleaners trying to mop up the mess of sugary carbohydrate laden foods and storing the energy into fat cells.
Insulin is such a good housekeeper that when it tidies up all the glucose in our blood, our body goes into a crash. You know what I mean, we’ve all been there. Then our brain, who loves glucose SCREAMS at us, “EAT MORE SUGAR, I NEED GLUCOSE NOW!” So we do, usually more empty calories called grains. “Modern” humans are so busy eating empty calories that they are starving for nutrition. We crave something, so we eat more and get more insulin production making us fatter. Vicious circle, I tell you!!
To make a long story short, cause I could go on forever, changing our diet to that based on fruits, veggies, nuts, good fats and lean clean meats like our hunter and gatherer ancestors, has many great benefits. I have been off grains, for the most part, for 1 month now. I can attest, that beside being pain free in my knees, an back Some of the wonderful benefits that I have experiencing are higher energy, mental well being, mental clarity, (great side benny!) need less sleep, less cravings and a lot less garbage and recycling. Oh and I have gained 3 pounds of muscle effortlessly, without counting calories. (Yippee!)
I know this will be hard for some of you to grasp so just play around with it and cut out little things here and there and pay attention to how you are feeling.
LEAVE A COMMENT!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
WHAT IS E.P.O.C AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
While on the quest for fat loss, many people place far too much focus on how many calories they are burning during their exercise sessions, while forgetting to account for the calories that will be burned because of that exercise session -- after all is said and done. If you train in the proper way, you can actually greatly enhance the total amount of fat burned with your exercise program by taking advantage of these additional calories lost after the training program is completed.
This will include a variety of different processes that are related to recovery, such as increasing the amount of muscle glycogen contained in the muscle that's been depleted during the workout, restoring the blood lactate levels to normal and bringing down the heart rate and body temperature.
The degree of EPOC you experience has a direct correlation to the intensity of your workout session. The harder you are able to work out, the more you will disrupt all the measures listed above and, therefore, the more energy your body will need to expend to bring them back down to normal once again.
Furthermore, there are certain variables within your workout that you can alter to get that "after burn" up even higher:
You don't want to take it so far that you sacrifice your ability to lift heavy weights, because that, as you will learn next, also increases EPOC.
You've probably already noticed that after a heavy set on the weights your heart rate is up a lot higher, particularly if it's a lower-body exercise. This increased heart rate is what helps generate EPOC, so the longer the period of time it is elevated, the greater the number of calories that will be burned.
what is epoc?
These calories are collectively known as Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). What this basically represents is how many additional calories your body will burn after the exercise session has been completed in order to return your body to the state it was in before the exercise took place.This will include a variety of different processes that are related to recovery, such as increasing the amount of muscle glycogen contained in the muscle that's been depleted during the workout, restoring the blood lactate levels to normal and bringing down the heart rate and body temperature.
what affects epoc?
If your goal is to achieve a maximum fat loss, you will want to optimize EPOC as best as you can, thereby increasing the total number of calories you burn that day.The degree of EPOC you experience has a direct correlation to the intensity of your workout session. The harder you are able to work out, the more you will disrupt all the measures listed above and, therefore, the more energy your body will need to expend to bring them back down to normal once again.
Furthermore, there are certain variables within your workout that you can alter to get that "after burn" up even higher:
Rest periods
When trying to maximize EPOC, taking slightly shorter rest periods will help. This forces your body to work harder without as much recovery between sets, so you will require more in-depth recovery after the session has been completed.You don't want to take it so far that you sacrifice your ability to lift heavy weights, because that, as you will learn next, also increases EPOC.
Heavy lifting
As you go about your weight-lifting session, trying to lift weights as heavy as possible will further enhance the energy your body needs to repair itself later.You've probably already noticed that after a heavy set on the weights your heart rate is up a lot higher, particularly if it's a lower-body exercise. This increased heart rate is what helps generate EPOC, so the longer the period of time it is elevated, the greater the number of calories that will be burned.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Midtown challenge
Thank you to all my Innovative teammates for coming out to the Midtown challenge and representing us!
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