Wednesday, 28 May 2014

Things You Should Do Before Every Workout

8 Things You Should Do Before Every Workout

A solid pre-workout routine begins long before you step into gym shorts or break a sweat. And like everything else, sloppy prep translates to sloppy execution. That can lead to uninspired training sessions or injury, both of which inhibit strength and muscle gains, or weight loss. So to help you craft a sound pre-training regimen, we asked Patrick Solano CSCS, strength and conditioning specialist at the UFC Gym in Torrance, California for his pre-workout necessities.

The timing in which you eat a pre-workout meal or snack depends on your digestive tendencies. In general, munching on something an hour or so before exercise should provide you with an adequate amount of energy; however, there’s no hard-and-fast rule.
“Some people get an upset stomach when they eat too close to a workout,” Solano says. “I’m one of those people who can eat right before or even while I train and be fine, so it changes from person to person.”
Regardless of the timing, make sure carbs and protein are on the menu. “Toast with peanut butter is a good option because it contains carbs, fat, and protein,” he explains. “Fruits like bananas, apples, and oranges are complex carbohydrates, which are a more sustainable form of energy. A protein shake or bar also works.”

Hydration requirements hinge on variables like age, gender, weight, height, and the intensity of your workouts. As a guideline, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends that active people drink 20 ounces of water prior to exercise.
What you don’t want to do is start chugging water immediately before you train. The countless pee breaks will be a disruption and you can actually end up peeing out more than you retain.
The importance of hydration can’t be understated. For one, you’ll be more comfortable — unless you enjoy training while battle things like muscle cramps and dizziness; plus, studies show that adequately hydrated athletes perform at higher levels than dehydrated athletes
Pre-workout supplements aren’t a necessity, but they can heighten focus and provide an energy boost.
“Most pre-workout supps are similar in that they contain caffeine and amino acids that’ll help your veins and arteries dilate to increase blood flow,” he explains. “Take it 30-minutes prior to your workout so by the time you’re in the gym you’re at the peak of its effects.”

Whether you’re using an app like the M&F Trainer or going old school with a pad and paper, knowing what’s expected in terms of reps, sets, weights, and rest periods removes guesswork and can help make your workout more efficient.
“It’s a way to prepare mentally,’ Solano says. “If the exercises you’re doing and the loads you’re planning to move are all programmed in, all you need to do is execute.”
It’s also a way to keep yourself honest. When you’re bushed and only on set 6 of 10, it’s easier to omit a set or two when you’re not looking at stats.
“A well-designed warm-up increases muscle temperature, core temp, and blood flow. It should also allow your tendons to get warm as well,” says Solano. “This will help the muscles work at optimum strength and power.”
In this section of the warm-up you’re looking for a little bit of perspiration; the objective isn’t to get completely drenched. Spend five minutes working at a low-to-moderate level on a treadmill, stationary bike, or rowing machine.
While using a foam roller can be a painful and quasi-unpleasant experience for some people — the exception would be for masochists, obviously — the pros of using one outweighs the cons.
“Muscles are fibers that are held together with tendons and perimysium, which is a sheath of tissues that holds together muscle fibers,” Solano says. “When we train, that tissue can become bunched up. Think of it like a snag in a zipper. Using a foam roller can break the bunched areas up so the muscle contracts more efficiently.”
Spend up to a minute per area ironing out the kinks of the muscles you’ll be utilizing during your workout.
Now it’s time to zero in on functionality and ensure that what you’ll be using during specific lifts will be ready for action.
“’Dynamic’ means warming up through movement,” he reveals. “Go through the muscle groups you’re going to use and perform compound bodyweight or lightweight movements that execute the full range of motion. This will help make sure areas like the shoulders, knees, and wrists will be warm and ready.”
Some eggheads recently studied more than 6.7 million fitness playlists and complied “the ultimate workout playlist” that featured artists like Katy Perry, Rizzle Kicks, Daft Punk, and Little Mix. We suspect your playlist might contain more power chords, pick slides, and songs that induce head banging.
“Psychologically, listening to your ‘workout’ song or playlist might pump you up,” he says. “It’ll also block out the dumb music that’s playing in the gym.”
Other studies have shown that tunes that fall between 120-140 beats per minute (BPM) were the best for exercise Source: Google, MuscleandFitness.com
Image Source: TIG/SWNS.COM

Reasons You're Holding onto Body Fat

10 Reasons You're Holding onto Body Fat

With many other factors that could be playing a role in why you aren't losing body-fat, these 10 reasons are usually behind the slow progress. Make sure you are doing your very best at controlling these so you can optimize your results and get the lean body you've been working for, faster than ever

This should be pretty obvious to most people by now. Most people do not know how many macros (protein, carbs, fat) come with the food they are eating and simply measure it out by sight. They believe what you see is what you probably get but don’t take into consideration simple things like sauces which add calories to the food. Sometimes you think you are making a healthy choice by ordering a salad at the airport or your favorite restaurant but you could be getting a 600-calorie meal without even realizing it. At the end of the day you should not be consuming more calories than what you’re using because this will, over time, add unwanted weight and inches to your body.

Protein has a lot more functions than repairing and growing muscle tissue. It’s mainly women who don't follow this rule but there are some guys out there as well. Protein increases satiety at meals, which can lead to overall decreased calorie consumption.

Convenience is a huge factor, so many decide that shakes are the best route for them. When you want to get ripped it’s always better to chew as many of your calories as possible. The very act of chewing and digesting solid food burns more calories than drinking shakes does. Of course, you should avoid drinking sodas that contain high amounts of sugar as they too will increase your caloric intake for the day. And regular diet soda consumption has been shown to lead to caloric over-indulgences elsewhere.

How many times have you heard that eating fruits or nuts is great for you? Well technically they are fantastic for you as the omegas in nuts and seeds and the micronutrients and phytogens that come with fruit are awesome for your health. But guess what? In excess, they carry sugars and higher calories than you think. Remember, one gram of fat contains 9 calories. Now when you pick up some almonds and start snacking on them most of the time you don't measure them, you simply estimate what an ounce or gram looks like (if you estimate at all). Don't get carried away as these seeds and nuts are high density source of calories and could jack up your total for the day

As you become better trained, you need to start pushing your body harder to elicit the same results. You need to push yourself hard at the gym every time you go so that you are actually creating a demand for your body to have to use its energy to push beyond it's max. Journaling can help you avoid the certain plateaus that come with normal, repetitive training. Challenge yourself to do more work in less time, more weight for the same amount of reps, etc.

So many people spend countless hours doing cardio and yet still achieve no results. Excessive amounts of cardio lead to an overproduction of cortisol, which leads to more abdominal fat and numerous health problems. Start with one or two sessions per week, then add time to each session, throw in an extra interval or add an additional cardio workout if results start to slow.

When you get stressed out your body produces a hormone known as cortisol. This increases bodyfat storage if it’s not controlled. Most people are stressed out all day long which means their cortisol levels are always high. That leads to an increase in bodyfat even if their diet and training are perfect.

Going back to the previous post about stress, lack of sleep and rest will raise cortisol levels too and your body will never fully recover. When you’re short on sleep your insulin sensitivity decreases, which means that your body is more likely to store fat, and your cortisol goes up. Both things lead to less than optimal fat loss environment. Make it a priority in your lifestyle to get more sleep! Studies show that getting at least seven straight hours is optimal.

Did you know that drinking water helps boost your metabolism, cleanses your body of waste and acts as an appetite suppressant? Your body requires water for all of its metabolic processes and functions. A well-hydrated body will function towards fat loss faster and more efficiently.

You would think this is a clear one but consistency is the glue that holds the previous nine reasons together. If you are not consistent with your lifestyle and your fat loss goals, your body will not change on it’s own. You need to be consistent with all the nine points mentioned previously in order to achieve your dream body. Source: Google Image, MuscleandFitness.com

Easy Metabolic Boosters

4 Easy Metabolic Boosters

Metabolism is such a nebulous term in the fitness industry. But it has a specific and very elaborate meaning. For our purposes, it is the rate at which your body burns energy. This, of course, is good to know for those of us concerned with body composition because the more energy you can burn, the leaner you will generally be. Resting metabolism refers to the rate that your body burns energy while you do nothing. So if you can find a way to crank up your metabolism, you’re on your way to a much better body. There are a few ways that you can enhance this rate of burn and some might be less obvious than others.

Use this short checklist to see if you’re doing as much for your metabolism as you can.

This shouldn’t come as a shock. Even daily movement such as walking around your home or office will increase your metabolism but they key here is exercise – a conscious effort to train your body (and metabolism). Exercise releases a variety of hormones that benefit your body in more ways that you can imagine. By strength training just a couple of times a week, you’ll reverse 50% of the seemingly inevitable metabolism slow-down that comes with age.

Have you ever heard a family member or friend say that a pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat? It’s true! However, what each does to your body is completely different. By exercising and building a leaner and stronger physique you can change your body composition into more muscle and less bodyfat. What’s the advantage there? Muscle is more metabolic – a pound burns 5-6 calories per day at rest – and demands more calories to be burned up in your body than fat. The more muscle you carry the more calories your burn daily.

If you are not a morning person, then listen to this: Exercising in the morning can lead to greater caloric expenditure throughout your day. An elevated metabolism throughout the day only means that you'll burn more calories and lose more weight.

Every time you consume food your body needs to break it down so it can be used by your body. That process in and of itself increases your metabolism – it’s called the Thermic Effect of Food. That’s just one of the ways that eating solid meals increases your metabolism. But certain foods contain certain properties that can increase your metabolism.

Source: Google, MuscleandFitness.com, santabanta.com

How to Train Hard in a Commercial Gym

You’ve put in a few solid years of training and you’re ready to take your workouts to the next level. Problem is there’s no sports performance facility or powerlifting gym within a 50-mile radius of where you live. So how do you get in hardcore workouts while being surrounded by cardio bunnies and dudes flexing in the mirror? Follow these 5 tips and you can turn any average, commercial gym environment into your version of muscle beach.

Everyone knows that one of the biggest problems in commercial gyms is overcrowding - particularly during prime time hours. Walk away from the squat rack to hit a set of pull-ups and you are likely to find your barbell stripped and some guy setting up for a killer set of curls by the time you get back. Rather than going with supersets (which, of course are efficient) stick in one spot and perform all the sets of your main strength exercise as straight sets. Face it, the gym is a pretty territorial place. And while someone may ask to work in with you, the chances of someone trying to completely reset the rack is unlikely. And while it may take some more time, straight sets do allow you to place more focus and energy on one big lift.

Machines, dumbbells, kettlebells and even treadmills can all have their place in well designed training program. But if we’re talking hardcore movements, most of those start and end with the barbell. You can squat, military press, bench, clean, snatch and deadlift all with the same piece of equipment. And most commercial gyms have no shortage of barbells. So grab one, make your way into an empty corner of the gym, gather some plates and get to work.

Even the typical Globo-Gym has a few guys who are very knowledgeable and take their training seriously. Seek these people out and train with them or, at the very least, try to train at the same time they are there. Surrounding yourself with guys who want to get stronger and bigger will instantly improve your training environment. Plus you’ll automatically be surrounded by guys who will spot you, give you good advice and cheer you on as you go for personal best lifts.

Nothing will lull you to sleep in a typical gym like the cardio area. The wait for machines and endless banks of TVs are less about dedication and more about distraction. If your program calls for conditioning, stay in the free weight area and hit some timed circuits or kettlebell complexes. Going about your energy system work this way will keep you in the right frame of mind and around other people who are pushing their limits, not pushing buttons on a remote.

It may be tough to get psyched up for a big set when no one else in the gym seems to care. But bringing the right attitude into each training sessions is just as important as bringing your gym bag. If you can’t find like-minded people to train around, make yourself a playlist of music that gets you psyched to lift and engage in some positive, motivating self-talk before each set. Visualize an entire, successful training session before you even head to the gym. Doing these things will allow you to rise above a not-so-inspiring training environment and be able to achieve your best every time you step up to the bar.

Source:Google, MuscleandFitness.com

Popular Lifts You Can Live Without

7 Popular Lifts You Can Live Without

We asked certified personal trainer John Rowley, author of The Power of Positive Fitness, his thoughts on a handful of exercises people should consider omitting from their regular routines. And without hesitation, he had answers.

“Just watch what everyone else does in the gym. If you do the opposite, you’ll get in great shape,” he quipped. Some of his thoughts on certain staple lifts will likely surprise you. “There is a time and a place for all of the exercises I mention, but sometimes the risk just isn’t worth the reward, or the movement isn’t necessary."

Check out the 7 exercises on this list and see if you agree.

It’s the pathway to boulder shoulders, right? According to Rowely, you can detour around them en route to a solid set of delts.

“I know plenty of guys who have built incredible shoulders only using laterals,” said Rowley. “With the shoulder press, all of the weight is being put on your vertebrae. Especially for the average person, the risk isn’t worth the reward. You’re better off doing exercises like front laterals, side laterals, and upright rows.”

Rowley continued, “Larry Scott was a close friend of mine and he was a stickler on shoulder exercises. He’d have you do all lateral movements, and if you were going to do shoulder presses they’d be done with a dumbbell in an almost lateral raise-type movement.”

Ask someone who’s serious about training what the best exercise is and you’re all but guaranteed an answer of the squat or deadlift. Rowley believes the latter, however, is overrated for most lifters.

“Deadlifts are a great exercise … if you want to be a sumo wrestler, lineman, or powerlifter,” he explained. “Are they the best choices for physique development or superb body composition? Absolutely not. Someone who is only looking to build a pleasing physique can do without them.”

Rowley suggested focusing on bent-over rows, T-bar rows, shrugs, squats, and leg presses as individual movements instead of knocking them out with deads. However, if you’re a deadlifter for life, he recommends doing them inside of a power rack to reduce the chance of injury. “That’ll lessen the risk by about 80 percent.”

Along with the deadlift and shoulder press, Rowley lumped the bench press in with “ego movements” that people rely on to impress others in an attempt to inflate their self-esteems.

“People like to load up the bar with as much weight as they can, and then they don’t concentrate on form or engaging the muscle; it becomes about moving weight,” he noted. “Your pectoral muscles aren’t a pressing muscle; they’re a pulling muscle. The dumbbell bench press is a better alternative because the arms aren’t locked in and the movement allows you to bring your arms across the body.”

You’re better off doing standard lat pulldowns or pull-ups, advised Rowley.

“The behind-the-neck lat pulldowns are one of the dumbest exercises around,” he said. “They’re dangerous for your neck and shoulders, and the result you get from doing them is … none.”

He continued, “When you do a lat pulldown, basically, you’re using your body as a lever to pull the weight toward your body and your body toward the bar. You arch your back and push your chest toward the bar to engage your lats. Going behind your neck does the opposite of that.”

The issue isn’t the exercise, Rowley claimed; it’s the usage of heavy weight and a lack of efficiency that make these omittable.

“Using 60 or 80-lb. dumbbells to work your obliques will give you a thicker waist, not a nice V-taper,” he says. “When performed with lightweight, it’s a decent exercise — but it’s far from efficient. Leg raises and crunches will do the job for 99 percent of the people in the gym. The twists are a finishing movement guys do three or four weeks out from a show.”

Shrugs train the trapezius muscle, what you commonly refer to as your traps. As for rolling shrugs, Rowley says pass. “Here is another dumb exercise. I don’t know who made it up, but rolling shrugs are dangerous to your shoulder girdle because they push everything around.”

The main issue Rowley has with leg extension machines — and leg curl, lower back and abs machines, as well — is that the people using them are uninformed when it comes to proper usage.

“Most people don’t know enough about physiology to understand if their body fits into a machine appropriately, or if the machine is adjusted properly,” he said. “So between the machine not being adjusted correctly and using too much weight, you can end up getting injured.”

Source: Google, MuscleandFitness.com, santabanta.com

HOW MANY SET IS ENOUGH

How many sets do you do per exercise? One? Ten? Somewhere in between? Most fall somewhere in the middle but there are the outliers at either end that are loyal to that choice, almost to a fault. Research and anecdotal evidence have shown that ultra high-volume training can only be done for short periods before over training (or injury) occurs. But what about one-set training?

Six-time Olympia champ Dorian Yates was a fan of this kind of training – warming up then taking one disturbing set to failure – but suggesting one set works best for everyone is a violation of the Principle of Individual Differences.

Those who favor this type of training, known as high-intensity training (HIT), seem to have an issue with rest of the scientific world on the Principle of Individual Differences. Furthermore, when training with a high level of intensity all of the time, both the GAS (general adaptation syndrome) and SAID (specific adaptations to imposed demands) principles are violated.

High Volume Findings

The American College of Sports Medicine Journal in 2002 published “A Meta-analysis to Determine the Dose Response for Strength Development.” Looking at the results, in a number of different studies, scientists determined advanced trainees need to perform an average of four sets to make the same gains that a beginner could make with one set. A number of studies show that high-volume, multiple set protocols cause a much more favorable hormonal response contrasted to single set protocols. Recently, science has questioned the role of the acute hormonal response and its role in hypertrophy, but a 2010 meta-analysis entitled “Single vs. multiple set of resistance exercise for muscle hypertrophy” shows the superiority of multiple sets for hypertrophy, echoing the findings of “Quantitative analysis of single vs. multiple-set programs in resistance training.”

Bottom line is HIT done all the time can be tough on the central nervous system and does not provide adequate work to maximize hypertrophy. Champions do more work and science agrees.

Source: Google, MuscleandFiteness.com

Things Never to Do in a Gym

13 Things Never to Do in a Gym

When it comes to gym etiquette, we already know to avoid cellphone conversations, re-rack our weights, and curl anywhere outside the squat rack. But there are plenty of lesser-known blunders you could be making at the gym that upset and disrupt others. Worse, some of these mistakes could negatively affect your health.

Take extra precaution and learn the 13 things you should never do in a gym—you’ll make a lot less enemies.

1) Don't use a mat or bench without cleaning it

Dirty stretching mats and exercise benches sometimes contain viruses, bacteria and fungi. If your cut or scrape touches these germ-infested surfaces, you could get a severe infection.

Every commercial gym offers a variety of sprays, wipes and sanitizers you can use to disinfect surfaces quickly. Always clean them before and after using.

I used to work at a fancy gym where, at least once a month, someone would defecate in the shower. (No joke.)

This really does happen—as well as many other disgusting things—and you must protect yourself from the bacteria present in shower stalls, regardless of your gym’s sanitation standards. If you shower at the gym, buy some cheap sandals and keep them in your gym bag.

3) Don't give someone unsolicited advice

Avoid giving unsolicited advice in the gym for two reasons. Number one, they will tend to act defensive and reject your criticism. Number two, your advice could be wrong.

Unless their technique is threating themselves and others, avoid giving advice. If you really want to help, however, become their friend first.

4) Don't exercise in a heavily trafficked area

Areas like entrances, walkways and aisles should be reserved for foot traffic, not walking lunges, kettlebell swings or jumping rope. You can hurt passersby or hurt yourself.

Always exercise in proper areas, free from people walking by.

Use a shoulder machine as a shoulder machine—not as a complex glute exercise.

First, it takes the equipment away from someone who actually wants to use the machine correctly. Second, you could break it and hurt yourself. (I doubt the manufacturers will be liable.)

I once saw a gentleman use an incline bench while the plates slid off one end. Before I could reach him, the plates dropped, the bar flew up, and everything crashed on the other side. Fortunately, aside from his bruised ego, he was fine.

“Maybe you should use this,” I said showing him a weight collar.

You must attach weight collars when using barbells. Regardless of the weight, the plates will slide and ruin your balance.

Give everyone exercising a cushion of a few feet. You never know if they will lose control and dump the weight or if their exercise involves a lot of movement.

For example, I’ve seen people almost lose their faces because they squeezed past a person doing an Olympic lift. Bad idea. Instead, wait a few seconds until they finish. Also, if someone is doing a heavy lift (like a squat, deadlift, overhead press, etc.), never walk right in front of their line of sight. It’s distracting and rude.

And if someone is doing pushups, please avoid walking over him.

Gyms are a great place to meet women who share an interest and are, well, fit. Gyms, however, are a bad place to use cheesy pickup lines, harass and stare at women, or pretend to give her advice.

News travels fast. And depending on the size of the gym, you can easily become the dude that no girl will talk to—or worse, lose your membership.

Crowded gyms are a free-for-all: all the benches are taken, everyone wants to use the same dumbbells, and everyone asks you, “How many more sets do you have?”

Always maintain etiquette, especially during peak hours. If you see an open bench with someone standing nearby, ask before using it; if it’s occupied, however, they’ll almost certainly let you work in.

No one wants to see a loogie or a piece of gum floating in the drain. Use the trash can.

You risk injuring yourself or someone else by walking aimlessly throughout a crowded gym. You could walk into someone doing an exercise, interfere with someone’s lift, or—quite easily—walk into a machine.

This should be obvious, but it still happens. Wait until you stop moving before you text.

Sometimes a trainer will teach their client an awesome exercise that grabs your attention. Never spy on them and try to (poorly) mimic the exercise yourself. It’s far better to ask them what they’re doing—odds are they’ll gladly teach you the movement so you can do it correctly.

Instead, eavesdropping to take a trainer’s exercise—and trust me, we notice—is disrespectful to both the trainer and client, especially because the client paid to learn something that you snatched for free.

This, for some odd reason, happens. Please respect other gym patrons and keep your clothes on for the duration of the workout.

As for guys trying to “show off,” the truth is that taking off your shirt and flexing only reveals approval-seeking insecurities.

Source: Google, MuscleandFiteness.com

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Wednesday, 28 May 2014

Things You Should Do Before Every Workout

8 Things You Should Do Before Every Workout