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How I’m Beating the Stress That Would Love Beat Me

Training, Weekly Motivation

Life can be a pleasent bake-sale or a brutal
ass-beating.

And as it rolls, mine is feeling more along lines
of the ass-beating right now.

To put it bluntly I’m f%$*#ng stressed!

Several things are not bending in my favor at the
moment. The thing I have had to accept is that it’s
not going to change in an instant—that this stress
is going to be here while it compels or motivates
me to take several drastic actions.

I figure that chances are better than good that I am
not alone in this state of elevated stress.

It happens as life does.

But let’s face it… Stress kills!

…but not before it makes you fat and tired.

The negative impact of stress on our bodies and lives
is getting clearer and more disturbing every day.

Implicated in life threatening diseases, stress amplifies
the aging process as its impact on elevated cortisol levels
can have you piling on fat while on a diet.

Cortisol, “the stress hormone,” is handy when you need to
respond to a fight or flight situation, but the chronic nature of
stress for many these days can devastate your health and
undermine your fitness.

Stress both Sucks and Kills…

Life can be a bake sale or an ass-beating. And as it rolls mine is feeling more along lines of the ass-beating right now.

To put it bluntly I’m f%$*#ng stressed!

More than one (two or three) things are not bending in my favor at the moment. Of course, as with any “dis-ease” you can usually point to a contributing, if not causative, element.

The thing I have had to realize and accept is that it’s not going to change in an instant—that this stress is going to be here while it compels or motivates me to take several drastic actions.

And you know, I figure that chances are better than good that I am not alone in this state of elevated stress. It happens as life does.

And in between now and the lemonade stand days to come, I’m going to be dealing with, coping with stress. So, rather than be a victim of what is, I decided to come up with a plan to cope with this increased stress.

Because let’s face it…

Stress kills!

…but not before it makes you fat and tired.

The negative impact of stress on our bodies and lives is getting clearer and more disturbing every day.

Implicated in life threatening diseases, stress amplifies the aging process as its impact on elevated cortisol levels can have you piling on fat while on a diet.

Cortisol, “the stress hormone,” is handy when you need to respond to a fight or flight situation, but the chronic nature of stress for many these days can devastate your health and undermine your fitness.

Some of the negative impacts of excess cortisol…

  •  Increases your appetite
  •  Increases fat storage
  •  Leads to loss of protein and muscle
  •  Makes insulin less effective
  •  Impairs cognitive performance (dull)
  •  Suppresses thyroid function
  •  Decreases bone density
  •  Raises blood pressure
  •  Lowers immunity
  •  Lowers inflammatory responses
  •  Increased abdominal fat (worst place for fat)

An added “bonus” (in the worst way) is that elevated cortisol also lead to leptin resistance which results in higher cortisol levels. The result: A vicious cycle of fat gain!

Bottom line is cortisol is “catabolic” – meaning “degenerative” it’s breaking your body down. Where as “anabolic” is the desirable and opposite: It’s about building, rebuilding, repairing and rejuvenating every cell of your body and your life.

How to Lower Cortisol and Get Your Body Fit

Clearly cortisol plays an important role in your body but equally as clear, I’m sure you can see that cortisol is the opposite of everything you need to gain muscle and get lean.

Hell, if we simply look at the impact cortisol has on insulin (causing it to increase) we can see why it’s the enemy of lean and fit. Everything we know about living lighter, leaner and longer is revolving around insulin—and maintaining low, stable insulin levels.

So, just how do you go about getting and or keeping your cortisol at optimal, lower levels?

7 Strong Moves for Lowering Stress Induced Cortisol:

Here are 7 clear, strong moves you can make today to start crush the stress hormone cortisol which is trying to crush you. Do these and watch your catabolic metabolism drop while your anabolic metabolism helps your rise up and conquer!

1. Get More and Better Sleep

Science has shown that the average 50 year old has nighttime cortisol levels 30 times higher than the average 30 year old. This is not good! You may try supplementing the hormone (yes, it’s a hormone) melatonin before bed. Melatonin production decreases with age and this having more may help you sleep deeper and extend sleep cycle.

And Extra Hour of Sleep Can Reduce Cortisol 50%
In a German study, when a group of pilots slept six or less hours for a week their cortisol levels jumped and stayed jacked up for two days. We’re talking 50% more cortisol than those getting 8 hours. This is one more case for the recommended 8 hours of sleep. And when you don’t get it, researchers at Penn State concluded that a nap the next day lowered cortisol levels in sleep deprived people.

2. Exercise Daily

Exercise is a proven stress reliever and brain-balancer.It enhances mood more than antidepressants and significantly alters brain chemistry to the positive side. Strength training seems to be particularly strong at this—and adding muscle increases brain output of serotonin and dopamine, brain chemicals that reduce anxiety and depression.

Bodywork like Massage can Kick Stress’ Ass!

A mindful Strength practice like “Zen of Strength” practice can add even more potency to the prescription by making your body-strength practice an active mediation.

3. Maintain Stable blood sugar

Sugar and refined carbs are spike your insulin. High Insulin levels, in addition to suppressing your anabolic hormones, testosterone and Gh, elevate cortisol. That’s why I often say when you eat sweets your eating stress.

 

4. Try Supplements that Combat Cortisol

Vitamins including B’s and C (abundant in Full Strength), minerals like calcium, magnesium, and zinc,and antioxidants ALA, grapeseed extract, and Co Q 10 are all renowned for combating stress and it’s evil by-product, cortisol.

Adaptogenic herbs including ginseng, astragalus, holy basil, rhodiola and ashwagandha may also help your body adapt, reduce and rebalance. All these supplements, to some degree, may not only lower cortisol levels but they also help you boos your immune system compromised by stress.

5. Get Abundant BCAA’s

I know this one is related to the previous, but I think the research on amino acids, namely Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) must stand alone, so as not to be overlooked. Several studies have shown what researches at Ball State University found: That when strength training is combined with BCAA supplements that cortisol levels were significantly reduced.

Now, the most obvious way to get your BCAA’s is in one of the hundreds of BCAA supplements, right? Well, sort of—that works but for all but the most extreme of pre-competition dieters, is unnecessary—for whey protein stands alone in it’s concentration and delivery of BCAA’s. The best quality wheys, as you find in Full Strength, delivers more BCAA per gram than any other food or supplement and in the most available, integrated form.

In addition to being rich in BCAA’s, Full Strength delivers a whopping 12.3 grams of glutamine per serving. Glutamine is “the ultimate donor” amino that has been shown to help mood, calm and boost immune system. All the things a person under stress needs.

6. Meditate and/or Use Brain-Entrainment “State Technology”

Get Your Zen On – Get Happy

Mediation does two basic things to relieve stress (a lot more). It’s helps you detach from the constant stream of thoughts and judgments that we humans have developed. We like, we dislike, at a pace faster than the flutter of hummingbird wings. With mediation we can begin to let the noise roll by without holding on, without being subject.

Meditation can lower Cortisol 20%: In a 6-week Thai study people who meditated daily significantly decreased both cortisol by an average of 20%–in a study at Maharishi University.

It also helps promote healthier, more focused and more freeing brainwaves, namely the production of alpha (focused alertness) and theta (relaxed) brain waves. That’s where “Brain-Entrainment” or “enhanced meditation” technology comes in, like Profound Mediation Program.

 

7. Get Your Hormones Strong

Where cortisol is catabolic, Testosterone is your most anabolic hormone (with the arguable exception of insulin). Everything about stress is set up to punish your T-levels and growth hormone too. And the cascade begins—for lower T levels increases cortisol.

Hence, it goes that healthy testosterone levels combats cortisol, pushing it down and healing the damage. Thus, it warrants you (especially a man from 35 on) to make sure they have healthy, strong T-levels. And undertaking a lifestyle that supports vibrant, strong testosterone.

While it will take time, patience, energy and courage to change my stressful situations—and the same may be true for you—taking some action can make a huge difference it how I react, how I feel and the toll it takes on me. We don’t have to be victims of life or the stress it can cause. When you take these positive, empowering actions stress doesn’t stand a chance.

How I’m Beating the Stress That Would Love Beat Me Read More »

How To Deplete Carbs After A Weekend Binge (3 simple steps)

Nutrition

As a fitness professional, I’d say that well over 90% of the questions I get is how to get rid of stubborn lower belly fat.

My answer is always, FOOD, and most ladies automatically think I
will suggest a low carb diet.

Unfortunately, almost all conventional low carb diets that claim to fight
belly fat use foods that “turn off” our fat burning mechanisms, which
forces our body to burn sugars and carbs, INSTEAD of fat.

Not only that, people who try these trendy diets don’t have any knowledge of  whether they’re losing water, muscle or actually burning fat.

Here’s a powerful example. For EVERY gram of active carbohydrates 
you consume on a daily basis, your body will hold nearly 3 grams of water.

Read that last sentence once again quickly so it “sinks” in.


So if you just cut carbs, the scale might trick you into thinking that you’re 
losing a bunch of weight — and you are. BUT – it’s water weight, NOT fat. 



So you’re really just dropping a bunch of water. 
 Now you can see how and why almost every person who tries to deplete 
carbs ends
up messing up their metabolism and forcing rebound weight gain.

But what if we could make most of that water loss = fat loss instead? 
 

Well, we CAN.

All we need to do is make sure we deplete carbs with the RIGHT foods, 
at the RIGHT times, for the RIGHT durations.

1. Consume Zero Starches or Fruits for 3 or 4 Days in a Row During The Week. 

This will help accelerate glycogen depletion and get your metabolism ready 
for the weekend fun. This should equate to a total of 25 to 50 impact carbs for 
the day. Consume protein in every meal to help increase satiety and keep your 
body in an anabolic high-energy fat-burning environment.

You’ll program your body to burn a ton more belly fat by using this approach in 
just a few days of the week.

2. Increase Your Fats and Double Your Servings of Green Cruciferous Veggies on the Deplete Days

When you lower carbs, you’ll automatically need energy from other sources. 
Friendly fats and cruciferous veggies should be your go to macronutrients to
help provide this needed energy.

Some good examples to use are extra fish or krill oil, olive oil, coconut oil, grass 
fed butter and small amounts of raw nuts for fats — spinach, kale, broccoli, 
cauliflower, asparagus and cabbage are great choices for extra veggies.

This will help provide all the fiber, vitamins, and minerals necessary to maximize 
fat-loss during the carb deplete. It will also help you with appetite control.

Additionally, the veggies I listed above contain a unique compound (called DIM) that 
helps control bad estrogen inside the body, which will indirectly lead to more fat loss.

 3. Double Your Daily Water Intake on Deplete Days & The Day After a Food Binge.

I know this technique isn’t appealing or “sexy”, but it works.

And most people simply underestimate how effective proper hydration can be for 
UNDOING the damage of over-eating, getting rid of post weekend carb bloat, and 
facilitating other metabolic processes that burn fat.

Remember, if you cheated this past weekend you’ll be holding almost an extra 3 
grams of water for every gram of carb you consumed.

So if you had a few slices of pizza, some bread and a bowl of ice cream we’re talking an extra 700 to 1000 
grams of water sitting under your belly skin.

So here are a couple fast fluid facts to help you understand how water can help 
you look and feel leaner.

  • First, the more water you “give” your body, the less it will hold onto. So if you feel like you’re holding water or bloated, drink MORE water. It will help you look and feel leaner.

A good rule of thumb is to consume 60 – 70% of your total body weight in ounces 
of water on your carb deplete days. So if you weigh 150 pounds then you should 
be shooting for 100 to 120 ounces of water – minimum.

Now you can clearly see why a short-term, science based low carb approach can 
work big time. But make sure you do NOT abuse the “deplete” day strategies above or they’ll backfire – just like exercise and cheating.

How To Deplete Carbs After A Weekend Binge (3 simple steps) Read More »

Chug or Not?

Training

Which workout drinks are fuel-tastic and which are nothing more than an aftertaste?

This spring our offices were flooded with cases of pre-workout energy drinks claiming to speed recovery and boost performance. Ever the skeptics, we filled our BPA-free water bottles, guzzled, and hit the gym an hour later to check out the results. Then we confabbed with the experts. Here’s the liquid lowdown.

THE GULP: CherryPharm
($20 for 8, cherrypharm.com)
THE CLAIM: Cherries reduce pain and promote recovery.
PROS: Studies show that the antioxidants in cherries reduce inflammation to help muscles heal more quickly.
CONS: With 28 grams of sugar, the carb and calorie count is almost the same as what’s in a can of Coke.
GRADE: B

THE GULP: eBoost
($11.50 for 10 tablets, eboost.com)
THE CLAIM: Boosts energy, supports the immune system, and enhances recovery with B12, green tea extract, and potassium.
PROS: No more lugging liquids to the gym! Just drop a tablet into eight ounces of water. Orangey and fizzy, it provided a shot in the arm for an AM exerciser thanks to the caffeine.
CONS: Artificial sweeteners made our experts cringe. Us too. We prefer au naturel. That said, we did smoke our lunges.
GRADE: B-

THE GULP: ReddRox
($2 each, reddrox.com)
THE CLAIM: Rooibos, a plant popular in tea form, revs your performance.
PROS: The journal of the American Botanical Council reports that rooibos may help replenish the electrolytes you sweat out. And after a 30-minute jog, we banged out a few sets of sprints.
CONS: It errs on the side of bland.
GRADE: B+

THE GULP: Function Alternative Energy ($1.80 each, functiondrinks.com)
THE CLAIM: Green tea extract boosts metabolism, while guarana and yerba maté up endurance.
PROS: There’s evidence that the herbs also curb appetite, and the caffeine gave us a jumpstart.
CONS: “The doses are too small to be effective,” says pharmaceutical chemist Shane Ellison.
GRADE: C+

Chug or Not? Read More »

7 Keys to Rapid Fat Loss

Nutrition, Training

By Dr. Mike

Rapid fat loss has always been a topic that interests me. Initially, I think that I was attracted to the idea because it was very polarizing. One group of people, the traditional/institutional/science folk, would tell you that losing weight too fast is dangerous and bad for your health. The other group of people, marketers/sales folks, would tell you that you can lose as much weight as you want (see image below). But, they were either lying through their teeth OR the methods they proposed were actually dangerous to your health. I always thought that there had to be a different approach. Something that wasn’t bad for your health – that actually worked.

At the most basic (but not optimal) level, weight loss is about burning more than you take in – right? So where could things become dangerous? We know that athletes can burn an insane amount of calories each day without detrimental health effects. It isn’t like once you burn 3,000 calories in one day your body starts to fall apart. So the “calories out” part of weight loss = calories in – calories out equation wasn’t the unsafe part.

 

1. Intensity over Duration –

One of the overarching themes of rapid fat loss is preventing adaptation. When your body adapts, it becomes more efficient and burns less calories. Adaption occurs with lower intensity exercise. Running a mile becomes easy after a while. Doing max incline treadmill interval sprints never becomes easy. (Almost) Always choose shorter duration/higher intensity exercise over longer duration/lower intensity work (Tweet This). To be completely honest, most people don’t want to work harder.  They would rather grind it out on a treadmill for 60-90 minutes at a low intensity instead of doing intense barbell complexes for 15 minutes and being done with it. High intensity exercise gives you a molecular advantage as well. Bill Hartman, PT owner of I-FAST in Indianapolis, Indiana points out, “High intensity exercise improves both aerobic and anaerobic energy production, resulting in increased mitochondria [the energy powerhouses of your cells]. This effect does top out quickly, usually in 3-4 weeks. When you start working above your anaerobic threshold, you also get a cascade of hormones that can promote fat loss.” In the world we live in today, most of us are pressed for time and are looking for a faster, more effective way to get things done. When it comes to fat loss, crank up the intensity, reduce the duration, and reap the benefits (Tweet This).

 

2. Keep Your Carbs Low – There are a lot of ways to lose weight.  You can just count calories, create a calorie deficient, and lose weight – that works. But it isn’t the best method. When it comes to rapid fat loss, we are looking for the best way, the optimal way for you to lose the most amount of fat in the shortest amount of time. Cutting your carbs (notice I said cutting, not completely eliminating) is an essential strategy to do this. Lower carbohydrate diets are the best way to lose more fat in a short period of time because they create a hormonal landscape that is more conducive to fat loss compared to a traditional higher carbohydrate/calorie restricted approach. The main hormone that is optimized for fat loss with carbohydrate restriction is insulin. Insulin is your hormonal gatekeeper when it comes to fat loss, as it directly inhibits the mobilization (often called burning) of fat stored in fat cells. The most potent simulators of insulin are carbohydrates. Keeping the total carbohydrates in your diet low leads to less insulin being released throughout the day and thus greater metabolic ease (‘metabolic ease’ is definitely not a scientific term, but it conveys the point pretty well) of fat loss.  The pairing of weight training with a low-carbohydrate diet is the best way to maximize your fat loss. A University of Connecticut study compared low-fat diets against low-carbohydrate diets when combined with weight training. After 12 weeks, the low-fat diet group lost an average of 7.7 pounds of body fat, while the low-carb diet group melted off an average of 17 pounds. It is also important to note that the low-carb + weight training group was able to hold onto more muscle than the low-fat diet group. Weight training goes a long way in helping you maintain your muscle mass while dieting, but carbohydrate restriction seems to give you an extra edge in that department as well.

As a general rule, the more fat you have to lose, the less carbohydrates you should eat (Tweet This). As your calorie intake gets lower, you should also shift away from eating high carbohydrate dense foods (rice, potatoes, etc), opting for lower carbohydrate dense foods (green vegetables, berries, etc). This allows you to keep the volume of food that you are eating up (so you don’t feel like you are eating from the Kid’s Menu) despite the caloric value of your food being lower than normal.

 

3. Keep it Short – Rapid fat loss is a sprint (and not just literally in the gym) and you can’t sprint forever. When you are setting a rapid fat loss goal, it should be short (4-6 weeks) with a finite deadline. Make it short enough that you can go all out and long enough that you can see measurable results.  2 weeks is too short, 4 weeks is good, 6 weeks would only be for people with a high level of fitness that are willing to purposefully dedicate time to recovery (most are willing to do this).  It is my assertion that in order to really be successful with rapid fat loss, you need to push your body to a period of overreaching. You may have heard of overtraining, which is a negative situation in which the total stress load on your body is too much (e.g. life, work, diet, training stress) and this results in decreases in strength, immune function, and negative impacts on mood. We want to avoid this. Overreaching is sort of planned and controlled overtraining. Overreaching uses the accumulation of stresses on your body to force your body to grow and adapt. An old adage in pharmacology is the dose makes the poison. The same is true with rapid fat loss. You need to create a lot of metabolic stress to force your metabolism to respond but not so much that is causes your body to freak out, go into survival mode, and start conserving calories. Keep your rapid fat loss program short so that you can control the ‘stress dose’ to maximize your results.

My morning supplements (Fall 2012)

My morning supplements (Fall 2012)

4. Keep Your Biochemistry Optimized – When you embark on a rapid fat loss program with a finite deadline, everything you do matters. This is why you need to take advantage of every slight advantage you can get. The biggest area to pay attention to is your workouts. Exercise elicits incredible changes in your biochemistry that you should take advantage of. This mean preloading your body with amino acids prior to training and having your largest carbohydrate meal directly after training. In addition to these key nutrient timing points, you should also ensure that small processes your body carries out are functioning at optimal rates (remember: small hinges swing big doors) – this is done via consuming adequate vitamins and minerals. The big three here are vitamin D, zinc, and magnesium. Optimizing vitamin D levels will accelerate weight loss as well as potentially improve muscle building. I have only had one client that passed a zinc status test. Hard training, like the kind required for rapid fat loss, can also deplete zinc stores. Magnesium is a truly underrated mineral. Magnesium is generally under-dosed in multivitamins.  Due to its muscle relaxant properties, it can be a major player in your recovery strategy. Magnesium may also help with insulin sensitivity. Research shows that magnesium deficiency can lead to insulin resistance and supplementing magnesium can improve insulin sensitivity in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

 

5. Get Ample Sleep – When you cut your calories and ramp up your training, you can easily become an adrenaline machine. Initially, this might cause you some trouble regarding your sleep, but it will pass with time. I created the #sleeptoperform series to provide you with a in-depth multipart look at the importance of sleep, the physiological symphony that occurs when you are sleeping, and how you can optimize it.

Sleep directly impacts several important hormones that play key roles in fat loss – growth hormone, cortisol, leptin, and adiponectin. The negative impacts on sleep are immediate, as just a couple nights of sleep deprivation can cause negative changes in appetite hormones. A 2004 study published in Archives of Internal Medicine found that taking individuals who regularly got 9 hours of sleep per night to 4 hours of sleep per night resulted in 23% increase in reported hunger and 23% increase in appetite (Tweet This). The changes in hunger and appetite were the greatest for high-carbohydrate calorie dense foods.  While that study gives us information about how lack of adequate sleep impacts our desire to eat, more recent research conducted by a group of French researchers found that individuals consumed upwards of 550 more calories on days following sleep deprivation (4 hours of sleep).  The interesting fact about this study is that there was obvious individual variation.  Nine subjects ate more 36% more, while three subjects ate 15% less following the night of sleep deprivation  These individual variances could be explained by hormonal differences. Hormones like cortisol and adrenaline – which have acute appetite suppression effects. Despite this phenomenon, which seems to be pronounced in a smaller sub-population of people, sleep deprivation typically causes increases in appetite, hunger, and calories consumed. I recommend that you aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night, to allow your body time to properly optimize your hunger hormones.  Make sleep a priority, and you’ll lose more weight (Tweet This).

 

6. Don’t Do Anything Crazy – When does rapid fat loss become unsafe? When you start doing crazy stuff. What do I consider crazy? A simple litmus test is: if what you are doing is not a more intensified version of what you would normally do, it could be crazy. For example, would you normally just have a drink containing lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper instead of breakfast? Probably not, so why do it for 10 days straight? Instead, just intensify what you normally do (and what works). Weight training, interval cardio, and eating a reduced carbohydrate diet works for fat loss.  So, if you want rapid fat loss, you just need to intensify these methods (Tweet This). With weight training, your rest periods become shorter.  With intervals, your work periods become shorter.  With diet, your carbs are reduced lower. From a consistency perspective, you need to get dialed in. For regular fat loss or for your regular diet, you may adhere to your diet plan 80% of the time.  This needs to become 90-95% for rapid fat loss. Don’t do anything crazy.  Don’t make up new stuff.  Just do what works with greater intensity and drive.

 

 

7. Make Sure You Are Ready For It – I created a diet and training rapid fat loss plan called Warp Speed Fat Loss with my colleague, Alwyn Cosgrove. I respond to people’s emails, encouraging them not to use the Warp Speed Fat Loss program more than any other program I’ve ever created. Why? Because you need to be ready for it. You can’t get off the couch and expect to jump right into a very intense rapid fat loss program, you don’t need to either. If you are just starting out, doing just about anything will cause you to lose weight. You should only venture into the world of rapid fat loss after you have developed a solid fitness base and core dietary habits (like the 6 Pillars of Nutrition). Without a solid level of fitness, you will not be able to achieve and maintain the level of intensity required to stimulate maximum calorie burning and fat loss. If your diet is less than ideal, jumping into a strict and rigid meal plan is setting yourself up for failure, not rapid fat loss success. Let’s say that you can make the dietary transition, and you do grit it out for 4 weeks. What happens on the 29th day when the diet is over? Back to chips and bagels? Get a solid set of dietary skills before you jump into rapid fat loss.  When the rapid fat loss diet is over, you’ll have quality nutrition habits to fall back on, so you don’t gain back the weight you worked so hard to lose.

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Why Leg Training is so Important!

Training

By Stephen Smith

It is not uncommon to see guys with ‘top-heavy’ physiques in the gym. It always results from a lack of leg training and a disproportionate amount of time spent training their upper body muscles.

Let’s face it, if you ask any guy about what body part they would like to develop the most almost 100% of the responses would be chest or arms!

However, it is imperative that you don’t neglect training your legs if you’re serious about developing an impressive physique.

In this article we will cover 5 reasons why leg training is so important.

Balanced Physique

Having a balanced physique means that all of the muscles are in proportion. Having the muscles in proportion is one of the 4 major characteristics that bodybuilding judges look for when assessing physiques in competition. The other 3 characteristics are: muscle size, leanness, and body symmetry.

Therefore, in order to have an impressive physique you must have your legs in proportion to your upper body. This means leg training is essential!

Increased hormone production

Since the hips and thighs are the largest muscles of the body they have the greatest impact on stimulating anabolic hormone production in the body. This means that testosterone and growth hormone (GH) will increase significantly when leg training is performed, particularly when heavy compound movements are done. Squats and legs presses are good examples.

Maximises the growth of all muscles

If leg training isn’t performed it is virtually impossible to reach close to your genetic potential of muscle size in the other muscles of your body. This is simply because the body doesn’t like being extremely disproportionate.

Whilst there may be some exceptions to this rule most people find that if they don’t train their legs their upper body will only grow to a certain size. Thereafter they appear to reach a plateau with their upper body training that they can’t seem to break through.

‘Indirect Effect’ benefits

Research has shown the existence of an ‘indirect effect’. This means that when certain muscles are trained the growth stimulus that occurs in the targeted muscles also occurs in other muscles throughout the body.

The degree of ‘indirect effect’ that occurs is said to be in proportion to the size of the muscles being trained and the proximity of those muscles to other muscles, i.e. the closer muscles get the most benefit.

Since the hips and thighs are the largest muscle groups they will have the greatest indirect effect in the body.

‘Carry-over’ benefits

Since many of the leg exercises are ‘functional movements’ they offer ‘carry-over’ benefits as well. This means they can improve your sports performance, make every-day tasks easier, and may improve the quality of life in elderly people.

Some good examples of functional leg exercises include squats and lunges.

Why Leg Training is so Important! Read More »