1000LB Leg Press
The doctors said he would never be able to do this after knee surgery…
He proved them wrong…….
Training
What are the benefits of drinking more water?
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What are the benefits of drinking more water? |
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As a whole, we are made up of 70% water. Water regulates every function in your body. Water flushes out all the waste and toxins in our bodies. It also transports all the necessary nutrients our bodies need to look and feel good. It flushes out impurities in the skin; when skin cells are hydrated, they plump up to give you a good complexion. Also, muscles that are hydrated look more toned because they are made of 70% water. Not drinking enough water is similar to depriving that less-than-vibrant plant you water every few weeks. The plant will survive, but at what expense… Other benefits to drinking water include:Helps digest food Lowers Blood pressure Reduces Constipation Lessens Asthma Eases Depression Metabolizes fat Supports healthy hair and nails Carries more blood and oxygen to your face Eases irritability Regulates body temperature so you don’t get too cold or too hot Suppresses appetite Prevents water retention Reduces stress There are so many aches and pains that most people attribute to being old, sick or tired, when in all actuality, it’s probably just a case of dehydration. Even a lack of concentration and focus can be attributed to a lack of water. It only makes sense, considering our brains are made up of 90% water. Those nagging headaches we often get, that most people shrug off as part of life or the common cold can also just be a case of dehydration. What about those painful joints that we complain about? Water works as a lubricant – the two opposing surfaces (for example, the femur and the tibia at the knee) will glide freely and minimize friction damage, causing less pain. Written by Becky Hand, Licensed & Registered Dietitian |
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Which Impacts Your Weight More: Diet or Exercise?
New research suggest that knowing the right answer to this question could affect the number on the scale
by Elizabeth Narins
You know you should exercise and eat healthfully to keep your weight in check. The thing is, research suggests that when people devote time to one healthy habit, they spend less time on the other. So which is more important if you’re worried about your waistline: your workout or your diet?
Turns out, people who think that diet is the most important factor in weight control tend to have a lower body mass index (BMI) than those who believe that exercise is the key, according to six new studies published in the journal Psychological Science.
In the studies, researchers asked a total of more than 1,200 people in the U.S., Canada, China, France, and South Korea about the main factor that makes people overweight. They also took participants’ height and weight measurements to calculate their BMIs. Interestingly, those who said it’s most important to stay active to prevent obesity had higher BMIs than the people who said eating right is the key to weight control.
As you might expect, people’s weight-control theories impacted their food choices. In two studies, when researchers offered participants unlimited chocolate, the people who said they think staying active is key to maintaining a healthy weight ate more.
“Our beliefs guide our actions,” says study co-author Brent McFerran, PhD, an assistant professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Think about it: If you think exercise is the key to weight control, you might move more and focus less on what you eat. While exercise can definitely support weight loss—and make you feel awesome, among other benefits—people tend to overestimate the amount of calories they burn while working out and compensate for the extra activity by eating more, says McFerran.
On the flip side, if you believe that eating a healthy diet is the best way to maintain your weight, you might worry less about exercise—but closely watch what you eat. And that’s smart, especially because most people grossly underestimate the amount of calories they consume, says McFerran.
The problem: Many people think they can work off extra pounds—but there’s a ton of scientific evidence to support the fact that changing your diet is a more effective way to drop weight, says McFerran. “If we eat a 3000-calorie lunch, nearly no one has enough free time in the rest of the day to exercise it off,” he says.
Luckily, McFerran’s best advice for weight control doesn’t take much time: Steer clear of foods that are high in calories, and trade large plates and bowls for smaller ones to ensure you fill them with more restrained portions.
That said, you should probably hold onto your gym membership, too. Although it’s tough to slim down with exercise alone, staying active does help with weight control—and it’s absolutely crucial for your health, says Keri Glassman, RD, a Women’s Health weight loss expert. Not only does exercise produce endorphins that increase your metabolic rate and motivate you to eat better—it also supports heart health, strengthens your bones, helps you sleep, decreases stress, and boosts mental health. All awesome reasons to hit the gym when you can!
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Reduce Risk Of Injuries By Using Proper Warm Up Techniques
Bryan Hamilton-Brown
Have you ever had a hard time achieving proper depth in a squat? Experienced poor shoulder mobility? Or simply have tight hamstrings? This can be caused from an improper or insufficient warm-up!
IMPROPER vs. Proper Stretching/Warm-up
Let’s say today is a heavy-ass leg day, think about what you do to warm-up for squats. Do you drink a pre-workout shake, walk over to the squat rack and start squatting or do you walk on a treadmill to “raise your heart rate and warm up your legs.”
Guess what? Both aren’t sufficient enough for a proper warm-up that’ll prepare your joints, muscles, and range-of-motion to perform a heavy squat movement. You may feel okay doing this, but not being able to warm up your hip flexors or hamstrings properly can put you at risk for injury as well as decrease your performance for whatever exercise you’re doing.
That being said, I’m going to give you examples and explanations of proper warm-up methods and techniques to optimize your performance and prevent injury.
Methods
Dynamic Stretching, unlike static stretching, doesn’t stretch the muscle or force the muscle into an uncomfortable position. Its utilization isn’t primarily to increase flexibility, rather, prepare the muscle for the task at hand by taking the muscle and joints they control through the full range of motion of the movement or exercise.
Scorpion stretch, opposing foot to opposite hand
For example, for our squat exercise, whether it’s a front or back squat, to get proper depth your knees, hips, and ankles all experience flexion and extension. Thus, what we need to focus on for a squat is taking your body through full flexion and extension of their range of motion.
Opposite toe touch with high kicks
Examples: Leg Kicks for hip flexion and extension, Arm circles for internal/external rotation of the shoulder joint, Ham-kicks/High-knees for knee flexion, hip flexion/extension as well as stretching and contracting of the hamstring, gluteal, and quadriceps muscles.
Inch worm, walk hands out and with legs straight walk them up to your hands
Mobility Exercises/training is the dynamic and static movement and drills to take your joints and muscles through full range of motion. The difference between this and dynamic stretching itself is that dynamic stretching is to prepare the muscles and joints for the task at hand. Mobility training; however, has the longer-term benefit of increasing range-of-motion (ROM) to allow you to improve your performance for the future as well as decrease your risk of injury.
Cobra stretch, focus on squeezing hips into the ground.
One thing to note, in mobility training you want to focus on the movement not the specific muscle. Find out what prevents or inhibits your mobility or inability to maintain proper technique.
Tilting forward during a back squat – Possible hip flexor tightness, weak lower back/posterior chain, tight hamstrings. If your problem is having a torso that dumps forward, then any number of these problems could affect your performance in a squat. Mobility training takes the movement, breaks it down and you as an athlete goes through exercises to fix those imbalances to improve your performance and reduce your risk of injury.
Example drills: For tilting forward on a squat – Deep forward lunge and focusing on flexing your back gluteal muscle forward, if you feel a strong stretch in that legs hip then you have a tight hip flexors. Likewise, if you cannot touch your toes while maintaining a rigid/flat back and stiff legs then you have tight hamstrings. Etc. Try to find your body’s ailments and alleviate them with a healthy prescription of 15-30 minutes of mobility focused training.
Myofascial Release better known as “rolling the shit out of your legs” or foam rolling has been popularized in the past year in gyms and fitness centers. If you haven’t noticed, now there are foam rollers or foam cylinders in your gym. Which is one of many devices to utilize myofascial release, which I’ll give some examples later.
Myofascial release is a form of soft-tissue therapy, also utilized in massage therapy to treat somatic dysfunction. It is done by relaxing contracted muscles and using palpatory feedback (foam rolling) to release myofascial tissue (muscle fascia). This increases circulation and lymphatic drainage and what we’re more concerned about, it stimulates the stretch-reflex of the muscle.
By simply laying any limb or specific “tight” muscle onto the foam roller, using your body weight as pressure to induce the palpatory effect and by relaxing the muscles in contact with the foam roller you’re able to release the tight myofascial tissue of the specific area. (i.e. tight IT band, quadriceps, a “knotted” back, etc.) This form of therapy which is prescribed by many physical therapists and being founded in the practice of osteopathy has been shown to increase performance sport-wise and decrease risk of injury.
It is important to note there are two types of myofascial release, direct and indirect. Direct myofascial release is deep-tissue work on the fascia of the muscle and indirect being lighter pressure onto the muscle and stretching it at the same time. Both serve a purpose and can both be used to the same benefit; however, individuals require both methods to work different areas of the body.
Types of devices
Lacrosse ball – great for hard to reach areas, specifically on your back or Gluteal muscles that need more specific or localized pressure.
Put pressure on tight or knotted areas
Foam Roller – good for overall myofascial release and have many different densities. I.e. the “rumble-roller” has notches and bumps on it as well as having a very dense substance to allow for a deeper-tissue work.
PVC Pipe – cheap and effective, for those that cannot afford a rumble-roller and need deeper pressure than a standard foam roller.
Tennis ball – cheap, but not as effective as a lacrosse ball as it sinks into itself, but useful for “indirect myofascial release”
Relax the muscle that you’re targeting and hold the pressure Onto a tightened area until its released
Recommendations/Advice
Utilize all methods of warming up to optimize your performance! Take the time to do each of these things before and after exercising, your body will love you for it and you’ll notice a significant improvement in your lifts, exercises, and overall wellbeing.
Rx
10-minutes of foam rolling
10-minutes of dynamic stretching
5-minutes of mobility work
5-minutes of warming up to your working-set/weight
That is 30-minutes, 30-minutes that you can do at home or at the gym right after you take your pre-workout, so you don’t sit down chatting with your buddies wasting your time waiting for your stimulants to “kick-in” and if you’re not taking pre-workout, then give yourself 30-minutes to do these warm-ups to simply improve your performance and abilities. You’ll squat deeper, you’ll be more explosive, and you’ll experience fewer injuries.
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4 changes females need to make to their workouts
For optimal results a female shouldn’t train exactly the same
way males do.
Below is a list of 4 things females should do to ensure
better results from their training.
1) Always Do Full Body Workouts
Males can get great results with full body workouts from the
first day they start training and can continue to use them
forever, as long as they’re smart.
However, there are great benefits to be derived from
occasionally splitting up your workouts into upper and lower
body focused days.
But not for females. They should always stick with full body
workouts. An upper body only day is a waste for the ladies.
What girl do you know has a burning desire to spend 45
minutes pumping up her traps, lats and guns? None I know.
Full body workouts will help females build muscle, gain
strength and burn fat faster than any type of split.
2) Do Slightly Higher Reps
Girls can do more reps with a given percentage of their one
rep max. For example, Johnny might be able to do 6-8 reps
with 80% of his one rep max on a given exercise.
Suzy, on the other hand, will likely be able to do 9-12 reps
with that weight.
Of course, these are just random figures I’m throwing out
there. The point is that females can benefit from slightly
higher reps than males.
But not that light weight, 20-50 rep nonsense you see in
women’s health mags.
That’s useless and does nothing for anyone.
You still need a pretty decent amount of resistance to gain
muscle and strength.
3) Decrease Rest Periods
After a hard set of five reps on a squat a guy might need
three minutes to repeat the effort, or even catch his breath.
A female will probably be ready to go again in a minute. If
they’re weak it could be even less time than that.
That’s why it doesn’t always work for guys and girls to train
together. The guy gets gassed out of his mind and has to cut
his loads way back or ends up puking in the corner, and the
girl is bored out of her mind waiting, watching the clock.
4) Get Rid of Single Joint Isolation Exercises
Guys may want to do some curls and pushdowns on occasion but
little exercises like that are a waste for females.
Focus on big compound movements that allow you to move the
greatest load. We’re talking pushups, dips, overhead presses,
inverted rows, squats, deadlifts and lunges.
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