Training – Page 9 – The A.L.I.V.E. Experience

Dry Brushing: A Simple Way To Detox The Body

Written By Heather Newby

Until recently, I had never heard of dry brushing. But after hearing about over and over, I decided to do some of my own investigation. After doing some research I was amazed, and yet it came to me, “Duh Heather, your skin is the largest organ in the body and it allows toxins in and out of the body. Why not skin brushing!” It is probably one of the easiest ways to aid the body in detoxification on a daily basis!

Every day the skin accumulates up to a pound of dead skins cells eliminated from the body through the skin. As skin cells get closer to the outer surface of the body they lose their blood supply and die. Skin brushing is a very effective way to remove these dead skin cells.

The integumentary system is the organ system that protects the body from various kinds of damage, such as loss of water or abrasion from outside. The system includes the skin and its appendages (including hair and nails). The system has a variety of functions; it serves to waterproof, cushion, and protect the deeper tissues, eliminate waste, and regulate temperature, and is the attachment site for sensory receptors to detect pain, sensation, pressure, and temperature. The integumentary system also provides for vitamin D synthesis.

Some additional benefits to skin brushing:

Helps to improve circulation
Stimulates lymphatic drainage
Firms the skin
Improves brain function through increase circulation
Gives you more energy

When you increase the lymphatic flow through skin brushing, it can help prevent the formation of cellulite. In addition to removing the old dead skin cells and the toxic debris within those cells, dry brushing initiates the development of new healthy skin cells.

How do I dry brush correctly?

First, it is important to find a brush with soft natural bristles. The brushes are typically available at a local health food store in the price range of $6 to $10. You may find one cheaper, but synthetic bristles often contain chemicals that are best to avoid.

In beginning, start with light, gentle brushing. Over time your skin will be able to handle brushing a little firmer. The strokes should move toward the heart. This will improve lymphatic flow back through the venous system towards the heart. When dry brushing the stomach, use a clockwise motion as this works with the natural digestive flow.

If the skin slightly pink after brushing that is fine, but it should not be red or sore. Avoid brushing over fresh wounds, burns and cuts or abrasions. The skin should be dry but not excessively dry when brushing. You can use coconut oil while brushing if the skin is very dry, but be sure to clean the brush thoroughly after brushing. Shower immediately after brushing to remove the exfoliated skin cells.

You may notice that they feel energized after dry brushing. This is due to the elimination of toxins in the body which in turn improves circulation which increases energy levels. The skin feels refreshed. It glows and feels smoother after the whole process of the body exfoliation. Once you try it, you will be hooked!

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Seven Rules of Highly Effective Core Training

Training

“Gentlemen, welcome to Fight Club.”

One of the most common questions I get from people is, “what should I do for core training?” or “what should I do for abs?” This question kind of drives me nuts because it’s difficult to answer in one e-mail…nay impossible. Training “abs” is not core training—I want to really drive that home. Although proper core training will surely get you “hawt abs,” that’s not our primary concern. We’re chasing serious strength to develop a torso that can generate brutal power and helps put on a stellar athletic performance. Aesthetics are simply a nice side effect (albeit a pleasant one).

There are many wrong ways to train, but no specific right way to train. There are many paths to building a strong core that offer unique benefits, and which exercise variations you end up choosing is ultimately your choice and will depend on your own individual goals. Success, however, leaves clues. And when examining the most effective core training techniques, there is a set of patterns that is common among all of them.

These clues are the keys to unlocking the athletic performance inside of you—a performance left untapped, just waiting to be unleashed. Yet, I walk into health clubs and gyms and I see the same pitiful sight in all of them. I look over in the corner at a matted area, and I see people working abs by performing useless crunch exercises that produce no results with little to no enthusiasm, and it makes me sick.

So many trainees are so completely clueless as to training the core the right way, which is unfortunate because the keys to developing unreal core strength and building a truly powerful torso is out there.

That’s why I can’t simply answer the question,”what should I do for abs?” in a single e-mail the next time someone asks me. Core training is so complex that I could write a book about it (and I recently have done so). I can, however, refer them to this simple set of rules, which are all essential elements of a highly effective core training routine.

The Rules Of Core Training…

Rule #1: Build Your House Upon Rock

Working on the basics is something you have to do. Period. It isn’t like some optional video game tutorial that you can skip and expect to be able to wing it. You have to pay your dues and build a solid foundation. If you don’t, none of the more advanced core training techniques will be anywhere near as effective.

Don’t build your house on a foundation made of sand. Your core is your foundation, and neglecting your midsection training is a grave mistake not just for any athlete but for the average Joe, too. Having a strong core just makes everything easier. So focus on the basics: build a solid foundation with plank variations and other exercises that have you hold a neutral spine and encourage proper posture. Too many “bros” are too quick to rush past this stuff, thinking that it’s a namby-pamby sissy exercise for wimps. Don’t be that guy. Work on the basics and you’ll avoid an injury and set yourself up for more significant and steady strength gains later on down the line. I cannot emphasize this enough: build your house upon a solid foundation.

Rule #2: Don’t Do Sit Ups or Crunches

Sit ups and crunches suck. Nobody ever got abs from doing them, and nobody ever got strong from them either. Not only that, but they wreak all kinds of hell on the lower back, putting a great deal of pressure on the spine. They are also such a low-level activity that you’ll have to do incredibly high repetition sets to even feel like they are effective (which they are not). This is equally as important as the first rule, so don’t do sit ups or crunches. Every time you do a crunch, somewhere in the world a fairy drops dead. Not cool.

Rule #3: Use Compound Movements

The net is rampant with people asking how to isolate the abs. One of the most common questions I receive is, “how can I target my lower abs?” First of all, you can’t really isolate one part of the abdominals. While they look kind of like several different muscles (with many referring to them as a six pack or an eight pack), the abdominals are actually just one sheet of muscle with ridges and valleys that give the distinct look of a six pack. Again, the abdominals are ONE muscle, not several. So you cannot isolate any part of it effectively without working the rest of the core.

That being said, the most effective “bang for your buck” core exercises that work many muscles of the body all at once are known as compound movements. These exercises will provide you with the most significant strength gains in the shortest time possible. This is one reason why sit ups and crunches are terrible choices for core training. Instead of doing those, utilize exercises that work the midsection while incorporating many muscles at once to get the job done. The body was meant to be used as a single functional unit with its muscles all working together. Full body movements offer the greatest strength results.

Rule #4: Train the Torso with Low Reps

Despite what many people believe, the midsection responds best to low repetition, highly strenuous, max effort exercises rather than performing endless sets of high-rep crunches. Low rep, heavy core strength movements are the way forward if you want to build a solid midsection that will rival the marvelous Greek statues residing in museums today—those with thick, muscular, and ripped obliques and abdominals. Choose variations of exercises that effectively hit the core and keep you in the 3-10 repetition range for the biggest benefit.

Rule #5: Train Your Glutes

Along with the deep postural muscles of the core, the glutes are often extremely deficient in strength compared to how strong they could potentially become. The glutes should be the strongest and most muscular part of the human body; however, they are often neglected in many modern training routines (which is mind boggling because they are truly essential for unleashing serious athletic power, maintaining healthy posture, and preventing lower back pain). Train your glutes—they work in synergy with so many muscles of the midsection, and I would go so far as saying that they are in fact part of your core.

Rule #6: Use a Progressive Approach to Core Training

The problem with most athlete’s core training is that there’s no progression to speak of, aside from simply “do more reps” or “add more weight.” However, that’s not always possible. Use a variety of exercises in your core training ranging from leg raises, static strength holds, plank variations, get ups, windmills, and bent presses (just to name just a few). Amongst those listed, you’ll find a number of variations of each, ranging from beginner to very advanced in difficulty.

Using the same old exercises week-in and week-out is just asking for stagnation. You won’t get anywhere and, more than that, you’ll end up with an overuse injury if you perform the same exercises in the exact same way every single week. A progressive approach to core training allows you to use a number of variations and to get stronger using familiar movement patterns, allowing for more significant strength gains and less risk of injury.

Rule #7: Train Your Core with Intensity

Too many gym goers train their core with little to no intensity and a serious lack of direction. You’ll probably see more relentless intensity at a knitting competition (not sure if that’s actually a thing, but you get the idea). Meatheads will walk into a gym and train the ever-loving shit out of the bench press, curl away for donkeys, and smash their delts into oblivion, too. And a powerlifter will work diligently on his squat and deadlift. But how often do you see someone in a gym literally attacking his core training with as much relentless desire and serious intent as he does with his other favorite parts of training?

Come on people, the midsection is the core of it all—the key to unleashing ruthless strength and reaching your true athletic potential. Show it some love and train it hard. Stop approaching core training like it is a chore. Man up and attack your next core training session with malicious intent and go hard. Unless you’re willing to put in the work, you’re always going to get subpar results.

Do what you’ve always done, and you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.

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Studies Show 5 Proven Tricks to Eat Less Calories

Nutrition, Training

by Mike Geary,

I found most of these five tricks (that are proven to help you eat less food and less overall calories) while reading a fascinating book recently called 59 Secondsby Richard Wiseman. I think you’ll find these very helpful if you’re looking to control your caloric intake and reduce your body fat.

These tricks were tested in scientific studies and are quick and easy to implement. I thought these were VERY interesting…

Trick #1 to Eat Less — Several studies prove that the size of the bowl, plate, or spoon that you use can directly influence how much food and calories you consume.

Richard Wiseman, in the book 59 Seconds, talks about one study conducted where party guests were randomly given either 17 or 34-ounce bowls and 2 or 3 ounce spoons, and allowed to help themselves to ice cream. It was found that the party guests given the large spoons and large bowls had eaten 14% and 31% more ice cream respectively, than the people using the smaller spoons or smaller bowls. Interesting huh!

Another study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania used a bowl of M&Ms that were left in the hallway of an apartment building. A sign next to the bowl told people to help themselves to the M&Ms. Some days a tablespoon sized scoop was used in the M&Ms and on other days, a larger scoop was used in the bowl. The researchers found that the larger scoop caused people to take TWICE the amount of M&Ms on average compared to the people that had used the smaller scoop.

I’ve also seen studies referenced in the past that showed that people who used larger plates consumed more calories than those using smaller plates.

The lesson — Use smaller plates, bowls, and silverware and you may inadvertently reduce your calorie intake. This also means saying NO to seconds and thirds!

Trick #2 to Eat Less — You’ve probably heard before that eating slower can help you to eat less because it gives time for the fullness signal to reach your brain and thereby shut off your appetite before you’ve eaten too much.

However, this study below found a twist on this!

According to Mr. Wiseman in the book 59 Seconds, a study at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center had overweight participants eat a meal at 3 different speeds:

a) their normal rate
b) half their normal rate
c) their normal rate at first, followed by half their normal rate (normal-slow combo)

The results were interesting… Eating at the slower rate caused the men to eat less, but not the women (that’s weird!). However, the 3rd group that combined the normal pace at first with the slower rate after that caused both the men and women to have a large reduction in their appetite and eat less. The normal-slow combo was found to be more effective than just the slow-only group. Why? I have no idea, but those are interesting results!

Mr. Wiseman stated that the lesson here to eat less is “to start at your normal speed but then savor each and every mouthful“.
Trick #3 to Eat Less — According to the book 59 Seconds, a series of experiments conducted in offices compared putting chocolates right on people’s desks vs placing the chocolates six feet away. In another experiment, the chocolates were put inside either transparent or opaque jars. When the chocolates were placed on the person’s desk instead of 6 feet away, people ate on average 6 more chocolates per day per person. Also, the chocolates in the transparent jars were eaten 46% more quickly than the opaque jars.

Just shows… out of sight, out of mind! As you may already know, I recommend never even having junk food around your house at all…that way, you’re never tempted by it and you’re forced to only eat healthy foods… but then you can use your weekly cheat meals to eat junk food out at a restaurant. That way the junk food is never in your house to begin with!
Trick #4 to Eat Less — This trick was reported based on a Georgia Tech study. The study essentially found that people tend to subconsciously eat bigger portions of food when their plate is the same color as their food.

It seems like an odd association, but remember that a lot of these are always subconscious things that we don’t realize are happening. In this particular study, the scientists theorized that less color contrast between plate and food makes our brains work harder to figure out appropriate portion sizes. More color contrast between plate and food would make people eat slightly smaller portions subconsciously.
Trick #5 to Eat Less — Studies have found that people eat significantly more when they are distracted by TV, movies, games, or other distractions. In one experiment mentioned in the book 59 Seconds, people who were more absorbed by a movie ate significantly larger amounts of popcorn compared to those that were paying less attention to the movie.

In another experiment, people who actively listened to a detective story during lunch (being distracted by the story), ate 15% more food than those who sat in silence during their lunch.

The lesson — ditch the TV and other distractions and focus on your food! Enjoy every bite of your food and you will naturally consume less calories while enjoying your food more.

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How to lose 0.71 lbs per day — break homeostasis

Nutrition, Training

by Dr. Kareem F. Samhouri – CSCS, HFS

Fat loss isn’t complicated — the methods behind fat loss can be — instead of focusing on ‘which’ method is the most important or most reliable, think about your health logically. Weight loss (or gain) is all about peaks and valleys, and there’s a physiological reason for this: homeostasis.

Homeostasis is a fancy term for describing when your body is efficient, or in a state of equilibrium.

When your body reaches a new weight and stays there for a little while, it becomes incredibly good at protecting this ‘zone’ of weight. The reason being that every fluctuation in your body results in a multi-system approach to adapt to new demands — your heart requires a different strength per beat to get blood to your toes and fingers, your lung capacity changes depending upon the size of your belly, and your digestive tract gets re-positioned slightly depending upon the distribution of fat on your body.

When your body finally adapts to its new position and its new demands, it gets very efficient — the goal of your body is to use the least amount of energy for any given process — this way, you never run out of energy and end up passing out. This state of ‘body balance’ is referred to as ‘homeostasis’ and is well understood in all scientific research to be how our bodies work.

Naturally, we need to disrupt ‘homeostasis’ for fat loss to take place; otherwise, your body will actually seek to put the weight back on, as every time it has to adjust, it becomes inefficient all over again. The time period for ‘body adaptation’ to take place is 6 weeks, during which time ‘plasticity’ takes place. Plasticity refers to a permanent neurological change in your body that allows your body to recognize something new as its own. Here’s a common example of plasticity that you probably already know, but without the fancy terminology:

Muscle memory — “It’s like riding a bike.” — Despite many years without riding a bike, we seem to be able to re-learn this skill within a couple of minutes. This is a result of our brains recognizing that we’re attempting to ride a bike and choosing nerve tracts to carry out the movement that are highly efficient and were used in the past.

Riding a bike is easy for life once you learn it properly.

Now, what happens when we apply ‘plasticity’ and ‘homeostasis’ to weight loss?

First, your bodies adapt to a new demand (diet and exercise program), which causes you to lose weight.
Second, we sustain your new weight for 6 weeks, helping your body recognize this new bodyweight as ‘normal.’ Your body responds by creating ‘homeostasis,’ or a balanced state where it becomes efficient at this weight.
Third, we disrupt the balance of your body all over again and start on a new fat loss or body image goal.

By using peaks and valleys in your fat loss approach, we are nearly eliminating any chance of rebound weight gain. Plus, you’ll be able to lose a lot of fat quickly, which feels good — losing weight quickly, balancing out, and then doing it again allows you to see a result in the mirror, stay motivated, and continue to progress.

Fat loss also becomes easy for life once you learn how to communicate with your body and sustain any results you get.

From now on, let’s ‘Interval Train Fat Loss’ — use peaks and valleys to communicate with your body that it’s time for change, how to cope with the change, and then how to produce some more. Let your body learn over time that when you want to lose fat, you mean it, and you’re going to get results you can handle. Your body will stop fighting with you when you allow it enough time to balance out your hormones, movement planning, digestive issues, respiration, and circulation. This all starts with something I’ve termed ‘Body Self-Communication’ — learning how to tell your body when you’re ready for change, and how to listen when it responds.

Losing 0.71 pounds per day and keeping it off is as simple as developing a short-term plan, holding onto your results for 6 weeks, and then repeating the plan. During your peak periods, losing up to a pound per day should be very doable with the right plan — and, most importantly, you’ll be able to hold onto your results by cycling in valleys along the way.

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6 Secrets Of Recuperation & Overtraining

Training

You train hard. You eat right. You take supplements religiously. You’ve covered all of your bases, right? Not quite! As athletes, we spend so much time thinking about the design of our workouts and perfection of our dieting and supplementation, but we often neglect the most important component of them all, the period in which muscle recovery and actual growth take place. This time, of course, is known as the recovery period. If you’re not giving your body adequate rest, or you are currently in a state of consistent overtraining, you will never see optimal gains in terms of muscle mass, strength, and definition. Let’s look at a few keys to understanding just how you can bounce back from your workouts faster & more efficiently!

The science
There are plenty of reasons why you need to take the time to rest after a workout. First and most obvious are the small tears that occur in the muscle fibers during the course of a workout. Your body utilizes amino acids from the protein in foods you consume to rebuild the small tears, just a bit bigger and thicker each time. This is when muscle growth takes place. The fibers are stronger and bigger. Over time, these miniscule changes really add up to some serious new muscle growth. Waste products also need time to break up and dissipate from the region. Time and plenty of water helps with that. Finally, glycogen restoration needs to take place. The carbs you eat deliver the sugars to replenish your stores in your muscles. Training nonstop, particularly while using low protein dieting practices, leaves your glycogen low, which leads to sluggishness and a lack of energy in the gym.

Varying rates of recovery
Believe it or not, not all muscle groups are created the same, at least in terms of required recovery ties. For most people with most muscle groups, the peak of soreness will take place about 48 hours after a workout. It stands to reason that at around 72 hours after a workout, the muscle group is typically recovered. That isn’t always the case, however. Biceps are known to be ready for another workout in 24 to 36 hours, as they are the muscle group that recovers the fastest. The lower back is thought to take up to 4 days to recover following each workout. This may be why you are sore from deadlifts long into the weekend, even though you didn’t hit back until Wednesday. Every person will recover differently from their workouts based upon their own genetic makeup and overall level of development.

Level of development
Speaking of level of development, this factor plays a key role and warrants its own discussion! Your early workouts, when you first began training, probably seemed difficult at the time. Despite this, you were usually probably back in the gym after a days’ rest, ready to blast chest and biceps once again. As time passed and you learned to better organize your workouts, you probably soon discovered that you actually needed longer to recover. Why would this be the case? Aren’t you supposed to get into better shape with time, thus requiring less time to recover? The more advanced a bodybuilder you become, the sorer you will be following each workout. Your workouts, whether you have noticed or not, have become much more intense, constructive and difficult, meaning the muscle fibers now require more recovery time. Look at the good news – you’ve learned to train more effectively. The bad news is that your body needs more time to recover from tougher workouts. Accept it as just part of the growing process!

During workout rest
A tricky balance takes place between the sets of each workout that is almost always overlooked by athletes. The amount of time you take resting between sets will have a great effect upon the amount of time you’ll need to recover from your workouts in the days following training. The shorter the break, the greater the intensity, thus the longer you will need to recover. In those workouts where you goof off and rest for 4 to 6 minutes between sets, you aren’t going to be all that sore. However, you are also going to be much less effective in reaching your goal of stimulating the muscle fibers at an adequate level. Rest just long enough for your heart rate to return to normal, then get back on the iron!

Nutrient stream
In order to recover the systems and muscle fibers, you need to give your body the building blocks it needs. As mentioned, carbohydrates give the body the fuel it needs to glycogen replenishment, as well as the energy needed just to train. Protein delivers the building blocks of muscle, amino acids. You also need fiber to move the food through your body. Toss in the many micronutrients such as vitamin E and C for immune system recovery, since we all know that tough workouts can leave your immune system quite weak. One quickly discovers how important a well-balanced diet really is, when it comes to building muscle and bouncing back quickly from tough workouts.

Sleep
Finally, if you want to grow, you have to sleep. The typical untrained person required 7 to 8 hours of sleep. You’re doing a lot more work than the average person, right? While your body might not be used to more sleep, it may quickly be requiring it, once you subject your system to a brutally tough series of workout. Open up your schedule so you have up to 8.5 or even 9.0 hours of sleep or rest time available each evening. Start laying down an hour earlier than usual, and just let your body choose when to enter the sleep arena. Avoid stimulants that can keep you up at night. Stick with water and milk in the final hours of the day to ensure you sleep right.

Lifting and eating right are important, but they won’t develop your body to its maximum potential if you fail to give yourself the needed resources for recovery. Rest as much as needed and ensure that your rest days are just that – for resting. Beyond that, consistency and patience are all that is needed to develop your physique to its ultimate potential!

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