|
|
|
Discover The Truth About Eating Too Much Protein
Lets face it protein is an essential nutrient, and is vital to your health and is used to build muscles, skin, hair and nails. However, many people put their health at risk by eating too much of it.
The typical American diet already provides...
Herbal Talk
Traditional medicines more often than not are expensive therefore; many people are now exploring the healing powers of herbal medicines. There are several herbal medicines that one could choose from and one of the best guide in discovering the truth...
Sun Chlorella Benefits
Sun Chlorella is referred to as the Green Magician due to the amazing healing powers of sun chlorella and its benefit of chlorella. Also known as the 'Super food', sun chlorella is packed full of the benefit of chlorella! Chlorella contains the...
Ten Tips for Building Dynamite Relationships
Relationships hold a high place for most of us, especially women. We want great relationships with clear communication, empathy, understanding, mutual trust and friendship and fantastic sex - we want DYNAMITE RELATIONSHIPS. But what do we get much...
Ulnar Neuropathy: Sane Treatment of a Crazy Bone
Do you remember what it felt like when you banged your elbow on a hard surface and it sent shocks through your forearm and into your little finger? Not too pleasant, to be sure. But on the plus side, the unpleasantness was merely temporary and, for...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cross Training
One of the biggest misconceptions about exercise is that there is "one" program that works for someone all the time. People think that they need to get on a particular workout program and just keeping doing that program over and over again. Although getting on a good program IS a necessary first step, ensuring that your body doesn't adapt to that program is critical to ensuring that your results don't slow down or stop!
In order to maintain the effectiveness of your workouts over the long term, you have to employ a concept known as cross training. Although there is no hard and fast definition of cross training, the basic idea is that you continually change your exercise program to work both your muscular and your cardiovascular systems in a variety of ways, forcing your body to adapt to a new stimulus. Remember that the whole idea behind exercise is to make your body do things that it is not used to doing. In response to that effort, your body naturally adapts in order to meet the changing energy demands of the activities that you engage in. This process happens with your muscles, as well as with your heart, lungs, and circulatory system - collectively known as the cardiovascular system. To ensure you get the most out of your cross training efforts, you should make changes to the activities that challenge your muscles as well as your cardiovascular system.
Challenging Your Muscles
When you are putting together the muscular training part of your exercise program, remember that the primary mission of the activities is to challenge your muscles and connective tissues - tendons and ligaments - beyond their normal boundaries. For example, if you were to pick up a suitcase that only weighed 5 pounds, it would probably not be very difficult for you. However, if that same suitcase had 50 pounds worth of items inside, it would be significantly more difficult to pick up and carry. In response to that increased demand, your body would recruit additional muscle fibers to assist with the work, and in some cases would even recruit a different type of muscle fiber. Although we won't get into the details about the different types of muscle fibers in the human body, you do want to take away the fact that the number and type of muscle fibers recruited for any given task is proportionate directly to the difficulty of the task.
Let's apply this concept to weight training - or resistance training, as it is often called. If you were going to do a basic bicep curl with 5 pounds, your body would engage a certain number and type of muscle fibers. Doing exactly the same exercise with a more challenging weight would cause your body to need additional resources in order to handle the increased demand. However, is that only true of picking up a heavier weight? What would happen if you used the same weight, but did a higher number of repetitions? The same basic concept applies - your body will recruit additional resources in order to accomplish the task. What can be determined from that fact is that in order to change the stimulus on your body, two easy ways to do so are are to increase the weight and/or increase the number of repetitions.
However, there are other ways to challenge a particular muscle group in addition to simply adding weight or repetitions. What about changing the position of your body when you do the exercise? Using the same example as above - the bicep curl - most people do the basic version of that exercise standing up, with their arms extended, elbows at the side, and palms facing forward. What if you were to do the same exact movement, only this time, you turn your palms to face the center of your body throughout the entire exercise? Do you see how that would change the stimulus? You would still be engaging the biceps of your upper arm, but you would also engage the muscles of your forearms in a different way, just because of the position of your palms.
Further, what if you were to change the speed at which you did the exercise? Most resistance exercises should be done as a basic count of 2 seconds during the initial phase (also known as the concentric phase), and then a count of 3 to 4 seconds during the second phase of the movement (known as the eccentric phase). What if you were to reverse that process? Count to 4 during phase one, and only count to 2 during phase two. Do you think your body would need to react differently to handle the different stress? Of course!
There are many, many different kinds of exercises for the biceps. If you normally do bicep curls, hammer curls, and cable curls, what would happen if you started using 2 or 3 of the bicep curl machines instead? Your body would have to adapt to the new stimulus! By sitting down in a bicep curl machine, you are no longer using your leg, back, and abdominal muscles to stabilize yourself like you were when you were standing up doing a bicep curl. However, by locking your body into a certain position on the machine, you are isolating the biceps, allowing you to focus more on the contraction of the bicep muscles during the movement. Does that mean that the machines are better than the dumbbells? No. It also does not mean that the dumbbells are better than the machines - it just depends on what your goal is. What you need to take away from this section is not that one exercise is better than another - just that they are different, and
that is cross training.
To summarize, here are but a few of the ways that you can cross train your muscles:
* Heavier Weights
* Higher Number of Repetitions
* Change the Position of Your Body
* Modify the Speed of the Exercise
* Use Machines as well as Free Weights
Challenging Your Cardiovascular System
Just like the muscular system, your body will find ways to adapt to the cardiovascular training that you do, and before long you will stop seeing a high degree of results. Let's try to use some of the same concepts that we applied to resistance training, and see if they also apply to cardiovascular training!
Heavier Weights
How can you make yourself heavier? Most people are trying to make themselves LIGHTER when they exercise! However, if you are able to find a safe way to increase the total amount of weight that your body is moving during cardiovascular training, don't you think that the activity would be more difficult, and force your body to adapt? Sure it would!
A common method that people use to do this is one that you should NOT do, and that is strap on wrist weights or ankle weights, or to carry dumbbells while you are doing cardio. Although this does increase the total amount of weight being moved by your body, it also puts a stress on your joints that is not natural, and therefore, not a good idea. However, alternatives that DO work include putting on an adjustable weighted vest, or even just strapping on a backpack with some weights or books in it! The idea is to keep the additional weight as close to your body as possible, away from easily damaged joints.
Higher Number of Repetitions
Although you don't normally count repetitions when you are doing cardio, you DO take a certain number of steps, have a certain number of revolutions per minute on the elliptical or the bike, or you take a certain number of steps on the stair master. Do you think that increasing those numbers would help? You bet! Whether it be by staying on the equipment for longer, or just working out harder to get a higher number of steps or revolutions in the same amount of time, either way you have changed the stimulus on your cardiovascular system (not to mention your legs!), and by reacting to that new stress, your cardiovascular system will burn more calories while adapting to the new program.
Change the Position of Your Body
You may be asking yourself at this point just how many positions can the body be in when you are walking on the treadmill? The answer is PLENTY! Changing the incline of the equipment is an obvious way to change the position of your body, provided you continue to STAND UP STRAIGHT. If you hunch over, or grab the machine for support, you are defeating the purpose. What about leaning backwards or forwards when riding a bike, or peddling an elliptical? By changing the angle at which your legs are pushing
on the machine, you are most certainly changing the stimulus, forcing your body to adapt!
Modify the Speed of the Exercise
This one pretty much goes without saying! Go faster, and you'll burn more calories, and elicit a new adaptive response from your body. However, what about going slower? What if you are used to the Cycling class where your instructor seems to be made of steel, and can spin his/her legs around 80,000 times a minute for 30 minutes straight? Can slowing down be as effective as that? Sure it can! Trying reaching down to tighten up the resistance knob on that bike past your normal comfort level, and it's guaranteed that your body and your legs will have to find a new way to provide energy, even though you are actually going slower than you were a few minutes ago.
Use Machines as well as Free Weights
Other than what we discussed above with weight vests/backpacks vs. ankle/wrist weights, you really don't use free weights during cardio. However, you DO ride a treadmill or an exercise bike or a stair master on a regular basis, right? Trade those machines in for the real thing! Go outside and go for a brisk walk or a jog. Use a REAL bike and get out for some fresh air and an invigorating ride around your area. Find a tall building in your area and walk up and down the stairs. It's a safe bet that after a few flights you'll be wishing you were back on the stair master with it's motorized movement assistance!
The examples above have been just a few ways that you can cross train your body. There are many different training protocols, and literally thousands of different exercises that the human body is capable of. You should research as many different training protocols as possible, and even enlist the aid of a personal trainer if you need help setting up a program for yourself, or to change the program that you are already on. Remember, the key is to make your body ADAPT to new stimulus as often as possible!
Now get out there and get some exercise!
Aaron Potts is a Personal Trainer and Fitness Success Coach whose customers include consumers as well as other fitness professionals. Sign up for a free edition of his Workout of the Month Club or his value-packed Fitness Journal at http://www.fitnessdestinations.com, or visit his coaching site at http://www.ptsuccesscoach.com
|
|
|
|
|
| How To Gain Weight and Build Muscle Fast |
| A complete and FREE guide on how to gain weight and build muscle. Weight gain diets, bodybuilding supplements and targeted weight training for the ... |
| www.gain-weight-muscle-fast.com |
|
| Build Muscle |
| Can a post-exercise supplement help you build muscle faster, ... And one of the biggest debates centers on how much protein you need to build muscle. ... |
| www.thefactsaboutfitness.com |
|
| Build Muscle UK - The home of free muscle building and fitness advice! |
| Build Muscle UK, here we have an ever growing world gym directory, free training tips from our members and the chance for aspiring models to appear in our ... |
| www.buildmuscle.co.uk |
|
| Building muscle...weight lifting routines, tips and nutrition |
| Build muscle fast using weight lifting routines and muscle building tips that work. Muscle building programs and nutrition. |
| www.building-muscle101.com |
|
| Health-and-Fitness - Build-Muscle Ezine Articles |
| EzineArticles.com allows ezine or email list publishers to upload or download free expert content that can be used within email newsletters or websites. |
| ezinearticles.com |
|
| Building Muscle Lose Fat Gain Muscle Bodybuilding Portal - Home |
| Ten Eating Tips To Build Muscle Fast! ... By the time you finish reading this you will have the basics down to eating to build muscle fast! ... |
| www.gainmuscleandlosefat.com |
|
| Protein by the hour: build muscle by knowing what type of protein ... |
| Protein by the hour: build muscle by knowing what type of protein to eat—and when to eat it - Fuel from Mens Fitness in Health & Fitness provided free by ... |
| www.findarticles.com |
|
| Run to build muscle: turn your cardio into a resistance workout ... |
| Run to build muscle: turn your cardio into a resistance workout and get the best of both worlds - Cardio Clinic from Mens Fitness in Health & Fitness ... |
| www.findarticles.com |
|
| Build Muscle Fast - BodyBuilding Workouts - Strength Training Tips |
| The most powerful muscle building and strength increasing information. Strength training techniques and principles in this book will change your body and ... |
| www.seriousstrengthtraining.com |
|
| Build Muscle | How To Build Muscle | Building Muscle | BodyBuilding |
| Learn how to build muscle mass fast with these powerful muscle building articles, tips, and workout programs for building muscle from trainer and ... |
| www.shawnlebrunfitness.com |
|
| build muscle on 43 Things |
| William Butler Yeats. RSS 2.0 button (What is RSS?) First added to PhreeStyle's list. build muscle. People doing this: ... |
| www.43things.com |
|
| Go Ask Alice!: Losing fat and building muscle mass: Can this be ... |
| I have heard that it is not possible to both lose fat and build muscle mass simultaneously: ideally, a person should do cardiovascular exercise with dieting ... |
| www.goaskalice.columbia.edu |
|
| Go Ask Alice!: Wants to build muscle mass through weight lifting ... |
| Dear Alice, I am a twenty-nine year old woman. I am interested in increasing my muscle mass. Could you please tell me what steps to take in weight lifting ... |
| www.goaskalice.columbia.edu |
|
| Bodybuilding.com - Complete Muscle Gaining Supplement Guide ... |
| However, they will definately help you build muscle a lot quicker. ... You can't build muscle without it! You will want to take in about 1-2 grams of ... |
| www.bodybuilding.com |
|
| Quickest muscle building techniques...Building muscle losing fat |
| Ironpower's Quickest muscle building techniques...Build muscle lose fat, best foods, diet, exercise, supplements. |
| www.ironpower.biz |
|
| How to Gain Muscle |
| Learn how to gain muscle from your About Exercise Guide. |
| exercise.about.com |
|
| How to Build Muscle |
| How to Build Muscle. ... How to Build Muscle. So many of us want to lose fat, we forget about the people out there who'd like to gain a few pounds. ... |
| exercise.about.com |
|
| HOW WOMEN BUILD MUSCLE |
| File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML |
| Your browser may not have a PDF reader available. Google recommends visiting our text version of this document. |
|
| Free weight training workouts and muscle building routines |
| The all natural Optimum Anabolics Challenge is now in full swing, 9 weeks of ultimate natural training to build muscle and burn fat using the most effective ... |
| www.muscleblitz.com |
|
| Build Muscle Lose Fat - Turn Fat Into Muscle - Building Muscle And ... |
| Also get our special diet meal planner software, a convenient tool for meal preparation and diet evaluation for those who follow the build muscle lose fat ... |
| www.trulyhuge.com |
|
|