Tired about reading all those diet tips that seem to sound smart but never really make any difference in your progress? If you’re like most people you are very much looking forward to sporting a new and improved you in a few months time and don’t want to be wasting weeks, if not months, on techniques that simply just do not work.
You’ve put in the effort and now, you expect results. The problem is that if the effort you’ve been putting in isn’t on sound strategies that actually do deliver, that effort is going to be effort that’s sadly wasted.
That’s why your job is to figure out which tricks work so that you can start making the progress you’re after.
To help you cut to the chase, we’ve eliminated all those junky types that will only waste you time and stripped it down to the essentials. If you implement these into your diet, I guarantee you will see results because of it.
Let’s get you started.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
More Ways to be Stronger.....and sore
As Trainers/Athletes talk so much about the many common ways to add intensity to your workouts - techniques like drop sets, forced reps, rest-pauses and holding peak contractions - that I sometimes forget the not-so-obvious ones. Recently, I went journals and figured I'd let you in on some extra ways to achieve that extra bit of intensity in a workout without having to go too crazy.
Partial Holds
This novel technique involves holding a relatively light weight steady at various points along the path of an exercise, which forces the muscle to maintain a constant contraction for extended periods.
Let’s use lateral raises as an example. After reaching failure on a straight set, I lifted the dumbbells out to my sides only 5 inches or so and held them there for 10 seconds. That may not sound like such a big deal, but believe me, it provides a painful end to a set. When I was seeking an even greater burn, I’d do this another time or two after resting for 15 seconds, almost like rest-pausing. Give it a try the next time you feel you’ve hit a plateau. This works similarly with pull-ups. At the end of a set, lift yourself only a few inches above the bottom of the rep and hold this position for as long as you can. What a way to force your lats to grow wider!
Multi-Exercise Sets
This one’s great, though you almost never see it done at the gym. Instead of performing, say, four sets of one exercise, do one set each of four different exercises for the same bodypart.
Using chest as an example, this might entail doing one set of barbell incline presses, resting a minute or so - this is not a superset, mind you - then doing a set of flat-bench dumbbell presses, resting, then a set of incline flyes, resting for another minute, and finishing with weighted (or bodyweight-only) dips. Think about it: By performing four different movements, you employ different angles and stresses on the same muscles each set. You can do this for your entire workout, which may require getting creative since you’ll do about 10 distinct exercises, or you can finish your routine the way you normally do, picking 2-3 more exercises for that muscle group and performing 3-4 sets of each.
“One-and-a-Half” Method
Finally, you have one-and-a-halves, which I think of as a less elaborate way of doing 21s (in which you perform the top half of a rep seven times, then the bottom half seven times, then finish with seven full reps).
With this method, you follow each full rep with a half rep. The goal, of course, is to experience a maximum burn in your target muscles. Let me explain how to do this for biceps. On a given set of standing barbell or dumbbell curls, follow every full rep with one in which you go only halfway up or halfway down. When I used this technique, I made sure that I performed every half rep very slowly and strictly. Toward the end of the set I often had to cheat the full reps up because my biceps were in such excruciating pain.
Add these three techniques to your current routine and I promise you’ll experience a new kind of soreness - and muscle growth!
Partial Holds
This novel technique involves holding a relatively light weight steady at various points along the path of an exercise, which forces the muscle to maintain a constant contraction for extended periods.
Let’s use lateral raises as an example. After reaching failure on a straight set, I lifted the dumbbells out to my sides only 5 inches or so and held them there for 10 seconds. That may not sound like such a big deal, but believe me, it provides a painful end to a set. When I was seeking an even greater burn, I’d do this another time or two after resting for 15 seconds, almost like rest-pausing. Give it a try the next time you feel you’ve hit a plateau. This works similarly with pull-ups. At the end of a set, lift yourself only a few inches above the bottom of the rep and hold this position for as long as you can. What a way to force your lats to grow wider!
Multi-Exercise Sets
This one’s great, though you almost never see it done at the gym. Instead of performing, say, four sets of one exercise, do one set each of four different exercises for the same bodypart.
Using chest as an example, this might entail doing one set of barbell incline presses, resting a minute or so - this is not a superset, mind you - then doing a set of flat-bench dumbbell presses, resting, then a set of incline flyes, resting for another minute, and finishing with weighted (or bodyweight-only) dips. Think about it: By performing four different movements, you employ different angles and stresses on the same muscles each set. You can do this for your entire workout, which may require getting creative since you’ll do about 10 distinct exercises, or you can finish your routine the way you normally do, picking 2-3 more exercises for that muscle group and performing 3-4 sets of each.
“One-and-a-Half” Method
Finally, you have one-and-a-halves, which I think of as a less elaborate way of doing 21s (in which you perform the top half of a rep seven times, then the bottom half seven times, then finish with seven full reps).
With this method, you follow each full rep with a half rep. The goal, of course, is to experience a maximum burn in your target muscles. Let me explain how to do this for biceps. On a given set of standing barbell or dumbbell curls, follow every full rep with one in which you go only halfway up or halfway down. When I used this technique, I made sure that I performed every half rep very slowly and strictly. Toward the end of the set I often had to cheat the full reps up because my biceps were in such excruciating pain.
Add these three techniques to your current routine and I promise you’ll experience a new kind of soreness - and muscle growth!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Boxing anyone?
PUNCH OUT FAT:
Add boxing to your cardio routine. When you throw punches with weights or at a fast pace your working your core in a way that helps to flatten your mid section. Add 16 min of
Add boxing to your cardio routine. When you throw punches with weights or at a fast pace your working your core in a way that helps to flatten your mid section. Add 16 min of
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
