Category: Exercise (Page 25 of 34)

Test your strength with the Deadlift

March 16, 2009 / Anthony Stalter

Men?s Fitness.com put together a strength test using your one rep max for the deadlift exercise.

HOW IT’S DONE
Stand with your feet about hip-width apart, your toes facing straight ahead. Squat down and grab the bar with an outside-shoulder-width, palms-down grip [1]. Keep your lower back in its natural arch, and drive your heels into the fl oor and push your hips forward, lifting the bar as you rise until it’s in front of your thighs [2]. Reverse the motion and return the bar to the fl oor. That’s one rep.
THE TEST
Estimate your deadlift one-rep max?the most weight you can lift for one rep?and compare it to the calculations below.
Your 1RM (one-rep max) is…
? Less than your body weight = Damn, you’re weak
? 1.25 x your body weight = You’re average
? 1.5 x body weight = You’re pretty strong
? 2 x body weight = You’re a beast!
A 200-pound guy who can deadlift 300 pounds for one rep is pretty strong. If your number falls in the weak or average categories, see below for tips on how to bring it up.

Click here to see MF.com?s guide to deadlifting more weight.

Exercise, General fitness, General training, Legs, Men's Health and Wellness, Power lifting, Specific workouts, Weight training, Workout programs, Xternal Fitness, Xternal Furci

Deadlift Deadlift exercise Exercise advice Exercise tips How do you do the deadlift How to do the deadlift How to perform the deadlift Strength tests Ways to test your strength

Waiting until summer to improve your golf game is too late.

March 13, 2009 / Mike Furci

The mechanics of a golf swing can cause a variety of injuries. The most common area golfers experience injuries is the lower back. Other areas golfers complain about are the shoulder, or more specifically the rotator cuff, the left elbow, and the left wrist (for right handers). Unfortunately, there is little data available about the seriousness of injuries as a result of playing golf or how to reduce them. However, if we apply what we know from other sports through research and empirical data, I have seen many golfers not only decrease their risk of injury but improve their game.

What golfer in their right mind wouldn?t want to improve his game? As a matter of fact, golfers, more than participants in any other sport, are fanatical. There are more than 20 million golfers in the US and most of them are obsessed with their abilities on the course. They will drop $700 on an iron and $400 for a driver. Many will pay thousands of dollars to belong to prestigious country clubs. Many more will spend hundreds of dollars during the golf season on balls that they?re eventually going to lose. But the average golfer won?t spend a dime on improving his biggest asset to his game: his body. I cannot imagine owning a $2,000 set of clubs and not doing anything to ensure I could use them to their fullest capacity.
To be successful at golf, you need functional strength, flexibility, endurance (ability to hit the club well, over and over), coordination, finesse and timing. You can?t find these aspects of the game in a pro shop. I don?t care how much you paid for your Big Bertha Fusion Irons or your balls that claim to go 20 to 40 yards farther than ordinary balls; if you lack the above, you?re going to be another frustrated player.

Golf: Reducing your isk of injury and improving your game.

Exercise, Sports Health and Fitness

becoming a good golfer decrease the risk of injury elbow injuries flexibility funcional strength golf golf swing mechanics golfing injuries improving your golf game improving your golf swing Low Back Pain the most common golf injuries

Did you know?

March 12, 2009 / Mike Furci

Bullz-Eye.com Fitness Editor Mike Furci answers readers questions about water, U.S. hospitals and myths about salt.

…it?s not necessary to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day to maintain optimum health? We?ve been told this arbitrary recommendation for years. There is little evidence for or against any of the supposed benefits of extra water, such as increased toxin excretion, improved skin tone, lessened hunger, and reduced headache frequency. A review of the available research concludes that for average healthy people, more water doesn?t mean better health. (Mercola.com newsletter)

To read the rest of the Q&A, click here.

Anti-Aging, Bodybuilding, Exercise, General training, Hormone replacement, Men's Health and Wellness, Nutrition, Power lifting, Sports Health and Fitness, Weight training

Best workout advice Fitness advice Fitness news Fitness tips Hormone replacement therapy How much water to drink a day Human Growth Hormone Nutrition advice Weight Lifting advice weight lifting technique Weight lifting tips Workout information

Rolling Triceps Extension

March 11, 2009 / Anthony Stalter

Men’s Fitness.com breaks down the rolling tricpes extension and why it’s ideal for building arm size and strength.

Hold a dumbbell in each hand and lie back on a bench with your arms locked out above your chest [1]. Bend your elbows until the dumbbells touch your shoulders, then “roll” your shoulders back so that your elbows go beside your head and you feel a stretch in your triceps and your lats. Reverse the motion by contracting your lats and triceps simultaneously to pull your arms forward and lock out your elbows [2]. That’s one rep.

Why It Works Essentially a combination of the lying triceps extension and pullover, the rolling extension allows you to use more weight as a result of the involvement of the lats. Perform the exercise for 10-12 reps, as going too heavy for low reps can be stressful on the elbow joint. Do not explosively lock out your elbows. “This is best used at the end of your workout,” says Ferruggia, “as a finisher after dips or bench presses.”

Arms, Bodybuilding, Exercise, General training, Specific workouts, Weight training, Xternal Fitness, Xternal Furci

Exercise tips Exercises for bigger arms How to get bigger arms How to preform the Rolling Triceps Extension Rolling Triceps Extension Tricep exercises Ways to get bigger Triceps Weight lifting tips

NFL Combine not a predictor of performance.

March 6, 2009 / Mike Furci

Every year the NFL invites about 3% of approximately 10,000 college football players to participate in a series of tests called a combine. A combine is designed to assess the skills of promising college football players. These athletes give it their all in hopes of getting drafted and consequently being offered a contract. Although the tests used during the 5 days of the combine require skill and athleticism, its predictive value is in question.

The NFL uses the combine as a key element of the player-selection process. A recent study calls into question the validity of most of the exercises and suggests a significant amount of money is wasted. Researchers found combine skills clearly lack any meaningful predictive value of player performance, except for running backs and sprint times. One explanation the researchers give is the popularity of combine prep courses. Other than marketing claims, there is no research that shows any course improves combine performance. If they do, however, these programs could dilute performance differences. Unfortunately for the players being tested, and team owners who write the checks, these improvements in combine skills do not transfer to athletic ability on the field.
(Journal of Strength & conditioning Research 2008;22(6))

General training, Sports Health and Fitness, Workout programs

college football player testing combine prep courses combine skills predicting player performance do combine skills transfer to athletic ability NFL combine predicting player performance