Category: General training (Page 17 of 18)

Workout without the weights

June 15, 2007 / Anthony Stalter

Common knowledge tells us that if we want to pack on muscle, weights – and therefore a gym for most of us – are necessary to accomplish our goals. However, using weights doesn’t need to be the end-all-be-all to get in shape.

Here’s an article by Men’s Health.com that shows you five ways to get stronger without lifting weights. In the article, you’ll find ways to add stress to your muscles doing the simplest of movements, develop better balance, and incorporate multiple muscle groups while doing exercises like lunges, sit ups and pushups.

I’m not encouraging anyone to ditch your weight lifting routine for this workout, instead incorporate this into your regular regime as a way to maximize your gains.

Exercise, General fitness, General training, Weight training, Workout programs, Xternal Fitness, Xternal Furci

5 Best warm up moves

June 7, 2007 / Anthony Stalter

Due to time limitations or a busy schedule, people tend to jump right into a workout without properly warming up. It’s well advised to not only ride a bike or jog for five minutes, but also stretch so your muscles warm enough to begin a full workout. Injuries in the weight room are usually due to not properly warming up or stretching.

MSN.com posted an article from “Best Life” on the five best warm up moves for any workout:

90/90 Stretch: This exercise will stretch your torso and back muscles, which is especially important for rotational sports such as golf and tennis.
Hip Crossover: This exercise is designed to build mobility and strength in your torso by dis-associating the hips and shoulders.
Hand Walk: It’s a great exercise prior to just about any sport.
Forward Lunge, Forearm to Instep: You’ll feel a stretch in your groin, your back-leg hip flexor, and your front-leg glute and hamstring.
Pillar Marching: It’s perfect for preparing for the demands of running.

For a complete description (the above is a very brief review of each warm up) as well as diagrams of each stretch, click here to read the entire article.

Exercise, General training, Xternal Fitness, Xternal Furci

The power of dumbbells

May 1, 2007 / Anthony Stalter

It’s often understated just how effect dumbbells can be to one’s workout. While a complete workout should tailor to barbell, machine and dumbbell exercises, the benefits of packing your routine with dumbbell movements are highly beneficial.

Just some of the key benefits to using dumbbells:

? Range of motion. Unlike most barbell exercises, which lock you into a fixed plane of movement, dumbbells require more of the smaller, stabilizing muscle groups to come into play. When you strengthen and build the stabilizing muscle groups, you can max the value of doing core exercises such as the bench press and squat.

? Isolation. When using dumbbells, you’re more apt to target the muscle group you’re trying to workout. When using a barbell during exercise, people have the tendency to overcompensate on one side just to get the bar moving. Dumbbells force you to isolate the muscle group you’re working out.

?Relatively inexpensive. Anyone looking to build a home gym or someone who just doesn’t have the time to get to the gym can benefit from a couple of inexpensive dumbbells. Depending on weight, dumbbells usually only range from $20 to $100, so there’s no excuse not to have a couple stored under the bed for quick workouts if you can’t get to the gym.

As previously noted, a complete workout should have exercises ranging in barbells, dumbbells and machines, but don’t be afraid to overload your routine with dumbbell movements. Click here to learn more information on dumbbell workouts and their benefits.

Exercise, General fitness, General training, Weight training, Workout programs

Growth Zone my ass

April 4, 2007 / Mike Furci

Time under tension is a great tool to use when trying to make gains in size and strength.? It’s well accepted that in order for one to stimulate muscle to induce gains the optimum time under tension is 20 – 60 seconds for the vast majority of people.? In the April 2007 issue of Ironman magazine William Litz has written an article on extending time under tension using partial, burns and X-reps.

Let me start by addressing the before and after pictures included on the second page of the author.? Underneath the pictures it states, “William Litz took his physique from a soft 220 to a hard, abs blazing 210 in only eight weeks using X-reps partials and stretch overload.”?

Does he really think the readers of this magazine are that deficient in their reasoning ability they wouldn’t see how ludicrous the caption under the pictures is?? In a word, YES.? Remember that magazines primarily exist to sell product and could care less about dispensing valid training advice.? Most of what is found in muscle magazines is nonsense filler, like this article.

In this worthless article Litz states, “Why burns fell out of favor is beyond me.? It clearly produced amazing builds in the decades before chemical warfare.”? Yet performing burns and partials for over ten years proved ineffective for him.? He used partials and burns sice the early 90’s, but didn’t make “ab blazing” gains until using X-reps, which are a variation of partials and burns.?

Litz also claims new research indicates that bottom, or stretch position burns are more beneficial, but to keep variety alive.? No research is sited in the article.? Litz would like you to keep in mind that stretch position partials can activate a lot of fibers and may even lead to fiber splitting, if such a phenomenon exists.? It may lead to, if such a phenomenon exists?? Are you kidding me?? You could actually transport yourself from place to place within seconds if such a devise existed.

The fact is, we humans have a finite ability to recover from physical stress.? Stress induced by high intensity training is no exception.? There is no reason what-so-ever to take a set beyond momentary positive failure.? In fact, partials, negatives and other forms of extending sets fell out of favor because they do more to over-train individuals than anything else.? Top bodybuilders are always sited as proof a certain training program works, but what about the 10’s of thousands who use these vary programs and get nowhere.

You can not force growth.? If your progress has come to a halt, you’re not recovering.? Using partials and burns should only be used by advanced lifters wth low frequency.? Pushing beyond, doing more without allowing recovery, will only exacerbate the problem.?????

Bodybuilding, General training, Magazine Hype, Weight training, Workout programs

Five common exercises you should never do

March 27, 2007 / Anthony Stalter

In a recent Best Life article posted on MSN.com, exercise physiologists listed five exercises that should be taken out of daily routines.

The five:

– Posterior (Behind-the-Neck) Pull Downs
– Behind-the-Neck Shoulder Presses
– Straight Ball Curls
– Leg Extensions
– Sit-Ups

I’ve heard sit-ups are bad for the back and some personal trainers aren’t big on posterior pull downs, but avoiding straight ball curls and leg extensions are news to me. Regardless, the article gives a brief description of why the exercise should be avoided, as well as safer alternatives.

To read the entire article, click here.

Exercise, General fitness, General training, Magazine Hype, Xternal Fitness