This is a short and sweet entry. I just want to remind all of you that you can achieve your goals if you never give up. Health/fitness can be very frustrating at times, it can leave you feeling hopeless and like all your efforts are for naught. But if you keep on learning more, experimenting, and loving yourself you will succeed! You are amazing, remember that! Only you can determine your level of success, why settle when you can conquer the world?
Two thumbs up for you!
This, is a “Power Rack.”
This, is a “Squat Rack.”
These pieces of equipment are meant for many different exercises, such as Squats, Dead Lifts, Bent Over Rows, Military Press, Select Olympic Lifts, etc. Here’s what these are not used for: Bicep Curls, Upright Row, or anything else that is completely unnecessary to hog a power rack for.
If you need to do Bicep Curls, you should use an EZ Bar, dumbbells, or the standard bars that most gyms provide. . . Most of the time, the people that are curling at a power rack are doing so little weight that the use of a 7′ Olympic Bar is completely unnecessary. (Just the other day a guy was curling 60 lbs. The gym has a standard bar fixed with 60 lbs. for this purpose.)
Not only is it proper gym etiquette to use the equipment how it should be, it’s an unspoken rule that you steer clear of the power rack if you’re not doing a big compound lift. . . Otherwise, it could easily cause friction, you will annoy people, and you will be made fun of via YouTube. No. . . Seriously. I’m not kidding. (While I neither agree with, nor condone recording people at the gym without their consent, people do it quite often in these situations.)
Exercising proper gym etiquette is like proper etiquette in any circumstance– It’s the way you should behave for the benefit of all parties involved, whether it be bowling, weight lifting, or at attending a classy dinner. Plus, no one wants to be “That Guy.”
Let’s talk reality here. I know most of my life I was under the assumption that exercise was more important than diet. I thought if I could just burn that extra 3500 calories a week at the gym then I wouldn’t have to count my calories.
This will make me fit in no time!
This mentality is wrong. Unless you are an extreme athlete you are not burning enough calories through exercise to be free with your food. I struggled for years with this. I would workout 6 days a week and really push myself, and never see any weight lose or results. It wasn’t until about June of last year that I decided to try out a theory Gabe had. He thought I was eating too few calories and doing too much cardio. For a week I didn’t work out at all and ate the 1300 calories a day I had been eating before. Guess what? I started to drop the weight like crazy.
What do you mean this isn’t a good post workout meal!?
The healthier I have been eating the better I look and the less time I spend at the gym. I honestly believe that diet is 80% of the equation while exercise is only 20%. I’m not the only who thinks that– Actually, we’re not the only one’s who think that. . . This is a popular opinion.
I know that changing the way you eat can be difficult and time consuming, but if you are really serious about getting into shape and being healthy then your diet is the most important element. I eat something every 2-3 hours throughout the day, and I make all of it before I leave for the day so it is ready to eat when I need it. It takes me about 20 minutes in the morning to prepare my food, but it is worth the time. Soon I will post a blog detailing my current nutrition plan!
My intention is not to say that exercise isn’t important, it is very important in leading a healthy and fit life, but it is not going to do you much good without the proper nutrition.
How are your New Year’s resolutions coming? Hopefully well, especially considering we’re not two weeks in. We’re going to take a moment to talk about a common problem amongst those who set a New Year Resolution to get into shape.
It was only last year that I read about an interesting study regarding a phenomenon that occurs amongst people who group together to help motivate each other toward health and fitness goals. In the study, one group they talked to was a group of ladies that started off the New Year by speed walking to help get themselves into shape. These four ladies, after dropping their children off at school, would go speed walking through the neighborhood. It was on day two that they decided they deserved a reward for their exertion. They began their walk as normal the next day. . .
. . . And then they would end up at their local Starbucks, where they would indulge in high calorie drinks and pastries. They would then speed walk home, and started doing this daily.
The Perfect Post-Workout Meal.
Now, what does this have to do with the study?
Well, these ladies ended up gaining weight through their New Year Resolution. The amount of calories burned speed walking did not offset the calories from their “Reward” for speed walking in the first place– In the period of time prior to the New Year, they never went to Starbucks, either. Now, they were consuming an additional 500+ calories a day while only burning around 200 – 300 calories. This translated to 1/2 pound a week of weight gain just from their new morning routine that was meant to lose weight.
So what’s the moral of the story? Don’t “Reward” yourself in an indulgent fashion. If you’re going to give yourself a reward for getting in shape, limit it to something small, and once a week. If every morning you reward your workout with a pastry, that’s not a reward– It’s a new routine. I’m not against rewards; Trust me, I have plenty. . . But remember: Everything in moderation. Let us know how your resolutions are going in the comments!
When you do a workout, do you know what muscles it works? There are some obvious things out there, like how the bench press works your chest; Crunches work your abs, and squats work your legs. . . This hardly scratches the surface, though. For example, would you believe me if I told you that squats work your Obliques?
. . . Well, they do. We’re going to talk about the classifications for muscles trained during exercises, since this is where you can find out how effective your workout is. By doing Isolation work, you only work small muscle groups and it will take you forever to work the same amount of muscles that Dead Lifts would. . . My goal is to have you reevaluate your exercises when we’re through with this post. Let’s start simple:
Target. This is the primary muscle / groups intended for the exercise. For the sake of this post, we’re going to look exclusively at my favorite exercise: The Dead Lift. The Target for this exercise is your Erector Spinae, also known as your lower back. Other examples would be: The target of the Bench Press is your Sternal Pectoralis Major (a.k.a. Your chest); The target of crunches if your Rectus Abdominis.
Synergist. Official Definition: A muscle that assists another muscle to accomplish a movement. That’s pretty straightforward, right? You could look at the “Target” as a primary, and the “Synergist” as a secondary group that is worked. In the Dead Lift, you have quite a few synergists: Your Gluteus Maximus (Your Rear), Adductor Magnus (Inner Thigh), Quadriceps (Thighs), and your Soleus (A muscle in your calf). These all assist your lower back and are worked in the Dead Lift. Another example is your Clavicular Pectoralis Major (“Upper Chest”), Triceps Brachii, and Anterior Deltoid (Shoulder) in the Bench Press. That’s not all, though. . .
Stabilizer. A muscle that contracts with no significant movement to maintain a posture or fixate a joint. That seems pretty straightforward, right? Basically, a muscle (or group) that enhances your stability. In the Dead Lift, it’s your Neck (Trapezius Upper, Middle, Levator Scapulae) and you Rhomboids. These are mostly engaged by keeping your grip and rounding your shoulders at the top of the lift– And this is why Dead Lifts work your entire body.
Dynamic Stabilizer. This is a little more complicated, so I’ll give the definition, and then an explanation, and finally, an example: A biarticulate muscle that simultaneously shortens at the target joint and lengthens at the adjacent joint with no appreciable difference in length. Dynamic stabilization occurs during many compound movements. The dynamic stabilizer may assists in joint stabilization by countering the rotator force of an agonist. In basic terms, the Dynamic Stabilizer keeps the joints that are in motion stable by supporting the “agonist” (The muscle causing the motion). In the Dead Lift, your Hamstrings and Gastrocnemius (Calves) are keeping you stable and supporting your Synergist muscles during the movement.
Antagonist Stabilizer. A muscle that contracts to maintain the tension potential of a biarticulate muscle at the adjacent joint. The antagonist stabilizer may be contracted throughout or at only one extreme of the movement. The Antagonist Stabilizer are activated during many isolated exercises when biarticulate muscles are utilized. The Antagonist Stabilizer may assist in joint stabilization by countering the rotator force of an agonist. Antagonist Stabilizers also act to maintain postural alignment of joints, including the vertebral column and pelvis. Similar to the Dynamic Stabilizer in function, but typically by the opposite muscle group. During the Dead Lift, your abs and obliques are engaged for most of the lift, offering a counter force to your lower back, which is the target– This prevents hyper extension of your back, which leads to proper form and less risk of an injury.
So. . . When analyzing the exercises you do, how many muscles do you work? How many different exercises do you do? At the end of the day, a good rule of thumb is to work as many muscles in as few exercises as possible. This is why the rookie workout is so effective, and why compound movements are the key to everything. How does your workout add up?
Be sure to check back on Monday when we detail our new approach to achieving the body fat percentage that we have set as goals!
(Note: For the New Year, we’re posting progress pictures!)
Alissa: Happy New Year everyone! We thought it would be nice to post a blog about our progress over the last year and to tell you a bit about what we plan to accomplish in 2012.
The year 2011 was a challenging year in many ways for me, but one of those was in my pursuit to lose weight/fat. I started the year at 153 pounds, I had just started to recover from hernia repair surgery. I was barely starting get back into any type of fitness routine since before the surgery in October.
Around April Gabe and I decided to really hunker down and get the bodies we wanted. My goal was to get down to 138 and Gabe wanted to bulk muscle (not sure how much, but I think he will tell you!).
The first few months went by pretty well, but then I hit a plateau (which was an ever recurring theme this year.) Over the next 4 months I managed to get down to 142 and I was extremely happy with my progress. However, since October I have hit another plateau, which brings me to this years goals.
I have had some people ask me in the past few months why I even bother to lose more, since they think I already look great. I still don’t look how I want to. I also set a goal for myself and I won’t stop till I get there. So I still have 4 pounds to lose and about 2-3% body fat.
I have chosen to be really excited about starting a new nutrition plan for the new year instead of getting discouraged. I have faith that all of our research will yield results!
Gabriel: Greetings, and Happy New Year! I definitely agree with Alissa in that 2011 was a challenging year for us and our goals. While I was decently happy with my body at a very slender 167 lbs. and about 8% body fat, I knew something was wrong, and decided to get into natural bodybuilding. In that time, I’ve gained about 14 pounds of muscle, and in addition to all of that muscle, I’ve got between 8 and 9 pounds of fat, too. When I started, I was going about it. . . Let’s just say, it wasn’t the best way possible. My carb intake was through the roof, and I wasn’t eating enough protein. I then did a quick cutting cycle that was marred by a case of sciatica.
When all is said and done, I didn’t start seeing incredible results (That is, muscle gain with very minimal fat gain) until the end of my bulk. It’s okay, though. . . In that time, I worked my way up to a 315 lb. dead lift, 235 lb. bench press, 365 lb. squat, and gained the aforementioned 14 lbs. of muscle.
Since then, I’ve been working on a cutting cycle to get rid of the fat I gained, but it hasn’t been as effective as I’d like. That is why, starting in the new year, my immediate goal is to get down to 7% body fat, and I will achieve this with a “CKD–” That stands for a “Cyclical Ketogenic Diet,” more commonly referred to as “Carb Cycling.” In addition to that, I plan on gaining minimum of 5 more pounds of muscle, and plan to work toward a 405 pound dead lift.
Do you have any New Year Goals? Let us know in the comments!
In understanding health and fitness, one must understand many things. You should be knowledgeable about weight lifting and cardiovascular training; You should have a decent grasp on health, anatomy, and nutrition; And it will help immensely to understand some basic principles of Kinesiology, which is the study of human movement. We aren’t experts in this field, but we can help you with the basics, such as today’s topic: Understanding the classification of a workout.
The first is to understand the Utility: Is it “Basic,” or “Auxiliary.” A good way to look at this is, are you training complete, basic muscle group or are you training a group of muscles that supplement the other. Example: Bench Press works the entirety of your Sternal Pectoralis Major (Your chest), and also works your Clavicular Pectoralis Major (“Upper Pecs”), Triceps and Deltoids. This is considered a perfect “Basic” workout. On the flip side, the Incline Press targets your Clavicular Pectoralis Major, and also works your Sternal Pectoralis Major, Triceps, and Deltoids. This is generally considered an auxiliary workout, as a supplemental muscle group is the target. For the scientific definition:
A principal exercise that can place greater absolute intensity on muscles exercised relative to auxiliary exercises. Basic exercises tend to have more of the following characteristics:
The scientific definition for an Auxiliary Workout is as follows:
An optional exercise that may supplement a basic exercise. Auxiliary exercises may place greater relative intensity on a specific muscle or a head of a muscle.
Next up in the classification is the “Mechanic” of the workout. We have two options here, and it’s pretty straightforward. A Compound Movement is one which involves two or more joint movements. Examples include the Bench Press, Dead Lift, Squat, Bent Over Row, Military Press, etc. The other mechanic is an “Isolation” workout. An isolation workout is “an exercise that involves just one discernible joint movement.” Examples include Bicep Curls, Wrist Curls, Dumbbell Fly, etc.
Now, you’ll notice that the examples given for the compound workouts are exercises that everyone talks about, and are also the exercises that determine your actual strength and physical prowess. The reason for this is. . . Well, that’s a whole post on it’s own. Expect that soon! All that you should know for now is that 90% of your workouts should be compound movements.
The last part to workout classification is the Force.
Not that “Force”. . .
The force of the movement is simple: Push, or Pull. Is the movement going away from, or toward the center of the body during the “Concentric Contraction”? (An example of Concentric Contraction is when you push the barbell up during the Bench Press.)
We will continue to discuss Kinesiology over a few blog posts, but this is the start of it. Tune in on Monday for our Special New Year post!
All quoted definitions are courtesy Exercise Prescription on the Net. Star Wars is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd.
I work in a place that sells workout equipment and accessories. For anyone who has ever seen the fitness department in a store and is knowledgeable in the ways of the body, it’s a good laugh! There is so much stuff being sold that no one needs, and is full of inflated claims. . . That is the start of this series: “Stuff You Don’t Need.” Today’s topic is. . . Lifting Straps, a.k.a. Wrist Straps.
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What are these used for? It’s for people who can’t get a proper grip on a bar and need some sort of assistance to complete the lift. You’ll most often see this when used with Dead Lifts, as they require a supreme amount of forearm strength. You’ll also see people use them for other workouts such as the Upright Row, and for some reason, the Lat Pull Down.
What is wrong with wrist straps? Wrist straps are just like any other piece of unnecessary lifting equipment, and the problem with these items is that they handicap you. By using the straps to grip for you, you are robbing your forearms of most of the work they have to do. While this doesn’t seem like much a problem, when you look at the bigger picture, it is: Your forearms are involved in most lifts in one way or another, and if you don’t allow them to develop with the rest of your body, you jeopardize all of your lifts. In addition, this will cause your body’s different muscle groups to develop at different rates, which could lead to a disproportionate physique. Finally, there’s something called “Lift Integrity,” which people often look at me strange for saying. . . To maintain the integrity of a lift, you must use proper form, follow the standards for the lift, use little to no assistance, and the maximal load based on your goal.
What should I use instead of wrist straps!? Your forearms. And if you’re having a trouble with grip, develop stronger forearms.
At the end of the day, do as you will. . . There’s a piece of equipment I use that is shunned by about half of the bodybuilding community, so in the end, it’s all up to you on how you want to treat your workouts– I just chose to handicap myself as little as possible, and recommend you do the same.
I am constantly fielding questions at work about health, fitness, and nutrition– The other day, while discussing these subjects, someone told me their workout routine. I could immediately recognize the problems, and suggested they do the rookie workout, which is an unbelievably simple, full body workout that is the perfect place to start when it comes to workout programming. The rookie workout is this:
Day 1
Squats 5 X 5 (Sets X Reps)
Bench Press 5 X 5
Bent Over Row 5 X 5
Ab Work (Can be anything effective.)
Chest Dips 3 X 12
Pull Ups / Chin Ups 3 X 8
Day 2
Dead Lift 1 X 5
Military Press 5 X 5
Front Squats 5 X 5
Ab Work
Chest Dips 3 X 12
Pull Ups / Chin Ups 3 X 8
Day 3
Squats 1 X 5
Bench Press 1 X 5
Bent Over Row 1 X 5
Ab Work
Chest Dips 3 X 12
Pull Ups / Chin Ups 3 X 8
It goes without saying that you must have at least a day of rest in between. Anyway, regardless of your goals, if you’re struggling with a weight training routine, or are stuck doing a lot of isolation exercises, start here– This will help you attain your goals regardless of what they are.
(Our longtime readers may recognize that my weight training routine is derived from day 1 of this workout.)
So, in my most recent post outlining my current plan, I forgot to discuss what my plan revolves around: Cardiovascular training. While I’m still doing weights three days a week, I’m also doing Cardio three days a week– More specifically, I’m doing High Intensity Interval Training three days a week.
In the post about the basics, I discussed what HIIT and why it’s great, but here I’ll talk about the different things that I am currently doing.
Sprints – These are what I do most often, and what I hate most. I will go on the treadmill and start with a warm up: 1 minute of walking at 3 MPH at an incline of “4.” The next minute, I’m walking at 4 MPH at an incline of “10.” For the next two minutes, I will walk at about 4.2 MPH at the “10” incline until I feel warmed up– That’s when the fun begins. For the remainder of my time on the treadmill, I vary between walking at speeds between 3 and 4 MPH, and sprinting at speeds between 7 and 9 MPH, all while adjusting the incline constantly. Also, my ratio of walk to run is 1 minute : 1 minute (During the sprints, not the warm up). I do a minimum of 32 minutes of sprints– 5 minute “warm up,” and a 2 minute “cool down.”
Stairs – I will go to the dreaded stair master and do battle. Again, I do a warm up, and then after about three minutes of warm up, I start in with my most varied cardio workout. Every minute I alternate between one of the following: A gentle pace of “6;” A pace of “4” while kicking my legs behind me with each step; A fast pace of “10;” A pace of “9” while doing it sideways (30 seconds on the left, 30 to the right); a faster pace of “12;” or my maximum pace of “15.” This is the workout the leaves me the most exhausted, but it is very, very effective.
Elliptical – In a similar fashion to stairs, I adjust the resistance of the elliptical every minute and do a 3:2 minute ratio of forward to backward movement.
The Run – This is very straightforward. I go for a run to the local grocery store and back, which is a bit over 2 miles, and I periodically sprint for bursts at a time– Typically while crossing streets, or between light poles. At some point, I always stop at an intersection and sprint across a road until the light turns. Then I do the next one, and the next, until I’ve done sprints across all four roads; I then rest for about a minute, and continue my run home. This is workout I do least often.
Home Workout – This is for my lazier days, or when I’m really strapped for time. I will jump rope for 3 minutes, and then sprint from one end of my apartment complex to the other. I will then rest for 30 seconds, and do it again. After the second and fourth rounds, in addition to the sprints and rest, I will do some push ups. I do this until I’ve been at it for 20 minutes, and then I’m done.
I make sure that I don’t do any one workout more than two cardio days in a row, as I don’t want my body to even consider settling into a habit. During all of them, at some point the speed (or resistance) goes really low for a moment so that my heart rate can plummet. I will then step it up to a crazy level immediately after to shock my system. What do you do for HIIT?
