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STRENGTH AND POWER TRAINING INFORMATION FOR THE SERIOUS ATHLETE!

Strength training articles

Dedicated to those who care enough about their good health to actually do something positive on a daily basis to improve it.

Permission to use these articles

You may use these strength training articles in your newsletter, on your site or in your personal fitness emails if you send an electronic copy of the article, along with the date used to Contact Danny

Articles written by other strength training coaches express their individual opinion and do not necessarily reflect the training methods or philosophy of Explosivelyfit Strength Training. They are presented here for your thoughtful consideration.

Preliminary note to all of you power athletes:

Warm ups that consist of static stretching prior to the power and explosive sports are contraindicated because they are detrimental to the outcome.

A dynamic warm up is a key component to explosive displays of power.

The table of contents lists an abundance of strength training articles.

Table of Contents

Adult exercise guidelines

An introduction to Tai-Chi

Cardiovascular and respiratory endurance training

Childhood obesity

Control your eating by applying Paretos' law, Hara Hachi Bu and other techniques

Core Strengthening by Daniel Pare

Cutting back on dietary fat in your food and drink

Do it right, now, and it will stay with you by Rickey Dale Crain

Eliciting physiological change in the athlete

Exercise guidelines for adolescents and children

Exercises that will strengthen your ankles

Explosive training

Fives

Getting a handle on your sleep debt

Get your quick fix now by Daniel Pare

Getting set up to pull massive weights

Healthy gifts

Healthy ways to reduce your fat intake

Home resistance strength training program

Isometrics-do they help raise the total?

Limiting factors to optimizing strength

Make the low winter temperatures work for you

Maintaining mental sharpness

Non-drug treatments of Arthritis

Older adult exercise guidelines

Reducing your dietary fat calories

Raising your metabolism through exercise

Running differences between the young and old

Settling into the deep athletic squat position

Sets and reps by Daniel Pare

Someone said squatting is bad for you-is it?

Sports conditioning by Daniel Pare

Sports skill instructing and learning

Spring time: The call to be active

Stretching considerations and guidelines

Stress

Stress fractures and your active teenager

Sugar, is it the only culprit that damages your teeth?

Team training strategies

The Conditioned Body by Daniel Pare

The health benefits of exercising thirty minutes a day

The importance of sweating to your health

The importance of water to your health

The myth of easily building big muscles

The positive effects of walking

Training myths and nonsense

Twelve factors that affect recovery

Useless training techniques

When to get help for a head injury

Why children should be exercising

Why sleep?

Settling into the deep athletic squat position

Oftentimes trainees come into the gym saying they are squatting X hundreds of pounds, usually for reps.

For instance, one young man told me over the phone that he was doing 800 for six reps. Based on this, and after his warm up that consisted of a few arm swings, he got under the bar with 145 pounds. He went down eight to ten inches and then came back up. When told the depth was too high he then went to near parallel, when he started back up, his knees buckled inward. He was unable to control this dangerous valgus movement.

We never tried 235 for fear of injury. His bench press and dead lift were as dismal. He never came back to the gym again. The last I heard he was back in the commercial gym with everyone telling him how strong he was.

Little do they know that before they are allowed to train with the rest of the lifters they have to demonstrate actual proficiency in the squat.

Some handle this requirement well and continue to train; others aren't as receptive to coaching. These people leave after one or two sessions and go on their way to other less demanding gyms.

This is a dead end step because in most cases these gyms don't have qualified professionals who know how to squat or worse yet are teaching high squats.

In fairness to these people, many have never learned the right way to squat or if they have, have met resistance from their companies/trainees when insisting on deep, full range of motion, below parallel squats. Even a review of the literature reveals a deep division amongst trainers as to how far down a squat should go before starting back up again.

Explosivelyfit strength training athletes are strong believers in full depth squats. One of the ways this is taught is by starting out with only the trainees' body.

One of the clearest explanations of how to find the correct bottom position comes from Starting Strength, excellent book by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore available through Aasgaard Company, or Amazon.

Let's look at how they describe it. Starting out with correct foot positioning with the heels at shoulder and the toes pointed outward about 30º to 45º. The next move is to get into the bottom position of the squat. Do this without a bar so the learning curve is easier. Go as low as possible. In coaching terms, BTF, aka butt to floor!

Once in this position make sure that your feet have remained in the same spot and your heels haven't shifted. Now put both palms together and your elbows on the inside of the knees; push outward and shove those knees out to the sides.

Stay here for five to ten seconds or longer if possible. This is a good starting point for the athletic squat position. Notice the term athletic squat position. This is NOT the powerlift position which has the feet is much wider.

If you find that being in this position tires you out, then your flexibility needs some work. In that case, stand up and rest then get back into it again. You have to have good flexibility in order to squat well.

After you are able to remain down without tiring out start noticing how your body feels in this position.

Look at your upper legs; are they in line, i.e. parallel with your feet or do they deviate in or out? Are your feet flat on the floor, where are your knees? Are they behind or in front of the toes on each foot? For the athletic stance, they should be a bit in front of the toes.

One critical aspect of the squat is keeping the back in its anatomically correct position, i.e. one of natural lordosis and kyphosis[1], neither of which is exaggerated to an extreme.

The back must be kept as tight as possible by the strong muscles surrounding it on all sides. Only a neophyte allows their back to round over when performing the squat. A rounded back is an open invitation to a career ending low back injury.

In the down position, the back is inclined to about 45º. This keeps the bar centered over the mid portion of the feet.

________________________________________ [1] http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003278.htm Kyphotic curves refer to the outward curve of the thoracic spine (at the level of the ribs). Lordotic curves refer to the inward curve of the lumbar spine (just above the buttocks)

Sugar, is it the only culprit that damages your teeth?

Sugar, and sugary foods and drinks, if used in excess and left on the teeth for long periods is but one substance that can damage the enamel. One helpful measure to take in preventing the attack on the enamel is by simply swishing the mouth out with plain water. This helps remove left over sugar and other debris from the food and drink. However, sugar is not the only substance that erodes this outer protective layer of the teeth.

Many foods and liquids contain acids that contribute to teeth decay. Surprisingly enough, saliva, according to the Mayo Clinic, helps restore tooth enamel after eating or drinking something that is acidic. Even though this may be somewhat effective, it is still limited in its capacity to protect the teeth. Other measures can used to minimize the structural damage to the teeth.

Drinking acidic products such as pop, sports or energy drinks, fruit juices, wine, tart candies, wine, citrus fruits or items that use vinegar will all raise the acidic levels in the mouth. Instead of consuming these products in unlimited quantities throughout the day, set a cutoff point and stop after eating or drinking one of them.

Another way to lessen the effects of these foods is by timing the eating or drinking of them with a meal. This helps to neutralize the effects of the acid by eliminating it from the mouth. Just as a small meal helps stop the process, so does avoiding eating any acidic item before bed. The reason for this is saliva production is lower when you are sleeping and not as effective in the acid removal. The acid remains on the teeth for a longer time thereby giving it more opportunity to destroy the enamel.

Resisting the urge to drink a cold pop may be difficult. If this is the case, then resist the temptation to hold the liquid in your mouth any longer than necessary to start it down your throat. The longer it stays in your mouth the more time it has to work on your teeth. Use a straw or drink quickly. In both situations, the objective is to minimize the contact of the acidic drink with your enamel. How about those times when you simply want to enjoy sipping the pop?

After sipping neutralization of the acids is now the path to pursue. This is accomplished by eating a small piece of cheese; using a mouthful of water that is swished around or even a fluoride mouthwash after the acid drink or food is eaten.

This next recommendation flies in the face of common sense. Again, according to the Mayo Clinic, avoid brushing your teeth immediately after eating such foods. They recommend using fluoride toothpaste thirty minutes before or thirty minutes afterwards. Finally chewing sugar free gum helps stimulate the saliva glands and increases saliva in the mouth, which helps to dilute and neutralize the acids from the foods.

Exercises that will strengthen your ankles

Are you conscious of every step you take because in the past you’ve suffered a twisted ankle and are fearful that it may reoccur? If you have had a recent serious ankle injury then more than likely you’ve been to the doctor. Because of that visit, perhaps you were referred to a physical therapist for some rehabilitation work. If you didn’t see a doctor, then you may be on your own and wondering what can be done to strengthen your ankles.

Here are a few recommendations from the Mayo Clinic. They just may make your ankles stronger and make you better able to resist the joint stress of an off balance moment. If you have decent balance then give them a try.

Start out by sitting in a chair or standing up next to a supporting countertop or doorjamb. Keep one foot flat and lift the other one up a few inches off the floor. With the raised foot, use your ankle and toes to trace out the letters of the alphabet. Pretend that your big toe is the pencil as you write the ABC’s out in thin air. After one foot is finished, go to the other one and repeat writing the alphabet again.

The next exercise is the calf raise. Stand next to the countertop and stand up as high as you can, with straight legs, on the balls of your feet. Start out using both feet and do them together for twenty-five or more high repetitions. Once you are able to do 100 reps without rest begin to do them on one foot. This is going to be considerably harder, but stick with it and soon you’ll be doing them just fine on a single leg.

After you have finished with the calf raises, stand with both feet flat on the floor again and raise your toes up toward your head. Follow the same scheme as before, i.e. both feet for up to 100 reps and then to on to doing them with one foot.

Strong ankles help reduce the risk of falling and suffering a broken bone or a twisted ankle. The extra strength means you will be able to react to an off balance situation and recover without injury. In the previous paragraphs, several ankle specific exercises were explained. In this portion, three more exercises are described.

Side pushes are ankle and thigh exercises. These exercises can be done either sitting in a chair or standing next to a wall. Begin in the chair with your shoulder pressed up against the wall. With the leg that is on the same side as the shoulder that is against the wall, push against the side of the wall with your foot. Now turn around and do the same with the other foot for twenty-five pushes that are held for five to ten seconds each.

This is a similar exercise to the previous one however with this one you will be sitting in a doorway and pulling your foot against the doorjamb towards the inside of your body rather than pushing outward.

Since balance is such a big part of keeping your ankles safe from injury the next exercise helps, in a small way, to build confidence in your ability to maintain your balance into your ankles.

Start out by standing next to some sort of a support aid. Raise one leg up by bending at the knee and lifting the lower leg up a little ways off the floor. The support leg must remain straight throughout the balance exercise.

See how long you can hold the position. Now change to the other leg and see how you do. One may be easier to hold than the other may; this is natural and is not a cause for alarm unless there is a dramatic difference in the two sides.

Daily practice can improve the strength and balance abilities of your ankles.

Non-drug treatments of Arthritis

According to the Mayo Clinic, there are nondrug approaches to relieving the pain associated with arthritis. Aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories have been found to help with pain management in some people. These products and the heavy-duty doctor prescribed pain medications are not the only way one may use to relieve arthritic pain.

Hot and cold treatments applied to the offending area can ease the inflammation or pain. These may be in the form of a hot bath, cold shower over the joint or with a heat pad or the familiar cold packs. If you don’t have a cold pack, use a package of frozen rice. This conforms to the location of the pain and is reusable afterwards. Do not put the cold pack directly on your skin; shield it with a kitchen towel to prevent the cold from freezing your skin.

The same package of rice can be put in the microwave and heated up for use as a hot pack. Be very careful if you decide to heat the bag up. Again, as mentioned with the cold pack, shield the hot pack with a kitchen towel to protect your skin from burning. It can get so hot that it will burn your skin on contact-then you have another problem.

Massaging the joints or muscles can lessen the pain however; don’t massage a swollen joint or one that is causing severe pain. You could make matters worse.
Acupuncture has been said to stimulate the flow of energy into the painful joint or muscle. The practitioners of this are trained professionals who use small needles that are pushed into the skin at very specific points on the body.

Finally, one method of controlling the pain that may seem counterintuitive is exercise. Exercise strengthens the muscles that surround the joints taking some of the pressure off them. Flexibility is increased if an individual does the full range of motion in the exercise. This means working within your own range of motion and not tearing anything up by going too far too fast with your joint and muscle movements.
Exercise can help control your weight, which means less stress on the joints. Sleep sometimes comes a bit easier after exercise but not necessarily trying to go to sleep immediately after a session is completed.

Strength training can improve your range of motion. By doing so, it keeps the joints and muscles supple this makes it easier to move your body about during the day.
A word of caution if you suffer from inflammatory rheumatoid arthritis you may need to take special precautions after consulting with your doctor about the matter.

Why sleep?

Do you remember your Mom and Dad telling you to go to bed and get to sleep so you could do well in school? It turns out they were right again.

Sleep has an affect on how we feel, look, and perform in our everyday tasks. As anyone who has gone without a few nights without sleep can attest to, it has a big impact on our quality of life. Just ask any young parent who is now taking care of their newborn child.

Sleep quality and quantity are equally important. With a shorter sleep period, the body has less time to repair the muscles and consolidate the memories of the previous day. Athletes need to realize growth hormone release occurs during this time. These hormones are absolutely essential to further physical development. Without adequate sleep each night, the body is less able to concentrate or make good decisions at work or in school.

How does sleep do all these things for our body?

Most of us already have read or know about the stages of sleep but in case you’ve forgotten here’s a quick review.

High quality sleep, if given enough time, follows a distinct and productive pattern of alternating rapid eye movement (REM), and non rapid eye movement (NREM), throughout a normal night.

NREM makes up seventy-five percent of the nights sleep, and it does it in four stages.

The first stage is that time between being awake and falling asleep. This transition into light sleep, which then moves us into stage two.

Stage two is the beginning of sleep where we become separated from our surroundings in the room and our daily life. Our breathing and heart rate settle into a regular pattern as our body temperature begins to drop. This is where sleeping in a colder room may be beneficial to getting a good nights sleep enters into the sleep equation.

As we progress further into the sleep process stages three and four begin. These are the deepest and most restorative periods of sleep during the night. It’s at this time when our blood pressure drops and our breathing slows down. These physiological responses are accompanied by a relaxation in muscle tension. Just as the muscles relax, their blood supply increases bringing the repairing nutrients into the tissues.

The growth hormones mentioned earlier now begin to be released in greater quantity than during the daytime. These are critical for advanced growth and development throughout the body.

Training time damage is now being repaired. It’s at this time when muscle, tendon, and ligament growth takes place; in effect, a rejuvenation of the neuromuscular system occurs during high quality sleep.

Following up on the NREM portion of our sleep, about ninety minutes after falling asleep, is the REM which takes up approximately twenty five percent of the nights rest time. REM continues to cycle about every ninety minutes throughout the rest of the night and gets longer as we sleep. This is an important phase of rest because during this time it is providing a supply of energy to the body and brain. Not only is it doing this but it also supports performance for the following day time activities by refilling and ordering our memory and neurosystem based on the earlier days performance and activities.

Our brains are highly active during the REM phase, this lets us dream and dreams, in some way, make order out of the previous days events and it is relaxing to our body.

At this time, even though the eyes are constantly dashing back and forth, the rest of the body is relaxed is because the electrical signals that are usually being sent to the skeletal muscles are turned off, thus they are not twitching.

Certain hormones such as cortisol are reduced as we go to bed but increase throughout the remainder of the night. This helps to increase alertness the next day.

Our immune system is kept in balance through the release of hormones such as ghrelin and leptin, two hormones that have an influence on our appetite through the regulation of our appetite and feelings of being full. Going without sleep, or good sleep, and therefore not getting these two powerful hormones in adequate supply within our body we tend to feel the need to eat more. And we do which leads to added fat and diminished health.

Even though we may spend a third of our lives sleeping, it is far from being a waste of time because it has a positive role in the other two thirds of our day.

REM

Recall that there were four stages of sleep. In this portion we’ll discuss REM. Rapid eye movement occurs after the first ninety minutes of falling to sleep. It then recycles, if uninterrupted, every ninety minutes thereafter. This phase gets longer throughout the course of the night.

It’s during this part of sleep that dreams occur; the brain is active and the eyes are moving rapidly back and forth, thus the term rapid eye movement. Even though our eyes are moving quickly from side to side, the muscles of body are not active. They are in effect shut down, unlike during the day when they are constantly twitching and moving to keep us going. They are at rest and relaxed.

REM sleeps importance to healthful rest lies in the fact that it supplies the restorative energy back into the body and brain after a full day’s activity. By replenishing this depleted energy, it fuels daytime performance in athletics, play, school, and work.

While this energy is being replaced, the hormone cortisol increases over the course of the nighttime. Cortisol, secreted by the adrenal glands, is a potent anti-inflammatory that in supplement form helps treat rheumatoid arthritis. It also promotes, believe it or not, greater alertness in the morning. Tell that to your teenager tomorrow.

You improve your immune system and even out your appetite by getting a good night’s rest. The levels of two hormones, ghrelin and liptin, help control our feelings of hunger and fullness. When we get less than the required amount of sleep at night, it makes us want to eat more. Obviously eating more and exercising less leads to weight gain or more specifically, fat gain.

Just because you spend approximately one third of your life sleeping doesn’t mean that it is non-productive. Sleep, as we have seen, keeps us energized and successfully productive in the remaining two thirds of our lives.

Control your eating by applying Paretos’ law, Hara Hachi Bu and other techniques

Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist living in the late 1800’s, discovered that eighty percent of the land in Italy was owned by twenty percent of the citizens. Briefly, Pareto’s law states that eighty percent of the resultant effects come from twenty percent of the involved parts. In the case of food it’s that piece of pie or cake that is calling your name after you’re already full. That’s the twenty percent you don’t really need to eat.

This law seemingly applies to many facets of everyday life, including eating. In Okinawa they have adapted a similar concept into their eating habits by leaving twenty percent of the food on their plate. Called Hara Hachi Bu this traditional eating plan places a heavy emphasis on fruits, whole grains, soy foods, fish and vegetables.

The health benefits of not eating twenty percent of the food are decreased heart disease rates along with stroke and diabetes levels that are lower than in the U.S. With obesity epidemic in our culture it stands to reason that by not eating 100% of the food on the plate we would lower these risks.

Now that you’ve got a handle on how to control your intake at the big meal let’s take a look at some other ideas to keep your weight at its pre-Thanksgiving meal level.

A half an hour before the meal eat a big apple along with a big glass of water.

Leave the liquid calories alone. This includes pop, sports drinks and alcohol. Try skim milk instead of full or reduced fat milk.

Eat an orange instead of a glass of orange juice.

Increase your water intake. Not to ridiculous levels but at least until your urine is a pale yellow similar in color to lemonade.

Take extra helpings of fruits and vegetables but without the whipped cream and added sugar.

Eat reduced fat light mayonnaise and fat free sour cream.

After all the dishes and food have been put away go for a nice walk. Doing so helps keep your cholesterol and triglycerides at more moderate levels.

Movement is wonderful for your body. Fidgeting is good because it burns calories. Be active and you’ll feel better.

Running differences between the young and old

The Brazilians recently examined lower body extremity running differences between young and adult runners. This study compared young adults aged 26 to 36 years and older adults between 67 and 73. All the tests were conducted on a treadmill with 3D video equipment that captured the movement patterns of both groups while they ran on common settings. The video specifically looked at the lower leg, ankle and knee during the stance phase of the running motion.

After the kinematics (the study of pure motion without regard to mass) were established variable selected data resulting from the test was calculated.

The older adults each had a substantial decrease in their stride length and ran with a faster stride frequency. Younger runners had greater knee flexion and extension and less internal/external rotation of the tibia while the older runners showed an increased external rotation of their foot. This means they were pointing their toes out farther to the side at the heel strike than the younger runners were during the testing.

The most disturbing part of this testing report was the fact that older runners run with less synonymy between their ankle and knee movements effectively compromising their coordination patterns. This in itself could be one of the major reasons older runners get hurt as they run.

Home resistance strength training program

Sometimes you just can't get to the gym to exercise. Here are a few ideas that you can use in these situations. And it doesn't take a lot of cash to pull it off either. Plus it may be more convenient doing them at home anyway. At least you've got the option if need be.

Equipment needed: Several various sizes of surgical tube approximately 10-12 feet long. Some of these are latex so if you're allergic to the material then search elsewhere for a substitute.

When using the elastic materials make certain the ends are securely wrapped around your hands so as to prevent it slipping off and snapping back at you. The same goes for attaching them to doors and door knobs.

Do each of the following for 3 sets of 15-20 repetitions in rapid fashion with little rest between each set.

1. Body weight/surgical tubing squats

• Stand on the tube and squat

2. Military press with surgical tubing

• Stand on the tube and press upward

3. Pull downs

• Securely attached overhead pull down (attach to one side of a doorknob and over the top to the other side. Be careful not to cut or nick the tube)

4. Bench press

• Position the tube under the upper back and held in the hands pushing upward while face up on the floor or bench.

5. Barbell row.

• Stand on the tube and hold the free ends in each hand, row normally.

6. Dead lift

• Stand on the tube and dead lift normally

7. Barbell curl • Stand on the tube and curl upward

8. Triceps extension

• Stand on the tube, run it behind your back and over your shoulders now extend your arms to the ceiling. Keep your elbows pointed up when you lower your arms back down behind your head.

9. Calf raises

• Stand on the tube with your toes and then rise up on your toes.

10. Abdominal

• Crunches and leg raises

Do these every other day or until you can get back into the gym again.

The positive effects of walking

According to the National Heart Lung and Blood institute 1 in 3 adults in the US has high blood pressure. Many don't even know they have the disease because there are no symptoms until the heart, blood vessels, and other parts of your body including your kidneys are damaged.

When blood pressure increases greater stress is placed on the heart and blood vessels. The vessels in the kidney and other parts of the body begin to narrow, thus restricting blood flow.

Maintaining good heart health means keeping your blood pressure less than 120/80. The top number, systolic is the pressure the heart encounters when pumping blood. Diastolic, the lower number, represents the pressure in the circulatory system between beats. If your numbers exceed 120/80 your health is in jeopardy.

Risk factors include older age, race/ethnicity, overweight, obesity, gender, lack of exercise and living an unhealthy lifestyle. All contribute to this growing problem. Some of these factors can be controlled; some can't. Exercise, maintaining a healthy weight and practicing healthy living habits are all within your power to manage.

One of the simplest actions you can take is to start walking. Buy a pedometer and work up to 10,000 steps a day. Healthy benefits start almost as soon as you step out the door.

A walk can be a fast ten minute excursion down the road or even around your property. Three active ten minute bursts a day are beneficial in lowering blood pressure numbers.

Just walking 4,000-5,000 steps above normal helps lower your blood pressure. Find a friend and head out the door to better health.

Stress fractures and your active teenager

Stress fractures amongst our younger athletes are occurring with greater frequency as the competitive demands increase within youth sports. Accurate detection of these fractures and other musculoskeletal problems that may arise is essential to proper treatment.

Stress fractures normally result from excess fatigue or training issues of too much too soon in the program. In the young aggressive athlete, it is not uncommon for them to try to work through the pain thinking that it will go away if they work harder. This is a mistake on their part.

According to a recent article in Biomechanics, stress fractures occur due to abnormal repetitive stress on normal bone. Approximately 9% of the total injuries happen in those who are under the age of fifteen, about 32% between sixteen and nineteen and the remaining 59% in those individuals over twenty years old.

Insufficiency fractures on the other hand come about because the bone is unhealthy due to mineral deficiencies or some other physiological condition.

Fatigue fractures appear in healthy bones subjected to abnormal muscular stress or from an unusual force being applied to otherwise normal healthy bone material.

At all times the coach must carefully watch the training going on around them. If an athlete is displaying unusual gait patterns, twisting movement difficulties and other general but odd body motions during practice or training sessions, that athlete must be called out and the situation discussed to find the cause of the problem.

Coaches will look over the pre-sport physical paper work and make note of any unusual health concerns before the athlete hits the training area. With prior knowledge and awareness of these problems, the conditioning of each athlete can be tailored to their individual needs.

This is the mark of a coach who cares about your child and is truly paying attention to the details of their training program.

Raising your metabolism through exercise

A fast metabolism is one factor that determines how we maintain a healthy weight. Staying powerful, strong and trim is part of this equation and a challenge that becomes more difficult as we become older. Some just give up and quit, which is sad because an increase in lean muscle mass contributes to a faster metabolism and this burns more calories.

Lean muscle is healthier than an excessive accumulation of fat. The greater the muscle mass in our body the faster the metabolic rate will be, up to a certain point. This doesn't mean cutting out all fat because our bodies need it to survive.

Increasing your lean muscle mass takes time and effort; nevertheless it can be smoother with good directions. And those are forthcoming.

Training large muscle groups is the most productive way of manipulating body composition percentages. If you are serious about making these important changes then you'll be doing the following ten resistance movements for three to four sets of eight to ten repetitions. Don't dilly dally between sets. Keep moving.

1. Military presses for your shoulders, triceps and upper back.

2. Pull downs or chin ups for your upper back and biceps.

3. Bench presses for your chest, triceps and shoulders.

4. Barbell rows hit the upper back hard and are very efficient in rounding off the upper torso musculature.

5. Squats are absolutely the most effective exercise known to mankind. These work the entire body. Specifically the legs, buttocks, abs and back. Go deep and do them right.

6. Dead lifts are next in line as the most effective in burning calories. These target the abs, legs, lower back and shoulders.

7. Back extensions for the lower back.

8. Sit ups, crunches or curl ups for the abdominal muscles.

9. Laterals for the obliques.

10. Calf raises for that strong powerful look to the lower legs.

Between sessions of strength training do bridges or planks for several sets of five to ten repetitions. Keep each position for five to twenty seconds holding only as long as the form is perfect. Longer holds may sound good but if done incorrectly the purpose is defeated.

Remember: Practice makes permanent. Do it right or don't do it at all.

Once you get moving with these exercises you'll see positive changes in your body composition.

Make the low winter temperatures work for you

In 2009, scientists discovered brown fat in adults. The most common fat is the white adipose tissue, the type that stores calories as unsightly fat generally around the midline. Brown fat, according to Eric Ravussin , actually burns as many calories as muscle.

The importance of this discovery lies in the fact that for the past twenty years it was believed that brown fat existed only in newborns. This fat protects the baby coming from the 98° womb into a cold delivery room by generating the heat they need to stay alive.

Unfortunately, the heavier a person is the less likely they are to have brown fat. Age also factors into the mix because the older a person is the less likely they will have any brown fat on their body. Women, for some unknown reason, tend to have more brown fat than men do.

Studies are ongoing as to how to increase this beneficial fat. One promising way is to increase your exposure to the cold environment. In the old days, we kept warm by burning more calories when it was cold. Now nearly every place we spend our time in is usually temperature controlled at around 70°.

Fives

If you are looking for more power in your lifts then here is the ticket. It is an old, old routine that has provided a boost to many a lifter.

Do a general warm up, followed by a movement specific warm up, then hit it HARD.

Five sets of five for the core lifts like the squat, bench press and the dead lift. Once you are able to do, five sets of five add weight and start the program over again. Always follow correct exercise technique and make sure you have talked to your primary health care provider before beginning any new exercise routine.
Add 15-25 pounds to the squat and dead lift. In the bench, add 10-15 pounds after the successful completion of the sets of five.

This is a solid program but it is very easy to overload and enter the overtraining realm.

Follow this schedule for four to five weeks and then re-evaluate your progress. I am certain you will be pleasantly surprised at the outcome.

The only difficulty I have ever had or seen in others who have used this is the strength gains come rapidly but the base is not there to sustain the gains over an extended period. This is more or less an effective peaking program followed by a correct contest peak set and rep scheme. This will get your body going in the right direction very effectively.

Isometrics-do they help raise the total?

If you have ever considered doing, or have done, a maximum isometric contraction prior to performing a maximum repetition with the idea of exceeding your personal best then it may be time to rethink the process. Researchers have tested the theory and found it to be lacking in any beneficial outcome.
They tested a group of weight trained individuals who were experienced in the back squat. Before the test a selected test group did a seven second maximum isometric contraction squat. After a four minute rest they performed a series of five maximum counter jumps for height (one of the commonly used tests of power output). The results were compared to a group who did just the counter jumps. There was no significant difference in the two results.

So why is this coming up now? Well consider the fact that many dead lifters give a steady pull to the bar just prior to starting a heavy lift. The research would indicate this is a waste of energy. In some cases they even try to jerk the bar free which goes totally against the force velocity curve.

There is an inverse relationship between the force applied to the bar and velocity of movement. This means that in an effort to move the bar quickly less force production is available for use in moving the mass. Start out slow and increase the speed on the bar in all of the power and strength moves. Think speed at all times so as to recruit the maximum muscle fibers. Just remember the force/velocity curve when you lift.

Do it right, now, and it will stay with you

Rickey Dale Crain
IPF/WPC/AAU World Champion
2000 Powerlifting Hall of Fame Inductee

"The Older I Get the Better I Was", at least until I run into someone who was actually there. It is hard getting older. I seem to get lazier and less motivated as time goes on. Following such precise and regimented training routines for 30-35 plus years has at least instilled in me some past bit of motivation to get off my rear and train 3-4 times a week. I can only imagine if I had not been that dedicated for all those years, how much worse it would be now At least conjuring up the image of how it used to be, how I used to be and how I used to train, still instills in me some bit of passion to do some squats a FEW DAYS A WEEK and do some bench presses a FEW DAYS A WEEK, AS WELL A FEW DAYS OF CARDIO ON THE BIKE.

I try to instill in young athletes or anyone for that matter to learn some discipline, get a scheduled routine for training, and learn some proper eating habits and STICK WITH IT, NO MATTER WHAT! It will pay off when you are older. DO THIS WHEN YOU ARE YOUNG and there is a good chance it will stick with you down the road and some of it may even rub off on others.

YOU HAVE TO THINK LONG TERM. LIFE IS NOT SHORT TERM (hopefully), but is a long extended time. So what you do now, what you learn, what you instill in yourself now, should carry over for the rest of your life. It will surely help determine the quality of life you will live and enjoy (or endure) in the future.

Eliciting physiological change in the athlete

Physiological change in the musculature and nervous system, and the neuromuscular coordination between the two demands that an appropriate amount of stress is placed on these structures long enough for them to adapt. These changes do not happen overnight.

In many instances, the training effect does not take place in the muscle and nervous systems until several days to even weeks after the sessions have been in progress.

Rapid program changes diminish the desired outcomes because the body cannot make sufficient physiological adaptations rapidly enough to achieve the desired training effect. It is only when the body has been subjected to an appropriate overload for an indeterminate length of time that changes can be measured. Once the physical changes have taken place then adaptation has occurred.

Once this happens, the stimulus on the neuromuscular system is no longer great enough to generate further growth, therefore it is time to move on to a different training schedule.

Nevertheless, resist the urge to immediately add more exercises or to completely change the entire schedule. Don’t be in a hurry to jump to another training schedule until every last bit of training adaptation is used up in the present program. Your trainees will benefit from this.

Instead dramatically change the reps, followed by the sets and finally by a new series of exercises designed to both eliminate any weak points and to emphasize the strong portions of the individual skills. 

Get as much as possible from the schedule before moving on to something new.

Granted, changes in the schedule do create new opportunities for growth. However, the key to remember is this: You must know when to change the program in order to generate a new positive stimulus on the nervous system. This stimulus is the direct cause of greater strength and a higher level of sports proficiency in the athlete.

There are preceding and predictive events that present themselves in the lead up to when it may be time to change the schedule.

One of them is the social climate in the room, if it is too hard the trainee will soon stop making an effort to continue. Sometimes this may be due to nervous system fatigue and if severe, this can take a long period to overcome. Keep a look out for the ones who seem to have quit and are no longer trying their best in the room.

Other social clues to look for are when they are finished way before the others in the room or if there is an abundance of talking before, during and after the set are finished. In my opinion either of these tell me the weights are too light or they are not engaged with the program. The first instance is usually the problem.

One of the time honored ways of determining when to change the program is a close examination of their workout logs. In looking over the trainee’s logbook of their activity in the weight room a clear picture is presented. If they have kept accurate notes, you will clearly see when the program has outlived its usefulness.

Logbooks that indicate the schedule is no longer effective will have some of the following notations.

The notes will show a steady increase in weight, reps, or sets. This is followed by a leveling off and then lifting with a constant weight and fewer reps or sets with that weight. That final marker shows the weights, sets and reps are no longer being handled the way they were mid cycle. Their body has adapted and it’s time to change. The quickness of these adaptations happens at differing times depending on the person.

Exercise adaptation sometimes happens relatively quickly with certain individuals and the exercise program for them is no longer of value because it has outlived its usefulness.

Summary

Achieving an exercise specific training effect in the athlete means repeating an exercise until it has outlived its usefulness. This can happen within a few days to upwards of several weeks and the speed of this adaptation depends on the individual. Once these physiological changes have taken place it is time to replace the exercise program with another one that continues to stress the targeted muscles.

An introduction to Tai-Chi

Tai-Chi is an ancient art that uses a series of gentle continuous movements which place an emphasis on joint leverage based on coordination and relaxation instead of muscular tension. Practioners of the art have discovered increased balance control, flexibility and cardiovascular benefits. The elderly have reduced their risk of falling after learning and applying Tai-Chi training practices.

Healthy individuals also have reported reduced pain while using Tai-Chi as an alternative exercise method along with lowered blood pressure readings, decreased pain from arthritis and the effects of multiple sclerosis.  

Progressively self paced, Tai-Chi is a noncompetitive gentle exercise that is performed in a very specific defined series of movements and postures. Each of which flows gracefully and slowly from one to another without a pause.

A major benefit to older people is the reductions in falls that accompany the art of Tai-Chi due to the increased enhancement of their balance and coordination skills. Since these movements are low impact they place minimal stress on the joints and muscles which is ideal in some situations for those with advanced arthritis or osteoporosis.

Anecdotally the relationship of Tai-Chi to reduced stress, increased flexibility, improved muscle strength and definition along with the development of greater energy, stamina and agility are well documented. These benefits all contribute to a greater sense of well being. However the art has not been scientifically studied until recently. The findings, thus far, are supportive of the anecdotal reports.

The scientific research into Tai-Chi have indicated reduced anxiety and depression, improved balance and coordination which helps to reduce falls in those prone to falling and improved sleep patterns. The time spent in sleeping was found to be longer and with greater alertness reported during the following day.

Practicing Tai-Chi was shown to slow bone loss in post menopausal women an especially important issue to those with osteopenia or osteoporosis. It also reduced high blood pressure and improved cardiovascular fitness along with providing relief from chronic pain. All of these healthy benefits made for better daily living functioning.

There are different styles of Tai-Chi, some are more aggressive than others and involve faster paced movements. Those most commonly practiced utilize gentle slower motions that are suitable for everyone.

As with anything in life there are positives and negatives in the practice of Tai-Chi. The pros seem to outweigh the cons though in these respects:

• The movements are self-paced and non competitive, which to a competitive person may be a negative attribute.
• The physical space requirements are negligible as well as the attire. You don’t need a lot of space or fancy gear to take part in Tai-Chi. It’s easy to do; you can do it anyplace and anytime either alone or with others. Once you become accustomed to the activity and more proficient in the art then you can add in your own to make it even more individualized and specific to your needs.

The negatives are almost non existent but do include the usual warnings of possible soreness if the first few sessions are overdone beyond your current physical fitness levels.

Beginning a new activity starts with learning how to do it correctly. In the case of Tai-Chi this will mean seeking out a competent instructor who will guide you in the technical aspects of posture and movement. Pay strict attention to your breathing and body position throughout the training session. Develop the ability to perform the motions effortlessly and without conscious thought. Doing so helps avert muscle strains and damaged joints.

Tai-Chi classes are taught throughout the world. In the United States contact your local senior center, the YWCA or YMCA or check with the gyms in your area. You can even look it up on the internet; there are scores of sites listed.

Explosive training

The development of explosiveness in your technique will dramatically increase your lifting potential. Recall that explosive strength is the ability to rapidly exert maximum force to the mass in the shortest amount of time possible, i.e. a shift of the power curve to the left. The closer this curve approaches the vertical aspect the greater the force you have developed in this lift.

The movement of the bar has to be rapid in both the concentric and eccentric directions. A micro second amortization phase at the turning point is crucial in adding to the speed and force developed.

Lifting with bands, chains and quick release apparatus will enhance most if not all of the lifts. Following these recommendations in your training program will make you a stronger athlete.

Getting set up to pull massive weights

The start of any movement always sets up the sequence for the remainder of the lift. There are no exceptions. The beginning predetermines to great extent the end result, especially in short duration lifts.

The amount of time spent on the establishing the start varies from lift to lift. The shorter (measured in time) lifts demand more attention be devoted to the exact and very precise positioning of the body before even starting the pull from the floor. Longer time events don’t seem to require as much concentration on the body positions. However, if the posture of the feet, limbs, and torso are too far out of the proper start position then the lift will in all likelihood be lost or an injury may result.

It can also be said that the longer time that is spent in the competition exercise, the less the strength component is actually displayed during the lift, ergo the less significance the starting position plays in the final outcome.

V. I Rodionov stated in 1967 that the starting position will affect the barbell trajectory, the force produced by the athlete, the degree to which the muscles are included in the work of moving the weight, the amplitude through which the bar moves and the speed and perfection of the lift. The start, obviously, is an important piece of the lift.

Stress- What it is and what it does to us?

Stress comes in many different forms; not all of which is bad. Some can be created by physical situations such as when someone cuts you off as you’re driving down the road. Other stressors may be a result of mental situations brought on by an argument with someone you love. Each type initiates the flight or fight response in your body.

This automatic biological reaction to the threat triggers a surge of two powerful hormones, adrenalin and cortisol, appropriately called the stress hormones. This reaction to stress speeds up the heart rate, decreases the activity of the digestive system, and begins to deliver more blood to the major muscles of the body. Combined, these actions give your body a powerful infusion of strength and energy. This enables you to either flee from harm or face it by standing pat and fighting if necessary.

In the wilds, this is a good response but in the modern world, unless you are confronted by a creep with a knife or gun in an alley or on the street it’s not very good for you. We even activate this response in traffic, in the work place and even at home.

Once the threat is over, the body is supposed to return to a more relaxed state. However, like it or not, we live in a stress filled world and our bodies frequently don’t return to a normal relaxed status. When this happens, it can adversely affect the normal functioning in your body.

Your body can tolerate stress up to a certain extent, but when it’s constant, it begins to take a toll on your health.

Cortisol, one of the stress hormones, can suppress your immune system causing a decreased response to infectious diseases such as a cold or the flu.

Stress causes an increased heart rate which puts an unnecessary added strain on your cardiovascular system. This added stress may make you susceptible to angina, and some irregular heart rates. Acute stress can even bring on a heart attack if you area one of those identified as hot reactors.

Hot reactors have extreme reactions in their heart rates and blood pressure because of their response to the daily stress they face. This can cause injury to the coronary arteries and problems within the heart. Not only do the cardiovascular and immune systems become compromised but increased incidences of asthma and gastrointestinal flare-ups are common.

So how do you know if you have the signs and symptoms of stress?

Take this short Mayo Clinic test and see for yourself if you are slipping into stress overload. Circle or put a check mark next to all those that you regularly experience or are the most distressing in your life. The more you mark off, the more stress is affecting you.

Once you have identified the causes of negative stress in your life, it’s time to address how to reduce them, and the effects they have on your health. And next week, just in time for Christmas, the five most important ways to manage the stress in your life.

Managing stress in your life

Within the last two and a half decades the study into the interactions between the central nervous system and the immune system, which has been appropriately named psychoneuroimmunology, has evolved. This new field of medicine focuses narrowly on the manner in which central nervous and the immune systems influence one another. 

Because these interactions have been identified it is now possible to potentially minimize the effect they have on your body. This is the time for you to take control of, and begin to manage some of the negative stress in your life.

"Life without risk is not worth living."-- Charles Lindbergh, aviator

This quote sums it up. Eliminating all stress from your life is not only an unrealistic expectation, but also highly unlikely. If, in fact, you were able to do so, you would have an extremely boring existence. Stress adds enjoyment to your life by making it interesting. Sometimes these interesting challenges can get out of hand. If this has happened to you, then it’s time to learn how to manage them so your health doesn’t suffer. Let’s start at home.

A stress filled home life does as much damage to your body as can stress at work. Start getting a handle on it by listing the tasks that bog you down and never seem to go away. House keeping and yard work, may be at the top of your list. If so, consider hiring someone to do these things for you. Take the extra time you’ve earned and go do something that is fun or exciting. You could even spend it with your children, friends, or spouse. Now that is a novel idea isn’t it?

Maybe you could decide how much time you want to spend each day doing your household chores. Can you cut back a bit and perhaps leave it a bit less spotless?

Get rid of the clutter in your home. Do you really need to keep all of those old magazines or those old sports related tee shirts? In my case, the answers are YES, but then they aren’t bothering me as much as they bother my wife. Practice calming down your life by relaxing your body and mind.

Get more exercise or start exercising, which ever is your case. Exercise releases hormones such as endorphins into your blood stream that produce feeling of happiness. These provide a calming effect in your life and can reduce the damage that undue stress produces.

Exercise helps to lower the production of adrenalin, a stress induced stress hormone. Being physically active gives in return more energy and helps curb weight gain brought on by a more sedentary life style.

Tips to help cut work time stress

Most of us spend a considerable amount of time on the job. This can cause stress to pile up, especially if you work with or around jerks, as we all have at some point in our careers. Nonetheless, there are things that you can do to tone it down a bit. Steven Covey n his book The 7 habits of highly effective people “recommends you examine what you can do instead of focusing on worries over which you have no real control. First, notice all your concerns. Then, among those concerns, determine where you can take action” by examining your circle of influence compared to your circle of concern. “Think of ways to be more proactive (not aggressive) and address the things you can do something about. Your circle of influence will enlarge and your circle of concern will shrink.”Covey distinguishes between the have's ("If only I had...") and the be's ("I can be...").

Focusing on what you don't like is disempowering. Focusing on what you can do is proactive and empowering. "Be part of the solution," Covey suggests, "not part of the problem."

If you begin your workday in the car on the way into the office or job site then make it productive by listening to audio books on topics you enjoy.

Start managing your work related stress by taking care of business within your own office. Clean it up by organizing your office. Start relying on a desktop or electronic planner so there’s not so much to remember.

Working on de-stressing your job

Schedule your day by setting aside five to ten to minutes between appointments or meetings, control your time, and don’t let it control you. Deal with the toughest stuff first by getting it out of the way. The rest of your time at work should then be less stressful.

Just before it’s time to eat make those return calls, it’s a proven fact that returning calls just before noon or ten to fifteen minutes before leaving for the day take up less time than during the regular work day hours.

Take your dinner break mid day and use this time to get in a fast walk or some body weight calisthenics such as push-ups, sit-ups, squats, or lunges. You can even jog or do some high speed running in place for one to five minutes or more if you’re physically up to it.

Once you are in the flow of the job, group all the little jobs together and finish them. After the minor tasks are done, you can begin chipping away at the major projects of the job in increments of ten to thirty minutes at a time. This keeps your mind fresh and open to new developments and ideas on how to finish the job in a professional manner.

Preparation is a key element in successfully minimizing stress on the job. You can never be too prepared! Practice speeches, think of the questions someone may ask, have answers ready and backed up by facts, prepare for your audience, over learn the topic, be the expert... Do you get the message here? You can never be too prepared. Period.

As the day begins to wind down start making your next day’s list of things to do. Let your brain work in the background, on the answers to problems that will be on your desk or job the next day. Carry a tape recorder for ideas that come up.

Keep a voice-activated recorder next to your bed so when that big idea comes to you, you can grab the recorder and say what it is you are thinking about. The next morning you can evaluate whether or not it was such a good idea or not. At least you will be able to understand what you said instead of having to decipher a scribbled note that was written while you were asleep or nearly so.

De-stressing your life in five easy steps (don’t we wish)

Stress, makes our lives interesting. Without stress, our lives would be one boring day after another, sort of like going to the gym and not doing squats on a regular basis. Nonetheless, if you know you have too much stress in your life then it’s time to start managing it in appropriate manners.

Here is one tip that bears remembering:

If you work with your brain everyday then one of the preeminent stress relievers for your situation will be exercise. Not the light hearted go to the gym and chat while riding a machine kind of time but hard physical breath taking, muscle taxing exertion.

Conversely, if, your daily job consists of physical labor then a mix of exercising in the gym and off job mental activities will go far towards managing your stress levels. There are other ways to decrease the stress in your life. Here are but a few of them. Learn and apply them and you may be able to lower the damaging effects that stress has on your health.

Following up on the previous recommendation to exercise and the reasons to exercise is the indisputable fact that exercise reduces the amount of adrenalin produced which in and of itself counteracts the stress response.

Physically fit people, in most cases, have a greater tolerance for the unexpected things that pop up in life. They are better able to ride out the storm and land on their feet-how’s that for a sentence of sayings?

Exercising on a regular basis gives you more energy, helps to control your weight, and reduces your risk of heart problems. An added bonus is exercise contributes to a healthy sense of well-being.

So how do you start out exercising? Begin with something you like doing and will keep doing every day. This could be a daily walk, or reading a book while pedaling away on your stationary bike in the living room. Naturally, in my humble opinion, strength training is at the top of the exercise list. To be strong you have to get strong and you can’t do that on a machine that is doing it for you.

After you’ve exercised it’s time to relax and recover. This implies getting some carbohydrate and protein nutrients into your system before the magic ten minutes has passed.

You may be wondering just how relaxing can help relieve the stress in your life. There are a variety of healthful benefits to practicing relaxation techniques.

As you become more adept at relaxing you will begin to notice slower heart and breathing rates along with lower blood pressure numbers. Additionally there will be an increase in blood flow to your big muscle groups, reductions in chronic pain and a decrease in muscle tension. Your concentration abilities will be better which in itself will generally reduce your frustration and anger levels. Muscle relaxation can lessen such discomforts as headaches, anxiety, and sleep difficulties. This will allow better responses to the many problems that arise in your life.

Ultimately your level of confidence in yourself will increase making your life calmer as a result. Now that you have a bit of an understanding as to why relaxation is important lets move on to the how of doing it.

During the day, practice relaxation techniques. I don’t mean setting in front of the television or computer. True relaxation has a positively satisfying and calming effect on your entire body and mind.

Here are several techniques that have proven useful to others, each of them will take a bit of practice but the end results are worth the effort.

Practice either autogenic, something that comes from within you, relaxation, progressive muscle or visualization relaxation for five to twenty minutes a day and then get back to your daily tasks. You can do them anytime as long as your aren’t operating heavy machinery such as your car hurtling down the road trying to kill me because of your total lack of driver concentration.

Set aside a few minutes each day and gradually increase the time spent until you are comfortable with the outcome.

For the first technique we’ll begin with a short explanation of autogenic relaxation. Briefly stated, this method teaches you to relax your muscles, and once this is done your brain has a tendency to automatically follow. It is not complicated; you simply need find a quiet place to practice it. 

Once in your place of relaxation use visual imagery and awareness of your body to reduce stress. Repeat words such as my breathing is slow and calm, my legs are heavy… as you repeat the words visually see this transformation taking place. I tell my athletes they must be able to visualize themselves in action.

This visualization is not one of seeing themselves doing the activity, but actually feeling doing the activity. This includes all of the sensations of doing it. They must use all five senses when visualizing success.

Gradually this becomes easier to do and is an excellent way to fall asleep at night. It clears your mind of junk.

I mentioned there were three useful relaxation techniques and the second one is progressive muscle relaxation. This one seems to work the best for me, but it could be different for you so try them both.

When using progressive muscle relaxation you focus on each major muscle group such as your neck, shoulders, chest, arms, back, legs and finally your toes. Practice tensing them up for five to ten seconds and then relaxing each one in progression-thus the name.

This method teaches you how these muscles feel when they’re tense and then relaxed. Athletes need to be able to identify these sensations.

In an earlier article I spoke about visualization. It too is an important relaxation technique. It is one that is important to the athlete to its importance in establishing the neuro pathways of sports execution. It has been said the neuromuscular system doesn’t know if it is under a load when excited.

Taking this a bit further, you can visualize a successful squat and establish the neuro pathways that make it happen under the bar in the gym.

Visualization, to be useful, demands strict attention to detail. This means that, as mentioned earlier, you must be doing, in your mind, and not watching yourself do the activity.

Use all of your senses when visualizing the movements, feel the bar in your hand, notice how the knurling bites into your palm, hear the sound of the wooden bat hitting the ball over the fence, smell the sweat of the competitors in the line up just before the race begins… put it altogether and you will succeed in visualization relaxation.

Certainly there is more to relaxation than just giving brief descriptions of useful techniques but for the purposes of this article that’s all there will be. If you want more information take a moment and look them up on the net. Give each one a try to see which you can use the easiest in your own set of circumstances.

Now that you know how to relax, practice it until it produces the results you desire.

Useless training techniques

If you are regular gym attendee then no doubt you’ve seen all sorts of goofy stuff going on there. Some of the most ridiculous are the antics conducted on the stability ball or BOSU pads. For some unknown reason, there are trainers who believe that strength increases are best made on an unstable surface.

This is a wrong assumption and one that inevitably leads to an injury. If you stand on a surface that offers minimal stability, expecting to lift a heavy weight without a problem, you are barking up the wrong tree. Your body is tremendously responsive to the environmental conditions that surround the lifting of a weight. It will make the necessary adjustments to accommodate the lifting even if it means limiting the effort because of the unstable surface.

It is with an unsurpassed certainty that a person standing on a ball will not display as much strength as one standing on the ground. A person squatting 600 pounds on the floor is stronger than one squatting 100 pounds on a ball.

The bench press is a favorite lift of most men simply because it is the easiest to do. But the way it’s done in some places is pathetic. Seeing a person lift a barbell on the bench and stopping the descent one to three inches above their chest is not a bench press. Nor is it as productive as the full range of motion to the chest. Finishing a set of bench presses without a corresponding row at some point in the training is counterproductive in the long term. This leads to muscle imbalance and again an injury.

How about the high squatter; the one who drops a few inches and then calls it good. This is not a squat by any stretch of the imagination. Not only are they shortening up the movement but they are also increasing their chances of getting an injury because a high squat allows more weight on the bar.

Barbell curls are another favorite exercise of young men, after all who doesn’t want big biceps to flash at the girls. The way many of these are done, without full extension of the arms and with a forceful thrust of the hips to get the weight moving is almost a waste of time.

Endless time on the cardio machines and boring slow runs on the road will not contribute as much to fat loss as intervals on free weights. However, the myth using cardio for fat loss continues unabated.

Spring time: The call to be active

The winter of 1009-2010 has been a miserable time for those who like to snowplow and for those who like the definite changes in the weather. It seems as though spring time has been around for the past four months in the northwest part of the United States.

Now that March is here the call of the outdoors is heard loud and strong. There are multitudes of clean up chores that need to be done outside and with summer not far behind it may also be time to get rid of that extra winter fat.

Like the week end warriors of summers past, it’s easy to go off the deep end when starting a new exercise schedule with too much too soon. This leads to delayed onset muscle soreness, a painful condition that can last for up to two or more days depending on how hard you hit it in the gym.

Sometimes a person is better off simply starting out slowly, certainly until their body gets used to the increased activity. Follow these guidelines and things should go smoothly for you.

Tips for making your training safe

When first beginning your strength training program be on the conservative side with the weights you use and temper your aggressiveness in your approach the first few sessions. At least until you are somewhat accustomed to exercising on a regular basis. The penalty for not heeding this advice is extreme soreness known as delayed on set muscle soreness (DOMS), more about this later. For now, here are a few caveats before you begin your training.

1. See your doctor before starting any new exercise program. Go over your health history and talk to them about what your fitness goals are and how you intend to go about achieving them.

2. Learn how to do each exercise the right way. This helps prevent injury and targets the muscles the correct way. If need be get a personal strength coach to show you the right way to do the exercises in your program.

If it hurts then stop, something is not right. If it doesn’t feel right then reconsider even doing that particular exercise. Others will do the same thing and may even be more appropriate for you.

Starting out on a new exercise program can be a challenge unless you are following the guidance of an experienced certified professional. Even then you may find that some areas of your body are sore after the session and a day later.

This isn’t something to be obsessing over. It’s a fact of life that if you aren’t used to doing a certain physical activity then after doing it the muscles you used will be adapting to the new demands and will be sore.

3. It’s best for a newcomer to start out with a clean slate, ego wise. By this, I mean it doesn’t matter if you lifted fifty pounds or three hundred and fifty pounds in the past. Now is now and these weights may not be the best for you at this time, in fact they could end up hurting you and delaying your health and fitness progress.

Get used to exercising and then start adding the weight if you’re comfortable going higher. Beginning fresh will cause muscle soreness if you aren’t careful with what you’re doing.

4. Start out two to three times per week for about 40-55 minutes a session. Any more than this and you could become discouraged or injured due to the sharply increased physical overload. Stay away from the routines that show up in the muscle magazines. These are for far more advanced athletes and it is my suspicion that drugs are also involved to reach the state of physical absurdity some of these people are displaying.

5. Always do a general warm up, followed by a general area warm up and finally a movement specific warm up.

6. Start out light and make certain you are doing the movement correctly. Begin with one set for each exercise until you’re more conditioned and can tolerate the extra sets and reps.

If excessive soreness (meaning you did too much too soon) rears its ugly head after your session then take a day longer to recover.

We are nearing the end of this series on becoming active this spring. The next section cannot be overemphasized: you must practice safe lifting at all times! Guys listen up: Don’t let your friend’s goad you into doing more than your gut tells you to do. Many males let their ego run wild in the gym and do stupid things. Don’t get sucked into this part of exercise; you will only get hurt. Read and heed the last few paragraphs and your life will be much better for having done so.

7. Practice safe lifting. It is easy to get hurt if you get sloppy with the exercise and aren’t doing the movement correctly. Even doing it the right way can get you into trouble if the weight is too big and you get stuck under it.

The bench press is especially dangerous because it doesn’t take long to lose consciousness and die if the bar pins your neck to the bench.

Be careful when lifting alone; use the safety gear that comes with your equipment. Use a spotter if in doubt or don’t do it in the first place.

8. Lift wisely and safely but most of all have fun while you get into better shape.

9. Breathing

The number one rule for the newcomer is don’t hold your breath.

• Inhale before you start the lift. In the bench press, take a breath as you take the bar off the rack.
• Let your breath out at or just past the sticking point. In the bench press, exhale while pushing the bar upward to the finish position.
• Consciously keeping the airway open will increase the intra-abdominal pressure and keep the blood pressure from rising dangerously high during an exercise movement.
• Avoid the Valsalva maneuver. Advanced athletes practice the Valsalva maneuver but they do so with the understanding that it has a tremendous adverse effect on raising their blood pressure.

If you are prudent and follow these guidelines your training will be safe and you probably won’t suffer unduly with soreness afterwards.

Follow this conservative course and put your fitness goals within reach.

When to get help for a head injury

At some point in nearly everyone’s life, his or her head has been bonked. Most of these types of injuries, i.e. a few cuts or bruises, that quickly heal are minor with no further repercussions. These can be dealt with by applying basic first aid measures.

In other cases, an injury to the head can result in life threatening or life altering damage to the brain. Danger signs of a serious head injury are a loss of consciousness; even brief episodes of a loss of consciousness are serious and need medical attention.

Signs of bleeding that impact the brain are often unseen and can cause compression forces on the brain tissue. Along with these two danger signs is the potential for a broken neck and/or a skull fracture.

A wise coach or parent will immediately seek medical attention if they observe any of the following symptoms. The aforementioned loss of consciousness even if this occurs several hours after the hit or accident.

Any signs of confusion either outwardly expressed by the person or noticed by others who are close to the one that suffered the head injury. A dazed look or appearance falls into this category as well.

A loss of memory, sick feeling, or vomiting all should raise the red flag that something is amiss and needs a look by a medical professional.

Obviously, partial paralysis, numbness, blood, clear watery appearing fluids seeping from the ear or nose or weakness experienced in the extremities mandates a thorough examination. A person would be making a serious error if they did not make an immediate call to 911 in these instances.

A headache that just doesn’t go away, even one that is unusual in nature, something that has never been experienced before the head hit requires medical care.

Discolorations around the eyes or the back of the ears can be signs of serious trauma.

There are medical intervention procedures that can prevent further damage in these cases, but the medical professionals have to be called before they can be of assistance. Do your part and pay close attention when a head injury occurs?

Get your “Quick Fix”
BY:  Daniel Pare, N.C.C.P., C.S.O., C.S.P.S., C.S.T.S.

Did you know that the time is right for an exercise “quick fix”?  It’s hard to imagine that in about two months summer will be here with its warm, hazy, lazy sun-filled days.  You can be ready to soak up the sun in a wonderfully conditioned body if you are ready to tackle an exercise program that will guarantee results.  Is this possible?  Yes, it certainly is if you are willing to commit to conditioning and training TODAY.  You can be very productive in your quest to get in shape in time for spring and summer. 

Whether you are currently involved in an exercise regimen or whether you are a beginner considering the advantages of being in shape for summer 2008, this is for you!  You should look at the possibility of strength training about three times a week for about an hour at a time.  For those of you who spend hours and hours in the gym, you might consider mixing things up with a shorter program. 

What will this involve?  Strength training programs are often tailored to specific goals but a general idea might involve exercises including the clean and press and barbell/dumbbell row on Mondays, the squat and bench-press on Wednesday and Friday’s workout could involve the dead lift as well as exercises for triceps and biceps.  I would suggest that the sets and repetitions of these exercises encompass three sets of five repetitions with a focus on perfect form and challenging weight.  Cardiovascular activity can be added before and after the workout and on alternate days.

Day 1 will look like this;
-Clean and press warm up with the barbell then add weights to it.  For some people this exercise will be very challenging, so take your time and make sure that you are using the right amount of weight, which allow you to do five quality repetitions.
-Dumbbell row or the barbell row with, once again, a weight that allows you to do five quality repetitions. 
 
Day 2 will look like this.
-Squats.  For great results the squat should be performed with a good depth and the depth that we are looking at is parallel and below.  This simply means that the top of your knee will be even with the top of your hips or lower.  For the squat, if you are not used to going that low, work your way down. 
-Bench-press.  This exercise does not really need introduction, but I will go over an important training principle “Anchoring”.  The only thing that should be happening here when you are benching is the barbell being pushed back up.  Do not move your body on the bench or do not press the barbell back up unevenly.  This is the result of too much weight.  Focus and get some good work done.

Day 3 will look like this.
-Deadlift.  This is not a stiff leg deadlift or straight leg deadlift, but a real deadlift.  You must push the barbell back up with your legs first then you pull the barbell up by sliding it on your thighs.  Stand erect with shoulders back and chest out, not a shoulder shrug.
-Biceps and triceps are left to your discretion. 

Here is what I suggest you do to get the most out of your work outs.
-Water is BEST.  Drink water regularly.  If you do not drink water regularly, do the following; drink while you working out.  Do not flood yourself, sip between sets and you will be surprised how well you do.
-Eat good food (fresh fruits and vegetable, lean protein and some good quality fat).   
-Do not rush your work out.   
-Remain in total control of each repetition.  By keeping your abs tight, your whole body will remain sturdy.
-Sets of five reps at best.  Most of you are not used to this at all.  If you do not feel much the first few work outs, this is an indication that you have been over training
-REST, you will not get the results you want if you do not get adequate rest.  
                      
The goal with this kind of workout is to get in shape in time for the summer.  You can do it!  Keep in mind that the “fuel” that goes into your body must compliment the kind of effort you are putting into your workouts.  Eat your fruits and vegetables, drink your water, get adequate amounts of rest, and be informed about good health in general. Best wishes for the most enjoyable spring and summer possible.  It’s up to you!

The Conditioned Body
By: Daniel Pare, N.C.C.P., C.S.O., C.S.P.S., C.S.T.S.

What does it mean to have a conditioned body?

A well conditioned body is one that is strong, flexible and can endure sustained activity.  The word “conditioning” is often applied to the activities that are necessary to excel at a particular sport.  For example, if you are training for an upcoming bodybuilding show, you will train towards being very muscular and well proportioned because that is what the sport demands.  If you are focused on improving your performance and your skills in hockey or football, your efforts should be geared towards a more dynamic approach to training.  If you want to improve your overall health then perhaps you will tailor a program towards cardiovascular fitness and strength training using the techniques and lifts of Olympic weightlifting. Being conditioned is a prerequisite to good health and to becoming an athlete. 

How do you condition yourself?

This question demands some goal setting and an education of what exactly is required.  If you are interested in a versatile, and physically fit body to enjoy life and daily activities, aspects such as nutrition, body composition, and daily exercise in moderation will greatly enhance the quality of life. If you would like to learn how to move and bend with more freedom, then consider incorporating deadlifts, squat, and lunges into your weight training program.  If you want to be the very best athlete in your particular sport, the training regimen will reflect what needs to be strengthened and enhanced. Set some goals and devise a plan to attain them.
Why do we experience muscle soreness?

Did you know that the reason why we often feel stiff and sore after certain activities is because we have not taken the time to consider the best way to accomplish these tasks using proper movement?  Many back injuries are a result of not squatting properly to bend and pick something up off the floor. There is a proper way to lift and bend and it is important to educate yourself on the most efficient manner in which to move. 

Muscular soreness may also occur after completing high repetition sets with a given amount of weight.  (Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy)

Many people feel that looking beautiful is the “be all and end all” to being “in shape”.  It is my opinion that a better objective would be to focus on enjoying a conditioned body that is capable of doing a wide variety of activities.  One should focus on learning to move properly using the short levers, strength train regularly to improve overall strength, and incorporate cardiovascular fitness to strengthen the heart and lungs.  Nutrition is also vital to good conditioning and proper rest is also important.  A well conditioned body is an achievable goal.  Think about it and make it happen!

Maintaining mental sharpness

Use it or lose it applies to most things in life. This principle applies equally to both physical and mental abilities since each aspect declines without daily challenges. It is common knowledge that if the muscles and cardiovascular systems aren't subjected to an appropriate level of intensity, frequency, and duration of exercise they will slowly deteriorate. The same holds true for our mental capabilities. If they aren't used, they also decline.

Physical exercise enhances your vitality just as mental stimulation can increase your minds ability to adapt to new situations and circumstances. But you've got to use it to achieve the positive benefits.

The aging process affects the brain in subtle ways. As we get older, the mental processing takes longer. It may even be true that it is harder to learn new things. Our recall of stored information is slower; it is harder to remember names, faces, and other factual information. We even find it more difficult to focus on accomplishing multiple tasks. Getting more than one or tow different things done is not as easy as it was when we were younger because it’s more difficult to divide our attention. 

Cognitive stimulation, exercise for your brain, has been found to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Do you read a lot? Listen to the radio, do crossword puzzles, or play cards or checkers? Are you stimulating your brain? If not then get going.

In a study conducted in late November of 2002, the participants were taught deliberate cognitive techniques that helped to improve their memory, concentration, and problem solving abilities. Two years later, these skills remained with this group.

There is enough information supporting the use of mental exercise to ward off age related declines in mental sharpness that it behooves an individual to stay mentally active. 

Keeping your brainpower and your physical conditioning in top-notch condition requires time and effort. Increased lean muscle, a healthier heart and circulatory system and respiratory capabilities all come with effort. So does maintaining and increasing your mental capabilities. Neither one will come about if all your spare time is spent in front of the television or computer.

Here are a few suggestions to preserve and even increase your mental potential.

Stay involved with your family, friends, and community. Be an active member of one of your favorite organizations, volunteer or even start a new job. You will never know what you can do until you try it.

Explore new ideas and the world on the internet, sign up for an online class on a topic you have always wanted to know more about.

Try a new hobby, sport or join a book club.

Switch from your dominant hand to the weak hand in activities such as brushing your teeth, playing ping-pong, tennis, and pool. Nearly everything can be more challenging to your brain if done with the less dominate hand.

Use your mind to create new ideas and then draw them out on paper.

Stand on both feet for two to three minutes just thinking. After that is easy to do then do it on one foot. Practice this near something sturdy in case you start to fall and need to reach out to stabilize yourself.

Practice deep breathing or meditation exercises.

Do something to keep your brain challenged, you will be rewarded with a higher quality of life for doing so. In reality the saying of use it or lose it really is true. Never give up on making yourself better. Do something positive for yourself every single day.

Childhood obesity

Health care and fitness professionals throughout the United States and other affluent nations are increasingly alarmed at the growing epidemic of childhood obesity. This upward spiral of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease demands immediate attention if changes in these unhealthy trends are to be reversed. Perhaps a quick look at the problem will set the tone for action.

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) states that more than nine million of our children are overweight. Obesity in our 2-6 year old preschool children, and adolescents, 12-19 years old has doubled since the 1970’s. This rate has tripled in the 6-11 year olds!

Unfortunately, similar increases have occurred within the adult population during this nearly four-decade period.

We are not active enough to ward off this onslaught of health problems as evidenced by the fact that over half of the 12-21 year olds do not regularly engage in vigorous activity or exercise. Some blame the television or computer. The statistics are clear that overweight and obese children watch more television or play on the computer more than their healthier and lower weight peers.

Not only are these kids fatter but 7% of them suffer from sleep apnea when their breathing temporarily stops or is suspended briefly periodically throughout the night. This causes a lack of restful sleep that continues to accumulate. Loss of sleep upsets the hormonal balances within the body. These hormones regulate body fat levels.

Parents set the example. If one parent is obese, the child has a fifty percent chance of also being obese. This increases thirty percent up to eighty percent when both parents are obese. This kid doesn’t have a chance under these circumstances.

Obesity brings on the added risk of diabetes later on in life. For those born in 2000, a potential diagnosis of type 2 diabetes exists in thirty percent of the boys and forty percent for the girls during their life span.

The sad part is this situation can be dramatically altered simply by exercising or engaging in physical activity every day. However, we don’t because we have to watch our favorite show, play on the computer, eat fast food, rather than cook a healthy meal, drink pop and sugar filled fake fruit juices, ride instead of walk, use the escalator in lieu of the stairs….

In the education system, we have less than eight percent of our elementary and less than seven percent of our middle and high schools requiring daily physical education for the students. It should not be up to the schools to get the kids active, sure, it helps, but the main responsibility lies within the family unit. The modeling takes place at home. If the parents are inactive, overweight, and obese the chances are great, the kids will be too.

Obesity

Obesity, as stated earlier, poses a serious threat to our health and occurs when the overall amount of calories consumed exceeds the calories expended.

Obesity, per the accepted definition, is an excessively high proportion of body fat in relation to lean body mass on an individual. Another common indicator of obesity is a mathematical chart comparison of weight with height. These graphs use a standard of acceptable or desirable weight when compared to the height of the person measured.

The body mass index is one of the most frequently used measures to determine a healthy weight. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses a mathematical formula. These calculations divide the person’s weight in pounds by the square of the person’s height in inches. The answer is then multiplied by 703.

There are also formulas that use the metric system.

However, this formula does not take into account the lean muscle mass on the person, so if one is heavily muscled the BMI will inaccurate.

When children are born, they have extra fat. This helps them make an easier transition from the womb into the outside world. As they approach five years of age both body fat and body weight are at the lowest points of their lives.

If your child is between two and five years old and they are overweight or worse yet, obese, there is sufficient reason to be taking additional health related to steps to reduce their body fat.

Consult with your pediatrician and work together to stabilize and then reduce the level of body fat in your child. The suggestions may include a healthier diet with an ample selection of fruits, grains, milk, vegetables, and non-sugary fruit drinks along with exercise or physical activity.

You can start by going to the USDA MyPyramid site here at http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/resources/mpk_close.pdf to see for yourself what a healthy diet consists of for your child.

Help your child grow healthy and live a life that is not consumed by potentially avoidable medical problems.

What the Body Mass Index (BMI) means to you as a parent

The BMI is a tool, not the end all diagnostic that is used to decide if you or your child is overweight or obese. In the case of your child, these figures should not be used to make that decision. Instead, examination of specific age-adjusted comparison charts will be used as guides in coming up with an educated answer.

The BMI, as used for children, is calculated the same as an adults would be with the results being compared to typical values of other children the same age. Rather than using any set thresholds for overweight or obesity the BMI compares same gender and age children and looks for trends.

A child is considered underweight when they fall below the fifth percentile on the chart. They are overweight above the ninety-fifth percentile. Those kids who lie between the eighty-fifth and under the ninety-fifth percentile are at risk of becoming overweight.

Your child’s growth is normally documented, and compared with a BMI measured growth chart. These weight gain trends are calculated between the differences in the child’s BMI and the charts BMI.

If your child is in the risk categories, further professional assistance may be considered in determining whether they have large bones or grow as an endomorph with the stocky body style. If so, comparisons with the BMI charts will need to be modified to fit your child’s physical makeup.

Don’t go overboard with the endomorph conclusion; if they look overweight, they probably are overweight.

Granted, genetic predispositions of being overweight and obese do exist for some people. However, the major causes for the rest of the overweight and obese population is the development and subsequent maintenance of obesity brought on by consuming larger than normal proportions of food on a daily basis. Eating more means weighing more.

The health consequences of childhood obesity

Numerous studies over the past decade have examined the history of and subsequent health risks of being obese. It should not come as any surprise that being overweight significantly affects the health status of the individual. Quality of life issues, along with psychological problems arise for many of those who are overweight or obese.

The links between being overweight/obese and increased morbidity due to hypertension, diabetes, abnormal concentrations of fats in the blood, congestive heart failure, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallstones, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, and cancers of the colon, breast, endometrial and gall bladder, menstrual changes, fertility difficulties and increased pregnancy risks  are well established in the scientific literature.

Your child is at a higher risk of an early onset of many of these diseases if they are overweight when compared to a child of normal size. The chances of an obese five-year-old child remaining obese as an adult is fifty percent. This alarming statistic increases to eighty percent for an obese adolescent.

On the other hand, a child of normal weight has about a seven percent chance of becoming obese in adulthood.

Excess fat on the body expresses itself physically in different ways, most of which are unhealthy such as respiratory, gastrointestinal, and even musculoskeletal problems. Along with the physical burden of the excess weight quality of life issues crop up such as potentially poor psychosocial interactions. 

When the fat cells are larger, certain metabolic and inflammatory repercussions begin to appear with disastrous results for the heart, kidneys, and liver. Amongst these manifestations are elevated blood pressure readings that can end up as hypertension. Abnormal blood lipid readings are also significantly higher showing up in approximately half of the obese childhood population.

These factors are not the only serious issues facing the obese child. Endocrine responses are altered as well. For example, insulin resistance increases and glucose tolerance is impaired along with type 2 diabetes being common in obese children. Coupled, these cardiovascular and metabolic problems often times present as the metabolic syndrome. This condition leads to early death.

In the normal adolescent, this syndrome is present in less than one percent of the population; however, in the overweight, it is present in about ten percent and in the obese, it is close to thirty percent. That is a tremendous increase.

Kidney and liver problems are also a concern for the obese child leading to an increased risk of cancers later on in their life.

It is abundantly clear that obesity early in a person’s life can bring with it devastating consequences to both short term and long-term health.

The choice is yours. You are the adult in this equation. It is up to you to guide your child by helping them stay healthy and at a normal weight.

Core Strengthening by Daniel Pare, NCCP, CSO, CSPS, CSTS, Strength and conditioning coach

Here is a new word for you, “The Core”.  Is it really a new word?  Of course not!  Except that our fitness industry has been using the word “Core” to describe or promote ab workouts.  I really like the idea and I only have one issue with that, we are promoting sit up, leg raises, for core workouts.  Is this a bad thing?  No, not really, except that there is a lot of confusion regarding this.  Sit-ups and leg raise are OK for ab work outs, but they are not really meant for strengthening the core.

In order to train the “Core musculature” we need to know where it is.  Your core musculature is located between the knee joint and the rib cage.  How many muscles do we have in there?  A lot.  Leg muscles, glutes, lower and mid back, and all abdominal muscles.  

How are we going to strengthen all of that?  I have selected a few key exercises that are going to target all the muscles mentioned earlier and strengthen them. 

The squat (front or/and back), the deadlift (not stiff leg deadlift) and the standing shoulder press. 

The squat is performed with a straight back and all the way down, hips to the floor.  Why?  The knee joint is part of the equation of having a strong core, therefore, deep squat help with stronger knees.  If it is too hard at the beginning, just use a chair to sit on and work your way down. 

With the deadlift make sure that your knees are bent and your back is tight and arched, shoulders back looking straight ahead.  You stand up with your legs, not your back and keep the barbell close to you. 

For the standing shoulder press the weight is pressed right above your head with straight arms.

When you get accustomed to working out and getting stronger you may add more exercises like lunges.  Remember that free weights target primarily your core musculature.       

Keep in mind that all of the exercises are performed standing up, not laying down!  As for the sets and reps, we are looking at 3 to 5 sets of 5 reps at best.  Why not more?  We are looking at strengthening, not shaping.  Yes, I know, there is nothing pretty and/or fancy about that, but guess what, it works.  You want a stronger core…. so let’s do it together and let’s do it right.  I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

Daniel Pare, NCCP, CSO, CSPS, CSTS
Strength and conditioning coach
St. Thomas Strength Athletics
519-633-0771
fax, 519-637-1210
Email Stsa1258@aol.com
www.stthomasstrengthathletics.com 

Getting a handle on your sleep debt

Getting a full night of sleep will make you more alert and productive the following day. However, if you’ve been getting six hours one night and four or five the next then you are already in a sleep deficit. If this pattern is not changed you are setting yourself up for a myriad of problems in the future, both physical and cognitively. There are steps you can take, right now, to reduce your sleep debt.

Try these ideas for at least two to three weeks and see if your sleep improves. One of the first things to do is to make sleeping a priority. Just as you do with an important appointment or homework assignment, you set it at the top of your to do list and get it done. You must schedule enough time to sleep.

Follow your list of things to do during the day but don’t put so much on the list that it becomes impossible to do. Just list the tasks that can be done in the time allotted.

Go to bed the same time each night and get up at the same time every day; not just on work or school days, but every day. This helps reset your internal time clock and establishes your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle. This helps you sleep better at night.

Eating and drinking large amounts just before bedtime is an invitation for heartburn and unnecessary trips to the bathroom. Avoiding alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine makes it easier to sleep all night long. Even though your body doesn’t store caffeine, it remains in your system for many hours after ingesting it. Although alcohol may help you doze off it causes restless sleep and countless disturbing awakenings during the night.

Eliminate these three substances four or five hours before bedtime and you’ll sleep better.

Develop a bedtime routine and slowly, if that’s your nature, wind down from the day and prepare your mind and body for sleeping. Set yourself up for high quality rest by keeping your room dark, cool, quiet, and comfortable. Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillow and go to bed when you are sleepy. This will naturally adjust to the time you set to get in bed each night. Trust your body to make this happen.

Naps work for many people but your primary sleep time should be at night, unless you work a graveyard shift. If you happen to work at night, then take the suggestions and apply them to your individual sleep time routine. Cover your windows to make the room dark, use a fan to mask the sounds of daytime and cut out the wake me up cup of coffee just before you get off shift.

This would not be complete without mentioning exercise. Regular exercise, aerobic and anaerobic, helps you to fall asleep. A session of intense exercise in the afternoon seems to help many people fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer during the night.

A companion to exercise is being active throughout the day. Sitting around watching TV or banging away at the computer keyboard is not being active! Get up and get out of the house. Go for a walk. Do some body weight squats, push-ups and curl ups. Do something; don’t sprout like a couch potato.

Getting a good nights sleep will improve your disposition and general outlook on life, not to mention the health benefits that accrue from sleeping well each night.

Healthy ways to reduce your fat intake

The two quickest ways of cutting back on unhealthy fat are by skimming off the fat from your gravies, soups, and stews and using skim milk in place of whole milk.

Next up on the fat reduction list; cooking smarter, using fewer yokes, and decreasing the use of butter and margarine in your recipes.

Cooking smarter

Do you really need that extra glob of butter on your eggs or that much margarine on your morning toast? Probably not, but it’s hard to give it up isn’t it? As with all things in life (except lifting weights and healthy exercise), moderation is the key.

Substitute the butter and margarine with a bit of vegetable oil, nonstick spray, or olive oil lightly smeared on the pan. Another option is to use the nonstick Teflon pans. Substituting other ingredients for butter or margarine may take some getting used to but the new flavors offer a new taste sensation. For example, use apple, plum, apricot, peach, or any other fruit butter on your toast or bread. When baking unsweetened applesauce, prune puree can sometimes be substituted for half the called for amount of butter, oil or shortening in the recipe

Bake, broil, grill, poach, or steam instead of frying. When you poach your egg, stir the hot water in a circle so the egg centers in the middle and stays together while it poaches its little heart away. Speaking of eggs the yoke contains the most fat and cholesterol so leaving out a few yokes in your omelet may be in your best interest. There are some high quality egg substitutes on the market. Try a few and see which ones you can tolerate.

As you grill or broil your meat, keep it on a rack so the fat drips off and makes a mess (or catches on fire) but at least it’s not going into your stomach. You may want to put something under it to keep either of the aforementioned things from happening.

After your grill is fired up and everything is cooking to perfection, or burning up, it’s time to make a good tasting salad filled with your favorite vegetables.

However, that will have to wait until next time when the super high red-hot heat, burn it and get it done quickly chef from explosivelyfit strength training shares more dietary fat reduction ideas. Adding a nice dressing to your summer salad is a matter of picking out a fat free dressing. A few ideas here can save you many unnecessary fat calories.

Cutting back on dietary fat in your food and drink

If it were easy to maintain or regain an ideal healthy weight, our nation wouldn’t be one of the fattest on the face of the earth.

However, it’s not, so we have to deal with reality and the reality is this:

We eat too much and we don’t exercise enough.

You will NEVER out train bad eating habits. It can’t be done and it won’t be done. Period.

So what is the answer? Following a fat reduction-eating plan. Notice it said fat reduction, not fat elimination; you must have fats in your diet to live. Without fat, vitamins A, D, E, and K, have a difficult, if not impossible time, of being absorbed into the body.

Any meal plan that contains more calories than your body uses will cause excess fat to build up. This isn’t rocket science; it’s simply good sense. Once eating this way becomes a habit your body will thank you for taking such good care of it. It’s easy to start.

Begin by looking at the food labels and becoming aware of the contents. Now gradually cut back on those with saturated and transfats listed in the ingredients section.

The evidence is overwhelming that eating a diet rich in plant foods, fruits, whole grains, and low fat is conducive to lowering the risks of getting cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases such as a heart attack and a stroke.

Losing weight is simpler if the amount of fat in your diet is at a reasonable amount. Recall from your high school science class that each gram of protein and carbohydrate contains four calories.

Fat on the other hand comes in over double that amount at nine calories per gram. So it’s no wonder that a couple of handfuls of potato chips each night packs the fat on is it?

In order to make your life healthier here are a few suggestions to consider in reducing your fat consumption.

When making gravies, soups and stews let them set and cool off. Once cool, the fat rises to the top and can be skimmed off and tossed out.

Get used to drinking skim milk. It may take a few days, or in the case of the hard-core full fat, high calorie, fat filled, non-healthy milk drinker a few months. Start out with a 2% reduced fat, graduate to the 1%, and finally into the fat free skim milk.

If you think you are eating substantially less fat in the 1% and 2% types compared to the whole milk think again. It is almost an insignificant difference.

Other ways to cut back on the dairy fat is to try the fat free yogurts, reduced fat cheeses, fat free or low fat sour cream, and cream cheese.

Put a few of these ideas into practice over the next seven days and you will begin to see the benefits of decreased fat in your diet.

When to get help for a head injury

At some point in nearly everyone’s life, his or her head has been bonked. Most of these types of injuries, i.e. a few cuts or bruises, that quickly heal are minor with no further repercussions. These can be dealt with by applying basic first aid measures.

In other cases, an injury to the head can result in life threatening or life altering damage to the brain. Danger signs of a serious head injury are a loss of consciousness; even brief episodes of a loss of consciousness are serious and need medical attention.

Signs of bleeding that impact the brain are often unseen and can cause compression forces on the brain tissue. Along with these two danger signs is the potential for a broken neck and/or a skull fracture.

A wise coach or parent will immediately seek medical attention if they observe any of the following symptoms. The aforementioned loss of consciousness even if this occurs several hours after the hit or accident.

Any signs of confusion either outwardly expressed by the person or noticed by others who are close to the one that suffered the head injury. A dazed look or appearance falls into this category as well.

A loss of memory, sick feeling, or vomiting all should raise the red flag that something is amiss and needs a look by a medical professional.

Obviously, partial paralysis, numbness, blood, clear watery appearing fluids seeping from the ear or nose or weakness experienced in the extremities mandates a thorough examination. A person would be making a serious error if they did not make an immediate call to 911 in these instances.

A headache that just doesn’t go away, even one that is unusual in nature, something that has never been experienced before the head hit requires medical care.

Discolorations around the eyes or the back of the ears can be signs of serious trauma.

There are medical intervention procedures that can prevent further damage in these cases, but the medical professionals have to called before they can be of assistance. Do your part and pay close attention when a head injury occurs.

When in doubt, check it out and prevent a potential life altering injury from becoming worse.

Someone said squatting is bad for you-is it?

This exercise myth has gained so much traction over the years that it is accepted as a fact by many fitness conscious individuals. People believe what they want to believe regardless of any contradictory facts.

Personal trainers instructing their trainees to stop above or at parallel are some of the worst offenders and continue to perpetuate the falsehood that squats are bad for you. In some rare circumstances, a person should not squat.

If you and your doctor have reached this conclusion, then limiting the squat to above parallel may be the best option to avoid further damage to your body. However, for the rest of the population the squat is an excellent strength producing exercise. It has a well-deserved reputation in the strength profession as the exercise of choice for the development of superior body strength and power.

You need look no farther than the Asian countries to see their citizens resting in the full squat position. Do you think this would continue if they were hurting their knees? I doubt it very much. Let’s take a closer look at this exercise.

The squat is the king of all exercises because of the benefits that result from this powerful activity.

• Lean muscle mass is increased
• Basic metabolism is faster
• Your general physical fitness and work capacity are positively improved
• Mental and physical energy levels are amplified
• You will sleep better
• Body fat will be lowered
• Endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers are released into your body
• The heavy load on your shoulders, back and legs helps to make your bones stronger by increasing their mineral density
• The connective tissues of your body adapt to the load and in turn become stronger and better able to tolerate the additional stress of the weight

Of course, if you or your trainer aren’t cognizant of the correct movement patterns involved in properly doing the squat an injury could be the result.

Pay attention to these few pointers when squatting and you will be just fine. As in the case of any new exercise load lightly until you are familiar with the motion.

• Begin with the bar, evenly loaded side to side, centered on your shoulders.
• Keep a solid arch or the natural curve in your back.
• Keep you eyes focused on a point just above your eyes-not on the ceiling as this throws off your balance perspective.
• Start the move by pushing your hips back, back, not down.
• If you begin by bending your knees, you automatically set yourself up for failure due to the poor positioning of your body’s joints and limbs in the subsequent parts of the exercise.
• Continue to move back until your buttocks are near the floor.
• Once at the bottom start back up with a squeeze of your shoulders, an upright push on the bar with your hands and upper back and extending your hips.
• As you complete the lift start moving your hips forward until you are upright and ready to squat again.

Squatting is as natural as breathing and will continue to be so as long as we inhabit the earth.

Exercise guidelines for adolescents and children

In this day and age there are guidelines for nearly everything under the sun and exercise is no exception.

In days past, our population was much more active. Those hardy ancestors of ours didn’t need guidelines when it came to exercise; their exercise was work. They worked hard just to survive.

Not so any longer, now we get our heat from the power company, our food from the grocery store and our transportation comes in the form of a vehicle of some sort. Gone are the days of being physically active every day.

The result of this lack of physical activity is a population that is rapidly becoming more obese and less healthy everyday while at the same time exhibiting a greater loss of athleticism in the process. We are replacing strenuous activity with an over reliance on things to do things for us.

The fact is we don’t move much any more and we are paying the price with declining health and increased medical care costs. In each instance, it is an inverse relationship:

• More movement less health problems
• Less movement increased medical costs

Simply doing a physical activity every day will improve your health status. Look at the Sardinians, there the population of centenarian’s average 208 per 100,000. The men, for the most part, are shepherds. They walk miles and miles everyday. It’s not called exercise is it? Yet they live a long productive life. You can do a similar thing.

Take the time to walk with your child, learn what’s going on in their life, talk to them, and strengthen that special parental bond. Make it a daily habit. It will bring you closer and help them develop a healthier lifestyle. Can you consider this exercise, you bet you can but it’s more than that, its time together when they are young and still in the home with you.

Don’t let this short period of their life slip away without spending it doing things with them that will make a difference in their lives later on.

Exercise is another one of the ways we can counteract unhealthy trends. Beginning at an early age, exercise has long-term benefits to our health and our pocketbooks.

According to guidelines set forth in the US department of Health and Human services publication Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, adolescents and children should do at least 60 minutes or more of physical activity every day. Not just on weekdays, but every day of the week. Are yours or are they playing a video game, sitting at a computer or in front of a television instead?

If so, get them out of the house and involved with some sort of physical activity. Walk with them, play athletic games with them. Do something to get them up and moving. You don’t even have to call it exercise.

Show them how to get their heart rate up to where it will do them some good. Learn how to figure out your target heart rate and then practice keeping it there for at least thirty minutes a day five to six days a week.

Set the example, after all you are the adult. If they see their parents blobbing around all day doing nothing, that is what they will end up doing. Is this how you want them to live their potentially short life?

Get them doing some strength training. Encourage them to build their muscles up so they can carry on daily activities in a safe efficient manner. Not only will this increase their lean muscle mass it will also strengthen their bones.

You can model exemplary behavior when it comes to your own exercise habits. Providing encouragement for them to participate in fun things that involve physical activity every day will get them started on the right path to good health.

This sets the tone for their future good health.

The short and sweet of all this is to get them moving, get them off the couch and on the pathway to a healthier lifestyle.

Adult exercise guidelines

Inactivity diminishes a person’s ability to lead a healthy productive life and living a long time doesn’t mean much if you aren’t able to enjoy it. Avoiding the sedentary lifestyle is easier than it may appear. Simply get moving.

You don’t have to be an elite world class athlete to reap the benefits of being healthy. As the saying goes, any amount of activity is better than none, but in my humble opinion, not much better.

Nonetheless doing at least 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity exercise will lead to substantial improvements in your health. Healthful results accrue by doing 75 minutes of higher intensity exercise such as strength training in the 80-100% of your one rep max or with aerobics keeping your heart rate within the 75-80 target heart rate (THR) range.

Combining these two methods of exercise on alternate days provides an ideal scenario for success. If you can’t find twenty to thirty minutes a day at a time, then do your exercises in ten-minute spurts. The results are the same according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Just spread these episodes of intense movement throughout the week until you reach the time necessary to realize the benefits of the activity.

Strength building is an important aspect of leading a healthy life. Without the strength to move your body, do the daily chores or help prevent a fall from happening you are opening yourself up for an injury.

A good exercise program consists of both aerobic and anaerobic exercise spread throughout the week on a consistent basis. Not hit or miss, but everyday. Consistency counts in maintaining exercise discipline just as it does in everyday life when it comes to achieving your goals.

Older adult exercise guidelines

The previous adult guidelines apply to the older population but with a few moderate stipulations that are just for this group. If you are an older adult but are unable to do at least 150 minutes of medium intensity aerobic activity each week due to chronic health conditions then continue to do what you can do. It is far better to be a little active than none at all.

Let your physical abilities and health conditions guide your exercise response. Just don’t quit.

Exercises that help prevent falls by maintaining balance capabilities are essential to good health. Strength training keeps your muscles ready to prevent a fall should you find yourself losing your balance and beginning to fall. If you don’t have the strength to catch yourself then you will more than likely fall.

Schedule periodic discussions with your doctor to determine if the exercises you want to do are appropriate for your particular health conditions. Don’t delay going in if you have questions.

You can ride a stationary bike or use a hand device that allows you to pedal with your arms if you aren’t able to maintain your balance on a bike. Other options are to walk with a friend or joy a local fitness center.

If you decide to join a health center follow your gut instincts when it comes to the exercise program they put you on; if it doesn’t feel right don’t do it! Ask for clarification as to why you are supposed to be doing the exercises and then have the instructor demonstrate each one before you try it. If it hurts don’t do it, there are scores of other exercises that will provide a similar result.

If you decide to go it on your own plan on doing some cardio, strength training, flexibility, and balance training two to three times per week for twenty to thirty minutes a day. The thirty minutes a day is a high end number. Don’t kill yourself in these workouts. They should be enjoyable and fun to do. If not then change your program.

Most professional strength coaches or personal trainers will be more than happy to assist you, if not, go to another gym, and find someone with a little compassion. It’s not always about the membership and the money you pay to be a part of the club.

The importance of sweating to your health

The basic premise of this article is sweat is good. In our society, sweat is thought of as something to be avoided. Hard work produces sweat. It’s the body’s way of cooling itself off and is a necessary process of life.

Coaches carefully watch their athletes and mentally or in written down form note those who sweat easily and profusely. Scheduled water breaks along with constant reminders to drink and an open water source helps to prevent heat related dehydration issues during practice or on the competitive field.

The better trained an acclimated athlete is to the heat, the more efficiently they sweat. Thus, they must replace a larger amount of these lost fluids. A trained athlete may also be a heavy sweater when compared to their teammates. In either case, precautions must be taken to prevent injury to them.

Heavy sweaters lose more water and salty sweaters lose a larger than normal amount of the essential electrolytes that effectively run the body. If either of these conditions fit you and if you don’t have high blood pressure, then a bit of added salt to your water or a sport drink would be acceptable for your recovery liquid.

Perhaps you sweat easily and profusely and use a deodorant that helps block your sweat glands from producing sweat. In regular conditions, this is ok but not when playing a sport or working out in the yard. Sweating is natures built in air conditioner. The fluid that moves to your skins surface uses the surrounding air to cool the body down. Blocking this process impedes the cooling effect of sweating.

Water is by far the best choice for rehydration.

Don’t get recovery drinks mixed up here. Recovery drinks feed the cells with some extra carbohydrate and protein macronutrients. They are used to push nutrients into the cells at the opportune time, i.e. within ten minutes after a heavy exercise session is finished, when the cells are depleted. Of course, they can also be taken just prior to the exercise or before the practice begins as a loading process.

The consensus of knowledgeable coaches is keep a steady flow of water going into their athletes without entering into a state of hyponatremia , which can be deadly.

The importance of water to your health

Carrying around a water bottle is more common now than in the past when people didn’t have one with them everywhere they went. It would appear as though this is a good habit to get into especially as the weather starts getting warmer. Water is a major player; it constitutes approximately 80-85% of the make up of your body. Without it, you won’t last long.

It helps keep your body cool, eliminates the waste products produced by your body, and cleanses the pores in your skin. Normal living activities consistently use water while sweating and breathing, sometimes at a substantial rate. As a side note when this happens compensate for this loss as fast as possible to avoid any adverse side effects.

Thirst is not a good indicator of dehydration. By the time you realize that you’re thirsty you are already in the early stages of dehydration.

Water migrates into your cells faster than pop, tea, and even Gatorade. It’s called the universal solvent for your body because it enters the cells, rehydrates them, and then carries away the waste products that accrue with living an active life. Due to the pH, these products being more acidic than your body they aren’t as effective in promoting good health in the normally alkaline environment within your body.

A quick rule of thumb is to replace every pound lost with at least 16 ounces of water. Cold water seems to be the way to drink it. It tastes better, and at the same time, helps cool you off from the inside out.

This does not include pop, beer, coffee, distilled, or reverse osmosis water but plain water unless you are a heavy or salty sweater. Distilled and reverse osmosis water removes much of the mineral content leaving you vulnerable to cramping. Additionally these two water sources tend to be on the acidic side of the scale with the attending consequences previously mentioned.

At the very basic level, the mitochondria in your body serve as little power plants inside your cells. Without water, electrolytes, and nutrients carried by water, they cannot work efficiently and eventually begin shutting down. Once this happens, your ability to function ceases.

Reducing your dietary fat calories

Adding a nice dressing to your summer salad is a matter of picking out a fat free dressing. A few ideas here can save you many unnecessary fat calories.
For example, plain yogurt tastes great in sauces for pasta, and sandwiches. Plain yogurt and tuna makes an excellent tasting sandwich spread. This is certainly better for your heart than mayonnaise. For a snack, bagels and bread are tasty when topped with fat free cream cheese. Pureed cottage cheese offers a nice smooth spread.

Substitute beans as your protein one or two meals a week, this automatically cuts down on the fat content. Add them to your salads, or soups for a healthy change. These are high protein, low fat and the best part is they have no cholesterol.

If you are unable or unwilling to try eating more beans and legumes during the week then use lower fat cuts of meat. Beef sold as select rather than choice or prime is much healthier for your heart.

Buy the extra lean ground beef, or for another taste treat try the ground chicken or turkey. Speaking of chicken and turkey, peel the skin off before or after cooking. This will save you many calories that in most cases aren’t needed in your diet. Another option is to pick up a pound or two of Canadian bacon instead of the regular fat filled bacon.

Fish is excellent as the main course for a meal. Adding a nice dressing to your summer salad is a matter of picking out a fat free dressing. A few ideas here can save you many unnecessary fat calories. Choose salmon, mackerel or herring not only for their lower than normal fat content but because of the high omega-3 fatty acid content. This fat has demonstrated its effectiveness promoting cardiovascular health.

Even meatless products have a place in reducing the fat in your diet. Meatless hotdogs, hamburgers, and even sausage taste all right occasionally. TVP, textured vegetable protein, comes in a variety of flavors that are available in the specialty stores.

A meal is not complete without dessert. Nonetheless, it is at this time when all of your good diet conscious decisions fall flat. There are good tasting options such as fat free frozen yogurt and ice cream, sherbet and sorbet. Put a heap of wild berries on top and you’ve got a dessert made in heaven.

Read the labels on the food before buying it. If it’s high fat move on down the line until something else that is healthier shows up in the next aisle. As the saying goes, become an informed consumer.

The health benefits of exercising thirty minutes a day

The advantages of exercise are well known throughout the civilized world. Quite often, the first thing people think about when hearing the word exercise is long boring cardio sessions or bulging muscles.

You don’t have to spend hours and hours in the gym to reap the rewards that come with consistent exercise. As little as thirty minutes a day will provide positive long lasting effects on most of the organs in your body. Even three ten minute sessions of exercise each day will work for you; as long as the intensity level is appropriate for your present physical condition.

The benefits that accrue from a paltry thirty minutes of your time exercising cover a broad range of factors directly relating to your health and well-being.

Here are the three of the best ten reasons to exercise each day.

1. Your energy and stamina will increase so you can do more every day.

Two of the after effects of exercise are increases in a person’s energy level and a greater immune protection response. Odd but true. However, you will have to try it to find out for yourself.

Start out with five minutes every day doing something for your health. Soon you will find that this time goes by so fast that you’ll want to go longer. Work up to the recommended thirty minutes and make it a habit for life.

2. In some cases, daily exercise may help lower your blood pressure by five to ten millimeters of mercury. This has a direct influence on your circulatory system, kidneys, and brain. The decease in blood pressure pushing through the circulatory system lowers the risk of damage to the organs. In the case of the brain, it lessens the chances of a life altering aneurism that breaks.

3. Improvements in cholesterol numbers often accompany an exercise program. By increasing your high-density lipoprotein (HDL-the good one) in your blood stream and losing a bit of weight you help protect your heart. Not only can exercise help raise the HDL numbers it can also lower the other triglyceride levels in your circulatory system.

If you haven’t consistently exercised in the past, the most difficult part now will be establishing the habit. Get started. Do something for yourself. Don’t keep putting it off until it’s too late. Do it now.

The best reasons to exercise

The previous issue listed three of the best reasons to exercise. Here is a quick recap of those reasons.

1. Your energy and stamina will increase so you can do more every day.
2. Daily exercise may help lower your blood pressure by five to ten millimeters of mercury.
3. Improvements in cholesterol numbers often accompany an exercise program.

Now, moving forward with an additional three reasons to exercise, we’ll briefly consider the effects exercise has on your mental state, losing or controlling weight and the obesity problem in our nation.

4. One of the benefits of exercise is the effect it has on your mental state. It can help reduce the stress in your life, and in some cases, improve mild depression-talk to your doctor before eliminating any medications you may be taking for this condition.

Sleep is enhanced each night and it boosts your mood the next day, a good thing if you hope to maintain a healthy relationship with others.

Even if you work at a physically demanding job, you will still benefit from an exercise program. Your job is your job but exercise is a separate issue. It’s something you are doing for yourself not because you have to in order to live but because you want to.

5. Speaking of losing weight, exercise has a beneficial effect on this too. In doing so it uses up extra calories and helps to maintain or even cut weight. By combining exercise with a well balanced diet of wholesome foods, you have the two ingredients for getting rid of excess weight. The downside to this is you’ll have to buy new clothes to fit your svelte new form.

6. The American population is getting fatter and fatter, so fat in fact that we are (at 25% obesity rate) almost, but not quite the world’s fattest nation. News.com.au reported on 19 June 2008 that Australia had surpassed the U.S. with a greater proportion of obese people with a figure of 26%. These are not healthy figures for either of our great countries. More exercise or at least some exercise and moderation in the food eaten will lower these numbers.

This leads up to the dangers of obesity and being over weight…type 2 diabetes. Exercise can help lower the circulating blood sugar. This allows insulin to work more efficiently in lowering the blood sugar levels. Activity prevents glucose from building up in the blood by using it as fuel in the muscles. This fuel keeps the muscle working.

The final best reasons to exercise

Since the beginning of this series, we've briefly hit upon six good reasons to exercise. This last installment touches upon two more health related reasons for doing a daily thirty-minute regimen.

Interestingly enough the two diseases that exercise may play a significant role in preventing are also two of the biggest life altering afflictions in our nation; after obesity that is. Cancer and osteoporosis affects millions of our citizens each year.

Exercise, load bearing intense exercise, has a positive relationship both in maintaining bone density and in strengthening the bones that are in danger of losing their integrity. Weight bearing activities include walking, jogging, and squats (after consultation with your doctor). The stress placed on the long bones of your body encourages the bones to adapt to the load.

This is the SAID (Specific Adaptation to an Imposed   Demand) effect. The load has to be great enough on the muscles and bones to make them adjust and grow. Soup cans will not cause this change and neither will long periods on the cardiovascular vascular machines. You have to actually load the muscles and bones with external weight to see differences in the outcome of your exercise sessions.

Just as intense exercise helps ward off osteoporosis, it strengthens the immune system and improves circulation. Additional benefits are reduced body fat, increased lean muscle mass, and a faster transit of food and drink through the digestive system. All of which play an important role in preventing cancer of the prostate, in the uterine lining, the breast and colon cancer, especially colon cancer.

If you hear someone say, they don’t have the time or energy to exercise every day you can bet they will have the time to be sick or injured.

You don’t have to go all out when you first begin. Start out easy. Yes, I actually said easy. Develop the healthy lifestyle habit and it will stay with, and continue to benefit, you until your dying day.

Healthy gifts

Giving rewards both the giver and the recipient. Anyone who has ever delivered an unexpected gift to a friend well remembers his or her look of pleasure. Husbands take note of this and surprise your wife with one of her favorite flowers, a night out, or some other memorable activity that you know she likes to do. We can all use the points.

Gifts that encourage healthy habits and relationships grab the attention of the receiver. That person realizes how much you value their friendship. Healthy gift choices run the gamut from food to exercise and all the other ideas in between.

Food can be a good option when choosing a gift, as long as it's healthy. Select high quality nutritious items that help protect the heart such as walnuts and almonds, green and white teas and in season fruits and vegetables. Pack them in a nice basket that can be used for something else afterwards and you have recycled and made a doubly valuable gift.

Pick out a few of your favorite food dishes, make up recipe cards, and mail them to your friends. Offer to help cook a meal on one of their workdays. Have it ready to go when they pop through the door.

Relaxation and exercise may sound like opposing concepts but in reality are, as the saying goes, they are actually two peas in a pod.

A month’s membership to the fitness center along with a personal trainer is an ideal present. Follow it up with a massage certificate and a soothing set of relaxation CD's and you've got a match made in heaven. If your friend is hardcore into strength training then the Explosivelyfit strength training gym is the place to go. No frills, just an atmosphere and professional coaching that produce results.

On a more personal level, give a coupon for a months worth of daily walks, a fast run around the track or in the neighborhood with you as their companion. You could even offer to go biking with them on a weekly basis.

A subscription to a mutually favorite magazine fosters greater brain activity and increased mental sharpness on the part of the beneficiary.

Perhaps a membership to a garden club would be the ideal gift for a good friend.

Twelve factors that affect recovery

According to Dr. Fred Hatfield, one of the world’s foremost authorities on strength and power development, there are at least twelve factors that affect recovery time in an individual. The can be briefly summarized in the following list:

• The larger muscles take longer to recover than do smaller ones.
• Bigger muscle groups take longer than do smaller muscle groups.
• Predominantly white fibers – the fast twitch – take longer to recover than do the slow twitch or red fiber muscles of the body. Recall that fast twitch fibers produce power and the red or slow fibers are more suited to long endurance types of activities.
• High intensity lifting in ranges above 80-85% 1RM requires greater recuperation times than do those who are in and below the 75% range.
• Full range exercise movements cause more muscle tissue damage than partial range motions and necessitate greater recovery times and methods.
• Older lifters or those above 35 need more time to recover when compared to a younger athlete.
• Recovery rates can be advanced as a result of aerobic weight training load program manipulations. The recovery can also be retarded if there is little to no aerobic efficiency training to the regimen. A general basis of physical fitness helps ensure greater recovery between exercise sessions.
• Better nutrition habits can have a significant impact on the recovery process. Especially when compared to poor eating habits.
• A healthy body generally recovers faster and more efficiently than an unhealthy one.
• Eccentric muscle contractions increase the recovery time due to the interfibril damage that occurs with this type of lifting.
• Overtraining or undertraining, whether occurring from biological and/or psychological causes, increases the demands on the recovery mechanisms.

Anaerobic recovery is similar but yet different from aerobic exercise recovery.

Stretching considerations and guidelines

Unless you have lived under a rock for the past thirty years, you know that stretching is an essential ingredient to sports success. Stretches performed after a warm up, during the training session and as part of the cool down can influence the outcome of an activity if done properly and in the right sequence at the right time.

There are still a number of athletes and recreational fitness enthusiasts stretching the wrong way at the wrong time. Runners immediately come to mind as they stand on one foot and pull the opposite foot to their buttocks. This is not a warm up; it is an invitation to a muscle injury.

This is a good stretch but not before a run or any other activity requiring any power output.

The reasons are two fold: these types of muscle stretches are generally done prior to a general warm up before the body is ready and secondly, static stretching relaxes the joint thereby causing neuromuscular confusion prior to a power output, i.e. running. A more appropriate warm up and stretch would be a dynamic version such as the high legs, lateral swings or simply a slow and increasing jog up to running speed.

Let’s back track a bit and discuss the benefits of the warm up as it relates to stretching. Primarily the general warm up prepares the body for any upcoming strenuous activity. The purpose is much like warming up your car. It’s more efficient and protects the internal parts from damage when warm.

A good warm up raises the internal temperature of the muscles resulting in improved elasticity and contraction capabilities, it increases the blood flow and raises the breathing efficiencies, a slight sweat develops and the speed and efficiency of your neuromuscular system functioning increases. The latter reduces reaction times via improved neuromuscular connections and transmissions.

After a general overall body warmup is completed, the stretching begins. Start with area specific warm ups and dynamic stretches. Avoid doing these excessively because once fatigue sets in it tends groove the range of motion (ROM) leading to potential flexibility limitations. These stretches are NOT ballistic movements.

Ballistic stretches attempt to force the joint beyond its ROM via bouncing and forceful movement actions. Dynamic stretches do not involve bouncing or jerky types of motion. They are highly beneficial fluid changes in direction.

Examples of area specific dynamic stretches include:

Upper area shoulder and chest dynamic stretches: note that some elite athletes are using upwards of 20kg in each of these exercises. Start slowly and build controlled speed as you progress through each set.

• Arms held straight and out to the sides and parallel to the floor. Full wide windmills to the side, front and rear, forward and backward, clockwise and counter clockwise.
• Start with your arms held straight down to the sides; begin by moving them up in a big semi circle behind your head without bending at the elbow.
• Straight arms parallel to the floor directly out in front of your chest. Move them across one another while keeping them parallel to the floor.
• Arms straight out to the front and parallel to the floor Bend at the elbows and extend and flex in rapid arm movements.

Mid body, dynamic motions include:

• Full body twists
• Good morning twists, aka Russian twists
• Side to side lateral movements
• 360’s with full ROM movement instead of a static hold in each position
• Back extensions without weight

Lower body dynamic movements would be similar to the following:

• High steps
• Butt kicks
• Knee hugs
• High legs to the front and rear
• High legs to the side
• Walking lunges to the front, rear and sides
• Squats
• Squat jumps
• Good mornings
• Leg twists to the sides while supine on the floor
• Reverse hyperextensions without weight

After the training is over, do static or PNF stretches. These stretches help the muscles to relax and regain or even increase the normal range of motion thereby keeping the body in a more natural and balanced state.

Stretching should not hurt. Instead, stretch only to a point of mild discomfort. Pushing too hard into a stretch causes an instant myotatic stretch reflex. This mechanism protects against injurious muscle fiber length changes within the muscle by causing it to contract.

Forcing a stretch past this reflex will often result in a muscle strain. However, if you hold a gentle stretch these same fibers become accustomed to the length and will gradually adapt to the new position, which in turn increases the joints range of motion (ROM).

Achieving the utmost from your static stretching routine involves a daily stretch, stretching slowly and taking your time while doing it. Relax into the stretch and avoid bouncing. Recall the myotatic stretch reflex response. Concentrate on the motion and practice regular breathing while stretching. Hold for ten to twenty seconds and repeat each movement for the selected number, generally five to ten times, before moving onto another one.

Static stretches after your training session include the following performed as a part of the cool down process.

• Low back rockers-low back, neck extensors
• Lay flat on your back, hold your knees to your chest and pull your head toward your knees. Now rock back and forth.
• Seated groin stretch
• Sit or lay on the floor. With your feet touching each other gently, push down on your knees.
• Hurdlers stretch-hamstrings
• Straighten one leg; bring the opposite foot to the side of the outstretched leg. Keep your lower back straight and bend forward at the hips.
• Seated twists-trunk rotators, neck rotators
• Straighten one leg; bring the opposite foot to the other side of the outstretched leg. Turn your upper body in the opposite direction.
• Butt to calf sit backs-quadriceps, shins
• Kneel down and slowly begin to rest your buttocks on your calves. Don’t do this if you have knee problems, as it is a very direct stretch.
• Dynamic lunges-hip flexor
• Get into the lunge position and slowly lower your upper torso straight down.
• Straight and bent knee lean ins-calves
• Face a wall with your arms held straight, keep your heels flat on the floor as you slowly lean forward at the hips.
• Face a wall with your lets held straight, keep your heels flat on the floor as you slowly lean forward at the knees.
• Horizontal arms-chest
• Hold your arms straight out to the side palms down. Turn your hands so the palms face the ceiling and slowly move your arms towards the rear.
• Straight arm finger interlocks-biceps, latissimus, wrist flexors
• Interlock your fingers and put your arms straight above your head. Turn your hands upward as you slowly pull them behind your head
• Elbow high-triceps
• Raise both arms straight above your head, bend one at the elbow and with the other slowly pull it back behind your head.
• Side bends-rib cage, neck flexors
• Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, hold one hand high above your head and then lean the opposite direction at the hips.

Summary:

Conventional training wisdom and intelligent strength coaches have found that a sequence consisting of the following serves the athletes needs effectively and efficiently.

• A proper warm up
• Dynamic area and localized stretches
• The work out
• A cool down that allows the body to regain its normal homeostasis includes static stretches or a version of PNF

Cardiovascular and respiratory endurance training

The principle methods used to develop the cardiovascular and respiratory systems revolve around working below the anaerobic (without oxygen) threshold pace for both time and distance. This means performing a cardiovascular exercise at a pace fast enough to tax the physical response of the two but without going into the anaerobic ranges. The anaerobic range gets its turn at the end with a fast sprint to the finish line and you need superior strength to excel in nearly every physical activity. Taxing both the cardiovascular and respiratory systems is the goal of endurance (aerobic, with oxygen) training programs. Since the physical ability that is needed to move the limbs seems to disappear, first let's look at this next.

Strength, as most can agree, is a vital component of training no matter if it's endurance or power, you still need the strength to move your body. In the case of the endurance athlete, this strength comes from the development of strength endurance. A lack muscular endurance means you will not be able to go long distances if your muscles can't continue putting out the force necessary to move the limbs.

The majority of endurance athletes lack muscular endurance. This is commonly seen at the end of a long race when one participant has a strong kick and the others fall behind at the finish line. Another example of this occurs when some of the athletes seem to be just barely moving their legs forward in a shuffle instead of a powerful stride to the end. However, is it all just in the muscles? Hardly so.

Respiratory fatigue precedes cardiovascular fatigue symptoms and therefore gives out sooner thus limiting the power output of the muscles engaged in the endurance activity. The respiratory muscles must be able to continue onward for long periods and still produce adequate power output to ensure a successful outcome.

Training muscular endurance requires high repetition numbers some even as high as two hundred to two hundred and fifty for one set. These are mentally hard training sessions and not ones for the faint of heart.

Why children should be exercising

From an early age, we are encouraged to be active, to participate on the playground and to engage in our favorite sports. Did you ever wonder why this is such good advice? The short answer is that exercise affects the entire body, including the mind, in a positive manner.

Getting our young people up and going for ‘play aerobics’, or simple and repetitive motions helps to increase the capillaries that supply blood flow to the cerebellum. Raising the levels of cardiovascular fitness helps to stave off coronary heart disease, and it plays a part in controlling or reducing hypertension, stroke and varicose veins (in our lower body). Its fun and it’s an easy thing to do, most kids are already doing it and they don’t consider it training either.

Do you need other reasons to stimulate their activity levels? How about this one, each new skill that they learn will directly increase the synaptic connections in the brain. The more of these positive connections the better will be their agility, coordination and balance abilities.

Normal childhood brings with it the opportunity to run and jump, to hop and throw, climb and balance and to kick and catch objects. These rudimentary skills are practiced and learned early as a child. If by chance the child does not have these genetic skills by four or five then it makes it VERY DIFFICULT for them to be at the same levels of their peers. This may cause them to forgo any types of physical activity at all because they can’t keep up with their friends on the playground. There is an answer though.

Providing a child with the time to practice these skills and being a good role model helps them to learn how to do these movements in the right way. It is not enough just to teach them any old time. The parent and coach have to realize there are certain times during the maturation process when specific movement skills are the most susceptible to being trained. Knowledgeable coaches will know when and how to teach certain skills as the child develops. Certainly not all of the skills will be taught at the same time, but each parent or coach should be striving to develop the entire range to the highest levels possible over the course of the child’s growing up period.

Each child needs to have their day in the sun, outdoors being active and doing it the right way in the right sequence according to their time schedule will be of the greatest benefit to each one of them.

Sports conditioning

There are all kinds of approaches regarding sports conditioning. Some people will run and others will train towards muscular endurance following a bodybuilding routine. Very few will utilize strength training to reach their objective. This time I am going to answer some questions/concerns regarding strength training and sports conditioning for the young athletes. Is there a right age to get started? I am inclined to say, the earlier the better. A good starting age would be 8, 9 years old. We are not looking at lifting heavy weights, we are rather teaching them proper form and technique.
 
Should they be doing lots of cardio! Let’s keep in mind the amount of cardio that they will be involved with while playing that sport. Most sports are what I call “shuttle sports”. A few examples of that are football and hockey. Keep this part of the conditioning in relation to their sport. A lot of cardio is not necessarily better.
  
Another concern is regarding the speed at which he/she skates or run. Can he or she accelerate and decelerate efficiently? For an athlete to be efficient at skating and running faster, accelerating and decelerating, he/she must be strong enough for their own bodyweight. If not, this is going to be a constant struggle. Can they squat their own bodyweight? Here I am looking at full squat, hips to the floor. Not a half squat. The purpose of the half squat is to target the quadriceps muscles. Overall body strength needs to be improved and full squats are needed. The regular practice of the squat will increase leg strength, abdominal strength and core musculature strength.
 
It is my belief that a sport conditioning program should focus on strength training with the application of Olympic weightlifting to improve Balance, Agility, Strength, Speed. The BASS® Training Principle.
   
The regular practice of the snatch, the clean and jerk and their respective assistance exercises will improve the athlete’s strength and conditioning to a level beyond expectations. It will also strengthen the core musculature, improve stamina and speed just to name a few.        
If you think that leg extension and chest fly get you in shape! Try Olympic weightlifting.

Remember; “Sports conditioning is meant to condition you for a sport, not to get you in shape for a sport!” 

Daniel Pare, NCCP, CSO, CSPS, CSTS
Strength and conditioning coach
St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada
519-633-0771
fax 519-637-1210
email Stsa1258@aol.com
web  www.stthomasstrengthathletics.com    

The myth of easily building big muscles

Unless you've been living under a rock your entire life you have no doubt heard someone say they didn't want to strength train because they didn't want to bulk up, put on extra muscular bulk or become too muscular or big.

If it was this easy to do then no one would be training hard to increase their muscle mass. It's not easy. It takes a lot of hard work under the iron to add mass. And, it goes without saying that spending excessive time on the cardio gear is not the way to increase your muscle mass nor is it the way to lose weight. Simply put, this myth, subscribed to by many women and even some misinformed trainers has set women's fitness and health back for years and years.

Let's look at the facts here. Women do not have the testosterone or other growth hormones in the amounts that males have in their body. Without these types of hormones women will not develop large muscles nor will they become bulky and muscular.

Instead, they will simply build leaner, stronger muscles that are more refined.

Lean muscles make a woman stronger and more able to live her life to the fullest extent possible. Because of the increased lean muscle tissue, more calories are burned per day than will be by the mislead person spending hours at a time on the bike or treadmill. Your heart rate slows down after you get off the machine but your muscles keep using calories for hours on end once the workout is over.

Strength training helps you lose weight by developing more lean muscle. It will also build up your cardiovascular capabilities and, if done correctly, i.e. performing full range of motion while exercising, will maintain the flexibility in your joints. As an added bonus, it keeps your bones strong.

Don’t be falling for the strength training myth that you will get big and bulky if you strength train. Only the grossly uneducated believe such nonsense.

Team training strategies

Is it time to rethink team training or just go with what has been done in the past?

Synopsis:

• Long distance slow (LSD) lap running is next to useless as a conditioning method* in the month prior to the team practices unless it is for a long distance running event.
• It is also nearly useless during the season as practices continue unless it is for a long distance running event.
• Keep in mind that exertional rhabdomyolysis can be a deadly companion to too much too soon if your athletes are not in shape.

Successful coaches have to be on the leading edge of the game to produce winning teams and keep healthy athletes on their roosters. Strategies, tactics, personnel position selections, and game plans, to name a few, all fit into the yearly plan. When it comes to the actual training practices just how you proceed can make a big difference in the outcome.

Take for instance the football two-a-days or the in-season training days; do your teams run the outside of the track for lap-a general light warm up is ok. After that is over then how many times a practice? Are you having linemen running multiple 100-meter sprints? Is everything straight ahead for distance? The big question is why?

Is it time to rethink your program?

Running the laps may look good on paper to the uninformed but it produces little in the way of actual game time conditioning. The laps should have been done during the summer for the football season relevant training days. If not, the general physical preparation (GPP) of the athlete will not be adequate. Drastic increases in duration, distance or effort, which frequently happens in sports practices, often lead to injuries, especially in the unconditioned athlete.

Look at the actual times a player runs slowly. Examine the times during the season any player has had to run more than 100-130 yards slowly. If you can even find one then something is amiss. My guess is, and it is backed up by even the most causal observer is, NEVER.

Most plays are conducted all out using primarily the ATP/CP anaerobic energy system and not the Slow Oxidative aerobic energy sources. Training should simulate playing conditions and running laps doesn’t even come close to fulfilling this need.

Consider this solution

Divide the players into their respective positions, look at the activity of each spot and design the training around these conditions. As an example, a line man will rarely, if ever have to run the length of the field chasing down a fleet footed ball handler; that will be left to the defensive ends, line backers and other skill position athletes. Instead, they need to be able to assert tremendous force play after play for periods of ten to fifteen seconds at a time.

Train them this way, not by doing laps but by short length straight ahead, sideways and backward sprints of ten-twenty yards with gradually decreasing rest times built into the schedule. The rest breaks will eventually be the same or shorter than the naturally occurring ones in a game.

Have them in the three-point stance, on their bellies, on their backs, sides, kneeling, sitting or standing tall. Wherever you place, them they must run, straight ahead to the sides and backward with good form the distance you set up. Once the form breaks take a rest and move onto other aspects of your training plan.

The quarterback is in a similar situation, as they will rarely have to run long distances. Train them for their position and not as a cross-country runner.

The same principles are true for the basketball player whose game time is almost without exception, spent in the anaerobic zones of activity. Long slow distance (LSD) training defeats the purpose of training for the game conditions. There is not a team on the face of the earth that does a fast break away slowly-it is an all out controlled fast run down the court to the opponents basket. These athletes have to have superior GPP so they can tolerate the acid build up in their systems. It’s the previous cardio conditioning that will allow them to adapt to the extremely fast court conditions that are required in the practices and the game, not the LSD of the training plan.

Seasons begin with the student athletes who show up to play. How you then train these students is up to YOU.

Suggestions

• Time every run, (electronic or hand held) every move, and every adjustment you make. Know what to expect from your team under varying training conditions.

 

• Prior to years end, send out a message to the new parents and students who live within the boundaries of your school. Design and attach a suggested summer training schedule. For the returning athletes a similar schedule can be sent out but it will be more advanced due to their longer training experience and ability to tolerate a heavier routine. There is no sense in having all players on the same schedule. It is a waste of time for the older, experienced ones and too aggressive for the newer ones to follow.
• Take into account family summer vacations by adding in a body weight routine consisting of high repetitions of pull ups, chin ups, push ups-prone and supine, squats-two legs and one leg, abdominal exercises running both fast and slow for time, calf raises, flexibility and agility, balance and coordination exercises. All of which can be done at home or while on vacation on an alternate day basis with a rest in between each exercise day. On the non-bodyweight exercise days then cardio exercises need to be done for up to thirty to forty minutes duration with in the 70-80% target heart rate range.

 

• Expect them to be in shape or let them know they can expect to be sitting until they are in shape.

Summary

Each game provides its own mental and physical fitness conditions for success. Every training session should mimic these criteria to the greatest extent possible for the largest cross over effect.

*This type of General Physical Preparation (GPP) should have already taken place before the season begins. If not the athlete is way behind the conditioning curve. They will have to be carefully watched throughout the practices and playing season for signs of fatigue indicated by form breakdowns, posture and communications to you and your coaching staff.

Limiting factors to optimizing strength

The stronger one is mentally and physically, the greater the chances of success on the playing field. Strength production, the goal of many of our athletes, is dependant upon the following ingredients. Engaging in maximal effort to increase, or decrease as the case may be, any one of them will result in greater displays of useable strength in the sport.

1. Trainability
2. The efficiency of the neuromuscular systems
3. The efficiency of the biomechanical systems
4. The psychological make up of the athlete
5. The mental and physical toleration of pain and the fear of such pain
6. The management of injury and the fear of injury stress
7. Mental and physical fatigue

 

As coaches trainability is the most sought after attribute we are looking for in our student athletes. This is the potential to develop and excel in sports as a result of genetics and pre training conditioning.

Genetics will determine the limits of hypertrophy, leverages in the skeletal and muscular makeup of the joints, how many fast twitch or slow twitch fibers are in the muscles, and the metabolic rate of the individual. Pretraining, on the other hand, is the condition of the athlete before any formal activity begins to take place

Loading encountered prior to strength training such as play, work or participation in other sports will have a decided effect on the ability to gain strength. The greatest increases will be noted in those who are untrained when compared to the trained athlete. Genetics play a role in this as well because the predisposition for increased hypertrophy, strength and power acquisition is largely determined by ones heredity. The old saying of pick your parents wisely is certainly true in the sports world.

Long term training on the serum levels of active unbound testosterone may be an added source of adaptability to strength training. Most females will not have large amounts of this growth hormone in their body so will not develop the strength and power of their male counterparts. However they can increase their strength by following a program of resistance training.

The effectiveness of the neuromuscular system is the skill with which a movement is executed. Combined with the efficiency and intensity of muscle fiber recruitment these patterns produce accurate and powerful body and limb actions. It is well known that all motor activity is controlled by synergistic nervous and neuromuscular system interactions, which should also contribute a great deal to the functional strength production of the athlete.

The biomechanical system is made up of the lever arrangements or characteristics of the individuals’ particular body type, the strength of the relevant muscle groups that control movement of each limb and the neuromuscular efficiency with which this all occurs. Efficiency of movement both with and without sports apparel is equally important to the outcome of the contest. The classic example is the powerlifter with the squat suit compared to a lifter without the suit. The one without is at a distinct disadvantage due to the loss of support around the joints and muscles.

Neuromuscular and biomechanical efficiency are both highly influenced by training and each in its separate fashion offers a means increasing great strength outputs. Neither can be left by the wayside while planning out an individual’s strength program.

As mentioned at the beginning there are approximately seven different factors that limit strength production. The remainder will be considered part of the mental aspect of the strength equation. These are the psychological factors.

Motivation to excel, achieve worth while goals and to be aggressive when aggression is called for are just a small part of this portion of strength production. Others include the ability to concentrate on the task at hand, to tolerate pain or keep on without quitting.
An athlete who is mentally tough and prepared to do battle will win in most cases over a physically similar opponent of equal abilities.

Training your student competitors to confidently handle the anxiety and stresses encountered in their events and lives by arranging game style practices with referee, judges and contest conditions will make them mentally superior athletes. Adding in the ability to learn from their mistakes, their attitudes, and the altering of their alertness and vigilance while under pressure will be a lasting testimonial to your coaching effectiveness. Each person must be able to survive the distractions of the moment, and relax when the time comes to relax. Teach them how to be their best at all times.

Consider this: Their perception of what they are doing in practice and of what they have endured with the training loads, their daily performance, strong or weak areas, their opponent’s strength and weaknesses, the venue they will play at, and their overall state of fitness will have a huge bearing on how well they are mentally prepared.

Thus far we have only had a broad brush look at the psychological limitations of increasing strength output. Now let’s take a closer look at pain and the fear of pain as restraining factors in our athletes.

Pain limits strength production. That is a simple fact of life. But there are two types of pain to consider: pain of injury and pain of effort or fatigue. Distinguishing between the two is an important part of coaching these athletes.

Pain of injury is the body’s reaction or signal of damage to one or more vital structural systems in the organism. This must me heeded immediately and preventative care taken to eliminate or abate the causal factors leading to the insult.

Pain of effort is not necessarily an outcome of injury; it is the result of the perception of effort one is experiencing either during a cardiovascular type of event or relating to muscle endurance or maximal strength displays. The quickest snapshot of perceived effort is by use of a scale from one to ten. One is the easiest and ten is the maximum, almost unattainable top end. By carefully watching your athletes you will soon develop the ability to rate them on your own. Generally, this will be very close to their perception. This is especially helpful in determining load intensities as the most effective range is at and above the 80% 1 RM levels.

The management of injury and the fear of injury stress

Injuries, acute and chronic, make it impossible to generate maximum strength. Reflexes of the body inhibit the contraction of muscle fibers when a joint is damaged. After the occurrence, rehabilitation is necessary to recondition the joints and muscles to once again develop and produce the strength to continue in the sport at the competitive level.

The fear of injury can limit the ability to compete. Even if the medical team has released the individual, that person must believe in their ability to continue, i.e. they have to feel the rehabilitation is complete. If not, their ability to produce maximal strength under contest conditions will be insufficient.

Sports skill instructing and learning

One of the fallacies of the current emphasis on sports training is focusing on specialization in one sport at too young of an age. These children lack the minimum requirements to skillfully be competitive and participate in other sports due to a lack of overall body coordination, strength, agility and most of all they don’t have a strong basis of movement patterns.

In our society, we teach our children how to read, speak, and write but we fail in the areas of skill development. Teaching technique and the physical learning of a new skill requires as much diligence on the part of the coach as does the academic instruction in the classroom. Neither comes naturally without outside guidance.

We all know there are physically gifted kids, nonetheless there are no short cuts to learning the basic skills of running, throwing, hitting, and jumping even for them. Certainly the higher the child’s level of physical attributes, the faster this learning takes place. One of the most significant characteristics of the fast learner is the amount of strength they possess. The stronger they are the faster and more effective will be the learning curve.

Motor skill learning is a complicated physiological process. This evolution begins with an observation of the skill. The first demonstration you make has to be technically perfect. There can be no flaws in this initial presentation. Your audience will absorb a great deal from this and their mind will start developing the movement steps. If you can’t do it right then find someone who can.

As the skill is being demonstrated, give accurate verbal instructions. The more detailed these are the more valuable they will be to your athletes. Bear in mind that verbal instructions are not entirely suited for the very young. They learn more from seeing it being performed than in hearing about how it’s done. Save the verbal details for the older students or the skilled athletes in your group.

During the demonstration, your athletes, if they are concentrating on the action, are unconsciously experiencing physiological changes within their body. These changes are the result of nerve impulses sent from the brain to the involved muscles in the sequence of movement.

There is a lack of noticeable physical movement resulting from these inconspicuous signals. However, the brain is beginning the task of rearranging and ordering these nerve impulses into a movement pattern that can be physically repeated later on when it is called upon to do so.

The first time the athlete tries the movement it will not be perfect, more than likely, it will be a gross approximation of what the refined motion will look like once it’s mastered. You, as the coach, will see the pattern of movement start to develop. From here, it will require more coaching to get it to the point of acceptance. Now is the time when you must carefully, in detail, describe the actions you want your athlete to take to correct any mistakes in their performance of the skill. You must once again demonstrate the correct technique and skill patterns you are instructing so they can see and absorb the information you are teaching them.

Oftentimes it is better and faster to teach complex movements in smaller bits than it is to teach the entire pattern all at once. By learning in small pieces, the athlete gets a chance to succeed which provides more of an incentive to keep working on the skill. The more complicated the movement becomes the more parts and repetitions will be needed to develop the engram (the memory trace).

Correctly repeating the skill many times over helps to develop the proprioceptive pathways between the brain, the joints, and muscles with the minute details of the activity. When you give the corrective verbal and physical cues, their brain modifies the impulses sent to the muscles enabling the corrections to take place the next time the movement is repeated.

Once these pathways are firmly established, the brain begins to disengage from the process and the movement becomes more of a reflex, i.e. the engram has now been set in place. After this memory trace is encoded in the neural tissue, the trigger to respond is reflexive to a stimulus, i.e. a sports situation.

 

Training myths and nonsense

Magazine training articles

There have been times when the best idea in the world has fallen flat on its face in the training room. To wit, how about those arm routines commonly found in the bodybuilding magazines. In my younger days after I’d read the articles I couldn’t wait to head off downstairs and lift weights just like the big boys were doing. It never failed. I was unable to finish the all the sets they suggested. It was just too much. Nevertheless, I’d still give it a try because I was young and unknowing.

As I got older, I realized that what was being written up as a good training routine was as bogus as a two dollar bill.

Squatting on a stability ball

Now who in their right mind would ever consider this as a righteous method to increase their strength? You might just as well train on ice instead. Lifting on a stability ball makes as much sense as doing a sumo style dead lift on roller skates. These ideas are just plain stupid. They certainly don’t justify the press they receive in the forums.

Nonetheless, there will always be some nutball personal trainer pushing these methods. You have to wonder what their insurance carrier would think if they saw what was going on. Cancellation here we come.

Using light weights to tone the muscles

Use light weights and tone your muscles is another myth perpetuated by trainers, who are in a vacuum when it comes to actually getting results from their programs. They rely on this type of nonsense to keep their trainees doing something instead actually developing any lean muscle mass. Intensity is the name of the game and if you aren’t exerting yourself then you’re just taking up space and taking in air someone else could be using.

Do cardio to lose weight

This one drives me nuts. How often have you walked into a gym and seen the cardio machines filled up with people trying to lose weight? It happens all the time and is in fact encouraged by the same kind of trainer who tells their client to use lightweights to tone. What a waste of time.

Cardiovascular work is an essential ingredient to better your health but if you’re looking to lose weight by riding these machines then you are looking in the wrong direction. Cardio will help burn calories while you’re doing it and then even for a short while afterwards. However, the effect is quickly lost and then your body returns to normal again.

On the other hand if you do strength training and actually build up more lean muscle mass then the metabolically active muscle will continue to burn more calories throughout the day; far longer than what happens when you simply ride a machine.

Use a machine to get a workout

Machines are for those who

1. Don’t know how to use free weights
2. Are with a trainer who doesn’t know how to use free weights or
3. doesn’t know how to instruct the correct use of free weights
4. Feels intimidated by the free weights in the gym if there’s even an appreciable amount in the gym to use,
5. Worse yet feels that machine based training will somehow miraculously transfer to their sport or activity, neither of which is true.
6. Machines, as one person recently said, are babysitters.

 

Pick your trainer and their program carefully so you’re not wasting time or money on nonsense. If it’s too easy something is wrong. There are no free rides to physical fitness and good health.

 

Sets and reps by Daniel Pare

Working out is all about doing sets and reps and with that in mind comes the right number of sets and repetitions.  The question I am being asked regularly is what should I do.  My objective this time is to help you with this ever-confusing issue.

It is very simple, the less you do the better it is going to be.  What does that mean?  If your work out sessions last in excess of one hour… I strongly suggest you take a close look at your work out.  The idea is to remain productive and more is not better. 

How do you know when it is enough?  One of the ways to find out when enough is enough is when you are doing a barbell curl for example.  You are not able to lower the barbell or dumbbell in control without leaning forward, your biceps have had enough.  The same goes for any other exercises you are doing.  Do your very best to stay within the numbers that are going to bring you results.  I am suggesting sets of 5 repetitions at best.

Why?  Whether you are working out for weight loss, getting conditioned for a particular sport or for your daily activities you want your muscles to remain strong, and high repetition sets are not meant for that. 

If you are presently doing 3 to 4 sets of 10 repetitions per exercise and you are doing 3 to 5 exercises per muscle groups, that is a minimum of 90 repetitions and a maximum of 200 repetitions for a given muscle group.   Do you really believe that this is productive?     

Unless you are warming up, I recommend that you focus more on sets of 5 repetitions. What if you trained your arms or any other muscle group, doing only what is necessary, utilizing sets and reps ranging from 5 x 5, 3 x 3 etc and get amazing results!    

What if you could experience a feeling of fullness for about 4 to 5 days after a workout!  If you only do what is necessary to get the results you want, this is exactly what you should be looking for.  You are training a muscle group and you always want extra work, you are not really training that muscle group!  Remember that there is only so much a muscle can do, so make sure that you train them right to remain strong.                            

Daniel Pare, NCCP, CSO, CSPS, CSTS.

Strength and Conditioning Coach,

St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada

519-633-0771,

email stsa1258@aol.com

web at www.stthomasstrengthathletics.com    

Stay strong mentally and physically, and remain passionately committed to your hearts chosen path. Danny M. O'Dell, MA. CSCS*D

Providing medical advice is not the intent or purpose of this site. We assume no liability for the information contained in these pages if it is taken as medical advice. Always consult with your primary health care provider before beginning any new exercise program.

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