Exercise Update » Articles

The Purpose Of A Warm Up Before Exercising

ExerciseUpdate — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:50:48 +0000

Anyone who has worked out before or participated in a sport knows that its important to spend some time warming up their bodies before they begin. However, many people are unaware of the exact reasons why it is important to do so. After all, doesn’t it sound logical that if you dive straight into your workouts, you might actually save time that could be utilized in doing a few extra reps? Well, it doesn’t, and here’s why.

Warm up exercises are extremely important if you wish to reduce the risk of injury to your muscles while you engage in intense workouts or strenuous physical activity. Warm up exercises serve to increase the flow of blood to the muscles, which prepares them for the oncoming onslaught of strain and help them deal with it better.

Some more benefits are as follows:

Increased Muscle Temperature: When a muscle is warmed, it tends to contract more forcefully and then relax faster. Warm up exercises serve to help increase muscle temperature, which help you reduce the risk of injury caused by the overstretching or strain.

Mental Preparation: The period of the warm up is a very crucial time for you to prepare your mind and make you alert.

Hormonal Changes: The period of the warm up allows your body to produce more energy by making carbohydrates and fats available.

Increased Blood Temperature: This is because as you warm up, the temperature of the blood increases, which in turn decreases the amount of oxygen it can hold thus making more of it available for your muscles. When muscles are able to obtain more oxygen from your blood, their capacity for workouts increases.

So you see, spending a few minutes warming up can actually increase your overall efficiency and help you get better results out of your workout sessions. Therefore, even if you’re running late and have only a few minutes to spare in the gym, you’re better off doing fewer sets rather than compromising on your warm up time.

How to Stay Cool When Exercising in the Hot Outdoors

ExerciseUpdate — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 05:40:59 +0000

Once the hot summers arrive, many people immediately move their workouts indoors but you can continue to exercise outside as long as you practice some common sense to avoid the heat.

The very first thing to remember would be keeping yourself well hydrated. This means having enough water about 20 minutes before going out in the heat and then having water regularly throughout the workout at 15 minute intervals. It’s very important to heed the signals of your body and drink enough water even before you feel thirsty. Once you feel thirsty your body can already be dehydrated as much as 10 percent. Also you can use natural energy drinks to replace electrolytes that are lost from sweating in the heat.

Never underestimate the importance of sunscreen when you’re out in the sun. Furthermore, you might want to stay away from the sun between 10 am and 3 pm as this is usually the hottest time of the day. Don’t forget you can enjoy some great summer workouts with less direct sun and extreme temperatures in the early morning or late evening and maybe also see some great sunsets at the same time.

Eating healthy food when exercising in the summer is as important as having liquids. The main reason for this is that during the summers, your appetite may go down. Therefore, it’s very important to keep track of your intake and have short meals around 5 to 6 times a day regardless of whether you feel very hungry or not. If you just don’t feel like eating anything substantial, some of your meals could simply include fresh fruits, which are great sources of nutrition.

When you work out in the heat it’s easy for you body to quickly reach it’s limits so hold back on the workout intensity because the heat can quickly overtake the body. You should remember to not push your body beyond its limits. If you experience any of these symptoms you may have heat exhaustion and should take immediate precautions.

Other useful tips include:

Keeping bottles of water in the freezer. When you take this bottle out, by the time you need water, the ice will have melted and you’ll have a good supply of cold, refreshing water at hand
Avoid alcohol and caffeine drinks as they cause dehydration
Keep a portable battery-operated fan with you. Though this may sound a little far fetched, a small fan could actually provide relief in the hot outdoors
Wear white or light colored clothing to help reflect the sunlight

It all comes down to following some very simple tips to enjoy some great summer workouts.

Health Benefits of Strawberries

ExerciseUpdate — Sat, 29 May 2010 03:00:13 +0000

With summer on the way it’s time to once again enjoy some sweet tasting strawberries, but did you know that there’s a lot more to this amazing fruit than just good taste. As delicious as they are, their role in nourishing the human body is no small feat, and they are a recommended part of your daily diet. If you have not been able to fulfill the USDA’s recommended five servings of fresh fruits and vegetables per day, strawberries give you a perfect, delicious incentive.

Even though you can find strawberries in many desserts and syrups it’s best to avoid the added sugar and instead just enjoy the great taste of natural, raw strawberries. Additionally, while strawberries have a naturally high vitamin and minerals content, they are low in calories. This makes them a perfect diet companion even for those who are conscious about maintaining their weight or are trying to lose it. In addition to that, there are a number of other health benefits associated with regular consumption of strawberries. I’ve highlighted some of them here:

1.Combating heart and other body conditions: One serving of strawberries provides your body with about 210 mg of potassium. This mineral is very effective in the regulation of electrolytes in your body, which also translates to a reduction of the risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

2.Tissue repair and reducing the effects of free radicals: Strawberries have naturally high levels of antioxidants. This helps to provide your body with Vitamin C thus allowing it to carry out tissue repairs. The negative effects of free radicals in your system are also reduced by the antioxidants in strawberries.

3.High vitamin and mineral content: Strawberries contain quite a number of minerals and vitamins that are beneficial to your body such as B2, B5, B6, Vitamin K, and Copper. A single serving is just seven medium sized strawberries per day, and you will get all these minerals and more.

How To Gain Muscle And Lose Fat At The Same Time

Tom Venuto — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:06:39 +0000

“How can I gain muscle and lose fat at the same time?” That’s right up there with “How do I get six pack abs” as one of the most frequently asked fitness questions of all time. The problem is, when you ask it, you get all kinds of conflicting answers – even from experts who are supposed to know these things. So what’s the deal? Is it really possible to lose fat and build muscle simultaneously?

Short answer: Yes, you can gain muscle and lose fat at the “same time.”

Long answer: It’s difficult and it’s complicated. Allow me to explain….

First we have the issue of whether you really lose fat and gain muscle at the “same time.”

Well, yes, if your definition of the “same time” is say, a month or 12 weeks. But in that case, you’re probably not gaining muscle at the “same time” literally speaking, as in, right now this very moment you are reading this, or 7 days a week, 24 hours a day for months in a row.

The best explanation for what’s really happening is that you alternate between periods of caloric surplus (anabolism) and caloric deficit (catabolism) and the net result is a gain in muscle and a loss in body fat.

You see, if you stay in a calorie surplus, it’s the body’s natural tendency for body fat and lean body mass to go up together. And if you stay in a calorie deficit, it’s your body’s natural tendency for body fat and lean body mass to go down together.

There may be exceptions, but the general rule is that it is very difficult to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time – the mechanisms are mostly antagonistic to one another. When it does happen, it’s almost always the result of “unusual conditions” – I call them X factors.

The 4 X-Factors

The first X-factor is “training age” . Ever hear of “newbie gains?” The less trained your body is and the further you are from your genetic potential, the easier it is to gain muscle. The reverse is also true – an advanced bodybuilder with 20 years experience would be thrilled just to gain a few pounds of solid dry muscle in a year!

The second x factor is muscle memory. It’s easier to regain muscle you’ve lost than it is to gain new muscle in the first place (ergo, the fat out of shape semi retired bodybuilder who starts training again and blows up and gets ripped “overnight”).

The third X factor is genetics (or somatotype). Ever heard of the “genetic freak?” That’s the dude who sprouts muscle like weeds even when he’s on the “50-50 diet” (50% McDonald’s and 50% pizza)… and he never gets fat. (That dude chose the right parents!)

The fourth X factor is drugs. It would stun (or sadden) you if you knew how many people take performance and physique-enhancing drugs. I’m not just talking about pro bodybuilders, I’m talking about “Joe six pack” in the gym – not to mention those fitness models you idolize in the magazines. How did they get large muscle gains with concurrent fat loss? Chemicals.

I’m not a gambling man, but I’ll place a wager on this any day: I’ll bet that in 99% of the cases of large muscle gains with concurrent large fat losses, one or more of these x factors were present.

That’s not all! There are actually 5 more X factors related to your body composition and diet status (the X2 factors). But I’ll have to talk about those later.

So you’re not a beginner, you don’t take roids, you’re not a genetic freak and you have no muscle memory to take advantage of. Are you S.O.L? Well, I do want you to be realistic about your goals, but…

There IS a way for the average person to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.

The Secret: You have to change your “temporal perspective!”

Traditionally nutritionists and fitness pros have only looked at calorie balance in terms of 24 hour periods. At midnight, you could tally up the calories like a shopkeeper closing out his register, and if the balance were positive, you’d say you were in a surplus for the day. If the balance were negative, you’d say you were in a deficit for the day.

But it’s entirely possible that you might pass through periods of “within-day” surplus where you were in a highly anabolic state (for example, you eat the biggest, highest carb meal of the day after your workout), and you were in a deficit the rest of the day.

If you did intense weight training, and you timed your nutrient intake appropriately, Isn’t it possible that you could gain a small amount of muscle during those anabolic hours, while losing fat the rest of the day? Granted it might only be grams or ounces – but what if you kept that up for a week? A month? Three months?

As you pan out and look at the bigger picture, what if most days of the week you were in a deficit for the entire day, and on some days you were in a surplus? If so, then isn’t it possible that over the course of the week, you’d have a small net gain of muscle and loss of body fat a a result of the caloric fluctuation?

These within-day and within-week phases are called microcycles and mesocycles. If you also had a primary goal with a longer term focus of several months, say 12 weeks or 16 weeks, that would be a macrocycle.

What I’ve just described is nutritional periodization. Some people call it cyclical dieting. it’s where you manipulate your calories (primarily by fluctuating carbohydrate intake, hence “carb cycling”) in order to intentionally zig zag your way through periods of surplus and deficit and create specific hormonal responses.

The end result: muscle gain and fat loss during the same time period!

I know that someone out there is having a hissy fit because I’ve only talked about calories: deficits and surpluses. Rightfully so. Calories matter but there’s more to it than calories – most importantly, hormones and “nutrient partitioning.”

If you’re in a calorie deficit you are going to pull energy from your body.The question is: From WHERE? If your hormones are out of whack and you’re eating crap, you could lose more muscle than fat in a deficit and gain almost pure fat, not muscle, in a surplus!

But WHAT IF you could manipulate within day energy balance, use nutritional periodization AND control your hormones with food and lifestyle strategies?

AHA! NOW you can see how concurrent muscle gain and fat loss are starting to look possible!

Make no mistake – concurrent muscle gain and fat loss is a difficult goal to achieve. The good news: difficult does not mean impossible. Or as George Santayana said, “The difficult is that which can be done immediately, the impossible, that which takes a little longer.”

The Holy Grail Body Transformation Program: How to Gain Muscle and Lose Fat at The Same Time

You can learn more about gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time in Tom Venuto’s new e-book called, “The Holy Grail Body Transformation System.”

You’ll learn all about nutritional periodization, cyclical dieting, hormonal manipulation, within day energy balance, nutrient partitioning, AND the all the X factors, including the 5 “X2-Factors” – which are the keys to gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time.

You’ll also get Tom’s new “TNB” training system, as seen in Men’s Fitness magazine (the complete, expanded version that Men’s Fitness didn’t have room to print).

At the moment, The Holy Grail ebook is not for sale separately and there are only two ways you can get it.

From now until Midnight (PST), May 13th, 2010, you can get a copy of the Holy Grail Body Transformation program ebook for FREE when you purchase the Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle e-book from this web page:
www.BurnTheFat.com

The other way you can a a copy is by joining the Burn the Fat Inner Circle at:
www.BurnTheFat.com/innercircle

After May 13th, 2010 at midnight PST The Holy Grail will be taken off the market for a period of time while Tom is collecting case studies and getting feedback from users, to include in the final edition – which WILL be released for sale separately later this year.

Visit the Burn The Fat website now and jump on this deal while you still can.

Smart Cardio For Strength, Mass, And Fat Loss

CharlesStaley — Tue, 11 May 2010 04:23:14 +0000

A great guest post by Coach Charles Staley. Too many people, with the exception of endurance athletes, often avoid cardio because either they like the resistance training better or they fear that cardio will cause them to lose too much muscle. I love these methods for properly implementing cardiovascular exercise in a way that will enhance your fat loss or muscle gain.

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

use a running track for 400 meter sprints

If you’re a typical guy who loves to lift big weights, but considers anything over 3 reps to be “endurance” training, you might not be interested in this article. However, if you can bench press a Buick but get winded when you bend down to tie your shoes, maybe I have an audience.

Look, we all do what we LIKE to do, but only the most successful among us find a way to also do what we NEED to do. If you think you’re in the latter category, listen up. I’ve got a quiver full of fun, challenging, cardio workouts that help you lose fat without losing strength or muscle.

Why You Need Cardio

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that cardio will turn you into a wispy, estrogen-soaked shadow of your former self – too many guys use this mindset as an excuse to avoid what they know they should be doing. In fact, the benefits of smart cardio training are too numerous to ignore. They include:

Cardiovascular Health: This might not sound so exciting, but believe me, a heart attack or stroke won’t help you lift bigger weights, will it? Good health is the foundation of everything else, including your weight workouts.

Think back to the parable of the farmer who discovered a goose who laid golden eggs – after a while, the farmer lost patience, and killed the goose to get all of the eggs all at once. Of course, when he opened the goose, there were no eggs inside. Don’t kill the goose (your health) that lays golden eggs (a lifetime of productive workouts).

Fat Loss: If I still haven’t convinced you by using the health argument, then this benefit should catch your attention. While it’s POSSIBLE to get super lean by lifting alone, it’s a lot easier if you add a cardiovascular component to your program.

Cardio workouts create a greater energy deficit, elevate metabolism, and initiate the secretion of important fat-mobilizing hormones. Don’t worry, you won’t lose muscle or strength, if you follow my suggestions in this article.

Active Recovery: We’ve known for a long time that ANY form of “contrasting” stress promotes a faster recovery from your primary training activity. For guys who primarily lift weights, that means cardio. Now if you’ve tried this approach before and it didn’t work, it’s almost certainly because you failed to carefully integrate the cardio into your existing program. More on that later.

Injury Prevention: Cardiovascular exercise mobilizes joints, increases blood flow to various tissues, and generally improves overall functioning. Really. Just trust me.

Everyday Function: I hate to be the one to clue you into this, but there are some very important everyday functions that require more than the ability to exert maximum force for 1-2 seconds. Things like walking across the street, playing with your kids, taking a shower, stuff like that.

Now, you might not have terrible endurance capacity now, but after a few decades of cardio avoidance, you will. So don’t even go there – you really CAN have it all – impressive muscularity, scary levels of maximum strength, and a healthy heart to boot. Follow along…

Four Principles Of Effective Cardio Training

Before I introduce you to my favorite cardio tricks, I’d like to share a few general principles that will make your cardiovascular sessions a lot more fun and rewarding:

1) Variation Prevents Injury, Boredom, and Dropout:

Here’s a little analogy that I use with my athletes: unfurl a paper clip into a straight piece of wire, and then start bending it back and forth, eventually you’ll break it. Think of your body that way.

There’s no need to use a single activity (such as running or biking) for your cardio workouts. After all, your heart, lungs, and circulatory system don’t know what exercise activity is taking place – but your joints sure do. If you use running for all your cardio workouts for example, your knees and feet take a heavy beating. But if you distribute the workout among 2-3 activities, such as running, swimming, and cycling, you’ll be less prone to overuse injury, and you’ll have more fun to boot.

2) Quality Before Quantity:

We all pay lip service to this principle, but how few of us actually employ it! Make sure your exercise technique is consistent at all times, no matter what. Know your best times for the various distances you cover and then, in your workouts, always stay close to those times. Finally, a quality performance is a pain-free performance. If you’re experiencing elbow pain during a swim for example, change gears until you determine what’s wrong.

3) Challenge Yourself And Have Fun:

I have a neighbor who’s simultaneously fascinated and disturbed by my devotion to physical training. He’ll often walk past my garage while I’m lifting and exclaim “Better you than me” or words to that effect. I always respond that I only train because I love it.

Look – if you can’t find some fun in your training, you’ll never last. So if you hate cardio, you’ll need to play some games with yourself to get in the mood. I think the best way to accomplish this is to challenge yourself. Keep a detailed training journal and record your PR’s for everything you do. This adds purpose and excitement to your training.

4) No Fuss Gets The Job Done:

I think the reason that a lot of people find exercise so tedious is because of all the pre-workout preparations – getting dressed in your “workout gear,” waiting for the perfect weather conditions, and taking your pre-workout supplements, just to name a few.

Try to adopt a “no preparation” attitude toward training. Don’t worry what your hair looks like, if it’s raining out, if you’ve got your running shorts on, or if you’ll be sweaty while you’re at the grocery store afterwards.

People often tell me that they dread the thought of doing cardio, but once they’re doing it, it’s not so bad. If you can relate, try to minimize the pre-workout gyrations. Just get out and do it.

Lose The Fat, Keep The Muscle: My Favorite Cardio Training Methods.

The following 8 training methods have a few things in common: They’re efficient, fun, challenging, time-efficient, practical, and most of all, they deliver.

1) Out & Back:

This is both a training method and an assessment tool, especially for beginners or lifters who haven’t done any cardio in a while. The idea is to cover a measured distance (you can run, bike, swim, skate, or whatever form of locomotion you happen to like) such that the “return” trip is performed in the same time (or less) than the “out” trip.

Let’s say you decide you’re going to go out for a jog for example. Your goal is to jog to a nearby park and then turn around and come back. With the out and back method, your goal is to establish a pace that enables you to complete your return trip in the same time as your out trip. If the return trip takes longer than the out trip, it indicates that you’re fatiguing faster than you should be – in other words, you’re running beyond your current abilities.

You can even use the out and back method with cardio machines in your gym – if, for example, you plan to use the elliptical trainer for 20 minutes, notice how much work you do in the first 10 minutes (usually this will be displayed as distance, or, alternatively, in watts). Then strive to equal or surpass this workload in the remaining 10 minutes.

2) Timed Miles:

If you haven’t done any running in a while, you might be surprised at how much you suck at it. In fact, if you go out and try to run one mile, chance are you won’t be able to finish at all. So don’t even try. Instead, measure a one mile course (maybe 1/2 mile out, and 1/2 mile back), and go out and cover that course, through a combination of walking, running, jogging, whatever.

The main thing is to record your time, no matter how bad it might be. Then, the next time you go out, simply beat that time. And you will. Gradually, workout by workout, you’ll be running more and walking less. And you’ll experience a steady stream of PR’s to keep your motivation flying.

3) 400’s:

400’s are one of the best fat-loss workouts you can ever do – just look at the physiques of top 400-meter sprinters if you still need convincing! Get on out to your local high school track (if it’s close to home, walk instead of drive – that’ll be your warm-up). Once around is 400 meters.

The current men’s World record is less than 44 seconds, which will soon strike you as un-Godly as you try your hand at this simple but punitive track & field event! So first time out, go VERY easy for the first 200 meters, and then pick up the pace for the final kick if you still have anything left in the tank.

Record your time. After about 4-5 minutes rest, run one more and try to beat your PR. That’s it for the first workout. You can run 400’s about twice a week, but start small and increase your reps very gradually. After several months, you’ll find you can do maybe 5 repeats per workout.

4) Hills:

Running hills is a fun but intense cardiovascular workout with important strength-enhancing benefits to boot. Best of all, the inclined surface minimizes impact and spares your joints.

Find a moderate slope that tapes you about 10-20 seconds to climb at maximum effort. First time out, limit yourself to 3-5 reps. Gradually increase to 10-12 reps after several weeks. And of course, time every sprint and always seek to beat your PR’s!

5) Tabata Protocol:

Recently, Dr. Tabata in Japan conducted a study in which he investigated the benefits of high intensity anaerobic exercise. Tabata discovered that a protocol consisting of 20 seconds of all-out cycling followed by 10 seconds of moderate cycling for a total of four minutes (8 repeats) was just as effective as forty-five minutes of aerobic exercise.

Interestingly, and perhaps surprisingly to some, the Tabata Protocol increases aerobic fitness in addition to its anaerobic benefits. This finding is consistent with my “ladder” paradigm that states that higher intensity training develops a wider spectrum of fitness benefits than lower-intensity exercise.

Clearly, the hallmark of this method is it’s time-efficiency, but there is a price to pay in pain and sweat – choose your poison!

6) Dot Drill:

I realize that most weight-trainers think they own the market on pain-tolerance, but the dot drill makes 20-rep squats look like a trip to Baskin Robbins by comparison. Particularly insidious is the fact that, unlike resistance training, repeated exposures to the dots will not make subsequent exposures any easier.

First conceived by basketball coach Adolph Rupp in the 1940’s, and then later popularized by Bigger Faster Stronger Inc. a few decades later, the dot drill is both a remarkable agility, foot strength, and anaerobic conditioning exercise, as well as a superb and easy-to-administer testing tool.

It is unique in that it creates not only a high level of fatigue, but also a high quality of fatigue- fighters in particular will be able to relate to the feeling of panic that ensues when your heart rate soars to about 120% of age-predicted maximum.

The dot drill is a battery of 5 separate drills, performed in rapid succession, with each drill performed six times in a row before proceeding to the next drill (please refer to the diagram as you read the description).

Dot Drill Schematic

D E

A B

The dot drill features (5), five-inch diameter dots orientated in a pattern similar to the five dots on a pair of dice, expect that the “square” is three feet by two feet. Use a solid surface such as weight room matting, and tie your shoelaces. Tight.

Begin the drill as follows:

1) First drill: Starting position: your left foot is on “A” and your right foot on “B.” Hop forward and touch “C” with both feet simultaneously, then continue forward so that your left foot lands on “D” at the same instant your right foot lands on “E.” (a total of 2 hops). Now go back to the starting position by reversing what you just did (hopping backward). That’s one rep. Repeat for a total of six reps.

2) Second drill: From the starting position, lift your left foot in the air and with right foot only, hop to “C,” “E,” “D,” “C,” “A,” and back to “B.” That’s one rep. Repeat for a total of six reps.

3) Third drill: Repeat the last drill but using the left foot only (hop to “C,” “E,” “D,” “C,” “A,” and back to “B.”) That’s one rep. Repeat for a total of six reps.

4) Fourth drill: Repeat the last drill but using both feet, keeping the feet together- this looks somewhat like a skiing drill. Repeat for a total of six reps.

5) Fifth drill: This is very similar to drill number one, with a slight variation: When you reach the top of the pattern (left foot on “D” and your right foot on “E.”), instead of hopping backward to get back to the starting position, you instead jump-spin and land on the same two dots (only now your left foot will be on “E” and your right foot on “D.”), facing the opposite direction. Then hop forward and touch “C” with both feet simultaneously, then continue forward so that your left foot lands on “B” and your right foot on “A.” Lastly, jump-spin again to assume the starting position. That’s one rep. Repeat for a total of six reps.

Errors: Subtract .10 seconds for every missed dot from the total time.

Once you’ve done the drill a few times, you’ll notice that you can’t help but be competitive once you start. Even if you don’t feel terribly motivated, you’ll bust a gut trying to get a good time. Or maybe it’s just that you want to get it over with. Either way, the dot drill brings out your best (and I’m not referring to your last meal).

Implementing the Dot Drill

The five dots of death (as my athletes refer to it) can be used as a warm-up for a strength training session (one drill will bring your heart rate to 100% and will get you sweating big-time), as anaerobic conditioning, and/or as a fantastic foot and calf strengthening tool. One precaution however: I suggest never doing more than 4 repetitions of the dot drill on any given day, and not more than 12 dot drills on any given week.

Dot Drill Standards

OK, you’ve done the dot drill a handful of times and you think you’re a stud (or studette) because you finally broke the two minute barrier? According to Bigger Faster Stronger, you’ll need to break the 60 second barrier to be considered fast.

7) Tethered Pool Sprints:

I live in Phoenix and hot weather is fast approaching. It often becomes tedious to get out there for sprints when the temperature is well over 100 degrees. If you’ve got a pool, and it’s never occurred to you that you can use it for exercise because it’s too small, try this: call around to some pool supply and/or diving shops and find an elastic cord with a nylon waist-belt. You attach the band to one side of the pool, and attach the band to your waist.

Attach the band in such a way that you can just barely reach the other side of the pool through an all-out sprint. Once you touch the other end, relax as the band pulls you back. Then repeat for the desired numbers of reps. This is a brutally tough and effective form of anaerobic exercise that delivers the fat loss goods in spades.

Fast High Repetition Overhead Lifting:

I’ve added this last option for those of you who still have a hard time stomaching any “non-lifting” form of cardio. In this case we’re talking about various forms of snatches – a fast lift where the weight is “snatched” to an overhead position.

Of course, the snatch is one of the two Olympic lifting events, but there are several one-arm variants as well, including the one-arm dumbbell snatch, the kettlebell snatch, and the one-arm barbell snatch. All of these lifts create high levels of cardio-respiratory fatigue, in addition to the obvious speed strength and shoulder-function benefits. On top of that, snatches are actually fun!

Integrating Cardio With Weights

One final note – as you begin to initiate some of these cardio workouts, realize that you’re significantly increasing the demands on your body. I strongly suggest cutting back on the volume of your weight training exercises to make way for these new workouts.

The simplest way to do this is to cut your sets in halfó in other words, if you normally do 4 sets of 8, cut it back to 2 sets of 8 – at least for the first few months. You’ll find that this approach will allow you to maintain both your strength and orthopedic health as you begin to address your cardiovascular fitness needs.

Following the suggestions I’ve presented here, you’ll enjoy the health and fat loss benefits of a cardiovascular exercise program, and, who knows, you might even become a “former” cardio hater.

About The Author

Charles Staley…world-class strength/performance coach…his colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results.

Click here to visit Charles’ site and grab your 5 FREE videos that will show you how to literally FORCE your body to build muscle, lose fat and gain strength with “Escalating Density Training,” Charles’ revolutionary, time-saving approach to lifting that focuses on performance NOT pain.

A Common Healthy Weight Loss Complaint

Dillon Martin — Sat, 08 May 2010 06:40:58 +0000

temptations are everywhere

If it were easy everyone would be walking around with a lean, sexy body.

But hey, it’s not in this world we live in today. Believe me, I understand all too well that there’s temptation around every corner.

Everywhere you look there’s fast food, junk food, chocolate, candy, ice cream, pizza…

And I know it tastes good. And I know when you get stressed your body craves it even more.

That’s why you have to have a plan. You have to know what you’re going to do to avoid those temptations. You have to plan your meals in advance.

Again, if this were easy everyone would be thin and in great shape. But they’re not.

The first thing to do is come to grips with reality. To accept the fact that getting the body of your dreams is going to take effort.

The second is to understand that it’s not going to be miserable. In fact, it’s going to be a LOT of fun.

When you exercise you feel awesome. Sure, the weight comes off. But you also feel stronger. You’re more alive. You can meet the demands of your day SO much easier.

How is that miserable?

And when you start eating healthier the same thing happens. It really, really is true: you are what you eat.

Now, take a second and really think about that.

What you are putting in your mouth is what your body is using to regenerate itself with all the time.

If you’re eating crappy food…

Get the picture

Check out these 197 Healthy and Delicious Fat Burning Recipes ebook from my partners over at Prograde Nutrition. It will make healthy weight loss much easier on you.

The Benefits of Coconut Water

ExerciseUpdate — Tue, 04 May 2010 05:25:42 +0000

The phrase “coconut water” usually evokes exotic pictures of coconut trees waving in the wind along long stretches of white sand on a beach. If you have vacationed in tropical destinations like the Pacific Islands, Hawaii, the Caribbean, Southern Asia, Seychelles, or even Florida, you must have tasted this refreshing liquid, and I’d bet you relished it too. Coconut water is the liquid contained inside of young coconuts and it is as useful and nourishing as it is exotic and refreshing.

vita coco is one brand of great tasting, pure coconut water

The natives of the places where coconuts are abundant consider coconut water to be the nectar of the gods. Of course, when you translate it to believable terms, coconut water contains a good amount of useful elements such as magnesium, electrolytes, calcium, vitamin C, and potassium all of which are very beneficial to your health. Its purity is also said to be second only to that of water.
Coconut water is also a godsend for those looking for a healthy drink free of harmful sugar and unneeded calories. Coconut water serves very well in this regard, because it is 99% fat free without all the artificial sugars of most sports drinks. It is also well suited for all ages for consumption as an isotonic drink. Perhaps that’s one secret of healthy living those natives on exotic islands seem to enjoy! Let us take a closer look at some of health benefits of coconut water.

1. Hydration: You might not be aware that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization made a vigorous attempt in 2000 to have coconut water patented as a major sports drink. This is because sportsmen are encouraged to use it to replace the body fluids that are lost in their physical exertions. Perhaps you could give it a try the next time your work out!

2. Helps With Kidney Stones: For those who suffer from kidney stones, coconut water taken regularly along with medication aids in breaking up the stones and getting them out of the system

3. Relieves Urinary Problems: Polyutra and Strangury are some urinary problems that coconut water helps the body to deal with. All you need to do is consume this refreshing fluid on a regular basis

To sum it up, it’s nearly calorie-free, refreshing, and helps the body deal with a number of ailments; some nectar, isn’t it? Try mixing coconut water in your next smoothie or post workout drink.

Coconut water is different from coconut milk in that the later is made by pureeing both coconut water and coconut meat together and then straining it to make thick or thin milk depending on the application. Coconut milk is very healthy and has it’s own nutritional benefits however it is high in fat content and Calories.

Ways to Change Your Workout Routine in the Gym

ExerciseUpdate — Mon, 03 May 2010 04:02:02 +0000

try slow movements for a change

Do you sometimes feel that your gym workout is getting dull, repetitive, and boring? Maybe you have been on the same routine and you feel that your progress is starting to stagnate. It’s not a bad idea to change your gym workout routine every 4 to 8 weeks. Even small changes like the ones listed below can have big effects on your ability to continue to make gains in the gym.

Here are several ways of making some changes to your next gym routine so you can start feeding the muscles new types of exercise stimuli.

1. Change the order of individual exercises: If you take a close look at your workout, you might see that there are some exercises you prefer over others. Perhaps you like to work on your hamstrings last if that is the one you like the least. For a change getting your least favorite exercises and muscles groups done first.
2. Do Supersets: Reduce your gym time and chances of boredom by doing ‘supersets’. These are two sets of exercises done back to back without any rest in between. This will allow a flow of energy without any breakage. Good combinations are to do push pull muscles groups for examples a set of seated rows followed by pushups. Another idea is to alternate upper and lower body exercises so one half of the body can rest while the other is working.
3. Do Stretches: You probably only stretch when your muscles start feeling tight. Instead of the typical 5-10 minutes of stretching we squeeze in at the end of our workouts try doing one workout per week of a good warm up followed by 30 minutes of stretching.
4. Circuit Training: This is similar to supersets only you do one set of each exercise in your workout and then you rest only at the end of the entire circuit of exercises. Then repeat your circuit again if needed. You can also mix resistance with cardio exercises in the same circuit.
5. Use Visualizations: Believe it or not, closing your eyes in order to visualize the muscles that you’re exercising has a positive effect on those muscles. This is apart from the fact that it helps you to better balance yourself as you workout as you’re not distracted in any way.
6. Slow or Fast: Try doing your repetitions really slow or fast. You’ll be amazed how different it feels to the muscles. Working slowly increases the time the muscle is under tension. Faster movements create more power.

Lastly, whatever you do, ensure that you have checked with your doctor or instructor before changing anything about your routine. Make sure the changes you decide to implement are done in a safe and useful manner.

Tips and Foods to Boost Your Fiber Intake

ExerciseUpdate — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:10:15 +0000

Most of us do not get enough fiber in our diets. The daily recommended intake for males (age 14-50) is 38 grams and females (age 19-50) should have 25 grams. The linked USDA report shows that because of processing, fiber in certain foods such as vegetables, nuts, legumes, and soy have decreased since 2005. The bigger problem however lies in the fact that we make food choices that are dense in calories but less dense in nutrients like fiber. Since we can control the choice of foods we put in our bodies it is important to make the right decisions so that you can get your daily fiber intake without all the extra calories found in highly processed foods that are void of nutritional value.

So what foods should you be choosing to maximize your fiber intake? It may not be as difficult as you may think. Here are a few foods that will increase your fiber intake:

Whole Grain Bread: Whole grain bread contains far more fiber than the usual white bread.
Fresh Fruits and Vegetables – Fresh fruits contain lots of fiber. For example, apple peels are extremely rich in fiber and it’s true not just about apple peels but also pears, berries, and prunes. Carrots, Dark leaf lettuce, and bean sprouts are also great.
Eat Brown Rice – Brown rice is a much better source of fiber than its white counterpart.
Whole Bran Food – Try bran muffins or whole bran cereals.
Legumes – This means beans or pea plants. All are high in fiber.

Tip: Always try to eat your fruits whole rather than grinding them and making juices. The reason for this is that when you put fruits in a juicer, the entire structure of the fiber in them gets destroyed. Moreover, the more you expose a fruit’s surface to the atmosphere, the faster it loses its nutrition. Therefore, if you eat a whole apple without peeling it, it does way more good for your body than putting it in a juicer or making a smoothie out of it.

USDA Report for Food Supply and Dietary Fiber

Post Workout Nutrition: Secrets to a Hard, Lean Body

MikeG — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 03:31:10 +0000

blended shakes make good post workout meals

As you’ve probably heard before, your post-workout meal may very well be your most important meal of the day. The reason is that when you’re finished with an intense workout, you’re entering a catabolic state where your muscle glycogen is depleted and increased cortisol levels are beginning to excessively break down muscle tissue. These conditions are not good and the only way to reverse this catabolic state (and promote an anabolic state) is to consume a quickly digestible post-workout meal as soon as you can after training. The goal is to choose a meal with quickly digestible carbs to replenish muscle glycogen as well as quickly digestible protein to provide the amino acids needed to jump start muscular repair. The surge of carbohydrates and amino acids from this quickly digested meal promotes an insulin spike from the pancreas, which shuttles nutrients into the muscle cells.

The post-workout meal should generally contain between 300-500 calories to get the best response. For example, a 120-lb female may only need a 300-calorie meal, whereas a 200-lb male may need a 500-calorie post-workout meal. Your post-workout meal should also contain anywhere from a 2:1 ratio of carbs:protein to a 4:1 ratio of carbs:protein. While most of your other daily meals should contain a source of healthy fats, keep the fat content of your post-workout meal to a bare minimum, since fat slows the absorption of the meal, which is the opposite of what you want after a workout.

When choosing what to make for your post-workout meal, the first thing to realize is that you DON’T need any of these expensive post-workout supplement formulations that the magazines (who advertise for them) will tell you that you absolutely NEED! As with any nutritional strategies, natural is always better. A good source of quickly digestible natural carbs such as frozen bananas, pineapples, raisins, honey, or organic maple syrup are perfect to elicit an insulin response that will promote muscle glycogen replenishment and a general anabolic (muscle building) effect. The best source of quickly digestible protein is a quality non-denatured whey protein isolate and/or some fat-free or low-fat yogurt. Here are a couple ideas for delicious post-workout smoothies that will kick start your recovery process:

Chocolate Banana – blend together 1 cup water, ½ cup skim milk, one and a half frozen bananas, 2 tbsp organic maple syrup, and 30 grams chocolate whey protein powder – 38 g prot, 72 g carb, 0.5 g fat, 440 calories.

Pineapple Vanilla – blend together 1 cup water, ½ cup vanilla yogurt, one cup frozen pineapples, 2 tbsp honey (preferably raw), and 30 grams vanilla whey protein powder – 35 g prot, 71 g carb, 0.5 g fat, 425 calories.

When looking to lose body fat, keep in mind that post-workout meals should have the opposite characteristics of all of your other meals throughout each day. While post-workout meals should have quick high glycemic index carbs, quickly digested proteins, and minimal fat, all of your other meals throughout the day should be comprised of low glycemic index, slowly digested carbs, slow release proteins, and ample healthy fats. These are powerful strategies towards developing a lean muscular body with a low body fat percentage. Another great thing about post-workout meals is that you can satisfy even the worst sweet tooth, since this is the one time of the day where you can get away with eating extra sugars without adding to your gut. Instead, it all goes straight to the muscles! Enjoy!

Visit Truth About Abs to discover how you can lose excess stomach fat.

Michael Geary is a nationally dual certified personal trainer (NCSF-CPT, AFAA-CPT), and author of “The Truth about Six Pack Abs“