Image Credit: Gio Foto
This article was written by Jason.
I hate the basics.
It doesn’t matter what it is, we simply don’t want basic things in life. Nobody wants to go out and buy a basic car if they could afford something nicer. We don’t like to have basic computers or basic cameras either… we want the fast computers or the cameras will all the hi-tech features.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting more than the basics. We don’t want to live basic lives, we don’t want to buy things that are the bare-bones basics, and we naturally want something more than a basic workout that gives basic results.
In addition, no matter how important it can be to learn the basics rules about whatever you are doing, learning the basics can be a real pain.
I remember taking a basic golf course in college. The teacher made us learn the basics of each golf swing by having us practice every day without a golf club in our hands. I became so frustrated by pretending to play golf each day that I wish I had a real club just so I could smash something with it.
Everybody in my golf class felt that way. We all wanted to learn how to play golf, and just sitting around all day looking at the most basic movements was a real frustration. It’s the same thing with anything we pursue; we naturally want to move beyond the basic level as quickly as possible.
Going to the gym isn’t much different either. You don’t want to have a basic body — you want an amazing body, right? So why would you do the basic exercises if having a basic body isn’t what you want?
That’s why I don’t like using the word “basic” to describe the most useful exercises… it’s very misleading.
The Accelerated Course
It’s just too easy to get caught up in all the details of what we’re trying to do in life. We often waste our time doing all the little things when there’s something big that needs to be done first.
It’s like trying to sweep the floor in your house when there’s a big elephant in the living room that won’t stop crapping on the floor. Take care of the big things first, and then the small details will be easy.
I get the feeling that a lot of us are doing the same thing in the gym. We’re trying to focus on the little details of our workouts like putting some little line on our biceps or a little “cut” in our shoulders. These types of exercises do have their place, but focusing on the details doesn’t get you very far in the beginning.
So why not take the accelerated course when you’re in the gym? You’ll get where you’re trying to go much faster, and you’ll even pick up a lot of the details along the way.
The strange thing is, (more…)
Continue reading about Your Workouts Will Always Suck Without These
This is the first part of a 2-part article by guest author Cameron Stache. Cameron currently works as a Fitness Coach/ Assistant Fitness Manager at the Rush Fitness Complex in Greensboro, NC. He’s pursuing his Exercise Science degree and plans to use this degree to either work at a large college and be a strength and conditioning coach, or go into ergonomics. If you are interested in brands Cameron supports, check out http://cstache.qhealthzone.com .
- What Is Foam Rolling?
The technical name for foam-rolling is Self-Myofacial Release (SMR). Most people just call it by foam-rolling because it’s easier to say and it’s more well-known as that. I am going to refer to it as SMR for short. SMR has been used in physical therapy for years. It has only recently become main stream in the fitness realm though.
SMR is primarily used to correct muscle imbalances in the body. As we go through our normal (outside the gym) lives we develop some imbalances. An imbalance reduces muscle strength and posture, thus increasing your risk of injury, especially when those imbalances are accentuated by heavy loads as in lifting weights.
It works basically like a deep tissue massage. When rolling across a muscle you apply pressure to the muscle spindle. The muscle spindle is what reflexively contracts your muscle when it stretches too far or too fast. (Technically, that’s how your muscle contracts. It doesn’t really shorten. The muscle itself actually lengthens the muscle spindle then contracts it. Some food for thought: While your muscle may appear shorter when it contracts, in one or more of the three planes of motion it may actually be lengthening. That is how your muscle remains tense.) By using the muscle spindle as self-applied force on the muscle, it will cause it to stretch because you are holding a segment in place while it is pulling from the other end of the muscle.
What are the benefits?
There are multiple uses for foam-rolling your muscles. First, there is relief from soreness. A person who foam-rolls targeted muscles after a workout is less sore than someone who didn’t. Second, is for proper posture. Most people really don’t think that this is a big deal. However, as Darrin has stated before, strength is more neurological than it is muscle size. People with less muscle imbalances have better posture. This means that opposing muscles are neither too long, nor too short; thus able to fire with proper effort and timing. That allows for greater neurological communication and further increasing strength, without any lifting at all. The increase in core strength gained by the correct posture also gives the third benefit; injury prevention.
What muscles can be foam-rolled?
There are multiple muscles that can be foam-rolled. When rolling (more…)
This post is part 2 of a 2 part series. In part 1, Starvation is Not the Answer, we talked about how under eating can slow down your metabolism and make you fatter.
Here’s a piece of information that some of you will be glad to hear – Eating enough food each day will help you to keep fat off of your body. You are going to have to forget the idea that cutting fat comes from just eating less food; it’s simply not the truth.
This is the part that is hard for many people to accept when you are trying to cut some fat. Switching to smaller and more frequent meals throughout the day will actually cause your metabolism to stabilize.
You might be eating more food overall throughout the day, but eating even amounts of food throughout the day will help you to keep your metabolism higher. The key will be to make the following things happen:
1. Feed your body: Like we discussed before, (more…)
Sometimes we think we are so clever.
We think we can just fool our bodies into looking the way we want it to. It’s funny what people are willing to try just so that they can lose fat without having to exercise.
This is the lazy way to try to (more…)
This article is a special guest post written by RT from Real Muscle Online.
When you start to learn about bodybuilding and weight lifting you also start to hear a lot of myths. People will tell you all sorts of thing to either make themselves sound expert or to (more…)
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What would you think if I were to tell you that there was a way for you to love working out?
I know what you might be thinking. You might be remembering how terrible it feels when you try to run while you are gasping for breath (more…)
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Some people will try to tell you that anger is an unhealthy thing… they are lying.
The truth is that anger can lead to an unhealthy thing if it makes you do something unhealthy. Really, think about it for a moment. How could anger possibly be something unhealthy? Isn’t anger a natural human emotion that every person feels at some point or another in life?
Your natural emotions are never an unhealthy thing. But what you do with them… now that’s another story.
Yin, Yang, and Your Workout
The Chinese are full of good stuff that’s thousands of years old. Take the yin and yang for example. You may have seen the symbol many times in your life, but do you know what it means in your life?
The yin and yang represent two forces. They are two things that are really opposites, but the two opposites fit together in the world we live in. The two forces have to live in harmony with each other. Without this simple harmony comes disorder.
The same thing is true in your own life. Hey, let’s admit it, bad stuff is going to happen no matter what you try to do about it. You’ll never be able to avoid all the jerks in life or people that cut you off while you’re driving. It’s just not possible. (more…)
Trying to figure out the perfect routine can be tough. It’s especially tough when you consider the fact that there’s no such thing as a perfect routine.
Instead, you’re going to have to assess your personal needs and decide which muscles to work on which days. A number of factors will go into this decision, such as:
- What your current training level is, i.e. beginner, intermediate, or advanced
- What type of routine motivates you to work out in the gym
- Which muscle groups are lagging or will require special attention
- What type of routine your training partner is on
- How your body is responding to the workouts you have in place
There are many ways you can divide up your muscle groups to achieve the best workout for you. There are so many combinations, in fact, that I couldn’t possibly cover them all here. Instead, I’m going to point out a few principles that can be used as guidelines to help you choose the routine that’s best suited for you. (more…)
