The Cause Of The Problem – The 3 Percent Rule

Last week I described a running injury I developed and asked for your guesses about the cause.

Of course, there were many contributing factors.

I’m not a physical therapist or any kind of medical professional.  So this is all opinion based, not medically based.

But one stands out, because

a) it was the most significant

b) even the other factors might have contributed, each of them alone wouldn’t have caused this; in contrast, even without all the other factors the main factor probably would have resulted in injury all by itself.

The Main Cause

The main cause was simply Read the rest of this entry »

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Tags: injury, running

I made a stupid exercise mistake last week.  One that could impact my fitness routine for months because of the resulting injury.  I want to share it with you, because hopefully you won’t repeat it.

Even though injury is no laughing matter, what I’d like to do is make this into a game of sorts.  What I’ll do is first, describe the resulting injury.  Then I’ll give you various facts about my exercise, eating, and lifestyle leading up to the injury.

Then you guess what the biggest cause of the injury was.

For some of you it will be obvious but for others not so much.  In this case, the injury was from running.  But lifters could make the same kind of mistake.

Everyone who leaves a reply will get a prize!  And the best answer (based solely on my opinion) will get an even bigger prize.

The Prizes

Everyone who posts an answer in the comments section at the end (by Wednesday) , with their guess as to the most direct cause, will get a copy of my ebook called Train Better.  This 200 page ebook has some of the best WFN articles consolidated for you.

The best answer, in my opinion, will get Train Better AND will get a copy of my lifting routine Fat Burn Furnace.

Duplicate answers are fine, but if the “best” answer is given by more than one person, then the first person gets the routine.

Ready?

Here’s What Happened Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: injury, running

I continually have discussions online and offline about what the perfect size for a guy is, in terms of muscle mass.  Is the goal to be like Arnold?  Or to be really lean but having a nice layer of muscle?  Something in between?

Of course, it’s going to vary by individual tastes.

And I suspect that in general, guys will say other men look best with more muscle mass than women would say.

I also occasionally catch flack from some reader because I personally am not huge – of course, that’s fine by me.  Getting huge is NOT my goal!  [By the way, this might be a good time for you to review the WFN Vision.]

So let’s make this a fun post today.  I want you to vote for one of 4 pictures below.  You vote by simply posting a comment here (it’s really easy – if you’ve never posted a comment before, don’t be intimidated – it takes 20 seconds).  Just add a comment with your vote, and your own gender – I want to see if women rate the pictures differently than the men.  If you want to add other comments, that’s fine but keep it pretty short.

Oh, and I’ve intentionally chosen pictures of guys that are pretty lean, but not unrealistically so.  I want these pictures to be within the realm of possibility for just about any guy reading this site.  All these guys are in the 8 to 10 % bodyfat (so, not competitive bodybuilders by modern standards).  But of course, given our focus on the site, they all have great muscular development.  And do NOT vote based on how handsome the guy is – we’re talking about the ideal muscle mass, not what his face looks like…

Ready?  Here are the four: Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve got two great exercises for you today.  And these two are ideal to superset – do one, then the other, back and forth.  And I bet one of these, you’ve never heard of before…

The videos tell the whole story so watch them here.  Please rate them with 5 stars on youtube if you like them!  Then you can post comments there too.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Oh, and if you are looking for a lifting routine ideal for burning fat this summer, you need to get Fat Burn Furnace.  I don’t have my typical “sales page” up where I hype it up and try to convince you to buy – this is just a link to the simple order page:  http://worldfitnessnetwork.com/more/fatburnfurnace.html.  So I’m counting on the trust I’ve built up with you by providing you all this free info – you know I’m putting my reputation behind this (as I do all my ebooks).  Go ahead and buy it – if you don’t like it just send me a note and I’ll refund your money, ok?

This first video is for overhead squats: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: overhead, shrugs, squats

If you are trying to eat right, you probably eat a lot of broccoli.  It’s been a staple for bodybuilders for decades, but because of its heartiness, affordability, healthfulness, and availability, it’s a popular veggie for just about anyone trying to eat properly.

Usually, when people say they are eating broccoli, they mean the florets – the bumpy, green, brain-looking top of the plant.  So you cut those off of the stem (the stalk) and discard the stalks.  Even though by weight, you paid more for the stalks than you did for the florets.

Don’t you hate wasting the broccoli stalks?

Good news for you.  Here is what to do with them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: broccoli

I sometimes forget that some of you have really never done any serious exercise and most of my advice is for beginners, or possibly intermediates.  But you might be pre-beginner (what I call a newbie).  If that’s you, or if you have a loved one who needs something really simple to get started, this article is for you.  In fact, please forward this to anyone you know who just keeps finding reasons to never get started.  I assure you, this will not scare anyone off and after 6 weeks they/you will feel better and more confident, ready to take on the next stage of fitness.

Your First 6 Weeks Of Fitness

Starting something new, like a fitness routine, can be confusing and intimidating

After years of never exercising, you are ready to get started.  The problem is, you are really out of shape and don’t know where to start.  All the routines you see actually seem intimidating – you don’t understand the terminology and they look really hard.

You don’t want to start on something too hard that you give up after a few days.

You may have even read 3 Months To A New You, but maybe even that’s too much for you to start with.  Let’s face it, for obese or grossly out of shape people, you need to start with much less intensity.

So here’s a very slow, very easy way to get started.  You of course have been cleared by your doctor as being able to exercise, right?

I call it, the Just Help Me Get Started or My First 6 Weeks Of Fitness plan.

Many of you will read the rest of this and say “is that all?” It’s really simple and slow.  If you aren’t in too bad of shape or you are already doing some exercise, then this article wasn’t really written for you.

And some of you will dismiss this, saying that “it can’t be this easy to get started.”  And so you’ll go back to your couch and your TV and your bag of chips.

But a few of you, I hope, will say “ok, I know I’m terribly out of shape, but I can do this; it doesn’t seem too hard; let me give it a try”.

And once you finish these 6 weeks you will feel better than you’ve felt in years and then be ready for a more typical, less easy routine.  For example, the free routine in 3 Months To A New You.

This plan for 6 weeks does require you to learn a few exercises for which you’ll either need a gym membership or a few sets of dumbbells.  But trust me, you can do it!

Let’s Take It Day By Day

Week 1 Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: newbie

I know how much you all love Tom Venuto’s articles so this is a fun one!  Now, don’t feel bad if you discover that YOU are making some bonehead mistakes!  Just take it as a learning lesson…

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.burnthefat.com

“Common workout mistakes” has always been a very popular topic in fitness publications. But no matter how many times this subject is re-hashed, you almost always hear about the same half a dozen or so mistakes, including poor form, overtraining, going too heavy, not stretching, not warming up, yadda, yadda yadda. Ironically, you seldom hear about the biggest mistakes of all. I call these humongous bloopers “bonehead mistakes” because once you start to analyze and think about them, they’re really just common sense and they all seem so obvious… except of course to the person doing it… who is often quite oblivious until someone else points it out to them… then the light goes on and it’s like… “Doh!”

Before I begin the countdown, (in no particular order), there’s one more gripe I have about the treatment this subject has been given in the past: Most of the attention has been put on the mistakes, but very little on the solutions. It’s all too easy to point fingers and say, “Don’t do that” and “Shame on you, dummy” but only 1% of your time should be spent on problems. 99% should be spent on solutions. So in that spirit, after I bring each mistake to your attention, I’ll give you a solution-oriented training tip to help you avoid boneheadedness and join the elite group who “kick butt” in the gym at every workout…

Bonehead workout mistake #1: “Winging it”

“Winging it” means having no written goals or plans, no training journal and no way of “keeping score.” It’s when you just show up at the gym day after day and do whatever strikes your fancy, whatever machine happens to be available, or whatever you’ve become habitually accustomed to doing. Winging it is when you don’t know where you are, where you’re going or how you’re going to get there – but you start your journey anyway – no compass, no roadmap. It’s been said that “Action without planning is the biggest cause of failure,” and I believe that statement is 100% accurate.

Kick butt workout tip #1: Develop a strategic plan

Successful people never “wing it,” they always have a plan. Strategic planning is a never ending process and includes: Assessment (where am I now?), goal setting (where do I want to go?), creating a plan or strategy (How will I get where I want to go?), executing the plan (what action steps must I take daily to reach my goal?), and measuring results (how will I know if I’m moving towards my goal and how will I know when I’ve reached it?). Boneheads “wing it.” Butt–kickers have a master plan and goals for every workout.

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Bonehead workout mistake #2: Repeating the same workouts… without progressive overload

In one respect, repeating the same workouts is important – it’s called “continuity.” Continuity means that to experience an adaptive response (more muscle, more strength, less fat and all that other good stuff), you must a repeat a certain modality or exercise consistently over a long enough period of time to allow the adaptive response to occur and to reap the full benefits (rather than changing exercises at every workout). That type of repetition is good. The bonehead mistake is when you do the same exercises, same reps, same weight, same everything, week after week, without ever challenging yourself to do more than you’ve done before. If your muscles could talk they would say, “Yawn…. Did that, done that, been there… we’re just going to stay exactly the way we are… no need to get bigger or stronger today.”

Kick butt workout tip #2: Strive to beat your previous workouts

Muscle growth and strength increases occur when you place demands on your body above and beyond what it has experienced in the past. Your body responds to this progressive overload by getting stronger in order to handle this type of demand in the future. Your objective at almost every workout is to set goals to beat what you did during the previous one. If you can’t add more weight, it could be as simple as one more rep with the same weight or the same sets/reps/weight in less time. It could also mean one more minute of cardio, one level higher on a stairclimber, or half a percent steeper incline on the treadmill. Continuous and never-ending improvement is the name of the game.

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Bonehead workout mistake #3: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: venuto

Should you be training to failure?  What does that even mean?

See, for strength and muscle growth, frequency trumps volume, but intensity trumps both volume and frequency.  And so the absolute most important thing you can do with lifting is to do so intensely.  This is true pretty much no matter what your lifting goals are.  This chart shows you why [explained below].

There are a ton of ways to increase the intensity of your lifting (see here and here) but almost all of them involve dancing around with “failure” on your set.  There are two basic forms of failure I’ll talk about today:  form failure and muscular failure.

Form Failure

Think of form failure as the point where you are no longer able to do the movement with good form.  Good form means proper alignment, proper tempo, using the muscle rather than momentum (unless it is a power movement).

This is also very mental – when you “think” you can’t do another one properly, you are probably right.  In my experience though, most people fail mentally before they should (but I won’t describe mental failure here).

Here’s an example.  Let’s say you are lifting alone.  Your target rep count would be 8 for this exercise.  You just finished your 7th rep and you are feeling a little shaky but confident you can get one more done safely.  So you start the movement.  But at the bottom of the move you realize you can’t finish it without sacrificing form.  At that point, you’ve reached form failure.

Muscular Failure

Muscular failure is when you Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: failure, recovery