This is one of the biggest debates in personal training circles and it causes more confusion and lack of progress than almost any other facet of weight training. Why is this the case and is there a right way to do this? My intention is always to educate first so let's have a look at the objectives we have and how the body functions and responds to stimulus.
Our objective in pursuing a training regimen is to build as much lean muscle mass as we possibly can and to do it intelligently. I touched on our body's ability to respond in an earlier article but will expound on rep range here.
We've already said that in order to get our muscles to grow we must place them under enough stress so that they do grow. Now the question becomes how do we translate that stress into reps? It's a good question to ask because many people go to gym and learn from the environment around them ie. asking the guys at the gym who have been doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. They have a name for that in some circles:-)
The same way that our minds have an attention span our muscles have something very similar. What this means then is that we cannot be lifting endlessly for hours on end thinking that because we have worked so hard, or what we think is hard, that we will force muscle growth. If you read a book in one sitting would you understand it more than if you read it in parts and made notes about what you read?
The same is true for our muscles. We need to give them sufficient time to take in what's being done and then allow it to make sense, in other words, allow them to grow. There is a period of time when your muscles are most responsive and there's a period of time where they aren't. Experts say that muscles will respond for 45-55 seconds out of every minute, every other second after that either does nothing more or works against the building process.
Keeping in mind the cadence that we use, our ideal rep range would be between 6 - 8 reps. Using a cadence of 2-2-4, we should complete a set at 48 seconds which is perfect for building muscle. That would quite literally mean that we should be in and out of the weight room in 30 - 40 minutes and no more. The point is to get in there, train hard and then get out and relax so that your body can repair itself.
If you keep in mind that this is a journey you will begin to appreciate the science behind this and adopt it more readily. The body is a wonderful mechanism that was designed intelligently and intelligent training and nutrition will help us all to build the bodies of our dreams.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Why Doing Sit Ups Won't Give You A Six Pack
We've all seen the magazine models haven't we? Well defined wash board abs and slim waist lines. We look at them and wish that could be us. Then we head off to the gym and engage in a rigorous ab routine hoping that if we do enough sit ups we'll force our abs to look like the people on the magazine covers.
The truth about this is quite simple. Remember our bodies function as a unit. If we pick up weight, we don't just pick up weight around our bellies, our entire bodies get larger as we eat more calories than is necessary to maintain our body weight. Likewise, if you ask anyone who has lost a substantial amount of weight whether they lost in just one area or all over their bodies, I think you'll find pretty much the same answer.
The short answer to this question is the following: in order to see your abs you entire body fat percentage needs to be at a certain level. That's it. It has nothing to do with sit ups. Granted sit ups will develop the muscles of the abs just as weight lifting develops the body, but to see you abs is a matter of low body fat percentages, that's all.
As it stands now, you already have a wonderfully toned body. The problem is that it is lying underneath a layer of fat. Fat cells cannot become muscle tissue and vice versa. If you were to drop to a body fat percentage of about 8% right now, you would have awesome abs and a pretty defined physique. The challenge then is to rip through the fat and get to the lean muscle. By lifting weights we kill two birds with one stone.
What makes building muscle even better than the obvious aesthetics of it all, is the fact that the more lean muscle we have on our bodies, the less fat we will inevitably have because muscle is metabolically active. That simply means that muscles, as well as internal organs, are constantly using energy to sustain themselves which means they will be using more fat for energy.
A word of caution: the models that we see on the covers of magazines with the really defined abs have to go through a really rigorous training and eating plan to drop their body fat levels down to percentages where the abs show the way they do. Pro bodybuilders will tell you that they too also have to seriously cut calories before a competition to get their abs to show.
It can be done. People do it every day, every week, every month. What you put in is what you will get out. The routines and advice on this blog are not meant to be short term goals, remember that, and so the advice and instruction you will receive here will ensure that you start the journey of building muscle and losing weight, and that you maintain it for as long as is humanly possible.
The truth about this is quite simple. Remember our bodies function as a unit. If we pick up weight, we don't just pick up weight around our bellies, our entire bodies get larger as we eat more calories than is necessary to maintain our body weight. Likewise, if you ask anyone who has lost a substantial amount of weight whether they lost in just one area or all over their bodies, I think you'll find pretty much the same answer.
The short answer to this question is the following: in order to see your abs you entire body fat percentage needs to be at a certain level. That's it. It has nothing to do with sit ups. Granted sit ups will develop the muscles of the abs just as weight lifting develops the body, but to see you abs is a matter of low body fat percentages, that's all.
As it stands now, you already have a wonderfully toned body. The problem is that it is lying underneath a layer of fat. Fat cells cannot become muscle tissue and vice versa. If you were to drop to a body fat percentage of about 8% right now, you would have awesome abs and a pretty defined physique. The challenge then is to rip through the fat and get to the lean muscle. By lifting weights we kill two birds with one stone.
What makes building muscle even better than the obvious aesthetics of it all, is the fact that the more lean muscle we have on our bodies, the less fat we will inevitably have because muscle is metabolically active. That simply means that muscles, as well as internal organs, are constantly using energy to sustain themselves which means they will be using more fat for energy.
A word of caution: the models that we see on the covers of magazines with the really defined abs have to go through a really rigorous training and eating plan to drop their body fat levels down to percentages where the abs show the way they do. Pro bodybuilders will tell you that they too also have to seriously cut calories before a competition to get their abs to show.
It can be done. People do it every day, every week, every month. What you put in is what you will get out. The routines and advice on this blog are not meant to be short term goals, remember that, and so the advice and instruction you will receive here will ensure that you start the journey of building muscle and losing weight, and that you maintain it for as long as is humanly possible.
Build Muscle Every Time You Hit The Gym
"You have to feel the burn before your muscles will grow." Ever heard someone say that to you? The basic misconception about "feeling the burn" is that once you feel it, you know the muscles are working and are growing. Let's put this myth to rest shall we.
In order for a muscle to grow it has got to be pushed beyond it's capacity. So in a sense, if your biceps can lift 5 kg's 20 times, in order to get those muscles to grow we need to give them harder work. So we would then lift 10 kg's maybe 6 or 8 times until we can't lift it anymore. That point is called failure. When you push your muscles to failure you know that they have worked beyond their normal capability.
This doesn't necessarily mean that you will "feel the burn" but what you will feel the next day is a wonderful pain that will let you know that you have pushed it beyond it's limits. Our muscles don't grow because we feel the burn, they grow because they have been exposed to a stress beyond their limit. Again, remember homeostasis.
Your muscles will not want a repeat of the previous workout so they will grow larger to handle the greater stress. It has nothing to do with a burn or a sensation. That does not mean that you will never feel a burn. It does mean that the burn is not an identification factor in whether we are building muscle or not.
Take every set to failure, the point where you cannot do another positive lift and you will know for certain that you are building stronger muscles. Always remember to rest and recuperate adequately so that you don't over train and cause your muscles to shrink instead of grow.
In order for a muscle to grow it has got to be pushed beyond it's capacity. So in a sense, if your biceps can lift 5 kg's 20 times, in order to get those muscles to grow we need to give them harder work. So we would then lift 10 kg's maybe 6 or 8 times until we can't lift it anymore. That point is called failure. When you push your muscles to failure you know that they have worked beyond their normal capability.
This doesn't necessarily mean that you will "feel the burn" but what you will feel the next day is a wonderful pain that will let you know that you have pushed it beyond it's limits. Our muscles don't grow because we feel the burn, they grow because they have been exposed to a stress beyond their limit. Again, remember homeostasis.
Your muscles will not want a repeat of the previous workout so they will grow larger to handle the greater stress. It has nothing to do with a burn or a sensation. That does not mean that you will never feel a burn. It does mean that the burn is not an identification factor in whether we are building muscle or not.
Take every set to failure, the point where you cannot do another positive lift and you will know for certain that you are building stronger muscles. Always remember to rest and recuperate adequately so that you don't over train and cause your muscles to shrink instead of grow.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
A Quick Point On Diet
Many people place immense pressure on themselves when it comes to this point and yet it is fairly basic. Exercise without a decent diet and a decent diet without exercise are one and the same thing: incomplete. Food is the fuel that our bodies need to perform daily functions that we take for granted. It is a necessity. It is a friend.
Now, if we abuse food, remember homeostasis, we will pick up weight and continue to pick up weight. Our bodies will do less and less and our metabolisms become considerably slower. The important point to consider and accept right off the bat is that food is absolutely necessary to sustain life. What we need to figure out here is how much of it we need for our individual goals.
So let's get right into it shall we. Forget about all of these fancy diets and fancy workouts and fancy this and fancy that. Our bodies work according to the way they were designed to work. This is the key to achieving your goals: whether to gain muscle or to lose weight and tone up.
Following the training principles espoused here will help you to build the lean muscle that you need which will then become your biggest ally in fat burning. The second part of the equation is just as simple. If you want to build bigger muscles then you need to consume more calories than what you need to keep your body in balance. And likewise, if you want to lose weight, you need to simply eat less calories than you need to maintain your current weight.
Working out the specific calories doesn't have to be difficult. If you have not been training and have not put on or lost weight then you have an idea already of how much you eat to maintain your current weight. If you have been putting weight on progressively then you know that you need to cut down on the calories. All of this must be accompanied by a proper muscle building programme that delivers results.
And there you have it. Don't be bogged down by overly educated answers to things. This journey is a tough one filled with challenges but the one thing it is not, is complicated. Let's keep it simple. More important than using physiological jargon is to stick with the programme you choose. Consistency is the only way to get results.
By now an inventory of where you are should have been taken and you should have an idea of what your goal is. So go out there and eat more or eat less,depending on your goal, but be sure to train.
Now, if we abuse food, remember homeostasis, we will pick up weight and continue to pick up weight. Our bodies will do less and less and our metabolisms become considerably slower. The important point to consider and accept right off the bat is that food is absolutely necessary to sustain life. What we need to figure out here is how much of it we need for our individual goals.
So let's get right into it shall we. Forget about all of these fancy diets and fancy workouts and fancy this and fancy that. Our bodies work according to the way they were designed to work. This is the key to achieving your goals: whether to gain muscle or to lose weight and tone up.
Following the training principles espoused here will help you to build the lean muscle that you need which will then become your biggest ally in fat burning. The second part of the equation is just as simple. If you want to build bigger muscles then you need to consume more calories than what you need to keep your body in balance. And likewise, if you want to lose weight, you need to simply eat less calories than you need to maintain your current weight.
Working out the specific calories doesn't have to be difficult. If you have not been training and have not put on or lost weight then you have an idea already of how much you eat to maintain your current weight. If you have been putting weight on progressively then you know that you need to cut down on the calories. All of this must be accompanied by a proper muscle building programme that delivers results.
And there you have it. Don't be bogged down by overly educated answers to things. This journey is a tough one filled with challenges but the one thing it is not, is complicated. Let's keep it simple. More important than using physiological jargon is to stick with the programme you choose. Consistency is the only way to get results.
By now an inventory of where you are should have been taken and you should have an idea of what your goal is. So go out there and eat more or eat less,depending on your goal, but be sure to train.
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