Exercise Programs – What You Wish You Knew

Article by Randy Disert

Workout programs are what aids us physically burn fat, build muscle, and stay healthy. There are different programs which are available to help individuals to be fit. In general a good workout program should consist of both weights and aerobics which would activate and rejuvenate the skin and improvement of blood flow. Some of the exercise components are warm up, stretching, cardiovascular training, and muscular training and cool down. Exercise programs are getting additionally popular as people have learned and understood the important of being healthful and fit.

techniques on Beginning workout Programs

* Visit a doctor for check up before starting on any exercise program. The doctor may advise you on the best program to take depending on your body type. * Classify your aims and preferences and stand by them. If your goal is to lose certain amount of weight be engaged and pick the correct program which would help you in losing weight. Basically your aim determines whether you need a demanding or more moderate exercise program. To ensure effectiveness make sure that you pick your favorite activity as this would ensure that you will stay with the program. Keep alternating this program to avoid getting bored. * Always begin with mini-workouts. When starting an exercise program begin with a moderate physical activity and then increase the pace little by little as time goes by. Starting a program steadily helps in accustoming your system to the demands of workout and adapt to changes that occur. * Start with warm-ups or stretch your body. Warms up prepares your muscles for exercise, and improves flexibility in the joints while stretching helps you to limber up and take pleasure in everyday activities. * Drink a lot of fluids – Fluids are very important and it is advisable to drink plenty of water before and after you workout. This would assist you to prevail over the rise of body temperature during exercises and additionally calm your temperature after the workout. * Make a commitment and make exercise part of your lifestyle in order to accomplish your goals. Commitment is the key to success.

Types of exercise programs

There are various types of workout program that are available nowadays, this mainly depends on different factors such as, the primary objective of the exercise, gender, age, the type of muscle fiber and body’s characteristics and type. It is advisable to visit a doctor before beginning on any exercise program. The doctor would advise you on the best exercise program that suits your body type and muscles.

a) Workout programs for fat loss – The program for fat lose leads to weight loss, fit body and toned muscles .The main types of fat loss exercise programs are: aerobic and muscle building workout routines. The amount of each workout varies depending on how much weight someone wants to lose. This can be accomplished by the assist of a professional fitness instructor. The most common aerobic workouts which are done in the program include jogging, hiking, biking, running, and swimming. These exercises are very effective in burning extra fat and increasing endurance level. Basically workout programs for weight loss are very important as they minimize the effects of menopause and osteoporosis for women.

b) Exercise programs for non gym goers – There are so many ways of getting fit other than going to a gym. An individual can be fit without using a gym and we are going to look at the exercise programs for non gym goers. The most important thing is to choose the right program that suits you and plan for it well. Basically the workout program should be practical and should have diversity in that:

* It should not be intensive that you become discouraged and give up easily. * It should not be too relaxed- which you will not lose any weight at all and end up feeling additionally negative about yourself. * Ought to be diverse that you could not get bored with the program.

For non gym goers workout program to be successful one should be disciplined as the success of your exercise program depends on how disciplined you are. Above all you ought to love and enjoy each exercise and they love the nature.

In general the choice of an workout program which you choose should greatly depend on your fitness goals. For example you may decide to go on an exercise program in order to obtain muscle and strength, tone and lose weight or just stay in shape and be healthful.

Benefits of taking exercise programs

* It improves the condition of the heart and lungs thus reducing the cases of heart attack, cancer and even stroke * It increases muscular strength, endurance and motor fitness * It increases aerobic fitness that means increase of endurance, or the capability to sustain work for prolonged periods. This endurance helps in controlling your weight, it increases the body’s production of endorphins which manage and reduces stress, it also aids to prevent cardiovascular disease, obesity, low back pain, arthritis, type 2 diabetes and above all it strengthens your immune system. * Weight management or helps in losing and maintaining weight. exercises helps in burning calories thus reducing the amount of fat in the body. * It facilitates better coordination, agility and flexibility * It improves balance and self consciousness thus helping the athletics remain focused as it increases physical confidence and self esteem. * Reduces stress thus improving and allowing better sleep * Improved general and psychological wellbeing

In general physical activities which are done during exercise programs contain great impact in our lives and body in so many ways. The workout programs are noted to contain healthful benefits such as reduces the risk of chronic disease, improves body balance and coordination particularly during athletics, help in losing and managing weight and above all it reduces stress thus improving sleep habits and self-esteem. It is therefore advisable to go for exercise programs which suits you in order to like and achieve your goals of losing weight and being fit.

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Muscular Training Programs

Article by Prabakar S

Engage in moderate exercise 30 minutes a day, five days a week, OR vigorous exercise 20 minutes a day, three days a week. Perform eight to 10 strength-training exercises, 10 to 15 repetitions of each, two to three times a week. Strength training, such as weight lifting, helps prevent muscle and bone loss. Practice balance exercises to reduce your risk for falls. Ask your doctor for suggestions to get you started. Put together an activity plan with the help of health professionals. This will ensure you stay safe and get the most benefit from your workout.

Muscular conditioning can improve strength and posture, reduce the risk of lower back injury, and is also an important component of a weight management program. Using dumbbells with your strength training for golf program will make it inexpensive; and you can do it right in your home. Using dumbbells allows you to work many dynamic movements nearly identical to your golf swing. This is called sport-specific training. The benefit over machine training is enormous.

Dumbbells or free-weights don’t have to be heavy either. They can range from as light as 5 pounds each, all the way up to 30’s or 40’s depending on your current strength levels. A training program for golf can be done with very little discomfort, and in 30 minutes or less. Do not make the excuse you don’t have time. You are choosing to not have time if you say this. The benefits of a golf strength training program is more power and distance; less injuries; better endurance for 18 holes of golf; better receptive muscles to produce a mechanically sound swing.

Muscular Strength is the maximum force that a muscle produces against resistance in a single, maximal effort or 1RM. From this One Repetition Maximal effort (1RM), a percentage of resistance, or weight, is calculated for the starting weight in a strength training program. Muscular strength may improve in as little as 4 to 6 weeks of consistent training. Strength gains continue to improve after 12 weeks by increasing sets and weight. Maintaining, or increasing muscular strength decreases the rate of age related loss of lean muscle mass. It also decreases the risk of injury and age related diseases such as osteporosis. For more details visit www.soundbodytrainer.com

Cross Fit: Does it really achieve the results it claims? Part III: Does cross fit lessen athletic performance: endurance with strength & power

Article by Mark Wine

Cross fit’s premise is simple, perform as many reps and designated exercises as fast as possible. Performing or viewing a cross fit workout will provide you with the idea that cross fit participants utilize endurance training, which is a correct observation. The emphasis of cross fit is on muscular endurance (buffering hydrogen ions) and an overall cardiovascular output. Athlete’s involved with sports that require a higher VO2 max and/or improved muscle buffering capacity (MBC) show great benefit when performing muscular endurance and aerobic training. However, aerobic and muscular endurance training must utilize certain protocols / variables to ensure optimal increases in VO2 max, MBC, maximal oxygen uptake, while still being capable of increasing strength and power, which lead to the greatest gains in athletic performance. Cross fit, simply put, often neglect numerous variables / protocols.

One style of training that is advantageous, that cross fit does perform is Circuit Training. Circuit training is a method of training that requires high volume coupled with short rest periods of 30 seconds or less [1]. This style of training has shown to increase relative VO2 max. This is vital for anaerobic athletes who require elevated aerobic-endurance levels. The most widely accepted measure of cardio respiratory vigor is Maximal Oxygen Uptake, which is the greatest amount of oxygen that the body can utilize at the cellular level. The goal of aerobic athletes, and cross energy athletes is often to increase these levels through circuit style training.Circuit training should utilize functional movement patterns that are similar to movements of the sport. It is not necessary, nor is it beneficial, to re-create exact anatomically based movements. An analysis of the muscles activated during the sport / activity is needed first and foremost. Following this analysis is a re-creation of competition speeds and muscular recruitment during training. Muscular recruitment and movement are most advantageous when re-created during training to be similar to the sport. On the other hand, there is a high degree of cross over between exercises and movements utilized for multiple sports. A common mis-conception is that movements must anatomically look the exact same as the sport itself, this is not Functional Training. The variables of the program make the difference, which are the sets, reps, rest time, structure, and placement of the exercises. Having a goal in mind will provide you with a solid structure leading to optimal athletic performance. A plan with random exercises, just to get a high amount of work done, is undesirable and not a plan. Cross fit takes that extreme.Cross fit does not utilize a sport or athletic analysis to individualize or customize a program that has similar recruitment patterns to that of the sport itself. Cross fit believes in “one size fits all.”

Cross fit coaches utilize nearly all of the same movements for their participants; clean to press, snatch, kipping pull ups, kettle bell swings, and others… Although some of these movements (never kipping pull ups) can often be advantageous, utilizing them with a plan based upon sets, reps, rest time, and placement in a workout are essential for creating optimal and superior results. Cross fit often places exercises into a workout resulting in weight reduction and improper technique, while still expecting performance increases. Not only does this not increase performance, it often decreases performance, especially with previous athletically trained athletes. Another negative aspect is that this style of training and program structure, or lack-there-of, can lead to injury and periods of detraining.Training with larger muscles, or recruiting more than one muscle in a movement, is done through compound movements / lifts. This is often advantageous because oxygen demand increases during an acute bout of aerobic exercise [1]. Cross fit takes advantage of this by utilizing total body movements throughout the entirety of its workouts. This increases its MET (metabolic equivalent of tasks) levels, which is common when assessing the level of intensity of an exercise / workout. Higher levels of MET’s are associated with increased metabolic rates, heart rates, and an overall energy output. MET workouts often lead to decreased fat levels and improved body composition, resulting in athletic performance. Incorporating large muscular movements during repeated bouts of exercise will deplete energy stores, such as ATP and creatine phosphate, which results in an inability to perform the movement correctly, efficiently, and with optimal strength and power. Exhaustion, due to energy store depletion, leads to injury, improper muscular recruitment (zero athletic performance), a reduction in weight, a loss in strength and power, and an overall slower movement pattern. The body becomes adapted quickly and atrophies even quicker. This reduction in weight, which is often required when performing numerous bouts of intense reps, leads to a slower athlete, a less powerful athlete, a weaker athlete, a more injury prone athlete, a less capable athlete, and a less coordinated athlete (Cross Fit: Does it really achieve the results it claims? Part I). Finding a balance between endurance and strength is needed for every athlete.

Strength is a common misunderstood term. Fitness enthusiasts and athletes think of strength as slow and power as explosive / fast. This cannot be further from the truth. Strength and power reflect the ability of a muscle to exert force at any given speed [1]. A stronger athlete is often more powerful and vice-versa. Training for strength and power is a critical component for all athletics. Soccer athletes train for strength and power in order to increase sprint speed, agility, and quickness. Swimming athletes train for strength and power in order to increase their concentric contraction during each pull of their stroke and to increase the push off from the wall. Athletes in sports like these, along with many others, require a higher oxygen uptake and MBC. They have been shown to enhance athletic performance through strength training. Anaerobic exercise has proven to increase cross-sectional areas, neurological coordination, flexibility, aerobic capacity, motor performance, local muscular endurance, lean muscle tissue, metabolic rates / efficiency, and power. All of these side effects are significant, resulting in a more developed / better athlete. Cross fit does not provide the same benefits because it does not practice safe and efficient strength training.

Type II muscle fibers are fast twitch and Type I are slow twitch. Type I are more oxidative (aerobic) and type II are associated with strength and power (anaerobic). However, the common claim is that aerobic endurance training will change type II to type I. There is little evidence to support this claim [1]. Continually performing strength and power training, even coupled with aerobic-endurance training, will not only maintain type II fibers, but it increases type II fibers. One side effect of aerobic endurance training is a gradual change from type IIx fibers to type IIa fibers. Type IIa fibers are more functional then type IIx fibers. Type IIa fibers posses a greater oxidative capacity and are more advantageous when performing repeated bouts of exercise. Repeated bouts of movements are required in nearly all sports. Therefore, one can theorize that coupling aerobic muscular endurance training with anaerobic strength training will result in superior athletic performance. One exception to the rule is Olympic Power lifters. Olympic lifting athletes are made up of mainly IIx fibers. This is advantageous for the sport of Olympic lifting, but it often leads to a poorly trained athlete as a whole.

It is essential to engage in a program that utilizes strength and power training and aerobic endurance or local muscular endurance training. “Acute aerobic exercise results in increased cardiac output, stroke volume, heart rate, oxygen uptake, systolic blood pressure (pressure exerted against arterial walls as blood is forcefully ejected during ventricular contraction and combined with heart rate measures work of heart), and blood flow to active muscles and a decrease in diastolic blood pressure (estimate pressure against arterial walls when no blood is being forcefully ejected through the vessels)” [1-125]. Cross fit can aid in the ability of select athletes, generally beginner to amateur athletes, with an increased ability of muscular endurance for increased performance. However, there is a trade off. With cross fit’s minute gain in endurance, one can expect a loss in absolute strength and power, which will result in poor athletic performance, a reduction in speed, improper technique, minimal injury prevention training, a reduction in agility, lower back pain, and many other non-desirable side effects.For athletes who are involved in a sport or activity that require a high aerobic output and/or MBC, utilizing a proper strength and conditioning program will ensure optimal gains in athletic performance. Develop a program that balances between strength and power and muscular endurance / aerobic training. Here is an example:Day 1: Strength & Power – Lower BodyDay 2: Endurance / Circuit – Upper BodyDay 4 or 5: Endurance / Circuit – Lower BodyDay 5 or 6: Strength & Power – Upper BodyThis is nothing more than a sample weekly regimen. Provided that you give 100% effort, follow the plan, perform proper technique during exercise, place equal emphasis on all the training days, and observe all program variables, you can expect to become a superior athlete. An athlete who can dominate both aerobically and anaerobically, an elite hybrid athlete.SOURCESwww.functionalmusclefitness.com1. The Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning (3rd edition).By, National Strength and Conditioning AssociationEditors: Thomas R. Baechle and Roger W. Earle©2008, 2000, 1994[113, 123, 125, 129]2. NASM Essentials of Personal Fitness Training (3rd edition)By, National Academy of Sports MedicineEditors: Michael A. Clark, Scott C. Lucett and Rodney J. Corn©20083. Strength Training Anatomy (3rd edition)By, Frederic Delavier©2010 by Editions Vigot

The Components of Fitness

Every single component of fitness is just as necessary as the next, for a well rounded and complete exercise program. Below you will find the major components listed, and a few reasons why each should be included in your routines.

Knowledge

This is the most important component hands down. You can’t exercise properly until you have researched on your own, or have been given instructions by a trained professional, such as a personal trainer, physiotherapist or doctor. Exercising without information is like going in to the wilderness without any supplies. In the best case scenario you risk not seeing results. In the worst case, injury. There is a ton of information online so at a minimum, look up exercise techniques and read the basics before trying out a new fitness program.

Warm Up

A warm up before starting a workout is one the most important components because this is what will prepare your body for all of the other training.

A warm up is like having a fitness breakfast. Like nutrition, skipping breakfast will result in a quicker burnout time half way though the day. A warm up works similarly because without one, you will burn out half way through your workout!

The warm up prevents injuries and “wakes the muscles” so your body has an idea of what to expect next. Every warm up should last 5-10 minutes and should resemble what you are about to do, on a smaller scale. For example, If you are running your warm up should be walking.

Cardiovascular Exercise

Cardiovascular exercise, known to most as “cardio” is the workout that will make your heart strong and also, aid weight loss goals the most effectively.

Some people think cardio is not necessary but when you see people with big muscles, having trouble making it up a flight of stairs, it makes you think twice. Cardio is all the fun activities like running, cycling, playing tennis and swimming. It gives you muscular endurance, a strong heart and an instant feeling of wellness.

Cardio exercise should be included in to your program at least twice a week for 20-40 minutes.

Strength Training/Weight Lifting

Lifting weights is sometimes neglected because many people think that lifting weights is synonymous with big muscles. Hardly! It’s actually very hard to build a lot of muscle mass for both men and women. To be quite honest those huge muscles you see on body builders are usually not natural. Instead, strength training is what gives you “tone.” While you are losing weight with sustained cardio activity, it’s the weights that will inflate those flattened muscles, to create a cut and defined physique. You will also build muscle but on most people, it builds tone oppose to mass, so don’t worry!

Lifting weights also adds bone density and strengthens joints and ligaments which prevents osteoporosis and makes us stronger and independent for much longer. This is especially important when we reach our senior years.

Weight training should be included a minimum of twice a week. Workout times vary depending on your program but you can expect anything from 20-60 minutes.

Flexibility

Stretching is also sometimes looked over, especially after a challenging workout, when all you want to do is hit the showers! It’s a very important component because flexibility training prevents injuries and keeps the body limber. If you never stretch, it won’t take long for your bod to start feeling tight, achey and fatigued. Stretching is also a great tension reliever and prevents chronic pain like neck and backaches. Don’t skip this one!

Stretch at the end of every workout for 5-10 minutes. It’s also recommend to include a stretch workout weekly or bi weekly, such as taking a yoga class.

Balance and Agility

I group balance and agility together as a minor component because you train for balance and agility during cardio and strength training sessions, provided you’re choosing exercises that target these components. In any case, I thought they deserved a special mention. Agility and balance are abilities that are fantastic for sports, but also general reaction time and injury prevention.

Compound exercises, stability ball training and outdoor (or gym floor) drills will improve your balance and agility.

Every fitness component compliments the other. If you do cardio but not weights, you will look scrawny. If you do weights but you don’t stretch, you will be too tight and uncomfortable to enjoy your muscles, not to mention the good chance you will be injured all together. Include all components to get the results you want quickly, safely and effectively.

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Simple Tips for Possessing Six Pack Abs just like the Hollywood motion picture movie stars.

Article by Kasper V. Christensen

Perhaps you have observed people and also actors having rock hard, 6-pack abs and wish that you’ve got one such as that? There are individuals who would love to have a nice wonderful appearance with out spending a lot of time in the fitness center. With the extremely fast paced type of life style that most folks have, could there be easy techniques for getting the physique that you’d like?

In reality there are several simple and easy tips that will help give you the six pack abs you’d like to have. Avoid eating while you’re watching the telly. Since your brain and focus is going to be on the show and television show that you’re looking at, you wouldn’t have the ability to watch the amount of foods you happen to be feasting on. You may tend to binge as you’re watching telly.Do not omit breakfast. It is the most essential meal for the day. Upon awakening, your metabolism is actually accelerated and fats actually starts to melt off. You will need adequate food to cope to cope up with the day. Calories are going to burn whilst you carry out your daily tasks. By avoiding a meal, you tend to overeat the next meal. Since you will feel that need to make up for the shed fat.

Include great eating habits to your everyday program. Aside from making sure you consume regularly and never while you’re watching tv, you need to ensure that good fats are included in your diet. Some men and women shudder in the word fatty acids, well, there are actually fats that happen to be great for your. Omega-3 fatty acids, flaxseed oil, olive oil are the healthy fat. Water is perfect for anyone. The more water you drink, the greater. You don’t need to stick just ingesting 8 to 10 glasses of water when you can actually consume a lot more. But we’re required to ingest that much water each day to keep hydrated. This would certainly regulate fat loss and body metabolic processes. Weight loss program is not whole when you don’t put some mobility directly into your routine. So continue to integrate exercise session into your life. Doing a thousands of sit-ups a day is just not sufficient. Do you think that Brad Pitt ab routine consist of only sit-ups to obtain those remarkable washboard abs? Look at your whole body and not only about your abdominal area. When aiming for hard six pack abs, cardiovascular workouts are a necessity. This kind of exercise raise endurance and heart condition, it burn fat in a very quick way. Cardiovascular routines can be performed 5 min’s a day, and will expand it to forty five minutes. Aside from cardiovascular exercises you can even do some weightlifting to obtain the body you want.

Not all exercises can be done inside the gym, take your exercise outdoors. Take a stroll, stand straight in a night club, you may also perform some work outs during your break time when you are sitting down on your chair. In addition to proper dieting and exercise, getting the minimum 7 to eight hrs of sleep every night is essential. Sleeping revitalizes your body. It repairs muscular system by reducing the stress hormone levels. And last, you need to be consistent. You might plan or create your very own exercise program, but getting your hard six pack abs just does not remain there. Hollywood actor Jessica Biel fitness routine will depend on regularity. You need to be consistent with the plan or regimen you devised. That is why diet or exercise do not work, due to the fact we lack regularity in doing things. Six pack ab muscles will be easy, as long as you put yourself into it.

MMA training – tempo method for muscular endurance

Article by Khurram Aziz

Increasing your ability to utilise your oxidative energy system (i.e. your aerobic capacity), efficiently, is fundamental to producing a high work rate throughout a three round or a five round fight. To that end, most of my supplemental MMA training has focused on long slow distance runs, training at a moderate pace for 60-90 minutes. At these intensities, over that length of time, my body is being trained aerobically leading to a more efficient cardiovascular system.

Another method for increasing your oxidative capacity is to increase the ability of your muscles to use oxygen as a fuel. Tempo method or continuous training, is designed to specifically target those muscle fibres which are best adapted to using oxygen – the slow-twitch muscle fibres. These muscle fibres are much more efficient at utilising oxygen for energy in comparison to fast-twitch fibres, which are better at using ATP/Creatine-Phosphate and glycogen.

Tempo method

Tempo method focuses on time under tension (TUT) to get the desired result. The protocol I’m working on in my MMA training requires lifting weights of around 60% of my 1-rep max (RM) at a slow pace – 2-0-2-0. This means lowering the weight at a slowly over 2 seconds, no pause at the bottom, then lifting the weight at a controlled pace for 2 seconds, and then repeating without any pause at the top. The muscles are in constant tension during the set, no matter how many reps you do.

I use big multi-joint movements, such as the squat, bench press and shoulder press, to target the maximum number of muscles.

In his book, Ultimate MMA Conditioning, Joel Jamieson recommends picking 3-4 strength exercises and performing 8-10 reps for between 3-5 sets. Rest periods should be limited to 45 seconds MAX between each set going up to 6-8 minutes between each exercise.

I use the “big 4” lifts – squat, bench press, dead lift and shoulder press, performing each exercise at a 2-0-2-0 pace:

Exercise Intensity Reps Sets Rest between setsSquat 60% of 1RM 8-10 3-5 45 secondsShoulder press 60% of 1RM 8-10 3-5 45 secondsBench press 60% of 1RM 8-10 3-5 45 secondsDead lift 60% of 1RM 8-10 3-5 45 seconds

6-8 minutes active rest between each exercise (shadow boxing)Effects of tempo training

After only four weeks of tempo training, it is hard to tell what effect this mode of strength training has had on my muscular endurance.

According to the literature, slow-twitch fibres which are crucial for endurance are not fully recruited during rapid explosive movements. Only slow movements, which cause the slow-twitch fibres to be under tension long enough can cause adaptation in these fibres to take place.

One article which discusses this is written by Thomas V Pipes, entitled Strength Training and Fiber Types. In it, Pipes takes muscle biopsies of an athlete before and after pre-determined training microcycles.

Pipes found that following a routine in which 8 reps (at the 8 RM) were used, the fast twitch muscle fibers of the trained muscle (in this case the quadricep via the leg press) hypertrophied.

However, he also found that the slow twitch muscle fibres atrophied (i.e., got smaller); and he also found that the number of reps the athlete could perform at 80% of his 1 RM decreased, yet his 1 RM increased. The athlete was then placed on a routine using 12 reps (at his 12 RM). This time the muscle biopsy showed that hypertrophy did in fact take place, but that this time it was in the slow twitch muscle fibres. Not only that but the fast twitch fibres atrophied and the number of reps possible at 80% 1 RM went up, while his 1 RM decreased.

What this shows is that with increased reps, i.e. an increase in TUT, using a lighter weight, slow twitch fibres are targeted preferentially to fast twitch fibres. In other words, muscular endurance increases in preference to maximum strength.

This correlates with the real-world example of bodybuilders. Bodybuilders have long used the principle of TUT to increase overall muscle hypertrophy. The result is muscles which are capable of a remarkable degree of endurance but poor maximum strength in comparison to other weight trained athletes.

Another study I found relating to this was conducted by Dr Patrick O’Shea, Professor Emeritus of exercise and sports science at Oregon State University (http://cbass.com/SLOWFAST.HTM).

He used electromyography (EMG) to study muscle recruitment order of muscle fibre types in the quadriceps of a trained athlete during execution of a one repetition squat with progressively increasing loads.

Starting with 60% of 1 RM, O’Shea found that the slow-twitch fibres contributed 60% to the effort and fast-twitch fibres 40%. At 100% maximum effort, however, the percentage of slow-twitch fibres involved was found to be only 5%, while fast-twitch fibres contributed 95%. So lighter loads have been shown to target slow twitch fibres better than heavier loads.

Conclusion

That’s the limit of my understanding at the moment. Using tempo training as part of your overall MMA training you can effectively target slow twitch fibres, increase their cross-sectional area and make your muscles better able to utilise oxygen as a fuel.

How far this contributes to the body becoming a better aerobic “machine”, however, I think is still open to debate. There may be another mechanism by which TUT leads to greater muscular endurance.

I posed this question on Joel Jamieson’s forum, where I learnt of tempo training in the first place, and got the following reply:

“The way I understand it, at least in theory, is that the hypertrophy of slow twich muscles reduces their “oxidativeness”, because mitochondrial density declines. Meaning, the same number of mitochondia have to produce energy for a larger mass of muscle. So there is less O2 energy available per unit of muscle. However, if mitochondia and capillaries also increased, which happens with aerobic training, it might not matter and O2 capabilities could potentially improve which would help reduce fatigue. Is tempo training equiv to aerobic training? Not sure!However, generally with more muscle hypertrophy (more muscle fibre protoplasm) the same workload’s lactic acid can be spread over a larger volume, and not affect PH locally as much. So performance decline should be more gradual, increasing endurance. Since muscles generally have mixed fibre composition, and faster twitch are known to hypertrophy more easily and more than slow twitch, there is a good chance this has something to do with it as well.”There are articles which I’ve seen that say that hypoxia (depriving muscles of oxygen) can lead to hypertrophy, so the continuous training, i.e. sets performed with no pauses between reps, can deprive muscles of oxygen long enough to cause hypertrophy.

Finally, Joel himself had something to say on this topic:

“The physiology of tempo training as I’ve described I’ve found pretty much only in some obscure Russian textbooks and I was first introduced to the method by Val of Omegawave. The cause of the local hypoxia has to do with the overall tempo, not pausing at the top or bottom of the rep and the overall loading. This is how slow twitch muscles are targeted, not just being you’re ‘going slow’ exactly.That’s not to say fast twitch fibres aren’t working as well, clearly they are, but from what I’ve read it is effective at increasing slow twitch hypertrophy and I can’t argue with the results I’ve seen so it’s obviously doing something. Slow twitch fibres, by their very nature, are extremely dense with mitochondria so you can’t assume that increasing their cross-sectional area is automatically going to lead to a decrease in mitochondrial density. Even if this were the case, other forms of more direct aerobic work can easily increase mitochondria within these fibres anyway.”

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Importance of Fitness Testing

Article by Ted

Fitness tests are basically tests conducted by fitness trainers on people who are fitness training themselves so that they can monitor the progress of their clients. Fitness testing is a very serious and important activity for all those people involved seriously in fitness training or those people who workout and just want to make sure that their physical health is in order. Usually, fitness trainers will also make beginners undergo fitness training because it is often taken as a bench mark and then their particular fitness training schedules are settled around the results of their fitness tests.

A lot of people believe that these evaluations are unnecessary but nothing can be as important as initial fitness evaluations to gauge the amount of work you will need to put in during the life of your fitness training. Usually athletes and sports player will undergo these fitness tests on a regular basis to determine their progress and to see if further improvement is required or not. The trainer will also tell them the kind of protein supplements the bodybuilders or athletes should include in their diet, including proteinpulver, protein bars and which ones to include.

Normally, a competent trainer will perform these basic but important steps on each of his/her clients starting a new training cycle and at specific points during their training cycle. The tests performed before the training cycle can be of two types; the first are the

What is the Best Way to Build Muscle?

Article by Eric Rotherman

A common question in novice bodybuilding circles is, “What is the best way to build muscle?” This is really a loaded question as there are many different ways to build muscle and each individual’s body responds to different methods of muscle building. There are however some basic fundamental principles that do not change and are essential to every weight lifter’s program. So it could be said that these are the “best way” to build muscle. However they need to be taken and customized according the individual lifter’s needs and requirements. Lets look at what those common elements are.

Firstly a regular time slot needs to be available for training. Before you start to plan your program work out how much time you have and how you will make it regular. If you can’t keep a regular training slot your end goals will be further away then you thought they were. A routine is a must for getting the best out of your weight training.

Secondly you need to ensure you are getting the maximum amount of rest that you can. Remind yourself that your muscles grow when they are rested so ensure you get as much of it as possible. The strain and stress you put your muscles under in training is done to enable them to grow in the recovery phase. The recovery phase is your rest time and so is an essential part of building muscle.

Ensure you eat a balanced diet which effectively fuels your body, so that it can continue to train at maximum intensity. Food is the fuel your body requires and because of your bodybuilding or weight lifting routine you need to ensure you have a good mixture of food groupings. Including, carbohydrates for long lasting energy, proteins for muscular strength and vegetables and fruits for the health benefits of the vitamins and minerals they contain.

The other area you need to consider for best results is the amount of repetitions you perform of each movement within a set of an exercise. Strength athletes usually have one aim chosen from three different options: strength gain, mass gain or muscular endurance. If an increase in strength is the most important for you then you are best to perform sets of 2-6 reps with heavy weights. If you focused on mass gain you will want to perform the exercise in sets of 8-12 reps with moderate weights. Where as if you are wanting to build muscular endurance you will need to perform more than 12 reps per set and use light to moderate weights.

All of the above are foundational to a program that builds muscles the “best way” for you as an individual. Adjust your program to suit your time, your aims and your body type but ensure you consider all the above elements and include them in your training. They will help you gain long term muscle building success.

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Difference Between Developing Muscle Mass and Muscle Endurance

Article by David Ben Efraim

Whenever most people are looking to perform muscle-building exercises they believe that the only worthy indicator of progress is the increase of muscle mass. While this is a widespread concept, it is quite an erroneous one; there is another important indicator of your progress referred to as muscle endurance.

Building Up Muscle Mass

This is the concept with which most people are familiar with: do the reps, pump the iron, watch your arms get bigger and your muscles gain definition. There is not much to explain here: you do your exercises, your muscles tear up and then rebuild themselves stronger and more massive. This process is done over and over again until the person reaches their desired appearance.

Most of the exercises which aim to increase muscle mass have you do short but intense movements, such as dumbbell curls for example. While this is the best way to increase muscle mass, it does next to nothing when it comes to improving your muscular endurance.

Why Muscular Endurance is Important

If you try flexing your muscles as hard as possible without stopping, you will notice that after a few seconds pass there will be a burning sensation in your muscles that keeps growing stronger and stronger until you physically can’t keep it up anymore. This burning sensation is caused by the lactic acid which is pouring into your muscles; muscle endurance is basically how long your muscles can work before the pain from the lactic acid becomes too much to bear.

The problem with working your muscle endurance is that the results will be much less tangible than if you focused on muscle mass; your muscles will only grow very little and you won’t feel the difference until much later… every step of your progress will allow you to last a couple of seconds longer. As you can imagine, this serves as the main reason a lot of people neglect their muscle endurance, but the truth is that if you are gunning for more than appearance then you will need to work it out to bring the best out in you.

How to Train Muscle Endurance

While there is a ton of exercises designed to help people increase their muscular endurance, none of them can be described as the best method. Simply make sure that the exercises you will be performing will force you to flex your muscles for prolonged periods of time. Above all, keep your workout adapted to your own capabilities; an injury can throw you off course pretty easily.As mentioned before, there are innumerably systems and products which are designed to help you increase your muscular endurance and naturally I cannot say that one thing works while the rest are scams, because that is simply not true. When it came to me and my desire to work on my muscle endurance I looked around and decided that a special dumbbell called the Shake Weight for Men was the right thing for me.

It works by basically shaking back and forth when you squeeze it creating the perfect conditions where cardio and muscular endurance are needed. Apart from that, I found that it was a good deal in my situation seeing as how it’s pretty compact and not overly expensive and allows you to regulate the intensity of your workout. If you are not the type of person who works out very often and would like to get yourself into shape, I believe that this product can offer some valuable assistance.

Related Definition Muscular Endurance Articles

Why Muscular Endurance is as Important as Muscle Growth

When people are training at the gym and making their routines, they most often concentrate on simply increasing their muscle mass to become bigger and stronger. Unfortunately, while some of them may have workouts that are out of this world, many simply forget about just how important muscular endurance is, especially when you are increasing your muscle mass.

What Makes Muscular Endurance Important

As you probably know it already, whenever you are moving your muscles are contracting, and to do so they require oxygen. The bigger and more developed your muscles are the more oxygen they are going to require in order to move effectively. Increasing your muscles mass might make you stronger, but it won’t actually allow you to last longer.

Whenever your muscles are pushed to their limit they start filling up with lactic acid which is basically the substance that makes you feel the burn.

If you choose not to work on your muscular endurance the lactic acid will start pouring into your muscles very soon, and as a result all the muscles that are contracting will start to bring you pain which will not allow you to keep going until you rest.

If you want to make sure that you can actually make use of your muscles for extended periods of time then you will have no choice but to work on your muscular endurance and take some time off muscle growth exercises.

A Great Way of Improving Muscular Endurance

While there are undoubtedly many ways to do this, one of the best methods for beginners is to exercise with the Shake Weight.

While it should be noted that those who have been going to the gym for a while now will probably not find any use in working out with this dumbbell, those who are just starting will benefit in many ways from the Shake Weight.

For those who don’t know what it is, the Shake Weight is basically a dumbbell that you squeeze with your hands, causing it to bounce up and down in your hands. The goal is to try and keep it as steady as possible, and surprisingly this actually provides for a very intense and rewarding workout, working out not only your upper body muscular endurance, but also your cardio.

Order this DVD at www.shopcathe.com Muscle Endurance This high rep, total body conditioning workout not only increases functional fitness gains, but it promotes nicely shaped and defined muscles. You’ll experience maximum muscular endurance gains along with strength gains as you challenge each of the major muscle groups through a wide variety of exercises. Do this workout one to three times per week and you’ll soon enjoy the benefits of improved posture, increased bone density, and an overall healthy, happier you. Equipment needed A step bench, barbell, various weighted dumbbells, and a medicine ball (we will use an 8 pound medicine ball) Muscle Endurance Format: warm-up (6 min.), weight training (45 min.), Abs (9 1/2 min.), stretch (4 min.) Total = 64 1/2 min. Muscle Endurance This high rep, total body conditioning workout not only increases functional fitness gains, but it promotes nicely shaped and defined muscles. You’ll experience maximum muscular endurance gains along with strength gains as you challenge each of the major muscle groups through a wide variety of exercises. Do this workout one to three times per week and you’ll soon enjoy the benefits of improved posture, increased bone density, and an overall healthy, happier you. Equipment needed: A step bench, barbell, various weighted dumbbells, and a medicine ball (we will use an 8 pound medicine ball) Muscle Endurance Format: warm-up (6 min.), weight training (45 min.), Abs (9 1/2 min.), stretch (4 min.) Total …
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