Archive for June, 2009

Measuring Aerobic Performance

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Posted 09 Jun 2009 — by Brandon
Category Uncategorized

Are you in good cardiovascular shape???

 A good way to check if you are getting into cardiovascular shape is to check your resting heart rate (RHR).  To get an accurate reading of your RHR, you must take your pulse just after you wake up, while you are still lying in bed.  The best way to do it is to take your carotid pulse by lightly placing two fingers on the side of your neck, just to the side of the larynx (throat).  Once you have found your pulse, count the pulses for 60 seconds and record that number (or count pulses for 30 seconds and then times it by 2).  If you are training properly, you should see a decrease in the amount of pulses in 60 seconds.

What is this important?


1.      Your heart is getting stronger:  Seeing a decrease in RHR means that your stroke volume (SV) is getting stronger.  SV is the amount of blood the heart pumps out in a single beat.  Having an efficient SV will allow your heart to not work as hard to supply oxygen to your active muscles. 


2.      Blood Volume:  With your heart getting stronger, there will be an increase in blood volume and it will be easier for blood to supply oxygen to your active muscles and also clear up lactic acid.

a.      Lactic acid is the burning sensation you feel in your legs if you sprint up a flight of stairs.  In other words…lactic acid = muscle fatigue.  The increase in blood volume will buffer away lactic acid and keep you going longer.


3.      Increase in VO2max:  Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) is regarded as one of best measurements of aerobic performance.  It is the maximal volume of oxygen that your body can consume per minute and used for aerobic energy production. 


What if you see an increase in RHR through your training program?


1.      You are overtrained:  This is a good indicator that you need to rest so your body can recover.  Overtraining will lead to a decrease in performance, decrease in motivation, decrease in weight, and an overall decrease in energy.


2.      You are detrained:  Your body cannot increase in performance if you don’t train properly.  This means you must increase in frequency, time, and intensity in your workouts.  The body adapts to everything you throw at it so challenge yourself every time you train.  If you train correctly, you will see a decrease in your RHR.

 

The normal values for relative (mL/kg/min) VO2for various groups of individuals?

Untrained College-aged Females 30-35 mL/kg/min
Untrained College-aged Males 35-45 mL/kg/min

Active College-aged Females 40-45 mL/kg/min
Active College-aged Males 45-50 mL/kg/min

Trained College-aged Females 50-60 mL/kg/min
Trained College-aged Males 55-65 mL/kg/min

Competitive College-aged Males 65-85 mL/kg/min
Highest measured VO2max ~95 mL/kg/min

 

 

A strong heart leads to a strong performance

A strong heart leads to a strong performance

Motivation

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Posted 08 Jun 2009 — by Brandon
Category Building muscle, strength, and power, Challenges, Weight Loss

60% of Americans live a non-active sedentary lifestyle. The lack of motivation of not being physically active has lead to the increase rates of obesity in America. In 2006, 33% of men and 35% of women were considered obese. In addition, 16% of children aged 2 – 19 years old fell into this same category.
Here are some tips to build, increase, and maintain motivation so you can stay physically active and life a healthy life style.

 
1. Write down your goals and post it somewhere in which you will see it every day. A good place to place your goals is in your bathroom mirror.

2. Tell family and friends about you fitness goals. This will allow the people around you to support you and keep you motivated on what you are trying to achieve. If you start to slack (trust me you will slack) they will be around to let you know that you are not doing all you can to achieve success.

3. Keep a journal of your thoughts and feelings about your workout and daily activities. This will allow you to adjust what you are doing in your everyday life.

4. Workout with other people and compete in challenges. This will allow you to work harder and have you strive to be the best. If you do not have that “Play to Win” attitude, you will not succeed on achieving your fitness goals.

5. Visualize! Take five minutes out of your day and close your eye to visualize yourself doing what you want to do, where you want to be, and how you are going to succeed. Make sure that the thoughts in your head are as vivid as possible. This is not easy…However, with practice you will get better at controlling your thoughts and feelings. The body and mind work as one, if you’re not mentally prepared you will fail in what you set out to accomplish.

 

Following these tips will allow you to stay focus and not give up on your fitness dreams.

procrastinate20cartoon3

The 5 Most Overrated Exercises

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Posted 05 Jun 2009 — by Brandon
Category Building muscle, strength, and power, Challenges

1.  The Bench Press: 
“How much can you bench?” seems to be the question that every gym rat would like to know when you tell them you workout. In my option, I think the bench press is the # 1 most overrated exercise that is performed in the gym (especially on Mondays/National Bench Press Day). The reason I think this way about the bench press is because I am a man of functionality and I believe that you should train movements and not body parts (the body building era is over!). The only time you are lying on your back and pushing something heavy off of you is when you are getting your ass kicked in a fight or in competition.

2.  Bicep curl:  
I absolutely hate this exercise! I will just quote Alwyn Crosgrove who is a well renowned strength & conditioning coach and an overall great guy. He states, “If you cannot achieve 10 pull-ups on your own, you have no right doing bicep curls”. I’ll just leave it at that because I can go on for days about why this exercise is irrelevant…

3.  Leg press:
Ok, let’s load up 8 plates on each side of the leg press and have people be AMAZED about how much weight you are pressing. Let’s see…
8 plates x 2 sides = 16 plates total
16 plates x 45 lbs = 720 lbs that you are pressing while you are reclining in a chair with your feet up. That is amazing! So if you can leg press 720 lbs…How much can you squat???
(I had a professor once told me that “leg press is only functional for truck drivers”)

4.  Seated Adductions: 
Women love this exercise!…They believe that if they do enough reps, the fat will melt off of their inner thighs. Not only is this not true, but this will cause a major muscle imbalance in the body especially in women. For example, the next time you see someone squat notice their knees and how they move (in or out). If the knees move in towards one another then that is a perfect example of someone who has tight adductors. Having tight adductors will lead to someone having weak glutes and not having a strong ass will lead to sprain ankles and knee problems.

5.  Tricep Kick Back:
This exercise is ridiculous because for you to perform this exercise you must pull your arm into shoulder extension and maintain an isometric muscle contraction (no movement) in your latissimus dorsi and posterior deltoid. In other words, you are not just working your triceps in this exercise because your motor neurons are firing to your lats and deltoids to hold you in the proper position. You won’t be able to overload the triceps with weight and thus you will not see any gains by doing that exercise…throw it out!

Honorable mention
• Forearm curls
• Crunches
• Knee extension                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                

    
WOW

WOW

Got to love Mondays

Got to love Mondays

uh???

uh???

                                                                                                                                                 

                                   

 Northridge CA, 91325

The Less We Move…The More Fat We Get

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Posted 03 Jun 2009 — by Brandon
Category Building muscle, strength, and power, Challenges, Weight Loss
Less Movement = More FAT

Less Movement = More FAT

I have nothing to say…this picture tells all.

Northridge CA, 91325

The Metabolic Window

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Posted 02 Jun 2009 — by Brandon
Category Building muscle, strength, and power, Weight Loss

While you’re working out or doing any type of physical activity, your body has to use substrates such as carbohydrates, fats, and protein to produce energy for your body to move and stay moving. After you are done with your workout, there is a 45 minute metabolic window in which you need to fuel your body with good carbohydrates, fats, and protein. The sooner you get a meal or meal replacement shake into your body after your activity, the better your body will progress in building lean muscle mass and replenish the substrates you have burned to produce energy for your body.

So what should you eat?

You want to eat something that involves simple carbohydrates, good fats, and lean proteins. This might include:

1. Meal replacement shakes or protein shakes that involve protein, fat, and most importantly carbs.
2. Chocolate milk is a really good post workout drink. It has simple carbohydrates (the chocolate) and the right amount of fats and protein in the milk
3. Turkey or chicken sandwich on white bread
4. A bowl of cereal
5. If you want to have a cheat day in which you want to pig out on whatever your stomach desires, the best time to eat it is after you workout within the 45 minute metabolic window.

 
Fueling your body with in the 45 minute metabolic window after your workout is crucial in enhancing your metabolism and spending up your desire goals in health and fitness. However if you are trying to lose weight, make sure that you are watching your calories so you can achieve a calorie deficit which will allow you to burn fat while keep building that lean muscle mass.

i_love_carbs                                                

Northridge, CA 91325

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