Archive for December, 2009

Last week I posted a 5x workout and I thought that some of you might want a workout that focused on specific areas. This week I’ll post a Upper body focus.

Here you go:
Upper body focus

Happy new year!

A lot of people get turned off of weightlifting of doing certain kinds of lifts (mostly leg workouts) because they know the next day it’s going to hurt to even get out of bed. Couple that with some fatigue and you have a genuine excuse for not lifting, or at least not trying as hard.

The Marines love to tell everyone “Pain is weakness leaving the body” and they’re not far off. The soreness in your muscles after a tough workout is your body’s way of telling you that it’s been pushed hard and is responding to that by building up and strengthening its muscles. So it’s a little more accurate to say that pain is strength entering the body… Yeah I know, doesn’t sound as cool.

Either way, unless you’re a sadist, sore muscles are no fun. Here’s a few tips and tricks to keep the pain to a minimum:
• Drink lots of water
• Ibuprophen
• Constant stretching throughout the day
• Gently massage the muscle
• Work out again!

I know when you’re stiff and tired from yesterday’s workout, the last thing you want to do is work out again. But doing some light cardio will get your blood pumping which will keep the muscles from tightening up, and also help flush your system of lactic acid, the stuff which is making you feel sore.

Of course prevention is always better than a cure, so try doing this next time when you work out:
• Stretch before anything else
• Warm up with 5-10 minutes of light cardio, like jogging or jumping jacks
• For new exercises do a first set of extra light reps
• For new muscles being worked, go easy the first few times
• Sip water throughout your workout
• Cool down with 5 minutes of cardio
• Stretch
• Drink lots of fluids after exercising

I wish I could say that there was a simple way to prevent muscle soreness resulting from a good strong workout, but it isn’t really possible. Part of exercising is getting your body to work anerobically. When the body works in that mode it builds up that lactic acid and you will be sore. The best thing you can do is just flush that acid out of your system as quickly as possible.

Given time, and I know this sounds strange, but you may come to enjoy it. Try taking it as sign that you worked hard and for that hard work your body is growing stronger. No need to get all macho and proud, just a simple smile when you stand up and feel those burning quadriceps.

So over the past few months I’ve post a number of workouts. If you’ve been sticking with it you’re ready to start pushing your body five times a week. Some people have mixed thoughts on this. Basically its time versus results. Not everyone has the time to spend 5 or more hours week at the gym, but for others who have nop other place they would rather be, heres a work out for you!

5x workout

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I’ve talked about muscle confusion in the past, and since it has become so popular thanks to Beach Body’s P90X program, I thought I would give the topic some little extra attention.

First and foremost I should say that the name doesn’t really describe what’s going. At no point in time are your muscles actually confused. Really “muscle unbalance” or “muscle surprise” would be more descriptive, but I guess they don’t sound as catchy. Simply put muscle confusion is the technique of changing your workout ever 3-4 weeks to prevent your body from adapting to your current workout.

Here’s an example:
Weeks 1-4: Preacher curl
Weeks 5-8: Standing curl
Weeks 9-12: Inclined dumbbell curl

Notice the exercises all work the same major muscle group, but do so in different ways. In addition to exercises you can change up the number of sets and reps you use! This technique works well for cardio workouts too:
Weeks 1-4: Running
Weeks 5-8: Elliptical…ing(?)
Weeks 9-12: Cardio classes

You’re still getting a good cardio workout every week, but on top of that you are forcing your body to adapt which will make the muscles grow faster, which at the risk of sounding like a record, will help you lose weight faster.

So what training programs use this technique? Well as I mentioned at first, P90X has become very popular lately, and at its core is a muscle confusion program.
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Most other good books out there use muscle confusion, but may or may not expressly say they are. The easiest way to check is to see if they have only one exercise plan, or one exercise per muscle. I know in the past I’ve called squats the king of exercises, and I stand by that statement. But, mixing it up will still payoff in the long term.

Be wary of people who state “this one exercise/machine can … whatever” it’s true that some exercise work more muscles than others, but sticking to only one exercise, plan, DVD, or cardio machine is the shortest way to long term stagnation.

The real beauty of this is that you can design your own workouts around the principle of muscle confusion, or just mash several workouts together, changing it from one to another every few weeks.