There is a very fine line between the two.
You must push your limits to get results. But you must also not push so far and hard that your body cannot keep up. This will result in overtraining.
So how do you tell if you are pushing your limits or if you are pushing too far?
If you are pushing your limits you will be looking forward to your workouts, feeling good the day after (possibly a little sore, but thats fine), and not be dragging all day long.
If you are pushing to far and beginning to overtrain. You will not feel rested and strong prior to and during your workouts. You will feel lathargic on your off days, and your joints will begin to ache.
Again the the bottom line is the same a yesterdays post. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY
What is your body telling you?
Josh
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Let Your Body Recover From Your Workout
One of the best things you can do for your body is to allow it time to recover. So many times people think they can speed up the result process or see better results if they workout longer and more frequently.
Doing this however, is very counterproductive. If do not allow your body adequate time to recover you will begin to overtrain.
Overtraining results in excessive tiredness, achiness, injuries, fat gain, muscle catabolism, and decreased metabolism among other things. None of these you want. Trust me I've been through this personally. It's not fun. And none of this is going to help you get results faster.
To avoid overtraining. You should:
1. Only workout 3-4 times per week
2. Keep the duration of your workouts around 45 minutes.
3. Eat frequently and adequately each day.
4. Eat foods with high nutritional value.
5. Get 7-8 hours of sleep each day.
6. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. This is the biggest. Your body will tell you when something wrong. It is your job to take the necessary actions to fix the problem.
Until Next Time,
Work Hard But, Be Smart!
Josh
Doing this however, is very counterproductive. If do not allow your body adequate time to recover you will begin to overtrain.
Overtraining results in excessive tiredness, achiness, injuries, fat gain, muscle catabolism, and decreased metabolism among other things. None of these you want. Trust me I've been through this personally. It's not fun. And none of this is going to help you get results faster.
To avoid overtraining. You should:
1. Only workout 3-4 times per week
2. Keep the duration of your workouts around 45 minutes.
3. Eat frequently and adequately each day.
4. Eat foods with high nutritional value.
5. Get 7-8 hours of sleep each day.
6. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. This is the biggest. Your body will tell you when something wrong. It is your job to take the necessary actions to fix the problem.
Until Next Time,
Work Hard But, Be Smart!
Josh
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Strengthen Your Weakest Links
I don't know how many times I've watched people in the gym and seen them day after day, week after week, train the same body parts and use the same exercises. Usually chest, arms, abs, and shoulders. All the muscles they can see in the mirror. It is rare to see these individuals train their legs, even though the legs are the largest muscles in the body. And by training them they will increase total body strength and size. But, legs are not fun to train and not many people care about how well developed the quads and hams are. So it's just easier not to do them and cover up how weak they look with a pair of sweats.
These individuals are doing themselves a huge disservice. Their goal is to get bigger and stronger, but they are actually preventing themselves from ever reaching that goal. Eventually they will end up with muscle imbalances, resulting in injuries.
However, this can all be prevented and you can reach your goal of having the body you want.
You first however, must determine your weak links. So how do you do this? Well, look at your body. Are you shoulders rounded forward? If yes, then you need to do more back work (rows) and less chest work (bench presses) which is what caused you to develop this problem. Are you quad dominant or hip dominant? If you are quad dominant your knees will come forward when you squat and your ankles will lift of the ground. If you have either of these you need to do more posterior chain exercises like: deadlifts, RDLs, leg curls, and hyperextensions. On top of this you also need to work on your hip and ankle mobility, which can be achieved through proper stretching and using proper form with little or no weight. If you are able to fully squat to parallel or below (and have no limiting injuries) and can keep your knees from coming forward and your ankles on the ground then you are pretty well balanced. If you are hip dominant and this is very very rarely the case with most people you need to strength the quads with exercises like: front squats, and step ups.
Those are just the two most common weak links that I see. There are many more like grip strength which will limit the amount of weight you can handle, lower back strength which limits the amount of weight you can squat and deadlift, and many more. The point is that you need to train your entire body each day you workout and determine your weakest links. By doing this you will have much greater success, see better results, and have less injuries. Even if this requires you to do exercises you don't care for.
Stop overlooking certain body parts and get start getting stronger!
Have a Great Day!
Josh
These individuals are doing themselves a huge disservice. Their goal is to get bigger and stronger, but they are actually preventing themselves from ever reaching that goal. Eventually they will end up with muscle imbalances, resulting in injuries.
However, this can all be prevented and you can reach your goal of having the body you want.
You first however, must determine your weak links. So how do you do this? Well, look at your body. Are you shoulders rounded forward? If yes, then you need to do more back work (rows) and less chest work (bench presses) which is what caused you to develop this problem. Are you quad dominant or hip dominant? If you are quad dominant your knees will come forward when you squat and your ankles will lift of the ground. If you have either of these you need to do more posterior chain exercises like: deadlifts, RDLs, leg curls, and hyperextensions. On top of this you also need to work on your hip and ankle mobility, which can be achieved through proper stretching and using proper form with little or no weight. If you are able to fully squat to parallel or below (and have no limiting injuries) and can keep your knees from coming forward and your ankles on the ground then you are pretty well balanced. If you are hip dominant and this is very very rarely the case with most people you need to strength the quads with exercises like: front squats, and step ups.
Those are just the two most common weak links that I see. There are many more like grip strength which will limit the amount of weight you can handle, lower back strength which limits the amount of weight you can squat and deadlift, and many more. The point is that you need to train your entire body each day you workout and determine your weakest links. By doing this you will have much greater success, see better results, and have less injuries. Even if this requires you to do exercises you don't care for.
Stop overlooking certain body parts and get start getting stronger!
Have a Great Day!
Josh
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Q&A: Movement Pattern Exercises
Q: I have heard you mention that you base all of your workouts off of movement patterns. Could you explain this more and give me a few examples?
A: Movement patterns are the basic patterns or movements that your body moves in . There are six primary movement patterns:
1. Horizontal Push (bench press, push-up)
2. Horizontal Pull (rows)
3. Vertical Push (shoulder press)
4. Vertical Pull (lat. pulldown, pull-ups)
5. Squating (squats)
6. Deadlifting (deadlifts, RDLs)
7. Lunging (lunges)
8. Rotating/Twisting (wood chops)
9. Chest to Pelvis (sit-ups)
10. Pelvis to Chest (leg lifts)
11. Bending (hyperextensions)
By training this way you will prevent overtraining and muscle imbalances. Which will result in better gains, increases in strength and size , and less injuries.
Until Next Time, Have a Great Day!
Josh
A: Movement patterns are the basic patterns or movements that your body moves in . There are six primary movement patterns:
1. Horizontal Push (bench press, push-up)
2. Horizontal Pull (rows)
3. Vertical Push (shoulder press)
4. Vertical Pull (lat. pulldown, pull-ups)
5. Squating (squats)
6. Deadlifting (deadlifts, RDLs)
7. Lunging (lunges)
8. Rotating/Twisting (wood chops)
9. Chest to Pelvis (sit-ups)
10. Pelvis to Chest (leg lifts)
11. Bending (hyperextensions)
By training this way you will prevent overtraining and muscle imbalances. Which will result in better gains, increases in strength and size , and less injuries.
Until Next Time, Have a Great Day!
Josh
Monday, February 11, 2008
Q&A: Should You Increase Weight or Reps?
Q: I have been working out using 12 reps for the past couple of weeks and the weight is getting easy. Is it better to increase the reps and use the same weight or increase the weight?
A: Increase the weight. No matter what your goals are it is almost always better to increase the weight. The only time I would not increase the weight is when the increase in weight is causing an injury/pain. Which very rarely it is the weight that is causing the injury/pain, usually the injury/pain is caused by poor form or poor joint mobility.
By increasing the weight you challenge your muscles to work harder and use more muscle fibers. By getting more muscle fibers involved you will gain more strength, build more muscle tissue (Women you will not get bulky by doing this.), gain more definition, and burn more calories (Both from the extra work you're doing and from the increase in muscle tissue that you are building. This causes your metabolism to increase and helps you burn more fat.) You also should consider decreasing your reps and adding even more weight to avoid a strength plateau.
If you were to only increase the reps you will not get the same effect. This is because of the type of muscle fibers involved. By increasing the reps you will be activating the Type I fibers, which are endurance fibers and have a low power output. Resulting in you not looking any leaner or more defined. By using heavier weight you will activate the Type II fibers which have a high energy output and are designed for strength. By activating the Type II fibers you will increase their cross sectional diameter, which does not happen when you train Type I fibers, and this causes your muscles to look more defined and you to look leaner.
Have a Great Day!
Josh
A: Increase the weight. No matter what your goals are it is almost always better to increase the weight. The only time I would not increase the weight is when the increase in weight is causing an injury/pain. Which very rarely it is the weight that is causing the injury/pain, usually the injury/pain is caused by poor form or poor joint mobility.
By increasing the weight you challenge your muscles to work harder and use more muscle fibers. By getting more muscle fibers involved you will gain more strength, build more muscle tissue (Women you will not get bulky by doing this.), gain more definition, and burn more calories (Both from the extra work you're doing and from the increase in muscle tissue that you are building. This causes your metabolism to increase and helps you burn more fat.) You also should consider decreasing your reps and adding even more weight to avoid a strength plateau.
If you were to only increase the reps you will not get the same effect. This is because of the type of muscle fibers involved. By increasing the reps you will be activating the Type I fibers, which are endurance fibers and have a low power output. Resulting in you not looking any leaner or more defined. By using heavier weight you will activate the Type II fibers which have a high energy output and are designed for strength. By activating the Type II fibers you will increase their cross sectional diameter, which does not happen when you train Type I fibers, and this causes your muscles to look more defined and you to look leaner.
Have a Great Day!
Josh
Thursday, February 7, 2008
3 Exercise Myths
Myth #1: Single-Joint Exercises are better for muscular development. No, for most people single-joint exercises (e.g. bicep curls, leg extensions, chest flys, etc.) are a complete waste of time. They do not burn a lot of calories and do not activate many muscle fibers, and you cannot use as heavy of loads. Instead, you should be using multi-joint exercises (e.g. squats, deadlifts, push-ups, pull-ups, rows, etc.) that will burn tons of calories, activate many muscle fibers, and allow you to use heavy loads. Single-joint exercises are only best used for extremely deconditioned individuals, individuals working are injuries, or to rehab injuries.
Myth #2: Using a Body Part Split to get stronger. This is how body builders used to and some still do train. These workouts have you targeting a different muscle group each day. Usually these workouts will leave you overtrained with muscle imbalances, injuries, and limited gains. Your body functions as one unit and therefore should be trained as one unit. By training your entire body each day using movement patterns you will be able to develop greater strength, burn more calories, increase metabolism, and spend less time working out. I mean do you really think you need to spend an entire day devoted to arms? No, you don't even need to do any specific arm work. Your arms get worked with every upper body and most lower body exercises that you do. Usually the people using body part split routines over work their bodies and hinder there gains by doing to much. When you train your entire body with one exercise for each movement pattern (Squating, Horizontal Pushing, Horizontal Pulling, Deadlifting, Vertical Pushing, and Vertical Pulling) you will keep everything in balance and avoid overuse. However, this type of training is not to be done everyday like the body part split routines. Instead, it is only to be done 3-4 days per week with 3-4 days of rest.
Myth #3: You must do cardio training to lose weight. Again, not entirely true. While some people have great success using the treadmill, elliptical, bike, or running/walking outside it is not necessary for weight loss. If you enjoy it great and by all means continue with it. But, if you don't enjoy it why suffer through. A cardio replacement I like to use is Anaerobic Cardio. With Anaerobic Cardio you perform high intensity exercises (sometimes running) one after the other for short periods of time followed by a period of rest. And then repeat. You can also incorporate weight training exercises into this as well. You can perform these 2x per week as a complete workout or at the end of your regular workout. I use both. These workouts are usually extremely fatiguing and leave you pretty winded. But, I find them much more enjoyable than regular cardio.
There you go 3 Myths Busted! Try out those tips and let me know what you think.
Josh
Myth #2: Using a Body Part Split to get stronger. This is how body builders used to and some still do train. These workouts have you targeting a different muscle group each day. Usually these workouts will leave you overtrained with muscle imbalances, injuries, and limited gains. Your body functions as one unit and therefore should be trained as one unit. By training your entire body each day using movement patterns you will be able to develop greater strength, burn more calories, increase metabolism, and spend less time working out. I mean do you really think you need to spend an entire day devoted to arms? No, you don't even need to do any specific arm work. Your arms get worked with every upper body and most lower body exercises that you do. Usually the people using body part split routines over work their bodies and hinder there gains by doing to much. When you train your entire body with one exercise for each movement pattern (Squating, Horizontal Pushing, Horizontal Pulling, Deadlifting, Vertical Pushing, and Vertical Pulling) you will keep everything in balance and avoid overuse. However, this type of training is not to be done everyday like the body part split routines. Instead, it is only to be done 3-4 days per week with 3-4 days of rest.
Myth #3: You must do cardio training to lose weight. Again, not entirely true. While some people have great success using the treadmill, elliptical, bike, or running/walking outside it is not necessary for weight loss. If you enjoy it great and by all means continue with it. But, if you don't enjoy it why suffer through. A cardio replacement I like to use is Anaerobic Cardio. With Anaerobic Cardio you perform high intensity exercises (sometimes running) one after the other for short periods of time followed by a period of rest. And then repeat. You can also incorporate weight training exercises into this as well. You can perform these 2x per week as a complete workout or at the end of your regular workout. I use both. These workouts are usually extremely fatiguing and leave you pretty winded. But, I find them much more enjoyable than regular cardio.
There you go 3 Myths Busted! Try out those tips and let me know what you think.
Josh
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Need A Pick Me Up?
Workout!!
We are at the time of year where we all seem to be a little down, unmotivated, and just not feeling our best. After all its cloudy, grey, cold, and snowy/rainy most of the time. The days are still short, but slowly getting longer. And there just isn't much going on this time of year to look forward too.
One way to break out of this rut is to continue working out. Set some goals and work your butt off to achieve them. So that when the weather is nice again you will already be in great shape. Unlike most people who hibernate on the couch or in bed all winter.
By continuing to workout you will stay lean, and not feel as down. I can always tell this time of year if I miss a few days of working out. I start to feel down, lethargic, and not like myself. But, once I get back into my workout routine I quickly start feeling better, almost immediately.
When you workout hormones get released that naturally make you feel better. The more often you exercise the more these get released. (To a point, I still don't recommend working out more the 4 days per week for 45 minutes each session. More than this could result in overtraining a whole other mess problems you do not want to experience.) Did you ever notice how after your workout you always feel better. You may be tired, but you feel better and have a better outlook on things.
Spring is just around the corner. So stay positive, be consistent with your workouts, and focus on the things you enjoy!
Have a Great Day!
Josh
We are at the time of year where we all seem to be a little down, unmotivated, and just not feeling our best. After all its cloudy, grey, cold, and snowy/rainy most of the time. The days are still short, but slowly getting longer. And there just isn't much going on this time of year to look forward too.
One way to break out of this rut is to continue working out. Set some goals and work your butt off to achieve them. So that when the weather is nice again you will already be in great shape. Unlike most people who hibernate on the couch or in bed all winter.
By continuing to workout you will stay lean, and not feel as down. I can always tell this time of year if I miss a few days of working out. I start to feel down, lethargic, and not like myself. But, once I get back into my workout routine I quickly start feeling better, almost immediately.
When you workout hormones get released that naturally make you feel better. The more often you exercise the more these get released. (To a point, I still don't recommend working out more the 4 days per week for 45 minutes each session. More than this could result in overtraining a whole other mess problems you do not want to experience.) Did you ever notice how after your workout you always feel better. You may be tired, but you feel better and have a better outlook on things.
Spring is just around the corner. So stay positive, be consistent with your workouts, and focus on the things you enjoy!
Have a Great Day!
Josh
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
2 Group Training Session Spots Open
I have two spots open in my Monday evening group training session if anyone is interested or knows of someone who may be interested. The time is 6-630 pm every Monday and the cost is $5 per person. If you are interested contact me at joshproch@msn.com
Thanks!
Josh
Thanks!
Josh
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