Six Tips For Safe Strength Training

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Fares


Use the six tips below to be safe and get the most from your strength workouts:

1. Focus on form, not weight
Good form means aligning your body correctly and moving smoothly through an exercise. Poor form can prompt injuries and slow gains because you aren’t isolating muscles properly. “I often start people with very light weights because I want them to get their alignment and form right,” says master trainer Josie Gardiner. “It’s good to start off using light to moderate weight when learning an exercise routine.”

2. Tempo, tempo
Control is very important. Tempo helps you stay in control rather than undercut gains through momentum. Sometimes switching speed—for example, lowering three counts, lifting for one count— is a useful technique for enhancing power. Follow the tempo specified in each exercise for better gains.

3. Breathe
Blood pressure rises if you hold your breath while performing strength exercises. Exhale as you work against gravity by lifting, pushing, or pulling; inhale as you release.

4. Keep challenging muscles
The right weight differs depending on the exercise. Choose a weight that tires the targeted muscle or muscles by the last two reps while still allowing you to maintain good form. If you can’t do the last two reps, choose a lighter weight. When it feels too easy to complete all the reps, challenge your muscles again by adding weight (roughly 1 to 2 pounds for arms, 2 to 5 pounds for legs); adding a set to your workout (up to three sets); or working out additional days per week (as long as you rest muscle groups 48 hours between strength workouts). If you add weight, remember that you should be able to do all the reps with good form and the targeted muscles should feel tired by the last two reps.

5. Practice regularly
Performing a complete upper and lower-body strength workout two or three times a week is ideal.

6. Give muscles time off
Strenuous exercise like strength training causes tiny tears in muscle tissue. Muscles grow stronger as the tears knit up. Always allow at least 48 hours between sessions for muscles to recover. If you’re doing a split strength session, you might do upper body on Monday, lower body on Tuesday, upper body on Wednesday, lower body on Thursday, etc.

Reference: Harvard Medical School.

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How To Benefit From Cardiovascular Training To Burn Fat

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Fares


Cardiovascular exercise burns calories and increases the body’s ability to burn fat. It is any kind of activity that uses the large muscle groups of the body and can be kept up for 20–40 minutes, with your heart rate in your target training range count.

Try running, elliptical training machines, swimming, cycling, fast walking and group exercise classes. Vary your activities so you don’t become bored.
Remember, the higher the resistance, the more muscle you will build, so high resistance activities such as rowing, stair-climbing, incline running and hard cycling are good for strengthening as well as defining muscles.

Aim for 20–40 minutes per session, 3–5 times per week, but don’t overdo it. Studies have shown that after about 60–90 minutes of aerobic activity, the body begins to break down and use muscle tissue as fuel; on a calorie-restricted diet, this happens earlier in your workout. Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) also slows, so you won’t burn as many calories.

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Weight Training: Toning Muscles and Burning Fat Simultaneously

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Fares

The most effective strategy for building or toning muscles and burning fat simultaneously is resistance or weight training. Muscle cells are up to eight times more metabolically active than fat cells, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn during daily activities.

This doesn’t necessarily mean lifting heavy weights – conditioning exercises using light or moderate weights tone muscle and prevents the loss of lean body tissue
during weight loss.

You won’t necessarily burn more calories lifting weights than doing aerobic exercise, but the increased muscle mass you develop as a result will make your body burn more
calories every day. For every 0.5 kg of muscle gained through exercise, your metabolic rate increases by 30–40 calories a day. That’s equivalent to an extra 1,200 calories a month or a further 0.5 kg fat loss over 3 months.

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Which burns more calories: weights or cardiovascular training?

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Fares

When comparing the calories burned during one hour of strength training to the calories burned during one hour of cardiovascular training, cardiovascular workout may win with a little increase in the total number of calories.
However, according to a study at Colorado State University in the United States, one hour of weights workout increases the post-exercise calorie burn and metabolic rate considerably more than one hour of cardiovascular workout, the biggest difference occurring during the first two hours post-exercise.
Furthermore, the study found that the metabolic rate of those who completed the weights workout remained higher than normal up to 14 hours later. So, intense weights workouts are the best way to boost your metabolic rate and burn more calories in the long term.

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Coffee Lovers: Healthy Benefits Keep On Coming In

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Fares

In excess, coffee, and more particularly, caffeine, can cause problems. But the fretting about two or three cups a day, or even more, is fading as study results suggestive of health benefits from coffee keep on coming in. Coffee drinking is associated with a lower risk of depression among women, a lower risk of lethal prostate cancer among men, and a lower risk of stroke among men and women.

Earlier research also shows possible (it’s not a done deal) protective effects against everything from Parkinson’s disease to diabetes to some types of cancer.

Caffeine: Good for the brain, bad for other parts?
The caffeine content of coffee varies greatly, depending on the beans, how they’re roasted, and other factors, but the average for an 8-ounce cup is about 100 milligrams (mg). Tea has about half as much caffeine as coffee. Decaffeinated coffee has some caffeine, but the 2 to 4 mg in an 8-ounce cup is a smidgen compared with the caffeinated version. The lethal dose of caffeine is about 10 grams, which is equivalent to the amount of caffeine in 100 cups of coffee.

Caffeine probably has multiple targets in the brain, but the main one seems to be adenosine receptors. Adenosine is a brain chemical that dampens brain activity. By hogging adenosine’s receptors, caffeine sets off a chain of events that affects the activity of dopamine, another important brain chemical, and the areas of the brain involved in arousal, pleasure, and thinking. A part of the brain affected by Parkinson’s disease, called the striatum, has many adenosine receptors; by docking on them, caffeine seems to have some protective effects.

Outside the brain, caffeine can be a performance enhancer, boosting the strength of muscle contraction and offsetting some of the physiological and psychological effects of physical exertion. But, especially in the short term, it also has negative effects, which include raising blood pressure, making arteries stiffer, and increasing levels of homocysteine, insulin, and possibly cholesterol.

Chlorogenic acid and other antioxidants
Explanations for the association between coffee consumption and lower rates of heart disease and diabetes often point to chlorogenic acid and other obscure antioxidant substances as the responsible parties. Antioxidants are substances that sop up reactive molecules before they have a chance to harm sensitive tissue like the lining of blood vessels. Some experiments have shown that chlorogenic acid may also inhibit absorption of glucose in the digestive system and even out insulin levels.

Vitamins and minerals
Coffee isn’t a great source of vitamins and minerals, but as a plant-based drink, it contains some, and a few that we should be getting more of.

Let’s start with magnesium. A cup of coffee contains about 7 mg, which is a drop in the daily-requirement bucket (420 mg for men, 320 mg for women). But because we don’t eat enough fruit, vegetables, and whole grains, the average American’s intake falls about 100 mg short of the daily goal. A cup of coffee or two can help close that gap a little bit.

Potassium can offset some of the negative consequences of sodium. At about 116 mg per cup, coffee’s contribution toward the 4,700 mg of the potassium that we’re supposed to get daily is a widow’s mite, but it’s something. A cup of coffee also has small amounts of niacin (0.5 mg) and choline (6.2 mg).

Reference: Harvard Medical School

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CLA: What’s in it? What does it do? Are there any side effects?

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Fares

What’s in it?
CLA is an unsaturated fatty acid, a mixture of linoleic acid (omega-6) isomers, found naturally in small amounts in full-fat milk, meat and cheese. Supplements are made from sunflower and safflower oils.

What does it do?
CLA may help reduce fat storage and increase fat burning. It is thought that CLA works by stimulating the enzyme hormone-sensitive lipase (which releases fat from fat cells) and suppressing the hormone lipoprotein lipase (which transports fat into fat cells). When combined with resistance training, CLA may also increase muscle mass and strength. In the USA, University of Memphis researchers found that, compared with a placebo, CLA improved strength in experienced weight lifters. A study of novice bodybuilders at Kent State University in the USA found that six weeks of supplementation resulted in increased arm circumference, total muscle mass and overall strength compared with a placebo group.

Do you need it?
Taking 2–5 g per day may help reduce body fat and maintain or increase muscle mass.

Are there any side effects?
None have been reported to date.

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Creatine: What’s in it? What does it do? Are there any side effects?

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Fares

What’s in it?
Creatine is a protein that is made naturally in the body from three amino acids (arginine, glycine and methionine) but is also found in meat and fish or taken in higher doses as a supplement. As a supplement, creatine is most commonly taken as a powder mixed with water, but liquid forms are also available.

What does it do?
Creatine combines with phosphorus to form phosphocreatine (PC) in muscle cells. This is an energyrich compound that fuels muscles during high-intensity activities, such as lifting weights or sprinting. Boosting PC levels with supplements enables you to sustain all-out effort longer than usual and recover faster between exertions or ‘sets’, resulting in greater strength and improved ability to do repeated sets. Studies have shown that creatine supplements can improve performance in high-intensity activities, as well as increase total and lean body weight.

Do you need it?
If you train with weights, sprint or do any sport that includes repeated sprints, jumps or throws (such as rugby and football), creatine supplements may help increase your strength, muscle mass and performance. But creatine doesn’t work for everyone – several studies have found that creatine made no difference to performance, and it is unlikely to benefit endurance performance.

Are there any side effects?
The main side effect is weight gain. This is due partly to extra water in the muscle cells and partly to increased muscle tissue. While this is desirable for bodybuilders and people who work out with weights, it could be disadvantageous in sports where there is a critical ratio of body weight to speed (for example, for runners) or in weight-category sports. Some people suffer from water retention, particularly during the loading. Other reported side effects include cramps and stomach discomfort, which may be due to dehydration rather than creatine. As larger-than-normal amounts of creatine need to be processed by the kidneys, there is a theoretical long-term risk of kidney damage. While short-term and low-dose creatine supplementation appears to be safe, the effects of long-term and/or high-dose creatine supplementation, alone or in combination with other supplements, remains unknown.

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Commitment Tip 03: Track Your Progress

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Fares

An essential part of accountability comes from awareness. Remaining conscious of what you’re eating and how much you’re exercising is critical to help you stay on track.
It’s easy to slip back into bad habits if you don’t stay focused on why you made the changes in the first place.

  1. Keep a strength training log with you in the gym and write down every weight and repetition lifted, and then try to push yourself stronger in your next workout.
  2. Take weekly progress photos of yours and compare the results.
  3. Get a scale and measure your weight and muscle growth.

Reference: “Six Packs Pillars” book. To download it for free click here.

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