Friday, June 5, 2009

Training Tips, Tricks, Hints

So I haven't updated in a while. I have been soo stressed with studying for my ACE exam (which thankfully, is now over), and staying active/keeping quite busy. But I figured I am about due to throw some nifty new tips about your nutrition/fitness. Now mind you, these have been ones that work well for me personally. It may not for you, but I found it helpful.

Before I say anything, let me inform you guys of what 'having a fit body' means to me because if you enjoy/follow my tips, you must know the style/way I train and for what...

***Being fit to me, means being an athelete, regardless of playing a sport or not.***

And I am talking the 'lean and ripped' kind of athelete. Not the bulky body building look, which I personally find kind of lame. I rather be able to squat 200-250 and run a ~5-6 minute mile,than squat 500-600 and run a 10 minute mile miserably. I want to have speed, agility, flexability, endurance, etc..

Yeah, Edinboro doesn't have a soccer team and it sucks. But that doesn't stop me from training hard. Period. This is why you generally NEVER see me with a lifting parter. Just on brief occasions. I like to get in, train very hard, and get out. Gyms aren't meant for social butterflies.

SO, back on track. Here are some general tips:

- When working out, superset or circuit your workouts. I love to go ape at the gym and from one thing to another without much rest. Working out is all about quality, not quantity. For what takes some guys an hour or even more, I can do double in twenty minutes. Training is all about activating your fast twitch fibers. Train higher volume, higher intensities, and keep rest to a minimal. This is where I have noticed the greatest results personally. (Apart from what matters most, nutrition).

- I never do the same thing. Monday - Chest, Tuesday - Arms, etc... No. This is dumb. With correct approaches and right training, I am all about muscle confusion. Our body STRIVES for homeostasis. It likes balance. Why do the same thing over and over every week? Your body just expect its, and becomes attuned to it. I keep things mixed up. in one week, may do incline barbell bench for chest superset with decline flies. Next week I may do declined weighted push ups, with cable flies. Keep your body out of balance so it is constantly adapting, growing, guessing, etc.

- Change intensities. One thing I just got big into was transitions from high rep/low weight to low rep/high weight, training. One week I may train for pure strength (1-5 sets, 3-5 reps @ about 80-90% my 1RM (rep max)), and next week for hypertrophy (1-3 sets, 10-12 reps @ 60-70 1RM). Certain weeks I go heavy, other weeks I go light and train faster. I've already noticed differences and gains in doing this routine. So I enjoy changing sets, weight, reps, weekly.

- Full body routines. That or upper/lower body splits. I was never really a big 'isolation day' kind of guy (ex: monday - chest. The general dude bro lift day). The -more- muscles you work in a session, the -more- calories and fat you burn. (Now there is great expansion on this comment, but its just spoken generally). The more muscles you work and harder, the more your body is burnin'. But I must admit, I have been doing some isolation stuff this week and its been painful, haha. Body isn't used to it. I may start doing it more often just for sakes of throwing my body off. Been doing the same stuff for way too long.

- Jumping rope! Enough said. If you haven't guess it or known me, I love jumping rope. ~10 minutes of jumping rope = 30 minutes of SLOW BORING STUPID OVER-RATED THAT DOESN'T GET YOU NEARLY AS FAST RESULTS cardo. Anyone who knows me, knows I HATE cardio. I don't get how people can run for an hour on a treadmill. Outside is understandable, but frig. It's so boring. I consider myself pretty dang fit with a Resting heart rate of ~44, and able to still bench double my weight almost, yet a 20 minute steady state run hurts and just sucks. But hey, if you like it, more power to you I suppose.

- Do more pull-ups and push ups. Heck, do them everyday. I've never heard of anyone having health issues from doing push ups daily. I do. Push ups are the BEST upper body exercise, period. Do 50 when you wake up, 50 before lunch, 50 later in the afternoon. Push ups rule. I put a towl on my bedroom door and do wide grip pull ups daily too. They feel great. Do more compound/body weight stuff.

- Work your core like you never have before. Carry something over your head and brace your abs. Seriously. Grab a 45 pound plate, a tire, or something heavy, lift it over your head (elbows slightly bent for me personally, but straight if it feels best for ya) Brace and tighten your abs and walk around for a while. You'll work your core and abs probably like you never have before. A minute of this is more then your 1000 crunches.

- Stay positive, work hard, and anticipate gains. Enough said I suppose. Just stay positive. Keep your head up. Train real hard when you do lift. Test your pull ups, push ups, 10 second sprint, and others before you begin a work out regime so you can test yourself again every month to track progression.

There are a handful of 28958235 lifting tips I have. Either tomorrow or Sunday I will post a same blog but about nutrition which will likely be huge. Haha.

God bless, stay tuned!

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