Every Type of Athlete Can Benefit From Working Out
It takes a ton of work for an athlete to climb up the ranks and be considered one of the best in their game. Natural ability and determination will only take you so far and for many, hard work is the factor that tips the scales in their favor. Ever wonder what kind of workout routines the top pros utilize to continue their success? You’re about to find out, but beware; these routines are not for the faint of heart. You might think P90X is difficult, but wait until you see what these athletes do on a daily basis.
The God of Clay
As one of the best tennis players to ever grace the clay courts (or any court for that matter), it would be a common mistake to think that Rafael Nadal was simply born to play tennis. The more accurate answer would be that he does have a natural gift but it’s his drive to be a better player that has fueled his success, which includes a maniacal workout routine. The seemingly never-ending energy that radiates from the Spanish pro is electrifying and it’s easy to see late in a match when his stamina is still going strong and opponents are struggling to keep up.
In the off-season, Nadal’s workout routine takes about 40 hours per week across six days, which makes staying in shape an intense job. With the aid of a personal doctor and physio expert that are on-hand for all of the workout sessions, the tennis pro pushes himself to the limit and makes sure that he will be in perfect shape once the season starts. Rafael Maymo, Nadal’s physio trainer, is charged with the task of massaging the muscles to both start and end a workout session.
The problem with most rotational movements is that they produce shearing forces on your lumbar spine. One of the foundations of biomechanics is that you don’t place your spine into a simultaneous state of rotation, flexion, and side bending, and you especially don’t add an external load.
This eliminates a number of popular abdominal exercises such as dumbbell side bends and the twisting abdominal machine. Exercises like the Russian twist should be performed with care, making sure that the trunk is flexed rather than the spine.
There is a quick and easy solution to the inherent problems with twisting exercises – don’t twist.
A wonderful, inspirational video by Arnold Schwarzenegger – powerlifter, bodybuilder, actor, ‘governator’, and millionaire. This is the man who walked the walk well before he ever started talking the talk.
“Just remember, you can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.”
The original purpose of this video was as a graduation speech at USC. Someone took 5 of the most important minutes of this speech and added subtitles, which you can view below.
Six Rules on How to Be Successful
Trust yourself
Break some rules
Don’t be afraid to fail
Ignore the naysayers
Work like hell
Give something back
You can also view the full 25 minute video and video transcript here: 6 Rules for Success
Whether you are a body builder, powerlifter, Olympic lifter, or recreational athlete, you’ll probably get a kick out of seeing just how much you can lift (or in some cases, it’s your job). While some weight lifters try to hit a new 1 repetition maximum (1RM) on the main lift every single workout, this is usually not a good idea. The potential for injury and over training increases with every max effort lift you attempt. Instead, a better philosophy is to ramp up to testing your 1RM using several 3-4 week micro-cycles. However, that is a discussion for another day.
Today I want to address the 1RM test itself, or more accurately the max effort test. If you are not in a competition at that exact moment, there is really no need to attempt a true 1RM. As long as you have a stable frame of reference for your max effort attempt, you will be able to quantify your progress. I would like to suggest using 2RM for your max effort attempt. The reasons for this are several – safety, psychological, CNS activation, and time under tension.
Strength coach Christian Thibaudeau explained it best throughout a series of 6 tweets titled “2RM better than 1RM for max effort.”
2RM better than 1RM for max effort
In case you are not subscribed to Christian’s Twitter feed or Facebook page, allow me to re-print his thoughts below:
REASON 1: puts you in a better mindset for success; implies that you will succeed on the first rep
REASON 2: safer as you can always stop after the first rep if you don’t feel the second
REASON 3: more practice with near-maximal weights, better development of strength-skill and CNS
REASON 4: MUCH less negative impact on CNS (measured by HVT monitor) with a 2RM vs. a 1RM.
REASON 5: have a much lesser psychological strain than 1RM and don’t require being in the zone as much
REASON 6: more fatigue (stimulation) imposed on the recruited FT fibers = more growth stimulation
Today, there are various ways for a physician to communicate with patients including text messaging, web portals, and telehealth apps. The phone is the undisputed means of communication for patients seeking urgent assistance. This allows live two-way conversation making offering immediate assistance possible.
Answering phone calls makes patients get closer to your practice while allowing getting new ones. In-house phone answering staff lack time to offer adequate assistance to all patients on the phone all the time. Enlisting a medical answering service is the solution to save your practice to various real-life situations with callers. Read on to discover the high-quality experience your callers receive from a professional answering service.
Deciding which nutritional supplements to take is a challenge for most people. The sports nutrition market is currently so over saturated in most categories that it makes it very difficult to discern which products actually work, which ones taste good, and/or provide the best value for money. It’s silly to go out uninformed and drop $50+ dollars on a single product and get a nasty surprise if the quality isn’t up to par.
JackedPack solves this problem by taking guesswork out of the equation. For under $10/month, subscribers receive a monthly box of new samples from the best brands in sports nutrition delivered right to their door. This way members can test a wide variety of products ranging from standard supplement categories like pre-workouts, protein powders, fat burners etc. to unique items like protein cookies and breads. As they like to say,
If members enjoy the samples, they can buy the full size items through JackedPack at a great discount.
The guys at JackedPack are also building a likable brand with a great sense of humor that comes through on their online content, workout articles, and monthly product descriptions.
Team JackedPack will be contributing some content to Project Swole in the coming months so check them out at www.JackedPack.com and use the promo code SWOLE to get 50% off your first month.
Connect with JackedPack on Facebook and Twitter, but always place your order through the links here at Project Swole so JackedPack will know that Swole sent you!
I received my first JackedPack the other day. Took some pictures. I’ll post a review shortly when I have a chance to go through it and try a couple things.
Want big arms? Want lean, shredded arms? Then don’t make any of these arm training mistakes. Here are 6 great arm training tips for bodybuilders, fitness athletes, sports athletes, and newbies alike. Forget the myths, stop the mistakes, and train your arms proper!
Are you in the market to gain muscle? Building some hardcore muscle—without gaining fat along with it—is easier than you might think.
Here are some tips to start building muscle today.
Pump Up With Protein
Because muscle fibers are made up of many different proteins, protein is the #1 necessary ingredient to build muscle.
One study found participants who ate 20 grams protein every 3 hours significantly increased muscle building potential, compared with those who ate 40 g every 6 hours. [1] So, eating good amounts of protein throughout the day feeds muscles and keeps them raring to go.
The ideal daily protein intake is about 1 g protein per pound body weight. [2] So, a 200-pound man should eat about 200 g protein a day. Of course, this differs depending on individual needs.
The best high protein foods to eat are chicken, turkey, fish, lean beef, eggs, beans, nuts, milk, and cheese. [2]
Many bodybuilders also use protein supplements, which provide a heavy dose of pure protein. Whey protein powder is generally the best choice because it has high protein content and lots of muscle-building branched chain amino acids. [3]
Be careful, though. Protein shouldn’t make up more than 30% of your caloric intake. Too much protein increases risk of kidney problems, dehydration, and other issues. [4]
In the eternal quest to perfect your body, a lot of methods and training regimens will only let you down. However, if you want to build muscle like a pro, hypertrophy training is one of the most effective methods.
When it comes to building muscle mass and strength fast, hypertrophy training can give you results in almost half the time that other strength training regimens take.
This kind of efficiency is what makes hypertrophy training so popular among body builders, but it is important know a few tips and tricks first.
Here are five tips for building muscle with hypertrophy training.
Few people know the 8 B vitamins by name, but were you aware that they all contribute to the body’s ability to build muscle? They are often referred to as the vitamins that provide immune support and while this is helpful when training hard which can place a stress on the immune system, their role extends far beyond this.
Each plays a role in the metabolism, which is the processing of the foods we eat to ensure the release of energy needed to power muscle function, but also helps to support the nervous system to make co-ordinated movement possible. Here we take a look at each in turn, considering their importance and where they can be sourced from the diet, as well as how else you might be able to top up your intake of these essential nutrients.
Vitamin B1
Also known as thiamine, this vitamin is needed for the production of ATP, the substance which the body uses for energy release to enable muscle contraction to occur during weight training. It’s therefore no surprise that tiredness can be a sign that you aren’t getting enough of this micronutrient, which can interfere with the effort you are able to put into training.
Thiamine also controls the movement of electrolytes across cell membranes, which is needed for the nerves and the muscles that they control to function. The richest sources of this B vitamin are meats, brewer’s yeast, whole grains or cereals that have been fortified with b vitamins; in many countries it is mandatory that refined flour and white rice have thiamine added to them, as the processing removes the majority of this vitamin.
Having great shoulders really makes you appear sleek and powerful. However, chest and back training does not suffice when attempting to build spectacular shoulders. You must train the shoulders directly, intensely, and often. Be attentive of these 6 common mistakes that people make when training shoulders.
Your chest is a large and complicated muscle. Considering its size you would think it would be easy to stimulate growth. Do some flat bench, another secondary movement, and your chest starts growing. Unfortunately the pecs are a much more muscle group area than that. In fact it is downright complex.
Training the pectoralis is a major puzzle to most bodybuilders, thinking a couple sets of bench press is all it takes, or going to the other extreme by dedicating a full day to 20 sets of different bench press variations. In this piece we would like to expose the answer to this puzzle by discussing the six most prevalent chest training errors and then providing tips to avoid them.
Read carefully; you will be surprised how many mistakes you are likely making.
I recently made a post on how to exercise while traveling. Below you will find a few ideas that you can perform. These can be done at home as well, which can save you a ton of cash in gym memberships.
You won’t get nearly the results you’d get from training regularly with real free weight equipment, but certainly it works in a pinch.
Lunges – Take a step forward, bend the front leg until your thigh is parallel with the ground, and step back. Repeat on the other side. Be careful not to come down hard on the knee of the back leg.
Chair Dips – Sit on the edge of a chair, with your legs straight out in front with your knees locked. Place a hand directly under each cheek, and scoot your bottom off of the chair. Slowly lower your body, and when you have gone down as far as you feel comfortable, push yourself back to the top.
Jump Squats – Bend at the knees, back straight, eyes looking ahead. Touch your hands just below the knees, and jump straight up. Land softly, and repeat.
Push-ups – Laying face first on the floor, place your hands on either side of you chest. Keeping your legs, and back straight, push yourself straight up off of the floor. After you have reached the top, lower yourself down.
Planks– Start off in a push-up position, except this time place your elbows, resting on your forearms. Simply hold this position for 30-60 seconds.
There you have it. Do two to three sets of this routine, with 10-15 reps per set, and you have just done a body weight routine that will build muscle and tone up what you already have.
Becoming a personal trainer is something that only a select few are suited for. For one thing, it’s not enough to simply enjoy physical fitness yourself, although that is certainly a prerequisite if you want a career you love. You will need to exhibit specific strengths (pardon the pun) in order to excel in such a field.
You’ll definitely have to be committed to keeping yourself in shape; after all, who wants to listen to a personal trainer that isn’t fit? That’s like trusting a driving instructor that’s never been behind the wheel of a car. However, you also need to have the right disposition. If people want to be barked at and ordered around, they’ll join a boot camp class.
It’s the job of a personal trainer to motivate, not command. You need to be patient and nurturing and employ excellent communication skills. And above all, you have to be passionate about helping others become the best version of themselves. But you also need a fair amount of training under your own belt before you can train others if you don’t want to push them too far or cause undue physical harm. As a result, it may take you a little time to become a personal trainer.
Reprinted from the April online issue of IN THE ZONE, we drop in on IFBB Professional Bodybuilder, Mark Dugdale. In addition to being a bodybuilder, Mark is also a successful business owner (actually, he owns three), husband, father, and all around nice guy. Brought to you courtesy of Robert Kennedy Publications and Musclemag International.
I read a blog post about how Tori Spelling recently lost weight simply by eating a balanced diet. This kind of ticked me off. Not because she is successful using this method, but because a common sense approach like this is news.
I have written about the “evil” diets before, you know the ones that tell you to eat no carbs, or no fat, or all protein and fat… or better yet, only eat this food that we happen to sell. I am not a fan of these, largely because as soon as they are over, the weight comes back on.
The best approach to diet and exercise is the simple one. I love the K.I.S.S. theory of Keep It Super Simple. The bottom line is to always maintain balance. The very second that we lose our balance, we go crashing face first to the floor.
Today we talk about testosterone, which is the “male hormone” in the human body. It may be hard to believe, but the hormone is present in both men and women’s body, so everyone has it.
This article will cover the following key points: correlations between behavior and testosterone, the psychological effects on the human mind, the internal and external changes in both men and women, a series of myths and reality facts and of course, a series of conclusions.
This will not be a post designed to sell any supplements. My purpose is not to defend steroids or testosterone boosters, not to bash them. These are the facts. This is the truth.
Testosterone and Behavior
In terms of behavior, there are some who believe high testosterone levels can cause aggressiveness and irrationality. But the truth is that, like any other hormone found in the human body, it influences our brain activity. This particular hormone intensifies the brain activity and the adrenaline levels in our body, so we become more and more agitated and we lose track of our peaceful calm side.
Do you limit yourself by avoiding horizontal or vertical back movements? Did you know that your traps and lower back also need to be strengthened? Are you stuck on lat pull downs as your main back exercise? Can’t do a pull up?
Tsk, tsk, tsk…
Avoid these 6 common back training mistakes and you will have a much better chance of looking like Atlas and performing like an Olympian.
When you finally decide that you’re fed up with making the trek to your local gym every day and dealing with hassles like waiting in line to use equipment or getting bumped in classes that are overly full, not to mention paying for the pricy monthly membership, you might be ready to set up your own home gym facility. And if you have an extra bedroom, an open basement, or other unused space, you’re already ahead of the game. With some good lighting and a couple of full-length mirrors in place you can start assembling the equipment you need to make a home fitness center that is suited to meet your particular needs. But don’t get ahead of yourself; fitness equipment is not cheap. Luckily, you don’t necessarily have to buy everything brand new. In order to spare expense you might want to consider buying some items used. You’ll simply have to put some thought into the pros and cons of new versus used gym equipment.
We all have hectic schedules. That is just how our modern society is. Finding time to take care of ourselves sometimes takes a backseat.
Of all daily activities, fitness is often the priority that is sacrificed first when the going gets tough. If you have desire to get or stay fit, you can do it. There is always a way if there is a will.
Here are some ideas to help squeeze in some exercise that will not have a light impact on your schedule, but will also help you burn fat throughout the rest of the day.
Plan your workout: Write it all down, and know exactly what you are going to do, and how you will get it done.
Circuit training: Work the whole body and get the heart rate rocking by doing one set of exercise for each body part with no rest. When you have completed all, rest for one minute and do it again. Twenty minutes is not an unreasonable goal here.
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): Sixty minutes on the treadmill will drive anybody mad. Vary your speed every minute, working from a jog (slow/medium intensity) to a full sprint or at least 90% max intensity. A good rule of thumb is to maintain your sprint for 20-30 seconds, then reduce to Every five minutes, drop back down to the slow speed again. Twenty to thirty minutes of this will do the trick.
There is no excuse to slack off on exercise. Project Swole has just given you two workouts that when alternated will whip your body into shape in no time at all. Think about it, if you do this six days per week, you only spent a grand total of three hours out of your busy schedule for the whole week.
