A little knowledge can go a long way to improving your workout.

One of the more striking examples of this is to learn how your body moves and what muscles have to do with it. Because you know that ”making muscles” takes lifting weights, you go to the gym and you lift weights. You mimic what you see others doing, you lift what you can – perhaps in any manner that you can lift it.

As your interest builds, you do some research into what you’re actually doing at the gym.

Through that learning, you begin to understand that the PURPOSE of a skeletal muscle is to move your bones, you learn WHERE certain muscles originate on one bone then attach on another, and you see the PHYSICS behind how a muscles flexes or extends a joint.

At one point a light comes on and you realize “ARGGH!… parts of my routine have been totally futile!!”

Then you adjust your movement. Correct your alignment. Start working opposing muscles. You learn to move the weights against gravity, instead of with gravity.

Voila!  Better results… Bigger muscles. Increased strength. Pain-free joints. Better posture.

Now your’re working smarter, not longer at the gym to achieve your goals

My advice is to take some time to learn more.  This website (along with its embedded links) is a great resource for that. Browse through the categories and you’ll find lots of learning.

By mid-February, I bet that most of your thoughts about the “new year” are long passed.  Resolutions. Goals. Intentions… whatever you call them – by Valentine’s Day, they’re usually gone and forgotten.

When setting fitness goals (especially at new year), our generally optimistic nature tends to set the bar pretty high.  Then, after a month of working hard to establish new behaviour patterns and routines, it’s not uncommon to feel frustrated when goals set so easily in January, are not being achieved fast enough.

You’re working hard on your program. You’re watching what you eat. You’re surrounded by people who are encouraging and supportive. But still…

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The longer I work in this business, the more I understand how important it is to get really clear about a client’s fitness goals.

If someone comes to me and tells me that they want to get “BIG & Strong“, this immediately indicates that their exercise program needs to be low volume, needs to consist of a limited number of exercises and likely won’t be overly exhausting.

If someone comes to me and tells me that they want to get “Conditioned and more fit”, this immediately indicates that their program needs to emphasize athletics-based movements,  needs to develop a variety of compound, functional training skills , and needs to accelerate cardiovascular performance.

Thus, the training that you’ll see me providing for one client may be completely opposite of that which you’ll see me providing for another.   While Physical Conditioning workouts will be full-on exhausting – Size & Strength workouts are generally less so.

My own workouts are a hybrid of both styles – although I emphasize size & strength during some phases of my program, I appreciate the health benefits of intense physical conditioning more and more each year.

Doug at MyTrainerSays dot com

It’s important that your strength training program includes a few Power Moves to promote speed, power and agility.

Power Move training improves our reaction time (thanks, fast-twitch muscle fibres), and also provides important “tendon toughening” action that improves joint stability. And good joint stability means less frailty as we get older.

You can turn many of your regular strength-building exercises into Power moves. Here’s an example of a standard (flat bench) dumbbell Chest Press modified to a Power move.

1. Reduce the usual weight of the dumbbell pair you use by at least 30% – power moves put much more stress on tendons and joints.

2. Tighten the core, press the dumbbells up (the concentric phase) in a rapid, but controlled fashion – always maintaining good form.

3. From the full extension point, lower the weight (the eccentric phase), again in a rapid and controlled fashion – CAUTION: do not over-extend the shoulder joint during the lowering phase – that risks damage to the rotator cuff  (experiment with a light weight first).

4. Perform 10-12 repetitions.

I recommend adding some Power (speed) Moves to your routine every couple of weeks; not only to shake it up a bit, but also to add longevity benefits to your workout.

Doug at MyTrainerSays dot com

The conventional Deadlift is a classic exercises that mimics a very common ADL (Activity of Daily Life) – namely, lifting a weighted object from the ground. Both women and men will benefit from including the Deadlift into their gym exercise routine.

Many times in a day we need to pick something up from a stationary position. It may be a very light item (like a dropped pen); it may be a heavier object (a 10 kg toddler); and sometimes it may be something much heavier (a filled BBQ propane tank).

Perfoming Deadlifts in the gym progressively builds back strength. Perfecting Deadlifts trains you to instinctively keep your lower spine rigid against a load while keeping your back in a neutral position. Both are critical to avoiding injury when lifting objects. How many times have you heard of someone who “threw out their back just picking up a sock”?

Unfortunately Deadlifts have a bad reputation, but only from those who have not learned proper technique.

This brief video shows proper Deadlift technique. (Don’t be scared off by the weight that the guy is using – simply substitute the barbell with a pair of dumbbells of a weight appropriate for you.) Watch the starting position, back alignment, knee & hip movement, and the finishing position.

Rounding your back when doing a Deadlift (or when picking up that toddler) significantly increases risk of spinal disc injury. And this is generally the reason why people have sore backs to begin with – lack of muscular strength surrounding the spine.

Try a Deadlift now – just standing where you are, using your own body weight.

Check for these common errors when doing the exercise:

Hips Too High. Use your knees: it’s not a Stiff-legged Deadlift. Beginning height is when the bar is mid-shin and your shoulder-blades are directly over the bar.
Hips Too Low. It’s not a Squat. Again, beginning height is when the bar is mid-shin and your shoulder-blades are directly over the bar.Shoulders in front of the bar.
Bending Your Back. Increases the pressure on your spine thus increasing risk of injury. Keep your chest UP at all times and look forward.
Over-Arching Your Back (hyper-extending). As bad as bending. The Deadlift ends when your hips and knees are locked. No need to arch at the top.
Rolling the Shoulders. Dangerous and inefficient. Your hip muscles move the weight, not your shoulders. Extend your knees and hips, then stop.
Shrugging at The Top. Unnecessary. If you need more trap emphasis do a set of shrugs.
Pulling with your Arms instead of “standing up”. You could tear your biceps by pulling with bent arms. Keep your arms straight, tighten your triceps and stand up with a neutral spine.

And what’s another benefit that comes from doing “Deads” regularly?

A sexy, firm ass and legs!

Doug at MyTrainerSays dot com

Protein powders and weight gain supplements can certainly help those who’s sole intent is to gain muscle mass – “pack in the calories; pack on the weight”. However, for those who’s objective is to lose fat, firm up and strengthen – which includes many of my athletic clients – I caution you not to over-consume protein shakes. Not only can it be a waste of money – but as you probably know already, you can get most of what’s in a protein product by eating a variety of wholesome foods (and bloat less).

There is 1 nutrition supplement that can build strength and muscularity faster – creatine monohydrate.

Stirred into a sports beverage or fruit juice, creatine works by effectively boosting power and performance during anaerobic activity (such as weight-lifting). And it’s cheap to use.  A 300 gram bottle (60 servings) sells for under 10 bucks at most vitamin or nutritional supplement stores.

If you decide to give it a try, be sure to read the label and use according to directions.

Lift!

Doug

Hey, I know that many of you are heading out of town for “muscle beach” vacations! So, here’s a tip to help maintain your hard-earned fitness form while away on vacation this winter.

Make more time for this!

Using the hotel /ship gym, or following basic isometrics in your room:

1. Select 1 exercise for each of your major muscle groups (legs, chest, back, shoulders, arms, torso)
2. Undertake each of the 6 selected exercises, holding each “work” phase of the exercise (the real effort part) for 5  full seconds.
3. Repeat these 5 second work intervals for 1 full minute. (likely 8-12 times of 5 seconds each)

Example using Dumbbells:

• Standing Squats / down & hold for 5 /up for 5/ repeat for 1 full minute
• Lying Chest Presses / up & hold for 5 / down for 5/ repeat for 1 full minute
• 1-arm Bent-over row / up & hold for 5 / down for 5/ repeat for 1 full minute
• Standing Lateral raise / up & hold for 5 / down for 5/ repeat for 1 full minute
• Standing Biceps Curls / up & hold for 5 / down for 5/ repeat for 1 full minute
• Triceps Dips on Bench / down & hold for 5 / up for 5/ repeat for 1 full minute

Assuming a 30-45 second break between muscle groups, that means you’re finished in less than 10 minutes!

How often?  Only TWICE a week!!  That’s a maximum of 20 minutes out of your full week in the sun!

Of course you will not “progress” your workout by following this plan on vacation… but you WILL keep the shape that you arrived there with.*

“And that’s a Fact!”

*high-performance midnight Buffet participants may not qualify!!

Doug

MyTRAINER says…

DID YOU KNOW that the scapulae (shoulder blades) form the “mother-ship” of your upper body – at least A DOZEN muscles attach there!

As you can imagine, mistreat your “scaps” and you will lose – lose shoulder mobility, lose chest definition, lose posture.

Chest presses, rows, pulldowns, lateral raises, shrugs and many other exercises… ALL REQUIRE MOBILITY in the scaps!

See the illustration below to appreciate the important role of this mother-ship of bone!

Do your homework and read up on proper technique and then practice in the gym – or ask me to show you more.

Doug

“MyTrainer says…”