Archives for September 2008

"Genuine training that produces muscular hypertrophy is training that somehow releases growth hormones!  If you release growth hormones you are training your system as well as your muscles.

If your training is intense enough to release growth hormones, things happen and they happen quick.  Think about it.  When you have fatigued your body by training with deliberate reps to momentary muscular failure, that digs into one's reserves.  On top of that throw in a set of deadlifts at the end of the workout, that's very intense, and as long as one isn't over training it is believed that such intensity of training releases growth hormones.  When that happens we grow."

I dare say that I completely agree with Carlos on this point.  I believe that the order of the exercises is extremely important.  Couple that with the intensity of the workout and you create a formula that forces growth to happen.  As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and I have the pictures to prove that the growth exists.

Carlos then gave me an assignment.  Currently I am doing the same workout 3 days a week.  I have been asked to change up the Wednesday workout to add variety.  I have come up with the following:

Leg press
Standing Thigh Curl
Seated Calf Raises
Front Squat
Quad Blaster
DB Flys
Incline Bench Press
Chin ups
Dumbbell Shoulder Press
Bent over barbell rows
Bench Dips
Hammer Curls
Skull Crushers
Seated Bent Over Laterals
Deadlift
Seated Shrug
Reverse Barbell Curls

My idea was to replace each exercise with another exercise that either hits the same muscle but is a different exercise or hits the same muscle from a different angle.  I substituted the DB Flys for the DB pullovers because they both target the ribcage.  I will still use the 3 second cadence on this workout.  It will add some variety to what I am doing and that is a good thing.

I am going to sign off today with a warning.  Beware of redundant fitness programs that are sold to you, but contain only minor variations of what was in your last purchase.  It is all about the money and they want your's.  Resist the urge to buy stuff and if you do buy it, take advantage of the money back guarantee when you discover it is nothing but rehashed information.  You have to protect yourself from unscrupulous people who only want your money and really don't care about whether you are successful with their program or not. 

We are all trying to lose fat from our frame.  It is a tough project.  Many people jump in and start cutting right away, dropping their calories down and upping the cardio time.  Their idea is that they will simply drop the fat by doing these things.  Eventually they hit a point where they cannot drop any more fat and they get frustrated.  There is a very basic reason why I no longer like this approach and if I were to begin training people who were seeking to lose fat I'd put them on a good muscle building program.

It is quite simple–muscle burns fat.  Without taking into consideration the work a muscle does, muscle, at rest, burns about 13 calories a day.  If you include the activity of the muscle, it burns close to 50 calories a day.  By building muscle and working out hard, you will burn about a pound of fat a week.  Muscle is important in the fat burning regimen.

By keeping your lean body mass high, you minimize your fat percentage.  While some fat is obviously necessary, most people want to look lean and mean.  Building muscle is the way to go.  The sheer fat burning capabilities of muscle make gaining muscle a necessary endeavor.

Today was my 5th H.I.T. workout and progress continues.  Some comparisons:

HIT (or High Intensity Training) is designed to give you an incredible workout in the least amount of time.  The idea is to do a workout in a short period of time that absolutely bombards the body.  In my case, I am doing a full body routine 3 days a week.  At first glance, this sounds extreme.  However, when you really examine what is going on, it is not extreme at all, it is effective.

I train with a 3-3 cadence.  3 seconds on the positive phase of the lift and 3 seconds on the negative phase of the lift.  This makes it more difficult to get alot of repetitions out of the exercises I am doing.  The weight I can lift is dramatically less as a result of this cadence. At the same time, this cadence really stresses out the muscle.  I take each set to momentary failure.  The muscles actually shake and shiver after a set.  It is an intense feeling. 

By working the body in this way, with just one set taken to failure, your body recovers better and you can work the same muscle groups more often each week.  This spurs on more growth.