I figured I would have a little fun today and give you some “You know you lift weights when…” comments I found on the web.

You know you lift weights when…

…you drive past Gold's Gym but can't help trying to look in the windows.

…you hear “set” and you immediately wonder “How many reps?”

…you hear the clanging of weight plates in your sleep

…you hear someone call “Jim” and you think “gym”

…you get up at 4 a.m. to do your morning cardio

…you are mesmerized by the smell of chalk

Can you add any? List them in the comments below.

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Monday Madness:

Change the Angle for Gains

When you are trying to grow changing things up is important. For many people that just means changing exercises or the order of the exercises. I am going to show you how you can change the angle and get major gains. We are going to use a simple biceps workout as the example, but you can apply it to any muscle group and see the same results.

The Workout(s)

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Analysis

This is the same set of exercises, but the angle changes each week. By changing the angles you are going to stress the muscles in very different ways. This is what you need to keep the muscles guessing. By doing the curls from a standing position you get a full stretch and have a longer positive movement. When you move to an incline bench and do the same exercise it instantly becomes more difficult. The intensity increases. Moving the same exercise to a flat bench (perhaps something you never thought of) will stress the muscles in an extremely different way. It is all about hitting the muscle hard and keeping the muscle guessing.

The sport of building your body is all about trying new ways of hitting the muscles. Back in the day of Arnold and Lou they didn't always know how an exercise effected a certain body part, so they would do extremely high repetitions and then see what got sore. Not the most scientific method, but it worked. The same can be said for this workout. You may think it is odd to do curls lying on a flat bench, but it works if you do it correctly. Remember, it is all about the squeeze. Getting that no matter what angle you are at is the key.

If you have a method for fooling the muscles please share it below in the comments.

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Almost every day you will see lunges being performed in the gym.  And, almost every day you will see lunges performed incorrectly resulting in knee pain and possibly knee injury.  I thought this was a great time to do a review of this very versatile exercise.  So here goes:

ANATOMY OF A LUNGE

The lunge is probably one of the most versatile exercises in our strength training tool box.  It gives you the biggest bang for your buck.  It is also the one exercise that is most often performed incorrectly.  Lunges can be an issue for knee health, especially when you lack the glute, hip and posterior chain strength to perform this movement correctly.

Some of the benefits of performing lunges are:

• strengthening the glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings
• improves posture
• develops core strength and stability
• improves balance and coordination

The lunge is one of our primal patterns.  This is a movement that is stored in our brains from early development.  Unfortunately even though we are born hard wired with this movement pattern, over time we lose the ability to perform it correctly.

How to Perform a Lunge Correctly:

Start with an upright posture.  Think of making yourself as tall as possible.  This will engage the core muscles.  Keeping tight, take an long step out landing on your heel.  Lower yourself under control until the back knee almost touches the floor.  Once again keeping tight and tall, drive back off the heel to the starting position.  A good lunge when performed correctly should look effortless and smooth.  You should not see jerking movements through the upper body as you return to the starting position.  A longer stride in the lunge will work the glutes, hamstrings and posterior chain more.  A short stride lunge will emphasize the quadriceps.  Personally, I prefer the long stride lunge as this is also safer for the knee.

Some Common Flaws Seen in a Lunge:

Forward Lean – t

his can be caused by tight hip flexors or quads.  Or it can be a simple as being lazy and not working to keep the upper body posture strong throughout.  If you are in a hurry to complete the exercise, you may not be focused on keeping tall and this allows the body to lean.  Take your time and reset your posture before each rep.

Knees Cave In – If a person has weak glutes they are not able to stabilize adequately or decelerate the hip motion  This leads to the knees caving in That is where glute activation exercises (bridges, tube walking) come in.  You see there is a reason to be walking back and forth with those dang tubes around your feet!
Foot Caves In – This often seen along with the knees moving in.  Typically a muscle imbalance in the lower leg will cause this (tight calf muscles) and weak anterior tibilias muscles.  These are the reasons we do the calf stretching, ankle mobility work (specifically the toes up) before and after the workouts
Improper Landing – landing on your toes or pushing off from your toes is usually due to weak muscles around the hip.  If you lack the strength in the glutes and posterior chain to get you back to the starting position, then you will push off from your toes utilizing your quad muscles more.  Focus on pushing from the heel, not the toes.

Variations and Progressions of the Lunge:

The lunge is an exercise that can be started very basic and progressed to very complex and difficult.  Typical progressions of the lunge are:

• static lunge (or split squat)
• reverse lunge
• forward lunge
• walking lunge
• rotating lunges

The progression for load of this exercise is:

• bodyweight lunges
• lunges holding dumbbells
• lunges with barbell on your back
• overhead lunges

I hope this gives you a better understanding of this most beneficial exercise.

Till next time,

Narina

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Leg day…the most feared and loved day of the entire workout week. This is the day that so many people skip but that none should skip. Leg day is essential to your entire body for so many reasons. Here are 5 reasons why you should never skip leg day.

1. It is a pain in the back

When your training is primarily focused on the upper body it causes problems that work their way up. Weak legs generally mean weak glutes. Weak glutes result in a sore back because they put extra strain on the back. Train your legs properly and you fix these problems.

2. You will have greater fat loss

Leg exercises burn more calories. It is that simple. You can torch the fat off your frame faster if you consistently work the lower half of your body. When I have a client who has a problem with a large midsection I will over emphasize leg training on purpose. I will use leg training days to push the heart rate up higher. It just works.

3. Bigger legs means better athletic performance

Leg training will make you  bigger, faster and stronger. These are all factors in athletic performance. Being bigger, faster and stronger will make you more competitive in most any sport you participate in. This is also going to help you avoid injuries.

4. Release of Growth Hormone

Working the big leg muscles inspires the body to release more GH. This helps with the growth of all the muscles in your body. This gives you a more balanced physique and that is definitely something you should want.

5. Quality of life

Working the lower body helps increase overall flexibility in the body. This is a great side benefit and results in a higher quality of life. Who doesn't want a higher quality of life?

If you want to have a great looking body then you cannot be neglecting leg days. They are a very important piece of the puzzle. Don't sell your progress short. Get to training those legs today!

Your legs carry you everywhere so why would you want to neglect them? Do you care to share your leg training tips with my readers? Leave a comment below for that purpose.

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