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You are here: Home / Archives for Training

The Importance of Weight Training

April 29, 2016 By Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT Leave a Comment

May 2016 Challenge Day 1

Mention weight training and most people have the same reaction–I don't want to get huge! Ladies especially make this statement. I want you to begin to understand why weight training is essential for everyone, including you ladies out there!

Most of you reading this post want to lose weight. What you really want to do is recompose your body by lowering your body fat and increasing your lean body mass. Weight training will help you to accomplish this. In fact, there really is no other way to do this without weight training.  There are many other benefits to weight training that you should be aware of as well. Ladies, these all apply to you as well. As for the “I don't want to get huge” statement, I will address that later in the article.

Weight Training Improves Your Everyday Functionality

Having stronger muscles makes you more functionally sound. With stronger muscles you can get into a car easier, you can get a package off the top shelf easier and you can do just about anything else in life easier.

Weight Training Reduces Blood Pressure

Training with weights strengthens the heart and in turn lowers your blood pressure. This is true even if you already have blood pressure issues. By taking better care of your body it will respond by lowering your blood pressure and treating you better as well.

Weight Training Increases the Calorie Burn

Weight training increases the metabolic rate in our body. This causes us to burn more calories, even at rest. By increasing the amount of lean mass we carry on our body we increase how many calories we burn on a daily basis.

Weight Training Decreases Back Pain

By making your back stronger you will decrease the pain you feel in your back. A stronger back means a less sore back.

Weight Training Decreases Your Risk of Osteoperosis

Inactivity and aging leads to a decrease in bone density. Weight training counteracts that problem.

Weight Training Decreases Body Fat

Studies performed by Wayne Westcott, PhD, from the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts, found that the average woman who strength trains two to three times a week for two months will gain nearly two pounds of muscle and will lose 3.5 pounds of fat.

As your lean muscle increases so does your resting metabolism, and you burn more calories all day long. Generally speaking, for each pound of muscle you gain, you burn 35 to 50 more calories each day. That can really add up.

Weight Training (for women) Will Increase Strength and Not Bulk

Researchers also found that unlike men, women typically don't gain size from strength training, because compared to men, women have 10 to 30 times less of the hormones that cause muscle hypertrophy. You will, however, develop muscle tone and definition. This is a bonus.

Weight Training Makes You Physically Stronger

It goes without saying that lifting weights will make you much stronger as a person. Your physical strength will help you throughout each day.

Weight Training Reduces Your Risk of Heart Disease

According to Dr. Barry A. Franklin, of William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, weight training can improve cardiovascular health in several ways, including lowering LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, increasing HDL (“good”) cholesterol and lowering blood pressure.

When cardiovascular exercise is added, these benefits are maximized.

Weight Training Reduces Your Risk of Diabetes

In addition, Dr. Franklin noted that weight training may improve the way the body processes sugar, which may reduce the risk of diabetes. Adult-onset diabetes is a growing problem for women and men. Research indicates that weight training can increase glucose utilization in the body by 23 percent in four months.

Conclusion

By training with weights you will slowly change your body composition. This leads to many health benefits. Weight training is a must for anyone serious about losing weight and body fat.

 

Want to see all the messages in this May 2016 Challenge Series? I have them organized for you right here.

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Filed Under: May 2016 Challenge, Training

Monday Madness: Stubborn Muscle Mania

April 11, 2016 By Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT Leave a Comment

Stubborn muscle growth for bodybuilders

Stubborn muscles are the bane of every body builder. We have all faced this problem over time. The way we handle bringing up those stubborn muscles will make a difference in our success. Today I want to talk to you about the approach you should be using and why. I will discuss various methods for bringing up stubborn muscles and will point out what I think is the best way.

Double Up on Training

One technique for forcing stubborn muscle to grow is to add training sessions into your cycle. The easiest way is to double up on the number of training sessions you give to each body part. The idea is that by increasing the volume of training you will force your muscles to grow. This is a technique I have personally used with some good success.

Add Extra Training Where Possible

Another technique is to add some extra training slid into your regular training. This will help the stubborn muscle grow. Instead of being strict and training just back on one day and just arms on another, you slide in extra exercises for other body parts. If you are training your back, for instance, you can add a few sets of seated calf raises to help improve the growth of your calves.

Train Twice a Day

This technique involves  hitting the gym twice a day. This enables you to have a shorter training cycle which increases the volume of training for each body part over a calendar week. It is grueling and is not something you should do all the time. The stubborn muscle will get the stimulus it needs, but you can completely wear yourself out.

My Conclusions About Stubborn Muscle

I feel like all the techniques I mention above will work, but the best, for me, is to add extra training where possible. This technique, when planned correctly, can really give a boost to growth stimulation in a muscle group. All of the techniques require you to keep a close eye on recovery because without solid recovery none of these techniques is worth your time.

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Filed Under: Featured, Training

Monday Madness: Back Blasting Intensity

March 7, 2016 By Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT Leave a Comment

Back workout

Today I bring to you one of the most intense back workouts you will ever experience. Use the two workouts in today's article to give your muscle growth a nice kick in the butt. You will see the difference over a few months.

Width vs. Thickness

Training the back is an interesting proposition because you have two realms to focus on. One realm involves making the back wider while another realm involves making the back thicker. these are two very important things to keep in mind if you want a great back. Today's workout is actually two workouts–one for thickness and one for width.

Elbow Position

By changing the position of your elbows you will change what part of your back that you hit. Sometimes it also means moving much heavier weight. You can row more weight with an underhanded grip, for instance.

The Workouts

Thickness Workout

Exercise Sets Reps
Reverse Grip Pull Downs 3 12
1 Arm DB Row 3 12
Reverse Grip Bentover Row 3 12
T-bar Row 3 12
Deadlift 3 12

Width Workout

Exercise Sets Reps
Pull Ups 4 10
Hammer High Row 3 12
Wide Pull Down Behind Neck 3 12
Straight Arm DB Pullover 3 12

Conclusion

As you can see, this workout aims to increase the volume of your back workouts. If you must, train the last set to failure, but do not go to failure on any other set. You want to focus on good form, squeezing the muscle at the end of each movement. Don't get sloppy. If you cannot lift a weight with good form then don't attempt it at all. With this workout it is better to focus on form than anything else.

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Running for Life

March 6, 2016 By Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT Leave a Comment

Running for life

Running used to be one of my favorite ways to get rid of stress. When I was in high school I would run for 6 miles each day. I did so with ease. Now, as I have gotten older, it is one of my least favorite things to do. At this point I am running for life.

When I wanted to drop some fat I started to look at my schedule and realized it was going to be hard to fit too much cardio into my already tight schedule. At the same time my son's soccer coach asked that all the boys run 2 miles when not practicing soccer. I put the two together and began going for runs with my son. It lasted for a couple months and was very rewarding on many levels. It is still not something I love, but when I do it with my son I enjoy it for some reason.

Running is a great way to drop the fat. If you have not run for some time it is best to start out slowly. I began with 20 minute run only. My goal was to increase how far I ran in that 20 minutes. I pushed myself and got to the point where I could do 2 miles in that 20 minute period. I enjoyed the benefit of losing the fat due to the running.

When you incorporate running into your fat loss routine you have to be careful not to get hurt. Just like with weight training, it is important to slowly build up to longer distances. Going too far too fast is a recipe for disaster.  There is no point in doing that because an injury will have you back on your couch for many weeks.

The 3 things I learned while doing my running:

  1. It is only hard if you forget that you are only competing against yourself and nobody else.
  2. It burns fat fast.
  3. It helps to increase your physical endurance.

Give running a try. You won't be disappointed.

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Filed Under: Diet & Fat Loss, Featured, Training

Monday Madness: Full Body Training Revisited

January 4, 2016 By Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT Leave a Comment

full body workout

A little more than a year ago I did an article called Monday Madness: Full Body Assault. In that article I discussed the logistics of full body training. I also laid out a great workout plan that assaults the entire body. This type of full body training is something everyone should experiment with to see if it works well for them. Today I would like to teach you about ways to modify your full body training to give it more of a push.

Full Body Training HIT Style

In my previous article (Monday Madness: Full Body Assault) I presented you with the HIT approach to full body training. It works quite well because you are able to use maximum intensity to get through an amazing workout. HIT style involves 1 set per exercise with minimal rest between sets. Many people scoff at this method, but it works.

Full Body Training Heavy Style

Mike Mentzer did what he called Heavy training. His style was slightly different from HIT. While this Heavy style is derived from HIT, it involves higher volume than a normal HIT workout.

The Full Body Training Workout Plan

We are going to use the exact plan from Monday Madness: Full Body Assault, but modify it for the higher volume.

Exercise Repetition Range
BB Bench Press 4 to 6 (3 sets)
Lat Pull Down 4 to 6 (4 sets)
DB Pullover 8 to 10 (3 sets)
Pec Dec Flyes 4 to 6 (4 sets)
Arnold Press 4 to 6 (3 sets)
Seated Cable Rows 4 to 6 (4 sets)
Leg Extensions 4 to 6 (3 sets)
Standing Calf Raise 4 to 6 (3 sets)
Seated Calf Raise 4 to 6 (4 sets)
Chin ups 12 to 15 (2 sets)
BB Curls 4 to 6 (2 sets)
Tricep Pushdown 6 to 8 (2 sets)
Back Squats 10 to 12 (2 sets)
Deadlift 4 to 6 (2 sets)

This style of full body training is performed 3 times a week. You would generally have an “A” workout (like the above) and a “B” workout. The “B” workout would follow the same exercise pattern as the “A” workout, but with different exercise choices. I really think this is part of why it works so well–you are keeping your body from adapting too quickly.

Give this a try for 12 weeks and you are going to see the gains you've been looking for.

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Filed Under: Featured, Training

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