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Cardio is a Necessity

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If you want to lose fat then cardio is going to be a necessity. Yes, there are those who just lift and eat right and drop fat, but for the majority of us that isn't possible. For the majority of us, cardio is a necessary evil.

Cardio Improves Your Heart

Do you get winded doing simple things like going up stairs? If so, you are neglecting your heart. By getting your heart beating faster on a regular basis you are improving its function. You are making your heart healthier. Cardio helps with this a great deal. Get up and get moving and your heart rate will rise.

Cardio Increases Your Metabolism

The more intense your cardio the more you pump up your metabolism. By keeping your metabolism revved up you help yourself maintain your body weight and fat percentage levels.

Cardio Helps Out Your Hormones

Performing cardiovascular exercise also changes the hormonal profile in your body considerably. It releases ‘feel good' hormones that will help ease symptoms of depression and fatigue as well as releasing hormones that decrease the appetite. Individuals who engage in regular cardio exercise often have a much more positive outlook on life simply because they are getting the stress-relief benefits from these hormones.

Cardio Aides in Recovery

Certain types of cardio exercise, usually lower, more moderately paced forms, can decrease your recovery time too. If you have just performed a hard session in the gym, hopping on the treadmill for a walk or light jog will help to remove some of the by-products that were created during the lifting session.

This will help to reduce your DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness) and help bring more oxygen rich blood to the muscle tissue improving in the repair and rebuilding process. To you, this translates to your being able to get back into the gym quicker and work the muscles again.

Management of Diabetes

Cardio exercise will help those with diabetes manage their condition. It helps improve your body's use of glucose.

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What to Do About the Gym Goofball

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What to do about the gym goofball

What do you do about the gym goofball? You know the goofball…the guy who thinks being at the gym is all about making jokes and teasing other people. He goes around annoying anyone who will listen. There are a few simple strategies for dealing with the gym goofball.

Engaging the Gym Goofball is a No No

The key strategy here is to just ignore this person. They are not serious like you, so why engage with them at all? All that does is encourage the gym goofball to continue their bad behavior. We cannot change them, but we can certainly ignore them.

Listen to Music to Avoid the Gym Goofball

I personally do my best to always train with music playing. It not only benefits me because my workouts are more intense, I also avoid the gym goofball because even the gym goofball knows not to bother someone with headphones on.

Don't Be Caught Sitting Around

Stay busy while you are in the gym. Always be doing something. If you're not lifting then you should be logging what you just did or tracking your time in between sets. Whatever you do, don't get caught by the gym goofball being idle.

Is There Really a Gym Goofball?

The joke may be on you. I wrote this piece as a way to lighten the mood for the day. Yes, people do joke around at the gym and no, we don't want to be part of their time wasting ways while we work hard at the gym, but it really isn't as big a problem as this article makes it seem. Smile. Have fun. Enjoy what you do.

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Start Your Week With Explosiveness

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I have written many articles about lifting techniques. I have also been asked a lot of questions about my “inconsistencies” as a result. The fact is that I am a student of the game. I feel that trying things and determining what works is the n best approach anyone can possibly use. Today i want to examine lifting an explosive way.

3 Second Cadence Works

I have preached about the 3 second cadence–3 seconds down and 3 seconds up–and how much it works your muscles. I am here to say that it definitely works, but it isn't the only way. I have used the 3 second cadence during full body workouts. It is one great way to stress the muscles and cause growth. At the same time, I find it is best with a program like HIT where you are hitting the body really hard all at once.

Explosive Lifting Described

The best way to explain explosive lifting is to paint a picture. Imagine you are under the bar doing a bench press. You unrack the weight. You lower it to your chest under complete control. As soon as the bar reaches the bottom you push as hard as you can to the top of the motion. You then repeat this motion. You keep it going at a constant pace like that. There are no pauses or rests involved.

Benefits of Explosive Lifting

This is yet another tool for your lifting tool belt. you will find your body adapting to the other things you are doing. Add in explosive lifting and it is suddenly a game changer, getting your body back on the growth track. I admit that many other methods will put on muscle, but explosiveness will also build some major strength and fast. I recently spent 8 weeks lifting this way exclusively and I set PRs each and every week.

Get Started

Don't put this off. You know you are tired of your old method. The next time you are under a bar use the explosive lifting technique and watch things change for you immediately.

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Monday Madness: HIIT Harder for Fat Loss

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HIIT cardio is heralded as the best way to burn fat without doing hours and hours of cardio. I would have to agree with all of the kudos given to HIIT cardio, but I feel most people do not do it correctly. In today's Monday Madness I am going to take a look at the 5 ways you can HIIT harder and increase your fat loss.

The HIIT Cardio High Interval Should Almost Kill You

When you complete a high interval while doing HIIT cardio you have to just about kill yourself. I don't mean literally of course, but when you finish the high interval you should be breathing very hard and you shouldn't be able to talk. If you can talk then you didn't do the high correctly. The high should tax you enough that you almost feel like you can't go any further. That brings me to the rest period.

The HIIT Cardio Rest Interval Should Allow Recovery

After you complete the high interval you need to recover. Use the HIIT cardio rest interval for that purpose. Take as long as you need to recover. It isn't a good idea to start another high interval before you have recovered. It only encourages you to not go as hard as you can.

Don't Always Do HIIT Cardio on a Machine

I switch things up by doing very heavy farmer carries or running sprints in my neighborhood. Just like it is necessary to change up exercises in order to get maximum results, cardio needs to be changed up as well. Your body will get used to any one singular approach if used for too long. Keep it guessing.

Don't Do HIIT on a Weight Training Day

This one is very important. HIIT cardio is supposed to make you work at your highest possible level. You can't do that if you've exhausted your body with weight training earlier that day. At the same time, HIIT cardio will stress your body enough that you won't be able to lift as well later. Do your HIIT cardio on a day when you are not lifting. If that is not possible, do it at least 8 hours apart from your weight training session.

Vary the Length of Your HIIT Sessions

Many people get stuck on a total amount of minutes for HIIT cardio. I say you should vary the length of your HIIT sessions. Do some short, medium and long sessions. You can extend a session by doing some steady state cardio at the back end.

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Saturday Sharing: Minor Injuries and Motivation

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Injuries come in various shapes and sizes. Minor injuries don't necessarily need to keep us out of the gym. I offer you 3 steps to staying motivated through minor injuries.

Assessment

The first thing you need to do is an assessment of the injury. You have to determine if it is severe enough to change up your training routine. I recently had an ankle injury. It was extremely minor. I did an assessment by wrapping it in a bandage for support and then did some test squats with lighter weight. Upon determining that I was able to squat with the injury I continued to complete my program.

It is important for you to do an honest assessment. You can use the results to make modifications to your lifting program so that you don't have to miss out on valuable gym time. There are always adjustments that can be made.

Adjustments

Once you've done your assessment you have to make adjustments if required. The idea is to keep the gym momentum going. You do this by adjusting your program. Had I determined that I could not have done squats I would have adjusted so that my quads would still get worked but not irritate the ankle. It might take some thought and some ingenuity, but the adjustments can be made.

Performance

Once you have done an assessment and made adjustments, it is time to perform. Pay close attention to the way your body feels as you perform. If there are problems it may mean starting the process all over with the assessment phase. The main thing is to listen carefully to the feedback your body gives you. It is going to mean the difference between successfully navigating through the minor injury and making things worse. Don't be lax about this step.

By following the above 3 steps you have a good chance of working through the minor injuries we all suffer. Remember that if all else fails, consult a doctor.

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