IM-PRESSING ARNOLD

There are many exercises that you can choose for each muscle group of the body. And one exercise can activate a different part of the same muscle when simply modifying the grip, stance, the movement, or even the form of execution. But most who decided to try to exercise on their own or copy others, don’t really know what they are working out, nor what they are doing by this little modification, which could be a movement such as a rotation.

  

When you choose a more advanced exercise do you really know what you are doing? Do you really know if you are targeting the same muscle if you really don’t feel a difference? If the movement has changed do you really know exactly how it is done? Is there really any difference from the original exercise?

One of the basic exercises of the shoulder workout routine is the dumbbell shoulder press. If you start with the dumbbells at the height of the shoulders, you will stretch your arms fully, and come back down to where your elbow joint is at 90 º. This will activate primarily your anterior deltoids, and then the lateral deltoids, upper chest (pectoralis major), triceps, and trapezius. This will occur if you keep your wrists above the elbows, and not near your ears, which some do. You also see some arching their back, when done while seated on a bench, which can cause disk injury due to compressive forces on the lumbar portion of the spinal cord, caused by the weights overhead. To minimize, strain on the back, some may use support of only the upper back on seated benches, but they are still not using the core and abdominal muscles to maintain correct posture while doing exercises in this position. When doing the shoulder dumbbell press, standing or sitting, there is no arching of the back, knees should be slightly bent, elbows should not go below shoulder level, and be at 90º with the arms.

Since the strength of the shoulders is of major importance for the prevention of injuries of the rotator cuff, it is also of extreme importance to keep the correct form when doing exercises for the deltoids, especially any variations. Just like the impression that everyone has that the dumbbell shoulder press is for lateral deltoids, one variation that you see many do wrong while working out is the Arnold Shoulder press, which consists of rotation. The initial position of the Arnold dumbbell press is with elbows bent pointing in direction of your ribcage where you look at your fingers when gripping the dumbbell. As the weight is lifted there is rotation of the forearm so that you can continue to raise your arms. By the time the elbow joint is at the height of the shoulders it is at 90º, it turns into the movement of the regular dumbbell shoulder press. Body position and form should be kept the same as the regular dumbbell shoulder press.

So if in a workout, you choose to do the Arnold shoulder press, there is no need to do the regular dumbbell press for this targets the three parts of the deltoids. This might not be a good choice for those who have injured the rotator cuff for it also recruits the supraspinatus, or beginners who are still learning movements for weightlifting such as coordination, but it is a great exercise for increasing overall shoulder muscle mass.

ROCK N`REPS

There are many public places that you walk into that have set ups so that there is a feeling of a certain ambience whether it be the color of the walls, the decoration, even the placement of furniture, merchandise and lighting. Music is also used to create a certain environment such as music of calming effect in a doctor’s office, where depending on the situation there is a high level of stress release from individuals who are consulting, or music with higher number of beats in a fast food chain restaurant to impose fast eating.

So while working out, does the genre of music that you listen to affect your routine? Does it have physiological and mental effect on training? Can you listen to just anything or should there be guidelines to the choice of music while exercising for better results?

The literature out there regarding the effect that music has on our lives could also apply to exercise and sport. It has a psychological effect where it can influence mood, and emotion (recollection of memories, recognition and identification of emotions, and transmission of wellbeing), and even behaviour. It increases attention span because it provides dissociation from fatigue and discomfort that comes with exercise. Music can cause arousal by the stimulation of the brain. It also has physical effects such as reducing inhibitions (feeling of anxiety) and encourages rhythmic movement. If these effects occur while listening to music, it means the tunes you choose to listen to will also have physiological effects.

The rhythm or tempo of the songs chosen stimulates the body. The tempo (speed of music measured in beats/min or bpm) stimulates the brain having effect on the level of arousal, for it releases norepinephrine which affects HR. In order for stimulation of the body while exercising, there is a need for a bpm of 134, and for a sedative effect 90bpm.  Music with exercise increases adherence. It will cause arousal or calm the nerves. It also stimulates the body to rhythmically want to engage in activity. The choice of genre is important in the fitness world, It dictates the vibe of the environment. This is why most gyms opt to leave the radio on, and keep the tunes to pop, dance or electronic. But when another genre is chosen, this might create a different environment negative to training. The playlist for group classes include music of both motivating and relaxation purposes, where upbeat music is for activation in the beginning, and ending with the calm-down. The synchronization of movements copied with music may require less energy and greater relaxation which comes with the expectancy of what is to come. And your own lists should represent what attracts the optimal psychological state for training.

Music proves to have effect on endurance and resistance training, but in the low to moderate intensities for it alters the focus of attention to the information being received. But in higher intensities music is over shadowed, this may be due to not affect positively the level of perceived exertion.

There is an ergogenic effect due to the dissociation factor of perception of pain reduction. The effects result in higher levels of endurance, power, productivity or strength which could be the consequence of the delayed fatigue related to change in perception, and not actual increase of intensity. For athletes it is more effective before a competition and it relates to the stimulation or relaxation to acquire that state of mind to perform well.

Remember since the choice of music relates to what you are attracted to, wellbeing and performance, it should reflect the state of mind that you find yourself in that moment. This means you don’t always have to listen to hard rock n’ roll, or heavy metal to get that pump out of your training.

Articles Consulted   

Karageorghis and Priest. Music in the exercise domain: a review and synthesis – Part 1. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 2011.

Biagini, et al. Effects of self-selected music on strength, explosiveness and mood. Journal of Strength and Conditioning. 2012

DON'T ROLL OVER THE PULLOVER

After talking about the exercises that can be done but have been banished because of the risk of injuries, Hardcore Resistance Training & WellB started to talk about exercises that are usually used for one exercise group, when it focuses more on another. One exercise that can be put into this group is the Pullover with free weights or done on a machine.

When the pullover is included in a workout it is usually included in the days that the muscles of the back are trained, but is this right? If not, what muscle group does it most activate? Is it an exercise that has effect on more than one muscle group? Do you know the proper technique that should be used to activate the back and/or the other muscle group that is involved? What is considered better free weights or doing it on a machine?

First of all, the group of muscles that the Pullover exercise is used for is the back, but if you look in books demonstrating resistance exercises, the primary muscle that this exercise activates is the Chest muscle (Pectoralis major). When doing the dumbbell pullover, you are lying flat on your back, whether on a bench or on a ball, or even just supporting your upper back with your legs bent and feet flat on the floor. The exercise starts with the dumbbell held above your chest, with extended arms and elbows slightly bent. The arms are lowered downward without moving the elbows, so that they are parallel to your ears. As soon as the dumbbell reaches the level of the head, it is brought back up to the initial position. So the secondary muscles that are activated are the muscles of the back, Latissimus dorsi, Serratus anterior, Teres major, rhomboids, and then the back of the shoulder muscle (posterior deltoid), the triceps and Pectoralis minor.

So when you include the pullover exercise in your back workout routine, you are actually targeting your chest muscles and not your back muscles. According to Marchetti & Uchida (Effects of the pullover exercise on the pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi muscles as evaluated by EMG, J. Applied Biomechanics, 2001), the chest muscle is activated in all of the movement when doing this exercise. On the other hand, they demonstrated that the back muscles only participate in 10% of activation when compared to the chest muscles, and that is when it is at the level of the head.

Many may include this in their back group muscle because as discussed in “Strength from the inside out”, if you are not using full back support, while keeping the position to do this exercise, you are working out your core which strengthens the lower back. So if you would like to focus more on the actual muscle group instead of your core, maybe you should lie flat on the bench horizontally with your full back instead of across with only the support of your upper back. You could also choose the Pullover machine which could be safer especially for those beginners with less core strength. Besides being safe it also has other benefits such as the sitting upright body position instead of supine, and the machine has pads and support of the arms instead of a free weight over your face.  

The purpose of this exercise could be used to provide symmetry to your back muscles, if you’re looking for physical appearance and to stretch you rib cage muscles (core). Since it consists of the shoulder extension movement, it is useful as a rehabilitative exercise with isometric (static) contraction for individuals with injuries to the rotator cuff and shoulder where the weight is held at the lowest position, and with the difference of the head slightly hanging off the bench. It is also used as a strength exercise of the surrounding muscles for people with whiplash or cervical injuries. So if you see someone doing this after their back workout, the only thing they may be taking from it is a good stretch.

HOT ROD NOS TRAINING

The increase concern for a healthy lifestyle is leading the pursuit for the best nutrients, natural or fabricated, for positive effect on all body functions. And especially for the ones who include exercise in their daily schedule, the search exists for the best nutrition and supplementation to help with their fitness goals, and of course, to improve physical appearance. The true fitness seeker is always trying new food sources and supplements to increase energy and improve personal performance in exercise because each individual has different tastes, eating habits, body structure and metabolism. What may affect one person may have little or no effect on another. But the outcome of components provided by the nutrients in the human body is always the same. And one of these components is nitric oxide (NO).

Before we discuss the benefits of NO to exercise, we will review the information about its production in the body. Do you know where nitric oxide comes from? How is it produced? What functions does it have on the body? What about what does it do for exercise? Can the food sources that provide NO be considered bad for health?

First of all, Nitrogen is one of the chemical elements that is most abundant in our atmosphere. Only microbes are able to transform Nitrogen into the compound form so that it can be used by other living organisms. Bacteria, located in water and soil, fixate to plants and their roots, and are responsible for transforming the Nitrogen components into nitrates that our bodies are able to use as NO.

Arginine, a non-essential AA available in our bodies, is a natural source dependant on oxygen for the production of NO. But when limited amount of oxygen is available, another pathway for production of NO is from eating Nitrates and Nitrites. Legumes (roots) or green leafy foods are the best sources of dietary nitrates. When these dietary nitrates are consumed, initially in the mouth they are transformed into nitrite by the action of bacteria on the tip of our tongues and carried by the saliva. The Nitrate is transformed into Nitric Oxide by the bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. The two pathways work synergistically and complement each other

NO improves blood flow in general so it is essential to maintain the integrity of the cardiovascular, immune and nervous system, and the lack of it could cause cardiovascular disease. According to Antosova, et al (Nitric Oxide – Important messenger in the human body. Open Journal of Molecular and Integrative Physiology. 2012) NO is important for the nervous system (regulation of aggressive and sexual behaviours, food intake, pain perception, and sleep control), the cardiovascular system (regulation of blood flow), the respiratory system (functioning of the lungs), in the general digestive system, the urinary system, the immune system and can have sexual benefits between 4 walls. .

Since general blood flow by the production of NO is increased, vasodilation occurs (opening of blood vessels) which permits greater delivery of oxygen and nutrients to muscle tissue, and this occurs in greater amounts during exercise increasing performance and prolonging tolerance because ATP is spared. It also has benefits on the cardiovascular system, helping with the prevention of diseases, reduction of blood pressure, lower triglycerides and better platelet function (immune system). Nitrates have an effect on the body causing it to believe energy levels are depleted, which turns on many different energy producing processes that recharge the cell’s energy status, such as production of new mitochondria within the cell. Since the mitochondria directly produces ATP in large part by burning fat, which generates more energy, it also causes enhanced muscle function as well as superior capacity to burn body fat.

To increase levels of nitrate and nitric oxide, one must consume fair amounts of nitrates and one food source could be beetroot. Beets contains polyphenols like quercetin and reservatrol as well as AA betaine (improves molecular endurance power output and strength), and is considered to have high levels of nitrates. Since NO is a vasodilator, beets may be able to deliver more nutrients sparing the utilization of ATP. It has been shown that consuming beetroot juice could significantly increase exercise intensity

Remember increase your NO levels by eating roots and greens or even by supplementing arginine, because if you decide to increase the consumption of red and processed meat, there may be a toxicity effect. Nitrates are added to meats (including bacon, wieners, sausages, and hams) and must be turned into nitrites in order to have antioxidant effects, develop flavor and preserve the red color. The negative effects could be associated with the increased risk of cancers and lung disease.

Articles Consulted:

Dietary Nitrate Supplementation reduces the O2 cost of low-intensity exercise and enhances tolerance to high-intensity exercise in humans. Bailey, et al. Journal of Applied Physiology. 2009.

Food Sources of Nitrates and Nitrites: the physiologic context for potential health benefits. Hord, et al. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2009.

The nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway in physiology and therapeutics. Lundberg, et al. Nature Publishing Group. 2008.