ARE YOU "MISTER FANTASTIC" OR ONLY A "THING"

Have you, an advance resistance training athlete, realized that your body has become tighter as you sum up more years of training and get older? Well even you beginners to intermediate weightlifters, do you stretch before, during or after your workouts? Does anyone know the importance of stretching?

First of all what is the difference between Flexibility and stretching? Well flexibility is the distance that a joint can extend for example, if you touch your feet or the floor with the palm of your hands, the muscles of your hip joint is flexible, but if you have to make an effort to touch your toes and feel all the muscles behind your legs when you do it, you are stretching. Stretching is the method in which you gain Flexibility.

So what type of stretching is best for resistance training? There are two types of stretching that you see used for resistance training. Static stretching is how much a joint and its surrounding muscles can be moved during a movement such as reaching both arms above your head when you wake up. And dynamic stretching is the stretching done while in movement, such as those done by runners before a marathon, such as the swinging of legs. So which one is the best? Generally dynamic stretching should be done by people who know what they are doing. The problem with dynamic stretching is that if you don’t know what you are doing you might go beyond your own limits and strain the muscle you are stretching, because most of the stretching that is done is the active stretching (while in movement) or ballistic stretching (consists of bouncing). And if you haven’t gone beyond your limits before you hit the weights, and while doing your program you use the full Range of Motion (ROM) you can seriously injure yourself when doing an exercise. So the indicated type of stretching for resistance training is the Static stretching, and depending on the person even the active (not using an outside resistance) would be more appropriate, especially if you are recovering from an injury or have some debilitating condition that doesn’t permit the full extension or movement of a joint. Static passive, stretching, is probably the most appropriate for beginners, intermediates or advance weightlifters for resistance training.

When should it be done? When setting up your resistance training program, time for stretching should be done according to the goals you aim for. Stretching before strength training is not indicated because according to a study published in 2007 by the Sports Medicine Journal (The Effects of Stretching on Strength Performance) there is reduced sensibility of the muscle, tendon and joint receptors before strength training, and neuromotor responses are delayed immediately following stretching exercises which means for strength training it reduces your strength, then it is best done after. But if your goal is a healthy lifestyle, weight loss, or hypertrophy, there is no reason why you shouldn’t stretch before, during and/or after training. Studies have not come to a conclusion whether stretching before or after sports training is better, and for hypertrophy or just for every day weight training, stretching in between sets increases hypertrophy, and after a workout maintains or increases flexibility.

 

So those of you who are bouncing around, moving arms and legs while in movement, or not even doing any stretches at all, it might be time for you to think of taking an extra 10 minutes, and start, because it also might be one of the reasons why you haven’t seen results and are becoming stiffs by the day. And remember if you think just because you have big muscles you don’t have to be flexible, well you’re stereo typical musclehead!!!!

GYM RATS OR PIGS?

What is up with people? I guess they didn’t read “Hogs and Slobs”, but if they did, they still didn’t get the picture…because this week the gym just had so many free weights missing from the rack...

The other day arriving at the gym, there was a sign near the weightlifting gym machines, saying in so many words, please don’t rest on the equipment….but share! It is obvious since there may be someone else who needs to use it. So get your butts off the equipment and rest standing near what you are using or on the equipment you are using.

In many gyms you may notice all around that there are signs posted, but I guess that most people don’t even bother to read most of them which ask politely, say or even explain why, to put your equipment away after using it for the next ”Guest”.

Yes, that is a term used in the gym. A price is paid to be able to use the equipment in the gym and if you don’t own the gym, then you are a Guest. And most are taught how to behave as a guest while growing up, so people should use their manners as if they are going visit their Grandmother or immediate family, which is treat the environment with respect. This means, what you use you should put away no matter if it’s just one dumbbell to a few pieces of equipment! How many times, especially at the end of the day after the busiest time, is it easy to see the dumbell rack empty of weights, and hard to find dumbells of a certain weight not in place?

Also when you finally find the equipment out of place that you are looking for, just because you didn’t do it doesn’t mean that when you finish you can’t put it back.

Other rude behaviours seen in the gym is spitting. How many times do you see men spitting in the waste baskets, and some of the time it doesn’t go in. When were they taught to spit inside???? What about Gum? It is banned in schools, because it always ends up underneath chairs or desks, but in gyms you see it on the equipment, such as the treadmill track, or even on the floor or stuck to the sides of equipment (cable machines). And people think that the cleaning people are responsible for throwing other people’s trash out, such as water bottles. If they didn’t do their job correctly, which they should receive much appraisal for, the gym floor would have empty water and drink bottles all over.

Your home must be a pigsty if you are to blame for any of these behaviours, because what you do out of your own home will be the same way that you behave in public. You are a Guest at a gym, and if you’re not, still you would use your manners because you are probably the owner and wouldn’t treat your propriety with disrespect. So clean up after yourself and remember that there ARE other GUESTS

PROPER FUEL BOOST FOR ENERGY

How many times do you walk around the gym and see people drinking liquids other than water, such as cans, shaker cups or bottles filled with colorful liquids?

You can understand the professional or amateur bodybuilder or fitness athlete or exercise professional carrying one around drinking it, especially after you have been watching them work out for at least an hour, but what about those who do it just for a healthy lifestyle or for losing weight?

First of all, a resistance training session should be at max 20 to 40 min, when you have the appropriate pre-training meal. After 40 min, without the appropriate meal plan, causes anaerobic glycolysis, where glycogen from the liver is broken down to produce energy, and if that isn’t available, because there is no extra reserve of energy, due to inadequate eating habits, the glucose in the muscle is transferred so that it can be broken down to produce energy (catabolism) for the continued work out session. That is why bodybuilders and fitness athletes have them to keep that glucose in the muscle, and why those who spend more than an hour in the gym doing weights are probably not seeing any results.

If you had the appropriate pre-training meal and you are not trying to keep your energy levels high due to a long weight training session to continue building muscle, then that extra energy boosting drink, which is usually taken before a workout anyway, and not during, containing complex carbohydrates, which means high calories won’t do anything except add calories which probably won’t be used during your workout, and thus stored for the next opportunity. But when the next opportunity occurs, you yet again are filling your metabolic system with more calories which will add up and go against your much wanted results of a healthy lifestyle or weight loss.

Instead of having something during your workout, the post workout meal should be considered the most important. Up to 20 minutes after the workout, there should be proteins provided for the recovering muscles, and up to 40 min complex carbohydrates for recovery of energy levels according to the energy balance to get the desired results.

As for the energy drinks, there is a big concern, not only for the reasons that there is really not enough knowledge about the effects on the body with the mix of ingredients (stimulants such as taurine, ginseng, ginko balboa and guarana) which contain and can turn the effects of the content of caffeine more potent, but because they are carbonated beverages that contain 13 teaspoons of sugar in a 16 ounce can (equal to four cans of soft drinks). Besides the sugar itself, it contains Vitamin B which adds to the production of sugar for energy. People are confusing energy drinks that cause dehydration due to impairment of absorption of liquids, and can cause heart attack symptoms, with sports drinks, which are means of rehydration during or after training with its contents of carbohydrates, electrolytes and minerals needed for recovery after long sessions of exercise.

If you do not need the extra calories, water is perfect for the duration of the workout session, for most people don’t get enough of it anyway and along with hydrating the whole body, it helps in metabolism so that the results desired can be achieved.

OPTIMAL RATIOS TO SUCCESS

When will people understand that no matter what are your intentions for resistance training whether it is just for healthy life style reasons or if it is bodybuilding and fitness, or to supplement athletic training, that most of the time what you do outside of the training is what matters most to get your results representing 70%?

First of all everyone has heard of the saying that “you are what you eat”, well that is totally the truth for obtaining results. It doesn’t matter how much you train, or if you exercise every day, you will still represent what you eat. People in the fitness world make sacrifices to have a lean, hard body with low fat percentages. Today Nutrition has evolved a lot from when resistance training started. What used to be diets of complex carbs, such as potatoes, protein, such as chicken breast and minimal fat, which usually came from peanut butter or even from the proper chicken to obtain low fat percentages, now has turned into calculating the energy balance of calories consumed and wasted to get the results, and the discovery of what works for each individual person. Food is then consumed according to obtaining the correct combination and amount of proteins, carbs and fats, and to complement vitamins, minerals and even water so that the body can metabolize the nutrients properly.

Another factor that influences results is how you sleep. You will never get results being a night owl. If you are a party animal at least once a week with possibly adding the calories of the drinking that takes place, which results in water retention and dehydration, even though you train 7 times a week, besides catching up with you later on, won’t bring you the results you desire. Part of maximizing results is the rest you get, which includes sleep. While you are sleeping, the body is performing its reconstruction, and that is when some hormones interact in the anabolism process the most, such as the Growth Hormone. Growth hormone has anabolic effects due to the stimulation of bone and skeletal muscle growth and metabolic functions such as maintaining blood glucose levels, increasing uptake of glucose and Amino Acids (AA) into the muscle cells. The AA uptake and protein synthesis cause hypertrophy of the muscle fiber, which is released during the slow wave phase of sleep and it occurs when there is no sunlight. So even if you do get 8 hours sleep during the day, that won’t be enough to contribute to your results.

Now the lack of sleep and other factors cause stress, and when there is stress, especially greater amounts related to work, emotional state or even everyday life, it can reflect on the body with the release of the hormone cortisol that can prevent a person from reaching their goal. Cortisol is a catabolic (breakdown) hormone that regulates the blood glucose and maintains it in prolonged fasting and during exercise promotes the degradation of proteins used by the liver to form glucose and is also released when doing resistance training because it is a stress on your organism. You need the Cortisol to produce energy when there is a deficit, but too much of it can be hazardous.  

So if you are training right, which will be left for future discussions, which most people in Canada and USA really don’t have a clue what they are doing when they are exercising, especially on the gym floor, remember that it only represents 30% of the results your aiming for, and even if you`re doing everything right, training can be a problem, for there are people that are spending too much time doing it which can also affect results negatively.

HOGS AND SLOBS

How many times do you have to wait for equipment or a machine in a gym? Sharing a certain apparatus inside the gym setting is common after all, the only way you won’t experience that is if you have your own private gym, or if you are working alone in a personal training studio.

But almost every day you see inadequate use of equipment besides its regular functional use, such as machine handles, the whole bench and other seats, used as coat hangers, stands and holders. Usually sports training and exercise facilities offer a locker so that you can put away your belongings, so coats and towels shouldn’t be hanging off handles of machines, water bottles, cell phones or other small objects should be on the floor, in your locker or in your pocket, and bags, which could be a hazard causing someone to trip should be in lockers or in the car and not mixed with people training. Just because at that moment when you arrive to use an unoccupied space, and the next one to you is empty, does not mean that someone might not walk up and want to use it. There are people that rather stay in their own training state of mind and not bother to ask if it is being used or not and go about it by doing something else rather than ask if it is being used when it usually isn’t.

What about the training partners, or even worse the Personal Trainers, hanging off of machines, or just sitting there waiting for their turn? For the Personal Trainers, it is unprofessional for you to be sitting waiting for your client to finish the exercise, when you should be paying attention, beside engaging them in conversation, counting the repetitions completely, watching the execution to make any adjustments to correct improper posture, movement or errors when performing the exercise if needed, and most of all motivating to get their energy up. As for the partners or just waiting on a friend, get up off your behind and stand up, after all you burn more calories and use more muscles to stand up rather than sit down, that is what a gym is for.

There are also the cases, example such as an E-Z bar hanging from a cable, but the person who is using it, is a distance away talking on his phone, or talking to one of his buddies from the gym, and when you even threat to go near it, they run and say they are using it, but when you turn your back they are back to “NOT” using what others need. Everyone is complaining about how kids can’t live without their gadgets and technology, but how are adults in a gym different when they can’t turn off their cell phones for an hour a day to train, and don’t let anyone else train either? Then wonder why they can’t get results. Don’t hog equipment, because there might not be enough to go around in small gyms, and in the bigger gyms, don’t do it because there might be people who take their training seriously and want to use it. Also if you are away from a piece of equipment for too long, of course it will be taken if the gym is full, or if a certain routine includes it, don’t be rude and say you were there first and take it, if the individual has already changed the free weight amount and adjusted it to his needs. There ARE people who would probably even be finished before you get to it again.

AND if you see that there 2 or 3 pieces of equipment being used at the same time by someone who is going from one to the next without rest, let them finish their set, for it won’t take more than a few of minutes, even with rest intervals, or ask them if you can work in, but don’t ruin their routine by slowing up their pace, for there are bodybuilding athletes and non-athletes that want their results and are seriously training.  

Hogs and Slobs, get over yourself, the gym isn’t just yours, but available for your use but also the use of others.

MALODOROUS ODOR: Does your gym cologne stink out others?

Do you really think that no one can smell you? We all know that there are some cultures that don’t have a habit of bathing frequently, especially in a cold country, but do you really think that sweat doesn’t smell? Or that someone else doesn’t smell it on you if even you can’t smell it on yourself?

Sweat is bodily moisture expelled from your body containing by-products of our metabolism, which is the result of what we ingest. And where that saying goes you are what you eat, if you eat clean, or healthy, your sweat WILL smell with time, but won’t produce an intolerable smell to others immediately when you workout. But there is that small quantity of people who don’t really take care of their hygiene and seem to think that not showering before they workout, changing workout wear weekly instead of daily, not wearing deodorant, or even not taking care of their bodies such as trimming underarm hairs won’t create a stink tolerable to others, then they are wrong.

But it DOES stink! And sometimes these individuals can stink out whole sections of the gym. Of course there are those that don’t mind the smell and continue to workout out as if they’re in a meadow of flowers, but honestly it is a distraction for those who take their workout seriously.

Any damp material put away in a closed recipient such as a bag, won’t dry properly, or will take longer to dry, but with that it can create mold and when worn again, without proper washing, can cause a bad odour. And even if the piece of clothing with sweat is spread out to dry, will accumulate a number of days being wet and dry, and will create a bad odor that can stink out the gym. So any material, even the ones made with advanced technology for sports, can cause strong and bad odors if not washed.

It comes with the territory of wearing the right clothing to exercise. Usually if you are caring about your health, you care about your inner health and outer health, and if you care enough, you care about how you present yourself to your surroundings, and if you work out you definitely care about your physical appearance, and if you care about your physical appearance, don’t say that your physical appearance, is to spread the smell around, especially if there are women, who in this world, more and more every day are brought up taking care of themselves with products that smell nice.

Real bodybuilders, and people who sculpt their bodies, are called vain, but imagine what the perfume would be like with the training, and the specific foods, condiments and supplements with their size if they weren’t vain? Yes so they are usually obsessed with personal hygiene and body care, because they want to make a good impression which stands out which usually includes a specific wardrobe,  and special hygiene care to bring out the hard work of their physical appearance.

So visual appearance isn’t all that it takes to impress.

WHAT CAME 1ST….GEEKS OR MUSCLEFREAKS?

It isn’t really about the question “what came first the chicken or the egg”. It is a question that can be answered looking at history and seeing how the physical activity of today, exercise, sports, coaching and training of athletes came to be.

If we look at history, exercise has come a long way. It started out as physical activities for survival skills. Today these skills developed into exercise, which can be done in facilities such as gyms, martial arts studios, group or individual sports and then games for recreational play, or even at home. Humans, especially males have always been physically active, and looking to improve performance for everyday life, whether it was just hunting to catch prey for food in a short time to feed the family, or competing with others to protect their tribe, to obtaining land or anything that had to be conquered. With that training was simply gaining experience through repeated motions of everyday activities. The male with genetic favourability and the most experience would present to be more successful.

When humans stopped being nomads and settled down, armies were formed for protection of the land which can date back to the Greek, Egyptian, and later the Roman civilization. It was so embedded in society at the time for protection and needed to gain more power, that it was a great honour to be killed in battle so that you would be remembered as a great warrior. Boys started being educated and prepared to be men of war, and it became a meaning of status of an individual, where besides the group practices, rocks and other objects were used as weights in training for better physical performance. But when there was no war, there were military practices and competitions between men to determine the strongest, the quickest, the most agile, the best of all. Finally physical combat was substituted by manmade machines, and the need to be physically fit became more for the purpose of appearance instead of survival or formal recognition.

 

In the beginning of the 1900’s bodybuilding became popular in search of the perfect body, which made training to gain muscle popular in the 1950’s when movies such as Hercules and Samson were released. And then weight bearing equipment was created to make training for physical appearance easier, and supplements were released by Joe Weider to complement the promotion of competitions.

In the 1970’s many films about bodybuilding received publicity, making Pumping Iron, one of the most famous and probably the most admired bodybuilding films, which showed the differences in the weight training methods of Arnold Schwarzennegar and Lou Ferrigno in the preparation for competitions.

With the rise of gyms and group exercise in the 1980’s, and the growth of the Sports Industry to a million dollar market of its own, there was a need for athletes to stay on top from there on. Successful athletes, techniques and methods of training started to be analized and studied to try to reproduce results in other people who weren’t athletes. Today what studies are still encountering in their results are that resistance training, endurance resistance training, with periods of strength and other type of athletic skill training is the best method behind the improvement of athletic performance. So besides the normal specific sports modality training, coaches are teaming up with professionals with weight training education, knowledge and training background to maximize training for the best performance. And gyms are promoting it for people who just want to lead a healthy life.

Today it has exploded in a way, that even other areas such as the music and film industry are resorting to resistance training to get the results for certain roles. This is where the position of Personal Trainer appeared, to teach and guide in resistance training for better and faster results.

So when you are looking at a man with big guns with veins poking out or with a six pack, and at a woman with large thighs with deep definition, doing the legpress with more weights then you, and you think they are on steroids, just remember that it is research on dedicated individuals, professional or amateur, that information is available for you to achieve your goals.

UNDERDRESSED

If you Fitness Professionals were the only ones that thought that were going to get a wake up call, guess again.

Yes being a bodybuilder and going to the gym or doing any type of workout along with keeping healthy eating habits and lifestyle is hard work, but thinking there isn’t a dress code or that a specific one is cool, then you ARE a jack ass.

For starters, for those of you who don’t wear the appropriate footwear, do you see construction workers wearing flip flops? Do you see ballerinas wearing boots? People! Exercise is the basic movement for any type of sport, and in sports you certainly don’t see any athletes wearing inappropriate clothing. In fact the Sports Industry is growing with all the technology put into fabricating, and developing clothing for better sport performance. So wearing flip flops is the same as going barefoot (which some do anyway) which is asking for equipment to be dropped on your foot, or even worse, getting your it caught in machines. If you are wearing boots, then you might as well go with dress shoes or high heels.

How many people are having problems with their feet because of inappropriate footwear during the Summer? Flip flops are flat, and don’t offer enough support to the arch of your foot, and flip flops make you drag your feet, or pressure the toes to hold it into place when walking. So besides the possibility of your foot getting caught in machines or even having the dumbells or plates fall on your feet, you should have footwear that is appropriate for sports that have the right heel size, offer lateral support, and breathing room, protecting your feet.

Just because you are training upper body does not mean you don’t need the appropriate footwear. You still need the correct posture and stable footing to be able to perform an exercise correctly, example a dumbell lateral raise.

The correct type of footwear, which in the gym are sneakers with the appropriate heel, can be found at any sport store, and if you don’t want any of the high end brands such as Nike, Reebok, Adidas, you can look for cheaper no name brands, but be sure it is specific for purposes of sports and exercise. For those of you who want ankle support in the gym, you can go with the basketball high tops, or there is even a brand that was specifically designed for weight training, usually worn by bodybuilders, giving not only support to the feet but to the ankle too called Otomix.

As for those of you wearing jeans, where did you get the idea that wearing jeans in the gym is cool? Just because you think you look good in your designer jeans or your recreational play is in jeans doesn’t mean that you go exercise in jeans.

To have a good workout what is considered appropriate clothing is what is comfortable and not tight on the body in its whole, so it can breathe, allows perspiration, and offer full movement so that the exercises can be done properly. The risk of wearing jeans is that they limit movement, so they can rip, but with today’s fashion some are just too tight or just too baggy, and prevent the correct ventilation of skin, and movement which is a risk to health.

Now something has to be said about those that think that the gym is a Rap music video clip and train with baggy wear. For the Trainers and members that wear the waist line of their pants below the hips, showing off the back of your underwear, do you really think that’s appropriate, when that came from male incarceration facilities meaning you are offering that part of your body? Be careful because knowing the gay community, who cares about their bodies, you might just be taken up on your offer.

All the inappropriate clothing and footwear does not contribute to your health, for today with the advance in technology, materials to fabricate clothing and footwear are developed to help your body move properly, breathe, metabolise adequately, and to expel toxins that are needed to get your results. Wear the proper clothing to exercise, and it is a start to maybe reaching your goals and seeing results.

RANT OF A REAL PROFESSIONAL – PERSONAL HEALTH TRAINER

There should be a revolution with the professionals that are hired privately, or employed by health clubs to prescribe exercises.

Who hasn’t heard of stories about people who don’t do their research, and end up harming their health in some way by it, by M.D’s that have harmed patients and caused irreversible damages to a person’s health?

These people who are sick or hurt consult with M.D’s that are supposedly licensed, TRAINED and responsible for making their patients healthy again. For this they went through years of school, studying the human body, to enable them make the right diagnosis and treat it, through medication and therapies, or direction to other treatments if needed.

The professional that works with resistance training is usually responsible for maintaining health through the prescription of exercise, so why is it that these professionals aren’t hired based on their education and training, but rather based on how much revenue they can make for their employers or themselves? Why are people who seek Personal Trainers, hiring people who have about 4 years of Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Biomechanics, Exercise Physiology all summed up in two days? If the Human health was that easy, the cures for Cancer and other existing conditions would have been discovered long ago.

So who said that Fitness professionals who are supposed to maintain an individual’s health aren’t supposed to have the same education? The Fitness and health market in North America is not really interested in improving the health of individuals who seek it, but they are interested in the profit. however that is portrayed by “new” types of resistance training which is no different from each other because it is ALL exercise and related to the Kinesiology.

Who are worse are the Fitness Professionals who have studied for 4 years, or those that went through hours of experience to become a result producing machine, profiting but accepting professionals to work a long side those who really aren’t qualified to even train themselves.       

WAKE UP EVERYONE!!!! When you decide to live a healthier lifestyle, and start with exercising, do your research on what type of exercise that would be best fitted for you.