KICKIN' BUTT

Before getting into this week’s post, the technical term Resistance Training used by health professionals needs to be defined correctly. When talking about resistance Training, people usually think about strength training, which can be used to improve endurance in the muscle and power when performing a certain activity. But today the prescription of resistance training is a growing trend because when combined with aerobic and flexibility training in an exercise program, it has been shown to reduce risk factors related to many diseases, injury prevention and general health. When you are doing weight training, whether in a gym with the machines and weights or a fitness class, you are actually doing resistance training. Resistance training is what everyone refers to as weight training.

Did you know that resistance training is exercising against any resistance? Does it equal to any exercise using weights or bodyweight? If you are bored with going to the gym to do weights is there any other way to include resistance training in your exercise program? Is it always alright to do it in a class?    

There are three types of muscle contractions,  concentric (closing the angle of a joint, example, bending your arm), eccentric (increasing the angle of a joint, example: standing up from being seated), and isometric (no movement, when doing the plank from Yoga). These are included when performing resistance training and important to maintain muscle strength, joint mobility, bone mineral density, muscle mass or body composition, especially within aging, and a form of injury prevention. In order to create an effective resistance training program, the fitness world is coming up with new training methods to motivate and grab the attention of those that hate weightlifting in a gym using all the types of contractions even without extra weights. But no matter what new class or type of training you choose, you are still performing it against a resistance. But little do people realize that some new types of programs just might have the opposite effects on physical health.  

One of the latest fads in the fitness world is Boot camp classes or sessions of functional training. Most of the exercises included in functional training, which are the exercises included in boot camps, came from what is done by the preparation of professional athletes for maximal performance. The career of an athlete always presents risks of injury. But through their basic phase of training in the periodization, while preparing for competition, they strengthen their core and bodies using all the types of contractions through resistance training and specific sport training, and maintain it during their competition season minimizing injuries. So should people searching for a healthy lifestyle exercise like the elite athletes when they themselves are physically unprepared due to the life that is lived today?

Yes, functional training or the boot camp can be an effective way to include resistance training in the exercise program. But what is happening is that most are injuring themselves and creating other physical problems, because most lack body and core strength. It is also the fault of the professionals that are conducting these classes because they are not paying attention to details of correct posture, positioning and execution of the exercises given, and may not have the education to do so. Just like a weight training program, there should be a general progression from light and easy exercises to more complex and higher intensity exercises which is lacking in most of these camps and functional training programs.  

So those of you who need something different then a gym to weightlift, just remember that even though you aren’t actually lifting weights, new classes proving to be motivating, hard, and of high intensity, will mostly consist of resistance training. Boot camp classes and functional training, without the proper fitness assessment and the prescription of an educated exercise specialist (not a two day course wonder), could in fact be negative to improving your body, health and preventing you from your results.  

Articles Consulted:

Resistance Training for Health. Pollack and Vincent Research Digest. 1996

Resistance Training for Health and Performance. Kraemer, et al. Current Sports Medicine Reports. 2000.

THE STRONGEST LINK

Most enhancing performance aids in sports and exercise have been discovered accidentally. When proven to produce unfair or prejudicial results, they have been restricted for common use and banned for sporting events. But as the popularity of becoming better, faster, stronger, more physically fit and perfect the existing research of products, usually for medicinal use, have been found to have alternative uses other than treatments. So today, especially in sports and the fitness world, there is always the search for substances to improve performance and appearance.

One of these are peptides already, discussed in “Where’s the Beef? Meathead!”  described as simple bonds of less than 50 in number that connect amino acids. But why is this novelty becoming so important for treating certain health conditions? What is its use for exercise and sports? How popular is it becoming? Does it have effect for exercise and resistance training? Is it banned in sports?

Drugs made from peptides are becoming popular because they are short-acting and less toxic to the body because they bind to specific cell surface receptors (hormones) affecting their function without the reaction with other molecules and receptors in the body making metabolism run smoothly. But they cannot be consumed orally because they are inactivated by the enzymes of the digestive system starting with the saliva. Right now administration is through injections or IV, but research is being done to develop other routes such as through the skin or through the nose (spray).

Due to the minimal effects the use of hormonal peptides as an ergonomic aid for exercise and sports performance is increasing. They are also sometimes difficult to detect. Naturally these peptides are released into the bloodstream by the cells of the endocrine and also have effect on the nervous system.

The types of peptides that are of interest to resistance training are those that come from the Human Growth Hormone. The research and development of these types of peptides are important for health conditions such as cancers, obesity and degenerative diseases such as Alzheimers because they bind to the receptors of the pituitary and hypothalamus. These peptides are known to have effects of stimulating the natural GH in our bodies and produce effects on the brain, feeding behaviour, modulate sleeping patterns, protein synthesis, improve muscularity and body composition, and insulin sensitivity which may cause the results desired by resistance training.

The types of exogenous hormonal peptides that are being studied and developed with similar effects to the ones in our bodies are the Growth Hormone Releasing Peptides (GHRH), the SARMs (Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators), Growth hormone variants, Insulin Growth Factors and the product from it Mechano Growth Factor (MGF). ies used to stimulate the use of the Growth hormone. But as mentioned before researching and producing them externally are being used for treatments without undesired side effects of medications.

This is why they are popular for resistance training and sports because they have beenproven to promote protein synthesis, anabolic effects and muscle repair resulting in muscle hypertrophy, increasing power, strength gains and also weight loss due to inhibitory effect of somatostatin and reducing insulin sensitivity without affecting the liver and other organs. Due to some of the effects it producesm they have been banned from professional sports even though it is still difficult to detect some of the substances.

 

You may not know it, but you might even have knowledge, or even used some of these peptides, because they have been out there a long time. Some of them include insulin, the oldest and first discovered peptide, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCH), leptin, recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO), Ghrelin, Myostatin to name a few which is not new to the weightlifting world. But the research is only beginning now to discover their uses and benefits to the medical world. But be careful for even though they don’t present major side effects, there is still a bad side to these indetectables. 

Note: I hope that some readers are able to acknowledge the information that is being given by this post, for this has been a subject that has taken the most time to research about and definitely not a lot of information about.

Articles Researched:

Classification status of peptide-based performance and enhancing drugs. Medsafe. 2013.

Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators (SARM’s) as Function Promoting Therapies. Bhasin & Jasuja. Current Opinion Clinical Nutrition Metabolism Care. 2010.

Selective androgen receptor modulators in preclinincal and clinical development. Narayanan et al. Nuclear Recept Signal. 2008.

Insulin-like growth factors. Derek Le Roith. New England Journal of Medicine. 1997

Growth-hormone releasing peptides. Ghigo, et al. European Journal of Endocrinology. 1997

Research on mechano growth factor: its potential for optimising physical training as well as misuse in doping. Goldspink. Br. J. Sports Med. 2005.

PEAK YOUR CURLS

The Bicep Curl is one of the mainstream exercises and included in all weight lifting programs for male and female. But it is also one of the exercises that you see most people doing wrong and cheating on, not using the full ROM, completing it too fast causing the rocking of the upper body, and using weights that they really aren’t able to handle if the exercise was done properly.

There are many variations of the Bicep curl, but which variation affects this muscle group more? Which is right, using the full range of motion or a minor portion of it? Does rocking back and forth really help? What is the correct position and posture to do this exercise?

First of all the Bicep muscle group is composed of the long head and the short head of the Bicep brachii, the coracobrachialis, and even though the muscle brachioradialis inserts in the radius bone, it is activated when most of the bicep curls are done.

So what are the positions and execution that this muscle group can be worked on? Like most exercises for limbs it can be done standing or seated. The standing position should be feet slightly apart (less then shoulder length) and arms should be naturally beside your body in anatomical position (hands in supinated position or facing forward). Your shoulders should be pulled back and open with your chest held up high. In this position you bend your elbows and the hands (palms up) go up towards your shoulders without moving the upper part of your arm. The movement without weights should be the same as with weights. So with dumbbells or barbell your elbows should be pointing straight down and the palm of hands should always be in supinated position.  The seated position is the same, with the only difference that you might never see the barbell used, because the legs are in the way. The ROM should be bending your elbows until the weight reaches your shoulders then back down where the elbows are almost fully extended.

In gyms you see the bicep curls being done with the elbows pointing outwards. But if you really look at the men who execute the movement in this way, you will see that their anatomical position is different to an average person. This is due to more than normal developed back and shoulder muscles which makes it difficult for them to keep their arms straight down by their side. For them it will have an effect, but for a person with regular anatomical position of the body, it can cause injuries when elbows are pointing in any direction other than straight to the back of your body.

If you ever do feel your shoulders or elbow, the ergonomics of how you do the biceps curl could be wrong. Injuries related to the wrong execution of the bicep curl could lead to inflammation of the tendons of the elbow or tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) and even shoulder injuries. Proper positioning of the wrists are important and also the core and lower back strength.

There are many variations of exercises, and most of them use all of the muscles of the biceps. Most of the exercises such as hammer curls, concentration curls, low pulley curls, and even reverse curls (also activates the muscles of the forearms) are a risk for injury because they activate the brachioradialus, when added with incorrect technique. Machine curls and preacher may be an even higher risk because there is big tension at the lowest point of the weight with the extension of the arm, with possibility of affecting the shoulder. High pulley curls and barbell curls are considered safe and used as a strength exercise related to the rehabilitation of these muscles.

 

If you want bigger and better guns always include the dumbbell curls, hammer curls and curls on the high pulley, but remember letting your elbow advance forward, even if it is just a little, will compromise the full ROM and produce less tension on your biceps. And if you aren’t making any further progress, try loaded negative reps. So keep the right posture and technique for massive guns.

PRICELESS KNOW-HOW

Hardcore Resistance Training and Wellbeing started off with criticisms of the fitness industry, and there has been some time without any talk about those issues. So put on your thinking caps, and reflect on this following Post.

North America, including Canada is supposed to be the top of the line in quality of any type of services offered. But how come some of the under developed countries, or the ones that do make it to the list of developed countries but are ranking in the last 5 spots are more concerned with providing better quality and specificity in health services?

Kinesiologists are under paid after 4 years of hard work and training in a University course, when they too are responsible for rehabilitation, physical assessments of movement, exercise prescription, and maintaining or improving physical mobility. So why doesn’t the health system view the profession as important as that of a nurse or doctor?

The career of a teacher begins with educational training inside a classroom, and before this the teacher is usually specifically qualified by major study in a certain subject. But many are not teaching in their area of expertise and are in fact acting in other areas. After completing the education requirement to use the correct techniques for teaching, it can be understood that a teacher can follow the guidelines set by the Ministry of Education at an elementary school level. But as a child grows older and more mature, how can that happen? There are many unemployed individuals with Physical Education degrees and one of the reasons could be that teachers and coaches who fill the gyms and fields in schools only have the qualifications to educate some one’s mind or not any at all and not the body. Some of these positions are even filled by volunteers to minimize costs. And then why is it asked that the obesity rate is rising in children? In the long run it ends up costing more to treat diseases consequences of overweight.

Then there are the Personal trainers who sometimes don’t even have a background in physical activity or practice a sport. It is so simple for just anyone to become qualified as a Personal trainer, that the ones who really know what they are doing due to education, or have real experience dealing with keeping the body healthy are turning to private work which is not helping the profession’s reputation.

No wonder the fitness industry is falling apart. Exercise has been proven to have positive effects on the mind, but most still refer to athletes and sports related professionals as brainless individuals. And if this is true why has the research related to physical activity and exercise become such an important interest for health related issues? For the health care system to improve there needs to be a change in the way of seeing the Fitness Industry in most countries as only a money maker. The educated professionals of this area will contribute with the adequate dedication to maintain those that are already healthy.

PUMP UP YOUR LEVEL

The word “intensity” is a common word used in the fitness world. And when speaking about intensity of a workout, most refer to the amount of resistance that was used to perform an exercise. But is the amount of resistance the only way to make a workout intense? Do you know how to intensify your workout without changing your routine? Are there other ways to maximize your effort?

Intensity can be referred to the amount of resistance, the volume of a training, the timing of rest and recovery and even as physiological effects such as diet.

When speaking about the amount of resistance, weight training professionals usually refer to percentages of one Repetition Maximum (1RM) that an exercise is performed, or exercising at a percentage of your maximal Heart Rate (HR). 1 RM is calculated by performing a resistance exercise without outside aide or muscle execution failure, usually for a large muscle group, and is used to define the level of strength. The calculation of intensity through the HR method usually takes into consideration the age and gender of an individual.

 

Definition of Intensity by Volume of Training can be described as how many exercise sessions there are in a certain period, which could mean month, week or even day. The number or even duration of the sessions could have effect of higher or lower intensity depending on your goals.

The intensity can be magnified if the rest interval in between sets and even exercises are low. The well trained don’t need to rest as much as the untrained to get results of improvements of strength, power and force. For resistance training according to the different energy pathways you can manipulate your workout according to how long it takes to recover energy levels.

It is almost being forgotten that the load can become heavier if you simply increase the number of repetitions performed or do movements in slow motion. You can increase the intensity of your workout by changing the form you do your sets such doing two exercises at the same time for the same muscle group or antagonists (opposites) adding a certain type of training such as repetitions until exhaustion or even pyramid training.

You may not change your routine and duration of your workout, or even the number of weekly sessions, but if you reduce or increase the number of calories of your diet, you may see a change in the intensity of your workout due to your capability. Other factors could have effects, such as injuries, sickness, and mental state affecting the intensity of your workout too.

So when you are thinking I am going to increase the intensity of my workout, get out of that little box and for something different find some other way to change other than the amount of weight of machines and free weights. You might find other ways to feel that pump and even something that works better for your body to get those desired results.

ANYTHING GOES!!!

Now that summer is finally here, the bodybuilding competition season has finally started. There are many competitions and categories out there, and no matter what level you aim to compete in, extended physical, mental and nutritional training is needed to be properly prepared for the contest day.

But what is needed for the appropriate preparation for a bodybuilding contest? How do you decided in which category to compete in? How do you choose the competition and level to compete in? On the contest day, how do you know if you are ready or not?

The first question will be answered last. First of all there is no right or wrong training, nutrition or supplementation. If periodization of training and nutrition are used, you are able to get to know your body, and test methods, techniques and types of training and different diets and supplementation to see what works the best for you. What might work for one person might be counterproductive for another due to differences of each individual. What needs to be done is get the max results of your body for the category that you are preparing for. This is why many may end up disappointed with the final results and the coaching that they received. But most do not trust their own instincts about what they know about their own body. With time, comes experience and an athlete to enter in his/her best form will always need coaching and nutritional orientation because with each competition the body changes.  

Today when you arrive at a competition there are so many categories to choose from, and each one can be divided into age group, so you may see some participating in two or three events. But is this fair? There is a lack of definition as to what category an individual can or should participate in. Because there are so many categories in each competition you will see athletes jumping from one to another or even participating in two or more events. There should be general guidelines as to what is being looked at in each bodybuilding category when the line-up is on stage. Sometimes there is a minimal difference between athletes, especially those who are participating in the women’s Physique or Figure, or Lightweight women’s bodybuilding or physique. The pre-competition phase can become frustrating due to this because on top of all that preparation the athlete has to worry about exactly what will be looked at by the judges.

Then there are the different Bodybuilding Federations with unique requirements. It is understandable that there is a need to divide amateur and professional levels and in order to get to the professional level, placing well in the event will qualify the athlete for the next level up, like in any other sport. But the different Federations should come together and define parameters for each category so that the judging of physical appearance and condition of the body will be similar for the same categories no matter what Federation is promoting the competition. 

Competitions have changed from when Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno and Lee Haney were competing. Yes the health world has evolved with the continuing research in exercise and nutrition and so have the competitions, but there is no prediction as to what will happen in the competition, for it will always have the hand of human judging in the defining results. In the future guidelines must be set as to how to judge can be formed, but the dedication of the athlete will never change.  

HUNGER PAINS

The interest in fat percentage values has increased with the growing epidemic of obesity. But in the world that seeks to increase muscle mass, a concern for the best way to reduce fat has always existed.  There are many strategies that people use to burn fat in the gym and one old technique is doing cardio early in the morning on an empty stomach.

But does it really work or is it just a myth? Do you know what are the effects of exercising on an empty stomach? Can it jeopardize your training or cause opposite effects?

Most everyone knows that to burn fat you need to do Aerobic exercise. “Energy Tranformers” explained that in 2 minutes or more of continuous exercise in low to moderate intensity is needed in order to activate the aerobic system of transforming nutrients into energy with the help of oxygen. In low intensities, the triglycerides are used for Fat oxidation, but the breakdown of triglycerides in fat cells is completely prevented when there are carbohydrates available when there is a meal before exercise or supplementation of carbohydrates during. According to Bock et al (2005) the effect of Fat Oxidation that occurs with prolonged endurance exercise may depend on muscle fibre type being used, the training experience, the gender and probably diet of the individual.

This is why that for those of you who believe that doing cardio in a fasting state burns fat more rapidly are correct. 10 years ago many were non-believers of early morning exercise on an empty stomach, because not enough research existed. But this is being updated by studies proving that limiting carbohydrate availability during short term exercise can stimulate training-induced adaptations in muscle cells to facilitate oxidative energy turnover as well as fatty acid transport from fat deposits.  Doing cardio on an empty stomach after overnight fasting and absence of carbohydrate intake during the workout at a given intensity and duration depletes triglyceride levels in type I muscle fibers which upregulates oxidative metabolism in the muscle cells sparing glycogen breakdown. So energy production from fat oxidation does occur on an empty stomach to burn fat, but occurs post-exercise, and not during your workout.

Exercising on an empty stomach also has other benefits as it improves glucose tolerance (Van Proeyen, et al. 2010) and maybe a solution for insulin resistance. For something different try this because according to De Bock et al. (2007) it may present the same results when training in a carbohydrate–supplemented state. It is only not indicated for competitions because of potentially reduced liver glycogen stores and consequence of negative effect on performance.

Articles Consulted:

Carbohydrates and exercise performance in non-athletes: a systemic review of studies mimicking real-life. Columbani, Mannhart & Metter. Nutrition Journal. 2010.

Training in the fasted state improves glucose tolerance during fat-rich diet. Van Proeyen, et al. Journal of Physiology. 2010.

Exercise in the fasted state facilitates fibre type specific intramyocellular lipid breakdown and stimulates glycogen resynthesis in humans. De Bock, et al. Journal of Physiology, 2005.

Effect of training in the fasted state on metabolic responses during exercise with carbohydrate intake. Bock et al. Journal of Applied Physiology. 2007.