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Posts Tagged ‘Biceps’

Want to build muscle? Do you want to get shoulders, get biceps, and get pecs? Do you want to get stronger? Do you want to get into the greatest shape of your life?

The key to any effective muscle building program is to first define your goals. Do you want to lose weight and gain muscle? Or do you want to gain weight and add muscle? What kind of body are you striving for? An athletic build that is lean and efficient? Or a body builder’s type of physique? Write your goals down.

The next step in your road to getting fit and building muscle is to determine your schedule and how much time you have to dedicate to the workout plan you will follow. Do you want to structure a 5-6 day a week workout schedule? Or do you only have 3 days to fit time in for the gym. Your muscle building routines will need to be tailored to a schedule you can stick to. There are many ways to combine muscle groups into effective exercise routines that will accommodate most any schedule that allows at least 3 days a week in the gym for resistance training.

Building muscle relies heavily on diet as well. Your next step should be to design a diet that supports the goals you specified above. If you need to gain weight, a diet high in protein and quality carbohydrates is going to allow you to intake the nutrients needed to support body growth. The right mix of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins is critical in your goal of developing quality muscle.

There are many diet/workout plans on the market. Most focus on diet and very few do a good job of helping you develop a fitness plan to achieve muscle building goals.

An effective diet and workout plan will provide a synergisitc approach to getting fit and building muscle. It will allow you to realize your goals, both in the gym, and at the breakfast table.

You know the steps now. Time to take action. We can help. Do you want to get shoulders, get biceps, and get pecs?

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The 8 Training Principles are research-based guidelines that can help you accelerate your training progress and optimize your results. Knowing how to apply these principles gives you an educated basis on which you can make informed decisions about designing your fitness or sports training program. The principles can also help you evaluate the merits of fitness equipment and personal training services.

All of the principles complement each other. For best results, they should be applied in concert throughout every phase of training.

1. Principle of Specificity suggests that your body will make adjustments according to the type of training you perform and in the very same muscles that you exercise. How you train determines what you get.

This principle guides you in designing your fitness training program. If your goal is to improve your overall level of fitness, you would devise a well-rounded program that builds both endurance and overall body strength. If you want to build the size of your biceps, you would increase weight loads on bicep curls and related exercises.

2. The Principle of Overload implies that you must continually increase training loads as your body adapts over time. Because your body builds and adjusts to your existing training regimen, you must gradually and systematically increase your work load for continued improvement.

A generally accepted guideline for weight training is to increase resistance not more than 10% per week. You can also use percentages of your maximum or estimated maximum level of performance and work out within a target training zone of about 60-85% of maximum. As your maximum performance improves, your training loads will increase, as well.

3. The Principle of Recovery assets that you must get adequate rest between workouts in order to recuperate. How much rest you need depends upon your training program, level of fitness, diet, and other factors.

Generally, if you perform a total body weight workout three days per week, rest at least 48 hours between sessions. You can perform cardio more frequently and on successive days of the week.

Over time, too little recovery can result in signs of overtraining. Excessively long periods of recovery time can result in a detraining effect.

4. The Principle of Reversibility refers to the loss of fitness that results after you stop training. In time, you will revert back to your pre-training condition. The biological principle of use and disuse underlies this principle. Simply stated, If you don’t use it, you lose it.

While adequate recovery time is essential, taking long breaks results in detraining effects that may be noticeable within a few weeks. Significant levels of fitness are lost over longer periods. Only about 10% of strength is lost 8 weeks after training stops, but 30-40% of endurance is lost in the same time period.

The Principle of Reversibility does not apply to skills. The effects of stopping practice of motor skills, such as weight training exercises and sport skills, are very different. Coordination appears to store in long-term motor memory and remains nearly perfect for decades. A skill once learned is never forgotten.

5. The Principle of Variation implies that you should consistently change aspects of your workouts. Training variations should always occur within ranges that are aligned with your training directions and goals. Varying exercises, sets, reps, intensity, volume, and duration, for example, prevents boredom and promotes more consistent improvement over time. A well-planned training program set up in phases offers built-in variety to workouts, and also prevents overtraining.

6. The Principle of Transfer suggests that workout activities can improve the performance of other skills with common elements, such as sport skills, work tasks, or other exercises. For example, performing explosive squats can improve the vertical jump due to their common movement qualities. But dead lifting would not transfer well to marathon swimming due to their very dissimilar movement qualities.

7. The Principle of Individualization suggests that fitness training programs should be adjusted for personal differences, such as abilities, skills, gender, experience, motivation, past injuries, and physical condition. While general principles and best practices are good guides, each person’s unique qualities must be part of the exercise equation. There is no one size fits all training program.

8. The Principle of Balance is a broad concept that operates at different levels of healthy living. It suggests that you must maintain the right mix of exercise, diet, and healthy behaviors. Falling out of balance may cause a variety of conditions (e.g., anemia, obesity) that affect health and fitness. In short, it suggests all things in moderation.

If you go to extremes to lose weight or build fitness too quickly, your body will soon respond. You could experience symptoms of overtraining until you achieve a healthy training balance that works for you.

For fitness training, balance also applies to muscles. If opposing muscles (e.g., hamstrings and quadriceps in the upper legs) are not strengthened in the right proportions, injuries can result. Muscle imbalances also contribute to tendonitis and postural deviations.

Keep these 8 Training Principles in mind as you design and carry out your fitness training program. They can help you make wise exercise decisions so you can achieve your goals more quickly with less wasted effort.

Stop Being Lazy

Start Getting Skinny

Start Taking responsibility

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The fitness goal of the over 40 fitness crowd is to simply begin moving your body on a daily basis become smart on feeding your body the way it needs to be fed.
Our goal with movement is to get in the habit of producing blood flow every day. The body movement possibilities are endless.

List the possibilities in your environment.

The gym is only one of many.

Incorporate resistance exercises at least 3 times a week. Think compound exercises. Think major muscle groups. Think push pull. The pushing motion works your shoulders, chest and triceps. Pulling activities work your back and biceps.
For your lower body

Carrying your body weight on a flight of stairs is usually good resistance for phase 1. Walk up and down stairs, one at a time, then every second stair, then every third stair. Slow and safe, then speed up. Eventually, if so motivated, you can sprint up stairs like a professional.

Shoot for intensity vs. time on station.

The over 40 crowd, including me, does not have time or stamina to spend 1 to 2 hours at the gym.
Therefore, spend 20 minutes of intense exercising with zero rest or limited rest in between sets. Get a burn, go for the burn, push to muscle failure, whether on free weights, machines, or using your body weight with different angles of pushups, setups, pull-ups, dips, or body weight squats.
Combine aerobic with resistance training not on purpose, but as a result of your intensity and the working of your large muscle groups.
No rest between sets increases your aerobic effect. For those of you who can run. Then run. Many of us cannot run. So we must utilize the many other large muscle groups to create aerobic benefits.
Keep it simple, your routine must be fun and you must must forward to it. Try to find camaraderie in your training program.
Workout with partners, workout in classes, compete at places where groups of people are training, gym, courts, parks, tracks. If no groups are available, strap on your ipod and train with Guns and Roses.
Remember, this is Phase 1.

Phase 1 gets you moving and involved in the fitness process. You must get moving and into a routine before we advance into the intermediate and advance training stages (phases 2 and 3). Once started, the Fitness Lifestyle becomes your routine.
On the input side of the equation, stop the work place happy birthday celebrations and junk food fests. Just say No! Give the birthday person a hug instead.
Plan and pack for your daily snacks the night before. After 40 years, 3 meals a day, that’s over 40,000 eating events, we should all be experts at forecasting our eating patterns and hunger periods.
Buy your almonds, sunflower seeds, assorted nuts, beef jerky or any protein bar or MRP at the discount stors on the weekends. You know one apple and one plum isn’t going to cut it for snack time.
Stop inputting into your non-value added nutritional items. Stop the diet cokes. Chew gum, not a Butterfinger. Drink water or green tea. Your body is a machine and a work of art.

Be nice to it.
Go from 3 meals per day to 6 feedings per day.

Eating is fueling your body, not satiating your hunger desire. Keep your evening meal for savoring and romantic cuisine experimentation.
Don’t count calories.

Later in your Fitness Lifestyle, you may want to track calories. Right now, start walking the walk. Work on your snacks, reduce the big meal syndrome, cutout the daily happy desserts, and these small steps will set you on a course of change.
In conclusion, start your physical movement anywhere and everywhere. You don’t need a gym, just start moving your body. Use your body weight if that’s the only resistance you have. Plan your snacks, start feeding your body six times a day, and begin saying no thanks to the multitude of desserts. You will begin seeing and feeling results in no time.
Train smart!

Fit Over 40

Strip the Fat From Your Life

Fat Is Not Your Fault!

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