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August 21, 2021

Reducing High Blood Pressure With Isometric Resistance Training

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , , , — admin @ 5:59 pm

A new study looks the specific mode of exercise for managing high blood pressure, isometric resistance training (IRT). So, let’s start with what is IRT? It is a type of strength training.

You may be familiar with IRT exercises, often just called isometrics by trainers and coaches, something like pushing against a wall or holding a plank pose. In more traditional strength training, like a squat or a push up, muscles shorten and lengthen during the movement, in IRT, muscles don’t change length.

 

 

Read Reducing High Blood Pressure With Isometric Resistance Training at its original source Breaking Muscle:

https://breakingmuscle.com/news/reducing-high-blood-pressure-with-isometric-resistance-training

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May 21, 2021

Do World Class Warm-Ups for World Class Performance

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 3:51 pm

A good workout starts with a good warm-up. As Breaking Muscle podcast guest Dr. John Rusin says, a warm-up should accomplish two things:

  1. Prepare your body for performance

    2. Read Do World Class Warm-Ups for World Class Performance at its original source Breaking Muscle:

    https://breakingmuscle.com/fitness/do-world-class-warm-ups-for-world-class-performance

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March 13, 2021

The Ultimate Isometric Exercise Guide

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 12:41 pm

The Ultimate Isometrics Manual is a nerd’s paradise, at least for this nerd. From the mind of Convict Conditioning author Paul Wade, and published by Dragon Door, this hefty 462 page book that is about as complete an overview of isometric training as you can get.

The Ultimate Isometric Exercise Guide - Reviews, bodyweight exercise, isometrics, functional strength, concentric-only training, contraction

Isometrics is about easily accessible and yet outside of a dedicated group of practitioners, not something that gets much press. It’s a shame because isometrics has broad applicability for all populations of strength trainees including novices and seniors.

That’s because isometric exercises force you to stay in your lane. By that I mean that they are not like lifting a barbell or dumbbell in so far as you can’t overload, or under load, an isometric set and the risk of injury is, overall, much lower than more traditional exercises.

Isometric exercise is only as effective as the effort and the effort can only be felt if you are properly positioned to create the tension demanded. That doesn’t mean you can’t screw up an isometric exercise but you have to be pretty motivated to get it wrong.

What is Isometric Exercise?

Isometric exercise relies solely on the creation of tension with concentric contraction of the muscle against an immovable object. That object may be a device like the isochain, it may be a door jamb, and it may be your own body.

Invariably, any discussion of isometrics will refer to the seminal study done by Hettinger and Muller in 1953 (Muscle capacity and muscle training). The German researchers found that a single daily effort of two-thirds a person’s maximum effort for six seconds at a time for ten weeks increased strength by about five percent a week.

Melody Schoenfeld wrote on these pages that isometrics is working at standstill or the the act of using force against resistance without changing your muscle length. For example, holding a bicep curl at a 90-degree angle for 30 seconds.

Logan Christopher wrote about legendary strongman Alexander Zass who was a big proponent of isometric exercise who believed the secret of isometric training was that it stored energy instead of dissipating it, and that it allowed him to work against very strong resistance helping to build up his stamina.

Zass had little to no access to weightlifting equipment in his life. He was a strongman who bent bars and broke chains. Bruce Lee was also known for his isometric work, as noted in Bruce Lee’s 3-Minute Workout by Shane Trotter.

Unpacking The Mysteries of Static Training

Hetting and Muller did seminal research on isometric training in 1953

Let’s get the biggest criticism of this book out the way: it’s a little overwrought in promoting the Isochain, an expensive isometric training device that isn’t being reveiwed here and isn’t needed to enjoy this book or take advatange of it.

You’d think that Paul Wade, the guy behind no equipment workouts would be less inclined to push a piece of equipment, but to be honest, his publishers should have done a better job of addressing this one minor flaw of the book.

To put it in perspective, this ebook is just under ten dollars and has plenty of great information and exercises that don’t need the Isochain. I’ll be generous and give the Isochain infomercial about 50 pages of overexposure, which leaves about 400 pages of other stuff.

Otherwise, I stand by my nerding out statement. I have a reference for isometric training. I have enough information to make an intelligent decision about its efficacy, and I have plenty of examples of how to apply isometric exercises.

More importantly, there is enough information here to justify exploring how isometric training can help increase weight and reduce the chance of injury.

I asked an older friend of mine, someone who is quite sedentary, to try 10 minutes a day of a set of isometric exercises that I had improvised for him during the lockdown, while he was working from home. Based on my sample of one, the impact of phenomenal.

Whether it was the 10 minutes a day only part of the routine or the actual palpable increases in strength that he experienced, my friend was sold and actually go the book himself.

Like everything else in the fitness industry, there are cycles, fads, and fashions. Isometric exercise isn’t fashionable or faddish, but it may need to have a refresh cycle and demands some modern-day appreciation. Paul Wade’s book may be all you need to freshen up your isometrics.

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March 8, 2021

How to Boost Your Pull Ups in 2 Weeks

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 6:11 pm

How to Boost Your Pull Ups in 2 Weeks - Fitness, bodybuilding, goal setting, cardio, bodyweight exercise, HIIT, at home training, pull ups, fatigue, isometrics, consistency, training method, grease the groove, chin-ups, lockdown

There isn’t a secret or magic trick to increasing your pull ups, but it isn’t as difficult as many people believe. You may think that I’m another coach who can’t relate to your situation, but I can. I still remember when I was struggling to do 2-3 pull ups.

I struggled because I didn’t train for them, and when I did train for pull ups, I didn’t train properly.

I fear many people are making the same mistakes I made. I want to share how you can skip the frustration and master the pull up.

Your Training Should Match Your Goals

The majority of the fitness industry is all about HIIT, cardio, bodybuilding, or training until you puke.

I’m not a fan of this, not because there’s anything wrong with these training styles but because these methods get the most exposure. There are so many different ways to train, but your training should always match your goals.

The goal here is to increase the number of pull ups you can complete consecutively, and those methods I mentioned don’t work.

When I was learning to do pull ups:

  • I did it the common way of 3 sets of 5-10 reps.
  • The aim is to do 3 sets of 5 reps.
  • Then every week or two, you increase the reps 3×6, 3×7 until you reach your goal.
  • What generally happens is that in the first set, you can probably do five reps, but after that, you will struggle even to do 2-3 reps.
  • That’s what was happening to me, and I would also keep hitting plateaus—stuck at the same reps for a while.

If I could do it all over again, I would use a technique called Grease The Groove (GTG). This is how I teach my clients to get their first pull up and to increase the amount they can do in a row.

Grease the Groove for Better Pull Ups

How to Boost Your Pull Ups in 2 Weeks - Fitness, bodybuilding, goal setting, cardio, bodyweight exercise, HIIT, at home training, pull ups, fatigue, isometrics, consistency, training method, grease the groove, chin-ups, lockdown

For example:

  • Let’s say you can manage just about four reps in a row.
  • Throughout the day, you’ll do multiple sets (4-7 sets) at 50% of your max, which is two reps.
  • If one rep is your max, then do multiple sets of one rep.
  • Rest for a minimum of one hour between sets.
  • Perform this 4-6 days a week.

After two weeks, test your pull ups to see how many you can do in a row.

Learning a new movement pattern is just like learning a new skill.

The more you do something correctly, the better you get at it. By doing the reps at 50% intensity, you limit fatigue, and you’ll focus more on the correct technique.

It won’t feel like you’re doing much, but your body is learning the movement. Frequency and consistency are kings when it comes to learning.

In a week, you’ll accumulate a lot of reps.

You can do this in addition to your regular training but if you’re not recovering between sessions, then reduce the workload.

Pull Up technique:

Get Your First Pull Up

If you can’t do a pull up yet, you can still use this technique. In addition to your regular pull up training of 2-3 times a week, do GTG with these exercises. Focus on one for two weeks, rest for a week, and then do GTG with the other exercise.

Jump Negative Pull Ups:

  • Jump up as much as you need to pull yourself up.
  • Try and go slow when coming back down.
  • At first, you might drop straight down, but as you get stronger, you will be able to go slower.
  • If the jump is too much, jump from a box to assist you.

Isometric chin-ups:

Jump up and hold yourself at the top of the pull-up. Try to keep your chin over the bar.

You Can Handle Your Bodyweight

Some of you might think that you were never meant to do or will never be strong enough to do pull ups, but you are. Put the negative thoughts and feelings aside and do the work.

Pull ups are a natural movement that your body is well capable of doing.

Train your pull ups frequently throughout the week, and focus on the proper technique. Otherwise, you will only be cheating yourself. Be patient, and you will master your pull ups. You can use GTG to improve other exercises as well.

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January 29, 2021

A Successful Coach or Trainer Needs Emotional Intelligence

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 6:15 pm

Entry-level personal trainers initially rely on a training certificate and a high school diploma to successfully land a job.

However, coaching as a career path requires something more- Emotional Intelligence (EI). According to Melinda Abbott of Columbia University,1 49% or more of successful coaching is derived from a coach’s ability to monopolize emotional intelligence. Moreover, the ability to connect on a social level has been proven to drive motivation and teaching efficacy.

The bottom line is a coach should focus a substantial portion of their time on sports psychology. 

The Benefits of Conscious Coaching

A well-known coach, Brett Bartholomew, brings up in his book, Conscious Coaching 2 the importance of understanding the types of people you coach. As of late, there is a growing body of evidence surrounding understanding personality types for career success within the workplace and academic performance training.2

However, within the realm of sports, this too is becoming important. As Mark Rippetoe points out in his book Practical Programming for Strength Training,3 a strength coach will spend more time with an athlete during their career individually than any other coach. Therefore, knowing your athlete or client is of utmost importance.3

Focus less on counting reps and focus more on the client’s needs and know when to refer out. 

Coaches are not licensed to be psychiatrists or medical doctors (unless one holds that title); nevertheless, understanding how EI applies to a client’s lifespan warrants some explanation. EI is a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ emotions, discriminate among them, and use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions, according to Salovey & Mayer, 1990. In the context of coaching, this requires first an understanding of how a person approaches being instructed, how one manages failure, success, plateaus, and their interaction with nutrition and overall personal wellness.3,4,5,6 

Emotional Intelligence in Coaching Builds Trust

One of my sessions consisted of six minutes of a client discussing their issues for the day before mobility work and isometric drills. EI allows that client to feel comfortable and builds trust.

Without trust, a client is not likely to follow instructions, and the client does come first.

You can have a Ph.D. in biophysics, but the client could care less; their foci are:

  1. Achieving their intended results
  2. Feeling appreciated

Those six minutes to my client made the remainder of her day far more enjoyable, and she will look forward to her next session. 

As a coach, having a graduate degree makes reading bloodwork easier and discussions with a client’s physician more illuminating. The client learns that you care beyond the aspect of the job; this creates buy-in.2

This client is more likely to refer others to you and participate in higher engagement training. 

Another client learned quickly that their well being is most important in and out of the competition. During a time such as COVID-19, clients are far more reluctant to engage with their coach, let alone purchase high-fidelity coaching programs.

As clients resurface, it is far more important to cater to mental health needs with the same vigor as a premium program or nutritional plan.

In particular, athletes who face suspension of events or entire seasons may feel displaced without a coach guiding them.

Contrary to popular belief, athletes often suffer more mental illness than average gym patrons.

Furthermore, they are less likely to seek to consult for mental health issues. 

As a coach, it requires that red-flags in normal function be caught sooner rather than later and ensure that your gym or office is a safe space. It is through a proper institution of emotional intelligence practice that client outcomes improve.7

References:

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December 7, 2020

Do This To Increase Your Bench Press

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 4:26 pm

Have you ever said any of the following about your bench press?

“I almost had it, I just mis-grooved the lift.”

“I always get pinned at the bottom of my bench.”

“I can touch and go this weight, but when I pause my bench, I’m so much weaker.”

“My overhead press and other bench accessories all got stronger but my bench stayed the same.”

These are comments I frequently hear from people who are struggling to increase their bench press.

The good news is they’re easily fixed by identifying the underlying problem and implementing effective solutions to address them.

Typically when people fail, their bench presses a few inches off their chest because of one or more of these reasons.

  1. Weak pecs relatively to their shoulders and triceps.
  2. Inability to rapidly absorb and reverse the direction of the load.
  3. Poor technique.

When the bar is touching your chest, your pecs are stretched and in an advantageous position to generate force and reverse the load.

However, at that same bottom position, your shoulders and triceps are at a disadvantaged point of leverage.

Their primary contribution occurs closer to the mid-range and upward.

That’s generally the point where we see the elbows flair to transfer loading demand from the pecs to the shoulders and triceps in an attempt to complete the lift.

I am going to provide an overview explanation here but if you need to work on your own specific goals or have other issues just contact me at Stacked Strength.

Weak Pectorals

When a lifter mis-grooves a lift right off the chest, it’s often indicative of weak pecs.

Since the pecs aren’t capable of generating enough force to press the weight up, the elbows flare excessively to shift loading demands onto the triceps and shoulders.

However, as mentioned earlier, at the bottom of the rep, the triceps and shoulders are at a disadvantaged mechanical position to press the weight.

So weak pecs are typically the culprit when an athlete fails a rep a few inches off the chest.

However, this often goes hand in hand with an inability to effectively absorb the load and maximize the stretch-shortening cycle. As the athlete lowers the bar, if eccentric and isometric strength is insufficient, they will not absorb the load leading to a decrease in elastic energy.

This energy, if not lost, would be used to reverse the weight from the chest rapidly.

Poor Technique

Another major contributing factor to failing is poor technique.

But there are several articles and instructional videos on how to optimize bench press technique based on your leverages and experience.

So, the technique won’t be the primary focus of this article since the assumption is that the technique is not the limiting factor.

Here I’m going to teach you a simple strategy that tackles both of these major issues so you can start hitting some new PR’s.

Who Benefits?

But first, let’s talk about who this is for. As mentioned previously, if you fail at the chest, or if you often mis-groove lifts or struggle with paused reps, and assuming your technique is decent, you likely have weak pecs.

Also, you likely lack the specific eccentric and isometric strength to both absorb and reverse the weight.

If this sounds like you, then this strategy can help. The individuals who primarily have these issues are beginners and intermediate lifters.

Advanced athletes are a bit more complex, which can make the solutions equally complex. But I digress.

The Solution

Below is a video demonstration of an effective exercise to correct the aforementioned issues.

The strategy I discuss can be implemented with various pressing exercises with great success and isn’t limited to the demonstration below.

An additional benefit to using tempo while simultaneously removing your mechanical advantages is that it places greater demand on the targeted muscles and connective tissue without generating the same fatigue.

This is because, although the exercise feels challenging, the absolute load is lighter than if you were to do a full powerlifting setup and select a load of the same relative intensity.

For example, with a proper powerlifting setup, you might do a set of 8 at 100 lbs, but if you do a set of 8 at 70 lbs utilizing tempo, it may not feel easier.

Same relative intensity, but less absolute load.

This reduction in absolute load reduces the amount of stress being placed on your body. This allows you to have more productive training sessions within a microcycle without exceeding your ability to recover.

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