Archive for August, 2009

Slow Progression

Thursday, August 20th, 2009


Start where you are with your current fitness level and build your endurance and strength slowly. The early stages of getting fit requires that you learn the exercises. This is especially important if you have some old injuries that may need special modifications before you can increase your workout intensity.

One of the best things you can do after you learn the exrcises is to challenge your muscuar conditioning  by combining exercises to do super, tri, monster and giant sets. Why do just one set of an exercise when you can do two, three, four or even five.

In the video above my client was advised to get shoulder surgery. He also had knee surgery years ago. When he first started exercising he was about 40 pounds heavier, got winded quickly and had to use machine exclusively. The exercises he demonstrates requires shoulder strength and stability. His knees support him without any difficulty when performing a free form back exercise and a cable chest exercises in a lunge position.

His doctors would be amazed!

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Posted in Muscular Endurance | 1 Comment »

Fat Burning Meals

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

Forget the starvation diet!

What do you want to achieve? Do you want to shrink your overall body size? Are you interested in increasing your lean muscles? How about getting rid of excess body fat?

Now that you know what you want to achieve you can plan how to eat.

It is all about eating to accomplish an objective. If  your objective is important enough, you will find a way to stick to your eating plan. That does not mean you cannot eat what you like. Just ask yourself before you eat, how will this affect the overall goal. If you don’t mind waiting longer to achieve success, then go ahead and eat that item which is not a part of the plan. If it is allright with you to only attain a low degree of success, then go ahead and get off track.

Now it becomes a matter of how badly do you want it. What are you prepared to do?  How much are you prepared to sacrifice? Do you have the discipline?

Chances are you can achieve your body change goals if you have the right tools. The tools are knowing what to eat, being  prepared in advance of each meal time and staying focused on how your body and health will benefit.

The video below is an example of how I eat when I want to preserve my hard earned muscles as I get rid of the excess body fat. How long I stay on this eating plan is based on how much fat I need to lose. Usually I’ll need about 4 to 6 weeks to get lean. My abdominal muscles will be visible. (washboard abs) If I am looking to get shredded the meals would become even more strict. (bodybuilding show)

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Posted in Sample Nutrition Plans | 1 Comment »

Firm Chest and Shoulders

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

Now that you are strength training you can start targeting certain body parts.

Targeting the upper chest and shoulders will compliment the work you do for your back, biceps and triceps. The barbell chest press is a great movement for the upper body. Men love this exercise, but usually it is with a flat bench and very heavy weights to build a strong massive chest. Women can also do the flat bench press for overall strength development but target more of the upper chest muscles with the incline bench chest press.

By performing the incline bench chest press you are using more of the muscles just under your collar bone which will help create a stronger, more defined chest.

Start out by first getting used to doing push ups before you actually start using the barbells. Body conditioning exercises  always helps strengthen the joints to prepare for more intense work with the free weight.

Below is a demonstration of the incline e-z bar incline press with 55 pounds for 12 reps. This weight is about 35% of her bodyweight.  You do not want to overload the joints to much, take your time and progress slowly.

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Posted in Barbell Chest Exercises | 1 Comment »

Power Squats Over 50

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

Now it’s time to get serious.

If you are interested in building a rock solid, age defying, muscular, strong body, this message is for you.

The squat is a no joke exercise. You must respect this exercise or you can be seriously injured. Take your time to learn the correct form. Build your upper back, lower back, quads, hamstrings, abs and calf muscles so that all the links in the chain is strong. You should also have a decent level of balance and flexibility. It would also help to have good cardiovascular conditioning.Your body uses oxygen more efficiently when your cardiovascular endurance is in a good range.

Many strength training exercisers avoid this exercise because they have been injured doing it.  Many are also intimidated by this exercise because they know someone who has been hurt doing it.

I want to be clear. Please be patient when approaching the barbell squats. Start with a weight that is not too challenging and work slowly to increase it.

The demonstration in the video below is with a weight that is a little more than twice my body weight. The total weight is 365 pounds. This is comfortable for me because I stop before I reach failure. This weight is just right for me to stay safe. If I was to go up in the weight I would wrap my knees and have someone with experience spotting me.

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Posted in High Intensity Training | No Comments »