Take Advantage of Today’s Revolution in the Science of Strength and Fitness

The current revolution in health and fitness makes it easier than ever to get the most out of your work-out. A review of abdominal exercises recently published in Strength and Conditioning Journal (1) looked at the conflicting advice around crunches, sit ups, or avoiding any type of spinal flexion. They found the core and abdominal muscles are best worked, and spinal health improved, with a variety of exercises like planks and crunches in different planes; but not everyday, and not with high numbers of repetitions. The idea of extending out planks to well over 60 seconds at a time, or doing hundreds of situps, can place unusual loads on the spine. 

Whether you have time to get to the gym or not, it’s simple to find good, solid exercises that focus on your problem areas and produce great results. Exercising at home means you can work out on your own schedule. Make that determination to stay fit and conditioned in between gym visits. Below, I share some tips on how to do some of the most popular at-home exercises correctly, so you can get the most out of your exercise time.

Push up 

Push-ups - One of the best ways to build chest, shoulders and triceps, whilst developing core strength. The basic push-up can be made easier (knees on the ground) or harder (feet elevated).

Dips - Placing hands behind you on a bench or seat, legs extended out in front, slowly lower yourself until your upper arms are about parallel to the ground, then squeeze up to return to the start.

Bodyweight squat to thighs parallel

Squats - Keeping heels flat on the ground, push your bum backwards as you lower it to the ground – as if sitting on an imaginary chair, before squeezing it to return to a standing position. Great all round exercise for your thighs, bum, calves. Harder version: place hands behind your head while squatting down.

Lunges - Like a one-legged squat. Put one foot a big step forward from a standing position. Keeping your front heel firmly planted and front knee from going past your toes, lower your back knee slowly till it nearly touches the ground. Press through your front leg to lift the back knee up again to starting position.

Side plank - hold a straight line through the spine, hips and neck
for intervals of 10-15 seconds, repeated, on each side 

Crunches - Lie on your back on a padded surface, raising knees to a 45-degree bend and keep your heels flat on the ground. Extend your arms out directly by your sides. Aim to curl up slowly with your torso, so that you push your fingertips towards your feet a few centimeters, then slowly uncurl to repeat.

Chin-ups or pull-ups - These require a secure bar somewhere and may be very difficult to do when starting but stay at it to build up strong back, bicep and forearm muscles.

The science of sports, exercise and good nutrition work together to help you achieve optimal health in the shortest amount of time. Yes, it does take commitment, but the pay-off is massively rewarding. Working out and muscle building is all about making that decision to take a higher path than most others and this path requires a bit of sacrifice at times.

Though muscle building has gotten a bad rap with steroid abuse and body image concerns, it’s a healthy pursuit with big rewards, so long as you don’t take things to extreme.

(1) Strength & Conditioning Journal: August 2011 - Volume 33 - Issue 4 - pp 8-18

Pros and Cons of Muscle

Besides making a guy look great, muscles have some health benefits that you won’t often find discussed at the gym. Good muscle tone is essential to a healthy body because muscles are our main metabolic furnaces. This is where those excess fats and carbohydrates go to burn. That means your body not only looks great, you feel great as well, because things are working the way they were designed.

This means that having good quality muscle tone creates higher metabolism, more energy, and better overall hormone balance. But how do you get and maintain strong, healthy muscle tone in a day and age where most of us sit in front of a computer all day?

In just a hundred years, our entire society has gone from a rural agrarian community to a fast-paced city lifestyle. If you lived a hundred years ago, you would have been born on a farm where your dad would have expected you to start helping out by the age of 6 or 8 years old. Mornings begin early on a farm and your duties might include milking a cow, gathering eggs or walking behind a plow.

Boys grew into men at an early age and their bodies developed nicely from all those natural daily chores like baling hay and cleaning out the barn. Oh, for the good ole days! Today’s activities range from running up to your favorite fast-food joint for a burger to answering dozens of emails and posting to your Facebook account. There’s really no physical strength required unless you count lifting your full-pound cheeseburger to your mouth.

Good health, including muscle building, requires some concerted efforts and your gym is a great place to start. With the help of an experienced trainer, you can zero in on the areas that are most critical for you. Within a few short months, you can look in the mirror and like what you see. Your clothes start looking sharp on you. Your friends ask if you’ve been working out.

In spite of the information age and the mountain of technology available today, it still takes good old hard work to get your body in shape and keep it there. If there were a quick short cut, then somebody would have already discovered it and be a zillionaire. But the quest to achieve an excellent physique or a “hard body” is well worth your time and effort. The results can mean a longer and much more healthy lifestyle as well.

When your body is strong and healthy, it fights off disease better and functions at its highest levels. Today’s personal trainer has a much greater understanding of the science behind effective exercise and muscle building programs. So what are you waiting for? Get down to the gym and start building your confidence and self-esteem, along with some good-looking muscles.

Healthy Carbs

Carbohydrates are not all created equal. When it comes to staying lean, you actually do need a certain amount of carbs in your diet on a regular basis. Don’t forget that anything taken to extreme can be bad for us but in moderation, we can enjoy carbs and they should be part of a well-balanced diet. Let’s take a look at what they do in the body.

Healthy Carbs Keep your Body’s Systems Running Smoothly

One basic piece of information that many health enthusiasts forget is that our bodies utilize carbohydrates to make glucose, which is the fuel that gives us energy and keeps our systems all functioning. Yes, it is possible for us to get that energy from fats and proteins but there’s no reason not to get them from some healthy foods containing carbohydrates. Certain systems actually crave those foods.

When we eat these foods, they are digested and turned into blood sugar (glucose). Our bodies can use that sugar/energy right away or store it in the liver and muscles for later use. Your brain, red blood cells and nerve cells cannot adequately use any other form of energy. If you go too long without carbs, you may experience brain fog and not be able to think clearly.

Glucose does a few other things in the body too. In the liver and muscles, carbs end up as stored glycogen, which is essential for maintaining blood sugar when you don't eat. If you’re planning an intense work out, then it’s important to have those carbs; they will equip you to enjoy a much better work out.

Eliminate the Junk Food but Keep the Good Stuff

The problem comes when we eat too many of the wrong carbs. Regardless of your age or health, it’s never a good idea to consistently eat things like donuts, bagels and rolls. Though we do need a few carbs each day in order to maintain brain and muscle health, eating a regular diet rich in processed carbohydrates such as white flour, white sugar or high fructose corn syrup will overwhelm your body with junk that it was never designed to process.

Keep the good carbs in your regular diet for best results in any fitness and health program. These include fresh vegetables, legumes, and raw fruit. In moderation, you can also enjoy whole grains, nuts, and sweet potatoes. Sometimes these foods actually have more positive side effects than negative. Let’s take the sweet potato for instance.

Sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbs, beta carotene, fiber, potassium, manganese, vitamin C, and vitamin B6. The benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. This is also true for most nuts, fruits and vegetables. Our bodies need these foods to function properly and we can still get those excellent results that we’re looking for in our fitness program.

 A great exercise, health and fitness program is all about balance and common sense.