Excellent article that
discusess the ideal amount of water that you should drink. Marc David points
out why if you work out you should be properly hydrated and not to over drink
which could lead to hyponatremia. Marc David is an innovative fitness
enthusiast and the creator of the "The Beginner's Guide to Fitness And
Bodybuilding" method at www.Beginning-Bodybuilding.com
How Much Water Should I Drink Per Day?
By Marc David
I'm always amazed at how many people
seem to know the answer to this question yet in practice they fail. Everybody
I've talked to seems to know that 8-12 glasses of water a day is the
recommended standard. But if I ask them how many glasses of water have you
consumed today? The answer is usually none. Or the other standard answer at a
corporate environment "does coffee count?"
While 8-12 glasses of water is great
for the average sedentary person, many of us are fitness conscious or on the
pursuit of some type of bodybuilding physique. With that in mind, I think the
new standard for us should be 1-2 gallons of water a day.
As a bodybuilder, you are putting
much more nutrients, food, supplements, and other stuff into your body. What
your body does not use, it must rid itself of by any means necessary. Usually
it does this via water. So drinking plenty of water becomes a necessity.
Increasing protein puts a strain on your body and drinking lots of water can
keep things "moving." Creatine monohydrate supplementation requires
a lot of water. Creatine is all about cell volumization. Making sure your
cells are completely hydrated helps with the volumization process. NO2, a
hemodilator, requires water. Many other supplements require water as a
transport and a flushing method.
The side effects of drinking too
little water are an excess buildup of certain chemicals. Creatine can leave
behind some buildup that over time, becomes a bit hard to pass. Putting such a
strain on the body is also self-defeating. But don't get me wrong, it's not
just about Creatine and NO2. It's about making sure you are hydrated.
Being properly hydrated has it's
benefits other then just the flushing methods and cell volumization discussed
above. Your state of alertness is affected by your hydration levels.
Performance in the gym by a hydrated body is enhanced. Your body is roughly
70% water. It makes sense to hydrate it. Drinking water is not just for hot
days. It's for intense workouts in the gym. In fact, being hydrated has that
perpetual pump that is so sought after.
There can be too much of a good
thing. Drinking water to excess leads to water intoxication, referred to as
hyponatremia. As you consume water, blood plasma increases and dilutes the
salt content of the blood. While this is happening, you lose more salt by
sweating. Consequently the amount of salt available to the body tissues
decreases and over time, the loss interferes with brain, heart and muscle
functions. Water intoxication is more commonly found in endurance athletes.
Drink plenty of water per day, but
just keep in mind, there can be too much of a good thing. Being properly
hydrated is necessary for optimum performance in the gym and for keeping your
body performing well.
Posted by Critical Bench - Weight
lifting, training and bodybuilding site.
Posted on: Tuesday September 27,
2005 9:45 am
Ten Ways for Women To Progress in Weight Training
Part 2
6. Change Tempo
Slowing down the negative
(eccentric) portion of exercise will promote more muscle development. This
phase is usually the downward portion of an exercise, when you are lowering
the weight. External resistance (usually gravity) is greater than the tension
in your muscles. For example, during a chest press, the eccentric phase is
when you are lowering the dumbbells towards your chest.
7. Change Position
Go from flat, to incline, or
decline. A change in position forces you to exercise different parts of your
muscles, helping you to achieve a more well-rounded workout.
8. Use Resistance Bands
If you are doing a one-armed
standing bicep curl, place a resistance band underneath your left leg, slide
your left arm through the other end of band, gripping the dumbbell with the
same hand. Repeat with your right side. Your exercise will have added
resistance near top of movement because of the added tension exerted by the
resistance band. This means you challenge your muscles at both the beginning
and at the end of the movement, allowing you to exercise more parts of your
muscles.
9. Increase Length of Levers
Weight held further away from your
body exerts more tension on the muscles. For instance, if you are doing chest
flyes, instead of keeping arms bent, straighten them.
10. Add Instability to Your
Workout
For instance, if using a bench,
change to a stability ball. If doing lunges, try them on a balance disc. If
doing a bicep curl, try doing it while standing on one leg (the one opposite
your lifting arm). Adding instability to your exercise regimen will force your
body to exercise your supporting muscles as well as the targeted muscle
groups.
In brief, by utilizing the various
methods mentioned to increase strength, you will continue to develop muscle.
And the more muscles you develop, the more calories you burn, the younger you
feel, the greater your appearance. See more Women's
Fitness Articles.
Author Bios
Linda Kravitz, is CEO of PowerFit LLC,
owner of TheFitWomanOnline.com,
a website of women's weight training and fitness equipment. Gordon Waddell,
CSCS, is a certified personal trainer, who holds a B.S. with Honors in
exercise physiology and is currently completing his Master’s degree in
exercise science.
Posted by Janet Ford.
Posted on: Sunday September 25, 2005 9:35 am
Ten Ways for Women To
Progress in Weight Training
Part 1 Women
face different challenges than men when lifting weights and doing other kinds
of strength training. A woman I met at a summer barbecue told me she started a
weight lifting program but stopped after only a short while. When I asked her
why, she responded that increasing weight each time she worked out was too
hard --she couldn't do it. It hurt.
The goal of strength training is to
get stronger and healthier and to improve your appearance. The body must
always be challenged in any weight training routine, otherwise you will start
to see declining results. But it should never hurt. It should never be
painful.
We have listed several ways in which
you can increase strength by your workout. You have a number of options from
which to choose.
1. Increase Weight
The most common and effective way to
challenge your body is to increase the weight you are lifting. This alone will
keep your body challenged for a good while. Each muscle is comprised of
numerous muscle fibers, and the more weight you lift, the more muscle fibers
are recruited for the job, and the more your body gets a full workout.
When we increase weight, we should
always be vigilant about performing the exercise with proper form. If that
form is compromised during a weight increase, it may be that your body is
telling you it needs a different method of getting to the same result. Some
alternative methods when we are not ready to increase weight are described
below.
2. Increase Repetitions
The standard range is to perform 8-12
repetitions of a movement in one set. Do not exceed that maximum range. There
is no weight training benefit to doing more than 12 reps per set unless you
are in physical rehabilitation from an injury.
3. Increase Number of Sets
Normally you perform 2-3 sets per
exercise. If you’ve done two sets at the same weight, increase to three.
4. Increase Frequency of Workouts
If you are working out two times a
week, increase to three, if three times, then four. You should, however, not
weight train more than two days in a row unless you're training requires it
(for instance, if your are a bodybuilder). Your muscles get stronger, not
during the workout phase, but during the rest phase.
5. Increase Intensity of Exercise
There are two ways to increase
intensity without increasing weight - super sets and compound sets.
Super sets
involve exercising two opposing
muscle groups by following one exercise immediately with another. For example,
do a set of dumbbell bicep curls, then, without a rest period, do a set of
standing tricep pushdowns. Rest. Repeat.
Compound sets
Involve exercising the same
muscle group by attaching one exercise to another. For example, do a set of
chest presses, then without a rest period, do a set of dumbbell chest flyes.
Rest. Repeat.
Last 5 ways for women to progress in
weight training to be added tomorrow.
Author Bios - Linda Kravitz,
is CEO of PowerFit LLC, owner of TheFitWoman.com,
a website of women's weight
training and fitness equipment.
Gordon
Waddell, CSCS, is a certified personal trainer, who holds a B.S. with
Honors in exercise physiology and is currently completing his Master’s
degree in exercise science.
Posted by Janet Ford.
Posted on: Saturday September 24, 2005 9:55 am
Avoid Over-Training Fitness Tip
If you feel burnt out, weak and/or sore, you
are probably over-training. Not providing your muscles with enough rest will
often prevent you from making improvements. Training the wrong muscle groups
on consecutive days will also counteract your good results. Doing too many
sets and exercises per muscle group will also cause over-training.
Remember that weightlifting, especially in an
intense program, produces what's called 'tissue micro trauma.' Those tiny
tears in the muscles that temporarily decrease strength and cause varying
degrees of muscle soreness. It is absolutely necessary to provide ample rest
time between successive training sessions. Muscles generally require about 48
hours for the resting and rebuilding process before you work them again.
Another example of over-training is doing
duplicating movements of several similar exercises for one specific muscle
group. It makes no sense to do three sets of Bench Press with a barbell and
then do three sets of Bench Press with dumbbells or Push-ups. Each of these
exercises requires exactly the same movement and works the same specific
muscle. Instead for example, it would make much more sense to do bench press
for overall middle chest (either barbell, dumbbell, or machine); to do incline
bench press for upper chest; and to do dips for lower-outer chest.
Posted by Global
Health and Fitness Program
Posted on: Monday September 19, 2005 2:10 pm
Strength Train With Weights To Prevent
Injuries
Forearm Exercises
Strength training exercises such as forearm or
wrist curls is an example of an exercise to prevent soreness or injuries from
occurring.
Strength training two to three times per week
keeps your muscles and bones healthy. It also helps to prevent injuries or
extreme soreness from occurring that may arise when you participate in sports
or suffer injuries from work-related activities. Even when you do suffer
injuries or soreness, your recuperation period is much quicker than someone
who never strength trains.
Forearm exercises such as forearm or wrist
curls are an example of a great exercise that you can do to prevent tennis
elbow from occurring. If you spend a lot of time using your mouse on the
computer it will help prevent serious wrist or elbow soreness from occurring.
When performing this exercise you do not need to use extremely heavy weights.
Just focus on your form and technique.
For a detailed instruction guide on how to
perform this exercise, click
here.
Posted by Peter
Posted on: Thursday September 15, 2005 1:47 pm
This is an article that discusses strength
training strategies to achieve the maximum amount of muscle growth in the
least amount of time. Four effective strategies are discussed including
training frequency, exercises per session, number of sets and repetitions per
exercise.
Strength Training Strategies that Work
1. Training Frequency
The two main components of strength training
are the intensity of the exercise and the recovery after the exercise.
Infrequent, short and high intensity weight training sessions, followed by the
required amount of time to recover and become stronger is what is needed to
increase functional muscle size in the shortest period of time.
The latest research has repeatedly shown that
muscles over-compensate (become stronger) up to a week after the previous
workout, provided that the muscles are trained to failure.
Remember it's not the training volume but the
intensity and recuperation that are important when it comes to gains in
strength and muscle.
2. Exercises Per Session
Tests under strict gym conditions have
revealed that you've only got a limited amount of (readily available) energy
to use for a weight training session. Blood tests on individuals have also
revealed that blood sugar levels (available energy) drop dramatically after 20
to 30 minutes of high intensity training.
As you only have a short period of time to
train before our blood sugar level drops, "exercise selection" is
crucial. You have to use multi-joint or compound movements, as these offer the
most training stimulus for the available amount of time. In other words, we
can train many muscles simultaneously and thus use our energy more
efficiently.
Performing three to four exercises with high
intensity during a session are what most people are capable of. All the main
structures of the body are worked hard during this time. Working on these big
compound movements has a knock-on effect throughout the whole body. There is
no need for specialization techniques or isolation movements.
The fact is, the whole body is worked hard,
rest and recuperation is allowed to take place and at the next exercise
session we push out a few more reps than before with the same weight, then we
have gotten stronger and achieve more muscle growth.
3. Number of Sets per Exercise
After performing one complete set using a
compound exercise to total failure, it should be just about impossible to
generate the same force and intensity for another complete set of the same
exercise.
If you're able to generate the same force and
intensity for this second set then it'll be pretty obvious that not enough
effort has been put into the first set. Thus you'll have to raise the
intensity level you put out for the first set.
If you give the first set 100% effort and work
the exercise hard to total failure (eg. you cannot move the bar after the last
rep) then there will be not be a requirement for further muscle stimulation on
that specific exercise.
If you think that volume training (multiple
sets) is more effective then you're wrong! The latest research shows that
single set training is as beneficial as multiple set training. Training one
set will decrease the chances of over-training. It will also allow you to save
more energy for other exercises required during the workout.
4. Number of Repetitions per Set
The development of muscle and strength is
interrelated, it always has been. Strength training sessions produce increases
in strength that is equal to increases in functional muscle. You'll become
stronger and produce muscle muscle growth.
Cycling intensity through changes in
repetitions and weight throughout a ten-week program is an effective way to
maintain progression and avoid training plateaus (slumps in strength).
Repetitions can be cycled. The higher
repetition range will stimulate the slow twitch muscle fibers and promote
endurance. Moving further down the scale, the lower repetition range will
activate the fast twitch muscle fibers and increase strength and muscle size.
Gary is the author of several ebooks,
including "Maximum Weight Loss in Ten Weeks" - the complete ebook
and time-saving solution for burning away unwanted fat and "Maximum
Weight Gain in Ten Weeks" - easy-to-use and follow techniques that serve
as a guide to muscle growth without having to "live in the gym".
Posted by Gary. Website can be found at http://www.maximumfitness.com
Posted on: Tuesday September 6, 2005 1:05 pm
