Workout principles
Squat Part Two.. Hitting Depth.
A properly performed squat doesn’t just work the quadriceps muscles, it also recruits the big powerful muscles of the glutes and requires coordinated activation of the hamstrings to help stabilise the knee joint and calf muscles to stabilise and create movement through the ankle. On top of the recruitment of pretty much all of the muscles of the lower body in some manner, either to create movement or stabilise the joints, the squat also recruits many of the muscles of the back to support the load of the bar through the spine, and also flexion and extension of the spine is required to keep the bar over our base of support as the knees and hips flex to squat, recruiting the erector muscles that run parallel to the spine.
What is HIIT?
HIIT is becoming an increasingly popular form of exercise and with good reason. HIIT stands for high intensity interval training and as the name suggests, this form of exercise combines high intensity intervals of near maximal work with periods of rest. This is what separates it from steady state cardio, which can be maintained at a moderate intensity for longer periods.
Flexibility for Bodybuilding
Flexibility and mobility are areas that are becoming increasingly popular to work on for top level bodybuilders for a number of different reasons. Despite the fact that in the past many gym goers have neglected flexibility, outside of performing a few basic stretches before lifting weights. The importance of having appropriate flexibility and mobility, across the different articular surfaces of the body is gaining popularity and for good reason. It can help support muscle growth, help protect against injury, as well as keeping us functional and able to perform more athletic, functional tasks, without a struggle as can be the case in those who carry large amounts of muscle.
Can you build muscle and lose fat at the same time?
It is a simple law of the universe that in order to gain weight, we need to consume more calories than we use, and in order to lose weight, the opposite is true. It may therefore seem counterintuitive to some to suggest that we can grow muscle and anabolic (tissue building) process, whilst also having catabolic (breakdown of tissue) processes occurring at the same time. This led many to believe that you need to be eating an excessive amount of calories to support muscle growth, as you will hopefully now see, this is not entirely true.
Squat Part One. The Set Up
The squat used to be an exercise that was revered and was once the realm of the serious powerlifter, bodybuilder or Olympic weightlifter. However, the back squat is a movement that is rightfully becoming increasingly popular, for both sports performance and even the recreational gym goer. This is due to the many benefits that performing this movement correctly can have on strength, stability, power and creating lean muscle tissue.
Training in the morning or evening?
Let's be honest, it's difficult enough to find time to train for many people within the hectic and busy schedules we have, without really being able to worry about what times are 'best' to train. The work patterns we have and family life are likely to heavily impact on the times we have available to train, not to mention for those who work night shifts when the daily routine can go out the window.
Resistance Training: Three reasons it is a must for women’s health.
More and more women are seeing the benefits of using resistance training as a form of exercise. The weights section of a gym, a once feared over-masculine zone, has now become a place where many women now make their home. The obvious benefits of resistance training, from strength sports to high-intensity functional training such as cross fit, include developing a leaner, athletic physique. Women now aim to be fitter, stronger and develop self-confidence, which promotes a healthier body image than has previously been portrayed in the media.
How to plan a training routine: Part two
In part one, we discovered the three main components that need to be considered when designing a training program, including the specificity of exercise, training intensity and volume and how to think about how to structure training to make it gradually progressive towards a goal. If you haven’t read the first three points discussed in part one of this article, it’s probably wise to do so, or point four and five outlined in this article might not make too much sense!
How to plan a training routine: Part one.
Whatever your goal, in order to plan a training routine there are key ‘rules’ that you need to follow to ensure that you make progress. These can be broken down into five important areas that we need to consider when structuring our own training, which will be covered in detail in these two articles.
First time at the gym.
Whether you are male or female, young or old, the first time you walk into a gym can be daunting. It can be overwhelming to see all the massive guys with the type of physique you’ve always dreamed of obtaining, or the girl with the J-Lo bottom who lives by the Squat rack. However the most important thing to remember is that everyone in the gym regardless of how muscular, ripped or strong they are all started at the same place as you and all had that same ‘first time at the gym’ experience.