6 Exercise Machines You Should Do Without

While machines might seem like the foolproof way to exercise, they aren’t always the safest. In fact, sometimes they actually contribute to the injuries you were trying to avoid in the first place. Here are 6 machines you should lift without.

Extra tip: Download our on-the-go fitness app: No machine necessary.
The Seated Leg Extension
The myth: It’s the safest way to work your quadriceps, or thigh muscles.

The truth: Physiologists at the Mayo Clinic determined that leg extensions place significantly more stress on your knees than squats. Why? Because the resistance is placed near your ankles, which leads to high amounts of torque being applied to your knee joint every time you lower the weight. What’s more, Auburn University scientists found that people who squat long-term have tighter, stronger knee ligaments than those who don’t squat at all.

The alternatives: Free weight squats, split squats, and lunges—performed with perfect form—are all better choices for working your quads and protecting your knees.

Extra tip: Perfect your form with the 100 Best Fitness Tips from Men’s Health.
The Behind-the-Neck Lat Pull-Down
The myth: The best way to perform the lat pulldown is to pull the bar behind your head, down to your upper back

The truth: Unless you have very flexible shoulders, this exercise is difficult to do correctly, and can increase your risk for shoulder impingement syndrome—a painful condition in which the muscles or tendons of your rotator cuff become entrapped in your shoulder joint.

The alternative: Simple—just pull the bar in front of your head, down to your collarbone. You’ll work your back just as hard, but with less risk for injury.

Extra tip: Don’t let your hard work go to waste. Stay fit with food: Order the brand new Eat This, Not That! The Best (& Worst!) Foods in America!
The Pec Deck
The myth: It’s a super safe and very effective way to work your chest muscles.

The truth: This apparatus, also called the chest fly machine, can overstretch the front of your shoulder and cause the muscles around the rear of your shoulder to stiffen. The result: Doing this movement frequently can lead to shoulder impingement syndrome.

The alternatives: Forget the machine, and stick with exercises such as the pushup, dumbbell bench press and dumbbell incline press; they’re easier on your shoulders and the best way to build your chest overall. In fact, Truman State University researchers found that pectoral muscles are activated for 23 percent less time during the chest fly, compared with the bench press.

Extra tip: You want pecs, not breasts. Avoid the fat-stuffed items on our slideshow: The 30 Worst Foods in America.

The Seated Hip Abductor Machine
The myth: This machine is the best way to work your out thighs, including your glutes.

The truth: Because you’re seated, it trains a movement that has no functional use. And if done with excessive weight and jerky technique, it can put undue pressure on your spine.

The alternative: Work the same muscles, but while standing. Simply loop a resistance band around both legs, and position the band just below your knees.  Now take small steps to your left for 20 feet. Then side-step back to your right for 20 feet. That’s one set. This is much harder than it sounds, but you can do it anywhere, and it’s also a great warmup for any sport.

Extra tip: Get stronger, faster. Read our story about the 8 Perfect Foods for Fitness.
The Seated Rotation Machine
The myth: Twisting on this machine helps melt your love handles.

The truth: It works the muscles under your love handles, but will do little to reduce the fat that covers them. What’s more, because your pelvis doesn't move as you rotate your upper body, this exercise can put excessive twisting forces on the spine.

The alternative: As long as you don’t expect to shrink your love handles, you can use rotational exercises to work your obliques. But here’s the secret to safety: Before you do any rotational exercises, brace your abs forcefully—as if you’re about to be punched in the gut—and hold them that way as you do the movement. This limits your range of motion and helps to keep you from rotating excessively at your lower spine.

Extra tip: She won’t notice your love handles if you learn  these 12 Secrets Women Wish You Knew About Sex.

The Smith Machine
The myth: This machine—which looks like a squat rack with a built-in bar that runs on guides—gives you all the benefits of squats, but none of the risk that comes from holding a heavy barbell across your back. That’s because the bar can easily be secured at any point during the movement.

The truth: Because the bar runs on guides, you can only move straight up and down as you squat—instead of down and back, as you would in a free-weight squat. The result: An unnatural movement that puts extra stress on your knees and lower back. Need another reason to skip the Smith? Canadian researchers found that traditional squats produced almost 50 percent more muscle activity in the quadriceps than squats done on a Smith machine.

The alternative: If you’re not comfortable with barbell squats, simply do the exercise while holding dumbbells at arm’s length next to your sides. You won’t need a spotter, and your body will be free to move through the natural motion of the squat.

Extra tip: For even more great tips like these, sign up for the Men’s Health Exercise of the Week newsletter.


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Neural Charge Pushups by Christian Thibaudeau – 12/16/2010

Click on the links below to view the individual exercise videos.

Neural Charge Pushups - Overview
Incline Plyo Pushup
Close-Grip Incline Plyo Pushup
Diamond-Grip Incline Plyo Pushup
Plyo Pushup
Close-Grip Plyo Pushup
Diamond-Grip Plyo Pushup
Depth Plyo Pushup
Side-to-Side Plyo Pushup
Whole-Body Projection Plyo Pushup

There are additional neural charge exercises, listed on the right column of this page, that are part of this series.

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Do you need an insulin relief day?

Pulse Fast For Mass Phases

by Dr. Lonnie Lowery – 12/15/2010

Dr. Lonnie Lowery is skeptical, and I'm not surprised one bit.

Lowery is, after all, a bodybuilding nutrition professor who's smack in the middle of a mass phase. He probably didn't want to hear about a physique transformation plan that involved NOT eating.

Still, the Pulse Fast intrigued him. He calls the Pulse Fast a "dramatic dieting modality" but said he was determined to find some "nerdy calculations and physiological facts to help us understand the underlying mechanisms."

What he's discovered so far is something that we – the creators of the Pulse Fast – hadn't really considered.

Intriguing, indeed. – Chris Shugart

Pulse Fasting – Why Bother?

As soon as I heard about the Pulse Fast, my interest was piqued. The Pulse Fast was something aggressive that I could do just once per week, leaving the rest of my week alone.
Here's the deal: I'm in the midst of a fall mass-building phase. I've already planned my diet very well. I've gained 16 pounds of lean mass since early summer. The Pulse Fast was something I could easily do once per week without changing the rest of my plan. 
So, perhaps ironically, I planned to "fast" during my bulking phase.

Insulin: The Jekyll and Hyde Hormone

I purposefully keep endogenous (internal) insulin flowing when gaining mass. But it's been a while since I've done this, and I know insulin is a "Jekyll and Hyde" hormone – both friend and monstrous foe. Elevated insulin concentrations can help you build muscle or it can make you fat and lead to disease.
With chronically elevated insulin concentrations, particular genes get turned on and the fat-building machinery of cells gets overproduced, setting the stage for triacylglycerol creation and storage (fat gain).
Further, with my family history of Type II diabetes and obesity, I was aware that I may be a poor carb-handler, particularly now that I'm in my early 40s and no longer a multi-sport, hyperactive youth. Unwanted fat gain would be tougher to strip off in early spring.
I had to give my physiology a break from the past eight months of gain, gain, gain. I needed to re-train my body so the Hyde side of insulin didn't begin to overpower the Jekyll side. In short, I needed insulin relief.
Still, I needed insulin on my muscles' side, and in sufficient quantities to work with my other anabolic hormones. This is where Pulse Fasting came in.
By simply doing this augmented version of a protein-sparing modified fast (PSMF) once per week (when I'm crushed with work at the university and find it difficult to eat anyway) I could remove insulin's presence to some extent and give my genetic machinery a break.

Insulin Relief: Not Gobbledygook

Okay, reality check. Genetic and cellular machinery? Temporal adjustments to hyperinsulinemia? Acetyl Co-A carboxylase?
Holy carboxylations, Batman, is this just all intellectual gobbledygook?
No, it isn't.
A picture is worth a thousand words, so I thought I'd create one to illustrate to myself just how much "insulin relief" I'd be getting by employing a MAG-10 Pulse Fast one day out of seven.

Here it is:

Looking at the graph, you can see that moderately-sized casein and casein-plus-fat meals are mildly insulinogenic. Not quite at the magnitude of a 524 kcal mixed meal (19% protein, 63% carbohydrate, 18% fat) but that's the point, isn't it? As stated by Tipton (2004): "The magnitude of insulin response [to 20 g casein] was not great."

The Right Magnitude of Change

Let's consider peak insulin values across a day. The comment in the upper right of the graph shows that a pretty standard six meals for a grown man (about 3000 kcal per day) results in 400-500 units of peak insulin over six meals. That equals 2400-3000 total units secreted just at these peak times.
By contrast, the casein "pulse" values are clearly much lower. Even at 20-50 grams per dose or with 1g/kg of fat added, there's not a whole lot happening. No carbs, less insulin. That's pretty straightforward.
Multiplying-out the peak insulin values we get 65-79 units for ten pulses. That equals 650-790 total units secreted at peak times.
And it's worth noting that Pulse Fasting is more along the lines of just 10g casein hydrolysate boluses – a smaller dose than 20-50g and that would lead to a somewhat smaller insulin response. On the other hand, MAG-10 is spiked with leucine, so we might be back up near 70 after all.
Leaving other issues to the side, this low and steady insulin effect puts my "Oh my God, I'm shrinking!" thoughts at ease, even as I take a day off of forced eating and start to retrain my biochemistry away from fat storage.

"Muscle-Sparing" vs. "Professor Pudge"

Another figure is called for to illustrate my thinking on "muscle-sparing" levels of insulin versus "Professor Pudge" levels of insulin:

If I'm theoretically producing roughly 75% less insulin one day per week, on that day my physiology reflects the lower half of the figure. That is, on Mondays I produce enough insulin to maintain muscle mass but not enough to keep my cellular machinery in fat storage mode.

The Final Verdict

A week-long computation suggests that I'm secreting 11 percent less insulin per week. That is, if I set my previous chowhound insulin levels as 100 percent max secretion for seven days, I'm now at just 25 percent output on Mondays, plus 100 percent on the other six days.
Eleven percent sounds perfect to me. It feels like the right magnitude of change at this point in my year-long macro-cycle. And this is just concerning the insulin side of the equation.  
Next time, I'll ramble on about what else I see besides insulin underlying the MAG-10 Pulse Fast and I'll offer some other thoughts, like what else a 40-something bodybuilder does to shift his physiology and mental state from mass-crazed off-season fork fiend to in-season lean freak.
Do you need an "insulin relief day" in your mass phase? Think about it. And let's discuss below.

References

1. Keske M., et al. Obesity blunts microvascular recruitment in human forearm muscle after a mixed meal.Diabetes Care. 2009 Sep;32(9):1672-7.

2. Tipton, K., et al. Ingestion of casein and whey proteins result in muscle anabolism after resistance exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2004 Dec;36(12):2073-81.

3. Westphal, S., et al. Postprandial lipid and carbohydrate responses after the ingestion of a casein-enriched mixed meal. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Aug;80(2):284-90. 

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One Hundred Gram Carb Cure

by Dr. Mike Roussell and Chris Shugart – 12/16/2010

Abs by Gunpoint

Dr. Mike Roussell and Chris Shugart are blindfolded and tied to chairs in a room with no windows. A fully-automatic assault rifle is pointed in their direction.

A gruff voice says, "When I count to three, you will both tell me one thing that will solve the obesity epidemic for the general population and help the advanced athlete and bodybuilder shed fat rapidly."

Mike and Chris hear a metallic click. The safety has been removed.

"One, two, three!"

"Eat about 100 grams of carbs per day!" they shout simultaneously.

Silence. Then the rifle is lowered. The kidnapper smiles.

Why? Because even a homicidal nutrition nut knows that this simple solution makes more sense than just about any diet strategy you'll ever try.  

The Power of 100 Grams

We've both been recommending this ridiculously simple yet powerfully effective dietary approach for years. We've seen it work with everyone from hardcore male bodybuilders to hardcore female kindergarten teachers.
It not only strips off the excess body fat, it accelerates the process of health improvement by exponentially improving the quality of your diet... all with one little guideline:
Eat about 100 grams of carbohydrates per day.

Why 100 Grams is Magical

Eating 100 grams of carb a day is as close to nutritional magic as you can get:

It's Low-Enough Carb

At 100 grams of carbs per day, you won't be in ketosis, but your carbs will be low enough that you'll be preferentially stoking your metabolic furnace with stored and dietary fats and not carbs. Also, most people won't experience any mental fogginess, crabbiness, or lack of energy that often accompany really low-carb diets.

It's High-Enough Carb

At 100 grams, you still have room to get in fast-acting carbs as part of your peri-workout nutrition strategy.
There's never a reason to skip tactical carbs consumed around your weight-training workout. Carbs taken in at this time won't contribute to fat gain and may even speed up the fat loss process. With a 100 gram daily allowance, you can scorch off the belly fat and maximize the anabolic potential of the peri-workout timeframe.
In addition, with 100 grams of carbohydrates allowed every day, there's no reason to avoid nutritionally ass-kicking fruits, berries, and vegetables as you have to do with 20 and 30 gram diets. This not only allows you to eat good-for-ya foods, it opens up your diet to a wider variety of meal choices. No need to live on bacon and string cheese for twelve weeks.
Key point: If you eat five meals per day plus your workout drink, 100 grams of carbs is the perfect amount. At each of your five meals you'll eat around 10 grams of vegetables (preferably green and fibrous) or berries, then during your workout you can slug down a serving of Surge Recovery and boom... 100 grams of carbs.

The Autoregulation Effect

With 100 grams of carbs to "spend" every day, the average person is going to experience powerful autoregulatory effects, even if they pay little attention to the other macronutrients. Follow the 100-Gram Carb Cure and, well, everything else just falls into place:

• With a limit of 100 grams of carbs, you'll naturally become selective about the types of carbs you eat, especially on training days when you only have around 50 grams to eat depending on your peri-workout strategy.
  
  You'll have to remove refined carbs and the obvious junk food. You'll need to stick to mainly green fibrous vegetables, small portions of berries, and nuts. On non-lifting days you'll have room to eat some beans or a protein bar.
• Calories will be largely controlled since you'll be choosing more filling foods. These satiating food choices, being on the lower end of the carb count, aren't going to cause your blood sugar levels to go bonkers, which can lead to cravings and mood/energy fluctuations that we often try to "fix" with more food (and usually not the physique-supportive stuff.)
  
  In short, it's just difficult to overeat when your food choices are controlled and carbs don't exceed 100 grams daily.
• Some people are label-reading, food-weighing, ingredient-list scanning, waitress-interrogating nutrition freaks. You know, like the humble authors of this article and many TNation readers. But not everyone is. They probably have lives and stuff.
  
  For those folks, the 100-gram rule becomes an educational tool that teaches them to adopt eating strategies than can last a lifetime. The 100-grammer will be forced to read labels and check out serving sizes. He'll probably learn to cook his favorite foods since store-bought versions have all kinds of carby crap added to them.
  
  The 100-grammer won't fall for bullshit "Low-Fat!" and "Made with Whole Grains!" health claims you see all over the cereal, bread, and Pop-Tart aisle. He'll ditch the fruit juice, most sugary dairy products, pasta, and HFCS-infused condiments. He'll become wary of those "guiltless" menu options at chain restaurants, which border on fraudulent.

In other words, by paying close attention to this one macronutrient, the 100 gram dieter will self-regulate, self-educate, and become more self-reliant. He also won't look like a land whale come summertime. Bonus.

100-Gram Carb Cycling

You can tweak this plan even further by adding the element of carb cycling.
As mentioned above, on training days you can eat around 10 grams of fibrous carbs at five different meals and then have a Surge Recovery for your workout nutrition. (Or FINiBAR pre-workout with Anaconda and/or MAG-10 during and after. Choose your weapon.)
On non-weight training days, don't add more vegetables and beans in place of the Surge Recovery to get to 100 grams of carbs. Instead, just remove the Surge Recovery and don't replace the carbs. This way you'll only be eating 50 grams of carbs that day.
So, about 100 grams of carbs on training day and 50 grams on non-training day. This simplified carb-cycling plan would easily get you over a weight-loss plateau or accelerate your current rate of fat loss.

The Rest of Your Diet

For the rest of your diet (i.e. protein and fats) there are a couple of other guidelines.
Eat protein at every meal: a bunch of eggs, protein powder, or a hunk of meat. It's hard to screw this part up.
Add fats to each meal as well. Don't go overboard with nuts and seeds because they come with their fair share of carbs and you'll quickly be on the 250 Gram Carb Plan. Walnuts are great because they have a lower carb count than any other nut, and they contain the most diverse fatty acid profile (including omega-3s).
Use oils and some butter on your vegetables. Sprinkle salads with different oils or cheeses. Don't skimp on fatty fish like salmon and take your daily Flameout.

Wait! Why Not Just Count Calories?

Good question. Sure, eat just 1200 calories of anything in a day and you'll lose weight. Thank you, Law of Thermodynamics.
But you could also lose muscle, wreck your metabolism in the long term, perform poorly in the gym, squander your long-term health, send your hormone levels into tailspins, raid a Chinese buffet, and risk programming in bad dietary habits ("Twinkie Diet," anyone?). It's also unsustainable and usually leads to fat regain and rebound.
Oh, and one more little-bitty thing: the higher-carb, "just eat smaller amounts of junk food" diet plan has the highest failure rate of any fat-loss strategy ever developed in history.
Yeah, there's that.

Mike's Sample Menus

Training Day

Meal 1: Eggs, spinach, cheddar-cheese scramble
Meal 2: Metabolic Drive Low-Carb, walnuts, 1 serving blueberries, Superfood
Meal 3: Salad (romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers) with chicken and extra virgin olive oil
Meal 4: Flank steak with asparagus and butter
Workout: Surge Recovery
Meal 5: Chicken breast with broccoli and extra virgin olive oil

Non-Training Day

Meal 1: 4-egg omelet with salsa and cheese, 1/2 a grapefruit (sprinkled with Splenda) on the side
Meal 2: Metabolic Drive Low-Carb, flaxseed oil, 2 serving strawberries, Superfood
Meal 3: Roasted chicken breast with spinach (wilt in a pan with minced garlic and extra virgin olive oil) and a small apple
Meal 4: Extra-lean ground beef sautŽed with peppers and onions
Meal 5: Roasted salmon (spread Dijon mustard on top before roasting) with asparagus and 1 serving great northern beans

Wrap-Up

Eat about 100 grams of carbs per day.
One rule. Damn-near universally effective for fast, painless fat loss. No gun-toting kidnapper required.

Wikio

Prise de poids: 3 nouveaux facteurs à considérer

9 décembre 2010 – Le manque de sommeil, une carence encalcium et la propension à manger trop dans certaines circonstances sont 3 facteurs qui, mis ensemble, augmenteraient 2 fois plus le risque d’être en surpoids que la sédentarité et une alimentation riche en gras.

C’est ce que révèle une étude menée auprès de plus de 800 personnes vivant dans la région de Québec.

Depuis longtemps, on estime que la sédentarité (aucune activité physique de haute intensité) et une alimentation riche en gras (40 % ou plus des calories quotidiennes) sont les 2 principaux facteurs de risque d’embonpoint et d’obésité. Dans le jargon scientifique, on les surnomme les « Big Two ».

Or, l’Étude des familles de Québec démontre que 3 autres facteurs non traditionnels sont loin d’être secondaires. Au contraire, ils sont même tout aussi importants à considérer que les « Big Two » lorsqu’on analyse le risque d’obésité d’une personne.

Concrètement, ces 3 facteurs de risque moins connus sont :

• des nuits de sommeil de moins de 6 heures;
• un apport en calcium de moins de 600 mg/jour;
• un score de 6 ou plus sur une échelle mesurant les comportements alimentaires (la restriction et la désinhibition alimentaire ainsi que la susceptibilité à la faim). Les individus qui obtiennent ce score sont enclins à surconsommer dans certaines circonstances, par exemple à Noël, lors d’un événement sportif entre amis ou d’une fête quelconque.

« Ces 3 facteurs non traditionnels sont de meilleurs prédicateurs d’embonpoint ou d’obésité que la combinaison des « Big Two », écrivent les cosignataires de l’étude, dont le chercheur Angelo Tremblay de l’Université Laval.

Prise de poids plus élevée

Les chercheurs ont estimé que, en moyenne, la sédentarité combinée à une alimentation riche en gras fait grossir une personne de 1,52 kg (3,3 livres) de plus par année. À elle seule, la sédentarité ferait augmenter de 1,28 kg (2,8 livres) additionnel par année le poids d’une personne.

Or, à lui seul, le manque de sommeil serait responsable d’une prise de poids additionnelle plus élevée que les « Big Two », soit 1,72 kg (3,8 livres).

Et en combinant les 3 facteurs non traditionnels, la prise de poids supplémentaire est de 2,96 kg (6,5 livres) par année.

« Ces résultats démontrent que l’obésité dépend de plusieurs facteurs et que les praticiens de la santé devraient prendre en compte un éventail de facteurs de risque plus large, afin de combattre plus adéquatement l’épidémie d’obésité », concluent les chercheurs.

Martin LaSalle – PasseportSanté.net

1. Chaput JP, Astrup A, Tremblay A et al. Risk factors for adult overweight and obesity: the importance of looking beyond the 'big two', Obesity Facts, octobre 2010, 3(5):320-7.

Wikio

Seneweb News : Agro-business : le S�n�gal veut louer 400 000 hectares de terres �l’Arabie Saoudite

Seneweb News : Agro-business : le S�n�gal veut louer 400 000 hectares de terres �l’Arabie Saoudite

Agro-business : le Sénégal veut louer 400 000 hectares de terres à l’Arabie Saoudite

Par Senewebnews | Seneweb.com | Mardi 14 décembre, 2010 11:27 | Consulté 3309 fois | 60 commentaires Favoris

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- Une surface quatre fois plus grande que la ville de Manhattan

Le gouvernement sénégalais est an discussion avec le royaume d’Arabie Saoudine, pour la location de terres devant servir à la production agricole, dans un espace quatre fois plus grand que la ville de Manhattan, selon un officiel sénégalais impliqué dans les négociations.

Comme de nombreux pays du Golfe persique, l’Arabie Saoudite achète des terres agricoles en Asie et en Afrique pour assurer sa sécurité alimentaire, après l’inflation qui a pratiquement doublé le prix des produits céréaliers en 2008. « Nous sommes en discussion avec l’Arabie Saoudite en ce moment et nous leur offrons 400 000 hectares de terres à louer sur un long terme », a déclaré cet officiel sénégalais, sous le sceau de l’anonymat. « Une partie des terres est déjà en train de produire des produits alimentaires et ne autre partie ne l’est pas encore.

Mais les paysans n’ont pas de problème avec cette location de terres », a-t-il ajouté, sans donner plus de détails sur la localisation de ces terres. L'achat de terres dans les pays qui peuvent à peine assurer leur autosuffisance alimentaire et l’exportation des produits alimentaires ont exposé des investisseurs à l'agitation populaire et la désapprobation politique dans leurs pays cibles, dans les pays en voie de développement. « Ces transactions saperont sévèrement la sécurité alimentaire et détruiront le cadre de vie de millions de paysans et de pasteurs », a déclaré Devlin Kuyek, un chercheur à Grain, une Ong basée au Canada. « Tout ceci est en train de se tramer derrière les portes closes du gouvernement à l’insu des personnes qui seront affectées par ces décisions et le public en général », a-t-il déclaré.

Selon les termes du contrat en discussion, les investisseurs auront le droit d’exporter 100% des produits alimentaires qui seront issus de ces exploitations. « Ces ententes peuvent être très flexibles parce que nous voulons attirer les investisseurs », déclare l’officiel sénégalais. En raison de son approvisionnement en eau limité, le royaume planifie d'éliminer progressivement la production de toute la récolte intensive qui avait épuisé ses ressources en eau. La récolte inclut le blé, des haricots de soja et le fourrage animal.

Le royaume a besoin d’environ 2,6 millions de tonnes de blé annuellement et le gouvernement a déclaré l’année dernière qu’il devrait importer tous ses besoins à l’horizon 2016. L'année dernière, Foras la Société d'investissements Internationale, un groupe d'investisseurs saoudiens, avec l’appui de la Banque islamique de développement (BID), a lancé un plan de sept ans d’un milliard de dollars en Afrique pour réduire la dépendance du royaume aux importations de riz et fournir la région du Moyen-Orient.

Le projet 7X7 vise à développer et planter 700 000 hectares de terres agricoles pour produire dans 7 ans 7 millions de tonnes de riz. « Nous sommes en pourparlers pour acquérir 150 000 à 200 000 hectares de terres cultivées au Sénégal, mais l'affaire n'a pas été finalisée encore », a dit un porte-parole de Foras.

Des investisseurs étrangers ont acquis environ 15 à 20 millions d'hectares de terres cultivées dans des pays pauvres depuis 2006, selon l'Institut international de recherches en politique alimentaire.

Wikio

Get a Stronger, Harder Core: Hand Walkout

by CHAD WATERBURY on DECEMBER 13, 2010

Of all the core training exercises out there, one of my favorites is the hand walkout. It builds strength in your anterior core and lats very quickly, it trains the abs isometrically like Dr. Stuart McGill advocates, and it’s an excellent alternative to the ab-wheel rollout. Plus, the hand walkout will boost your squat and deadlift by augmenting the transfer of force between your legs and upper body. And since it requires no equipment, you can do it anywhere.

But it’s also an advanced exercise that I only use with clients who are ready for it. Here’s a brief video of my client, MMA superstar Ralek Gracie, performing the hand walkout.

Importantly, Ralek is an advanced athlete and that’s why he needs advanced core training exercises. This exercise might be too difficult for you right now, and there’s no reason to jump straight into a high-level exercise unless you’re ready.

How do you know if you’re ready for the hand walkout? You must first be able to perform the modified hand walkout (knees down) for 10 perfect reps.

Here’s how to do the modified hand walkout:

1. Start on all fours with knees and hands shoulder width apart. Hands are directly below shoulders (left pic).

2. Tense the glutes, brace the abs like someone is going to punch you in the stomach, and then “walk” your hands forward. The hips should shift forward as soon as you reach your left arm out (center pic).

3. Continue walking your hands out until your abs are just a few inches off the ground (right pic). Reverse the movement by walking your hands back to the starting position. That’s one rep.

Once you can perform the modified hand walkout for 10 reps, it’s time to take a crack at the hand walkout. You’ll probably be surprised how much more difficult it is so don’t try to do too much too soon. Before you attempt your first set of the hand walkout, perform 5 reps of the modified version to prepare your joints and muscles. Next, do three sets of the hand walkout for as many reps as possible.

A key technique point for the hand walkout (knees up version) is to hold the end position (arms extended out in front) for one full second. This is the position that leads to the greatest strength gain so you shouldn’t back out of it too soon. Watch the video and observe Ralek’s brief hold at the end position.

When you can knock off 10 perfect reps with the hand walkout your anterior core is as strong as it needs to be. You can add a weight vest and work your way back up to 10 reps, too, but this can be overkill.

For either exercise it’s important to keep your head neutral with your spine. Tensing your glutes and bracing your abs will ensure that your spine stays in proper alignment.

Two Ways to Make the Hand Walkout Work for You

There are two primary ways you should use the hand walkout. First, and most obvious, is as a stand alone core exercise in a full body circuit or any other split. The second way to use it is as an activation drill before lower body exercises. The hand walkout ramps up neural input to your core and lats which, in turn, allows your core to brace harder against resistance. This trick augments your ability to transfer force to immediately boost your squat, lunge, or deadlift poundage.

If you use it as an activation drill don’t do three sets of as many reps as possible since it’ll accumulate too much fatigue. Instead, perform one set of three reps before your heaviest set of squats, deadlifts, or lunges.

Here’s a recap of two ways to use the hand walkout:

1. Core strengthening: perform three sets of as many reps as possible 2-3 times per week.

2. Core activation: perform one set of three reps 30 seconds before your heaviest set(s) of lower body exercises.

Be sure to watch the clip a few times before trying the hand walkout, and keep all the technique tips in mind.

I’ll send a free autographed copy of Huge in a Hurry to the first person who posts a new video of 10 perfect reps of the hand walkout.

Stay Focused,
CW

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9 Weight-Loss Rules that Work

By: Thomas Incledon
Two years ago, I presented 10 dietary rules for the man who wants bigger muscles and a smaller waist—which is to say, every man who reads this magazine. But even if you memorized those rules, you're probably more confused than ever by the sheer white noise created by today's dietary advice.

If you did what you were told by every expert out there, you'd eat more of everything and less of everything, and you'd eat it earlier, later, and not at all. Fat would save you and kill you, carbohydrates would make you skinny and fat, and protein would turn you into Adonis and put you on dialysis.

Recently, as part of a research project, I reviewed hundreds of weight-loss studies and found some surprising ways in which nutrition science is remarkably clear and straightforward. So, with apologies to Dr. Atkins, Suzanne Somers, and all the other noted weight-loss experts, I humbly present the undisputed masters of the midsection.

Cut Calories
The low-fat/low-carbohydrate debate comes down to this: You still have to eat fewer calories than you burn if you want to lose weight. Every study I looked at shows this. The perfect weight-loss diet is the one you can live with, whether you cut fat, carbs, or some combination.

Use Whey to Cut Waist
Protein-rich foods put more distance between hunger pangs. And the fuller you feel between meals, the easier it is to avoid binges.

The best food for appetite destruction: whey protein. A daily shake made with two scoops of whey protein, fruit (fresh or frozen berries or a banana), and water or crushed ice will improve your middle line. You can buy whey protein at any good health-food store.

Meat Cuts Fat
When you eat, your body has to expend calories to digest the food. Protein causes this inner fire to burn the hottest, followed by carbohydrates, followed by fat. Animal proteins increase thermogenesis more than vegetable proteins, so the best calorie-burning foods are lean meats. So eat some protein at each meal—build your dinner around lean chicken, beef, or pork. That way, you're burning the most calories through digestion at the end of the day, when your metabolism is slower.

Remember These Letters: BCAA
Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, and the branched-chain amino acids—leucine, isoleucine, and valine—are the best of the bunch. BCAAs are as close to magic foods as we'll ever get. They help you recover from hard workouts by reducing the protein breakdown within your muscles; they increase testosterone and growth hormone, your body's most important fat-fighting and muscle-building hormones; and they have their most profound effect when you're following law number 1 and cutting calories in order to lose weight.

For starters, try to get at least 10 grams (g) of BCAAs a day. Since they're most abundant in meat and dairy products, you can get the better part of that by following laws 2 and 3. (Two scoops of whey protein and 3 ounces of beef contains 10 g of BCAAs.)

You can also buy BCAA supplements (which, you should be aware, are expensive). Look for supplements that are 50 percent leucine, 25 percent isoleucine, and 25 percent valine. Start off with 10 g per day, and wait a month before bumping up the dose. The maximum useful intake is probably 60 g a day from food and supplements.

If It's Fryin', You're Dyin'
One thing that every weight-loss researcher and diet-plan author can agree on: Highly refined carbohydrates, such as fructose-sweetened beverages and low-fiber breads, are a terrible idea. Among the many sins of Mountain Dew and Twinkies is the way they cause your blood sugar to spike soon after eating. What goes up fast comes down fast, and you end up feeling tired and hungry much sooner than you should.

Goodbye diet, hello diabetes.

Now we know of a way to make refined carbohydrates even worse: Fry them. Researchers have found a suspected carcinogen called acrylamide in such products as potato chips and french fries.

A "suspected" carcinogen isn't the same as a proven carcinogen, such as tobacco smoke. But anytime I get a chance to talk you out of eating worthless snack foods, I do it.

Food Goes Farther with Fiber
Fiber's effect is the opposite of snack foods'. When you have fiber in your stomach, food takes longer to enter the bloodstream, and your blood-sugar level stays steady.

The benefits: You'll have a more consistent energy supply and less between-meal hunger. The only potential downside is that you won't get as much reading done in the bathroom. What slows down your blood sugar at the front end speeds things up at the back end. I could give you the usual riff about eating more broccoli and raisin bran, but you can safely and easily take in more fiber by using a supplement. (MD Labs' Fiber-Psyll is a good one; go to MDlabs.com.) Start with 7 to 12 g a day, mixing some with water and drinking it before your main meals.

Count on Calcium
Recently, nutrition researchers discovered that dairy and other calcium-rich foods help you stay lean, prevent osteoporosis, and possibly prevent colon cancer. The recommendation is to take in 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams (mg) of calcium a day. (A cup of milk contains 300.)

Unfortunately, too much calcium may increase the risk of prostate cancer. The tragic number seems to be 600 mg a day from dairy products. And what's the point of having a V-shaped torso if your prostate has a spare tire?

Here's how to reap the benefits of calcium without the risks:

• Avoid taking high-dose calcium supplements unless you really need them (under doctor's orders, or if you never eat foods naturally rich in calcium). The fat-fighting properties of calcium are activated only if you obtain it from real food.

• Look for low-fat dairy products fortified with vitamin D, such as fat-free milk and yogurt. Vitamin D offers prostate protection.

• Triple your home-gland security by occasionally eating a tomato salad (rich in prostate-protecting lycopene), mozzarella cheese (rich in calcium), and olive oil (which contains a cancer-fighting fat called beta-sitosterol).


Alpha Males Use Omega-3 Fats
Each year, we learn more about the health benefits of omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, which are found in fish, nuts, seeds, and flaxseed and fish oils. (And also in the cool, orange-flavored supplement Coromega, available at iherb.com.)

These health benefits—less risk of heart disease and diabetes, for example—are great on their own. But omega-3 fats contribute to a better physique as well. For example, omega-3s reduce inflammation throughout your body. That not only prevents heart attacks (inflammation in the tissues surrounding blood vessels is a major cause) but also helps your muscles recover faster from workouts.

Bigger, less-inflamed muscles mean a faster metabolism, and speeding up your metabolism is crucial when you're trying to get lean. If you don't eat fish twice a week and can't stomach fish-oil supplements, try eggs high in omega-3s, which are found in the dairy case, next to the regular eggs. You can eat four of them a day without any negative effect on your cholesterol levels.

Make a Plan
Next time you read a weight-loss story in a newspaper or magazine, count the number of disparaging references to popular diets. Based on the way diet gurus trash their competitors, you'd think there was no plan on earth that actually works. But the truth is that you can't lose weight without a diet.

You must have a plan. The more sophisticated it is, and the more tailored to your likes and dislikes, the better. You can't wing it and expect to see results. I won't offer you the perfect weight-loss regimen, because research has yet to discover one. But even the worst plan is more likely to succeed than no plan at all.

The best plan is likely to include these elements:

• Meals and snacks are based on some lean protein source—fish, eggs, dairy, meat.

• More meals are better than fewer. Five or six meals and snacks a day is ideal.

• Low-fat and high-fat diets can both work, but one that cuts almost all fat is doomed.

• Nobody ever became obese from eating the best carbohydrates—fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. And nobody ever died from skipping potatoes, pasta, rice, popcorn, and Wonder Bread.

http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/lose_weight/index.php?cm_mmc=ABSNL-_-2010_12_13-_-HTML-_-dek

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Arthrose, du sport mais pas trop fort…

La natation et la marche font partie des activités sportives utiles pour prévenir l'arthrose. Et selon un travail américain, la pratique très modérée de ces disciplines permettrait également de freiner l’évolution de la maladie. C’est ce qu’ont démontré le Dr Thomas M. Link et son équipe de l’Université de Californie à San Francisco.

Ils ont en effet mesuré les effets de différentes pratiques sportives chez 132 volontaires en bonne santé. Agés de 45 à 55 ans, ils présentaient toutefois des facteurs de risque d’arthrose- surpoids ou antécédents de blessure au genou. Certains ont effectué des exercices très modérés, tandis que d’autres ont dû se soumettre à des séances plus intenses. Un dernier groupe a été laissé à sa sédentarité...

A la fin de l’étude, les participants du groupe assigné aux exercices très mesurés ont présenté le cartilage le plus sain. Les auteurs en ont conclu qu’une activité physique intensive pouvait nuire aux articulations. D’autant que « la pratique intense d’un sport, comme la course à pied ou le tennis, plus d’une heure par jour et au moins 3 fois par semaine est associée à une usure prématurée du cartilage. Le risque d’arthrose est donc alors, augmenté  », notent les auteurs. Quant à la sédentarité, elle reste un facteur aggravant de la maladie. C’est d’ailleurs logique car il est reconnu qu’une activité modérée favorise le développement de la musculature et donc le maintien des articulations. Soulagées, celles-ci travaillent alors dans de meilleures conditions.

L’arthrose est une maladie rhumatismale, plus fréquente après 50 ans, mais pas exclusivement. Elle se manifeste par l’usure du cartilage des articulations. Nombre de malades souffrent de douleurs chroniques, aggravées par le mouvement. Reconnue comme l’affection rhumatismale la plus fréquente, l’arthrose concerne environ 6 millions de patients en France.

Source : Radiological Society of North America, 29 novembre 2010

 

© 1996-2010 Destination Santé SAS - Tous droits réservés. Aucune des informations contenues dans ce serveur ne peut être reproduite ou rediffusée sans le consentement écrit et préalable de Destination Santé. Tout contrevenant s'expose aux sanctions prévues par les articles L 122-4 et L 335-3 du Code de la Propriété intellectuelle: jusqu'à deux ans d'emprisonnement et 150 000 euros d'amende.

 Détails de rédaction: cet article a été modifié le 13.12.2010

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A Simple Program for Complex Results

by Nick Tumminello – 12/10/2010

One of the great things about the Internet is the access it provides to literally thousands of training articles, complete with photos, videos, and of course, workout routines.
While this is great for information junkies infatuated with the "how's and why's" of weight training, all this often conflicting information has led to serious information overload – and as a result, serious paralysis by analysis.
It doesn't need to be this way. Building muscle, losing fat, or increasing strength are all relatively simple endeavors; especially once you've seen it happen a few thousand times. Fact is, most successful coaches, if injected with truth serum, could probably tell you everything you really need to transform your physique in less time than it takes you to scan your favorite fitness websites.
My feeling is this: information is great, provided it helps you reach your goals faster. In this article, I'm going to help you see through all the confusion and conflicting opinions by providing you with what youneed to know about building muscle size.
All killer, no filler. Sound good? Here we go!

Hypertrophy Training – This is How We do it!

I'm about to provide you with the exact program design strategies that we use every day at Performance U to help our athletes and bodybuilders gain muscular size (hypertrophy).
That means sets, rep ranges, rest intervals, training splits, and a mother load of program design strategies; everything that we've found to be the absolute best for achieving rapid, scale-tipping gains.

Goals of Hypertrophy Training Phase

• To get bigger (gain lean body mass)
• To elevate the metabolism: Muscle tissue requires energy. Put simply, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn throughout the day. Furthermore, muscle is metabolically active tissue; it's the physical place where fat is burned.
• To build up weaker/less developed areas of your body: this helps physique athletes achieve the muscle symmetry needed to excel in competition.
• To help full contact athletes like football/rugby players gain some body-armor to better deal with constant impact.
• To build tendon strength and muscle tissue density as a precursor to a more intense, heavy lifting "strength" phase. "Some non hypertrophy-related strength increases are possibly due to anatomical changes in connective tissue and angle of muscle fiber attachment to tendon."(Jones & Rutherford; Narici et. al., 1989)
• To help the male fitness enthusiast look better naked and hopefully get more chicks – hot girls like dudes with big muscles!

Average Duration of a Typical Hypertrophy Cycle

• The average length of this phase is 4-8 weeks, depending on the individual.
• With the above in mind, if working with a bodybuilder or someone looking to keep getting bigger, this phase is extended for as long as needed until the athlete has gained their desired amount of lean body mass.
• Typical template is hard training for three weeks followed by a deloading week.
• Routines are repeated for 4-6 workouts before switching.
• Occasionally, after three workouts, the order of exercises is changed (actual exercises remain unchanged). This creates mental variety and slightly changes the physical stimulus, and is an effective way to add a little spice to your workout without drastically changing your program – especially if what you're currently doing is working well.

Training Frequency

• Anywhere from 3-5 times per week, depending on the client/athlete's availability to train.
• Each muscle group/body part is trained 1-2 times per week.

Rep Ranges

The average rep range we use is 8-15 reps.

Some higher rep sets of 20-25 and even up to 50 reps are added in on occasion to increase work volume.

In the latter stages of a hypertrophy program or for advanced lifters, we'll use intensity techniques to increase work volume such as drop sets, rest pause sets, and forced reps.

Sets Per Exercise

• The general set range we follow is 3-4 sets.
• Usually, volume is increased each week. In the hypertrophy phase, we prefer to add volume versus adding load or reducing rest time.
• A typical four-week program may progress each week like this: week #1: 3 sets of 8 reps; week #2: 3 sets of 10 reps; week #3: 3 sets of 12 reps; week #4: 3 sets of 14-15 reps.
• Another four-week style to add volume may involve adding sets and reps: week #1: 3 sets of 8-10 reps, week #2: 3 sets of 12-15 reps, week #3: 4 sets of 8-10 reps and in week #4: 4 sets of 12-15 reps
• In this phase, we'll also use rep pyramids like this: week #1: 8, 10, 12, 14 reps. In week #2: 14, 12, 10, 8 reps. In week #3: repeat week #1 rep range except with heavier loads. In week #4: repeat week #2 using heavier loads.
• Wave loading is another method we use in this phase. Here's an example: Week #1: 10, 15, 10, 15 reps. Week #2: 12, 8, 12, 8 reps.  In week #3: repeat week #1 rep range except with heavier loads. In week #4: repeat week #2 using heavier loads.

Total Sets Per Body Part/Muscle Group Per Week:

• 12-20 total sets per week/body part
• Sets can be all done in one workout per week, or spread in multiple workouts (2-3) throughout the week.
• Muscle groups that need the most work to "bring up" will be trained multiple times per week.

Rep Tempo

• We don't do much tempo training at Performance U, though in the hypertrophy training phase we will use some slower tempos. Shoot for a 3-4 second eccentric phase and a 2-3 second isometric phase. Never slow down the concentric phase – that's always kept the same.

Rest Intervals

• Rest between sets is kept short to enhance the growth hormone response.
• The rest intervals betweens sets are kept between 30-60 seconds on average.
• If a higher rep set (15reps +) is performed, we'll increase the rest time to no more than 90 seconds.

Intensity/Volume

• The intensity of each set is kept medium to high.
• Beginner lifters or those in the first few weeks of a new program should keep the intensity of each set in the medium range. Basically, this translates into leaving 1-2 reps left "in the tank" at the end of each set.
• Advanced level lifters or someone in the later stages of a program should push the sets to muscle fatigue and sometimes even beyond. Occasionally, we'll use the old bodybuilding method of "do as many reps as you can, then do two more" to maximize growth hormone release.

"Growth hormone release is related to the magnitude of exertion." (Pyka, 1992)

• The training volume in this phase is kept high to create a cellular/physiological change (aka: hypertrophy). The volume is really ramped up after the first 2-3 weeks, after the initial neurological change that occurs anytime your body performs new movement patterns has taken place.

"When a new exercise or movement pattern has been introduced, the progress for the first few weeks is largely due to neural-motor adaptations." (Komi ,1986)

"After this initial 'learning, or re-learning' phase, subsequent strength increases become predominately morphological- muscles fibers increase in size." (Sale, 1988)

The Training Approach

• In the hypertrophy phase, we use predominantly traditional/ old school training exercises using mostly barbells, dumbbells, and machines.
• Isolation movements may be performed in this phase.
• Although free weight (barbells and dumbbells) exercises are preferred, machines may also be used. Machines allow for constant tension on the muscles due to their cam system design. For instance, a biceps curl performed with a dumbbell offers little to zero resistance at the bottom and at the top of the exercise; the resistance is only offered through the mid-range of the action. However, a biceps curl performed on a machine allows for tension to be maintained throughout the ROM; this constant tension can be of great benefit for increasing hypertrophy.
• In this phase, we predominantly use the single-set method. For example: perform set #1, rest, perform set #2, rest, perform set #3, etc.
• Super sets can also be used in this phase. If each sets involves different muscle groups, be sure the tempo and rest interval doesn't exceed the 60-90 second recovery window indicated earlier. In other words, if we're performing a push/pull super set using the bench press and bent over rows, make sure the time between each set of bench presses does not exceed 60-90 seconds. The same rule is applied for the bent over rows.
• If using a unilateral (one-sided) exercise, use the single set method and be sure each side gets no more than 60-90 seconds recovery while the other side is working.

Sample Performance U Hypertrophy Programs

Here are sample three-day, four-day, and five-day hypertrophy training programs. Keep in mind; these programs are NOT designed for the purposes of improving strength or power. These programs are strictly intended to build serious muscle size.

Three-Day Hypertrophy Workout

Day 1 – Pull

A) Chin ups, 4 x 8-12
B1) Wide grip lat pull down, 3 x 8-15
B2) Shoulders shrugs, 3 x 8-15
C) Single arm bent over row ,3 x 8-12
D) Hammer strength high-low row, 3 x 8-12
E1) Rear deltoid flyes, 3 x 10-15
E2) Biceps curls, 3 x 10-15

Day 2 – Legs/Hips

A) Back squat, 4 x 10-15
B) Front squat, 3 x 8-12
C) Reverse lunge (same side), 3 x 10-12
D1) Hamstring curls, 3 x 8-12
D2) Leg extension, 3 x 8-12
E1) Hip thrust, 3 x 12-15
E2) Calf raise, 3 x 12-15

Day 3 – Push

A) DB bench press or free motion chest, 4 x 8-12
B) Hammer strength incline press, 3 x 8-12
C) DB overhead press, 4 x 8-12
D) Close-grip push up (hands on med ball), 3 x 12-15
E1) Shoulder lateral raises, 3 x 12-15
E2) Triceps extensions, 3 x 12-15

Four-Day Hypertrophy Workout

Day 1 – Pull/Push

A) Wide grip lat pull, 4 x 8-12
B) BB bent over row, 4 x 8-12
C) Seated row (close grip), 3 x 8-12
D) DB chest press or free motion chest, 3 x 8-12
E) Shoulder overhead press (single arm), 3 x 10-15
F1) Biceps curl, 3 x 8-12
F2) Rear deltoid fly, 3 x 10-15

Day 2 – Legs/Hips

A) Back squat, 4 x 10-15
B) Front squat, 3 x 8-12
C) Reverse lunge (same side), 3 x10-12
D1) Hamstring curls, 3 x 8-12
D2) Leg extension, 3 x 8-12
E) Calf raise, 3 x 12-15

Day 3 – Push/Pull

A) Wide grip lat pull, 4 x 8-12
B) BB bent over row, 4 x 8-12
C) Seated row (close grip), 3 x 8-12
D) DB chest press or free motion chest, 3 x 8-12
E) Shoulder overhead press (single arm), 3 x 10-15
F1) Biceps curl, 3 x 8-12
F2) Rear deltoid fly, 3 x 10-15

Day 4 – Hips/Legs

A) Deadlift, 4 x 8-10
B) Bulgarian split squat ,3 x 8-12
C) Glute/ham raise, 3 x10-12
D1) Hip thrust, 3 x 12-15
D2) Calf raise, 3 x 12-15
E) Cosgrove squat complex, 1-2 sets
Note: Read this article to learn about the Cosgrove Squat Complex.

Five-Day Hypertrophy Workout

The five-day split routine is the same as the three-day split, just with more training days through the week (duh!). Here's how it would lookÉ

Week #1

Mon – Pull (A)
Tues – Legs/Hips (B)
Wed – Push (C)
Thurs – Rest
Fri – Pull (A)
Sat – Legs/Hips (B)
Sun – Rest

Week #2

Mon – Push (C)
Tues – Pull (A)
Wed – Legs/Hips (B)
Thurs – Rest
Fri – Push (C)
Sat – Pull (A)
Sun – Rest

Additional Coaching Tips on Hypertrophy Training:

• Due to the less functional, more physique oriented training in this phase, finish a few workouts during the week with low intensity, total-body and/or rotary exercises to maintain some level of functional (athletic) ability.
• Throw in any specific abs/core work at the end of the workout.
• In this phase, it's critical you consume enough calories, protein, and other nutrients to not only allow your body to build muscle, but also to help you recover from the high intensity nature of the workouts.
• Be sure to get in these supplements on a regular basis: whey protein, BCAA's, creatine monohydrate, and beta-alanine. When used consistently in conjunction with this program, the physique changing effects are dramatic.

Final Thoughts

Ever hear of the expression "giving away the farm?" Well, I've done just that, and thrown in a fleet of John Deere equipment for good measure.
I've just given you the who, what, why, where and how of building muscle size, Performance U style! You now have all the tools you need to successfully get huge, and most importantly – not a single thing you DON'T need.
It's your job now to get in the gym and put these methods & techniques into practice and get after it, cause that's it for my job. (Not literally I hope!)

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