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Assess your weaknesses: Strength Test # 1
Why Test Yourself?
Use these tests to find out more about your strength, athleticism, and overall muscle function. If you're able to pass a majority of these "checks and balances" with no problems, your chances of injury are slim, not to mention the fact that you're as strong as an ox.
Test 1 – RDL Posture
The Romanian Deadlift Test of Spinal Positioning will tell you if your posture is out of whack. Maintaining your posture during heavy lifting is the most important factor when it comes to strength training technique. Once spinal alignment is lost, everything else immediately deteriorates.
Without proper posture, your chance for injury increases, force production is compromised, and stimulation to the appropriate muscles is negated. It also limits your ability to set your shoulders and hips in their proper position, making it impossible to perform any movement correctly and safely.
Instructions
Thoroughly warm up with progressive ramping. Load the bar with roughly 75-80% of your 1RM deadlift. Perform a few perfect RDL's while keeping a neutral spine throughout. See if you can pause near the bottom and keep your spine neutral.
Your Score
If you're unable to pause near the bottom (just before touching the floor) and keep your spine locked in, then you have no business using whatever weight you currently use on deadlifts. In fact, you probably lack the ability to set your spine and scapula on most heavy lifts, particularly axial loaded movements.
If this describes your situation, strengthen your entire back with plenty of rows, pull-ups, and RDLs with manageable loads. Work on hip mobility and build strength throughout the entire posterior chain. Most importantly, reinforce perfect posture and scapula positioning on all of your movements. You may even want to video yourself to assess posture. It'll be readily apparent when spinal positioning begins to degrade.
From: "T-nation website" titled: "12 strength tests you must master" by Joel Seedman
From: "T-nation website" titled: "12 strength tests you must master" by Joel Seedman
Assess your weaknesses: Strength Test # 12
Test 12 – No-Prep
Having the ability to quickly summon your nervous system and perform a relatively heavy deadlift, squat, or press without significant preparation is not only a great way to expose areas of inflammation or weakness, but it shows movement competency that any well-trained athlete should be capable of.
Instructions
Perform any lift any time, even under semi-cold conditions using 80-90% of your 1RM.
Your Score
Unable to do it? If half of your training time is devoted to warming up your joints and blunting the pain and inflammation associated with dysfunctional movement, chances are your lifting technique needs a serious overhaul.
From: "T-Nation" website article ( 9/15/15 ): "12 Strength Tests that you must master"
Written by Joel Steadman
From: "T-Nation" website article ( 9/15/15 ): "12 Strength Tests that you must master"
Written by Joel Steadman
BREAKTHROUGH RESEARCH ON OPTINOS
The second powerful ingredient — optiNOs — was tested in a double-blind placebo controlled study. Results: there was enhanced muscle endurance -- participants were able to push out four times more reps on the leg extension.
STACK IT UP
The studies have been done on each supp, but are the supps just as effective when they're taken together? Once again, the University of Tampa completed the study over 12 weeks where trained athletes took the key ingredients in Clear Muscle (BetaTOR) and Plasma Muscle (Peak ATP). An intense training program was designed by Dr. Jacob Wilson. The results were staggering -- particpants gained 18.7 pounds of lean muscle within the 12 weeks. That's almost 1.6 pounds of muscle each week. They also got significantly stronger, adding almost 212 pounds to their best bench, deadlift, and squat total.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
- See more at: http://www.flexonline.com/nutrition/supplements/ultimate-musclebuilding-stack?page=4#sthash.NrQLjxLN.dpuf
Train these neglected muscle groups
It’s often the little things that separate the best from the rest, and if you’re an undersized hardgainer, you can’t afford to neglect anything. In this article, we address five muscles you probably haven’t been working directly and explain why and how you should.
BRACHIALIS
This muscle runs underneath the biceps and is visible on the outside of each upper arm. It works with the biceps as a flexor of the elbow joint, but, unlike the biceps, does not have a role in supinating the forearm — as occurs in the outward rotation during supinating dumbbell curls.
WHY BOTHER? The brachialis adds width to your arms, and when the bi’s are flexed, a well-developed brach bulges out as an impressive knot on the outside between the biceps and triceps, supplying greater density, depth and details. We probably don’t have to sell you on growing a crucial “gun part,” but since you’re already hitting brachialis when you work bi’s, do you need to do more? Yes, because in palms-up or supinating curls, the biceps are doing the brunt of the work. To maximize brachialis development, do one type of curl that focuses on this muscle in each biceps session.
TRAINING To target the brachialis, curl a weight with either a palms-down grip or a thumbs-up grip. For the former, do barbell reverse curls with a medium grip, either standing or on a preacher bench. For the latter, do hammer curls with two dumbbells, simultaneously or alternating. Three or four sets of 10 to 12 reps should sting the brach, and because both of these exercises work the forearms (especially the brachioradialis) more than palms-up curls, you may want to do them at the end of your biceps routine and just before wrist curls and reverse wrist curls. (You are doing reverse wrist curls, right? Keep reading.)
SERRATUS ANTERIOR
The serratus anterior lies atop the outer sides of the highest eight ribs and connects to the upper, inner area of the scapula. The fingerlike ridges are visible just below the outer edges of the pectorals. The main function of the serratus anterior is to pull the scapula forward, as at the top of a bench press, if you let your shoulders come off the bench to raise the barbell higher than is customary. This muscle also works to stabilize the scapula and assists in rotating it upward.
WHY BOTHER? Visually, the serratus anterior muscles set off the pecs and abs and tie the front to the back. At lean bodyweights, development of this part gives a physique that “finished” look. OK, that’s snazzy and all, but as with brachialis, you may assume you’re already stimulating the serratus anterior — in this case, via pullovers and pulldowns. In fact, those exercises don’t do much more for the serratus anterior than give the part a good stretch, because, contrary to accepted belief, the motion of pulling your arms from overhead toward your waist is not a direct function of the serratus anterior.
TRAINING Hold your arms straight out in front of you. Now, reach even farther, feeling your scapulas rounding. This is the primary function of your serratus anterior muscles. To duplicate this, do some chest presses with the same exaggerated range of motion. Don’t do this on your maximum sets, but instead incorporate it into your warm-up sets and, as you grow stronger, the lighter sets of a pyramid. You can also do pushups with the same scapula-rounding contractions and barbell front raises while maintaining this posture.
STERNOCLEIDOMASTOID
These two muscles run from just below and behind the ears (connecting to the base of the skull) to the top of the breastbone and collarbone at the base of the throat. Along with smaller neck muscles, the sternocleidomastoids act to tilt the head to the sides and, along with smaller neck muscles, allow the head to rotate and tilt forward.
WHY BOTHER? If you don’t require neck strength for wrestling or football, you may not need to train these muscles. Some bodybuilders find that their necks expand from isometric strain during exercises like deadlifts and shrugs (not to
mention the girth added by trapezius growth). Others, such as pros Chris Cormier and Hide Yamagishi, have done heavy neck training to muscle-up this area. How big you want a specific bodypart to be is your choice, but remember that your neck is usually the most visible indicator of strength — and it’s on display even when you’re fully clothed. Don’t be a pencilneck. A lot of hardgainers reading this could benefit from the sort of “headstand” that can never be compared to a writing utensil.
TRAINING Some well-equipped gyms have neck machines, but if you don’t have access to one, lie face-up on a bench with your head off the end, put a folded towel on your face and hold a weight plate to the towel. Then let your head drop down as far as possible and lift it back up as far as possible. Repeat this while lying on your right and left sides and while lying face-down; the latter works the muscles at the rear of your neck. Do two or three giant sets of this four-direction rotation, “necking” in each direction for 12 to 20 reps.
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Freedom in the New Testament
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Coach Josh
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