OT: Fitness Tips and Tricks

[Matt J]

Anyone want to share an effective tip for staying in shape?

I got some advice from a local personal trainer the other day and he really set me straight about a couple of things. I've been working a new system that is basically low rep and high weight as well as working on my pre and post workout nutrition. I have pretty high hopes but I'm only a couple of weeks in so only time will tell.

This is a pretty interesting article about protein supplementation:

http://www.livescience.com/8086-protein-supplement-myth-revealed-body-work.html

[NoPin]

Depends on whether you're working on endurance or working on strength/quickness. IOW, do you want to run a 100 m sprint or a marathon.

[Matt J]

Depends on whether you're working on endurance or working on strength/quickness. IOW, do you want to run a 100 m sprint or a marathon.

Event specific training is real. Although a few popular fitness concepts like Reebok's CrossFit advocate "training for life." I take that to mean training for a lot of different types of things that life throws at you.

I've been mostly an endurance athlete over the last fifteen years, but secretly I think I've always wanted to build more muscle mass and couldn't work it into my routine. The system I'm using is 5/3/1 and it's based on your one rep max in the Olympic style powerlifting exercises. It has really shocked my system in a good way to get into these complex lifts. It's hard to lay off the cardio and I "cheat" occasionally and go out for a longer effort, but I'm confident that I can get endurance back pretty easily as I've done that several times as an adult.

The guy who wrote this system talks about how many guys and girls don't even know what their one rep max is and I fit squarely into that category. I was surprised to find that I was pretty weak in some of them, like military press, and much stronger than I expected in others, like squats.

[Quadzilla]

Heavy weight and low reps working toward failure has always been the key fundamental in bulking up and explosive power. Been that way for decades. My call would be to be careful. I would never advise anyone to start a body building program like this without first building a foundation. Foundation meaning atleast 6 mos of a lower intensity program where you do a full body program with higher reps. more sets and moderation. That way you condition the tendons and lignments as well as the connective tissues between the muscles and tendons. If not you really run the risk of serious injury and huge setback. I know what I am talking about, been a body builder my entire adult life, sports coach and still workout hard daily.

[Matt J]

Quad, I guess I always knew that was the score, high weight low rep, I just never really committed to the concept. I've always lifted weights so I don't think there's a lot of risk of injury although I am focusing on form as these types of exercises do seem like they could be dangerous. Hell, any time you're moving something that weighs 300 lbs it could be dangerous even if you just dropped it on your toe.

Were you a competitive body builder? That's pretty big at my gym although it's a bit further than I foresee taking it. I just want to get stronger and then whittle my body weight down. I got that tested last week too and am pretty pleased to have an idea of what my "baseline" composition looks like.

[Quadzilla]

Not a competitive body builder but back in the day I was 2nd in the Nevada State power lifting competition and 3rd in the Nevada state olympic lifting championship. I also placed in the NCAA in shot put. So, I was a big strong guy who could bench 435#, military press 360# and squat 500# and I was pretty lanky at 260#. I think lifting heavy weights to failure is a young man's game regardless of what your trainer says. Young I mean under 35 and probably under 30. Or, there will at some point be a injury price to pay. I think one can build muscle mass and strength with safer methods of training. However, it takes longer and a more complicated plan. For me, I have a dedicated training room at my house and lots of new school gear that I use. My favorites are TRX suspension training, Power Plate and Total Gym. I spend every morning in there from 6-7 x training even when we go skiing or biking that day so a lot of two x day sessions. Right now I weigh around 195, 8% body fat and one would be hard pressed finding a guy my age with more muscle mass. Does that equate to being better at sports? Maybe injury prevention and ability to take a big hit. I have had a ton of injuries and surgeries and that most certainly slows me down.....

[Laura]

Here's a good exercise for you, Matt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QRfYUx8Gqo

[climbhoser]

I like your perspective, Quad. TRX is my current favorite. I also do a lot of yoga ball plyometrics.

[Baaahb]

If you have not tried it, the bikram hot yoga routine will kick your ass, improve your flexibility and range of motion, improve your balance and probably make your body just feel better. It really helps to start the routine at one of the hot yoga studios but you can also do it at home and, though a warm room is better, it is not necessary. Bikram tried to copyright his routine but lost so there are copycat studios out there. IMO, a lot of them vary the routines; you definitely want a studio that focuses on the workout aspect and less on the meditative or "flow" aspects.

[Matt J]

Baaahb, my wife goes to Bikram although I've yet to try it. I have been going fairly regularly to a normal hatha yoga class at my gym. Flexibility has probably been one of my weakest qualities as an athlete and this has helped.

I also tried TRX but wasn't that in to it. Probably old dog new trick kinda thing. I felt like I got the same workout as high rep low weight in the gym. Another one I tried was "group power" from the body training systems group. It actually worked me harder than TRX although I was the only guy in that one and TRX was pretty much 50/50.

[SkaredShtles]

****** hippies.

[Matt J]

Even with Exercise Physiology becoming an academic science it still appears that any fitness topic one can think of has a healthy debate raging. I remember in college hearing a couple of frat guys banter over a keg that they were giving up on any cardio to build more mass. Recently a certified personal trainer echoed those comments, yet here's an interesting article to the contrary:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/367521-is-cardio-bad-for-building-muscle/

[Matt J]

This study correlates high protein / low carb diets with premature death in lab rats, kinda interesting.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-05/low-carb-diet-may-shorten-your-life-study-finds/5299284

[danomike]

I like to do the hot yoga with a lot of active standing poses and core strengthening exercises in the practice. The heat of the room quickly warms up your muscles and tendons. And the yoga instructors seem to know how to guide you through warming up your spine before working on the poses that help flexibility and balance. I haven’t been going since December and I definitely notice the difference in just all of the normal activities that a person goes through during their daily routines – I notice the lack of motion range and all of the cracks and pops a little more. I guess I should start going back…

For endurance, normal trail running seems to work okay for me. A couple of times a week. Not too much, or I start to develop shin splints and sore joints.

All of that seems to be enough to prepare me for day tours on the weekends.

[climbhoser]

Matt, the way I think about TRX is that it is body weight repetition. It's a different kind of workout, but I honestly don't see the benefit in low rep high weight type of stuff. Now, were I a cyclist I could see adding in some heay legs to keep my bone density stimulated, but I run. I mostly use TRX/Yoga ball for core, which is a big piece of my training, and then do various bar exercises for my upper body. Google Frank Medrano if you want to see what I'm talking about. Or "Hannibal for King." Barstarz is good, too.

Lower body I do some squats, but mostly I just run.