|
This is the place to find those quick tips that instantly help your daily workout routine. This weeks top tip is brought to you by Chris Hall. A recent study suggests by drinking four cups of an inexpensive, readily available green tea may help strip excess body weight. The study found that green tea as capsules or tea significantly reduced 2.5kgs of body weight over 8 weeks.
The tricep muscle is comprised of three different heads - the long, lateral and medial head. It's impossible to purely isolated a single head of the tricep, however by the orientation of the upper arm in relation to gravity and to the body, you can affect the percentage of recruitment of each head.
For Example:
From Incline to Perpendicular - the further away your arms are from your navel, the greater the recruitment of the long head of the triceps.
E.g Seated French Presses, Overhead Tricep Extension w/rope.
Flat - Exercises in a flat position tend to recruit more the lateral and long head of the triceps.
E.g Close Grip Bench Press, Lying EZ Bar Tricep Extensions
Decline - The closer your arms are to your torso the greater the contribution of the medial head of the triceps at the top position. At the bottom position the lateral head does most of the work.
E.g Decline Close Grip Bench Press, Decline EZ Bar Tricep Extension.
You may also want to consider hand position. As a general rule, pronating the grip (palms down) increases recruitment of the the lateral head and a supine grip (palms up) increases recruitment of the medial head.
Knowing this information will hopefully add value to your workouts and place new size and strength onto your triceps!
The lower body needs less variation when it comes to training than the upper body
This means if you're training for strength over the next 6 weeks you may find you can stick with the same exercises for the lower body and still make progress. However the upper would soon start to regress and a change to the workout would be needed.
80% of a muscles recovery occurs within the first 10 minutes after training
It's vital that you consume your post workout shake within this 10 minute time window for optimal recovery
The higher your blood levels of vitamin B the less likely you'll be bitten by mosquitoes
Vitamin B2 and B6 helps to repel mosquitoes. You'll also find the higher your level of toxicity the more you'll attract mosquitoes. Mosquitoes love to feed off heavily toxic people
Eating a vegetarian diet is healthy?
Wrong!
According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the annual all-cause death rate of vegetarian men is slightly more than that of non-vegetarian men (.93% vs .89%); the annual death rate of vegetarian women is significantly more than that of non-vegetarian women (.86% vs .54%)
A Vegetarians diet often lacks important vitamins and minerals to help maintain a healthy lifestyle. I strongly suggest all vegetarians supplement into their diet a good multivitamin, Vitamin B6/B12, zinc and some kind of protein supplement.
The average weight of a human head is though to weigh between 4.5 - 5kgs constituting around 8% of your total body mass.
Research suggests that for every 0.5cm of forward neck displacement, the neck ages prematurely by 5 years!
With today's lifestyle being what it is, the majority of people suffer from poor postural aligment and a forward head posture. Training the neck extensors are often over looked in most peoples programs, however if correctly trained, can have a huge impact on upper body strength development.
Just the expectation of a mirthful laughter increases endorphins by 27% and Human Growth Hormone by 87% In a paper presented in an American Physiological Society session at Experimental Biology 2006, Lee S. Berk published a study that showed the significance between "mirthful laughter" and neuroendocrine/hormone effects. According to Berk: "subjects just before they watched the video had 27% more beta-endorphins and 87% more human growth hormone, compared to blood from the control group, which didn't anticipate the watching of a humorous video.
When it comes to organic food there's always some debate as to whether it's better for you or has a higher nutritional value. Although some organic food may not posses more nutrients than non-organic, one thing's for sure; non-organic food is ridiculed with toxins that can be detrimental to your health.
I can understand if you're not one for buying organic, however these two common day-to-day foods are a must when it comes to going organic.
Butter Coffee
These two foods have been tested to have the highest levels of pesticides/herbicides, compared with other foods I recommend Rachel's Organic Butter and Percols Fairtrade Organic Coffee
Add cinnamon into your diet today for improved sugar management and greater fat loss I recommend clients mix 1/3rd teaspoon of ground cinnamon into hot water. Begin by consuming 4 cups of cinnamon tea per day for two weeks then drop back to 1-2 cups per day thereafter.
Adding it to your coffee and consuming 40mins pre-workout will enhance the fat burning effects of your workout.
According to top strength coaches the truck or 'core' muscles are the least trainable muscle group in regards to increasing strength. The calfs on the other hand have the most potential for the greatest increases in strength.
In other words, spend an initial 6-8 week period on you're functional 'core' exercises and then let the big lifts, such as squats, deadlifts and chin ups take care of the rest. Time spent over this period is, in my experience time wasted.
By adding the following foods to you meal you can effectively lower the glycemic index of the meal by 30% Green Olives
Dills and Sweet pickles
Horseadish
1/2 lemon or lime
Pickled beets, peppers, garlic, legumes
Vinegar
I often use this tip for clients who eat out regularly and find it hard to avoid low carbohydrate meals
When performing incline dumbbel curls make sure to keep the head back against the bench. When the exercise begins to get difficult push your head/neck into the bench as it will help increase neural drive to the biceps and improve concentric strength.
Avoid high-fat meals 4 hours before training. You will get less blood to your muscle , a smaller pump, and your recovery time will increase.
Some people find it helps if you have a dose of caffine an hour beofre you train, whether its coffee or tablet. (speak to your practitioner before taking caffine tablets)
Stretch only after training. Dynamic stretches should be done before a work out, but do normal stretches after your work out while your muscles are warm, you will increase your flexibility doing it this way.
Skip the sauna. After your work out dont use the sauna as this can impair your work out for days. Instead have a hot shower for 3mins then a cold one for 1min and so on.
Take 20g of whey protein and 5g of creatine 45mins before you train, this will increase your lean muscle and help you lift bigger.
Use dumb bells more than a bar-bell. Using the dumb bells will give you more muscle strength and a more even physique.
|
Issue 6. Cover - Photographer - Moritz Stragholz