The Number One Shortcut for Building Muscle
People lift weights for many reasons, to increase health, to lose weight, to look better, to get stronger or maybe to increase muscle mass. If I want to get better at tennis I am not going to swing a golf club.
The same is true for weight lifting, if my number one goal is to increase my stamina I am not going to workout the same way a bodybuilder does.
How you workout plays an important role in the results you get.
The number one shortcut for building muscle relates directly to the amount of weight you are lifting. You must lift enough weight to impose a demand on the body. (The SAID Principle specific adaptations to imposed demands). If you are not lifting enough weight to challenge yourself or you are keeping the same weight (or close to it) on the bar for 3 weeks you are not going to build muscle.
You must place a demand on the body at all times for the body to change. If building muscle (mass) is your primary goal. Increase your intensity (the amount of weight you lift) and stick with the 8-12 rep range 3-4 sets. Remember, you are not going for a metabolic effect here so you will want to take your rest breaks in between each set, 2-3 minutes.
Good luck building that muscle!
Stay Motivated,
Karen
Filed under Miscellaneous by 
Playing Vs. Working Out
When was the last time you just played with your kids? Basketball in the driveway, soccer in the backyard, tag on the side of the house and hide-n-go-seek all over.
Playing is a form of exercise, it is something our kids are supposed to do for at least 60 minutes a day. I hear so many conversations about "I hate to jog, I hate to lift weights I just plain hate to exercise and workout.
If you fall into that category, what about playing, do you hate to play? Think about it, as a kid your parents couldn't get you to come in at dinner time, if you were out running around with your friends.
It doesn't have to be any different now. Your just a little bit older and maybe a little bit bigger. Think about the influence you would have on your kids if 2 or 3 times a week you go outside with them and play some of the once forgotten childhood favorites, such as, tag, hopscotch, kickball, red rover and red light green light.
In our yard we play wiffle ball all the time with 3 people. We use ghost men on the bases, and let the batter keep batting until 3 outs are made. If you have a ghost man on 1st base when you hit the ball the ghost man is out if second base gets tagged before you make it to first. We play kickball the same way. Trust me you get a lot of exercise playing the field with only two people.
I understand it may be getting a little cold for games like wiffle ball, but just wait till the snow comes. When's the last time you went sledding with your kids? Think walking back up that hill 50 times isn't exercise, think again.
Exercise does not have to be boring, dull and nothing but hard work. Pick a couple days a week to play with your kids and see just how much fun you can have.
Stay Motivated,
Karen
Filed under Children & Teen Fitness, Exercise Help by
Pushing through an Injury
Pushing through an injury is it safe or is it harmful? I get this question a lot and since I did not cover injuries in my To Exercise or Not, When You Are Sick? post I thought I would give you a few tips.
Whether you exercise or not will really depend on the type of injury you have. There is an old saying that goes something like this: "let pain be your guide". With some injuries that saying goes out the window, do not let pain be your guide use your common sense.
In injuries that involve broken bones, ruptures, torn ligaments or muscles exercise is a no, no. Let yourself heal, the dumbbells will be waiting for you when you come back. Some of these injuries may even involve surgery.
My husband tore his ACL this past spring, after the initial injury there really wasn't a lot of pain so he never went to the doctors until a few months later when his knee gave out on him. Against better judgement (from some other people) he continued to play softball over the summer as his surgery had not been scheduled yet. To make a long story short he now has a significant lateral meniscal tear that can not be repaired, which I am sure will cause him problems later in life.
Muscle spasms can be debilitating especially spasms in the low back. The first thing most people who have a spasm want to do is go lie down. This is one of those times you exercise through the pain. Mind you, you will not be using your normal workout. You will be doing light stretches and gently working out the body part in spasm.
Swelling is another indicator of injury. You typically want to try not to increase the swelling as this will delay healing. For example, you can probably still do some of your workout even if you have a sprained ankle, but be aware of the swelling in your ankle as you work out.
Bottom line: use your common sense when exercising, there are things you need to push to be able to get back in the routine where as, others will just need time to heal.
Stay Motivated,
Karen
Filed under Health Secrets & Tips by
Advanced Metabolic Workout
As promised here is the video for the Advanced Metabolic Workout using the TRX. In the video to save time I only showed the right leg, remember you need to work both sides of the body. Do the right and left leg back to back for each exercise. If you want your pulls and pushes to be harder go more parallel to the ground.
In my very first rep of the pulls I showed you an example of an incorrect rep. I let me abs go and in turn my back sagged and dropped. You really have to hold your abs tight and keep your back straight. Click on the link above if you need to see the parameters for the workout again.
If you feel like the TRX is something you may want to purchase in the future click on the picture below to read up on the product or purchase.
Stay Motivated,
Karen
Filed under Exercise Video Clips, Workouts by
How Well Are You?
To understand today's post you are going to have to take a field trip over to my Living Fit Blog and read the post Are You More Healthy This Year?
What if you answered no to those two questions? Worse yet, what if you went back in time and asked yourself those same questions last year, and what if the answer was no I am not.
You can't keep going backwards, eventually you run out of real estate. Take a look at my continuum and see what I'm talking about:
So think about it, if every six months you ask yourself those two questions and each time you answer no, at what point in time are you going to cross over the neutral point and stay there? The closer you hover towards neutral the closer you are to becoming sick.
I am sure you have heard me say it before, your health should be your first priority, without it you have nothing.
Have a happy and safe Halloween weekend!
Stay Motivated,
Karen
Filed under Health Secrets & Tips by
