How to increase muscle gain BodybuildingExercisesTraining Methods by admin - 28th April 202328th April 20230 To increase lean muscle mass, progressive overload is essential - here's how to build up your gains. Angelique Tagaroulias writes. Progressive overload not only does it stimulate muscle hypertrophy by forcing the muscle to adapt to increased loads, it also aids in the development of stronger and denser bones, ligaments, tendons and cartilage. “Progression is
Pull ups for a Strong Upper Body BodybuildingExercisesFitness ModelsGym RatNutritionTraining MethodsWeight loss by admin - 8th April 20230 The two most familiar bodyweight exercises for back are pull-ups and chin-ups. There are grip variations which engage the back in different ways depending on the angle of the grip and the width of the hand placement. Pull-ups generally have an overhand, wide grip, and the exercise focuses on the
For Toned Legs and Inner Thigh Sweep, Work the Quads BodybuildingExercisesFitness ModelsGym RatNutritionTraining MethodsWeight loss by admin - 29th March 20230 Q: Is there any way to target the muscle on the inner part of the thigh just above the knee? I have knobby knees and would like to add shape and definition to the area. A: The muscle you’re referring to is called the vastus medialis, one of the four muscles of
‘Bad’ Exercises: Are Upright Rows Dangerous? BodybuildingExercisesFitness ModelsGym RatTraining MethodsWeight loss by admin - 18th March 202318th March 20230 With few exceptions, there are no such things as “bad” exercises – only improperly performed exercises. Q: I was told by the trainer in my gym that I shouldn’t do upright rows. He said they are dangerous because they put excessive pressure on the shoulder joint. Any truth to this? A: None whatsoever.
Kettlebells vs. Free Weights: Which Is Better? BodybuildingExercisesTraining MethodsWeight loss by admin - 30th November 20220 Training with a kettlebell, a large iron ball connected to a handle, may seem like a relatively new way to exercise – but there is nothing new about kettlebells. 19th-century strongmen such as Arthur Saxon, Eugene Sandow, and Ivan Poddubny used kettlebells to build lean, powerful, lightning-fast physiques that allowed
Want Better Posture and a Shapely Back? BodybuildingExercisesFitness ModelsTraining MethodsWeight loss by admin - 27th July 20220 Taking ownership of good posture is not something that just happens. Whether you sit at a computer, stand at a cash register, or you’re picking up toys, the chores of daily life will tend to pull your shoulders forward and round your upper back. Of course, you could settle for
Are you putting off going to the gym? BodybuildingExercisesTraining Methods by admin - 16th January 202216th January 20220 Here are 5 ways you can find motivation to work out Sometimes, it’s tough to take the first step and sign up for a gym membership. Other times, it’s hard to get back to your routine after a break. We round up five ways to get back into the swing of things
Eat-fasting 2.0 = two meals within a 12 hour period ExercisesNutritionWeight loss by admin - 28th May 202128th May 20210 Eat-fasting 2.0 sanctions eating two meals within a 12-hour period. So does this diet plan work? The whole fasting and eating at the same time thing has become so ubiquitous, we’re inured to the fact that it’s the stupidest oxymoron since skinny-fat. But suspending logic and intellect for the sake of being able to buy lunch and stovepipe jeans, we’re digging scientific backing for a pro-grub upgrade to the 5:2 fad. How does it work Eat-fasting 2.0 sanctions eating two meals within a 12-hour period, which is – knock us down with a catwalk model’s thigh – almost normal. According to Salk Institute researchers, the program can help the body to burn fat rather than store it, despite no weird food or kJ rules and occasional cheat meals. They also put the kibosh on the six-meals-a-day boosting metabolism theory. Who does it: Fitness model Dr Sara Solomon. Browse more diet plans or connect with us on Facebook and Pinterest! {nomultithumb} Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)Like this:Like Loading...
Skinny To Strong: Karina Baymiller’s Complete Fitness Journey BodybuildingExercisesNutritionTraining MethodsWeight loss by GymRat - 1st July 20191st July 20190 Vital StatsName: Karina BaymillerOccupation(s): Team Bodybuilding.com; Cellucor athlete; ACSM Personal trainerIn the fitness community, I’m most often recognized because of my big weight-loss transformation. I went from 185 pounds to a little less than 130 pounds. It took me a few years to get to my lowest weight, but I followed the motto that slow and steady wins the race and I never gave up. I know it was this attitude that helped me place second the 2013 Bodybuilding.com BodySpace Spokesmodel Competition.Sometimes, I look back and can’t believe how far I’ve come. I don’t even remember the girl who had never stepped foot in a gym and gorged on pizza, chips, and ramen all day.But I’ve decided my transformation work is not yet done—in fact, it’s only just begun! I’m on a second transformation journey, and this time I’m putting my happiness and my health first. I’m transforming my body from skinny to strong, and my mind from unhealthy to happy.Before After Why I Decided to Change … AgainBelieve it or not, when I weighed 185 pounds, I was one confident girl. I loved my body and never thought of myself as fat. I was who I was and that was that. I wasn’t defined by my body’s appearance. But that self-confidence changed the moment I decided I should lose weight. It seemed as though the more weight I lost, the more self-conscious about my appearance I became. I reached every weight-related goal I had set for myself, and yet I was never good enough.At 125 pounds and with barely enough body fat to function, I competed for the first (and last) time with anxiety that I was “too fat” to be on stage. I had become so progressively wrapped up in numbers and body fat percentages over the few short years of dieting, that I was mentally destroyed.I also noticed that my training started to suffer. I first began working out to be healthy and because I loved the way it made me feel, but I had lost sight of those reasons. I trained to burn calories and stay as thin as possible. If I didn’t burn enough calories according to my heart rate monitor—which was never accurate anyway—my mood was ruined. More often than not, I would make myself go back to the gym later to do HIIT or run. I started to hate outdoor runs because I was forcing myself to do them. I allowed my training to control me. I stopped doing the things I enjoyed in exchange for doing whatever it took to stay thin.Along with a severely distorted body image and training that was running me into the ground, my relationship with food started to become extremely disordered. Gone were the days of using food for fuel. If my food wasn’t weighed out to the gram and if I didn’t prepare it myself, I refused to eat it. There were days that I had full-blown anxiety attacks because I couldn’t log something in MyFitnessPal.“If I didn’t burn enough calories according to my heart rate monitor—which was never accurate anyway—my mood was ruined. More often than not, I would make myself go back to the gym later to do HIIT or run.”I began taking hours of my day to try to configure my food so I would hit my macros just perfectly. If I didn’t, another anxiety attack would ensue. To say I was obsessed is an understatement. I restricted myself with calories, types of foods, and situations. God forbid I would eat a cookie!I felt like I was drowning, like I was just barely holding my head above water. Everything I had loved so much in the beginning—the healthy eating, the workouts, my body—now had complete control of my life. They were no longer positives. They had become negatives, weighing me down with each passing day. I knew I had to change. It was only a matter of time before I broke down completely.That’s when I decided I wanted to find strength.Letting Go The first thing I had to change was my mindset. I had to let go of the unhealthy habits that were slowly suffocating me. My negative body image was, and still is to this day, the hardest thing to let go of. I found it much easier to allow for self-hate than to find self-love. Sadly, I think this is true for many people. But I had to let go.I had to let go of having visible abs 24/7. I had to let go of desperately trying to maintain 12 percent body fat. I had to let go of the number on the scale. Most importantly, I had to let go of the idea that I would only be happy if I was lean. I wanted to be happy when I looked in the mirror, and I knew it wouldn’t come from a certain size. It had to come from letting go and loving myself no matter what.“I’m proud of the person I’ve become and the changes I’ve made.”I still remind myself of where I started. That girl sitting on her ass eating ramen all day is 180 degrees from where I am today, and she always will be. I’m proud of the person I’ve become and the changes I’ve made. Whether I stay the size that I am now or gain or lose a few pounds, I love who I am. My worth is no longer based on what the scale says in the morning.I don’t have “fat days” or “fluffy days” anymore, because quite frankly, I don’t care. I refuse to let something like three pounds of water destroy my day. I know now that I’m healthier than I ever was at 130 pounds. My hormones aren’t out of whack, I’m not moody or depressed, I don’t have random headaches, I’m not constantly fatigued, and I don’t feel weak.Unfortunately, there’s a widespread belief that equates health to six-pack abs. This might be true for some people, but for the majority it’s not. I can lift more, sprint faster, and am healthier now than I ever was. There is beauty in strength. I don’t just say it, I know it.Letting Go I wanted my fire for exercise to burn like it did when I first started lifting, so I let go of the forced daily runs and extra HIIT sessions to “make up” for calories. I began to utilize conditioning work 1-2 times per week instead. I added back my short outdoor runs, but much more infrequently, and never because I felt pressure to burn a certain number of calories. I threw my heart monitor away.I also discovered powerlifting. When I finally dropped the light-weight, high-rep stuff I was doing to stay thin, I started following Wendler’s 5-3-1 program and quickly fell in love. My strength skyrocketed, and when I decided I wanted to take my training to the next level, I signed with The Strength Guys. Now, the spark is back when I’m in the gym. I feel the fire again.SquatStrength Training ProgramI follow an intense, block-periodization powerlifting program created by my coach, Jon Stewart. It’s high volume, tailored to correct my weaknesses, and uses movements and load intensities built for progression. I’m on six-week cycles of five-day splits. I have one day of light conditioning and one day of complete rest. Mobility is a vital component of my current program because my training pushes my body to its limits.Each day and week I use different sets, reps, and weight with a specific rest time, exercise tempo, and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) to follow. Days one and three look on week three of my program. Mobility Training30-40 minutesMobility Training includes foam rolling the area to be trained, plus two or three dynamic stretches/movements the prepare the area for training. Back Squat5 sets of 4 reps at 85% 1RM Paused Squat3 sets of 3 reps at 65% 1RMPause Squats have the lifter descending to the bottom position of the squat and freezing. The bottom position is held for three seconds, maintaining tightness in the muscles and correct technique, before returning to the starting position. Barbell Hip Thrust4 sets of 8 reps C.A.T. Bench Press4 sets of 5 reps at 70% 1RMCompensatory Acceleration Training (C.A.T.) is lifting sub-maximal loads with maximum force. For more details check elitefts.com. Wide Neutral-Grip Pull-Up3 sets of 8 reps RKC Plank3 sets of 30 seconds (15% bodyweight on mid-back) Mobility Training30-40 minutesMobility Training includes foam rolling the area to be trained, plus two or three dynamic stretches/movements the prepare the area for training. Front Squat3 sets of 6 reps Reset Deadlift4 sets of 3 reps at 75% 1RMReset Deadlifts are performed the same as a standard deadlift, but the lifter will put the weight completely on the floor and reset their hip position between each rep. Glute Bridge Hamstring Walkout4 sets of 8 reps Snatch-Grip Behind-The-Neck Overhead Press (shown with medium grip)3 sets of 5 reps Dips3 sets of 10 reps Seated Dumbbell Hammer Curl3 sets of 8 repsLetting Go The hardest physical aspect to change for me was my diet. I had developed such rigid views and habits around food that it was almost more of a struggle to let them go than it was to keep them. I packed away my food scale and deleted MyFitnessPal. I started incorporating foods that I hadn’t allowed myself to eat in years. I stopped restricting. I re-learned how to eat, not from a clock or scale, but from what my body was feeling.At first I thought I would feel free without the calorie counting, stress, obsession, and anxiety, but I didn’t. I would take two steps forward and three steps back, wondering if I would ever be able to change. It took years to develop my disordered relationship with food, and I knew it wasn’t going to take a week to fix it. So, I trusted the process just as I always had, kept working at it, and didn’t give up.Today, around 70-80 percent of the food I consume is healthy, nutrient-dense food that allows my body to perform at its optimal level. This includes things like lean proteins, organic dairy, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts (and butters!), and seeds.70-80 percent of the food I consume is healthy, nutrient-dense food like lean proteins, organic dairy, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts (and butters!), and seeds.The other 20-30 percent of food I consume is made up of things that I crave, or that I just plain want—no explanation or condition necessary. There is no special time, day, or place for these foods. I allow myself the freedom to eat them when I want them. Some days I’m at a 50/50 split, some days it’s 100/0, but on most days I stay right around 80/20. It all balances out.I don’t restrict, I listen to my body’s needs and wants, and most important, I consume everything mindfully and in moderation. Through all of the extremes, I’ve found balance to be the key component in my physical and mental health. It’s also been the key to my happiness.Sample DayI don’t have a meal plan to follow because the foods and amounts I eat change on a daily basis. I don’t weigh or measure anything, so all quantities below are estimated. I don’t know my caloric intake or macro breakdown, but I would guess I’m somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,200-2,700 calories per day. Here is what I ate yesterday: Chobani Key Lime Yogurt1 container with graham cracker crumbles and white chocolate chips Oats1/2 cup Banana1/2 banana Peanut Butter1 tablespoon Cellucor COR-Performance Whey Cinnamon Swirl1 scoop Almond Milk1 1/2 cups Homemade Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie1 1/2 pieces Spinach Salad1 small salad Avocado1/4 avocado Caesar Dressing1 tablespoon Carrots Onion Quest Nutrition Quest Bars1 cookies and cream bar Apple1 apple Mixed Nuts1 small handfulGreek Chicken Wrap Brown Rice Tortilla1 tortilla Chicken Breast4 ounces Feta Cheese1 ounce Hummus1/4 cup Cucumber, Tomato, and Onionmarinated in olive oil and red wine vinegar with dill, oregano, salt, and pepper Vanilla Crunch Cereal1/2 cup Greek Yogurt1/2 cup Dark Chocolate Chips1 tablespoonFinal ThoughtsThroughout my second transformation, I’ve found myself spending more time with friends and family. They couldn’t care less what I look like—my abs make no difference to them. As long as I’m healthy and happy, they’re happy too.It’s funny because these are the people I pulled away from when I started my downhill slide into disordered eating and thinking. I sheltered myself from everything that wasn’t fitness related, even friends and family. But when I finally let go of the obsession and the stress, I felt free.During this second transformation, I found that the middle is where I want to be.The fitness community is full of extremes. We work out until we can’t move. We eat diets of tilapia and broccoli. It takes a strong individual to endure what we put ourselves through. But during this second transformation, I found that the middle is where I want to be.I want to be somewhere between the overweight college girl and the underweight girl on stage, somewhere between the girl who ate pop-tarts for every meal and the girl who ate lettuce for every meal, somewhere between the girl who never stepped foot into the gym and the girl who wouldn’t leave it until she’d burned enough calories. This middle spot is where I’m happy and strong. It’s where I found my balance.Recommended For YouFitness 360: Karina Baymiller, Petite PowerhouseKarina Baymiller may have had 6-pack abs, but she wasn’t happy. Learn how she let go of her obsession with image and built a healthier, happier, stronger body and mind!Perfect Legs: Karina Baymiller’s High-Rep Plyometric Leg WorkoutLeg day is so nice, you better do it twice! I go heavy on legs early in the week and then finish them off with this powerful plyometric workout.Body Transformation: Fitness FormulaKarina found out through relentless experimentation that good things come to those who are patient. She tried every plan in the book and perfected her own formula!Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)Like this:Like Loading...
Are you addicted to exercise? BodybuildingExercisesTraining Methods by admin - 21st February 201815th February 20180 Exercise is great for the mind, body and soul, right? But what happens when it starts to take over your life? PT Marisa Branscombe ponders the dangerous effects of too much exercise Exercise is generally accepted as a positive behaviour associated with enhanced physical and psychological wellbeing. But is it possible to do