18 Mar
Blog

What Does Exfoliating Do For Your Skin?

We all know that exfoliating is an essential part of healthy, glowing skin, especially in your late twenties and thirties when your skin renewal process is starting to slow down. Importantly, no matter what type of exfoliate you are exfoliating, there are several key steps you need to follow to ensure you are getting the most from your skin care treatments. Before you go deep into your skin, read on to learn more about exfoliating, as well as the pros and cons of exfoliating treatments.

What is peeling Types of peeling

The purpose of the exfoliation is to remove the dull surface layers of dead skin cells to reveal the new, younger skin underneath. The depth of the peel will depend on the type of skin peeling treatment you are receiving. You can choose between a physical peel (usually a peel) or a chemical peel (an acid-based peel). Physical exfoliators are fine granules with a coarse-grained texture that you can massage in to scrape away dead skin. A chemical peel can use AHAs (alpha hydroxy acids) or BHAs (beta hydroxy acids). Typically, a chemical peel with a BHA like salicylic acid is ideal for acne-prone and oily skin types as it penetrates the skin surface and pores and allows blackheads and whiteheads to be targeted. In contrast, AHAs like glycolic acid or lactic acid are great for dry or mature skin as AHAs work on the skin's surface and focus on the visible signs of aging.

To help you in your mission for a brighter, healthier complexion, we've rounded up some exfoliating skin care products so you can get it right!

Do the following: Determine your skin type

Familiarize yourself with your skin type to get the most out of the peeling and avoid unpleasant side effects. Remember that a skin type is different from a skin problem. Skin types are divided into just five categories, while skin problems represent the myriad of conditions you want to treat, and can include blemishes, wrinkles, and sun damage.

The five skin types are:

Let's illustrate a scenario: your skin is prone to irritation and redness, and you have some dark spots on your face due to sun damage. The skin care analysis? Your skin type is most likely "sensitive" and the skin problem you want to target is dark spots or uneven skin tone.

The truth is, determining your skin type is not as easy as it sounds. SkinInc Magazine recommends getting a thorough skin analysis by a professional beautician before every peeling treatment. To find an authorized one Eminence Organics You can find a beautician in your area in the Spa Locator on our website.

Once you have determined your skin type, we recommend using the product recommendation on our website. This smart tool is designed to advise you which products are best for your skin type and help you address your problem areas.

Not: Use synthetic scrubs

Synthetic peels like plastic microspheres can not only damage your skin, they can also be very damaging to our environment. In 2015, the California State Assembly passed a law restricting the sale of personal care products containing plastic microspheres. You can opt for skin care products that use natural and organic alternatives to plastic microspheres. For example, our Pear & Poppyseed Microderm Polisher uses natural ground poppy seeds and fine walnuts. The Monoi Age Corrective Exfoliating Cleanser offers rejuvenating benefits and is more moisturizing for those in drier climates at this time of year. It's also cruelty free and formulated without parabens, sodium lauryl sulfates, synthetic dyes, petrochemicals, animal by-products, phthalates, GMOs, and triclosan.

Do the following: Follow the scrub with SPF

After the peel, your skin is more prone to damage from the sun and other environmental factors. This makes it all the more important to apply an SPF moisturizer. When it comes to your daily skin care routine, sunscreen is a must. Once you've removed the dull layers of skin, your complexion will instantly become more sensitive. After the peel, your skin is more prone to damage from the sun and other environmental pollutants. This makes it all the more important to apply an SPF moisturizer.

Not: Exfoliate irritated skin

Does your skin feel irritated and sore? Whether it's sunburn or a skin reaction caused by another product, any type of irritation or redness is a good reason to avoid exfoliating. In this case, scrubbing the skin may do more harm than good.

Eminence Organics Product Support Officer Kaitlyn Barnett shares that excessive exfoliation of the skin can damage the outermost layer, known as the skin's natural moisture barrier. This barrier helps our skin retain moisture and protects against environmental threats. An impaired barrier can cause the skin to feel red, irritated, inflamed, or overproduced, which can lead to possible breakouts. We recommend stopping any type of treatment until your skin has fully recovered.

Here's what to do: Be careful when combining exfoliating treatments

Although some exfoliating treatments work well together, there are some skin care combinations that should be avoided. For example, if you are using retinol treatments, it is recommended that you avoid using our VitaSkin ™ peeling scrubs and be careful with additional peeling procedures such as eyebrow waxing, chemical peels, microdermabrasion and laser treatments. This also applies to over-the-counter drugs. To be on the safe side, it is always best to consult your doctor before undergoing an intense scrub. Eminence Organics Product Support Team Leader Alicia Hawthorne alternatively recommends the Bamboo Firming Fluid. This concentrate contains a natural retinol alternative that can be safely combined with other exfoliating products.

Some peeling treatments can safely be combined. We recommend combining our VitaSkin ™ peeling peelings with products such as our Strawberry Rhubarb Dermafoliant and our Yam & Pumpkin Enzyme Peel 5%. These scrubs can actually improve results if used before the exfoliation.

Do you have any tips about exfoliating that you'd like to share? Let us know in the comments below. For more information on peeling, please contact your nearest Eminence Organics Spa partner.

Product selection

Strawberry Rhubarb Dermafoliant

VIEW PRODUCT

Yam & Pumpkin Enzyme Peel 5%

VIEW PRODUCT

This post was originally published in October 2015 and has been updated for accuracy and completeness.

18 Mar
Blog

The Yin and Yang in Strength Training to Optimize Balance

I started writing for Breaking Muscle a few years ago and I had an agenda all along. In an attempt to establish myself as someone with some strengths, the good people on the editorial team thought it a better idea to loosen up the articles that revolve around the mysterious, esoteric, and unconventional.

"Help them understand that you know what you are talking about when it comes to training and then they will be more willing to listen to some of your fringe ideas."

I wrote an original piece: What does Daoism have to do with it? This was a first attempt to offer some of these ideas. This article was my sneaky throw to this community about some tough ideas.

Well, I've waited long enough and it's officially time for my freak flag to fly.

I am about to give you the cliff notes on a much larger project that I have been working on since doing clinical research for my medical qigong PhD over 13 years ago.

What you are reading is real.

Yes, some elements will feel awesome and whimsical and moments when you think I am assuming some form of artistic license with my claims. And you couldn't be further from the truth.

Much of what I'm going to present today has been proven in studies – if you tend to look.

This short dissertation is the exact formulation I use with my patients who visit me for help with a medical problem and who do not have a great understanding of Qigong or Chinese medicine in general.

But you can look at the world in which I live through the power lens and not through the healing lens: even if you will quickly find that they are not independent of each other. So sit back and listen to some ideas that you've probably never heard of before.

Everything is energy

Okay, most of you have probably heard this by now, but it is a basic concept that must be accepted if we are to make any progress with all of this.

The good news is that every high school physics book confirms this when you have to convince. The computer / phone screen you look at, the shoes you wear, the water in the ocean, and the stars in the sky are all energy. They are indeed energy.

Everything in this world that is material, everything that is not, and everything in between is, as you guessed it, energy differentiated by sound, vibration and quality.

Neo in The Matrix, the moment he is brought back to life by Trinity with the kiss and through the eyes of one, sees the world as it actually looks like a fantastic cornucopia of lights and colors that is indescribable.

Yin and yang

With that said, we can learn the most basic understanding of it through the image of yin and yang: you know, the two tears that have come together to represent duality, the cycle of life and the expression of opposites.

The Yin and Yang are created right around the first cell division after the moment of conception.

We Daoists believe that in many ways this moment is just as important, if not more important, than when the sperm meets the egg. In this department, the yin and yang take shape, where the virtues of each child are escorted and software of the divine mind begins to execute its program.

At this moment, and throughout pregnancy, the developing child is in a kind of nuclear nirvana that can only be disturbed by excessive stressors that the mother can endure.

I like to think that the yin and yang of this being are in complete balance and perfection (in almost all cases) has been achieved and sustained for nine months.

Before we go any further, we should probably give you a quick explanation of what this whole yin and yang thing is. But first it's yin, not ying with a G. And it's yang like yawning – not yang and dang. When was the last time you heard someone say daaaang and meant it?

Joe Dirt said it a couple of times and probably one of your hillbilly friends, right. Well, for those of us in this business who hear this, you will immediately see the hillbilly friend in you when we listen to you say ying and yaaaang!

Forgive me, but it had to be said.

In this article, yin and yang are defined as the quality of energy we are talking about:

  1. Yin represents feminine, calm, cool, the shadowy side of the mountain, the moon.
  2. Yang is masculine, aggressive, hot, the stars on the bright side of the mountain. These properties reside in every single atom of your body.

Gather all the atoms and we have you, and while you are in the cozy confines of your mother's womb, everything is in balance because the balance is individual to you.

My balance is different from yours, but it is understood and accepted that this balance exists to some extent in all of us.

Everything in the body works wonderfully in moments of true equilibrium. All systems are tuned to the maximum, and in these nine months the miracle of life is taking shape. And then you take your first breath.

it's a boy

These words are followed by one of the most blood-curdled screams you will ever hear. I know quite well. I've heard that scream three times.

I was in a position with our doctor when the whole process happened for my wife and children and I remember that sound. Many people think this is naturally reflexive, and it is the way the baby announces that it has arrived.

But I have a different theory.

If everything is energy, and energy cannot be destroyed, think about the space in which the woman finds herself in one of the most catastrophic events of her life. Then think of the woman who was there before her, and then the one before that.

Over time, this room becomes a petri dish full of emotions and electrical charges as these events penetrate the walls.

Think about how the dad feels (I can only speak for myself but I've been a nervous wreck with every delivery, probably more so than my incredible wife). Remember how jacked up the doctor and hospital staff are the moment the pushing starts.

Come back to the true love, elation, excruciating pain, fear, joy, terror and the most explosive emotions a person is capable of invading every square inch of this room.

The baby spent about nine months in the most wonderful environment it will ever know, and all the energy of the room for the first stage of life is absorbed in one breath.

At that moment, the same union of yin and yang is radically changed and the rest of that person's life is spent trying to find balance.

illness

think about it. According to the Alexa on my desk:

  • As a noun, lightness is defined as freedom from work, pain or physical annoyance, calm rest, comfort.
  • As a verb, it is defined as being free from fear or care.
  • Throw "dis" in front of it and off you go.

Now I don't bet Alexa is the omniscient fortune teller who only spits out truths, but if we can both agree that her definition is nearly correct, what is missing?

She never mentioned it::

  1. Right nutrition
  2. Eight glasses of water a day
  3. Take vitamins
  4. Don't live next to a power plant.
  5. With fluoride-free toothpaste

The things Alexa mentioned had to do with aspects of life that were perceived from within and the types of things we all want to achieve.

Your understanding of the second half of the disease right now has to do with calm, stillness, and contentment.

Good thing my Alexa and I are so close because a lot of the Chinese medical system is based on things like emotions, virtues, and the elements. Tie details to organs and what we have is an elegant view of disease and the root cause of anything that brings us to our favorite doctor's waiting room.

If the opposite of ease focuses on fear, discomfort, pain, and physical annoyance, can you compose the picture that much of our illnesses are due to emotional distress?

Take this one big step forward; When overbearing emotions flood you, especially one or two, the balance between yin and yang becomes upset.

The longer you stay imbalanced, the richer the soil is to grow something terrible. I simplify this by leaps and bounds.

If I had the absolute freedom to explain all the connections between this organ, this meridian and these emotions, I could paint a clear picture for you. Just trust that everything is there.

The noise of life

I used the word noise because it captures an idea that I hope you will understand in this section.

The most centered person in the world faces the challenges of living this life at this time.

  • Take every monastic person on this planet who has cultivated with decades of practice of meditation and prayer (something we will visit in the third installment) and drop them in downtown Los Angeles.
  • Then give them a cell phone, a company job, a poor diet, a new girlfriend, bills to be paid, and a problematic right knee, and then watch all of that work unfold before our eyes.
  • You see, believers, those who have dedicated their lives to service, especially service from a religious or spiritual point of view, these people go to monasteries and seminaries and are effectively imprisoned and removed from society as the noise of everyday life becomes filtered.
  • They can have the ideal conditions to do their craft. You are not anti-social. They create the best possible framework for deep introspection, study, and cultivation.

The best way to learn to fly is in an airplane. The best place to learn how to be a priest and be in the service of God is in a monastery, away from the everyday life of society.

Now if you buy the entire yin and yang position and we know that the only time in your life that balance is truly achieved is in the womb, then every second we are boots on the ground in this world that we pursue this balance.

I tell my patients that if they don't practice, they will likely never achieve this absolute balance again.

Our life is a yang thunderstorm.

Think about it for a moment::

  • The hectic pace of life
  • Our jobs
  • Our relationships
  • The rubbish that the media is constantly trying to shovel down our throats like our diets.
  • Everything we encounter in our waking hours is stress.
  • And in the case of this article, Yang-type energy is blasted on us and into our energy field around the clock.

If we don't have a solution to make up for this constant inundation, our tears should be the same and transform into something so one-sided that disease can occur.

I want to leave you with that.

And then we throw training on it. We intentionally add another yang activity to an already noisy day because we love it and we think we're doing ourselves a favor.

Yes, our fitness is good, our jeans look great, and I'm the first to say I go through a real posing routine in the mirror in the morning before brushing my teeth (stop lying, you do too ). . We love our time in the gym and we know it's good for us.

Or is it?

18 Mar
Blog

Avoid Burnout On The Way To Your BJJ Black Belt

Avoid Burnout on the Way to Your BJJ Black Belt - Fitness, Weightlifting, Bodybuilding, BJJ, Jiu-Jitsu, Energy Systems, Periodization, Explosive Strength, Muscle Endurance, Proprioception, Burnout, Cardiovascular Fitness, Fitness Nutrition, The Recovery Guide

In the culture of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, athletes are advised to keep exercising. The athletes practice jiu-jitsu every evening, lift weights every morning or vice versa, and do two training sessions a day at least five to six days a week.

If you exercise this way and still feel like you are not necessarily making progress because you:

Then you are most likely exercising too much.

Are you overtraining?

Many chronically overtrained athletes feel this way, and to top it off, they are frustrated because they cannot lose weight despite all the training.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a complex sport that puts a lot of strain on the nervous system.

It involves the constant activation of multiple muscle groups with both significant movements and small, subtle movements.

Rolling around the gym can take up to eight minutes, and black belt matches last ten minutes. Hence, muscle endurance and cardio fitness are required to be explosive within this period. Hence, BJJ requires that all energy systems fire at one level or another.

Relax and repair the central nervous system

There are methods for better recovery such as ice baths, meditation, and good nutrition.

Deep sleep is one of the best ways to deal with overtraining because the central nervous system can relax and begin the repair process. Many people fail to understand that the nervous system takes much longer to restore than other systems such as the muscular system.

Due to the nervous system affecting the slow burning of muscles, it can affect the following:

  1. reaction time
  2. speed
  3. Grip strength
  4. Explosive force

Ironically, once our nervous systems are fried, it is hard to sleep, but it is what our bodies need most when we are continuously exercising to recover.

Although ice baths, meditation, and good nutrition all help mitigate some of the adverse effects of chronic overtraining, it will ultimately catch up if we do two intense sessions a day.

Structure and periodization

In order to be successful in the long term, the Jiu-Jitsu training in the Basque Country must be periodized and structured.

  • If you want to train on the mat every day, days must be selected for hard rounds and other days for more fluid rounds, with the more technical aspect of the sport being the focus.
  • Weight training should only be done about twice a week and should be done on the days you do flow rolls.
  • Make the strength workouts count and do them with intensity. Then give your body time to recover.
  • Don't go to the gym and go over the moves just because you think you should – which so many of us do.
  • Push yourself to get those gains and make every session count.

Perform on purpose.

Choose exercises that mimic movement patterns

In bodybuilding culture (why gyms came into existence in the first place), lifting began with the goal of building big muscles.

This type of lifting is not necessarily suitable for competitive athletes who need to train the compound movements of multiple muscle groups at the same time to maintain coordination or core strength for balance, strength, speed, and muscle endurance.

Getting creative is key, so try to mimic BJJ's movement patterns as closely as possible. Lateral thinking.

Here are some great exercises that can be done back to back that will benefit any competitive athlete.

2. Pull-ups with the Gi to increase grip strength

Avoid Burnout on the Way to Your BJJ Black Belt - Fitness, Weightlifting, Bodybuilding, BJJ, Jiu-Jitsu, Energy Systems, Periodization, Explosive Strength, Muscle Endurance, Proprioception, Burnout, Cardiovascular Fitness, Fitness Nutrition, The Recovery Guide

3. Kettlebell swings

Avoid Burnout on the Way to Your BJJ Black Belt - Fitness, Weightlifting, Bodybuilding, BJJ, Jiu-Jitsu, Energy Systems, Periodization, Explosive Strength, Muscle Endurance, Proprioception, Burnout, Cardiovascular Fitness, Fitness Nutrition, The Recovery Guide

4. Plank handles and variations

Avoid Burnout on the Way to Your BJJ Black Belt - Fitness, Weightlifting, Bodybuilding, BJJ, Jiu-Jitsu, Energy Systems, Periodization, Explosive Strength, Muscle Endurance, Proprioception, Burnout, Cardiovascular Fitness, Fitness Nutrition, The Recovery Guide

5. Stability ball exercises to increase proprioception

Avoid Burnout on the Way to Your BJJ Black Belt - Fitness, Weightlifting, Bodybuilding, BJJ, Jiu-Jitsu, Energy Systems, Periodization, Explosive Strength, Muscle Endurance, Proprioception, Burnout, Cardiovascular Fitness, Fitness Nutrition, The Recovery Guide

Training in a circuit-based format with little rest is ideal for building muscle endurance and cardiovascular fitness.

Try to make significant full body movements that activate the core to build all total body strength, then spend the rest of the day resting if you can, or doing technique and flow rolls. Limit these effective and intense strength exercises to only about two days a week.

Allow yourself a full day of rest once a week so that your muscles, nervous system and joints can recover and recharge.

Start the following week hard and repeat. Adding rest will reduce your stress levels, which will help you stay lean.

Athletes who chronically overexert are heavily stressed and therefore hold on to body fat and water.

Exercise vigorously with less total volume, rest to relax and relieve stress, and you'll get leaner in the long run.

In it in the long run

So that most of us can embark on this wonderful Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu journey, we want to be there for the long term. You want to grow and keep your body healthy and strong by working out smarter, not necessarily harder.

To sum it up, aim for three hard BJJ sessions per week, two intense strength exercises per week, and one full day of rest per week.

This schedule gives you the rest you need to keep working towards your goals without fatigue or burnout. It will get you further along your path to a black belt too.

17 Mar
Blog

LG G1 Gallery Series OLED TV Review (OLED65G1PUA)

LG G1 Gallery Series OLED TVs

LG G1 Gallery Series OLED TV Review: Bright, Beautiful, Smart

"The G1 Gallery series is the best OLED TV LG has ever made."

  • Increased brightness

  • Excellent contrast

  • Exact color

  • Player friendly

  • WebOS improvements

  • Confusing options for picture settings

Sure, LG has its mind-boggling wallpaper OLED, not to mention its drooling (and wallet-breaking) 8K OLED range, but according to specs, the new LG G1 Gallery range is the most advanced and promising OLED TV ever was a company that has pioneered OLED televisions since the launch of the first 55-inch model in 2012.

Equipped with the so-called OLED Evo panel from LG, advanced processing, a WebOS Smart TV makeover, HDMI 2.1 and a complete dashboard for gamers, the G1 combines the best of everything that LG has for its OLED product line this year Has. But how impressive is it really?

I took on the tedious task of testing a 65-inch version of the LG G1 Gallery series by taking measurements, looking at test clips I'd seen several times on dozen of TVs, and digging deep into those with the new Microsoft Xbox series Graphics performance immersed itself in next-generation X and Sony PlayStation 5 consoles. I found the following:

Jump to: Out of the box | Design | Features | The technology inside | Picture settings | Image quality | Play | Our opinion

Editor's Note: At the time of writing, the price and availability of this TV had not yet been announced. We will update this post as soon as it is published.

Out of the box

OLED TVs, known for their thin profiles and (sometimes) light weight, always required two people to set up. The G1 Gallery series is a bit cumbersome for an OLED and requires some TLC when wall mounted or with a stand.

OLED television of the LG G1 Gallery series "class =" m-carousel - image dt-lazy-no "src =" https://img.dtcn.com/image/digitaltrends/lg-g1-gallery-series -oled -tv-mount-kit-640x640.jpg "srcset =" https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5AAAAAEADan Baker / Digital Trends

OLED TV mount from the LG G1 Gallery series "class =" m-carousel - image dt-lazy-no "src =" https://img.dtcn.com/image/digitaltrends/lg-g1-gallery-series -oled- tv-mount-640x640.jpg "srcset =" https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAAADan Baker / Digital Trends

LG G1 Gallery Series OLED TV "class =" m-Karussell - Bild dt-lazy-no "src =" https://img.dtcn.com/image/digitaltrends/lg-g1-gallery-series-oled-tv -640x640.jpg "srcset =" https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAADan Baker / Digital Trends

OLED TV mount from the LG G1 Gallery series "class =" m-carousel - image dt-lazy-no "src =" https://img.dtcn.com/image/digitaltrends/lg-g1-gallery-series -oled- tv-mount-640x640.jpg "srcset =" https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAADan Baker / Digital Trends

The most interesting thing about what's in the box is also what's not in the box: a stand. The G1 instead comes with a custom wall mount bracket that lets the TV sit flush against the wall thanks to a recessed section on the back of the TV. LG provides clear instructions for wall mounting. The hardware is robust and easy to configure.

The television was specially developed for wall mounting. However, if you are interested in stand mounting, you have two options. One option is to buy the simple two-legged desk display stand for $ 100. The legs – or feet if you prefer – will fit all three available screen sizes of 55, 65 and 77 inches. The legs are stable enough, but the TV still wobbles despite their support.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

The other option is to pick up the very sleek, lifestyle-friendly metal tripod-style stand that wasn't listed on LG's website at the time of writing. I'll say the three-legged floor stand looks attractive and can be handy for those who don't have the ideal wall space for a TV or need to put their TV in front of a window.

Other items in the box include a redesigned Magic Motion remote control, batteries for the remote control, a cable tie, IR repeater and some product literature.

design

I usually roll features and design into the same section, but there's so much going on in both departments that I'll be addressing them one by one.

As mentioned earlier, the G1 looks absolutely stunning on the wall (it's really something to see). I wrote about last year's GX-OLED: "If looks could kill, the GX-OLED would be a serial killer," and I stand by the G1 too. In terms of design, it's still one of the nicest TVs you can buy. With virtually nonexistent bezels and a ridiculously thin profile, the TV just seems to float on the wall.

OLED TV inputs of the LG G1 Gallery series "class =" m-carousel - image dt-lazy-no "src =" https://img.dtcn.com/image/digitaltrends/lg-g1-gallery-series -oled- tv-input-640x640.jpg "srcset =" https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAAADan Baker / Digital Trends

LG G1 Gallery Series OLED TV "class =" m-Karussell - Bild dt-lazy-no "src =" https://img.dtcn.com/image/digitaltrends/lg-g1-gallery-series-oled-tv -1-640x640.jpg "srcset =" https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAADan Baker / Digital Trends

LG G1 Gallery Series OLED TV "class =" m-Karussell - Bild dt-lazy-no "src =" https://img.dtcn.com/image/digitaltrends/lg-g1-gallery-series-oled-tv -4-640x640.jpg "srcset =" https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP//yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEADan Baker / Digital Trends

Unfortunately, this means that considerations about conventional stand mounting with two legs have taken a back seat. During the design process, all of the cables will be routed to the center of the TV and then down over the bottom edge. If there is a few inches of space between the bottom of the TV and the stand, you can easily see cables falling from your seated position. This could easily be covered with a slim soundbar, of course, and LG would happily recommend the G1 soundbar for the job.

Get ready because LG has packed the G1 with a wealth of features.

On the plus side, LG offers a decorative cover to hide inputs and cable routing, and another one to hide the TV's recessed wall duct, so anyone looking at the TV from the side sees a very neat profile view.

characteristics

Get ready because LG has packed the G1 with a ton of features. When we're done here, we have yet to talk about some of the unique technologies in TV and all that goes with it. Stay with me though, because this is pretty meaningful stuff.

WebOS

I enjoyed WebOS in the wild west of the smart TV days when there was nothing like it on the market. But to be honest, I felt it needed a refresher over the past few years. In 2021 my wish will be granted and WebOS has the necessary makeover and it looks and works fantastic.

In the past, the WebOS interface was essentially a strip across the bottom of the TV that gave access to apps, inputs, and a few other widgets. Now WebOS takes over the screen and looks comfortable and dark.

LG G1 Gallery Series OLED TV Home DashboardDan Baker / Digital Trends

Some may object to LG's decision to follow others and put content promotions in big boxes at the top of the user interface, but I really don't mind. Sure, it feels like advertising, but there's more to this new "hero banner", including widgets for weather and other information. Under the hero banner, content from apps and live TV is suggested based on your viewing habits. This section is not meaningful if you do not allow LG to collect some display data. So keep that in mind as you go through privacy policies and accept or reject them.

With all of that behind, your apps are neatly organized on the third level, which still appears at the top of the home page without having to scroll through. If I had to scroll to get to apps we would have a problem. Under the apps banner there is a "Home Dashboard" banner that you can use to switch to exactly what you want without having to go through them.

Among all the things you really want to see, WebOS has a ton of categories of content to suggest. Most of it doesn't interest me, but I don't like Sports Alerts, which allow you to follow your favorite teams in any sport, set up notifications for the game, and even show score updates during subsequent games.

Game optimizer

OK, player. This section is for you. If you have no real interest in gaming, go ahead!

In addition to support of up to 4K 120 Hz with variable refresh rate (VRR) and Nvidea G-Sync support as well as AMD FreeSync support via all four HDMI 2.1 ports of the G1, LG has a new Game Optimizer on-screen display for in Attacked access to and adaptation of all game-related things.

A display area at the top shows whether the Game Optimizer is activated or deactivated and shows the most important settings at a glance. Below, the user interface allows users to select image settings to optimize different game genres. For example, choosing First Person Shooter will ensure good visibility in dark areas and the real-time strategy will balance the lighting throughout the game.

The Image / Motion Settings section provides extensive control over various types of motion smoothing, as well as delay adjustments and adjustments for light and dark areas. The final area of ​​the user interface provides direct access to VRR, G-Sync and FreeSync Premium toggle switches.

Evo offers higher brightness than we've seen from OLED TVs in the past.

A deep level of control to be sure, but how valuable these settings will be to individual players depends on how interested they are in delving into the UI and experimenting with it as they play.

The technology inside

OLED evo

LG did a big deal with OLED evo – essentially the next evolution in OLED display technology – but how does evo work and what are the benefits?

For one, evo offers higher brightness than OLED TVs in the past, which may fix one of the few issues that buyers may face. On the other hand, the color accuracy has been further refined.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

But how? As LG explains, evo is a combination of finely tuned OLED materials that create more precise wavelengths of red and blue, as well as a new green layer that brings the green wavelength of light closer to where it should be, and where it should be Wavelength peak sharpens. For laypeople, this means that the colors are purer and require fewer filters for purity, so less light is lost to the filtering process and more of it gets into your eyes. Boom, brighter picture.

However, LG also points out that image processing also has a lot to do with the brighter performance. Let's call it LG's secret sauce. I just want to know how much brighter it is. We'll find out together below.

AI Picture Pro

This is a feature I usually turn off when rating a TV as it gets in the way of my purist approach to TV rating. Given that LG had such high demands, I tried this newly improved bag with image processing tricks.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

AI Picture Pro claims to detect the types of content you're watching – a movie or a TV show, for example – and then automatically switch to the correct picture mode. It can also perform scene detection – for example, a dark scene versus a city scene – and apply deeper processing to optimize the image. Activating this feature promises to improve the shadow details in dark scenes and provide enhanced details in tight patterns to avoid the moiré effect, among other things. How much does it improve the picture?

In general, I appreciated the feature. It has increased the brightness in many of the YouTube clips I've watched and improved the picture quality a bit too. I found the feature pretty useful for more compressed YouTube content than for premium streaming titles from Disney + and HBO Max. In summary, the G1's processor is already doing an excellent job. How dramatic AI Picture Pro will be will likely depend on the quality of the content displayed.

AI Sound Pro

This feature promises to do the same for the sound as the A.I. This applies to the picture of the television set by virtue of the fact that audio signals are virtually mixed up to a 5.1.2 Atmos signal, not just for the television set, but for every connected device such as a soundbar or a receiver. I've always been in doubt about such claims, but I've tried.

First, the LG G1 sounds very good without any fancy processing or surround effects … for a TV. There are few TVs that can deliver more robust, dynamic sound. Clarity is never an issue, and the G1 offers more bass than you'd expect for such a thin panel.

I'm less of a fan of AI Sound Pro. I understand what the feature is trying to do, but I was distracted by the virtual surround effects that seemed to wash out some of the noises that should have been anchored on the screen. I suggest that users play around with this feature themselves and see if they like it.

One final acoustic hint: the G1 has an AI. The acoustic tuning feature did a good job in my opinion, adding a little more bass and shine to the TV's onboard sound. Users should definitely try this. An A / B comparison of the before and after shows the changes involved.

Picture settings

Before I dive into the image quality of the G1, I need to talk a little about the various image presets and settings available, what I used for my assessment, and why I chose what I did.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

I usually went straight to the TV's ISF Dark Room mode with an LG TV, but to grin I started with ISF Bright Room. After some measuring and fumbling around in the settings, I found that ISF Bright uses a cooler color temperature by default, which I think was chosen for better viewing in daylight. However, it is not suitable for testing as it does not allow for a level playing field. Ultimately, I decided to go to Cinema User Mode or ISF Dark Room and changed the settings for measuring.

For a brighter picture than standard SDR, users can set the G1's Peak Brightness setting to high and get an image bright enough for most daytime situations.

In HDR mode, I initially opted for Cinema User, as Cinema Home had a cooler color temperature by default. After playing around a bit, I finally changed the color temperature from Cinema Home to Warm 50 and switched between the two cinema modes. Cinema Home enabled the G1's AI brightness feature to be activated while Cinema didn't – curious. The differences between the two were only noticeable in certain dark scenes.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Dolby Vision was a very different situation. ISF modes are not an option here, so I re-examined the differences between Cinema User and Cinema Home – which I found frustrating. In this case the color temperature was correctly set to warm 50 and the AI ​​brightness was activated by default. However, TruMotion (motion smoothing) has been set to Cinematic Movement – a new setting that aims to remove jerking without introducing a soap opera effect. and changing this setting has been blocked.

Without a doubt, the G1 Gallery series is an important advancement of the OLED for LG.

In many ways, Cinema Home's brighter setting is subjectively superior. However, I still see a soap opera effect from the smoothing and was frustrated that I couldn't have higher brightness without this option. Most of the time I've used Cinema User because I'm so picky.

picture quality

Without a doubt, the G1 Gallery series is an important advancement of the OLED for LG. Everything I've seen, from 720p cables to HD on Netflix and wireless broadcasts to 4K HDR movies, looked as good as I've never seen, if not downright extraordinary.

Cable / satellite television is low definition and fairly compressed. It takes some serious processing muscle to look even more decent on a 65-inch TV. The G1's processor is about as good as I've seen at smoothing gradients and minimizing macroblocks – those annoying noisy blocks you get with compressed content.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

As the quality of the content increased, the visual experience just got bigger. Meat Eater on Netflix is ​​in HD with no HDR, but the superior black levels, improved brightness, and resulting vivid contrast that the G1 itself creates in cinema mode made the show look as natural as the views it contained.

4K HDR content, especially on 4K Blu-ray but also on YouTube, looked better than I've ever seen it before. The colors are rich and bright, if you call them, HDR highlights are extremely poignant, blacks are perfectly tinted with solid shadow detail, and banding – or contouring as it's often called – was virtually nonexistent.

The bottom line is that the LG G1 Gallery series delivers the cleanest, most alluring images I've seen from a television to date. Finally a big leap forward for OLED after years of excellence.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

If I had to complain, I'd say that darker Dolby Vision content was sometimes just too dark for me, even in a well-darkened room. While WandaVision looked great overall on Disney +, I found that Captain Marvel often became a pool of blackness with little detail, especially in the movie's opening battle scene between Kree and Skrull, where the characters' details were difficult to see. I'm not sure what to make of this, but I'm in the early stages of my long-term assessment and will update this section as I learn more.

Overall, I am delighted with the image quality of the LG G1 Gallery Series. I have a lot of TVs to review this year, but I'm pretty sure this TV will be high on the list for picture quality and overall experience.

Play

There might be some surprises for me later this year, but I think LG's C and G series OLED TVs are going to be the best TVs for gaming this year. LG seems to be the only TV manufacturer to date to offer four HDMI 2.1 connections, support for G-Sync and FreeSync Premium as well as the kind of game-specific image adjustments – all in one place – that gamers need and want the best gaming experiences for the device . From now on, the OLEDs from LG offer everything that the new game consoles of the next generation have to offer in the best possible way.

Our opinion

The LG G1 series OLED is an important step forward for OLED televisions. With exceptional picture quality, a great form factor and industry leading gaming support, the G1 is a great high-end television that meets the needs of those who only want the best.

Is there a better alternative?

For most people, especially gamers, there is no better alternative. In terms of image quality and user experience, I suspect the Sony A90J is a competitive option for cinephiles. I will update this section when my Sony A90J review is complete.

How long it will take?

The G1 is equipped with the latest technology, bells and whistles. It should outlast most other TVs sold that year.

warranty

LG provides a one-year limited warranty on the G1 Galler Series OLED if purchased from an authorized LG dealer.

Should you buy it?

Ordinarily I would say, yes, if you have the money and want the fanciest OLED that anyone can reasonably afford, the G1 is the TV. And that's still true. This year's additional qualifier, however, is the premium image quality of the G1, which is now brighter and more accurate than ever, making it yet another reason to buy.

Editor's recommendations




17 Mar
Blog

Does Protein Distribution Effect Muscle Mass?

When it comes to gaining new muscle mass, protein intake is one of the most important variables to consider. Frequent discussions range from the amount of protein, protein source and bioavailability to refractory periods and protein distribution.

This article gives a brief overview of the data currently available and provides clear and concise recommendations on how to optimize protein distribution throughout the day and maximize your results.

The role of protein in the functions of the body

Protein performs various functions in the body including, but not limited to, tissue growth and maintenance,1 catalyze biochemical reactions, 2 recovery from injury,3 and normal immune function.4

Of particular interest, however, is its role in the synthesis of skeletal muscles. Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS) 5 is the process by which our bodies synthesize new muscle tissue. This is a primary variable that speeds tissue remodeling.

Muscle protein breakdown (MPB) 6 is an oppositional effect in which muscle proteins are broken down. This effect occurs through autophagy, calpain, and the ubiquitin proteasome systems. 6

The balance between these two processes determines whether a person gains, maintains, or loses muscle mass.

  • When the rate of MPS exceeds MPB, new muscle is accumulated.
  • When MPB outperforms MPS, muscle loss is observed.

Optimize muscle building

A 20197 paper by Iraki et al. established recommendations for natural bodybuilders in the off-season. The authors reiterate what the greater body of evidence suggests: Total protein intake is a more important determinant of new muscle mass development than protein distribution. Currently, research suggests that a protein intake of 1.6 to 2.2 g / kg per day is enough to optimize muscle gain

However, with protein, calories, and any resistance training protocol standardized, we still see a slight benefit in optimizing protein distribution throughout the day.

One of the more obvious reasons for this is the refractory period of MPS. The leucine threshold describes the amount of leucine that is required within a protein supply to maximally stimulate MPS8.

Does protein distribution affect muscle mass? - Fitness, Immune System, Weight Training, Protein, Hypertrophy, Elite Programming, Leucine, Protein Synthesis, Bodybuilder, Calorie Burn, Reconstruction, The Recovery Guide

A: Changes in muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and muscle protein breakdown (MPB) in response to feeding (i.e. amino acids). B: Changes in MPS and MPB in response to resistance training and feeding. The chronic use of these anabolic stimuli as in B leads to muscle hypertrophy8.

Protein quality and bioavailability are beyond the scope of this article, but in general it appears that animal protein appears to be superior to vegetable proteins in most cases. However, some non-animal sources of protein are of high quality. If you want to dig into this topic, read this and this and this document first. But I digress.

Assuming a sufficient amount of protein is consumed, we will maximize the MPS response (approximately 20-40 g). This reaction comes with the so-called "muscle-full effect", as described by Schönfeld et al. In his work of 2019.9, once MPS is maximally stimulated, there is essentially a refractory period during which MPS cannot be maximally stimulated again.

A 2017 paper10 by Kirksick et al. found “Taking a 20-40 g protein dose (0.25-0.40 g / kg body mass / dose) from a high-quality source every three to four hours seems to have the most favorable influence on MPS rates compared to other eating habits associated improved body composition and performance results. “10

Does protein distribution affect muscle mass accumulation? Yes, but the effect is small. However, I would caution against assuming that small is not meaningful. Its worth is relative to the individual and their goals.

Hypothetically, a 1% increase in hypertrophy for an elite bodybuilder can mean the difference between 1st and 5th place.

For the average person, the extra effort may not be worth the relatively small impact on results. It is up to each individual to decide whether the investment is worthwhile. Good luck!

References

1. Bosses JD, Dixon BM. "Dietary Protein for Maximizing Strength Training: A Review and Examination of Protein Spread and Theories of Change." J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2012, September 8; 9 (1): 42.

2. Cooper GM. "The Central Role of Enzymes as Biological Catalysts." The cell: a molecular approach. 2nd Edition. Sunderland (MA): Sinauer Associates; 2000.

3. Yeung SE, Hilkewich L., Gillis C., Heine JA, Fenton TR. "Protein intake is associated with reduced length of stay: a comparison between improved recovery after surgery (ERAS) and conventional care after elective colorectal surgery." At J Clin Nutr. 2017 Jul; 106 (1): 44- 51.

4. Li P, Yin YL, Li D, Kim SW, Wu G. "Amino acids and immune function." Br J Nutr. 2007 Aug; 98 (2): 237-23. 52.

5. P.J. Atherton and K. Smith, "Muscle Protein Synthesis in Response to Diet and Exercise." The Journal of Physiology, Vol. 59-5, 1049-57.

6. Kevin D. Tipton, D. Lee Hamilton, Iain J. Gallagher, "Assessing the Role of Muscle Protein Breakdown in Response to Diet and Exercise in Humans." Sports medicine (Aukland, N.Z.). Vol 48, 2018. Suppl 1, 53-64.

7. Juma Iraki, Peter Fitschen, Sergio Espinar, and Eric Helms, "Diet Recommendations for Bodybuilders in the Off-Season: A Narrative Overview." Sport (Basel, Switzerland.), Vol. 7,7 154, June 26, 2019.

8. Burd NA, Tang JE, Moore DR, Phillips SM. "Exercise Training and Protein Metabolism: Influences of Contraction, Protein Intake, and Gender Differences." J Appl Physiol (1985). 2009 May; 106 (5): 1692-1. 701

9. Schönfeld, B.J., Aragon, A.A. "How Much Protein Can the Body Use to Build Muscle in a Single Meal? Effects on Daily Protein Distribution." J Int Soc Sports Nutr 15, 10 (2018).

10. Kerksick CM, Arent S., Schönfeld BJ, Stout JR, Campbell B., Wilborn CD, Taylor L., Kalman D., Smith-Ryan AE, Kreider RB, Willoughby D., Arciero PJ, VanDusseldorp TA, Ormsbee MJ , Wildman R., Greenwood M, Ziegenfuss TN, Aragon AA, Antonio J. "State of the International Society for Sports Nutrition: Nutrient Timing." J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017, August 29; 14:33.

17 Mar
Blog

The Yin and Yang in Strength Training to Optimize Balance

I started writing for Breaking Muscle a few years ago and I had an agenda all along. In an attempt to establish myself as someone with some strengths, the good people on the editorial team thought it a better idea to loosen up the articles that revolve around the mysterious, esoteric, and unconventional.

"Help them understand that you know what you are talking about when it comes to training and then they will be more willing to listen to some of your fringe ideas."

I wrote an original piece: What does Daoism have to do with it? This was a first attempt to offer some of these ideas. This article was my sneaky throw to this community about some tough ideas.

Well, I've waited long enough and it's officially time for my freak flag to fly.

I am about to give you the cliff notes on a much larger project that I have been working on since doing clinical research for my medical qigong PhD over 13 years ago.

What you are reading is real.

Yes, some elements will feel awesome and whimsical and moments when you think I am assuming some form of artistic license with my claims. And you couldn't be further from the truth.

Much of what I'm going to present today has been proven in studies – if you tend to look.

This short dissertation is the exact formulation I use with my patients who visit me for help with a medical problem and who do not have a great understanding of Qigong or Chinese medicine in general.

But you can look at the world in which I live through the power lens and not through the healing lens: even if you will quickly find that they are not independent of each other. So sit back and listen to some ideas that you've probably never heard of before.

Everything is energy

Okay, most of you have probably heard this by now, but it is a basic concept that must be accepted if we are to make any progress with all of this. The good news is that every high school physics book confirms this when you have to convince. The computer / phone screen you look at, the shoes you wear, the water in the ocean, and the stars in the sky are all energy. They are indeed energy.

Everything in this world that is material, everything that is not, and everything in between is, as you guessed it, energy differentiated by sound, vibration and quality.

Neo in The Matrix, the moment he is brought back to life by Trinity with the kiss and through the eyes of one, sees the world as it actually looks like a fantastic cornucopia of lights and colors that is indescribable.

Yin and yang

With that said, we can learn the most basic understanding of it through the image of yin and yang: you know, the two tears that have come together to represent duality, the cycle of life and the expression of opposites.

The Yin and Yang are created right around the first cell division after the moment of conception.

We Daoists believe that in many ways this moment is just as important, if not more important, than when the sperm meets the egg. In this department, the yin and yang take shape, where the virtues of each child are escorted and software of the divine mind begins to execute its program.

At this moment, and throughout pregnancy, the developing child is in a kind of nuclear nirvana that can only be disturbed by excessive stressors that the mother can endure.

I like to think that the yin and yang of this being are in complete balance and perfection (in almost all cases) has been achieved and sustained for nine months.

Before we go any further, we should probably give you a quick explanation of what this whole yin and yang thing is. But first it's yin, not ying with a G. And it's yang like yawning – not yang and dang. When was the last time you heard someone say daaaang and meant it? Joe Dirt said it a couple of times and probably one of your hillbilly friends, right. Well, for those of us in this business who hear this, you will immediately see the hillbilly friend in you when we listen to you say ying and yaaaang!

Forgive me, but it had to be said.

In this article, yin and yang are defined as the quality of energy we are talking about:

  1. Yin represents feminine, calm, cool, the shadowy side of the mountain, the moon.
  2. Yang is masculine, aggressive, hot, the stars on the bright side of the mountain. These properties reside in every single atom of your body.

Gather all the atoms and we have you, and while you are in the cozy confines of your mother's womb, everything is in balance because the balance is individual to you.

My balance is different from yours, but it is understood and accepted that this balance exists to some extent in all of us.

Everything in the body works wonderfully in moments of true equilibrium. All systems are tuned to the maximum, and in these nine months the miracle of life is taking shape. And then you take your first breath.

it's a boy

These words are followed by one of the most blood-curdled screams you will ever hear. I know quite well. I've heard that scream three times. I was in a position with our doctor when the whole process happened for my wife and children and I remember that sound. Many people think this is naturally reflexive, and it is the way the baby announces that it has arrived.

But I have a different theory.

If everything is energy, and energy cannot be destroyed, think about the space in which the woman finds herself in one of the most catastrophic events of her life. Then think of the woman who was there before her, and then the one before that. Over time, this room becomes a petri dish full of emotions and electrical charges as these events penetrate the walls.

Think about how the dad feels (I can only speak for myself but I've been a nervous wreck with every delivery, probably more so than my incredible wife). Remember how jacked up the doctor and hospital staff are the moment the pushing starts.

Come back to the true love, elation, excruciating pain, fear, joy, terror and the most explosive emotions that a person is able to invade every square inch of this room.

The baby spent about nine months in the most wonderful environment it will ever know, and all the energy of the room for the first stage of life is absorbed in one breath.

At that moment, the same union of yin and yang is radically changed and the rest of that person's life is spent trying to find balance.

illness

think about it. According to the Alexa on my desk:

  • As a noun, lightness is defined as freedom from work, pain or physical annoyance, calm rest, comfort.
  • As a verb, it is defined as being free from fear or care.
  • Throw "dis" in front of it and off you go.

Now I don't bet Alexa is the omniscient fortune teller who only spits out truths, but if we can both agree that her definition is nearly correct, what is missing?

She never mentioned it::

  1. Right nutrition
  2. Eight glasses of water a day
  3. Take vitamins
  4. Don't live next to a power plant.
  5. With fluoride-free toothpaste

The things Alexa mentioned had to do with aspects of life that were perceived from within and the types of things we all want to achieve.

Your understanding of the second half of the disease right now has to do with calm, stillness, and contentment.

Good thing my Alexa and I are so close because a lot of the Chinese medical system is based on things like emotions, virtues, and the elements. Attach specifics to organs and what we have is an elegant view of disease and the root cause of anything that brings us into our favorite doctor's waiting room.

If the opposite of ease focuses on fear, discomfort, pain, and physical annoyance, can you compose the picture that much of our illnesses are due to emotional distress?

Take this one big step forward; When overbearing emotions flood you, especially one or two, the balance between yin and yang becomes upset.

The longer you stay imbalanced, the richer the soil is to grow something terrible. I simplify this by leaps and bounds.

If I had the absolute freedom to explain all the connections between this organ, this meridian and these emotions, I could paint a clear picture for you. Just trust that everything is there.

The noise of life

I used the word noise because it captures an idea that I hope you will understand in this section.

The most centered person in the world faces the challenges of living this life at this time.

  • Take every monastic person on this planet who has cultivated with decades of practice of meditation and prayer (something we will visit in the third installment) and drop them in downtown Los Angeles.
  • Then give them a cell phone, a company job, a poor diet, a new girlfriend, bills to be paid, and a problematic right knee, and then watch all of that work unfold before our eyes.
  • You see, believers, those who have dedicated their lives to service, especially service from a religious or spiritual point of view, these people go to monasteries and seminaries and are effectively imprisoned and removed from society as the noise of everyday life becomes filtered.
  • They can have the ideal conditions to do their craft. You are not anti-social. They create the best possible framework for deep introspection, study, and cultivation.

The best way to learn to fly is in an airplane. The best place to learn how to be a priest and be in the service of God is in a monastery, away from the everyday life of society.

Now if you buy the entire yin and yang position and we know that the only time in your life that balance is truly achieved is in the womb, then every second we are boots on the ground in this world that we pursue this balance.

I tell my patients that if they don't practice, they will likely never achieve this absolute balance again.

Our life is a yang thunderstorm.

Think about it for a moment::

  • The hectic pace of life
  • Our jobs
  • Our relationships
  • The rubbish that the media is constantly trying to shovel down our throats like our diets.
  • Everything we encounter in our waking hours is stress.
  • And in the case of this article, Yang-type energy is blasted on us and into our energy field around the clock.

If we don't have a solution to make up for this constant inundation, our tears should be the same and transform into something so one-sided that disease can occur.

I want to leave you with that.

And then we throw training on it. We intentionally add another yang activity to an already noisy day because we love it and we think we're doing ourselves a favor.

Yes, our fitness is good, our jeans look great, and I'm the first to say I go through a real posing routine in the mirror in the morning before brushing my teeth (stop lying, you do too ). . We love our time in the gym and we know it's good for us.

Or is it?

17 Mar
Blog

The Ultimate Isometric Exercise Guide

The Ultimate Isometrics Manual is a nerds paradise, at least for this nerd. From the point of view of Convict Conditioning author Paul Wade, who was published by Dragon Door, this extensive book of 462 pages offers the most complete possible overview of isometric training.

The Ultimate Isometric Exercise Guide - Reviews, Body Weight Exercises, Isometrics, Functional Strength, Concentric Exercise Only, Contraction

Isometrics is about being easily accessible yet outside of a dedicated group of practitioners, not something that gets a lot of press. It's a shame because isometrics has wide applicability to all strength training populations, including beginners and seniors.

That's because isometric exercises force you to stay on track. By that I mean, they are not like lifting a barbell or dumbbell unless you can over- or under-load an isometric set and the overall risk of injury is much lower than with traditional exercises.

Isometric training is only as effective as the exertion, and the exertion can only be felt if you are properly positioned to create the required tension. That doesn't mean you can't screw up an isometric exercise, but you do need to be pretty motivated to do something wrong.

What is isometric exercise?

Isometric training relies solely on creating tension with concentric contraction of the muscle against an immovable object. This object can be a device like the Isochain, it can be a door jamb, and it can be your own body.

Every discussion about isometry refers without exception to the seminal study by Hettinger and Müller from 1953 (muscle capacity and muscle training). The German researchers found that a single daily exertion of two-thirds of a person's maximum exertion for six seconds at a time for ten weeks increased strength by about five percent per week.

Melody Schoenfeld wrote on these pages that isometry works at a standstill or uses force against resistance without changing the muscle length. For example, hold a curl of biceps at a 90-degree angle for 30 seconds.

Logan Christopher wrote about the legendary strong man Alexander Zass, who was a huge proponent of isometric exercise and believed the secret to isometric exercise was that it stored energy rather than dissipating it and that it enabled him to resist against very strong resistance work to build his stamina.

Zass had little access to weightlifting equipment in his life. He was a strong man who bent bars and broke chains. Bruce Lee was also known for his isometric work, as mentioned in Bruce Lee's 3-Minute Workout by Shane Trotter.

Unpack the secrets of static training

<img load = "lazy” alt=”In 1953, Hetting and Müller conducted pioneering research into isometric training” class=”imagecache-full_width” src=”https://cdn2.omidoo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/full_width/images/bydate/202103/hettingerisometricexercises.png” title=”Early German Isometric Exam (Hettinger, 1961)” height=”547″/>

Let's get the biggest criticism of this book out of the way: It's a bit of an exaggeration to promote Isochain, an expensive isometric exercise machine that isn't featured here and isn't needed to enjoy this book or develop it any further.

You'd think Paul Wade, the guy who's behind no machine training, would be less inclined to push a machine, but to be honest, his publishers should have addressed that one little mistake of the book better.

To put it in perspective, this e-book costs just under ten dollars and has a lot of great information and exercises that the Isochain doesn't need. I'll be generous and give the Isochain infomercial about 50 pages of overexposure, which leaves about 400 pages of other material.

Otherwise I stand by my nerding-out statement. I have an isometric training reference. I have enough information to make an intelligent decision about its effectiveness, and I have many examples of isometric exercise use.

More importantly, there is enough information here to justify how isometric training can increase weight and reduce the risk of injury.

I asked an older friend of mine, someone who is quite sedentary, to try a series of isometric exercises that I improvised for him during the lockdown while he was working from home, 10 minutes a day. Based on my sample of one, the effects of phenomenal.

Whether it was the 10 minutes a day that were just part of the routine or the actually noticeable gains in strength that he experienced, my friend was sold and actually went the book himself.

Like everything in the fitness industry, there are cycles, fads, and fashions. Isometric exercises are not in vogue or fashionable, but they may require a refresher cycle and require modern appreciation. Paul Wade's book may be all you need to brush up on your isometrics.

17 Mar
Blog

10 Best Bodyweight Exercises To Build Your back

Bodyweight exercises have been making the rounds for quite some time because of their excellence and potential. In the world of fitness, these exercises have largely contributed to this. So they have come to be known as the holy grail of all workouts. What's even better is that these workouts are simple, effective, and give instant results.

Since we talked about these exercises in depth on our previous blog, now we're going to help you explore the 10 best bodyweight exercises for your back!

Gluteal bridge

  1. Lie on the floor with your hands open near your hips for balance.
  2. Now try to slide through your heels and tighten your glutes. Something like this will help you get your butt off the floor.
  3. Raise your hips until your shoulder, hips, and knees are in line.
  4. In slow motion, keep your abs busy and lower them to the floor.
  5. Repeat the workout.

Row of planks

  1. Start in a plank position.
  2. Raise one arm and row your elbows in a rowing motion. Now try to bring your arm down.
  3. Repeat the workout on the other end.
  4. Switch between both sides in 30 to 60 seconds.

Pull-up

  1. Hold the bar with your hands shoulder-width apart. Make sure your palms are facing your body.
  2. Try to keep your lower body still. Make sure you use your core and top strength well enough.
  3. Pull your body until your chin is over the bar. Make sure you do this with the help of your back muscles.
  4. Now go back down.
  5. Repeat the workout.

Cobra pose

  1. Lie face down on the floor. Spread your hands on the floor and tuck your elbows into your body.
  2. Press your hips and legs firmly into the floor. Also, squeeze your hands to lift your torso.
  3. Hold this position for 15 to 30 seconds.
  4. Now try to repeat the workout in 3 to 5 repetitions.

T-Superman

  1. Lie on your chest on the floor. Extend your arms on the floor to form a T. Your body should be straight.
  2. Now squeeze your glutes and lower your back to raise your arms. Now, be sure to also press your upper back to raise your arms.
  3. Hold for a few seconds and return to the starting position. Make sure you don't drop your arms or legs.
  4. Repeat the workout.

Wide grip push-up

  1. Start in a push-up position. Keep your hands outside of your chest. Make sure your spine is straight at this point.
  2. Now bend your elbows to drop your chest down and press your back down.
  3. Squeeze your chest to get back to the starting position.
  4. Repeat the workout.

Four-legged stands up

  1. Get on all fours.
  2. Extend your right arm forward and your left leg back while keeping your back straight.
  3. Hold this position for about three to ten seconds, then lower it down to takeoff.
  4. Repeat on the other end.

Pull lying down

  1. Start in the superman position.
  2. Lift your arms and chest off the floor.
  3. Pull both arms back toward your ribs and keep your elbows up to form a W shape.
  4. Extend your arms again and lower your body to the floor.
  5. Repeat the workout in 10 repetitions of 3 sets.

Tape pulldown

  1. Secure the tape in a door frame.
  2. Now stretch your arm and hold the band.
  3. Tense your core and squeeze your glutes together.
  4. Pull down your lat muscle and keep your elbow straight. Make sure your hand is at waist level while exercising.
  5. Go back to the starting position.

Inverted line

  1. Hold the handles of a pole with your palms facing each other. Make sure your elbows are on your sides. Your weight is in your heels. Now sit back to form a straight line.
  2. Get down from the bar, then pull your back and biceps back to the starting position.
  3. Now try to repeat the workout in 3 sets of 5 to 8 repetitions.

frequently asked Questions

  1. Are These Back Weight Exercises Helpful?
    Yes. These exercises will be helpful to you.
  2. Do I also have to concentrate on my diet?
    Yes. If you can also focus on your diet, this is good for you.
16 Mar
Blog

Embrace A Long-term, 3 Step Approach To Pain-free Fitness

After more than 11 years of coaching, I've learned that pretty much every single person who shows up to train with me is in pain.

Pain is something we can all relate to. For some, it is an emotionally rooted pain, and for the vast majority of adults, there is some amount of physical pain to deal with every day.

As a trainer, it can be tempting to want to resolve this pain by writing the perfect exercise program. The OPEX Coaching Certificate Program (CCP) gave me another idea. The training program is only a small part of helping your clients live without pain.

Change your mindset

Most people are impatient and want results right now. This is why people try muscle ups when they can't even do a rigorous chest-to-bar pull-up (CTB). It is not your fault.

We have all been told we can::

Unfortunately, the road to greater fitness and less pain is slow.

The key is helping our clients change their mindset to take a long-term, patient approach to fitness and pain-free living.

Here are three steps that you may not have considered to change your mindset and stop feeling pain in the long run.

Step 1: Many people don't know where they are.

"Meet them where they are," says OPEX CEO Carl Hardwick, a man with nearly 20 years of coaching experience, often.

The basic idea is to learn as much as you can about your customers::

Then you can design an effective program for them that takes their entire life into account and ultimately "hits them where they are" in all areas of their life..

However, one of the problems with this is that many people don't know where they are. They don't even know what they are trying to achieve with training.

Somewhere along the way, they decided it sounded like a cool idea to snap a muscle and learn. However, some clients have ignored the fact that they can't put their hands over their head without straightening their spine (or maybe they don't even realize it is) and that they experience physical pain every time they snap to have.

This person keeps trying to slide a square pin into a round hole – talk about pain!

Others set arbitrary goals without really thinking about what it will take to achieve them. Have you ever had a client say she wants to lose 20 pounds and pull herself up, but her actions are inconsistent with her goal?

She never sticks to the homework you gave her and keeps admitting her Taco Bell addiction. As a coach, it is frustrating to see this person fail all the time, and it is even more frustrating to be the person who feels like a failure.

Much of the weeding out of this emotional and physical pain is based on awareness.

Helping clients find what they want – their intention or why – is the first step in uncovering, processing, and eliminating their emotional and physical pain, said Firass El Fateh, owner of OPEX Abbotsford, British Columbia.

You have to: "Dig really deep with your exact reason for this whole thing," said El Fateh. This starts on the first day. “It's about setting expectations from the start at the first consultation. Go over the assessment together and give the customer a clear picture of where they physically stand, ”he added.

Emotionally, if customers are honest about what they really want to sacrifice, it is more likely that they will B. Lose 50 pounds, shed emotional baggage, and work to fix your problem.

In practice, a thorough assessment can help your customers understand their limitations.

  • For exampleIf your client knows they haven't passed a shoulder flexion test, they're more likely to respect the fact that going over their head with a barbell is not yet a good idea. Maybe it's even why they're always in pain. From there, you can determine a path that will help them correct this weakness and avoid pain.

Changing mindset begins with being aware of what is causing the emotional pain and physical pain and understanding what they are trying to achieve.

Step 2: the beauty of simplicity

Remember the elementary school saying: keep it simple, stupid (KISS)?

As trainers, we always try to reinvent the wheel to get people interested and demonstrate our knowledge. Another lesson I learned from the OPEX CCP was the beauty of simplicity.

This leads, as Hardwick calls them, to the "Basic Lifestyle Guidelines (BLGs)".

Put simply, "Start with the lifestyle," Hardwick said.

The first thing to do is look at what the person did for fitness and whether they made "a series of inappropriate (for them) contractions and movements," Hardwick said.

Take a look at what they are doing during the other 23 hours of the day. How are your sleep hygiene, nutritional hygiene and stress levels? Teach them how this contributes to their pain, lack of recovery and fatigue, Hardwick added.

"If the client is not sleeping well, drinking enough water and getting enough sun, there is no point in delving into the part of the program design," added El Fateh.

In addition to sleep, stress, sunlight, diet, and other basic lifestyle guidelines, Hardwick asks trainers to consider how many steps the person is taking each day, how much water they are drinking, and what type of bowel movements they are having.

As OPEX founder James Fitzgerald put it, if you are not comfortable talking to your customers about their poop, you are missing out. "It's an undeniable barometer of health … you need to talk to your customers about it," he said.

"Identify the lowest hanging fruit living habits," Hardwick said, "and tackle them before you go to the trouble of writing a fancy exercise program that will promise the world to your client."

Step 3: teach them why.

Anyone can teach someone to squat, push, hinge, and pull. In order for people to be on board on a long-term path to better health and pain-free life, they need to understand why they are doing what they are doing. This encourages all-important buy-in, Hardwick explained.

"It has to start with the ability to train our customers," said Hardwick, not just through "principles and science," but also through your own and other customers' experiences.

El Fateh agrees. Once his clients have a clear understanding – based on the OPEX assessment he conducted – he can now “determine how their program will get them from their location to their desired location,” he explained.

He added, "It's important to explain why the program is behind … If people know why they're doing something, they're more likely to keep doing it."

The more self-sufficient and autonomous your customers become, the more likely they are to make decisions when you're not looking (which is mostly the case) that are smart for them and ultimately help them get out of the pain for a long time. Term.

16 Mar
Blog

LG Gram 16 Review: Very Light and Incredibly Long Lasting

LG Gram 16 laptop

LG Gram 16 review: The lightest and most durable in the class

"The Gram 16 offers a wide range of battery life in an incredibly light package."

  • Incredibly easy

  • Thin bezels, slim chassis

  • Spectacular battery life

  • 4:10 pm viewing is a boon to productivity

  • Well rounded ports

  • The display has a lower contrast

  • Lid and keyboard deck are too flexible

  • There are no performance improvements

The Guinness Book of Records officially recognizes the LG Gram 16 as the lightest 16-inch notebook. At £ 2.62, I'm not surprised it deserves the award.

LG's Gram laptops have always been designed to be as light as possible (hence the name). This applies to the 17-inch model as well as to the 13-inch model. Across the board, they're some of the lightest laptops you can buy. This year, LG added a new size, the Gram 16, to take over the MacBook Pro 16 and serve as a middle ground between 15- and 17-inch machines.

In the past, LG's larger laptops have suffered from lack of performance enhancement, which conflicts with laptops like the Dell XPS 17 and MacBook Pro 16. The LG Gram 16 still doesn't have discrete graphics, but it does have a $ 1,700 trial configuration.I still tested a lot of extras, including a Core i7-1165G7 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and one 16:10 IPS screen. Does LG have a winner in hand?

design

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The Gram 16 feels incredibly light. Pick it up and you immediately think that it is empty inside. But that's not the case – even at just 2.62 pounds and fully equipped with state-of-the-art components, it still manages to pack a whopping 80-watt-hour battery.

We'll dive deeper into battery life later, but suffice it to say that the LG Gram 16 is a champion when it comes to battery life. The XPS 15, with a battery capacity of 86 watt hours, weighs 4.5 pounds – man, you can feel the difference. A bigger display and almost half the weight? I take it.

Note that the MacBook Pro 16 weighs 4.3 pounds with 100 watt hours of battery life (the best you can fit in a commercial airplane). Even the much smaller Dell XPS 13 weighs 2.8 pounds.

How did LG make the Gram 16 so easy? Mainly, it's the magnesium alloy chassis that cuts the pounds off. And it's not a thick magnesium alloy either, which you can tell if you bend the lid with minimal force and press down on the keyboard deck until you hit the components underneath.

Viscerally, the Gram 16 acts like bendable plastic.

The bottom of the case resists bending, but the rest of the case has a lot of yield. That's the price you have to pay for a machine this light – even though LG put the laptop through a MIL-STD-810G test, which meets military standards for durability and reliability.

Intellectually, I know this is a rugged laptop – maybe not as much as the XPS 15 or the MacBook Pro 16, but it won't break apart in a stiff breeze. Viscerally, however, it acts like flexible plastic. Kudos to LG for somehow succeeding in designing the hinge so that it stays in place and still opens with one hand. There isn't a lot of weight holding the bottom of the case in place.

Thanks to some very small bezels, the Gram 16 is 14.01 inches, only slightly wider than the XPS 15 compared to 13.57 inches, while the MacBook Pro 16 is 14.09 inches. At 9.58 inches, it's slightly lower than the 9.06-inch XPS 15 and 9.68-inch MacBook. With a thickness of 0.66 inches, the Gram 16 sits between 0.71 inches of the XPS 15 and 0.65 inches of the MacBook Pro 16. The Dell XPS 17 is also in the same stadium thanks to its tiny bezels and very slim design – 14.74 inches wide, 9.76 inches deep, 0.77 inches thick, and 5.53 pounds on a 97 watt hour battery.

LG gram 16 laptop "class =" m-carousel - image dt-lazy-no "src =" https://img.dtcn.com/image/digitaltrends/olympus-digital-camera-1031-640x640.jpg "srcset = "https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP//yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

LG gram 16 laptop "class =" m-carousel - image dt-lazy-no "src =" https://img.dtcn.com/image/digitaltrends/olympus-digital-camera-1030-640x640.jpg "srcset = "https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP//yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

In simpler terms, they are very similarly sized laptops that all look quite modern. However, with its simple silver chassis and complete lack of ornamentation, the Gram 16 is the simplest of the group. It's on purpose – LG describes it as a "minimalist, no-nonsense design" designed to "reduce distractions."

Both the XPS 15 and 17, with their slimmer lines, and the MacBook Pro 16, with its restrained elegance, are better looking machines. Note that the Gram 16 is also available in white and black.

Ports and Connectivity

Connectivity is a strength: two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support, two USB-A 3.2 ports, a full-size HDMI port, a microSD card reader, and a 3.5mm audio jack. That's better than the XPS 15 with two USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports, a single USB-C 3.1 port, and no HDMI port.

The MacBook Pro 16 has all-in ports for Thunderbolt 3, of which there are four.

The Gram 16 also has Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 for an up-to-date wireless connection.

performance

The Gram 16 I tested used the Core i7-1165G7, a popular Tiger Lake processor that offers solid productivity performance and can dive into low-end content creation. Like most manufacturers lately, LG has a utility that can be used to toggle between quiet, optimal, and performance modes. Switching between them will adjust the performance against fan noise. With the Gram 16, you should use the utility.

Using a U-series CPU is important here – most larger laptops, like the Dell XPS 15 and 17 and the MacBook Pro 16, use 45-watt H-series CPUs, which are designed for creative professionals who normally go for Laptops decide, sizes are much faster. This is especially true for the GPU, where the Gram 16 is limited to Intel's Iris Xe graphics, which are nowhere near as fast as the discrete graphics available in the competition.

In the optimal mode, the Gram 16 is a less than convincing performer. As with most of these utilities, this didn't show up in Geekbench 5, where there wasn't much of a difference between modes. The Gram 16 is a solid performer in this benchmark, outperforming laptops like the Dell XPS 13 and the Razer Book 13 (which uses the faster Core i7-1185G7) by a few points. The XPS 15 and MacBook Pro 16 use 45-watt H-series 10th generation CPUs, so, as mentioned, are much faster.

In our handbrake test, which encodes a 420 MB video as H.265, the Gram 16 lasted over 3.5 minutes in optimal mode and just under three minutes in performance mode. Both results are within about 10 seconds of the Dell XPS 13 and are faster than most other laptops with the same CPU. The XPS 15 was ready in just over two minutes. We have not tested the MacBook Pro 16 with the same version of Handbrake and therefore cannot provide this comparison.

LG Gram 16 laptopMark Coppock / Digital Trends

In Cinebench R23, the Gram 16 was slow with 4,137 in multi-core mode and 1,394 in single-core mode in the optimal setting. That is far behind laptops like the XPS 13 and the Razer Book 13. In performance mode, however, the values ​​rose to 4,718 and 1,415. These aren't the fastest we've seen – the HP Specter x360 14, for example, scored 4,847 and 1,404 in performance mode – but it is on par with the rest of the field. We didn't test the XPS 15 or the MacBook Pro 16 in Cinebench R23, but we guarantee that both will be faster thanks to their more powerful CPUs.

Don't buy this laptop if you expect powerhouse performance.

Finally, I ran the full PCMark 10 benchmark and didn't see much of a difference between optimal and performance modes. The gram 16 achieved 4,887 points in the total number of points and 9,687, 6,886 and 4,749 points in the tests Essentials, Productivity and Content Creation. These values ​​are good for the CPU, with the Specter x360 14 scoring 4,796, 9760, 6340 and 4,837 points, respectively.

LG Gram 16 laptopMark Coppock / Digital Trends

Overall, the Gram 16 performed quickly during my tests. It's exactly what I expected from a laptop with its specs, and I've never seen anything that made me think about the laptop's performance even in optimal mode – with one exception.

This exception concerns the Intel Iris Xe, which should offer gaming performance close to an entry-level discrete GPU like the NVIDIA GeForce MX350. The optimal mode of the Gram 16 lagged far behind and only achieved 1,390 points in the Time Spy test by 3DMark. This is comparable to the 1,589 of the XPS 13 in the appropriate mode and is way behind most other Intel Iris Xe laptops. However, switch to performance mode and the score rose to 1,801, well ahead of most other Tiger Lake laptops that aren't running the Intel Iris Xe Max GPU.

In Fortnite, the Gram 16 only managed 13 frames per second (fps) in 1080p and high graphics – most Intel Iris Xe laptops reached 30 fps with the same settings. The Gram 16 achieved 33 fps in performance mode, which is only average for the class, but much better than in optimal mode.

I didn't test the Gram 16 against our creative content benchmarks due to the lack of discrete graphics and a lower-performing CPU. It just can't rival the XPS 15 and 17 and the MacBook Pro 16 for creative professionals, which is one of the main demographics of larger screen laptops. Don't buy this laptop if you expect powerhouse performance.

display

Laptops with larger displays – 16:10 or 3: 2 – are becoming more common, and it won't be long before the old school 16: 9 widescreen display is in the minority. The Gram 16 has a 16-inch, 16:10 display with WQXGA resolution (2,560 x 1,600). Thanks to small bezels, you are immediately in front of a large, luxurious area to do real work.

Unfortunately, the panel itself is a mixed bag compared to other premium laptops. On the one hand, it has a wide gamut of 88% AdobeRGB (75% is closer to average for all but the best displays) and 100% sRGB. However, these colors are not particularly accurate with a DeltaE of just 2.67 (1.0 or less is considered excellent). The XPS 15's 4K display reached 0.65 and the MacBook Pro 16 1.41.

LG Gram 16 laptopMark Coppock / Digital Trends

The brightness of the display was 313 nits and just hit our preferred threshold of 300 nits. The XPS 15 4K has 442 nits and the MacBook Pro 16 was a bit brighter than the Dell at 443 nits. Where the Gram 16's display really suffers is its contrast, which was only 830: 1. These days, good premium displays exceed a contrast ratio of 1,000: 1 – the XPS 15 4K is 1,480: 1 and the MacBook Pro 16 is 1,250: 1.

I enjoyed the display on the Gram 16 for its size and aspect ratio, and was fine with its colors and brightness – but then again, I'm not a creative professional, so wide and accurate colors aren't that important to me. I noticed the low contrast, however, as black text didn't look the way I like it against a white background. Even so, most people will find the display pleasant enough for their productivity work and their media consumption.

The audio quality was decent, with sufficient volume for YouTube and the occasional Netflix binge, and with no significant distortion. The mids and highs were clear, but the bass was missing. The XPS 15 and MacBook Pro 16 have better sound quality, especially the MacBook which has some of the best audio quality you can find on a laptop.

Keyboard and touchpad

The Gram 16 has a fairly typical island keyboard with well-even backlighting. The black keycaps are a good size and conveniently spaced. The switches are precise, offer a lot of spring travel and a comfortable floor effect. My only problem with the mechanism is the amount of pressure it takes to press a button. The keyboard felt stiff to me, unlike the crisp and snappy action on the HP Specter line and the MacBook's Magic keyboard. If you like a lighter touch, you might not prefer this keyboard.

LG Gram 16 laptopMark Coppock / Digital Trends

The touchpad is large due to the expansive keyboard deck – although there is room for an even larger touchpad. The surface is smooth and pleasant to wipe, and thanks to Microsoft's Precision touchpad drivers, it offers excellent support for Windows 10 multi-touch gestures. I really liked the touchpad and appreciated the relatively quiet buttonless clicks. What I didn't like was the non-touch display. I prefer touch displays for thumb scrolling, which is even more helpful with a larger display.

Windows 10 Hello support is provided by a fingerprint reader integrated into the power button. It logged me in quickly and painlessly, with no single mistake in recognizing my finger. I would have loved to have facial recognition too, but LG chose not to include that.

Battery life

As already mentioned, the Gram 16 manages to achieve a battery capacity of 80 watt hours despite its incredibly low weight. At the same time, it has a fast CPU and a high-resolution 16-inch display. I wasn't sure what battery life to expect.

What I certainly didn't expect is some of the best battery life we've seen. In all of our tests, the Gram 16 lasted an exceptionally long time and was used either as the most durable laptop or in the top tier.

Starting with the PCMark 10 gaming test, which stresses the CPU and GPU, the Gram 16 lasted five hours. The closest laptop is the XPS 13 Full HD +, which lasts a full hour less. In the PCMark 10 application test, which is the best measure of productivity longevity, the Gram 16 managed almost 18 hours, which is more than three hours longer than the next best, Lenovo's Yoga 9i 14. In third place is the XPS 13 with just under 11 hours

LG Gram 16 laptop

In our web browsing test, which ran through a number of popular websites, the Gram 16 got close to 14 hours. Among the Intel laptops, only the Samsung Galaxy Flex 13 came close (in fact, it lasted just as long). Only ARM-based laptops have a longer lifespan, including Apple's M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13. The XPS 15 we tested contained discrete graphics and lasted just seven hours, while the XPS 17 with discrete graphics lasted just over six hours. You can buy both laptops with built-in graphics and they will likely do a lot better.

Finally, the Gram 16 lasted around 24.5 hours in our video test going through a Full HD Avengers trailer. The Lenovo Yoga 640 with a 10th generation Core i3 is the closest competitor with 23 hours, and the Dell Latitude 7410 2-in-1 with its energy-saving display lasted just under 22 hours. Again, you'll need to switch to an ARM processor to get better battery life in this test. As with our web browsing test, the XPS 15 lasted a little over seven hours and the XPS 17 lasted over nine hours.

Put simply, the Gram 16 showed spectacular battery life. In fact, it was a real problem to check – I had to wait over 60 hours for all of the battery tests to complete. However, for the typical productivity user, you'll likely get through two full business days before plugging in.

Our opinion

The LG Gram 16 is almost unbelievably light to have such a spacious display and an unbelievably long battery life. I wasn't in love with the keyboard and the best performance required turning on performance mode and a bit of fan noise. But I could live with these flaws to have a laptop that I wouldn't have to worry about for days and that I would barely notice in my backpack.

However, my biggest problem with the laptop is how weak it feels. I don't want to overdo things – the laptop feels sturdy unless you intentionally rotate the display or press harder than usual on the keyboard deck. But we do these things in reviews, and that's how we notice them. Whether the typical user would notice – or care since the laptop meets the military specifications for ruggedness – is an open question.

Are there alternatives?

The Dell XPS 15 offers a display with an aspect ratio of 16:10 and offers a much better quality in its 4K version. It's also almost twice as heavy, despite the fact that the display is a bit smaller, and it can't nearly match the battery life of the Gram 16. You'll also pay about $ 300 more for a similarly equipped XPS 15.

Next up is the Apple MacBook Pro 16, which has a sleeker appearance as well as a much better display and spectacular sound. It's also much more expensive, and it doesn't even come close to rivaling the Gram 16's longevity.

Finally, with the XPS 17, you can get a slightly larger display and much faster performance in a package that is only slightly larger than the Gram 16. You will be spending more money, however, and battery life will suffer here too.

The XPS 15 and 17, as well as the MacBook Pro 16, are also much faster than the Gram 16 thanks to more powerful 45-watt CPUs and discrete GPUs. Keep this in mind when choosing between these two options and the lightest, most durable laptop in its class.

How long it will take?

I've said it before – the Gram 16 doesn't seem to be as rugged as many other premium laptops if you're looking for flaws. However, if you trust the MIL-STD-810G rating, you can be sure that it will stand up to some abuse. It is covered by the one-year guarantee, which is customary in the industry and which is too short.

Should you buy it?

Yes. The LG Gram 16 is a solid productivity performer with outstanding – truly unprecedented – battery life, and it's so damn light. Just make sure you pay attention to the performance differences with other similar sized laptops.

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