Enhance Muscle And Strength With These Sleep Extension Techniques

There is a growing body of research on sleep extension and its potential effects on athletic performance.

Most of the sleep literature deals with limitations and their effects on health and performance. However, there is a growing body of research on sleep extension and its potential effects on athletic performance. It is well known that sleep is the primary contributor to recovery and performance.

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Muscle Strength Exercises | Body Transformation

Muscle strength exercises are undoubtedly a way to increase your overall strength in the body. It helps your muscles develop strength by doing intense workouts. Bodyweight exercises, squats, and running are some of the best activities that fall under this category.

If you are someone who loves workouts like this why are you waiting? Let us support you immediately with muscle-strengthening exercises!

What are muscle strength exercises?

The best muscle strength exercises allow your muscles to gain strength through various strength training sessions. While many people think it's the same as muscle endurance, there is a massive difference. In contrast to muscle endurance, where you have to do the same workout for a long time, you have to lift heavier weights in strength training.

It helps build a strong body by increasing the strength in the muscles. Muscle strength training also helps with stability, balance and flexibility for the best experience.

The best muscle strength exercises for you

Modified push-up

  • Lift your feet off the floor.
  • Make sure the neck, head, and spine are neutral as you bring your body lower toward the floor.
  • Now gradually return to the starting position.

Jumping Jacks

  • Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Your arms should be close to your body.
  • Jump back and stretch your feet out as far as possible.
  • Now also try raising your arms above your head to clap your hands together.
  • Jump back to the starting position.
  • Do2 to 3 sets with 15 to 30 jumps.

Squats

  • Stand with your feet wider than the hip distance.
  • Gradually bend your knees to crouch.
  • Stop in position before returning to the starting position.
  • Do 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps.

Stomach cramps

  • Lie on your back with your fingers crossed.
  • Now bend your knees and bring your feet in contact with your lower back.
  • Take a short break before returning to the starting position.
  • Do 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps.

Forward lunges

  • Take a large step forward with one leg while standing straight. Bend your knees to a 90 degree angle.
  • Lower the other leg too until it touches the floor.
  • Go back to the starting position.
  • Switch your legs with each repetition.

plank

  • Get into a push-up position and lie face down on the floor.
  • Put your weight on your forearms and toes. Make sure you keep your body off the ground.
  • At this point, your body should be in a straight line.
  • Hold this position for a few seconds.
  • Do 2 to 3 sets, resting for every minute in between.
frequently asked Questions

1. Are these exercises safe to perform?

Yes. All activities are to be carried out safely. If you follow the directions correctly, you can complete the exercise with minimal effort.

2. Do I need a professional trainer?

No. You don't need a professional trainer as these are workouts for beginners. You are also risk free. However, if you want to ensure the safety and convenience of these workouts, a professional trainer is not a bad idea.

3. Is swimming part of muscle strength training?

Yes. Swimming is an essential part of muscle strength training. You can also incorporate it into your fitness routine.

4. How do I do bicep curls?

  • Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Your knees should also be slightly bent.
  • Put your arms next to your body with your palms facing up.
  • Pull your elbows toward your body as you increase the weight.
  • Now take a few seconds and lower your hand to the starting position.
  • Repeat the workout in 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions.
The final result

Muscle strength training is an unquestionable way to strengthen your muscles, gain strength for the body and reactivate your muscles. If you do these exercises on a daily basis, a lot can change over time. So make sure you incorporate them into your daily fitness routine for the best workout experience ever. We promise; you will not be disappointed.

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?

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?

Strength Training and the Efficacy of Electromyography (EMG)

Electromyography (EMG) is a scientific method for testing muscle activity. Some say it is highly valued in the nonscientific community because the simplicity of stronger reading means stronger muscles. However, it is neither popular nor as well studied as it could be, the question of its effectiveness remains.

Since EMG is not a popular choice, the following questions may come to mind::

  • Where is the effectiveness when applied to training?
  • Should there be a closer focus on exercises with higher peak or medium EMG performance?
  • What risks do we take in limiting our views to these exercise groups?

The purpose of this article is to provide a brief overview of EMG and its application to training. Finally, should everyone complete an EMG-specific training course, or are magazines / articles sufficient for the selection of exercises?

Electromyography infographic

Neurological EMGs versus kinesiological EMGs

Electromyography (EMG) is an experimental technique that deals with the development, recording, and analysis of myoelectric signals. Myoelectric signals are generated by physiological variations in the state of the muscle fiber membranes.

Peter Konrad1

Strength Training and Electromyography (EMG) Effectiveness - Fitness, Olympic Weightlifting, Neuromuscular Strength, Athlete, Snapping, Cleansing and Jerking, Functional Exercise, Plyometry, Electrical Muscle Stimulation, Kinesiology, Bodybuilder, Emg, Gluteus Strength, Electromyography

This can be further divided into neurological and kinesiological EMG.

This article only covers kinesiology EMG as its function is most closely related to exercise programs, voluntary neuromuscular activation, and functional movement. In contrast to neurological EMG tests, kinesiological EMGs are not invasive.

In short, we study how muscles fire during movement and, in the case of movement, which movement more innervates the intended muscle group for the said individual

  • The set-up time for a kinesiology EMG study is minimal, as only electrodes that can be permanently attached to a device or wirelessly sent to an associated receiver are affected.
  • No electric current flows through these electrodes. Instead, the performance of different muscles is measured during a functional movement.
  • However, for any EMG study, the associated costs could be in the mid-hundred to three hundred dollars range. In comparison, neurological EMGs can cost thousands of dollars and require insertion of needles into the muscle and close monitoring

The other inherent risk is who is doing the study.

Time can be wasted if the person skilled in the art does not set up a movement properly or does not understand the output data.

It is best to hire a trained person, e.g. B. a physiotherapist, a sports doctor or a specialist with certification in EMG or even NEUBIE devices. The benefits extend to the competitive area for bodybuilders and athletes involved in active sports.

Finally, an inadvertent risk of EMG testing for exercise choice decreases exercise variation.

Take Olympic lifting for example. The movements that are tested during the competition are cleaning and jerking and snapping.

However, during exercise, front squats, back squats, overhead presses, deadlifts, and pull-ups (to name a few) are performed during a program.

It is to the detriment of the doctor if an EMG result has a psychological effect.

The exercise focuses infinitely revolve around these core exercises, avoiding those that improve mobility, plyometric work, and balance.

Integration of EMG into your training

The safest way to start EMG training is:::

  1. Hire a certified professional.
  2. Set up days when maximum recovery options are available.

By effectively resting between sessions, primary muscle groups can fire more effectively, thereby improving the effectiveness of the study.

In this study, the specialist learns to determine which movement pattern represents the biggest bang for his money.

This is achieved by measuring the mean and peak activation during contraction of the intended muscle group during positional shift.

For exampleWhen recruiting gluteus maximus muscle groups, look at the sumo deadlift, which puts the trainee in a statically abducted position in relation to the glute abduction machine versus a resilient ligament hydrant movement.

The person skilled in the art then goes through the data, identifies these two values ​​and compares them per movement.

In discussing with the client, the practitioner would decide to perform one movement over another for maximum effect during a training session alone.

EMG sessions should not be treated as an intense training session.

Instead, it should be a lab test or visit to the doctor that will require either a short amount of time due to the muscle areas involved or a significantly longer amount of time due to the optimization of larger muscle groups.

One might wonder if EMG training is right for them.

Follow science in your pursuit of achievement

It goes without saying that Instagram pages are littered with gurus and trainers who have all the answers and are obviously doctors of kinesiology, physical therapists and orthopedists.

The authority I am referring to are legitimate trainers in the field with experience and degrees that contribute to science.

Within this science, articles create beads from EMG studies that shed light on why certain movements are performed in contrast to others.

In practice, however, no one has time to read all of these studies, and unfortunately, no one cares unless you find yourself in that niche. They want the answers.

So if you want the answers, pay for them.

Pay for it through a structured process, consistency in the gym, hiring a trainer, and reading condensed literature from reputable sources (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

EMG studies are beautiful and take away the guesswork.

Lucy will do heavy hip bumps, RDLs, and sumo squats to pop her prey.

In the meantime, Andrea modifies her hyperextension and resistance band glute work.

Is EMG a luxury only for athletes?

Does EMG serve us all along the line, or is this a luxury that can only be spent on competitors or athletes?

The questions for you to ponder are as follows::

  • How long have you been training yet?
  • Do you exercise to stay fit or to develop a particular aesthetic?
  • How often do you workout?
  • Have you ever hired a trainer and / or a professional?
  • Do you have disposable income?
  • Do you see yourself in competition?
  • Which data outside of the training preference do you want to collect? That said, provides the best support when sprinting or passing a physical exam.
  • Are you injured or are you returning from injury? That means learning anew how to activate muscle groups.
  • Do you like it and are you open to being watched or studied?
  • Is Maximum Hypertrophy Your Ultimate Goal?
  • Have you tried to access trailing body parts without success?

If you answer the previous questions appropriately, consider EMG.

References

1. Konrad, P., "The ABC of EMG. A practical introduction to kinesiological electromyography", Version 1.4, March 2006, page 5-30.

2. Basmajian, J.V., DeLuca, C.J. "Living Muscles: Their Function Shown by Electromyography," Pub, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1985. 2-p1.

3. Dr. Arthur Kornblit, MD. "How much does an EMG test cost?" Spend On Health, accessed January 20, 2021.

Strength Training and the Efficacy of Electromyography (EMG)

Electromyography (EMG) is a scientific method for testing muscle activity. Some say it is highly valued in the nonscientific community because the simplicity of stronger reading means stronger muscles. However, it is neither popular nor as well studied as it could be, the question of its effectiveness remains.

Since EMG is not a popular choice, the following questions may come to mind::

  • Where is the effectiveness when applied to training?
  • Should there be a closer focus on exercises with higher peak or medium EMG performance?
  • What risks do we take in limiting our views to these exercise groups?

The purpose of this article is to provide a brief overview of EMG and its application to training. Finally, should everyone complete an EMG-specific training course, or are magazines / articles sufficient for the selection of exercises?

Electromyography infographic

Neurological EMGs versus kinesiological EMGs

Electromyography (EMG) is an experimental technique that deals with the development, recording, and analysis of myoelectric signals. Myoelectric signals are generated by physiological variations in the state of the muscle fiber membranes.

Peter Konrad1

Strength Training and Electromyography (EMG) Effectiveness - Fitness, Olympic Weightlifting, Neuromuscular Strength, Athlete, Snapping, Cleansing and Jerking, Functional Exercise, Plyometry, Electrical Muscle Stimulation, Kinesiology, Bodybuilder, Emg, Gluteus Strength, Electromyography

This can be further divided into neurological and kinesiological EMG.

This article only covers kinesiology EMG as its function is most closely related to exercise programs, voluntary neuromuscular activation, and functional movement. In contrast to neurological EMG tests, kinesiological EMGs are not invasive.

In short, we study how muscles fire during movement and, in the case of movement, which movement more innervates the intended muscle group for the said individual

  • The set-up time for a kinesiology EMG study is minimal, as only electrodes that can be permanently attached to a device or wirelessly sent to an associated receiver are affected.
  • No electric current flows through these electrodes. Instead, the performance of different muscles is measured during a functional movement.
  • However, for any EMG study, the associated costs could be in the mid-hundred to three hundred dollars range. In comparison, neurological EMGs can cost thousands of dollars and require insertion of needles into the muscle and close monitoring

The other inherent risk is who is doing the study.

Time can be wasted if the person skilled in the art does not set up a movement properly or does not understand the output data.

It is best to hire a trained person, e.g. B. a physiotherapist, a sports doctor or a specialist with certification in EMG or even NEUBIE devices. The benefits extend to the competitive area for bodybuilders and athletes involved in active sports.

Finally, an inadvertent risk of EMG testing for exercise choice decreases exercise variation.

Take Olympic lifting for example. The movements that are tested during the competition are cleaning and jerking and snapping.

However, during exercise, front squats, back squats, overhead presses, deadlifts, and pull-ups (to name a few) are performed during a program.

It is to the detriment of the doctor if an EMG result has a psychological effect.

The exercise focuses infinitely revolve around these core exercises, avoiding those that improve mobility, plyometric work, and balance.

Integration of EMG into your training

The safest way to start EMG training is:::

  1. Hire a certified professional.
  2. Set up days when maximum recovery options are available.

By effectively resting between sessions, primary muscle groups can fire more effectively, thereby improving the effectiveness of the study.

In this study, the specialist learns to determine which movement pattern represents the biggest bang for his money.

This is achieved by measuring the mean and peak activation during contraction of the intended muscle group during positional shift.

For exampleWhen recruiting gluteus maximus muscle groups, look at the sumo deadlift, which puts the trainee in a statically abducted position in relation to the glute abduction machine versus a resilient ligament hydrant movement.

The person skilled in the art then goes through the data, identifies these two values ​​and compares them per movement.

In discussing with the client, the practitioner would decide to perform one movement over another for maximum effect during a training session alone.

EMG sessions should not be treated as an intense training session.

Instead, it should be a lab test or visit to the doctor that will require either a short amount of time due to the muscle areas involved or a significantly longer amount of time due to the optimization of larger muscle groups.

One might wonder if EMG training is right for them.

Follow science in your pursuit of achievement

It goes without saying that Instagram pages are littered with gurus and trainers who have all the answers and are obviously doctors of kinesiology, physical therapists and orthopedists.

The authority I am referring to are legitimate trainers in the field with experience and degrees that contribute to science.

Within this science, articles create beads from EMG studies that shed light on why certain movements are performed in contrast to others.

In practice, however, no one has time to read all of these studies, and unfortunately, no one cares unless you find yourself in that niche. They want the answers.

So if you want the answers, pay for them.

Pay for it through a structured process, consistency in the gym, hiring a trainer, and reading condensed literature from reputable sources (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

EMG studies are beautiful and take away the guesswork.

Lucy will do heavy hip bumps, RDLs, and sumo squats to pop her prey.

In the meantime, Andrea modifies her hyperextension and resistance band glute work.

Is EMG a luxury only for athletes?

Does EMG serve us all along the line, or is this a luxury that can only be spent on competitors or athletes?

The questions for you to ponder are as follows::

  • How long have you been training yet?
  • Do you exercise to stay fit or to develop a particular aesthetic?
  • How often do you workout?
  • Have you ever hired a trainer and / or a professional?
  • Do you have disposable income?
  • Do you see yourself in competition?
  • Which data outside of the training preference do you want to collect? That said, provides the best support when sprinting or passing a physical exam.
  • Are you injured or are you returning from injury? That means learning anew how to activate muscle groups.
  • Do you like it and are you open to being watched or studied?
  • Is Maximum Hypertrophy Your Ultimate Goal?
  • Have you tried to access trailing body parts without success?

If you answer the previous questions appropriately, consider EMG.

References

1. Konrad, P., "The ABC of EMG. A practical introduction to kinesiological electromyography", Version 1.4, March 2006, page 5-30.

2. Basmajian, J.V., DeLuca, C.J. "Living Muscles: Their Function Shown by Electromyography," Pub, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1985. 2-p1.

3. Dr. Arthur Kornblit, MD. "How much does an EMG test cost?" Spend On Health, accessed January 20, 2021.

Best hex bar exercises to gain mass and strength now

The Hexagonal bar Exercise has long been one of the most underutilized workouts in fitness history. However, they are famous for their incredible benefits that allow people to gain mass and strength instantly. Although this exercise may seem a bit daunting at first, once you get the hang of it, the workout will become a breeze for you.

In this article, we'll help you find the best performance options Hexagonal bar Exercises. You can also learn how to get the most out of it.

What is the Hex Bar Exercise?

The hex bar is a deadlift variation that promises to train the masses and add strength to your body. It's an incredible workout practiced by athletes, body lifters, and weight lifters. These people do it regularly for its benefits. Hex bar exercises are also known as trap bar deadlifts or diamond bar deadlifts. The drop bar deadlift is perfect for improving muscle hypertrophy and general traction. All you have to do is follow the instructions while doing this workout. This way you can avoid injuries and build strength in the best possible way.

The best hex bar exercises to try.

Hex bar exercise is not a cake. However, if you learn how to press the correct keys, you can quickly turn it into an experience for yourself. Today we are going to show you how to do some possible exercises that will bring you the best benefits like never before.

1. Trap bar jump squat

Trap bar jump squat

Hex bar squat is a spectacular method to build explosiveness and strength in the body. All you have to do is load the bar from a deadlift position. Something like this leaves your thighs parallel to the floor. As you look ahead, be sure to keep your back neutral. Quickly explore up as you jump. This way, the ball of the foot finally leaves the ground. Now try to go back to the same place as this will set the flow correctly.

2. One-armed shrug

The deadlift shape of the hex bar is essential for maintenance. With the help of a one-armed shrug exercise, you can comfortably do deep stretches and activate your core. This also affects your overall stability, which improves performance. To do this exercise, you need to turn the bar sideways and pick it up. Then shrug your shoulders and switch sides.

3. Reverse trap bar single leg deadlift

The name may sound like a lot of hard work, but don't worry; it's easy to do. If you want to build a potential Hex bar deadliftYou will benefit from this exercise. This workout mainly focuses on your hamstrings and helps you balance your body properly. In this case, you need to maintain a straight back, keep your hips high, and move your butt backwards. You need to do this on every repetition. Now you can lift your leg behind you. You can also place it anywhere to keep balance.

4. Trap bar increases push up

Trap Bar Elevated Pushup

The Hex bar deadlift can become even more powerful if you perform an elevated push-up with an air-termination rod. With the raised bar levels, you can easily and conveniently perform a push-up. All you have to do is keep your torso straight and go down low enough to feel a slight stretch on your chest. Then try to contract your muscles while pushing up.

5. Trap bar split squat

Trap bar split workout

If you want to build flawless quads, hamstrings, and glutes, this exercise is your ultimate savior. Try the Trap Bar's split squat whenever you want to unlock its potential Hex bar squats for your convenience. For this exercise, you need to make sure that your shins stay as vertical as possible. Then you can try crouching down until your knee is close to the floor. Keep your upper body straight and your face on the horizon.

6. Reeves deadlift

If you want to learn how to incorporate grip strength into your daily fitness routine, Reeves Deadlift can help you do it. The deadlift shape with hexagonal bar is also easy to build with this workout. All you have to do is lift the barbell by holding the actual plates and lifting the weight. Keeping your torso as upright as possible will help you do the exercise correctly.

frequently asked Questions

1 are Hex bar exercises helpful?

Yes, Hex bar exercises are useful. However, you need to follow the instructions to get rid of any complications.

2. Which is the best exercise for squat down the hexagonal bar?

If you want to learn how to a Hex bar squatswho have favourited Trap Bar Jump Squat is perfect for you.

Perform the rear delt raise to enhance your deltoid strength now

Raise the rear delt Exercise is very efficient for those who want to improve their deltoids right away. While many people find this workout a little difficult, once you get the hang of it, the workout will seem less daunting. All you have to do is provide a function related to the instruction of the exercise.

If you want to understand how lift delt backwards can guide you with your deltoid strength, let's dive into this article and help you find out. Read the article carefully to get the benefits easily.

How best to increase the posterior delt?

Did you know that there is a machine that you can sit on and ideally perform this exercise? Yes, now practice a best rear delt elevation It's not that hard. All you need for this exercise is a Heck delt machine, which you can also find at your local gym. Between 10 and 12 repetitions of this workout is enough to get the benefits right away.

1. Sit on the machine with your face in front of the pad. Adjust the seat height to suit your comfort.

2. Now hold the handles and push your arms back.

3. Squeeze your shoulder blades together like the elevator doors.

4. Hold this position for about 2 seconds and return to your original seat.

5. Perform the best rear delt elevation in at least ten to twelve repetitions for better results.

How do you do a posterior deltic flexion?

For those people who have a constant strength imbalance and are exposed to injuries, Bend raised over the posterior delt can help tremendously. It's also a quick fix for all of your mobility problems. Most swimmers, basketball players, and athletes tend to perform this exercise for the greatest possible convenience.

1. Take a shoulder-width position and pick up a pair of dumbbells. Bend at your hips and maintain a flat back position at a 70-degree angle. Now gently bend your knees along with your elbows. Pull your shoulders back.

2. Now lift the dumbbells out to the side until you reach a level where you can feel the tension.

3. Withstand the weight as you get into the starting position.

4. Repeat the process Bend raised over the posterior delt Exercise a few times until you get consistent results.

How to Perform a Seated, Flexed Rear Delt Lift?

The while sitting bent over reading Increase delt is what the name suggests. You must perform the hunched back delta exercise in a seated position. Not only does it help in eliminating the back problems, but it also improves posture in no time. Over the years, people who have practiced this exercise have spoken about its excellent results.

1. Sit on a bench and hold the dumbbells with both hands. Make sure your palm is facing inwards.

2. Bend at your waist to bend over your torso. It should be parallel to the ground. At the same time, your arms must hang under your shoulders with your elbows slightly bent.

3. Now raise the dumbbells, maintaining the previous position. Raise the dumbbells to the side until your elbows line up with your shoulders. Now keep your core tight and your back flat.

4. Now lower the dumbbells to the starting position and repeat the process.

5. Practice this while sitting, bent back and lift enough to get its results right away.

How do I perform a lying posterior delt increase?

The rear delt raise is excellent for improving the rear shoulder muscles. The exercise is incredible for the upper back and the traps. For those who want to strengthen their bodies without lifting heavy weights, this exercise can come in handy anytime.

1. Set up an incline bench at an angle of 45 degrees. Lie face down on the bench with your chest on the cushion and your feet on the floor.

2. Pull your shoulder blades up and pick up the dumbbells. Keeping one elbow slightly bent, bring the dumbbells down to one level. At this point you can feel a contraction between your back shoulder and the traps.

3. Withstand the weight as you return to the starting position.

4. Repeat the process rear delt raise a couple of times to get the benefits right.

Take that away

The Exercises to raise the posterior delt That we showed you above is the best way to improve your deltoid muscle strength without wasting time. Try them at home and tell us how you like them.

FAQ

1. Are these exercises helpful?

Yes, all of the above exercises will be helpful to you.

2. What is the routine for? rear delt raise?

Do the exercise in 3 sets of twelve to fifteen repetitions.

3. Can I do this? while sitting, bent back and lift in stand?

Yes you can.

Related articles

Delt Fly at the back: Say goodbye to sagging shoulders and full sleeves

The Perpetual COVID-19 Strength Plan

"Maximize high-threshold muscle fiber recruitment, increase strength, muscle, and volume with these advanced training tactics."

Since the situation in Covid-19 still involves a number of openings and bans around the world, it means that gyms are open in some places, while in some countries they may have to wait a little longer.

I got a lot of questions, especially from my clients who live in Melbourne, Australia as they are still heavily locked and unable to access the gym and want to have a safe game plan ready for them once those restrictions are lifted.

When I said this I thought it would be a great idea to share the game plan I would do if my goal was to regain much of the strength that might have been lost during the lockdown, muscle coordination on the key lift, and of course my muscles to maximize growth.

Building an aesthetically attractive and masculine body is the goal of 99% of the male population.

Let me introduce you to this Cluster set methodWhile this method isn't necessarily new, I am often surprised how little publicity this great method actually gets, let alone how many trainers actually use this method or know how to use this method in their programming.

Now that I am a man myself, I pride myself on having a commendable strength regarding my big lifts, but building an aesthetically attractive and manly body has been and remains my priority. Let me explain why I find this method necessary to start your training out of lockdown.

Why the Custer Set Method?

Whether you've just got out of lockdown or are waiting patiently, you have most likely done some type of bodyweight, resistance band, or dumbbell workout, without the heavier, more intense barbell work you usually did at the gym.

While you may have been able to perform variations of exercises like the bench press, squat, deadlift, and many others, there will still be some level of inefficiency in performing these exercises and you will expect to be where you are before you were locked.

I know some of you may be in a hurry to build muscle and get back in shape, but it has long been known that muscle growth from an exercise program doesn't actually happen for a while – it takes around 3-5 weeks to get one essential muscle arises growth will occur!

Neuromuscular adjustment is performed for the first 2-3 weeks of a new program before muscle adjustment (growth) occurs. It makes all the more sense to spend time getting this first phase of training right so that once your body is prepared, you can use the muscles that you may not have been able to build if you just took balls out from the start.

Another reason this method is a perfect starting point has to do with your ability to coordinate muscles within exercises, as this is critical to your ability to build muscle.

By doing lifts with a high enough intensity, you can recruit high-threshold motor units, which means that you will stimulate higher numbers of muscle fibers in the muscle of that lift and, over time, improve your muscle recruitment and coordination.

If you just hit the gym again you will open yourself to a new stimulus to which the body can adapt and your motivation will be at an all-time high. The perfect time to take advantage of what you might consider a potentiation phase that prepares you well before moving on to a more muscular hypertrophy-specific plan of attack.

Understanding cluster sets

First, it is important to understand that the central nervous system is responsible for recruiting motor neurons, starting with the smaller motor units before the larger motor units.

This is known as the Henneman size principle. (1)

Keep in mind that I mentioned lifting at a level high enough to recruit high-threshold motor units. It just means that your body is recruiting the smaller motor units and therefore the muscle fibers In front It can recruit the bigger muscle fibers so it is important to make sure that you are really training with the recommended percentage of your exercises that you can find in the following sections below.

Cluster sets are now when you do a certain number of repetitions, let rest for a short time and then do the same number of repetitions or slightly less for a certain number of “intra-set clusters”.

When you lift at this high intensity, you are exposed to larger amounts of volume that are raised at that intensity in one set.

What makes this even cuter is looking at muscle hypertrophy, the intensity of which we play from both a% of your 1RM and proximity to a momentary muscle failure.

So when we use cluster sets, we take care of the intensity side, and when we add the short rest periods between repetitions, or "clusters," your body has just enough time to replenish some energy (ATP) to keep you lifting at that intensity can.

The Perpetual COVID-19 Strength Plan - Fitness, Exercise, Dumbbells, Lower Body, Cluster Training, Basic Strength, Exercise Programming, Upper Body, Cluster Sets, Pandemic, Covid-19, Recruitment of Muscle Fibers

A key point in what I just mentioned is to make sure you are lifting at a high enough intensity that it is advisable to have a solid understanding of your 1RM or even do a strength test before starting this method Your accuracy will determine the exact percentages and weight with which you must lift.

In conclusion, you are not using a weight that is too comfortable to complete each cluster set. This will go a long way towards making you more neurologically efficient within the movements and being able to recruit muscle fibers.

Workout placement for cluster methods

I'm sure you already have an idea of ​​which exercises to use and when, but let's briefly cover the basics. The cluster sets are programmed in the main exercises or "a series" of your training.

The sets that follow the A series are reset in intensity and are within the strengths of functional hypertrophy (6-8 reps) and hypertrophy (9-12 reps). The intent behind these exercises is to further tire each muscle group by focusing on maximum tension, not just strain.

While the cluster set approach can be used over the full spectrum of ranges, it is primarily known to be used with loading patterns of 1 to 5 repetitions per cluster.

For this program, and to maximize the recruitment of high-threshold motor units, we will be using the clusters within a 1-2 repetition loading system.

How to do cluster sets

The general approach is to use a weight heavy enough to do the target number of reps based on the first set. While there are many different ways to do cluster sets, this also changes the percentage required to lift.

In our case, we process 90% of your 1RM. So the perfect approach would be either to know your 1RM already or to do a strength test a week before your actual start to get a better handle on your percentages.

Let's use the bench press, for example. If my first set of clusters is 2-1-1-1 and I know I can lift a maximum of 150kg for 2 reps, I would use 90% of that weight on my first set of clusters.

The first cluster set would look like this:

  • 135 kg for 2 repetitions (let rest for 15 seconds)
  • 1 repetition (let rest for 15 seconds)
  • 1 repetition (let rest for 15 seconds)
  • 1 rep (let rest 180 seconds)

Now that our basics are covered, let's move on to the rest of the program.

Programming basics

Due to the high intensity that is increased in each session, it is a 4-day intensification phase that rotates between a 4-day focus on the lower and upper body day.

On the days of the lower body, the primary lifts are rotated between a squat and hip joint movement pattern.

A super-set format is used on Upper Body Days, where there is a common focus between push / pull movement patterns in the horizontal and vertical planes.

If you switch to each consecutive week, 1 repetition is added to each cluster set. That way, you can finish your final week with cluster sets for reps of 2-2-2-2.

  • First week – 2-1-1-1
  • Week two – 2-2-1-1
  • Week three – 2-2-2-1
  • Week four – 2-2-2-2

The post-A series exercises are all about maintaining tension. In your B&C series of exercises, it's important to use a weight heavy enough to complete the target rep range while also making sure you can keep up with the required pace.

During the 4-week intensification phase, a total of 22 to 24 work sets per session are displayed in your upper body and a total of 17 work sets per session in the lower body. This will prepare you well for your next phase, where I would suggest a 6-8 week muscle hypertrophy-specific phase.

What do you mean by pace?

The pace at which we train within a particular exercise is called “Time Under Tension” (TUT). This only applies to the 4 phases of lifting seen in each rep. (See picture below)

The Perpetual COVID-19 Strength Plan - Fitness, Exercise, Dumbbells, Lower Body, Cluster Training, Basic Strength, Exercise Programming, Upper Body, Cluster Sets, Pandemic, Covid-19, Recruitment of Muscle Fibers

So if we use the bench press as an example and the tempo used in the 4-2-1-0 image above.

With the 4 you would lower the bar at a count of 4 seconds.

The 2 would pause at the lower isometric point (hold) for 2 seconds.

With the 1 you would be lifting the weight again in 1 second.

The 0 would see that you have no grip on the above isometric drawing.

As you will see below, I actually used the letter "X" in the third column or in the concentric part of the elevator as well. This simply means that you need to highlight the explosive lifting.

The workouts and schedule

Below is the weekly schedule that you use to start your upper body week. Because of the intensity of this program, the lower body is always performed after the upper body day so that the possibly taxed back muscles and erector spinae have adequate rest and do not interfere with your ability to perform the upper body lifts.

Please note that an active rest day means not just sitting around all day. A simple daily step goal of 8,000 to 10,000 is sufficient.

Monday Upper body 1
Tuesday Lower body 1
Wednesday Active day off
Thursday Upper body 2
Friday Lower body 2
Saturday Active day off
Sunday Rest day (take one full day off per week)
Upper body 1 – phase 1
exercise Sets Representative tempo Rest
A1. Pull up the neutral handle 6th 2-1-1-1 40X0 90 seconds
A2. Flat DB Press Pronating 6th 2-1-1-1 40X0 90 seconds
B1. Bent over one arm. Supported DB row – prone position 3 6-8 30X1 75 seconds
B2. Seated one-armed DB Arnold Press 3 6-8 3020 75 seconds
C1. 60 Degree Incline DB Curl – Supinated 2 8-10 30X0 60 seconds
C2. Ez-bar triceps extension 2 8-10 30X0 60 seconds
Lower body 1 – phase 1
exercise Sets Representative tempo Rest
A1. Trap bar deadlift 6th 2-1-1-1 40X0 180 seconds
B1. DB split squat 4th 6-8 40X0 75 seconds
B2. Lying hamstrings – Plantarflexed 4th 6-8 30X1 75 seconds
C1. BB hip thrust 3 8-10 3020 45 seconds
C2. One-sided DB Farmers Walk – 25 m on each side 3 8-10 30X0 45 seconds
Upper body 2 – phase 1
exercise Sets Representative tempo Rest
A1. Incline bench press 6th 2-1-1-1 40X0 90 seconds
A2. Barbell bent over row – prone position 6th 2-1-1-1 40X0 90 seconds
B1. Flat DB press – neutral grip 3 6-8 30X0 75 seconds
B2. Single Arm Lat Pulldown – Supinating 3 6-8 3011 75 seconds
C1. French Press rope 2 8-10 20X0 60 seconds
C2. Seated DB Hammer Curl 2 8-10 30X0 60 seconds
Lower body 2 – phase 1
exercise Sets Representative tempo Rest
A1. Safety bar back squat 6th 2-1-1-1 40X0 180 seconds
B1. DB FFE Split Squat 4th 6-8 40X0 90 seconds
B2. Kneeling Hamstrings – Dorsiflexed 4th 6-8 40X0 75 seconds
C1. 45 degree back extension 3 8-10 30X2 75 seconds
C2. Cable wood chips 3 12-14 30X0 60 seconds

Sports nutrition considerations

Given that your performance will matter and to tolerate these higher intensities being raised and exceeding nature, I would add 5g of creatine monohydrate along with 5g of beta-alanine before training for more endurance performance benefits and increasing the reps to failure.

However, if you do not enjoy the tingling sensation you are familiar with when using beta-alanine, you can divide your dosage into 1-2 g taken 3 times during the day. (3.4)

Where to from here?

Once this programming phase is complete and your goal is to maximize muscle growth, I would highly recommend devising a muscle hypertrophy specific attack plan over the next 8 to 16 weeks, depending on how much time you can devote to building muscle.

Whether you are an aspiring competitor or just an avid body, this is the best plan of attack to follow after completing the cluster set method.

References

1. Culbertson, J. Y., Kreider, R.B., Greenwood, M. & Cooke, M. (2010). Effects of Beta Alanine on Muscle Carnosine and Exercise Performance: A Review of the Current Literature. Nutrients, 2 (1), 75-98.

2. Kreider, R. B., Kalman, D. S., Antonio, J., Ziegenfuss, T. N., Wildman, R., Collins, R., Candow, D. G., Kleiner, S. M., Almada, A. L., & Lopez, H. L. (2017). International Society of Sports Nutrition Stand: Safety and Effectiveness of Creatine Supplementation in Exercise, Exercise, and Medicine. Journal of the International Society for Sports Nutrition, 14 (1), 18.

3. Milner-Brown, H.S., Stein, R.B & Yemm, R. (1973). The proper recruitment of human motor units in voluntary isometric contractions. The Journal of Physiology, 230 (2), 359-370.

4. Robinson, R. (2009). In the mammalian muscle, the axonal wiring takes surprising paths. PLoS Biology, 7 (2)

The Perpetual COVID-19 Strength Plan

"Maximize high-threshold muscle fiber recruitment, increase strength, muscle, and volume with these advanced training tactics."

Since the situation in Covid-19 still involves a number of openings and bans around the world, it means that gyms are open in some places, while in some countries they may have to wait a little longer. I got a lot of questions, especially from my clients who live in Melbourne, Australia as they are still heavily locked and unable to access the gym and want to have a safe game plan ready for them once those restrictions are lifted.

When I said this I thought it would be a great idea to share the game plan I would do if my goal was to regain much of the strength that might have been lost during the lockdown, muscle coordination on the key lift, and of course my muscles to maximize growth. Building an aesthetically attractive and masculine body is the goal of 99% of the male population.

Let me tell you theCluster-Set-Method ", While this method isn't necessarily new, I am often surprised how little publicity this great method actually gets, let alone how many trainers actually use this method or know how to use this method in their programming.

Now that I am a man myself, I pride myself on having a commendable strength regarding my big lifts, but building an aesthetically attractive and manly body has been and remains my priority. Let me explain why I find this method necessary to start your training out of lockdown.

Why the Custer Set Method?

Whether you've just got out of lockdown or are waiting patiently, you have most likely done some type of bodyweight, resistance band, or dumbbell workout, without the heavier, more intense barbell work you usually did at the gym.

While you may have been able to perform variations of exercises like the bench press, squat, deadlift, and many others, there will still be some level of inefficiency in performing these exercises and you will expect to be where you are before you were locked.

I know some of you may be in a rush to gain muscle and get back in shape, but it has long been known that muscle growth from an exercise program doesn't actually happen for a while – it takes about 3-5 weeks for substantial muscle growth to occur!

Neuromuscular adjustment is performed for the first 2-3 weeks of a new program before muscle adjustment (growth) occurs. It makes all the more sense to spend time getting this first phase of training right so that once your body is prepared, you can use the muscles that you may not have been able to build if you just took balls out from the start.

Another reason this method is a perfect starting point has to do with your ability to coordinate muscles within exercises, as this is critical to your ability to build muscle. By doing lifts with a high enough intensity, you can recruit high-threshold motor units, which means that you will stimulate higher numbers of muscle fibers in the muscle of that lift and, over time, improve your muscle recruitment and coordination.

If you just hit the gym again you will open yourself to a new stimulus to which the body can adapt and your motivation will be at an all-time high. The perfect time to take advantage of what you might consider a potentiation phase that prepares you well before moving on to a more muscular hypertrophy-specific plan of attack.

Understanding cluster sets

First, it is important to understand that the central nervous system is responsible for recruiting motor neurons, starting with the smaller motor units before the larger motor units.

This is known as the Henneman size principle. (1)

Keep in mind that I mentioned lifting at a level high enough to recruit high-threshold motor units. This just means that your body is recruiting the smaller motor units, and therefore the muscle fibers, BEFORE it can recruit the larger muscle fibers. So it is important to make sure you are actually lifting with the recommended percentage of your lifts, which you will find in the following sections below.

Cluster sets are now when you do a certain number of repetitions, let rest for a short time and then do the same number of repetitions or slightly less for a certain number of “intra-set clusters”.

When you lift at this high intensity, you are exposed to larger amounts of volume that are raised at that intensity in one set.

What makes this even cuter is looking at muscle hypertrophy, the intensity of which we play from both a% of your 1RM and proximity to a momentary muscle failure.

So when we use cluster sets, we take care of the intensity side, and when we add the short rest periods between repetitions, or "clusters," your body has just enough time to replenish some energy (ATP) to keep you lifting at that intensity can.

The Perpetual COVID-19 Strength Plan - Fitness, Exercise, Dumbbells, Lower Body, Cluster Training, Basic Strength, Exercise Programming, Upper Body, Cluster Sets, Muscle Fiber Recruitment

A key point in what I just mentioned is to make sure you are lifting at a high enough intensity that it is advisable to have a solid understanding of your 1RM or even do a strength test before starting this method Your accuracy will determine the exact percentages and weight with which you must lift.

In conclusion, you are not using a weight that is too comfortable to complete each cluster set. This will go a long way towards making you more neurologically efficient within the movements and being able to recruit muscle fibers.

Workout placement for cluster methods

I'm sure you already have an idea of ​​which exercises to use and when, but let's briefly cover the basics. The cluster sets are programmed in the main exercises or "a series" of your training.

The sets that follow the A series are reset in intensity and are within the strengths of functional hypertrophy (6-8 reps) and hypertrophy (9-12 reps). The intent behind these exercises is to further tire each muscle group by focusing on maximum tension, not just strain.

While the cluster set approach can be used over the full spectrum of ranges, it is primarily known to be used with loading patterns of 1 to 5 repetitions per cluster.

For this program, and to maximize the recruitment of high threshold motor units, we will be using the clusters within a 1-2 repetitive loading scheme. ⠀⠀⠀

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How to do cluster sets⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

The general approach is to use a weight heavy enough to do the target number of reps based on the first set. While there are many different ways to do cluster sets, this also changes the percentage required to lift.

In our case, we process 90% of your 1RM. So the perfect approach would be either to know your 1RM already or to do a strength test a week before your actual start to get a better handle on your percentages.

Let's use the bench press, for example. If my first set of clusters is 2-1-1-1 and I know I can lift a maximum of 150kg for 2 reps, I would use 90% of that weight on my first set of clusters.

The first cluster set would look like this.

● 135 kg for 2 repetitions (let rest for 15 seconds)

● 1 repetition (let rest for 15 seconds)

● 1 repetition (let rest for 15 seconds)

● 1 repetition (let rest 180 seconds)

Now that our basics are covered, let's move on to the rest of the program.

Programming basics

Due to the high intensity that is increased in each session, it is a 4-day intensification phase that rotates between a 4-day focus on the lower and upper body day.

On the days of the lower body, the primary lifts are rotated between a squat and hip joint movement pattern.

A super-set format is used on Upper Body Days, where there is a common focus between push / pull movement patterns in the horizontal and vertical planes.

If you switch to each consecutive week, 1 repetition is added to each cluster set. That way, you can finish your final week with cluster sets for reps of 2-2-2-2.

First week – 2-1-1-1

Week two – 2-2-1-1

Week three – 2-2-2-1

Week four – 2-2-2-2

The post-A series exercises are all about maintaining tension. In your B&C series of exercises, it's important to use a weight heavy enough to complete the target rep range while also making sure you can keep up with the required pace.

During the 4-week intensification phase, a total of 22 to 24 work sets per session are displayed in your upper body and a total of 17 work sets per session in the lower body. This will prepare you well for your next phase, where I would suggest a 6-8 week muscle hypertrophy-specific phase.

What do you mean by pace?

The pace at which we train within a particular exercise is called “Time Under Tension” (TUT). This only applies to the 4 phases of lifting seen in each rep. (See picture below)

The Perpetual COVID-19 Strength Plan - Fitness, Exercise, Dumbbells, Lower Body, Cluster Training, Basic Strength, Exercise Programming, Upper Body, Cluster Sets, Muscle Fiber Recruitment

So if we use the bench press as an example and the tempo used in the 4-2-1-0 image above.

With the 4 you would lower the bar at a count of 4 seconds.

The 2 would pause at the lower isometric point (hold) for 2 seconds.

With the 1 you would be lifting the weight again in 1 second.

The 0 would see that you have no grip on the above isometric drawing.

As you will see below, I actually used the letter "X" in the third column or in the concentric part of the elevator as well. This simply means that you need to highlight the explosive lifting.

The workouts and schedule

Below is the weekly schedule that you use to start your upper body week. Because of the intensity of this program, the lower body is always performed after the upper body day so that the possibly taxed back muscles and erector spinae have adequate rest and do not interfere with your ability to perform the upper body lifts.

Please note that an active rest day means not just sitting around all day. A simple daily step goal of 8,000 to 10,000 is sufficient.

Monday

Upper body 1

Tuesday

Lower body 1

Wednesday

Active day off

Thursday

Upper body 2

Friday

Lower body 2

Saturday

Active day off

Sunday

Rest day (take one full day off per week)

Upper body 1 – Phase 1

exercise

Sets

Representative

tempo

Rest

A1. Pull up the neutral handle

6th

2-1-1-1

40X0

90 seconds

A2. Flat DB Press Pronating

6th

2-1-1-1

40X0

90 seconds

B1. Bent over one arm. Supported DB row – prone position

3

6-8

30X1

75 seconds

B2. Seated one-armed DB Arnold Press

3

6-8

3020

75 seconds

C1. 60 Degree Incline DB Curl – Supinated

2

8-10

30X0

60 seconds

C2. Ez-bar triceps extension

2

8-10

30X0

60 seconds

Lower body 1- Phase 1

exercise

Sets

Representative

tempo

Rest

A1. Trap bar deadlift

6th

2-1-1-1

40X0

180 seconds

B1. DB split squat

4th

6-8

40X0

75 seconds

B2. Lying hamstrings – Plantarflexed

4th

6-8

30X1

75 seconds

C1. BB hip thrust

3

8-10

3020

45 seconds

C2. One-sided DB Farmers Walk – 25 m on each side

3

8-10

30X0

45 seconds

Upper body 2 – Phase 1

exercise

Sets

Representative

tempo

Rest

A1. Incline bench press

6th

2-1-1-1

40X0

90 seconds

A2. Barbell bent over row – prone position

6th

2-1-1-1

40X0

90 seconds

B1. Flat DB press – neutral grip

3

6-8

30X0

75 seconds

B2. Single Arm Lat Pulldown – Supinating

3

6-8

3011

75 seconds

C1. French Press rope

2

8-10

20X0

60 seconds

C2. Seated DB Hammer Curl

2

8-10

30X0

60 seconds

Lower body 2 – Phase 1

exercise

Sets

Representative

tempo

Rest

A1. Safety bar back squat

6th

2-1-1-1

40X0

180 seconds

B1. DB FFE Split Squat

4th

6-8

40X0

90 seconds

B2. Kneeling Hamstrings – Dorsiflexed

4th

6-8

40X0

75 seconds

C1. 45 degree back extension

3

8-10

30X2

75 seconds

C2. Cable wood chips

3

12-14

30X0

60 seconds

Sports nutrition considerations

Given that your performance will matter and to tolerate these higher intensities being raised and exceeding nature, I would add 5g of creatine monohydrate along with 5g of beta-alanine before training for more endurance performance benefits and increasing the reps to failure.

However, if you do not enjoy the tingling sensation you are familiar with when using beta-alanine, you can divide your dosage into 1-2 g taken 3 times during the day. (3.4)

Where to from here?

Once this programming phase is complete and your goal is to maximize muscle growth, I would highly recommend devising a muscle hypertrophy specific attack plan over the next 8 to 16 weeks, depending on how much time you can devote to building muscle.

Whether you are an aspiring competitor or just an avid body, this is the best plan of attack to follow after completing the cluster set method.

References

  1. J. Y. Culbertson, R. B. Kreider, M. Greenwood & M. Cooke (2010). Effects of Beta Alanine on Muscle Carnosine and Exercise Performance: A Review of the Current Literature. Nutrients, 2 (1), 75-98.

  2. R. B. Kreider, D. S. Kalman, J. Antonio, T. N. Ziegenfuss, R. Wildman, R. Collins, D. G. Candow, S. M. Kleiner, A. L. Almada & H. L. Lopez (2017). International Society of Sports Nutrition Stand: Safety and Effectiveness of Creatine Supplementation in Exercise, Exercise, and Medicine. Journal of the International Society for Sports Nutrition, 14 (1), 18.

  3. H. S. Milner-Brown, R. B. Stein & R. Yemm (1973). The proper recruitment of human motor units in voluntary isometric contractions. The Journal of Physiology, 230 (2), 359-370.

  4. Robinson, R. (2009). In the mammalian muscle, the axonal wiring takes surprising paths. PLoS Biology, 7 (2)