One of the most frequently asked questions in the fitness world today is how to build the most muscle in the least amount of time. This question has singlehandedly been the catalyst for the creation of countless new exercises, exercise equipment, diets, and nutritional supplements all attempting to speed up results. Through this article I will cover three components to building muscle and attempt to remove some confusion on this controversial subject.
Possibly the biggest hurdle to gaining muscle lies solely in having an adequate diet to support the growth. Often we believe the word “diet” is synonymous with the practice of reducing calories. Although this type of thinking can be appropriate when trying to lose weight, it will have an adverse effect while attempting to build muscle. Even when our body is at rest it is still working like a car engine and requires fuel even if idling. The amount of calories burned in 24 hours (not including exercise) will vary person to person but will generally be around 1200-1500 calories. Adding an hour of intense exercise can bump this number up another 600-800 calories. Research has shown that up to 36 hour after resistance training your metabolism can be elevated also adding to the total number of calories burned. On top of that, each pound of muscle requires 30-35 calories a day just to simply maintain itself, so any new muscle built can have a large affect on the amount of calories needed in your diet. When we take all of these factors into consideration we can see just how easy it is to “starve” our bodies when trying to build muscle. For an accurate measurement of your personal caloric needs, it is recommended that you take Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) test.
Another obstacle to gaining muscle is having an appropriate program to follow. This means that not only is the program appropriate for challenging your current level of fitness, but also provides a clear progression in order to avoid the dreaded “plateau”. Research has shown that in order to build muscle, that muscle must be challenged to the point of failure at least 2 times per week with no more than 3 days rest in between. However, this does not necessarily mean that more is better. Training a muscle group 4-5 times per week will likely offer no additional muscle growth and can actually be harmful to your body. It is important to remember that your body needs rest otherwise it can easily slip into what is known as “overtraining”. Overtraining the body can hinder results and ultimately lead to greater fatigue and poor performance. Muscle growth happens not during the exercise but rather the days following, rest can be just as important as the workouts.
Lastly, and arguably the hardest factor to come to terms with, is patience. The fitness industry has been littered with ineffective products all promising the same miracle results using tag lines such as “Gain 18 lbs of muscle in two weeks!” or “Increase your bench press by 100lbs in 30 days!”. It is easy to get discouraged when infomercials and fitness magazines promote these ridiculous myths. Even when dialing in all other factors involving muscle growth, ultimately it is our dedication and commitment to a lifestyle change that has the most dramatic effect on results. Remember, “Nothing worthwhile ever came easy”.
The martial arts have so many reasons why people participate in them weekly, from breathing arts, to sport arts, to combat arts, and traditional fighting styles. The formats all have self-defense practicality, and lifesaving skills that will be introduced to you from your practice. If you want to do a crash course on self-defense then try a seminar/workshop.
The material is simple to learn, geared towards a fast approach to learning practical techniques for getting out of a provoked situation. You don’t have to have a black belt, or a super athlete to go to one. Most class formats are very welcoming to the public, and please look into the format (some can be military based) and require prior experience. I love to teach these seminars with a key chain tool to give the participant a way to be safe and be confident in practicing. What you should expect is to learn how to build a surrounding awareness, know where you are and who’s with you. Learn tested techniques that will work to getting you safe. You should leave feeling like you can practice, imitate the drills, and not get hurt practicing.
Keep your head up confidence is the #1 tool
What to look for in a self defense class:
Group setting to practice hands on
Learn to use your voice, and body to be a verbal weapon
Key chain device (kubaton) used for getting free from holds
Safe drills to help you remember escapes and counters
Escapes from grabs, holds, and attacks is usual information given
The Seattle Athletic Club Downtown holds Self Defense seminars periodically during the year; sign up for the newsletter to stay connected with what is coming up at the club, or book a session for yourself and friends with Jody Garcia.
Over the years I have worked with a wide variety of athletes. Soccer players, runners, squash players and martial artists. In all of my athletes I have found limited range of motion and overall weakness. Though the athletes on the tight side do have strength in certain ranges, these ranges are usually limited (straight forward, straight up). In the rare cases of hypermobility the athletes lack strength and the ability to protect the joints involved.
Regardless of their sport the regimen for training the shoulders is usually comprised of linear, robotic movements. Push ups, pull ups, shoulder press, lateral raises and maybe the occasional rotator cuff exercise are usually the movements of choice. Though these may make sense in a fitness routine, they hardly cover the vast ranges of movement and velocity the shoulder has to utilize in performance. In addition they create a hyperactive upper body that activates too early in the kinetic chain and often too aggressively.
The shoulder is a ball and socket joint. It flexes, it extends, it rotates, and moves across and away from the body. The scapula (shoulder blades) protract, retract, rotate (up and down), abduct (separate), adduct (squeeze together), elevate and depress. Ideally this happens in a smooth and graceful manner. This is rarely the case. Typical methods of training the shoulder (see above) compress the head of the humerus in the glenoid fossa of the scapula (aka the socket). In addition the scapula is often in a fixed position. This is ideal under external load but hardly ever in athletic movements. This limits its ability to move freely and severely hinders throwing ability, racquet and running speed. This starts off as tightness, then chronic soreness and in some cases this can progress to injury.
To truly train the shoulder as it was meant to move you have to change your way of looking at exercise. Forget what muscle or muscle groups you are trying to train. Try and focus on two things: 1) What ranges are you tight and/or weak in? 2) What motions do your shoulders have to perform in your sport?
Once you have identified these two things it’s time to get things moving. When training for athletic performance we need light weight and flowing (and ideally fast) full body motions. Small handled medicine balls, cables, bands and wrist weights are ideal. When selecting a weight pick one that doesn’t hinder your speed, power or quality of movement. Don’t think about fatiguing any one muscle. Focus more on enhancing your movements.
When selecting movements try throwing and swinging versus pushing and pulling. The power should generate from the feet and surge through the body in a seamless manner. If this is done in a competent manner, by the time the force reaches the shoulder it can loosen up those tight areas (#1). This teaches the overused and tight muscle to wait its turn to activate in correct order and in a more appropriate manner. Ideally it should activate and let the power flow through it instead of tensing up and taking the brunt of the movement. When addressing tightness make sure not to move through pain or extreme tightness. Stop just short of these sensations. Trying to power through will shut down your speed mechanisms and can cause injury.
Over time and with precision and care you can make vast improvements in tight overused areas. Once this is accomplished you can now move onto sports specific movement. Once again use light weights and fast and flowing full body movements. Strive for graceful power in your movement with seamless transitions from one muscle to the next. Once that grace or power dissipates end the movement. Pushing or muscling through these movements for the sake of volume ultimately sets back your progress for athletic speed and power. Make sure and rest long enough not only to catch your breath but allow enough time for you to regain the ability to move with force and grace.
This isn’t by any means an easy process. Avoiding and improving on tight and injured areas while improving sports performance is a whole different creature than fitness. It takes time, dedication, precision and most of all patience. Keep your eye on the long term goals of longevity and quality of movement and feel your body heal and watch your athleticism reach heights.
Do you stretch before, during or after your workout, go on a run, swim or bike ride? Well, anytime is a great time to stretch. It depends on what it is you are trying to achieve. For example, some athletes may perform a brief warm up of 10-15 minutes and then engage in ballistic stretching (a bouncing-type movement without a hold) prior to their athletic performance. For the average person, it’s up to you on when you do it. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research did a study on pre- & post-exercise stretching and found little to no difference on flexibility. Some find it feels good to warm up and then do some stretching before your workout. Others, such as many of my clients, enjoy a nice stretch after a hard workout, especially with the assistance of their trainer. There are even some that like to stretch before, during and after. Whenever it is you decide to do it, I encourage you to definitely include stretching in your workout if you don’t already!
Every person in the world knows of someone that has had cancer or presently has cancer; sadly it is becoming more prevalent within our society with 1/3 of our population having some type of cancer. Cancer very plainly is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells; and there are more than 100 different types of cancer. With more than eight million cancer survivors it is becoming increasingly important to create structured workout regimes for the rehabilitative and maintenance of this issue.
With the two major issues for current cancer patients being loss of body mass and daily functional status (including extreme fatigue and difficulty walking), it is important to start an exercise routine during and following cancer treatments.
The benefits of exercise for cancer treatment side effects:
Decreased sense of fatigue
Increase in body mass
Increased coordination
Increased muscular strength
Increased cardiovascular endurance
Increased quality of life
Prevention of future cancers
So what should a cancer survivor’s workout goals be?
Improve your overall functional status. Are your workouts making life seam easier, giving you more energy, distracting your mind?
Improve flexibility and mobility of joints. Keep you loose and limber, this may take some thought as to not cause pain while stretching but it can be done.
Increase circulation with active motion. Get that blood pumping in your entire body!
Increase ventilatory function. Try to create an exercise routine that gets you to work on systematic breathing.
Prevent blood clotting. Keep your blood healthy with movement.
Increase muscular strength and endurance. Work with weights and cardio equipment to your own submaximal effort.
Reduce bone loss. Add weight bearing exercises to your workout to strengthen your bones and joints.
Keep your metabolism up and keep your muscles. Working on keeping your muscles strong and toned will keep your strength as well as keep your metabolism elevated.
Listen to your body. You don’t want to over tax your body, look for signs of increased fatigue, dizziness, cramping during or following exercise and stop what you are doing.
What should a workout for a cancer survivor look like?
Frequency At least 3-5 times a wk
Intensity 60-80% heart rate max or RPE 11 to 14 (out of 20)
Type Large muscle groups, walking & cycling
Time 20-30 continuous min per session
Progression May be cyclical with periods of regression depending on treatments
For those with some medical issue, exercise really is the cure all. No matter what the medical issue, exercise has never been shown to have detrimental effect, but rather the opposite; it usually alleviates all of the negative side effects. What you have to understand is how to modify exercise for each issue that arises like stated above. If you have questions about how to exercise being a cancer survivor please feel free to contact Fitness director Jacob Galloway.
This video of a three-part series addresses different stretch techniques including: static, active, dynamic and resistance stretching by demonstrating some basic stretches for the calves, inner/outer thighs and large hip muscles.
When assessing when a certain stretch technique should be used, there is no right or wrong answer; however, here is what I recommend to my clients.
Static stretching should be done once a muscle is thoroughly warmed up. I recommend it primarily after your resistance workout following a cool down. If you decide to static stretch before a workout, make sure you do a long warm up prior.
Active stretching can also be done before a workout after a warm up, or in place of one. This technique is used a lot with team sports and group fitness. It’s a great and safe way to get multiple muscles firing and create length in muscles that are tight before beginning a work out. I also use it with clients to reinforce proper movement patterns before adding weight to them, and with some clients this can be used as a workout itself.
Dynamic stretching can also be included as a warm up if you are outside doing a sport. I recommend at least a small warm up (walk/jog) before attempting these moves. Ballistic movements have a higher risk of injury, but also can produce good lubrication in the joints in multiple planes of motion. These stretches also mimick the natural plyometric movements of the body, so it is good preparation before a sport.
Resistance (Ki-Hara) stretching is fairly new. It has a medicinal benefit in that it allows you to stretch more of the muscle belly versus the tendons. Stretching the tendon is typical if you have a very short, impeded movement pattern. Professional athletes, like Dara Torres, use it regularly. It would be best after a workout, or on a day you aren’t working out because you will have increased blood flow to the muscle.
- PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) and basic assisted stretching are done with a trainer. PNF is along the same principles as resistance stretching only you squeeze the opposing muscle group isometrically, which shuts off (inhibits) the target muscle from resisting the stretch, and then relax as you are assisted into the stretch. During assisted stretching you can squeeze the target muscle in an isometric contraction to push blood into it, and then follow it with a relaxation during the stretch. These techniques I am more than happy to give you an introduction to if you would like further details.
The solution for busy people
Busy people want the biggest bang for the buck. Kettlebells can be the solution to trying to squeeze cardio, strength AND flexibility training in an already overbooked schedule.
Greater fat loss
Fat gets the ol’ one-two-three punch. First, there is the extremely high metabolic cost of throwing the weight around. Second, it’s a strength training workout creating dense muscle mass, which burns calories from fat stores all day long while increasing your resting metabolism. There is no better way to burn fat. This is why sprinters have ripped muscles and marathon runners have a skinny look.
It’s enjoyable
Let’s face it, most exercise is boring. Kettlebell training is quick and enjoyable, which is one of the reasons you’ll stick with it.
Helps low back pain
The glutes and all the hip muscles are strongly emphasized by KB training. Not only do they get much stronger, they wake up and start participating in your movement. Mechanically, if you’re not firing your glutes when you lift or extend your hip, you are compensating by overusing your lower back muscles. The low back muscles were NOT intended to do the job of your glutes. Your body learns a more correct, much more powerful movement pattern that helps everything you do — and your low back stops complaining.
Develop core strength
Kettlebells require you to engage the core in almost every lift. Kettlebell’s have a reputation for strengthening backs and abs like nothing else before.
Most people know to ice as soon as possible after sustaining an injury, but did you know that if you ice correctly, you can often avoid more serious injury? By serious injury I mean the kind that causes recurring pain for weeks or more and won’t go away with just rest. The key is simple – as soon as you can, ice in a stretched position and ice until you’ve removed all excess heat from the injured area, so that it’s the same temperature as healthy tissue adjacent to the injury.
Icing in a stretched position is critical. For example, if you strained a hamstring, you would place the ice bag directly under the injury and sit on it, on the floor (or 2 chairs), with your leg completely straight and your torso upright against the wall (or chair back). A strained calf could require slightly different stretches: depending on which muscle is injured (there are several). The entire leg could be straight and the foot stretched back toward you with a strap. Or, the knee should be bent while the calf is stretched, and so on. If you’re not sure of the specific stretch for a certain muscle, (or if you don’t know which muscle is injured) ask any of our yoga instructors, personal trainers or massage practitioners.
Briefly, icing in a stretched position achieves two results. First, placing the muscle in a tight stretch causes newly forming scar tissue to be aligned parallel to muscle or tendon fibers. Icing ensures that the scar tissue hardens or cements in this proper alignment. Misaligned scar tissue can result in re-injury: recurring pain with a specific activity. (A massage practitioner trained in injury treatment can help to resolve the issue.) Second, icing until all excess heat is removed diminishes any secondary injury that may be caused by cell death due to lack of oxygen. (Swelling increases interstitial fluid between cells, spreading them farther apart so nutrients have to travel farther to get to cells.) Icing lowers the temperature and slows cell metabolism, decreasing the amount of oxygen needed to survive.
While we’re at it, stretching need not necessarily be part of your warm up. A “warm up” is just that – increasing the temperature in your muscles. A high velocity, low resistance activity is recommended, such as the stationary bike. Spin like crazy (with slight resistance) until you break a sweat – now you’re warmed up. While I recognize that for elite athletes stretching is a mandatory part of their warm up, it’s probably OK for the rest of us to save the stretching until after your athletic activity, when you are at your very warmest.
I’ll finish with a specific incident: while on break during my massage shift I passed one of our trainers in the juice bar. She had just returned from a run and was alarmingly incapacitated, hardly able to walk, and in a great deal of pain. “Bacon!!” she says, “You’ve got to fix me!!” I told her that, as she had just done it, there was nothing for me to fix yet (scar tissue was only just starting to form). I told her to ice herself in a stretched position. When I saw her next, she was lying on her belly, propped up on her elbows, (effectively stretching her hip flexors) resting on a bag of ice at her upper thigh/groin region. The very next day, she was moving with only the slightest limitation and fully recovered, needing no further treatment.
It’s ski season—ah…the pure joy of skiing down a mountainside of sparkling powder, surrounded by tall evergreens and brilliant blue sky……
Then, after that first day of tackling moguls, dodging trees and other skiers; the fatigue and soreness of the legs and hips kick in. This is partly because of muscle overuse and lack of core strength. If the core is not working enough, your legs and hips have to work harder to stabilize you.
Pilates will stretch tight, overused leg muscles, such as the quads and hip flexors and strengthen underused muscles such as the hamstrings and inner thighs.
Skiers rely on side-to-side hip movement to recruit the inside and outside edge of the ski. Boarders tilt their hips forward and back to access the front and back edge of the board and use a more rotational movement to change directions. A strong core gives you better edge control. Edge control improves balance as you navigate the twists and turns of the slope –at high speeds-, the ever-changing snow conditions and the ability to get up unscathed when you take a tumble.
By practicing Pilates, core strength and alignment improves and you become more in tune with your body. Movements are fluid, there is less wear and tear on joints and your sport becomes more enjoyable. You’ll find yourself adapting better to changing snow conditions, challenging terrain, and falling less.
Here are some mat exercises you could start today:
Nothing will improve your skiing faster than a strong core. Cross-train by adding a Pilates mat class to your fitness regime or perhaps a private session with your Pilates Instructor.
Getting the running shoes on and out the door is just the first step… Most people don’t realize that running is not just about putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward, there are many small nuances and techniques to running that create better run efficiency, power, and the ability to run injury free. Just sit at Greenlake one Saturday afternoon and you will see it all, the good the bad and the otherwise. Proper run form is the key to increasing your speed as well as to help you from getting injured. Here are a few proper run form technique pointers:
Posture: You should run tall and erect, shoulders level, back straight with a neutral pelvis.
Forward Lean: Lean forward from your ankles. Many times you will see people running hunched over from their waist or their shoulders (I blame it on computers and being hunched over at a desk all day) this can tighten the chest and restrict breathing. The other extreme is the puffed chest runner I like to call a peacock runner. They literally lead with their chest. Proper form: You want to be tall when you run while leaning from your ankles creating a light forward angle to your body.
Helpful hint: think about looking forward about 20-30 feet on the path you are running, this will naturally give your body a slight forward tilt. Looking directly down will make you hunch and looking way up at the horizon can lead to almost a backwards tilt – you want to lean forward in the direction you are going, let the natural forces help you not fight against you.
Relax! Relax your shoulders relax your hands! Let your body fall into a natural rhythm. Running tense is wasted energy and as you start to run long you will feel the effects whether you realize it or not.
90degree arms: keep elbows at a 90degree bend. If you are breaking this it means that you are “hammering” with your arm and loosing efficiency. Arm should swing from the shoulder joint not the elbow. Hands should brush by your waist not be tight up by your chest which can cause tiredness and tightness in your shoulders and back.
Midfoot strike: (though this one is often up for debate…) Land with your foot striking directly under your center of mass and roll off the ball of your foot. Heel striking often means that you are over striding which affects run efficiency and means you are “braking” causing you to actually run “slower” and may lead to injury because of the impact on your joints. If you are running all on the balls of your feet, your calves can get tight and fatigue quickly and or you can develop shin pain.
Run cadence: this is the frequency of your foot strike. Ideally run cad is around 90 (or 180 steps per minute) though many elite runners and triathletes will run at a cadence 100 this is very high for most. Running with shorter strides uses less energy and creates less stress on your muscles and impact to your joints. To count your run cadence, during any portion of your run choose one foot and count how many times it strikes down in a minute. If you are much under 90 this could mean that you are either over-striding and or your foot is spending too much time with impact on the ground (anywhere from 88-90 is great). You want to think light and airy when you run not thumping down heavy footed. Run as if you are running on a hot surface: quick, light and with short strides. NO bouncing! Bouncing = wasted energy and too much impact on your muscles and joints.
Next time you put those sneakers on and head out the door for the run think about “how you run” and how you can improve your run efficiency by following the above pointers.
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