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#1. Grip Exercises - from Henry Jung
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Date: Thu,17 Sep 98 11:59:13 +0900 From: Henry Jung <hjung@jp.FCNBD.COM> Subject: Grip Exercises Sorry. I know there are loads of info on this but I don't know where. I would like to increase my grip strength for judo. What should I do? Should I buy putty or should I focus on certain exercises? Best, Henry
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#2. Strength Training Injuries - from axtomas
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Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 11:15:45 -0400 From: por1axt@por10.med.navy.mil (axtomas) Subject: Strength Training Injuries Hi all, These might be of interest: Strength training injuries part I http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/1998/02feb/laskow.htm Strength training injuries part II http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/1998/03mar/laskow2.htm Strength Training: Rationale for Current Guidelines for Adults Fitness Programs (Michael Pollock) http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/1997/02feb/pollock.htm Cheers, Andrew Tomas
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#3. Handstands - from Lyle McDonald
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Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 23:08:26 -0500 (CDT) From: lylemcd@onr.com (Lyle McDonald) Subject: Handstands >Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 18:28:33 -0400 (EDT) >From: "R.A. Onufer" <onuferra@muss.cis.McMaster.CA> >Subject: My wrists & handstands > >I'm trying to learn to handstand. Anybody know anything that would help? Yup, practice doing handstands. Seriously, that's about all you can do to improve a skill like handstands (I was a terribly mediocre gymnast in high school). What you might want to do to start is get up close to a wall (or get a spotter). Then kick up into a handstand with your feet against thewall. This at least will help you get a feel for the position. Your bodyshould be very tight, pretty much in a straight line (so don't let your back arch). Then you can pull your feet away from the wall and try to balance. When you tip to the floor, kick back up. Alternately get someone to spot you (by grabbing your ankles), then have them let go as you fightto hold the handstand, helping to stabilize you when you are about to fall over (they should keep their hands just away from you feet, grabbing you when you are about to tip). Basically, it just takes a lot of practice. >Also, after I've practiced for a bit my wrists, especially my right one, >become sore and it feels painful to supinate/pronate my right one at the >end of this movement. Any ideas what this could be and what I can to about >it? Does the joint itself require more strength? More flexibility? Probably a bit of both, should go away with regular practice (you may want to warm up your wrists with some wrist circling and stretching before doing handstands). Lyle McDonald, CSCS "Who put the 'ramm' in the ramma, lamma, ding dong?" [I did. Rob O]
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#4. VO2 periodization - from Lyle McDonald
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Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 23:08:18 -0500 (CDT) From: lylemcd@onr.com (Lyle McDonald) Subject: VO2 periodization >Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 09:39:44 +1200 >From: "Simon Fletcher" <sfletcher@unitec.ac.nz> >Subject: V02 > >Can anyone tell me how long it takes to reach a high level of V02 ? >I know it depends on many variables and I do not mean the absolute >value an individual may reach. I think I read 6 weeks somewhere. The>information I want is in relation to preparation for a competitive >sport season (say Basketball). Realize that basketball players rarely have tremendously high VO2 values.This reflects specificity of training. Even though a given game may lasta very long time, the game is very stop and start, much more of an intervaltype of training. So focusing on raising Vo2 max isn't that specific for a b-ball player. >I am interested particularly in the Tabata protocol not so much the >traditional periodisation type "aerobic base" cliche. Intervals would be a much more logical choice for training for a sport like basketball. Yes, some aerobic capacity is needed to be able to sustain intensity through the entire game but doig start and stop trainnig would make more sense to me. >On the subject of periodisation, if high volume and low intensity are>advocated in the off season and then the reverse as the season >approaches, surely, given the mutually exclusive relationship between>the two it is obvious that a gradual increase in impact (and the >resultant adaption of) on bodily systems is not the result. The >athlete generally carries the accumulated fatigue into the next >season. This is what led to the inclusion of a 'transition' phase, a period of 2-4 weeks of very light training, to allow all traces of fatigue from the rigors of the competition season to disappear. Yes, if you went straight for low vol/high int. during the season to high vol/low int during the early phases of training, you would carry over fatigue. Lyle McDonald, CSCS "Who put the 'ramm' in the ramma, lamma, ding dong?"
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#5. Fat loss - from Lyle McDonald
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Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 23:08:11 -0500 (CDT) From: lylemcd@onr.com (Lyle McDonald) Subject: Fat loss >Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1998 21:20:28 -0500 >From: "Don Gwinn" <dgwinn@monm.edu> >Subject: RE: Fat Loss > I'd like to hear whether, and why, anyone on the list prefersHIT, a >high-volume approach, SS, etc. for fat loss. It seems to me that higher >reps or the longer TUT in Super Slow should facilitate fat loss, but right >now I'm following a pretty basic HIT program: I could probably make an argument for a slightly higher volume being useful for fat loss for a couple of reasons: 1. Higher volume = more calories burned. But keep in mind that hte calorie burn from weight training (during the session) isn't terribly high to begin with. You're looking at maybe 9 cal/minute at the most. so doubling your workout from 30' (whatever) to an hour may only mean another couple of hundred calories burned. If this puts you over the edge into overtraining (more likely on reduced calories), it's not worth it. 2. Muscle glycogen and fat utilization are inversely related. That is, the lower your muscle glycogen is, the more fat you use at rest and during exercise. The higher your muscle glycogen is, the less fat you use. this is also part of why reduced carb diets (such as the Zone) work well: theyallow you to keep muscle glycogen lower, so fat utilization is enhanced. Ultimately though, diet is going to be the prime determinant of fat loss anyhow. so if you are currently doig a low vol/HIT program, I owuldn't necessarily suggest changing it. Just reduce calories slightly (maybe 250-500 cal/day) and keep the intensity high to maintain muscle mass. <snip> The only comment I have on your training program is that some studies have shown that you have to work out at least three times per week to have a noticeable effect on body composition (i.e. fat loss). Of course, your cardio covers that. So what you are doing looks fine. >I don't currently have a partner, so I'm basically drafting whoever'sin the >gym to spot me. Can anyone suggest anything specific I'm missing to target >fat loss? Again, diet is the main key. A couple of mistakes I commonly see people making when they go for fat loss: 1. Reducing calories excessively. Although you'd think this would yield more/faster fat loss, that's rarely the case. If you reduce calories to omuch, you will incresae muscle loss and decrease metabolism. A good rule of thumb is to reduce calories initially by 20% below maintenance (estimated by 15 cal/lb of current total bodyweight). IN practice, 12 cal/lb of current total bdoyweight is a good place to start. After 2 weeks at that calorie level, you can make adjustements up or down based on fat loss. If fat loss is less than 1 lb/week, reduce calories another 250 per day. If total weight loss is more than 2 lbs/week, raise claories because chance are you are losing muscle. 2. Sufficient protein intake. along with calories, this is the biggest key to avoiding musle loss on a diet. 1 gram/lb of lean body mass (or total bodyweight if you can't get a good measure of lean body mass) should be the de facto standard on any fat loss diet. Women can get by with 0.75 gram/lb. 3. Fat intake shouldn't go below 20% of total calories. This is for a few reasons. first and foremost, fat tends to slow digestions so you stay full longer. Personally, I am hungrier if my fat intake is too low, making ithard to cut calories. Second, decreasing fat intake too low may impair fat burning. 4. Carbs are the rest of your calories. IN practice, carbs may be 50-65%of total calories on a fat loss diet. Some people may need to consume fewer, some may need a little bit more. Based on the amont of training your doing, I'd be surprised if you needed more than 65% of total caories. And remember from above that lower muscle glyogen levels (up to a point) means better fat burning. So lowering carb intake (and focusing on less refined carbs) may give you better fat loss. A final thing to consider is that some research shows interval training (sucha s the Tabata protocol which has been posted previously) to be muchbetter for fat loss than standard cardio. So you might try inserting one or two days of interval trainign (instead of low intensity stuff on the stepper) but be careful of locally overtraining your legs. Lyle McDonald, CSCS "Who put the 'ramm' in the ramma, lamma, ding dong?"
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#6. Re: HIT Digest #190 - from Richard Eastwood
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Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 17:27:06 +0100 From: "Richard Eastwood" <rpeast@globalnet.co.uk> Subject: Re: Intensity >-------------------- 8 -------------------- >Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 10:23:17 EDT >From: Sonofsquat@aol.com >Subject: Re: Intensity... Fred 2 wrote: "Not to mention that intensity can be defined by how much force you are applying to the bar! 5 reps at slower speed isn't as intense as 5 reps pushing as hard as possible. In other words, as a HITer once spoke of onthis digest: F=ma." All the definitions that have been given are subjective ones, and all have their merits... but I have to say that this particular one does not ring true - I'm sorry, but you cannot equate mechanical work with metabolic work. For example, a set of 5 SuperSlow chins would be *much* harder ( and therefore more intense ) than 5 chins done as fast as possible. RichE
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#7. Re: HIT Digest #190 - from Wally Day
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Date: Thu,17 Sep 1998 17:36:14 -0700 (PDT) From: Wally Day <wday@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: HIT Digest #190 More questions re: vege-bodybuilding. Ironmike worte: > There is at least one here in Brighton, Ma. I've been a veggie for about 7 years now. May I query as to what the raw content of your diet is? > I eat no meat, fish, fowl,eggs, milk or > dairy products. I do use a whey protein that I mix with a high quality soy > protein (my own mixture is a higher protein and lower priced versionthan what's > out there comercially) so I am ciose to, but not totally vegan. Have you tried any of the "purely veg" protein powders? Are they any good? > Most articles written about vegitarianism and bodybuilding (generally > negative) are by people whose idea of a healthy diet is a steak witha prime rib > on the side. That's like getting your lifting info from a marathon runner. I agree. Are there any other vegetarians out there besides Mike? _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
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#8. Try this to improve your handstand - from PRSNLFTNSS@aol.com
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Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 21:13:24 EDT From: PRSNLFTNSS@aol.com Subject: Try this to improve your handstand Here is my two cents on the handstand. I went through the first 25 yearsof my life with out being able to even approach a handstand. Then after about 40 to 50 attempts I started to get the hang of it. Now at the age of 40, I find that I am as good as ever. That is about 10 to `15 seconds. The first thing to work on is a straight body hang from a high bar. This is the same technique that Steve Nuno uses with his athletes. Have your toes stretch down as far from your hands and the bar as possible. This shouldresult in the straightest back alignment. That is the same positioning you want while in the handstand. While an instructor in the DPE, USMA West Point, we brought the plebes/cadets though the following steps with the following pointers. Assume a standing position with arms & hands extended overheadat shoulder width. From a feet together position, pick your favorite foot (i.e. right) and step forward to a deep lunge and lift the rear (i.e., left) leg straight back up and over your head. This gives you the needed momentumto float up. Continue to work on this lunge/kick until you are able to get both feet up, well off the ground. The safest spot to learn the handstand is against a wall and over a 4" padded mat/mattress. Worst case against you door so it wont open. You can eventually over kick so that you can extend both legs together and over your head to assume a handstand against the wall. To identify a good starting point, stand about 1 foot from the wall and taketwo big steps backwards. That is where you should begin your non stop lung kick- handstand from. Your hands (finger nails) should be about 9 to 12 inchesaway from the wall when your up. Many of the less fortunate fail to reach this"level" as they are unable to keep their arms extended during the supportphase. Keep em locked the entire time unless you care to eat some mat. A teaching point is to have the student keep their head in a somewhat extended position and not flexed as this appears to facilitate the cannon ball collapse. Once you are able to get up on the wall, work on full body extension with maximal toe height. Don't be a banana. This will involve a great deal of coactivation along the entire spine and hips. You can thenstart to slowly cast your feet off the wall by shifting you hips back over your hands. Don't forget to get in lots of reps. Once you have the ability to kick up with out knocking a whole in the wall/door, you are ready for open ground (away from furniture). Always attempt to return back to the ground one foot at a time stepping back down and out from the lunge. It is good practice, safe, and sets you up for your next attempt. If you over kick without the wall, the safest out is to rotate out to the right or left and return down with one foot at a time, versus falling over to bridge. If you do fall over, keep your hands on the ground at all time (to protect you head/neck), flex your neck and lower your shoulder to the ground in a roll out. I don't know where your starting from, but I hope this helps. For better assistance, check out your library for books on gymnastics. The handstand is the foundation for the cartwheel, round-off, and hand springs. These exercises are the best and safest examples of upper body plyometrics for the skilled athlete. Pete LaChance, MS, CSCS Gym Kids Gymnastics RT 32 Cornwall, NY
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#9. RE: HIT Digest #190 - from John Parry-McCulloch
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Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 12:03:14 +0100 From: John Parry-McCulloch <John.Parry-McCulloch@liffe.com> Subject: RE: HIT Digest #190 In response to Wally Day's question: are there any vegetarian bodybuilders out there? There is at least one here in Brighton, Ma. I've been a veggie for about 7 years now. I eat no meat, fish, fowl,eggs, milk or There was a world-class BB out there called Andreas Carling, a Swedish national who was a fruitarian. That is, he ate nothing but fruit and stuff that you could get from plants without actually killing the plant. Odd folks those Swedes. Apparently he used to eat 3-5 lbs of apples at a sitting. I'd imagine that a short time after that, he'd spend a few hours sitting on the bog. Jon
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#10. Aerobics & Weight Training - from Rich & Jessica Sudusky
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Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 19:18:55 -0400 From: "Rich & Jessica Sudusky" <rjsudusky@snet.net> Subject: Aerobics & Weight Training I recently started doing more biking (3-4 days a week, 1-2 hours/session)to prepare for an upcoming bike-a-thon. I figured from most of the stuff I've read that my weight training (2x / week, HG style) would suffer. However, my lifts have not stalled at all, and I have maintained my bodyweight while becoming noticeably leaner. High rep squats seem a bit easier because of my improved aerobic fitness. Has anybody else the experience of getting better results in their weighttraining by doing aerobics? Rich Sudusky
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#11. Excerpt from Beyond Brawn - from Lyle McDonald
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Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 02:44:06 -0500 (CDT) From: lylemcd@onr.com (Lyle McDonald) Subject: Excerpt from Beyond Brawn Although I will be doing a full review of this tome for Cyberpump (as soon as I get through it's 496 pages of information), I came across something in one of the chapters that I thought was apropos to a lot of the debate on this list. For those who aren't familar with Stuart McRobert, he has written three books (Brawn, Beyond Brawn, and the Insider's Tell-all handbook on weighttraining technique, which is arguably the best book on weight training technique ever written) and has published a bimonthly magazine called Hardgainer for many years. The basic philosophy of the Hardgainer concept is very similar to what most consider HIT although there are a few differences. The emphasis is on infrequent, low volume, high intensity training although there are many different interpretations of Hardgainer training. Anyway, Stuart expresses below with great clarity what has been a large area of discussion on thislist and I wanted to post it here. It, of course, has to do with training intensity. If the format seems odd, it's because Stuart wrote the chapters as individuals points, not as a typical narrative. ******* 9.15. To help you understand the practical application of hard work, hereare three categories of effort. All of them can be productive, dependingon the application. a. First category of effort: Here, a set is continued till one or two reps short of the absolute last rep you could do in good form. This is 'hard'training. Of course, if you have never trained to failure consistently, you will not know where one or two reps short of failure is. Still, so long as you keep adding weight to the bar, you will progress. My note: Stuart hits it right on the head here. If you haven't trained to failure for a while, saying that you are training 1 or 2 reps short is meaningless because you won't know when you are 1 or 2 reps short of failure. So whether you believe in training to failure or not, you have to spend some time training to failure to know how close you are on any given set. b. Second category of effort: Here, a set is continued until no further reps can be done in good form, i.e., to one or two more reps than in the first category. This is 'very hard' training and hardly anyone doese it on a consistent basis. It takes quite some experience to know when another rep is truly impossible. My note: when he says 'hardly anyone', he is of course referring to the general gym rat who trains about 10 reps short of failure. I imagine most people on this list fall into category b or c for the most part. c. Third category of effort: Here, a set does not stop merely because no additional full rep can be performed. It continues into the next rep during which you will become stuck. Once you get stuck mid-rep you hold the isometric (or static) contraction as long as you can, and then resist thenegative phase as much as possible. this prolongs the set and leaves themuscles concerned almost totally spend. This is 'brutally hard' training. 9.16. There is a fourth category of effort- to eccentric failure, i.e.'paralytic' training. This is not recommended other than in exceptional circumstances for very robust trainees. The shortcomings of paralytic training (discussed earlier) are considerable, and this level of effort takes training intensity to overkill for most people. My note: here Stuart hits on something I think many forget in their questfor intensity. There's no doubt that we vary in what frequency or volumeof training where we will cross the line into overtraining, why should intensity be any different? Several people (who I really wish would postto the list) have emailed me to tell me of their experiments stopping a rep short of failure (ala John Christy). Although they inititally felt guiltyfor 'slacking' in their workouts, the tape measure told the true story atthe end of the experiment, indicating gains. 9.24. Good exercise form is critically important no matter what trainingintensity you use. But the harder you train, the greater the importance.Whenever you take training intensity to the extreme you incresae the chance of injury because the body is working at it's limit. At this level of intensity you can easily lose an exercises' groove, and potential weak links are seriously exposed. hold back a bit when you are training an area you know is not 100%. Better to do a bit more work at a hard level, and perhaps do it a little more often, than go to a more intensive level, andget an injury. You cannot make any progress if you are injured. Be surenot to do things that invite injury in your own individual case. 9.38. Do not treat all exercises equally when training to failure. Do not push all the way to total momentary failure in deadlifts or stiff-legged deadlifts. Do not go all the way in an area where you know you have a slight weak link. Be in tune with your body and keep a little in research if you know that you cannot go all the way in full safety. My note: another point lost on a lot of people. Taking a leg extension to failure is a lot different than squatting to true failure. The first maybe no risk at all, the second may be a considerable risk. I have met fewpeople who's form is meticulous enough, or whose mental focus is good enough, that I would have them squat or deadlift to failure. Most will cheat, or shoot their hips, or speed up in order to get the rep. And that break in form will be the injury. 9.47. Training intensity is a means to an end, not the end in iteslf. But too many people have got wrapped up in intensity per se, to the detrimentof the real bottom line. Training intensity is a fundamental and irreplaceable component of making progressive poundages a reality, but that is all. My note: read 9.47 again. 9.51. So long as you increase your exercise poundages slowly and steadily, using consistently good form, then whatever training intensity and volumeyou are delivering is working. Do not fell that you have to train to thepoint of exhaustion to realize poundage progression. Remember, you want the minimum quantity, frequency and intensity of training that will produce progressive poundages for you. There's much more of course but this is some of the highlights of this one chapter. I'm about 1/3rd of the way through this book, and I will say right now that Stuart is thorough and then some. Even if you don't agree with everything Stuart has to say philosophically, Beyond Brawn is a book that most trainees would do well to read and study. Lyle McDonald, CSCS "Who was that man? I'd like to shake his hand. He made my baby fall in love with me."