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Training methods used in personal training to grow your muscles!

This blog is part of the series that I started earlier last week about structuring your strength training efficiently in order to maximize your results, no matter what your goals are.

Muscle growth is not just important for guys but also women who want to tone their arms and other body parts. In personal training we come across the misbelief a lot that women bulk up. No worries, unless you train like a bodybuilder in volume and intensity that won’t happen. Women do not have the hormone levels required to “beef up” that much.

The method of “Exhausting Submaximal Strength Training” sounds complicated but it is not really.

  1. Make sure that the motion is done smoothly (no pauses, steady without momentum).
  2. The intensity should be submaximal between 70-95% of your One-Repetition Maximum. The motion can be at a slow to  moderate pace.
  3. The goal is total muscle exhaustion, which should result after 5-10 repetitions (different training variations suggest 3-18 reps) or 20-30 sec.
  4. Your breaks are fairly long with this kind of training and should be around 2-5 min between sets (working another muscle group is suggested)
  5. You should have roughly 5-10 sets per exercise if you have 2-3 different exercises resulting in 80-120 single repetitions/muscle group

An example of this would be the following:

  • 1. Set Pec Flys, 2 min break, Lat Pull
  • 3-5 min break
  • 2. Set Pec Flys, 2 min break, Lat Pull

During personal training I don’t have the time to waste 3-5 min standing around. I usually substitute it with other exercises working on totally different muscle groups. If you have 2-3 hours to spend at the gym you can go ahead and do this 🙂

The effects of this training are the following:

  1. an increase of muscle diameter (fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers)
  2. an increase in phosphat depots (energy depots for ATP, CP) which will help you to perform better at submaximal-maximal levels of strength training.
  3.  as well as glycogen-depots (helps prevent early onset of fatigue )

I hope  this information will be helpful to either understand what your personal trainer is doing with you or will help you improve your own training 

Have a great workout,

Michael

Performance and Strength Training in Charlotte Athletes

Strength training can have a great impact on your performance, positive as well as negative. It really depends on what your goals are and what kind of sport you want to increase your performance in.

Some sports have a bigger strength component than others. A marathon runner does need less strength than a sprinter., same for a long distance bicyclist versus a time trialist. A power lifter’s needs for strength versus endurance is just the other way around, his primary component is strength.

Even if you are fitness warrior who just likes to get stronger, leaner and more buff, structuring your strength training can give you a severe advantage.  Strength Endurance Training (Duration 30-45s)  with breaks (10-30s circle) or( 60-90 station)

This training intensity is 75-50% 1 RM. with 6 sets and 3 Exercises.

This training improves:

– the lactic acid tolerance and the recovery – which helps you withstand the acidic build up in your muscles during exercise and perform better for longer during your training.

– improves the lactic metabolism – increases your performance in the strength endurance  area

– muscle glycogen depots – increased muscle glycogen depots help you to be able to perform better during the training because your energy depots last longer. Fatigue may set in later.

This training represents a great basis for your fitness and future fitness success.

Depending on the sport this kind of a training represents a bigger component or a smaller component. The blocks of the training should be 4-8 weeks long. The following training blocks should build on that and cycle throughout your training year. We use it in personal training frequently. It is a hard training, that can feel very fatiguing and exhausting. The benefits are well worth it though.

Strength Training a crucial element in your training!

Hello everyone,

I know you are all busy and you are stressed by the holidays. It happens every year. I wanted to touch base with you on your training and weight loss goals. Even if you have them suspended for now because of this feasting season. Come January most of you will be on the wagon again and the ones who rock hard through this season without letting go of their goals, this can make a big difference for you.

If you are trying to lose weight doing resistance training on a regular basis will make a big difference. A lot of people trying to lose weight just do some sort of cardio and lose precious muscle mass in the process. Lifting sufficiently heavy weight will help you to maintain that active muscle mass and it will keep burning energy for you.

If you try to run faster or be stronger a structured strength training is crucial as well. Performance is not just based on the activity that you are doing, running, swimming, bicycling, etc, but also on other components like strength, flexibility, coordination.

In my next blog I will give you guys an example on how to structure your training properly, similarly on how I do it in my personal training.

Thanks all,

Michael

Do you like to be overweight?

It is amazing, the holidays come along and out go all the good intentions. Don’t get me wrong, I like to eat all the goodies myself and I actually do! If you want to survive the holidays without any damage or even make progress you have to realize a couple of things!

  1. You are in charge and you look exactly the way that you accept to look like, if that means you are 30 lbs overweight, well you choose to look like it. If you did not you would do something about it.
  2. Stop being stranded and make some half-assed efforts. Log your food and don’t, please don’t tell me you don’t have the time, because you sure have the time to eat. Logging your nutrition only takes minutes. I do it, you can do it. It will also empower you to eat the food that you want to and not feel guilty because you were in charge and control!
  3. Set your goals. Plan out your weight loss / Weight maintenance. Write down clear goals like lose 5 lbs. 4% body fat, going down 1 size.
  4. Plan your strategy.
    1. Figure out how much food you need and log your food on websites like www.mydailyplate.com or www.411fit.com
    2. Plan your training: Do cardio, do strength training, train with a personal trainer or a boot camp, or train for a 5k
    3. Tell all your friends about your goals and ask them to support you.
    4. Take massive action. Only action takers will achieve their goals. Ask my clients, the ones, who really go for it have huge success!

Enjoy the upcoming weeks,

Michael

Charlotte, sleep and lose weight!

You might think it funny, but yes, sleep is an important component in your quest to a leaner, meaner you! If you think I am kidding, think about it:

  1. When you are tired your resolve to eat healthily is going down the drain and junk food makes its way into your diet.
  2. Bad quality of sleep or the lack of sleep mess with your hormone levels and lead to you always being hungry, no matter what you are eating. The cause for that are low leptin (hormone) levels which won’t let you be satisfied after having food.
  3. At the same time lack of sleep increases the levels of another hormone (ghrelin) which then stimulates your hunger. Guess who is not going to lose weight? You!
  4. A Stanford study shows the relationship between sleep and weight loss pretty clearly. Those who slept less than 8 hours had clearly higher body fat levels and the less the subjects slept the higher the body fat percentage was.
  5. Some people have sleep apnea without knowing it. Even though they might go to bed and have 8 hours available they really don’t sleep that long. They might only get 4 hours of sleep and feel groggy and tired the next day without understanding why. Their reaction to leptin is a little bit different but once their sleep apnea is being treated, their weight is going down to0, and researchers attribute this at the moment to increased energy and activity during the day.

So, if you still think that sleep is just a nuisance and wasted time, think again. This can very well be one of the reasons that hinder you from looking your best! So get to bed and sleep your weight off. Personal Training, Boot camps and other exercise modalities cannot necessarily compete with you not sleeping. So it is your duty to get some zzzz’s.

Michael Anders

Tone your abs the right way!

During my personal training I come across many people who believe that the secret to flat abs is a gazillion crunches and ab exercises. They rather do those and never succeed than doing what it really takes to get flat abs or even a six-pack.

It is critical to understand that ab exercises have yet to lead to flat abs. No matter how many you do, you will never have flat abs if that is what you are relying on.

The reason for that is quite simple. Your abs are covered by subcutaneous fat, meaning fat sitting between your skin and your muscle. And we are talking about a ton of it. You have easily a couple of pounds of fat sitting there.

Now, one pound of fat is 3500 kcal. Have you ever thought of  how many crunches you would have to do to burn 1 pound of fat? You would have to do roughly 35 hours of crunches none-stop to burn 1 lb of fat.

Hey, if you choose to do that, then be my guest. I rather get those flat abs faster.

If you want to do the method that I use in my personal training or boot camp, then do this:

  1. Get your butt moving, I am telling you, sitting on your rear for 8 hours/day at work and then 3 hours in front of the TV at home makes your butt and your abs look quite doughy.
  2. Get your nutrition right. Okay, this is a key thing. Get vegetables, fruits, and small portions of lean meat and carbs like potatos, or rice. Speaking of carbs, make sure they are whole wheat, or as little processed as possible and make sure that you stay away of crap like donuts!
  3. Do some strength training, and I do not mean lifting 1 lb weights one hundred times but actually use a weight that fatigues your muscles within 10-20 repetitions completely or almost completely. It will help preserve and grow your muscles which will “tone” your body once you start losing the body fat. If you are a woman, don’t be afraid to lift. Unless you lift like a bodybuilder you won’t look like one. Now grab those weights and get going. By the way, the handle of your recliner does not count as a strength exercise.
  4. Cardiovascular training does have benefits besides burning calories, it helps you get more stamina, fatigue less during the day and overall feel better, and just like with strength training, the walk to the refridgerator to get the ice cream does not count as cardiovascular training. A good way of judging if your work intensity is high enough: be able to reply to a question with a short answer but not with a whole lecture.

 

Are you ready to actually achieve your goals?

Are you ready to be successful?

Call today to check out our personal training or boot camp.

Check ya later,

Michael

Are you getting fat?

Alright, here is another one on the list of debunking some of the so called nutrition facts. Fat is not the big evil nutrient that packs on the pounds. It also plays a vital role in our health.  Like everything, please use in moderation.

Please be aware that fat is important but that most of us take in way too much of it and of the wrong kind. Most Americans take in 35% fat in their diet which is plenty (too much). Taking in that amount of fat blows any calorie intake up and makes weight loss almost impossible.

What are “healthy fats”? Healthy fats are usually mono- and polyunsaturated fats that you can find in vegetable oils. Saturated and considerably more unhealthy fats are connected to higher cholesterol levels and are usually found in animal fats, chocolate candies, fried foods and high fat dairy products.

Facts about Fat:

  1. Your intake should be around 15-30% of your daily intake
  2. Your fat metabolism is dependent on carbohydrates to complete the metabolic cycle. That tells you: Keep eating carbohydrates to lose weight!
  3. Fat supplementation in athletes does not benefit performance, quite the opposite it reduces performances significantly. Add fat only if the food intake should be >4000 kcal/day!
  4. Omega -3 and -6 fatty acids help with healthy skin, neural functions and reduce the risk for heart attack and stroke. You can find these fats usually in cold water fish (salmon, albacore tuna, atlantic herring)
  5. The average person has at any time roughly 50 000- 100 000 kcal of fat stored. That would allow that person to walk 500-1000 miles
  6. There are an additional 2000-3000 kcal of fat stored in muscle tissue.

Let me know if you have any questions regarding this. If you are interested in getting lean, flat abs and toned. Check out our personal training and our boot camps.

Michael

Carbohydrate Facts And Weight Loss

Teaching Boot Camp and also as a one on one Personal Trainer I have come across a whole bunch of questions concerning carbs:

I know, a lot of fad diets tell you that carbohydrates are bad, but that is not necessarily the case. Actually, some of the side products of carbohydrate break down help the the fat burning metabolism.

Most important rule: Any macro nutrient, meaning Fat, Protein or Carbohydrate can MAKE YOU FAT!

The reason for that you gaining weight follows one simple rule: You eat too many calories, you gain weight!

Like you can see with these two guys below, carbs can have negative side effects 🙂

Now here are some simple facts that you should know about carbs:

  1. Carbohydrates (like fruits) alone can cause your blood sugar to drop.  After an initial spike insulin will regulate the blood sugar back down but can cause a drop below the target level, especially when the carbohydrates are released into the blood stream rather quickly. It is better to eat something with protein with it (like yogurt) It will last longer and you won’t have the craving you will, having just carbs.
  2. the more complex your carb the less hard you will crash
  3. Carbs don’t fatten, calories do. One teaspoon of carbs has 16 kcal, whereas one teaspoon of fat has 36 kcal. Also, to convert carbohydrates into fat 23% of their energy will be burnt in the conversion process, but only 3% of fat will be burnt to put it on your hips!
  4. Carbohydrates fuel your muscles and help the fat metabolism to run optimally
  5. Make sure that your carbs come with a lot of fiber, it will help reduce the low blood sugar crash (hypoglycemia) and it is good for your intestines. (whole grain breads, potatoes, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, etc)

Having this said. This is not a permission to totally pig out but eat sensibly and in moderation.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about this blog, our personal training or boot camps.

Michael

You think you cannot tone your butt or your legs at home or while travelling, then check this out!

People ask me all the time what they can do while they are travelling or at home. This is a fun workout that will  tone your butt  and is quite fast as well (15 min). This is a great workout you can do in addition to your boot camp or your personal training 

Here is how it works:

  1. you warm up for 5 min running on the spot
  2. you repeat those exercises 3 times (no break in between)
    1. 10  1 Leg Squats
    2. 33 Calf Raises
    3. 10 Fall OU tLunges each side
    4. 33 Regular Squat
    5. 10 Calf Raises 1 Leg
    6. 33 Wide Squats

So check this out:


I hope you all had a great workout weekend!

Michael

People in Charlotte: Train Less…Get Less Bored…Lose More Weight!

Hello awesome fellow fitness fanatics,

If you are like me and you love working out and that is what you do, then it probably does not matter if you spend hours in the gym.

If you do not like working out or you have a crazy schedule, or unlike me a social life, then you need to change something if what you are doing is NOT working for you!

I am going to give you a couple of tips in this video below, that can make you burn over a 500 kcal in 30 min you do it right.

You don’t have to do this anymore for endless hours!


You just basically transformed your own training into a boot camp. If you work with  your personal trainer and he/she is not doing this then get on it and lose the weight. Nothing sucks more than having a spare tire and not being able to get rid of it.

If you have any questions feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email!

Michael

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