Fixing fitness
THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG IS TO EDUCATE THOSE WHO OPT INTO A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE IN ORDER TO HELP THEM MAINTAIN or IMPROVE THIS LIFESTYLE.
Calisthenics is often praised for its ability to encourage natural and healthy form. Despite this, people often make small mistakes that can cause injuries over time and/or cause them to pump out fewer reps.
The number one tip I have is WARM UP YOUR JOINTS BEFORE LIFTING. Not only will this prevent injuries but it primes your Central Nervous System (CNS) for the work you're about to do, boosting performance. Take the time to Google "upper body warmup routine" or "lower body warmup routine" and use what is comfortable for you. 3-5 minutes of warmup per session of dynamic stretches is optimal. Considering the push-up, a weak core and weak form can cause elbow tendonitis and aggravate the lower back. The best cues I have are to 1. Plant your hands as if you were catching yourself from falling 2. Turn your fingers away from your head. 3. Focus on keeping your back and hips straight. 4. Keep your forearms tight to the body and upright throughout the movement. The pistol squat is an exercise that I personally have had trouble deciding proper form with. Many people go past what I consider proper depth. I believe that proper mechanics demand your hip crease meeting the height of your knees. Any deeper and you just relax the muscle. During a bridge, ALWAYS PUSH WITH THE HEELS TO ENGAGE YOUR HAMS. Many people have to problem of working their quads (strangely enough) during a bridge. As far as pull-ups, people tend to choose too wide of a grip. I would recommend choosing a grip width that causes your wrist to be above your elbow the whole time. Then, draw your elbows toward your back pockets.
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An interesting new "shock method" to trigger muscles has recently come to my attention. Every so often, it's important to shock your muscles with a new stimuli to elicit growth, even if your goal is fat loss. The best way to lose fat is to increase your metabolism by gaining muscle mass.
This is new method is a type of calisthenics pyramid. You start with a set of 1 rep. Easy, right? WRONG. You then add one repetition each set until you reach failure. Still sound easy? We're only halfway done! You then subtract one repetition each set. A group of example sets might go something like this: 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1. This method can be used for dips, push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, pistol squats, squats, back extensions, etc. It can be used for full body sessions or muscle-specific sessions. As spring has left and summer has fully come to the Upper Peninsula, I am starting to feel the need to create my program for this summer. I will definitely up the difficulty by adding reps or sets and change exercises depending on equipment but this will be how I start my summer:
Upper Day A: 3 rounds, 30 sec between lifts, 1 minute 30 sec between rounds Pushups (weighted) - 8 Australian pullups (weighted) - 8 Dips (corner or wide) - max Pullups (scapula) - max After, Pullup negs Lower Day A: Same Pistol squats - 12 One leg Bridge - 12 Box jumps - 30 sec Sliding Ham Curls - 10 After, bridge holds Shoulders/Core/Grip Day A: Same Elevated Pike Pushups - 12 Rapid Sit Ups - 30 sec TRX Face Pulls - 12 Back Extensions (weighted) - 10 After, grip holds Upper Day B: Dips - 10 Pullups (scapula) - 8 TRX Push Ups - max Australian Pullups (weighted) - max Lower Day B: Same Distance Jumps - 30 sec Natural Ham Curls - 8 Step ups - 12 Bridge holds - max Shoulders/Core/Grip Day B: Same Wall Walk Ups - 8 Slow Bicycles - 30 sec Cuban Presses - 10 Grip Holds - 15 times As I make my way through school testing, I find myself with very little time to myself. If you feel the same way in your daily life, this routine is for you! This fast-paced routine should be done with a max of 45 seconds between sets or as little as 15 if you want to challenge yourself. You may take up to 2 minutes rest between exercises. Feel free to email or text me with questions about any exercises and remember that google is your friend. All of these exercises may be seen on youtube or in GIF form as wall as progressions and regressions of these exercises.
Upper Body Day: Dips - 3 sets of 10 & Pull-ups - 9,8,7 Feet elevated push-ups - 10,10,12 & Chin-ups 8,8,4 Push-ups & Australian Pull-ups or Chin-ups to failure Legs: Pistol squats - 4 sets of 10 & One Leg Hamstring Bridge - 4 sets of 10 One Side Weighted Squats - 2 sets to failure & Weighted Glute Bridge - 2 sets to failure Shoulders/Core: Elevated Pike Push-ups - 3 sets of ten & Cuban Press - 8,8,6 DB Sit-ups on ground - 2 sets to failure & Weighted Back Extensions - 2 sets to failure After quite a long hiatus, I'm back to blogging. Over all that time, a lot has happened. I started a strength program and ended up with a 350 semi-sumo deadlift, a 270 squat, and a 170 bench. At the beginning of this school year, I started vomiting every morning and just thought I couldn't eat too early. As it turns out, I suffered from anxiety attacks. Soon, they restricted me from lifting at all. After being diagnosed with OCD and major depressive disorder, getting on three different medications, and giving it some time-I'M BAAACK. I'm excited to get started with calisthenics as this requires very little and easily manufactured equipment. I'll be posting a link to a free, full-body, calisthenics program below. It will last two months, starting at the beginner level. If you would like a custom at-home or in-gym program, I'd be more than willing to customize one for you. You can contact me at 6052220364 or [email protected].
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X-E7yI9LOkaVKn_QP1Oot7JAZKiM2UlrV9i9p1Ki3z8/edit?usp=sharing I have my last physical therapy session today at 3:15 despite not having regained the previous flexibility of my wrist. However, i have regained enough strength in my flexor tendons to grasp objects and put my bodyweight on my wrist when straight or when fully extended. I am hoping to receive the OK from my doctor (appointment not for another 11 days) to at least go back to calisthenics training with my wrist tightly wrapped. I will test a few light-versions of bodyweight movements after this physical therapy appointment but have already successfully performed knuckle pushups and maintained L-holds without pain.
UPDATE: 4/5/16 I am going to walk to the YMCA and try lifting today. Today is horizontal push/pull day so i will be heavily testing my wrist. I will definitely keep the wrap on it to stiffen it even if I don't think I need it. I feel that my wrist can stand up to the compression and stretching that will be put on it. I am currently undergoing physical therapy in order to recover from my injury to my wrist. After that, I will get back to lifting and try to gain back the weight that I've lost and fix any imbalances. I am hoping that by the end of the year, I can be back at it in order to continue personally testing methods and posting them to my blog. In the meantime, I will continue to add basic information to my blog that has already been well tested and may start adding information on nutrition soon.
Within the weightlifting community, (including powerlifting, bodybuilding, and athletics) there are three main lifts that are considered the most important; the bench press, the deadlift, and the squat. This article is dedicated to finding the different variations of these lifts and what muscles they most effectively target.
The Bench Press: Close grip (any grip, shoulder width or closer) - effectively hits the triceps. This move may take away from the pecs but it also allows for a more full squeeze at the top of a repetition. Generally, this is the variation that takes the least weight. Wide grip (any grip outside shoulder width) - effectively targets chest, removing most of the load from the triceps. This also allows for a shorter range of motion which allows for the most weight to be used. Regular grip (just outside shoulder width apart) - effectively hits the pecs and triceps. This is a good "middle of the road" option that could be used most of the time but you should switch your grip and switch between barbell, dumbbell, and cables often. The Deadlift: Traditional stance (jump into the air and let your feet land where they will. this is normally your stance) - This stance allows for slight hamstring involvement but puts most of the work on your erectus spinae. This allows you to develop a thick mid-back. Sumo stance (widen your legs until you hit a comfortable stance) - This stance takes a lot of pressure off of the erectus spinae and works your hips more. This is a very technical stance but will shorten the range of motion, allowing for more weight to be pulled. Romanian (set up in regular stance. after the initial pull, don't let the weight touch the ground after a rep, keeping knees slightly bent throughout) - this stance is a hamstring heavy movement that should be MUCH lighter than your regular deadlift. Grips: Double overhang (both palms face toward you) - this allows you to stress your grip but your grip may fail before your back does. Over-Under (one hand palm to you, other hand palm facing away) - this grips keeps the bar from "rolling" out of your hands. Allows you to pull for longer while still working your grip Thumb-under (the thumb goes underneath the fingers) - this grip can be painful and should NOT be used regularly. This is simply a trick to help you push for a few more reps. The Squat: Traditional AKA High Bar (Feet in same placement as traditional deadlift or slightly outside, bar on top of traps) - You absolutely MUST be careful not to rest the bar on the top of your spine. This stance is used by most beginners. Low Bar (Same foot placement, bar just below bulge of traps resting slightly on deltoids. bar should not "slip" at all. if the bar does slip, you must move it higher) - This stance tends to stress your lower back more but allows you to push more weight. There are many many other ways to vary these three exercises in order to change them. I hope to write another article including some of these variations at a later date. Due to a recent tendon injury, I will not be able to lift weights until the end of the year. This has greatly stopped my progress in both research (due to time off to heal) and experience. I recognize that my plan will now need to shift quite a bit.
My new plan will be much more focused on new research and the formation of workout programs for all three body types. The overall goal is to create a base workout and then create three copies of it and edit them with further details in order to individualize them. This base program will more than likely be the ever popular Push/Pull/Legs program. Rep speed is much like any other basic aspect of your program. The information that I am giving is very generalized so that you can more quickly find the format that best works for you. As before, I'll address weight loss, powerlifting, and bodybuilding. You can use one or a combination of more to get you closer to your goal.
Addressing weight-loss, the seemingly best way to do this is actually to stick with lower reps. I know that you generally use higher reps to lose weight, but you can use this low rep method as a supplement to your high rep work. The idea behind this is to use a "one second up, three seconds down" method. You lift the weight fairly quickly and then lower it very very slowly. Doing many sets of this will burn as many calories as usual but in a new way to stimulate your body. Generally, you use sets of 6 or fewer reps. For powerlifters, they will be all about speed. They'll want to lift fairly heavy, using multi-joint exercises, doing them as quickly as possible. Training with lighter weights will increase explosive power, while heavy weights will increase strength and power. The idea is not necessarily to lift the weight in a certain amount of time but just as quickly as you physically can. You should have a mix of cycles focused on speed and those focused on max effort. For bodybuilders, they will want time under tension. They'll want to take reps fairly slow. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that you'll have to lift like a turtle. The best method for a mix of muscle and strength gain is to lift the weight as quickly as possible and then slowly lower it for the next repetition. Occasionally, you should use a light weight and pause at different points in you lift (avoiding points that would unnecessarily stress your joints). |
AuthorMy name is Conor Getty and I'm a student at KHS. I have always enjoyed being active, as many children do, but I continue to seek out an active lifestyle to lay down new precedents for myself every day. After seeing the effects of a sedative lifestyle, I will work every day to reach a new peak in my life. Archives
June 2017
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