I worked my back today with particular emphasis on my rhomboids and trapezius muscles. It was great just getting after one muscle group. What did you do today?
0 Comments
A study published in Lancet a prestigious medical journal suggest that 15mins of exercise is all any one needs per day. The goal of publishing this study is to show people that one doesn't have to spend hour upon hour in the gym to achieve results. While this may be a great motivator to get sedentary people up and moving it is not a complete truth. Yes 15mins can be enough time to get in a really great workout, but the miss understood part is this is not just 15mins of a steady pace walk. This 15mins you do everyday must be high-intensity which follows the inverse relationship that exist between duration and intensity. So although 15mins may be enough for most starting off they cannot hold a high enough intensity level to achieve any real benefits for those 15mins of exercise.
Also 15mins is not enough time to perform a complete comprehensive training session including a dynamic warm-up some form of strength training followed by core focused work, cardiovascular activity, and a 5 to 10min cool down. The simple fact of the matter is that for one to achieve their desired level of health or fitness they must make a commitment. Their workouts must be made a priority. I do this by blocking out an hour out of each day I am planning to workout for that week where nothing else is scheduled nor can be scheduled. So remember if you only do 15mins it needs to be 15 intense minutes. Make workouts a priority plan and prepare for them. Wow finally the end of the week and the beginning of the weekend. I don't know about all of you, but if your like me you probably love the weekend and have many things you wish to accomplish in the next 72hrs which is great! But don't lose sight of your priorities you can still have all your fun and maintain a healthy diet and get in a workout. It takes preparation and planning often times poor decisions are a result of poor planning. So think ahead! Enjoy your time off without sacrificing your health.
Sorry for the recent slow in updates to the site. We here at intellectualfitness.com have taken a break from the site for a few days in an effort to dive into some serious topics. So look for several new articles to be posted on the training pages along with the nutritional page. But for now check out this great article on sleep and its importance.
Being a health and fitness professional is great and one of the greatest parts about our field is that it is relatively young when compared to other disciplines meaning that there is so much more to explore and discover. Because of this the field is continually changing always updating information and throwing disproven and uncreditable info out. Meaning that it is vitally important that if you wish to be at the top of the industry in what I do I must constantly be adding to my wealth of knowledge as well as reviewing my practices to always be current and up to date with my own clientele.
But this is not something that is simply isolated to the health and fitness industry continuing education is a must for those individuals who care enough about what they are doing that they wish to be at the top of their field. So remember never stop reading and always be rethinking how you are currently doing one thing and trying to devise a way to perhaps improve upon it or make it more efficient. Pillar strength is the overall strength and stability an individual possess in their own pillar. An individual's pillar consists of their shoulders, hip, and abdominal or core. This concept was created by the owner and founder of Athlete's Performance Mark Verstegen. If you haven't picked up a copy of his book please do so his philosophy is sound and there is only everything to gain by reading it. After reading about his pillar concept I have began to incorporate it into my own programming especially with older populations that I train as I believe its key that for proper function of the human body these three key areas or the "Pillar" must be both strong, stabilized, and contain the proper mobility. So remember shoulder, core, and hip stability, mobility, and strength must be emphasized and balanced
Rest is the key ingredient to any improvements that one wishes to accomplish. Many people have a terrible misconception that the gains in muscle mass or strength are a direct result of the time and effort they put forth in the gym. While the effort and time spent in the gym is important it is not the direct cause of the improvements its is rather the vehicle to the gains. The periods of rest you take are actually when your body is rebuilding and healing itself. And because your body has been broken down by your latest workout it is going to heal itself better than before to prevent that kind of break down again. Hints where the gains in strength and mass come into effect. So remember get plenty of rest because it is the key to your success!
I recently took a vacation to Pensacola, Florida with a few members of my family we stayed at a beautiful condo. Lucky for me it had its very own fitness room. You can imagine my surprised when I learned of this because one of my biggest worries had been were and how I was going to train while I was away. As I live for my daily workout its my alone time where I get a chance to escape into a world that is completely mine. I had decided after arriving in the late afternoon that I was going to be exercising in the early morning so that it didn't interfere with any of our plans during the day. The fitness room at the Condo opened at 7am. So on the first morning I awoke rolled out of bed slipped on my tension drank my pre-workout shake and headed to the 4th floor. Upon entering the fitness room I found it was not much more than a larger version of a hotel gym. The equipment wasn't though as scarce they had a cable station consisting on a high and low cable, a lat pulldown station, a chest press station, a leg press machine. There was also a smith-machine, flat bench, incline and decline bench, free weights totaling 250lb altogether. Surprisingly they aslo had dumbells ranging from 8lb to 50lb. Below this blog I have included pictures of this fitness room.
Though the equipment might not be enough for someone looking to maintain an ideal body type it was enough for some one to get fit with the right knowledge and imagination. My four workouts performed in that room consisted of circuit style training alternating upper and lowerbody days. My workouts usually consisted of two circuits the first made up of two basic compound movements alternating opposing body parts done for 4sets, the second circuit usually consisted of five execise three of which would be strength training the other two designed to increase heartrate this circuit usually lasted for 3 to 4 rounds. The end of my workouts usually finished up with some type of AIS stretching and foam rolling along with core stability work. But my point in sharing my vacation fitness is to show that the Desire to do something is all it takes to succeed even if you aren't given the ideal situation or resources. I guess the old adage is true "where there is a will, there is a way." So next time you run into a not so ideal concept or situation remember the desire to succeed and accomplish overcomes all! Wow I couldn't believe how long its been since I last wrote. I have a great upcoming blog about my vacation and my workouts during it sorry for the long gap of absence check back soon for another blog.
|
Stevan FreebornHi I am ACSM Personal Trainer who has a passion for spreading the knowledge of healthy living. I will do my best to give you the information you need and want. If there is any topic you wish to know about please ask and I will share my full scope of knowledge on that topic and point you in the right direction to further your understanding. I hope you enjoy the site. Archives
September 2012
Categories
All
|