Almost anyone that’s picked up a set of weights has or will experience symptoms of over-training at one point in there muscle building program. Over-training can lead to serious injury, chronic fatigue, and even muscle loss.

Over-training is very common amongst athletes and particularly bodybuilders, since they figure that training as much as possible is the fastest way to massive muscle gains.

This couldn’t be any further from the truth however…

Training too much, or at too high of an intensity will lead to over-training.

Now this doesn’t mean you don’t have to put plenty of effort in to see some decent results… Whether you are a bodybuilder, athlete, or just someone that wants to add some additional mass to your frame, you need to train hard and be consistent-that’s a given. In order to get the most out of your genetics, you have to progressively overload the muscles by increasing the weight and / or intensity of each weight training workout. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

I found a couple of posts around the internet that spoke of a study at McMaster University that showed that hard exercise for a shorter period of time is better than a long workout at a lower level of intensity. I found the article at the Journal of Physiology but you really need to be a scientist to decipher what they have to say.

When it comes to cardio exercise, less appears to be more.

That’s the conclusion of researchers who discovered that extremely short bouts of high-intensity exercise produce the same improvements in muscle health as longer, more moderately paced workout sessions.

In the two-week study, published in this month’s issue of the Journal of Physiology, 16 college-age men, all recreational exercisers, were asked to exercise on stationary bicycles three times a week. One group cycled for 30 seconds all-out, followed by four minutes of recovery, or pedaling at a slower speed while keeping the heart rate somewhat elevated. They repeated that several times for a total of about 20 minutes a day. The other group cycled at a moderate pace for 90 to 120 minutes a day.

At the end of the study, the men’s muscles were tested for an enzyme that’s “an indicator of the muscle’s ability to use oxygen,” says lead author Martin Gibala, associate professor of kinesiology at Canada’s McMaster University. In both groups, the enzyme level increased by about 25% to 30%. He adds, “You can think about that as being able to produce energy more efficiently, being able to go at a faster pace and exercise longer.”
Read the rest of this entry »

I have been seeing a lot of ads and seeing people around me joining short term fitness bootcamps. The fitness bootcamp idea is generally 5 weeks, 2 to 3 times a week workouts with a trainer in a small group for a couple of hours a session. A couple of nights ago Desperate Housewives (the TV show) brought a fitness boot camp to TV.

Have you tried these group workouts out? The idea is great. You learn a lot of new exercises so that your workouts are not as stale and boring and you have this very immediate feedback loop as to whether the workouts are working or not.

In practice though sometimes I wonder whether the fitness bootcamp is a great new idea or just a fad that will go the way of strippercize. Read the rest of this entry »

So oftern I find that I do not have time or am interested in long workouts and I always like those intense short workouts that kill you but also make you feel great a little while afterwards. Well apparently I am not the only one. The study below shows that this is a great way to raise your metabolism.

Sedentary people who find the idea of fitting regular exercise sessions into their lives so difficult that they don’t even try, may be interested to hear about a new study that found even regular short bursts of intense exercise, such as a short session of four to six 30-second high intensity sprints on an exercise bike every two days, showed a significant effect on the body’s ability to metabolize sugars and could be an effective way to cut the risk of diabetes.

This was the conclusion of a study by professor James Timmons and a team of researchers from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, that is to be published in the journal BMC Endocrine Disorders.

Most people know that regular physical activity is a good way to cut the risk of developing heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, but knowing it and doing it are not the same, and many people feel they just don’t have the time to do vigorous aerobic exercise for several hours week, as suggested by many of the current guidelines. Read the rest of this entry »

I have long believed that stretching was something that was very good to do before you did any exercise and I would do my best to pull on my muscles as hard as I could to make sure that I was very well stretched before I started to run or to do weights.

Well a few years ago when I tried to get serious about running one of the runners that I knew filled me in on the truth. You should nexer stretch until you are well warmed up.

Fitness Black Book, a great blog, has a comprehensive article today about whether you should stretch before or after your workout. With some great studys to back up what he says.

I will let you read it first.

Now that you are back I have to say that I like stretching for myself. I know that Rusty says that he hates it but my muscles always feel tight and throughout the day I find myself stretching. As for working out, before my heavy weights that I lift I do a set of every exercise slowly and methodically using very light weights so that my muscles are not cold when I get started.

Apple and nike are working together to make big changes to the Nike+ program in the future.

If you are not yet aware of Nike+ it is a system where you have a sensor in your shoe (doesn’t have to be a Nike shoe) and and iPod. I do not have one yet but the idea is very exciting. You simply put the sensor in or on your shoe. Start up your iPod and start running. The sensor picks up your steps and distance and tracks your speed and when you finish you sync with iTunes to have it track your stats.

A little geeky but I am a sucker for the geeky stuff. Read the rest of this entry »

For an individual who is overweight, exercising to lose that weight is one of the most rewarding activities he/she will ever embark upon.  However, there are literally thousands of activities you can do to burn calories.

It can be intimidating, to say the least, wondering where to start with such a varied array of exercises.  There are certain activities, though, that can take calorie burning to a whole different level. Listed below are the top X ways to burn calories (note: number of calories burned per activity assume a body weight of 150 pounds and exercise time of 30 minutes).

These activities can be split up into three general groups: Gym activities, training and sports activities, and daily life activities. The top gym activites for burning calories include: Read the rest of this entry »

Newsweek has an article this week called 7 Silly Get in shape Gimmicks. The list is strange and includes the following:

Weighted Hula Hooping
Strippercise
The Bodyblade
Cirque du Soleil-Inspired “Aerial Aerobics.”
Wind-Relieving Asana
Wii Fit Ski-Jump
Dorm Room Workouts

So what do you see in all of these different faux-exercises? Well to me it looks like they are all bad ideas that are an extension on something good. Yoga is good, stripping may be good exercise, the Wii is good exercise when done correctly and of course the hula hoop is fun and helps your core strength. Read the rest of this entry »

I occasionally post articles by Craig Ballantyne from Turbulence training. What happens is he will send me articles and if I feel that one of them is good then I will post it here. Well here is one about getting started with high intensity training like Turbulence training suggests. I thought this was interesting because people that are really overweight think that exercise is not possible for them at all.

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fat loss for obese people can follow the same Turbulence Training workouts that fat loss for advanced people will follow, but we just need to adjust the exercises and intensity. The principles remain the same.

We’ll use multi-muscle exercises. We’ll do them in superset pairs. And yes, we’ll even use interval training for this. It will be modified, but we can still do it.

Recently, my friend and nutrition expert Dr. Chris Mohr interviewed me on how an obese person can use Turbulence Training for fat loss. Read the rest of this entry »

For a few years I was riding a really crappy mountain bike but last year I finally bought myself a decent mountain bike, by decent I mean about $225.

The new bike was good for a year but then I had trouble with the crank being loose and had to take it in to get some work done. The tech at the bike store said I needed to replace the crank but the housing was seized and was not fixable. Fortunately for me there was a 1 year warranty for the bike so I just got the value of the bike as a replacement.

So here finally is where the story turns to my new Diamondback Odyssey. I paid and extra $30 and picked up the bike in the picture here. The new Diamondback Odyssey has a few features that my old bike did not, holder screws for the bike bottle, better gearing, better shocks. Most of all the bike frame fits my body a lot better. I love riding this bike because it fits me great.

I am especially amazed at how quickly in retrospect that me last bike degraded. I can feel the stability of this bike even though the last one was only a year old. I am really seeing what kind of affect that proper and regular maintenance would have helped my last couple of bikes even though my last one was defective.

I ride my bike to and from work everyday, especially tough in winter but in summer the ride is a breeze. I have had a few snowy mornings riding and the new bike has been awesome for the conditions.

I will be writing soon about how to choose a bike, especially since it is the time of year that beings out a bunch of bike sales but just wanted to intro the new member of my family, my new mountain bike.