I thought I might have found a rare gem at T-Nation’s web site not too long ago when I came across an article entitled, “The Importance of Bodyweight Training”. It turned out to be a disappointment. It seems like others agreed. It has a two star rating at the top of the page. Rather than admitting that Bodyweight can stand alone as a legitimate strength training tool, it had fish-nor-fowl statements like this gem:
The truth is, most of us started out with bodyweight training when we were younger. As we improved, we naturally evolved to weight training for more of a challenge. At the time, weight training offered you a greater stimulus, and therefore a greater payoff.
Also, weight training gave you something to progress towards... lifting more weight. After all, you can only do so many push-ups before you get bored
I think that's the main problem with traditional, old-style bodyweight training. You had nothing to progress towards. Once you could do X number of reps, you just kept repeating that every workout
To me, this is a symptom of a larger problem in the strength training world: There isn’t any desire to try and make bodyweight work. There’s more to bodyweight training than just the pushups, pull-ups, and the sit-ups. The push-up is not an exercise but a family of exercises. I took three articles just to describe the variations on the standard pushup. I didn’t even get into the other pushups such as the superman, reverse, handstand, Hindu, dive-bomber, and pike pushups. These range from high volume to high intensity, depending on what you like to do.
The lack of desire to make bodyweight conditioning continues on in the article:
Rule #2:
"Bodyweight" doesn't mean that you can't add additional weight for resistance. You can, and probably should, once you reach your desired rep range. Weighted vests and dip belts come in handy for this
Technically, yes it does mean that you can’t add additional weight. If you add more weight other than your own body, then it’s a weighted exercise. There’s a deeper problem in this statement though: the idea that the only way to progress is adding weight. This is where the strength training world went wrong. There are other ways to improve strength without adding weight. This is where bodyweight gets parts of its effectiveness. You can manipulate weight distribution, range of motion, and decrease the leverage that your body has. They all make the exercise more difficult.
I think articles like this signal some cracks in the supremacy of weight training as the one and only strength training tool. Many weight-based strength-training coaches are starting to espouse the value of bodyweight exercises in strength training. It’s a way of keeping weights relevant. I’m not saying that the tide has turned in Bodyweight’s favor. Things like that take time. It’s only a matter of time before bodyweight takes it’s place next to weights as a legitimate training tool.
Read the Article Here:
http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=2040800
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Making Sense of Omega 3
I predicted a year ago that Vitamin D would be the next nutrient to make the supplement rounds. While its time might be coming, it seems as though Omega 3 fatty acid is currently the supplement du jour. It’s a known fact that most Americans need more omega 3 fat in their diet and they’re not currently getting it. Hosts of sicknesses are attributed to this deficiency.
While I’m far from being an expert in this field, I can convey some knowledge on the topic. All of your hormones in your body are fat-based compounds. So, fat intake will provoke certain responses in your body, good and bad. There are numerous types of fatty acids, and the ones we’re concerned with right now are Omega 3 and Omega fatty acids. These two regulate the inflammation response in the body. Omega 6 triggers inflammation while Omega 3 suppresses it. There is some disagreement on what the ideal ratio of these two fatty acids should be but most agree that it should be between a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6.
That’s where the problem lies for most of us. While we can manufacture Omega 3 in our bodies to a limited degree, most of it has to come from our diets. Unfortunately our diet is dangerously low in Omega 3 fatty acids and most Americans have a 1:20 ratio. This influx of Omega 6 in our diet and lack of Omega 3 causes many of us to be in a constant state of inflammation. This is linked to everything from joint pain to heart disease to cancer.
Now, the obvious answer to our problems is to get more Omega 3 fatty acids into our diet. The most commonly quoted sources of it are salmon, flax seeds, walnuts, and seaweed. Then there are the fish oil supplements.
Here’s some more thoughts to ponder. While you can get Omega 3 fatty acids from plants sources, they’re generally not as good as animal sources because the body has to process them into a usable form of Omega 3. So, the healthier your body is, the better you can utilize them.
Animal sources are a bit better. They are typically more concentrated. There are a few neglected facts to add to the Omega 3 discussion. Animals get Omega 3 from the plants that they eat. It isn’t something that is inherent in their body. Fish get them from eating algae and other animals that feed on algae, such as krill and plankton. So, if they don’t eat Omega 3, they don’t have it in their body. This is why farm-raised fish can be deficient in Omega 3. The same rule applies for Beef. If beef is raised on grass rather than corn, it’ll have just as much Omega 3 as the vaunted salmon will. Unfortunately, most cows are corn or grain fed. Chickens fed with flax seeds are good sources (as are their eggs). Grain fed are not. To put it another way, the more animals eat greenery (even indirectly), the more likely they are to be Omega 3 balanced.
I’m not the biggest supplement fan because I think that supplements are frequently used to take the place of a healthy diet. In other words, they are a finger on a flooding dyke. This problem isn’t a disease like malaria that just crept up and struck. It’s the sum total of bad diet. It’s a manufactured malady. Do you remember what I said about the body’s role in utilizing plant sources of Omega 3? Fix your diet!
While I’m far from being an expert in this field, I can convey some knowledge on the topic. All of your hormones in your body are fat-based compounds. So, fat intake will provoke certain responses in your body, good and bad. There are numerous types of fatty acids, and the ones we’re concerned with right now are Omega 3 and Omega fatty acids. These two regulate the inflammation response in the body. Omega 6 triggers inflammation while Omega 3 suppresses it. There is some disagreement on what the ideal ratio of these two fatty acids should be but most agree that it should be between a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6.
That’s where the problem lies for most of us. While we can manufacture Omega 3 in our bodies to a limited degree, most of it has to come from our diets. Unfortunately our diet is dangerously low in Omega 3 fatty acids and most Americans have a 1:20 ratio. This influx of Omega 6 in our diet and lack of Omega 3 causes many of us to be in a constant state of inflammation. This is linked to everything from joint pain to heart disease to cancer.
Now, the obvious answer to our problems is to get more Omega 3 fatty acids into our diet. The most commonly quoted sources of it are salmon, flax seeds, walnuts, and seaweed. Then there are the fish oil supplements.
Here’s some more thoughts to ponder. While you can get Omega 3 fatty acids from plants sources, they’re generally not as good as animal sources because the body has to process them into a usable form of Omega 3. So, the healthier your body is, the better you can utilize them.
Animal sources are a bit better. They are typically more concentrated. There are a few neglected facts to add to the Omega 3 discussion. Animals get Omega 3 from the plants that they eat. It isn’t something that is inherent in their body. Fish get them from eating algae and other animals that feed on algae, such as krill and plankton. So, if they don’t eat Omega 3, they don’t have it in their body. This is why farm-raised fish can be deficient in Omega 3. The same rule applies for Beef. If beef is raised on grass rather than corn, it’ll have just as much Omega 3 as the vaunted salmon will. Unfortunately, most cows are corn or grain fed. Chickens fed with flax seeds are good sources (as are their eggs). Grain fed are not. To put it another way, the more animals eat greenery (even indirectly), the more likely they are to be Omega 3 balanced.
I’m not the biggest supplement fan because I think that supplements are frequently used to take the place of a healthy diet. In other words, they are a finger on a flooding dyke. This problem isn’t a disease like malaria that just crept up and struck. It’s the sum total of bad diet. It’s a manufactured malady. Do you remember what I said about the body’s role in utilizing plant sources of Omega 3? Fix your diet!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The 100th Post!
I read somewhere that over a year on the interenet, millions of blogs are created a year. In spite of this blog craze, less than 10% are maintained and subsequently are abandoned. Well, I've managed to keep mine active and I've attracted a following. I really appreciate all of the kind words and encouragement. I'm glad that I've given many of you some useful information. I appreciate even those who disagree and generally you've managed to do so politely. I appreciate that too.
I started the blog for two reasons. Two years ago, I was sitting at work reading a few of the fitness books that I own. While I was doing that I asked myself: If I wrote a book, what would it look like? So, just for the hell of it, I started writing. Eventually I became more serious about publishing it. To see if anyone would be interested in what I write, I decided to start blogging as a way of gauging interest.
So what I'm getting at is that somewhere in the near future, I plan on publishing a bodyweight-based book on exercise. I'm not sure when it will happen since I'm still slaving over my laptop but when details become more clear, I'll let you know.
Still, that wasn't reason enough to keep my punching a keyboard over the last year or so. I get labeled a fitness freak more than a few times but when I read George Jowett's enthusiasm for strength training, my reasons for exercise are very clear. We both share a deep appreciation and joy in owning a strong body. We also have a strong sense of duty to help others who want to have the same get there. While I wasn't as impaired as Jowett was at youth, I could see physical weakness in myself and I hated it. As much as anyone will try to deny it, being physically weak wears on a person in a most demeaning way. We may try to lie that it doesn't bother us but deep down inside there is something that tells us that this isn't the way we were supposed to be. The ability to reach for, achieve, and maintain physical health and power for as long as possible is both reward and a gift that is something to treasure.
I'm glad that with my writing and your reading that we've been able to do this together. I thank you all for reading and writing back. I'll keep writing if you keep reading.
I started the blog for two reasons. Two years ago, I was sitting at work reading a few of the fitness books that I own. While I was doing that I asked myself: If I wrote a book, what would it look like? So, just for the hell of it, I started writing. Eventually I became more serious about publishing it. To see if anyone would be interested in what I write, I decided to start blogging as a way of gauging interest.
So what I'm getting at is that somewhere in the near future, I plan on publishing a bodyweight-based book on exercise. I'm not sure when it will happen since I'm still slaving over my laptop but when details become more clear, I'll let you know.
Still, that wasn't reason enough to keep my punching a keyboard over the last year or so. I get labeled a fitness freak more than a few times but when I read George Jowett's enthusiasm for strength training, my reasons for exercise are very clear. We both share a deep appreciation and joy in owning a strong body. We also have a strong sense of duty to help others who want to have the same get there. While I wasn't as impaired as Jowett was at youth, I could see physical weakness in myself and I hated it. As much as anyone will try to deny it, being physically weak wears on a person in a most demeaning way. We may try to lie that it doesn't bother us but deep down inside there is something that tells us that this isn't the way we were supposed to be. The ability to reach for, achieve, and maintain physical health and power for as long as possible is both reward and a gift that is something to treasure.
I'm glad that with my writing and your reading that we've been able to do this together. I thank you all for reading and writing back. I'll keep writing if you keep reading.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
How often should you train?
We all understand that in order to get into great shape, you have to exercise. Those who don't relish that thought almost alway ask how much do they have to exercise. I've written about this before and I've received comments that suggest that my everyday approach to fitness is wrong, unrealisitic, or unnecessary.
What kind of shape you get into and how fast you get there is directly related to your consistency. Ultimately, your habits will determine how far you get in improving your conditioning. You are the sum total of your habits. If you haven't established exercise as a habit, then you're not going to succeed in getting yourself into great shape. This is why I believe in exercising everyday: To establish exercise as a regular habit. If you allow being sedentary to become more habitual than exercise, then you'll set yourself back or fail outright.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I don't beleive in killing yourself everyday. While most won't even come close to exercising beyond their physical limitations, its still possible to overtrain. Besides, it's a known fact that the body needs some rest. This doesn't have to mean skipping a day. It can be as simple as scaling back the difficulty or exercising different parts of the body. This is the key to the "train, not strain" mentality that boxers follow since the early days.
So, we have days where we work moderately hard and days where we work hard. If you're in good shape and aching for progress, then you should select one day where you push yourself a little bit BEYOND what you think you're capable of doing. A mandatory easy day follows afterwards. In addition to making yourself more physically powerful, it'll make you mentally stronger. Training like this demands that your mind forces your body to obey and do the work that it's presented. It's as much a mental exercise as it is a physical one at this point.
When you get right down to it, exercising your body should be as much a mental exercise as it is a physical one. It's about reformulating habits and establishing a strong mind-body relationship.
What kind of shape you get into and how fast you get there is directly related to your consistency. Ultimately, your habits will determine how far you get in improving your conditioning. You are the sum total of your habits. If you haven't established exercise as a habit, then you're not going to succeed in getting yourself into great shape. This is why I believe in exercising everyday: To establish exercise as a regular habit. If you allow being sedentary to become more habitual than exercise, then you'll set yourself back or fail outright.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I don't beleive in killing yourself everyday. While most won't even come close to exercising beyond their physical limitations, its still possible to overtrain. Besides, it's a known fact that the body needs some rest. This doesn't have to mean skipping a day. It can be as simple as scaling back the difficulty or exercising different parts of the body. This is the key to the "train, not strain" mentality that boxers follow since the early days.
So, we have days where we work moderately hard and days where we work hard. If you're in good shape and aching for progress, then you should select one day where you push yourself a little bit BEYOND what you think you're capable of doing. A mandatory easy day follows afterwards. In addition to making yourself more physically powerful, it'll make you mentally stronger. Training like this demands that your mind forces your body to obey and do the work that it's presented. It's as much a mental exercise as it is a physical one at this point.
When you get right down to it, exercising your body should be as much a mental exercise as it is a physical one. It's about reformulating habits and establishing a strong mind-body relationship.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Medicinal Steroids?
I have ambivalent feelings about T-Nation. In my collection of downloaded articles off their web site, I find some very informative and helpful articles. Still, it’s a shame that they take this wonderful information that they harvest and use it as part of their embrace of the excesses of the bodybuilding world.
Actually, you could say this about the bodybuilding in general. If you look into the history of bodybuilding, you can see an early desire to elevate the human body to the level of importance that the human mind gets. When you read some of the early pioneers of the fitness world, such as Swoboda, Jowett, and Lalanne, these men were all as intelligent as they were powerful. Clearly they were onto something: That a human was better off when both the mind and the body were given equal stimulus and importance.
Somewhere along the line though, the wonderful effects of this balance was sacrificed. Desire took over and needs were neglected.
Such as the article that showed up several years ago on T-Nation. The article ridiculed the media’s depiction of steroids as an evil drug when anabolic steroids have some wonderful medical uses. I agree. Many diseases result in the same problem: degeneration of human tissue. Anything that can reverse that has obvious benefits when battling a disease.
This all has the air of the managing editor of High Times Magazine would have lobbying for the legalization of marijuana for medicinal uses. This isn’t coming from a concerned doctor. It’s coming from a bodybuilder. He’s obviously interested in removing the stigma from steroids for his personal gain.
Frankly, people like TC are really the ones to blame for the stigma, paranoia, and witch hunt that steroid use has descended to. Yes, steroids do have some legitimate medical use. Still, bodybuilders were all to eager to grab massive loads of steroids in any way possible in order to register some massive muscle gains. TC decries the negative side effects of steroids that make the news headlines. If it wasn’t for bodybuilders, we wouldn’t know that men could grow tits and shrink their testicles from heavy steroid use. We wouldn’t know that women would grow chest hair, lose it on their heads, and grow their clitoris’ into small penis’. We wouldn’t be fixating on the cancer, ‘roid rages (if you chose to believe that they don’t exist), and heart problems that heavy steroid use causes.
Ultimately, your head-first rush into excess is what brought this on. Your desire to continue doing so will keep these medicines in a state of taboo. Your lack of desire to lead a balanced, healthy life and to be an example of health and fitness has hurt the chances of using steroids to some great benefit. What you have done is similar to Prometheus becoming a pyromaniac.
Actually, you could say this about the bodybuilding in general. If you look into the history of bodybuilding, you can see an early desire to elevate the human body to the level of importance that the human mind gets. When you read some of the early pioneers of the fitness world, such as Swoboda, Jowett, and Lalanne, these men were all as intelligent as they were powerful. Clearly they were onto something: That a human was better off when both the mind and the body were given equal stimulus and importance.
Somewhere along the line though, the wonderful effects of this balance was sacrificed. Desire took over and needs were neglected.
Such as the article that showed up several years ago on T-Nation. The article ridiculed the media’s depiction of steroids as an evil drug when anabolic steroids have some wonderful medical uses. I agree. Many diseases result in the same problem: degeneration of human tissue. Anything that can reverse that has obvious benefits when battling a disease.
This all has the air of the managing editor of High Times Magazine would have lobbying for the legalization of marijuana for medicinal uses. This isn’t coming from a concerned doctor. It’s coming from a bodybuilder. He’s obviously interested in removing the stigma from steroids for his personal gain.
Frankly, people like TC are really the ones to blame for the stigma, paranoia, and witch hunt that steroid use has descended to. Yes, steroids do have some legitimate medical use. Still, bodybuilders were all to eager to grab massive loads of steroids in any way possible in order to register some massive muscle gains. TC decries the negative side effects of steroids that make the news headlines. If it wasn’t for bodybuilders, we wouldn’t know that men could grow tits and shrink their testicles from heavy steroid use. We wouldn’t know that women would grow chest hair, lose it on their heads, and grow their clitoris’ into small penis’. We wouldn’t be fixating on the cancer, ‘roid rages (if you chose to believe that they don’t exist), and heart problems that heavy steroid use causes.
Ultimately, your head-first rush into excess is what brought this on. Your desire to continue doing so will keep these medicines in a state of taboo. Your lack of desire to lead a balanced, healthy life and to be an example of health and fitness has hurt the chances of using steroids to some great benefit. What you have done is similar to Prometheus becoming a pyromaniac.
Equipment that I Use For Exercise
Lately, my training has taken a turn towards using more equipment in my exercise. I’m not using weights or any kind of foreign resistance other than my body. I’ve been experimenting with different things that destabilize my body in order to add difficulty. I added a pull-up bar and have done many experiments with rings. Stability balls, bosu balls, and abdominal wheels have entered in my repertoire. It’s all a nice change of pace to what I’m used to. I even have a great little stereo and so I can listen to my favorite metal music. So, here's the things that I've been working with and what I'm doing with them:
1. Rings. I've been working a lot with these lately. I pull my body up to one ring, lower myself, and bring myself up to the opposite ring. I've done some rowing with them as well. My runaway favorite exercise with rings has got to be push-ups. When you do push-ups on the rings, the rings want move away from your body. So you have to pull them back towards your body. The intensity that this places on the chest is brutal!
2. Bosu Ball. These are expensive but they're an interesting device. I've done DVR squats and Romanian deadlifts with my feet (foot) on the ball. I also like doing a V-up aerobic isometric exercise with the Bosu. Hold the top position of the V-up for a minute or more. The higher the legs, the more difficult it is.
3. Stability Balls. I like doing wide-stance push-ups for the work it gives my shoulders. However, the wide stance makes the push-up easier for the abs since the width of my hands gives me more stability. So, I fixed this problem by doing these push-ups with my feet on the ball. I'll even throw the perfet push-up into this exercise.
Still, I won’t allow myself to get wrapped up in the stuff around me and become dependant upon it go get myself a good workout. That is the beauty of bodyweight exercising. You don’t need stuff to get into shape. Since I’m not tethered to stuff to get into shape, I can exercise anywhere at any time that I get. Then, there’s no excuse to skip. How many people have you heard say that they lost their groove because they were out of town and couldn’t get to the gym?
Well, if I allowed myself to get stuck on the toys and tools to get into great shape then I might as well have a gym membership and start using iron and machines. Fitness doesn’t come from stuff. It comes from you. It’s your mind and body forcing each other to work together towards the common purpose of getting yourself strong and healthy.
1. Rings. I've been working a lot with these lately. I pull my body up to one ring, lower myself, and bring myself up to the opposite ring. I've done some rowing with them as well. My runaway favorite exercise with rings has got to be push-ups. When you do push-ups on the rings, the rings want move away from your body. So you have to pull them back towards your body. The intensity that this places on the chest is brutal!
2. Bosu Ball. These are expensive but they're an interesting device. I've done DVR squats and Romanian deadlifts with my feet (foot) on the ball. I also like doing a V-up aerobic isometric exercise with the Bosu. Hold the top position of the V-up for a minute or more. The higher the legs, the more difficult it is.
3. Stability Balls. I like doing wide-stance push-ups for the work it gives my shoulders. However, the wide stance makes the push-up easier for the abs since the width of my hands gives me more stability. So, I fixed this problem by doing these push-ups with my feet on the ball. I'll even throw the perfet push-up into this exercise.
Still, I won’t allow myself to get wrapped up in the stuff around me and become dependant upon it go get myself a good workout. That is the beauty of bodyweight exercising. You don’t need stuff to get into shape. Since I’m not tethered to stuff to get into shape, I can exercise anywhere at any time that I get. Then, there’s no excuse to skip. How many people have you heard say that they lost their groove because they were out of town and couldn’t get to the gym?
Well, if I allowed myself to get stuck on the toys and tools to get into great shape then I might as well have a gym membership and start using iron and machines. Fitness doesn’t come from stuff. It comes from you. It’s your mind and body forcing each other to work together towards the common purpose of getting yourself strong and healthy.
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