Posts Tagged ‘flexibility training’
August 24th, 2011 | 
Author: 
Stretching Complaints Department - Please Enter
Do you bother stretching at all? Does it really help or hinder? Can flexibility help improve your bodybuilding? … I say YES and here is why.
Firstly we are discussing static and dynamic stretching to improve flexibility. Don’t confuse stretching with warming up as they are two different animals and should be treated differently.
Poor flexibility prevents you from achieving a full range of motion. Having tight muscles gives you less muscle growth from the same strength-training effort.
How does it improve bodybuilding?
Over time we tend to become less flexible and stiffer. You might notice your range of motion start to become limited as compared to when you were younger. And performing heavy weighted exercises shorten and stiffen your muscles and connective tissues when the effort is imposed.
Find out the right way and when is it best to stretch. This is a Guest Post I did at Musclehacker.com please click here to read more
Posted in Body Building, Yoga | 
Tags: bodybuilding, flexibility training, stretching, Sun Salutation Sequence, Yoga | 
2 Comments »
Most people only think of stretching routines as a method for increasing flexibility.
Recently I wrote about how stretching effects your GTOs (Golgi Tendon Organs) which helps you to lift heavier, and lifting heavier means you grow more!
But I want you to know about this other secret tip on how to “increase muscle size” by stretching during your work out when timed correctly.
It’s called fascia stretching.
Don’t mix this up for facial stretching, the “Celebrity Botox” kind.
I mean fascia, its a dense type of connective tissue, all of the muscle in your body is enclosed in this fascia.
The job of fascia is to help protect muscles and allow them to maintain their position throughout the body.
By stretching your fascia you can actually allow for more muscle growth to occur. Read the rest of this entry »
Celebrities have a huge influence on us.
Everything they do is always in the spotlight and at times we want to copy “everything they do”.
One area that gets a lot of attention are their diets and workouts.
Some are spot on with their weight loss but some are so far off the track it becomes dangerous, here are a couple examples of crazy and not so crazy diets they follow.
You might be surprised which celebrity gets its right!
Jennifer Love Hewitt – The Grape Whisperer
This hard working actor would work on set for up to 15 hours a day.
Not having a lot of time Jennifer would go home and make simple but high carb (carbohydrate) meals of mashed potatoes, risotto and pastas and not having the time to work out took its toll on her body as the weight piled on.
When it got to the point that Jennifer felt she need to lose weight the first diet she tried was The Grapefruit diet (also known as the Hollywood diet) a short-term fad diet. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Fat Loss |
Tags: body fat, carmen electra, celebrity deits, celebrity trainer, charcoal diet, charcoal pills, crazy diets, dance method, dancing with the stars, dangerous diets, diet programs, dietary habits, eat stop eat, Fat Loss, flat belly, flexibility training, grapefruit diet, hollywood diet, jennifer lover hewitt, jessica alba, kelly osbourne, kim kardashian, lose body fat, lose weight, low calories, low carb diet, macrobiotic diet, madonna, sarah harding, tracy anderson method, visual impact, weight loss |
30 Comments »
The Sun Salutation Sequence or Surya Namaskar is a set of 12 yoga poses performed usually in a connecting series of smooth flowing movements.
I'm about to start the Surya Namaskar at Sunrise - 2010
It was originally created for the worship of Surya (the Sun), the Hindhu solar deity.
Each movement is coordinated with the breath (pranayama) and traditionally at the beginning of each pose a sacred mantra is recited.
Today, you will find most yoga classes will include this sequence into their program (sometimes ignoring the importance of breath and mantras) as a way to offer building flexibility and strength.
The different styles of yoga perform the Sun Salutation with their own variations but the core sequence is the same.
The basic Surya Namaskar uses alternating backward and forward bending postures, flexing the spinal column through over a range giving a profound stretch to the whole body.
Sun Salutation would normally be done at sunrise, facing the sun, its used to generate energy and awaken the body but really anywhere is fine as long as you get to do it. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Yoga |
Tags: 12 poses, benefits of yoga, bodyweight exercises, Fat Loss, flexibility training, healthy exercises, stretching, Sun Salutation Sequence, Surya Namaskar, yoga poses, Zen |
23 Comments »
Ground and Pound, Clinch or Sprawl and Brawl, do you have a battle strategy in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts)?
Every kick is an Abs Crunch
Well whatever your style, getting into the ring you need more than a chiseled midsection but one that is going to absorb punishment from hands, feet or any part thrown at you, then follow these MMA core workouts to build your abs.
Every kick delivered or a raised leg block is simply an abdominal crunch.
To get out of serious trouble in a grapple you’ll need an extraordinary strong abs strength.
Executing forceful escape manoeuvres off the ground comes down to core strength.
Trying to resist an opponent’s attempt to uncurl their bodies with floor spins or pushing off the cage with their feet will demand a solid foundation.
In MMA Cage fighting you need explosive movements and developing a combat core is crucial.
If your opponent is going to throw a body punch and you can’t take a shot you’re in trouble.
Get hit in the stomach and either you will lose your breath or be on the floor, it all depends on how good your core is.
You will need to absorb strikes and need to maintain a fight posture without fatiguing otherwise as soon as you drop your hands… LOOK OUT a huge round house kick is coming your way. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in MMA |
Tags: 6 pack abs, ab routine, Body Building, bruce lee, Buff, burn fat, cage fighting, cardiovascular endurance, core routine, cung le, Fat Loss, flat belly, flat tummy, flexibility training, georges st-pierre, intense exercise, mma ab workout, mma ab workouts, mma core workout, mma core workouts, Muscle Building, rich franklin, strikeforce, tekken, ufc, workouts |
43 Comments »
Be The Toughest Tabby Cat in Town
Tabata workouts are a fantastic high intensity interval training method for burning body fat.
It is one of the best hiit routines available that has proven results for increasing fitness.
Easy to incorporate into your workout, this style of training can be adapted to any exercise.
Amazingly it ticks all the boxes! It gives you;
- Muscle Gains √
- Burns Body Fat √
- Builds Endurance √
Nothing will bring you to your knees faster than doing this style of training.
Why do it? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Body Building |
Tags: 6 pack abs, Body Building, Buff, building muscle, burn fat, cardio, cardiovascular endurance, composition body, create workout, dynamic, Fat Loss, flat belly, flat tummy, flexibility training, hiit routine, intense exercise, interval training, izumi tabata, metabolic resistance, Muscle Building, strength training, tabata, turbulence training, workouts |
38 Comments »
Who is lean, muscular, toned, ripped 6 pack and good looking, Let’s play who am I?
Come To The Dark Side - there is plenty of room
Hmmm … Straight away you might think … Hugh Jackman, maybe Robert Downey Jr or is it teen sensation Taylor Lautner?
WRONG IT’S ME! … OK it’s not me … but we all would like to think that way and wouldn’t we kill for that perfect physique?
In fact all of us right NOW is trying to create that look but ask yourself “at what expense” does it come?
The fitness journey begins, we achieve positive results that’s to our liking. And humans nature will drive us to do more and more as these efforts produce better results
so the cycle begins! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Muscle-Mind link |
Tags: anorexia, bulimia, cardiovascular endurance, childhood teasing, composition body, dark side, depression, diet programs, dietary habits, eating carbs, eating disorder, extreme exercise, fatigue, flexibility training, health, Hugh Jackman, ideal body, intense exercise, ironman2, male body image, negative behaviours, Robert Downey jr, role models, taylor lautner, weight loss, workouts, Yoga, Zen |
19 Comments »
Quickly go tell all your non-Yoga friends that they better start doing Yoga poses if they want to build muscle …. what? I can hear you say!
There are many parts of Yoga (8 parts in fact), but here we are only concerned with the Yogic benefits of muscle stretching and body resistance training to really allow you to develop to another level of muscle building.
Leading by example are two actors (with nicely buffed bodies) that regularly practice this ancient Indian exercise is Matthew McConaughey and Spiderman’s Tobey Maguire.
Both having lean muscular and athletic bodies.
MUSCLE STRETCH
In your younger days you were probably very flexible but as you aged, your body decided that stiffer shorter muscles were the way to go.
In your teens, your lower vertebrae starts to fuse, your hamstrings are no longer strings but more like surf boards, stiff and less flexible.
So for most of us adulthood brings on poor flexibility preventing a full range of motion in exercise, so we end up with limiting our results.
IF YOU DON’T GO ALL THE WAY DOWN ON A BARBELL SQUAT – TRY THIS! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Yoga |
Tags: barbell, Body Building, body resistance, Buff, building muscle, dynamic, flexibility training, golgi berries, golgi tendon reflex, matthew mcconaughey, Muscle Building, muscle growth, poor flexibility, range of motion, spiderman, strength training, stretches, tobey maguire, workouts, Yoga |
16 Comments »
Everybody dreams of being a Superhero at some stage.
I wanted to be Spiderman, but one thing stopped me, well OK a few things stopped me!
I just didn’t have the required superhuman powers needed: actually seemed insignificant if you ask me.
Ironman 2 is currently being released so I wanted to make sure I could at least keep up with Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark’s alter ego the Ironman.
Ironman does have a slight advantage he uses the exoskeleton armour and the inbuilt energy source to make him 100 times stronger, unfortunately I can’t get my hands on one of those but hey what the heck!
So the best thing I could do was to develop those super powers myself by intense exercise and some real food nutrition.
I compiled a number of challenges that would give me a good measure of my abilities to become a superhero.
How did I go? Well I could easily tell you I now have super powers but would you believe me? Lets not go there.
It’s good fun to measure ourselves. You can gauge growth and help you identify what needs focus for progression. Read the rest of this entry »
