Free Weights or Exercise Machines

Which types of weight training should you be using when working out: free weights or exercise machines? Personally, I like to use a combination of both free weights and exercise machines, including pulley machines. It all depends on the type of exercise that I am doing.

Exercise Machines

Let’s take a look at exercise machines. They are great for beginners because you don’t need a spotter, therefore they are safer. You can feel confident as you increase the amount of weight, you won’t hurt yourself or be stuck while doing a repetition. Machines can help you focus more on targeted muscles. Some machines even have different hand grips to help you hit different muscles and add some variety to your workout. The only drawback is that machines tend to move in a single plane, a more limited range of motion. Although some machines like the HammerStrength machines will tend to have a wider range of motion available. Also, by incorporating a workout using certain types of machines, you can achieve different range of motion and a wider range of motion.

Pulley Machines

With respect to pulley machines, they allow you to change hand grips and bars and you can get constant tension on both the positive and negative movements of the exercise. They also give you a much wider range of motion, particularly while doing chest crossovers. Therefore, pulley machines offer you a lot of variety which can mimic the exercises that you can do with free weights.

Free Weights

On the other hand, free weights tend to give you the greatest and the widest range of motion. Basically, you control the motion. There are also so many types of exercises that you can perform with free weights. You can even combine your free weight workouts with a Bosu ball for a total-body workout.

If you are working out with heavy free weights, you may need a spotter.

Former Athletes Get Fat in Retirement

This is a topic that I have wanted to write about for many months and it deals with the fact that after retirement from sports many former athletes end up getting fat and fatter. Off the top of my head I could roll off many names, but I am not going to. You know who they are and they know who they are. You see them on TV still involved with the sports industry as coaches and management. They come from all sports: baseball, football, hockey and even figure skating. Probably the fattest sports category would belong to football. One would think that being former professional athletes it would encourage them to maintain a healthy lifestyle and to exercise long after retirement but this is not the case.

It appears that after retirement from pro sports they feel that it is no longer a requirement for them to exercise and eat properly. Maybe their stressful and demanding jobs preclude them from ever having to or wanting to exercise? Maybe they are just plain lazy. I don’t think so. In my opinion, everyone should and can find time each week to exercise.

Of course there are a few examples of former athletes who after retirement still exercise and one of them who comes to my mind is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Years after pro bodybuilding competitions he still works out and looks great. And that is what exercise will do for you. You continue to exercise and live healthy throughout the entirety of your life regardless of whether you are paid to do it. It should be an integral part of your lifestyle. Many people in real life maintain jobs and families and look better after 40 years of age than many of these former professional athletes and they have never received a dime to do it.

So regardless of your past occupation and your age, exercise should continuously be an important part of your life and lifestyle.

Weight Training Workout Tips

Here are some basic weight training tips for you to get the most out of each and every one of your gym workouts.

Whenever working out, it’s best that you exercise your large muscles groups first. By large muscle groups, I am talking about chest, back and shoulders. The smaller muscle groups would be the triceps, biceps and forearms. With respect to legs, I recommend that you do them on a separate day since leg workouts tend to be very exhausting and you may not have enough energy for the rest of your body!

Anyway, if you start exercising the smaller muscle groups first, you will not have as much strength to effectively workout the large muscle groups since you have fatigued the smaller muscle groups which act as secondary muscles when you exercise your chest, back and shoulders. Basically, what I am saying is that when you exercise your large muscle groups, you will also be working out the smaller or secondary muscle groups as well since there is an inter-connection between muscles in your body. By focusing on exercising the large muscles first, your workouts will maximize the benefits and strength gains that you can potentially receive.

Another weight training tip is to vary your exercises. I am talking about the order that you do your exercise and the types of exercises you do for each body part. You may want to introduce new exercises every few weeks or alternate between exercises in a given month. In this way, your workouts challenge your muscles and you should realize better results.

Another tip is to perform your exercises slowly. Some may argue with this technique, but I feel that if you don’t hurry every repetition, you will get more out of your workouts by emphasizing the positive and negative of each movement.

These are just three out of many weight training workout tips that I wanted to discuss and review with you.

Wrong vs Correct Way of Doing Reverse Grip Triceps Pulldown

I stumbled upon a website illustrating how to do the reverse grip triceps pulldown on the cable pulley machine using a t-bar. The first thing that I noticed is how completely wrong the video demonstration of this exercise is! Also the text description is very limited. And the irony of this is that this incorrect information is ranked on the first page of Google Search. Just goes to show you that you have to be careful, that not all information that Google brings up on its first search page is accurate and good. This example proves that Google algorithms are not able to distinguish if content is accurate or determine the accuracy of content from various web sources. Just be careful what information you actually read and use on the web. My advice, stick to websites that focus on the exercise and fitness field vs generic all-encompassing websites.

Now getting back to the focus of this blog post… The wrong and incorrect way of doing this exercise you can view here. The correct and accurate way of doing this exercise you can view on this YouTube video. Can you see the difference? There is a big difference in the form and technique. And the sad part is that Google Search does not even show this accurate YouTube video on the first page of their search page or video search pages.

Just something I came across by chance and that I wanted to share.

Diary of Your Exercise Workouts

I often see people at the gym keeping a diary or record of their weight training exercise workouts. Some people record their daily exercise workout in a small notebook, while others carry a big binder or on a Smartphone. Some people keep a record of the type of exercise they do and that’s it! Others keep a more detailed and meticulous account of the type of exercises they do, the number of sets and the number of repetitions as well.

I have to admit, I don’t do this. I tend to keep a record of my workouts in my head. The only problem with this is that, once in awhile, I may forget what I did the week before since I like to rotate my exercises but overall "mental notes" for me has worked out very well.

This week I was thinking back to the fitness results that I achieved over the last five years. Trying to remember what I call “my best years” and the way I achieved my results via exercise, nutrition and the supplements that I was using! I thought to myself that it would have been nice to write down in detail my workout routine. To be able to look back at any year and compare to see what I did! Also to make the record more meaningful, my fitness diary would have included the types and brands of supplements that I was consuming. I’m talking about when, how much protein powder or Creatine that I was consuming, using. This way I could see what supplements and combinations of supplements worked the best for me. To add to this, maybe make an additional note of my daily diet and nutrition would have been included.

I have to admit that such a fitness or workout diary would entail a lot of work. In the long-term, it could be very useful to compare and determine what types of exercises, how you did them and the supplements that you were consuming worked best for you.

It is a good idea to keep a fitness diary or record of your exercise workouts including the supplement you consume.

Roman Olympic Games in Neapolis (Naples)

With the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi coming to an end on Sunday, I thought I’d write a topic on sports in ancient times. We all know that the modern day Olympics began in Greece and that they were held in Olympia. Athletes from Greek city states from across modern day Greece, Asia Minor and other Greek colonies all got to participate – so it was quite a global event in the Greek world.

The Olympics was more of a religious festival back then, women were not allowed to participate and any wars that were going on would cease for the duration of the games. Quite a contrast to today’s Olympics where countries engaged in war are allowed to participate, wars continue on and the Olympic Games themselves, have become extremely commercial. Love the Olympics or hate them, they are still a good way for the world to get together and compete in a friendly manner in athletic activities.

But did you know that in ancient times the Romans had their own Olympic Games? They were held in Naples beginning in 2 AD during the rule of Emperor Augustus called the Isolympic Games. They were fashioned after the Greek games and appropriately held in Neapolis (Naples), a city founded by the Greeks. These games at the time were considered to be equal to the games in Olympia, Greece. The athletes themselves came from as far away as Asia Minor and in these games, women were also allowed to compete and win prizes.

I thought I’d provide you with a different perspective of the importance of sports and athletic activities throughout history.

Bodybuilding and the Mind

Weight training involves the mind as much as physical strength. Some people seem to think that bodybuilding is all about brute strength, well it just is not so. Sure you do need to be physically strong but it does not matter how big you are because physical strength does not necessary equate to your size but more so to your well-being and health. There are many examples and studies that have shown that pound for pound, smaller people can lift more than huge people. By using your mind and your mental ability, it will allow you focus and concentrate at the task at hand. You will be surprised how much you can lift and the progress you can eventually make. Using both your mind and your strength in combination and unison, there is no reason why you cannot chest press more than you body weight on a machine or using barbells. If you come in to the gym with a tired and distracted mind or a feeling of laziness, you will accomplish nothing that day or possibly hurt yourself.

Also, proper breathing techniques go hand in hand with focus and concentration. It helps clear your mind of distractions, allow you to focus and concentrate and provide oxygen that your body and muscles need. It’s no different than in Yoga, Pilates, martial arts or any other discipline that involves the mind. Weight training is exactly the same.

To effectively train using weights or for bodybuilding at the amateur or professional levels one must also understand the human body or at least have a basic understanding of it -what and how to train to get the desired size and muscle definition. Also, nutrition plays a vital role in weight training. You need to know what to eat. The right foods provides you with the energy your body needs, the ability of your body to build muscle and the vitamins and minerals your body needs, Most importantly, it helps to keep your immune system strong while working out and as you go about your day-to-day life.

As I have tried to illustrate, when it comes to bodybuilding and weight training, the mind plays an important role.

Beauty Foods

You heard the saying: “You are what you eat.” If you eat too much or foods that are high in fat, well there’s a high chance that you will be overweight and suffer from health problems in the distant future, but this is not the focus of what I want to talk about. What I really want to discuss are the certain types of foods which can actually have a positive effect on your skin. By this I mean these foods can help to prevent anti-aging and the overall breakdown of skin cells, basically keep your skin younger looking. Consequently, one can term these foods as “beauty foods”.

I’d like to look at a few of these foods.

There’s nothing better than freshly grown tomatoes which will be more nutritious and delicious compared to store purchased tomatoes. In a sandwich or in a tossed salad, tomatoes taste great but besides the vitamins it contains (Vitamin A and C), they also contain Lycopene which protects skin cells and promotes faster new cell growth. I’ve also read that Lycopene may prevent certain types of cancer. Studies are inconclusive to-date with respect to its potential cancer preventing properties. Regardless, you should include tomatoes in your diet. If you are unable to or do not like the taste of tomatoes, consider a supplement like Rosehips which contains Lycopene.

“An apple a day, keeps the doctor away”… Apples are loaded with vitamins, plus they are good for your skin.

The Omega 3 in fish improves not only dry skin, but it boosts your immune system enabling you to stay healthier and I find that it gives me a lot more energy particularly great for athletes and people who exercise a lot. Of course due to pollution concerns, you just cannot consume fish every day and you need to be aware of what types of fish will contain more environmental contaminants. Generally the rule is the bigger the fish is and if it’s a bottom feeder, then they will be higher in harmful chemicals. What I recommend is that you take an Omega 3 supplement on the days that you do not consume fish and make sure that you read the label. A quality Omega 3 supplement will indicate that it is checked for and that it is free of lead, mercury and other environmental contaminants plus the source of the Omega 3.

Other foods that may keep your skin young and health looking include: various nuts, avocado, yoghurt and berries.

This is just a brief overview of our beauty foods. There are many more and I’d have to go to great detail to discuss each one. Generally you should include foods from each group during the week particularly at least 1 fruit and a serving of vegetables per day. If you cannot, I recommend that you take multi-vitamins. They are more convenient and you know you are getting all the vitamins in the right doses that your body requires.

7 Minute Exercise Workouts

You have probably seen all these website promoting full-body workouts in 7 minutes a day and guaranteeing amazing bodybuilding, toning or weight loss results. Well, save your hard earned money.

Let’s look at this logically. If evolution intended humans to exercise for only 7 minutes a day and end up achieving amazing results, than our bodies would have evolved that way, but they did not and probably never will. If anything, lack of exercise and inactivity will continue to be a health problem in the future. Limiting yourself to a very limited and set amount of time of exercise will hinder your strength and cardiovascular system. It’s pretty obvious why.

Also, if you could train from only 7 minutes than Olympic athletes would be doing this instead of the long hours they put into various training programs.

The human body was meant to be active whether through exercise, work or some other activity. Sure you can focus on a 10 minute exercise for a certain body part like your abs, but not your entire body. Exercise should not be just viewed as a way to achieve a certain look… A healthy and toned look is important but it’s more than that! It’s a major health benefit for you and it can be a social thing too especially if you exercise with friends or socialize with friends at the gym. It’s a chance to get away from stress and the daily routine of life, a chance to do something else. So if you are limiting yourself to only 7 minutes a day of exercise, you will be missing the point of working out.

What exercise program works best for you is something that you figure out with time or with help from a personal trainer.