Abdominal Exercise Equipment
March 7, 2008
Looking for ribbed hard abs? Instead of sharing the latest information on the abdominal exercise equipments, I am going to let you in on a secret. There isn’t any new way of getting those cut abs.
Let me explain. By God’s design or by evolutionary process we received this wonderful muscle called rectus abdominis. It is designed to curl the spine and tilt your hips forward. To visualize this, curl your fingers into a fist. When you duplicate the same motion in your spine, you are flexing your abs. Well designed abdominal exercise equipment guide and help your abs to flex your spine and tilt your hips forward.
The best place understanding abdominal exercise equipment is with good old fashioned crunches. The rule of thumb is, if light can travel between your lower back and the flat surface you are using, it isn’t right. Have a partner try to push his/her hand between your lower back and the surface you are using. When you press your lower back against the flat surface that your partner has hard time pressing his/her hand through, you have got it down. This insures that you do not arch your back.
Next your roll up instead of sitting up. Remember you are trying to curl (flex) your spine and not keep it flat. Many lead with their chin, their head, their arm and some other parts we should probably not mention. Keep your fingertips lightly touching the side of your head and elbows pointing to the sides. This prevents your hands pulling your head forward and stressing your neck. Keep your head in a neutral position. You are trying to curl your spine not your head.
The simplest abdominal exercise equipment design was to help you do all of the above. An example is the original Ab Roller - A simple bent bar with a head rest. The curve to the bar forces you to curl the abs and keep your hands in the right place and the head rest keeps your head positioned correctly in relationship with your torso.
Other designs improved on this. For example Original Ab Trainer adds a pad for your elbows and a handles for to hold.
How about ab chairs like Ab Rocket Abdominal Trainer. They help you do crunches beginning from a sitting position. The contoured chair, the pads and the handles do the same thing as the Ab Trainer but from the sitting position. The drawback is that in a sitting position you remove the main resistance, the weight of your upper torso from the equation and less resistance generally means less impact.
Me? I am strictly a roman chair and ab board guy.
Respiratory Quotient and Fat Loss
March 6, 2008
The science behind the low carbohydrate diets includes the understanding of the respiratory quotient (RQ).
What is RQ you ask. RQ = Volume of CO2 produced / Volume of O2 consumed
RQ of 1.0 means that we produce the same volume of carbon dioxide (CO2) as the volume of oxygen (O2) we take in. RQ of 0.7 means that we take in more oxygen and we produce less carbon dioxide. Carbohydrates have an RQ of 1.0 and fats have RQ of about 0.7. Research shows that high carbohydrate diets have higher RQ and low carbohydrate diets have lower RQ. So when our RQ is closer to 1.0 we are burning more carbohydrates as fuel and when our RQ gets closer to 0.7 we are burning more fat.
Putting it all together, keep carbohydrates low in your diet and your body burns fat molecules and help you get rid of that beer belly and not so adorable love handles faster. You already knew this but now you know a little more about the why.
Total Gym
March 6, 2008
The promise of the Total Gym remains the same. Give it 20 minutes per day for four days every week and enjoy a more fit, energetic you. Did I mention that your relationship with your mirror will also improve? Total Gym’s simplicity is based on gravity, you lift your weight. Before you freak, it is only a percentage of your weight and as you get stronger and you lose weight the process becomes easier but still it remains fun.
Total Gym offers over 200 exercises from stretching and Pilates moves to strength training all combined in easy motions. The six resistance levels work by moving the main board up and down the back ladder like frame, the higher you place it, the higher percentage of your weight you will be lifting.
Total Gym 14000 used your whole body and emphasizes the core stomach and back muscles in every workout. So what is it that you want to do? Lose inches? Gain muscle? Improve flexibility in those joints? Total Gym delivers. For those of you who love squats, Total Gym 14000 offers optional wide-based Telescoping Squat Stand with three adjustable height settings. The standard Wing can also be upgraded to a 3Grip Pull-up Bar, Press Bar and Folding Foot Holder. Total Gym 14000 can easily fold away for storage. But who would want to store it?
Turbo Jam Maximum Results Guide Book
March 6, 2008
This guide has five sections. What I liked most is the detail of the Elite 11 since the video went a little too fast for me. My wife and I started watching the video together and in couple of minutes she had the hang of it. I on the other hand had to struggle for about ten minutes and then sneak out to get the Turbo Results Guidebook.
Chalene Johnson refers to the Elite 11 as, “Learn ‘em. Love ‘em. Live ‘em.” They are Turbo Tuck, Pump, Zig/Zag, Strike, Twist, Row, “W”, 7 Step, Shake and Shed, Capoeira Step and Wheel.
Once I learned them, it was easy to love them since I realized how simple and effective these Elite 11 are in keeping core muscle groups tight and the posture strong. This posture allowed me to really get into the fun part of the exercise without slipping into ineffective posture and movement. Now I am working on the third part o f living ‘em. As I am typing, I keep my abs tight and the back straight. It really is simple and it works.
Barbell Curls
March 5, 2008
Looking to build massive biceps, then pick up the straight bar barbell. Grab the bar with a shoulder width under hand grip, keep your elbows to side, raise bar as high as you can without letting your elbows leaves your sides. This usually is when your hands reach the same height as your shoulders.
No disrespect toward Kevin, but working with free weights, greatest resistive forces are offered to muscles (biceps in this case) when load moves parallel to gravity. When you let your elbows leave your sides in order to lift the bar to your chin, you begin to move perpendicular to gravity and you are actually disengaging the biceps and engage your deltoids.
Lower the bar as close as to full extension as possible. You cannot fully extend the arm since the bar will hit your thighs
Bench Press
March 5, 2008
Target Muscle
Sternal Connection of Pectoralis Major - This is your lower pecs (large chest muscle) that connects to your sternum (breast bone) and is target muscle for bench press and overall chest development. Everything you do on a bench press should engage and continue engaging this muscle as the target. All movements that disengage this muscle or reduce its load reduce your ability to lift and the effectiveness of your workout.
Synergist Muscles
Muscles that help the pecs to perform bench press are:
Anterior Deltoids - This is the front part of your shoulder muscle and assists the pectoralis major during shoulder transverse (across the body) flexion.
Clavicular Connection of Pectoralis Major - This is the part of your pecs that connects to your clavicle (collarbone).
Triceps Brachii
Stabilizers
These are the muscles that do not add to the movement but stabilize the joints so that you can perform the movement. Think of them as someone who holds and unstable ladder as you climb it. For bench press this task falls on the short head of biceps brachii.
