Encouragement after an Injury

Encouragement after an Injury

            This is the first time I’ve had a serious injury during my weightlifting career, and I know understand how much it SUCKS!  I have just recently been completely healed and am now back to my normal life of weightlifting.  I understand the hardship and stress it take to come back from a big injury where you can’t exercise for weeks and then find you are considerably weaker than you were before the injury.  I will make this post to try to encourage anyone out there that have just gotten back from an injury. 

            Yes, it will take a lot of extra work and dedication to get back into weightlifting and even more to get back to your pre-injured state, but this is the time that you realize and show to people your commitment.  This is a time of character building because if you can pull through and do it, then there is nothing you can’t do.  The road will be hard but the payoff will be great.  Also the weeks of not exercising will make your muscles not used to it, so by the time you work out again your muscles will grow faster as if it were when you first started working out.

Remember, we’re all in this together, keep your stick on the ice. 

Increases Maxes

Increase Maxes

            One of the greatest ways to show your new strength is show your max weight on certain lifts, like the bench press max, or squat max.  But a lot of people are frustrated with their maxes because they aren’t as high as they feel that they should be.  This post will be discussing how to increase your maxes and feel great. 

            One of the first things you need to do is obviously decide what exercise you want to increase your max on.  Whether you are trying increase the max of your bench press, hang clean, squat, dead lift, or curls, the methods are all very similar and they all work.  Next, you need to find your max out for that certain lift.

            Finding your max out requires a feeling of strength and readiness, some days are just better than others, so the best thing to do is to wait till there is a day that feels good for your lift.  Then you need to start out with a good warm-up like what I have suggested in earlier posts, and also stretching.  Then you need to start your lift with light weight, no matter how easy your starting weight is only do one rep of it.  Then add about ten pounds or so to that weight, and continue to add ten or so pounds until you get the feeling you are getting close to the most weight you can do, then slowly add little weight at a time still doing only one rep at a time.  Then you don’t stop till you get to a weight you can no longer do, but try at least three times to be sure it is truly your max.  Then, viola, your max weight for that exercise.

            Now that you know your max weight for the exercise you are working on, it’s time to start the training to increase that max.  You first need to be dedicated to working on this exercise at least three times a week.  Once you are ready for your training you need to warm up then do 90% of your max for five sets only doing one rep of this exercise.  Once you finish five sets of this, reduce down to about 75-80% of your max doing about five to seven reps for three to five sets.  Next, reduce down again to about sixty to sixty-five percent of your max for about eight to ten reps of three to five sets.  Next, you should work on muscle groups that would help your max out.  Like if you want to max out on bench press, you should exercise your triceps, biceps, back, and chest.  If you are working on maxing out your squat or your dead lift, you should work on calves, quads, hamstrings, and shoulders.  If you want to max out on your bicep curls, you should work on biceps, shoulders, forearms, and hand strength.  And so on.

            The second day you should do about sixty to sixty-five percent of your max of eight to ten reps of about four to five sets.  Then, do your exercises for other helping muscle groups for seven to ten reps of about five to six sets, although this time do different exercises of these muscles.  And on the third day that you work on your max out exercise, you should do about eighty percent of your max out for seven sets for three to six reps a set.  Then finally do about four to five sets of your other muscle groups for five to seven reps each, still doing different exercises than you did the previous two days.

            So I hoped this helped you increase your maxes and made your feel better about your lifting.  Remember, we’re all in this together, keep your stick on the ice.

                      

Workout Warm-Up

Workout Warm-up

            Lots of times people in the gym try to do an exercise at their maximum weight and see that they are usually disappointed to find that they can’t do what they believed they could.  Usually the problem isn’t that that person can’t do that lift at that weight, it’s usually that they haven’t warmed up yet and their muscles aren’t ready to lift.  In this post I will be talking about the importance of and good strategies of warming up before lifting.

            When beginning a workout your muscles start out cold and lacking a generous flow of blood.  It’s that blood flow that helps give your muscles their strength that’s why a warm up before a workout is so important.  Also the importance of stretching before a workout helps get blood to muscles but it also helps prevent stiffness and cramps during an exercise.  Stretching loosens the muscles to also make an exercise easier.

            Depending on the exercise and muscle groups being worked on during the day will change the warm up and stretching that will be required for those exercises.  Let’s say that you are working on chest and triceps.  A good place to start is by just simply swinging your arms to get them moving.  Then find an easy exercise like pushups, triceps extensions, or pull ups.  Continue to do multiple reps of this exercise, and then continue to stretch your muscles with stretches like pulling your arm above your head and tugging on your tricep for each arm.  Also you could pull your arms back behind you as far as you can to stretch your biceps and chest.  And then start your workout with a light weight and lots of reps until you feel warm and ready.

            Do these before you begin your workouts and you can increase your performance and max weight, it is also a good habit to have because the more you stretch your body the more flexible you will become over time.  Also by doing this you have a better likelihood of increasing your strength because of the advantages of bringing blood to your muscles and the ability to lift at your full potential.

            So remember, always stretch before working out to help your from cramps and stiffness.  Always warm-up to get blood to the muscles and create a better likelihood of lifting more and increasing gains and strength.  Remember, we’re all in this together, keep your stick on the ice.           

                

Moral of Weightlifting

Moral of Weightlifting

            Weightlifting is something I believe everyone should at least to a little bit of in their normal day.  And even though it can be hard, I respect those that go to the gym and work, they aren’t there to show off or hang out with friends, they’re there to get better.  I also respect those that may be stronger than others in the gym but are humble and helpful to those who aren’t as strong or athletic.  Cause that’s what a real man is like, humble and helpful even to those weaker than him.  But my biggest problem in the gym are people that find shortcuts and cheats to increase their strength.  This post is about the moral of a weightlifter.

            I can understand that some people are genetically inferior because of a condition or disorder.  But only with that exception I have no respect for those that take strength boosters to get an edge on others, especially those in sports.  Those that take steroids, strength supplements, even cretin, I lose respect for.  The point of lifting is to make yourself better to your full potential, and boosters like that have no place for lifting.  And for those that take things like that should get out of the gym.

            Shortcuts are just a cowards way out.  And steroids are just a losers way to get in.  you wouldn’t respect a rich kid that gets everything he wants for no work at all, so i never respect a guy who tries to get strong with no work at all. 

            Even little things like cretin I refuse to use because of the unfair boost it gives a person.  The only thing I would ever use is protein because it just helps with the nutrition side of lifting because of the over processing of today’s foods.

            I hope you think over your moral as a lifter as you read this.  Remember, we’re all in this together, keep your stick on the ice.

WHERE THE HECK IS THAT!!!

WHERE THE HECK IS THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

            I’ve come to find out over the years that the position of muscles and their functions are not very well known to a lot of people.  When I talk to the normal Joe about lifting and what lifts affect what, they usually seem confused and it’s because they aren’t familiar with all their muscle groups and functions.  Sometimes it’s like talking to a walrus.  Well the mystery is cracked because in this post all of your questions will be answered in this post.  If they’re not then you can come to my house and punch me in the face (good luck though).

            Let’s start with the bicep, this is located on your arm facing outward if you were to stand normally.  If you turn your hand so that its palm is facing the ceiling, your bicep will be flexed and will flex more the more your contract your elbow.  The only thing that your bicep does is pull your elbow up.  Nothing more, this is why big biceps are usually not very valuable for sports and athletics.  Although they do look good.

            Next, the tricep.  The tricep is on the opposite side of your arm, across from your bicep.  Your tricep has three muscles in it, while your bicep only has two, so in that case your tricep should actually be bigger and stronger than your bicep.  Your tricep is flexed by just gripping your hands and fully extending your arm.  The tricep muscle is used for pushing and extending and is very valuable for almost all sports because of this.

            Lats, are your back muscles that run down from your arm pits to your hips, making them a big and powerful muscle.  Lats are responsible for most of your pulling and raising, also valuable in sports, sense they make up most of your back.

            Chest is opposite of your lats and are one of your strongest muscles and account for a lot of a person’s strength.  They are responsible for pushing and pair up with the triceps very often like in bench press or about any kind of upper body press.  They also contract to help in compressing of items.  Plus they look awesome.

            Shoulders are often confused for traps.  The inside of your shoulder from the tip of your shoulder to your neck is your trap.  And the large circular muscle on the outside of your shoulder is your deltoid, or delt. Your traps are basically just used for raising and lowering your shoulders, but your deltoids cover your rotary cuffs and strengthen any kind of movement with your whole arm.

            Forearms run all the way around your arm from your elbow to your wrist, and strengthen any kind of wrist movement.  The forearm muscle facing the inside, toward your body, are responsible for inside wrist movements, and the forearm muscle facing outside your body is responsible for outside wrist movements.

            Abs are pretty obvious.  They contract around your stomach area and really don’t have much use in sports and athletics, EXCEPT SEXYNESS!!! 

            Obliques are the muscles around the sides of your abs to create a chiseled look around them.  They also don’t have a lot of use is sports.

            Quadriceps, also known as quads, are the big muscles on the front of your thigh that help in running speed and jumping.  Many muscles make up the quad and different workouts can work the other muscles. 

            Hamstrings create the back of the thigh and are even more essential in running and jumping than quads.  They run from your butt to the back of your knee. Claves also help in running and jumping.

            I hope…no, this better have helped you and be sure to comment to help me out.  Remember, we’re all in this together, keep your stick on the ice.