Fast and Furious Fitness

All,

Injuries/annoying little “niggles” are a part and parcel of life for those that train regularly. Minor niggles are so frequent that they don’t even bear mentioning, but sometimes the injuries are a bit more serious. The question then begets - should one give the workouts a break till the injury heals fully? Should one train with the injury, braving the pain as far as possible? Or should one train “around” the injury if possible?

Keep in mind that I’m assuming the injury is not something as serious as a torn hamstring, broken arm, or something as major - in that case, you really have no option other than to rest up, and let the injured body part heal. I’m referring to relatively “minor” injuries i.e. say a muscle sprain, maybe a bruised ligament in the knee joint, and so forth.

The best answer in my opinion would be #3 i.e. train “around” the injury. Not training at all is obviously not the answer, and neither is training “with” the injury, as that might aggravate the problem to the point where it might become “serious” and necessitate taking a break altogether. No, the right thing to do then is to train “around” the injury. How, you ask?

Well, it’s easy, really - especially if your following a program such as I am, which emphasizes full body participation (direct or indirect) during the exercises. I’m currently suffering from a minor injury to the glute muscles - my left glute, to be exact - it’s either a sprained muscle, or perhaps a pulled muscle. Whatever it is, it’s not so painful that I can’t squat at all, but I definitely feel it everytime I’m trying to do a squatting exercises that taxes the glutes (Hindu squats, Sumo squats), etc.

Therefore, what I did today was omit leg training from my routine (something I never do) and concentrate on the rest of my workout (pushups, pullups, and bridging). Now, a lot of those tax the glutes as well, but “indirectly”, so the actual muscle hurt is not being taxed as heavily during the movement. But, I still got in a pretty good workout - and there was plenty of blood flow to the injured muscle, which will aid speedy recovery.

Keep in mind also that it’s easy to want to train the injured area anyway - I know this is the case with me - my leg exercises are something I can’t do without, and the “buzz” (as well as overall body workout) I get from training legs is second to NONE - therefore, it was hard for me not to train legs today. But, thats what I had to do to ensure that I a) got a good workout in regardless and b) didn’t strain the injured area more than I need to, so thats what I did.

That goes for all body parts, by the way. So if your suffering from an injury to the traps, you might want to hit the squats extra harder - they’ll give the traps plenty of “indirect” work, but won’t directly tax the affected area and impede recovery.

And that, my friend, is today’s tip.

Get fit - FAST!

Rahul

All,

Today was again one of those days where I debated about taking a day off (it’s getting close to my “regular” off day). But, fortitude won out as it usually does, and I ended up learning something new, which I’m going to share with you today. Always something new to learn!

And today’s tip is on Sumo squats, and how the glutes can REALLY aid in correct, and BETTER execution of the exercise.

The “stretching” portion of this exercise (i.e. when you raise your leg ups to your sides to touch the bottom of your palm) is normally the hardest for most people. Might be because of a lack of flexibility in the groin muscles, or, it could simply be weak inner thighs or glutes. Either way, that portion of the exercise is the toughest for most people.

Try this tip to make it easier (and do better on this movement!): - As you rise from the squatting position, inhale deeply, but really squeeze the glutes while doing so. Inhale “into” the glutes - if that makes sense. Imagine your glutes “powering you up” to the standing position. Once there, the power you generate through your glutes will automatically transfer over to the rest of the muscles, and it’ll help you in getting the next portion of the movement done.

This little change will also make the exercise that much harder, but that much more productive, if done right. Done correctly, the Sumo squat is a KILLER, even when done in “low” reps such as 5-10 per leg.

Try it, and let me know how it works for you!

Rahul

All,

It’s amazing - no matter how many times I do an exercise, even if it’s a seemingly simple one such as the Hindu squat, I end up finding new ways of making the exercise more productive. This ties in with what I had said earlier about mastering an exercise and what that really entails, so if you missed that one, probably not a bad idea to go back and read that once as well.

Anyway, that brings me to today’s tip - how to make the Hindu squat a “different” and in some ways harder exercise by really focusing on the breathing and the entire body during the exercise, rather than simply the “front” of the thighs, which are seemingly the muscles that are the most “important” in this exercise. Before the tip though, I will say that your legs need to be in good shape before you try this, so if your just starting out, stick with the regular squat for now and incorporate this one as you progress.

Turn your toes out slightly, or, perhaps a bit [em]more[/em] than slightly. Say about a 30 degree angle, give or take. . . And, THEN perform the Hindu squat. Make sure to keep the form GOOD i.e. hands behind your back as you descend, and make sure the “upward” motion of your hands bring you up rather than just your legs. Keep your back straight as well. Do this, and you’ll find the inner thighs, abs, and even glutes getting involved in the movement. Net result - a better workout for the ENTIRE body! And, this tip will eventually help you get higher numbers as well, as you are using more muscles during the exercises.

And always, breathe correctly - that is half the game right there. Rememeber too that the Hindu squat is NOT an isolationist movement for the thighs or even legs alone - like most of the other exercises I advocate, the ENTIRE body is involved. That can’t be stressed enough.

Something else I found interesting is that there is a direct carryover between this exercise (I’ve spoken about this before I believe, but with different exercises), and the Sumo Squat. Once I really started to work the Sumo squat, I quickly found out how much my inner thighs were lagging behind the rest of my legs. Not any longer, though.

Try this one the next time you squat, and let me know how it goes. I’ve personally added on quite a bit of mass following this routine, and done correctly, you will too!

That’s it for the day - as always, the comment feature is there if you need it.

Get fit - FAST.

Rahul

All,

Before I start, NO, what might have come to mind for a lot of you upon reading that heading, is NOT what is covered in this post. Nothing wrong with “that” either, but let’s stick to training - the kind I write about - here.

Fooling around aside, as you can see, I’m a huge advocate of training the legs, hips, buttocks and lower back. This is evident from my posts, the exercises I advocate, and from what my own experience has taught me. I’ve covered the benefits of said type of training many times in the past, and will likely touch upon those in upcoming posts as well, but for now, let’s focus on another topic - how to protect the lower back, by squeezing the glutes.

The lower back is often an area which gets injured while working out. And this holds true even while doing exercises to specifically strengthen the lower back. For instance, many trainees “strain” too hard on their lower back while bridging, and end up being sore for days. Or, one might “pull” too hard while doing pullups (or while doing “swinging” pull ups which I do NOT advocate, but some do). The examples go on and on. . .

Anyway, the key thing to remember is that ALL the exercises I advocate here (and the ones you should be doing, anyway) are full-body exercises. Which in turn means that you need to be using your entire body while working these exercises - and preferably put the most strain on the largest muscles.

And, the glutes are definitely one of the, if not THE, largest muscles groups in the body. And by very virtue of their location, they can definitely be used to “assist” the lower back during exercises.

Lower back giving out during the back bridge? No problem - concentrate on squeezing the glutes and thighs as hard as you can while maintaining perfect form, and you’ll feel some of the “strain” being taken off the lower back.

And lest you think that the lower back isn’t strengthened by working the exercise in said fashion - think again. The lower back IS getting stronger - and IS getting strained - only, it is being done in a “proper” manner i.e. a manner in which the muscles can handle it, and progressively adapt to greater stress being placed upon it.

That para there had a “secret” that many trainees tend to overlook, especially those that might be starting out. See if you can find it.

Another benefit of squeezing the glutes is that it improves your form on many exercises. For instance, the lower back is often “sagging” towards the end of a tough set of pushups, but if you concentrate on squeezing the glutes during the set, along with the thighs, then you’ll find yourself maintaining good form in the back by default; in fact, your form would probably only give out AFTER your legs gave out, and in that case the exercise would be over anyway, so you end up performing every rep in perfect form. Cool deal. And believe it or not, this works for other exercises as well, pull ups and other pulling motions included.

Concentrate on the entire body - and thus the largest muscles the most - and you’ll do just fine.

And that’s it for today. Get fit - FAST!!

Rahul

All,

The muscles at the back of the body are some of the most forgotten, and “undertrained” muscles for most people.

Most trainees go berserk training the muscles at the front i.e. the muscles that “can be seen in the mirror”, but how many people do you hear about that proudly train their lower back? Their hamstrings? Or their glutes? I bet not too many.

Now, don’t get me wrong - it is important to train the front of the body - but what happens is most folks spend too much time/energy training the front of the body, while the back of the body is neglected. The result? Muscle imbalances occur, said muscles get overtrained, and in some cases, injury occurs (how many times have you heard of people perenially sore front deltoids?). . .

So, without further ado, let me explain why the muscles at the back are important to train: -

1. The largest muscle groups in the body (excepting the quads) are all located at the back of the body. Your lats, glutes, hamstrings - all these are large muscles. Training these intensely makes you BREATHE deeply as they involve a lot of focussed effort, and more importantly, they promote growth throughout the entire body.

2. Training these intensely prevent overtraining in the other “opposing” muscles. It also improves performance in those muscles. For instance, I’ve been a bit burnt out on high repetition Hindy squats for the past couple of days, and therefore have been concentrating more on jumping lunges and Sumo squats, both of which target the groin, glutes, and hamstrings. The result? I tried doing a maximum rep of Hindu squats today, and banged out a 100 of them in good time. That sort of speaks for itself!

I’ve had similar results with pushups - to increase my pushup numbers, I’ll often concentrate on pull ups for a few days. . .

3. Last, but certainly not least, the muscles at the back of the body are very important when it comes to providing a “support structure” for the rest of the body. For instance, a person might be able to bench a tremendous amount of weight, but he will never be “truly” strong unless he develops his back (upper and lower) to the same degree. Similarly, overdeveloped quads and underdeveloped hamstrings are a disaster waiting to happen.

For those who claim they train purely for the “look”, well, think about this: - How ridiculous does a guy with an large chest, but narrow back look? Or, let’s say you have huge thighs, but underdeveloped glutes/hamstrings; your legs will look big from the front, but you will never be able to fill those jeans out completely. Train EVERYTHING though, and you will get that “solid” look to your body that speaks of strength in no uncertain terms!

Long story made short - train the muscles at the back of your body as hard, or harder than you train the muscles at the front. Your body will thank you for it - as will your workout results!

Get fit - FAST!

Rahul