Fast and Furious Fitness

All,

I spoke yesterday about the benefits of deep breathing, and why you should be incorporating it into your workouts as well (or make it a gentle workout in itself). Today I’ll give you a quick example from my own workout which illustrates just how useful deep breathing can be (in addition to what I’ve already said before).

What I did today was do a deep breathing exercise after each leg exercise today. So I did my Hindu squats, then a set of deep breathing exercises. Then jumpers, then deep breathing, and so forth. And I achieved personal bests in the following exercises: jumper squats, and jumping lunges - while doing all my other exercises in a more “rythmic” pattern, if that makes sense. Well, there’s obviously something to it then!

My own theory is that mixing in deep breathing with the regular workout has two advantages : a) giving your “regular” muscles a bit of a break and thus allowing them to come back stronger for the next exercise and b) “active recovery” i.e. the deep breathing flushes out the toxins which build up in the muscles during a workout.

It also has the effect of leaving me less drained after my workout - which is a good thing. You should feel “buzzed” and ready to go after a tough workout - rather than ready to flop down on the couch and snooze. And, I’ve found deep breathing aids a LOT to this end. Not to mention that it keeps the blood flowing effectively throughout the entire workout, and thats always a good thing.

So - try and devote a bit more time to deep breathing exercises, or just deep breathing alone in the right fashion - and let me know your findings!

And, I know I haven’t covered what exact breathing exercises I use, amongst a host of other stuff I want to cover. So much to cover, so little time. . .

All for now though -back tomorrow hopefully.

Get fit - FAST!

Rahul

That’s the principle I used this morning while training. This is an advanced variation, therefore, it may be unsuitable for those that are just starting out. But for those of you that are advanced trainees, read on. . . Hopefully this tip will help you in your training!

The method is basically what the name says - one hard, long, set. I concentrate more on the tougher exercises while applying this principle, which makes it even harder. What I generally do in my routine is two sets of each exercise, but here I combine both into ONE long set. I may take a breather (a very short one) in the middle, but it’s essentially one long, hard, ardous set which really gets the heart rate up, and the breathing going overtime.

For instance, here’s what I did with my sumos, jumpers and jumping lunges (note these are all tough exercises): -

20 reps of Sumo Squats on each leg
15 reps of Jumping Lunges
41 Jumper squats

and all this, done in a long set for each exercise. Sure, I took maybe a couple of seconds breather DURING each set, but that doesn’t make it any easier to be honest.

This technique may seem similar to “supersetting”, but there is one difference - the breather allows you to perform at about 75%-80% of your maximal capacity during the rest of the set. While supersetting you generally don’t take a breather at all, but that allows you to only perform at maybe 50% or less during the superset.

So, thats another different way to train. Amazing how many variations one can come up - which WORK if you just train.

And thats really all there is to it. TRAIN - and the rest will take care of itself.

All for now.

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