Nitric oxide is a vasodilator - New Muscle Building Science | How Life Works

New Muscle Building Science Lets Smaller Guys Bulk Up Fast | How Life Works

Last Updated: 5/20/2013 17:07 PST

Reading about sports these days, we are constantly bombarded with news of top notch athletes being exposed for using illegal steroids.

Steroid use involves huge costs, legal issues, and above all, potential health problems. With such risks, you wonder why anyone would be tempted to go this route.

Fortunately, steroid use may eventually be a thing of the past.  That’s because medical researchers studying how the human body builds muscle and endurance are developing safe and legal substances which can increase the body's ability to build muscle, without the health risks associated with steroids.
One of the most interesting fields of research surrounds a naturally occurring chemical compound called nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is a vasodilator, which means it helps move oxygen to the muscles when they need it most. Increased nitric oxide in the blood stream signals the blood vessel walls to relax, which allows more blood to flow to the body's muscles, thus delivering more oxygen and nutrients throughout the body.

It’s been shown to lead to:

• Drastic Muscle Gains
• Increased Blood Flow and Oxygen Delivery
• Boosted Strength, Endurance, and Power
• Support for Your Immune System
• Immediate Results
• Total Body Transformation

While the body naturally increases nitric oxide during workouts, it’s only a limited amount and researchers have been focused on artificially increasing your nitric oxide levels.

One of the most successful products that has emerged from this research is called Factor 2.  It uses "arginines," special amino acids specifically linked to nitric oxide production to significantly increase oxygen and nutrient flow to the muscles during workouts.  As a result, it can safely spark powerful muscle growth, muscle definition, and strength.

Factor 2 produces noticeable results by maximizing your muscle gains as you power through your workouts and within a few weeks, users are starting to notice additional muscle definition and strength.
Factor 2 is now the recognized leader in nitric oxide stimulation and legal, safe muscle and strength enhancement.  It was Bodybuilding.com’s Best New Brand of the Year (2011) and pro athletes are taking note.

Athletes like professional football player Vernon Davis have discovered the dramatic benefits of using a nitric oxide supplement. Davis has been an advocate of Factor 2 since first taking it, telling his teammates in San Francisco, “Factor 2 has proven results. I believe in results.”

Best of all, the company is currently conducting a marketing campaign where new customers can receive a two-week supply of the supplement to try for free. While the Factor 2 free trial offer is available only on ForceFactor.com, Factor 2 brand products are available in GNC stores nationwide.
To check out how you can get your own supply free to try, click here.

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Deadlift - Reps and Sets, Part 3: Deadlift Tips | STACK

Master the Deadlift, Part 3: Deadlift Tips | STACK



Keep in mind that the Deadlift is primarily a strength movement; it is not meant to be high-repetition, muscular-endurance exercise. Trying to hit 20 reps will do nothing but set your progress back.
Due to the mechanics of the lift, muscular failure and fatigue occur quickly. If performed to fatigue, your form will falter and you will be at risk for injury. Therefore, focus on low reps performed with heavy loads. Depending on your training cycle, reps should be between one and six, and weight should stay between 85 to 95 percent of your one-rep max.

Finally, make sure to perform the exercise at or near the beginning of your workout so your muscles are not exhausted.

Michael Palmieri is the president and founder of The Institute of Sport Science & Athletic Conditioning. He has lectured for several major organizations and associations and written numerous articles for multiple media outlets. He currently serves as state chairman for the National Strength & Conditioning Association, a state director for the North American Strongman Corporation and a judge for the International Natural Bodybuilding Association. A former powerlifter, Palmieri has been in the industry for more than 20 years. He is currently pursuing his master’s degree in biomechanics at UNLV.

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Resistance Band Workout + references - YouTube

Uploaded on 25 Mar 2011
 

This is a short series of powerful exercises that can be done using a dynaband/resistance band to effectively work all of the major muscle groups.

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Link Scrapbook:

1 - Using a resistance band is an ideal means of exercising our muscles for several reasons. Its level of resistance increases with the degree of muscle contraction, and it adapts to the angle of the joint. In other words, as you pull it toward you, for example, the band gets harder to pull.

This is the opposite of what happens with machine weights or free weights, where your maximum effort occurs at the beginning of the contraction, but as you pull the weight toward you, momentum takes over and it becomes easier. With elastic bands, there's no momentum to bail you out; you have to exert energy the entire time. It's Hard to Resist Resistance Bands - latimes.com

2 - Moreover, resistance bands offer constant tension on your muscles during the entire concentric and eccentric portions of the movement. That’s something you won’t get with free weights wherein resistance is dependent on gravity. And resistance bands can be used to work any muscle in your body; they’re very versatile.

If you’re looking to increase your definition, then resistance bands are a viable option. I’d still recommend incorporating free weights into your routine, but an effective resistance band routine will yield results. I’d recommend keeping rest periods short; as you move quickly from exercise to exercise, you’ll be able to get some great fat-burning cardiovascular benefits as well.

If you’re looking to build some serious muscle, resistance bands alone won’t cut it. They’re great to use when on vacation, or to occasionally switch things up, but not as your entire muscle-building fitness program. To build muscle, you must use a heavy amount of resistance that fully fatigues your muscles in fewer than 10 repetitions. With resistance bands, it’s very hard to max out – and to incrementally progress to slightly heavier levels of resistance. You really need free weights for that level of fine-tuning.  Do Resistance Bands Work? | Davey Wavey Fitness

3 - Despite the similarities between these free-weight and resistance-band exercises, the act of stretching an elastic band instead of lifting a weight requires your muscles to perform in new, unfamiliar ways. Instead of isolating specific muscles by lifting weights, resistance bands access a variety of secondary muscles in order to complete a given exercise. As a result, the new exercises may help you to break out of a plateau in your workout, allowing you to see a return to steady muscle gains. Aside from being portable and easy to use, resistance bands can be used to train a variety of different muscle groups, such as your back, legs, upper body and core muscles.  Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/553931-can-resistance-bands-help-trick-your-muscles-when-you-hit-a-plateau/#ixzz2USAWasuG

4 - Any exercise that can be done with a dumbbell can be modified to perform with a resistance band. In fact, more exercises are available to those using resistance bands than to those using traditional iron weights.

Resistance bands work muscles differently than dumbbells. As one stretches the band taut, the band stores kinetic energy in the form of recoil. This recoil is negative energy which works the muscle on the way down as well as on the way up. Working out with dumbbells does not create a recoil effect.

Resistance bands also become tighter as they are lengthened, which means that a load of 15 pounds can feel more like 30 pounds as the band is stretched taut. This feature creates a building effect of tension and challenges muscles more than working with a dumbbell. http://can-resistance-bands-help-you-build.html

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This Exercise May Make You Puke (But It'll Build Muscle Fast) | STACK

This Exercise May Make You Puke (But It'll Build Muscle Fast) | STACK

April 25, 2013

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There are strength exercises. There are cardio exercises. And then there are good old-fashioned butt-whippin’s. Trainer Scot Prohaska’s barbell complex is all three, combining four strength and power moves that you perform back-to-back-to-back-to-back. (Also try this interval-training workout.)
You’ll build full-body strength, explosive power and muscular endurance in less than a minute per set. Make no mistake: You will be sucking wind, dripping sweat, and your legs will feel like a JELL-O jiggler in a centrifuge. You might even puke. But if you’re brave enough to try, this complex will make you stronger and fitter—in a hurry.

To perform the complex, do six reps of High Pulls From Floor, Power Cleans, Shoulder Presses and Bent-Over Rows with no rest between them. When you finish all four movements, don't put the bar down. Go back to the beginning of the circuit and perform five reps of each move. You’ll do a total of 44 reps before you put the bar down. That’s one set. Perform three sets, resting 60 to 90 seconds between them.

Use a light weight—the bar alone may be sufficient. Around 95 pounds is suitable for even well-trained athletes. Once you get the hang of doing the circuit without losing your lunch, add resistance. Try this complex at the beginning of a muscular endurance or hypertrophy workout—you’ll notice results, fast.

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Why You Shouldn't Work Out Every Day | STACK

Why You Shouldn't Work Out Every Day | STACK

May 18, 2013

The best athletes in the world are committed to a training program that enhances their physical skills. However, training more often doesn't necessarily always lead to better results. It's just as important to give your body time to recover as it is to perform intense training sessions. That's right...taking days off can actually improve your results.

Here are five reasons why you shouldn't necessarily work out every day.

Replenish Energy Stores

Your body uses adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to power muscle contractions. During weight training, the most readily available source of this energy is muscle glycogen. This source is finite, so it must be replenished before another training session. If you work out on low energy stores, you will notice decreased performance, because your muscles will be used as a source of energy and begin to break down. (Learn how muscles work.)

Repair Muscle Fibers

A proper training program is designed to stress your muscles, which is the only way to stimulate gains. However, this stress causes damage to muscle fibers. The process of repairing this damage and rebuilding muscle tissue after a workout is actually when muscles get bigger and stronger.

Alleviate Muscle Soreness

Any time you challenge your muscles in a new way or increase your workout intensity, you will encounter sore muscles. Delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which occurs between 24 to 72 hours after a workout, can feel anywhere from mildly discomforting to nearly debilitating. DOMS is caused be microscopic tears in the connective tissue surrounding muscles. It will resolve itself, but it is a sign that your muscles need time to rest. (Alleviate muscle soreness with a foam roller.)

Avoid Overtraining

Athletes who train too frequently run the risk of overtraining, causing stress, exhaustion, fatigue, irritability, decreased performance and even injury. Your body transitions from a state of muscle building to muscle break down. In this case, too much of a good thing turns into a bad thing. (Learn more about overtraining.)

What to Do

Maximizing your training program is simple—you need to schedule recovery into your training.
As a general rule, allow a muscle group to rest for 48 hours before reworking it. For example, if you work your legs on a Monday, don't rework them again until Wednesday.
To create an efficient schedule, stick to a split-routine plan. This commonly involves splitting your routines into upper- and lower-body days, but you can get more specific if you want.
One final note: you need to actually plan days to allow your body to rest, even if you aren't reworking the same muscle groups. Plan a mid-week rest day, and then one or two days off on the weekend to allow your body to fully recover. Ideally, you should only work out between three and five days per week.

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Bodyweight Shoulder Exercises, prepartion for heavy lifting| STACK

Four Killer Bodyweight Shoulder Exercises | STACK



Strong shoulders are essential for nearly all athletes, particularly those who play sports involving throwing or contact. If your shoulders are weak, they are susceptible to injury from overuse or contact that occurs when falling, getting tackled or crashing into the boards.

Your first inclination when selecting shoulder exercises might be to perform overhead pressing movements, like the Shoulder Press. However, these can do more harm than good if you don’t have a solid strength base around the joint. Instead, when starting a shoulder-strengthening program, stick to bodyweight exercises to build the foundation necessary for more advanced lifts.

The following bodyweight shoulder exercises will strengthen each portion of the deltoid and other supporting muscles. Choose two or three exercises below and perform them once a week during your upper-body workout.

Single-Leg Arm Circles

This exercise warms up the shoulder muscles, making it an excellent one to perform at the beginning of a workout or before a practice or game. It also strengthens core muscles and improves balance.

• Stand on one leg with arms extended to sides at shoulder level
• Rotate arms forward to create small circles, large circles and then small ones again for specified time
• Perform second set standing on opposite leg, rotating arms backward

Sets/Reps: 1x60 seconds (20 seconds each circle size) each leg

Push-Up Holds

This variation of the Push-Up will increase deltoid strength and shoulder stability while building overall upper-body strength. For an additional shoulder challenge, perform this exercise with your feet elevated or with a single arm during the holds.

• Assume top of Push-Up position
• Lower two inches and hold for 30 seconds
• Perform five fast Push-Ups
• Hold bottom position of last rep for 10 seconds

Sets/Reps: 2x entire sequence

Dips

Dips are a great upper-body exercise; they strengthen many of the muscles that act on the shoulder, including the deltoids, pecs and triceps. A common tendency is to perform Dips leaning forward; however, a more upright position will further challenge the shoulders.

• Grasp handles of Dip machine and support body with straight arms
• Lower body with control until chest is at hand level
• Hold for 30 seconds
• Push body up until arms are straight
• Perform five half reps, holding last rep in halfway down position for 10 seconds

Sets/Reps: 2x entire sequence

Side Planks

Side Planks primarily increase core strength, particularly the obliques. However, they also force your shoulder to stabilize and balance your body, strengthening the small muscles around the joint to keep it strong and healthy. For an additional challenge, perform with your arm fully extended or feet on a physioball or in TRX straps.

• Lie on side with elbow tucked under body
• Rise into side plank position so only elbow and side of foot touch ground
• Raise upper arm to ceiling directly over shoulder
• Hold for specified time
• Perform set on opposite side

Sets/Duration: 2x30 seconds; rest 10 seconds, perform for another 20 seconds
Photo:  statepress.com
Jim Carpentier is a certified strength and conditioning specialist, a New Jersey-licensed massage therapist and a health/fitness writer. He currently serves as associate health and wellness director at the Greater Morristown YMCA in Cedar Knolls, N.J.

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The Nonsense that is Crossfit: Scott Abel - The Blog

Scott Abel - The Blog: The Nonsense that is Crossfit:

First off, as the name implies Crossfit wants to blend various training modalities to produce an effective workout. Certainly nothing wrong with that, as a general idea. However, Crossfit wants to use various training methods without obeying any of the principles behind these methods. 

This makes it not only ill-conceived, but even dangerous, especially with the choices it seems to make, over and over again. Crossfitters never deal with questions or even basic principles of exercise physiology. Let’s look at the Overload and SAID principles of adaptive response. 

In a given workout, which energy systems are you targeting and when and why within the workout? What are the recovery demands of employing this tactic – in the immediate, the residual, and the cumulative realms of its implementation? As I say in every one of my projects, 1) a collection of exercises does not equal a proper workout, and 2) a collection of workouts, does not equal a proper program design.

 These two points alone are why 90% of people fail to make any fitness or cosmetic progress long-term. Crossfit has no programming element, and follows no methodology at all. It considers neither residual or cumulative effects nor recovery demands from workouts – neither as a system of tactical implementation, nor by the trainee undergoing its application.

 Let me backtrack for a minute. Crossfit’s premier fundamental flaw is that it has no methodology behind it, only methods. These methods are flawed because they do not follow recognized principles. By comparison, Yoga is a methodology. Pilates, is a methodology. Jim Wendler’s 5,3,1 is a methodology (and a proper progressive program design). My Innervation Training and MET designs are methodologies. And even P90X, while a little shaky in terms of adhering to principles and methodology – P90X is still a properly designed program. Crossfit is not.

For instance, what type of strength variant or variable are you targeting in a Crossfit workout? Limit strength? Explosive strength? Starting strength? Strength density? Kinetic chain expression? Well the ‘exciting’ answer is all the above. Wow! Good stuff if possible. It’s just not possible. Not if you truly understand these principles. The adaptations to various systems and methods of training are unique to themselves. They require assessment and evaluation of recovery time for each variable. And the consideration of recovery time must include all three elements of time intervals that any real program design would consider – this means consideration of immediate (intra-workout), residual (previous workout stress, current workout recovery, and next few days to a week consideration), and of course cumulative – some strength training adaptations take place over a very long-term, as does cosmetic human adaptation. Crossfit considers none of these elements.

 It is just a continual “collection of exercises and sequences” passing itself off as effective workouts or worse, proper programming. In fact, it is neither.

 It seems to me these days the ‘vogue trend’ is training people to exhaustion then telling them how effective it is to have done so. This is the silly equivalent of saying to train for a marathon, run one every day – to train for a triathlon, do one every day. To train for a powerlifting meet, lift your 1RM every day. In these various realms of fitness pursuits this would be considered ludicrous of course. Why? - Because ‘experts’ in these realms understand about the residual and cumulative effects of training. They understand a methodology of training built around the conception of endurance strength and the aerobic energy system – and/or limit strength and the ATP/CP energy system. In other words, training for a marathon or triathlon or powerlifting necessitates ‘applying’ a methodology based in the physiological operating principles of the adaptive elements involved these events.

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