My next few posts are going to be all about what I think covers the basics of 'effective training'. It's amazing how paying a little attention to some basic principles (actually applying some basic principles) can dramatically change the effectiveness of your time in the gym. How many of us have spent a lot of time in the gym, training, putting in lots of effort, thinking we were doing what was necessary to achieve results, and yet, dissatisfied with the outcome? I think we've all been there at one point. And then we start training 'smarter' and just like that - more muscle, more strength, better muscle retention while dieting for fat loss, even recomposition. So, the... read more 1 comments

How do most people warm up? They might jump on the bike or the treadmill for five or ten minutes for a general warm up, then they might do a few light static stretches and then they'll move onto some light weight, high rep work before moving onto their first exercise. Then they settle in and they start warming up for their work sets. The problem here is how these warm up sets are conducted.

What's the purpose of a warm up? Specifically, a warm up serves as a neuromuscular rehearsal of the upcoming lift as well as an opportunity to get your body used to progressively heavier loads.

So how do most people warm up? Let’s use... read more 4 comments

I did a two-part interview for Craig Ballantyne’s Turbulence Training (http://turbulencetraining.com) member site recently. I’ll be running the full interview in a future issue of the LBC newsletter, but in the mean time (since I’m trying to post to this blog frequently) I thought, I’d post up one of the Q&As from the interview.

 

CB: Moving over to training, how and when do you use cardio and intervals for fat loss? What about when gaining muscle, do your clients still do cardio?

EL: For fat loss, it really depends on the person, their goals, how far away from their goals they currently are, the amount of time they have to invest, how I have their training... read more 5 comments

Leg Curls .... Do them? Don't do them? There's a lot of villfying of leg curls going on by various people these days. Now, I'm not going to argue their logic, because well, in the context of their arguement, they're right. One of the criticisms is that leg curls aren't 'functional' (popular word these days), and the hamstrings don't function in isolation of the glutes in the 'real world' - hence the alternatively recommended SHELC (supine hip extension w/ leg curl) exercise. With this execise both the glutes and hamstrings are working together. So, much of the criticism stems from an 'athlete' or functional versus non-functional standpoint. Beyond saying that more people would be better... read more 6 comments

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