1) The Push-up: The best exercise you could ever do for yourself when it comes to using your bodyweight for “push muscles.” Muscles trained with the push-up: Pectoral Triceps Deltoids Abs 2) The Bodyweight Squat: This exercise serves a dual purpose – it is the foundation for building strength AND helps build proper mobility. If you are going to ever do barbell squats, you […]
The 12 Best Compound Exercises
Let’s compare “compound exercises” to “isolation exercises”: Compound exercises require more than one muscle group working together to complete the movement. This replicates the way your body naturally moves. Isolation exercises more or less train one specific muscle group. For example, the leg extension machine focuses on your quads, so it “isolates” training that muscle. Front squats would be an example of […]
Should I Try the Flexitarian Diet?
Sure! Why not? There are worse ways to eat than tons of plants with a little bit of meat. Being a flexitarian is actually not too different than following the Mediterranean Diet. It’s the same way of eating, just with a new name. Author Michael Pollan summed it up years ago with “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” Truth […]
What Are the Benefits of Being a Flexitarian?
There are all sorts of benefits from eating lots of plants. Now granted, I’m on the record for stating I don’t buy into the claim that meat is inherently bad for you (we dig into it in this article). However, I’m also on the record for stating you should eat your fruits and veggies (scope out our Guide to Healthy Eating). […]
Does Cutting out Meat Help You Lose Weight?
Many proponents of flexitarianism will claim it can help with weight loss: Mark Bittman created VB6 (Vegan before 6) after his doctor told him to lose some weight. Dawn Jackson claims her Flexitarian Diet can help those struggling with obesity. However, anyone selling a diet book is gonna tell you it can help with weight loss. What does the science say? […]
How Often Do Flexitarians Eat Meat?
The answer to “How much meat can you eat on a flexitarian diet?” depends on who you ask. There are lots of variations of semi-vegetarianism, meaning there are a lot of different answers to this question. Dawn Blatner discusses different levels of meat restriction in her book The Flexitarian Diet, which we’ll review below. Here’s the progression plan for The Flexitarian Diet: […]
Methods for building strength with weights
Myometric method. It involves muscular work in an overcoming mode. It is the main method in powerlifting and bodybuilding. The athlete spends the main efforts when performing exercises while lifting weights, especially with large and maximum loads. For example, in the process of squatting with a barbell on his shoulders, the athlete, although he resists the pressure of the weight of the barbell, lowering […]
Assessment of the maximum, maximum voluntary, absolute and relative muscle strength
Strength is the ability of a muscle to overcome or counter external resistance through muscular effort. It manifests itself in the following basic forms: maximum muscle strength (absolute and relative), speed (dynamic), static (isometric) strength and strength endurance (Aganiants, 2001; Ostapenko, 2002; Sports Physiology, 1986). Under maximum power is meant the greatest opportunity, which the athlete is able to show during maximum voluntary muscle […]
Types of strength and their importance in training
Training may require different types of strength, each of which is important for a particular sport and athlete. Strength types can be distinguished by the quality of strength, the strength-time curve, the type of muscle activity, the athlete’s body weight, and the degree of specificity. Strength: its qualities The desired effect of a strength training method always falls into one of […]
Growth hormone and peptides in bodybuilding
Peptides (Greek πεπτος – nutritious) are a family of substances whose molecules are built from α-amino acid residues linked into a chain by peptide (amide) bonds. These are natural or synthetic compounds containing tens, hundreds or thousands of monomer units – amino acids . This class is very diverse and performs a wide variety of regulatory functions in the body. In this article, we will consider […]