Okay, I rarely do this, but I'm about to get deep here, if I may.
A client of mine asked me the other day "what my secret was." Upon further explanation, she elaborated that she was referring to how I'm always happy, in a good mood, and walking around with a smile on my face. Well, I've had a few days to think about it and here is my answer: I take the time.
I take the time to appreciate all of the positive things and people that I am fortunate enough to have in my life. For instance, my young son just woke up crying at 2:00 am. So, I gave him some milk and rocked him back to sleep. It took him all of 5 minutes to fall back to sleep, but I rocked with him until 3:20 am. Why? Because, he will one day be too big to sit on my lap. One day, when he wakes in the middle of the night, he won't need me to let him know everything is alright. Eventually, he will no longer want to hold my hand. When that day comes, I will feel a great pain inside because I will wish that things could go back to the way they are, right now.
Therein lies the problem with people in today's society. We spend the first half of our lives looking forward to the second half and all of the things that we will one day have. Then, we spend the second half of our lives looking back and yearning for the things that we once had.
We should slow down and take the time to appreciate life and all of its blessings, for the things that we wish we had today may be meaningless tomorrow, and the things we will want tomorrow may be the things that we have today. Don't end up being a person that wasted their whole life because they were too busy planning for it.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Friday, December 30, 2011
Hypertrophy Explained Part One: The Nervous System
I honestly think that the majority of the confusion that I alluded to in my blog post “The Mass Confusion” could be avoided if people knew and understood the actual mechanisms involved in the growth of skeletal muscle, and how they interrelate with one another. Unfortunately, very few personal trainers are even aware of these concepts, let alone the average gym member.
Read a magazine, talk to your average personal trainer, or start up a conversation with another gym member, and many issues with regards to “getting bigger” will come up. Reps, weight, exercise selection, and other topics may be deliberated, but very rarely will you ever hear the actual physiological aspects involved with muscle growth discussed. I can honestly say that I cannot think of one time that the human nervous system has ever been a central aspect to any of the questions that I have received over the years. Before you can understand muscle growth, you must first realize that you are not training the muscular system when you are in the gym, you are training the neuromuscular system.
Some quick anatomy/physiology background: The basic functional unit of the neuromuscular system is known as the motor unit. The motor unit is comprised of a somatic motor neuron (a component of the somatic nervous system) which branches out and connects to multiple muscle fibers at neuromuscular junctions. All of the muscle fibers in contact with this specific somatic motor neuron functionally act as a unit, hence the term motor unit. Each muscle fiber is comprised of numerous smaller fibers called myofibrils, and each myofibril is comprised of even smaller thin (actin) and thick (myosin) myofilaments. During a muscle contraction, these myofilaments slide along one another in small contractile units called sarcomeres that are arranged end to end in repetitive fashion along the length of the myofibril. This contractile action within the muscle fibers does not take place unless their postsynaptic receptors are activated by neurotransmitters, which are released into the neuromuscular junction site (the synaptic cleft) by the somatic motor neuron. The point here is that the nervous system is "the boss” so to speak, as it is in charge of deciding which motor units will be recruited to perform the contraction, how many will be recruited, as well as in what order. But how does all of this carry over to resistance training and muscle growth?
The goal for most of us that begin resistance training is to increase the size and density of our skeletal muscle, which is the physiological process known as hypertrophy. Many get discouraged after a while because their strength is increasing week to week at a rapid rate, but when they look into the mirror there is no noticeable increase in the size/density of their skeletal muscle. This is a fundamental aspect of the process of skeletal muscle hypertrophy: An increase in the strength of your muscles will always precede an increase in the size of your muscles. This phenomenon is especially apparent when novice trainees are observed. This initial increase in strength is not from muscular hypertrophy itself, but from neuromuscular adaptations made by the nervous system. As a trainee progresses, his/her somatic nervous system becomes more efficient at recruiting multiple motor units for contraction, and synchronizing the order in which they fire, thereby increasing the muscles overall contractile ability. Further training also stimulates a neural adaptation in which the frequency of motor unit activation increases, thereby causing a more rapid “firing” rate of each individual motor unit. So regular resistance training will cause an increase the number of motor units recruited for contraction, as well as the rate at which they fire.
The most significant aspect of how the nervous system directly relates to the maximal stimulation of skeletal muscle hypertrophy is a concept that most of you should be familiar with. It is the neural adaptation of creating new and familiar motor engrams. The first time you attempt to perform a specific movement or exercise that requires significant neural activation throughout your skeletal muscular system, you will be uncoordinated, feel uncomfortable, and it will take a great amount of mental concentration. However, if you repeatedly perform that exercise or movement on a regular basis, it will become “second nature” to you, and you will be able to perform that exercise/movement with very little input required from your brain. A classic example of this is learning to ride a bicycle. At first, it is very difficult to learn how to balance and control the movement required to ride the bicycle successfully, and it also requires a high amount of mental concentration. After a few weeks or so, however, you can just get on the bike and ride down the street with almost zero conscious input from your brain. This is possible because your CNS creates a specific motor engram for that particular exercise/movement, and you no longer need to consciously force the muscular system to perform the activity. A motor engram allows your nerves to “remember” the specific motor unit recruitment and firing protocol required to perform the activity. The cool thing is that most motor engrams are permanent. If you go 20 years without riding a bicycle, it does not matter. Once you are on the bike your body will “remember how” to ride it with minimal brain input, and motor engrams are what make this possible.
These neural adaptations apply to all resistance training exercises, and translate into noticeable strength gains upon beginning a new workout routine. The muscle itself has not grown, or undergone hypertrophy, the nervous system has just become way more efficient at utilizing available motor units to perform the required muscular contractions. These initial neural adaptations are required before true hypertrophy can take place. Short term or transient hypertrophy is a temporary increase in skeletal muscle size during physical activity due to increased fluid levels within the interstitial and intracellular spaces of the myofibers involved with the contraction. Long term or chronic hypertrophy is a result of physical adaptations within the muscle cells themselves, which I will explain in part two.
The main point for part one here is that the human nervous system is what dictates the performance of your skeletal muscular system. Only by maximizing the efficiency of your nervous system can you in turn maximize the efficiency of skeletal muscular contraction, thereby maximizing your ability to stimulate hypertrophy. It is important to train correctly with proper form and cadence from the beginning of your resistance training experience. If you use incorrect form, a sloppy cadence, and place no consideration into ensuring that the target muscle/muscle group is bearing the greatest percentage of the stress, then you will be setting yourself up for failure. Doing so may result in the creation of motor engrams that are not efficient at utilizing the motor units within the target muscle itself, thereby causing you a very difficult time in stimulating hypertrophy in the tissue of interest.
End Part One
Saturday, December 11, 2010
The Environment.....
What do you do for Biceps?
How can I get my Triceps to look like yours?
How many sets do you do for Chest?
What is the best order of exercises for Chest?
How much weight should I use to increase my one-rep-max?
How often should you do cardio?
What is the best pre-workout supplement?
What cardio is best?
How many reps is best for growth?
Should I "change it up" every week in the gym to get better growth?
These are prime examples of the type of questions that I get the majority of the time that I am discussing bodybuilding/physical fitness with people. Do you see a common theme with these questions? They all relate to what an individual does while he/she is in the gym. This is exactly why most people never realize their physical fitness goals. They put themselves through weeks and weeks of difficult and taxing workouts, only to end up with minimal results if any. It is usually at this point most of these people cancel their gym membership and gain about 10-15 pounds. These people become so pre-occupied with what workout(s) they need to be doing, they drop the ball by forgetting to take other factors into account. Everyone puts so much time and effort into planning their workout(s), yet they apply almost zero consideration to their daily nutritional needs, and their sleep is rarely a priority.
One must understand that the training is merely the stimulus which initiates the adaptive response within the human body. Once this is achieved, one must place their body in the specific and proper environment for adaptation to occur. If this specific and proper environment is not in place after the body's growth mechanism has been stimulated..., then not only will growth not take place..., growth cannot take place.
What do I mean by "environment?" Mainly..., proper nutrition, appropriate rest and recovery time, and most importantly..., consistency. One must ensure that their body has the specific materials and the proper amount of rest required to compensate, or repair the muscle tissue back to the state at which it was in before the workout, and then overcompensate, where the muscle is made slightly larger and stronger. These two processes constitute the growth process. Again..., these two processes cannot take place without the presence of the proper building materials required to repair the tissue, and giving the body adequate rest to allow this repair to take place. Furthermore, this "environment" must be provided every single day..., day after day..., day in and day out. Without this proper environmental consistency, your physical fitness goals will not be realized.
When I inform people of this, the reaction I get is mostly universal. "Nah..., there has to be an easier way." I apologize to everyone who does not like this fact..., but unfortunately for those who want "an easier way"..., that is exactly what this is..., a fact. In the sport of bodybuilding and the world of physical fitness, there is absolutely no way around this. The majority of the effort required to be successful is put forth outside of the gym. It is this fact which lead to the motto which my wife and I follow. Train Hard..., Diet Harder.
How can I get my Triceps to look like yours?
How many sets do you do for Chest?
What is the best order of exercises for Chest?
How much weight should I use to increase my one-rep-max?
How often should you do cardio?
What is the best pre-workout supplement?
What cardio is best?
How many reps is best for growth?
Should I "change it up" every week in the gym to get better growth?
These are prime examples of the type of questions that I get the majority of the time that I am discussing bodybuilding/physical fitness with people. Do you see a common theme with these questions? They all relate to what an individual does while he/she is in the gym. This is exactly why most people never realize their physical fitness goals. They put themselves through weeks and weeks of difficult and taxing workouts, only to end up with minimal results if any. It is usually at this point most of these people cancel their gym membership and gain about 10-15 pounds. These people become so pre-occupied with what workout(s) they need to be doing, they drop the ball by forgetting to take other factors into account. Everyone puts so much time and effort into planning their workout(s), yet they apply almost zero consideration to their daily nutritional needs, and their sleep is rarely a priority.
One must understand that the training is merely the stimulus which initiates the adaptive response within the human body. Once this is achieved, one must place their body in the specific and proper environment for adaptation to occur. If this specific and proper environment is not in place after the body's growth mechanism has been stimulated..., then not only will growth not take place..., growth cannot take place.
What do I mean by "environment?" Mainly..., proper nutrition, appropriate rest and recovery time, and most importantly..., consistency. One must ensure that their body has the specific materials and the proper amount of rest required to compensate, or repair the muscle tissue back to the state at which it was in before the workout, and then overcompensate, where the muscle is made slightly larger and stronger. These two processes constitute the growth process. Again..., these two processes cannot take place without the presence of the proper building materials required to repair the tissue, and giving the body adequate rest to allow this repair to take place. Furthermore, this "environment" must be provided every single day..., day after day..., day in and day out. Without this proper environmental consistency, your physical fitness goals will not be realized.
When I inform people of this, the reaction I get is mostly universal. "Nah..., there has to be an easier way." I apologize to everyone who does not like this fact..., but unfortunately for those who want "an easier way"..., that is exactly what this is..., a fact. In the sport of bodybuilding and the world of physical fitness, there is absolutely no way around this. The majority of the effort required to be successful is put forth outside of the gym. It is this fact which lead to the motto which my wife and I follow. Train Hard..., Diet Harder.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
The Mass Confusion....
Confused....
This is the word that most accurately describes 98% of people you will encounter while you are in the gym. This, however, is not the problem. The problem is that the majority of this 98 percentile group to which I am referring, honestly believe that they do know what they are doing. Never mind the fact that they have basically been doing the same thing for months upon months, yet they have experienced little in the form of progress. People everywhere you look are constantly following the same type of training philosophy for extended periods of time, without noticeable progress, almost as if they are waiting for their program to "kick in." It is absolute madness. If you have experienced this..., I hate to be the one to break it to you..., but whatever you are doing..., you are doing it wrong.
Have Faith My Brother....
This is the phrase that should be on the front of every muscle magazine (comic book), at the end of almost every "muscle forum," and should be the last thing you hear from Joe Blow Pro after he recites his latest training routine. Why? Because it goes hand in hand with the actions of the mass populous of infinitely bewildered "followers" who base their training and nutritional protocols on these sources. There is a very good reason why most students at the University level are prohibited from listing magazines/periodicals on the works cited page of their research papers. These "sources" are not accepted as reliable with regards to the information contained therein. Yet hundreds of thousands of gym members all over the world base all of their training and nutritional protocols on information they read in muscle magazines. Again..., it is absolute madness. They will copy down a routine straight out of one of these magazines, as if it were the Bible and it read "Thou Shalt perform 4 exercises per bodypart. Thou Shalt perform 4 sets per exercise. Thou Shalt BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH" and they will follow it for months. When confronted with a conversation about said routine, if asked to specifically explain how this routine is supposed to affect their physiology to warrant the preferred adaptive response..., they cannot answer, because they haven't the slightest clue. Blindly accepting a specific training/nutritional routine based on ones word, with no principles backed by proven scientific evidence to validate said routine, equates to following commandments based on FAITH alone. There is a word for that..., RELIGION. As a Christian, let me go on record here and state that I have no issue with the concept of religion..., the problem I have is that bodybuilding is NOT a religion. Bodybuilding is a very complex and complicated SCIENCE. It is a science which interrelates a vast collection of other sciences, which all directly relate to the sport. Anatomy, Physiology, Biology, Cellular Biology, Microbiology, Genetics, Physics, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Bio-Mechanics, Kinesiology, Exercise Physiology, and Nutritional Science. The point I wish to make here is that your brain is part of your body, and the most efficient way to achieve your "dream physique" is by starting the building process with your brain. The key word here..., is EDUCATION..., save FAITH for Jesus.
This is the word that most accurately describes 98% of people you will encounter while you are in the gym. This, however, is not the problem. The problem is that the majority of this 98 percentile group to which I am referring, honestly believe that they do know what they are doing. Never mind the fact that they have basically been doing the same thing for months upon months, yet they have experienced little in the form of progress. People everywhere you look are constantly following the same type of training philosophy for extended periods of time, without noticeable progress, almost as if they are waiting for their program to "kick in." It is absolute madness. If you have experienced this..., I hate to be the one to break it to you..., but whatever you are doing..., you are doing it wrong.
Have Faith My Brother....
This is the phrase that should be on the front of every muscle magazine (comic book), at the end of almost every "muscle forum," and should be the last thing you hear from Joe Blow Pro after he recites his latest training routine. Why? Because it goes hand in hand with the actions of the mass populous of infinitely bewildered "followers" who base their training and nutritional protocols on these sources. There is a very good reason why most students at the University level are prohibited from listing magazines/periodicals on the works cited page of their research papers. These "sources" are not accepted as reliable with regards to the information contained therein. Yet hundreds of thousands of gym members all over the world base all of their training and nutritional protocols on information they read in muscle magazines. Again..., it is absolute madness. They will copy down a routine straight out of one of these magazines, as if it were the Bible and it read "Thou Shalt perform 4 exercises per bodypart. Thou Shalt perform 4 sets per exercise. Thou Shalt BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH" and they will follow it for months. When confronted with a conversation about said routine, if asked to specifically explain how this routine is supposed to affect their physiology to warrant the preferred adaptive response..., they cannot answer, because they haven't the slightest clue. Blindly accepting a specific training/nutritional routine based on ones word, with no principles backed by proven scientific evidence to validate said routine, equates to following commandments based on FAITH alone. There is a word for that..., RELIGION. As a Christian, let me go on record here and state that I have no issue with the concept of religion..., the problem I have is that bodybuilding is NOT a religion. Bodybuilding is a very complex and complicated SCIENCE. It is a science which interrelates a vast collection of other sciences, which all directly relate to the sport. Anatomy, Physiology, Biology, Cellular Biology, Microbiology, Genetics, Physics, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Bio-Mechanics, Kinesiology, Exercise Physiology, and Nutritional Science. The point I wish to make here is that your brain is part of your body, and the most efficient way to achieve your "dream physique" is by starting the building process with your brain. The key word here..., is EDUCATION..., save FAITH for Jesus.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Appearance is everything....
Appearance is everything in the sport of bodybuilding. You hear people all of the time say "Don't judge me." or "You shouldn't judge people." When I think of how my wife describes our sport..., it does probably sound like madness to normal people. We train, diet, bleed, sweat, and pay the price for 18 weeks. That is 126 days straight. Constant pain..., constant sacrifice..., and we are constantly exhausted…, for what? So we can get on stage at the end, wearing almost nothing, stand next to other athletes, and ask the judges to "judge us" and decide who has the best body.
I am used to being judged. Normal people blend in with the rest of society, so they need not worry about being judged by others. I get judged every day…, everywhere I go…, by people who don’t know the first thing about me. I am judged by the people who stare when I walk through the grocery store. The ones who are always watching me train in the gym, and talk about me to their friends..., but never speak to me, and never make eye contact. They don't see "me." They see a freak…, a crazy guy whose ego has gotten the better of him. I am instantly stereotyped as a dangerous and threatening individual because I am bigger than them. So yeah…, I am used to being judged, and the opinions of others who know nothing about me are insignificant and stopped bothering me a long time ago.
What is important is how I view myself. Am I living up to my full genetic potential both physically and mentally? What do I think of the guy staring back at me when I look in the mirror? What do I see in that mirror? I see the potential that I have. I focus on it, and decide what I can do to achieve that potential to its fullest. I see my genetics which were handed down to me by my father. I had better make the best of them. When I look into my own eyes I see the fear that resides within my heart. It is a deep fear that stems from self doubt. I focus on this fear and feel the burden of my own expectations. This fear focuses my mind. It reminds me that as good as I may be I still have some work to do. Then I close my eyes…, I take a deep breath…, and I get ready for my day.
A day at a time. That is my system. I can’t go back and fix yesterday…, what’s done is done. And tomorrow…, it is not guaranteed to even come. So why focus on a day that is more than four weeks from now? I have no control over that. Why focus on my competitors? I can’t control what they do. All I can do…, is make sure that when I lay down to go to sleep tonight, I will have the peace of mind knowing that there was not one single thing I could have done better today, with regards to achieving my goals. I do this every single day. I just focus on today, because the present is all I can control. Eventually…, “today” will be the day of the show, and as I stand behind the black curtain..., I will know that I did everything I could have done to prepare myself for whatever is getting ready to happen. And then..., I will step out into the light..., and I will be judged.
I am used to being judged. Normal people blend in with the rest of society, so they need not worry about being judged by others. I get judged every day…, everywhere I go…, by people who don’t know the first thing about me. I am judged by the people who stare when I walk through the grocery store. The ones who are always watching me train in the gym, and talk about me to their friends..., but never speak to me, and never make eye contact. They don't see "me." They see a freak…, a crazy guy whose ego has gotten the better of him. I am instantly stereotyped as a dangerous and threatening individual because I am bigger than them. So yeah…, I am used to being judged, and the opinions of others who know nothing about me are insignificant and stopped bothering me a long time ago.
What is important is how I view myself. Am I living up to my full genetic potential both physically and mentally? What do I think of the guy staring back at me when I look in the mirror? What do I see in that mirror? I see the potential that I have. I focus on it, and decide what I can do to achieve that potential to its fullest. I see my genetics which were handed down to me by my father. I had better make the best of them. When I look into my own eyes I see the fear that resides within my heart. It is a deep fear that stems from self doubt. I focus on this fear and feel the burden of my own expectations. This fear focuses my mind. It reminds me that as good as I may be I still have some work to do. Then I close my eyes…, I take a deep breath…, and I get ready for my day.
A day at a time. That is my system. I can’t go back and fix yesterday…, what’s done is done. And tomorrow…, it is not guaranteed to even come. So why focus on a day that is more than four weeks from now? I have no control over that. Why focus on my competitors? I can’t control what they do. All I can do…, is make sure that when I lay down to go to sleep tonight, I will have the peace of mind knowing that there was not one single thing I could have done better today, with regards to achieving my goals. I do this every single day. I just focus on today, because the present is all I can control. Eventually…, “today” will be the day of the show, and as I stand behind the black curtain..., I will know that I did everything I could have done to prepare myself for whatever is getting ready to happen. And then..., I will step out into the light..., and I will be judged.
Monday, October 4, 2010
That's just too bad..., isn't it?
It is 6:00 am..., as I sit here on this exercise bike with a heart rate of 130 bpm. My alarm went off 30 minutes ago and I didn't even feel like getting out of bed to turn it off..., that's too bad. As I looked into my bathroom mirror contemplating what I was preparing to do and why I was going to do it, I decided I should go back to bed..., that's too bad. At 6:00 am my body is stiff, my blood is cold, and the thought of a nice warm blanket is quite comforting..., that's too bad. These feelings..., these thoughts..., they are insignificant. They are meaningless because I have denied myself the luxury of being able to make a choice in the matter. I am on this bike..., at 6:00 am..., with a heart rate of 130 bpm..., covered in sweat..., because I don't have a choice. Is this normal? No..., it is quite abnormal. But it is action of this abnormal nature which results in my abnormal appearance. It is what makes me different. It is what separates me from the vast nothingness known as normality. Why do I do this? Because God has blessed me with the ability to do so, and I was raised to cherish and embrace the things with which God blesses you. It is not easy. It is hard, and can be downright maddening at times..., that's too bad. Somewhere right now..., some guy that will be standing next to me onstage in seven weeks just hit the snooze button and decided to sleep in today, and you know what? That's just too bad isn't it?
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