Free Weights vs. Exercise MachinesWritten by Aaron M. Potts, ISSA CFT
Anyone who has ever been in a gym before is familiar with gleaming banks of shiny exercise machines. Coming in all shapes and sizes, they are usually cause for newcomer to gym to pause and ask, "What IS all of that stuff?" Well, according to price that gym paid for any one piece of that equipment, I certainly hope that it not only stimulates your muscles, but also cooks your breakfast, washes your car, and brings kids home from soccer practice! Now question becomes whether or not those machines were worth price, or if you'd be better off doing a home aerobics video with a can of soup in each hand…. Personally, I would advise you to get low-sodium version of soup, serve it up alongside a tomato sandwich, and then go buy yourself some free weights. Yes, that is just my opinion, but it does come with some scientific reasoning behind it. Natural movement vs. Controlled movement One of things that you need to remember is that when you are exercising, you are training for LIFE. You may spend an hour a day at gym, but that still leaves 23 other hours for your muscles to function without aid of that fancy equipment. Whenever you do any given exercise, movement of your body during that exercise is called Range of Motion. The greater and more difficult Range of Motion, more effective exercise is, because your body has to work harder to perform that movement. Let's take a classic dumbbell bicep curl for our case study. If you aren't familiar with movement, it is basically performed by standing up straight with your palms facing forward, and a pair of dumbbells held down at your sides. You concentrically contract your biceps (also known as flexing your elbow) to bring dumbbells up to approximately shoulder level, and then repeat movement for a prescribed number of repetitions. Let's take that same muscle movement and do it using a bicep curl machine. You sit down, brace your upper arms on a pad, grasp 2 handles that are in front of you, and do that same fancy elbow flexing movement to move handles in an upward motion. Pretty easy stuff so far, right? Now let's examine muscles that are used in this motion. Wait - I thought we were concentrically contracting biceps? That is correct, and if you are using bicep curl machine, that is pretty much ALL you are doing. For one, you are sitting down. You know, like you did all day at work, and then in your car on way to gym. Then, your upper arms are braced on a nice soft pad to keep your upper body stable while you pull handles upwards. The machine has effectively limited muscles used in this exercise to biceps, as well as muscles in your forearms and fingers as you grip handles.
| | Attitude: The Forgotten PowerWritten by Aaron M. Potts, ISSA CFT
Do you have a clear vision in your head of where you want to be, or what you want to accomplish when you are at a peak level of fitness? I don't mean just some vague idea - I'm talking about an actual burning mental image of a six-pack set of abs, or a nice set of curves, or a clear picture of you crossing finish line in first place, or taking home that trophy. If you don't have that, you are already just spinning your wheels. How can you expect to get somewhere if you don't know where that "somewhere" is?Many people start out very motivated to get in shape, or to compete for that prize, but their motivation lacks focus - laser-targeted precision that will guide them down right path. The term "as crow flies" comes to mind. If you could leave your house and drive in an exact straight line to your destination, don't you think that you would get there a lot faster? What if you could just fly through stop lights and intersections, disregard all posted speed limits, and go exactly in a straight line to every destination? You sure would get there a lot faster! Exercise, physical fitness, and nutrition are no different. If you don't have a clearly mapped out and measurable road map to your success, then you will stray, and that will cost you time at very least - and at most, it will cost you precious amounts of self-confidence! Take some time to think about WHERE you want to be, HOW you are going to get there, and most importantly, WHY you want to be there. Take time to do that, and I think you'll see that your previous path may have been road blocked by a few too many trips to Starbucks for a Caramel Frappuccino. Not that anyone writing a fitness article such as this would know anything about that... Believing In Your Ability Okay, so you've got yourself a good mental picture. You have your road map in front of you, your path is straight and true, and you are ready to get started. What comes next? Belief. Do you believe it is possible to wave a magic wand and have all of your excess bodyfat gone, and all of your fitness goals realized in blink of an eye? Of course not. If you do, and you know secret, please contact us - I'm sure we could make some money on that secret! For everyone else, I'll ask a different question. Do you believe that you could sit on your couch, suck down some ice cream, and put on some more bodyfat? The answer is, unfortunately, yes. What is difference between those two questions? Very simple - one is possible, and one is not. What does that have to do with your fitness goals? Well, it may come as a surprise, but you have been dealing in IMPOSSIBLE for quite sometime now. You have been striving for a goal, yet not really believing that it was within your power to reach it.
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