There is a principle of specificity.  If your goal is to run a marathon running ten miles every day is not going to get your body ready for the 26 miles that make up a marathon. If you want to build up strength lifting a 15 pound weight 50 times a day will not build strength. You actually have to give your body what it needs in order to allow it to reach your goal.  You must train the specific physiological system.

Losing weight requires your body to burn more calories than you consume. Not that doing that is always easy, but that is the simple fact. How you burn the calories is up to you. If losing weight is your primary goal then your options for burning calories is almost limit less.

If you want to build strength, then the key is to use more resistance than you can presently move. This type of goal usually has some limitations, but still, there are a lot of options out there that will enable you to build strength. There are several factors to take into account, but once you have those things accounted for you can go from there.

Running a marathon takes a lot of training, but eventually if you are planning on participating in one you would be better prepared if you included some 26 mile runs in your training.  As I mentioned previously you can’t run for 10 miles — even if it is everyday — and expect to be able to complete 26 miles during the marathon.

If it is muscle endurance you want, then you need to train your body in that manner.  Doing cardio for a hour or lifting the heaviest weight you can lift a couple of times will not allow your muscles to grow accustom to the repetitiveness required for muscle endurance.  Likewise, if you want to become flexible enough to be able to touch your toes or touch your nose to your knees, jogging three miles a day will not help you reach that goal.  Specificity, that is how you get what you want.   That is how you reach your goal–work the specific system specifically.

So what is it you want?  And what type of activity are you doing to get it?

DOMS is no longer associated with build up of lactic acid in the muscles.  It is now known to be the result of intense eccentric contraction.  Often people associate muscle soreness with body building or lifting weights.  This association is correct because in order to make a muscle bigger it must be stressed to the point of rebuilding, and most workouts that stress the muscles include eccentric exercise.  But also muscles that are not used can get sore when they are used. 

As we move through our lives we form movement patterns.  Our muscles become used to these patterns.  If we were to add weight to our movement patterns it is likely that our muscles could become sore and experience DOMS because we are stressing the tissue.  But without the added resistance there is almost no chance of soreness.  Think of the last time you helped someone relocate (as in move from one home to another).  We ALWAYS you hear people complain how sore they are.  The movements they did are normally the same; walking, lifting, bending, etc.  But usually when you are helping someone move you are helping them move heavy furniture so there is resistance to the walking, lifting, bending.  Even if you aren’t helping with the really heavy items it could be your chore to move the boxes . . . . a lot of boxes so the repetitiveness of that has the potential to cause soreness.

If you move in a way that your body is not accustomed to and/or you use muscles that are not used to be moved, sometimes there is no need to add resistance and there can be soreness.  So it is possible for a muscle that is used to experience DOMS if used in a different way or to get sore using muscles we never use.

I have shared with you in the beginning of my blog what I use for muscle soreness.  Unless it is seriously painful for me to move, I like to actually work and move through my soreness.  I feel that my body adapts quicker if I keep moving.  But I am also not an intense body builder and I also move often.  When I say keep moving I don’t mean to keep doing the exercise that caused me to be sore, but I do mean to move, and stretch and work it out.  Working through it works for ME, for MY body.  You have to decide and learn what works for you.  Also, each time might be different.  If you do a really intense workout and you end up sore you might want to rest a bit whereas if you do a less intense workout you might be able to recognize that moving through it would be best.  It is helpful for you to know how best to handle your DOMS by listening to your own body and learning what it needs.

As an example, your arm is hanging at your side, when you lift your hand to touch your shoulder that is an isotonic contraction.  Your biceps muscles are shortening, pulling your hand up to your shoulder in a concentric contraction, your triceps are lengthening in an eccentric contraction.  Lowering your arm the biceps muscles are lengthening in an eccentric contraction and it is actually your triceps contracting in a concentric contraction that is pulling your arm down.  But since gravity is helping the triceps don’t have to work very hard.

An isometric contraction is when the muscle contracts but the length of it does not change.  For instance, when you sneeze or cough. Your abdominal muscle contracts, but unless you bend into the sneeze/cough the length does not change.

To strengthen the muscles resistance needs to be added to the contraction.  Muscle must be challenged and learn to overcome the challenge in order to become stronger.  Tension/resistance needs to be added to movement/contraction.

There are many forms of resistance; gravity, weights, bands, tubes, immoveable objects (that you try to push or pull), all of it can assist in strengthening the muscles. 

The muscles can gain strength from both the concentric contraction and the eccentric contraction.  So lowering the weight after having lifted a weight toward your shoulder in a biceps curl can contribute to strength.

When the muscles contract in a concentric contraction they are pulling on bone. But that is not be be confused with a push workout or a pull workout.  Even when you are working your “pushing muscles” your muscles are actually contracting and pulling on the bones to complete the exercise.

Muscles contract, it is the added resistance that makes them stronger.

With the Ab Jam you get the jacket saying the workout is 20 minutes.  Timer starts it out at 18:53. 

Chalene Johnson says it is 10 minutes standing and 10 minutes on the ground.  First there is a tiny warm up then the exercise consist of ab movements.  Basically you are bending from side to side and bending forward.  But if you are just doing the motion and not actually putting the effort of contracting your abs then it is just movement and you won’t get any contraction type of benefit.  As Chalene says it is not “leaning to the side, it is crunching”.  So you have to bend but make sure you are getting in the isometric contraction.

The movement includes some of the moves that Chalene calls her “Elite Eleven”.  The Turbo Tuck and the row are examples.  She also gets some squats and balance exercises in there.

I originally purchased this set of DVDs because it claimed to have standing ab work and it does!

With 9:20 left you’re on the floor.  She moves the first exercise from standing to the floor, so you are doing the tuck, then traditional crunches.  Here you can clearly see the different intensity levels.

The music has changed from dance music to a more middle-eastern flair.  Even though the style has changed Chalene manages to get some grooving in there.  I am convinced she loves to dance. 

Some on the advanced ab work is done with your feet off the floor.  Legs straight in the air or legs in “tabletop” (bent at the knee) as they call it in Pilates.

At the 4:00 minutes mark the routine changes and she has the punches included with the crunch.

When the routine has the ol’ hands-behind-your-head-elbows-out-to-the side cross over crunches she reminds you that you are actually leading with your shoulder and NOT your elbow because that is how you really work the abs.

With a little over a minute and a half left you are sitting up and working your abs with your feet off the ground and your knees going to one side then the other. 

At about 20 seconds left you do down dog and child pose. 

That is the Ab Jam routine in the five workout series of Turbo Jam.

So here in San Jose, where we normally have nice mild weather it has been cold and doing a workout DVD might be an alternative to going out and doing the regular walk, jog, or run.  This DVD was not a cardio workout, but, it still getst your blood pumping and has a variety of ab exercises in it.

–Chest press with dumbbells lying on stability ball
–Wall Squats with stability ball

–Flyes lying on stability ball
–Air bench (“sitting” back against wall)

–Triceps Dip
–Side Step Drill using BOSU

–Triceps Kickbacks using bench
–Calf raises on BOSU (standing on the rounded side)

This is just a generic sample of a push workout.  There are so many ways to do push ups you should do them however you safely are able and however best fits your goals. 

Squats on the BOSU can also be done standing on the flat side, which would be more of a challenge.

With the chest press and the flyes on the stability ball you are keeping your upper back supported by the ball, but to get a bit of lower body in there and some stability practice your hips are off the ball and level with the floor.

Wall squats can be done with one leg.

The side step drill can be timed.

This was initially created for the exercises to be done in pairs as listed; one set of push-ups, one set of squats, then back to push ups, then squats, then on to the next pairing. But just like the Pull Workout, the weight used, the reps done, the speed in which do it and how many times you do it all depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

Try squeezing a workout in between all the Holiday Happenings and New Moon risings, even if you have to do it during the twilight hours.

What the Push/Pull Workout phrase means is that the muscles USED to push or pull are being worked.  So a push workout would primarily work the muscles in the front of the body and a pull workout would work the muscles in the back.  That is just a generalization for some people it helps and some people it doesn’t because it is not entirely accurate.  As you know for some muscle groups and for some exercises it is not possible to JUST use one muscle group or one side of the body

A pull workout works “primarily” the lats, back, biceps, glutes, and hamstrings.  Where a push workout includes exercises that “primarily” work the chest, shoulders, triceps, quads, and calves.  It would typically be done on alternating days. 

This type of workout could be seen as a functional type workout since when you think about it we do a lot of pushing and pulling.  Think of grocery shopping, who has not had to yank a cart out of a row of carts, then pull the groceries out of the cart once they are bagged, then push them into the back of the SUV, then pull them out again.  Pull, push, pull, push . . . . Its a very functional workout.

1)  Dumbbell Chest Press (especially on a stability ball)
2)  Upright Row (on one Pilates DVD I have she calls this the “Zip Up”)
3)  Lat Pull Down with Alternating Backward Lunge
4)  Tricep Kickback (with a dumbbell)
5)  Standing Tricep Pushdown
6)  Heel Raises
7)  Wood Chops
8)  Bent-Over Row
9)  Bicep Curl
10) Sit-ups (on the BOSU) (she did NOT just say that, oh yeah, I did)

Of course, I love Nia for my aerobic (cardio) workout and with that I get a lot of these same motions as some of my favorite exercise, but this is just a list of some of my favorite exercises I like to do with equipment and/or weights.

Comments?  Questions?  What are your favorite exercises?  What do you like to include in your workout? 

Share your list.

Some of the benefits of resistance training:

• Increase in strength, power, and endurance in the muscles
• Increase in size of the muscle
• Increase in lean mass (or maintained lean mass)
• Increase in the tone of the muscles
• Increase in metabolism
• Increase in bone density
• Increase in energy
• Improvement in the body’s muscle to fat ratio
• Improvement in mood
• Improvement in Insulin Sensitivity

and

• can assist in lower your resting blood pressure
• can assist in preventing sarcopenia
• can assist in lowering your resting heart rate

I met up with a friend today in San Jose at the gym we had a nice workout.  We played with some of the equipment and managed to get a great set of exercises in.  It is nice to be reminded of why resistance training is important.

Know what a BOSU is?  It is a piece of exercise equipment.  Picture a stability ball, you know those round ones full of air that you can sit on?  Picture that cut in half with a plastic “cap” on the flat side.  It is very versatile.  It can be used for a variety of exercises and it can be used on either side.  The flat side can be placed on the ground so you are working on the rounded side or you can place the rounded side on the ground and do your work on the flat side.

Either way–depending on what you are doing–you are going to be challenging your stabilizing muscles in addition to the muscles you are exercising.  That is a great way to get more muscles working during your workout, burn more calories, and make you a more strong and stable body.

You can stand on either side (the flat side or the rounded side) and do dumbbell work: biceps curls, shoulder presses, upright rows, lateral and rear deltoid raises, bent over rows, etc.

You can lie on either side (the flat side or the rounded side) and do dumbbell chest presses, supine triceps extensions, curls, crunches, and sit-ups to name just a few.

 Using either side you can do push-ups, mountain climbers, or add it to your burpee.

They can also be used for cardio work.  They can be jumped on and off of, they can be used for lunges, or as I mentioned before, they can be used for mountain climbers and burpees.

I think they might be a favorite of personal trainers because there is so much you can do with it.

To me they are a little easier to store than a stability ball because they take up less space, but unlike a ball they won’t really challenge your muscles just by sitting on them.  But as I mentioned above you can use them for a lot of different exercises and they will add an additional challenge to almost any workout routine. I think I have see them in the Target by my house in San Jose, so I am sure you can buy them at Targets or stores where they sell sports equipment/exercise equipment.

As with any exercise equipment you use and as with any exercise you do–caution is required.

From the American Heart Association website:

• Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the No. 1 killer in America. 
• Lack of physical activity is a risk factor for coronary heart disease.
    

An aerobic activity or what is now being called “cardio” is required for cardiorespiratory fitness.  Cardiorespiratory fitness is the most important factor when it comes to living a long and high quality life.  How well your lungs and heart function affects everything you do.  The better your lungs and heart are at getting oxygen rich blood to the parts of your body that need it, the better you will feel and be able to move. 

And according to Science News:

• Persons with higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness have a lower risk of all-cause death

And this post kind of ties in with my previous 30 Minutes Per Day post, but I am trying to emphasize getting your heart pumping. I also wanted to point out that doing so — getting your heart pumping — does not require jumping or impact of any kind.  You can get your heart rate up by just bending down at the knees and coming back up fast enough and long enough to get your heart working.  Impact is not required, but intensity is. 

A lot of people don’t like to do “cardio” because it is boring or uncomfortable, but it does not have to be . . . again . . . find something you like.  There is all kinds of stuff out there.  If you are reading this and are wanting something new or different to try in the area of cardio and you want some ideas, contact me and we can do some brainstorming.  There is something out there that you will love.