Saturday, May 31, 2008
PWFM June Pride Month
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
If weight lifters were to hold a popularity contest for their favorite exercises, the ones involving the chest would win—no contest.
"Chest exercises are absolutely the most popular kind of exercise around. When a guy hits the gym, they''re the first thing he wants to do. Men love them," says Jeffrey Stout, Ph.D., assistant professor of exercise physiology at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.
But love can be blind. Dr. Stout points out that most men work on chest muscles to improve their shape, to make them bigger, broader, more rounded. "That''s bad. That means most guys are consequently working only a very small percentage of their chest muscles and completely ignoring others."
That may explain why months of countless bench presses don''t seem to be getting you any closer to a chest you''ll treasure. "You can''t work out with the idea of having a great-looking chest. Focus instead on having a strong chest," says Dr. Stout. "Focus on working all the muscles, both in the sides and lower part of your chest. If you work toward that goal, then the well-chiseled look you''ve been after will come naturally."
Devising Chest Strategies
Part of the problem to building a well-rounded chest is that most guys don''t know, muscle-wise, exactly what constitutes the chest. For our purposes, we''re talking about the area from your collarbone down to the soft center of your rib cage, and extending from armpit to armpit.
In this zone, the biggest, most obvious muscles are the pectoralis muscles—you know them as pecs, the breast muscles that lay across the upper half of the rib cage. Connected to your shoulders on either side, these muscles help out with any lifting or pushing activities you do.
Less visible, but of equal importance, are the subclavius and serratus muscles, which are under and to the sides of the pecs. These help to give your shoulders and arms greater maneuverability. The serratus, in particular, helps you to push and punch. These muscles also anchor and support the pecs in whatever activity they''re doing. Working these unsung heroes can give your chest a fuller, more muscled look than doing straight pec exercises alone. It will also improve your overall upper-body strength.
"Those muscles under the pecs are the real workhorses in the chest—they give power to arm movements," says Dr. Stout. But because your arm and chest strength is closely linked, fully working the chest muscles can be a challenge. "You work your chest muscles through your arms—they have to do the lifting," says Dr. Stout. Which means it''s easy to let your arms do the work and cheat your chest out of exercise. So as you approach the bench, pay attention to proper form when you do these exercises.
Take it slow. In particular, move slowly when lowering the weight, especially while doing presses. "That way, you''re not as likely to injure your shoulder joints," says Allen Kinley, assistant strength and conditioning coach at Texas A&M University in College Station. Kinley adds that moving slowly through a lift prevents you from letting momentum do the work for you. "You''re really cheating yourself out of a good workout" when you let momentum move the bar, he says. Plus, that sort of lifting tends to make you bounce the barbell off your chest, which will leave you the next day with a nice bruise and the feeling that you got punched in the chest.
Alternate wide and tight angles. Varying your grip on the weights will work the chest muscles from different angles. "You don''t always have to lift with your hands exactly shoulder-width apart on the bar. You can vary your routine with wide-grip presses and narrow-grip presses, where your hands are really close together in the center of the barbell," points out Dr. Stout. Varying your grip attacks the chest muscles from all sides. That way your arms aren''t doing all the work.
Stay in control. The real trick to effective chest-building is not quantity, it''s quality. Lifting heavy weights all the time can cause you to cheat. Use a moderate weight and do more reps instead. You''ll still get good resistance from the weight, but it will be light enough that you can control the weight and do a slow rep—the key to building up muscle, says Dr. Stout.
Put someone on the spot. As a measure of safety, it''s always a good idea to have someone spotting you—especially where chest exercises are concerned.
"Having a spotter will allow you to work out better during those times when you want to do a low number of reps with heavier weights," says Dr. Stout. "If you''re by yourself, you''re not as likely to use weights that will fatigue your muscles to the point of exhaustion," he points out.
Don''t wreck your wrists. Cautionary note: Although one of the best chest exercises around is the push-up, there''s a real danger that the exercise could give your wrists more of a workout than you intended.
"Consider that your wrists bear most of your body weight during push-ups done the traditional way with palms flat on the floor," says James Pedicano, M.D., a wrist and hand surgeon in private practice in Ridgewood, New Jersey. But Dr. Pedicano says you can take the pressure off your wrists by doing push-ups on your knuckles or by putting two octagonal dumbbells on the floor and gripping them.
"Either position forces you to make a fist, which straightens out your wrist, so all the force of the exercise isn''t resting on the wrist," says Dr. Pedicano. Meanwhile, try these lifts.
Bench Press
Lie on—what else?—a bench-press bench, with the barbell above your chest. Grasp the barbell with a medium grip (hands about shoulder-width apart) or slightly wider. Your palms should be facing your legs, and your feet should be resting flat on the ground. Your back is straight and against the bench.
Lower the barbell to your chest—right at nipple level. Your elbows should be pointed out while the rest of your body remains in position. Don''t arch your back or bounce the bar off your chest. Raise to the starting position and repeat.
FACT: Although obese chests have been measured at more than 120 inches across, the largest muscular chest belongs to Isaac Nesser of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, at 74 1/16 inches. |
Narrow-Grip Bench Press
Do a normal bench press with the proper form, but hold the barbell with a narrow grip. Your hands should be equidistant from the bar center, six to eight inches apart.
Note: Chances are you''ll find this lift harder than the regular bench press, so decrease the weight for this exercise.
Wide-Grip Bench Press
Do a normal bench press with the proper form, but now hold the barbell with a wide grip. Again, your hands should be equidistant from the bar center, a few inches wider than shoulder-width apart.
Note: As with the narrow-grip bench press, decrease the weight for this exercise.
Inclined Bench Press
Lie on an inclined bench-press bench with the barbell above your body. Grasp the barbell with a medium grip or slightly wider. Your palms should face your legs, and your feet should be on the ground. Your back should be against the bench.
Lower the barbell to your chest, between your shoulders and nipple line. Your elbows should be pointing out, and the rest of your body should stay in proper form. Don''t arch your back or bounce the bar off your chest.
Dumbbell Flies
Lie on your back on a bench, with your legs parted and your feet firmly on the floor. Hold two dumbbells above you, palms facing each other. The dumbbells should be nearly touching each other above your chest. Your back should be straight and firm against the bench, and your elbows unlocked.
Slowly lower the dumbbells out and away from each other in a semicircular motion. Keep your wrists locked. Lower until the dumbbells are at chest level. Your elbows should be bent at roughly a 45-degree angle, while your back should be straight. Raise to the starting position and repeat.
Note: Watch out for your shoulder—it''s going to try to sneak in and do the work in this exercise. "Really focus on doing this lift with your chest muscles," cautions Dr. Stout. "The more your shoulder gets into the lift, the greater the chance of injuring it."
Alternating Dumbbell Press
Grasp two dumbbells and lie back on a bench with your legs slightly parted, feet firmly on the floor and your arms raised. Hold the dumbbells above you, palms facing each other. Your arms are extended, your back is straight and firm against the bench, and your elbows are unlocked.
Lower the left dumbbell until it''s even with your chest. Your elbow should be pointing to the ground. Raise to the starting position, then alternate with the right dumbbell. Repeat.
Dips
Raise yourself off the ground and onto parallel dip bars. Your hands should be gripping the bar handles with your fingers on the outside, facing away from your body. Keep your elbows in close to your sides, and slightly bend your legs if your feet are dragging on the ground.
Lower yourself down to the point where your upper arms are parallel to the floor. Keep your elbows close to your sides, and bend your legs slightly if your feet are touching the ground. Raise, repeat. Do as many as you can while maintaining proper form.
Note: If you don''t happen to have dip bars lying around the house, two benches or chairs will work just as well. Place your hands flat on the seats, and extend your feet behind you, then start dipping.
Push-Ups
Don''t dismiss these as tired old standbys, good only when you''re on the road and away from the club, or while you''re waiting for that muscle-bound oaf to finish doing his super-sets.
"Push-ups are a great part of working out your upper body—not just the chest, but also the arms and shoulders," says Kinley. "It''s certainly a good idea to make them a regular part of your workout."
And they don''t have to be the old boring variety either. Push-up technology has advanced considerably over the centuries. Here''s a sampling of different push-ups you can do. Since you''re not using weights with these exercises, don''t lock yourself in to a certain number of reps—just do as many as you can.
Push-Ups
Lie face down on the floor, palms face down at shoulder level, fingers pointing forward. To accent your chest more, put your hands wider than shoulder-width apart; to hit the triceps and back more, bring your hands in closer, so your thumbs and index fingers touch to form a diamond pattern on the floor. The bottoms of your feet should be perpendicular to the floor. Your body weight is resting only on your palms and toes. Keep your legs and back straight.
Now push up until your arms are almost fully extended. Your elbows should be slightly bent, not locked. Lower yourself back to the floor—that''s one.
Ultimate Peak
So you''ve run the gauntlet of chest challenges and you''re ready for some super exercises? Give these a try, but don''t overdo it.
Dips with Weights Do dips as you normally would, but wear a special weight belt that has weight plates attached to a chain. Or you can hold a dumbbell between your feet for resistance.
Push-Ups with Weights Do a push-up with proper form, but have a partner place a weight plate squarely on your back for added resistance. The plate should be between your shoulder blades on your upper back. Dads: You can also do this with a toddler on your back for resistance.
Decline Bench Press This is a risky exercise—"don''t do it unless you have a friend to spot you," warns Jeffrey Stout, Ph.D., assistant professor of exercise physiology at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Lie on a decline bench with a barbell held above your body in preparation for the press. Grasp the barbell with a medium grip (hands about shoulder-width apart) or slightly wider. Palms are facing your legs, and your feet are hooked under the support bar, if there is one. Your back is straight and against the bench. Lower the barbell to your nipple line, keeping your elbows pointed out. The rest of your body stays in proper starting form. Don''t arch your back or bounce the bar off your chest. Raise, and repeat. Note: Decline bench presses stress your chest from a different angle than standard presses, so decrease the weight. |
Decline Push-Ups
Get in push-up position, but prop your feet up on a bench. Your hands should be roughly shoulder-width apart, and your back should be straight. Keep your elbows unlocked.
Lower yourself to the floor as far as you can, or until your nose touches the ground. Your back and hips should be straight, while your elbows should point out. Keep your feet on the bench.
Bent-Knee Push-Ups
Don''t dismiss these as a sissy''s exercise. Assume the standard push-up position, except instead of having your legs out straight, keep your knees bent and your feet up off the ground. Sports trainers say a couple dozen reps on your knees can be a great warm-up before a workout, or as a prelude to tougher push-ups.
Inclined Push-Ups
Stand several feet back from a wall. Stick your arms straight ahead and lean forward, keeping your body straight, until your palms are flat against the wall. Your distance from the wall is correct if your heels are slightly raised. Do a push-up by bringing your forehead right up to the wall and then pushing back out. This push-up really targets the upper chest.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
If you can recapture a wasted hour here and there and redirect it to a more productive use, you can make great increases in your daily productivity.
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Here are five of the time saving techniques shared in Time Management seminars, each one of which will help you to get at least one more hour out of your day of additional productive time.
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- Maintain Balance Your life consists of Seven Vital Areas: Health, Family, Financial, Intellectual, Social, Professional, and Spiritual. You will not spend equal amounts of time in each area or time every day in each area. But, if in the long run, you are spending a sufficient quantity and quality of time in each area, then your life will be balanced. But ignore any one of your areas, (never mind two or three!) and you will get out of balance and potentially sabotage your success. Fail to take time now for your health and you will have to take time for illness later on. Ignore your family and then may leave you and cost you a lot of time to re-establish relationships.
- Get the Power of the Pen A faint pen has more power than the keenest mind. Get into the habit of writing things to do down using one tool (a Day-Timer, pad of paper, Palm Pilot, etc.) Your mind is best used for the big picture rather than all the details. The details are important, but manage them with the pen. If you want to manage it you have to measure it first. Writing things down helps you to more easily remember all that you need to accomplish.
- Do Daily Planning It is said that people do not plan to fail but a lot of people fail to plan. Take the time each night to take control of the most precious resource at your command, the next twenty-four hours. Plan your work and then work your plan each day. Write up a To Do list with all you have to's and all of your want to's for your next day. Without a plan for the day, you can easily get distracted, spending your time serving the loudest voice rather than attending to the most important things for your day that will enhance your productivity.
- Prioritize It Your To Do list will have crucial and not crucial items on it. Despite the fact most people want to be productive, when given the choice between crucial and not crucial items, we will most often end up doing the not crucial items. They are generally easier and quicker than crucial items. Prioritize your To Do list each night. Put the #1 next to the most important item on your list. Place the #2 next to the second most important item on your list, etc. Then tackle the items on your list in order of their importance. You may not get everything done on your list, but you will get the most important things done. This is working smarter, not harder, and getting more done in less time.
- Control Procrastination The most effective planning in the world does not substitute for doing what needs to be done. We procrastinate and put off important things because we don't sense enough pain for not doing it or enough pleasure to do it. To get going on something you have been putting off, create in your mind enough pain for not doing it or enough pleasure to do it. I prefer the pleasure approach. Take a procrastinated project and turn it into to a game. Work with one thing in front of you at a time so other things won't distract you. ("Out of sight, out of mind.") Break it down to little bite-sized, manageable pieces. Get it started, take the first step and you will likely continue it to completion.
Monday, May 26, 2008
When the light turns green, you don't have to take off as quickly as possible. That pedal under your right foot is called the "gas pedal" for a good reason. The more you press down on it, the more gas you're pumping into the engine.
Press lightly on the gas pedal, and you'll still accelerate, and you'll still get where you're going. You might be surprised at how little pressure it takes to get your car up to speed in a reasonable time.
2. Racing up to red lights
When you're driving down the street, and you see a light red light or stop sign up ahead, you should lay off the gas sooner rather than later.
There's no point in keeping your foot on the gas until just before you reach the intersection. Let off the pedal sooner and give your engine a rest as you coast to the stop while braking gently. As an added benefit, your brake pads will last longer, too.
By themselves, these first two tips can improve your fuel economy around town by as much as 35 percent, according to tests conducted by automotive information Web site Edmunds.com.
3. Confusing the highway with a speedway
Even if it doesn't involve hard acceleration, speeding wastes gas. The faster you go, the more air your vehicle has to push out of the way. It's like moving your hand through water. The faster you try to move your hand, the harder the water pushes back.
In tests by Consumer Reports, going 75 instead of 65 miles per hour reduced fuel economy by between 3 and 5 miles per gallon, depending on the vehicle.
4. Bumper-buzzing
Tailgating is a bad move for many reasons. First of all, it's unsafe. You reduce your ability to react if the car in front of you slows or stops. It also means you have to pay ultra-close attention to that car which reduces your ability to scan for other hazards ahead of you and to the sides.
And tailgating wastes gas. Every time the driver ahead taps his brakes, you have to slow down even more than he did. (That's because you can't react immediately so you have to slow even more because you're slowing down later.) Then you accelerate again to get back up to speed and resume your bumper-buzzing routine.
Hang back and you'll be safer - plus you'll be able to drive more smoothly and use less fuel. A good rule of thumb is to allow two seconds of space between your car and the one ahead. You can figure that out by counting off two seconds after the car in front of you passes an obvious landmark like an overpass.
5. Driving standing still
You've probably heard that it takes more gas to restart a car than to let it run. Maybe that used to be true, but it isn't anymore. With modern fuel-injection engines, it takes very little extra gas to restart a car once it's warmed up.
Idling, meanwhile, burns about a half-mile worth of gas every minute, according to the California Energy Commission. That's why hybrid cars shut down their gasoline engines whenever they stop, even for a moment.
Now you don't want to shut your engine down for every little stop in your regular, non-hybrid car - it's not designed for that - but if you're waiting for someone to run in and out of a convenience store, turn off the engine.
And don't go through the drive-through at fast food restaurants. You're already paying enough for the oil in those chicken nuggets.
Bonus tip: Don't idle your engine to let it warm up before driving. It does your engine no good and it wastes gas. Instead, start driving right away, but drive gently until the engine is warm.
6. Short hops
For really short trips, take advantage of the opportunity to get some exercise. Try walking to the store instead of driving. You can save gas and burn a few calories instead.
If you can't hoof it, save up your errands. A lot of short hops that let the engine cool down at home between trips can use twice as much gas as starting the car once and making a big sweep to all your stops, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Go to your farthest destination first so your engine has a chance to reach its optimal operating temperature. Then make your other stops on the way back. With the engine warmed up, the car will restart easily and run efficiently all the way home.