The Bench Press.  You do it because you want to brag to your friends about how strong you are.  You do it because you’re a sportsperson looking to increase your base strength before you start a Plyometrics based programme for power.  You do it because a search on Google brings about an article telling you that pressing 1.5 x your bodyweight is an accepted bench mark for relative strength.  Whatever the reason, the bottom line is that YOU DO IT.  When you’re enjoying your night out with friends, that drunk guy who’s a friend of a friend wants to know how much you Bench.  When you’re talking amongst your friends about your workouts, it’s the Bench Press that everyone’s interested in. 

Most people use the popular body part split routine, whereby you focus on one or two muscles per workout.  If you didn’t pick it up from your monthly Bodybuilding magazine or a website, then you picked it up from the general gym users at your local gym.  Look around the gym and you’ll see that guy who’s looked the same for around three years move from one exercise to another that works the same muscle.  Eventually your conversations start with, “What are you training today?”  The reply usually comes in the form of “Chest” or “Back” or “Shoulders” and probably once a month in “Legs.”  Split routines are fine and I’m not trying to say don’t do them – all the greats used them – Arnie, Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler and hundreds others in the Bodybuilding world. 

Most people’s Chest routine has four or five exercises, usually starting with the Bench Press, then working through a couple of variations (incline/decline) and finishing with an isolation exercise such as a dumbbell or cable fly to burn out the parts of he muscle the other exercises miss.  You get progressively weaker through this workout; you’re strongest on your first exercise but as you work your way through, your performance is decreasing due to accumulative local fatigue.  Remember, this is not wrong by any means, but at this stage you’re only interested in increasing your Bench Press.  You can handle only so much stress under a pre-fatigued state.  Every rep you do under too much fatigue is sending you closer being like that guy that’s looked the same for the last three years.   Every isolation exercise you do is going to slow your progress in getting stronger, so we’re going to imagine isolation exercises don’t exist.   

In my Increase Your Bench Press In Two Weeks plan, your primary focus is one compound lift per muscle per workout.  We manipulate variables such as tempo, rest periods, reps, sets, agonist and antagonist muscle groups to help you make each rep count towards increasing your Bench Press. 

My two-week mini-periodised plan takes you through goals from Hypertrophy (building muscle) to developing Neuromuscular pathways.  Periodised programmes in full can be up to a whole year long, with four main phases which we won’t worry about in this article.  The basic idea is to focus on particular objectives in phases to help reach the overall goal.  Olympic athletes and other professional sportspeople all use this method and the beauty of it is you can adapt it for non-athletes.  I use periodised programmes with all my clients.

The plan is only two weeks long but your Bench Press WILL increase.   The plan has been created for you to see how changing your outlook on training and goal-setting can help you get more out of your workouts.  You’re learning how to train wise and reap rewards of all the hours you put into your fitness.  Unlike most other plans and books, mine is not universal, it’s individual.  The basic idea will be the same but the plan is tailored to you, which enhances its specificity.

You can email me using the CONTACT page on my site or directly to sandipghattaora@googlemail.com with ”Increase Your Bench Press In Two Weeks” in the subject field.  I’ll then send you some questions to answer and based on your answers, send you your FREE Increase Your Bench Press In Two Weeks plan.  It’s as easy as that!  You can also receive FREE nutrition advice to further enhance your results in two weeks.   It’s available to everyone everywhere, email me now and Increase Your Bench Press In Two weeks.

Sandip

Ok so the short story is I’m in Corfu in a beautiful resort, the sun is shining and the food is plenty.  The resort Gym is out of action.  The nearest gym is a 2km run away - on narrow roads through oncoming traffic, dodging the local array of wildlife (Snakes, Spiders, Scorpions – the usual stuff) in the 30 plus degree heat.  And oh yeah…the wife said I can’t go anyway…

Now, the 2km distance wouldn’t be a problem – in fact it would serve as an excellent warm up before starting my gym workout.  But once there, what am I going to do in the gym?  Back and Biceps?  Chest and Triceps?  I don’t even know what equipment they have.  I don’t like going to the gym without knowing EXACTLY what I’m doing, how many reps, sets, rest time etc.  I want to train fast movements, burn calories like a furnace and hit every muscle in my body in as little time as possible.  So I’m going to the beach for a fast twitch fiber dominated workout. 

Here’s the plan:

Warm up by jogging, skipping or anything else that will get your heart rate up and your body prepared for the torture to come.  Dynamic stretches for 5 mins – NO STATIC STRETCHES ALLOWED.

10 x 40 yard sand sprints

30 seconds rest between sets

Jump Push Ups

5 sets 8 reps of maximal power and velocity

45 seconds rest between sets

Fast Press Ups – Recovery time is the same as work time

Do as many as you can for 1min, followed by 1min rest.  Then as many as you can for as long as possible (ie 45 seconds) followed by the same amount of recovery time (ie 45 seconds) and so on until failure.  The aim is pure speed push ups and failure isn’t when you can’t do any more, but rather when the speed slows down significantly.

The cooldown is a dip in the pool or sea where you do a few mins, followed by stretches while you’re in the water.  And that’s it! 

Remember, the aim is speed and blasting a ridiculous amount of calories within 30 minutes.   If you want more information on the workout you can email me. 

It’s simple, you don’t need any equipment and you can actually do it anywhere to substitute your usual cardio workouts of running at the same old pace for 45 minutes in the mythical “Fat Burning Zone.”

The Importance of Exercise to Children and Adolescents

Most adults find that regular exercise makes them feel better. Sedentary habits are not only unhealthy, but can also make us feel slow and sluggish. Children need exercise too, in order to feel healthy and energetic, as well as to grow and develop to their highest potential.

Habits established in childhood often stay with people throughout their lives. Therefore, parents owe it to their children to help them develop healthy and active lifestyles. Studies show that overweight youths are likely to remain overweight as adults, with the weight problem often worsening over time. Carrying extra weight puts children at risk for a number of health problems, including hypertension (high blood pressure), heart disease, diabetes, and even some types of cancer. Parents offer their children enormous long-term benefits when they teach them to love sports and other physical activities, as well as encouraging a healthy, well balanced diet.

Physical Benefits

Firstly, it is important to identify that there is absolutely no evidence to support the idea that resistance (weight) training in children can have a negative effect on their growth. On the contrary, the British Association of Sports and Exercise Science (BASES) encourage children to participate in safe and effective resistance training at least twice a week. Performed properly, resistance training can have the following benefits for children:

• Children of all maturity stages can enhance strength by roughly 14-30% through resistance training.
• The increases in strength are largely due to neural adaptations, therefore there are little changes to muscle size.
• The tension produced by the muscles pulling on the bone leads to an increased bone density, which helps to protect against injury and prevents conditions in later life such as arthritis and osteoporosis.

This information is particularly important for young athletes of contact sports such as rugby, and helps to explain why countries in the Southern Hemisphere produce much more athletic players – they have better conditioning programmes at a younger age. By the time they reach maturity, when they can start with heavy weight lifting, their bodies are far better prepared and therefore they achieve greater results. (Refer to the American Academy of Paediatrics guidelines for Strength Training by children and adolescents, available at the gym desk).

With regards to aerobic training, a small increase in aerobic power can be found in prepubescent children, however larger increases can be found in adolescents. Nevertheless, research suggests that the decreases in resting heart rate and blood pressure as a result of aerobic activity in children can have lasting affects in combating heart disease and hypertension in adulthood.

Anaerobic training (sprinting, short distant swims and other power based activities) can also have positive effects; increased concentrations of phosphocreatine (PCr), adenotriphosphate (ATP), maximal blood lactate concentrations and glycogen stores, as well as increased phosphofructokinase (PFK) activity allows the body to exert more force at higher speeds during powerful movements, and allows the movements to continue over longer period of time. This means that you can run/swim/row etc. at maximal intensity for longer periods of time, and the force produced per muscle contraction is also greater. Basically we can move faster and for longer periods of time, which is again important for sports players.

Regular exercise also improves balance and co-ordination due to adaptations of the neuro-muscular systems. Increased myelination of nerve endings allows signals between the brain and the muscles to be passed more rapidly, which enables faster processing of environmental factors and the resultant physical responses.

Emotional and Psychological Benefits

Benefits of exercise are not limited to physical improvements. Physical activity helps to relieve stress, decreases anxiety, and helps to ward off depression. Children who are allowed outlets for their natural energies are more capable of controlling their behaviour in school and often excel academically when compared to their more sedentary peers. Even young children show better self control when they are afforded opportunities for active play, and this connection between activity and emotional health remains all throughout life. While a limited amount of time spent watching television or playing video games isn’t necessarily harmful for children, the majority of their pastimes should be activity based.

Making Friends

Participation in sports and other active games allows children healthy social interaction with peers, helping them to develop friendships. Much learning occurs during childhood, and learning how to interact with others in positive ways is a very important lesson. Children who are secluded in their homes watching videos or playing computer games miss many opportunities to hone their social skills, putting them at a disadvantage when compared to children who participate in team activities.

Conclusion: Make the difference

Today’s youth have a higher obesity rate than ever before. Childhood obesity is considered a major threat to the health and well being of an entire generation of children, the first in recorded history to have a lower life expectancy than that of their parents. Illnesses that were once seen almost exclusively in the adult population, such as heart disease and type II diabetes, are now being reported by paediatricians worldwide. This trend toward lifestyle induced illness amongst children is a frightening one, but it could be easily turned around. Parents have a responsibility to see that their children eat healthy diets and get sufficient exercise. Playing together, scheduling active family outings and holidays, and setting a good example by choosing to make physical fitness a family priority are all decisions that can help children to get healthy and stay healthy – all throughout their lives.

Written by George Majstorovic

Looking for a healthy method of rapid weight gain for the next phase of your fitness plan?  There are quite a few weight gainer supplements out there, but how do you know which ones are healthy?  Many of those bodybuilding products include extra fat or unhealthy ingredients like ephedra.  Fortunately, rapid weight gain is possible through only natural methods.  This is not only healthier, but will save you a ton of money on supplements over the course of a year.  These three tips will help you pack on the pounds naturally.

1.  Eat more…a lot more.  This may seem like an obvious tip, but trouble gaining weight usually means you are not eating anywhere near enough food.  Even if you think you are eating enough to gain weight, you may not even be compensating for the extra calories burned by your workout.  Most people underestimate the sheer amount of calories needed to gain even one pound.  While most sedentary people will have trouble restricting their calorie intake to less than their expenditure, physically active people may burn up to five or six thousand calories per day.
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The best exercises to lose weight quickly are not secrets reserved for a mere few. They are quite common, yet they are overlooked by many. People seeking to lose weight might think there’s some magic program or exercise that will get it done.

Would it surprise you to know that you probably already participate in some of these exercises? The real secret is in knowing how to do those exercises for maximum benefit.

If you walk or climb stairs, for instance, you are utilizing the best exercises to lose weight quickly. You just need to make the most of them by upping the frequency and time you commit to these heart-thumping activities.

Unless you spend a vigorous 45 to 60 minutes every day on these exercises, you won’t lose weight quickly. You’ll just get tired. The key is consistency and that you work your system regularly. Muscle-building exercises are most effective to lose weight quickly.

Whichever exercise you choose, make sure you put all your energy into it. You want to keep your heart rate up and your blood pumping throughout the exercise period, with a proper cool down afterwards.

If you’re brisk walking, for example, walk slowly for the final few minutes to give your body a chance to cool down. Stopping suddenly can cause muscle cramps and really isn’t good for your heart. Give it time to fall back to normal while you’re moderately active.

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