Just for my records, this is the 3rd day Ive had my own laptop! I try to avoid exclamation ponts but today it is warranted. I live in San Diego, consequentially I have a plethora of cool coffee shops to choose from. I am using exclamation points for a different reason though...coffee shops are cool, but for writers they are better when they are followed by a stop at a craft brew bar with Wi-Fi access.
So yes I am drunk as I type this, but in the following year I will be prolific and creative. Heres how I visualize a perfect day in the future.
The Perfect Day
Wake up- eat oatmeal and cooked protein source-drink water-train couple hours clients-eat nice breakfast-good coffee-writing/reading 2.5 hours-good lunch-30min to an hour absorbing motivational material-workout (hardcore and heavy) -post workout meal-train couple clients-solid dinner-gaming/cannabis consumption-dinner number 2-great sex-movie and last meal-more great sex-8 solid hours sleep1
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Friday, November 8, 2013
Chest Training For Athletes (Football)
The term "Chest training" here refers to training the pectorals to achieve hypertrophy, strength, speed and power. Hypertrophy because increasing the ratio of muscle to fat is beneficial to all football players. Speed, strength and power are attributes that obviously translate to the football field.
In the context of the overall weekly workout schedule, chest is performed first among the pushing muscles, with shoulders and tris performed after in that order.
The following parameters are important, vital to progress and must have a logical reason to be in the program at all. There is a finite amount of energy and recovery ability that an athlete has, what a shame to waste all that energy, and submit the body to all the wear and tear of the workouts, without achieving maximum results.
resistance level: usually described as percentage of one rep max. Good guideline when going to failure is 1-5 reps Heavy, 6-12 Medium and 12 and above Light
exercise selection: selected on basis of how they will affect attributes of particular activity, in this case football.
Exercise execution- factors include rep speed, body position, angle of resistance and range of motion are major.
That being said, this is the reason why cookie cutter templates, or random choosing of exercises and reps is not the optimal way to train. The program that will be outlined here has a reason for every facet of the workout that is chosen. To illustrate the effectiveness of this attention to logic, I will record on video, then write a description, reason and purpose for every chest exercise of JJ, my youtube star.
He has a strong base and a long history of training, so the results cannot be attributed to beginner adaptations (which are more pronounced). Taking a regular gym rat and putting muscle on them is the real challenge. So to my 4 readers, you are in for a treat, this is the beginning of an ebook project which will include not only the book, but a link to videos of the exercises described within and a link where all questions can be answered by me or any of the trainees. Welcome to the first section: Chest training for athletes (football)!
First exercise of the day,
Incline dumbbell press- in my piece "The Absurdity of the Bench Press in Football" you will see the many reasons why the bench press is not a good choice for athletes. On the other hand lets examine the reasons why the dumbbell incline press is a much better exercise to master and become strong at.
Dumbells are always going to be better than a barbell for a few reasons. One is the control required to take exercise through full range of motion. The result is better proprioception, hypertrophy in supporting muscles and enables the identification of any deviations between right and left side.
Also incline is more activity specific when you look at the angle of arms relative to the torso. Rarely are the arms at right angle with the torso as in the bench press. Usually contact is made with the player leaning forward, putting momentum into the push, arms above 90 degrees on impact.
Rep Range Heavy
Dips with band- to stay I the heavy category, dips can be supplemented with a weight belt or bands to increase resistance. Dips are second on chest day because the movement is as opposite of the incline that you can get and still target the pecs. The different angle helps to make sure entire pec area is hit.
Heavy Rep Range
incline barbell press-third exercise because its an incline movement and its free weight. Again the set will be heavy. These first three exercises are for strength and mass. Rep speed not as important as pushing max amount of weight. Generally heavy sets will be slower on the negative and exploded with the positive.
flyes- Set with handles high and performed in a decline motion. This allows the weight of the torso to be used for leverage, thus more weight can be used. These are done strictly with a held contraction at the end. It is more of a focus on feeling the pectorals bring the elbows together, increasing the effectiveness of the mind muscle connection for future exercises and digging into those fibers to induce hypertrophy.
light rep range
Machine press(hammer)- medium rep range, allows heavy weight in a compound motion with the machine stabilizing the weight to allow focus on the pectorals.
Plyometric pushups- these train pecs and pushing muscles for explosiveness, which translates into speed.
Band presses- done with extremely heavy resistance, teaches body to accelerate through the motion. Using free weights the body actually slows movement at the end to prevent weight from flying out of hands.
The last two exercises are what take the program from hypertrophy to athletic training. They are extremely demanding and have high risk of injury if not done properly. Video will be up early next week.
Besides overall warm up,1st exercise is warm up for two sets (see warm up blog here). After that ONE set per exercise to failure.
Great vids coming soon. Feel free to ask questions here also
In the context of the overall weekly workout schedule, chest is performed first among the pushing muscles, with shoulders and tris performed after in that order.
The following parameters are important, vital to progress and must have a logical reason to be in the program at all. There is a finite amount of energy and recovery ability that an athlete has, what a shame to waste all that energy, and submit the body to all the wear and tear of the workouts, without achieving maximum results.
resistance level: usually described as percentage of one rep max. Good guideline when going to failure is 1-5 reps Heavy, 6-12 Medium and 12 and above Light
exercise selection: selected on basis of how they will affect attributes of particular activity, in this case football.
Exercise execution- factors include rep speed, body position, angle of resistance and range of motion are major.
That being said, this is the reason why cookie cutter templates, or random choosing of exercises and reps is not the optimal way to train. The program that will be outlined here has a reason for every facet of the workout that is chosen. To illustrate the effectiveness of this attention to logic, I will record on video, then write a description, reason and purpose for every chest exercise of JJ, my youtube star.
He has a strong base and a long history of training, so the results cannot be attributed to beginner adaptations (which are more pronounced). Taking a regular gym rat and putting muscle on them is the real challenge. So to my 4 readers, you are in for a treat, this is the beginning of an ebook project which will include not only the book, but a link to videos of the exercises described within and a link where all questions can be answered by me or any of the trainees. Welcome to the first section: Chest training for athletes (football)!
First exercise of the day,
Incline dumbbell press- in my piece "The Absurdity of the Bench Press in Football" you will see the many reasons why the bench press is not a good choice for athletes. On the other hand lets examine the reasons why the dumbbell incline press is a much better exercise to master and become strong at.
Dumbells are always going to be better than a barbell for a few reasons. One is the control required to take exercise through full range of motion. The result is better proprioception, hypertrophy in supporting muscles and enables the identification of any deviations between right and left side.
Also incline is more activity specific when you look at the angle of arms relative to the torso. Rarely are the arms at right angle with the torso as in the bench press. Usually contact is made with the player leaning forward, putting momentum into the push, arms above 90 degrees on impact.
Rep Range Heavy
Dips with band- to stay I the heavy category, dips can be supplemented with a weight belt or bands to increase resistance. Dips are second on chest day because the movement is as opposite of the incline that you can get and still target the pecs. The different angle helps to make sure entire pec area is hit.
Heavy Rep Range
incline barbell press-third exercise because its an incline movement and its free weight. Again the set will be heavy. These first three exercises are for strength and mass. Rep speed not as important as pushing max amount of weight. Generally heavy sets will be slower on the negative and exploded with the positive.
flyes- Set with handles high and performed in a decline motion. This allows the weight of the torso to be used for leverage, thus more weight can be used. These are done strictly with a held contraction at the end. It is more of a focus on feeling the pectorals bring the elbows together, increasing the effectiveness of the mind muscle connection for future exercises and digging into those fibers to induce hypertrophy.
light rep range
Machine press(hammer)- medium rep range, allows heavy weight in a compound motion with the machine stabilizing the weight to allow focus on the pectorals.
Plyometric pushups- these train pecs and pushing muscles for explosiveness, which translates into speed.
Band presses- done with extremely heavy resistance, teaches body to accelerate through the motion. Using free weights the body actually slows movement at the end to prevent weight from flying out of hands.
The last two exercises are what take the program from hypertrophy to athletic training. They are extremely demanding and have high risk of injury if not done properly. Video will be up early next week.
Besides overall warm up,1st exercise is warm up for two sets (see warm up blog here). After that ONE set per exercise to failure.
Great vids coming soon. Feel free to ask questions here also
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