FitSugar

Strength Training: Are Forced Repetitions Beneficial?

FitSugar — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:00:00 PDT

I'm a huge fan of strength training with a buddy, and recently at the gym, I've been hearing a lot about forced repetitions where your weight lifting partner does more than just spot you. If you're not familiar with this term, allow me to explain. If a woman is lifting weights and she has reached her limit and can't do another repetition on her own, someone will assist her with one or more repetitions. These are called forced repetitions. The reason people who strength train do this is because they think this extra bit of effort will help their muscles become stronger.

To find out if forced repetitions are beneficial when it comes to strength training

Unfortunately, forced repetitions aren't making you stronger. I'll explain why. Say you are doing chest presses with a barbell that has 20 pounds of weight. If you get help to do a couple more presses, you're not lifting the full 20 pounds that you were when you were doing the exercise on your own. So in actuality, you're lifting less weight and not working your muscles as hard. Not only that but your muscles are fatigued and forcing them to keep repeating the move could result in a torn muscle. Need scientific proof? In a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, researchers examined 22 male athletes who did forced repetitions while weight lifting over a six-week period and found no benefit. So there you have it.

Fit's Tips: If you're looking to tone up and become stronger, a better strategy would be to gradually increase the amount of weight you can lift on your own.

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5 Tried and Tested Tools For Learning Spanish

Nancy Einhart — Sat, 05 May 2012 00:15:19 PDT

Studying a foreign language could make you smarter. According to a new study from the University of Chicago, people make more rational decisions when thinking in a foreign language, because it forces us to use the more analytical side of our brains.

If you're looking to learn a language, you could certainly do worse than Spanish. It's the third most-spoken language in the world, and Hispanics make up more than 16 percent of the US population. So, in honor of Cinco de Mayo, here are five tools I've found super helpful in my quest to learn Spanish as an adult.

App: Larousse Spanish-English Dictionary ($4.99) The free Spanish-English dictionary apps I tried left a lot to be desired, and this $5 app is well worth the price. It quickly translates almost any word from my phone, and it also has tons of verb conjugations - a must have for beginners! Plus I can do my homework on the go.
Podcast: Discover Spanish (free) This series of 10-minute Spanish lessons is great for travelers, because it teaches commonly used phrases while also explaining a bit of the grammar, so you're more likely to remember. It's also a great supplement to in-person Spanish lessons. After a while, I found the hilarious music and overly enthusiastic host "Johnny Spanish" quite endearing.

Three more Spanish tools after the break.

10 Reasons Why You Should Try P90X

Shape — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:17:26 PDT

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar.

Chances are you've already seen Tony Horton. Built like Brad Pitt but with a sense of humor like Will Ferrell waving a cowbell, he's hard to miss whether he's on late-night TV (pick a channel, any channel) pimping his 10-Minute Trainer workouts or on QVC selling out his wildly popular P90X workout program. When he enthuses, "Just give me 90 days and I'll get you huge results," it sounds a little too good to be true, but having done two cycles myself, I can tell you this is one workout that lives up to the hype. And since Tony, as he asked me to call him in our interview, is coming out with P90X 2 in December 2011, now is the perfect time to try P90X!

Here's why:

1. No more plateaus. The core idea behind the P90X workout is what Tony calls "muscle confusion." By doing a different type of workout every day you'll keep your muscles guessing, which means you'll keep them working hard.

2. Entertainment. Tony and his crew crack jokes and do all kinds of hilarious moves (my favorite is The Rockstar) to keep your mind off the pain. And the dude is funny.

3. Well-rounded workouts. Drawing from weight lifting, interval training, yoga, plyometrics, and martial arts, among other things, you'll work your body from every angle thereby increasing your power, strength, balance, and athletic ability.

See more reasons to try P90X after the break!

Pilates Experts Tell All: How to Get Long and Lean Muscles

Leta Shy — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 02:42:11 PDT

Many people tout Pilates as one of the best ways to get that long and lean look. Even super toned Serena Williams said she was able to change her body by incorporating Pilates into her routine: "I saw results within a week," she's said. Impressive, right? We asked the experts why the practice is so great for sculpting your body. Read on for their tips on how to get long and lean muscles - no matter your workout - with these Pilates principles!

Practice good posture. So many reasons to stand up straight, and being taller (and creating a long and lean look) is one of them. Training your core helps keep you from slouching, and Pilates is one of the best ways to do it. "Pilates forces you to be aligned and pull up [to] re-create a 'perfect-posture' look," says Nicole Stuart, Pilates instructor to celebs like Kate Hudson. Even if you aren't a Pilates student, make sure you keep this in mind by adding powerful core exercises into your normal routine and doing posture-correcting exercise (try these three exercises for a better posture) to train your muscles to keep you standing tall.
Lengthen while you strengthen. Strength training moves that work muscles while they are in eccentric (fully extended) position are an effective way to build muscles from the inside, Nicole says. That can help combat the bulkiness that some people say they experience when they weight train. "In Pilates you stretch the muscle to its full extension, then contract it. The difference with [using] weights is that you are using your muscles against the resistance of that weight you are holding. So while you're lifting the weight you build and expand your muscle. You are adding a layer of muscle and reshaping." Add a few Pilates moves to your strength training routine with these five moves that target all areas of your body.

Find out more muscle-sculpting tips after the break.

Freshen Up Old Exercises by Closing Your Eyes

Jenny Sugar — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:10:47 PDT

We rely on our eyes so much when we exercise that if you take your sight away briefly, it forces your body to tap into its senses of hearing and touch, which can help you become more aware of your body and how it's moving. Doing certain exercises with your eyes closed is also more difficult when it comes to balance, not to mention a little scary, so it can bring new life to boring exercises you've been doing for years. While certain types of exercise are too dangerous to try blindfolded, here are three you should try "in the dark."

Yoga
Since yoga is very visually driven, it's easy to get caught up in what a pose is supposed to look like. Closing your eyes allows you to ignore your preconceptions of how straight your leg should be or how much you can arch your back, and it helps you tap into the true meaning of yoga, which is to connect your breath with your movements.

Try this: Step onto your mat and move through one Sun Salutation A with your eyes open. Then close your eyes and try moving through the same series. Focus on grounding your feet and moving slow enough to keep your balance. Become aware of each breath you take, linking your inhales and exhalations with each controlled movement. At first you'll feel extremely unstable and stressed at not being able to see what your body is doing since you're used to your drishti (focal point) helping you stay balanced. After becoming comfortable with this technique, you might prefer practicing yoga with closed eyelids. I find it has such a calming effect on my mind and really helps me connect to my strong and even breath.

Keep reading to see the other two exercises to try with your eyes closed.

Cardio Workout: Your First Tempo Run

FitSugar — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 05:30:00 PDT

When you get right down to it, running is not about being comfortable; it's about pushing limits. Once you have been running for a while, to stay engaged in the repetitive act of putting one foot in front of the other, you have to challenge yourself. One such challenge is to run faster. This quest for speed is why so many running schedules contain a variety of runs. The long, slow run for endurance mixed with interval and tempo workouts for speed.

A tempo run is exciting and a little nerve-wracking because the goal is to work outside of your comfort zone, but at a steady pace unlike intervals where periods of pushing yourself hard are followed by a period of recovery. The one advantage of the tempo run is that it is short. This decrease in time hopefully makes up for the increase in sustained intensity. A tempo run is not sprinting, but as ultra marathoner Dean Karnazes puts it " running comfortably hard." I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but trying to find that comfortable, yet hard pace will force you to challenge yourself while listening to your body. Experiment until you find a pace you can sustain without beginning to struggle.

00:00-10:00	Warm up: Jog
10:00-20:00	Tempo: Run
20:00-30:00	Cool down: Jog

You should aim to do a tempo run every seven to ten days. As you progress, keep this simple formula, but add a couple minutes to the tempo run portion of your workout.

Here are a few more parameters Runner's World offers for figuring out your tempo run pace:

Recent Race: Add 30 to 40 seconds to your current 5-K pace or 15 to 20 seconds to your 10-K pace.
Heart Rate: 85 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate.
Perceived Exertion: An 8 on a 1-to-10 scale (a comfortable effort would be a 5; racing would be close to a 10).
Talk Test: A question like "Pace OK?" should be possible, but conversation won't be.

Now tell me when are you going to try your first tempo run? Speed work is not meant for beginning runners, but runners with a solid base of fitness looking to improve their fitness level.

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