Want a full body workout? Then head straight for the rowing machine.
Along with some other exercises that are relevant to improving rowing power and ability, rowing can improve strength in your legs, back, arms, glutes and core. The exercise itself and associated exercises will also help to give you an A1 posture. Plus with a dedicated program, and your dedication, it will improve your health and fitness level out of sight.
However, to achieve all of the above the personal requirement for you is to actually like rowing. You may have to sit on that rower for up to an hour, and possibly longer. Plus you’ll have to spend some time with resistance machines like seated row, leg curl and leg extension.
There are 2 levels that you can consider.
The first is to dedicate your workouts to rowing to encompass all of your fitness needs. A full on program will be 2 days on and 2 days off sessions or if you have the stamina an extended 1 day session with 1 day off
If you can’t handle that then go to plan B
Plan B is to integrate it in to your normal gym workouts. Even a twenty to thirty minute session 3 times a week along with other cardio workouts and, subject to your currant fitness level, run your heart rate at 75 to 90%. It will go a long way to an improved fitness level although it would probably suit most people to have a greater variation of exercises in their workouts. Variation, for some, can be a lot more interesting as opposed to taking the whole thing too seriously.
But rowing is special. It’s an all round fitness and strength workout but it would definitely not turn everybody’s crank as it is seen by some as boring, which apparently overrides the prime objective which is to be fit and strong. So it’s up to the individual to make the choice as to how one goes about getting fit, keeping in mind that to get the best out of anything, it requires that bit extra. Mentally and physically.
But it is special because properly worked with the associated exercises it can be a total gym workout in itself. So, step up and go for gold in the rowing.
The answer to that would seem obvious however, if you take in to consideration age, body weight, purpose of training, sessions per week then your limit will vary according to which combination fits your physical make up, fitness level, and available time. And also assuming only changes to diet will be made, and supplements are restricted to vitamins and minerals.
Weight training limits usually begin with establishing a one rep max. This approach does make much sense as it doesn’t take in to consideration an individual fitness level and or endurance. It only demonstrates the degree of strength for 1 rep and so therefore it’s meaningless when it comes to setting a basis for weight training and or using weights to train for fitness as opposed to just strength. You’re not going to do a whole workout using a weight that is too heavy to do more than 1 rep.
It would be more accurate to set a limit by using a combination that includes both strength and fitness level and so instead of 1 rep max use a rep level of 8 rep max.
Begin with selecting a dumbbell of say 10kg. Do an 8 rep bicep curl and see how it goes. If it went without a problem then rest for 3 minutes and select a 12kg and repeat the process adding weight until you can’t quite achieve 8 reps and ensuring the technique is 100% correct right through to the last rep
From this you’ve established your maximum dumbbell weight for a one arm bicep curl. Now run through all the exercises in your program using the same method. Correct technique is essential otherwise the time is wasted and you’ll have to start again.
What you’ve now done is set up a base for your weight training exercises.
From here you can stay at that level or increase the weights and reps as strength and endurance permits. Increasing the reps will increase endurance faster than increasing the weights too quickly. When you have reached a good level of endurance (fitness) drop back to 8 reps and add more weight. Repeat the process until you feel you’ve reached your peak combination weight and endurance level.
From there drop back to your original weight and reps for a 2 week period allowing for an overall rest. Build up the weight again gradually making absolutely sure your technique can’t be faulted, so by the time you are back to where you last reached a peak, your strength will start to increase past that peak.
The ‘rest’ period is essentially a time to really make certain the technique is right because without that you can only go so far.
If it gets boring get on the bike, rowing machine, treadmill or cross trainer and hammer those in between weight sessions, but stick with the rest/technique method for long term results.
THE CHANGING GYM SCENE
Change no.1
The obvious change is the number of gyms that are constantly springing up all over the place. And it’s like anything, if there appears to be a need for something then someone will be there to have a go at filling the need.
But it would seem the considerations for filling the need for gyms doesn’t go past a building and sticking some equipment in it. In other words there doesn’t seem to have been any real thought shown regarding a good wide ranging balance of resistance and free weights. The idea of opening another gym appears to be more a matter of simply catering to the high population growth.
The high increase in numbers of immigrants of all nationalities coming into the country and joining gyms probably make up somewhere between one third to half the membership. And it’s on the rise. If all those new memberships from the very high immigration disappeared, there would not necessarily be the currant demand for new gyms. The immigrants seem to take a greater interest in a moderate level of fitness and strength than the locals so, when they get here, they want to join a gym.
Despite the increased number of gyms and members the overall setup of the gyms has really not changed much, and indeed in some areas whilst they are not going backwards, they are not going forward either. In fact it’s only the presence of the odd very good trainer that can make some observable difference.
Each gym always has its own varied kind of membership although there obviously has to be some overlap as members of a gym will at some stage feel another gym has something better to offer to fill a gap in their personal needs. Although after a while some of them return to the first one.
Change no. 2
The other change is what’s going on inside the gyms. Or rather what’s not going on inside the gyms, and there’s quite a bit of it. And that is a lack of true professionalism amongst the management and staff. A reference was made in an earlier blog entry to Clive Greens Gym situated in Newmarket many years ago. Clive Greens was better than any of the local gyms for hands on management, variety of equipment, and experienced trainers who in the main had competed in some form of bodybuilding and the like.
Also there appears to be a distinct lack of ‘floating trainers’ and that is someone with sufficient experience to be able to assist, where necessary, members with poor technique. The spinoff of this is an increase of members who, through no fault of their own, wouldn’t know technique if they fell over it. This creates a blank in the professional area of the running of the gym. Consequently the gym ends up with a whole lot of members doing their best to build some muscle and increase their fitness level but, without professional guidance to help them on their way.
Unless of course they can get an experienced trainer to help them, which costs money, and the majority of members cannot afford the cost. It goes right back to gym Management to provide some consistent form of technique instruction for those members who have chosen that gym, but can’t afford to pay for a trainer.
This is an area in gyms that badly needs to change but unless the gyms have the right management skills and consideration towards members then don’t hold your breath.
The One Arm Bent-Over Row is a back exercise targeting the Rhomboids, Middle Traps, and Lats.
To work the right hand side, place your left knee and hand on a flat bench. Place the opposite foot on the floor and slightly angled out and back far enough so your trunk is properly braced, your back is straight, and your head is in line with your back. Your trunk is roughly horizontal to the floor.
With your right hand bend at the waist and pick the dumbbell. Now suck in air ready for the lift.
Focus on the centre of your back, activate your core, and releasing air as you go, bring the dumbbell up beside your ribcage. At the top of the lift squeeze your shoulder blades together feeling the rhomboids, lats and the middle traps all working together to achieve a successful lift. Do 8-12 reps and change to the other side.
Remember to always suck in air at the bottom of the eccentric movement just before the concentric movement and then release fully during the concentric movement.
It’s a very useful exercise for increasing back strength and for promoting and maintaining good upper body posture.
Of course, excess is the level at which each individual’s system cannot tolerate sugar intake. Meaning we all have our excess levels whatever the situation. Which in turn does mean that we should not get anywhere near that level if we wish to lead a healthy existence.
Here is a list of some of the effects excess sugar can have on your system
Sugar can…..
Suppress the immune system
Upset the body’s mineral balance
Produce a significant rise in triglycerides
Reduce helpful high density cholesterol (HDLs)
Promote an elevation of harmful cholesterol (LDLs)
Increase total cholesterol
Contribute to hyperactivity, anxiety, depression,
Concentration difficulties, and crankiness in children
Cause kidney damage
Increase the risk of coronary heart disease
Lead to chromium deficiency
Increase fasting levels of blood glucose
Interfere with absorption of calcium and magnesium.
Produce an acidic stomach
Lead to periodontal disease
Contribute to weight and obesity
Contribute to diabetes
Contribute to osteoporosis
Cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.
Lead to decreased glucose tolerance
Cause cardiovascular disease
Increase systolic blood pressure
Cause free radical formation in the bloodstream.
Overstress the pancreas, causing damage.
Cause atherosclerosis.
Compromise the lining of the capillaries.
Cause liver cells to divide, increasing the size of the liver.
Increase the amount of fat in the liver.
Cause depression.
Increase the body’s fluid retention.
Cause hormonal imbalance.
Cause an increase in delta, alpha and theta brain waves, which can alter the mind’s ability to think clearly.Increase blood platelet adhesiveness which increases risk of blood clots and strokes. Increase an insulin response with high-sugar diets compared to low sugar diets.
The list speaks for itself and leaves no doubt as to what a poor diet with excess sugar can do to you. So work through the list and see how your health can be better now and throughout your whole life simply by avoiding unnecessary high sugar intake
Good luck and good health.
Beginning with the standard narrow grip choose the Seated Row Double-D handle.
Posture comes first so ensure your back is straight and knees slightly bent. Lean forward, keep your back straight, and grasp the D-handle. Your knees will bend a little more to achieve this. Now pull the handle back so your back is in an upright position and your knees are slightly bent, and your arms are straight out but with the elbows slightly bent and your shoulders slightly forward.
Suck in some air, release it at the same time turn on your core and begin to pull the bar back. Now keeping your back straight bring the handle back so it is at chest height but your elbows and shoulders are down and back. Remember it’s a back exercise and with the close grip it’s the middle and lower traps, posterior delts, rhomboids and lats that are doing the work. Feel the squeeze in the centre of the back. By leaning back the upper traps can be worked but this will take some of the focus off the middle and lower traps. Drop the shoulders on the eccentric movement and squeeze the lats for maximum benefit.
To ensure full contraction right across your back focus on the centre of your back on both the concentric and eccentric movement. The target muscles to achieve this are the Rhomboids and Middle Traps which draw your scapula back. Both of these muscles are an important part of exercising for good posture.
For the wide grip seated row choose the 1200mm Lat Revolving Exercise Bar.
Basically, the wide grip is the same as the narrow grip except for the posture and it does put greater emphasis on the shoulders and upper back.
Lean forward and grasp the ends of the bar keeping your shoulders and upper arm as straight out as possible. Keeping your back straight bring the bar back with your shoulders and upper arms as straight out as possible until your posture is upright. Your back is now straight up and your head is in line with your back.
Suck in some air, release it and at the same time turn on your core and begin to pull the bar back with the focus on the middle traps, rhomboids, lats, and delts. Keep the bar at chest height, or slightly higher, throughout the movement. On both the concentric and eccentric phases maintain the same posture throughout.
Experiment with the two positions to determine which feels better but at the same time ensuring that the action you choose is going to result in a strong upright posture and power packed back.
This would have to be the best exercise for developing all three parts of your shoulders namely the anterior delts, the medial delts and the posterior delts.
Take note; A prerequisite for any lifting where your arms rise above the shoulders is rotator cuff exercises so unless you have already been working on these then put some effort in to your rotator cuff before getting too far with shoulder presses. And always remember to do a full set of basic stretches before any kind of lifting and that includes the legs.
Practice first with a 20kg Olympic bar, a lighter pre-loaded bar, or an aerobic bar. Extra plates can be added as you progress. Alternatively use a Smith Machine although, unfortunately, the Smith machine will not allow the bar to be directly over your head which is absolutely necessary to get the best result. If the bar does not travel up and over your head the rear delts will not contract as they should for this exercise. The medial delts will not get the full benefit either. Try using a rack to support the bar at chest level as this saves energy for the prime muscle group instead of using energy to get the bar up to your chest.
Beginning with a standing shoulder press pick up the bar standing with your feet shoulder-width apart. Suck in air, tighten your core, and using your core, forearms and biceps, reverse curl the bar up to your chest. Relax and check your posture to ensure your back is straight and your head is in line with your back.
Begin the lift by simultaneously sucking in air and tightening the core. Then, keeping the core tight, and with a smooth motion press the bar up blowing out air to help keep the core tight throughout the lift. If your lungs remain full of air you will not be able to keep the core fully contracted throughout the lift. Always suck in air and tighten the core just before the lift and blow it out on the concentric movement.
The main muscles used to lift the bar are the delts and triceps. The line the bar will take is from your chest in a line straight up, then tilt your head slightly back to allow the bar to continue straight up and back finishing in a position directly over the centre of your head with your head in line with your back. This will ensure the load will centre over the medial delts with some of the load on the posterior and anterior delts. Your focus throughout the lift will be on the posterior and medial delts. The anterior delts will take more load at the start of the lift but also some throughout the lift. Be sure to follow this line to give an even balance of load over the three delts. About half way up the triceps will take 50% of the load. Hold at the top for 2 seconds.
If the bar is too far forward the anterior delts will take too much of the load and the posterior delts taking little or nothing.
Do 3-4 sets of these and then do 3-4 sets with the bar behind your head following the same method. Begin this by lifting the bar over and behind your head. When the press begins and the bar goes up tilt your head slightly forward and then back in line with your back. Remember, as the lift is completed the bar will be centred over your head.
Performed correctly this routine will develop a very strong and even balance of powerful muscle over the shoulders.
It probably wouldn’t be possible to fit out a gym with a range of equipment to satisfy the needs of every single person at any one time however it may be possible to get close to it.
It’s an area where a combination of available equipment and a highly experienced trainer would prove useful. The trainer can, to a degree, compensate for the lack of equipment but it still might not be quite what’s suited to your individual requirements in order to get the best result
Going in to a gym for the first time there always appears to be enough equipment but it’s not until you’ve done a couple of workouts that you realise there’s stuff missing or certainly not enough of something during peak hours. The peak hours are always a good test of a so called well equipped gym and truly experienced staff in combination.
The most used equipment would have to be the machines despite the fact the free weights, used with the proper technique, can give an equal, and sometimes, better result. Squat racks get a fair bit of use simply because it’s the best all round exercise for legs. The new rubber plates, mainly used for squats, that are now commonly used and are interesting as they are big plates but it’s deceiving because in actual fact they are very light. Some members like to use them because they give the visual impression they are lifting big but in reality it’s just a big hunk of rubber.
So between the cast iron and the rubber it’s whatever turns your crank. Still, if you need morale more than muscle then maybe the rubber is the way to go.
Multi-Use Cross Over Stands also play a big part in the gym. An up market machine can exercise pecs, delts, triceps, biceps, lats, back, and traps. However not all of the muscle contraction during full range of motion with these machine is as successful as building muscle with free weights but they do have the advantage of a quick ready to go system with the use of various quick to fit attachments. Free weights on their own, with knowledge and training, will allow you to exercise any muscle group and you can expect a good result.
Probably the best way to get all the gear you need would be to belong to more than one gym. You not only get access to a lot more gear, but also the advantage been able to get a greater variation of muscle movements due to the difference in the design set up of machines.
BLOOD PRESSURE PILLS……. WHO THE HELL NEEDS THEM?
Well actually there may be quite a number of people that can benefit from blood pressure pills. And there might be a considerable amount of people that are on blood pressure pills and really don’t need to be. And there might be a lot of people who could avoid the possibility of having high blood pressure at some stage in life. That is to say if they took better care of themselves and avoided stuff like salt and sugar, drank more water and less coffee, and less or no alcohol, and started an appropriate exercise regime. And kept it up.
Inflammation can also push up blood pressure so be aware coughs, colds, injuries, any kind of ongoing illness may play a part in raised blood pressure. Mental or physical stress also is going to raise the blood pressure up from your normal level. When the stress stops the blood pressure will drop back to whatever happens to be your normal level.
Medical practitioners have finally realised that going to their clinic to have blood pressure levels taken will in itself raise blood pressure which they now take into account and with the use of a bit of guess work, estimate a likely reading. So it’s going to depend on whether you are in a state of anxiety, and at what level, as to just how accurate the reading is.
If you are inclined towards high blood pressure your best bet would be to buy a blood pressure monitor and keep an eye on it yourself. By doing that any fluctuations may be able to be adjusted by keeping an eye on sugar, salt, stress, overeating, not enough water, and lack of proper exercise.
But remember it’s not just a pill you are taking. It’s a very strong drug and you don’t know what it’s made from. It’s very similar to the drugs out on the street in that once you start taking it you are hooked from a medical standpoint. It even might make you feel a bit better and it will certainly reduce the risk associated with high blood pressure, but it has a list of possible side effects a mile long. If there is an adverse side effect then you’ll be started on another one to see how that goes. But it doesn’t make sense to be in a bad situation that could quite possibly have been avoided.
Whatever the case you’ll probably be told you are on it for life. And one good reason for that is, because no one seems to have any interest in putting any effort into getting you off it.
So make the effort before you are confronted with the possibility of taking a drug with side effects for the rest of your life. Start by getting off the salt and sugar. Cakes are loaded with sugar which is why they are liked so much. If you have a spoonful of sugar with each of the 6 cups of tea or coffee per day that’s 6 spoons of sugar. Avoid drinks with high amounts of sugar. Salt is in a lot of stuff, all processed foods, sauces, tinned Tuna has high amounts of salt, the gravy and mint sauce on your roast is very high in salt.
The choice you have is to reduce your sugar and salt intake, drink more water and less other liquids like alcohol and coffee, get some appropriate exercise, or face the likelihood of high blood pressure and a life time of taking a drug with side effects.
Fitness Training using your hear rate as a guide to peak fitness is standard practice and indeed it’s a reliable measure of where you’re at during any kind of training session used to increase physical fitness. And weight training as with any other sport can be used to significantly increase physical fitness if approached in the right way. Most weight training, across the board, is generally made up of sets and reps of anything from 3 to 6 sets and generally 6 to 15 reps.
With resistance or weight training using your heart rate, the number of reps or sets doesn’t apply. In the case of heart rate training the time of rest periods, set concentric times, and set eccentric will all change.
Basically there is very little rest period. Its start and don’t stop.
As with any exercise session begin with the basic stretches, calf, quadriceps, hamstring, chest, shoulder, tricep, and bicep/forearm. Next warm up with a cardio exercise for 10 minutes on either a bike, treadmill, or preferably a rowing machine for the very good reason it’s a full body exercise. Get your heart rate up to 80% max even if you have to extend the cardio for longer.
Make sure a list of about 16-18 exercises, including legs, are ready but any particular order is not necessary. You don’t want to be standing around having a think about it as the cardio/weight session requires concentration and timing. You just need to get it on and get it done.
Start with the first exercise. Load a comfortable resistance or use comfortable free weights. Set a high pace of reps for about 30 seconds. Move straight away to the next exercise trying to allow only 30-40 seconds between the last and the new exercise. And so on. Keep an eye on your heart rate making sure it’s running at around 75% to 85% or at a level that fits your currant fitness level
The secret of heart rate fitness training is to produce a heart rate intense workout using the weights or machines for resistance. And like any fitness training it may require some experimentation. A good time for the circuit would be 30 minutes which means going through your exercises twice. If you can manage the pace go through it 3 times which effectively gives you 3 sets per exercise and will certainly provide an excellent workout for fitness. If you don’t consider yourself to be very fit then take it easy to start with. Build up at a pace your existing fitness can handle as even a 30 minute workout of this type can be quite physically demanding.
After the workout warm down with 10 plus minutes on a treadmill and stretches.
COMING SOON.
Interval training with weights and cardio.