SOME WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR WORKOUT

Different WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR WORKOUT

James, if you’re straining your back when you train your abs, then you definitely need to figure out what is going on. It might not be a weakness in your core; it could be something else that you might not have thought of yet.

First off, just as a reference, what is core training? 

Essentially, there are two types of core training; isolative and dynamic. Isolative core exercises are static positions where you train the overall stability of your torso. For example, holding a plank for time will train your core stability and teach you how to use your body as a single unit. It will also help you understand how to breathe and brace your midsection under tension. This is an essential component of learning how to remain safe while performing exercises like the squat or deadlift. 

Dynamic core exercises are the exercises that you see most people perform in the gym; including pike ups on a Swiss ball, ab rollouts, and one-arm farmer's walks. Dynamic core exercises are just like isolative movements in the fact that they both require you to keep your torso locked in a good neutral (straight) position. The difference with dynamic core exercises, however, is that now your extremities are in motion. 

If you are performing your core exercises correctly, but you are still getting pain, you might want to look elsewhere. When you say you’re straining your back, I’m assuming you’re talking about your lower back. This could be an indication of a poor position of your pelvis, referred to as anterior pelvic tilt. This is where the top of your pelvis tilts forward and your butt will look like it’s sticking out. This happens when you sit too much or don’t perform any mobility work on your hips before or after your workouts. I would film yourself doing a push-up or a plank and see if your lower back is sagging downward. If it is, some hip mobility drills should help you to achieve a more neutral pelvis and give you a better position in your lower back when you’re training your abs. 

The CrossFit craze has proven to be a lot more than just a craze with gyms popping up in every neighborhood, an already huge and growing following, and even its own annual event to crown the Fittest Man (and Woman) Alive. 

From these CrossFit stars, Rich Froning has emerged as the biggest name in the sport, winning the CrossFit Games in 2011 and 2012. He took a moment to talk to Muscle & Fitness from his home in Cookeville, Tennessee before he left for Chile for an event to answer questions from readers. 

Muscle & Fitness: Hey Rich! How is everything? Thanks so much for doing this. We got a lot of great questions from your fans.
Rich Froning: No problem, glad to help. Going good. Getting ready to go to Chile tomorrow for BSN.

Daniel Haas asks: “How do you get started as a CrossFitter?”
Rich Froning: I had a professor show me CrossFit videos when I working on my undergrad. Tried some workouts, got hooked, built a little set up in my Dad's barn... the rest is history.

Jackie Colson asks: “How do you best get motivated for a workout?”
Rich Froning: I just really enjoy working out.

Matt Carpenter asks: “What kinds of bodybuilding, powerlifting or isolation exercises, if any, do you incorporate into your workout schedule?
Rich Froning: Olympic lifts several days a week, Powerlifting the same... but no isolation movements.

Gaddiel Pizarro asks: “Can someone still look like a bodybuilder doing CrossFit alone?”
Rich Froning: Yes! Just lift heavy stuff a lot!

Derek Angerman asks: “In your diet, how many grams of protein are you taking in on a normal day?”
Rich Froning: No clue, I don't keep track of any of that stuff.

Quinn Fogel asks: “What do you normally take for pre- and post-workout supplementation? And what types of food do you eat after finishing a workout?”
Rich Froning: No pre-workout... I take Syntha-6, Amino-X, and cell mass occasionally. I just like food, so I eat whatever

BetaNOX Ultimate Energy asks: “Rich, are you completely Paleo?”
Rich Froning: Not paleo at all.
Muscle & Fitness: Is there any dieting philosophy you abide by?
Rich Froning: No, ha, but I don't really like bread or pasta so that helps.

Alex Bourgeois asks: “What’s the hardest WOD you ever did?”
Rich Froning: "Double Helen" from the 2010 Games... or the "Rope/Sled Push Workout" from this year’s Games.

Dennis Zuccolotto asks: “Would you consider playing a pro sport? I could see you as a fullback or a mixed martial artist.”
Rich Froning: I love sports so growing up I always wanted to play professional baseball or football! MMA... I don't do well with getting shot in the face!

Marco Antonio Morales asks: “Have you ever had an injury during your training? If so, how did you power through and succeed?”
Rich Froning: I screwed up my lower back after the 2010 CrossFit Games... KStar's mobilitywod.com helped me a TON

Bogden Kotzev asks: “How do you keep your joints healthy?”
Rich Froning: By working out ha! I take fish oil but other than that I just work on efficiency and body position, which usually protects my joints pretty well

You'’re on your seventh rep of heavy benches and the bar'’s moving ever so slowly. The eighth is even slower and the ninth even more so. At 10 you have to rack it;— another rep is just not possible. You've trained to failure and you're done. But does that have to be all she wrote? Are you really at muscular failure, all fibers spent?

If you were benching 250 pounds, the failure threshold was being unable to do an 11th rep with 250—not that your pec muscles had absolutely no strength left. You could have done that 11th rep, and probably a 12th and 13th, with 200 pounds, taking you nearer to real muscular failure. Coming on top of those first 10 reps at 250, the last three reps would'’ve stressed your pecs substantially more and led to greater muscle-fiber damage. And greater muscle damage means the body'’s recovery system must adapt to meet this new level of stress by building your muscles bigger and stronger. Bottom line, if you prolong the set, you prolong the intensity, increase muscle stress and enhance muscle gains.

Here we outline three of our favorite techniques for prolonging the duration and intensity of a normal set, taking you beyond accepted failure and therefore accelerating muscle gains—forced reps, rest-pause and drop sets. Each section was compiled with the expert assistance of three top bodybuilders, giving you just what you need to implement the techniques at various times in your workout. Passing grades require complete failure—beyond "“normal' muscle failure, that is.

Close your eyes and think about all the exercises you’ve ever done. Every movement, every rep scheme, every plate loaded on the bar. Now think about mashing all of that together into a single, grimy monster of a workout. That, in essence, is a “Chipper.”

The name Chipper describes a workout that combines a lot of different movements at high volume. You complete all reps assigned for each exercise before moving on to the next. Unlike the circuits seen in a lot of CrossFit workouts, a Chipper is performed only once. The best approach is to work methodically through each exercise. If you’re not competing in the CrossFit Games themselves, there’s no need to hammer away at top speed; Chippers are brutal regardless, so pace yourself.

Assembling a great CrossFit Chipper Workout of the Day (WOD) is a creative process, and the results are often epic workouts. The 2009 CrossFit Games’ Chipper is exactly that. Dave Castro and Tony Budding programmed this gem just minutes before the equipment was set up. In my humble opinion, it’s one of the best WODs ever. The workout is a series of Olympic lifts, gymnastic movements, and classic CrossFit skills, and completing it requires a combination of skill, stamina, strength, and mental toughness. It’s no wonder this was the final workout of the 2009 CrossFit Games, as it brings together so much of what CrossFit is all about.

I'’m often asked about when and how to use belts and wraps. While there are different schools of thought on the benefits of supportive gear, let'’s attack the subject from a fresh perspective. First off, I'’ve seen people walking into the gym with their belts already fastened tight, as if they'’re about to get under the bar for their second attempt at their all-time best squat. But if they weren't outside lifting cars, then the belt should be in the bag. On the flip side, I also see guys who aren'’t using belts at all, due to either pride or a simple lack of knowledge, when it'’s clearly necessary for their safety to be wearing one (like on their second attempt at their personal best).

So where's the balance? When should you really use belts and wraps?

A FALSE POSITIVE

>> If you'’re a beginner, keep the belt and wraps in your gym bag, at least for a while. It'’s more important to focus on strengthening the target muscle as well as your abs, core, joints, ligaments and tendons. Not only that, but you need to strengthen your confidence, which is often clouded by the need to have a belt on or your knees wrapped before you think your body can handle the weight. The more you use supportive equipment when lifting submaximal weights, the more dependent on such gear youÂ’ll become, ultimately weakening your overall progress.

>> If you're an advanced lifter who'’s guilty of overusing belts and wraps, the first thing you should do (after losing the gear) is to decrease the amount of weight you'’re lifting by about 20%. In other words, if you normally deadlift 350 pounds with a belt and wraps for 10 reps, then reduce that weight by 70 pounds and train without the support. If you fail to get 10 reps or you feel vulnerable without the tools, reduce the weight even more. In fact, 20% won't be enough of a drop for some of you since you begin your entire workout all wrapped up.

For both the beginner who's new to bodybuilding and the advanced lifter who'’s trying to retrain his body, focus on this one basic aspect: proper technique with a full range of motion. You must get your body used to going through each lift without a crutch so you can strengthen your joints and overall musculature.

In other words, you want to train your body to be able to handle as much as it safely can before needing the next level of support. Then, at the appropriate time, just when your natural protective abilities would fall short, you use a belt and wraps to protect what'’s already strong. Trust me, it won'’t be long till you'’re doing reps with weight you couldn'’t, or rather wouldn't, touch without a belt or wraps.

WITH ALL THAT SAID

Don'’t burn your belt just yet, because there is a time to use supportive equipment. When our bodies are incapable of providing the necessary support structure or system, such as the intra-abdominal pressure necessary for, say, a 1RM squat, then it'’s absolutely recommended and necessary to wear a belt. Why is it okay to use gear with super-heavy weight? Because doing so is imperative for safety and success on the lift, and using it in this instance won'’t cause you to depend on it when you'’re lifting submaximal weight.

Tension can be a good thing—that is, when your girlfriend or your job aren’t the cause of it. The next time you train arms, do dumbbell preacher curls with a “crush grip”—squeeze the ends of the dumbbells together through- out each rep. Try to crush the weights between your hands. Sometimes referred to as “irradiation,” the tension the crushing motion creates engages and coordinates more muscle fibers. It activates your shoulders, chest, and upper back, which stabilize the movement.

As a result, you can handle a heavier weight while still maintaining a strict biceps curl. Start your sets with a weight that’s 50%–60% of the heaviest load you could do for 10–12 reps, just to get used to the feeling, and then gradually increase the load. To make the exercise even more advanced, hold the handles toward the outside ends.

Important: Don't allow a gap at the top or bottom; keep the weights pressed firmly together throughout the entire movement.

The way you train can affect your results. When attempting to achieve maximal growth, many people make the common mistake of increasing training volume and intensity. Instead, you should emphasize heavier movements, doing fewer reps and total sets and resting longer between sets. Include the following tips to get the most from your program:

• Emphasize heavy compound movements. These exercises -- deadlifts, bench presses, shoulder presses, squats and pull-ups -- are the most efficient for stimulating more muscle growth. Build your workouts around them.

• Keep training sessions to no more than four per week. Training every day will burn too many calories and undercut the benefits of the overfeeding day. Train four times weekly and try to complete all workouts in 60 minutes or less.

• Emphasize heavy weights in the 6 - 8 rep range. This range is best for stimulating muscle growth. Avoid high-rep sets, except for warm-ups.

• Avoid detail and finishing movements. Single-joint, isolation movements are for refining, not building muscle mass. Drop the majority of them from your routine for this two-month program, except, of course, when training arms.

• Emphasize free weights over cables and machines. Often, cable and machine moves are detail movements; most of these are not good mass-builders. Eliminate them during this program.

• Keep cardio moderate. Don't perform more than three 30-minute sessions of cardio per week and keep it leisurely. You'll still get the heart benefits, but you don't want to burn too many calories, which will undercut the effects of your overfeeding program.