Muscle Soreness

For a lot of bodybuilders, competitive athletes and guys who just like to work out, sore muscles are the marker for a “good” workout. If you’re muscles aren’t sore the next day or the day after that, then you probably didn’t work out hard enough-that’s what a lot of us have been taught to believe, anyway. But is that really true? Is it necessary for us to train hard enough so that every time we work out our muscles are sore? Let’s find out.

For years, fitness and medical experts thought that sore muscles were the result of lactic acid building up after an intense training sessions. Lactic acid is produced when you exercise or lift really intensely-when the muscles are screaming for more oxygen than what the blood can possibly deliver at that moment. Because the body can’t deliver the oxygen the muscles want, it compensates by beginning another process-one that works in the absence of oxygen. Lactic acid is a by-product of this process. And since it is an acid, it causes us to “feel the burn.”

So while on the surface it seems to make sense that lactic acid could be the culprit in causing sore muscles after an intense training session, it’s just not so. In reality, the lactic acid gets washed away from the muscles pretty quickly-it doesn’t hang around for hours or days. But, the muscle soreness we’re talking about here doesn’t show up for anywhere from as little as 8 to up to 36 hours after we train. So if can’t be lactic acid causing the soreness, what is it?

Modern science points to micro-traumas…

..as the real perpetrator that causes the post-training muscle soreness. Micro-traumas are just what they sound like: small abrasions, tears or otherwise localized damage to muscle fibers-specifically, the membranes and contractile elements. Researchers have taken biopsies of muscles suffering from training-induced micro-traumas discovering that the z-bands were bleeding, causing their function to be disrupted.

The z-bands are filaments that hold the muscle fibers together as they slide over one another while contracting. When they’re damaged and bleeding-even though it’s microscopic-the muscle fibers become swollen and of course, sore.

They’ve even found a way to evaluate just how badly the muscles have been damaged by measuring the level of creatine phosphokinase (CPK) in the bloodstream. CPK is normally found inside of the muscle fibers but the when the fibers are damaged the CPK is released into the bloodstream. The higher the level of CPK in the bloodstream, the greater the damage to the muscles, which means more soreness.

Some people say that stretching after you train can alleviate the severity of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)-which is what it’s being called these days. However, knowing what we now know about what causes the soreness, we realize that this just isn’t true. While stretching-before and after a workout-is always a good idea, it won’t do much of anything to reduce or eliminate sore muscles the following day because micro-traumas are the real source of the pain, not lactic acid.

So is muscle soreness necessary? The answer is that to some degree yes, it is needed. It’s the stress or trauma that comes from lifting hard and heavy that causes our muscles to grow and become stronger. If you never train to the point where your muscles are sore the next day then the truth is, you’re not training hard enough-and you’re not seeing the results you’d probably like to see. On the other hand, ignoring the soreness and forging blindly ahead training “through the pain” is not the answer either. If you don’t pay attention to what your body is saying, you’ll pay the price sooner or later and wind up injuring yourself-possibly very seriously.

The secret to managing the soreness is two-fold:

1) increase your workload gradually. Don’t try and show off by making huge leaps in the amount of weight you’re lifting-give your muscles time to adapt.

2) Allow your body plenty of time to rest and recover between training sessions. Remember, the rest and recovery part of bodybuilding is equally as important as the lifting weights part. It’s during this process that you’re muscles are actually growing-not when you’re working out.

So while it shouldn’t really be your goal to completely eliminate training-induced muscle soreness it is important to know that you can manage it and minimize its impact on your body and your training routine.

Mike Westerdal is the President of Critical Bench, Inc. He earned his BS from Central CT State University and holds certification as a personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise. Westerdal also has experience coaching and playing professional football. His articles are published throughout the Web and in numerous weight lifting magazines. His personal best RAW bench press is 450 lbs. Mike can be contacted at his Web site www.criticalbench.com or by emailing mike@criticalbench.com. For more information on increasing your bench press read about the Critical Bench Program here.

Which Type Of Muscle Fiber Do You Have

All muscle is not created equal. It’s not something most people give much thought to, but if you’re really serious about gaining lean mass, you should. A little knowledge about the different muscle fiber types can go a long way in helping to improve your gains in both size and strength.

First, there are three different types of muscle fiber in our bodies: Type I, Type IIa and Type IIb. Each of these reacts to the “stress” of weight training or exercise differently. The type I fiber is known as a slow-twitch (ST) fiber, meaning that it contracts slowly. Slow-twitch fibers also have a high resistance to fatigue. Both of the type II fibers are fast-twitch fibers (FT-A and FT-B), meaning that they have a quicker contraction time than type I fibers. But unlike type I fibers, they have a low resistance to fatigue.

So what does all this mean and how is it going to help you? The specific combination of muscle fiber types that make up individual muscles determines how each person adapts to weight training. That’s why it’s easier for some guys to gain muscle than others. Guys who are high in slow-twitch fibers and lower in both the fast-twitch fibers tend to be your long-distance runners and swimmers. That’s because of slow-twitch fibers’ high resistance to fatigue-they’re ideally suited for long-term aerobic activities.

Conversely, guys who are high in fast-twitch fibers and lower in slow-twitch fibers would find it very difficult to run a marathon. These are the guys who are better suited to weight training. The body’s composition of fast-twitch A and fast-twitch b fibers will impact the particular type of weight training activities that are the best match for each person. Fast-twitch B fibers produce more power than fast-twitch A and slow-twitch fibers. But, they are also highly sensitive to fatigue so they’re recruited when doing explosive movements that aren’t sustained for long periods. Fast-twitch A fibers produce more power than slow-twitch fibers but nothing like fast-twitch B-some people refer these fibers as a “hybrid,” because they’ve got characteristics of both.

A Test To Determine What Types Of Fibers Make Up Your Muscle Composition

Unfortunately, the only definitive way to determine exactly what types of fibers make up your muscle composition is with an invasive biopsy. However, there is a way to indirectly get an idea about the fiber composition of your muscles. First, you need to establish your one-rep max (the most weight you can lift for one complete rep). Then, drop the weight down to 80% of your one-rep max and determine how many reps you can do. If you can do more than 12, then you’re composition is made up of more than 50% slow-twitch fibers. If you can do less than 7 reps, then your muscle group is likely composed of more than 50% fast-twitch fibers. If you hit somewhere between 7-12 reps, then it’s probably an equal split between the two.

The specific combinations of muscle fiber types found in each person are determined by genetics. These are things we can’t change about ourselves. What can be done though is that you can tailor your training to focus on developing particular types of muscle fibers-regardless of your combination. Training can not change a muscle fiber from one type to another but it can increase the amount of space a fiber type takes up in a muscle group.

For example, a guy who is high in slow-twitch fibers and low in both fast-twitch types can mix in some high intensity weight training (heavier weights, lower reps) to focus on developing the fast-twitch B fibers. When you train with heavy weights, you recruit-and develop-the fast-twitch B fibers. Exactly how much weight you lift and how many reps you do will be determined by whether your focus is on increasing strength or gaining size.

Similarly, someone who is highest in fast-twitch B fibers can develop his slow-twitch fibers somewhat by mixing in some extended periods of cardio. Weight training with a low or moderate intensity (lighter weights/higher reps) recruits almost entirely fast-twitch A fibers. These are the exercises and fibers that you focus on when your goal is to tone up your body, not go for big gains in size or strength.

In closing, this basic understanding of the different muscle fiber types combined with a little bit of self-knowledge about your particular combination can help you tailor a training routine that emphasizes your natural abilities while also enabling you to develop your other attributes, making for a well-rounded routine that will help you to achieve your specific goals.

Mike Westerdal is the President of Critical Bench, Inc. He earned his BS from Central CT State University and holds certification as a personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise. Westerdal also has experience coaching and playing professional football. His articles are published throughout the Web and in numerous weight lifting magazines. His personal best RAW bench press is 450 lbs. Mike can be contacted at his Web site www.criticalbench.com or by emailing mike@criticalbench.com. For more information on increasing your bench press read about the Critical Bench Program here.

Old Man Strength

You know, going to the gym and working out isn’t the only way to get strong. There’s actually a huge difference between being gym strong versus real-life strong. It’s completely possible to be in good shape and strong-and I mean really strong-without ever having stepped inside a gym.

How is this possible? Are these guys just genetic freaks? Let me tell you that it is possible and no, you do not have to be a genetic anomaly to be in great shape and what I like to call “real-life strong.”

My own dad is a great example of a guy who is really strong but yet he’s never worked out a day in his life. He did however, do a lot of manual labor. He was always working on things outside in the yard, building stuff, working with wood or any number of other things. On the flip side is me-I have been working out since I was in high school in Connecticut.

I really started to get serious about training when I finally started growing and getting stronger. By the time I hit my senior year and was playing football I was able to bench 275 pounds and was really proud of myself.

It all got put into perspective though one day when my dad needed my help to get rid of some large rocks sticking out of the grass. The area where we lived in Connecticut was kind of mountainous with these huge rocks just about everywhere. Around our yard, they seemed to even multiply so every now and then we’d have to dig them up and haul them away in a wheelbarrow.

One year, my dad wanted to get rid of some especially big rocks on the property so we got to work digging.

Once the dirt was removed I went in to move the boulders. Knowing how strong I had been getting I figured I could take care of the bulk of it by myself. I was shocked though to find out that I could hardly even budge them. But my dad-the guy who had never worked out a day in his life-was able to move them all by himself.

I was shocked. I could not believe that this “old man,” who I knew I could beat on any machine in the weight room, was still “stronger” than me when it came to real life. I started to refer to it as “old man strength.”

Today, I’m older, a bit wiser and I realize that my dad hadn’t developed “old man strength” but he had actually developed “hybrid strength” without even trying. Those activities that he did around the house just about every day gave him a physical edge that is very difficult to duplicate in a gym.

Most ordinary training routines isolate individual muscles, which is not how our bodies are really designed to work. The kinds of things my dad did though recruited multiple muscle groups simultaneously and even more important-would have required both strength and endurance, just like a hybrid workout.

And what he did in the process of doing these activities was to develop hybrid type III muscles, which is really the “optimal” muscle fiber because not only does it produce strength, but it’s also able to sustain that strength for extended periods. Ordinary type I or type II fibers just can’t do that-they basically sit at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Typical gym workouts focus on developing the type I, type IIa and type IIb fibers-not developing hybrid muscle. And because my dad was developing type III muscle fibers, he had a lot more real life strength than I did. Sure I could have beat the snot out of him at the gym, but in the real world, there was no competition-I was licked.

Of course my dad isn’t the only example of someone who either by accident or by design, was engaging in hybrid muscle training and in the process, developing hybrid type III muscle.

The movie Rocky IV provides another great example of the superiority of real world strength versus gym strength. In the movie, Rocky trains in the mountains focusing on building his real world strength-in reality doing hybrid workouts and developing hybrid type III muscle.

Conversely, the Russian guy trains in this futuristic high-tech gym using scientifically-designed treadmills and exercise equipment. Yeah, the guy looked pretty muscular but when it came time to fight, his gym-engineered muscles were no match for the real-world strength of Rocky.

So you see, although science has tried to come up with all sorts of interesting ways for guys to get bigger, stronger and leaner, when it comes down to actual results, basic functionality and real-world strength still triumph every time.

Mike Westerdal is the President of Critical Bench, Inc. He earned his BS from Central CT State University and holds certification as a personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise. Westerdal also has experience coaching and playing professional football. His articles are published throughout the Web and in numerous weight lifting magazines. His personal best RAW bench press is 450 lbs. Mike can be contacted at his Web site www.criticalbench.com or by emailing mike@criticalbench.com. For more information on increasing your bench press read about the Critical Bench Program here.

Looking To Get A Big Bench Press

Then you’re probably determined to get one. It’s that same determination that will be your struggle. The more you want it, the harder you want to work and the longer you want to stay in the gym. This is going to lead to overtraining which will stunt any strength gains you’ve made and delay any dreams of an even bigger bench.

How do you know if you’re at risk of overtraining? If you feel run down after a workout, notice that you aren’t making any gains, you always do forced reps, you’re not getting enough rest, your diet stinks, you have a bad attitude or you aren’t motivated you’re probably overtraining. Insomnia is another big sign. Put it this way, if a weight continually feels heavier than normal, chances are you haven’t gotten weaker, you just haven’t recovered from previous workouts.

There are three distinct stages of metabolism. The first is a state of equilibrium easily described as the fully recovered state where energy is neither being depleted and tissue is not being damaged or repaired. The second stage is catabolism. Catabolism is the stage you are in during a workout. Energy is being depleted and muscle tissue is being damaged. Your goals should be to keep catabolism in the gym, but many people that overtrain keep this stage going long after their workouts end and lose hard-earned muscle tissue to help the recovery. Finally the stage that usually doesn’t get much of a chance to kick in before we’re back in the gym for another session. The third stage is anabolism where energy is restored and tissue damage is being repaired. So after you lift you want to heal and reach a state of homeostasis,but instead many of us are back in the gym tearing our muscles and using energy when we haven’t even let the muscle fully recover from the previous workout. Never lift a muscle group that is still sore. I know it’s difficult but sometimes more isn’t better.

There is always the urge to overtrain thinking that if we just work harder the gains will come. How do we resist the urge? First off lets think, quality not quantity. If you lift each muscle group only once a week and spend less than 1 hr in the gym you’re on the right path. Although you don’t have to spend a lot of time in the gym the time spent must be intense. Every single exercise and rep should be performed with a passion and you will accomplish more in 45 minutes than most people do in two hours. If you are truly pushing yourself you should be exhausted at the end of the workout. After tearing your body apart, do you think it’s going to be ready to do it again in two to three days? I think not, try at least a week.

So all you benchers out there if you’re lifting heavy, workout after workout make sure that the reason you hit a plateau is not that you are trying too often. Let your body recover, heal, and grow before you start ripping it up again. When you hit each body part several times a week you don’t really try as hard because you know you’ll get another shot at it in a week. When you only lift each body part once per week you develop a sense of urgency. You know you better lift hard because you won’t get another chance to train it again for a week. Then as the week passes by you find yourself looking forward to your next chest day. Anyone that thinks they might be overtraining take a couple of days off and go back to the gym revived and motivated with the determination to train smarter and harder.

Mike Westerdal is the President of Critical Bench, Inc. He earned his BS from Central CT State University and holds certification as a personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise. Westerdal also has experience coaching and playing professional football. His articles are published throughout the Web and in numerous weight lifting magazines. His personal best RAW bench press is 450 lbs. Mike can be contacted at his Web site www.criticalbench.com or by emailing mike@criticalbench.com. For more information on increasing your bench press read about the Critical Bench Program here.

Rep Speed Verses Tempos

Weight training is a lot more complex than what most non-athletes could ever imagine. Any guy can walk into a gym, pick up a dumbbell or a barbell and start lifting but chances are, he’s not going to get the results he wants and even more likely-he’s going to injure himself and not be able to train at all. Weight training is a combination of art, science, skill and self-knowledge. What is important is that you lift a weight that challenges your muscles-don’t worry about what other guys are lifting-and that you focus on proper form. And an important part of proper form is the speed or tempo at which you perform your reps.

Lots of guys lift weights but not many of them do it right. That’s a big part of the reason that you see almost as many out of shape guys inside the gym as you do outside of the gym. Just picking up a weight without giving any thought to technique, form and the lift speed can hamper your results more than you think. Knowing the proper tempo for the exercise you’re doing and what you want to achieve from it can not only boost your gains, but prevent injuries too.

Before starting, you need to get this basic fundamental rule down: any lifting movement-whether it’s fast or slow-must be done properly. Movements always need to be controlled, using an appropriate weight and the proper form. Movements should never be jerky or uncontrolled-that’s how serious injuries occur. It’s also important to note that it isn’t a “fast” versus “slow” situation where one is better than the other. Both are great-which one you use depends on what you want to achieve.

Lifting the weight is the concentric part of the rep-aka the “positive.” Lowering the weight is the eccentric part of the rep-the “negative.” The faster you lift on the positive, the lower the muscle tension. Faster, explosive lifts on the positive enable you to lift more weight-but, you also sacrifice size. Increases in strength-not size-stem from faster positives.

This is why you often see Olympic powerlifters who are incredibly strong, but not all that big.

Increases in size stem from high tension lifts-slower, controlled reps. High muscle tension achieved through slower positive lifts, combined with progressive overload is what leads to gains in muscle size. Progressive overload means increasing the weight, upping the number of reps (up to a max of about 12) or decreasing the rest time between sets. It’s important to note that going really slow isn’t going to result in exponential muscle growth though. The trick is to find the right tempo for your particular goals.

For example, if your goal is to increase muscle size…

a good rule of thumb is 2-3 seconds for the concentric contraction (lift) and 2-4 seconds for the eccentric contraction (lowering the weight). For a lot of exercises, it’s generally a good idea to lower the weight a bit slower than the lift. The concentric contraction is where your muscles are doing all the work. The eccentric contraction is the part where your muscles face resistance. The resistance phase is important because it increases the flow of blood to the muscles. And more blood flow means more nutrients are getting to the muscles, which helps them get bigger and stronger.

Pauses also have an impact on the tempo of the workout.

For each exercise that you perform there can be two pauses: one after the concentric contraction and another after the eccentric contraction. When you’re doing some exercises such as seated leg extensions, calf raises, bicep curls and others, you can benefit from a 1-2 second “pause and squeeze” to provide an extra bit of tension and help pump up your gains. The pause after the eccentric contraction is generally the “rest period” between contractions so that’s usually kept to a minimum-like zero in most cases.

You’ll often see tempos represented by a series of 3 or 4 numbers. In the 3-point expression, the first point is the eccentric contraction, the second point is the pause and the third point is the concentric contraction. In a 4-point expression, the last number is the resting pause.

If you haven’t been giving your rep speed much thought, you can see why you should. Putting this planning effort into your routine can definitely lead to better results.

Mike Westerdal is the President of Critical Bench, Inc. He earned his BS from Central CT State University and holds certification as a personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise. Westerdal also has experience coaching and playing professional football. His articles are published throughout the Web and in numerous weight lifting magazines. His personal best RAW bench press is 450 lbs. Mike can be contacted at his Web site www.criticalbench.com or by emailing mike@criticalbench.com. For more information on increasing your bench press read about the Critical Bench Program here.

Side Effects On Steroid Use

The use of anabolic steroids is on the rise and suggests that the outcome of many sporting events may not have been a natural occurrence. Instead, some of the players may have been using steroids to gain muscle mass, run faster, hit the ball harder, or have more energy and stamina to play the game. Using anabolic steroids is illegal and, even more frightening, very dangerous due to the many side effects these drugs can produce. Anabolic steroids are very similar to the true hormones produced by the body, namely testosterone. Just like abnormal hormone levels in someone who does not use steroids can be troublesome, the side effects of the anabolic steroids can be dangerous and even lethal.

One of the body systems that can suffer the most from the abuse of anabolic steroids is the cardiovascular system. This system is responsible for keeping your heart beating and pumping blood to all of the organs and tissues of the body. When someone uses anabolic steroids, it can have a major affect on this important system. One side effect is an increased heart rate or heart palpitations. This increased or irregular heart rate is not good for the body. The use of anabolic steroids can also cause hypertension, which is dangerous because it can cause damage to the blood vessels in the body because the heart and vessels are pumping blood faster than they should be.

The urinary-genital system also suffers when someone takes anabolic steroids, particularly when make take these substances. Users can experience painful urination, frequent urination, and a number of other urinary systems. Overuse of anabolic steroids can also cause testicular shrinkage, leading to fertility and impotence issues that may create problems between a husband and wife. The kidneys can also suffer from steroid use, as the kidneys are the filtering center of the body. Putting any foreign substance into the bloodstream creates additional strain on the kidneys as they try to clear the bloodstream of these perceived poisons.

Steroid users can suffer many side effects on the digestive system from the use of anabolic steroids. This is because the blood circulates throughout the body and takes the steroids through the entire body, not just one particular organ. People who use steroids can experience frequent nausea that leads to vomiting. Liver damage can also occur, leading to pain and other symptoms associated with liver damage. One of these symptoms is jaundice, a yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes.

The psychological effects of steroids are perhaps the strongest and most frightening. Since testosterone is linked with aggression, people using steroids often have difficulty controlling their anger and irritability. If the use of steroids is prolonged, these individuals can develop symptoms of mental disease including hearing voices, seeing things that don’t exist, and becoming extremely paranoid. Understanding the many side effects caused by steroid use can go a long way toward discouraging both professional athletes and regular individuals from using these dangerous substances. This will take a lot of research and education on the subject, but would be worthwhile if it resulted I a reduction in steroid use.

Mike Westerdal is the President of Critical Bench, Inc. He earned his BS from Central CT State University and holds certification as a personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise. Westerdal also has experience coaching and playing professional football. His articles are published throughout the Web and in numerous weight lifting magazines. His personal best RAW bench press is 450 lbs. Mike can be contacted at his Web site www.criticalbench.com or by emailing mike@criticalbench.com. For more information on increasing your bench press read about the Critical Bench Program here.

The CrossFit Craze

Throughout any given day we might find ourselves doing all sorts of different physical activities-each requiring different muscles and diverse combinations of skill sets. Cross-fitness was born out of this idea. It means to train across multiple disciplines that develop different skills such as strength, agility, speed and endurance. While modern cross-fitness was popularized by guys in the military and law enforcement, its roots can probably be traced way back to the days of the Spartans in ancient Greece.

It has even spawned its own “underground” fitness craze known as CrossFit. In 2002, a guy named Greg Glassman in Santa Cruz California built a website that he used to measure the efficiency of his workouts. From there, it just took off. Today CrossFit is used by law enforcement, public safety, and military personnel as well as thousands of competitive athletes, elite athletes, martial arts practitioners and lots more from around the globe.

Why has CrossFit become so popular?

One reason is that people are becoming more knowledgeable about overall fitness, realizing that a one-dimensional approach can be limiting. For example, just because a guy lifts weight and maybe looks really buff, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he is really all that strong-big muscles aren’t always powerful muscles. It also doesn’t mean that he’s particularly athletic and could compete in a competition that requires strength, agility or endurance.

Strongman competitions are an excellent illustration of what I’m talking about. These guys are not only big-they’re also strong, agile and have endurance too. A typical competition might require them to toss kegs in the air, carry up to 300 lbs in each hand across a distance as fast as they can or they might even have to drag a semi-truck across a field. Qualifying and winning these competitions requires competitors to focus on developing multiple, diverse skill sets at the same time.

So what exactly does a CrossFit work-out entail? First off, there are a lot of different exercises from which to choose. A typical training session might blend power lifting, gymnastics and sprinting. Exercises are done using free weights, kettlebells, body weight exercises and more. The exercises are done hard and they’re done fast with little or no rest in between sets.

Here is a very basic beginner’s CrossFit routine:

A 400-meter Jog/run;

Deadlift;

Push-press; and

Squat

This is a five-day-a-week routine that can be completed in less than 30 minutes. On day one you jog/run and do deadlifts; the next day it’s just the jog/run; day three is jog/run and push-press; day 4 is jog/run and day 5 is jog/run and squat. You improve your capacity by running faster and gradually increasing your weights each week. As you improve you can move up to more advanced routines that include more difficult and more complex exercises.

CrossFit can be done at they gym, in the park or at home-it doesn’t require fancy high-tech equipment. In fact, the routine above only requires two pieces of equipment: an Olympic bar and some plates. Overall, CrossFit exercises are designed to easy-to-learn and able to be mastered by persons of any skill or competency level. Overall there are ten domains where CrossFit athletes strive for proficiency: stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, coordination, and accuracy.

And that’s why CrossFit has long been a staple among military, law enforcement and public safety personnel. These people need to be prepared for anything. At any given time they might have to scale a wall, chase down, tackle and subdue a suspect or enemy, carry a person to safety, clear debris to rescue a trapped victim or find themselves in any other number of situations requiring a great deal of physical prowess and skill. So in order to do their jobs right, they need to use multi-disciplinary strategies-a one dimensional approach just won’t do.

In the seven years since it was founded, CrossFit has come a long way.

Nowadays CrossFit trainers can even get certified. Currently, there are two levels of certification: Fundamentals and Virtuosity. The Fundamentals course focuses on methods, concepts and movements. Level II certification-Virtuosity-enables you to teach CrossFit to others. Training seminars are held year-round across the country and around the globe. Each certification costs about $1,000.

So if you’re looking for something different, are interested in developing multiple skill sets, really want to get into all-around good shape and are sure that you’re up to the challenge, you might want to give CrossFit a try.

Mike Westerdal is the President of Critical Bench, Inc. He earned his BS from Central CT State University and holds certification as a personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise. Westerdal also has experience coaching and playing professional football. His articles are published throughout the Web and in numerous weight lifting magazines. His personal best RAW bench press is 450 lbs. Mike can be contacted at his Web site www.criticalbench.com or by emailing mike@criticalbench.com. For more information on increasing your bench press read about the Critical Bench Program here.

Statistics On Anabolic Steroids For Students

Steroid use has become an increasingly frustrating problem for those in the professional sports industry with admissions by major players that steroid use was involved in their lives. Even more frightening than the widespread abuse of steroids by professional sports players is the alarming number of teenagers and young athletes using steroids with the belief that they will help them become faster, stronger, or better at performing in athletic competitions. People have taken steroids for football, baseball, swimming, wrestling, weight lifting, running, and other sports. When the statistics are reviewed, they show that steroid use is increasing in this age group, which can have serious consequences.

A study that was conducted from 1999 to 2001 shows that steroid use among teenagers has been on the rise and gives statistics that support that assumption. In 1999, 2.7% of tenth grade students report having used steroids at least one time in their lives, while 2.9% of twelfth grade students reported steroid use. The survey was repeated in 2001 and showed that the incidence of steroid use had increased. Tenth grade students reported a 3.5% incidence rate of steroid use, while the use of steroids by twelfth-graders increased to 4%. The same study surveyed the sample of students and asked how frequently their steroid use occurred. In the tenth grade group, 1.0% had used steroids within the month preceding the survey and 2.2% had used steroids within a year preceding the survey. The twelfth grade group showed increased use with 1.4% using in the month prior to the survey and 2.5% using in the year prior to the survey.

This same study shows that gender, race, and cultural beliefs highly impact the decision of whether or not to use steroids. The research shows that Caucasian students are more likely to use steroids than African Americans, Hispanics, or those of other races. Gender also plays a key role in determining who will develop an addiction to steroids or use them at least once. Men use steroids overwhelmingly more than women. In this case, the pressures of the gender may contribute to the development of this type of addiction. Most women are encouraged to be pretty or thin, but men are expected to be masculine, strong, and physically fit. Many fathers encourage their sons to participate in athletics, leading their sons to believe that top performance is a must. These young men then turn to steroids to help them build muscle mass, run faster, hit the ball harder, or have more energy and stamina.

The use of anabolic steroids and steroidal supplements is certainly an issue for student athletes. The best way to reduce the incidence of steroid use is to emphasize natural methods of bulking up and performing better such as cardiovascular exercise, weight bearing exercises, and a healthy diet. With this type of positive encouragement, students may feel less pressure to perform well and avoid using steroids as a means of performance enhancement.

Mike Westerdal is the President of Critical Bench, Inc. He earned his BS from Central CT State University and holds certification as a personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise. Westerdal also has experience coaching and playing professional football. His articles are published throughout the Web and in numerous weight lifting magazines. His personal best RAW bench press is 450 lbs. Mike can be contacted at his Web site www.criticalbench.com or by emailing mike@criticalbench.com. For more information on increasing your bench press read about the Critical Bench Program here.

Rep Ranges

The debate about rep ranges has probably been going on since about the time the ancient Greeks first starting training with dumbbells a couple of thousand years ago. And even after all this time, the questions remain the same: What is the best rep range to build mass? To tone muscles? To gain strength? How many reps should I be doing if my goal is just general conditioning? And yes, even though the right answers have never changed, in gyms around the globe, the debate rages on.

First, you should remember that muscle building, toning and conditioning are all based on science-there’s not much to debate. There is some “fine-tuning” you can do to refine or improve your results but the underlying principles-and the results they produce-are always going to be the same. Our muscles-and everything that goes along with their function and growth-respond in predictable ways to different types of stress (lifting weights).

Although there will be some variations from one person to another due to genetics, physical condition, age, nutrition, supplementation, etc., the basic muscular response to the stress is not going to vary much from person to person. In its most basic form, muscle growth and gains in strength or condition are the result of the body’s efforts to “overcompensate” for the stress of lifting weights. It’s the how of the body’s response that we’re concerned with because we can modify that response based on the rep range/weight that we’re lifting.

To keep things simple I’ll break the rep ranges down into four categories: low-reps/high weight, medium-reps/somewhat high weight, normal reps/normal weight and high reps/low weight. Each of these causes a different, but consistent response to the stress of lifting the weights.

When training with high weight-from 80-100% of your one rep max-and low reps-from one to five-the muscular response is almost entirely neural. What that essentially means is that by doing high weight/ low-reps, you increase your capacity to recruit more muscle fibers-which makes you stronger-but your muscles are not necessarily going to get a lot bigger. So if your goal is to simply get stronger, then this is what you want to do.

If you reduce the weight a bit-to 75-85% of your one-rep max-and increase the number of reps to 6-8, the body responds to this stress differently. Here, the response is both neurological and metabolic. This means that you’ll not only realize gains in strength, but also in size as well (hypertrophy). At this level, the response is still more neural than metabolic so your strength gains can be sizeable.

Now if you reduce the weight even a bit more-down to 70-75% of your one rep max-and then bump the number of reps up to 9-12, the body’s response will be mostly metabolic and somewhat neural. This is the ideal scenario for maximum size gains. You’ll gain in strength too-but the increases won’t be as pronounced as in other two categories I just described.

Finally, we come to low weight/high reps. Here, you’re lifting from 60-70% of your one-rep max but doing anywhere from 13-20 reps. The response to this type of lifting is almost entirely metabolic. And because it’s almost entirely metabolic you’ll realize gains in endurance, you’ll get a little bigger (but not much) and you’ll realize some gains in strength-but again, not much.

So there you have the four basic rules about rep ranges. And the thing to remember about this is that these are rules, not ideas or theories. Like I mentioned before, there will be some variation from person-to-person but the underlying response will also be the same. What you do is going to depend on your goals and what you hope to achieve.

Now regardless of which of these you choose, eventually we all hit a point of diminishing returns-what we call a plateau. All is going along well but then the gains stop. The most effective way to get past that is not by trying to “push” through it but by surprising the body and mix in something new that will cause a different reaction. So for example, if you’re lifting all heavy weights/low reps, every once in a while mix in some lower weight/high rep exercises to extract a different response from your body. By doing so, you’ll keep your body from getting accustomed to the same old routine and keep seeing the gains you want to see.

Mike Westerdal is the President of Critical Bench, Inc. He earned his BS from Central CT State University and holds certification as a personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise. Westerdal also has experience coaching and playing professional football. His articles are published throughout the Web and in numerous weight lifting magazines. His personal best RAW bench press is 450 lbs. Mike can be contacted at his Web site www.criticalbench.com or by emailing mike@criticalbench.com. For more information on increasing your bench press read about the Critical Bench Program here.

ART Therapy

At some point or another just about every bodybuilder and athlete on the planet is bound injure himself. Luckily, for most of us they’re usually minor and don’t result in anything more than a slight inconvenience for a few days. Sometimes though-especially if you’re a powerlifter, strongman or competitive athlete-they can stretch on for weeks or months and even bring your training to halt. Some strength athletes though, have found lasting relief for formerly debilitating injuries through a technique known as Active Release Techniques (ART).

ART is a soft-tissue chiropractic technique that specifically targets the injured area. Feedback on ART has so far been very positive. Because of the way it’s administered some people might say that ART therapy is a “massage,” but make no mistake-it’s not. ART therapy is a movement-based technique that is actually patented. It was developed in the early- to mid-nineties by a Colorado Chiropractor P. Michael Leahy, DC, CCSP. He developed the technique after observing that his patients’ symptoms were apparently related to changes in the soft tissue that he could actually feel with his hand.

Based on that observation he began tracking how the soft tissues (muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments and nerves) responded to different types of treatments (soft tissue work). From there he developed the ART program-which is made up of more than 500 different specific moves to treat problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves, back pain, shoulder pain, sciatica, knee problems, tennis elbow and more. Nearly all of these are pains that can be common among strength athletes like strongmen, powerlifters and other competitive athletes.

A lot of these problems are caused by soft tissue injuries that usually occur in one of two ways: acute conditions (pulls, tears, strains, etc.); or accumulation of small tears caused by doing the same movement over and over (micro-trauma). When these things happen, they can cause the body to produce dense scar tissue in the areas affected. The scar tissue builds up and as it does, the impact it has becomes more widespread. As a result, we suffer from a reduced range of motion, a loss of strength and of course, pain.

When these kinds of injuries occur in a strength athlete-especially one who is competing-it can be devastating because our tendency is to “work through the pain.” But what happens then is we overcompensate because of the pain and wind up not only exacerbating the original injury but often times, we end up with more than we had in the beginning.

So in these kinds of circumstances, ART therapy can be ideal for the strength athlete. It starts with a comprehensive evaluation by a certified therapist. The evaluation takes about an hour. Its purpose is to pinpoint the injury, determine its severity and then establish the proper therapeutic regimen. ART therapy works by treating the abnormal tissues (scar tissue) by combining precisely-directed tension combined with very specific movements from the patient. The big benefit here is that the treatments can generally alleviate the problem after just a few visits. That means no lengthy down times.

I’ve read about all kinds of strength athletes-powerlifters and strongmen included, that have had tremendous success alleviating persistent, chronic pains with ART therapy. And in the majority of cases that I’ve seen, the treatment time has been relatively short-from two to six weeks. After that, they’ve jumped right back into competition-pain free.

There have been several scientific studies conducted to determine how effective ART therapy actually is in treating injuries relating to the overuse of muscles. Nearly all of the studies show that ART therapy can be very effective in treating these types of injuries. One study conducted at the University of California (San Diego) showed a 71% success rate. Other studies obtained similar results with rates of success ranging from 70% to more than 90%. In these studies, most participants said that the problem was eliminated after 3 to 7 sessions.

Now obviously, a therapy like this is not going to be 100% successful for every person who tries it. Some injuries are more severe than others, are related to other problems or issues, or for some other reason it just doesn’t work. But, with research showing that in more than 70% of the cases studied, ART therapy effectively eliminated the problem and enabled these athletes to get back to training, I’d say that this is one technique that is definitely worth investigating if you’ve got an injury that is holding you back.

Mike Westerdal is the President of Critical Bench, Inc. He earned his BS from Central CT State University and holds certification as a personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise. Westerdal also has experience coaching and playing professional football. His articles are published throughout the Web and in numerous weight lifting magazines. His personal best RAW bench press is 450 lbs. Mike can be contacted at his Web site www.criticalbench.com or by emailing mike@criticalbench.com. For more information on increasing your bench press read about the Critical Bench Program here.