Light Weight High Reps To Not Gain Size?

This has been one of the most misunderstood concepts in training. Many ( more gals than guys) think that lifting light weights for higher reps is the key to not gain size. This is completely opposite from what the science has found, if you open most strength and conditioning or exercise science text you will see that they touch on the subject of muscle growth also called hypertrophy. They all say that to add size, the muscle needed to be torn, those slight tears in the muscle will cause growth. The way that you get that growth is "time under tension" which means how long the muscle is being worked. There are 2 ways to get this tension:

1. Tempo- this has to do with the rhythm that you lift or lower a set weight. There are 3 muscle actions, concentric (shortening of muscle) , isometric (stabilization of muscle)  and eccentric (lengthening of muscle). Remember that grown comes from tearing the muscle, the eccentric or lengthening of the muscle is were the highest levels of muscle tearing happens. Which means if you extend the time that you lengthen a muscle the more growth you can see in time. For example, when performing a curl, try lifting the weight for a 2 count and than lowering it for a 8-10 count, for about 10 reps and you will see what I mean.

2. Volume- adding volume or changing the sets and reps in your workout is another way to get time under tension. This is were the statement that many believe about doing light weight for low reps gets debunked. The more volume your muscles are under the more tears will develop, which inherently will cause your body to adapt by adding muscle, which is size!! 

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Why Can’t I Touch My Toes?

Why Can’t I Touch My Toes?

Instagram: @_tobz_

Twitter: @tobygarza

In our tip of the day on Intagram we showed you a quick way to improve your tissue quality with a softball, baseball, tennis or golf ball. We said that it could help people that struggle with, plantar fasciitis, calf tightness, shin splints and foot/toe cramps. The concept behind rolling out the bottom of your foot is very similar to that of the foam roller, but on a smaller scale and it is actually affecting a different tissue. In this case you are rolling out the Fascia which is on the sole of your feet.  

What is Fascia? It is a connective tissue that is similar to tendons and ligaments but fascia actually wraps around/ covers muscles. Its function is to help with a more fluid movement during activity or when contract muscles.

               

           Fascia can get stuck and loss its ability to function in providing the fluidity that the muscles need. Which is why either foam or ball rolling is important, and considering that fascia is connected to all of your body, it is important that we get it moving and help it in any way that we can to perform its function.

                

           The question of why you can’t touch your toes can be a loaded one, yet most people either have tight muscles or restricted fascia. Try this simple exercise:

           

           Try and touch your toes: don’t bend your knees or bounce. Remember how far you were able to reach. Some of you might not touch and some might touch the floor.

Now grab a golf ball or tennis ball: roll out each of the soles of your feet. Do this for about 30 seconds each focusing on putting pressure, you can sit down and do this if the pressure of standing on it is too much.

Try and touch your toes again: in theory you should be able to go a little further. The reason being is that you are allowing the fascia on the soles of your feet to regain their function. This can happen with not only the soles of your feet but all other muscles as well.

Continuing with the concept of teaching the basics of a fitness programing, lets finish up the first section of the warm up “Form Rolling Complex” .

Movement and Mobility 12-15 min Foam Rolling Complex Exercise Time Lower Leg Calf 15 sec/ per side Thigh IT band 15 sec/ per side Adductors 15 sec/ per side Quads 15 sec/ per side Hips Hamstring/ Glute Attachment 15 sec/ per side Glutes 15 sec/ per side Thoracic Spine Thoracic Roll 30 sec Lat Roll 15sec/ per side

Just like the soles of our feet, with foam or ball rolling you can change the tissue quality in other muscles. Here is a video of the “Hips” and “Thoracic Spine”:

                

July Project – Teaching people fitness basics. 15 sec at a time!

July Project – Teaching people fitness basics. 15 sec at a time!

Instagram: @_tobz_

Twitter: @tobygarza

Now some of these concepts might not seem basic to people brand new  or even some that have been in fitness/ working out scene for quite some time,  but bear with me. By the end of the month my goal is to help you be able to set up your own workout routine. You should be able to add each new concept to your current routine fairly easy and continue to each day.

The main focus will be to help those who are new to fitness, but for my athletes/ seasoned gym goers out there, pay close attention because there are great take a ways from everything that we will be covering and I am sure you will be able to incorporate much of what will be talked about.

I will be using this site and my instagram account linked above, to drive this content. So follow me on both. 

We will cover everything from:

·         correct warm-up (flexibility, mobility, tissue quality)

·         base strength

·         base endurance (aerobic / anaerobic)

·         core

·         overall stability

·         speed

·         power

·         and more

       We will start with the Warm up which should take 10-15 minutes. We will talk about each of these concepts. Look for a short video on foam rolling later today. Sorry for the odd formatting!