Starting Out - A Brief Overview

“The PIT”

For those that are reading this and are not familiar with the Muscle Pit, basically we are a training facility that focuses on strength development & sports conditioning.

That said we work with a mixture of both athletes and a few “athletes in disguise” to help them achieve their fitness goals.

The members themselves come from an array of backgrounds and professions ranging from Business Owners, Accountants, Doorman, Primary Care Givers, Students & one or two that are unemployed by choice. (After all you wouldn’t want work to get in the way of your training right?) Regardless, the common ground between all of our members is they all physically want to improve themselves and push their limits. The interpretation of this will vary from person to person, as some will put more emphasis on maximal strength opposed to strength endurance or explosive strength, however when it’s broken down to brass tacks they all want to be bigger, leaner, faster & stronger.

Starting Out

Often the first question a new member of our crew will ask is “What training program should I use?”

In my opinion before a training program or template is discussed your first concern should be technique. If you have the right leverages in place you will lift more - if not right away… eventually. Good technique also makes it easier to spot and correct any weakness in your strength chain.

Secondly the foundations of any quality training program should incorporate the big 3: Squat, Bench and Deadlift. Each of these compound movements work two or more body parts at a time, making them all great for strength and muscle development, while increasing your metabolism.

Next set a goal; know what you want to get out of your training. Make sure the goals are achievable at a stretch. It is more motivating to accomplish than trying to commit to something you haven’t got a hope in Halley’s of achieving in the next 100 years. From my experience, I’ve found it best to set a yearly goal and then break it down into mini goals over 12 week cycles.

Once the goal is set, formulate a strategy (plan) and record every workout including how you felt during each work-out. This information is invaluable as it will allow you to tweak future programs as you discover what has worked and what hasn’t.

Training Programmes

With the advent of the web there is a ton of diverse information & hybrid versions of various training methods, programmes & exercises easily accessible – so how do you cut through all the crap to decipher what is best for you?
A good place to start is to look at those with the same objectives as you that are accomplishing their goals. Look at the numbers these people are posting. If their numbers are good and they train at different facilities around the world, it would suggest that you are on to something.

At Muscle Pit the majority of us train to a “Westside” philosophy, however we have a few that train differing variations of this style… and all are progressing nicely.

This has led me to the conclusion it is far more important to get under the bar, and as Nike say “Just do it”, than to get bogged down rummaging through countless encyclopedias of training information to the point you develop “analysis paralysis”.

80% of what you will learn about training and yourself will come from time spent under the bar.
If the training programme & selection of exercises you use are delivering the gains, stay with it. Do not swap training programs every two minutes because someone broke a record last week using a different training method to you. Just add it to your tool box for that rainy day when your gains start to stall. Remember it takes time to develop strength, so give the programme a chance – it is not an overnight thing.

Exercise Selection

As for the exercises themselves, the main thing to know here is when lifting maximal weight you need to change or vary the movement at least every three weeks. It is well documented by many of the leading strength coaches that your nervous system adapts to any form of repetitive workload after 3 weeks, which means after 3 weeks your progress will go backwards. So if you Bench on a Monday look for variations of the movement. I.E Benching off Boards, Benching with Bands & Chains, Floor Press, Reverse Bands, Rack Lock-outs, Bench with Weight Releases etc… keep the body guessing.

From practical experience I have found I get better results by changing the exercises I max out on weekly. For me this keeps training more interesting and my mind set fresh. Each Max work out gives you an opportunity to hit a new P.R on a different exercise weekly.

Summary

Remember no matter how many training books and articles you read or Youtube downloads you watch you will never understand or harness the full impact of the lessons being taught unless you are constantly grappling with the iron in the field of battle.

Answer me this, do you think you can become a great fighter just by reading about fighting?

No… well it’s no different here… The bottom line is the training programme is not as important as the training itself and all training templates will work to some degree. The efficency and rate of return from each will depend on where your level is at before embarking on it.

Cheers...

Cardio for Fat Lose??... What a Crock

If you are a women that has been training your butt off - and its still there, or you are about to embark on that endless quest for a new body in time for next summer (again), put down your latte & muffin and sit up. I’m going to give you the big heads up on burning fat that you won’t find talked about in any edition of Cosmo or Muscle & Fiction.

Ladies when it comes to burning fat … “Heavy weight training will beat cardio hands down”

If you want to look like the goddess sprawled across the cover of Cleo or one of those girls your man salivates over that is entrenched in his "wank bank".... train like a man!!

Simplifying it down even further; get off the tread mill, stepper and out of the aerobic classes & start lifting some free weights that actually challenges you when you lift.

One of many miss-beliefs that have been shaped by the health industry is that women should primarily spend their time on cardio activities and lift ‘light weights’ to strip fat and reshape saggy arms & wobbly bums.

I hear you regular work out girls saying “I’m exhausted when I’m finished, I’m sweating profusely (or glowing for the more refined reader)” But let’s be honest has your body morphed to where you want it to be? Have you noticed no one around you has changed either or those that temporarily did because they starved themselves are right back to their original starting point with out getting that toned look?

Sure cardio has its place (thou interval training is far more effective as a fat burner & cardio conditioner), but in the war against fat the most effective way to speed up the metabolism is to lift heavy weights that hit the central nervous system. This will get your body burning calories as you sleep. If you thought you miss read that I’ll say it again burn calories as you sleep!!

How many hours have you put in...?

If you new 3 x one hour sessions a week in the weight room, with a slight adjustment to your eating habits, could of delivered you the desired look over a sixteen week period, would you of ventured out of your comfort zone ???.... Well now you at least know - no more excuses.

Big Muscles??
A few of you will already be thinking “oh but I don’t want big muscles”, please..... Do you really think you are accidentally going to build overnight what has taken years of hard work, strict dieting and in some cases anabolic drug use to achieve?

How many women or men for that matter do you know that after a few weeks of training “accidentally” turned themselves into freak body builders?

The women you may have seen floating around the internet that dwarf Arnold, have devoted a good chunk of their life working dam hard to achieve that look. Their bodies have probably absorbed more testosterone based steroids than any winning tour de France cycling team.

It is just not possible to exceed your genetic potential to grow freaky muscles without a chemists help - Women do not possess the testosterone factor.

Muscle & the Metabolism
Muscles play a huge part in raising the metabolism.

A kilo of muscle burns about 132 calories a day while a kilo of fat burns 11.

That means any growth in your muscle tissue is going to help you burn more calories all day long.

In fact, strength training has all kinds of great effects on your body like:
1. Increasing the resting metabolic rate so you burn more calories, (3rd time…even while you sleep).
2. Muscle though it weighs more takes up less space than fat.... so the more lean mass the slimmer you are.
3. Helps strengthen bones and connective tissue.
4. Enhances your balance & stability
5. Builds confidence and self esteem.

However all the good stuff above only works if you are lifting enough weight to stimulate muscle growth.

Picking a weight that you can push or pull 15 to 20 times per set is a complete waste of time. You are not going to get the fat loss you’re looking for. You might as well roll up on the couch and tune into Desperate House Wives for an hour.

Independent Study Results
Still not convinced? You still cling to your belief that cardio is mandatory in fat loss, read on....

In a recent study published by the North American Association of Obesity, men & women were instructed to do 60 minutes of aerobic exercise per day for 6 days per a week for an entire year. That’s 6 hours of cardio per week.

Now with that much time & consistency spent huffing & puffing you’d expect a decent amount of weight loss, right?

Well, the surprise findings showed the average weight loss for females was only 4 pounds (less than 2 kilos) for the entire year, men faired slightly better at an average of 6.6pounds (3kilos).

That’s 300 hours of aerobic exercise just to lose a measly 3 kilos of blubber. - That’s time not well spent in my opinion.

Summary
So in summary ladies, ask yourself this; “Are your current training methods delivering you the body you are looking for? “ If not, I challenge you to get yourself into the weight room and start lifting heavy, after all what have you got to lose (other than fat), and who knows you may find yourself delightfully surprised.

Cheers….Henry

Bands 101 - An Introduction to band training

I’ve trained with flex bands now since 2001 and in doing so have personally witnessed the benefits first hand to the point I rate them as a necessity as an aid to strength training & injury rehabilitation.

In a space of 10 months I took my bench from 202.5Kg to 230Kg and I contributed a large portion of this improvement to the Jump stretch bands.

My first introduction to the flex bands was in an article by Louie Simmons in powerlifting USA. Not only were the numbers his lifters achieving impressive, but it was the first time I actually started thinking how the mechanics of each of the powerlifts; Squat, Bench & Deadlift worked & what muscle groups where engaged at each stage of the lift.

Up until that point I had followed the same old split routines that everyone around me used. Predominately out of the pages of Mr. Weiders “Muscle & Fiction”, publication. With Mr. Weiders inspiration I’d hit the gym and train like a lunatic. At that point I’d never considered over training was possible, never had a training template, all my training was done on instinct, and hey, there was always one of those world famous “ weirder principles” to say you were doing the right thing.

Inside that issue of Powerlifting USA was an advertisement for Jump Stretch Bands. I promptly phoned the USA at 10pm Perth time that night & two weeks later I had them.

A full set of bands in those days consisted of a pair, each of: Mini, Light, Average and Strong. That set even today, some eight years later, is still my recommendation to any one that has had a few years of lifting behind them and is looking to take their lifting to the next level.

Strength Development - How do the Bands work?

Trying to keep it as simple as possible, band training helps with the development of strength in two areas the concentric and eccentric phase of the movement.

Let’s take everyone’s favorite exercise the Bench.

When pressing the bar up this is the concentric phase, when bringing the bar down this is the eccentric.

By introducing the bands and fixing them to both the floor and the bar we are able to increase the bars weight at lock-out. Depending on band tension you may have 5 kilos extra weight on the bar at chest level and by the time you lock out you may have increased that tension to represent an increase of 20 kilo’s extra on the bar. I.E Total bar weight at the chest is 105KG (100Kg weight & 5Kg band tension) at the lock out point 125Kg (100Kg weight & 25Kg band tension).

The gradual increase of tension (weight) on the bar forces the lifter to push consistently thru the entire lift. This is helpful in developing starting strength off the chest, helps strengthen the triceps and gets the lifter more accustomed to handling heavier loads.

The bands will also help the eccentric portion of the bench as the lifter must control the extra weight at the top before commencing the downward towards the chest. As the bar comes down it is unloading weight (tension), however the nature of the bands increase the bars velocity towards the chest, this helps build kinetic energy that can be used to get the bar back up.

Take a basketball for example if you drop it from shoulder height it bounces knee high. Now drop the basketball from the same height, only this time add a bit of momentum behind it. What you will find is the basketball now bounces higher – that’s kinetic energy at work. Simple said “Faster down - Faster up.”

Bands can also be attached from above the bench and to the bar (The most common set-up is inside a power rack). Normally this is referred to as Reverse Band Benching and is designed to mimic the properties of a bench shirt that Powerlifters wear (that’s a whole different article in its self).

The purpose of the exercise here is that the bands will decrease the bar weight as it is lowered to your chest and as you push the weight up you are left with what weight is on the bar. I.E 150Kg at the start of the lift with arms fully extended (150Kg of weight no band tension) and as you lower the bar, band tension kicks in causing a de-loading effect to the point there maybe only be 120KG at chest level (still 150Kg on the bar but the band tension is holding up 30Kg).

What tension are the bands?

The tension of the bands are dependent on how you set them up, and as everyone’s set up is slightly different the tension will vary.

To measure the tension the best way I’ve found is as follows:

Bench – Once you have your bands hooked up to an Olympic bar, build up the height using boards and a set of scales until you reach the chest height you’re at before commencing the press portion of the bench. Lift the bar onto the scales, subtract your bar weight of 20Kg and there you have the band tension weight at the bottom of the lift. Keep building the height on the bench to your lockout point and repeat the previous steps and this will give you the weight of tension at the top of your lift. If you have a mechanics truck or car jack it is probably even easier.

With the reverse band set up, just keep adding weight until the bar hovers at chest height and you have the bands tension.

If you can understand the above, the same principals will apply to the other two powerlifts; Squat and Deadlift.

What other uses can we find for bands?

The flexibility is such that you don’t need bands in conjunction with big apparatus’s to make them effective, nearly all band exercises can be done from home. This makes them a great tool if you are traveling or you struggle to find the time to get to a gym.

In addition bands have become very popular as a stretching aid to help flexibility & to warm up muscles before activity.

Most sports therapists and physicians are starting to reach for bands as it allows the patient to self medicate injury as they can pin point their area of stress or weakness and exert their own pain tolerance on, or into, the injured area for relief.

Are there any pitfalls?

I’ve been training consistently with bands now for eight years with no problems. A couple (one) of the training crew at the Muscle Pit here in Perth, found that the bands are hard on their joints in reference to benching. Maybe the tension has been too much, maybe they need more joint conditioning… Maybe they just need to toughen up. The bands still play a part of their training program for stretching and other exercises – just not benching.

Where do you get them?

Like any product, once someone sees it as a good idea, it seams everyone’s on the band wagon. There will always be competition. Here at the Muscle Pit we distribute the Jump Stretch Bands around Australia but there are other brands out there as well with each manufacturer & distributor putting their own slant on why their bands are the best.

Guess what folks? They all stretch and in my observation all do the job.

Here is couple of things with bands you may find interesting:

1. Some bands are layered in construction opposed to solid compound. Layered in my experience has proven to last longer as compound bands tend to tear once they have a nick in them. Layered bands you just peel off or cut the peel.

2. Some brands I’ve experienced feel flat or doughy in certain areas, so when they stretch you get uneven tension on the bar.

3. Some bands come out of South America others out of Asia – no “biggy” either way, that’s just where they come from.

So why did we decide to distribute the Jump Stretch Bands?

That’s easy, every article from the strength world I’ve read including writings of Westside’s Louie Simmons, Sebastian Burns at Metal Militia, Dave Tate’s, Elite Fitness Team and a host of others all use Jump Stretch Bands.

So when they explain how to perform an exercise with the bands, at the very worst I have the starting point correct.

Dr Shimmell a leader in both rehab and prehab is using Jump Stretch Bands to service his clients. So when he sets up a patients exercise using a combination of bands in a certain way, I’m mirroring exactly what he’s doing – once again I am limiting the margin for era.

Also importantly when I’m corresponding with these guys I want to be on the same page.

And, Yes! Over the last eight years they have proven to be a durable product.

Summary

There is a plethora of information out there on Bands. The internet has been a great tool when it comes to the sharing of knowledge. My own YouTube Channel, MusclePitWA has an abundance of band uses covering all the areas we discussed in this article, plus a heap of exercise combos with kettlebells, specialty bars, chains and dumbbells for the more advanced lifters.

My experience has been nothing but positive, apart from getting kicked out of one gym for using them, as they deemed them as dangerous - It amazes me, that it doesn’t amaze me, how short sighted some of these pencil necked gym owners and managers are. (There’s also another story in that statement for later). Anyway I told them they could jam it and the Muscle Pit was conceived.., and that’s proving a positive.