Strength training for beginners: The Big Three

This will be the first post in a three part series about strength training for beginners.

If somebody were to come up to me and ask me what the three most important exercises they should learn if they were to embark on a strength program, I would answer without hesitation: Squat, Power clean and Press. In that particular order.

These three are the kings for developing a strong base and any young athlete or average Joe/Jane looking to get stronger without wasting their time should first become proficient with these movements before ever branching off to other movements or exercises. I know they can seem intimidating at first, but with a little practice and logical progression anybody can learn to do these movements safely and confidently.

So let's get to it shall we.

Part one: The squat

The Why

The squat on of the most natural movements to human bosy can do. Anybody who has ever sat down on the floor and then stood back up has done a squat. It is ingrained into our dna. Anybody who has seen a toddler get up from sitting ans most likely seen perfect squat form. Yet the squat has been haled by many as the "King of all exercises". It is true that no other exercise produces such dramatic results in such a short time as the squat. It involves every core and stability muscle in the body as well as all the large muscles in the lower body and forces you to work hard. It also elicits a neuroendocrine response like no other movement. This means that it tells the body to release hormones which make it get stronger.

When the body is worked as a whole it's hormone systems go into over-drive. It produces more testosterone and growth hormone in an attempt to adapt to the stresses you are putting it under. This is a great thing. It means more muscle, better recovery and it makes you stronger.

The How

High bar position

Place a barbell in the squat rack about an inch below your shoulders. Stand below the bar with it resting on your shoulders. Some people prefer the high bar position with the bar resting on your upper traps. I personally opt for the low bar position with the bar resting on my rear delts.

Low bar position

Low bar position doesn't work the core quite as much but it is easier on your low back. I find it allows me to lift more with less chance of injury.  If you go heavy, the you are still going to be getting a better ab workout than all the crunches you can do in a night anyway.

Feet at hip width

Stance it also a matter of personal preference. I'd recommend starting with your feet just outside your hips with your toes pointed slightly out. As you get comfortable and build strength you may want to play with this a little bit. I like to have my feet more shoulder with.

Personally I prefer the wider stance

Once you have the bar where you like it and figure out where you are most comfortable placing your feet, take a deep breath into your abdomen, tighten your abs hard so support your core and lift the bar off the rack. Breathe out, breathe in, lock your abs.....


NOW SQUAT!

Sit your butt back like you are going to sit on the toilet, keep every muscle you have in your body tight and bend at the knees and hips. Keep the majority of the weight on your heels and lower the bar until your upper thighs are parallel to the floor. Don't sell yourself short. Squat deep at least to parallel of even lower if you can. If you can't hit parallel, you have too much weight on the bar. You need to take some weight off and try again. 

Once you hit the bottom of the squat you need to push with all your might and get that bar back up. Drive through your heels and picture your hips being the driving force to get the bar up not your shoulders.

Don't fear the squat

Squatting is a perfectly natural movement. If anybody tells you not to squat because it's bad for your knees has no idea what they're talking about. Anybody who tells you squatting below parallel is bad for your knees has no idea what they're talking about. Squatting properly has been proven to reinforce the lower body muscles alleviating a plethora of knee issues.

 
 

We were born to squat. Take a few minutes, go to google and type in baby squat. These are only the first few results. As you can see these children are squatting with perfect form. Feet flat, weight back on their heels backs straight. I believe it was the invention of modern footwear which has caused us to loose the ankle flexibility which at one time had us all doing perfect squats as children. But that's another rant altogether


Take care!

GPP = General Physical Preparedness

Happy new year!

So here is 2011. I hope everybody had a wonderful 2010 and a great time last night.

Now that the holidays are winding down and it's about time to get on with our lives I am looking forward to renewing my dedication to my blog and all things related to caveman fitness.

First off I'd like to revisit an older post on Fish oil and omega 3. I recently had an argument with a doctor who was filling in in the clinic where I work. I was attempting to explain to him how I believe that supplementing with high dose fish oil is just as effective at preventing heart attacks as aspirin. He laughed in my face and told me you can't save somebody from having a heart attack by having them suck on a mackerel. Not a very professional way to respond in front of my colleagues but a whole article is going to come from it so I suppose it could have been a good thing.

Us nutritional enthusiasts have a basic idea of all the good that comes from taking our Omega 3's. Heart heath, brain function, respiratory health lower blood triglycerides. Most of these contribute to a lower risk of heart attack but I'd like to visit the direct mechanism I'm here to talk about today.

First...

How aspirin prevents heart attacks
Aspirin is known as an anti platelet agent. Which means if prevents platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. Clots are a good thing because they stop you from bleeding if you cut yourself. The problem is that if a clot forms in side your blood vessles, they prevent blood from flowing to your tissues. In this case a clot forming or getting lodged in a coronary artery (an artery supplying blood to your heart) causes muscle death in your heart. This is a heart attack. Aspirin helps to prevent this clot from forming therefore reducing the chance of a blood clot being able to cause a blockage to major blood vessels.

Aspirin is used to prevent heart attacks in two ways. It is taken daily at low doses of 75mg/day. It this manner it reaches maximum effectiveness in about a week. This is used if the risk of heart attack is not immediate.
Taken in high doses of 325mg/day it reaches its maximum effectiveness in about 30 minutes. This is used when a heart attack is pretty much imminent. That's why if someone is having a heart attack and they call the paramedics,  we give you 325mg aspirin before we even leave your house and make you chew it. EEEW!

How omega 3 oil helps to prevent heart attacks
 All the cells in our bodies are encased in a soft pliable layer called the cell membrane. Cell membranes are made up of fatty acids, therefore, all the fats we eat go into the makeup of these cell membranes. Further proof that fats are essential to proper functioning and need to be included in our daily diets.

Omega 3 fatty acids remain stable at room temperature, meaning they keep their liquid form. Most other fats tend to harden at room temperature. Since all our dietary fats go into the makeup of our cell membranes, Omega 3 fatty acids help to maintain the integrity and health of our cell membranes. This keeps them soft and pliable and able to do their jobs more efficiently. Also, in keeping them soft and pliable this prevents them from clumping together and allows them to flow freely throughout the bodies systems. In the blood this results in improved circulation and reduced clot formation. Not only reducing the risk of heart attack but also contributing greatly to cardiovascular and respiratory health as well, as blood cells can pass through capillary beds more freely resulting in increased oxygen transport as well.


Another look at the benefits of omega 3
Aside from reducing the risk of heart attack some other benefits of Omega 3 supplementation include but are not limited to

• Brain function and concentration
• Asthma
• Arthritis
• Inflammation
• Increased VO2 max 
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Schizophrenia
• Allergies
• Blood Pressure
• Blood Cholesterol levels
• Eye Health
• Some types of cancer such as breast cancer
• Energy levels
• Healthy pregnancies
• Skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema

It seems the health benefits of omega 3 supplementation reach close to all the bodies systems.


A Word of Caution
People with difficulties clotting or who have bleeding problems should exercise caution when choosing to supplement with Omega 3. Also people who and on anticoagulants and vitamin K antagonists as their clotting factors are already inhibited 

Fasting and athletes

So I have to admit something here. I'm guilty of yet again doing what I warned about in my bodyfat article.

Doing the whole Intermittent fasting thing can be a wonderful tool but it can be really easy to take too far. If you want to be able to perform at your best you still need to get in enough whole food. It may be an amazing feeling to look in the mirror every week and see positive change. Just don't get carried away with what you see in the mirror.

My case may be a little bit different than what most people are after.  If all you want is to be fit and healthy you can do a 16 hour fast every day and not notice and problems you will keep a healthy weight and have wonderful energy levels. Lots of people fast 16 - 18 hours and enjoy wonderful health improvements and energy levels. Those of us who strive to be elite athletes may have different energy requirements.

If you train like an elite athlete you already know your energy expenditure requires a considerable amount of calories to fuel For this I recommend backing off your fasts to one or two 16 - 18 hour fasts once or twice a week. I don't mean for the average person who spends 45 - 60 minutes in the gym three times a week. I mean for the serious athlete who trains at full intensity two hours a day five days a week.

For everybody though, I can't stress enough that you need to be able to listen to your body. Living the Caveman lifestlye is all about being in tough with what is happening in your body as well as your environment. Pay attention to what your body is telling you. If your abs are getting rock hard but your energy levels and mood are dropping, then back off on the fasting for a couple of days and allow youself to eat more.

Remember fasting is only a tool to be used for you benefit. It can be easy to get carried away. Use it to achieve and maintain your desired bodyweight but pace yourself and don't loose weight too quickly. The body needs to adjust to the composition changes.

Remember that it's almost impossible to have abs like you see on the cover of muscle and fitness. An impossibly low bodyfat level will only hinder athletic performance. If you look at the bodies of real atheletes you'll notice that they carry a little bit more bodyfat. It is needed to perform at the level of professional athletes.

So fast, just not everyday, and if you want to build muscle of perform at an elite level, then by god EAT!

Strong Women

It's a little bit late and I should be going to bed but I haven't done a post since arriving back at home and I have a few things I'd like to say.

Strong woman

You may have read my post about the type of exercise we do and the positive changes they will create in the human body. That was definitely not only intended for men to read. Strength is sexy and we should make sure we celebrate the beauty of strong women.

As is mentioned in the above video, it is sad that women can pick up a fitness magazine and be bombarded with images of emaciated women who obviously have no functional strength. Obviously weak, malnourished cardio junkies who have never lifted a real weight in their life. It is a bloody shame that women can be lead to believe that they should stick to stretching and avoid liftime real weights for fear that they will become "bulky" and have muscles like a man.

Strength in a woman is sexy. Lifting weights will not make a woman "bulky". On the contrary, Lifting heavy things develops the type of muscle that only accentuates a woman's natural curvature. It is impossible for a woman to "bulk up" with out the aid of certain "hormonal supplements". I have seen time and time again the results of women who aren't afraid to train hard and lift heavy and the results are nothing less that amazing.

I frequently include photos and videos of women doing impressive feats of strength and skill in my performance blog posts in the hopes of inspiring the girls who follow my workouts. To show them that strength and confidence are beautiful things. So are the women who possess them.

I'm home! I'm home!

A quick one today to let you know that after almost two years of being in training and being shipped from province to province, I am finally home.

This has to be the greatest feeling in the world to finally be able to sit down with my wife, who I have missed dearly, and relax. To be able to go to bed at night knowing that I am not only here for a visit so every morning isn't one day closer until I have to leave again. I'm posted to the military hospital on the Halifax waterfront and I must say that I am excited for all the things I am going to learn during my next few years of working as a medic in a clinical setting.

Expect my regular posts to resume shortly now that things have finally become somewhat normal once again. I know it has been almost a month since my last post. Thank god that I'm living a normal human life again so I can find the time once more to begin posting once again. Once again I apologies for the sparratic posting over the past few months. The last few months of training were pretty insane but they are finally over. Expect to see much more frequent posts coming in the future.

Sincerely
Joey

Over Reaching, Over Training and recovery

I recently turned 30. I'm not old by any means but this means I'm officially not a kid any more (thought I still feel like one most of the time). This also means I can't train like I'm 21 anymore and expect to be recovered from one workout to the next. I need to pay attention to training volume, diet and recovery these days and if I miss piece of that puzzle, I begin to fall apart. I have a few general practices I follow in my daily routine and I'd like to share them with you in the hopes of helping to ensure you are recovering fully between workouts.

Recognize over reaching to avoid over training 
 What most people believe is over training is really just over reaching. In fact, it takes quite a while
and a lot of effort to become truly over trained. Over reaching is when you are beginning to exceed your optimal training volume and you aren't recovering properly. The first sign of this is usually decreased interest and performance during workouts. If you get to the gym one day end the weights feel extra heavy it's usually a good idea to back off that day and just nip it in the bud. This is hard to do sometimes, especially for us gym rats who are generally inclined to just push through it. I can speak from personal experience that if you get to the gym and you really aren't feeling it, you are dragging your ass through the warm up and all the weights feel extra heavy, dome something light and get outta there. Learn to listen to your body. This is the first and most effective step in avoiding injury.

Some other tell tale signs of over reaching include...
Lack of appetite
Loss of libido
Craving sugary foods
Difficulty sleeping
A general feeling of overall tiredness
Moodiness

If you are starting to feel a few of these symptoms you should probably back off on your training for a bit. Take an extra rest day, eat a little bit more and relax. Remember that you don't get stronger while you are in the gym. You get stronger while you rest. Nobody ever got weaker from one extra rest day. It takes about three weeks of not doing anything before you start to loose strength so and extra day and even the occasional week off will only do you good from time to time.

Over training
Real over training take a long time to achieve. It involves many hours of exercise beyond what the body can recover from. If you start to reach the state of being over trained you will know it. Most people over training will start to develop cold like symptoms, Moodiness, aches and pains, lack of interest in eating, activities and sex. Intense cravings for sugar and often it will be accompanied by weight gain from all the extra cortisol your body will be producing. This is not a fun state to be in. I have been there and my performance plummeted across all aspects of my training and it has taken quite a while to recover from.

If you do become over trained you need to take an immediate week off of training. At least seven days. Make sure you are eating enough and drinking enough water. Get back into the gym slowly and pay close attention to how you feel because it is easily to slip back into the state if you have not allowed yourself to fully recover. Over training leads to injury and should be treated like an injury itself.

Fortunately it takes a long time to reach that state. Most people recognize it when they are in the over reaching stage and are smart enough to back off on time.

Maximizing recovery
As soon as I finish a workout I like to get a quick source of easily digestible carbohydrate and protein into my system as fast as possible. I like to carry a banana and a couple of packets of honey with me to the gym. That way as soon as I finish stretching, I open a banana and some honey and dip that banana into the honey. This is delicious and it gets glucose into my system as right away to replenish my muscles. From there, I usually head to right to lunch or supper where I eat lots of meat and vegetables and some fruit.

It's that easy. A small glucose spike right before leaving the gym via honey and banana and a good quantity of real food as soon as possible. This works great for me, I find that by doing this my recovery is fantastic and I can attack each workout full on.

For some people this is not really that feasible. If you work out at an odd time and it isn't easy to get to a meal right after then I'd recommend bringing a source of protein with you to consume shortly after your workout. First this I'd recommend is real food such as chicken and fruit. Otherwise you may want to look into bringing a natural source protein powder. I know it's not exactly caveman given that it's from dairy and usually pretty processed, however, you do want to take advantage of your window of opportunity and get protien and carbohydrate within half an hour of your workout. Therefore, in this case I do recommend making a concession. Always take your post workout protein with carbohydrate and avoid added fats to maximize absorption.

Water

Drink it! I know you hear it everywhere you go but without it you can't function. Drink it before, during and after your workout. You do not need any fancy sports drink, you do need water. It's easy and convenient. I have a metal one liter bottle of water, it goes every where my bag goes. I drink two a day, more if I work out extra hard or it's extra hot out. It is that important! If you drink water, you will have more energy, will recover better and you will be in a better mood. Look at your pee if it looks like apple juice you need to rink more. If it loos like lemonade you are doing ok. If it looks like apple cider you need to go to the hospital for intravenous re hydration.

Stretching

I did a full article on stretching. I finish every workout with a thorough session and stretch my entire body. It is my favorite part of the entire workout, when I get to cool down, recenter myself and reflect on the workout. I can spend an hour stretching pretty easily. Though I don't necessarily recommend spending that long stretching, you should spend at least 10 minutes at the end of each workout. Stretching begins the recovery process by loosening up tight muscles and increasing blood flow, allowing damaged tissue to be transported away and new tissue growth to begin.  Expect an article soon with some basic stretches and start making stretching a priority.

Eating
If you are following the caveman lifestyle then you know the importance of eating properly. Your body functions in relation to the quality of food you put into it. If you eat like crap expect your recovery to be crap as well. So look back over some of my earlier posts and make sure you are putting the right food into our system.

Sleeping
The vast majority of your tissue growth occurs when you are sleeping. You have to make getting
enough sleep such a priority that you are almost willing to kill to get to bed on time. If you don't sleep you won't recover, that's the bottom line. You won't recover and you won't perform well enough to get the results you want. I know lots of people who stay up late playing video games every night and wonder why they feel like crap all the time. And these guys don't even exercise. I can only imagine how they'd feel if they had even a moderate amount of activity from which they'd have to recover.
Make sleeping a priority and see how much better your feel.

Relax
You need you down time as well. Look forward to your days off the gym and make the most of them. Take the time to pursue activities you love which are good for your mind and soul. If you do this you will feel invigorated, motivated and happy. Happy, relaxed people have more energy so take time to relax and do something you love every day.


These are my rules of recovery and I apply them to every workout. Take the time to place more emphasis on the things that will help you recover as well and it will not only benefit your workouts but you will have more energy and get more enjoyment out of you day to day activities as well.