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Drink Water
| Time Between Sets
| Stretching Time |
Change Exercises
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This topic brings you
some useful information which you might have missed doing your own
research (if you've done any) before actually starting to work out. Have
fun.
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Drink Water. A young male
athlete's body is about 75% percent water, while a young female athlete
typically boasts about 70% percent. Nearly two-thirds of the water shows
up in the muscles, while the rest can be found in the bloodstream. Men
and women both, may find themselves "in a constant state of
dehydration." Generally, athletes wait for their sense of thirst to
signal that it's time to drink. However, thirst is sensed only after
dehydration has started. More importantly, once you are dehydrated, it
may take as much as 48 hours to properly re-hydrate. This is why so many
athletes, unknowingly, are in a constant state of dehydration. As blood
volume becomes diminished, blood flow along with oxygen and other
nutrients to the muscles is significantly reduced, rendering them less
functional. So, DRINK A LOT OF WATER ! (More
On Water )
* The latest research showed that water
dissolve sodium your body needs to support muscles and bones, so now
it's recommended to drink sport beverages, which don't dissolve sodium
in your system. It's mostly true for drinking during work out, but we
still prefer a little of regular water.
[TOP]
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Time
Between The Sets. Many people don't
know how much time do they need to rest between the sets. Other people think
that they know, and finally there are some people who do know it. So we will
try to explain how long you have to wait before you do your next set. There
is no certain amount of time as some say. You might hear numbers such as 20
seconds break, 40 seconds, 1 minute. However, every single person, every
single body is unique, there fore you have to feel if you have rested
enough, usually it's somewhere between 1-2 minutes, but it also depends on
how intense your exercise is and how many reps you do. When you put your
weight down after the set, listen to your hear beat, check how fast you are
breathing, how tight your muscles are at the moment. And rest till your
heart beat decreases a little, till you are not breathing as heavily, and
your muscles are not so tight anymore.;
DO NOT stand or seat on one spot. Walk
around the gym, so your heart and breath will calm down faster and can start
doing your set. As soon as your heart beat is steady and you don't take your
breaths as often - you are ready for another set. Take your weight, make
sure you have a good grip on it, take 3 control breaths and ....off you go.
[TOP]
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Stretching Time. There are
a few different opinions on when you should stretch. Most of those opinions
will say that you should stretch right after work out to avoid soreness the
next day. But all of us gym addicts know that if you work out regularly, you
almost never get sore. In our opinion its not a good idea to stretch right
after work out and here is why:
The muscle is composed of subunits called fascicles. Fascicles are
bundles of individual muscle fibers. Each fiber is one elongated cell that
may extend for the length of the muscle. Each muscle fiber cell has several
nucleii (unlike most cells, which have only one), and is segmented into
distinct sectional bands. Within each muscle cell are numerous myofibrils,
which also extend for the length of the muscle cell. Sarcomeres are the
basic contractile subunit of myofibrils.
A muscle cell does not necessarily go back to complete relaxation right
away. It can remain contracted through a series of stimulations. This
process, called summation, increases the total force of muscular
contraction. When the stimulus is great enough, many sarcomeres in many
fibers are "recruited" and the muscle as a whole contracts. This is why we
can lift or push varying amounts of resistance, more or less cells are
recruited, and to a greater or lesser extent. At the end of your work out.
your muscle is very tired, you feel that you can't lift for a much longer
time, or your muscle will just fail. Muscle failure occurs at the point
where the maximum number of fibers are being stressed to their limits.
And now imagine that right after work out you are stretching the fibers that
are already pretty much stressed to the limit.
As a result you might end up slowly damaging your muscle tissues, instead of
benefiting them with a good stretch.
Stretch before the work out, but make sure you warm up properly first.
Stretching "cold" muscles is not a good idea. You can stretch
after workout, but you have to let time pass a little. About 2 hours is
enough. So you want to stretch, perfect, excellent, great - Stretch
BEFORE or about 2 hours and more after work out.
[TOP]
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Changing Exercises. Not a bad idea
is changing exercises every once in a while. Your body gets used to same
movements and pressure and soon stop growing that fast. When you feel that
your muscle don't get tired enough from increased amount of sets or you
simply see no growth, change exercises to alternative ones.
* Note that such basic exercises like Flat Bench Press, Squads or Barbell
Biceps Curls (straight bar) shouldn't be change. These are classic exercises
which shouldn't be changed around, when every other exercises should be
changed around these. [TOP] |
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