Stabilizing and Strength

Hi,

Yesterday we talked about the use of stabilizing balls in the gym.  If you are trying to build strength then it is best to stay away from these balls.  You need a solid platform to work on your strength.

If you use stability balls then use them for only that purpose - to work on your balance and stabilizing muscles.  And use much less weight. 

But, what if there was a way to do both?  Well, there is. 

However, in our example from yesterday with biceps curls, it is still much better to work from a stable position if your main goal is strength. 

If you feel you need help with your stabilizing muscles and still want to build strength, then try a few of these exercises.  You will be using dumbbells for these biceps curl exercises. 

From a standing position step forward with your left foot and do one curl with your left arm.  Do the same thing with the right side.  Repeat this pattern for five or six times to complete your set. 

From a standing position step backwards with your left foot and do one curl with your left arm.   Do the same thing with the right side. Repeat this pattern for five or six times to complete your set.

From a standing position step sideways with your left foot and do one curl with your left arm.  Do the same thing with the right side. Repeat this pattern for five or six times to complete your set.

You can also step forwards and backwards at 45 degree angles.  Another variation is to step with the left leg and curl with the right arm and vice versa. 

You can also walk the length of the gym while doing curls.  Walk forwards, backwards and sideways. 

Doing these exercises will help you increase your balance, increase the neuron activity in your stabilizing muscles and also work your biceps muscles. 

This is the best of all worlds.  Your stabilizing and your strength will both increase.

If you would like to see these exercises being performed you can click on the link below.

Thanks,

Mike Val
stabilizing exercises

Stablizing Balls vs. Strength

Hi,

One of the latest fads in the gym world has been the introduction of stability balls and the training that goes with it. 

Trainees were told that they need to build up their stabilizing muscles which will help them get stronger.  But, is this really true?

Just from a common sense point of view I don't think so.  If you are doing a squat exercise - to use an extreme example - do you think you could use more weight if you were standing on the ground or on a stabilizing ball?  Or even on one of those 1/2 stabilizing platforms?

I think you already know the answer to that one.  I would even bet that most people in the world couldn't even do a squat with only their body weight on a stabilizing ball, let alone with a barbell on their back. 

Okay so that was an extreme example.  Let's use another one.  How about biceps curls?  Could you curl more weight while sitting on a stability ball or while sitting on a bench? 

Again the more stable position wins.  If you are sitting on a bench your body only has to concentrate on moving the weight.  All of its neural and muscle resources are focused on that job. 

Sitting on the stability ball takes most of the neural and muscle resources away from lifting.  Instead it is concentrating on balance. 

So if your goal is to get stronger, then forego the stabilizing balls and other contraptions.

Should you never use them?  I do think they have a part to play in your training.

Yes, you can increase your balance and the stabilizing muscles.  But, don't try to lift heavy weights while doing exercises on a stability ball.  Use light weights and you could even use the exercises as a warm up for your stable exercises.

There is even a way to get the best of both worlds.  More about that in a latter post.

In the meantime, use your stabilizing balls for working on your stability.  Build your strength from a solid platform.

Thanks,

Mike Val
http://www.valshealthsite.com/

Are You an Extreme Hardgainer?

Hi,

I think it is funny that almost every bodybuilder interviewed in bodybuilding magazines says they were a hardgainer.  These are guys with 21 inch arms and 60 inch chests.  Somehow I don't think so. 

But, it makes sense that they say these things from a marketing point of view.

The bodybuilding magazines don't make that much money off of subscriptions.  They make the bulk of their money off of advertising.  Advertising supplements to build muscle.  Advertising training programs to build muscle.  Advertising training equipment to build muscle. 

The bodybuilders that they interview get paid by the magazines and by the supplement companies. 

So are they really going to say that they are genetically gifted and that they build muscle by just looking at weights.  NO.

The whole idea is to get as many people as possible to believe in their products.  So if some teenage hardgainer reads an article where his bodybuilder idol says that he was a hardgainer when younger, then that teenager is going to believe that he can achieve the same results. 

And buy the products that the magazine is selling.  This works to the tune of several billions of dollars a year. 

The same goes for weight loss and fat burner supplements. 

Let me just say this first, before every bodybuilder comes down on me.  To get to the extreme levels of strength and muscle that they have takes a lot of hard work and discipline.  And they do use a lot of supplements -and in some cases drugs. 

The average person won't ever reach those levels no matter how much discipline they have.  The average hard gainer won't even come close. 

Does that mean they can't achieve a great, fit and healthy body?  Of course not. 

Now I think I am a true hard gainer.  When I was in 7th grade I was 6'1" tall and weighed 127 pounds.  That is skinnnnnnny.  By the time I reached college I got up to 140 pounds.  That is still skinnnnnny.

Now I weigh 180 and I stay there give or take a few pounds.  You can check out some of my pictures on my about me page on my website.   I am strong, fit and healthy.  Not huge by any means, but not so skinnnny anymore. 

Thanks,

Mike Val
http://www.valshealthsite.com/about.html

How Important is Strength?

Just how important is your strength?  Very important if you don't want to die an early death.

According to a study in the British Medical Journal, body strength correlated inversely with the age of death.
This study followed 8700 people over 18 years.  When they took out age considerations what they found was pretty surprising.

And very motivating. 

No matter what age group, the stongest people lived longer.  It did not even matter what their lifestyle was. 

If they smoked, the stronger people lived longer.
If they drank, the stronger people lived longer.
If they did cardio every day, the stronger people lived longer.
If they had medical conditions, the stronger people lived longer.
If they had a family history of whatever, the stronger people lived longer. 

I would say that is a pretty good pattern. 

Now can you imagine that if you lived a healthy lifestyle and were strong, how much longer you would live.  And how much better your life would be well into "old" age.  Jack LaLanne is proof positive. 

If you go back and read the last two posts on this blog you see that most people that go to the gym don't really try to get stronger.  Most just try to maintain. 

And as was pointed out, just maintaining is really regressing.  Your body adapts and needs continual stimulus to improve and to grow stronger. 

So take this mantra to the gym from now on:  I am going to get stronger today. 

Add an extra few reps.
Add an extra set.
Add a few extra pounds.
Take less rest time between sets. 

Do those four things and your will start getting stronger again.  You don't have to do them all at once, but just keep making progress.  And you will live longer.

Thanks,

Mike Val

To see the full article click here:  body strength overcomes lifestyle

Are You Still Making Progress in the Gym? Part 2

Hi,

Yesterday we talked a little about your progress in the gym and how plateaus can affect your fitness goals. 

One of those ways that progress stops is because you have pushed yourself too much and your body needs a rest. 

For most people this isn't the problem.

For most it is the fact that your body adapts very easily.  What worked in the beginning does not work as your get a little stronger and fitter. 

So your body stops growing.  For most that isn't a problem.  They have attained a certain level of fitness and are happy with that. 

The problem is that they think they can maintain this same level of fitness by doing the same thing over and over again for years. 

Sorry, but the body doesn't work that way. 

Your body adapts.  Let's use an example with biceps curls.  If you started out with ten pounds and ten reps for 3 sets your body soon adapted to that.  It got stronger. 

Pretty soon you moved up to 15 pounds, 20 pounds and so on.  Let's say you are happy with the strength in your arms when you reached 20 pounds. 

When you are getting stronger your are building muscle and there are certain physiological things happening in your body.  Fibers are getting bigger and stronger, your hormones (like growth hormone) are changing and there are many chemical interactions (like fat burning) going on. 

If you decide to stay at the 20 pound level the body adapts.  And pretty soon the fibers stop getting bigger, they stop growing stronger, your hormonal and chemical interactions stop changing.  That is because it is too easy.  There is no stimulus. 

If there is no stimulus you will not get stronger and you will not even be able to maintain what you have.  That is because there will be no growth hormone or other hormonal changes that help build, or keep you strong. There will be no chemical changes or fat burning happening. 

All these behind the scene changes will cease.  When they cease progress ceases and regression occurs. 

The bottom line is in order to maintain you have to make progress.  Now it doesn't have to be much, but there has to be some progress. 

So here are a couple of things you can do.  Add more reps at one workout.  Change the weights, add more and use less.  Increase the reps or decrease them.  Do more sets.  Rest less time between sets. 

Try lifting 25 pounds for 5 reps and immediately do 15 pounds for 15 reps.  There are thousands of variations that you can come up with.  The goal is to make sure your body does not become complacent and goes into the same old, same old mode. 

Keep reading this blog for more info on continuos progress in the gym.

Thanks,
Mike Val
http://www.valshealthsite.com/

Are You Still Making Progress in the Gym? Part 1

Hi,

If you are like most people your workouts in the gym aren't progressing the way you want.  You aren't getting stronger.  You aren't getting fitter.  You aren't lifting heavier. 

Maybe you have just hit a plateau.  Pretty much everyone does at one time or another.  You make great gains for awhile and then you stop making any gains. 

There are a couple of reasons for this.  One might be that have overworked your body.  It needs a rest.  It can't just take hard training continuously with no break. 

Yes, there are supplements and drugs you can to take to push yourself further.  But, stop taking those drugs and supplements and you regress very quickly. 

These kinds of plateaus are short lived.  Take a short break, or just don't push yourself so hard for about a week or so and then you can start back up to your hard workouts. 

You can also cycle your workouts.  A popular way of doing this is to train heavy one workout, then use medium weights the next and then lighter weights for the final workout in the cycle.  It might take you 10 days or so to complete one cycle.  Then start up with the heavy weights again for the next cycle.

Another reason, and this one is what most people end up doing, is that to make further progress you really have to push yourself more. 

Most people will make progress with just about anything they do in the gym when they first start.  Any exercise with any weight helps them.

But, the body is great at adapting.  Pretty soon those weights and reps won't give you the same results.  That means you have to add more weight, more reps and/or more intensity. 

Most people won't do that beyond a certain level.  They think they can maintain their level of fitness by doing the same old, same old. 

Tomorrow we will discuss why this isn't true.

Thanks,

Mike Val
http://www.valshealthsite.com/

Are Plank Exercises Too Easy?

Hi,

Since I go to various gyms across the country when I am traveling I have noticed that more and more people are doing Plank Exercises.  These exercises were designed to strengthen the core of your body.

And they do a pretty good job of that.  After all I see these people struggling to do a simple plank.  Most can't even hold the position for more than 30 seconds.

There are some that can hold it for up to a minute and some that try variations on the basic plank. 

That is all well and good.  However, as you probably already know, your body needs to make progress to get stronger and fitter. 

You can do this by increasing the time you hold the position and that is what most people do.  You can also do it my increasing the number of times you do the exercise throughout the day.  (More on that in future posts.)

The other way, the way that I almost never see, is to increase the difficulty of the exercise. 

That is what I am working on now.  Soon I will have an ebook or maybe a DVD on what you can do to increase your core strength with several different exercises all based on the basic plank.

Stay tuned,

Thanks,

Mike Val
http://www.valshealthsite.com/

Can Drinking Juices Keep You Slim?

One of the commercials I saw on TV over the weekend was trying to sell you on the idea of drinking its fruity vegetable juice.  If you drank only 2-3 cans a day you would get the equivalent of a days worth of vegetables.

Well, there are a couple of problems with this ad.  One is that they don't tell you that you will also get the sugar content of drinking about three sodas a day.  Way too much sugar.

But, the more important thing is, that you are not getting the equivalent of eating vegetables.  If you buy your vegetables, steam them and then eat them you will get almost all of the nutrients and fiber that vegetables give you. 

If you buy a canned drink, these vegetables have been pretty much destroyed.  The nutrient levels are much lower than if you just ate the vegetables.  And the fiber levels (which we all need) are also much lower. 

Plus it is going to cost you a heck of a lot more paying for three of those drinks every day than it would if you just ate your vegetables. 

Yes, it is much easier to drink a can of juice than it is to cook some vegetables. 

And beyond boiling water, my cooking skills are pretty much non-existent.  Fortunately, there is an answer. 

Frozen vegetables.  For the most part these vegetables have been cut and flash frozen to preserve most of the nutrients.  So buy a large bag of your favorite vegetable or a bag of mixed vegetables and pour some into some boiling water and in a few minutes you have an inexpensive side dish of vegetables. 

You do lose some nutrients because the skin has been taken off, but you also don't have the added sugars of the vegetable drinks. 

By the way, the same goes for your fruit juices.  Stick to the fruits and forego the sugars in the fruit drinks. 

Thanks,

Mike Val

For more on what to eat, check out my new ebook - Stop Dieting, Start Losing Weight and Keep it Off Permanently

Should Exercise be – "Not to Hard"?

Hi,
I was at the gym today exercising, and they have several personal trainers. I overheard one of them say to his client, as he moved the lever to a lower weight, “We won’t go to hard today”.


Now, I don’t know if this was the first time this client had ever been to a gym or ever worked out. She was overweight by about 30 pounds, around mid -30’s and did not look weak.

The weight he moved the lever to was one rung above no weight at all. Something the average 6 year old child could move.

Even if this was her first time, the message was wrong.

Sure you don’t want to kill a first time exerciser, but you don’t want to let them off too easy either.

My guess is that he – as so many personal trainers do – didn’t talk to the woman about her goals. And I am positive he did not give her any kind of strength or conditioning tests.

If he did he certainly would not have started her at such a light weight. As it was she easily did 12 reps and was not breathing more than normal. And that was the only set he had her do.

If she had walked up about 10 steps she would have burned more calories and it would have done her more good than that exercise did.

So here is the take away. If you are a beginner, make sure your personal trainer – if you are going to use one – understands your goals. And that they give you a conditioning or strength test.

This woman was much stronger than this exercise and as such she didn’t get anything out of it.

Look, most people don’t really like to exercise. So if you are going to do it, then make it productive. Each exercise should make you struggle a little bit.

It doesn’t matter if you are really weak or really strong. You just vary the weight so that you have to struggle.

This keeps your muscles strong and they will continue to get stronger and somewhat bigger as you progress. Doing anything less is pretty much a waste of time.

Why is that you are asking? Because the body is really great at one thing. And that is adapting.

You see this all the time at any gym. People do the same exercises with the same weights for years.

And their bodies get worse and worse each year. In order to progress you have to do either more exercises or more strenuous exercise.

Maybe you think if you keep doing the same thing your body will stay the same. Unfortunately, the body adapts. And the body adapts so that what you are doing now is not enough to maintain the body you have.

So if you want to make progress, lose body fat, get stronger, have more energy you have to push it a little bit.

Not a lot, but you do have to make progress.

Thanks,
Mike Val

Are Your Muscles Trembling?

Hi,

Have your muscles ever been so tired that they actually shake or tremble?  If so you have hit the first stage of the growing zone. 

The growing zone isn't just about muscle size.  It is more about muscle strength. 

Although you will find that growth does come with strength.  It just usually lags behind a few weeks or months. 

And there are many more variables to consider when talking about muscle size.  Things such as number of fibers, types of fiber, musculo-skeletal leverage factors, diet and recovery ability all affect muscle size. 

So with that out of the way, let's get back to muscle trembling and your workout. 

Most people at the gym never get to the trembling stage.  If you are doing legs, then it should be very hard for you to even walk.  If you are going down stairs, then you should be hanging on to the railing. 

If you do reach this stage, most people will now stop.  And then they will miss a great opportunity for growing. 

Here is what you can do to shock your muscles.  Once you reach this stage, rest for 10 seconds.  Then, with the same weight, do one more rep.  Rest another 10 seconds.  Do one more rep. 

Rest 5 seconds and pick up a weight that is 50% of what you were using before.  Do as many reps as you can until you can't budge the weight anymore. 

Then collapse. 

Here is an alternate method in case you are not able to use the same amount of weight for the first rep.  Reduce the poundage by 20% and do as many reps as you can.  Immediately reduce the weight another 20% and again do as many reps as you can. 

Then collapse. 

Don't worry about the exact percentages.  Just try to keep as good a form as you can when you are doing the reps.  It is real easy to exaggerate body english to get the rep, but that can do more harm and really hurt you.

So if you can't get a full rep, then just do a half rep or even a quarter rep. 

Try this at your next workout and let me know how you feel the next day.  Which reminds me, don't do this at every workout.  You will overwork yourself and actually reduce your gains and recovery. 

Thanks,

Mike Val

Are You at War with Your Diet?

If you are at war with your diet, that means part of you is fighting the diet while another part of you wants to go on it. 

Surprisingly, this happens all the time. 

Here is a perfect example.  See if you can see yourself in this example.

A friend of mine was (and is) overweight.  He likes to drink, smoke and eat.  His wife, who is not overweight, was constantly harping on him to lose weight.

Finally, she hired a nutritionist to help him.  But, the nutritionist went about it all wrong.  She explained all about protein, carbs and fats and told him to cut out most of the carbs and eat more protein. 

But, that is all she said.  That is the physical part.  She did nothing for the mental or essence (spirit) aspects at all.

So what happens?  We go out of town on a job and after a couple of days on the diet, he is back to his old eating patterns. 

He was not congruent in his desire to lose weight.  In other words, his physical, mental and his whole essence were not in alignment. 

Unless, you have an overwhelming desire to lose weight for you, you are going to have a hard time on any kind of diet. 

Dieting is hard (losing weight is not - if you know how) and goes against most people's very nature of depriving themselves. 

You need something to overcome that nature and replace it with something else.  If you don't have that something else (that burning desire) then no amount of prodding from your spouse, friends or family is going to overcome what you are doing. 

There are things you can do to lose weight almost effortlessly.  And there are ways to overcome not having a burning desire. 

If interested, just check out my ebook:  Stop Dieting, Start Losing Weight and Keep it Off Permanently.

Thanks,

Mike Val

The Sugar Song

Just uploaded a video to You Tube called the Sugar Song.  Less than 4 minutes long.  Check it out at this link:  sugar song

Do You Want to Eliminate Back Pain?

Hi,

Almost every human being has back pain at one time or another in their lifetime.  If you haven't then consider yourself very lucky. 

Sometimes the pain is so bad that you can't do anything. 

I can remember that pain several times in my life, but the last time was the worst.  I was just reaching down to pick up a ladder and I didn't think I was going to get back up. 

This was two days before Christmas several years ago, and try to find a Chiropractor then.  Well, I finally did find one and that took away the immediate pain.

But, I was still uncomfortable.  I couldn't sit, stand or lie down without extreme discomfort.  It wasn't painful, it was just uncomfortable as h....

Eventually, I had to get back surgery and I swore I was never going to go through that again.  The surgery was successful, but I still have residual damage to my sciatic nerve in my left calf. 

Since that surgery I have looked far and wide for back and hip exercises so that I don't have to worry about surgery ever again.   Why the hips you might be wondering. 

For one, the hips and back are attached.  And all your movement for you lower body comes from your hips and lower back.  If you have a bad back, the odds are you have overcompensated somewhere to protect your back. 

If you are anything like me, you have locked up your hips or at least one side to protect your back. 

I am working on a program that I will be offering in awhile.  In the meantime, I would like to give you an exercise you can do if you do have back pain. 

You might think it is a hip exercise, but it does help your lower back also. 

Here is how it goes.  Stand straight and take a long step forward - sort of like a runner's stance only keeping your upper body standing straight.  Make sure your stance is wide enough so that you don't have to worry about your balance. 

Now, put your hands on your buttocks and push forward into your front leg.  You are not trying to go down like you would if you were doing a lunge.  Rather you are trying to push forward.   Hold the position for 10 seconds and then reverse legs. 

That is all there is too it.  Do this a few times a day.  Try to do it when you get up in the morning and after sitting for any length of time. 

You can see some pictures of how this is down at: Stop back pain exercises

In the meantime I will keep you posted when the back pain ebook or CD is ready.

Thanks,

Mike Val

Health lies

Hey, 

Hope you are having a great day. 

If I told you the latest health company "A" just improved their product 100% you might be impressed. 

They would tell you that after testing they found that twice as many people improved over the original product.

That would indicate a significant improvement.  And along with their hyped up marketing you might rush right out and buy their product. 

But, what if you had access to the full research?

You might find out that the 100% improvement might not tell the whole story. 

Let's use an example to illustrate.   Let's say this study had 1000 people involved.  The original product showed that 20 people improved. 

That is an overall improvement rate of .02 or 2%.

Now comes along the new product.  This time out of 1000 people 40 people improved.  This is an overall improvement rate of .04 or 4%.

The improvement rate from 20 to 40 people improving is a doubling of the improvement rate.  So is the % of increase. 

And this all sounds so impressive if you don't look at the overall numbers. 

Would you be so likely to go run out to try this new improved product if you knew that only 4% of the people trying in actually improved?  That only 40 out of 1000 people actually showed any improvements at all.

Of course company "A's" marketing isn't going to tell you the whole story.  And more than likely you don't have the time to do the research on all this information. 

So what can you do.  You can continue to read my blog and others that do have the time and want to do this kind of research for you.

And you can stop believing all the marketing hype you see for all the weight loss, health supplements and fitness equipment you do see every day of the year. 

You can also check out an article I wrote on this on my website:  Lies, Damn Lies and Health Statistics

Thanks,

Mike Val

Please read this first

Hi, 

First of all let me welcome you to Val's Health News.  This is my first blog and first blog post, so I apologize
if I don't have any "bells and whistles" here.

But, what you will get is the latest information, tips, tricks and advice on how to lead a stellar life. 

A stellar life is one at the peak.  The very best. 

This includes your health, your fitness levels and your nutrition. 

And it goes way beyond that. 

This is something that the other 10 gazillion health, fitness and diet gurus miss. 

They just concentrate on one little aspect of your health.  But, your health includes, not only your
body, but also your mind and spirit (or your essence).

If you do not have all three of these at their peak, then you are not congruent in trying to reach a
stellar life. 

Think of your life as a triangle and each angle is a peak of the body, the mind and your essence.  If you want to develop each peak then you have to be focused on all three.

If you focus on just your body (for example) then that peak grows.  But the other two peaks - your
mind and your essence - have to contract.  This means that you will not reach your stellar life.

This can be broken down further.  For arguments sake, let's say your body area can be broken down into fitness, diet and breathing.

If you just focus on your diet as one part of the triangle, then the other two - fitness and breathing - will not be at their peak.  This will adversely affect your overall health. 

My goal is to present a path that you can follow to lead the kind of life you really want to live.  For the rest
of your life.  It doesn't matter if you are 20 or 85, you can improve the quality of your life.  Physically, mentally and spiritually. 

Just a brief note on spiritually.  I am not talking about religion.  I am talking about your essence, or who you really are deep down inside.  If you don't know who you really are, don't worry there are ways to find out. 

Okay, that is a brief synopsis of what this blog will be about.  I will provide links to articles, videos, etc. once I figure out how to do so. 

In the meantime, if you would like to stay up to date on what is happening here, you can subscribe to my newsletter and get a free report - The 6 Steps to Permanent Weight Loss.  Val's Health Site

In the meantime, please feel free to ask me any questions and give me any feedback.

Thanks,

Mike Val