8 Amazing Variations on Rowing Exercises

After chin ups usually comes some form of rowing motion exercise. It creates balance and more often than not is needed due to the amount people tend to work the front half of the body!

The problem is they tend to be a little boring.... cue this article from T-Nation giving you 8 variations on the pulling theme. Have a read and get rowing!!

There are three important factors that go into deciding whether a back exercise is worthy or not. (You won't find this type of information in a textbook – only after many years of focused, hard training and listening to your body.)

3 Key Back Training Factors

Compression: Does the exercise allow you to forcefully squeeze the muscle against a significant load?

Notice I didn't say a light load – squeezing light weight can help with your mind muscle connection and lat activation, but you have to handle significant weight to achieve the level of compression required.

Range of motion: Does the exercise allow you to work your lats through a long range of motion?

Some row variations really capture this – you almost feel like your scapulae are about to rip from your body. At the other end of the rep, the further you can get your elbows back, the more you can tap into your lats.

Contraction: Does the exercise allow you to feel your back contract?

A lat contraction is tougher to feel than say, the biceps or triceps. This also takes time and practice, but it makes a huge difference in terms of results.

Using these three factors, I evaluated my top 8 rowing movements and ranked them according to effectiveness. Here's the list, in ascending order of effectiveness:

8. Cambered Bar Row

I'm not a fan of traditional barbell rows. I know, Lee Haney and Ronnie Coleman liked them and their backs were huge. Well, their backs would've grown even if all they did was paint their toenails.

One tweak that can make a barbell row better, though, is using a cambered bar. This allows for a greater range of motion in the contracted position as your elbows can travel back much farther.

Compression: 6 – Because the barbell is "locked" into place, you lose some compression.

Range of motion: 8 – The camber in the bar allows for an extended range at the top. However, you can't get an extreme stretch at the bottom.

Contraction: 6 – Not bad here. By getting your elbows up high you get a solid contraction at the top. Also, adding a few chains enhances it, as the weight is heavier in the contracted position.

Total score: 20

For the other 7 exercises click here

“Know Pain or No Gain.” Essential Pain Facts for Triathletes

Guest post today is all about pain in triathletes, share, like and read!!

1. PAIN IS 100% AN OUTPUT OF THE BRAIN – this is one of the most important facts about pain. There are several examples illustrating this point. A common example is that of the phantom limb. Many amputees will often complain about pain in a limb, which no longer exists. This freaky sensation occurs because a road map to that limb, which exists within the brain, has not been re-written since the limb was lost. So the person will still feel pain, in a limb, despite that limb being gone. Even crazier, research has been performed on treatment approaches which use mirrors, to make the intact limb reflect a healthy image to appear as the amputated limb.

Click to read the other 8 points

10 Ways To Train Your Core Without Crunches

This article from 'Girls Gone Strong', gives all you core junkies out there a few more ideas of how to build a great midsection. You can a lot of things about a person from this section of their body so make sure you get in a couple of these exercises a week! Dont go doing all of them in one go, just pick a couple every week and do a few sets.

10 Ways To Train Your Core Without Crunches

As the saying goes, “abs are built in the kitchen” though it never hurts to have a solid repertoire of core exercises to not only get stronger but also complement those six pack, nutritional efforts. As we get closer and closer to the midriff  baring months, here are 10 of my commonly used core exercises for both myself and clients.

Note: You won’t find a traditional crunch on this list. While many (ladies especially) associate the “burn” from crunches as an effective way to train the abs, the jury is out on whether crunches could hinder the integrity of our spine / disks with high volume, repetitive flexion. Because of this, you’ll find many coaches and trainers who utilize other methods to train strength, stability and overall performance through the core.

In no particular order:

1. Pallof Press – It’s always great to train on our feet as we’re usually operating / performing from a standing position. This is a great exercise for anti-rotation and sometimes I will utilize these in place of a side plank for clients as well.

For the rest of the article and some more great info from the girls over at Girls Gone Strong, please follow the link:

10 Ways To Train Your Core Without Crunches

Eric Cressey' 15 Mistakes of Static Stretching

A great article written by a very knowledgeable man. The article has videos as well as text, its well worth a read, its just gives you some great tips that you could implement straight away and change you stretch routine for the better. Enjoy and thanks to W10 for putting me onto this one!

One of the most debated topics in the strength and conditioning world in recent years has been whether or not static stretching is necessary and, if so, when it should be implemented.  While I don't think everyone needs it, and that there are certainly are times when it is a bad idea to utilize, I'm still of the mindset that it can have some solid benefits when implemented properly. 

Unfortunately, like all training initiatives, some people do it all wrong. To that end, I wanted to devote today's article to covering the top 15 static stretching mistakes I encounter.

Mistake #1: Stretching through extreme laxity.

This is the most important and prevalent one of all, so it comes first.  When I see someone doing this, this is pretty much how I feel:

We're all have a different amount of congenital laxity.  Basically, this refers to how much "give" our ligaments have.  Some folks have naturally stiff joints, and others have very loose joints.  This excessively joint laxity is obviously much higher in females and younger populations, but, as Leon Chaitow and Judith DeLany discuss in Clinical Applications of Neuromuscular Techniques: Volume 1, it is also much higher in folks of African, Asian, and Arab origin.
When you take someone who is really lax and implement aggressive static stretching, it's on par with having someone with a headache bang his/her head against a wall.  It makes things worse.
This is a tricky thing to understand, though, because many of these "loose" individuals will comment on how they feel "tight."  Usually that tightness is just them laying down trigger points as a way for the body to create stability in areas where they are chronically unstable.  They'd be better off working on stability training to get back to efficient movement.
I think yoga has a tremendous amount of applications and we borrow from the discipline all the time, but I think this is where many modern yoga classes fall short; they have everyone in the class go to the same end-range on certain exercises. Folks with serious joint laxity should not only contraindicate certain yoga poses, but also modify others so that they're training stability short of the true end-range of their joints. Unfortunately, most of the people you'll see in yoga classes are hypermobile women; you see, they like to do the things they're good at doing, not necessarily what they need to do.
How do you know if you're lax, though? I like to use the Beighton hypermobility scale to assess for both generalized congenital laxity and specific laxity at a joint. The screen consists of five tests (four of which are unilateral), and is scored out of 9:
1. Elbow hyperextension > 10° (left and right sides)
2. Knee hyperextension > 10° (left and right sides)
3. Flex the thumb to contact with the forearm (left and right sides)
4. Extend the pinky to >90° angle with the rest of the hand (left and right sides)
5. Place both palms flat on the floor without flexing the knees

One of the biggest problems I see in today's strength and conditioning world is that we assume all "big, strong" athletes are tight and need aggressive stretching.  As an example, take a look at this high Beighton score in a 6-3, 240-pound athlete.  We do very little static stretching with him - and absolutely none in the upper body.

If someone is really lax, nix the static stretching and instead spend more time on stabilization work.  If they still feel like they need to "loosen up," tell them to do some extra foam rolling.  They'll transiently reduce some of the stiffness they're feeling, but they won't be working through harmful end-range joint range-of-motion in the process.

Day 4- 5 Lessons of a Samurai- Eric Falstrault

Thanks to a good trainer friend of mine i came across this article a few days ago, it has some extremely useful information and practical guidelines for living life! Have a read of lesson 1 and then follow the like to Eric' blog and read the rest, while you there you may as well sign up to his blog posts. A lot of what he says just 'makes sense', so  go read, follow, learn, enjoy!

OC

Lesson #1

Preserving life is a matter of what we eat so food and drink are the nourishment of life. For this reason, nourishment should be considered a special daily supplement to one’s life that should not be neglected nor abused. The stomach and spleen receives the nutrients that send the pure liquid (pure liquid that supports animal life, that becomes blood) to the organs and viscera, just as the grass and trees grow by the means of the ch’i of the earth. In other words, Taking care of the stomach is of the utmost importance Yojokun (way of nurturing life) and taking care of the body. Ancients always set limits to their food intake in order to not disrupt the balance, and this nourished their health. You always must be aware of what goes into your mouth. The ancients often said ‘’disasters go out through the mouth and disease comes in through it.’’ Food and drink should be used to extinguish hunger and thirst. Once the desire is fulfilled, you should stop eating. Control yourself and set limits.

Another great point he made is that you should write down all the things that consistently make you ill, and then avoid them. A consistent malady becomes a chronic illness. Some will make you ill immediately and others over time. Avoid both at all costs.

For the other 4 lessons click here

4 Reasons why sugar is bad for you!

4 Reasons why sugar is bad for you!

Different foods affect the body in different ways and sugar is uniquely fattening.

Sugar (sucrose) and high fructose corn syrup contain two molecules: glucose and fructose.

Glucose is absolutely vital to life and is an integral part of our metabolism. Our bodies produce it and we have a constant reservoir of it in the bloodstream.

Every cell in the body can use glucose for energy. If we don’t get glucose from the diet, our bodies produce what we need out of proteins and fats.

Fructose, however, is very different. This molecule is not a natural part of metabolism and humans do not produce it.

In fact, very few cells in the body can make use of it except liver cells.

When we eat a lot of sugar, most of the fructose gets metabolized by the liver. There it gets turned into fat, which is then secreted into the blood.

1. Fructose Causes Insulin Resistance

Please click here to read the rest of this post by Authority Nutrition.

Day 2. & Tips from Tom Hamilton. 7 Tips to help you achieve your ideal body

Tom Hamilton is fast becoming one of the go to personal trainers in Bristol,
he trains both the general public and athletes, follow his ideas and follow his blog!

7 Tips to help you achieve your ideal body

1) Make sure you are consuming enough food.  Typical scenario I have come across is when someone wants to lose body fat, the 1^st thing most people tend to do is massively restrict their calorie intake, this is a huge mistake as it places the body into starvation mode & the body will hold on to the fat.

For the rest of the 6 tips go to Toms Blog