Muscle Definition
Muscle definition is something everybody wants, from the elite athlete to the normal gym goer who is exercising for health benefits more than for the looks department.
The best way to achieve this is through high repetition training, now remember this is not a theory, I am speaking from experience and results as this is a method I have used hundreds of times on clients during the past 11 years of my personal training career.
The Benefits of High Repetition Training (HRP)
- Burns off subcutaneous fat and increases the visibility of muscle striations.
- Increases the protein content in the muscles through performance of long, high-reps sets.
- Increases capillary density within the muscle through increased adaptation to aerobic work, which may result in a slight increase in muscle size.
Get rid of FAT
In order to get the best defined look possible you need to reduce as much body fat as possible. To accomplish this, the duration of nonstop muscular contraction must be increased. Traditionally you will try running on the treadmill, rowing, cross training, cycling, stair climbers etc…but this unfortunately will not produce the desired results!
The high repetition training method will result in elimination of fat from the overall body and more importantly from local muscle groups involved in the activity.
The number of repetitions and sets per muscle group need to be drastically increased in a progressive manor and in a nonstop fashion. To avoid complete melt down of a muscle group during your workout, it may be an idea to exhaust one muscle group then straight after a set is complete move onto the opposite working muscle group. For example, if you have just completed 10 sets on the bench press using the HRT method then it would be a good idea to then train the back muscles as they are still fresh, unfatigued and will allow you to perform another set of 10 sets!
This is not only causing you to burn more calories but also keeps your heart rate up and adds an aerobic style routine to your training regime.
Considerations
Ensure when taking part in high repetition training that you leave only a few seconds from using one machine and moving onto another to keep your heart rate up.
HRT requires that muscle groups be constantly alternated
Beginners to exercise should enter this style of training regime with great caution as the end result can be muscle soreness for days which can be highly demotivating
Do not try to speed through the sets as this will cause your muscles to build up lactic acid at a much faster rate, instead, employ a steady speed throughout the set
It would be advisable to only take part in this training system twice per week to begin with if you are a beginner and for the elite athlete up to 4 times per week.
Ensure that your protein intake is always high and consume plenty of water.
Categories: Deepak Bhangu, Muscle Definition, Training Manuals, Training Topics Tags: aerobic, body fat, cardio, Deepak Bhangu, High Reps, Lean Muscle, Low weight, Muscle Definition, Striations, Toned
Recovering from Exercise
It’s January, your News Year’s Resolutions have probably been set in stone for now…and you are ready to hit the gym to try and get rid of all the visible signs of over indulging during the festive season.
Before we get going allow me to go through the workout you would have been mentally preparing in your head over the past few weeks and then I will then I will be covering what you should be doing…
Your Mental Plan of Action
For a few weeks now you will have been mentally preparing your workout and setting the intensity levels that you will be working out to in January.
This is all great but too much focus on the intensity of your workout could be where you potentially go wrong and will also determine if you will be consistently training over the weeks and months to come.
You will already have painted a picture of going all out on the treadmill, cross trainer, rower, lifting life threatening amounts of weights etc… and sweating bucket loads during the process!…However, this is the opposite of what you want to do…and here’s why…
Your body may have been used to exercising on a consistent basis and overtime would have developed a high level of tolerance to exercise and the recovery process would have also been pretty efficient after intense workouts.
Even after a few weeks of not exercising the conditioning of your muscles will not be to the same tune as they were a few weeks ago. “So what does this mean for your workout?”…it means we have to cut back on the intensity for a good few sessions. By doing this you will reduce the amount of muscle soreness but more importantly it allows you to exercise again the following day with less soreness.
Muscle Soreness Can Affect Motivation Levels…
By exercising too hard straight away you will find your motivation to get back into the gym is overcome by muscle soreness and even if the will power is there to exercise the lack of muscle flexibility and soreness limits your performance levels whilst exercising. This is also how injuries can be picked up.
Recommended Plan of Action
For the first few weeks I would recommend you concentrate on consistency rather than intensity. It is better to get into a routine of exercising 3 times per week rather than taking part in 1 hard training session and then spending the next 4 days to recover and then repeating the process. There is very little benefit in this routine. You will find as you exercise more frequently, your body is quickly getting back into it’s normal routine and your muscles tolerance levels to exercise is improving which in turn means your recovery process is also allot quicker. “Remember Health & Fitness is for life, it’s not going out of fashion so let’s start slowly and positively”…
There are additional steps you can take to help the recovery process and that is to feed your muscles with its natural properties which are water and protein.
Always stay hydrated as this can help maximise your training effort…remember muscle tissue is made up by 70 to 80% of water and about 25% protein!
Additional resources can also be protein shakes, this is a great way to supply protein to your muscles straight after your workout!
Conclusion…
So there you have it, start off slowly, concentrate on exercise consistency rather than exercise intensity (to begin with), drink more water, consume more protein and one last thing that we haven’t touched on yet is to try and get 8 hours of sleep as inconsistent or heavily disturbed sleeping patterns can also reduce recovery times and can also cause weight gain!
Categories: Deepak Bhangu, Training Manuals, Training Topics Tags: Deepak Bhangu, Exercise, Intensity, Recovery, Weight Gain
