Sanjay Dutt to learn kickboxing

After getting brickbats for his bulges in Blue, Sanjay  Dutt went on a diet-and-workout routine. He even stopped drinking. As a result of that effort, the actor is now looking fitter than he has in a long time.

Next on Sanju’s list is learning kickboxing from Silvio Simac, who worked with him in Sohail Maklai’s Knockout.

Kickboxing is the answer
A source reveals, “Sanju was super-impressed by Silvio, when they worked together. The actor was convinced that kickboxing was the answer to all-round stamina increase and fitness. Although Silvio is based in the UK, they discussed the possibilities of training together.  Sanju is keen to train in martial arts and kickboxing. He wants to retain his flexibility and increase stamina.” 

Dutt confirms, “I’ve been training by myself for the last few months. I am very keen to get Silvio Simac down to Mumbai for six months to train me. I don’t mind even flying down to UK for a couple of months and staying there to get trained and learn kickboxing from Silvio but I would like him to come to India for the first four months here.”

Diet talk
The actor adds that he has now discontinued the ketosis diet. “I stopped it as one can only follow that for a month. Now I am only on a diet of boiled fish and chicken.”

In the past, Sanju had hired the services of a special body building trainer from the US — Lawrence Gonsalves during the making of Blue.

Silvio Simac – The S Factor

Importance of Motivation

…most people take up an activity but once faced with a set of challenges, they lose motivation and give up so its important to stay focused, motivated and positive in order to make progressive gains in your desired training regime.

Importance of Motivation

1. Motivation the ability to initiate and persist in training or competition.
2. Being able to train hard in the face of pain, fatigue, boredom, and the desire to do otherthings.
3. Motivation influences physical conditioning, mental preparation, lifestyle.

Developing and Maintaining Motivation

1. Focus on long-term goals.
   1. long-term focus will enhance motivation against short-term pain.
   2. remind yourself why you are suffering.
2. Training partner or group.
   1. support from others.
   2. common goals.
   3. inspire each other.
3. Chart progress with training log.
   1. see yourself improving.
   2. see yourself nearing your goals.
4. True motivation comes from within.
   1. compete because you love to swim, bike, run or body build..

Over-Training

1. Dangers of overtraining: loss of motivation, burnout, injury.
2. Train smart.
   1. more is not better.
   2. stick with your program.
3. Rest.
   1. rest is an essential part of training.
   2. rest should be built into your training program.

CONFIDENCE

Importance of Confidence

1. Confidence is how strongly you believe in your ability to achieve your goals.
2. Problems with low confidence is low motivation, negative self- talk, anxiety, poor focus, negative emotions.
3. Confidence is a skill.

Foundation of Confidence

1. Preparation breeds confidence.
   1. trust your preparation.
   2. acknowledge your progress.
   3. believe in your fitness.
2. Mental skills reinforce confidence.
   1. actively build confidence.
   2. enhance your sense of control over your mind and body.
   3. enable you to handle challenges of training and competition.
   4. examples: positive self-talk, relaxation, focusing.
3. Chart progress with training log.
   1. see yourself improving.
   2. see yourself nearing your goals.
4. True motivation comes from within.
   1. compete because you love to swim, bike, run or body build..

INTENSITY

Importance of Intensity

1. Intensity is the amount of physiological activity whether it is perceived positively or negatively.
2. Too much intensity is experienced as anxiety and nervousness.
3. Pre-activity over-intensity will waste energy.
4. Pre-activity over-intensity is normal.
   1. accept it as part of the excitement of the challenge.
   2. don’t make it worse by worrying about.
   3. take steps to reduce over-intensity.

Training Prime Intensity

1. Determine prime and non-prime intensity: examine past good and poor performances for patterns of intensity.
2. Intensity training: experiment with different levels of intensity during training.
3. Psych-up: increase physical activation, high energy self-talk and body language.
4. Psych-down: breathing, passive and active relaxation, smiling, pacing.
5. Routines for consistency of intensity.

The optimal number of sets of resistance exercise required to produce maximum increase in strength remains a very controversial topic. In order for any strength training program to be considered effective, obviously that program would have to produce an increase in strength. If two different systems both produced an equal increase in strength, then other criteria must be looked at in order to determine which is truly the most effective. These additional criteria would be the amount of time invested to achieve the desired result, as well as the amount of effort expended and safety involved with it. Thus, the most effective system of strength training (or anything else) would be the one which produced the greatest possible results with the lease possible amount of effort in the shortest possible time with no health risks involved. While multiple set training has produced undoubtedly good results in a multitude of trainees over the years, this system contains one inherent flaw: it attempts to defy the principles of logic, reason, and human physiology by disregarding the incontrovertible relationship between intensity and duration.

Intensity is defined as the percentage of possible momentary effort being exerted (2). Duration is the amount of time over which such efforts are conducted. To paraphrase, intensity is how hard it is, while duration is how long it takes. There is universal agreement that intensity is the single specific stimulus required to generate increased muscular strength. The critical, yet often ignored, factor involved in strength training programs is that intensity and duration are inversely proportional. This means that as the intensity of effort increases, the amount of time that such an effort can be sustained will proportionately decrease. These are incontrovertible facts not subject to debate which can be readily observed in everyday life. It is literally impossible for a human being to sustain 100% intensity for prolonged periods of time.

Consider, for example, the activity of running, something almost all of us have had experience with since we were children. Picture yourself sprinting at top speed for a distance for 50 yards. Now imagine yourself running a distance of one mile. Can you run the mile at the same all-out pace you used in sprinting the 50 yards? Of course not. Why? Because intensity and duration are inversely proportional. Since you drastically increased the duration of your run, the intensity had to decrease, whether you wanted it to or not.

Once the facts regarding the intensity-duration relationship are clearly established, it becomes possible to manipulate these variables to produce the desired training result. Since intensity is the factor responsible for stimulating strength gains, and duration is inversely proportional to intensity, an ideal strength training program would combine the highest possible intensity with the lowest possible duration. One set per exercise, performed until no further volitional movement is possible, satisfies these requirements.

Have any studies been performed comparing multiple set to single set training? One study performed at the university of Florida (3) consisted of 25 subjects performing 1 set of lumbar extension exercise 1 day/week for 10 weeks. Strength increases ranged from 42% to 102%. A second study performed at the University of Florida (4) utilized a total of 110 subjects who performed either 1 or 2 sets of lumbar extension exercise 1 day/week for 12 weeks. The results showed significant and similar improvements for both groups as compared with controls. The researchers concluded that performing more that one set was unnecessary for increasing strength in the muscles of the lumbar spinal area.

Another interesting study was performed by Golds Gym of Bristol, CT and ESPN cable television network (5). This study compared the effects of a 3-set, 2-set, and 1-set upper extremity resistance training program on 61 subjects. Results showed an average overall strength increase of 16.42% in the 3 set group, 23.54% in the 2-set group, and 26.95% in the 1-set group.

How do these results compare with other similar studies? A review by Fleck and Kramer (1) showed that the average increase in strength for most studies using isometric or isotonic testing and training of a variety of different muscle groups was between 20% and 30%. Thus from a theoretical as well as practical standpoint, it appears that single-set training systems produce comparable or superior strength gains in less time and with less total effort than typical multiple-set training systems.

How can this information be utilized by the individual wishing to make his own training program as effective as possible? The following guidelines are offered:

1. Make each repetition as intense as possible by maintaining strict form. This includes controlling the repetition speed, taking care to move the weight by muscular force alone without momentum. No quick starts, bouncing or heaving. Lift the weight smoothly, pause at the end position, and lower slowly under full control.
2. Make each set as intense as possible by continuing that set until no further volitional movement is possible, that is, to muscular failure. Continue performing strict repetitions until you are stopped in your tracks during the repetition despite your greatest effort. Remember, if you complete a repetition, no matter how hard it was, you must attempt another one! Make sure, however, you have the proper safety measures in place first, i.e. racks to catch the weight in a safe position and a competent spotter.
3. Make each workout as intense as possible by performing only one set per exercise in the fashion described above. Remember, intensity and duration are inversely proportional; if you do extra sets , the intensity of your workout will decrease, reducing its effectiveness. In addition, keep your workouts as brief as possible by limiting the total number of exercises performed to one, or at the most two, per muscle group.

You can only build muscle tissue if you can generate progressively stronger muscular contractions, so this calls for an emphasis on finding ways to increase exercise intensity. This should not be confused with exercise duration as maximum training intensity will actually shorten the time needed to achieve maximal muscular growth.

In an earlier article I outlined the ways in which you can intensify your training. Here we’ll focus on the role that pre-exhaustion has to play in intensifying the training effect.

When an exercise employs two or more muscles it will be impossible to achieve failure for the primary muscle as the weakest muscle will give out first. This is perhaps best explained by giving an example. When targeting the chest, most exercises involve use of the triceps which is a relatively small and weak muscle. When performing the incline bench press for example, the triceps will fail before the pectorals have the opportunity to work to failure thus limiting the value of the exercise.

How do you get around this? By first performing an exercise that isolates and tires the pectorals before immediately moving on to the main exercise. For maximum benefits there should be no rest between the pre-exhaust exercise and the main compound exercise.

Beginners don’t need to worry about pre-exhaust routines but when they advance to intermediate level they can be introduced once a week for each body part.

Examples of pre-exhaust routines commonly performed by bodybuilders are listed below:

• Biceps – barbell curls and close-grip, palms-up pulldowns.
• Triceps – pressdowns and dips.
• Pectorals – flyes and bench presses.
• Lats – dumbbell pullovers and barbell rows.
• Deltoids – dumbbell laterals and presses behind neck.
• Traps – shrugs and upright rows.
• Thighs – leg extensions and squats.

For an emphasis on finding ways to increase exercise intensity. This should not be confused with exercise duration as maximum training intensity will actually shorten the time needed to achieve maximal muscular growth.

Anything less than maximum effort will reduce the effectiveness of your muscle building workout. The only way to force an optimal reaction in any muscle is to train it to failure – in other words, no matter how much effort you put in you are simply incapable of completing one more rep of a given exercise.

Too many people seem to finish a set when they reach a certain number of reps, but the body will only show significant change if you ask it to do something extra. Only by passing through the break-over point of momentary muscle failure will you stimulate the muscle to grow.

Anyone starting out on their bodybuilding career should not attempt this method of training as it could lead to serious injury. Spend several months perfecting exercise form and conditioning the body to lift heavier weights before gradually introducing training to failure.

INTENSITY is the key to success. Go to the gym to train. Dedicate 45 mins to an hour to just that. TRAINING. Limit yourself to 60 – 90 seconds rest in between each set. I see too many people treating gym as merely a social club. They gather there to discuss football, who did what over the weekend, some discuss the politics of training day in day out, other’s take their mobile phones in, in case they get that important call. Some just sit on the bench, watch MTV and look around for the next person to chat to in the gym. I come to gym to train, not to socialize, make friends, find a girlfriend or win a popularity contest.

Don’t Dream your Life, Live your Dream. God Bless. Enjoy the journey. Silvio Simac is available for seminars, motivational talks and personal training. For more information phone 07961 189 483

Thank you Silvio Simac for your time and effort in producing this brilliant article - ”The S Factor” – Kindest Regards Musclemadness Team

You can  find out more about Silvio Simac on his website: www.silviosimac.co.uk