10 Guidelines to Great Lifting

• Do a general (cardio) warm up before lifting
• Perform a specific light warm up set for each muscle group
• Perform exercises throughout the entire range of motion
• Use light weight with new exercises
• Attend to joint pain immediately
• Design programs to enhance muscular balance
• Avoid bouncing weights at the bottom of each lift
• Train each muscle group with multiple exercises
• Execute correct technique and mental concentration

Derived and adapted from the National Strength and Conditioning Association, The National Academy of Sports Medicine, and fifteen years of banging weights.

Activity Guidelines

Living a generally healthy lifestyle and becoming physically fit are two entirely different things. Living that healthy lifestyle is far less intense, and perhaps even more important, than improving your fitness level.

In other words, it is not always important to “kill yourself” in order to be healthy. In fact, it has been shown that previously sedentary individuals actually attain better results when exercising at lower intensities.

That said, advancing your fitness level can be one of the most rewarding things you do for yourself. You can feel an increased sense of wellbeing, boost your self confidence, have more energy, feel less pain… even overcome depression just by becoming more physically fit, but it does take hard work.

Becoming more fit is a balancing act of patience and urgency, of discipline and play, of know how and of blind faith. Some say that fit people are just born “lucky.” Well… the harder you work, the luckier you will get. Like Machiovelli once said, the means employed to attain an end will be what is required to maintain that end. So choose your methods and your aims carefully.

At the end of the day, any activity above and beyond what you are currently doing will produce some benefit.

Below are the National Strength and Conditioning Association guidelines for general health and for improved fitness levels.

Which of the two are you and which do you want to be?


General Health Activity Recommendations:
Frequency: 5-7 days per week
Intensity: Moderate (increase your heart rate, breath a bit heavier)
Time: 30 minutes total per day
Type: General activity; walking, using stairs, dancing, mowing yard.
Enjoyment: The higher the better!

Improved Fitness Recommendations:
Frequency: 5-7 days per week
Intensity: 60 – 90% of heart rate max (max = 220 minus your age)
Time: 20-60 minutes per day
Type: Any Activity
Enjoyment: The higher the better!

Character

“Character is the product of an exceptional demand upon human ability by a situation. I think the ability of the average man could be doubled if the situation demanded.”
-William Durante


Intellectually the justification to give up is always present. Don’t let your mouth tell your body what cannot be done.

Too often people fall short of their goals because they lack the ability to extract from themselves everything they have to give. In this manner a person becomes stuck in a rut of blame and self pity. Accountability, faith, and persistent execution of a sound plan are what it takes. Overcome the intellectual justification of the impulse to quit and rise to exceed the situation.


Copy and paste the following link into your browser. See it first hand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvlmDi_aD10&feature=related

Persistency Is the Enemy

Persistency is the enemy.

Persistent weight gain, compounded over time, is responsible for the majority of obesity in America today.

The "average" person gains only a pound during the holiday season and only a pound and a half over the course of an entire year. One and a half pounds may not sound like much, but with persistence the 1.5 pounds equates to a 10 pound weight gain every seven years.

If you entered the workforce at 22 years old at 170 pounds then slowly, consistently, over time (based on the research) you will morph into a 210 pound 50 year old, a 220 pound 57 year old! If the trend continues then by 64, just after Social Security has kicked in, you're staring 230 pounds dead in the face. Can you imagine the health consequences you could suffer?

The problem is persistence: Weight goes on each year, and typically stays on FOR-E-VER.

At the root of the problem is habits. Inevitably, habits enslave you.

Be a slave to good habits and make persistence your best friend.
your best friend.

BELIEF

Belief is one of the most powerful predictors of purposeful change and success. The more a person believes in themselves, the more likely they are to realize their full potential.

Research reveals that people who truly believe they will be successful are more likely to:

*Perform better in many domains (from academics to sports to keeping new years resolutions)
*Be happy, even while coping with ailments such as depression, anxiety, burnout, alcoholism, smoking and obesity.
*Set and achieve more goals
*Attribute failures to changeable causes (i.e. poor planning in lieu of poor genetics)
*React better to difficult circumstances from bad test scores to career setbacks, stressful jobs, paralyzing accidents, and even chronic illnesses
*Use more effective coping habits such as humor, regular exercise, and preventative care.

How good are you at believing in yourself?

Do you trust that you will do what you have set out to do?

Trust and belief are closely related. A degree of trust is needed before you will believe someone. Perhaps after a small series of “trust tests” you will come to believe in someone, holding what they say as valid and true.

Belief exercise:

Set a modest goal such as attending a new group exercise class or holding yourself accountable to 4 hours of exercise in a given week. Work to attain a series of small goals and reward behavioral results accordingly. After some time has passed, gradually increase the size and scope of your goals.


Trust yourself, believe in yourself, and reward yourself for improved behaviors before improved aesthetics.

“If you can conceive and believe then you can achieve.” - Unknown

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For an archive of all posts view “healthlinkblog.blogspot.com”

The Essence of Beauty Is...

“The essence of beauty is order.”
- Will Durante

Fitness results demand order and structure.

Study beautiful art, music, or sculptures. The beauty within shines not just in the essence of each detail, but also in the harmony of every detail in concert with the whole. So too the exactness of a surgeons hand exhibits meaning with each stroke.

Meaningful actions require a greater why, a definite major aim.

Great fitness programs are ordered and periodized. Every day trumpets cause. Each action exudes meaning. The place for enjoyment is found within the order of the program.

Folks who stumble around the gym, haphazardly, without plan or process are no more likely to attain their goals than the artist who, howling mad, smatters paint all over a canvas and calls it art. It is not art; it has no meaning, use or worthwhile purpose.

Have a plan, have a purpose, have a goal. Act in accordance.

Attaining an outstanding result… is a beautiful thing.


If general fitness is your goal, use the template below to help dictate how to order the timing of your workouts. Learn the proper actions to take within the scope of each parameter and act consistently.


General Fitness Time Program:

5-10 minutes light cardio
5-10 minutes flexibility
10-15 minutes moderate cardio
20-30 minutes weight training
5-10 minutes core exercises
5-10 minute flexibility

STABILITY LEADS TO MOBILITY

The year is 1949, Joe Dimagio sign’s Major League Baseball’s first 100,000 dollar contract, President Harry Truman is inaugurated for a second term, China declares itself a communist state, and two researchers; Kendall and Kendall, prove that the safest and most effective way to prepare for all resistance and stability training is through isolated isometrics… a.k.a. “core.”

Since 1949 it has been known that internal stability precedes external movement. Learning to stabilize your body effectively through isometrics (or core) is the best way to begin a fitness program.

Before you exercise on an unstable surface you must first exhibit sound execution and muscular endurance from a stable position.

Why do some core and balance workouts seem closer to Cirque De Soliel than exercise? In a word: hype.

Consumer’s insatiability fuels fitness trends. View the checkout line at your grocery store. You will see high sugar candy bars flanked by high hype fitness magazines touting the newest and best exercise routine ever.

Hype leads to confusion, don’t buy the hype. If you want to learn something new, perhaps it is best to study something old, like Kendall and Kendall.

Kendall and Kendall proved that isometrics are a basic way to effectively begin an exercise program. Excellent results can be attained by using a flat floor, a step, and gravity. You don’t need to know how to balance on one leg standing on top of a stability ball while juggling dumbbells to develop your balance or your core.

Use isometrics within your exercise program for the first 6-8 weeks in a new routine. After this initial period, aid your program by applying isometrics at least twice per week. Say goodbye to nagging little injuries and say hello to increased muscular recruitment, enhanced coordination, and a higher level of joint stability without appearing to have joined the circus.