Functional Strength Training - Try Something New

You may have heard me talk about functional (or practical) strength. Functional strength is used a lot by athletes who want to get rather strong in a particular aspect of their sport. For example I do Judo so I need a good strong grip. To do this I climb a rope, do a lot of Deadlifts and chin ups. These exercises not only strengthen my hands but also strengthen my back, biceps and abs.

In this report I'm going to talk about what functional strength is, what exercises are functional how you can learn more about it.

What is functional strength?
Functional strength is strength that you can use in everyday activities. For example what good is a rugby player who can bench press 200kg but cannot fend off a tackle? Functional strength training is being able to use that 200kg bench press and converting it into being able to fend off a tackle.

Another example of functional strength is a mother holding a baby in her arms for hours on end. You cannot convert this type of movement into a bench press or leg press movement, it is purely functional.

Gymnasts are a perfect example of functional strength. They can hold themselves on the rings and display awesome feats of strength but get them in the gym and they are nowhere near as strong as they look. This is purely because they are using their strength and co-ordination in a way that is practical for their sport and their needs.

What exercises are functional?
There are two types of exercises: Isolation and Compound movements. Isolation exercises work one or maybe two muscles at a time for eg: bicep curls, Pec Flyes, tricep kickbacks etc.

Compound movements are techniques that work between 2 and 6 muscles these are the bench presses, shoulder presses, squats, deadlifts etc.

I classify functional exercises as exercises that work the whole body. Exercises such as deadlifts, deep squats, standing SA shoulder press, carrying sandbags, sledgehammer work, keg lifts, pushing cars, rope climbing, tyre pulling, medicine ball throws, power cleans, power snatch, towel chin-ups etc. All of these exercises work and involve the whole body resulting in a full body conditioning and muscle co-ordination.

So if you want to do something different with your training instead of a boring bodybuilding program full of isolation exercises try doing a full body workout using practical exercises. Exercises and challenges such as:
- Hold onto a 25kg weight plate for 30 minutes without putting it down
- Try pushing a car round a car park for 20 minutes
- Carry a 20kg-boxing bag round the block.
- Attach a rope to a car tyre and pull it along hand over hand or bear crawl with it
- Piggyback a friend up a mountain
- Do 60 reps of body weight power cleans with 10 sec break in between each rep
- Row on a rowing machine superset with box jumps
- Do 30 reps of BW on squats superset with 1000m rowing
- Use kettle bells

Training for functional strength is great fun because you are doing something different besides a bench press and bicep curl. You are using your entire body to lift, pull and push all sorts of things, which requires massive amounts of muscle involvement and co-ordination.
If you participate in any physical activity like being a gardener, mowing lawns, playing rugby, Judo, wrestling etc you will feel the difference in not only strength but conditioning to.

I highly recommend functional strength training to anyone for the simple fact that it's fun, different, targets and uses the whole body - something that everyone needs.

Author: Matt D'Aquino
http://www.workoutsforjudo.com/

Matt D'Aquino is the founder of Beyond Grappling fitness and conditioning. He is a 2008 Beijing Judo Olympian as well as nationally ranked freestyle wrestler and National Champion in Brazilian Jujitsu. Matt has a passion for teaching all forms of grappling and is on the journey to qualify for his 2nd Olympic Games.

To learn more about Matt and his fitness and conditioning training visit http://www.workoutsforjudo.com/

Original article

How to Build Lean Muscle - Think Health First

When you look through the pages of any popular bodybuilding magazine you will see ads for products that promise to give you a jolt before you workout.

Products that promise to give you a pump-and products that you take post workout.

While this is all well and good, the one thing that does not get enough play is this-health.

Yes, you read that correctly, health.

Or more to the point, the health of your immune system.

Why?

Simple.

If you are constantly on the verge of a cold or flu, how hard do you think you will be able to train?

Plus, I know a lot of people, when the start to feel sick, the last thing they want to do is pound down a protein drink or some grilled chicken breasts. No chance!

They want junk food-and they want it now.

COVER THE BASICS FIRST

As mentioned above, there are tons of products around, but before you spend some cash, ask yourself this question-do I have my basic nutrition needs covered first?

Like a good quality vitamin and mineral supplement.

Along with a shopping cart full of nutritious vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower and onions-just to name a few.

It would not hurt to have a nice big salad everyday too.

If you are thinking, what does all of this have to do with building lean muscle-or any kind of muscle-for that matter?

Simple.

The better you eat, the better you will feel and the better you feel the harder you can train.

Which means you can gain more muscle.

As an added benefit, by eating foods rich in antioxidants and other healthy substances chances are you immune system will be running in high gear-which can potentially mean less sick days.

Less sick days mean training days-good stuff.

A POINT

Please do not take this article to mean that I am against all traditional bodybuilding supplements-because I am not.

I just think sometimes we get so caught up in the new stuff that we forget about the basics-and the basics have worked for years and will continue to work.

CONCLUSION

Yes, vitamin and mineral supplements along with healthy antioxidant loaded foods are not flashy, but when you combine them with good quality protein, quality carbs, and healthy fats you will have a nutrition profile that will not only help you build muscle, but feel great too-nice!

GO FOR IT!

Who else wants to learn how to build a big chest using two almost completely forgotten exercises? Click here to grab your FREE report. You will also receive weekly tips, advice and product reviews that will help you make greater gains in the gym than ever before. Visit http://www.howtobuildupmuscle.net/

Original article

Real 8 Minute Abs, Without The BS

An 8 minute ab workout that shows results? Seriously?

Yes, actually. If you have an effective workout and diet plan, just a short workout will do it.

Sound to good to be true? Yes, a little. Of course, if you just spend that little amount of time at the gym then you'll need to be rigidly adhering to your program. If you're just spending 8 minutes doing your abdominal workout, you can't be lazy.

So, here's your workout guide for 8 to 10 minute abs, with a workout and diet plan. Try it - I think you'll be pleased with the results.

8 Minute Ab Workout

Here's the most important part: make your workout intense. Since you're only working out for 8 minutes, you have to make sure that those few minutes are unlike anything else you've done.

So, what kind of lifts should you do? Hard ones.

Sorry, no bicep curls. Just squats, deadlifts, bench presses, weighted chin-ups, and some clean and presses.

Don't like big, multi-joint lifts? Then I guess the 8 minute ab workouts aren't for you.

Now, the 8 minutes refers to the actual time you spend lifting. Not including your rests between sets, or between exercises, or your drive to the gym. So it's not as disconcertingly easy as you might have been led to believe... but it works.

Oh, and ab exercises? If you still have time after big lifts, throw a few crunches on at the end. What?! That's it?!

Yes. Easy, and deceptively simple.

Now, as for your diet...

The 8 Minute Ab Workout Diet

The diet is the most important parts of your abs workout. And it's not actually part of the workout, but it is the part that gets you results.

I don't' care how monstrous your abdominal muscles get, using the 8 minute ab workout or any other workout. If you're carrying too much fat around, nobody will be able to see your abs - it's as simple as that.

Simply stated, you must diet down to lose fat. When your body fat percentage is low enough, you'll be able to see your abs - it's as beautiful and frustrating and as uncomplicated as that.

Now, the details of how to diet down to lose the fat while retaining muscle are a bit tricky. And very personal - you must find a system that works for you, yourself. But diet is the crux of making your abs stand out.

The 8 minute ab workout and diet aren't easy. Hell, choosing and sticking to any diet and workout routine is hard.

However, this one is guaranteed to get you results. And it only takes a minimum of your precious time. If you value your time and actually want to make progress, then commit to taking this up and really giving it a good try.

And if you want to lean more about how to get ripped with a minimum of effort and energy, check out the links below. They give you the exact details for how to diet to lose fat, and the best ways to put on the muscle that you want.

If you want to get more info about how to get ripped, check out the How To Get Abs E-Book. Or read more info at my site, Complete Strength Training. I'm an American College of Sports Medicine certified Personal Trainer and I've been lifting heavy things, trying different diets, and practicing Japanese martial arts for quite a while. There's a lot of info about all different kinds of strength and weight training, and how to get ripped. Check it out! - Copyright: You may freely republish this article, provided the text, author credit, active links, and this copyright notice remain intact.

Original article

How To Get Washboard Abs - Really

How to get washboard abs? Well, it's pretty simple to do. Diet down until you've lost almost all of your fat, then do ab exercises to make your abdominal muscle stand out even more.

See, it's simple. But not always easy, especially since it involves such rigid control of your food, eating habits, and exercise. No B.S., you don't need specialized workouts or exercises - just self control, and determination.

Here are some good rules to follow for how to get ripped abs. They've helped me get ripped, and I think they'll help you as well.

Eat Calorie Diffuse Foods

This is a nice trick so that you can eat a lot of food, but not a lot of calories. It'll give you that nice sensation of being full.

Vegetables are the king of calorie diffuse food. Squash are great for this, especially butternut and acorn squash - half of a whole, big butternut squash, baked, might be 100 calories. Maybe.

Now, I know that low carbohydrate diets give you an edge is weight loss by minimizing the hormone insulin. But, getting a six pack is all about removing the last 5, 10, or 15 pounds of fat from your frame, which should be done slowly and, as much as possible, in a way that's enjoyable for you.

How to get washboard abs one or two weeks faster may not work for you. it might be better to go slow with a program that's doable for you, rather than drop your weight fast with a program that's less doable - and less sustainable.

Make Exercise A Part Of Your Life

Exercise burns calories - everybody knows that. But it also makes a lot of good hormonal stuff happen in your body, gives you a much bigger calorie deficit to work with, and is loads of fun.

As far as hormonal stuff, exercise increases your insulin sensitivity and can even help blunt your appetite (though you need to do some experimenting and find out which exercises are best for your). Exercise triggers tons of good hormonal stuff in your body which help you to get fit, beyond just burning calories.

It also gives you a bigger calorie deficit to work with. I'm really short, 5'4", so even with my muscle mass when I diet I'm not eating very much (between 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day). If you regularly exercise, whether it's dancing, or climbing, or inline skating, or weight lifting, or running, or swordsmanship, or whatever - it helps you burn more calories when you diet. And it allows you to eat more when you're trying to add muscle.

And exercise is just fun! The social aspects of it, the physical aspects of it, how your mind works and focuses, and the endorphins that your brain releases all make you feel good.

If you have an active life that you enjoy, that's make the harder bits easier to bear. Especially dieting

Oh, and...

Don't Worry About Ab Exercises

What?! I'm telling you how to get washboard abs, and I'm telling you to NOT DO ANY AB EXERCISES!?

Yes. You don't need them - just do weight lifting with big lifts that work a lot of muscles, and (ideally) lifts like the standing barbell press that require core strength.

When you get your body fat percentage down low enough, you'll get your ripped abs. That's the most important part. The rest is just commentary. There are a few more tips below that'll help, but really you just have to get up off your rear end and do it.

If you want to get more info about how to get ripped, check out the How To Get Abs E-Book. Or read more info at my site, Complete Strength Training. I'm an American College of Sports Medicine certified Personal Trainer and I've been lifting heavy things, trying different diets, and practicing Japanese martial arts for quite a while. There's a lot of info about all different kinds of strength and weight training, and how to get ripped. Check it out! - Copyright: You may freely republish this article, provided the text, author credit, active links, and this copyright notice remain intact.

Original article

Best Tips to Gain Muscle Mass

People, who have no relation to sports at all, are aware that the best way to gain mass is to sit around all day, burn minimum calories and eat all kinds of junk food. This is one way to gain mass and increase your weight. Let's say the easy way. Is this what we want? A body full of fat without exercise following an unhealthy way of living? Of course not.

When it comes to weightlifting, bodybuilding and sports in general, gaining mass means increasing your body-weight and in the same time increase lean muscle percentage. Increasing your muscle mass will make you feel stronger, healthier and more confident since your whole appearance will change dramatically. To avoid any misunderstanding gaining muscle mass doesn't mean you will end up looking like the bodybuilding professionals you see on the magazine covers. You will be witnessing your own improvement day by day and you can regulate the progress you make.

So, I have listed five simple rules to follow, which will help you achieve your goals:

1) Work on Your Strength

Before starting your muscle gain plan, make sure you have spent a couple of months working on strength training routines and cardiovascular exercise. The higher your strength levels are the more you can lift allowing you to add pure muscle mass.

2) Physique

Cardiovascular is also crucial at this phase since you need endurance for the heavy workload that lies ahead of you. Cardio creates new blood vessels allowing more blood inside the muscle cells triggering muscle growth.

3) Weight Gainers

You will need lots of extra quality calories, sourcing from carbohydrates and proteins. This can be provided from a weight gainer. There is a great variety to choose from in the market. Take your time and research in order to find the best weight gainer that suits you.

4) Maximum Weight and Minimum Reps

I will suggest a mass gain workout routine in a next article of mine, but until then you should keep in mind that you must work with maximum weight around 80 percent of your maximum lift and reduce your reps at three to four tops. This way you will pump your muscles and force your body to create new muscle fibers in order to support your workload.

5) Minimize Cardiovascular and Abs Training

Cardiovascular and abs training is not your priority at this phase. Reduce your cardio pace to medium and train your abs no more than twice a week. Don't worry. You will have the opportunity to work on them while you get ripped after the mass gaining period.

Keep those muscles pumping!

Chris G Pap
Since 1993 involved in bodybuilding and fitness area.Visit the following link for more info about bodybuilding, supplementation, workout routines and nutrition. http://www.strengthtrainingmuscle.com/

Original article

How To Know If Bodybuilding Is For You?

Bodybuilding is slightly different to just going into the gym to train for strength, power and fitness, although it does encompass these things. Bodybuilding is generally defined as using weight training as a mechanism to change your body appearance. Now the word bodybuilding invokes images of giant muscular men with their clothes tearing in places that they don't normally tear, but this doesn't necessarily have to be the case, in fact that level of muscular development required years of dedicated and highly specialized training and nutrition to achieve. Here are a couple of the pros and cons of bodybuilding, so you can decide if it is a path you would like to try.

Advantages

1. Firstly, bodybuilding allows you to gain or lose body weight at will when used in conjunction with diet. It is relatively easy for over or underweight people to attain a more 'normal' build by being disciplined and following good weight training workouts and dietary advice.

2. It is possible to develop quite large amounts of strength in a relatively short amount of time when you work-out using weights. The added weight causes your body to adapt much quicker than if you were simply performing repetitive tasks. The extra strength you gain can become quite valuable in the course of your daily life for a number of reasons. Your daily tasks can become much easier, and the extra strength you now have is handy to have in case of emergencies or unexpected tasks. Having strong limbs and good core strength will likely help you avoid injuries, serious and minor, including back and shoulder problems.

3. Bodybuilding allows you to isolate and target any muscle group, regardless of how small or large they might be. This means that you can target and train your lower back if you find that you get fatigued in the lower back when at work, which could lead to injury. Alternatively you could increase the size and strength of your arms if you need added strength to be better at a particular sport. This is different to general fitness training, which provides smaller more general improvements across the entire body.

4. You won't outgrow your equipment, as you might do when you do calisthenics. No I don't mean you outgrow your body, I mean that for calisthenics you are restricted to using your body weight, and once your body has adapted to this load it is hard to see further muscular and strength improvements. With bodybuilding, you simply add more weight to the dumbbell, barbells or weight machines to force your body to grow and adapt.

Disadvantages

So there are a couple of disadvantages you might want to consider before undertaking bodybuilding exercises, just to make sure that it is what you are looking for:

1. The first disadvantage is that bodybuilding is quite repetitive and can become boring, especially if you follow the same program for a long period of time. If you change your training program regularly though, the boredom is reduced. Furthermore, the more you progress into bodybuilding, the more detailed and specific your workouts will become which keeps the boredom at bay as well, as you're constantly monitoring tweaking and improving your training programs.

2. If you're looking for cardiovascular fitness, bodybuilding isn't ideal for this. You will actually need to perform targeted endurance training to improve this. While bodybuilding is primarily concerned with building muscle, advanced bodybuilders still actually add quite a lot of cardiovascular exercise to their programs I order to minimize body fat and appear ripped.

There you have it, some of the main pros and cons of bodybuilding. If you think that bodybuilding is something that you would like to try, simply visit your local gym and see what facilities they have available and advice they can give you.

Alexi has studied and worked in the health and fitness industry for over 10 years and specializes in health, lifestyle and fitness topics. Alexi has a number of websites that provide valuable information on equipment that helps you get the most out of your training sessions. You can read all about weight lifting gloves for women at his website about Harbinger Gloves.

Original article

A Few Suggestions for the First Time Lifter

There's a lot of confusion to novice lifters that are just beginning to learn the ropes of resistance barbell training. I'm going to explain some concepts that you should pretty much make concrete with any workout program unless you're on a juice cycle. Here are some guidelines I've learned over the past several years.

Proper balance:
For every push, there should be a pull to work an even balance between opposing forces on the same plane and the agonists and antagonists which produce these forces. A general rule of thumb, is each routine should have one horizontal push, one horizontal pull, one vertical push, one vertical pull, a squat and a deadlift. These are your basic compound exercises involved with any training program that surrenders focus onto all of the major natural movements and the prime functions of the agonists and synergists worked.

Example: bench press (horizontal push), bent over row (horizontal pull), press (vertical push), pullup (vertical pull). Those are your four major upper body pushes and pulls. Every movement that pushes resistance away from your body, should also require a pull in the same plane of motion. It is not until a movement begins to stall and the synergist or stabilizer needs more specialized training that accessory compounds and isolation exercises are necessary for continuous progression.

Training frequency:
A lot of people think that training with more exercises is better, but that is simply wrong. Mark Rippetoe did a pretty brilliant job in starting strength of teaching novice lifters that you do not need hundreds of exercises for significant growth. You just need small volume, more frequency and high intensity with proper technique and nutrition.

The more exercises in a routine, the harder it is to progress and learn these exercises and the faster the endocrine system will flood. Think about it, if you go full boar on the bench press, then turn right around and do incline presses, your chest and shoulder muscles will be too exhausted to make fast personal bests and progression. Plus, muscle does not need a week to recover to be trained. You'll need to train each muscle 2-3 times per week depending upon your experience and the program you're doing. Your nutrition cycle (bulking, cutting) will also determine your CNS' ability to recovery quicker.

Train with proper volume:
We just covered why it's better to spread your volume out over a week; rather than completely destroy a muscle group and wait a week and then destroy it again. This basically turns into a never ending cycle and the progression is much slower than focusing on overloading one muscle group, each workout.

There are two forms of hypertrophy (muscle growth) sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar. Myofibrillar hypertrophy is growth of the muscle fiber as it gains more myofibrils, which contract and generate tension in the muscle. This is accomplished easier with lower reps or "strength" training. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is an increase in the volume of the non-contractile muscle cell fluid, sarcoplasm. This fluid accounts for 25-30% of the muscle's size. This essentially is accomplished by higher rep or "endurance" training. This makes both rep ranges essential for overall muscular development.

People like to argue 8-12 reps is better for size and 4-6 reps is better for strength; this is a myth. Think about it, how good would it do you to do 10 reps with the bar? You wouldn't gain much would you? That is because you need to have enough weight on the bar before the volume scheme even becomes significant. People say 4-6 reps is for strength, and once again, this can also be looked at as a myth. You can get stronger with any rep range, but 4-6 reps generally trains the CNS and natural motor pattern better than higher reps. Hypertrophy is more depended upon size, consistency and training all of the muscle fibers - both endurance fibers and strength fibers for both forms of hypertrophy discussed. It's better to train "heavy" on Monday with 3x5, then "light" on the same movements Thursday with 3x10-12. You stimulate all muscle fibers this way.

Train your WHOLE body:
Your body was designed to perform as a unit. Your body doesn't think "muscles" it thinks "movements". You're not doing "chest", you're doing bench press; you're not doing "legs", you're doing squats; you're not doing "shoulders", you're doing presses. See my point? Muscles were designed to perform together optimally as a unit. The more muscles involved, the easier the distributed resistance is moved. You want your stabilizers to perform with your synergists (assistant movers) and your agonists (prime movers). This is how weight is lifted safely and balanced.

Furthermore, studies have shown the more overall tension applied to the body, the greater the release of hormones. In example, during a squat, there are significantly more testosterone and growth hormone released than barbell curls, so the endocrine system is more involved with more total body training. That means if you try to isolate your chest, less muscle building hormones are released than if you work your chest, legs, back and shoulders. This means it's better to do movements of each body part better than focusing on one body part during workouts. Not only for hormonal release, but if you're train antagonistically, each muscle group is fresh upon the start and this makes it easier to make linear progression. How important are these hormones? Well, it is believed the prime reason men are stronger than women is the larger amount of testosterone.

Learn what REST means:
For those of you who like to train 5-6 days a week, this is fine for bodybuilders on steroids, and I do not doubt that sometime in the past you've worked out 6 days per week successfully. I'm not saying you will not get results this way, but what I am saying is 24 hours after stimulating muscle tissue, testosterone levels have dropped significantly and cortisol (a catabolic hormone) is raised and it makes it harder for muscle to growth. Bodybuilders that are on steroids do not care about this rule, because steroids do not allow the hormones to go catabolic.

Steroids cut off natural testosterone and causes a release of synthetic testosterone constantly high that never runs out and is more efficient with building muscle. For people on steroids, the more they train, then the better off they are. For those of us using our God given endocrine systems, we have to let HDL cholesterol buildup in our bodies to be converted into testosterone, which means letting our endocrine system rest. People like to think you overtrain "muscles" and this is not true. You overtrain body systems - the nervous system, the endocrine system.

Will "MVP" Riggs
ACE-CPT
Student of physiotherapy

Original article

Six Tips to Increase Your Metabolism

Metabolism is the procedure in which the body burns down calories and converts them into energy. In other words, our organism is consuming "fuel" in order to support all the necessary bodily functions.

People who have the privilege to have better metabolism, burn fat more easily and worry less about the amount and the quality of food they intake. It is true that some have the genetic gift to have better metabolism than others. However, there are certain ways to improve your metabolism. I give you ten tips to help you towards that direction and I would advise you to follow as many as possible:

1) Eat Less but More Often.
If you manage to adopt new eating habits you will notice the changes in your body almost immediately! Eating less and more often gives your body the opportunity to metabolize the exact amount of food it needs without storing it as fat.

2) Importance of a High Quality Breakfast
Breakfast is without a doubt the most important meal of the day. In the morning, after a good night sleep the organism stays without nutrients for over eight hours. So, it is essential to provide yourself with a high quality breakfast.

3) Increase Protein Intake and Reduce Carbohydrates
Protein is the core of the muscular system. Add more protein to build more muscle and reduce fat. People with a higher muscle percentage develop better metabolism.

4) Essential Vitamins
Vitamins and especially the vitamins of the B-complex plus E and C are crucial for your metabolism process. They work as antioxidants therefore they play a very significant role as fat burners.

5) Green Tea and Coffee
You have probably heard of various side-effects of coffee. However, if you consume it limited, let's say one cup every morning you will get all the benefits. Studies have shown that coffee helps increase metabolism. Green tea is used as a natural fat burner and is being suggested from experts to people who are trying to lose weight.

6) Exercise and Workout
This is maybe the most important factor among all. Exercise and regular workout triggers your metabolism the right way, burns extra calories, creates muscle and is your ultimate weapon against fat. To understand the essence of workout and especially workout with weights, I must note that one pound of muscle burns nine times more calories than a pound of fat. While you build muscle your metabolism ratio accelerates in the same time!

Follow these simple tips and I am sure that you will start to notice the first results sooner than you think.

Keep those muscles pumping!

Chris G Pap
Since 1993 involved in bodybuilding and fitness area.Visit the following link for more info about bodybuilding, supplementation, workout routines and nutrition.
http://www.strengthtrainingmuscle.com/

Original article

Types of Muscle Contractions

There are several different types of muscular contractions used while exercising. These contractions are Concentric, Eccentric, Isometric, Isokinetic. This article outlines what these contractions are what movements represent each contraction. This is very important for gym programming as well as identifying what exercises trainers need to be performing depending on what results they want.

Concentric:

Concentric (or isotonic) contractions are the most commonly used contraction within the gym environment. A concentric contraction in scientific terms means 'an individual muscle shortening under resistance.' This simply means the muscle getting smaller while lifting a weight. For example on the upward phase of a bicep curl the bicep gets smaller while lifting weight.

Concentric exercises include:

- Upward phase of a bench press

- Upward phase of a bicep curl

- Upward phase of a squat

Eccentric:

Eccentric muscle contractions are just as common in the gym as concentric contractions. Eccentric contractions is 'a muscle lengthening under resistance.' Meaning the opposite of concentric, the muscle is getting longer while holding a weight. For example the downward phase of a bicep curl the bicep muscle is lengthening while holding a weight. On average most people are 40% stronger on the eccentric phase of any given lift. For instance its easier to longer the weight down on bench press but so much harder pressing it up. For advance weight trainer's eccentric muscle training is a program where the trainer only ever eccentrically lowers the weight and never concentrically lifts it. This type of training is only for advance lifters due to the fact that they are lifting more weight than they can lift concentrically.

Eccentric exercise include:

- Downward phase of a bench press

- Downward phase of a bicep curl

- Running downhill or walking down stairs

Isometric:

Isometric contractions are rarely seen in the gym. This is because they are hard and not very practical. Isometric contractions are when 'a muscle maintains the same length under load.' This means that your muscles are staying the same length but are still contracting as hard as they can. Pushing against a wall is a perfect example. When you push on a wall (or any immovable object) your muscles are contracting but are staying the same length. Isometric training is really only good for people that are always pushing against something that barely moves.

Isometric exercises include:

- Arm wrestling

- Pushing in a scrum in rugby

- Pushing your car to jump start it

Isokinetic:

Isokinetic is very similar to concentric contractions so a lot of people get confused by it. Isokinetic is "constant resistance to a particular muscle throughout the entire range of movement.' In simple words this means that the weight is the same throughout the entire range of movement of any given exercise. For example on a bench press the bottom third is the hardest part while the middle and the lockout (for most people) is the easiest. Isokinetic training means that the same resistance is used throughout the entire range of movement.

Isokinetic exercises include:

- Swimming

- Any exercise on a hydraulic machine

Author: Matt D'Aquino
http://www.workoutsforjudo.com/

Matt D'Aquino is the founder of Beyond Grappling fitness and conditioning. He is a 2008 Beijing Judo Olympian as well as nationally ranked freestyle wrestler and National Champion in Brazilian Jujitsu. Matt has a passion for teaching all forms of grappling and is on the journey to qualify for his 2nd Olympic Games.

To learn more about Matt and his fitness and conditioning training visit http://www.workoutsforjudo.com/

Original article