Lots of people question the validity of warming up before starting their workout. And many people think warm ups literally do just that, to warm you up. Although in warmups the body temperature does rise, it is not the only intended effect. A good warmup should also be able lengthen tight muscles, smooth out tight spots in the fascia, activate inhibited muscles, and gets your body prepped for the coming exercise.

So how do we achieve all these? Let's talk about foam rolling first. Foam rollers are used in a process called Self-Myo Fascial Release (SMFR). According to Wikipedia SMFR is a "manual massage techniques for stretching the fascia and releasing bonds between fascia, integument, muscles, and bones are mainly applied; with the goal of eliminating pain, increasing range of motion and balancing the body." The fascia mentioned here refers to the layer of soft tissue that surrounds the entire body's muscle. As you have read above, ironing out the kinks in the fascia eliminates pain by smoothing out knots; increases range of motion due to shorten or knotty muscles, and all these combines to help balance the body. For more info on SMFR, refer to this site SMFR. As to where to purchase a roller, it can be found here. The more common, and painful, places to roll are the ITBs and the quads, as they tend be very tight due to sedentary lifestyles, like mine. Also a tennis ball can be used to roll the back, and a golf ball to roll the bottom of your feet.

Next: Stretching. After SMFR is done, stretch muscles which are tight, do not stretch muscles which are loose. If you are unable to feel a stretch while doing the stretch, it is probably a muscle you do not need to stretch, provided it is done with proper form. Again the more common places to stretch is the hamstrings, which are most people's highest priority; the quads, and the piriformis.

A hams stretch


This is done by raising the leg as straight up as possible for 10 reps of 2 seconds each. So basically you extend your leg straight up, count for 2 seconds, release, and repeat 10 times.

A piriformis stretch


In this photo the girl is stretching the RIGHT foot. You should feel a stretch down the side of your leg to your butt, where the priformis is. Alternative to this, you can do the same thing but with the LEFT foot flat against a wall.

A description of the stretch for quads is described here.

Ok I shall stop here for now for everyone to absorb every little thing.

Holy shit I've hit part 3 and I've only just begun. Today we shall touch on muscle and strength gains. Before we begin, I need to add a note that the programs given are only the actual workout itself. I will touch on warm ups, stretches, Self Myo Fascial release, muscle activations techniques and other stuff in another article because it would simply take too damn long. Another thing to note that the WORKOUTS ITSELF should ideally last not more than half an hour to 45 mins. This timing does not include the aforementioned pre workout stuff, but do not go into the gym pumping away for 2 hours. You are practically wasting your time. The reason, very summarised, is simply because growth hormones levels start to peak at around 30 to 45 mins AFTER YOU HAVE STARTED LIFTING WEIGHTS. Thereafter they start to fall and cortisol production starts to ramp up. Simply put, thats something you do not want. It's taking one step forward and 2 steps back.

OK enough bullshit and into the real stuff. For muscular growth, stimulus is focused on the muscles, i.e, muscular stress. For strength gains, the focus is typically on conditioning and stressing the Central Nervous System (CNS). Even though the focus is different, I lump this 2 together because strength and muscular gains often go hand in hand. The idea behind muscular growth for the laymen or women is very simple; stress the muscles. This requires higher reps as compared to a program purely for strength.

We shall look at how this would differ using the same program we have planned in the previous article.

A1: Deadlift - 2 sets of 6-8 rep max
A2: Bench Press - 2 sets of 6-8 rep max

B1: Squat - 2 sets of 6-8 rep max
B2: Bent over Barbell rows - 2 sets of 6-8 rep max

C1: Dumbbell Lunges - 2 sets of 6-8 rep max
C2: Military Press - 2 sets of 6-8 rep max

D1: Reverse leg curls - 2 sets of 6-8 rep max
D2: Chin up - 2 sets of 6-8 rep max

You can see whats different almost immediately. The number of reps (duh). For a beginner, which most of us are including me, it is good to keep to low reps of 6 for about 3 weeks before shifting to higher reps. The rationale behind this is that lower reps ensures you are able to maintain your form. Sometimes the more reps someone does in a lift, the form for the lift becomes screwy in the last few reps. So get your form right before progressing. The progression of the weights should be weekly, i.e, you should aim to add weight on the bar every week. NOT EVERY WORKOUT. Only through progress would there be results.

Also, try to change the variables in a program every so often, preferably once every 4 weeks. Variables include rest in between sets, the number of reps, the weights on the bar, the exercises itself, super setting, cluster setting... and the list goes on. If anyone ever run out of ideas, he/she must have trained for a hundred years.

Ok. Lets say you have been at the program above for a couple of months, and you decide to make the switch over to a pure strength program. How does one look like? For me I would recommend a 2 day split.

Workout A

A1: Deadlift - 2 sets of 3-5 rep max
A2: Bench Press - 2 sets of 3-5 rep max

B1: Dumbbell Lunges - 2 sets of 3-5 rep max
B2: Military Press - 2 sets of 3-5 rep max

Workout B

A1: Squat - 2 sets of 3-5 rep max
A2: Bent over Barbell rows - 2 sets of 3-5 rep max

B1: Reverse leg curls - 2 sets of 3-5 rep max
B2: Chin up - 2 sets of 3-5 rep max

So for the first week, you do Workout A, then B, then A on ALTERNATE DAYS, not back to back. The following week would be BAB. Lets say you do workout A on Monday, do a MAX DEADLIFT, meaning do a one rep max for deadlifts. Then, the following week, you will be doing workout B on Monday. For that Monday, do a one rep max for SQUATS. So every Monday will sort of be a Personal Record day. This segment might be slightly confusing. Please message me if you are confused. Furthermore, rests between sets can be up to 2 mins, as it is more taxing.

Ok thats all for today. Class dismissed.

Given the lack of comments, I assume my dear readers out there do not really give a damn or the articles proved to be not terribly useful. Its ok, its the effort that counts. Disseminating crucial information is the least I can do. Today we shall touch on goal setting and the exact structure of an exercise program.

Previously, we touched on the 8 movement patterns. Today we shall see how to use these movements to formulate a workout plan that caters to specific goals. Firstly, to begin penning down a good workout program, you need to ask yourself,:" what is your goal?". Lose fats? Gain lean body mass? Get stronger? Run faster? Sometimes these goals may turn out to be mutually exclusive, for example, gaining lean muscle mass while losing fats could be a pretty tall order, although it can be done to a small extent by pure beginners.

Let me address the most common issue lots of girls have on their minds - how to lose fats. Without going into nutrition and biochemistry, a typical fat loss program will consist of full body workouts coupled with High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for the best results. Let us take a look at a sample program.

Day 1

A1: Deadlift - 2 sets of 3 rep max
A2: Bench Press - 2 sets of 3 rep max

B1: Squat - 2 sets of 3 rep max
B2: Bent over Barbell rows - 2 sets of 3 rep max

C1: Dumbbell Lunges - 2 sets of 3 rep max
C2: Military Press - 2 sets of 3 rep max

D1: Reverse leg curls - 2 sets of 3 rep max
D2: Chin up - 2 sets of 3 rep max

Day 2

REST DAY

Day 3

A1: Deadlift - 2 sets of 6 rep max
A2: Bench Press - 2 sets of 6 rep max

B1: Squat - 2 sets of 6 rep max
B2: Bent over Barbell rows - 2 sets of 6 rep max

C1: Dumbbell Lunges - 2 sets of 6 rep max
C2: Military Press - 2 sets of 6 rep max

D1: Reverse leg curls - 2 sets of 6 rep max
D2: Chin up - 2 sets of 6 rep max

Day 4

REST DAY

Day 5

A1: Deadlift - 2 sets of 9 rep max
A2: Bench Press - 2 sets of 9 rep max

B1: Squat - 2 sets of 9 rep max
B2: Bent over Barbell rows - 2 sets of 9 rep max

C1: Dumbbell Lunges - 2 sets of 9 rep max
C2: Military Press - 2 sets of 9 rep max

D1: Reverse leg curls - 2 sets of 9 rep max
D2: Chin up - 2 sets of 9 rep max

Day 6, 7

REST DAYS
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Firstly, you might be asking, where does HIIT come in? I would say let your body get conditioned to the full body workouts. Once the soreness after each workout session is tolerable (and I guarantee full body soreness at least for a couple of weeks), then start adding HIIT ONCE A WEEK, ideally on one of the rest days. Why do i say once a week? Because HIIT is extremely strenuous when done correctly. The body needs to recover to be able to function properly. Over zealousness in workouts will only result in chronic over reaching (over training for you lay men and women), thus affecting the results of the workout.

The program stated above is based around the concept of lower body/ upper body. Take for instance A1 and A2. Deadlifts are a lower body exercise, targeting the glutes, hams and lower back, while bench press is an upper body movement targeting the triceps and chest primarily. This upper body/ lower body split ensures the fatigue is manageable.

The rep max as stated means the maximum u can do for a certain number of reps. For instance, 3 rep max would mean the heaviest weight you can do for 3 reps, 6 rep max would be heaviest for 6 reps, and so on. Again, with reference to a 3 rep max, it implies that by the 3rd rep, you should be sufficiently fatigued such that it is extremely tough to go for the 4th rep. If you are able to do 4 or even 5 reps, then the weight is simply too light.

An additional note, assuming my readers aren't afflicted with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), the amount of rest IN BETWEEN SETS should only be about 90 seconds MAX. There's no need to rest for so long. In fact its probably not advisable to rest for too long. Start with rests of 90s, consequently, when you feel up to it, gradually reduce rest periods.

And for goodness' sake please warm up before working out. The typical places to stretch would be the hamstrings, hip flexors, calves, and lower back. Because we tend to be on our ass for more than half the day. Buy a foam roller and start rolling too.

Ok thats it for now, any questions please drop me a message. This article is simply too general to be able to answer everyone's doubts so PLEASE ASK QUESTIONS!

How many of you people out there decided that "Hey! I wanna hit the gym to lift weights and look great!", only to enter and the gym and think about "errr.... guess I'll just hit the treadmill cos I dunno what I should be doing." Don't worry, it's not a steep learning curve, and I'm here to share some basic gym program designs with you. And of cos to persuade you to STOP USING THOSE BLOODY MACHINES. Machines are bad for your joints and screws up your biomechanics. Simply put, the body has to adapt to the plane of motion of the machines, resulting in an unnatural movement. By machines I refer to TREADMILLS and other machines like the Smith. Cables are fine as they are still considered multi-planar. And also the things I am about to cover APPLIES TO BOTH GUYS AND GIRLS. There is no difference in the exercises and techniques for either gender. We shall discuss the variations within the program itself hopefully in another article (i.e. when I have the time).

OK enough bullshit. Lets get down to business. How to design a proper workout program? Lets start from basic biomechanics. The body is capable of 8 different types of movement, namely, horizontal push, horizontal pull, vertical push, vertical pull, quad dominant, hip dominant, knee flexion and knee extension.

Below are some examples of the exercises:

Horizontal push - Bench press


Horizontal pull - Barbell row


Vertical push - Military Press


Vertical pull - Chin up


Quad dominant - Squats


Hip dominant - Deadlift


Knee flexion - Lunge


Knee extension


A well balanced program should consist of one exercise from each movement. when there's a push there must be a pull in order to create muscular balance.

Tagged by Miss Xuanie, unfortunately i not using livejournal so dunno how to tag others hahaha.

1) I have a protruding rib on the right side just below the chest.
2) I'm a forum junkie, i surf more than 6 different forums every day.
3) I can deadlift my own body weight before i got carried away and injured myself
4) My gaming clan is call THOA, The Horsemen of Apocalypse
5) My room is the biggest among my brothers even though I'm not the oldest.
6) I bought my first electric guitar by borrowing money from friends.
7) I got my scar on my forehead after getting hit by a metal swing. No harry potter there.
8) I cried every time i attended arts classes at chengshan CC when i was young.
9) Honestly i dun know what else to write, ten is helluva lot lol